Althouse: Vacation Barbie.

August 1, 2023

Vacation Barbie.

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Photo by Meade, from Copper Harbor in the Upper Peninsula. The sign says "Motel."

52 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Mansions of the upper peninsula. Maybe they could give this land back to the local indigenous tribe. Except the tribe probably wouldn’t want it.; 8/1/23, 10:38 AM
R C Belaire said...: If y'all are that close to Houghton, pay a visit to The Library bar downtown.; 8/1/23, 10:47 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: In college I worked for Mattel as a retail merchandiser and promotions guy. I had to drive my own car. I don't think metallic pink automotive paint was even a thing then. That was a really fun job though and hiring models to play Barbie and He-Man* at malls and store openings was the best part. Yes we furnished the costumes.

*That should date it for you.; 8/1/23, 10:49 AM
gilbar said...: It's a Barbie Word.. We're Just Living In It; 8/1/23, 10:49 AM
rehajm said...: Secret rendezvous with Big Jim or Evil Knievel...see a red white and blue motorcycle stashed near the woods?; 8/1/23, 10:58 AM
planetgeo said...: You two had enough of campering already and now glamping with the Barbie set?; 8/1/23, 11:07 AM
Bill Crawford said...: If this is an open thread....

I have been reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." The transformation of German society under Hitler in the '30s often uncomfortably describes what's been happening in the US the past few years.

If you have not read it (I have waited until I'm 70), I encourage you to do so.; 8/1/23, 11:09 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Ken is inside, testicle free.
If the tiny house is a rockin', it's probably Ken vacuuming.; 8/1/23, 11:09 AM
Quaestor said...: Well... the fire hydrant is comforting.; 8/1/23, 11:14 AM
MayBee said...: Do we think someone just likes Barbie so much? Or do we think you caught some kind of Barbie pop-up mid travel?; 8/1/23, 11:16 AM
Original Mike said...: Go to the AE Seaman Mineral Museum on the Michigan Tech campus. Absolutely stunning collection. We spent two days there last summer.

The admission ticket is good for 2 days (not that it's expensive anyways), I'm guessing because so many people want to return the next day. It's hard to imagine there's a better geology museum on the planet.; 8/1/23, 11:19 AM
Meade said...: “It's hard to imagine there's a better geology museum on the planet.”

Wow. Definitely will do. Thanks, OM.; 8/1/23, 11:39 AM
madAsHell said...: Maybe she's a paid guest??; 8/1/23, 11:40 AM
tommyesq said...: Living the dream...; 8/1/23, 11:42 AM
Meade said...: @rehajm, Quaestor- 😝 lol; 8/1/23, 11:43 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Well... the fire hydrant is comforting."

With a flag, so it can be found in the snow.; 8/1/23, 11:46 AM
Original Mike said...: "I have been reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." The transformation of German society under Hitler in the '30s often uncomfortably describes what's been happening in the US the past few years."

I used to be mystified that a country's populous could be willingly hijacked to such nefarious ends. I no longer am.

"If you have not read it (I have waited until I'm 70), I encourage you to do so."

It's on my bookshelf, but I've never read it. Will have to find the time.; 8/1/23, 11:48 AM
Original Mike said...: "Wow. Definitely will do. Thanks, OM."

We'll expect a report.; 8/1/23, 11:50 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I have been reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.""

I highly recommend the audiobook with Grover Gardner as the narrator. His enunciation and tone are perfect for this material. I liked him so much that I went looking for other audiobook readings of his, and that's how I ended up listening to the entire series of Robert A. Caro books about LBJ.

This deals with the problem of finding the time. If it's your audiobook, you listen while doing something else, like walking or driving or doing chores. That's the easiest place to find time, doubling up on time you were already using.; 8/1/23, 12:10 PM
Original Mike said...: "This deals with the problem of finding the time. If it's your audiobook, you listen while doing something else, like walking or driving or doing chores. That's the easiest place to find time, doubling up on time you were already using."

I've been listening to audio on the drive back and forth up north, which I've done multiple times this summer. Right now, it's Richard Feynman's introductory physics course from 1961. In the past it's been John McPhee's geology books.

But short of a long drive, I don't think I'd be able to concentrate on the material while doing something else. Maybe I'll surprise myself.; 8/1/23, 12:17 PM
Narr said...: I might listen to Shirer, but could never find the time to read him, interest in the era notwithstanding, and nothing against the author.

Fr the last several years that I worked, the guys I drank coffee with were largely geologists or other dirt scientists. Very bright guys, and they taught me a lot.; 8/1/23, 12:31 PM
LCB said...: Maybe people live in them now, but last time I was in the UP (long time ago!) units like this were used by fishermen, hunters and snow monikers. Very basic units for outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.; 8/1/23, 12:36 PM
who-knew said...: Love the UP and the Keewanaw. Have you been up to the top of Brockway Mountain?, the views are spectacular. And via the wonders of facebook I've found that there are some pretty cool bars in Calumet. Michigan HOuse and Red Jacket Brewery and Shute's Saloon are worth it just to admire the back bars and decor.; 8/1/23, 12:44 PM
mccullough said...: Yooper Barbie; 8/1/23, 1:11 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Justice Thomas can’t even have a rich friend from his home state of GA, without having the press question his integrity.

Joe Biden on the other hand… Double standard is the standard now. There’s no point in even bringing it up.; 8/1/23, 2:08 PM
Tomcc said...: Such a strange juxtaposition. I'd be delighted if the Weinermobile was there, too.; 8/1/23, 2:14 PM
Jaq said...: I have been looking for a good audiobook, but I am afraid that the parallels with today's United States, and no I am not talking about Trump, he's not the one who is using a combination of corporate and government power to try to ban or imprison his opposition, textbook fascism right there.

We Thought We Were Free is a take on how Germany went from a liberal democracy to a fascist war machine, where rights of the accused were taken away, and the freedom of speech and assembly, too. A central part of it was a fake attack in Germany's parliament blamed on the opposition, but J6 really was an "armed insurrection," right? Anyway, it's all to familiar stuff in America under Joe Biden.

Does anybody know of a good audiobook on the Roman Empire? There is enough distance maybe that I won't get my blood pressure too high there.; 8/1/23, 2:25 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I have been reading William Shirer's 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.' The transformation of German society under Hitler in the '30s often uncomfortably describes what's been happening in the US the past few years."

Yes, it certainly seems so.

"If you have not read it (I have waited until I'm 70), I encourage you to do so."

I haven't read it, (I'll be 68 before year's end), though my father had it in his now dispersed/discarded (post-death) library. Perhaps I'll obtain a new copy and frighten myself about the direction of our nation even more than I already am.; 8/1/23, 2:34 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Ken is inside, testicle free.
"If the tiny house is a rockin', it's probably Ken vacuuming."

Or Barbie and her galfriends having a f--, er, a "heck" of a good time!; 8/1/23, 2:36 PM
Big Mike said...: Maybe they could give this land back to the local indigenous tribe. Except the tribe probably wouldn’t want it.

@traditionalguy, it depends. Is it a large enough parcel of land that they could build a casino and with a large parking lot?; 8/1/23, 2:54 PM
Narr said...: "Very basic units for outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen."

Snorage rooms?; 8/1/23, 3:07 PM
Narr said...: TIV, I don't know about the audio versions, if any, but Tom Holland's "Rubicon" is first class. I also like his "Persian Fire" for earlier centuries.; 8/1/23, 3:11 PM
Readering said...: Read Shirer's book in 8th grade; Took the whole academic year. Found the sections on Von Papen and the Brownshirts particularly memorable for some reason.; 8/1/23, 3:34 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: We have those little cabins up here in NH - still a few, anyway - and the establishments are sometimes called a motel, which always puzzled me. It seems to be stretching a point.; 8/1/23, 3:41 PM
gilbar said...: tim in vermont said...
Does anybody know of a good audiobook on the Roman Empire?

Not sure if you were serious, but here's some i liked:
Fate of Rome was particularly good. What MADE Rome? Global Warming, What Ruined Rome? Global Cooling

Escape from Rome
The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
By: Walter Scheidel
The Fate of Rome
Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
By: Kyle Harper
Pax Romana
War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World
By: Adrian Goldsworthy

and here's one, to cheer you up..

The Triumph of Christianity
How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
By: Rodney Stark; 8/1/23, 3:42 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: We have those little cabins up here in NH - still a few, anyway - and the establishments are sometimes called a motel, which always puzzled me. It seems to be stretching a point.; 8/1/23, 3:42 PM
rhhardin said...: Ohio vote to make the constitution less easy to change (evil people want to put in abortion rights or prohibitions)
No (pro abortion)
Yes (anti-abortion)

The thing about Ohio is that you can even find opposing signs posted on public property right next to each other, the point being that the later person doesn't interfere with the former person's sign but places his right alongside.; 8/1/23, 3:56 PM
Temp Blog said...: TIV - I don't know about the audiobook but I enjoyed "SPQR" in the dead tree version. Maybe there's a good ether version out there for you.; 8/1/23, 4:10 PM
Prairie Wrench said...: Rise and Fall might have turned out differently had the Jewish population owned AR-15s.; 8/1/23, 4:24 PM
The Godfather said...: Speaking of Nazis (the German kind), if "Rise and Fall" is too ponderous, consider "All The Frequent Troubles Of Our Days", by Rebecca Donner. It's the story of a young American woman who marries a German student she meets in her US college and moves to Germany shortly before the advent of Hitler. She eventually becomes a leader of an anti-Nazi underground group. It gives you a view of Nazism from the ground level.; 8/1/23, 4:59 PM
The Godfather said...: Speaking of Nazis (the German kind), if "Rise and Fall" is too ponderous, consider "All The Frequent Troubles Of Our Days", by Rebecca Donner. It's the story of a young American woman who marries a German student she meets in her US college and moves to Germany shortly before the advent of Hitler. She eventually becomes a leader of an anti-Nazi underground group. It gives you a view of Nazism from the ground level.; 8/1/23, 4:59 PM
Mikey NTH said...: Tourist cabins. I wonder how old that motel is because tourist cabins are a 2920's - 1930's type.; 8/1/23, 6:35 PM
Mikey NTH said...: Along with "Third Reich" I recommend Shirer's The Collapse of the Third Republic for the early war. I had a copy. Very good and worth the time to get through such a thick volume.; 8/1/23, 6:42 PM
Mikey NTH said...: On the subject of Ohio: one of the boats I crew on in the USCG auxiliary comes out of the Lost Peninsula. A part of Michigan that can only be accessed by land through Ohio, a leftover from the Toledo War.; 8/1/23, 6:50 PM
John henry said...: Bill Crawford said...

I have been reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."

Agree.

His "Berlin Diary" is an excellent companion piece about his year or 2 in Berlin as a radio correspondent for cbs

John Henry; 8/1/23, 7:14 PM
John henry said...: I used to listen to a lot of books when it was Books-On-Tape, before it sold to Audible.

I remember really liking Grover Gardner. I "read" several books I never would have considered because he was the reader.

He also read under another name I now forget.

Also loved his reading of Carol's lbj and the Moses book (was that Gardner?)

John Henry; 8/1/23, 7:27 PM
Jaq said...: Is the Barbie movie secretly right wing?

https://twitter.com/HumanEvents/status/1686523534380584960; 8/1/23, 7:27 PM
Hey Skipper said...: @Bill Crawford: “I have been reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."

I’ve read it twice, first time in high school, second time 15 or so years ago. Outstanding. Frightening.

I have a road trip from Boise to Bismarck and back in a week. Seems like a perfect opportunity to make it thrice, this time via audiobook.; 8/1/23, 7:36 PM
John henry said...: Tim,

Mike Duncan (of Madison do you know him Ann?) did a podcast series on history of Rome that might be what you are looking for.

It is 192 episodes eac @30 minutes.

I've not listened to it but have listened to his "Revolutions" podcast. 30-40 eps each on American, French, Haitian, bolivar an, European (1840s), Mexican and Russian revolutions. Currently relistening to the Mexican series.

It is really good and I expect the series on Rome would be as good.

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History are probably the standard all podcasts should be judged by. Only 1-2 episodes a year, usually 4-5 hours long but worth the wait. Covers all periods from 5000 BC to present. Usually 2-5 eps looking a particular periods.

Dan carlin and Mike Duncan even did a 1-2 hour podcast a couple years ago sort of interviewing each other.

I get them and all my podcasts using the Podcast Addict app

John Henry; 8/1/23, 7:46 PM
GrapeApe said...: I could easily live in a place that small. Less to mop and vacuum. A place to shit, shave and shower is all needed. I would take that over a 5000 square foot monstrosity.; 8/1/23, 9:36 PM
chickelit said...: Estivant Barbie; 8/1/23, 9:55 PM
Jaq said...: "Took the whole academic year. Found the sections on Von Papen and the Brownshirts particularly memorable for some reason."

As a how-to? Seriously, those brownshirts don't ring a bell in 2020, during the "mostly peaceful" protests which added an air of chaos to the Trump presidency?

Naah! You fell for it hook line and sinker. Nobody could play you, you never need to question anything you think.; 8/2/23, 12:08 AM