Althouse: At the Ice Lake Café...

January 20, 2024

At the Ice Lake Café...

... you can talk about the Packers or anything you want.

66 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Go Pack! (I won't be watching however).
If they do win, I'll will crank up Love Train. Someone should re-write the lyrics (if the Pack wins) to more Packer-appropriate words.; 1/20/24, 4:30 PM
Original Mike said...: re: the Packers: What's there to talk about? They haven't played the game yet.; 1/20/24, 4:36 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Big if true: “Journalist who tried to cancel Novak Djokovic over not taking COVID vaccine collapses and dies while covering Australian Open”

It’s ungodly to rejoice in our fellow man’s misfortune, but…

Karma is a b word.; 1/20/24, 5:13 PM
H said...: I was listening to a bit of the Majorkis impeachment hearing (or the hearing about whether or not Mayorkis should be impeached). A law professor testified that nothing in his actions were impeachable offenses. SO here's my question for legal eagles out there in the commentariat. Suppose Congress passed a law raising the tax rate on rich people; and suppose that the executive branch (Treasury). announced, "we disagree with this new tax policy and will not enforce it." What actions could Congress take against the administration? Is impeachment (and removal from office) of the President or Treasury secretary or IRS chief really not an available remedy, because refusal to execute a law is not an impeachable offense? I suppose some will tell me that Congress could sue the administration; but couldn't a recalcitrant executive just tell the judiciary to stuff it?; 1/20/24, 5:19 PM
n.n said...: Ice, ice, baby.; 1/20/24, 5:29 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: One never volunteers as some kind of arbitrator of truth.

YouTube: Rachel Maddow Truth; 1/20/24, 5:33 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "re: the Packers: What's there to talk about? They haven't played the game yet."

This post will be here when there is.

I tend to put the café post up when I'm not planning to blog again.

Anyway... we're looking forward to the game. It could be great, and even if we lose, it won't be bad.; 1/20/24, 6:05 PM
Jaq said...: Men's fashion; 1/20/24, 6:08 PM
Narr said...: I'm enjoying some Victory at Sea music . . . what a great series that was, and what a classic score.

The Voyage Into Fate segment is one of the best; I like a 1992 Remaster of Robert Russell Bennett leading the RCA Victor orchestra. You know where to look.; 1/20/24, 6:50 PM
Narr said...: Good night then, and may the best team win.; 1/20/24, 6:52 PM
gspencer said...: To put it into the simplest of terms - all the Packers have to do is win three more games.; 1/20/24, 6:59 PM
Original Mike said...: "I tend to put the café post up when I'm not planning to blog again.
Anyway... we're looking forward to the game. It could be great, and even if we lose, it won't be bad."

I didn't mean to be critical.

Win or lose (and I'll be gobsmacked if they win), the Packers have had a good season. Youngest team in the league, Jordan Love may be the "franchise" quarterback we're hoping he is. The future looks bright, though they do need to improve the defense. I'm not sold on Joe Barry.; 1/20/24, 7:09 PM
rehajm said...: That picture of Biden with the family eating chicken- I can’t help but think how much assistance it took to get him in position for the photo op. He looks so frail. Remember the footage of Presidents walking down that long hall in The white House towards the podium, back when there were still night time pressers? Dan you imagine seeing Biden navigating in a year or two?

President by proxy until he joins the choir invisible…; 1/20/24, 7:10 PM
Gospace said...: I see the Feds are running another Patriot Front operation, this time in NYC. Check out the Top Twenty Tweets at directorblue.blogspot.com for details. And questions like “How do vehicles with no plate numbers get in and out of NYC?” “Why are police allowing box trucks to drive away with people unlawfully being transported in the back?”; 1/20/24, 7:28 PM
DanTheMan said...: I'm rooting for a Bucs/Packers NFC championship.
I expect to be disappointed.; 1/20/24, 7:37 PM
rehajm said...: Apple needs Siri listening in to my home and car. CarPlay won’t operate without Siri enabled. Today I had two Apple pop-ups asking if I would like to enable Siri. I thought it was key press what caused them but the tired one just appeared when I went to get the phone…

Probably listening anyways.; 1/20/24, 7:47 PM
Temujin said...: As a lifelong Lions fan, with full knowledge that we have to win tomorrow before any of this matters, I would love it to be a Packers/Lions NFC Championship.
I'm about to turn 70. The last time the Lions won a championship, I was 3, so I have no memory of it. But I do have a memory of the Lions having a great in the 60s when I was a kid, yet always finishing second to the great Packers teams of Vince Lombardi. The Lions pretty much sucked for all the decades after that. And through all the years of Lions sucking, all the many decades, I've had to watch the Packers win Super Bowls, division crowns, etc.

I've had a lifelong hate of the Packers. I would love them to win tonight. And I would love the Lions to win tomorrow, then have the Packers go to Detroit next weekend and get beat by the Lions.
Once in a lifetime should not be too much to hope for.; 1/20/24, 9:27 PM
Mason G said...: "Probably listening anyways."

Would you believe them if they said they weren't?; 1/20/24, 9:28 PM
MayBee said...: Watching the Packers game, saw the ad for the Google Phone where you can get video sound to edit out sound, or focus on sound far away. It makes me realize they have all that technology available for them to listen to anyone with voice activated Google.; 1/20/24, 9:32 PM
gspencer said...: Gulp!; 1/20/24, 10:15 PM
gspencer said...: Wait until next year.; 1/20/24, 10:20 PM
Original Mike said...: Damn. Almost gobsmacked.; 1/20/24, 10:32 PM
Jupiter said...: This seems like a really good time to rip the rotten, stinking guts right out of Jared Diamond. You remember him, author of "Guns, Germs and Steel". His opus, in which he explained that if the savages of New Guinea had been born in Europe, they would have been Europeans. That is, that the evident superiority of European culture and technology, as evidenced by their numerous colonial conquests, was purely the result of favorable circumstances, and had no genetic determinant.

In service of this thesis, he assembled an interesting and quite astonishingly extensive body of evidence, in the form of a detailed analysis of plants, animals and topography, intended to demonstrate that the European milieu provided overwhelming physical advantages to whichever collection of apes happened to occupy it. Wherefore, he wished to conclude that the outcomes of clashes between cultures were not determined by genetic superiority, but merely by circumstance. Jared is a multi-culturalist. Jared is not a racist! Although, I haven't consulted that little Kendi freak about that. I'm guessing that in Kendi's book, Jared is a racist. He can't help it, he's white. Racism is genetically determined. Although, believing that doesn't make Kendi a racist. Only white people can be racist. It's genetic!

But Diamond gave the whole game away, in the preface to his doorstop, in which he explained his quite evidently deeply held view, that the homicidal savages he had befriended in New Guinea were superior to the "Valley Girls" he was forced to tolerate, and, indeed, as a professor at a California University, pretend to educate, in order to be able to afford the plane tickets he needed to visit his real friends. It was his claim that a Valley Girl would be hard-pressed even to kill time, whereas his friends, the savages of New Guinea, would very easily kill a Valley Girl. So, there you go. The savage is superior to the teen-age female member of the tribe that had the misfortune to breed and nurture Jared Diamond. I daresay, the savage is at least superior to Jared Diamond. So are most of the varieties of wheat he describes in considerable, and quite interesting, detail.

Further, he very explicitly attributed this "superiority" to the fact that generations of these savages have evolved in an environment in which the ability to decide very quickly who is dangerous, and kill them, was critical to survival, and therefore to reproduction. In short, the New Guinean savage was genetically superior to the Valley Girl, as a result of fairly recent evolution, which, despite its short duration, has nonetheless been quite sufficient to produce a decisive genetic difference. So, yeah, Jared doesn't know it, but he's as racist as me and Kendi.; 1/20/24, 11:39 PM
Jupiter said...: Now, you might ask, "Jupe, why do you get so wrapped-around-the-axle about a moron like Jared Diamond, or Ibram X Kendi, for that matter. They're stupid. They're abysmally stupid. So what? You have a back yard full of rocks, and every one of them is at least as stupid as Ibram X. Kendi, and arguably many are as stupid as Jared Diamond. Yet you exist without complaint within yards of these stones. Why, then, do you find it so hard to abide the likes of Diamond and Kendi?"

Why indeed? I would answer, that stones may not think, but neither do they speak. If enough duct tape were wrapped around Jared Diamond, I might find his existence, and even perhaps his company, entirely unobjectionable. Kendi too, I guess. Why not? Wouldn't want to appear racist.; 1/20/24, 11:58 PM
wendybar said...: "Patriotic Americans are sick of Barack Obama’s never-ending tranformation of everything that makes America great. It’s time for a change."

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/01/trump_ii_save_america_again.html; 1/21/24, 4:09 AM
rhhardin said...: YouTube audiobook "Philosophy in an Hour : Heidegger" collection by Paul Strathern narrated by Jonathan Keeble, pronounces Husserl as "Hursel" throughout. In the Derrida one it's pronounced "Husserl" throughout.

(Not great collections, the author apparently doesn't like either of them.); 1/21/24, 4:27 AM
wendybar said...: Who knew that John Fetterman has more common sense than anybody else in his party and would become the voice of reason for the Progressives?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12987479/John-Fetterman-migrant-crisis-American-dream-border.html; 1/21/24, 4:31 AM
Curious George said...: "MadisonMan said...
Go Pack! (I won't be watching however).
If they do win, I'll will crank up Love Train."

Two INT in the second half. Time for The J. Geils Band "Love Stinks"; 1/21/24, 5:02 AM
Howard said...: Just watched the highlights. It's great seeing a tough playoff battle between the Niners and Packers. Both teams can run and defend pretty well. Game could have gone either way.; 1/21/24, 5:45 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Threats to "democracy"?

https://www.lucianne.com/2024/01/21/breaking_professor_and_election_expert_j_halderman_hacks_into_dominion_voting_machine_tabulator_in_court_on_friday_in_georgia_in_front_of_judge_totenberg_using_only_a_pen_to_change_vote_totals_121981.html

They've Got Them.; 1/21/24, 6:01 AM
Jersey Fled said...: I try to stay away from those places where someone might kill me. Namely Democrat run cities and any highway in New Jersey.; 1/21/24, 6:47 AM
JZ said...: Wish the Packers had beaten KC. It was a close game I gather, based on the final score. Go Lions!; 1/21/24, 6:54 AM
tim maguire said...: Jupiter said...This seems like a really good time to rip the rotten, stinking guts right out of Jared Diamond. You remember him, author of "Guns, Germs and Steel". His opus, in which he explained that if the savages of New Guinea had been born in Europe, they would have been Europeans.

Diamond did a great job of explaining why Eurasia and not Africa or the Americas, but when it came to why Europe and not China or India, he had little to say. Just a lot of speculation. There’s a follow-up book (not by Diamond) called The WEIRDest People in the World that tackles why Europe. Although the author assures us the Catholic Church gets no credit as it was unintentional, he produces extensive evidence that it grew out of the church’s centuries-long program to break up the clan system, releasing individual initiative and creativity.

Which is ironic because that clan system is at the heart of all the “indigenous ways of knowing” nonsense the left is pushing on us now. And we decline as a civilization to the extent that we listen to them.; 1/21/24, 6:55 AM
Humperdink said...: I watch certain politicians and remain mystified as to how they have reached high elected office. It's not that they lack charisma, it's they have negative charisma. Just by watching them on camera and talking they turn me off. Schumer, Mike DeWine, Adam Schiff, the list is extensive. They must hold unseen power. Would follow any of these lightweights into battle?; 1/21/24, 7:02 AM
naturesalltheres said...: Nature is all there is!; 1/21/24, 7:09 AM
Humperdink said...: I have relented and am now onboard with the two state solution - for Pennsylvania. One state would consist of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Center county (aka Penn State). The second state would be the rest of PA. Each would get one senator and one governor. The house and state reps would divided up by population. The libs could make their state a sanctuary state, abort to their hearts content, tax away, regulate the living snot out of everything. Have fun.; 1/21/24, 7:13 AM
Humperdink said...: Look for the physicians at the DNC to make a significant change in John Fetterman's medication.; 1/21/24, 7:19 AM
Jaq said...: If I disable the telscreen, err, I mean Siri, certain features that I actually use, won't work in my car. I finally gave in, but I am considering buying an old car that's rust free, spending the money to replace the motor and suspension and whatever else, and just drive that, like the hero in the story "Player Piano."

They don't even make non smartphones anymore. They have made it impossible to carry a phone with you without being tracked. Why is there no switch to disable the camera? Why is there no switch to disable the microphone? It's not because consumers would not highly value such features. Why can't you remove the battery? With AI they can go well beyond "keyword" listening, and can now listen for concepts. It can probably even figure out when people are using coded language.

How does the song 1985 go? "I can't believe I'm still alive to see it all come true."

I would rather live under a monarchy where politics was out of bounds for the vast majority of the population. Where wars were not total wars, but perhaps one leader might want a slice of land, and when the battle was decided, the two kings would dine together and remain friends, and the war would be over, and entire populations would not hate each other. Instead we have a world were war is endless.; 1/21/24, 7:20 AM
Jaq said...: I was prepared to see the Packers lose, but it was hard to watch them lose when they had a real chance to win in the final minutes.; 1/21/24, 7:23 AM
MartyH said...: I’m looking forward to the cheese I won from a cousin in New Glarus. I was contemplating what wines to send him for most of the game….; 1/21/24, 7:44 AM
John said...: Two suggestions for anyone pursuing a helicopter license. Go with the R66: even though lessons are far more expensive than for the R44 or R22, this craft is easier to fly and you may be able to finish sooner. Plus there's nothing like the sound of a gas turbine spooling up - much better than a piston engine, which in the case of a helicopter engine sounds like a lawnmower engine. Also: don't quit. You'll only come back again, and in the meantime have lost whatever you'd learned. Nothing else, not even - or especially not - an airplane, feels or flies like a helicopter.

In other retirement developments, my retirement anyway, I guess my "occupation" nowadays is composing posts for ricochet-dot-com. It's fun. Not only that, it's self-referential! Recently I revisited old posts about Ecuadorean political spite, the so-called "erased" of Slovenia, and a glimpse of Manzikert, which looked in 1992 and still seems now an oddly empty place for the Seljuks to have established the Turkish toehold in what we now call Turkey. But, striving to stay fresh, I'm working on biological themes these days. Kudzu breeding, which seems to me a far better idea than the concrete walls I saw alongside I-85 through Atlanta. Owl predation, which I got interested in mainly because I'd never before encountered the word "subnivean" - a handy one for winter, even if you're not an owl! And, I think, a piece inspired by a Ricochet comment by a physicist, one who quoted Richard Feynman genially protesting that if the word "astronomical" can be used to indicate really big numbers, then why not "economic" as well? Me, I think there's an argument also for "entomological." This would indicate large numbers packed into disproportionately small spaces.; 1/21/24, 7:48 AM
Dave Begley said...: Creighton won in triple OT at Seton Hall.

I rarely complain about officiating but this game is an exception. Our Center got fouled by two different guys on the same shot. No call, but he scored. The whole game was like that.; 1/21/24, 8:06 AM
boatbuilder said...: Jordan Love threw away a lot of money, status and credibility (as an elite QB) when he flung that panic toss for the final interception. Really good but not quite there yet.

As a Pats fan I would enthusiastically welcome him as the QB of the future, but that was a letdown.; 1/21/24, 8:07 AM
Aggie said...: @tim in vermont: "They don't even make non smartphones anymore."

I think they still do:

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-dumbphone

Even better, some of them are flip phones.; 1/21/24, 8:43 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: Jupiter:

Read "Escape from Rome", Walter Scheidel.

I watched the "Guns, Germs and Steel" miniseries. He was right that Eurasia had the animals to domesticate, but he never explained why the Europeans were the colonizers and not the Chinese. It was the fragmentation of Europe that led to the industrial revolution.

The Chinese, the Indians, the Turks could have created the industrial revolution, but such improvements would have upset the Emperor, and his control of the empire. So, all innovations must be suppressed. Europe after the fall of the Western Empire didn't have a unified government to throttle innovation. So, we got the industrial revolution and the age of exploration and the Chinese didn't.; 1/21/24, 8:46 AM
Iman said...: Good game! McCaffrey is one tough son of a gun, but he was one of many out there.; 1/21/24, 9:08 AM
Iman said...: I hope teh Lions win too, Temujin. Then McCaffrey can have a great game… let’s say he runs for two TDs and catches a pass for another one. And the Lions return to their previous ways and are held scoreless.

I can see it now:

Christian 21
Lions 0; 1/21/24, 9:19 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Way too many points left on the field last night and when you do that on the road it's tough to win. That said — the future looks bright for GB.; 1/21/24, 9:25 AM
Jaq said...: When a team needs a touchdown with under a minute to go and a lot of yardage to cover, the QB is forced to make throws he never would have other times, they throw a lot of picks. Same thing happened to Miami last week, and Tua is a good QB. It’s like pulling the goalie in hockey.; 1/21/24, 9:36 AM
Third Coast said...: @Temujin, I hear you brother. I'm 5 years older than you and those Lions teams of the 50's-60's were great, especially their defenses. My avatar is a photo of several Lion players about to land on top of Bart Starr during the great Thanksgiving Day Massacre in 1962.; 1/21/24, 9:42 AM
wendybar said...: Thank you Joe Biden for letting REAL terrorists in. When they kill, the blood will be all over you and your administration. Don't say you weren't warned.

End Wokeness
@EndWokeness
·
Follow
Reporter: "Where are you from?"

Middle Eastern illegal migrant: "Soon you will know who I am. Believe me. You will see."

https://twitter.com/i/status/1749040928453472305; 1/21/24, 10:03 AM
Original Mike said...: "When a team needs a touchdown with under a minute to go and a lot of yardage to cover, the QB is forced to make throws he never would have other times, they throw a lot of picks."

Yeah, people are focusing on that pic, but I look at it the way you do. More galling is the missed field goal. On that front, people are giving Carlson a pass; it wasn't the sole play losing them the game. While certainly true, Carlson's kicking this season has been very subpar. He's missed 6 extra points, for crying out loud. Needs to be addressed.; 1/21/24, 10:04 AM
Meade said...: “Yeah, people are focusing on that pic, but I look at it the way you do. More galling is the missed field goal.”

I completely agree. This team is on it’s way to greatness and it’s fun watching it get there.; 1/21/24, 10:17 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "... and it’s fun watching it get there."

Is it fun enough to make up for how much it hurts when they lose?; 1/21/24, 10:19 AM
Curious George said...: "tim in vermont said...
When a team needs a touchdown with under a minute to go and a lot of yardage to cover, the QB is forced to make throws he never would have other times, they throw a lot of picks. Same thing happened to Miami last week, and Tua is a good QB. It’s like pulling the goalie in hockey."

They didn't need a TD, the just needed a FG to tie. They didn't need a lot of yardage, they only needed 25 yards or so to be in field goal range. The still had 45 seconds and two timeouts. Horrible decision and pick by Love.; 1/21/24, 10:37 AM
Jaq said...: The pain is all part of it. This is coming from a long time Bills fan. Cubs fans know.; 1/21/24, 10:37 AM
Original Mike said...: "Is it fun enough to make up for how much it hurts when they lose?"

The pain subsides quickly (especially when you weren't supposed to be here in the first place). Then there's next year!

Hope springs eternal.; 1/21/24, 10:40 AM
Jaq said...: There used to be a sports talk show in Miami with a guy named Hank Goldberg, and he used to say, “It’s all part of it.” The year Scott Norwood missed that field goal to lose the Super Bowl, they cut Gary Anderson, who went on to a Hall of Fame career, in training camp.; 1/21/24, 10:42 AM
Jupiter said...: "... that it grew out of the church’s centuries-long program to break up the clan system."

Interesting you bring that up. The legal system is designed to replicate the protections of the clan system, without the clans. And it was working pretty well, at least for the little stuff, until the people entrusted with its maintenance decided it would function better if it explicitly favored one racial minority. It was an interesting experiment, and may have relevance in the future.; 1/21/24, 11:09 AM
boatbuilder said...: The missed field goal was bad, but no one is going to pay the kicker $30 or $40 million a year to lead the team.

Love had at least one more down (maybe 2?-not sure). He needed to throw that one away and try again. Instead he panicked and threw across the field. *

A learning experience. He's a very talented kid.

*(I've seen the various Pats QB's do this all season. It's depressing. Nobody will ever pay those guys $30 million, that's pretty clear).; 1/21/24, 11:14 AM
boatbuilder said...: Also our kickers were even worse than our QB's. Hard to believe.; 1/21/24, 11:16 AM
Original Mike said...: "they only needed 25 yards"

Two words: Anders Carlson; 1/21/24, 11:50 AM
BG said...: Temujin,
I’ll be rooting for the Lions today. It pains me a little, but we need an NFC North team to kick butt. At least the Packers beat the spread. They surprised me by improving so much in the last half of the season. Youngest team - looking forward to next year.; 1/21/24, 12:16 PM
Rusty said...: Ann Althouse said...
"... and it’s fun watching it get there."

"Is it fun enough to make up for how much it hurts when they lose?"
Only you can make that determination.

BG
I'm rooting for the Packers. Because f*#k the Bears.; 1/21/24, 1:37 PM
BG said...: Rusty
I wonder if the Bears “Love” their new owner.; 1/21/24, 4:12 PM
Original Mike said...: "I wonder if the Bears “Love” their new owner."

Aaron Rodgers still owns the Bears. He's only subletting them to Jordan Love.; 1/21/24, 6:00 PM