Althouse: At the Wednesday Night Café...

March 20, 2024

At the Wednesday Night Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

43 comments:

Mutaman said...: "House Republican budget calls for raising the retirement age for Social Security"

https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/republicans-call-for-retirement-age-hike-in-clash-with-biden; 3/20/24, 7:31 PM
Tina Trent said...: My husband and I quit Plaanet Fitness this week.

Their employees lied to us. They said the pre-op trans, or just perverts, in women's showers wasn't a company-wide policy.

In fact, their walls are covered with "no judgment" signs which do refer specifically to trans people using any bathroom they want.

I spoke with legal. It is. The local manager said, "well, nobody has been molested here yet."

Direct quote.

Quit today and don't be quiet about it.; 3/20/24, 7:40 PM
lonejustice said...: Today I finished reading "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. It is the best modern novel I have read in the past 20 years. Ever since I retired 2 years ago, I have mostly been reading all the classics of literature that I missed out on during high school, college, graduate school, and law school. But occasionally I read a contemporary novel. This book was one of those, and it is fantastic. It's the kind of novel that you wish could go on and on. You are sad when it ends, but of course it has to end. I will remember this novel for the rest of my life.; 3/20/24, 7:49 PM
Kai Akker said...: A Night on Bald Mountain is available through the Criterion Channel. A Russian couple who specialized in animation released their b&w animation to the Mussorgsky piece, as channeled and improved upon by Rimsky-Korsakov. A favorite of mine. The movie does not use the exact same music, and the animation and music last only 10 minutes, significantly shorter than the work that I know. But the point is, it's good and quite different. From 1933, so it has history and the creative standards of that day working in its favor.; 3/20/24, 8:24 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Bobolinski - has the proof.
all democrats ignore it.; 3/20/24, 8:24 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Anyone Care to watch the real news about Joe Biden that the media hides?; 3/20/24, 9:03 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: More Big news on Joe biden's family corruption. Not in the news.; 3/20/24, 9:10 PM
walter said...: 3 rate cuts a coming. Go Team Juice Fed!; 3/20/24, 9:11 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: YouTube: Too much secrecy going on in our government today

Watch Sen Rand Paul 5 speech about it.; 3/20/24, 9:20 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: More testimony on Joe Biden's corruption.; 3/20/24, 9:21 PM
Iman said...: RIP M. Emmet Walsh, 88 years of age. Gosh, it seemed like he was around forever. He always made a movie better.; 3/20/24, 11:24 PM
wildswan said...: There's blindness about the future among the leftys which is strange because they say they are working for the future more than the present.
But kook at San Francisco and other places in California not enforcing laws against shoplifting if its under $900. And when the same people come back and back the shoplifting totals aren't added together; each offense is considered in isolation. That's because like to hate businesses as much on as Capitalism, and they don't care what happens to to either one. But that indifference has doesn't just harm Capital and business; it harms everyone in the city. One predictable result of astronomical costs from theft from stores major and minor is stores leaving town. And then tourists never come. And then the city loses taxes and tourist dollars. Everyone is poorer, everyone is harmed, some quickly, some more slowly. Leftys never say they're sorry, never change and so there's no change in policy; voters could vote them out but the city-wide harm to these voters happens more slowly. We'll see slowly achieved, deep and lasting damage before California voters turn on the leftys. As they themselves would say: Karma is a bitch.
And this same blindness seem to exist in relation to the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas has promised to attack Israel again and again and in the same way, namely, by attacking civilians. So when we talk about ending the war now because of civilian casualties, we should add in these future civilian casualties both in Israel and in Gaza that we are causing. But we don't think about the future - only the future of the Dearborn vote. Or Compton. Not the future of either city, the vote six months in the future.; 3/20/24, 11:30 PM
Rusty said...: There is another mating pair of bald eagles In our area. They are building a nest in a large pine tree at our sportssmans club. It about 100 feet from our wobble trap stand. So far they don't seem to mind. That makes 8 breeding pair in the fox valley area.; 3/20/24, 11:48 PM
gadfly said...: So Marco Rubio is now on Trump's latest "short list" for VP.

On Feb 16, 2016, @realDonaldTrump declared: “Lightweight Marco Rubio was working hard last night. The problem is, he is a choker, and once a choker, always a choker! Mr. Meltdown.”; 3/21/24, 12:48 AM
rhhardin said...: You're standing in the yard with your six year old and a jet flies over on its way to the airport. You and the kid don't hear the same thing!

Typically there's a wind like roar that falls in pitch as the airplane approaches, reaches a minimum pitch, and then rises in pitch again as the airplane moves away. So it's not doppler shift, which would continue to fall in pitch (as the accompanying jet whine does, in fact).

When the pitch is at its minimum, when the airplane is overhead, squat down to kid level and notice that the pitch rises to what it was when the airplane was distant. That's what the kid hears.

The effect is connected to an audible optical illusion, the constantly falling (or rising) pitch illusion of moving nulls in broadband noise. The nulls are there because two paths interfere, direct path and one reflection off the ground. When the path difference changes with airplane angle, the nulls move and that movement registers as a pitch change. Actually the peaks between the nulls are responsible for the effect but it's easier to show with nulls that surround each.; 3/21/24, 3:58 AM
wendybar said...: This guy is a fucking lying asshole. Whoever voted for this piece of crap should be embarrassed. Hang your head in shame. If this is what represents our representatives, it is time to burn it all down and rebuild. They are useless, rude, ignorant and liars. I am embarrassed people like him are in our government. Shame.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1770543655960416649; 3/21/24, 4:19 AM
wendybar said...: And we won't even get into AOC and her "RICO isn't a crime" idiocy.; 3/21/24, 4:23 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Angela Chao results...

"They said her blood alcohol content was nearly three times the state's legal limit".; 3/21/24, 5:44 AM
Enigma said...: Team Biden is in trouble no matter what they do with interest rates. Wall St. now expects three cuts in 2024, so there's plenty of time for inflation to ramp up again. Gas at $5 per gallon anyone? The return of stickers on gas pumps with Biden saying "I did that"? Do you want even higher grocery prices? Will restaurant attendance crash because of $24 hamburger meals (i.e., Five Guys in the news)?

No rate cuts in 2024 will cause a broader real estate crash, as offices are already dead/dying and as the 2021 housing free money deals expire. High interest rates will hurt many people and investors -- so it seems Biden has chosen to cover for the billionaires and oligarchs and the well-off landowners. Screw the little people and screw his own ability to pay for government gifts (i.e., screw his core voters). Take note.; 3/21/24, 5:55 AM
Big Mike said...: @wendybar, I disagree with your comment about AOC and RICO. If RICO isn’t a crime then the case against Trump concocted by Fani Willis must be dismissed and Trump should be allowed to sue her for malicious prosecution.; 3/21/24, 6:02 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: And we won't even get into AOC and her "RICO isn't a crime" idiocy.

In a weird way big Fani is proving this odd statement to be true in several cases.; 3/21/24, 6:08 AM
tim in vermont said...: I see that just because people don’t want to drive EVs because they are impractical for most people, and take away freedom of travel, doesn’t mean that the government won’t take them away in what will be a bloodbath, err excuse me, let’s use the term that auto makers used, an “extinction level event,” for us auto manufacturers, which includes the autoworkers.

I said here that I always assumed that they would force us to buy EVs, and it turns out that I was right.; 3/21/24, 6:09 AM
tim in vermont said...: At the same time that they are driving down real wages with massive and uncontrolled immigration they are planning to drive the cost of new cars through the roof.; 3/21/24, 6:19 AM
Enigma said...: @rhhardin: The effect is connected to an audible optical illusion, the constantly falling (or rising) pitch illusion of moving nulls in broadband noise.

Optical = vision, eyesight, lightness and dark
Audible = hearing, sound, air vibrations

I think you meant to say "an audible perceptual illusion," as "audible optical" makes no sense here and only happens with rare cases of synesthesia (cross-sensory confusion or interaction). Yes, ever-rising and ever-falling tones are audible perceptual illusions.

Perception = all things related to how the human sensory organs and brain interpret the outside world.

Humans have no absolute knowledge of the external world, as each person is slightly different from the next one and has a different learning/exposure history. The key word here is "slightly" -- our bodies work 99% the same and perceptions usually correlate well with machine measurements. These slight real differences were later stretched way beyond the evidence with the political goals and non-science methods of social constructionism and critical theory (e.g., late Marxism, French Existentialism, Woke, Equity, Social Justice, etc.).; 3/21/24, 6:27 AM
tim in vermont said...: If Trump has listed Mar a Lago as his personal address, no court can take it from him, under Florida law. This is why many millionaires are domiciled in Florida, and they spend a lot on their homes, because they are judgement proof. It's the same with a Florida annuity, which is why O.J. was able to keep collecting his, and living a normal life economically.; 3/21/24, 7:18 AM
Dave Begley said...: Today March Madness starts. The best time of the year.

Creighton will meet your team in the Final Four!; 3/21/24, 7:28 AM
wildswan said...: Greatest Insight of the Year: Plagiarism in academia is increasing because racial justice scholars wish to show they are following the party line and do not have their own ideas.

"If you think about it, handing out accolades and awards for copying others' work makes a lot of sense in the more ideological fields. After all, the entire point of CRT and adjacent fields is to enforce an ideological uniformity incompatible with independent scholarship and thought,...?"

from Yet Another Harvard Plagiarism Case by David Strom, a "reformed academic."
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/03/20/yet-another-harvard-plagiarism-case-n3785055 posted at Instapundit by Sarah Hoyt.

Strom is commenting on an article by Christopher Rufo in City Journal on plagiarism at Harvard which ends by asking whether plagiarism is extensive throughout Harvard or is concentrated in ideological "hot spots" such as CRT theorizing.

"Independent researchers currently looking into plagiarism at Harvard should scrutinize not only these programs but also a control group in other, more substantive disciplines to determine whether plagiarism correlates with left-wing racial disciplines or is widespread throughout the university." Christopher Rufo, "Copy and Paste. Another Harvard racial-justice scholar is accused of plagiarism."
https://www.city-journal.org/article/christina-cross-plagiarism-accusations

Maybe I just think this is a tremendous insight because of my academic leanings but it seemed to illuminate a whole shadowy area. Why is Harvard such a mess. Because ideologists are seeking to use its prestige to impose their views on the rest of us. By why did they elevate a plagiarist as President and keep her on as a Professor? Because she had the right stuff - she knew to use the prestige associated with independent thought at Harvard in order to impose ideological conformity by pretending to do independent research which however was conformist as signaled by being plagiarized. Bow down, ye peasants. Dare not oppose the rabble of your misbegotten thoughts from your pastors to the massed ranks of the credentialled Pasters of Harvard.; 3/21/24, 7:38 AM
rhhardin said...: Humans have no absolute knowledge of the external world, as each person is slightly different from the next one and has a different learning/exposure history. The key word here is "slightly"

The point is that it's not slight. You are two people hearing completely different things but assuming that you're hearing the same thing. Owing to height difference off the ground of your ears.

Try squatting when a jet goes over and see.; 3/21/24, 7:43 AM
Enigma said...: @rhhardin: The point is that it's not slight.

I didn't dispute your comparison here, I said it wasn't OPTICAL. You are apparently addressing the difference in sound wave reflectance off the ground at different heights. There may be a large difference but person-to-person perceptual differences are relatively slight. People sometimes confuse their experiences with general things that everyone experiences.; 3/21/24, 8:18 AM
narciso said...: https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/21/this-country-cannot-afford-a-weak-supreme-court-decision-on-internet-censorship/; 3/21/24, 8:35 AM
Old and slow said...: Enigma fancies himself to be very clever. Rhhardin actually is.; 3/21/24, 8:56 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Who knew Enigma was a pedantic? We all knew what Rhardin was saying.; 3/21/24, 9:12 AM
MadisonMan said...: @Begley, I'm not thinking UW-Madison will go very far in the tournament. They've been hot(ish) of late, and there was an article in the paper yesterday about Chuckie Hepburn (love his hair) being blood-thirsty (no mention of how horrible Trump is) for winning more, but I'm skeptical. Team goes too hot/cold.
Happy to wrong, of course. They did get a weak-ish bracket, I'm told.; 3/21/24, 9:15 AM
Enigma said...: @Old and slow

Ignorance is bliss.; 3/21/24, 9:16 AM
Humperdink said...: Tony Bobulinski executed a bloodbath yesterday. Goldman, Raskin and EOC ... er ... AOC hardest hit.; 3/21/24, 9:59 AM
Humperdink said...: AOC: "What specific crimes did Joe Biden commit?"

Bobulinski: "How much time do I have?"; 3/21/24, 10:21 AM
Old and slow said...: Blogger Enigma said...
@Old and slow

Ignorance is bliss.

I am ignorant in many regards. Where is this bliss you speak of?; 3/21/24, 10:25 AM
PM said...: wildswan: "...San Francisco and other places in California not enforcing laws against shoplifting if its under $900." You're too kind. It's $950.; 3/21/24, 10:25 AM
Mike of Snoqualmie said...: 3/21/24, 6:08 AM
Blogger tim in vermont said...
I see that just because people don’t want to drive EVs because they are impractical for most people, and take away freedom of travel, doesn’t mean that the government won’t take them away in what will be a bloodbath, err excuse me, let’s use the term that auto makers used, an “extinction level event,” for us auto manufacturers, which includes the autoworkers.

I said here that I always assumed that they would force us to buy EVs, and it turns out that I was right.

3/21/24, 6:09 AM

Call your two senators and representative to demand they overturn the ban. Tweet the @epa and demand they rescind the ban and that the EPA be banned.; 3/21/24, 10:49 AM
rhhardin said...: I didn't dispute your comparison here, I said it wasn't OPTICAL. You are apparently addressing the difference in sound wave reflectance off the ground at different heights. There may be a large difference but person-to-person perceptual differences are relatively slight. People sometimes confuse their experiences with general things that everyone experiences.

Acoustic optical illusion strikes me as a fine explanation. Everybody knows what an optical illusion is (wrong optical conclusion) and so knows what an acoustic optical illusion is (wrong auditory conclusion).; 3/21/24, 12:09 PM
Josephbleau said...: “I said here that I always assumed that they would force us to buy EVs, and it turns out that I was right.”

This is a very interesting political action. It seems Beiden needs to ban gas cars to hype his green base before the election, but what about the UAW pals whose jobs he will kill, and they know it?

I suspect that the democrats are going to loose some union votes, but everyone knows that the ev mandate will never happen anyway. The auto companies are planning to ignore it and then the democrats will have to cave, in five years. They will then blame Repubs. But this assumes that global warming will still be around in five years.

China will be the looser for believing the enviro propaganda, and Tesla ( some made in China) will remain as a tony option for hipsters.; 3/21/24, 12:20 PM
Narr said...: I was in the back yard on a sunny day a while back when an unusually low-flying outbound jet went over (we're just a few miles from MEM International). The wind must have been against it, because I almost didn't hear its approach, and when the shadow went right over me I felt an atavistic fear, even to the extent of a slight cringe.

Kyle Rittenhouse got chased off the UM campus last night. I might have been there myself if I had been paying better attention. Strange to see familiar places on the news, with a loud unruly-almost-violent mob in action.; 3/21/24, 1:44 PM
Rusty said...: "Acoustic optical illusion strikes me as a fine explanation. Everybody knows what an optical illusion is (wrong optical conclusion) and so knows what an acoustic optical illusion is (wrong auditory conclusion)."
It's confusing because of the difference between optical and auditory. I substituted auditory for optical and got your drift.; 3/21/24, 2:21 PM