Althouse: The full moon was setting in the west as the sun rose in the east.

December 4, 2025

The full moon was setting in the west as the sun rose in the east.

This morning on Lake Mendota. Video by Meade:

21 comments:

gadfly said...: NYT reports:

After Hurricane Francine damaged Althea Vallotton’s house in suburban New Orleans last year, puddles formed on her floors whenever it rained. But she saved up money and lived in a mobile home on her front lawn for months, until she finally obtained a loan to pay for a stronger, metallic covering.

The cost? About $49,000.

On Wednesday, several workers — hired by a “legitimate contractor,” she said — arrived around 7 a.m. and got to work on the roof. She, in turn, drove to her job at a nearby school, relieved that her home repair odyssey was ending. It was a one-day job, after all.

Forty-nine thousand dollars for a one day job replacing this roof?

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/12/03/multimedia/03nat-nola-roof-hgpz/03nat-nola-roof-hgpz-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp; 12/4/25, 1:48 PM
rhhardin said...: Sun rises in the SE and moon sets in the NW. The winter moon follows the summer sun path.; 12/4/25, 2:06 PM
Old and slow said...: I've noticed that the pro-war forever in Ukraine people on X seem to be entirely energized by emotion. They rarely make fact based arguments in favor of carrying on with this stalemate. They throw insults constantly. "Coward - appeaser - vatnik - sellout", but never make a rational case for rejecting an agreement. Russia must be destroyed at all costs because that is the right thing to do, seems to be the only message. Well, it might be the right thing to do in a perfect world, but in this world there are costs to consider. I'd love to see Russia pushed right back to the original lines, but I do not see how that is likely to happen, especially given Europe's fecklessness and the American unwillingness to commit to a land war against a nuclear superpower. It seems we are now considered not only an unreliable partner, but an actual enemy because we are unwilling to risk everything to do all the heavy lifting.

One very common complaint recently has been about Belgium being unwilling to release Russian funds to Ukraine to fund the war. Belgium said they would do it, but only if the rest of the EU provided assurances that Belgium wouldn't get stuck with the bill if things went south. Everyone is saying that Belgium of all countries should stand up for Ukraine. After all, didn't the rest of Europe sacrifice 10 million men and destroy itself in defense of plucky little Belgium? This seems like a very poor analogy to me. In hindsight, defending Belgium was a poor choice.; 12/4/25, 2:18 PM
Jaq said...: "After all, didn't the rest of Europe sacrifice 10 million men and destroy itself in defense of plucky little Belgium? This seems like a very poor analogy to me. In hindsight, defending Belgium was a poor choice."

You means losing scores of millions of people in two world wars to prevent 7 million people who already speak two languages from having to know some German wasn't worth it?

Where did that come from, oh yeah security guarantees was how Great Britain sold the war to the public. They wanted to fight Germany at the side of France because they considered Germany an existential threat, prior to WWI, because Germany started, against Bismarck's advice, to build a navy. But the British people could not be sold on a war on that basis, so it was all about giving security guarantees to "poor little Belgium."

This is the same reason that we wanted and provoked the war with Russia, because we see them as a potential existential threat, and Russia sees Ukraine in NATO as an existential threat, which we very well knew, and getting them into a war while they were seen as still weak was a win for us. Biden said that the US won the war as soon as Russia crossed into the Ukraine.

This whole worrying about what some country might theoretically do to you at some future date if they got different leadership sure leads to a lot of death and destruction. Great Britain has been fighting Russia, in Russia, not on British soil, BTW, since the Crimean War.; 12/4/25, 2:59 PM
Jaq said...: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/04/ladas-may-be-putins-last-resort-russia-ukraine-war-defence/. - Russia is out of armor.

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/12/02/russia-more-vehicles/

"Russia has more armored vehicles now than in 2022. The math is ugly."

Czechoslovakia had the "velvet divorce" and formed two countries, we inflicted a civil war on Ukraine because we wanted to bring down Russia, and maybe you think that that is a good thing, that they are the last thing standing between us and taking down China, that's all well and good, just don't tell me that you want it to protect "poor little Ukraine" a country not even its own leadership actually seems to care about.; 12/4/25, 3:09 PM
Humperdink said...: In NW PA we have been buried with lake effect snow. Probably 12-14”. Now it’s going to get cold. Real cold.; 12/4/25, 3:14 PM
Original Mike said...: "The winter moon follows the summer sun path."

The full moon.; 12/4/25, 3:18 PM
Original Mike said...: "two world wars to prevent 7 million people who already speak two languages from having to know some German"

Seriously?; 12/4/25, 3:21 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: “Full Cold Moon”

Every thing you see on it is well over 200 degrees F. You’re the one who’s cold.; 12/4/25, 3:27 PM
Old and slow said...: Original Mike said...
.....
Seriously?

How far would you go to preserve the ever changing border line for Ukraine? I know that you were commenting on Belgium, but the point is the same.; 12/4/25, 3:29 PM
Humperdink said...: Obama’s Affordable Care Act: Premiums will go down $2500. Mine went up $6000.

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act: Inflation hit 9%.

Obama/ Biden: The affordability twins.; 12/4/25, 3:47 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/4/25, 3:55 PM
lonejustice said...: I woke up very early this morning, and the super moon was so bright it lit up every room in the west side of my house. It was throwing shadows from the trees into every room. Impressive.; 12/4/25, 3:56 PM
FullMoon said...: Home of Apple Headquarters

The racial makeup of Cupertino was 22.3% White, 0.6% African American, 0.2% Native American, 70.2% Asian,

n the year of 2023, Cupertino, CA had a population of 58.9k people with a median age of 41.3 and a median household income of $231,139.; 12/4/25, 4:03 PM
FullMoon said...: Borders San Francisco

The racial makeup of Daly City was 14.3% White, 2.4% African American, 0.9% Native American, 57.5% Asian, 0.7% Pacific Islander, 15.2% from other races

median household income of $119,570.; 12/4/25, 4:07 PM
FullMoon said...: Least popular "silicon valley" area

Milpitas was 11.3% White, 2.1% African American, 0.6% Native American, 71.7% Asian, median yearly income of $179,011.; 12/4/25, 4:12 PM
Clyde said...: My favorite story on social media and in the news over the last couple of days was the raccoon who broke into the liquor store in Ashland, Virginia, knocked over a bunch of bottles, got drunk off the booze and then passed out in the bathroom next to the toilet. In a politically polarized country, stories like that can be appreciated by everyone. The raccoon was rescued by the local animal control people, sobered up and was released back into the wild. It broke 14 bottles worth about $250, so it wasn't drinking the good stuff. I watched the surveillance video, and it tried to climb onto the top shelf but fell down and settled for the cheap stuff on the bottom shelf.; 12/4/25, 4:34 PM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: Russia invading Ukraine and keeping part of its territory is a Bad Thing.
The Bad Thing happened because European nations, as a group, got fat and happy relying on Americans to keep the Russians out, and failed to maintain militaries to allow themselves to defend their borders and those of their friendly neighbors.
Europe made a mistake, and when people or nations make mistakes, Bad Things happen.
America learned that its indulgence of European elites was a mistake, and changed its national policy by electing Trump.
Europe can minimize the occurrence of future Bad Things by acting like real nations and funding their militaries.
That can prevent future Bad Things from happening, but it cannot reverse the current Bad Thing that has already happened.
Too bad for Ukraine, and Ukrainians, but not so bad that I want my kids or grandkids bleeding to reverse it.; 12/4/25, 4:40 PM
buwaya said...: (Nearly) all of Europe was already at war before a single German set foot in Belgium. That invasion of Belgium was what brought Britain into WWI (as a casus beĺli), nobody else.
You could say everyone was murdering each other over Serbia, not Belgium, and you would be much more correct, but even that is only a partial truth.
It would help if certain persons were educated, but as usual humanity disappoints.; 12/4/25, 4:53 PM
Humperdink said...: I wonder what the Russian people think of Putin getting a substantial portion of younger population slaughtered on the front lines. Surely there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction.; 12/4/25, 4:54 PM
narciso said...: It has been a stupid incursion, from the beginning
But the european seem to be grabbing for the ale; 12/4/25, 4:59 PM