We paid $11 for a pint of ice cream in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ice cream imported from... Ohio.



Jeni's. Flavor: Salty Caramel. I'm a sucker for caramel.

"I want someone w/ personality and energy; someone devoted to our planet and to doing things right."

(Enlarge to read.)

Saturday details, found on the street in Madison. I have no idea how that slip of paper came to rest on the sidewalk near the Wisconsin state capitol.


(Enlarge to see cigarette.)

I know how that cigarette came to be in that hole by the door at The Haze. I saw the man who was smoking it stow it there. I think he planned to come back out for more.



Does a flamingo tablecloth clip, a plastic strawberry, a beer, and a hairy arm require an explanation?



Is this turkey even right? This was a decal with marker-graffiti on the side of an old trailer parked on the street on the East Side. I imagine the turkey is belatedly making his argument for why the turkey and not the eagle should have been the U.S. national bird. In fact, bald eagles are scavengers, and as Ben Franklin wrote:

I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.

The turkey has personality and energy. He is devoted to our planet and to doing things right.

"Rand Paul Feels Sorry For Barton, While Limbaugh Doubles Down On Barton’s 'Shakedown' Claims."

Oh? Well, then, I guess Rush totally out-macho'd Rand. Rand needs to man up!

At the Double Rainbow Café...

... we're feeling twice as optimistic.

Now, get out of the duckweed pond and carry on your open-threading up here, in the new day, the day we call: June 19th! Yay! Hooray for June 19th! Isn't it gorgeous? I did get some gorgeous late-sleeping accomplished, so the day is off to a smashing start.

And here's the coolest version of a great old song:



There was a semester when I listened to that in my car every day when I drove my 5 minute drive to work. Someday you'll find it... And then I found it!

Rainbows!

At the Duckweed Café...

... you can talk about anything you want.

"Finally, Mississippi and Alabama get a room!"

Ha.

And: "Panhandle Alert." The epidemic spreads.

There's nothing Wisconsin-related in those New Yorker cartoons about state maps. I remember seeing a hand-drawn cartoon in that State Street liquor store window that used to be full of funny signs. It had a map of Wisconsin and writing that said something like: "The Upper Pennisula! WTF? Did we lose a war or something?" That was many years ago. It still makes me laugh. I mean look at the map:

That is ours, baby. It's like that mitten is reaching up there an yanking off our manhood. And speaking of manhood, I think, if we had that peninsula that is rightfully ours, the politics of Wisconsin might shift from Mommy Party to Daddy Party.

A bus driver told a 20-year-old Madison man — whose underwear and buttocks were showing — to pull up his pants...

Public transportation in Madison, Wisconsin:

"[Larry] Wilks and three other unidentified subjects began to verbally attack the 45-year-old bus driver," said police spokesman Howard Payne. "He said 'You can't tell me what to do, and you better drive this bus.'"...

Wilks told police that he "didn't have to do anything" and allegedly got into a fight with the officer before being put into handcuffs, under arrest.

Others at the scene, apparently angered over the arrest, encircled the officer and Wilks, prompting the officer to call for backup.

"After the scene was calmed, Wilks stated he was not afraid to go to jail, and that proved to be directly in line with the officer's decision," Payne said.

IN THE COMMENTS: Sofa King said:

See, this is why I drive a car.

Oh, but what if we invested a billion dollars and got some wonderfully sleek and spiffy light rail trains? Surely, the Wilks ilk would pull up their pants.

United States versus Slovenia.

The controversy.

IN THE COMMENTS: Joan said:

It's kind of pathetic that the refs manufactured a before-the-goal foul that no one else saw or can even describe, in spite the multiple cameras pointed at the field and the varied POVs the videos can show.

And you wonder why Americans don't like soccer? The refs wanted us to lose but had to settle for the tie.

Yeah, f•ck soccer.

Should cats be on leashes outside?

That's the yes/no question posed by USA Today. "No" is winning (though not by a lot), in part, I think because people think a cat on a leash is ridiculous or sad. It's a misinterpretation of the question, which should be understood to ask whether a cat should be on a leash if it is to be allowed outside at all. So "Yes" includes the idea that cats should indoors (or on the catio).

Oh! They're digging the body of Bobby Fischer out of his cold grave in Iceland.

They need to carve out some of his flesh in order to determine if 9-year-old Jinky Young is his daughter.

Photographs of photographs in a hairdo magazine.

There are uses for a digital camera other than to get to a photo that you want as a photo. One thing is to take a photograph of something that you need for reference, including a photograph of a photograph, like when you want to show your hairstylist what you have in mind....



It's always so extreme in these magazines. But you get the idea?

UPDATE: I showed my stylist those 3 pictures, and she laughed. My observation is that it seems as though people cutting hair are annoyed by the fact that women have faces and actual physical needs, such as the need to see.

An art installation in NYC: pianos plunked down in 50 different places where anyone can step up and play.

Art is important, but it's not more important the real hour-to-hour life of the people who must live with big and intrusive works of public art. Consider:

The concept, devised by British artist Luke Jerram, has put more than 130 pianos in parks, squares and bus stations since 2008 in cities including London, Sydney and Sao Paulo. And now it's New York City's turn to play, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday.

"There's going to be a huge amount of talent here," Jerram said in an interview. "The piano's actually a blank canvas for everyone's creativity, really, so I just hope that the city enjoys it."

So I just hope.... I just hope, if your apartment or office is within earshot of one of those pianos that you like "Chopsticks," "Für Elise," Billy Joel songs, and the way it sounds when someone drags their fingers the full length of the keyboard. Why do Jerram and Bloomberg think that saccharine everyman "creativity" will blossom? Hey, New Yorkers, have you seen this extremely popular YouTube tutorial — "How to play EXTREMELY annoying songs on piano"?



Oh, why am I so cynical?

Jerram got the idea at his local coin-operated laundry, according to a website about the project. He saw the same people there every weekend, but none of them talked to each other. He thought a piano might help bring people together in places like that.

You know, years ago, when we remodeled the law school building here at the University of Wisconsin, some lawprofs — I won't say who — thought it would be a wonderful idea to put a piano in the atrium — a big open space where the students hang out to talk or rest or study. These professors enthused about the existence of perhaps one student who was an accomplished classical pianist. They imagined bringing people together through the music that would be unleashed from the hulking object. I was horrified. It was one of the few times over the years — and I've been here for a quarter century — when I spoke out and told people — in person — that their well-intended project was unlikely to produce the human happiness they envisioned. (I hope a metaphor alert is unnecessary, but... liberal policies....)

The results in other cities have been surprising and life-changing, [the artist] said in an interview. A woman in Sao Paulo heard her daughter play for the first time on one of Jerram's pianos in a train station. The mother had worked to pay for lessons for four years, but the family had no piano at home.

In Sydney, a couple met at a piano and are now married, Jerram said.

So 4 individuals had a warm experience that they could have had in some other way. But then it wouldn't have pumped up the egos of the artist and the mayor.

"It seems like a good idea that brings a sense of fun and playfulness to the city," said David Rosenfeld, who was riding his bike in the area.

A man on a mechanical device that will scoot him right out of there if somebody's granddad decides to play "Woolly Bully" or "96 Tears."

Most pianos will be open for song until 10 p.m.

Oh, fine then. 10. After your nerves have been jangled for — what? — 14 hours, you can try to settle down to get enough sleep before it all starts again.

At least "Tilted Arc" was quiet.

Let's compare 2 men and 2 women in the same situation — about to hang up the phone.

2 men (the subject is Israel):



2 women (talking about Obama's and Palin's books):



Discuss!

The sunset, a few minutes ago.

Seen from Picnic Point. It was really pretty, complete with Corgi. See the Corgi?



See?



Just a stranger's dogs. Not ours. We're dogless and get our dog-love where we can find it. A Corgi tonight. Perhaps poodles tomorrow.

It was quite beautiful. It was the first evening I saw fireflies. Fireflies, a runner in the dark, and...



... from over the lake, lights and crowd-squeals from a semi-final game of the 35th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Softball State Championships.

Yes, a mosquito bit me. But only one. There's nothing closer to perfection.

At the Dapple Café...



... no one will glare at you.

The NYT headline says: "Housing Market Slows as Buyers Get Picky."

But the text of the article says:

Everyone expected the housing market to suffer at least a temporary hangover after the government’s $8,000 tax credit expired, but not necessarily this much. Preliminary data from around the country indicates that the housing market began swooning last month immediately after the credit was no longer available.....

There isn't some new pickiness in the human character. The tax credit expired. Can we get a frank analysis of whether or not it was a bad policy?