Universally Translated: Althouse

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

"Scientists say they've carried out the first rigorous analysis of dance moves that make men attractive to women."

The evolutionary psychologists are at it again. In this mode of thinking, as you should expect, a man is perceived as attractive when in fact he's got good "reproductive potential." So dance like you could impregnate a woman with a healthy baby and she'll think you're a good dancerThe scientists have provided an animation to demonstrate the technique — ironically using a genitalia-free computer figure.

"A small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s."

"The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month...."

Oh! It is so sadIt is doubly sadThe workers are losing their jobs, and we, who love traditional light bulbs are being deprived of a product we wantAnd those vile CFL bulbs? They're made in China.

Thanks a lot, Congress

Now, how many incandescent bulbs do I need to stockpile last until the end of my life? I need to buy them before 2014....

There's been a lot of noise about sexism in the NYT approach to book reviews.

I've read this so you don't have toIt boils down to a complaint that favoring literary fiction over genre fiction has a disparate impact on female writers.

Who stole Bucky's head?

It's worth $4,000 and it's important.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

"[T]he question is not why do men stay for boys, but rather why mothers of daughters are divorcing more than mothers of sons."

Relax, they've figured out a female-favoring reason why couples with daughters are more likely to divorce than couples with sonsThe old explanation that fathers prefer boys must give way to the new explanation: With a daughter at home, being good and supportive as daughters tend to be, a woman has less need for a husbandThere, now, aren't you so much happier? The universe makes senseWomen, goodMen, bad.

"Why don't Americans pay more attention to growing income disparity? One reason may be our enduring belief in social mobility."

Timothy Noah wrings his hands and puzzles over the perplexing problem that he, himself, answers with astonishing ease.

"So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse."

Marty Peretz, The New Republic's owner, opines about Muslims

The Apple update that has made it impossible for me to watch video or open iTunes.

Thanks a lotI can't even go anywhere on line without a pop-up window telling me what I already know: Your update sucks

I woke up this morning thinking the charmingly mellow James Taylor song "Carolina in My Mind," started watching a video of it on YouTube, decided to buy it in iTunes, opened iTunes, got prompted to update software, and now iTunes opens only to crash immediately, so I can't buy it, and I can't even get to the YouTube video anymoreIf I see the phrase "Plug-in failure" a few hundred more times, I may lose my mind..or my 25-year-long love for Apple.

ADDED: This and today's cool Google doodle have motivated me to try Chrome as my new browserSafari had been crashing repeatedly even before the current updateUnfortunately, I still can't get Flash to work.

"Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are 'visual learners' and others are auditory; some are 'left-brain' students, others 'right-brain.'"

It's junk science.

But there is good science to support the notion that you should study in multiple locations:

The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are consciousIt colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyardForcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.

More scientifically tested study tips at the link.

"Sarah Palin rips non-Muslim Obama over mosque while Lady Gaga remains silent."

SorryI'm just trying to rip off Howard Kurtz.

"Facebook is waging a 3-pronged war on websites."

Discuss.

Democrats attack homeless as unserious and fake.

In Arizona.

“It’s unbelievableIt’s not rightIt’s deceitful,” said Jackie Thrasher, a former Democratic legislator in northwest Phoenix...“...What’s happening here just doesn’t washIt doesn’t pass the smell test.”

Doesn't wash! Doesn't pass the smell test! WowJust..wow.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Obama isn't rounding to the nearest billion dollarsHe's not even rounding to the nearest 10 billion.

CNN: "Obama pushes $50 billion in infrastructure spending."

WaPo: "Obama to call for $100 billion business tax credit."

He's rounding to the nearest 50 billion dollars

It's utterly terrifyingI keep seeing articles about how the Democrats are in a panic about the approaching electionsThey should have panicked over their own proposals.

"You may be amazed at the lack of finger-wagging or reminders that acid was illegal and perhaps bad for you."

The Nation is surprised that the NYT had nothing but fun with the old story of Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter while tripping on LSD

If it seems almost routine to throw a no-hitter now, then consider one that was not.

Forty years ago, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates raised the degree of difficulty to new, well, heightsHe threw a no-hitter with Richard MNixon calling balls and strikes and Jimi Hendrix, wielding a Fender Stratocaster instead of a Louisville Slugger, digging in at home plate.

Or at least that is what he thought while pitching under the influence of LSD.

Who knows what really happened, but it's Ellis's own voice that's the soundtrack of this animation by James Blagden:

And here's the Robin Williams interpretation:

Sunset on the E-Way.

Here's where we walked today:

"The 'E' in E-Way stands for Educational, Ecological, Esthetic and Environmental."

Obama: "They talk about me like a dog."

"That's not in my prepared remarks." Uh, okayYou just threw that in, thenBut why?

IN THE COMMENTS: rhhardin said:

The Mickey Mouse microphone is mocking Obama's ears too.

HaAnd Meade is saying to me — out loud, in the flesh:

I'd like Obama to say exactly who said what and whenBe more specific!

Also I said: Poor Obama, he got so used to people treating him like he was so wonderful, and Meade said: "They treated him like a god, then they treated him like a dog." The old god/dog flip!

Hey!

I think I got the blog working again

Did you notice it was out of service?

IN THE COMMENTS: Jason (the commenter) said:

Yes, it was taken over by some weird person who pretended to be you and marry one of the commentersIt's been a weird tripGlad to have you back(What have you been doing the last year or so?)

Palladian said:

Yeah, all the frequent posts concerning 893-mile bicycle rides through the Andes, 627-mile cross-country skiing trips through the Alpines, recipes for squirrel and morel mushroom en croûte cooked in the wild, 2800-mile drives to the middle of nowhere to collect pigment samples for house-painting projects, cutting turf with plow oxen to plant beds of sorghum..very, very distressing to those of us allergic to the unnatural lifestyles of healthy, happy outdoors-people.

Thank goodness we're back to withering, subtle mockery delivered while sipping coffee in cafes, the sort of thing that brought the better of us here to begin with.

"I can see why we should promote women's rights as a covert national security concept."

"But if 'they' know we're doing that, it will undercut the cause of women's rights."

A comment by me, on jac's "Why are young men often passionate about religion and war? Can women put an end to war?"

The doodler's dream job.

At Google.

"Cafes..have always been venues for conspicuous contemplation..places to read Camus’ most obscure collections of essays, places to doodle evocatively in your large Moleskin notebook."

Free WiFi users wreck the hip LoFi ambiance of the coffeehouse in Greg Beato's brain.

(Photo by John Althouse Cohen)

"Some Muslims said their situation felt more precarious now..."

"..under a president who is perceived as not only friendly to Muslims but is wrongly believed by many Americans to be Muslim himself — than it was under President George WBush."

[Eboo Patel, a founder and director of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based community service program] explained, “After Sept11, we had a Republican president who had the confidence and trust of red America, who went to a mosque and said, ‘Islam means peace,’ and who said ‘Muslims are our neighbors and friends,’ and who distinguished between terrorism and Islam.”

Now, unlike MrBush then, the politicians with sway in red state America are the ones whipping up fear and hatred of Muslims, MrPatel said.

So Bush was better, but somehow the problems are still the Republicans' fault.

What's the difference between doing the right thing and doing the right thing so people will think that you're the kind of person that does the right thing?

"Craigslist, by shutting off its 'adult services' section and slapping a 'censored' label in its place, may be engaging in a high-stakes stunt to influence public opinion...."

I'm not asking whether shutting off the adult services ads is the right thing to do — not that you can't discuss that if you want. I'm really wondering what's the point of accusing a business (or a person) of trying to influence public opinion when it takes some action that supposed to be the right thing to do.

I think the real accusation is that the action is only being taken because attention is being paid to a problem and that, later, when attention wanes, the business/person will go back to their old waysBut is that the situation Craiglist is in? If and when it goes back to its old ways, people are going to noticeMoreover, the recent attention has come in the form of threats of legal action, but Craigslist is obviously not liable (because of the Communications Decency Act, as explained at the link)It's not a matter, then, of trying to avoid these lawsuits by temporarily stopping (even assuming that would work).

Sunday, September 05, 2010

At the Crossover Café Café...

..there's nothing to be angry about.

On the Sugar River Trail.

We biked the Sugar River Trail today, from New Glarus Woods State Park to Albany and back — 33 miles.

"Will you quit annoying me?"

That line appears at 1:58 in this clip from the great Marx Brothers movie "Duck Soup":

It's a funny scene with all sorts of things in it, such as Harpo surreptitiously cutting off the man's pocket and using it as a bag for his peanuts(Yeah, count the phallic symbols.) But that line — "Will you quit annoying me?" — has stuck with me for many years as a particular type of funninessI was IM-ing my son John about it this morning.

Me:

do you remember the line "stop annoying me" --- finding that really funny? what movie and how would you explain why we thought it was so funny?

John:

"would you quit annoying me!!!"

Duck Soup [+ link to the above clip]

similar to W.CFields in It's a Gift saying, "I hate you"*

In a comedy you expect wit, wisecracks, innuendo ...So it's funny if someone blatantly says the obvious thing you've been watching for several minutes.

Me:

thanks!!!

it's the element of surprise, but the surprising thing is it's flatfootedness

it's surprisingly ordinary

John:

Also, it's funny for someone to openly say what they think of someone as if there are no social inhibitions

Reminds me of a scene in The Office (last episode of season 2) where Michael Scott is talking to everyone in the office about they're going to have a gambling night in the warehouse....

Michael Scott: Oh, and another fun thingWe, at the end of the night, are going to give the check to an actual group of Boy ScoutsRight, Toby? We're gonna...

Toby: Actually, I didn't think it was appropriate to invite children since it's, uh, you know, there's gambling and alcoholAnd it's in our dangerous warehouseAnd it's a school nightAnd, you know, Hooters is cateringIs that enou-is that enough? Should I keep going?

Michael Scott: Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it not..that wayI hate..so much about the things that you choose to be.

Ha ha

Speaking of analyzing exactly why something is funny, I put a lot of thought into the title of that blog post last night with the praying mantisOriginally, I had "Non Compos Mentis Campus Mantis," then, thinking it might be off-putting to start in Latin, I made it "Campus Mantis: Non Compos Mentis." Then, this morning, I was sorry I switched it"Non Compos Mentis Campus Mantis" seemed much better — kind of like a 3 Stooges titleLooking at all the 3 Stooges titles, I'm not really sure why.

_________

* The key segment is at 4:40:

CORRECTION: "Praying" changed to "campus" 3 times.

"Her exposed midriff that is the cynosure of all eyes has become the talking point in Bollywood."

Sorry, I've gotten absorbed in The Times of India this morningI love the writing styleCynosureIt has never in my life occurred to me to use that word

cy·no·sure...
1something that strongly attracts attention by its brilliance, interest, etc.: the cynosure of all eyes....

cynosure
1590s, from M.Frcynosure (16c.), from LCynosura, lit"dog's tail," the constellation (now Ursa Minor) containing the North Star, the focus of navigation, from Gkkynosoura, lit"dog's tail," from kyon (genkynos; see canine) + oura "tail."

Her belly is the dog's tail of all eyesWhat a melee of body parts!

"Many commercial sex workers in their 50s admit that they are like stale meat."

"Yet, they don't quit the professionThey see two or three clients a day, compared to eight to ten they were used to in their younger daysTheir clients include young boys who are scared of the 'bullying girls' of their ageAnd this happens across the country."

Getting the ax.

Literally and, then, figuratively.

***

“I hope the tribunal takes a rational decision on thisHe has been punished more than what his mistake merited,” MrBaby said.

MrBaby.

"They can share a pool, movie theater, bowling alley and big backyard with friends."

"That's allowed the girls to have some good and happy relationships here in D.C."

Because it's so hard to be one of the popular kids.

Saturday, September 04, 2010

"18 Signs That America Is Rotting Right In Front Of Our Eyes."

Pravda headline, a little too close to the truth to be funny.

Once upon a time, the American people worked feverishly to construct beautiful, shining communities from coast to coastBut now we get to watch those communities literally crumble and decay in slow motionNothing lasts forever...

Also in Pravda:

A restaurant in Germany has been conducting an advertising campaign for people to donate body parts which will be transformed into delicious dishes at a new restaurant called Flime...[T]he donors will be considered “members” of a new dining cultThe “members” will declare themselves willing to donate “any part of their body” while the resulting hospital costs will be borne by the restaurant which is looking for “an open-minded surgeon.”

Campus Mantis: Non Compos Mentis.

It's Saturday night, and the praying mantis at the University of Wisconsin is restless and recklessWe try to help, but he seems lacking in rationality(WARNING: 1 bad word.)

A Saturday ride on the Military Ridge Trail.

We began in Blue Mounds:

We got all the way to Ridgeway, 10 miles down:

And headed back:

To make a 20-mile ride..

..which seemed about right.

What made it especially nice? Llamas...

..and, on return home, pizza, Meade-made:

So beautiful!

At the Cool Reflection Café...

..you may coolly reflect (or spout off passionately)It's another open threadThat's all.

"I have no definitive definition of a masterpiece but, in my view, it is a work that permits diverse interpretations, indeed contradictions."

Ha ha. Get it? He (Laurent Le Bon, director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz) has to avoid tripping over his own conceptYou can't have a "definitive definition" that is about diversity and contradictionsIf you're into diversity and contradictions, how can you answer any of the questions that are asked?

And.."definitive definition" — isn't that a funny term? It should be a redundancyIf it's a definition at all, it should necessarily be definitiveIf he can't give a definitive definition, he's not giving a definition at all, one would thinkHe's eschewing definitionHe wants people to give diverse and contradictory meanings to the term used to name the show at his museum.

So..do you care what works of art get labeled "masterpiece"? If so, why and what would you put the label on?

"The older I get, the fewer books I finish, and the more I read highly selectively — fast forward set on high."

Writes Kenneth Anderson:

This is either the getting of wisdom — or the gradual shutting down of (what to call it?) one’s social and engagement functions as one gets closer to in-turnedness of dying, the inability of the aging to take in new stuff because we are too occupied trying to process the accumulation of the previous decades.

Do older people read differently? If so, why?

Do blogging lawprofs wield too much power?

Orin Kerr reports:
On August 19th, Justice Kennedy gave an address that included an interesting passing remark about the role of blogsJustice Kennedy was talking about how law review case comments generally come out too late to be of use to the Court (especially in the context of deciding whether to grant certiorari in a case)As a result, when Justice Kennedy asks his clerks to look to see what the law reviews have said about a particular case, there isn’t any commentary yetJustice Kennedy adds: “I’ve found, what my clerks do now, when they have interesting cases — They read blogs.”

This means that the lawprofs who keep up high-profile blogs have disproportionate influenceYou have traditional lawprofs laboring over law review articles, but these articles come out too late to discuss a case that's pending in the Supreme CourtOne answer — I'm not the first to say this* — is that law review articles should properly be about something other than the latest pending or just-decided cases, something more timeless and profoundBut I think that most law professors would like to be involved in the legal developments of the dayIt must be irritating to see that the lawprof bloggers have a special line to the Court.

This may stir up an old question that I know nags at some law professors:
Will I be required to blog? Very soon after I started blogging, I heard the question is it acceptable for lawprofs to blog? and then, right after that, the question will I be required to blog? jumped upIn the minds of some non-blogging lawprofs, it preceded the question is it good for lawprofs to blog? — which seemed like a more appropriate question to meBut I can see why someone with a legal mind would ask will I be required to blog? before is it good for lawprofs to blog? It's the same reason lawyers think what do I want the answer to be? before they try to figure out what the answer is
Anyway, Justice Kennedy's remark shows why it's good for lawprofs to blog, but it would be ridiculous to require lawprofs to blogWouldn't it? Or is it ridiculous to require lawprofs to write law review articles?

_________

*And I'm writing this too quickly to figure out who else has said this.

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If older people are less likely to read straight through a whole book, it's probably because:
	The closer you are to death, the less reason there is to add more content to your brain.
	The more you've put into your brain over the years the harder it is to jam in new material.
	You've already read the things that have most influenced you, so the new things are less valuable.
	You're so experienced that you don't need all the background and explaining that pads out most books.
	You have less time left to live and more wisdom about when you are wasting it.

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