Sunday, April 3, 2022

Althouse

Althouse

What a difference 31 minutes make — sunrise at 6:31 at 7:02.

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 04:08 PM PDT

The colors completely changed:

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IMG_9751 

Write about whatever you want in the comments.

J.K. Rowling is too busy to retweet all the death threats she gets, but this one's an exception.

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 01:02 PM PDT

You can watch the video here, at YouTube.

"Is this genocide?"/"Indeed. This is genocide."

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 12:50 PM PDT

Robot dog guards Pompeii.

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 12:42 PM PDT

"Last year, Tropicana introduced a marketing campaign called 'Take a Mimoment,' which showcased hidden mini-fridges around the house where parents could sneak a mimosa made with Tropicana juice."

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 07:04 AM PDT

Sobriety advocates quickly called the brand on it — after all, hiding drinks generally signals a drinking problem. Tropicana apologized, and celebrities including Molly Sims and Gabrielle Union took down their Instagram posts promoting the Tropicana mimosa. But it seems that we are still struggling with drinking..."

From "Women, Do We Need an Intervention?" by Ericka Andersen (NYT).

Ugh! Can you imagine thinking it's a good move to pass along that Tropicana promotion? It's easier to get that some "celebrities" were dumb than it is to understand how Tropicana saw fit to portray hiding liquor around the house as cute.

You can see the Tropicana promotion here, discussed at AdAge:

"Overwhelmingly, parents noted that they sometimes just need a moment for themselves—and actively seek out creative ways to find these moments around the house. We saw #TakeAMimoment as an opportunity to engage parents in a fun—and real—way," said Anup Shah, vice president and chief marketing officer Juice Brands, PepsiCo Beverages North America in a statement. "We can't be our best for our families unless we as parents take time for ourselves. Tropicana recognizes that it's important to balance self-care with caring for others, especially in times like these. As a father of three daughters, I get it."

Self-care = drinking! You'll be better for your family if you take time to drink! He was not kidding. 

The woods at dawn — 6:36, 6:38.

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 02:08 PM PDT

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"Who are these half-Biblical, half-science-fictional figures, with their button-like nipples and dark tufts of pubic hair, their bodies splayed jarringly against an indifferently cheerful landscape?"

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 05:57 AM PDT

"What is the purpose and meaning of the obscure rituals that Dunham paints these characters engaging in, with their eyes averted from the viewer, as if reluctant to have their private customs disturbed or even looked at?"

Questions asked by Naomi Fry in The New Yorker, in "Carroll Dunham's Paintings Make You Squirm/The artist discusses his most recent work, how the art world resembles a cult, and what it's like having a famous child."

The artist — Lena Dunham's father — gives some answers: 

"[The] males and females together... appear to be copulating so there's something for them to do together. It took me years to imagine a way that I could work with a subject like that without it being gratuitously sensationalistic. That's the way it goes with painting, for me.... And I completely reject any association with porn or anything like that, because that's just not an interest of mine. As I've told people for years, the images that involve females to me have more to do with the idea that everyone has a mother than they do with any idea about sexuality, per se....

"If you can find me some kid somewhere who's jerking off looking at pictures of my paintings, I'd love to meet them. But I find it highly unlikely. [Laughs.] That's just not the zone. There's nothing about that in what the paintings look like or in the intention behind them, as far as I can see. And I'm not saying that to be disingenuous. Our culture has relegated thinking about the human body to some pretty creepy domains, but art's been around an awfully long time, and the human body has been a subject since the beginning...."

Did "Saturday Night Live" do something good with the Will Smith incident?

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 03:57 AM PDT

I've reviewed the clips from last night's show — hastily, I admit — and I think the only really entertaining thing was this long rap about the unwillingness to put up with lengthy movies:

"And while the president has never communicated his frustrations directly to Mr. Garland, he has said privately that he wanted Mr. Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor..."

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 03:41 AM PDT

"... who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan. 6... The Jan. 6 investigation is a test not just for Mr. Garland, but for Mr. Biden as well.... Complicating matters for Mr. Biden is the fact that his two children are entangled in federal investigations, making it all the more important that he stay out of the Justice Department's affairs or risk being seen as interfering for his own family's gain... Justice Department officials do not keep Mr. Biden abreast of any investigation, including those involving his children.... The cases involving Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden are worked on by career officials, and people close to the president... have no visibility into them.... The Justice Department has given no public indication about its timeline or whether prosecutors might be considering a case against Mr. Trump.... Even in private, [Garland] relies on a stock phrase: 'Rule of law,' he says,'means there not be one rule for friends and another for foes.'... Quiet and reserved, Mr. Garland is well known for the job he was denied: a seat on the Supreme Court.... His critics say that his... years as an appeals court judge made him slow and overly deliberative...."

From "Garland Faces Growing Pressure as Jan. 6 Investigation Widens/The inquiry is a test for President Biden and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who both came into office promising to restore the Justice Department's independence" (NYT).

I hope Garland is true to his "stock phrase." To call it a "stock phrase" is to suggest it's an insincere platitude. Those who are disappointed that Garland doesn't seem to be abusing his power should be ashamed of themselves.

"The vast majority of those leaving Ukraine are women and girls and the vast majority of those trafficked are women and girls so you can see the math is not good. It’s a toxic cocktail of risk."

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 03:21 AM PDT

Said Val Richey, "a special representative for combating human trafficking at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe," quoted in "Ukraine refugees go from one hell to another as abusers exploit women and children/People traffickers pretending to be doctors and Good Samaritans are taking advantage of border chaos to deceive evacuees" (London Times).

Some young Ukrainians are taking matters into their own hands. Every day after online lessons, Tymur Tsaplienko and his best friend Dasha Griban, both 16, head to Warsaw Central station where they don hi-vis jackets and hand out blue and yellow leaflets to arriving refugees, warning them not to travel alone and to photograph numberplates of cars.

"The smaller Ukrainian force was vastly underestimated. 'It’s really been kind of astonishing, in the sort of the cynicism, the stupidity with which the operation was carried out.'"

Posted: 03 Apr 2022 03:11 AM PDT

From "How Kyiv Has Withstood Russia's Attacks" (NYT). The internal quote is from Scott Boston, senior defense analyst at RAND Corporation. 

At the link, the text is accompanied by excellent graphics — including "street view" maps. Highly informative.

Some excerpts: 

Russian leadership was deluded that Ukraine would collapse at the first sign of fighting, and that President Volodymyr Zelensky would flee, said Nick Reynolds, a military analyst at the Royal United Services Institute....

"You need to be good at this," said Scott Boston, an analyst at RAND who studies the Russian military and land warfare. "And I don't think I have any real evidence that Russia has trained to do large-scale urban warfare."...

Even in places where Russians got closer, they had few major routes to enter the city. That predictability is part of what makes a well-defended city so difficult to capture.... In a fight outside of Brovary last month, seen in footage released by Ukrainian forces, Russian tanks were sitting ducks, ambushed and destroyed by the Ukrainian artillery fire and anti-tank missiles....

Ukrainians appeared to further constrain the Russian advance by blowing up bridges and dams, flooding areas north of Kyiv.

Sometimes it snows in April...

Posted: 02 Apr 2022 06:08 PM PDT

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Looks grim, but it was nice — big snowflakes, fog on the lake, almost completely deserted. I enjoy the gentle light and the cool air. Warm snow is so much better than cold rain. You enjoy your climate, and I will enjoy mine. The days of temperatures in the 30s and 40s are delightful!

Talk about the weather — or anything you want — in the comments.

The lake pictures were taken at noon. Here's the view of the backyard at 8 in the morning:

IMG_9724

"Ukrainian soldiers pushed through areas around the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, encountering the grim wreckage left behind by Russian forces retreating from the region."

Posted: 02 Apr 2022 04:16 PM PDT

"The devastated cities and villages around Kyiv bore the hallmarks of Russia's early assaults and failures: Incinerated tanks, abandoned defensive positions and the bodies of both soldiers and civilians. Despite the collapse, at least for now, of Russia's initial attempt to seize the capital, it was unclear whether the Russian troops were gone for good or were trying to regroup after weeks of intense Ukrainian resistance and crippling logistical failures."

The NYT reports.

My TikTok selections of the day. I've got 6 for you today.

Posted: 02 Apr 2022 04:05 PM PDT

1. An impressive demonstration of the difficulty of speaking Chinese.

2. Charming sidewalk chalkings that take advantage of real cracks and other anomalies.

3. The father doesn't remember, but the daughter does.

4. She found the right rock for her mermaid pose.

5. From a series of self-defense moves learned from horses.

6. The easiest way to fold a towel is to think of the towel as a Facebook group.

"[Santa Claus] is not affiliated with any party but describes himself as an 'independent, progressive, Democratic socialist.'"

Posted: 02 Apr 2022 03:13 PM PDT

"The man once known as Thomas O'Connor changed his legal name in 2005 and now lives, aptly, in the city of North Pole, outside Fairbanks, where he serves on the city council." 

From "51 candidates: A wild U.S. House race takes shape in Alaska" (Anchorage Daily News).

Santa's a familiar face in the crowd of 51. So, too, is Sarah Palin, who, unlike Santa, does not shake when she laughs like a bowlful of jelly:
at

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