Althouse |
- "Socialcandy are slightly sticky gummies, in opaque pastel shades... and different shapes, most of which take the form of a word, acronym, or symbol of the Internet age."
- "A company that rents Dumpsters in six Wisconsin cities, but not in Madison, has a page on its website devoted to Dumpster diving, which states it's not illegal in Wisconsin."
- At the Sunrise Café...
- A carefully selected sequence of TikToks. Let me know what you like best.
- "Driving a Tesla is suddenly like one of those yahoos parading with a Trump flag on his pickup. Never Trump, never Tesla for this voter/consumer."
- After Roe, it's going to come down to a number — a number of weeks — so let's talk about that now.
- "The Carmel Clay community is honored that a mother in crisis would entrust her newborn baby to Carmel firefighters."
- "Are we objectifying the sun?"
- George W. Bush denounces "the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq."
- "She was yelling at me, saying, 'Why are you whispering? You don’t have to whisper'... and I was telling her, 'Ma’am, he’s still in the store. He’s shooting.'"
- "If Depp somehow prevails, one can expect similar lawsuits against other women who say they’ve survived abuse."
- "[T]o counteract preconceptions of the star players as squabbling hysterical celebrities with skewed value systems and distorted morals..."
| Posted: 20 May 2022 05:06 AM PDT "There's a LOL, a yolo, a hashtag, a thumb's-up sign that looks like the one on Facebook. There's an O.M.G., a SELFIE, an @, and [another symbol that is is html code and would screw up this post].... Nordic countries, in general, are crazy for candy... But if any one particular country knows its candy, it's Sweden.... In Sweden, every Saturday is effectively a national holiday, called lördagsgodis, which means 'Saturday candy.'... [I]t tasted of artificial strawberry flavor, as opposed to strawberries themselves, just as the yellow half of a two-color, pill-shaped banana-and-caramel 'bub'... tasted, quite pleasingly, of artificial banana. The flavor of a skull-shaped gummy, on the other hand, Pepto-Bismol-pink and coated in sour sugar crystals, was shockingly reminiscent of a real strawberry, specifically an alpine variety.... I stocked up on those, plus some gummies in the shape of vampire teeth, gummy Coke bottles; a scoopful of delicate little marshmallows that looked like pink-capped mushrooms; and a small selection of what we in America know as Swedish fish but in Sweden are called pastellfiskar, or pale fish...." From "How to Eat Candy Like a Swedish Person" by Hannah Goldfield in The New Yorker. |
| Posted: 20 May 2022 02:57 AM PDT "It advises people to read the signs around the Dumpster, and warns that if there's a 'no trespassing' sign or if the Dumpster is enclosed by a gate or fence on private property, not to go diving.... The benefits outweigh the risks, [Travis] Flannery said, as he pulled a new dog crate from his storage unit in the basement of his Cross Plains apartment building. He estimated it retails for $100. He also recently found an aquarium and filters still wrapped in plastic. 'I used to be in the fish hobby,' he said. 'This is a rimless, glass fish tank, brand new. If I can't sell it, I'll use it. Fish tank filters new are $40 apiece.' Also in his locker were bottles of soda, collectibles for children, tote bags, strings of lights, throw pillows, blankets, seasonal decorations, artwork, dog food, cat litter, pet toys, dozens of picture frames with the glass still intact and the unopened coffeemaker, which is sold online for $40. Flannery said he learns the return policies of some stores from their online posts. There are stores, he said, that will get a case of something and if one of the products has broken open, the whole case is thrown away instead of just the open one. 'Here's a case of bleach,' he said. 'Why throw this away? It's bleach.'... So far, he's been caught twice, first by a Madison police officer. Flannery said he was with a friend and the officer asked what they were doing. 'We explained to him that we were Dumpster diving and just looking for some stuff that retail stores throw away,' Flannery said. 'He asked us if we were illegally dumping or anything of the sort. We said, 'No, we are actually taking things.' And he told us to have a wonderful night.'" From "Confessions of a successful Madison Dumpster diver" (Wisconsin State Journal). |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 06:05 PM PDT  ... you can talk about whatever you want. |
| A carefully selected sequence of TikToks. Let me know what you like best. Posted: 19 May 2022 07:23 PM PDT 1. When they tell you you look like a "yassified"* Dwight D. Eisenhower. 2. When you're 15, and you write a letter to your favorite actress, and it's Jane Powell. 4. When things are not really that perfect... and it's perfect. 5. How to be spontaneous on TikTok. 6. That CIA document on consciousness and frequencies. 7. How much can a little boy love his baby sister? _____________ * I learned a new word. According to the NYT: "To 'yassify' something... is to apply several beauty filters to a picture using FaceApp, an A.I. photo-editing application, until its subject — be that a celebrity, a historical figure, a fictional character or a work of fine art — becomes almost unrecognizably made up." |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 09:32 AM PDT That's the top-rated comment at "Elon Musk still has to answer to others" by Sebastian Mallaby (WaPo). What did Musk do to deserve that? Here's Mallaby (I've added boldface):
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| After Roe, it's going to come down to a number — a number of weeks — so let's talk about that now. Posted: 19 May 2022 09:02 AM PDT You can already see where we are going — if you care to look. And if you don't care to look, maybe it's because your number is either 0 or 100, but most people think abortion should be permitted (tolerated) up to some point and then not afterwards (or only later to save the life of the mother). It was always a problem that Roe had defined a right that contained time limits. That seemed more legislative than judicial. But with Roe overruled — if that is indeed what happens — there will need to be legislation, and a number will be chosen. Maybe we'll get one number from Congress, but if not, we'll get numbers from the states, and what should the number be? Here's a new poll from NPR that may suggest where we will end up:
There could be a much more fine tuned question. For mid-range options, we're only seeing 26 weeks — which is later than the Roe viability line — and 13 weeks — which is still later than the Texas Heartbeat Act at issue in the new case. You've got 59% of people wanting at least 13 weeks of freedom to obtain an abortion, so perhaps that's what we should expect. And yet, it's going to vary from state to state. It's what Congress would end up with if it had the capacity to produce something bipartisan, but I don't expect that. And I do think that opinion will shift once a substantial proportion of the people focus on the numerical question. I'd like to see a survey that shows clear and neutral pictures of fetal development from week one to week 26 — just pictures, no numbers — and that asks people to choose the point where abortion should be banned (except to save the life of the mother). If you just ask people to pick 26 or 13 — which is what NPR did — it's much more abstract and crude. If you ask people to point at the first image they would want to protect, I wonder what would happen. I think a lot of people would refuse to participate in a survey like that. But come on! We're going to need a number. No, I suspect most people aren't going to want to talk about numbers. But I think we'll end up with legislation, and a number is going to be needed. |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 07:51 AM PDT "Our firefighters believe every baby deserves a home. We are proud to be able to do our part to ensure this baby finds their forever home." Said Fire Chief David Haboush, quoted in "3rd newborn surrendered to same Safe Haven Baby Box in 5 weeks" (nbc15.com). |
| "Are we objectifying the sun?" Posted: 19 May 2022 07:20 AM PDT I overheard a young man say in the presence of 3 other young men as the sunrise looked about exactly like this:
I did not hear the other words, so this is a remark out of context, other than the context of the look of the sunrise at that moment. It was 5:35 a.m., and they had to have walked at least 0.7 mile to reach this vantage point. The sun was only faintly visible. My interpretation is that they'd been talking about the weakness of the sun's display, how the sun was not looking good enough this morning, and it seemed as though they found themselves assuming that the sun ought to look good for them, to serve their interests, so the young man made a joke that drew on some things they'd learned about feminism. |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 06:59 AM PDT
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| Posted: 19 May 2022 09:35 AM PDT "'I'm scared for my life. I don't want him to hear me. Can you please send help?' She got mad at me, hung up in my face." Said Latisha Rogers, quoted in "911 Dispatcher May Be Fired Over Handling of Buffalo Shooting Call/Erie County began an investigation after a supermarket worker said the dispatcher hung up on her when she called during the attack" (NYT). |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 06:21 AM PDT "Already, the singer Marilyn Manson has filed a defamation suit against his ex-fiancée Evan Rachel Wood, one of several women who have accused him of sexual violence. But Depp needn't succeed in court to achieve his ends. In a 2016 email to his former agent, Christian Carino, Depp wrote that Heard was 'begging for total global humiliation.' Now this televised trial has resulted in an explosion of hatred and derision directed at her. The volatile actress — who at times was violent toward Depp, and who never made good on a promise to donate her entire divorce settlement to charity — is very far from a perfect victim. That made her the perfect object of a #MeToo backlash. Online, there's a level of industrial-scale bullying directed at Heard that puts all previous social media pile-ons to shame.... Meanwhile, every platform appears to be full of adoring pro-Depp memes.... [T]here's a history of online communities fixating 'on theories that the male objects of their fandom were being manipulated and tortured by less-famous, female romantic partners.' There seems, however, to be a broader misogynist frenzy at work, one characteristic of the deeply reactionary moment we're living through." From "Amber Heard and the Death of #MeToo" by Michelle Goldberg (NYT). |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 06:09 AM PDT "... they had to don the camouflage of trust. The clothes we subliminally associate with adulthood, responsibility and reliability. In a word: suits.... In the end, this is partly a trial of image, and of how things appear on the outside versus what happens behind closed doors. Of natural prejudices — about celebrity and what it represents, of privilege, of gender roles — and the way such preconceptions can be altered via appearance and affect. Was Ms. Heard playing a role, as Mr. Depp's lawyers suggested? Of course. So was Mr. Depp. (So were their lawyers.) Not just because they are professional actors, but because that is what testimony demands: a convincing portrayal of honesty, of believability, using all the tools available to create character. In every meaning of that word." From "In Court, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Dress to Suggest/Honesty, respectability, sincerity — the clothes make the argument" by Vanessa Friedman (NYT). |
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