We went back to the pool today, or rather, all of us went to the pool today. We had to, because the shower in our Airbnb has fatally malfunctioned, and that was the only way we could all start the day nice and clean. Afterward, we had hot dogs, sold at a stand outside. I had the Elvis Hot Dog, seen here:
Yes, those are those little matchstick fried potatoes you buy in a can when you’re too cheap to spring for chips. (I love them; they were a preferred snack of my childhood.) What they have to do with Elvis I can’t say, as I thought he preferred fried PB&banana sandwiches, but I’m by no means an expert. However, as an American, I thought I needed to underline this little bit of overseas interpretation of US culture with an endorsement. And it was fine, although Icelanders have a strange idea of what constitutes mustard.
I think I’m done with Reykjavik, and today we picked up a car that will allow us to venture farther afield. It was cloudy today, so after the pool, we did the museums, one featuring incomprehensible modern art — my rule for these is, the longer the explanatory text on the wall placard, the worse the artistic failure — and the penis museum. Of this, I have to say: Eh. Penises, penises and more penises, and with a few exceptions, the whole thing seemed to boil down to this:
1) Penises in preservative solution inevitably end up looking like a meat accident;
2) The bigger the animal? The bigger the penis! Who knew?
Along those lines, Alan, right, with a whale dick – blue, I believe:
But of course the real action was in the gift shop, where I passed on everything, including the “It’s not for pussies” T-shirt and dick-shaped bottle opener. And these cuddly toys:
Yesterday was this modernist masterpiece:
Lutherans at their most majestic. I spotted these chairs on the altar and thought, now that’s what you call Scandinavian design at its best:
But mostly I tried to sit quietly and respectfully, because I may not be a Lutheran, but I know how to behave in a church, which is more than I can say for half the tourists there.
Time to wrap and plan for tomorrow. Keep the United States warm for me, because I’m chilling at 64 degrees N.
MichaelG said on June 8, 2016 at 6:15 pm
I always loved those potato sticks. Pik-Nik. https://www.google.com/express/product/9466190386707401950_1705736023348213693_11268992?mall=Nevada&directCheckout=1
I think I’d be intimidated in that museum.
I just looked up the weather for Reykjavik. You can keep it. Sactown will be nice and warm when you get back to the US.
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susan said on June 8, 2016 at 6:44 pm
Looks like that hot dog belongs in that dick museum.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 8, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Those chancel chairs look more comfortable than 99.9% of all the seats I’ve taken in the neighborhood of a pulpit, and I’ve sat in more than a few. Thanks for the Nordic church pic — did you take one down the length of the nave/main seating area?
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nancy said on June 8, 2016 at 7:40 pm
I would have, but all you’d see would be Chinese tourists. Google Hallgrimska church, and I’m sure there are dozens.
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 7:55 pm
Love the church!
I’m feeling better and better about running against the bigot Trump, and even beginning to feel better about the possibilities of down-ballot races. Trump has no campaign, and no money: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/poor-house-donald-strikes-again
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 8, 2016 at 8:04 pm
Try this, Hallgrímskirkja fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm8igCmEt1Y
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Sherri said on June 8, 2016 at 8:38 pm
This is, by far, the best thing I’ve read about the Brock Turner sentencing: http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/brock-turner-the-sort-of-defendant-who-is-spared-severe-impact/10288
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Joe K said on June 8, 2016 at 9:03 pm
I decided not to comment on the presidential race, im not going to change anyone’s mind just like your not going to change mine, but one Hillary question, who the hell is responsible for dressing her? Last tonight she looked like she was wearing a tunic from the Kim Jong-Un wedding collection, the woman dresses like some old frump, come on she is suppose to be the smartest woman in the world, she should use some of that Wall Street speech money and buy a mirror.
Pilot Joe
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Suzanne said on June 8, 2016 at 10:04 pm
Joe K, this is why being a woman in the spotlight is so difficult. Does anyone comment on Trump’s tie? Or say that Sanders obviously wore that same black suit at the last campaign stop? No. But with a woman, it’s open season on the hairstyle (well, OK, it’s open season on Trump’s hairdo, too, for obvious reasons), her clothes, her shoes, the pitch of her voice, the size of her thighs. If Hillary found a suit style that was comfy & well fitting & had it in several different colors & wore it over & over, she’d be criticized for that, too. While the male candidate can wear a black suit, white shirt, red tie every single appearance and nobody bats an eye.
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basset said on June 8, 2016 at 10:14 pm
“Kim Jong-Un wedding collection,” good one, Joe. Bet Hillary wouldn’t go anywhere near those hot pools.
In Iceland, you get a hot dog? I understand they eat rotten shark meat too, that’d be memorable.
And here’s the Elvis sandwich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool's_Gold_Loaf
Made one years ago just to say that I had, took one bite and that was enough.
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brian stouder said on June 8, 2016 at 10:16 pm
Leaving aside the penis museum, I’m betting that modernistic church erection has a big organ, too
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Danny said on June 8, 2016 at 10:39 pm
No, Brian! You do not get a thread win. Now go sit in the corner and contemplate what you did wrong!
Lol!
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MichaelG said on June 9, 2016 at 12:47 am
Gosh, Joe. You’re absolutely right. I was going to vote for Ms. Clinton but since you pointed out her sartorial sins I have seen the light and will vote for Mr. Trump.
Seriously, Joe, just what the fuck do you expect a 68 year old woman to wear? Please give us some idea of what her wardrobe should look like. I mean that. Tell us.
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Dexter said on June 9, 2016 at 1:19 am
Enjoy the warmth, nance…I just checked the weather for tonight: 58F. By Saturday, rain and 88.
Serious mind games going on in the NBA Finals, as each home team is winning by huge margins. Last night, Cleveland won over Golden State, 120-90. I get the Detroit Pistons and the Cavs on cable sports, every game, and while my team will always be Detroit, the Cavs were really good so I watched them play many games, and I wish them the best. I was on a kick some time ago when, for nine summers, I saw about 90% of weekend home games the Indians played, driving clear across the top of Ohio, not making any lifelong pals but I’d see the same characters week after week and I grew fond of the fanbase. Cleveland deserves a championship, so I am hoping the Cavs can pull it off. Lots of good people over in the other side of the state.
nance, have you & Alan had any desires to rent bicycles and explore Iceland that way, at least a few areas? Tuesday evening some prominent senior folks were bicycling in Kalamazoo and a crazed pickup truck driver rammed them, killing five, injuring more.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2016/06/these_are_the_victims_of_the_d.html
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ROGirl said on June 9, 2016 at 5:44 am
Hillary’s wardrobe is … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz … oh, I almost just fell asleep.
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ROGirl said on June 9, 2016 at 5:48 am
The topic is sleep-inducing because it’s not something that I think about when evaluating political candidates.
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alex said on June 9, 2016 at 6:36 am
who the hell is responsible for dressing her? Last tonight she looked like she was wearing a tunic from the Kim Jong-Un wedding collection”
Ten dollars says Joe cut and pasted that from the comments section of another web site. The fact that nothing’s egregiously misspelled gives it away.
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Pam said on June 9, 2016 at 6:44 am
I really like that Lutheran church. But it’s really graaay!
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 9, 2016 at 7:25 am
Sherri et alia — Ken White’s blog (linked at the bottom of his Mimesis piece) has some interesting arguments for a Libertarian vote. For myself, I’m still excited because last night I got a “like” from W. Kamau Bell when I suggested we all vote Librarian this election . . .
Off to Cub Day Camp! 500 kids, a couple hundred teens and adults helping, and the weather here in central Ohio has been as good as I can remember across twenty-plus years of doing this. “Up in the air, Junior Birdman” anyone?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 9, 2016 at 7:25 am
I’m sure Joe K. knows “Junior Birdman,” with the hand-motions!
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beb said on June 9, 2016 at 8:38 am
My first thought when Nancy said it was an Elvis Hot Dog was “what, no peanut butter?”
Tom and Lorenzo are going to have a sad when Michelle leaves the White House. Hillary wearas high necked tunics to hide her neck wattles, which men are allowed to have but not women. Unfortunately this makes everything she wears look like a sack.
Cub Day Camp… Jeff, you have my prayers.
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Julie Robinson said on June 9, 2016 at 8:39 am
Oh my gosh, I can still sing Junior Birdman with the hand motions.
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Dorothy said on June 9, 2016 at 8:41 am
alex I kinda love you for that comment @17.
Like ROGirl I do not take into consideration what someone is wearing/how they look when deciding upon a presidential candidate. But if I did, surely I would take note of the orange cast of a particular person’s face and the blue/white circles around his eyes. This same nincompoop also has what is possibly the worst hairstyle I’ve ever laid eyes on. Oh and his neck fat occasionally falls over the collar of his shirts. But I won’t dwell on that. I’ll dwell on the fact that he never has anything to say of any substance relating to foreign policy, the economy, how he’s going to pay for a wall on the border of Mexico, etc.
Now I feel better.
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Danny said on June 9, 2016 at 8:50 am
Okay, I definitely don’t get into the politics of personal appearance, but I thought Hillary’s white outfit was pretty cool. It looked comfortable and stylish and it really reminded me of something that Jon Anderson, the former lead singer of Yes, would wear. So it had that progressive rock star vibe.
Basset, my fellow Yes fan, you agree?
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Dorothy said on June 9, 2016 at 9:15 am
Crap – all my spewing of angry words and I forgot to say that I think Hillary looks fabulous most of the time. She doesn’t have height going for her like Mrs. Obama so she has to dress accordingly. I agree Danny – I thought the white outfit she wore in California looked really great. And maybe we can make this outfit the last one we all comment on – that is until she is inaugurated next January.
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john (not mccain) said on June 9, 2016 at 9:49 am
Would that be the same Kim Jong Un who’s a big fan of Donald Trump? Birds of a feather.
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Deborah said on June 9, 2016 at 10:11 am
Brian and Alex you both had me laughing out loud this morning. In public. I forgot to buy coffee filters before I left Chicago a couple of weeks ago, so had to make a run to the coffee shop. So here I am sitting at the counter lmao.
As a former Lutheran I will say that church is a lot showier than the ones I remember. Love the chairs, so simple, so elegant, who cares if they’re comfortable. But they probably are.
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Julie Robinson said on June 9, 2016 at 10:24 am
A few years back friends lived in Japan for a year, and a highlight of their slides (which shows you how many years ago it was) was a fertility festival. There was a phallic parade with phallic everything, and after the fifth or sixth slide all the shock value was gone. Imagine that in our prudish country.
The church is beautiful but too stark for me.
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Deborah said on June 9, 2016 at 11:09 am
What do you expect a 68 year old woman to wear? Whatever the fuck she wants…
https://warningcurvesahead.com/2016/06/04/24-things-women-over-30-should-wear/
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Heather said on June 9, 2016 at 11:16 am
If Hillary wore something more form-fitting it would be “she’s not thin enough for that” or “it’s not appropriate for a woman of her age” etc etc. Suzanne said it–men’s appearance and clothing aren’t scrutinized a quarter, a tenth as much. We can’t ever win. So guess what? Women don’t fucking care what you think about what they wear, especially when they are 70, because they are Tired. Of. The. Bullshit.
Iceland is cold but must be hot, hot, hot because a friend of mine posted she had a chance to go there for five days, should she? I sent her a link to nn.c.
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Heather said on June 9, 2016 at 11:19 am
Also I watched the episode of Broad City with HRC last night and I thought she looked fracking gorgeous.
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Sherri said on June 9, 2016 at 11:29 am
Jeff(tmmo), I suspect we’re never going to agree on what an interesting case for libertarianism is. I think libertarianism could work okay with a small group of people without a lot of differences in power. In the real world though, where people diminish the nominee of a major party by complaining about her perfectly adequate clothing choices as another was to say that she should be a man, I don’t find libertarianism to be a workable alternative.
Or, more bluntly, there’s a reason libertarianism’s adherents are overwhelmingly white men, and it’s not because the rest of us don’t value freedom, it’s because we don’t think removing more government makes us more free.
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brian stouder said on June 9, 2016 at 12:28 pm
having no government – or absolutely minimal government – has great appeal to some….until their house catches fire, or a neighbor goes into the scrap-yard business, or their kids’ school shuts down, or their spouse and themselves begin wretching because of the contaminated food they purchased and ate, and then the hospital tells them ‘no money – no medical help…sorry’
etc etc etc
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Deborah said on June 9, 2016 at 12:42 pm
Ditto on the potato sticks, love those. A famous Chicago chef Graham Elliot, used to have a sandwich place on north State, it was called Gramwich, he came up with unique sandwiches. One of them that I ordered had those potato sticks on it. I don’t remember much else about it except that it was delicious.
I’m back in Chicago and all kinds of work is happening in our place. We had given them a deadline of the 10th, so they’re working like crazy to meet that. Of course the original deadline was May 2nd. I doubt that they will meet this deadline either. It’s hard when you’re living in the space during renovation as most of you well know.
We’re waiting at the AT&T store for my husband’s new phone to be set up. His phone was ancient as those things go, so they’re having to go around the bend to get all of his stuff downloaded to the new one.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 9, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Sherri — you might be surprised, because you’ve put your finger on why I think libertarianism is a great thought experiment, but how it’s generally a ticket to authoritarianism at best in practice. Because the strong will tend to gain strength, and the weak find their liberties kicked to the curb. Hence Madison’s belief in checks & balances, using sin as its own solution against itself, with just enough room for moral vision to swing the balance from time to time.
That’s why I *didn’t* tweet my support of the Libertarian party, but said “let’s vote #Librarian this year!”
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MichaelG said on June 9, 2016 at 2:03 pm
We’re with you, Jeff. As I noted yesterday, Sacramento’s already voted Librarian!
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Sue said on June 9, 2016 at 2:11 pm
Mmmm, PicNic potato sticks.
To take the flip side of Joe’s coin, I watch a fair amount of ESPN and I’m heartily sick of seeing the (usually lone) woman commentator or cohost looking like a cocktail hostess next to the males dressed professionally and appropriately.
Low cut? Check.
Sleeveless? Check.
Short skirt? Check.
Form fitting? Check.
Five inch heels? Check.
On the periphery, whether standing or sitting, to get the best view of legs and other attributes? Check.
Of course, unlike Hillary, female ESPN journalists can’t dress age-appropriately or for comfort if they want to be taken seriously. Even elder stateswoman Hannah Storm can barely get away with wearing sleeves.
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Scout said on June 9, 2016 at 2:12 pm
Thread win tie: alex @ 17 and Deborah @ 29. Joe, you had to know you were going to be creamed for that comment. You’re not new here.
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Bitter Scribe said on June 9, 2016 at 2:25 pm
One of the weirdest things I read about Iceland: A lot (almost all?) of the hot water there is heated geothermally and just piped hot into people’s houses. Occasionally the system malfunctions and some poor Icelander is parboiled in the shower by a surge of brutally hot water.
Man, I would take only military showers there: Get wet, water off, lather up, water on, rinse, off and out. Or else switch to baths.
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Joe K said on June 9, 2016 at 2:33 pm
Scout,
I bet my wife that the group would react to my post exactly like you did, someone would say something showing I had a lower intelligence than them, (thanks Alex) someone would mention, Trump’s hair or skin,(Dorothy), there would be the, I’m so above this, (Ro Girl) the wife who is way left of me she thinks she looks bad also, oh well still like you all no mater what you say about me, hard to get mad when I’m writing this on Mackinac island where I’m staying tonight,view is fantastic along with the weather, wish you all were here.
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on June 9, 2016 at 2:40 pm
Joe, we crossed the Mac bridge a couple of days ago and looked over at Mackinac Island and said “we really need to get over there sometime.” But when we’re northbound we want to get to our cabin, and when we’re southbound we want to get home. We’ll figure that out sometime. Maybe we can hire you for a PDK-> MCD run.
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Bitter Scribe said on June 9, 2016 at 2:51 pm
I bet my wife that the group would react to my post exactly like you did
You posted something stupid and were called out for posting something stupid. Did you also bet your wife on whether the sun will rise tomorrow morning?
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brian stouder said on June 9, 2016 at 2:58 pm
Just for the record – if a person says one nice thing about President Obama in the comment section – after any story at all – at Fox News, the place goes berserk with denigration and angry replies.
nn.c, on it’s worst day possible, is still a welcoming, human place….like dinner at a friend’s house, where someone says something that others disagree with
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Jakash said on June 9, 2016 at 3:14 pm
Here’s a fifth-hand contribution to the discussion re: Pilot Joe’s comment. I (fifth hand) read on another guy’s Twitter (fourth hand) a re-tweet of a different guy’s post (third hand) referring to a discussion on MetaFilter (which I am completely unfamiliar with) featuring the second and first hands. (Well, since they’re just speculating, there really IS no first hand…) Anyway, offered with a huge mountain of grains of salt, ta da:
“A friend just pointed out that the reason HRC always wears those boxy-ass jackets is bulletproof vests. Mind blown.”
The reply: “So one of the completely weird sexist things that I have niche knowledge in is that there is amazing amounts of sexism in the bulletproof vest/plates world. Very few people make women’s body armor, and when they do, it’s very rarely very good and not even kind of trying to make it for all women’s body types. There’s no reason it can’t be done; it’s just that few people bother.
“So yeah: when Hillary Clinton wears shitty, boxy-looking clothing, it is most likely because even as one of the most powerful women in the goddamn world, she is still suffering from sexism in ways that no one would even expect.”
Just throwin’ this out there for y’all, folks! Perhaps Tom and Lorenzo have covered this… ; )
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Brandon said on June 9, 2016 at 3:32 pm
And why does she wear high collars? Paglia speculates she has occasional flare-ups of goiter. Likewise just putting this out:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3551944/Is-Hillary-lying-chronic-thyroid-condition-Feminist-Camille-Paglia-asks-constant-cough-masking-problem.html
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Deborah said on June 9, 2016 at 3:38 pm
She wears high collars because as Nora Ephron says, she feels bad about her neck. I do too, I wear high collars or scarves as often as I can get away with it. If you haven’t read Ephron’s book, “I feel Bad About My Neck”, it’s a stitch.
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Sherri said on June 9, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Jeff(tmmo), I guess I don’t even find libertarianism that interesting as a thought experiment. I’m a woman, Jeff; absent government, societies have regularly treated women as property. Even in a society with a government, I’m old enough to remember when Title IX passed. My grandmothers were born before women got the right to vote. That Brock Turner got any sentence at all for his sexual assault puts him in a tiny category of all rapists, and that’s a message every day that the value of a man’s future is more important than the value of a woman’s life.
So, no, I’m just not all that taken by the fun little fantasies of people with unexamined privilege.
And to Joe, next time you hear the words “male gaze”, what you wrote? That’s what they mean.
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Sherri said on June 9, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Brandon, Camille Paglia hates Hillary and loves attention, and gets very little of it anymore. The Daily Mail is a trashy tabloid that thinks global warming is a hoax, hates feminists, foreigners, the poor, and political correctness. I never believe anything from a link to there unless I can substantiate it from multiple other (non crazy) sources.
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Suzanne said on June 9, 2016 at 4:11 pm
Loved “I Feel Bad About My Neck”! Great book.
I have been bothered, too, by the what I consider the unprofessional dress of many women newspeople. Fox is, I think, the worst, but it’s a problem elsewhere as well. I doubt you’ll ever see the weather report or sports report done on the local news channel by a guy in spandex bike shorts and a muscle shirt because that would be terribly unprofessional. When watching the news, seriously, I do not want to see either some guy’s crack or the outlines of his package nor some woman’s cleavage.
Interesting about the Hillary Clinton body armor. Makes a lot of sense. Sad, though, that we’ve come to that.
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nancy said on June 9, 2016 at 5:44 pm
Camille Paglia is a narcissist idiot.
Just got back from Vik. Post coming…eventually.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 9, 2016 at 6:10 pm
Sherri, I wasn’t in any way asking you to be less a feminist; my question is really — as a feminist, aren’t some of these questions of interest to you?
https://popehat.com/2016/06/02/libertarianism-as-ten-questions-rather-than-ten-answers/
But again, I’m agreeing with you that in practice, libertarian thought and plans tends to be a sandbox for boys who are sure they will always get most of the toys, and should. As a Christian pastor, my reaction to much of what passes for libertarian ideas is similar to what the former Gov. of Minnesota said (while in office, even) about Christianity: that it’s a crutch for weak people. To which I say “guilty as charged, your honor, and I’ll say a prayer that you never need a crutch, but my read of the world is that sooner or later, in one form or another, we all need crutches to get along.” Likewise the power of government to maintain justice — just that there is a point at which I fear government power beyond certain limits, just as I’d never feared Donald Trump, just ignored him . . . which I can’t do if he has access to the state monopoly on deadly force and the global trigger for existential doom.
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Sherri said on June 9, 2016 at 6:28 pm
Jeff(tmmo), those questions are moving pieces around on a board in an interesting fashion, but they aren’t looking at the board or the pieces and asking questions about them. I simply don’t agree that those are the right questions to be asking. “Is there any evidence that the government is any good at that?” Define “good”. Once you’ve defined good, tell me “good” compared to what? “Good” for whom?
One of the big projects the planning commission is tackling soon, and that I’m working as a liaison with the staff and community with, concerns the future of a particular section of town that is currently industrial. If a transportation package passes the fall, then in 8 years there will be a light rail station next to this area, and even if it doesn’t pass this fall, light rail to this area is at the top of the priority list, so eventually, there will be a light rail station there. So, how do we transition from industrial to high density, transit-oriented development (housing), while balancing the needs of property owners, business owners, an incredible need for housing, a loud segment of the community who hates change and high density, access to the 1400 stall parking garage that’s coming with the station while building a walkable neighborhood?
I don’t see much in those questions to guide me, but I have a different philosophy of government than libertarians do.
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Dorothy said on June 9, 2016 at 7:43 pm
Is it just me or is there something incredibly pathetic about Joe K baiting the group and then sitting back to wait for the hate to wash over him? I don’t mean to be a snot, but I’m just going to say how that appears to me. And I know I’m feeding right into his trap with this comment. But that kind of behavior is juvenile and (the word works so I’ll use it again) pathetic.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 9, 2016 at 8:05 pm
I don’t see much hate here. I feel fairly safe in posting not-always-liberal things here, and learn from the responses (usually). Sometimes the tone gets tense, but it rarely lasts that way. And yes, when I say something conservative-ish, I know this page leans left, and take reactions accordingly. But I’ll admit sometimes I troll my own Facebook feed . . . and sometimes I have conservative or libertarian friends ask me to float something so they can see what the reaction is, since I’ve got a goodly number of liberal/progressive friends and readers.
But I don’t see Joe as pathetic, just always curious as to how we’re going to respond to various things even when he thinks (and can be pretty sure) he knows what the reaction will be. If it were just hatefulness, which I’d argue it isn’t, I suspect he’d stop. Better than throwing out comments on a board where you know everyone will just nod vigorously saying “that’s right, that’s right.”
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Sue said on June 9, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Perhaps Hillary should wear purple. With a red hat.
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Deborah said on June 9, 2016 at 9:27 pm
I like it that there are varying political stances, beliefs and opinions here. I realize that more often than not the opinions are on the liberal side. I feel comfortable here because of that. I see myself as liberal but moving towards the center as time goes on. I’m not really sure why that is? Age? Maybe? I don’t like being provoked and sometimes that happens on nn.c. I think of everyone here as an adult so when comments pop up that are sort of juvenile I try to wait it out and see what happens. Usually there are appropriate dissenting comments to the less than mature provocations that I could never say as eloquently as others so I usually don’t try.
Changing the subject: Regarding Camille Paglia, I went through a phase where I read some of her work, she had a really good commentary on the Hitchcock movie, The Birds. And we have her tome Sexual Personae in our personal library, I’ve read bits and pieces of that. We have some other books of hers but I couldn’t tell you the titles off hand. She seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth for awhile there and when she resurfaced she now seems bonkers. Maybe I need to go back and reread her earlier work, but on second thought, nah. I’ve really no desire to do that.
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Joe K said on June 9, 2016 at 10:15 pm
Dorothy,
The world would be a very dull place if we all thought alike wouldn’t it?
Thanks Jeff,
Pilot Joe
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Dexter said on June 10, 2016 at 1:46 am
We used to go to Mackinac Island , have a slab of Murdock’s fudge, rent bicycles and navigate around the horse apples and do the 8 mile loop. The bikes were pretty beat up and poorly maintained then so we began bringing our own wheels over on the JetExpress boat. I may have posted this vignette before, but not sure…back when John Engler was governor, he and the triplets and his wife were on the island the same weekend we were. I don’t recall if it was the governor’s mansion or some other building where we saw him with friends and kids in the yard of that place, but there was a stony pathway running down towards the perimeter roadway from an elevated path…it was fucking steep as hell. There were ample warnings to not attempt biking down this path, but hell, I was an expert cyclist…yeah, I almost murdered three very elderly ladies struggling to stay upright walking down the path when I totally lost command of my steed, my bike, and began careening down this near-cliff at a high rate of speed. When I foresaw doom and all sorts of lawsuits , I realized I must abort the descent, so I leaned to the right and crashed my bike, missing the pedestrians by mere feet. I have no idea how it happened, but I was unhurt, not a scratch really, just some shredded shorts and shirt and grass stains all over me. My bike was fine as well. I walked the rest of the way down that hill. With only emergency vehicles and delivery trucks allowed as motorized vehicles, Mackinac Island is serene. On hot days the horse poop can make the squeamish feel nauseous, to be sure.
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ROGirl said on June 10, 2016 at 5:03 am
Joe, I don’t think it’s pathetic, but it IS snotty and manipulative. You got a rise out of the liberals. Ha ha, laughs are on us. I would say something else in response at this point, but you probably expect outraged reactions to your revelation.
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David C. said on June 10, 2016 at 5:59 am
I don’t remember who said it, but I read that Newt Gingrich’s staff has five file cabinets, for big ones labeled Newt’s ideas and one tiny, little one labeled Newt’s good ideas. I think the Libertarians are much the same way. They’re so enamored with their philosophy and trying to bend every part of life to fit within it that they don’t seem to see when it goes into bat shit crazy territory, or at best bat shit impractical.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 10, 2016 at 6:49 am
Not unlike “an armed society is a polite society.” The world in which that actually works out is still more like “Pale Rider” than it is “Mr. Smith & Wesson Goes To Washington.”
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basset said on June 10, 2016 at 7:13 am
As the other representative of the working class in here, I’m gonna defend Joe. Never really noticed Hillary’s clothes and don’t intend to, thought the original comment was funny no matter where he got it, and now I’m gonna change topic:
http://www.soldiersandfamiliesembraced.com
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basset said on June 10, 2016 at 7:19 am
(a little explanation – it’s about a counseling program for returning soldiers run by a Methodist pastor, if I remember correctly several of our nn.c community have some involvement in counseling & I thought it might be of interest.)
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Suzanne said on June 10, 2016 at 7:37 am
The thing with Libertarians is this-I can’t think of any country with a very weak government that isn’t in chaos. Maybe there is one, but when I think limited national government, I think Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the like. Maybe I just don’t know any that work ok.
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basset said on June 10, 2016 at 7:58 am
My mistake on the link, correct one is soldiersandfamiliesembraced.org. Brain fade, it happens.
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brian stouder said on June 10, 2016 at 9:45 am
How do you do it? How is it done? If you are a TV repair person, you went to electronics school, and learned the basics; and then you probably worked somewhere, where a seasoned technician showed you how it’s done…and then the industry changed and nobody repairs TVs anymore, and you went into (fill-in-the-blank).
By way of saying, there is an interesting article in the NY Times today about the (essentially non-existent) national Trump campaign. It begins to show the basic problem with a candidate who’s never run for even a school board seat, let alone the presidency of the United States.
He simply doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, about the nuts-and-bolts of running a successful campaign….(although he does know a bunch of ways to stiff people and companies you owe money to (according to another article, today)
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alex said on June 10, 2016 at 10:15 am
Behind every self-described libertarian I’ve ever met is a rigid authoritarian who thinks his own shit doesn’t stink. Much as libertarianism appears to be a live-and-let-live philosophy on the surface, it’s really about returning to a dog-eat-dog world, and the self-centered schmucks who embrace it believe that they’d be the top dogs if the government hadn’t abolished slavery, and then Jim Crow, and hadn’t given women the franchise. They also fail to grasp the likelihood that in a world of laissez-faire capitalism they’d be even more impotent than they are now.
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alex said on June 10, 2016 at 10:21 am
Brian, I read something yesterday in the same vein. Trump met with the RNC and some wealthy donors to strategize how to most effectively spend campaign money and he drove them nuts with his ignorance and stubbornness. Though he has zero chances of winning in California, Trump wants to spend big there because California is such a big and glamorous state. He doesn’t care to spend money on the low-prestige southern states where he has a possibility of winning. I think this illustrates exactly why he has absolutely no qualifications whatsoever to be president.
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Sherri said on June 10, 2016 at 11:31 am
One time I heard a fellow software engineer say of a system that the superficial design flaws obscured the fundamental design flaws. That’s how I feel about libertarianism even as a thought experiment. The myriad superficial flaws (that it’s totally unrealistic in so many ways) obscure the fundamental problem, which is that property is government’s highest value and major reason for existence.
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brian stouder said on June 10, 2016 at 11:44 am
property is government’s highest value and major reason for existence
Precisely.
Americans would kill one another if a fence-line was deemed to be incorrectly placed; or if a cow or a pig or a horse comes up missing
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Jakash said on June 10, 2016 at 12:37 pm
Short, provocative, and to the point — why do so many think Hillary is such a terrible politician, given her accomplishments? WaPo editorial cartoonist, Tom Toles:
“Yes, she is a former first lady. I believe there have been many of those. I don’t remember any of them knuckling down and doing this level of work, making monumental efforts to get ready to actually do the job of president, building her own resume, withstanding unceasing attacks, most of which were wildly unfair, keeping her wits and determination and a professional demeanor, enduring a hard defeat with grace and generosity, and coming back and securing the nomination. Lack of political skills?
“She may be the best of all time.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2016/06/10/how-about-hillary-is-simply-the-most-talented-politician-alive/
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Dorothy said on June 10, 2016 at 1:28 pm
Well in light of Nancy’s comment about them taking a dip in the pool since the shower went caput, I thought you’d all enjoy this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTbLUakZSqM
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brian stouder said on June 10, 2016 at 2:32 pm
…and, she’s a horse person from way back, too!
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nancy said on June 10, 2016 at 3:30 pm
I think everything you need to know about libertarians can be seen in Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, who likes to flaunt his libertarian credentials and his brave, disruptive company’s libertarian libertarian-in’, so to speak.
And think about what Uber is based on: GPS. Built and maintained by good old big government. If we got in a shooting war tomorrow and the joint chiefs decided to block the general public’s access to its satellites (however that would work), Uber would be tits-up in a literal hot minute.
You’d think the guy could show a little respect.
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Kirk said on June 10, 2016 at 3:45 pm
Who’d have thought you’d go all the way to Iceland to eat like a homeless person?
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Sherri said on June 10, 2016 at 4:06 pm
The Valley is full of libertarian ubermenschen like Kalanick and Peter Thiel, although Thiel is going for the bully this year and is a Trump supporter. I’ve tried to set aside time spent among their ilk to look at the more philosophical underpinnings of libertarianism, to get beyond the pure selfishness of “I’ve got mine, why should I care about you?” that exudes from so many libertarians, but at the core, it’s still distasteful to me.
I’d root for the libertarian utopian sea-steading project to work out, except they’d probably trash the ocean, be set upon by pirates, and expect the navy to come bail them out.
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Scout said on June 10, 2016 at 4:18 pm
Nancy @ 74 once again proves why she is consistently the smartest girl in the class.
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Connie said on June 10, 2016 at 6:44 pm
Gordie Howe has died. Mitch was ready. See freep.com
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