Not you too, ogged.

I'm just filling in for my absent co-bloggers. Next post: a chihuahua with five testicles, and what that tells us about sexism.

He's got 10 on the vine?

No, wait. Goddamnit. It's too late to be trying to make jokes.

Next post: a chihuahua with five testicles, and what that tells us about sexism Fractions.

I realized this afternoon that I had forgotten how to do long-division, just in time to be embarrassed in front of my kid sister. Now, apparently, I've forgotten how to multiply as well. I need a wig for my utter humiliation.

It's easy to say things about heterosexuals, but you worry that saying equivalent things about homosexuals is actually going to hurt people by stirring up hostility and prejudice.

Good lord, any sane person knows that hostility and prejudice are properly served shaken, not stirred.

I declare arthegall-pwnage based on 4. Fuck.

I think we can all agree this post is The Worst Thing That Ogged Has Ever Done. But I bet he doesn't even regret it.

Well, you know, as the Mary Chapin Carpenter song goes, sometimes you fuck the bear, and sometimes the bear fucks you.

What do you drive, ogged? A Mini Cabriolet?

Or maybe a black Chrysler 300. It's kinda Persian, but not cliche-BMW 5-series-Persian.

He's got 10 on the vine?

No, he's Japanese.

What's the inference from a TT? It wouldn't be my choice given $35K to blow on sportscar, but it doesn't seem a terrible pick.

ooh the drug dealer car of choice from six years ago. They are fucking fast though.

What's the inference from a TT?

Ogged's a bit freaky.

unrelated: WTF is Google up to these days? I was just trying to find Bourdain's essay, "Don't Eat Before Reading This". Search for the terms without quotes: 146 results. Include quotes: 10,300,000 results. It seems that in the first search google is excluding "don't" and "this", which might make sense. (only thing that makes me question if this is really what is happening is that the top results all reference the right article.) But, and this is the part that's new to me - on the second, including-quotes search, Google apparantly is no longer requiring all the quoted words to appear continuously. For example, the first result is, "Don't Eat at a Restaurant Before Reading This", and then "Don't eat this book". This is thoroughly wrong.

There have been hiccups in Google's search algorithm lately.

Ogged drives a big, rainbow-colored schoolbus.

The pictured car dealership is not located in an isolated outpost of anywhere.

You kidding slol? We're talking Madison here! Last contact between Madison and the rest of the country is lost in the mists of collective memory.

(Hey slol, how ya likin Against the Day? Bits I've read over the last couple of days (like in the 5 and 600's) have caused me to rub my eyes and mutter "Wow man..." like a sophomore tripping on shrooms for the first time, drawing concerned glances from my fellow commuters.)

This is the most Persian post ever.

Fuck, semi-pwned by 12.

You've got me there, Joe.

What's the inference from a TT?

Like you say, there are much better ways to spend $35k on a car. The TT's main attraction is its styling, which says "very self-consciously hip-and-cool, thank you very much." That's when it's not saying "Look at me! Look at me! Coooool!" I had to talk my cousin (male, late thirties, lawyer) out of one, because the temptation for him to put on his shades and tool around town toolishly with one elbow resting nonchalantly in the window would have been far more than he could resist. For Althouse, it signals that she's "cool" and "with it" and "gets it" and "knows how to have fun" and isn't, you know, a nasty old crone (with apologies to DominEditrix and lovable crones everywhere). It might also signal that she desperately, desperately needs male companionship, but I would hate to be mean.

Ogged, don't be brought down by the haters. I thought the same thing when I saw her post. I can't wait til she gets the convertible.

Also, friends report that the TT is claustrophobically small inside. Query: what car should one buy for $35k?

Buy a less expensive car and donate the diffeerence to starving Africans.

Less expensive car.

Query: what car should one buy for $35k?

One should buy my 7-year-old Saturn. Seriously, I need the money.

The appearance in this comment of the phrase "more bang for your buck" is dedicated to John Emerson.

Answer soon, Labs, gotta run...

So, it depends on what you want/need in a car. I require, in order of importance, reliability, comfort, and power, so I have a 4-door V6 Honda Accord. If you like to go out on weekends and drive the twisties, you'll want something else.

That's a great car, Ogged. I fear that mentioning that I know this because my mother owns one will diminish the sentiment, but still.

A 2003 BMW M3.

35: Michael, you misspelled "De Lorean DMC-12."

I drive a (significantly less expensive than $35K) Vibe. What awful, awful things does this say about me? I like the fuel economy.

I drive a ... Vibe.

What color?

I drive a [...] Vibe.

I'll bet you do.

38 -- silvery gray.

The reason I asked is that I used to drive a white Toyota Matrix, which is essentially the same car.

This is getting creepy.

39 -- I bought it used from your mom.

eBay is magic, isn't it?

All of this depends on what you want in life, of course; but for 35K you could buy a used Civic* for everyday, and a 2-door convertible in good repair. I can't see dropping $35K on any one car myself, but I am a skinflint.

*Of course, if you're some sort of freakish giant a Civic may be uncomfortable.

Are you asking for yourself, Labs?

I do agree with baa that 35k is too much for a car.

This came up in conversation with my sister at dinner on Christmas Eve. Given limitless money, I would end up with a ridiculously tricked out mini-van.

My current car cost $7,500, which was 3x what I had ever paid for a car before. I cannot fathom spending more than that on something in which I cannot also fit everything I own, such as a home.

Althouse is pretty attractive for a 55 year old:

http://bloggingheads.tv/video.php?id=174

She is right that it is silly to have a conference about a pro-"state's rights" intellectual of the 50's and 60's and not mention the civil rights movement.

Last year I dated a guy who drove a PT Cruiser. A friend of mine said that that was on the same lameness-level as wearing bolo ties. With turquoise.

(Apologies to anyone here who might wear bolo ties.)

Now, let's be honest: they may be fairly played out now, but when they came out they were teh hott and IMO Chrysler gets points for having tried to make something look different from efficient little boxes that are dull dull dull.

49: I had no problem with the car, personally, but everyone I know seems to think they're ugly, and the dude himself was embarrassed and made a point of telling me right away that he hadn't chosen it.

They are distinctive-looking, so easy to identify when you're getting picked up someplace.

he hadn't chosen it

How does this work?

Ex-wife.

Ahhh.

He also could have won it on The Price is Right.

Bolo ties are indeed teh lame, but PT Cruisers are okay.

35K you could buy a used Civic* for everyday, and a 2-door convertible in good repair.

A 2-door convertible what?

I drive a black 4-door Honda Civic, which says "Don't you honk at me, sonny, I know your mom." I want a Mini. What does a Mini say? Or an Element? What does an Element say?

I expect I'll end up with a black Civic Hybrid next time, though. The trouble with hybrids is the people who buy them are too thrifty to trade them in, so you can't ever get a used one.

A 2-door convertible what?

See the link in his 14.

PT Cruisers are okay.

With sparkly purple paint jobs and swooping flame decals, no, I submit they are not.

29: Yay, Prius. We love our Prius, earth-haters.

59: Isn't it time you traded it in?

I thought you were just supposed to put it in the compost pile when you were done with it.

So that's where they go.

Colin Powell was said to be disappointed that he would no longer be allowed to drive around town in his PT Cruiser when he became Sec State back in 2001.

60: Holy cow, maybe we should be getting ready to trade it in -- the 2009 model is expected to exceed 100 mpg.

Have any of you followed the Althouse vs. the Libertarians argument? It's gotten a lot weirder today.

That link says the current one gets 99/mpg, and the 09 model will get 113. You don't get anywhere near 99 now, do you?

99 mpg is pretty awesome.

Although I realize I should ask what the all in energy cost per mile is...

I think it's not much different than a high-mileage conventional engine, and may be even more than some compact diesels. I could be misremembering, but maybe no one will check.

It's gotten a lot weirder today.

I have a feeling I wouldn't much like Bailey either, but my first reaction is: Althouse really really can't deal with young women. The TT also could have told you that.

Yes, she as much as admits that it was seeing the younger woman smilingly maintain her position that drove her over the edge. I feel more than usually bad for Althouse, though, since that conference sounds very unpleasant.

I've got to run now.

66: Either that's wrong, or the Japanese have some bizarre way of calculating mpg. I'm inclined to think the latter, because it varies pretty widely from country to country; 94 mpg US, the anticipated mileage of the next model, is equivalent to 113 by British standards. The current models get 55-60 by the US standard, and ours (a 2003) gets 45-50. So whatever the figures turn out to be, the new design will be vastly more efficient.

Well look, I am not the world's biggest Althouse fan but it is surely correct that there is something absolutely bizzarro about libertarians who do not even understand why the civil rights struggle represents some kind of challenge for laissez-faire. I can see how that would be infuriating. Obviously, not having been at that conference table and not knowing what occurred there we can't pass much judgement.

not having been at that conference table and not knowing what occurred there we can't pass much judgement

You bore me.

I mean to say, Ron Bailey probably is lying through his teeth like the tax shirking dog he is. Better? Also, dollars to donuts the woman who incensed Althouse was Kerry Howley. That should give fertile imaginations here something to work with on the psychological angle.

You've got potential, kid.

I do agree with baa that 35k is too much for a car.

I'd spend 1660k, if I could.

With sparkly purple paint jobs and swooping flame decals, no, I submit they are not.

I submit they are!

We love our Prius, earth-haters.

It's well-known that a Golf diesel, for instance, gets better actual miles per gallon.

70: As could the whole Feministing - Clinton lunch blowup.

I drive a Miata, which says, "Don't hold your breath on those grandkids." Next car will probably be a Honda or Toyota hybrid, but one of the cushier ones, because I want heated seats like you wouldn't believe and I really miss having trunk space.

Bolo ties with turquoise are fine things. Mine is an heirloom from my grandfather (bpuh) and I'm very happy with it.

I will take your bet, Baa:

KMW | December 29, 2006, 3:02pm | #
I am, of course, the "colleague" mentioned above. I don't know why the bulk of Ann Althouse's ire was directed at me--other than that I am, as she describes me, "very young, in [my] mid-twenties" and was smiling while delivering a fairly run-of-the-mill hypothetical about the limits of private property. She has her facts wrong, and her fury was and is badly misdirected. Ron's account of events is quite accurate, though I would add that he didn't hear the earlier part of the dinner discussion where I spoke extensively about my abhorrence of racism and my admiration for those who fought racism at the private level with boycotts, sit-ins, and marches, just as Althouse wishes libertarians would do more often. By then she was already quite worked up, and so may not have processed this portion of the discussion fully. Overall, the Liberty Fund conference offered excellent intellectual discussion and a chance to meet smart people who care passionately about ideas. Too bad the last few minutes of the last dinner were so out of tune with the rest of the experience.

http://reason.com/staff/show/161.html

Whoa! She got enraged at Katherine Mangu-Ward?! That's really good evidence that Althhouse is way, way in the wrong.

She is cute, so I'm inclined to agree, but do you know her or her work?

I know Mangu-Ward's byline, and I met her once briefly. She's just *not* an inflexible fire-breathing dogmatist. Howley I simply don't have no clue about, and so could be for all I know. Although now (why? why! curse you unfogged!) having looked into the whole contretemps, it's seems to me very likely that Althouse over-reacted and is in the wrong.

who do not even understand why the civil rights struggle represents some kind of challenge for laissez-faire.

If I understand this comment correctly, baa, you're all right. If way, way understating the case.