May 4, 2015

At the Algae Café...

DSC04143

... watch where you swim.

DSC04151

Lake Mendota, today.

ADDED: Commenters assure me this is pollen. Good!

46 comments:

Robert J. said...

From this distance it looks more like pollen than algae, but I have no remote microscope.

Carol said...

Ugh. I hope that won't turn into a huge problem. Isn't algae a bad thing in a lake?

MadisonMan said...

I also think it's pollen, which has been everywhere lately.

MadisonMan said...

OTOH -- Wingra was all full of sub-surface algae on Saturday.

richard mcenroe said...

Look at that alligator cunningly disguised like a log.

Ann Althouse said...

Good! I hope it's pollen. It was only west of the boathouse.

L Day said...

Almost certainly it's pollen. Out here in the Rocky Mountains it's most always from evergreens and quite yellow. Are there a bunch of trees or grasses in bloom in the area?

MadisonMan said...

@Larry, *everything* here is suddenly in bloom. Especially the maples.

Humperdink said...

Via the WSJ "Dave Goldberg, SurveyMonkey chief executive and husband of Facebook operating chief Sheryl Sandberg, died Friday after falling from a treadmill at a gym at the Four Seasons Hotel in Punta Mita, Mexico ... "

First the Harry Reid bludgeoning by an exercise machine and now this.

I will stay in my recliner, thank you very much.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/05/04/dave-goldberg-died-while-exercising-on-mexico-vacation-source-says/

pm317 said...

How about that moon last night

Original Mike said...

"How about that moon last night"

God damn light pollution. Hate it.

pm317 said...

@Original Mike.. are you talking about the lamps?

Original Mike said...

@pm317: No, the moon. Try and observe the universe when the mom is up. Can't do it.

Original Mike said...

Not that I'm a fan of street lights, but you can get away from them. Try and get away from the moon. You have to wait two weeks. And then, more likely then not, it will be cloudy.

Hagar said...

That second picture is a nice one.

On the Freddie Gray affair, it is puzzling to me that the prosecution claims Freddie was injured early on and presumably lying on the floor of the van with a severed spinal cord and a crushed larynx (Where did the crushed larynx come from? Anyone seen anything about an official report on that?) while being given a "rough ride," yet he gets on his feet and was banging his head against the front of the compartment at or after the last stop where the second prisoner was picked up.

Freeman Hunt said...

Hey, that happened here this week. I only know because our water suddenly tasted strange, and we called the water department. They said that the lake had an unexpected algae bloom, and that the water should go back to normal within a week.

pm317 said...

@Original Mike, if you are in the northern VA/DC/MD area, I recommend moonlight hikes by Northern Virginia Hiking Club.

Original Mike said...

Oh, the moon has it's charms, I know. But like a beautiful woman, the cost can be heavy.

Original Mike said...

Hell, I regularly observe the moon in my 5". But, to be honest, it's more a "lemonade from lemons" exercise than an act of real enthusiasm.

pm317 said...

I was just over the moon, seeing that pinkish disc last evening from Connecticut Ave bridge and there was still a lot of daylight. It catches you by surprise. But agree with you that it is not easy given where most of us live.

Curious George said...

That's pollen.

Fritz said...

Definitely pollen, we just had a big "bloom" of it in the Chesapeake:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wXgWdkWYFrc/VTKZXqK488I/AAAAAAAAuzM/f60o2v3MtNs/s1600/TC-04.JPG

Saint Croix said...

I'm kicking myself for missing Blondie back in the day. Way, way awesome.

Call Me

Accidents Never Happen

Ring of Fire

Better than Cash? Is that possible? Better than Cash? Holy fuck!

One Way Or Another

Heart Full of Soul

Sunday Girl/Dreaming

I Know But I Don't Know

Picture This

Youth Nabbed As Sniper

chickelit said...

Freeman Hunt wrote: They said that the lake had an unexpected algae bloom, and that the water should go back to normal within a week.

Algae is full of oleaginous matter (which is why it floats, BTW). This should give you extra fuel to get through the day!

chickelit said...

Bob said...
From this distance it looks more like pollen than algae, but I have no remote microscope.

Floral splooge?

William said...

The Rapture by Blondie is also terrific. Moreover, it is a rap song. So, if you enjoy it, you can say that you have actually listened to a rap song.

William said...

Just recently I reread Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves. In that book he tells of being bullied while being away at boarding school. Graves comes from one of those English families where everyone is a writer. His nephew Richard Graves wrote a biography of his uncle. Although Uncle Bob was bullied while away, he was quite capable of bullying his younger siblings unmercifully. I think he experience of being bullied is more likely to produce a bully than a protector of the underdog. Maybe the boarding school experience was why England produced so many stone imperialists.

William said...

With the exception of P.G. Wodehouse, I don't know of a single English writer who enjoyed his time at boarding school. Why would they? Bad food, cold baths, constant bullying, occasional canings and acts of sodomy. The prison yard experience except convicts are not forced to memorize irregular verbs. Even alphas like Churchill and Wellington had a miserable time at school. Yet generation after generation continued to send their kids away to those awful places.

Gahrie said...

I read a really good/bad joke on the internet tonight. I condemn myself in advance:

Q. What was the only thing left in the Baltimore CVS after the looters were done?

A. Father's Day cards.

Gahrie said...

Yet generation after generation continued to send their kids away to those awful places.

And England ruled the world while they did so.........

William said...

Here's my speculation why they thrived. The kids developed their own posh accent at these schools. One of the reasons Arthur Wellesley (the later Duke of Wellington) was sent away to school in England was because the poor lad was developing an Irish accent. The ruling class all spoke the same language or,at any rate, all had the the same accent.........Beyond this, the fact that they all had miserable childhoods helped to build character. One of the challenges the children of rich, important people have is too much happiness. Their parents can and frequently do give them everything. Not just new cars but also love and support. The poor bastards lack for nothing. They have no deficits, no empty places in their soul that they must spend their lives struggling to overcome.. The Battle of Waterloo was won in the cold baths of Eton.

richard mcenroe said...

Out here in Texas I can look up at night and see the Milky Way...

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I feel like I should tell you that, primarily due to your convincing arguments, I have abandoned wearing shorts. Other than running, swimming etc., of course. This will be my first summer shortless.

LilyBart said...

WTH?

Today, WNYC public radio’s Arun Venugopal reported on “Museums as White Spaces,” a story about “why many museums are off-limits to people of color.”

Michelle Obama spoke of growing up thinking museums were not a place “for someone who looks like me.”

Honestly, what is WRONG with these people?

MadisonMan said...

The Rapture by Blondie

Just 'Rapture'.

I'll listen to just about anything from her first three albums.

Anonymous said...

Yep, it's plant sperm.

tim in vermont said...

I feel like I should tell you that, primarily due to your convincing arguments, I have abandoned wearing shorts

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Ghandi

I actually bought some golf pants, they are much more comfortable in warm weather than blue jeans. Maybe the real reason men wear shorts is because blue jeans are so uncomfortable in hot weather. Plus, I like them.

Bob Ellison said...

So you're anti-algae and pro-pollen? Seems speciesist.

tim in vermont said...

One think that weighed in Althouse's favor on men in shorts was when I realized that I would not like to see pro golfers wearing shorts in tournaments. Still it's a class thing. The pros aping the upper class members of the hosting club.

Gahrie said...

I just figured out that I read that joke on this site on a different post.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Hey chickelit, I caught the Replacements last Saturday in Milwaukee. Great show. I hope you get a chance to see them on this tour (maybe with Mrs chickelit!)

Fernandinande said...

Found three more puppies in front of the house this morning, about six weeks old. Bony and hungry. Sigh.

Glad to say that I don't understand the feeble 'n' cruel minds the scuzzbags who dump puppies in the desert.

Freeman Hunt said...

chickelit wrote: "Algae is full of oleaginous matter (which is why it floats, BTW). This should give you extra fuel to get through the day!"

It tastes like rust. I am mildly dehydrated.

Freeman Hunt said...

chickelit wrote: "Algae is full of oleaginous matter (which is why it floats, BTW). This should give you extra fuel to get through the day!"

It tastes like rust. I am mildly dehydrated.

L Day said...

Good thing it's pollen because some algae can be pretty toxic. There's a popular mountain lake here in Montana, Delmo Lake, where some cattle died a few years ago after drinking the algae tainted water in late summer.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

"'I feel like I should tell you that, primarily due to your convincing arguments, I have abandoned wearing shorts..."

"I actually bought some golf pants, they are much more comfortable in warm weather than blue jeans. Maybe the real reason men wear shorts is because blue jeans are so uncomfortable in hot weather. Plus, I like them."

Tim, I have some very lightweight Northface pants, probably designed for hiking, that I'm wearing. Going to buy more.... The golf example is a good example of one area where people have drawn the line. For me, I just don't want to get "that" casual anymore, unless I'm exercising.