What caused the "Dark Day" — on May 19, 1780?

It was not a solar eclipse.

With little scientific knowledge amongst the populace in 1780, people would have been afraid. Some lawmakers in Connecticut believed it was the day of judgement. The sense that a decisive moment was afoot would have been bolstered by the fact that during the preceding days, the sun and moon glowed red.

Volcanic dust is one theory, but there's no record of a volcanic eruption then. It could have been a meteorite. It was actually probably a forest fire.

Wyoming prepares for a post-America future.

Just in case!

Frankly, I think all the states should have made plans like this a long time ago. Given the possibility of nuclear war, a large asteroid, or — Wyoming, I'm looking at you — the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, the states ought to be ready to operate independently. I recommend, as part of the plan, ultimate reunion of the states — those that survive with intact state government — under the U.S. Constitution.

Earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown... volcano.

Volcano.

The Icelandic volcano is causing trouble, but how much worse would it be if Yellowstone erupted?

Haven't you been wondering?

The Sarychev Peak volcano, messing with the clouds.

Snapped from the International Space Station.

Obama's address to Congress... the live-blog.

Watch the don't-call-it-the-State-of-the-Union with me.

8:00: How come there are already 43 comments? The thing hasn't started yet! I suppose you guys are really excited about this. Nancy Pelosi has her olive-green sweatshirt on. I've chosen CBS... Katie Couric is obviously reading from a script.

8:04: Ruth Bader Ginsburg! Among the living! Closeups. Cheers.

8:05: Michelle Obama. Sleeveless! Purple!

8:06: Hillary! Looking radiant. Rahm! He's hot.

8:11: It's O! Red striped tie. Super-short hair. He's kissing all the ladies. The CBS commentary is soooo lame. This is true bipartisanship... except to the extent that it isn't....

8:15: Oops! O spoke over Nancy. Is Chief Justice Roberts there in the audience laughing?

8:20: We have terrible economic problems, but we're going to solve them. To do that, we need to understand how we got here. Then he lists various reforms — like health care — that I think he'd be listing even if there were no economic crisis. I can't see the connection between his economic wish list and the crisis at hand.

8:25: The text of the speech. Great, now like Nancy Pelosi, I can read along. It would be cool if Nancy had her laptop up there and was live-blogging.

8:31: Damn those executives with their jets and fancy drapes! No drapes for you!

8:33: Screw Wall Street but I love small business. Just be small and I will love you.

8:34: "Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover." There's no lilt of hope in that. Whatever happened to all the hope? This is leaden and lecture-y.

8:37: Which member of Congress is most obviously up past his bedtime? I'm going to say Charles Rangel.

8:40: "It will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education – from the day they are born to the day they begin a career." So... no child left behind?

8:51: Orrin Hatch's name is invoked. We see him reading the speech and grimacing at his own name. He is not a prideful man.

8:59: Obama supports the troops.

9:03: Now, he's in the generic inspiration, listing-of-the-heroes part. Some businessman handed out money because "I didn't feel right getting the money myself." See, rich folk? Cough it up.

9:08: "Some day years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time" — oh, he's doing "this was the time" again — "when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, 'something worthy to be remembered.'" That was a goofy crescendo. I mean, paraphrase it: In the future, we'll look back and say that we remember doing something.

9:09: "And God Bless the United States of America." He almost forgot to say it.

9:22: Waiting for Bobby Jindal.

9:24: "Happy Mardi Gras!" Bobby's all enthusiastic about Barack Obama, the first African-American President!

9:26: Bobby learned a can-do attitude from his immigrant dad. His emphatic hand gestures are not quite in the camera frame. But I think his style is pretty good, though it sounds super-rehearsed. Somebody taught him every inflection I think. And that eye contact. It's a bit unnerving!

9:29: Jindal is nicely upbeat and confidence-inspiring. Don't monitor volcanoes! Monitor the eruption of spending!

9:35: The GOP wants to win back our trust.

9:37: Bobby: plastic and peppy. But maybe we'll get used to him.

Audible Althouse #49

Whoa! Almost up to 50 in this crazy podcasting endeavor. Number 49, get it while it's hot. Subscribe, or stream it here.

The aversion to politics -- including insect politics. Rabid bats. Emotional support animals. Animistic beliefs about a volcano. The passive aggressive strategy of the holdout juror... and of God. Walking out of the forest -- and the Stone Age -- but venturing back in -- for monkeys.

UPDATE: Here's the passage from Benjamin Franklin's "Autobiography" that I talk about in the podcast. He's just discussed his role in providing for street sweeping and streetlamps:

Some may think these trifling matters not worth minding or relating; but when they consider that tho' dust blown into the eyes of a single person, or into a single shop on a windy day, is but of small importance, yet the great number of the instances in a populous city, and its frequent repetitions give it weight and consequence, perhaps they will not censure very severely those who bestow some attention to affairs of this seemingly low nature. Human felicity is produc'd not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day. Thus, if you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. The money may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument.

"People around here believe that if Merapi is going to explode there will be a sign, a magical sign."

"Either it comes in a dream, or in the form of a hallucination."



Not everyone leaves when warned.

Although most Indonesians are Muslim, many also follow animist beliefs and worship ancient spirits. Often at full moons, they trek to crater rims and throw in rice, jewelry and live animals to appease the volcanoes.

Beliefs -- beautiful and sad.

Round 4.

The crowd must be going nuts out at the Brown Deer Park Golf Club, as Madison native Jerry Kelly is in contention for the top spot at the U.S. Bank Championship. He's charging, shooting 4 under on the first 9 holes today. I'm sure the cheers can be heard all over the course. I've gone there and back already today, and it was not so good for my nephew in Round 4. He went 6 over par and is near the bottom of the leaderboard.



I arrived at the golf club about half an hour after his tee time, slotted my car into the space the officials with orange flags waved me to, then found no signs pointing to the gate, so I adopted the strategy of following other people. Surely, they'd be heading to the gate, right? No, it was so early that volunteer officials were arriving. They were all heading toward a tent to get their various supplies and instructions. Someone pointed me to the nearest entry point, a back entrance.



When you enter the front way, you can get almost anywhere easily because it takes you to the hub that the holes keep coming back to. Because the holes fan out away from the hub, I found myself in a random spot that had me puzzling over the course map to think up a strategy for finding Cliff. On my first try, at the 7th hole, I see Kevin Na, who is golfing alone, since there are twosomes, made of an odd number of players, and Na was the one chosen to golf alone, because he had finished last yesterday. He had to start first too. Cliff, I know, is two groups behind Na, so I try the 6th and then the 5th hole, where finally meet up with Cliff. I learn that, unfortunately, he has already bogied two holes. He birdies the 5th hole, which makes me start to feel like a good luck charm again--see here and here--but my lack of charm is thereafter soundly confirmed, as Cliff goes 6 over par today and finishes the tournament at 10 over par.



His partner, Steve Pate, didn't do much better. One of the spectators tells me Pate is nicknamed "Volcano," because of his bad temper. I notice his name, as written on the caddy's vest, is S. Pate---spate---and try to think of a more poetically satisfying water-related nickname for a guy with a bad temper: Torrent? Surge? Niagara?



But I never see an S. Pate outpouring, even though he experiences plenty of provocation. In fact, Cliff and Pate seem to be enjoying the game, like recreational players. There is plenty of talking and joking. I overhear a lot of discussion of the brawl at last night's Yankees-Red Sox game. Both men started the day at 5 over par, but at one point, Cliff, who had started out badly, has struggled back to 5 over and Pate is at 10 over. A few holes later, their scores meet at 7 over, and Cliff, who has been losing ground, claps Pate on the back and announces playfully, "Now, we got a dog fight!" That happens right after I had found myself thinking about how important the function of denial is to a human being. One always hears of denial as a bad thing, and surely it can get you into trouble, but it came upon its place in human psychology because of all of the good it can do so much of the time. Often there are hardships, and the best hope of making it through to a better time is to refrain from realizing how bad things are.



I stop at a refreshment stand and order a soda.

If you want anything to eat, it's all ready.



It's a little early for a hot dog.



Nah! Breakfast!



I guess it is kind of like a sausage ... It is a sausage.



Yeah, sausage!

The men soldier on to the bitter end, in the beautiful park, on this calm and cool Sunday morning. No tears were shed, no tempers lost. And it's on to Grand Blanc, Michigan for the Buick Open next week. Good luck!



UPDATE: And all those Jerry Kelly fans will go home unhappy too, as he bogied 3 of the last four holes and fell to 13th place. And the winner is Carlos Franco, who, according to his bio, "Grew up in poverty in Paraguay. Family of nine shared a one-room, dirt-floor home...Father was a greens superintendent and caddie at course in Asuncion...All five of his brothers became golf professionals."