The Important Sounds of Things Falling Apart

kranepool · Post by **kranepool** » Sat Oct 05, 2013 12:42 pm

The US House of Representatives voted 407 to 0 today on a bill to guarantee that federal workers will receive back pay once the government reopens.

So basically, in an effort to cut spending, Congress has approved an indefinite, paid leave of absence to 800,000 federal workers during the shutdown.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:05 pm

This was a few days ago, and thankfully unsuccessful

A couple of years ago, the number of mass shooting incidents seemed to me to tick upward. I interpreted this as a reflection of shit falling apart, and more individuals loosing it. The intersection of mental illness and the pressures of a sick, ill society.

I take these incidents similarly, until I see evidence sufficient for me to change that conclusion.

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:18 pm

howard wrote:This was a few days ago, and thankfully unsuccessful

A couple of years ago, the number of mass shooting incidents seemed to me to tick upward. I interpreted this as a reflection of shit falling apart, and more individuals loosing it. The intersection of mental illness and the pressures of a sick, ill society.

I take these incidents similarly, until I see evidence sufficient for me to change that conclusion.

and the obvious question in that story goes unanswered: where'd he pick up the gasoline?

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 8:04 pm

kranepool wrote:The US House of Representatives voted 407 to 0 today on a bill to guarantee that federal workers will receive back pay once the government reopens.

So basically, in an effort to cut spending, Congress has approved an indefinite, paid leave of absence to 800,000 federal workers during the shutdown.

You can't make this stuff up.

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 7:58 pm

Good evening. Tonight on Anderson Cooper 360, the tragic and riveting story of a woman who opened a Taco Bell outlet in Birmingham, Alabama, that only uses one ingredient in its food: shoe polish. We'll find out if food can be considered authentically Mexican when the shoe polish is being manufactured in China. In our second segment, the debate rages on about whether you should "chip" or "putt" when just off of the green (we'll ask the President what he does). But first, the creation of the universe. We'll ask G-d Himself if He really exists and what He was thinking. Joining us from Burbank, California, where He's on set shooting His latest movie is the deity you may know as Allah, Yahweh or Spacemonster Joe. Please welcome G-d. Nice to have you with us this evening, Your Allbeing.
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Thanks, Henderson. Nice to be here. Beep. Beep. Hmmm.
\

What was the thinking behind the Universe project?
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Not much really. Wanted to try something new, that would throw the audience off. Took what I had kicking around. Bit of oxygen, hydrogen. Some left-over comets, gravity. Cobbled it together out of some other ideas I was working on that never panned out, y'know? Kind of a pastiche. I do a lot of pastiching. Originally I wanted to do a traditional jazz album but the funding wasn't there so I said sure, why not. Needed the work. Beep. Beep. Hmmm.
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What about the various religions that claim you as their one and only true god; a god that dictates everything they do and think and, well, anything that has ever happened and ever will happen?
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Yeah. I don't pay much attention to that. You don't create a work of art for the critics, y'know, it's, uh, strictly for the money, really. You write for yourself, y'know? Writing for lunatics isn't very, uh, cathartic. Beep. Beep. Hmmm.
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There are millions, if not billions, of people praying to you. Constantly. Does that factor in your creative process?
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No. Nah. I get a lot of fan mail. I don't read it. It's either people sycophantically gushing over you or calling you an asshole. And everyone wants something. Like a piece, right? I've got an assistant that goes through all that crap. If she comes across anything interesting she's supposed to let me know. Haven't heard from her in about, oh, couple thousand years. And that was just dealing with some cheap impersonator tryin' to steal my bits. Runnin' a kind of paternity scam. We killed him off. Beep. Beep. Hmmm.
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I guess the big question is . . . do you really exist?
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Ha! No. Not at all. I mean, let's be, uh, realistic here. Y'know, don't be silly. Of course not. Completely ridiculous. Beep. Beep. Hmmm.
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Thank you, Your Al-Spacemonsterousness. Seems like an okay guy. Well . . . that should be trending on Twitter for the next twenty minutes or so. Our next guest is a restaurateur with a twist. Ms Reefrii'd Rice, welcome to the show. You look somewhat familiar.
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Thanks, Cooperall. I get that a lot.
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You fucking can't fucking serve that! Look at all! This! Shite! It's a nightmare! You'll fucking kill someone! Just look at that! Fuck me!
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Fuck me?
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Did someone activate the Bubba Signal? Jeeves, fire up the Bubba Van.
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What brought you to using shoe polish as chimichanga filling in the first place?
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Well, I had tons of it on hand and . . .
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Hey, Cooperston. Ever been to Slippery Rock University? Don't act like you don't know what I mean.
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It's got quite an endowment. So I've been told. Moving on . . . our next guest is a professional golfer that is also an avid President of the United States.
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What's poppin', Caddieson? Make it snappy. You've got 'til the end of this smoke.
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Yes. What's the secret to a good golf game, Mr President?
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Mulligans.
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I mean the current President.
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Mulligans.
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You people. You people don't know a damn thing about proper golf etiquette.
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"You people"?
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The fucking Scottish invented fucking golf! Why aren't you asking this boot wax slinging witch about glossing her drive-thru taco tortilla?
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And polish. You forgot polish.
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Freaks. I'm outta here. Call me in 2016.
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Is that your room number?
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This . . . is CNN.
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howard · Post by **howard** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:13 pm

Marvelous. Beep beep hmmm.

Johnny Hotcakes · Post by **Johnny Hotcakes** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:23 pm

Fantastic.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Wed Oct 09, 2013 3:11 pm

Henderson's finest work.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 10:09 am

No violence here. A fascinating (to me) snap, not least of all for the time and locale. Clip combines Public Radio International audio with C-SPAN video:

ETA: You think I'm gonna ticket myself? Heh. Rule of law don't apply to elites here neither.

http://www.ibtimes.com/who-dianne-reidy ... ideo-audio" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:21 pm

North of SF, in Sonoma County, sheriffs shoot and kill 13yo who had a toy gun. Smells fishy, from initial reports.

East of SF, cops shoot and kill a man armed with a pipe. South of SF, cops shoot and kill a man driving a car.

All in 24 hours. I've seen no reports on the latter two killings. Could all be justified, and an anomalous cluster. I ain't betting on that, though. I'm betting we see more and more bullshit cop violence and murder.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Frie ... 920174.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:11 pm

Nelly's Ride Wit Me is now a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:18 pm

Scottie wrote:Nelly's Ride Wit Me is now a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial.

Funny, this popped up on the twitter yesterday:

Megan Amram ‏@meganamram 23 Oct

"If ya wanna go and take a ride with me / wear your seatbelt"
- Nervous Nelly

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:25 pm

Biggest sign of things falling apart is the lack of purple font.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:23 pm

Too much work, too many clicks. I'm winding down in my old age.

Keg wrote:Biggest sign of things falling apart is the lack of purple font.

rass · Post by **rass** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:34 am

“He was a cool guy,” said the neighbor, Derrick Holland. “He was just losing his mind.”

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:21 am

Scottie wrote:Nelly's Ride Wit Me is now a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial.

Tangentially related, Kanye's Black Skinhead is in this Moto X ad.

(The commercials you get to see when AFN commercials constantly rule your life. Meh.)

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:12 am

Another theme I have noticed in the past several years is the increasing failure of physical infrastructure systems. I think this is a trend, I expect to see more and more. Buildings, bridges, electrical blackouts, such things. I'll spare you my analysis or my list of causative factors. I also want to spare the swamp a new thread; so a mention here of a local failure (I think--trains do derail despite robust, well maintained systems; they also derail because of vandalism and because of exceptional human error, like a car parked on the tracks.)

Metro-North Train Derails in the Bronx, 4 Killed, Dozens Injured

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:17 am

howard wrote:Another theme I have noticed in the past several years is the increasing failure of physical infrastructure systems. I think this is a trend, I expect to see more and more. Buildings, bridges, electrical blackouts, such things. I'll spare you my analysis or my list of causative factors. I also want to spare the swamp a new thread; so a mention here of a local failure (I think--trains do derail despite robust, well maintained systems; they also derail because of vandalism and because of exceptional human error, like a car parked on the tracks.)

Metro-North Train Derails in the Bronx, 4 Killed, Dozens Injured

outlets are reporting that frequent passengers who were on the derailed train have said the train was going noticeably faster than usual into that turn. could be operator error. not going to be the least bit surprised if we learn that text messages were being sent and read by the driver at the time of the derailment.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:36 am

yeah, exceptional human error like texting while driving a friggin train.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:37 am

I was supposed to be on that train later today. The bend at Spuyten Duyvil comes at the end of a long straightaway in which express trains like to go real fast. They usually have to slow down to almost a complete stop for that bend. I guess this guy didn't. Yeah I suspect the driver was distracted..

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 8:32 pm

howard wrote:Another theme I have noticed in the past several years is the increasing failure of physical infrastructure systems. I think this is a trend, I expect to see more and more. Buildings, bridges, electrical blackouts, such things. I'll spare you my analysis or my list of causative factors. I also want to spare the swamp a new thread; so a mention here of a local failure (I think--trains do derail despite robust, well maintained systems; they also derail because of vandalism and because of exceptional human error, like a car parked on the tracks.)

Metro-North Train Derails in the Bronx, 4 Killed, Dozens Injured

Completely agree, and it is going to be sad and full of tragedies like the highway collapse in Minnesota. And soon, we won't be able to afford the repairs. Obama's first major failure was not using the Stimulus to repair the infrastructure. Would have created a ton of jobs in construction when construction was at an all-time low, improved the infrastructure and prevented a fuckton of further repairs and cleanup later on.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:17 pm

The Sybian wrote:Obama's first major failure was not using the Stimulus to repair the infrastructure.

"Shovel-ready" was the catch phrase. Nothing but PR--most of the stimulus money went to the states general funds instead of actual jobs programs. Delayed public employee layoffs for a year.

How many hundreds of buildings and bridges built during the New Deal are still in use? I won't even count Hoover Dam and the whole Tennessee Valley Authority complex.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 10:49 am

howard wrote:
The Sybian wrote:Obama's first major failure was not using the Stimulus to repair the infrastructure.
"Shovel-ready" was the catch phrase. Nothing but PR--most of the stimulus money went to the states general funds instead of actual jobs programs. Delayed public employee layoffs for a year.

How many hundreds of buildings and bridges built during the New Deal are still in use? I won't even count Hoover Dam and the whole Tennessee Valley Authority complex.

Not sure if you are trying to say that they did good work, or that it was shitty slapped together crap due to inefficiencies and what not.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 11:40 am

They did great work, which continues to be useful and often beautiful seven decades later.

I have my arguments against fiscal stimulus for economic purposes, but I readily acknowledge the clear benefits. Such as buildings and bridges that can last decades.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:57 pm

Same gun used in sister's 'mercy killing,' wife's slaying, police say

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:22 pm

Are you kidding me
http://www.businessinsider.com/affluenz ... er-2013-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post by **brian** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:56 pm

I hope people aren't just getting hip to the fact that there's two standards of justice in this country depending on how wealthy you are.

howard · Post by **howard** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:29 pm

Denial is a helluva drug, bri.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Dec 13, 2013 2:10 pm

Taibbi on Camden, NJ

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 12:54 pm

Russia deploys nukes on NATO's broders

Scottie · Post by **Scottie** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 1:20 pm

Intriguing. If true. Can't find any confirmation of that. Every article I found, none of which are in major news outlets, caveats "Germany's Bild newspaper first reported over the weekend". When the news is that someone else said something is news, well, y'know.

Familiar with Bild? It's a boob and fanny rag. A celebstalker tabloid. If you've never seen it, here is a typical front page (NSFW).

'twould be rather bizarre for Cold War II to be broken by Bild.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:14 pm

Bensell wrote:Russia deploys nukes on NATO's broders

I didn't realize NATO had expanded to take in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. I'm not surprised the Russians would put missiles on that border.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:42 pm

Reno shooter gunned down two doctors, patient at urology clinic

Guaranteed homie was dissatisfied with his medical care.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:33 am

howard wrote:Reno shooter gunned down two doctors, patient at urology clinic

Guaranteed homie was dissatisfied with his medical care.

I bet he was just pissed.

kranepool · Post by **kranepool** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:31 am

The Jets are favored this weekend.

Bring me a goat!

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:00 pm

Rub it in.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:15 pm

Now imagine the goat saying that.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Dec 23, 2013 12:15 am

Man throws 3-year-old son, then himself to their deaths from roof of Midtown high-rise

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:33 pm

Cause we are going backwards.

Ex-cops acquitted in beating death of homeless man in California

I remember something similar happened in 1992. Cops beat a man nearly to death, on video, acquitted at trial. Kinda big news. Now, it is just swallowed. Sure, one cop is brown, murder victim was white. Fucking progress.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:48 pm

howard wrote:Cause we are going backwards.

Ex-cops acquitted in beating death of homeless man in California

I remember something similar happened in 1992. Cops beat a man nearly to death, on video, acquitted at trial. Kinda big news. Now, it is just swallowed. Sure, one cop is brown, murder victim was white. Fucking progress.

There seems to be a lot less media attention this time around. Makes me wonder if the cops and media are working together to keep this out of headlines (a lesson learned from 1992?). I saw on twitter that the local news didn't mention the verdict until later in the newscast.