Learn Something Random Every Day Thoughts

[brian]

Most of us will likely be dead by the time this little shithead takes over the monarchy. So there's that.

[degenerasian]

My views on the royal family has shifted. In the 90s that family was just awful.
Charles and Andrew were pricks. The Charles/Diana marriage was a farce. As bad as arranged marriages go. Diana death was the lowest of the low.

But since then I think Prince William has been really cool. He met his wife in school, just like most of us did (or didn't). They were plutonic, they dated, they broke up, dated again etc.. William saw other girls in between and got dumped. Just like we all did.

They look genuinely happy. They were totally at ease at their wedding and happy. After the wedding they came to Calgary for Stampede and they were absolutely everywhere and available to the press and public.

Also he's always at sporting events and supports amateur sports and the Olympics. He's continuing his mother's charity works. I think he interviews very well without seeming arrogent or 'royal'. He's seems as normal and down to earth as he possibly could be. Watching him carry his son and yukking it up with the media the other day was pretty cool.

[Scottie]

Just what America has been waiting for: another King George.

Kill it. Kill it with fire.

But since then I think Prince William has been really cool. He met his wife in school, just like most of us did (or didn't). They were plutonic, they dated, they broke up, dated again etc.. William saw other girls in between and got dumped. Just like we all did.

Let's see. Plutonic: Relating to or denoting igneous rock formed by solidification at considerable depth beneath the earth's surface.

Sounds about right.

Degen, it doesn't matter how "cool" they might be. They are parasites. Perhaps there's some pretty cool tapeworms out there, too. Fact is, they are staggeringly over-privileged, unelected, obsolete and delusional. The very idea of having a monarch in this day and age would be laughable if it was not so frustratingly still in existence. It costs billions to sustain those assholes. Billions. And it's not just the immediate tards you see in the tabloids; there's dozens, hundreds, of nephews, nieces, cousins, lalalala, all sucking at the trough. And that ancient argument that the "royals" (and what a fucking joke that word is) pay for themselves through tourism and whatnot is complete bullshit that has been disproven countless times. They are vile scum that live on the backs of people who increasingly have no use for them. There is no intelligent reason that they should still exist.

Canada has ZERO need to be associated with England in any way whatsoever. Considering that wizened old cunt to be our nation's "Queen" makes me want to go on a shotgun tear.

Canada will never have any self-respect until it kicks out that vermin and stands on its own. Canada gets NOTHING out of sustaining those assholes.

[Pruitt]

I have taught my children that the Royal Family is an anachronism at best, and a blight on society at the worst.

There are enough talentless celebrities out there that for people to give a rat's ass about the members of the House of Windsor makes no sense. And celebrities like the Kardashians, Honey Boo Boo or the Real Housewives of Gary Indiana or wherever, do not siphon off tens of millions of pounds annually while holding property worth billions.

This whole circus around the royal birth is embarrassing - how an educated society gets this carried away is beyond me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the French and the Russians knew what to do with their royal families.

[Giff]

I, for one, would watch Real Housewifes of Gary, IN.

I will say, I've enjoyed less abortion/Zimmerman/Paula Deen shit on my Facebook feed while this has been going on.

[wlu_lax6]

Paula Deen's husband completed in this year's Ernest Hemmingway look-a-like competition at Sloppy Joes.

[P.D.X.]

Paula Deen's husband completed in this year's Ernest Hemmingway look-a-like competition at Sloppy Joes.

Did she have a hand in it?

[A_B]

Kurt Cobain could win that contest.

[sancarlos]

God Save the Queen. 'Cause Tourists are Money!

[Pruitt]

Kid just came to my door telling me that if he signs up 50 new customers for the Toronto Star (a rag, but not a tabloid rag) than he will get a full $7,000 scholarship to the university of his choice come September. He'd already signed up 44!

All I had to do was commit to three weeks at $3 per week. But the form he was filling out said 3 months at $18 per month.

Kid was pretty convincing, but a quick check online revealed that it was a scam - and kids have been using that sales pitch for at least 7 years.

So sadly, if he is going to the University of Waterloo for architecture, it won't be on my dime.

My next doormat:

[Sabo]

I've owned that doormat before. It doesn't help, unfortunately.

[howard]

My more welcoming approach works well

[Scottie]

I've owned that doormat before. It doesn't help, unfortunately.

I've had this sign on my door for years; works like a charm:

[Pruitt]

Scottie - I'm putting that sign up today.

I live in a neighbourhood with many senior homeowners - the prime market for greaseballs like the scholarship kid, hot water heater sales guys, window cleaners etc.

[Johnnie]

Busta Rhymes was the voice of Reptar in the Rugrats movies.

[Scottie]

Scottie - I'm putting that sign up today. I live in a neighbourhood with many senior homeowners - the prime market for greaseballs like the scholarship kid, hot water heater sales guys, window cleaners etc.

In Victoria, there is a huge chunk of the population that is Senior. Probably highest per capita in Canada. And my neighborhood had quite a number of them and, as you say, they are fertile ground for all sorts of nogoodniks. Hence that sign. Actually, I put it up for a couple of reasons. I simply hate people knocking on my door, disturbing me, because they're selling some crap or other. And, secondly, when someone does knock on the door, the dogs go loonie, arf arf arf. My friends, neighbors, all knew that if they ever had to come over for some reason they were to use the back door.

That little sign works. Three, four, times per week I'd see someone come up the driveway, start toward the door, pause, and about face right outta there.

[ZMan]

Canadian entitlement mentality in action, as usual. If a car can be modified to accommodate an armless driver, it can be modified to have a functioning seatbelt.

Don't even necessarily have to modify. My 1992 Nissan Sentra had an automatic shoulder belt. Close the door, it slides back over, open the door, it slides forward and off. Pretty old tech.

[sancarlos]

Kid just came to my door telling me that if he signs up 50 new customers for the Toronto Star (a rag, but not a tabloid rag) than he will get a full $7,000 scholarship to the university of his choice come September. He'd already signed up 44![/img]

We get some variation of that scam at our door twice or so, every year. I snarl at them right away that they need a new scam.

[degenerasian]

Canadian entitlement mentality in action, as usual. If a car can be modified to accommodate an armless driver, it can be modified to have a functioning seatbelt.

Don't even necessarily have to modify. My 1992 Nissan Sentra had an automatic shoulder belt. Close the door, it slides back over, open the door, it slides forward and off. Pretty old tech.

of course

the Crown chose to withdraw the ticket and the judge also granted Mr. Simonar from the legal requirement of wearing a seatbelt.

[Keg]

He got away with the ticket...good for him.

[degenerasian]

Sports theme music:

The NFL on Fox has had the same theme music since it launched. Never liked it.. just something about it that grates my ears....then they started using it on baseball and that sucked balls.

But take Fox Sports to Brazil and like most things in life, give it a Brazillian beat and it doesn't sound so bad anymore.



grand opening


trailer:


I would love to have this channel for the futbol coverage alone.

[Scottie]

Perhaps it's the human equivalent of Pavlov's dog but I'm conditioned to grimace upon hearing that bombastic overture knowing it will be followed by Joe Buck and/or Tim McCarver talking.

[The Sybian]

Perhaps it's the human equivalent of Pavlov's dog but I'm conditioned to grimace upon hearing that bombastic overture knowing it will be followed by Terry Bradshaw

Oh, so close Scottie, but the correct answer is fixed above. Thanks for playing!

[sancarlos]

Judges will accept any of those answers.

[rass]

My wife and I attended a wedding on Friday night. The bride was a once upon a time baby-sitter for our kids, whose mom is one of my wife's co-workers. The groom also works with my wife, though he is currently on leave attempting to become a NJ State Trooper. Really great people, both nice as can be, and incidentally just a great looking couple. There were some initial reservations from some members of her family on their relationship, ostensibly because of the age difference (6 or 7 years, and they started dating when she was 19). Nothing at all to do with his family being from the Dominican Republic, of course.

There are some complicated family dynamics on the bride's side. She was raised by her mom and step-dad after her biological dad walked out on her mom. Her real dad came back into her life when she was high-school aged, and she chose her real dad to walk her down the isle. You might forgive step-dad for being hurt. Though he is the lone vocal hold-out on her side against the relationship (it's the age difference, really). He was also arrested on child porn possession charges a number of years back, denied everything and got away with a gentle slap on the wrist. Perhaps that was a valid legal result, but this wasn't a case where everyone was just shocked by the arrest. He's just not the most likable guy. Mom and her three other daughters (from the bride's step-dad) stayed with him. Everyone else just kind of gets the yucks whenever he comes around, which thankfully isn't very often.

Between his hurt feelings and disapproval, word earlier in the week was that he was going to skip the wedding altogether (his wife told her co-workers she'd have a better time without him). About ten minutes after my wife and I sat down in the church on Friday, step-dad walked in (and I'm certainly not one to judge, sitting there in my off the rack suit, but he's a big dude, and it was a hot summer day, so perhaps the corduroy sports coat wasn't a great choice). For some reason (she's petite, ew) he likes my wife, and comes right over to us. She says congratulations, and as I'm limply shaking his hand (I'm horrible in these situations) he says:

"This is wrong. Wrong. Just wrong. I'm done with her after this. Done."

My wife was too stunned to reply, but I stepped up with a slow, trailing off "Oooooooooooookaaaaaaaaay......." (told you I was bad at this). He walked away. I've just never seen something like that outside of a soap opera.

The wedding and reception went great. The bride did two father dances, one with the step-dad and one with her biological dad. Step-dad otherwise spent most of the night sitting down, looking grumpy. We think he may have left early.

[degenerasian]

It's amazing to me how people can get this worked up over such a thing.

Your daughter being happy should make you happy right?

This might be out of line, but since he's a child-porn guy.. is it that he's jealous and wants his daughter around thus he disproves any kind of marriage and the age gap is just an excuse?

I've seen cases where the guy married the woman really for her daughter.

[Johnnie]

Why didn't they both walk her down the aisle (isle? eye-uhl?) simultaneously? That's what my buddy's wife's dad & step dad at their wedding last March. Everything was beautiful. The wedding was phenomenal.

Now you'd think that whole scene was awkward, but it's so far from that. Both the bio-dad & bio-mom's families are close. They remain great friends and have their own families. Holidays are awesome. Gatherings are awesome. And being the single/no family guy means I get invited to be a kind of step-bro to everyone in my generational cohort. It's a large family I wish I could have had when I was growing up, for sure.

[Shirley]

I'm going to guess that the whole charged-with-child-porn thing can ruin a relationship with the step-dad. Add in that he sounds like a complete asshole and he didn't agree with the marriage and yeah, I think it was a good choice to not have him walk her down the aisle.

[ZMan]

What kind of fucking relationship is that? She stays with him after kiddie porn, but admittedly would have a better time at a social gathering without him. Why fucking stay? Is he loaded or something?

[HDO45331]

If he was done with her, after the ceremony, why the hell did he even attend it?

[Rush2112]

Gram Parsons originally did all the vocals for The Byrds 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' album. Unfortunately, Gram Parsons was still under contract with Lee Hazelwood so the vocals had to be redone.

(also Hazelwood told Nancy Sinatra to sing 'These Boots Are made For Walking' as "a 16 year old girl that fucks truck drivers for a living.")

[sancarlos]

Gram Parsons originally did all the vocals for The Byrds 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' album. Unfortunately, Gram Parsons was still under contract with Lee Hazelwood so the vocals had to be redone.

(also Hazelwood told Nancy Sinatra to sing 'These Boots Are made For Walking' as "a 16 year old girl that fucks truck drivers for a living.")

Have you got a link for that? I'm pretty certain he only did the original vocals on the songs he wrote. Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman were already established as Byrds' singers. I saw an interview with Hillman a few years ago, where he said they re-did Gram's vocals because they had to fire him because of his drug use.

By the way, both hdo and I are big fans of Gram's work. The biography Hickory Wind, by Ben Fong-Torres is pretty good. Some years back, I dragged the wife to the place some of his friends tried to burn up his body in Joshua Tree National Park. There was a little homemade memorial to him, there.

[howard]

What did you think of that movie, Grand Theft Parsons?

[sancarlos]

What did you think of that movie, Grand Theft Parsons?

I know of the movie, but I've never seen it. Worth a look?

btw - back to the discussion above - I should note that the whole issue of how/why Gram's leaving the Byrds and being excised from most of Sweethearts, is a subect of some dispute. Hazlewood did make the contractual claims, but I don't think the Byrds or Gram gave that as the reason he isn't on the record much. My understanding is that it was really about his issues with the other members. Chris Hillman did a nice duet with Steve Earle on a Gram tribute album a few years ago, though.

[howard]

I thought fun movie, took large liberties with the facts, no Emmylou, otherwise fun.

[Rush2112]

Upon the group's return to California, post-production work on the Sweetheart of the Rodeo album was disrupted when Parsons' appearance on the album was contested by Lee Hazlewood, who contended that the singer was still under contract to his LHI record label.[4] While the legal problems were being resolved, McGuinn replaced three of Parsons' lead vocals with his own singing, a move that still infuriated Parsons as late as 1973, when he told Cameron Crowe in an interview that McGuinn "erased it and did the vocals himself and fucked it up."[35] However, Parsons was still featured singing lead vocals on the songs "Hickory Wind", "You're Still on My Mind", and "Life in Prison".[24] There has been speculation that McGuinn's decision to re-record Parsons' lead vocals himself was not entirely motivated by the threat of legal action, but by a desire to decrease Parsons' presence on the album. According to producer Gary Usher:
“ McGuinn was a little bit edgy that Parsons was getting a little bit too much out of this whole thing...He didn't want the album to turn into a Gram Parsons album. We wanted to keep Gram's voice in there, but we also wanted the recognition to come from Hillman and McGuinn, obviously. You just don't take a hit group and interject a new singer for no reason...There were legal problems but they were resolved and the album had just the exact amount of Gram Parsons that McGuinn, Hillman and I wanted.[12][36] ”
The three songs that had their lead vocals replaced by McGuinn were "The Christian Life", "You Don't Miss Your Water", and "One Hundred Years from Now", with the last featuring McGuinn and Hillman sharing vocals on the final album version.[12][33] However, Parsons' lead vocals weren't completely eradicated from these songs and can still be faintly heard, despite having either McGuinn or Hillman's voice overdubbed on them.[8][12] The master recordings of these three songs, with their original Parsons' vocals restored to full prominence, were finally issued as part of The Byrds box set in 1990.[37] These same master recordings, featuring Parsons' lead vocals, were also included as bonus tracks on disc one of the 2003 Legacy Edition of Sweetheart of the Rodeo.[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_of_the_Rodeo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HDO45331]

What did you think of that movie, Grand Theft Parsons?

I know of the movie, but I've never seen it. Worth a look?

btw - back to the discussion above - I should note that the whole issue of how/why Gram's leaving the Byrds and being excised from most of Sweethearts, is a subect of some dispute. Hazlewood did make the contractual claims, but I don't think the Byrds or Gram gave that as the reason he isn't on the record much. My understanding is that it was really about his issues with the other members. Chris Hillman did a nice duet with Steve Earle on a Gram tribute album a few years ago, though.

Chris Hillman went on to play a lot with Parsons in the Flying Burrito Brothers.

[brian]

O.J. Simpson wins parole hearing....

HOWEVA, because he was sentenced consecutively he still has at least four years to serve on an additional robbery charge.

[vandwagon]

That cash sucking sound you heard from Baltimore was me putting having a new water heater installed today.

By the way, if you don't have CO monitors, get some. My old heater's flame regulator was shot and it was puttin out too much gas sometimes. That led to the CO not being able to properly vent and two visits from the fire department when my monitors went off.

Get CO monitors. Put them where you'll hear them at nighttime too.

Let me say that again. Get CO monitors.

[Gunpowder]

This is my first day working from home! I hope I have the willpower.

At least all of the random videos will open for me from here. Anybody want to J.O. real quick? Maybe connect on Skype?