West 23rd street as a target has been baffling me since it happened. It's just like, an unpleasant, nondescript stretch of chain drugstores.
He's got strong feelings about either the Chelsea Hotel or the McBurney Y? (Actually, has the Y closed? I have a vague feeling it has. Probably fifteen years ago, I don't spend any time in that neighborhood.)
The story about the thieves taking the suitcase and throwing the bomb in a trash can is amazing.
I can imagine wanting to demolish such an area, if only for aesthetic reasons.
Thieves today are too busy to take the time to evaluate their swag properly.
NYC: Our street criminals are our scrappy first line of defense against terrorism.
The story about the thieves taking the suitcase and throwing the bomb in a trash can is amazing.
It does remind me slightly of the 2007 car bomb in London that was towed away and impounded for being illegally parked. Traffic wardens: our first line of defence against terror! (That was an Arab terrorist; albeit his colleague and driver was Indian.)
The 2009 Rectal Bomber was a Yemeni; he managed to blow himself up and give his target, the Saudi interior minister, a slight cut on his hand.
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_15645.html#1913690 - the Y is on 14th street, not 23rd. I only know this because my hair salon is right next door. (All across from the Salvation Army HQ)
It's relatively new construction, so it may have relocated at some point since you spent time in the area.
The Boston marathon bombers managed to do some damage, and they were Chechen. I suppose you could say the getaway was pretty incompetent, with one brother accidentally(?) killing the other.
Looks like it has relocated: http://www.ymcanyc.org/mcburney/about . But I still had it on the wrong block -- the building I was thinking of is on 23d west of 7th, not between 6th and 7th.
Who is more insincere?
a) neb "This is a good blog post"
or
b) ogged "...I hate to be politically incorrect.."
I was certain it was a Trump supporter because the result was a dumpster fire.
McVeigh did okay for an Irish-American.
He's got strong feelings about either the Chelsea Hotel
Lingering resentment about waiting limousines tying up traffic while Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen were getting it on upstairs.
Related: First American Fried Chicken? Trying too hard or deliberate camouflage?
This jamoke planned for months, and didn't manage to kill anyone.
Yeah, initially I thought it might be a Trump supporter -- precisely because of his incompetence!
He's got strong feelings about either the Chelsea Hotel
My thought was that he really hates "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands".
Speaking of which, I once shocked a relative of Moshe Dayan by quoting to him that Israeli dignitary's cynical remark about how to become a successful general. To be fair, he did remark that Dayan probably would not have wanted to be remembered primarily for that.
The Chelsea bomb went off 4 blocks from where I'll be staying in about a month. It doesn't bother me, but I think I'm going to have to keep that quiet from the others I'm traveling with. One is a bit of a country mouse and I think riding the subway will be more than enough to freak her out.
(I'm coming to perform in the NYC Musical Improv Festival, about which I am VERY EXCITED. But I'll literally have no free evenings, so can't propose a meetup.)
22: You don't really love us. I knew it!
It turns out that an old friend of mine is old friends with the person who discovered the second bomb. In way, I think this makes me the real hero.
23: But I do! I do!
24: Thanks, peep!
25: Agreed.
I'm coming to perform in the NYC Musical Improv Festiva
What should we all be buying tickets to, exactly?
21: What is that quote? I can't locate it.
7: this also happened with neo-nazi David Copeland's 1999 bombing campaign. He left a device in a holdall (brand new Head brand, like he always used) in Brixton market. A market trader spotted it and correctly, according to police advice of the time, placed it in a dustbin (designed to contain IRA explosions), called the cops, and asked people to keep away.
Before the cops arrived, though, a homeless man did, who found the nice new holdall, emptied its contents into the bin, and walked away. A while after the explosion, he was watching TV in the window of a shop when he saw himself on the news. He took the bag to a police station and told the story; obviously Copeland's dabs were all over it.
Also, someone put another of the bombs in their car boot and took it to the cops, where it exploded in the car while they were inside the station talking about it.
dustbin (designed to contain IRA explosions)
So clever and depressing.
29: That's not what happened here though. They opened the suitcase, saw a pressure cooker with wires sticking out (or whatever), and dumped it in the trash without telling anybody or shitting themselves in fear.
There was also a homeless man who came upon another backpack with a bomb. He responded sensibly by running away and calling the cops.
Last night a link went around to some manifesto claiming the bomb was to be set off to protest the treatment of LGBTQ people. The Russians have a word that means "scantly believable." Anyway it owed a lot to the football player in Heathers's suicide note.
Wait, Smearcase, don't homosexuals like yourself totally refer to themselves that way. I'm shocked to hear that may not have been accurate!
Spoiler Alert: Not actually suicide.
So, to recap the OP: Arabs are good at terrorism, Afghans are not, Iranians are maybe okay at terrorism but terrible at spelling the names of Afghans.
Iranians are also excellent at trolling, of course.
||
My partner and I are friends with a couple who both work at my place of employ. I'm closer to the person who works with me more directly, and the other is closer to my partner, though we are all decently good friends amongst ourself.
In short, Partner 1 was having a run of the mill crappy week of elderly cats dying and work piling up quickly, and then he got the news that his partner's "one time lapse" was actually multiple lapses over a decade, and now Partner 2 has HIV. Partner 1 wants me to protend I don't know, and not to tell my own spouse yet.
So now I feel sad for I, and what he's going through, pissed at 2, though sad as well, wishing I could tell my spouse, and am trying to remember the dos and donts for interacting with people who have HIV.
Yikes! I'm not in a position to offer any real advice, but sorry to hear you're in that awful predicament.
and am trying to remember the dos and donts for interacting with people who have HIV.
I...don't think there are many?
I was thinking along the lines of "gets drunk, trips over cat, knee bleeds all over" kinds of scenarios. I'm not planning to have sex or swap used bubblegum with him.
I was thinking along the lines of "gets drunk, trips over cat, knee bleeds all over" kinds of scenarios.
How often does this sort of thing happen in practice? Maybe just keep the cat locked away when he's over?
I wonder what the impact of HIV/AIDS on the vampire population has been. Did True Blood go into that or was it the subject of countless allegorical treatments of which I'm just not aware already?
43: I've already taken my sleeping pills tonight. I'm impressed that this is even somewhat coherent.
44: My friends and I are on the klutzy side, and the cats do like to trip people.
47.2: Still, though, you're very unlikely to catch HIV from cleaning up someone's blood even in the (also unlikely!) event that they bleed all over your floor. And tripping over a cat is unlikely to lead to significant bleeding in any case.
Have you been to Angelica's house, though? Broken glass everywhere. Plus, she's a vampire.
True enough! My main concern really how well the couple is doing, in light of the recent revelations.
Perhaps some sort of broom is in order.
46: Almost exclusively the latter, I thought.
Angelica, I wouldn't worry any about how to interact with someone who's tested positive and would just go on with life as usual. (I'm assuming you know by now that 1 hasn't, but maybe not yet, in which case making it clear you'll be totally normal about that side of the equation seems particularly important.)
I see a couple of other questions you're asking. On how and when you can talk to your spouse about it, maybe make it clear to 1 that you're not looking to gossip, just feel uncomfortable with the asymmetrical information and then ask when you'll be able to talk to your spouse without it upsetting 1.
There's also the issue of separating how you feel about 2 and your thoughts about what should happen in their relationship that you really need not to bleed over into your support of 1. You could argue that you need your spouse on board to manage this, but basically this is on you.
41 was remarkably restrained. I'm going to take that as a good example.
I am sure you'll be able to discuss with your spouse soon. I would suggest you treat this exactly as you would any other incident of a friend learning about an unfaithful partner. I assume Partner 2 just found out about their status, so if you want to be extremely generous, you could think of it as leaving P2 the chance to get support from your spouse, without your spouse being totally horrified at the details on P1's behalf.
If I understand it right, HIV is mostly manageable these days, although managing it is a PITA. Probably what they want is to get 2's maintenance sorted out and then deliver the package to their friends: "I have HIV. I'm being treated. I'm OK for the foreseeable future. Now can we talk about the incompetence of Mr Rahmani or something, so I don't have to spent an hour answering questions every time I meet somebody." That would be a very natural reaction and I would respect it.
54: I wouldn't think it would even really require an announcement, honestly. Maybe I'm just extra private, but something that is managed like HIV wouldn't necessarily mean inevitable disclosure in the same way that, eg, cancer, would probably be pretty obvious to all but the most casual friends. I would imagine P1's to do list is something like (1) get tested (2) seek support from friends (3) decide whether or not to leave P2, and P2's list is (1) get meds (2) beg P1 for forgiveness (3) seek support from friends.
I would suggest you treat this exactly as you would any other incident of a friend learning about an unfaithful partner.
But Hallmark doesn't make same-sex cards for "I told she/he was a cheating slut and this would only bring you tears."
If I understand it right, HIV is mostly manageable these days
It is, and if well managed the concentration of virus particles in blood is reduced to the extent that infection of another is unlikely. So Angelica's cats can trip people without undue worry.
I mean Angelica doesn't have to worry. The cats obviously don't give a shit either way.
Cats should have cared. I assume that feline immunodeficiency virus got into the cat population because they tripped somebody hard enough to draw blood.
What should we all be buying tickets to, exactly?
Oh, that. Hmm, well, yes.
Here's the schedule.We're playing at 5 pm on Sat., Oct. 15. The troupe from Austin, obvs. While the support of imaginary internet friends is welcome, our set is 20 minutes and there are 9 people in my troupe, so it won't exactly be a Sir Kraab showcase.
I was thinking along the lines of "gets drunk, trips over cat, knee bleeds all over" kinds of scenarios.
I'd like to be gentle about this, but I feel like I've been transported back to the early 90s or so. You're going to need a scenario in which your guest bleeds into your open wound, and that doesn't figure in that he may well be medicated, undetectable, and unlikely to transmit HIV under the most intimate of conditions. So, I guess, if your guest bleeds copiously and you slip and your open wound lands on the pool of blood, you should feel justified in asking whether he is undetectable, and if not, you should go to a hospital for post-exposure prophylaxis. That is genuinely about the extent of it.
Honestly if you have basic questions about how HIV is transmitted, feel free to ask.
51 and 55 are correct. Also furthering 61-62 I will just leave the useful the public health announcement here: post-exposure prophylaixs is super effective, and super easy to get--like 5 minutes at any walk-in clinic, your doctor will prescribe it over the phone, whatever, and it isn't very side-effects-y with this use (different side effect profile long-term). If something happens that leaves you especially concerned about HIV, e.g., yes, someone actively bleeds into your open wound somehow??, or you have an unprotected one night stand and then notice track marks on your partner's arms the next morning, or whatever, literally anything, just get the pills and leave that anxiety behind so you can move on to reflecting on your choices more broadly.
Amendment to 63 "or literally anything" does not include "swapping used bubblegum," wow.
What if you used the bubblegum to apply direct pressure to an open wound?
I'm embarrassed to say that my knowledge of how HIV is transmitted hasn't really been updated since the '90s, where I learned that blood, semen, and breast milk are "dangerous" but everyday contact poses no risk. Any more recent information comes from its effects in various parts of Africa, and I'm sure that is probably shaping my perspective in inaccurate and unhelpful ways.
In retrospect, I probably sounded like an asshole last night, and I'm sorry. As Thorn pointed out, there are a bunch of different concerns lumped together here, along with outdated and offensive information. And, I'm pissed at Partner 2.
Basically there is not a scenario one can easily imagine where you are at risk of transmission from your friend. I am assuming you do not shoot up and share needles. That's your main non-sex transmission risk, though I think you will also want to avoid giving birth to him, or possibly being borne by him. (I am trying to be funny now, not snooty.)
The fact that HIV has become so much more manageable somehow does not change how insanely angry I imagine I would be on finding out my partner had given it to me. In fact, precisely because of things like "morning-after" prophylactic drugs, I might even (unreasonably) be *more* angry than back in the day when it could kill me.
Weakness in the face of lust is a human frailty I can relate to even if I have not been especially subject to it myself. And when the consequences were so dire, there was a certain you've-killed-us, but-we-die-together tragic element that appeals, in the abstract, to this gay man's inner dramatist. (I've just recently watched "Holding the Man," so maybe that's where that's coming from.)
Nowadays, though, it'd be more like: you motherfucker, you mean to tell me I have to take all these damn pills and put up with this hassle from the insurance company and spend all this time waiting in the doctor's office and eat every shit sandwich my boss feeds me until I can get another job with good insurance all because you were too chickenshit to tell me you cheated and/or too lazy to look after your own status!? You might as well skip *your* pills, sweetie, because I'm going to kill you with my bare hands.
The fact that HIV has become so much more manageable
Back when I went to a lot of HIV conferences, my impression was that how manageable HIV is can vary significantly. It's manageable except when it isn't.
Yes, fair enough. I assumed that "for the privileged" would be implicitly tacked on after that 'manageable,' but it's really "for the privileged and lucky even on top of that."
64 was me being snooty not funny and I feel a little bit bad about it now.
I came here to be snooty and use bubble gum as part of an extended visual image. And I'm all out of snooty.
Swope, I think we have the same gay man's inner dramatist.