It makes me sick, I want to vomit!
The libertarian utopia will build itself, my friend.
Is this yet another post about Charles Haley's cock?
Melvin just left like 17 million comments. Melvin can fuck right off.
You'll miss him when he's gone. Mark my words.
Melvin can download a mix!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ijpshb
Here is some cover art:
http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/14541962/l5sqty4qfx8v3gisi54
Here are the tracks:
can't get it right today - Joe Chambers
Under My Bed - Meiko
Love Outside Movies - Heartbreak Scene
Theme for Kinetic Ritual - Klark Kent
Toe Jam (feat. David Byrne) - The BPA
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - Eels
Cannibal Queen - Miniature Tigers
Nega Maluca, Billie Jean... - Caetano Veloso
Borrowing Time - Aimee Mann
Tight Fittin' Jeans - Conway Twitty
(Jesus Hits Like the) Atom Bomb - The Blind Boys of Alabama
Remade Horizon - Dirty Projectors
Love Has Left The Room - A Camp
Loli Phabay (the red apple) - Satra
Feels Like Home - Randy Newman
Oppressions Each - Brightblack Morning Light
I Don't Blame You - Cat Power
Obvs a number of these found there little ways to me from the Mineshaft.
|| / |>
I am happy that my stepfather lives on in this way. He used to say "look, it's Halley's comet" when he wanted to steal your fries or something. He was really a very bad person, but his life became unbelievably bad and then he killed himself, so I feel a kind of equanimity regarding him now.
Well it is the Perseid meteor showers. For West Coasters, go outside and look up RIGHT NOW! Probably not a great year too see them as the moon is gibbous and the actual "peak" is this afternoon (better for you Brits). And cloudy here last night in P'burgh, but a front with drier air behind coming through so should have a shot this evening.
||Does anyone know anything about the security of Facebook? I got a private message from someone and something about it seems odd. (And the person is not odd!)
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12: It's a fraud, BG. Real bishops don't invite parishioners to come over and "help polish my crosier". At least not in the Episcopal church, anyway.
Here is some cover art:
Ah, so you follow Strange Maps as well?
12: Is it possible to contact that person via an alternate medium to confirm the message? That'd be my approach.
15 is good. When in doubt, delete the message and then send the person a separate message asking them if they sent it to you. There have been a rash of Facebook hacks of that variety over the last few months. I no longer follow links from Facebook, as a rule.
As for Halley's comet, I can only say that it had better be a damned sight more impressive next time it comes around. It was lame. Exciting, but lame.
As for the Perseids, which I presume Standpipe was on about, I'd like to register my disgust with clouds and their blocking of cool stuff.
17: Yeah, in my case, sunset was too late, moonrise was too soon, and all the humidity rendered everything fuzzy anyway. Geminids in December!
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This morning I did my first real exercise in a long time. Stability ball at the Y kicked my ass, and I only used the 3 pound weights. Someone who seemed to struggle herself asked me if I was staying for the next class---a 90 minute full body workout.
I haven't yet had my personal fitness assessment and workout recommendations. My goals are pretty low--get there two-three days per week and build from there if I can. MY goal is to be able to do a real push up in 2 years.
Unfortunately, the beginning cycling class is at 10:20 in the morning on one of my busiest days.
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Also OT: Anyone in Boston interested in going to see Shakespeare on the Common?
Real bishops don't invite parishioners to come over and "help polish my crosier". At least not in the Episcopal church, anyway.
I saw one Perseid last night. It was pretty neat. In my youth we were often in the BWCAW this time of year, so we'd get a better view.
Also, as though the meteor heralded a disturbance in the great chain of being, some asshole was actually trying to call me out last night! I think it was because I didn't really look like I belonged as much in the neighborhood as I usually do, and I was carrying a 24-pack of Black Label. And he was standing on his own stoop with several of his friends around, so I guess he felt pretty immune. (And even then, he stayed on the stoop the whole time and just yelled imprecations at me. Coward.) Not like I'm going to go back over there and start some shit, but people need to get a clue about hassling random passers-by. That's how fools wind up in wheelchairs.
Still a ways to go before we get to utopia, unfortunately.
Does anyone know anything about the security of Facebook?
I would assume the security of all of these services is dubious at best.
From the link in 20:
"Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever."
B-o-o-o-ring. And they wonder why The Young People of Today would rather do meth than go to church.
Meteors sometimes do herald a significant change in the Great Chain of Being: just ask the dinosaurs!
Were: top (despite T.Rex's weeny little hands)
Now: became chickens
An issue worth raising at the next town hall: Will Obamacare do anything to stop giant rocks from falling from the sky?
That's how fools wind up in wheelchairs.
Our first glimpse of how police will deal with assholes after the revolution!
25: No. The public-option rocks will fall faster, harder, and more deathfully, crowding out the hard-working-joe private-sector rocks who were just trying to scrape by.
Obama will actively encourage death-dealing terrorist asteroids to fall on red states, that's his secret plan for reducing health care costs.
28: Then when FEMA comes in to deal with the aftermath of the asteroid impacts, they'll shuttle the survivors off to their secret concentration camps.
Under Obama's nationalist, socialifascimuslimocracified "health"care plan, panels of government bureaucrats and Bruce Willis' crack team of drilling experts will decide whether rocks fall on you based entirely on your value to society and their churchmosque league softball team. Only those deemed to have any value will have rocks fall on them. Everyone else must wait in line until they die.
That's how fools wind up in wheelchairs.
When "keeping it real" goes wrong....
That's how fools wind up in wheelchairs.
NOT ALWAYS!
That's how fools wind up in wheelchairs.
This applies broadly --- it works for picking fights with random passers-by, and equally for accepting fights with random people on their stoops.
An issue worth raising at the next town hall: Will Obamacare do anything to stop giant rocks from falling from the sky?
Of course not. Obama is too distracted by silly theories of global warming to do anything about the rocks-from-the-sky threat.
10: I always liked Bugs Bunny's version, "Look over there, it's a three-legged aeroplane!"
I keep it simple, with the classic, "Look, an eagle!".
21: I was carrying a 24-pack of Black Label.
Black Label: for when you ain't got no money but you want to get drunk, really fast.
max
['If you cut it with tequila, you won't notice the taste so much.']
Libertarian utopias: not all they're cracked up to be.
I drove through Mentone yesterday. Interesting place.
From the link in 38:
According to a website for Mr. Pendarvis' movement, their objectives were to "remove oppressive Regulations...and stop enforcement of Laws prohibiting Victimless Acts among Consenting Adults, such as Dueling, Gambling, Incest, Price-Gouging, Cannibalism, and Drug Handling."
Those victimless cannibals must be awfully hungry.
Yeah, I was also confused as to how price-gouging and sponsoring fights among bums is victimless.
That's easy. Have a duel where the loser gets eaten.
40: You have to remember the very lose definition of "consent" used by libertarians. If you agree to pay a price, no matter how ridiculous, you are doing it of your own free will, even if you don't have any other choices.
I'm just worried that Pendarvis has followers who are really itching to do some of those, but can't, because the law is getting them down. "If it weren't for the Nanny State, I'd be hitting on my sister right now!"
some asshole was actually trying to call me out last night
Do people really still say "call me out" to mean "challenge me to a fight"? I don't think I've ever come across that outside novels set in Regency England. Is "demanding satisfaction" still used as well, or has that changed in meaning (with hilarious consequences!)?
I'm just worried that Pendarvis has followers who are really itching to do some of those, but can't, because the law is getting them down.
Given that his movement seems to have totally collapsed, I suspect there aren't all that many out there.
From the wikipedia link:
Although Mr. Pendarvis' website remains operative, his project does not seem to be active at this time, due to lack of funding and participation.
He and his associates are also apparently wanted in Loving County and subject to arrest if they return.
Ajay: I think the guy on the stoop actually threw a glove at Minnie's feet.
Do people really still say "call me out" to mean "challenge me to a fight"?
If only. That would make the many, many disputes about racism, sexism, colonialism, privilege, etc., in the liberal geek troposphere far more interesting than the current not-even-slapfights.
If you agree to pay a price, no matter how ridiculous, you are doing it of your own free will, even if you don't have any other choices.
You can be price-gouged without consent, even if you consent to paying the price which gouges. In fact, I would bet that hardly anyone consents to being price-gouged!
47: And still *yearning* to stage bumfights, screw their siblings, and savor the sweet sweet taste of human flesh.
51: Well, yeah, but it seems to be just the three guys.
That's easy. Have a duel where the loser gets eaten.
Have a bumfight where the winner eats the loser. If I rattle my libertarian abacus back and forth for a minute it tells me that removing two hungry people from the population and adding one satisfied person to the population is, like, so swell it breaks the laws of mathematics.
My favorite thing about the quotes in the Wikipedia article are the antiquated capitalizations. They read as though written by A.A. Milne in the Mirror, Mirror universe. Free market forces have clearly elevated the classiest of the crazy to the top of the heap.
The gas station in Mentone, btw, is cash-only. The wikipedia article says the cafe is too, but it didn't seem to be open when I was there.
52: that would seem rather to limit the amount of incest, price-gouging, cannibalism etc in which the movement could potentially indulge.
38: I had occasion to spend a bit of time in Mentone/Loving County in a previous life. Very gratifying to my inner geographical nerd. I first became aware of it when it turned up as the furthest west county to have voted for George Wallace in 1968 (during my "color the 1968 election results by hand" project). I happened to be there right after an uncommon significant snowstorm. Current population of 67 looks to be about 1/2 of what it was when I was there. (It actually is not that much less populated than much of the surrounding area, they just carved a whole (relatively small) county out of the nothingness.
I'd like to register my disgust with clouds and their blocking of cool stuff.
The one goddamn night it's rained here all summer.
I keep it simple, with the classic, "Look, an eagle!"
"Look, a wolf! A baby wolf!"
It actually is not that much less populated than much of the surrounding area, they just carved a whole (relatively small) county out of the nothingness.
Yeah, it really looks exactly like the rest of the Permian Basin. Interestingly, it seems to have been the last county in Texas to be established (in 1887), or at least the last as of 1936 when the state put up a historic marker by the courthouse. Named after Oliver Loving, of course, of the Goodnight-Loving trail, which passes right by Mentone.
"Look, a wolf! A baby wolf!"
Followed shortly by "And its mother! Boy, she looks pissed!"
Do people really still say "call me out" to mean "challenge me to a fight"?
Yes, but this is very regional I suspect.
53: Please remember to put your answer in terms of mouse-orgasms.
"(during my "color the 1968 election results by hand" project)"
Because scrapbooking was too exciting?
59: it seems to have been the last county in Texas to be established
Looking at some of the hsitorical stuff, apparently the organization at the end of the 19th century was basically part of a fraudulent irrigation project scheme by some promoters from Denver (83 votes were recorded in favor of organizing a county, when apparently there were only a few people actually living in the area). The county government basically fell apart a few years later and it was reattached to a neighboring county and not reorganized until 1931 after the oil boom had started in the area and there were several hundred residents.
Interesting. Mentone was established in 1933, I think.
No, wait, 1931 according to wikipedia.
The name Mentone sounds like some kind of self-tanning lotion for male corporate execs from the '80s.
(I'm aware it's from the French Menton; just saying.)
The name Mentone sounds like some kind of self-tanning lotion for male corporate execs from the '80s. strippers.
same same, I guess.
Current population of 67 looks to be about 1/2 of what it was when I was there.
I bet that all 67 of them look suspiciously well-fed, though.
62: Please remember to put your answer in terms of mouse-orgasms.
"No really! Physically, how could you?! This much?! THIS MUCH?!"
What could I say?
"I'm a teenage boy horny hobo mouse," I shrug.
Part of the plan was to change the town's name to MANDOM.
"I'm a teenage boy horny hobo mouse," I shrug.
"MANDOM, baby," I growl.
59
Named after Oliver Loving, of course, of the Goodnight-Loving trail, which passes right by Mentone.
Oh, of course!
63: I was truly in deep, my friend. Map nerdom has rarely come more nerderific. But it was fascinating! Especially the states with close three-way Wallace/Nixon/Humphrey races (Arkansas comes to mind). To see it revealed slowly over the course of hours of painstaking map-coloring ... kids today, with their stinking computers ... they'll never know.
Once, as an assigned exercise at some nerd summer thing, I had to come-up with gerrmandered house districts for Iowa using only a calculator and the county level vote totals from the previous election. That taught me about life.
77: Meanwhile, the older campers were crafting a piece of felon disenfranchisement legislation out of birchbark, and building an unauditable touchscreen voting machine out of stamped leather and gimp.
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I just saw Dave Matthews while I was at lunch. Normally, such a sighting would be unremarkable 'round these parts; however, this instance is noteworthy because he didn't offer me a spot in his band. Also, he's rather tall.
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Whenever a critical mass of nerd references is reached, ToS emerges to scream "CHANDALA". Then he scurries back into his hole.
Map nerdom has rarely come more nerderific.
An atlas, tracing paper, and a box of crayons could keep me quiet for days when I was a kid. On long trips I could be content just counting towns and Esso icons on old road maps. It's amazing that I'm as socially well-adjusted as I am.
I can't be impressed by celebrity sightings any more now that I know that one of us has gone grocery shopping with Angelyne.
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This seems like the sort of thing that should get posted here.
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79: did you yell him that his new single is unbelievably terrible?
84: I did not. It occurred to me after the fact that I might have said to him, in the parking lot, where I first noted his presence as he emerged from his vehicle that I sure was glad he didn't Crash Into Me. Hey-hey. Ho-ho.
More on the guys from the stoop: Their neighbor, the one that I was visiting, informs me that they have the least subtle and least remunerative open-air drug market in the neighborhood. Their other neighbors, who are somewhat more subtle and businesslike in their similar operations, often chase them off when they are acting particularly stupid. Based on that additional information, I'm guessing their shelf-life will be pretty minimal. The police did a lights-off, low-speed cruise by while we were over there last night, but apparently did not find anything objectionable. "Only a pawn in their game"
Map nerdom has rarely come more nerderific.
To bring the thread full circle from the B. Kliban reference in 1, Map Filth.
I have never heard the Dave Matthews Band. I've been led to believe that that's a good thing.
44: I don't think I've ever come across that outside novels set in Regency England. Is "demanding satisfaction" still used as well, or has that changed in meaning (with hilarious consequences!)?
Uh. No 'demanding satisfaction' here, but 'Are you callin' me out motherfucker?' is an expression I have used. Several times.
39: Those victimless cannibals must be awfully hungry.
Has no one hear heard of the gay German cannibal dudes? [First random news link grabbed]
KASSEL, Germany, - A man in Germany charged with killing and eating a gay man he met in an Internet chat room had previously "auditioned" four other potential victims, according to a published report. The report in Stern magazine, due to hit newsstands Thursday, quotes investigators as saying the four "cannibalism candidates" agreed to be subjected to a physical suitability examination by their prospective killer.
Lured by Internet ads saying "I could just gobble you up", The four men -three from Germany and one from London - travelled separately to the killer's secluded and rambling farm house near Kassel in central Germany for the interview and physical examination. Three of the men baulked at going through with being cannibalised, saying they had assumed it was all some erotic role-playing game. The fourth man was rejected as "pudgy and unsexy" by the killer. [...]
The report comes after prosecutors in Kassel said they are broadening the investigation to include some 430 other persons believed to have been involved in the Internet gay cannibalism chat room that led to the death of a 42-year-old man in March 2001. Prosecutors are convinced that the victim, a computer analyst from Berlin, agreed to be killed and eaten. His dismembered and partially devoured remains were found at the residence of a 41-year-old suspect. That suspect, identified only as Armin M. [Wikipedia link with all the details], has been charged with murder. Cannibalism per se is not a crime under German law. Despite the fact that the victim willingly agreed to be killed, prosecutors said the case could not be considered "assisted suicide". So they opted for a murder indictment.So: 'Look! A gay German cannibal!'
76: To see it revealed slowly over the course of hours of painstaking map-coloring ... kids today, with their stinking computers ... they'll never know.
Heh. I'm old enough that I did that in 1984 (I was expecting a somewhat closer race since I didn't know any better and I still remembered 1980), but young enough that have been used to computers/electronics my entire life, including making maps very early on, such that none of 'wonders of the Internet' crap surprises me. Which is a very weird place to be.
max
['The map coloring is more fun, but not enough to not use a computer.']
"'Are you callin' me out motherfucker?' is an expression I have used. Several times."
That is the most unsurprising thing I have read this week.
81: It's amazing that I'm as socially well-adjusted as I am.
Yes, I monotonically make the same observation to people all the time. Just got a 1958 Rand McNally off of eBay at a reasonable price—shows some of the bare beginnings of the Interstates (beyond the turnpikes and urban freeway/parkway precursors).
Actually, I think this guy has us all beat (painstakingly detailed fictional roadmaps).
91.last: I was familiar with the concept of a "railfan", but "roadgeek" is a new one on me.
77: I had to come-up with gerr[y]mandered house districts for Iowa
Interesting that it was for Iowa which uses a non-partisan board to devise its districts (the only multi-district state to do so I think) and generally has the most geographically rational districts of any state.
93: The point of the exercise was to teach us about variance (i.e. how close to 50.1% can you go and still have a safe seat) and spatial problem solving. Iowa was probably selected because it was nearby and had the right number of seats and the right political split to make an interesting, but workable problem.
young enough that have been used to computers/electronics my entire life, including making maps very early on, such that none of 'wonders of the Internet' crap surprises me.
I wrote a recipe column for my college paper. Last night I recalled that I egregiously misspelled aglia e olio in one of the columns, and realized that the reason I had been able to do so was that, although the www was over a year old at the time, and I was aware of its existence, it was not yet capable of instantly telling me whether or not my half-recalled spelling was the correct one.
Stuff like that still strikes me. Last week my editor & I were emailing back and forth about pre-computer writing, with the inability to modify on the fly. I learned to write papers by hand and on typewriters, but it's been all electronic since my first day of college, which, as max says, is a weird place to be. It's all completely familiar and comfortable, yet I can't imagine not knowing another way.
Have any of you map geeks ever had the chance to work with GIS? Great, great stuff, but very frustrating from an aesthetic POV (you can make beautiful maps, but they don't make it especially easy, because it's not their #1 priority). I have a little fantasy in which my firm makes enough money that I can buy GIS and some good datasets. I don't need it, but I'd love to have it.
How disappointing that I-19, America's only metric-signed interstate, is switching to customary units:
Citing motorist confusion arising from the metric signs on I-19, Arizona DOT's Tucson district announced that new signs on I-19 would use United States customary units. To avoid the cost of replacing the metric signs all at once, signs would be replaced in specific areas of the freeway during construction projects in those areas.[7] New signs were put into place between Exit 99 (Ajo Way) and Exit 101 (Interstate 10) in 2004 after the completion of the new Interstate 10-Interstate 19 interchange.
85: Interesting. He seems to have substituted "funny" for "ironic", used a few different examples, but otherwise copied an Alanis Morissette lyric.
As long as we are letting it all hang out, and since JRoth already mentioned it, everyone should check out Strange Maps from time to time. The latest entry is a beautiful strip roadmap from 1675 showing London to Road's End.
96: Have any of you map geeks ever had the chance to work with GIS?
A little bit. Mostly through my daughter who has taken several courses in it. It does seem a bit convoluted, but we had fun last Thanksgiving making various "election results vs. x" maps at the county level. She has a natural artisitic talent and has made a few very nice-looking maps (or map/other info combinations), but it does seem to take a lot of work.
Road's End is actually a better name for Land's End than Land's End
89: Actually, everyone has heard of that, which is probably why no one felt the need to mention it.
Named after Oliver Loving, of course, of the Goodnight-Loving trail, which passes right by Mentone.
Oh, of course!
Well, this was covered previously.
it was not yet capable of instantly telling me whether or not my half-recalled spelling was the correct one.
speaking of computers and spelling, has anyone else noticed that automated spellcheck is leading to a huge number of homonym-based spelling errors in publications? I saw an editorial in a major newspaper the other day which began a sentence with something like "no matter how well the market fairs...". Principal / principle is another common mixup you see all the time now. Since there are hardly any copy editors any more, this stuff all sails through.
I predict this will eventually change spelling itself, so the correct spelling is always the most common homonym of a word.
104.last: I'm not going to by that.
My boss's most-committed homonym is "bi-products", despite being giggled at (by his proofing editor = me) every time he writes it.
In general I think the Age of Orthography is over and Sausagely won. Luckily militant reactionaries will keep me in a job till retirement.
Orthography is still alive, only the authorities have changed. In fact, there is a war on between Microsoft and Google over who will be Master of How Things Are Spelled.
103: Loving also gave his name to two towns in New Mexico (Loving and Lovington). The town of Loving is at the point along the trail where he was mortally wounded by Comanches.
I predict this will eventually change spelling itself, so the correct spelling is always the most common homonym of a word.
I'm not sure this will necessarily happen, but it's certainly a strong possibility.
At first I totally misread what Nate Silver says about the UK near the top of this post. I blame you people.
You did not misread, my boy. Master Silver mistyped. Any nation with wizards inevitably becomes a nation with giant cocks.
Wingirthia expandiosa!
Does 'Accio Semen' work as birth control? Rowling won't answer my e-mail.
Ow ow fuck ow ow! Hernia restituo!
116: I guess that answers my question about constipation also.
Among them are elderly constituents who Rep. Jim Tanner, D-Tenn., said have contacted him, saying, "I'm happy with Medicare, don't let the government take it over."From the LA Times. I think the health care reform debate has been hijacked by the people who fell for sweepstakes scams.
119: Yeah, we have the Gov't hands off my Medicare folks, "Stephen Hawking wouldn't make it in the UK" and my new favorite, the anti-reform dude who was in the scuffle outside one of the Town Halls and for whom a collection has been set up to pay his medical costs since he was recently laid off and lost his health insurance.
I suspect the timeshare folks would absolutely kill for their mailing lists.
120: and the Nigerian spammers! It must be a near certainty that some Nigerian 419 scammer is going to clean out the bank account of some credulous birther by claiming to have Obama's original Kenyan birth certificate in a safe deposit box in Nairobi, and needing just a small sum to bribe the bank bureaucrat to produce the match key...
122 is right re: the greatness of 121.
121 excellent. Between that and the fat republican target demographic of 2014, pp's definitely earned a beer today.
My one fear is that Nigerian scammers aren't adequately tuned in to the American political climate to realize the opportunity here.
121-124 achieve an unparalleled level of genius and correct commenting to which 125 aspires.
Can someone explain to me why old people are so credulous? Back when Publishers Clearinghouse and Ed McMahon swindled my grandfather out of a pile of cash, I chalked it up to his generation. He was from the Greatest Generation, a simpler, more honest time, when authority figures and things that came in the mail could be trusted.
But the current batch of old people are early boomers. They should know better.
127: Early boomers grew up more under Ike.
My one fear is that Nigerian scammers aren't adequately tuned in to the American political climate to realize the opportunity here.
A non-Nigerian adequately tuned into the American political climate could scam à la Nigeria, perhaps posing as a Kenyan government official. On the Internet, no one knows you're not a Nigerian scammer.
120 my new favorite, the anti-reform dude who was in the scuffle outside one of the Town Halls and for whom a collection has been set up to pay his medical costs since he was recently laid off and lost his health insurance.
Do you have a link?
That's true, Jesus, but, while I would be amused at hearing that some nutjob loon had been taken in by one whose soul was already corrupted by scamming, I don't want to dirty my hands myself, you see.
Neither would I, of course. I wouldn't give it another thought, myself, and anyway, I've got a flight to Nairobi to catch.
129: So its not something that comes over you when you turn 65? I've been worrying that when I hit retirement age I'll fall victim to some direct-neural-connection-to-your-brain scam.
127: It's all that early brain damage from pot. I'm just a little older than the boomers and I stuck to ether, alcohol, and inadvertant whiffs of CCl4.
The Nigerians and all their relatives can go fuck themselves.
127
Can someone explain to me why old people are so credulous? Back when Publishers Clearinghouse and Ed McMahon swindled my grandfather out of a pile of cash, I chalked it up to his generation. He was from the Greatest Generation, a simpler, more honest time, when authority figures and things that came in the mail could be trusted.
Part of it is mental deterioration with age.
Additionally some old people are isolated and lonely. Making them more willing to talk to sales people and less likely to consult others before buying.
I don't want to dirty my hands myself, you see.
Maybe start small. Just respond to every Nigerian spam e-mail you receive with a detailed explanation of the plan.
I refuse to believe that Jesus has never heard Dave Matthews. Surely it has been the background music at some party, some tv show watched, some store, somewhere. I can't be the only person who hears him everywhere.
139: Maybe he's a witch! Throw him in a lake! We'll see if he sinks.
139: I had that thought. There's no way you haven't heard it in some public space, Jesus.
I keep reading I don't want to dirty my hands myself, you see as: I don't want to dirty myself, you see.
Also: I can't believe someone wondered whether Jeff Beck is still alive. Dude, his last three albums are awesome. Dave Matthews isn't horrid at all times, either, but don't let that sentiment convince you that Jeff Beck must also suck.
Further evidence for the homonym theory:
A Season with the California Conservation CoreThe California Conservation Core is alive and well according to this great recent article in BND.Com
Not only is Jeff Beck alive and well and rocking out, John Paul Jones just formed a power trio with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.
144: That sounds...interesting. In a good way, I think.
144: Someone also told me that Sammy Hagar was singing for that group, but that seems not to be the case. It seemed odd.
143: Are you sure the CCC doesn't really call itself that? Certain purveyors of foodstuffs have offered "lite" meals for years, after all, and one suspects that increasing numbers of people don't realize that that's not how it's spelled.
That is to say that yes, people wrung their hands over the advent of calculators (and no, a lot of people can't do basic arithmetic any more, I think); you all have seen me from time to time become impatient with a seeming call to just look things up online if you don't know, rather than asking a question. That's annoying, I know; but the idea isn't a new one.
I'll buy that spelling is going out the window. You have no idea how many people have given up capitalization -- I see this when shipping books to buyers. You person, buyer, do not capitalize your name or address. Okay. You look like a second grader, but okay.
1. I rarely go to parties.
2. I rarely go to stores, except the grocery store, where I'm certain they don't play Dave Matthews.
3. My limited radio listening consists of public radio and, very occasionally, neb's program, which I'm pretty sure has never included Dave Matthews.
4. I don't even have a TV.
except the grocery store, where I'm certain they don't play Dave Matthews.
Really? They do at mine!
He's been ubiquitous over the last 10-15 years. I still suspect you've heard him, but I will buy that you didn't know you were hearing him, unless you live in a commune. Also, you manage to live a life far more isolated from pop culture than I can possibly imagine. I'm impressed.
Yeah, it would be the equivalent of going through the 70s without hearing The Eagles.
Hey, Jesus, this is an interesting thing about, uh, wine. I swear it is.
It doesn't seem so strange to me that Jesus wouldn't have heard anything by Dave Matthews. I don't think I have for years. "Crash" or whatever the title is was inescapable for a while when I was in high school, but I don't think I've heard it recently, and in general I haven't heard much of whatever the radio-popular stuff is since high school. I suppose it's possible I've heard some of his newer stuff without realizing it, but I'm pretty good at avoiding popular music.
I notice Dave Matthews on a lot of soundtracks, for movies and tv alike. Maybe I'm way more connected into pop culture than I previously thought. I do waste far too much time watching tv and I do listen to radio.
Also, you manage to live a life far more isolated from pop culture than I can possibly imagine
It's essential to my sanity. Also, for professional reasons I spend a lot of time listening to classical music, which has crowded out most other stuff. I have been convinced to go hear the Flaming Lips next week, though.
152: Nice try. If apo hadn't already conditioned me to be wary of links here, I might have clicked on it.
154: I do listen to popular radio.
That would do it. I think I only heard "Crash" for the first time 3-4 years ago, and I recognize Dave Matthews now just because he has a very distinctive voice.
Funny thing is, though, I can't recall the last time I heard Dave Matthews on the radio....
(Mostly because I avoid the easy listening stations like the plague.)
I notice Dave Matthews on a lot of soundtracks, for movies and tv alike.
Hmm. I do watch an excessive amount of TV, so maybe I've heard him more than I think. But in general, popular music is pretty avoidable. I didn't hear "My Humps" until I saw Alanis Morissette's version linked on some blog, or Rihanna's "Umbrella" until I looked it up on Youtube after encountering some reference to it for the hundredth time.
119: Hillary Clinton said that an old woman said that to her in 92. I had hoped that we had moved on a bit. Maybe not.
Yeah, I managed to completely miss Umbrella as well. (Not anymore, though. Also, has anyone else noticed that Beyonce's Halo is just a rip-off of Umbrella?)
Yeah, I managed to completely miss Umbrella as well.
I can't believe that was two years ago.
This is not a good time to say that I've never heard of Rihanna.
Rihanna is still alive? Who is she?
Okay. You look like a second grader, but okay.
I suspect second graders are more likely to write in all caps than all lowercase.
131: Do you have a link?
Yes (via TPM and Steve Benen). But Benen has an update:
The Washington Independent spoke to Gladney's attorney, who said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article is mistaken. Gladney did lose his job, the attorney said, but now has health insurance through his wife.
It's unclear, at this point, a) why Gladney initially told reporters he has no insurance; and b) why he would need to solicit contributions from far-right activists to pay his medical bills if he already has coverage.
The piece linked in 162 is one of my all-time favorite blog posts, and inspired me to send a ukulele cover of Umbrella to a depressed friend.
166: Perhaps. I don't know what it is, then. 11th grade? Sophomore year? It doesn't particularly bother me, since it's so common, but it does make me laugh from time to time.
Sock puppetry is deprecated, teo.
170: You've never even seen a hitchhiker, Ned.
Correction: When I was in New Mexico for a weekend this year, I saw hitchhikers. That makes an average of one per day in New Mexico, and zero per 20-year period in Pennsylvania.
173: See? Don't be so provincial. If we all just got out more, we'd know who Rihanna is.
I recognize Dave Matthews now just because he has a very distinctive voice.
AB - who was at UVA before DM joined forces with his fiddle player and therefore gets a pass on liking him - doesn't like that I use a Kermit voice to imitate him.
But it's so fucking true.
Kermit voice? Don't you think he's kind of growly? I could see teasing about that.
I'm going to have to listen afresh. Damn you, JRoth. You're going to make fun of Natalie Merchant next, aren't you? (She also has a very distinctive voice.)
The only reason I have any awareness of "Umbrella" is that somebody here put it on a mix.
I'm, uh, not impressed.
176: No, I'm fine with NMerchant's voice. Actually, my old boss used to rant about her, so I'll always have a soft spot for her, as his rant was so absurd (as was he).
Speaking of popular music, the Pixies are touring again? Weird.
178: There's no point in wondering what his rant was about, is there? I seem to think that some people thought she was a communist or something. There was a 10000_Maniacs song that garnered complaints. I don't quite recall.
Perseid update: Not too late to see them tonight. Sky cleared here, although continuing dampness and haze made it not great. I did see a few ghostly ones and one good streaker going NE -> SE which induced me to stay out longer to the benefit of a number of mosquitoes. Go take a look if you're in the clear.
180: She was on this. Maybe that was a problem for some nutters?
Hey, I know Rihanna. She's a Welsh witch (or close to anyway); Stevie Nicks told me that. You kids get off bob's lawn.
There's no point in wondering what his rant was about, is there?
IIRC it was just a general "she's overrated" rant (he must have had specifics, but they escape me). But this was the late '90s, when she was, in fact, pretty highly rated, so he got to deploy it a lot.
179: Yes, and most of their crowds were 4th-graders when they broke up.
I didn't hear "My Humps" until I saw Alanis Morissette's version linked on some blog,
What?
186: I saw them in 2005, and there was a pretty broad mix of ages in the audience. (I think I was a fifth grader when they broke up; I never listened to them until college.) I had thought that was just a one-time reunion tour, though. I'm surprised they're at it again so soon.
I started listening to the Pizies in the brief period between the release of their last album and the announcement of the breakup. I felt pretty gyped. I didn't really get into them for another few years, but still.
Maybe in 10 years or so I'll buy a Pixies album. At this point I don't really think we can say they've stood the test of time.
Is it fair to attribute some of the Pixies bump among twentysomethings to the appearance of "Where Is My Mind?" in Fight Club? I sure do, but maybe I just hung out with a disproportionate number of American Studies majors who were writing theses about Fight Club.
writing theses about Fight Club.
Terrifying.
Me five.
I only got around to listening to the Pixies about ten years ago, after reading that they were an influence on Nirvana.
196: I think one of them was tying it to Infinite Jest. Topical for anyone still doing that summer reading project!
"Transgressing the Rules: Talking About Fight Club"
I once heard a talk with a very similar name to that, essear. (Much to my dismay.)
I could be wrong about it being a thesis, now that I think about it. In any case, there was a moment of my undergrad years when a lot of American Studies students were taking Fight Club as a Very, Very, Very Serious Thing.
I assume they were talking about the novel Fight Club rather than just the movie -- I could swear I've read another Chuck Palahniuk novel, at a friend's insistence, but can't for the life of me determine which it was, which doesn't bode well. It was extremely sexually fucked up; that's about all I remember.
In any event, a thesis on Palahniuk, yeah, in conjunction with other writers, I guess I could see it. People have written dissertations on the image of the street vendor in, er, Trollope.
Thinking about it now, I must say that watching Fight Club with my eldest did reawaken my interest in The Pixies (of whom I somewhat knew from their first go around) and it certainly provided his (and then my other kids') introduction to them. Somewhat younger than the demo you are talking about, but I do suspect the movie and its dramatic use of the song was a catalyst for new and renewed interest across a broad spectrum of folks.
I was introduced to Fight Club at some high school science shindig where one of the other contestants convinced twenty-odd of us to cram into a hotel room and break some curfew rule to watch it because it was, like, the most brilliant thing ever. Said person was some sort of repeat math olympiad winner / über-genius-prodigy type, who last I heard decided to quit math and work on Wall Street. I'm tempted to try to draw various lessons from this about what sort of person is overly impressed with Fight Club, but probably 18-year-olds should be cut some slack on their movie taste.
"Fight Club" was definitely the most popular movie among my peers, at age 18n 19 and 20. Several different groups of peers, too, I would probably bet "Fight Club" was the most universally popular movie.
200: Having spent a lot of time attempting to cook up projects just to match stupid punny titles I've thought up, I can't really criticize much.
It's only when the titles are the best thing about the talk that I begin to resent the presenters a bit.
I avoided watching it for a number of years, in part because ot some misapprehensions based on how it was recommended to me. When I did watch it, I found it entertaining and somewhat thought-provoking. I subsequently read the book (and several other Palahniuks), but the book made no lasting impression, and I don't really recall now where and how it differed from the film.
199 was quite clever.
in part because ot some misapprehensions based on how it was recommended to me
Brad Pitt is in it. Poor guy always gets a bad rap.
Fight Club is the best American movie. Better than Citizen Kane, even. It is a Very, Very, Very Serious thing indeed. I briefly thought it heralded the dawn of a new age of movies, but it was just part of a fluke year of unusually good movies.
I'm not surprised that it would be popular among American Studies majors, since American masculinity is a big part of the plot. But I think that it's best understood as explaining the appeal of fascism. By taking away all of the obviously objectionable elements, such as the anti-Semitism and the virulent nationalism, it does a good job of illustrating the kind of meaning it would bring to your life to be part of a violent movement.
Having spent a lot of time attempting to cook up projects just to match stupid punny titles I've thought up
BOGF turned in a college paper entitled, "Please, Hamlet, Don't Hurt 'Em," ca. 1991.
I wrote a paper about the Congress Internationale Architecture Moderne titled, "CIAM I Am." The prof responded with 4 suitable lines that I think I can still reproduce.
it does a good job of illustrating the kind of meaning it would bring to your life to be part of a violent movement
Like the teabaggy-townbrawl thing? Hmm. Things are starting to make sense.
211: Oooh! What? Four lines? (Will I get them, or are they too subject matter specific?)
210: I suspect that for a few years after 9/11 it would not have been "allowed" to be made in the form it was if it was associated with a major studio.
I was tickled to learn of the existence of the BOSS ACT - Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing.
One of my friends who worked in the Pentagon almost got a project with the acronym of CLIT all the way through to the Joint Chiefs before someone noticed. (It had something to do with Liberia if I remember correctly. If I worked for the military with their obsessive acronymn-izing I'd spend all my time thinking up dirty ones and trying to get them to fit project titles.)
211: If you'd stuck together, you might have produced a Shakespeare/Seuss mashup.
I've just been reading the details in the wikipedia article on the making of Fight Club. This is a slightly ruinous experience: it might have been made with Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, and Courtney Love in the lead roles! Talk about a completely different movie.
I thought long and hard about how I could title my MA thesis on Fielding "It's Not Unusual," but was haunted by the fact that this joke is not funny according to Dr. Johnson's rules of wit (and also really not funny). Also considered and rejected: a term paper on Richardson called "Clarissa Explains It All." Neither funny!
"Please, Hamlet, Don't Hurt 'Em" is kinda cute though.
218, if a Fielding paper called "it's not unusual" is not funny according to Dr. Johnson, than I don't want to be funny according to Dr. Johnson.
210 is hyperbolic re "best" but quite right. We have seen the revolution, and it does not include women!
RICO, as an acronym for a law designed to deal with organized crime, always cracked me up. What was the other alternative, the Racketeering and Other Criminally Corrupt Organizations law?
Further evidence for the homonym theory: A Season with the California Conservation Core
On the positive side, think of all the mothers who no longer have to be axious because their children's job has something to do with a corpse.
220: In a similar vein: the Summersville Dam deviates from the Corps of Engineers convention of naming dams after the nearest town, with Summersville being somewhat further away than the town of Gad.
220
RICO, as an acronym for a law designed to deal with organized crime, always cracked me up. What was the other alternative, the Racketeering and Other Criminally Corrupt Organizations law?
The Government Organized Outreach against Mob Brutality Act.
223: Sequestering Criminal Assets Recovered From Associates of Criminal Enterprises.
except the grocery store, where I'm certain they don't play Dave Matthews.
My local swipple grocery store must know their target demographic pretty well because the background music always sounds like a college radio playlist circa 1986. Fortunately, there's no Dave Matthews.
My local swipple grocery store always seems to be playing "Eternal Flame". This is because studies have shown a positive correlation between exposure to the Bangles and quantity purchases of organic lettuce.
Pronounced "leh-TOO-chay".
Well, of course. White people love Susanna Hoffs.
227: I spent yesterday afternoon at a baseball game. There's a player for the Blue Jays named Scutaro who the announcer kept calling "Scooter-oh". I find that pronunciation implausible.
Hey, I'm glad you're all talking about music because I've discovered that Henry Cow is awfully good and I'm working on a British-pastoral-or-distopian-themes-in-snobby-pop-music compilation and I owe both these things to nosflow's music posting and thus to Unfogged itself! Thanks, Unfogged!
The thrift store where I regularly shop tends to play "Pink Cadillac". Last time I was there they had a new mix (from corporate, I assume, since the music changes every few months but is always mostly awful) with "Maps and Legends" from Fables of the Reconstruction. That was just weird.
background music
I was walking through the park the other day and realized it was the only time I've ever heard Beyonce's "Single Ladies" song that was organic -- that is, something that someone voluntarily put on, rather than the drugstore, grocery store, or ballpark forcing everyone to hear it.
That enforced listening is actually my only time for staying up to date on certain kinds of pop music, though. If it wasn't for Rite Aid, I probably still would not know what Nelly sounded like.
British-pastoral-or-distopian-themes-in-snobby-pop-music
Incredible String Band to thread.
||
That's no way to increase the global stock of mouse orgasms
(H/T Felix Salmon)
|>
If it wasn't for Gov. Jesse Ventura, I probably still would not know what butch sounded like.
I find that pronunciation implausible.
The guy MCing bar trivia the other night totally murdered "biopic", pronouncing as a term for a two-opic device. In the same vein, we were startled to learn that Achilles' anger had brought countless ills upon the Eggy-ons.
236: "biopic", pronouncing as a term for a two-opic device
Phonics strikes again!
229: Scooter-O is weird but right; I got frustrated by this once watching a game and looked it up. He seems to be from Venezuela which purportedly explains it.
See also self-hating Mexican Braves outfielder Matt DYE-az.
230. Henry Cow were undoubtedly awesome, although there's a school of thought that Gong were more so. There's an alternative school of thought that Gong were simply barking mad. I no longer have access to enough acid to take a view on this.
Beyonce's "Single Ladies"
The video for this song is very nice.
there's a school of thought that Gong were [awesome]. There's an alternative school of thought that Gong were simply barking mad.
I belong to both these schools, I think.
If it wasn't for Rite Aid, I probably still would not know what Nelly sounded like.
Awesome. I have the same relationship with the Pita Pan falafel shop down the street. I never would have heard this song if I didn't go there. Every time I get a sandwich, I have something new to ask my students to explain to me.
Since this is the music thread, sort of: no more masturbating to Les Paul.
Oooh! What? Four lines? (Will I get them, or are they too subject matter specific?)
Sorry, didn't mean to leave that hanging like that - I unexpectedly went to bed.
Anyway, I've been working it over, and I can't quite get them all. It was more or less:
Do you like the modern open plan?
With Moholy-Nagy and [something that scans]
Do you, do you, CIAM I Am?
I may actually be driven to dig up the paper; I know that I still have it, albeit in the basement.
I may actually be driven to dig up the paper
Only if you feel so moved. I wouldn't dig up a paper in the basement in order to reread its comments, but then, my professors didn't make clever remarks. Because you can never be too careful!
"Scooter-O" is definitely how it's pronounced.
Matt "DIE-Az" and Eric "Sha-VEZ" annoy me somehow.
my professors didn't make clever remarks
My favorite, the only one I remember verbatim, from my consummately condescending art history professor: "Nice idea. Yours?"
247 is not bad. I may have gotten something sophomore year of college which frankly said: "You don't seem to understand Hegel."
No. No, I didn't, and I knew it. Fuck. I was like 18, or 19, is all I can say. The motivation worked, though. Chagrin!
One of my favorites was something like "Use more commas; too many dashes." Holding the paper out at arm's length did indeed give the impression that it was probably underwritten by Big Em Dash.
Gong exists in too many forms for a single assessment to be possible. The Gong that recorded the Radio Gnome albums culminating in You were undoubtedly barking mad, but "You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever" is awesome. Was Pierre Moerlen's Gong barking mad? What about New York Gong, or Acid Mothers Gong?
Also, I completely endorse the Incredible String Band and in particular the song Populuxe linked, though it isn't particularly dystopian. Uh, I guess it's totally pastoral, though; I missed that part. In that vein I heartily endorse Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart.
Since this is the music thread, sort of: no more masturbating to Les Paul.
Or Rashied Ali.
248: A similar comment I received, was on an essay on Pale Fire for a Freshman English course was, "You seem to have missed some things." And I had, of course. But it was probably a decade later, several re-readings of the book and a lot more familiarity with Nabakov and literature in general before I said, "Goddamn right I missed some things!"
(Zembla wasn't a real country? Who knew?)
The thread has moved on but Fight Club (the movie) annoyed me greatly.
I don't remember the exact reasons but, essentially, I found the psychology completely unconvincing.
I was also unable to suspend disbelief for (1) fight club becoming widely popular and (2) transforming into a terrorist organization.
Since this is the music thread I will say that the Caine/Mahler piece that neB played Tuedsay, inspired me to buy Uri Caine's recording.
"You seem to have missed some things."
The only important thing is where the crown jewels are hidden, right?
257: Wha? Speak, Memory was written long before Pale Fire. But maybe I misunderstand. The index to Pale Fire does reveal where the jewels are, if read closely.
258: I thought the location in the PF index was not deducible by internal clues* but rather only revealed via VN's response to an interviewer who asked (if you believe he answered "straight"). But then I may have missed some things.
*I suppose one might say that having an index entry for a place not in the text is determinative.
...and Michael Vick will be backing up Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia.
Speak Memory was revised in 1966, when the index was added.
260: I saw that. Odd choice, I thought, but any choice was probably going to be awkward, so.
253: SInce people come up to Palahniuk and ask where they can find a fight club that they can join, I think he captured somebody's psychology.
259 *I suppose one might say that having an index entry for a place not in the text is determinative.
This is what I would say, yes. It's the best one can do with the text alone, anyway.
261 Speak Memory was revised in 1966, when the index was added.
I see. I don't think I've looked at its index before. I find an interesting set of cross-references for jewelry, pavilion, and stained glass, leading to various parts of the text. But is there a connection with Pale Fire? I read that VN's mother's jewels were hidden away in a talcum powder box, and maybe the importance to VN of this hidden cache of his family's remaining wealth is the source of Kinbote's obsession with the crown jewels of Zembla, but I don't see any more concrete connection.
I should re-read Speak, Memory. The bits I've been skimming are gorgeous.
264: It's the best one can do with the text alone, anyway.
Well, other than spelling it out in the index entry. But VN had to maintain his standards of misdirection.
