May 28, 2014

Take Me Back

The bad old days, when 42nd Street was something kinda wild and dangerous (also fun):




I'm not convinced this qualifies as "improvement":



But I have to keep reminding myself that 'Nostalgia' was considered a mental disorder until mid-20th century.

Dodging Bullets

Like anybody needs more reasons to avoid Wal-Mart:
PHOENIX -- Police said a man accidentally shot himself in the leg while at a Wal-Mart store in Phoenix on Saturday.
Phoenix police spokesman Officer James Holmes said the man had a gun on his hip and it went off.
Christa Allejandro was checking out at the store near 16th Avenue and Bethany Home Road when she heard a loud bang.
“It sounded like a balloon,” she said. “We were in the aisle paying for our stuff and then the next thing you know, a couple of aisles down from me, we hear a gunshot and we see a man cover his belly."
Holmes said the man's injuries were not life-threatening.
“I was just trying to get stuff for my son's birthday ... and next thing you know, all this chaos, and now it's shut down,” Allejandro said.
The whole ordeal caused confusion, shoppers to panic, and the store to be evacuated.
“I was tripping. I was trying to just get out of the store,” Allejandro said.
No one else was hurt.
--and--
COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) -- Police say a gunshot wounded a woman inside a central Indiana Wal-Mart store after a man's handgun fell from his pants and fired.
Columbus police Lt. Matt Myers says the 26-year-old woman was treated for an upper arm wound by medics at the store but declined to go to a hospital.
Myers tells The Republic that city Police Chief Jon Rohde was inside the Wal-Mart store Saturday evening when he heard the gunshot and called for assistance.

Myers says a 56-year-old man told officers that his handgun was in a holster when it fell from his waistband. One bullet hit the woman who was pushing a shopping cart with her newborn son inside.

Myers says officers confirmed the man had a handgun permit and he wasn't arrested.

Wasted Weaponry

An unused weapon is a useless weapon.  Could we just stop fuckin' around with this shit now please?






And maybe do something with all that junk that might actually be of some use to somebody?






We really do deserve better than what we're getting out of all this.

May 27, 2014

The Patron Geek

How rich is Bill Gates?

What's The Matter With Wal-Mart?

The short answer, of course is, "Who fucking cares?"  but there's something that feels like a bellwether in this, from CNBC:
At the center of the discounter's domestic woes is its appeal among shoppers who are facing stagnant wage growth and simply can't afford to spend on discretionary items—or in some cases, food.
"They're lowering prices and they're still not getting the traffic," said Belus Capital Advisors analyst Brian Sozzi.
First, Wal-Mart is making all the right moves if what they're attempting to do is to drive a deflationary downward spiral.  They cut their prices which means they have to hammer their workers and their vendors to cut costs, which means their vendors have to hammer their workers and their vendors and on and on and on - until nobody's making enough to spend the few pennies it takes to buy any of the piece of shit merchandise available anywhere.  It's an obvious over-simplification, but that's basically how an economy works.

But there's a kicker - a delicious extra bit of irony.  From the comments at the CNBC site:
walmart can have it, went yesterday, stopped stocking three things we went there to get. no customer service, the place is full of third world village idiots who have no discipline with themselves much less five or six anchor babies in tow. Their prices may be cheaper, but I'll pay more just to stay away, or starve.............now car insurance?? whats next?? baby birthing stations for illegals??????
This rube has grown up believing the bullshit about how differences between people are all about ethnicity and skin color and everything except economic class. So the guy we tend to think of as the "typical Wal-Mart shopper" is now going to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart because it's filled with people just like him.

May 26, 2014

Today's Quote(s)

A couple from Bertrand Russell:
"It's a good idea to hang a question mark on things you've long taken for granted."
--and--
"Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes....A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men."

Today's Eternal Sadness







"We wear our Widow's Weeds like nuns, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifice."



Memorial Day is actually the one day I wish we could forget.  But as long as we seek  retribution while mistaking it for justice; as long as we see the extreme cowardice of brute force and insist on calling it gallantry; as long as we're willing to cover the stench of corpses rotting on the battlefield with dress uniforms and neatly folded flags, then we'll continue to have wars - which means we'll continue to have the dead and broken warriors that go with it, which means we'll continue to pretend there's something noble in sending people we love to fight and to bleed and to die in some shit-hole halfway around the world in order to get some dickhead politician re-elected so he can make sure ExxonMobil and Pfizer and Halliburton and Grumman and Goldman Sachs can add a few extra pennies to their quarterly earnings per share, which makes sure those companies have lots of extra cash to contribute to other dickhead politicians so we can keep this parade of war porn cranking along smoothly and efficiently.

In the meantime, maybe we could take just a moment away from our little celebratory circle-jerk and try to focus on a few of the reasons for this particular day.

One lousy fucking day - 0.3% of the year.

Anyway, take a look at this from Addicting Info:

Twenty-Two: the estimated number of veterans who commit suicide every day.

Three hundred and fifty: the number of active-duty military members who killed themselves in 2012.

Eight hundred and forty-one: the number of active duty troops who attempted suicide one or more times in 2012.

Eight thousand: the estimated number of troops who die by their own hand each year and that is a low estimate.

Military Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Military One Source: 1-800-342-9647

Wounded Soldier And Family Hotline: 1-800-984-8523


May 24, 2014

Today's Quote

"Negro poverty is not white poverty. Many of its causes and many of its cures are the same. But there are differences—deep, corrosive, obstinate differences—radiating painful roots into the community and into the family, and the nature of the individual. These differences are not racial differences. They are solely and simply the consequence of ancient brutality, past injustice, and present prejudice." --Lyndon Johnson

Ta-Nahisi Coates does nothing to help me as I wrestle with what I do or don't need to do about "Reparations".

Sometimes, I understand completely why people spend so much time and energy longing for the good old days, when (they think) everything was so much simpler and easier.  Shit makes my head hurt.

God Love The Onion

May 23, 2014

Sitting Waiting Wishing --Jack Johnson



Now I was sitting waiting wishing
That you believed in superstitions
Then maybe you'd see the signs
But Lord knows that this world is cruel
And I ain't the Lord, no I'm just a fool
Learning loving somebody don't make them love you

Must I always be waiting waiting on you?
Must I always be playing playing your fool?

I sing ya songs I dance a dance
I gave ya friends all a chance
Putting up with them wasn't worth never having you
And maybe you been through this before
But its my first time
So please ignore
The next few lines cause they're directed at you

I cant always be waiting waiting on you
I cant always be playing playing your fool
I keep playing your part
But its not my scene
Wont this plot not twist?
I've had enough mystery.
Keep building me up, then shooting me down
Well im already down
Just wait a minute
Just sitting waiting
Just wait a minute
Just sitting waiting

Well if I was in your position
Id put down all my ammunition
I'd wondered why'd it taken me so long
But Lord knows that I'm not you
And If I was I wouldn't be so cruel
Cause waiting on love ain't so easy to do

Must I always be waiting waiting on you?
Must I always be playing playing your fool?
No I cant always be waiting waiting on you
I cant always be playing playing your fool, fool