I don't think that people around here are exactly afraid of terrorists, but they certainly are aware of the dangers of modern life. Whenever anything strange happens, the schools all go into lockdown mode. Nobody goes in and nobody goes out until the crisis has passed. Because of our proximity to the Great Lakes, we have been advised to be on the lookout for suspicious activity around bridges and harbors. I have not heard of anything like that being reported here but if it was, I'm sure that our local law enforcement would take it seriously and be right on top of it in a matter of minutes. At least once a year, they conduct disaster drills, in which police, fire, and medical resources are mobilized. It isn't just about Islamic terrorism, sometimes the scenario is about natural disasters or industrial accidents, anything that would produce mass casualties. Local civilians are often recruited to play the victims, with make-up artists creating realistic looking injuries on them.
Since terrorists like to attack large groups of people, the most likely target around here would be the Mackinac Bridge Walk. Every Labor Day they shut down two of the four traffic lanes on the bridge and tens of thousands of people walk the entire length, about five miles, from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City. Hundreds of school busses from all around the region are used to transport the walkers to the St. Ignace side, and then they walk back. Before each run, the busses are checked out by police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs. National Guard soldiers are stationed all along the route although, for some reason, they are not armed. They each have a radio, though, so they could call for help if need be. The Coast Guard has a helicopter circling over the bridge, and several boats patrolling the waters below during the whole event. This is not fear, this is just common sense. Any time you have that many people clustered together, all sorts of bad things can happen, and it would be irresponsible to not be prepared.
I don't know what they're doing in Chicago, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that warnings are issued in crowded places like movie theaters. I doubt that the intent is to make people tremble in fear, but rather to make them take a proactive interest in their own safety and the safety of others.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
cars
Cars, I was a big fan once, back in the stifling days of the fifties
when everybody thought alike, and we were all thrilled in the fall
wondering what the new Chevys, and the new Mercurys, and the new
DeSotos would look like. I thrilled in the late fifties when our bold
automakers went the way of fins and chrome and psychedelic tail lights,
so that the roads of America were filled with spaceships gunning their
engines at stoplights, counting down, ready to blast off to Mars. I
spent much of my teen years standing on the corner of 55th and Kedzie
watching all the cars go by and I knew every year and make and I knew
most of the models too.
Not that I didn't love Studebakers, have to admit that I was not a big fan of Nash though, Rambler indeed, how dorky. But mainly there were the Big Three, and you know they each had five brands from cheapest to most expensive. I think there was some controversy as to whether the Continental was separate from Lincoln, and the Imperial was separate from Chrysler, but I'll let that be. And I lied when I said they each had five brands because Ford only had four. In the middle you found the DeSoto and the Oldsmobile, but between the Mercury and the Lincoln there was nothing. The universe was not properly formed.
But then Life and Look Magazines whispered excitedly that somewhere, in the sands of the desert, a new car had been spotted, some kind of Ford, could it be the one in the middle? There were grainy photos, like the ones of UFOs which were also popular at that time, and then one day the Edsel took America by storm. Well it took me by storm, I loved it's lemon-sucking grill, but mostly i loved the fact that it filled that disturbing hole in the middle of Ford. The universe was properly formed, surely an aeon of peace and prosperity would ensue.
But it was not to be, the American people did not love the Edsel. It crashed and burned. Kennedy was shot. The unpopular war was begun, to quote the poet, it transpired that:
Myself, previously a good solid American whose heart beat faster at the sweep of fins, the glow of chrome, and the twinkle of tail lights became a pot-loving, car-hating, commie-symping hippie. And remain so. Fuck cars, noisy, dirty, street-clogging little monstrosities taking nowhere people to nowhere. Sweep them off the streets in a rebirth of Public Trans. Scrap that bloated snake of an interstate highway system for the gleaming rails of bullet trains, those soulless expressways for the shining tracks of light rail. No more road rage, just plain folks sitting in their spacious seats traveling together chatting the issues of the day, and hey, if they should decide at certain points in their journey to join hands and sing kumbaya, that would sound so much better than seeing the USA in some stoopid Chevrolet.
When I was speaking of terrorist activity thwarted by civilians, I was saying so in light of those ubiquitous warnings. In the case of that plane the activity was already underway, and i think it was the flight attendants who thwarted the shoe bomber, but having said that, i reckon if I had seen the guy in the next row setting fire to his shoe I might have been moved to go to the candy counter to get some raisinettes, and by the way there's this guy trying to set his shoe on fire.
What I was trying to talk about was this fear of terrorists. Are any of the Beaglesonians actually afraid of terrorists. I mean nobody likes these guys but who thinks there is much of a probability of them actually hurting them?
Not that I didn't love Studebakers, have to admit that I was not a big fan of Nash though, Rambler indeed, how dorky. But mainly there were the Big Three, and you know they each had five brands from cheapest to most expensive. I think there was some controversy as to whether the Continental was separate from Lincoln, and the Imperial was separate from Chrysler, but I'll let that be. And I lied when I said they each had five brands because Ford only had four. In the middle you found the DeSoto and the Oldsmobile, but between the Mercury and the Lincoln there was nothing. The universe was not properly formed.
But then Life and Look Magazines whispered excitedly that somewhere, in the sands of the desert, a new car had been spotted, some kind of Ford, could it be the one in the middle? There were grainy photos, like the ones of UFOs which were also popular at that time, and then one day the Edsel took America by storm. Well it took me by storm, I loved it's lemon-sucking grill, but mostly i loved the fact that it filled that disturbing hole in the middle of Ford. The universe was properly formed, surely an aeon of peace and prosperity would ensue.
But it was not to be, the American people did not love the Edsel. It crashed and burned. Kennedy was shot. The unpopular war was begun, to quote the poet, it transpired that:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Myself, previously a good solid American whose heart beat faster at the sweep of fins, the glow of chrome, and the twinkle of tail lights became a pot-loving, car-hating, commie-symping hippie. And remain so. Fuck cars, noisy, dirty, street-clogging little monstrosities taking nowhere people to nowhere. Sweep them off the streets in a rebirth of Public Trans. Scrap that bloated snake of an interstate highway system for the gleaming rails of bullet trains, those soulless expressways for the shining tracks of light rail. No more road rage, just plain folks sitting in their spacious seats traveling together chatting the issues of the day, and hey, if they should decide at certain points in their journey to join hands and sing kumbaya, that would sound so much better than seeing the USA in some stoopid Chevrolet.
When I was speaking of terrorist activity thwarted by civilians, I was saying so in light of those ubiquitous warnings. In the case of that plane the activity was already underway, and i think it was the flight attendants who thwarted the shoe bomber, but having said that, i reckon if I had seen the guy in the next row setting fire to his shoe I might have been moved to go to the candy counter to get some raisinettes, and by the way there's this guy trying to set his shoe on fire.
What I was trying to talk about was this fear of terrorists. Are any of the Beaglesonians actually afraid of terrorists. I mean nobody likes these guys but who thinks there is much of a probability of them actually hurting them?
Monday, August 15, 2016
Nothing to Lose
I can think of a couple of terrorist activities that were thwarted by civilians. There's probably been more, but these two immediately come to mind. The first one was on 9-11 when the fourth plane went down in that field instead of where the terrorists were planning to crash it. From cell phone conversations, it is known that some of the passengers were planning to attack the hijackers, and they almost certainly did. Sure they all died, but they were going to die anyway, so they had nothing to lose. Then there was the Shoe Bomber, which was not long after that. A bunch of guys just piled on him and prevented him from igniting the explosives in his shoe. They couldn't have known that he had explosives in his shoe, but they must have thought something was amiss when they saw him trying to light his shoe on fire. Maybe that's what they mean when they tell us to look out for anything suspicious.
I wasn't aware that lots of adults are carrying backpacks now, but I remember that school children were carrying them when I drove school busses from 1994 till 2004. Of course that was unheard of in our day, and I always wondered what they needed them for. Some of the packs seemed to always be full of something, and others looked to be empty, but they carried them anyway. I don't think I ever saw any of them strapped on the back like they're supposed to be, the kids either slung one strap over one shoulder or carried them like a suitcase in one hand. You don't need a backpack to do that, all you need is a regular old fashioned gym bag.
I remember, once when I was subbing, that I let this kid off at his farm and a big old turkey came running up to meet the bus. As the kid was exiting the bus, he threw his backpack at the turkey and made a solid hit. The turkey ran away, apparently unharmed, and the kid calmly picked up his backpack and set out for the house. I must have said something to myself out loud because one of the other kids responded, "Don't worry, I know that turkey, and he had it coming."
I wasn't aware that lots of adults are carrying backpacks now, but I remember that school children were carrying them when I drove school busses from 1994 till 2004. Of course that was unheard of in our day, and I always wondered what they needed them for. Some of the packs seemed to always be full of something, and others looked to be empty, but they carried them anyway. I don't think I ever saw any of them strapped on the back like they're supposed to be, the kids either slung one strap over one shoulder or carried them like a suitcase in one hand. You don't need a backpack to do that, all you need is a regular old fashioned gym bag.
I remember, once when I was subbing, that I let this kid off at his farm and a big old turkey came running up to meet the bus. As the kid was exiting the bus, he threw his backpack at the turkey and made a solid hit. The turkey ran away, apparently unharmed, and the kid calmly picked up his backpack and set out for the house. I must have said something to myself out loud because one of the other kids responded, "Don't worry, I know that turkey, and he had it coming."
at the movies
I went to the movies Saturday, Don't Think Twice, a pretty good
movie about improv, though it's a little sappy at the end, but that's
Hollywood. I got there early but it was a hot day and I was glad to be
inside with the darkness and the air conditioning. Remember when air
conditioning was part of the reason to go to the movies?
I like previews, so I settled in. There were advertisements too, chiefly for cars, which always alienates me from my fellow Americans. I mean what's the deal? You drive it to the store and back, you want something that will make the trip cheaply and safely. You don't need something that looks like a rocket ship. And they don't even look like rocket ships anymore, like they did in the late fifties and early sixties, they look like sunflower seeds made of cheap plastic, but the advertisers talk it up like they look like rocket ships. And they don't advertise how cheaply and safely they will take you to the store, they advertise how much fun they will be to drive. This is because when you drive their car you won't be waiting on a stoplight at 55th Street on your way to the Jewel, you will be driving down some winding mountain road, cackling merrily about all the other saps who aren't driving the way cool car you are driving. Not that you will be able to see any of those saps because when you drive your brand new Way Cool the road in front of you will always be empty. I don't think you'll ever need to stop for gas either.
But that's not what I am here to talk about. There were also announcements, a Let's All Go To The Lobby number with tiny robots filling cups with soda and boxes with popcorn, cute. And reminders to turn off those damn super phones and not to talk in the theater. Well that's just good citizenship, but it never hurts to be reminded, And then there was the one where it asked you to look out for suspicious behavior.
This message is becoming ubiquitous these days, you hear it whenever you are anywhere that has a PA system. And what the hell does it mean? What is suspicious activity, Should I have gone to the girl at the candy counter and said hey the guy in the row in front of my is acting suspicious. Suspicious how? Oh just you know, suspicious. Has any terrorist activity ever been thwarted by civilians?
But maybe this is why so many people are scared, they hear these announcements all the time and maybe the guy in the row in front of me is setting the fuse on that pressure cooker bomb in his backpack, because why else would he have a backpack? Except that anymore everybody seems to be wearing a Quasimodo hunchback pack. Maybe they are all carrying pressure cooker bombs. Maybe I should vote for the guy who says he will make the desert glow for a million years. That sounds like the safe smart thing to do.
The pundits are always saying the people are scared. I'm not. Maybe it's because I don't go to the movies often enough.
Although of course one never knows about the guy, but I don't see the Cheeto Chap dropping out anytime soon. As long as he is getting his name all over the news and attracting those crazy crowds why would he give it up? Right at the end though, maybe a week before the election he might do that thing where you knock over the chessboard when you are two moves from being mated.
I too am surprised how suck made it into general parlance. And pissed. I think maybe it has a double meaning like in pissed off, and some other use in England, like when they are drunk they say they are pissed. And they use cunt like we do asshole, like that guy is a real cunt. And why is asshole not allowed in? I mean, everybody has one.
I like previews, so I settled in. There were advertisements too, chiefly for cars, which always alienates me from my fellow Americans. I mean what's the deal? You drive it to the store and back, you want something that will make the trip cheaply and safely. You don't need something that looks like a rocket ship. And they don't even look like rocket ships anymore, like they did in the late fifties and early sixties, they look like sunflower seeds made of cheap plastic, but the advertisers talk it up like they look like rocket ships. And they don't advertise how cheaply and safely they will take you to the store, they advertise how much fun they will be to drive. This is because when you drive their car you won't be waiting on a stoplight at 55th Street on your way to the Jewel, you will be driving down some winding mountain road, cackling merrily about all the other saps who aren't driving the way cool car you are driving. Not that you will be able to see any of those saps because when you drive your brand new Way Cool the road in front of you will always be empty. I don't think you'll ever need to stop for gas either.
But that's not what I am here to talk about. There were also announcements, a Let's All Go To The Lobby number with tiny robots filling cups with soda and boxes with popcorn, cute. And reminders to turn off those damn super phones and not to talk in the theater. Well that's just good citizenship, but it never hurts to be reminded, And then there was the one where it asked you to look out for suspicious behavior.
This message is becoming ubiquitous these days, you hear it whenever you are anywhere that has a PA system. And what the hell does it mean? What is suspicious activity, Should I have gone to the girl at the candy counter and said hey the guy in the row in front of my is acting suspicious. Suspicious how? Oh just you know, suspicious. Has any terrorist activity ever been thwarted by civilians?
But maybe this is why so many people are scared, they hear these announcements all the time and maybe the guy in the row in front of me is setting the fuse on that pressure cooker bomb in his backpack, because why else would he have a backpack? Except that anymore everybody seems to be wearing a Quasimodo hunchback pack. Maybe they are all carrying pressure cooker bombs. Maybe I should vote for the guy who says he will make the desert glow for a million years. That sounds like the safe smart thing to do.
The pundits are always saying the people are scared. I'm not. Maybe it's because I don't go to the movies often enough.
Although of course one never knows about the guy, but I don't see the Cheeto Chap dropping out anytime soon. As long as he is getting his name all over the news and attracting those crazy crowds why would he give it up? Right at the end though, maybe a week before the election he might do that thing where you knock over the chessboard when you are two moves from being mated.
I too am surprised how suck made it into general parlance. And pissed. I think maybe it has a double meaning like in pissed off, and some other use in England, like when they are drunk they say they are pissed. And they use cunt like we do asshole, like that guy is a real cunt. And why is asshole not allowed in? I mean, everybody has one.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Small talk
It's been some time since gays have been allowed to serve in the US military, and the heavens haven't come crashing down. Everybody seems to be dealing with it and I'm not aware of any problems. The old rules against fraternization and sexual harassment still apply, but with a wider scope. Life goes on. Since Eric Fanning, the recently appointed Secretary of the Army, is openly gay are there still issues?
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Am I the only one who thinks the Grand Cheeto will drop out of the presidential race? The RNC seems very willing to fund the down-ticket elections and write him off as a loser. LOSER! Sad! And he did mention something about a "nice, long vacation."
-----
Working in the printing plant was pretty good, but very busy with tight deadlines. We printed local and ethnic newspapers, and the presses would be idle if I got backed up with the camera work, stripping, and platemaking. Got chewed out a couple of times by the owner, but he was probably the best boss I've ever had. Never should have quit, but there you go..another turning point.
-----
Am I the only one who thinks the Grand Cheeto will drop out of the presidential race? The RNC seems very willing to fund the down-ticket elections and write him off as a loser. LOSER! Sad! And he did mention something about a "nice, long vacation."
-----
Working in the printing plant was pretty good, but very busy with tight deadlines. We printed local and ethnic newspapers, and the presses would be idle if I got backed up with the camera work, stripping, and platemaking. Got chewed out a couple of times by the owner, but he was probably the best boss I've ever had. Never should have quit, but there you go..another turning point.
Friday, August 12, 2016
I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself
"If you can only choose between the lesser of two evils there will never be the opportunity to have more choices."
On the other hand, we had lots of choices in the Republican presidential primary, but what good did it do us? I originally intended to vote for Rand Paul, but he dropped out early on. His name was still on the ballot, though, and I might have voted for him, but I thought that Cruz had the best chance of beating Trump. Now it looks like Hillary is going to win, and my one vote isn't going to change that. Besides, I don't like Trump any better than Hillary, so there is no lesser of two evils for me in this one. I used to be a card carrying Libertarian, and I'm not anymore, but I'll take a Libertarian over Trump or Hillary any day. In our recent general primary, my candidate for congressman came in dead last in a three way race. I'm not crazy about the guy who won, he's a retired Marine general with no political experience, but I'll vote for him. With Hillary in the White House, we will need all the Republicans in Congress that we can get. My favorite choice for state legislator did win, so it's not always the lesser of two evils for me.
I looked up Evan McMullin on Wiki today. He seems like a nice enough guy, but not for me, for my hypothetical wife. She doesn't like the Libertarians any better than Trump or Hillary and was planning to not vote for any presidential candidate until Evan came along. She planned to go vote but she was going to leave the presidential part blank. Now she might vote for Evan if he gets on the ballot in Michigan. Because he is starting so late, he might not be on the ballot in all states. I don't understand how a vote for somebody else can be considered a vote, or even half a vote, for one of the other candidates. That idea seems to presume that, if I didn't vote for one candidate, I would automatically vote for another. What if I don't vote for any of them?
I'm pretty sure that I knew some gays in the army, but they used to keep a low profile in those days. What makes me suspect is that there were some guys who constantly made crude jokes about homosexual behavior. I mean, if they had taken the word "suck" out of the English language, those guys wouldn't have been able to talk at all. Funny, nowadays they say "suck" on television and everything but, in those days, suck literally meant suck. Maybe that's how the word lost it's literal meaning, misuse and overuse. "Fuck" was already like that in those days. We used to worry that, when we got home, we would casually say "Pass the fucking salt." at the family dinner table.
Okay, the men and women have separate barracks, but what about the gays? If you put all the gays together, it would be like putting men and women together. Nothing wrong with that, except that the ones who didn't have partners would be jealous of the ones who did. That's why they don't put the males and females together. It would be fine if there was an equal number of each and they were all paired up, but that seem unlikely because it doesn't work that way on the outside. That's okay on the outside where you can get away from each other but, when people are all crammed together like that, the "haves" and the "have nots" are bound to get on each other's nerves.
So Old Dog used to work in a print shop. Cool! I worked at a paper mill for 23 years, and I really got to like those machines. Indeed, when it closed down, I missed the machines a lot more than I missed any of the people with whom I had worked. Funny, I was kind of a Luddite when I was a kid. My fondness for machines must have developed gradually over the years because I don't remember when it happened.
On the other hand, we had lots of choices in the Republican presidential primary, but what good did it do us? I originally intended to vote for Rand Paul, but he dropped out early on. His name was still on the ballot, though, and I might have voted for him, but I thought that Cruz had the best chance of beating Trump. Now it looks like Hillary is going to win, and my one vote isn't going to change that. Besides, I don't like Trump any better than Hillary, so there is no lesser of two evils for me in this one. I used to be a card carrying Libertarian, and I'm not anymore, but I'll take a Libertarian over Trump or Hillary any day. In our recent general primary, my candidate for congressman came in dead last in a three way race. I'm not crazy about the guy who won, he's a retired Marine general with no political experience, but I'll vote for him. With Hillary in the White House, we will need all the Republicans in Congress that we can get. My favorite choice for state legislator did win, so it's not always the lesser of two evils for me.
I looked up Evan McMullin on Wiki today. He seems like a nice enough guy, but not for me, for my hypothetical wife. She doesn't like the Libertarians any better than Trump or Hillary and was planning to not vote for any presidential candidate until Evan came along. She planned to go vote but she was going to leave the presidential part blank. Now she might vote for Evan if he gets on the ballot in Michigan. Because he is starting so late, he might not be on the ballot in all states. I don't understand how a vote for somebody else can be considered a vote, or even half a vote, for one of the other candidates. That idea seems to presume that, if I didn't vote for one candidate, I would automatically vote for another. What if I don't vote for any of them?
I'm pretty sure that I knew some gays in the army, but they used to keep a low profile in those days. What makes me suspect is that there were some guys who constantly made crude jokes about homosexual behavior. I mean, if they had taken the word "suck" out of the English language, those guys wouldn't have been able to talk at all. Funny, nowadays they say "suck" on television and everything but, in those days, suck literally meant suck. Maybe that's how the word lost it's literal meaning, misuse and overuse. "Fuck" was already like that in those days. We used to worry that, when we got home, we would casually say "Pass the fucking salt." at the family dinner table.
Okay, the men and women have separate barracks, but what about the gays? If you put all the gays together, it would be like putting men and women together. Nothing wrong with that, except that the ones who didn't have partners would be jealous of the ones who did. That's why they don't put the males and females together. It would be fine if there was an equal number of each and they were all paired up, but that seem unlikely because it doesn't work that way on the outside. That's okay on the outside where you can get away from each other but, when people are all crammed together like that, the "haves" and the "have nots" are bound to get on each other's nerves.
So Old Dog used to work in a print shop. Cool! I worked at a paper mill for 23 years, and I really got to like those machines. Indeed, when it closed down, I missed the machines a lot more than I missed any of the people with whom I had worked. Funny, I was kind of a Luddite when I was a kid. My fondness for machines must have developed gradually over the years because I don't remember when it happened.
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