Ok, I have to confess: I did not verify that story about the auto crash in 1893. Turns out the original story was that it was in Ohio in 1895. Apparently, someone from across the river was jealous and backdated it a couple of years plus the relocation to Kentucky. On top of that, the Ohio story itself was never verified either. Sorry, folks!
The opossum 1. has more teeth than any other north american land mammal 2. is immune; or mostly so; to snake venom 3. does not contract rabies 4. the males have a forked penis; which is also odd
I had to stop off at the post office on my way in to work today. On the counter there was a promotional place mat for some stamp collections, and it showed Earnest J Gaines has his own commemorative stamp now. I mentioned A Lesson Before Dying was a great book… the clerk didn’t realize Earnest Gaines was a writer.
In proportion to their span, the Golden Gate Bridge is about half the weight of the Brooklyn Bridge owing to advances in materials and engineering structural analysis in the nearly fifty year gap in their construction.
Can you believe this shit? Someone tried to swipe the hose reel off the side of my house. A worthless piece of pot metal I bought for $12 at Home Depot FIFTEEN years ago.
That’s not always how they look at it. If you’re in the car with they ‘keys’, you’re ultimately in control of the car. My own brother once got a DUI from the back seat of a parked car. He was sleeping off a drunk in the back seat, but since he had the keys, they decided he was in control of the car.
From what I recall the judge laughed at him, and hit him with a DUI, since he was in the drivers seat. The judge also noted, the owners manual said he must be ready to take control of the vehicle when in self driving mode.
I was just looking for a general random thoughts thread because I was thinking about creating a thread in the Lounge that attempts to combine musical and literary pieces that share a similarity, and quite often I actually use these sorts of threads as my playlists as I have some pretty decent computer audio and enjoy mingling these two different types of media.
There is a music thread. I go there to post esoteric stuff. I now feel an urge to put something by Warren Zevon on it.
That lyric speaks very strongly to the world view I have developed. I remember the mercenary wars in Africa. This song doesn't mention it but there was a lot of Cuban involvement as proxy for the Russians in, I believe it was, Angola.
Just the line "So the CIA decided//they wanted Roland dead" is so appropriate. No special reason, just some station chief saying "Will no one rid me of this turbulent Thompson gunner?" as if that was a rare and special skill that could move the pivot of history.
You are forgetting the ending of the song where Roland gets his revenge. Since we are talking Warron Zevon his classic Lawyers, Guns, and Money needs to be mentioned.
Warren Zevon was very very great, so brilliant...I revere him. My band started playing “Carmelita” at our last gig, and the sound guy and his fiancée said afterwards that it was their favorite song ever, and they were very happy and surprised that we played it. I was half-surprised that somebody recognized it in more than a passing way. It turned out that the fiancée preferred the Linda Ronstadt version. Oh well.
Okay, then. Linda Ronstadt's version of Carmelita was the only one I was familiar with until now. I like her version (it's very Linda and I am a lifelong fan), but I suspect I have just been converted to Warren Zevon's version as a favorite. Thanks.
No, not forgetting, I just love that middle line best of all. And he's got far too many great songs to list, but it sure would be fun to try.
I only ever became familiar with the Warren Zevon that was mainstream, and out of that I've always liked Poor Poor Pitiful Me and Excitable Boy, but it was all good. The Linda Ronstadt was good too. One of the first things I did when music became more readily accessible was dive into the seventies which was arguably the best decade for music. Send lawyers, guns, and money. The shit has hit the fan.
I am a huge Ronstadt fan as well. One of the truly great voices of our generation. Her cut of Blue Bayou, a nice cold beverage, ...
Linda Ronstadt's range as a singer was unparalled. She did everything from rock to Gilbert and Sullivan, and did it all well. A dcumentary of her life called Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is well worth watching. I'm not talking about her as if she is dead, by the way (she's not) but Parkinson's disease deprived the world of her voice.
Regarding my recent Nebraska trip, the tourism people there have adopted a slogan, "Honestly, It's Not for Everybody," which I love, since to me it conveys a sort of "Aw Shucks" approach, consistent with the concept that there really are things to do and places to see, but they tend to be more subtle than sublime, and if you choose not to visit, that's your loss. That's what I tend to say to people up here in Wisconsin when I discuss why I love the place. I was surprised to learn when I got there that it's a controversial slogan, being told that both by someone at a tourist information site and from some old friends who still live there. It seems some people have been reading the slogan as a statement of non-inclusivity, intended to convey the message that maybe you don't belong here, and there are yard signs that say, "Nebraska: It is for everybody." I think the yard-sign people are missing the point and taking the slogan too seriously and too literally (reading into it a message that was never intended) and creating a tempest in a teapot.