Late Summer, 1990. The August sun beat down on the young percussionists, attenuated only by the perpetual altitudinous haze endemic to the area, taxing their body temperature regulation systems to the maximum. Occasional drumsticks and mallets went flying randomly as sweat made its tortuous way down arms and hands, its unexpected lubrication rapidly releasing the musicians’ grips on their instruments. The mallet percussion section, AKA “The Pit (of Despair)” sweltered out on the field, more used to the indoor practice room that served as their normal home at camp. The Atlantic Coast Championships were still months away, but this year was going to be the one. To the uninitiated, the idea of a competitive marching band may seem strange, nerdy, and a little bit ridiculous. To these musicians, it was to be life for the next several months.
At Band Camp, most of the time, we spent our days learning and modifying our written parts, then after the first two or three hours, when we had mastered what written parts we had been given that morning and brushing up on the previous days’, jamming on old jazz charts that we found in the school’s music library.
We always had our official parts down cold, and when Gerald or the Big Man caught us jamming and demanded an immediate demonstration, they were satisfied–enough so that Gerald always went back and wrote something even more complex, so our parts were always changing and getting better day by day.
Karl on the kit, Tom on the marimba, me at the vibes, Tony on miscellaneous mallets, Mike on keyboard and/or bass, and Ayn at the timpani, chimes, and whatever else was called for. We gelled like a well oiled locomotive racing down the tracks to some metaphorical station in the land of improvisation that only the music would eventually describe. To be fair, we did have it a lot easier, physically, than the marchers, but we made up for our lack of mobility with the complexity of our parts and our performance.
The rest of the marching band, all of whom had been selected specifically by the Big Man for their talent and work ethic, held us in mild disdain, because we didn’t march, and we spent most of our time at Band Camp indoors. Gerald and the Man knew we could do whatever they asked of us, so they spent most of their time with the rest of the band, constantly coaching and honing the marching sections to an incredible competitive machine. Throughout the upcoming season, the music would become more complex, the competition more fierce, and the band more and more a cohesive unit focused on one thing: winning.
At some point, Gerald and the Big Man must have decided we had fucked around enough, and had it too easy (or they were about to experience a mutiny among the marchers), so they put us out on the practice field with the marching percussion section. That morning we hauled our heavy, and definitely not off-road-capable, instruments up the hill from the school and set up for a few hours of practice and perspiration, which the posters in the long hallway between the music wing and the exit assured us was superior to inspiration. Me, I’d always considered Heinlein’s Laziest Man Alive to be the better alternative, but our school and its administrators understood the proper and approved ratios of sweat and genius, and made every effort to enforce them at all costs.
So there we were, out on the practice field, sweating our various interesting parts off, wishing we were back inside jamming like we were only yesterday. The marching percs had a very specific pecking order: Cymbals, Bass, then Snare, with Quads at the top. The newbs started off on cymbal or bass drum, and could be promoted to snare, then, maybe, if they worked their asses off, quads by their Senior year. That year, we had a very, uh, “experienced” bass drum line. Two newbs were balanced by the longest term bass drummers ever in school history. Seniors Hammer and Tommy took great pride in consistency, and clearly had the band’s best interests in mind, ensuring that year after year, the newbs would have the very best example to follow in their formative weeks.
Gerald paced along the sideline, listening and taking notes, sweat pouring down the sides of his head and face, dripping onto his tan, button down short sleeve shirt with pianos or some shit printed on it. We loved Gerald, but damn, his wardrobe was a one trick pony. He stopped the session with a “Great! Take Five,” and the marchers shed their equipment quicker than a house cat on a hot spring day. They wandered off in several directions, mostly toward the school for some A/C and a restroom break.
We, on the other hand, had been beginning to enjoy being outdoors for a change, and after a quick bottle of water, went back to our instruments, striking up our special version of Mancini’s Baby Elephant Walk. The rest of the band kind of hated it the previous year, because occasionally we would play it as they marched onto the field at half time, providing a goofy counterpoint to their very crisp and businesslike cadence.
As we were finishing up, we saw Gerald hoofing it back down from the main field, where no doubt he had been holding a major strategy session with The Big Man and the Guard instructors. His goofy linen slacks, looking a bit like parachute pants, flapped around above his sweat-soaked, sock-less Docksiders as he headed our way, in time with our playing. Oh, Gerald.
Gerald came over to us and grinned as he listened. “Sounds great, guys, but watch it this year. Make sure The Man is in a good mood before you pull that during the cadence.”
Narrator: The Man was seldom in a good mood.
The percs were walking up the hill toward us and the practice field, so we grabbed another quick bottle of water, and as they geared up, we arranged our mallets and positioned the sheet music on the stands. Gerald looked out on the field, where everyone was geared up and ready. Except Hammer. And Tommy.
“Anyone know where Tommy and Hammer are?” Gerald asked, addressing everyone.
“Haven’t seen ‘em.” “Nope.” “Didn’t see ‘em inside.”
“Well, we’ll wait for them.”
Five minutes passed.
Gerald turned to us. “You guys were out here the whole time, where’d they go?”
Ayn shrugged. Tony shrugged. I shrugged. Karl shrugged. Tom shrugged.
“I think maybe they went down toward the parking lot,” Mike chirped up.
“They didn’t drive anywhere, did they?” We weren’t supposed to leave the premises during Band Camp for whatever legal reasons the school district had come up with, so Gerald was really sweating now.
“I don’t think so, I think I see Hammer’s car down there.”
At that moment, we saw a someone start to climb up over the guard rail at the far lower end of the parking lot, at least three hundred yards away at the edge of the woods. Hammer waited for Tommy to climb up too, then they started on their long, plodding way up to the practice field, taking their good old time. They didn’t seem particularly motivated. Hammer and Tommy were known to have an interest in “foreign matter”, but usually didn’t partake on school time, so we weren’t sure what was up.
By this point, Gerald was sweating harder than ever, facing them, pacing back and forth. You could see he was getting ready to unload on them. Second only to the Big Man in his demands for perfection and timeliness, he didn’t like to have his time wasted. “C’mon, get up here, we’ve got work to do!”
Hammer and Tommy picked up the pace, just a tiny bit. As they got close, Gerald started yelling.
“Everyone’s waiting for you! It’s hot, and we’re all out here ready to go! You have to learn to respect other people’s time! What in the hell were you doing down there in the woods anyway? You know you’re not supposed to go off the property!”
They had stopped a couple of yards from Gerald at this point. We had all drawn a bit closer just to hear what was going to happen. We were a bit miffed, but Gerald was lit up.
“What were you doing that was so important that we all had to wait for it out here in the heat?!”
Hammer looked at Tommy. Tommy looked up at Hammer, shrugging.
“Well? What were you doing?”
Hammer shrugged, and very matter-of-factly, said, “Fuckin’.”
This is a full body First. The kind that makes you piss sideways the next day.
You may want to see a doctor about that.
I’m my own doctor and the prescription is always more FIrsting.
You have a fool for a patient.
You’re not supposed to put your hand up there.
Firsting is a grand art. The Great Game. Do not besmirch it with your crudeness.
You may be first, but I have the best tan in Michigan, Cali color FTW!
Fight me…..
I’d whoop you, but I wouldn’t be the First so what would be the point?
Lol Nice Rhywun.
Thanks for the tips in the last thread. I’m making notes and saving links for next year – just feeling that I’m behind this year due to different commitments (just planted some garden seeds today – probably too late) and have other yard/house plans for the rest of the summer. Should have more garage space and opportunity to prep things this fall/winter to handle things professionally (DIY) next year – I hope.
Don’t want folks to think I’m ungrateful for the suggestions.
Chess club was never this interesting.
No marching band? Girl chess players had their own bus?
Girl chess players
In the 70s. There were none.
I can hear the marching band,
They’re doing the best they can
They’re playing Smoke on the Water
And Joy to the World
RN – sorry about Carlton this year. Obviously, I’m happy about the way things are going for the D’s.
Also, I didn’t get the lyrics reference.
I haven’t paid attention in weeks but I’ll just guess that Collingwood are shitting the bed again.
Am I close?
PS. This season doesn’t count, just like last season.
Unless Victoria screws its head back on straight, the game is ruined.
Yes. If the AFL had relegation… They get to play Melbourne next Monday (our time). But remember, the Demons’ one loss this year was against Adelaide, who aren’t doing much better than Collingwood.
And yeah, I posted an Avi Yemini link about the police state in Victoria in an earlier thread.
Ladder.
Interesting how bottom-heavy it is with Victorian teams.
Seems the indoor geek band could have picked a more appropriate song to serenade them with.
What a horrible song
Ya, it is horrible, so horrible it is awesome, and appropriate for db’s story!
Thanks for the story db!
My pleasure. The events are real, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty.
I love the ending.
“Hammer shrugged, and very matter-of-factly, said, “Fuckin’.”
Yep. that works,
I wondered if that ending would be too abrupt, but nothing I wrote came even close to capturing the reactions to what happened in real life at that point.
Glad you liked it!
I am kind of curious as to the reactions, given that it was 1990 so that would’ve been a bit more of a taboo than today. Although given that the audience was high school kids in the ’90s, I’m imagining that the reactions were probably along the lines of mirthful pandemonium.
“Mirthful pandemonium” is a good description. No one was particularly scandalized. I think “Gerald” took it as a joke (he had to, or it would have opened an incredible can of worms). I’m reasonably certain it was truthful, but I have no way to know.
I have a rhetorical question. Is Kamala Harris an insufferable cunt?
Does the water ripple when a duck farts?
*cackles incoherently*
Well, she draws a bigger crowd than Biden, apparently.
Good story, db
Yep, a side of high school that I never saw. Fun times, db
Those are the true believers who know they have to clap like trained seals for the black woman in power who the media told them is super important. When it came down to gaining organic support, even Biden beat her. Well, just about everyone in the crowded Democratic field beat her.
Blowjobs as a Career? it can be done apparently,
PA House votes to end State of Emergency
The summary on the webpage is wrong. The amended resolution terminates the state of emergency in full, unlike the original text which terminated the state of emergency in part.
I wasn’t holding my breath, but they made the right call.
Um, “happy ending”?
Thanks db, you have a gift
* scrapes toe in sand *
Aw, shucks!
LOL, db, loved it. Especially this:
*chef’s kiss*
Thanks, that means a lot!
A long, well-written lead up to a one-word ending that has no relationship to the build up.
And it works!
I oved it.
Shaggy-dog stories #FTW!
Shaggy-dog story.
Learn something every day here in Glibertopia
Hunter’s laptop is back in the news and not being censored anymore. This time, the story is that he made some racially charged jokes in texts with his lawyer (in one instance when he seemed to be discussing his laptop story being squashed by the media).
“Nigga” is not “the N-word”. Either that or Eminem has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.
Not if you’re a Biden, certainly.
If you’re some nobody teenage girl whose college application was just revoked, well, you’re SOL.
Like, totally.
It’s a pathetic story. Of those texts, the bigger scandal is him basically referencing the successful effort to kill the story of his laptop. Biden and everyone on his campaign new it was legit and lied.
The corruption, pedophilia, and drug use are the scandals in that order. And Joe knew about the second and apparently has no problem with it.
The other two are for certain but has the pedo shit been established?
There’s pictures of it that have been released. He would face time with his naked niece and his sister refused to let her visit him. Giuliani has confirmed that there’s video and pictures of him with underage girls.
All of this is going to come from right wing sources because until very recently most of the media refused to even report on the laptop under the flimsy pretext that it was unverified.
That’s close but not quite right. Biden & Co. haven’t denied anything. Most of the media is carrying water by not reporting the story.
Biden has directly denied that the laptop was legitimate. In October Joe called in a desperate smear campaign.
But what I was referencing is from the link. Hunter is texting his lawyer and to me seems to be referencing the laptop story not gaining traction.
I agree about Hunter. I’ll need a cite to Biden’s denial.
His October denial of the laptop stories. He calls the stories a desperate smear and references the public letter from former intelligence officials who tried to paint it as a Russian operation.
The timing is everything here. Biden denies his son’s influence peddling. He never speaks to what is on the laptop because photos and emails hadn’t been leaked.
Anyway, I don’t want to argue this with you. I think we both agree he is a liar.
I don’t buy that. Rap music is derived from criminal culture. They use that word to be harsh. They mispronounce it to be harsh. It’s the same fucking word. Just like “fitten” is the same as “fixin” Fiddy is fifty. Before there was rap, the only place I heard all of this was in L.A. county jail. I only wish it’d stayed there.
It’s all context and mind-reading. “Nigga” is the southern way of pronouncing the word the “took back”.
thetheyAt one time that pronunciation was also a sign of affection, mostly among black folks but whites would use it too. It’s not quite the same as the hard r.
Did Eminem say nigga?
No idea but I gotta assume it’s in his oeuvre somewhere.
Or if he didn’t, I can substitute the large number of pale teenagers I’ve heard saying it over the years.
It would not at all shock me to learn that his impotent social media melodrama against Trump was prophylactic PR.
Apparently so but it’s old news:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/eminem-apologises-his-old-racist-rap-79348.html
Eminem really is a pathetic, pandering cunt.
Damn, that is old. I pay zero attention to him cuz I hate that shit but yeah, pathetic.
He was probably just speaking Chinese.
Good story! Brought back memories. Not as the ones Hammer and Tommy shared but…
MusikFest – Toronto; 1999 or 2000. I managed to relieve a 60oz of the good Russian stuff from the Liquor Commission Board of Ontario and got any willing member of the Band on it. Our teacher and chaperones were even more plastered on their own than all of us. They publicly checked my luggage in front of all the parents there before we got in on the bus! They had done their best!!
Yet we did awesome and won gold, way better than what everyone expected.
Just imagine what a fuss that shit would stir up nowadays.
It’s funny–the goofy joke in American Pie was that the nerds always tell stupid stories about lame shit that happens at Band Camp, but then, something comes to light that shows just how weird stuff can get. The hijinks a high school marching band on a trip to Orlando can get into, and how no amount of chaperoning can absolutely ensure that things remain wholesome and “Family Friendly” can be amazing.
https://www.cato.org/blog/covid-cruises
So is Cato’s job to the Motte?
You’re tilting at windmills. I don’t know what you’re saying.
It’s ridiculous to me to see someone from Cato pretending they are taking a principled position when they are arguing this:
But I don’t know what Winston means exactly outside some general reference to Cato being fake libertarians.
I dunno about cruise lines but if somebody doesn’t push back against shit like this it’s never going away.
I had to start commuting to the office last week and of course mask theater is required on all subway and train property. I’m guessing permanently because for some reason Uncle Joe seems to think that it’s his decision.
If you have to ride the subway forget a cloth mask. Get a Tyvek suit.
Having endured the better part of a year of private businesses doing the bidding of the left/government agencies that were full of shit in terms of masks and covid theater, I’m not inclined to arguments about free association. And I was in Florida. I don’t care anymore if it’s coming from Publix (a super market chain) or the government. I’m not putting on a mask. And Publix and cruise lines don’t put onerous restrictions on customers if there isn’t a shit ton of fear mongering done by government agencies and cunts like Fauci.
The Motte as in the Motte and Bailey strategy. In this case defend vaccine passports because the real ones won’t be happening, right?
https://www.cato.org/blog/steel-tariffs-why-we-cant-end-failed-government-programs
This is why advocates of small government are so concerned to block new tariffs, subsidies, regulations, mandates, and entitlements. Each one will create a new constituency that will tenaciously fight to keep it. Even a tariff that harms U.S. allies, imposed in a fit of pique by a president now rejected by the voters, has beneficiaries who organize and lobby Congress and the administration not to remove their protection.
Great idea then to support a guy who will create more entitlements, support lockdowns and critical race theory.
Seems the goal of the cosmotarians is to impotently whine that the Deep State isn’t filled with Libertarian technocrats…
That’s what you think is being argued? That’s just dishonest.
I don’t think Winston put forth any real argument, as much as he likes to call out what he sees as hypocrisy from self-proclaimed libertarian institutions. There are probably a large number of people at Cato who are happy to see a Biden administration despite his greater willingness to enact the things they are against because he’s not icky orange man. it is pretty naive to think Biden was going to undo the unlibertrian aspects of Trump’s policies because there was no political advantage to doing so. Trump wasn’t hated because of his trade policies.
He does raise some interesting topics or arguments, though there often isn’t much of a rebuttal from the Glibertarians crowd.
Bro, reread what he wrote. The article is all of three paragraphs. The summary, tariffs won’t die because concentrated interests work to maintain them in all circumstances.
Winston then argues a nonsequitor i.e., cosmotarians want libertarian technocrats. It’s just disingenuous.
But Prince Biden saved us from the oppression of reading mean tweets!!
Regarding some of the conversations in the last thread concerning some matters that you brought up, one of the biggest changes happening in the wester world is the change from a liberal internationalism to a soft nationalism. Trump, Brixit, AFD, Orban, etc. And while that will eventually be lead by its own technocrats, the current leaders of all the major policial parties, along with formal Libertarians, have been caught with their pants down, so to speak. And they hate this change, even while they are showing the reason for it with their own incompetence.
A second thought; just before WWII there was much malaise in a basically liberal western world. And many of the leaders of the day, such as Chamberlain and FDR, were pretty open about accepting fascism and the predations of Hitler. This is not too unlike the how much of our current leaders are complaicent re China. And, to tie this into my last paragraph, it shows in many of said leaders incompetence and venality.
Thats my two cents.
I think that recent events have shown that liberal internationalism has failed.
They made the same mistake as liberal nationalists: liberal nationalists supported the nation state as a way to destroy the church, aristocracy and absolutism but did not forsee the rise of national protectionism, war and statism.
Liberal internationalists hoped to reduce tariffs and border controls along with putting limits on spending and regulations. The idea that these institutions would embrace terrible things like war, radical environmentalist, wokism and lockdowns was not something they thought possible.
Also they severely underestimated the Chicoms. The idea that the Chicoms would increase their power and try to spread their ideas worldwide and how many cosmopolitans have embraced these ideas was not something they thought was possible.
One of the biggest failures of he west has been China. On every political front.
We thought that capitalism would bring democracy, but it only brought them money. Its kinda like Bushes attempts at democracy building in countries that we were occupying. Maybe it was the wrong way to go about this.
Maybe.
Don’t forget how the Lockdowns occurred because of the Chicoms. So trade with China has actually reduced liberty in a very clear way…
And by caused the lockdowns I mean Xi ordered it in Wuhan and used his influence to encourage almost every world government to follow his lead…
But Prince Biden saved us from the oppression of reading mean tweets!!
Hmm. The comment about mean tweets didn’t belong here.
Oh well.
Regardless of what mistakes the US has made so far with China, the US government needs to stop invest in real money into critical race theory or paying lazy assess not to work.
What we need to be spending on, and this could arguably be from the DOD budget, is setting up continental US based semiconductor manufacturers.
We are already experiencing a global shortage, and guess where the US gets the overwhelming majority of our chips made?
Taiwan.
If you don’t think the ChiComs are well aware of that fact, you’re dreaming.
We have outsourced not just making of plastic toys and clothing to China; we’ve outsourced essential items for so long that we no longer have the factories to make them. Even if you want to “buy American” consumer goods, willing to pay more and everything, you’d be hard-pressed to find options not made in China.
Dbleagle knows.
We sold stuff, threw away stuff, and still barely fit everything in the moving truck. Too damn much stuff. And it is at least 50% my problem…well 30%.
I helped a friend of a friend move about 25 years ago. I was on the unloading end (phrasing!). They pull up in large U haul and open the back. It’s filled to the gills with shit like plastic water pools and lawn flamingos. Took one look and, “Yeah, fuck this.” Walked away. Refrigerator or washing machine? Sure, I’ll help. I’m not moving someone’s dollar store shit.
Nice coherent little story, db.
https://unherd.com/2021/06/the-tories-created-their-own-worst-enemy/
Over the twentieth century, “service organisations” — those that do “good work” in particular places — were replaced by state-controlled welfare. And meanwhile, campaign-based NGOs have flourished.
….
And here perhaps we can see how and why such bodies have come unmoored from Britain’s great unwashed. Civil society organising has always attracted middle-class do-gooders; but thanks to the welfare state, there is less need today for those do-gooders to come into direct contact with the objects of their beneficence.
…
Even those bodies created with resounding rhetoric about “independence” have a tendency, it seems, to drift leftwards. Faced with this realisation, the Johnson government has given up pretending that the Blob can be culled or made apolitical, and has instead (rather belatedly) begun populating it with conservatives. Predictably, this has prompted howls of rage from a Blob long accustomed to a pleasant lack of viewpoint diversity.
….
Over the individualistic twentieth century, we outsourced the purpose of self-organised social provision to the state. As a side-effect, we ended up professionalising the pursuit of social good so that well-meaning people could go on pursuing it. That may have come with advantages and disadvantages, but it wasn’t a Left-liberal conspiracy.
Tory governments presided over this growing quangocracy, whose existence served as a huge accounting fiddle. It shifted off the official government books a host of social and regulatory functions whose necessity was denied by the Thatcherite commitment to individualism and limited government.
But in displacing parts of its own government machinery into superficially “independent” bodies in the name of “limited government”, post-Thatcher Tories succeeded mostly in snookering themselves. They fantasised about an apolitical version of the “good”, and created supposedly “independent” bodies oriented toward this apolitical good. By handing civil society functions to these bodies, they could embrace Thatcherite individualism while pump-priming civil society on the sly.
Hmmm. Wall of text. No ridiculous question. Ken Schultz is that you?
Today in disingenuous BS:
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/06/two-portland-brothers-two-marijuana-buyers-die-in-gun-battle-during-attempted-drug-ripoff.html
And of course there’s a idiot statement about gun violence from the grieving mother at the end, because that’s the current focus in the city of lawlessness.
The first is the hollowing out of the private sphere. The big extended family is an endangered species; even the immediate family is likely to be broken. Attendance at religious institutions is in precipitous decline. The same is true of membership in lodges, chambers of commerce, and sports leagues. We are proud of our individualism, and we repudiate as obsolete those relations and structures that impinge upon it. But the flip side of that repudiation is a terrible loneliness, a dearth of meaning, and a constant anxiety about personal worth. When we turn our attention to politics, we do so from a posture of existential hunger.
…
Liberalism wasn’t structured to grapple with this danger. It’s a purposefully prosaic and procedural business that emerged out of the wars of religion to negotiate peace among multiple paths to salvation. Liberalism is the politics of adulthood: no creed is imposed from above, but individuals are expected to wrestle with their doubts, seeking answers in a society rich in systems of meaning and belief. When society is hollow and political life becomes infantilized, liberalism has little to say.
Interesting points. I do think liberalism’s great success was due to aftermath of the post-Reformation religious wars. Religious uniformity was impossible so some form of religious peace was required to prevent destructive religious conflict. And in England there was a significant middle class Protesrant nonconformist element whom liberalism really appealed to and they often appealed the idea of old Ancient rights rather than some sort of expert ruling class. To them liberalism was a real thing and not an abstract idea and they had real memories of how it benefitted them.
However without religion this glue is rapidly failing. Coincidence? Since many people no longer have a religion they no longer fear a large state oppressing them for their religion and are confident that this large state will not oppress them.
Also this brings two other points: the importance of culture and the destructive nature of big government bureaucracy who will inevitably swallow all of civil society making a culture of freedom impossible. I mean we are seeing the Deep State running absolutely hog wild right now aren’t we?
Forgot link.
https://www.cato-unbound.org/2021/03/03/martin-gurri/trust-politics-meaning
I am not going to talk about the band camp I went to for several years.
No! I am NOT. What happens at band camp stays at band camp.
However, I will start a zoom for a little while if anyone is around.
Go here
My high school never had choir camp, but the regional Presbyterian church camp had a choir camp at least one week out of the summer.
My two older sisters got to go, but I never did. 🙁
Awwww
You were deprived!
I DID get to go to camp once, but it was a Camp Fire Girls camp. I got tonsillitis and bronchitis the week before I went, so I wasn’t allowed to swim for at least the first half of the week. It was OK, but was, of course, a challenge for an introvert from a family of introverts.
As much as I disliked Al Franken I thought he got railroaded for the picture on the airplane that amounted to a band bus photo. He should have been fired (voted out) for his stupid legislative ideas. The picture was sophomoric but so are his political ideas.
Carpetbagger Walz should never have been elected but MN is blue-blue-blue
/No friend of politicians
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674247536
Was anyone aware that libertarian paternalist Cass Sunstein has written a book defending the Adminustrative State with a no-shit Catholic Reactionary?
No, but not surprised. He’s married to Ms Obligation2Bomb.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/peter-foster-mark-carney-man-of-destiny-arises-to-revolutionize-society-it-wont-be-pleasant/wcm/7cbd3be5-b3db-483d-98d9-ffd057f11c85/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
In his book Value(s): Building a Better World for All, Mark Carney, former governor both of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, claims that western society is morally rotten, and that it has been corrupted by capitalism, which has brought about a “climate emergency” that threatens life on earth. This, he claims, requires rigid controls on personal freedom, industry and corporate funding.
Carney’s views are important because he is UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. He is also an adviser both to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the next big climate conference in Glasgow, and to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
This is what are elites actually believe!
He looks like a Canuki Mittens.
That story is hilarious. I was imagining the whole band practice experience, wondering where the two reliable drummers had gone. And then comes the answer.
Very effectively prepped and served, db.
⬆ What she said.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XMf4lh17duM
?
a-ha recorded more than one song??
I own their first album so yes.
But yeah, it’s amazing how many eighties bands are still around. Sometimes even with an original member or two.
They did the theme to the Bond movie The Living Daylights.
Now listed as a serial killer.
https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2021/06/08/keith-gibson-serial-killer-philadelphia-dunkin-manager-murder-christine-lugo-sources/
Why the fuck is he even out of prison from his last homicide? Our criminal justice system is broken. Very broken.
Systemic racism, duh.
I’m sick of commercials with people wearing face masks.
Stop it. Just stop.
Yup. We’re still flipping the bird at the TV fairly regularly.
What annoyed me the other day was a radio spot with a bunch of doctor mommies gushing about how safe the vaccine is and they’d NEVER have their precious babies take ANYTHING that wasn’t PERFECTLY safe! Sponsored by the state health department, natch.
We get treated to one with the Statue of Liberty sporting a face mask and a vax band-aid.
*barf*
“Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
Sounds like a good time to get rid of your televisions.
…cold dead hands…
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2021/06/when-and-how-to-see-thursday-mornings-solar-eclipse.html
https://www.dailynews.com/2021/06/08/chocolate-covered-cicadas-a-hit-for-maryland-shop/
These people…
They’re only a hit because of novelty, let that wear off and the sales will go in the toilet.
I think the candied cicadas may go in the toilet well before they’re fully digested.
Morning, people.
Good morning, U. How are you today?
My neck’s a bit stiff, and my weight is back up to the ‘start of loss attempt’ level 🙁
Please don’t feel too bad. Was some of the gain from your traveling and eating out?
Probably.
Maybe it will help to be back to your regular at-home diet for a while. Has it been too hot for you to take your accustomed walks? No sense getting exercise if it just brings on heat exhaustion.
suh’ pimp-juice, UCS, et al
It’s been 80 with a touch of thunderstorming.
Good morning, homey! Speaking of bands, our old band (technically a trio) is having a reunion to play at our friend’s cancer treatment benefit. Our first practice is tonight, so last night I set up my conga-based percussion rig for the first time in years.
Jeeminy criminy, that fucker is complicated.
U, maybe with some luck the thunderstorms will (eventually) relieve some of the humidity. (At the moment, our humidity is 94%. 🙁 )
Conga?
“conga-based percussion rig”
Damn hippies.
One pair of congas. Bolted to the conga stand is a cymbal arm with an AWESOME hand cymbal complete with rivets that make the thing positively SIZZLE when you hit it. Bolted to the cymbal arm is a bracket upon which I can put a mounted tambourine, a “trigger triangle,” and bar chimes. On one end of the cymbal arm, I can add my “tongos” (tiny bongos, barely visible in my avatar.)
The piece de resistance to the whole setup is separate – I take the main module of an electronic drum kit and plug in an electronic kick drum trigger. Operating the foot pedal of same means that I’m essentially standing on one leg through an entire performance.
And that, boys and
girlsmore boys is the Rube Goldberg Memorial Percussion Rig and Torture Device.We had our massive thunderstorm yesterday.
The temp is down (until later) but the humidity is still in the 90s.
WTF, Gaia? That’s not how this works.
Mornin y’all.
Good morning, Sean! Thanks for the tune(s)! I’ve been letting YT play me everything a-ha ever recorded & released.
?
suh’ fam?
whaddup doh
Those rascals, Tommy and Hammer.
I laughed. Thanks.
I was going to ask about my moral dilemma regarding cover letters, but now I think I’ll just grouse about people who, when asked to upload their resume, fail to give the file a meaningful name. I have twenty resumes to review, a file called “MyResume2021” is really unhelpful at finding you in the stack. Just put your damn name in the filename. It’s really easy for you and it makes it a lot easier on me in reviewing your eligability for the job.
I have not had the misfortune of ever having to concoct a cover letter. I bet you get some doozies.
But they seem like fluff to me. Like a college admissions essay. “I’m so great and I want to change the world yada yada yada”.
I don’t personally think they are of any use, but, the application instructions required one. So, do I ding the people who didn’t have it for failure to read and follow instructions? I mean, personally, I wouldn’t care if all it said was “Hi, I would really like this job, thanks, [applicant]”.
The phone conversation is far more important than any flowery junk they manage to get on paper.
But yes, you have to ding them for not following instructions.
I’m in the “do we want to talk to these people” stage of the process. All the managers are reviewing a heap of transfer applications because we need to staff up for a project and they don’t want to hire new people – so they’re letting us advertise internal laterals.
Apparently “Save As…” is a lost art.
I’ve been using it to add the missing data so I can do the review without being derailed hunting for the files.
Finally RTFA. Vibes, eh? Mucho respecto! Dang – you’re a REAL percussionist! ::does the full “I’m not worthy” genuflection::
Bull-Pucky! I’ve already named you as the Ruth Underwood of the GlibsI 😉
https://youtu.be/LszJ9sM3bbk
Saw the weirdest car on my way in.
Old saturn, painted sorta green and black-ish (splotchy). The tires were painted as white walls (entire side wall).
It was the side mirrors that were the best part. Double stemmed, double truck mirrors that stuck far out from the side. Almost would have made sense if they had a trailer hitch, but nope.
You spun a good yarn, db!
Late to the party. Mornin’ Glibs!
suh’ canuckian
Front of the Tacoma started making a strange, turbine sounding whine two nights ago. It ebbs and flows with rpm so I’m thinking my water pump might be shot. Any wiser heads have a suggestion? The temp is still fine. Might just be the belt. I don’t need this shit right now, broke about a half dozen things over the last two days, including my fancy reading glasses that protected me from the interwebs.
I have the classiest of reading glasses- the best.
$4.99 plastic ones from WOW-mart.
Never mind, 2 minute search found the culprit. Idler wheels are failing. Better than the water-pump but not ideal. Now off to the instructional video!
YouTube has hurt the livelihood of mechanics and appliance repair.
The real trick is availability of parts for home grown repair. A lot of these manufacturers only supply “Licenced” dealers. That 40 cent washer for your $500 dishwasher is unavailable.
My high school had a hyper-competitive marching band, always winning state etc.
Marching band music
Better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATMR5ettHz8
https://www.theintell.com/story/news/2021/06/09/pa-house-passes-gun-bill-discourage-local-gun-restrictions-nra/7610701002/
Good. Now get it through the senate.
Good morning, folks!
db, this was excellent. Thanks for sharing the tale!
So is Cali having a “freedom week” like they did when the magazine ban was stayed, or is there some sort of ruling keeping scary black guns off the shelves?
There’s a ruling keeping the scary black guns off the shelves pending appeal.
I that when everyone runs about on the streets firing them off into the sky? I hope so.
NPR was jilling off about the feebs partnering with foreign LE in “Operation Trojan Shield.” At no point were warrants mentioned.
“Operation Trojan Shield” sounds like a late-80’s gay porn movie.