leh-nerd skin-erd

I think a guy like Miami Steve is a believer in free and fair as long as his guy wins, not so much when he doesn’t. In that regard, he’s like many myopic souls in our country, influenced and manipulated by his own bias. Or, maybe he didn’t believe all that stuff back in the day to begin with. It’s hard to figure out where his rage ended and he was co-opted to become part of the machine. I was reading another post about Dave Matthews recently. He was opining about guns and gun control, mentioned climate change as well. I read about his green initiatives—heavy emphasis on recycling, buying locally sourced goods and buying offsets. It occurred to me the best action he could take in his climate activism would be to stop touring. In spite of his efforts to lessen his impact, his carbon footprint is a massive cluster&$@$. He’s enormously wealthy, what’s the point when the future of the planet is in peril? Regardless, he pushes on. People are complicated.

One of the amazing things about rock stars aging is how they used to rage against the machine in their youth, and run full-throated to become part of it as they become insanely wealthy later in life. I was at a Springsteen show at the Meadowlands in 1985 when Bruce declared “…blind faith in your leaders can get you killed…”. He was right, of course.

I think to discover the root cause of his decision, you would need an exhaustive review of his medical records. Off the top of my head, issues like schizophrenia, CTE, hormone imbalance, post-concussion syndrome, interactions with medicine and the like might have impacted his decision-making. A friend of mine lost his brother to suicide about six months ago. His brother had shown no predilection toward suicidal behavior previously, but had major insomnia he was working through for a couple months leading up to his death. He was prescribed medication, a short time later he shot himself. The family believes the medication directly lead to his death. Obviously, I have no idea and emotions can impact the way people view these situations. Still: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/14/17458726/depression-drugs-suicide-side-effect I do agree the impact on the family is horrific. A guy I knew found his father hanging in the basement (had medical issues and was done), 5 years later to the day he drove out to a rural area and shot himself. Left two teenaged children and his wife behind. Absolutely horrific across the board.

But for now, it seems you’ve been hoodwinked. On top of that, you created a backstory that suits your bias, which is pretty common these days. Running with herd is cool and all, there’s safety there and folks that can reassure that it sounded believable to them, too. On the other hand, “Pastor Nickelback” was top notch and that should be noted. Finally, LB is fair game, being a politician and all. Not so sure the Pastor deserves being dragged through the mud, but that’s how it goes.

I really have no idea how to undo when I speak my truth, but my truth is wrong. I think you have to start surfing. This is on you.

Irv Community Member 3.5k Location:Moderator I just noticed this, and imo, some of the funniest things I see/read tend toward the subtle and understated. Excellent execution, and this is why in spite of the fact that you're obviously a lunatic, I vote for Irv over both surfer-architects and mostly eco-conscious vegan comradesses.

I’m not much of a bargainer, if the price is fair for the object I’m good with it. As for the “coerce” comment, I know this one—that guy is a d-bag.

My wife and I put a pool in before we had children. Once our first child started crawling I started getting extremely nervous and for as absent minded as I can be, the exterior doors and pool were always locked down. We had two issues over the years. We had a lawn care company that left the pool gate open after their work was done, and when I called them on it, they seemed somewhat unimpressed with my concern. I knew the guys pretty well, and liked them generally but cancelled the service immediately. A few years later, we were having an addition put on and the day it started, there was quite a bit of activity. Our child care provider came looking for me in a panic, our youngest was missing. Our house borders on about 20 acres, so I sent my wife and babysitter that way while I hustled back to the pool and heavy equipment that was back there. A tarp had blown into the water and as I pulled it out of the water my heart was beating out of my chest. Thankfully the little rascal had hidden in the garage and was having a grand old time while we were going crazy looking for him. The baby sitter cried like a baby when we found him safe. What a tragic story for Shaq and his family, absolutely heartbreaking.

This has been an interesting thread to follow, with a variety of people weighing in with different opinions. When all was said and done, seems like the Pegula family was appreciative of the prayers for Kim, and her father attended the prayer vigil and shared his thoughts in the clip you posted. I would think most can agree it was a net positive for the Pegula family. I think some lessons can be drawn from this. When you get right down to it, people should mind their business about the way other people choose to express love, support, positive thoughts and yes, prayer for other members of the community. I think that goes to both sides of the discussion, be it preaching to others about beliefs, or preaching to others about how silly their beliefs might be.

Indeed, one of my favorites. Takes me back to my younger youth. Btw, on this thread….”Veronica” by Elvis Costello has probably already been mentioned, but it has special significance these days as a very special person in my life battles Alzheimer’s. ”

I don’t have a lot to offer on this thread, my screen name might indicate I’m a bit older than you and @thenorthremembers. I was working, having fun with a few bucks in my pocket and only a few years out from starting a family of my own when the 90s started. I have virtually no understanding of the devotion to Nirvana, pretty much bypass any music they produced when given the opportunity, and see the life of Kurt Cobain as just another tragic story of a troubled artist and rock and roll. None of it connects with me, which in the end, sort of is the point about genre and timing. What I do know, though, is the connection between music/pain/loss. Your story, and North’s as well, hits me on that level. The ability to connect with music in times of loss, that help you in some way deal with what you’re going through—especially at a young age—is what makes any of it Mt. Rushmore worthy. My father passed away right around the time some of these bands were gaining traction, but music helped me get through all of that dreadful time. There were songs that hit me right in the heart and still do. Thanks for sharing, and truly, I’m sorry you both had to go through all that at such a young age, but it’s awesome the music helped you deal with it.

This is why just when you think you’re out, I draaaaaaaaaag ya back in!

Yes.

He started it. 😉

Do your thing, but if he asks you to help move a couch into a van because he broke his arm, you've been warned.

You too, BillSy. Have a great day.

@muppy, please see the post above from BillSy, and consider as part of my ongoing science experiment into the mind of a typical troubled internet poster. You'll note trend--the repetition of a premise already reconciled, in this case, the 'h' word. While Freud might suggest BillSy is exhibiting classical Oedipal behavior, modern psychology is a bit more forgiving and simply suggests a desire to validated. What's interesting is that upon validation, BillSy seems to have become more agitated. We can imagine him sitting somewhere, in a partially manic state, typing these words as if they make sense beyond the four corners of his head: "...just highlighting your desperate no stop attempt to white was Conald Trump.". I don't doubt he believes in desperate no stop motives, I just don't have a clue what he is talking about. Perhaps his tag teamer @redtail hawk can shed some light here? Now, when brought to his attention, and with well-intended advice provided, he stands by his statement, he repeats the 'h' word, and referred to me as "precious", but not in a way normally associated with conversational internet English. I googled that too, using the search term "Fixated/Obsessive Individual Refers to Conversation Partner As Hack and Precious", and this came up. Submitted without comment, other than the comments submitted.

I worked for one of the largest corporations in the country for quite a few years, and being a yappy soul, I was offered the opportunity to take some media training. It was pretty interesting—though it should be noted it was not a deep dive into the subject, designed to get you from point A to point B without losing focus in a hostile situation, and pre-dated pretty much all of the technology at one’s disposal today. I’m thinking 1998, 1999 or so. The outside firm that presented illustrated the various ways members of the media are trained to manipulate interviewees, organizations and that which you see. One example was a grainy undercoveresque video showing a truck pulling up to the front of an office and a voice-over about destruction of files and questions about the practice, and what the video actually showed was the normal practice of shredding confidential information on a scheduled basis and a certified destruction company rolling up at about 12:30 in the afternoon. The story was done by a major news network. Another example is an ambush interview, where reporter approaches some hapless soul walking into the office, typically at a frantic pace, yelling to grab the subject’s attention with the hopes of overwhelming the individual and getting the desired sound bite. The problem for most people is in stressful situations, they talk…and talk…and talk, some trying to be helpful, some get nervous, and many feel compelled to defend actions that often don’t need to be defended. At the Sacramento Bee, they surely know the rules of the game, and what they did was most certainly intentional and planned for the reasons outlined in this story.

I understood that, Mr. Vandalay. Some taxpayers might not be impacted, that was the point. I just didn’t see it as a boom/checkmate comment because a whole sh#t-ton of FDIC-lovin taxpayers would obviously participate.

Pardon me, but you’re suggesting everyone “banks at a credit union that is NCAU rather than FDIC”? Wouldn’t that be a very necessary piece of a boom/checkmate argument? Yes to the text in bold. It’s no different that a financial service organization failing and references to “lavish parties” and “executive bonuses”. When the organization implodes, everything is in the table, and each piece of the puzzle scrutinized as part of the overall problem.

You get yourself so caught up in trying to argue a point that you continually post nonsense. If you have a point to make, slow down. Breathe. Type slowly. Keep it between the lines. Better yet—figure out the point, and articulate.

On cue, BillSy protects his sacred cow.

To be completely clear, I’m not suggesting he’s complete clean. He’s worked every angle available, and it’s entirely possible something would be found eventually. It’s also entirely possible a crime would be made up or imagined. The Russia interference to “obstruction!” was the game the Dems originally played, and it failed miserably. Still, rounding up, he’s 80 freaking years old. Mueller and his goon squad spent 4 years busting heads, kicking in doors, turning people and virtually nothing was off the table. For all the garbage spewed on the guy, nothing came of it for him. I would bet you most political operatives R or D wouldn’t pass that test, and would have cracked under the pressure. I agree on the outsider but I think the Trump treatment is what just about any outsider should be expect should they be in the mix. The difference is that most people would crack under the onslaught of negativity, finger pointing and innuendo that Trump was subjected to. His ability to shrug and say “Go 🤬 yourself” is incredible, and part of his appeal to regular people not so inclined in spite of his absurdly over the top persona. So, what happens is we get a Biden or a Bush, or a Clinton and maybe next time, Michelle Obama.

It is what it is.

They didn’t get Trump because there is nothing to get. It was not for lack of trying, and trying on an epic scale. Meanwhile…Washington and its players gets wealthier by the minute, and in Biden’s case cover from the IC and media at large…and on his watch…millionaires and billionaires over at the SVB are awash in covered nuts. 🤷🏻