Messages

151

Outdoor Activities / Spelunking: (noun) the exploration of caves, especially as a hobby.

« on: September 01, 2023, 07:20:34 PM »

Used to do some caving when I was a teen. The two I remember the most were the Lost Sea and Cumberland Caverns, both in Tennessee. I see videos on youtube and think about how much fun I had as a teen, but those were guided tours in tourist caves. These guys on youtube are pretty serious about it, going places where you need ropes, repelling gear, super-duper high power lamps, etc. I start thinking I'd like to do something like that... but then I see them swinging from ropes, climbing way up in these shafts where if they fall, they're gonna be hurt REALLY BAD. Nah. Think I'll just sit here watching the younger folks do it on Youtube.

Some really interesting videos I've seen lately...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlltGdU9nT4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8sag8JI4zY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9tqxiy7L80


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMtg7Qgekok

152

/dev/random / Re: Whatcha eating

« on: September 01, 2023, 10:18:18 AM »

Gonna try making some vodka slushies with it later this week.

Es no bueno. Mucho disgusto.

153

/dev/random / Re: Whatcha eating

« on: August 29, 2023, 03:27:37 PM »

Found some of this stuff in the yellow tag clearance section of the Walmart grocery dept. I love Nerds candy, figured I'd try it.



Strawberry Nerds drink mix. Single packs you pour into a standard 16oz bottle of water. I kinda see now why it was marked down. I doubt anyone was buying it. It's like... not good. 

It DOES taste a lot like the Nerds candy, but the fact that it's "zero sugar" means it uses aspertame or some shit for sweetener instead of sugar, so it tastes a little funny. If it was made with real sugar, it'd probably be pretty good.

Gonna try making some vodka slushies with it later this week.

154

/dev/random / Re: The Good Old Days thread

« on: August 29, 2023, 10:52:44 AM »

I miss HBO in the 90's when they actually had shit worth watching.

And the funky graphics. So rad, so gnarly - cowabunga dude.



Also figured I'd quote some posts from the Whatcha Listening To thread with pics of bands and musicians from the Good Old Days...

No video, just an interesting pic I found.

Left to right:
Leon Wilkeson (bass - Lynyrd Skynyrd),
Lou Reed,
Ronnie Van Zant (vocals - Lynyrd Skynyrd),
Leslie West (guitar/voc - Mountain)

Another interesting pic...

Ozzy Osbourne and Sam Kinison. ...



...

And adding one more...

The Rolling Stones in 1966

Pictured L to R: Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (seated).

155

/dev/random / Re: The Man Thread

« on: August 29, 2023, 10:09:41 AM »

...Playboy Playmate...

No car this time.

Playboy Playmate Patti McGuire - Miss November 1976 & Playmate of the Year 1977. She was also featured on the back glass of the now famous highly-collectible Bally's Playboy pinball game (around 18000 were made, not sure how many still exist). She ended up marrying famous tennis player Jimmy Connors in 1979. Lucky bastard.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWP70dq6XN0

156

/dev/random / Re: NASCAR...

« on: August 28, 2023, 02:59:25 AM »

Dayum. Ouch.

Roof flaps are supposed to prevent that, but if you notice, he goes through a small patch of grass first, then a paved part... the grass picks the car up just enough so that when it goes over the little paved part, there's juuuuust enough space between the right rear and the road that the air can get in there and send the car all the way over.

Superspeedways like Daytona used to be some of the most interesting races to watch, but I just can't get into it anymore since they've instituted all these new rules with "stages" and such. Call me silly, but I don't see any reason to stop the damn race once the green flag drops unless there's a caution. If other people can't keep up with the leader,... THAT'S CALLED RACING.

157

/dev/random / Re: Wrestling

« on: August 25, 2023, 06:15:07 PM »

what surprised me more is his age vs his CoD.. seems young to have such heart problems. Dunno if he is into steroids. His physique aint like most of his colleagues that you can immediately suspect.  I kinda like his WWE persona with the rest of WYATTs.. Guess he was one of those last acts that I really enjoyed and await before I quit avidly watching wrestling.

He's always been kinda overweight. In fact I think I was reading on wiki about him one time that back in his NXT or pre-NXT days, he was known as "Husky Harris", lol. He kinda had that classic beer-belly strongman physique, like Vader (r.i.p.), Bam Bam Bigelow (also r.i.p.) and most of the guys you ever see competing in the reruns of strongman competitions on ESPN2 late at night.

Bray wasn't even the biggest (aka ROUNDEST) guy WWE had.

Meet Otis. He can't even put his arms all the way down at his sides.



He's sorta funny. I still think Bo Dallas was a better character. And now that I think about it, perhaps Elias was funnier, although he was more in the love-to-hate-him "heel" category than Bo Dallas was.

But NOBODY was a better heel than Rowdy Roddy Piper. LOVED Piper. If you have Peacock Premium, I think WWE Network comes with it. Check out some of the old collections of episodes when he did his little "Piper's Pit" skits. It's hilarious! He almost killed a guy bashing a real coconut over his head in one of the skits.

edit: Haha, found the clip on youtube:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKXpSyjfIik

158

/dev/random / Re: Wrestling

« on: August 25, 2023, 01:57:51 AM »

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66613784

Bray Wyatt: WWE champion dies aged 36

That sucks. I hadn't heard of him until he moved up from NXT to WWE. I sort of liked him when he first showed up with the hillbilly Manson-esque "Wyatt Family"... and their family became even more interesting when they added the big man Braun Strowman to the roster. But after the Wyatt Family broke apart and Bray started doing his own thing as "The Fiend", it got to be too theatrical and over the top for me. I was kinda hoping he'd get shit together and work out a good direction for his character, kinda like Cody Rhodes did during his time away from WWE. Bray Wyatt was one of the only wrestlers they had who might've been capable of having a scary character rising to the same level as Undertaker to fill that role, but... not anymore.

Didn't realize it before now, but old 90's WWE wrestler Irwin Roy Schyster (aka IRS) was his father, and ex-WWE wrestler Bo Dallas was his little brother. I miss Bo Dallas, he was a good comic relief kinda wrestler.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfq7XUBBXA

159

Religion, and the Changing Moral Zeitgeist / Re: Ye Religion Thread

« on: August 24, 2023, 10:53:49 PM »

Alan Watts on Religion


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f5yF8GeCG4

My point in posting this is not to echo the statement "THEY MADE IT ALL UP" like the video thumbnail shows. The more interesting thought provoking part is how he points out the similarities between the major religions.

P.S.:

IMDB says release set for March 31st 2021, but who knows.

The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection (2021)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5795232/

IMDB says 2022 now.

C'MON, MEL. Shit or get off the pot.

Hope this movie gets done soon. Jim Caviezel is gonna be a gray haired Jesus before long, and nobody wants that.

2023 coming to an end. Surely if this were coming soon, it would probably be big enough to have a Christmas Day release date, but I've heard not a peep about ANY work being done on it. Something tells me we'll never get this in the can. *shrugs*

160

art, music, etc. / Re: The Best Drummer

« on: August 24, 2023, 10:34:20 PM »

its also good to show that you've looked outside what is probably the most successful (best?) rock band of all time.

The Beatles?   

But Ringo was a crappy drummer.

I think I was probably serious about that statement at the time. HOWEVER... I've come to learn that perhaps Ringo deserves a little more credit than most people are willing to give him. I've since seen a few videos on youtube discussing him and how his talent for stamina is often overlooked by people who criticize his apparent lack of technical flare and think everything he played was "easy". It may have been "simple" in structure, but not necessarily "easy" to play physically.

Gene Hoglan

Gene playing along with Death - Overactive Imagination (from the album Individual Thought Patterns, 1993)
He's always said he's a "lazy drummer" and I've always chalked that up to him just being humble, but as someone who's listened to Individual Thought Patters about a million times since it came out in 93, and after listening critically to his playing here, he's a tiny bit sloppy on some parts. He misses a few hits here and there, nothing too serious.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3opnYkuYQc

Gene playing along with Death - The Philosopher (from the album Individual Thought Patterns, 1993)
Hard to pick a number 1 favorite song by Death, but if this one isn't number 1, it's definitely in the top 3 for me. I love the unusual waltz beat for the verse.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGope68pHf0

Full version of his drumming technique video, Gene Hoglan - The Atomic Clock (2010).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpVTPUxnE3I

161

/dev/random / Re: The Good Old Days thread

« on: August 21, 2023, 07:38:08 AM »

Clash of the Titans (1981)

This was one of my favorite movies growing up. Made in 1980, released in 1981, featured lots of great classic stop-motion animation. Some of scenery in it doesn't hold up well compared to today's movies, but for the time, it was pretty awesome and epic. I was also a fan of all the old classic monster movies when I was kid (King Kong, Wolfman, Dracula, Godzilla, etc), so the excellent elaborate usage of stop-motion animation in this sort of classifies it alongside all those older ones, at least in my opinion. Sure, the animation in movies like Star Wars was much smoother, but I kinda like the way they animated Clash of the Titans - sort of reminds me of Jason and the Argonauts, another even older movie with some great stop-motion animation of sword-fighting skeletons that totally blew peoples minds back when it came out.

DEAD LINK://wwwyoutubecom/watch?v=wVdVlYUsRpA
(youtube link: Clash of the Titans - 1981 - full movie - just in case they ever remove it and someone wonders what the hell this link was)
Edit: oct 16, 2023 - yep, they removed it. Here's the trailer instead, hopefully it'll stay up longer than 2 freakin' months.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojw1sau98Jg

I remember when I was a kid and went into the hospital to have my tonsils removed, my grandpa came by afterwards and gave me a Golden Clash of the Titans graphic novel get well soon gift. It was one of my favorite books that I re-read probably 100 times or more. I still have it somewhere around here, probably on the bookshelf with all my old pc game boxes. I think it's probably worth maybe 10 or 15 bucks now. I see them online going for anywhere from 10 to 25 bucks (original price was $2.50). Like I said, I read it TONS, so the edges are well worn like the one in the picture. The pictures inside look like typical comic book stuff, nothing like the cover. For the most part, it mirrors the movie, although some of the monsters like the Kraken were drawn a little different, and Calibos is green. Also... In the comic, he throws his shield to whack Medusa's head off. In the movie, he uses his sword.

   


   

162

Outdoor Activities / Re: Outdoor projects while self-isolating due to covid-19

« on: August 20, 2023, 10:46:00 AM »

This guys house is AMAZING.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_exBnQINFs

That last video shows a water wheel system for generating local power. This one uses a PMA (permanent magnet alternator) and 4 water jets from a gravity fed piping system run from a creek to turn it. Interesting stuff.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2QoKRWANs4

163

poetry / essays / short stories? / Re: Quotes

« on: August 20, 2023, 10:15:48 AM »

I still think the illiterate rednecks who walk into stores with AR-15s slung over their backs are compensating for very small dicks.

Depends on what kind of illiteracy we're talking about here. If it's the kind of assumed illiteracy where you're prejudiced against people from the south and think they're all a bunch of uneducated barefoot banjo paying hillbillies, well... that's just a YOU problem. If it's the kind of REAL illiteracy where people can't read and comprehend the laws on the books, well... maybe that's ALSO just a YOU problem, because if it's an open carry state, it's totally legal to do that. If you're attempting to express that you think it's largely unnecessary to do that, I would certainly agree with you. I'll admit that it's an "unusual" practice, and something that would make many people who are undoubtedly strangers to them feel uncomfortable around them. Personally, I would never do that. Recently, my state has legalize open carry, but I've had a concealed carry permit before that, which I still have, and when I do carry, I conceal it. Why? I don't want the attention or hassle.

Nevertheless... it's not against the law. Unless they are breaking the law, I nor anyone else has the right to harass, hinder, or prevent them from doing it.

I see what you're saying though, as I've seen it MANY times on people's youtube channels. To me, it's kinda like these "first amendment audits". Sure, police have a responsibility to KNOW the laws and to NOT violate anyone's rights... but it's not entirely responsible for a person to potentially bait the police into violating their rights. It can end with them DEAD if it goes badly enough. Police get a call about a guy with an AR15, maybe the dispatcher doesn't properly explain that they aren't being a threat to anyone, the police approaches them gun drawn, locked cocked and ready to rock, the cop gets nervous, they interpret the subjects movement the wrong way, they empty the clip into them. Not a situation I'm gonna voluntarily place myself in... so my rifle doesn't go in public places.

And a cannon would be cool to own but seriously impractical.

Not if it's the 1800's and people are using them for ship to ship fighting.

For today's military applications, they still use cannons... it's just that the ammo they load them with has changed dramatically.

But it's good that you used the word "impractical". Where is your freedom if it hinges on what is deemed "practical", and who should have the right to determine what is and is not "practical" or proper for a free citizen of a free country to own? The government? Mmmm yes, because we've seen how capable they are of mandating senseless ineffective things, especially in relation to covid.

164

/dev/random / Re: The Good Old Days thread

« on: August 19, 2023, 08:37:00 AM »

Think I heard either my parents or my grandmother mention the name before, but I've never personally shopped at one or seen one anywhere where I've lived in Georgia (NE and E sides of Atlanta metro area). I googled it, and Wiki shows a pic of an empty one at the old now closed Regency Mall in Augusta.

Just got off the phone with my ma. Mentioned it to her, and she said she remembers the Montgomery Ward catalog (says they used to call it the "Monkey Ward catalog") (... I dunno was that a thing, or just my nutty folks being nutty?), but doesn't really remember any of the stores. She grew up in the Avondale Estates and Stone Mountain area and doesn't remember ever seeing one, but said that there might've been one somewhere in downtown Atlanta.

I do remember Rich's though, perhaps they had one in Florida somewhere too. Rich's was Macy's biggest competitor in the southern states. They did very well for many years, even diversified into having some "general merchandise" stores (kinda like Walmart, Kmart, Target) that were called Richway. I remember shopping at the Richway a BUNCH when I was growing up, going there for back to school clothes, christmas shopping, toys, housewares, etc. Eventually Target bought them out I think, because if I recall correctly sometime between probably 1988 to 1991 they closed the store for a month or two and it became Target.

I posted somewhere else about Rich's before I'm pretty sure...

... Here in Georgia, we had a major department store known as Rich's.
Rich's. My grandmother worked there in the 1950's. They were a main fixture in Atlanta since the 1920's or earlier. They branched out and had Walmart/Target style stores called Richway. I remember shopping there as a kid with my folks all the time. But alas, Rich's was swallowed up by Macy's, and Richway was eviscerated by Target. But Macy's was nice enough to hijack all of Rich's christmas tradition that Atlantans have enjoyed for years, like the Pink Pig ride that I remember riding on with my dad every year as kid at the old Rich's downtown location. Actually... that ride used to scare the living shit out of me, lol. It was a rusty old suspended chain driven ride that was mounted on the edge of the roof of the old Rich's building. The cars would sway and creak and had rust all over them. Being on the rooftop, it was exposed to the December air, and the cars had no windows or heat in them, so you'd freeze your balls off riding in this thing, looking about 6 stories down off the side of the building, thinking that any moment the thing was gonna break and send you hurtling to the street below where you'd surely die in a heap of twisted pink rusted metal and bodies of other passengers. Good times. As far as I know, Macy's redid the ride at their Lennox Mall location and it's now an indoor MUCH LESS DANGEROUS choo-choo train kinda thing rather than a suspended rusty coaster thingy. I think they still have the old Rich's pink pig cars on display there though. I feel sorry that my nephews will never get to know that special Holiday terror like I did.

Picture of the old Pink Pig ride on the rooftop of the old Rich's building in downtown Atlanta, not sure when it was taken.



My dad says he remembered it as a kid in the late 50's when it was suspended from the ceiling in the toy department on one of the upper floors of the Rich's building in Atlanta. In the mid-60's, they moved it to the roof where it ran until the store finally closed in 1991.

Like I said in the part quoted from 2017, I remember going to Rich's on Christmas Eve that last year it was open to ride the Pink Pig. It was cold as FUCK that day. The cars had no windows in them or heaters, and the last part of the line to get on the ride was outside on the 6th floor rooftop in the winter air. We froze our asses off! It made it VERY memorable... because to this day, I still remember how insanely cold it was. Kinda made the whole thing all the more depressing too. By then, the ride was all rusty and fading and needing paint. And I remember walking all through the store that year as we headed up to the roof. We encountered many areas where you couldn't get to certain escalators because those portions of the store were giant junk heaps of empty clothes racks, mannequins, and all sorts of other fixtures. They managed to hollow out a path through the mess on the 5th floor leading to the only open escalator that went to the 6th floor, and the escalator was dead. The whole store was very depressing like that, not very Christmas-y at all.

165

/dev/random / Re: The Good Old Days thread

« on: August 19, 2023, 01:45:37 AM »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciLEWR_ugI4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVp6AiRbxvs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ctZI9_oyo