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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Saturday Night Open Thread: Redemption Is Possible!

Late Saturday Night Open Thread: Redemption Is Possible!

by Anne Laurie|  April 8, 201812:27 am| 99 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Clown Shoes

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A Nova Scotia man says he was young and immature and generally unaware of the aggressive nature of West Coast seagulls when he left a suitcase of pepperoni near an open hotel window. https://t.co/VTrbaMVvK9

— CTV Vancouver (@CTVVancouver) April 2, 2018

Seagulls, dude…

A Nova Scotia man banned from Victoria’s stately Fairmont Empress hotel is welcome back after apologizing for an incident more than 17 years ago in which seagulls hungry for pepperoni trashed his room in a rock star frenzy.,,

“I remember walking down the long hall and opening the door to my room to find an entire flock of seagulls in my room,” stated Burchill’s letter. “I didn’t have time to count, but there must have been 40 of them and they had been in my room, eating pepperoni for a long time.”

He said he startled the gorging birds, which is when things really got out of control.

“They immediately started flying around and crashing into things as they desperately tried to leave the room through the small opening by which they had entered,” said Burchill. “The result was a tornado of seagull excrement, feathers, pepperoni chunks and fairly large birds whipping around the room.”

Tracey Drake, the hotel’s public relations director, said Monday there were thoughts this was an April Fools’ Day prank, but a check of the records and Burchill’s appearance at the front desk last weekend confirmed the seagull story and the former guest’s permanent ban…

“The hotel followed up with his employer afterwards, saying he’s not welcome back at the hotel due to the damage in the room,” Drake said. “He’s correct. The lamps were broken. The room was trashed. It’s a really funny story to tell 17 years later, but I was sitting here thinking about the housekeeper and what her first reaction must have been when she opened that door.”…

The letter he sent to the Empress and posted on Facebook explained how his plan to bring spicy Nova Scotia pepperoni to Victoria to share with friends stationed at the West Coast naval base went astray when he decided to cool the meat near the window because his room didn’t have a fridge.

Drake said the damage to the room was beyond description, but all is forgiven and Burchill is back on the guest list…

Surely there’s a Trumplodyte joke lurking in there somewhere?

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Reader Interactions

99Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    April 8, 2018 at 12:30 am

    Seagulls are better dressed crows. Vermin, I tells you! Also, too, “high tea” at the Empress is an overpriced bauble for Americans but otherwise the place is quite nice. So is the city.

  2. 2.

    jl

    April 8, 2018 at 12:32 am

    @trollhattan: I remember ‘high tea’ when visiting with my family way back when I was a youngin’. I was very impressed.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 8, 2018 at 12:44 am

    I”d heard this story but I hadn’t heard that it was at the Fairmont, that makes it even funnier.

    I stayed at the sister hotel in Banff once. Someday I’ll get back there….

  4. 4.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 12:48 am

    I took a pretty picture!

    Now I’m at Nara Park, the one with the tame deer.

  5. 5.

    Fair Economist

    April 8, 2018 at 12:48 am

    So after the flock of seagulls trashed the room, and the hotel required that he ran – he ran so far away?

  6. 6.

    Walker

    April 8, 2018 at 12:57 am

    Obligatory:

    Yoda warns about seagulls

  7. 7.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 12:59 am

    @Fair Economist: boooo

  8. 8.

    Ben Cisco

    April 8, 2018 at 1:01 am

    @Fair Economist: BWAHAAHAA

  9. 9.

    danielx

    April 8, 2018 at 1:06 am

    “The result was a tornado of seagull excrement, feathers, pepperoni chunks and fairly large birds whipping around the room.”

    Well, yes, this does sound like a shitgibbon policy initiative.

  10. 10.

    Doug R

    April 8, 2018 at 1:06 am

    As a resident of Victoria/Saanich from grade 1 to 8, we never visited the Empress. However, I am well aware of Victoria seagulls and their “target practice”. We tell the tourists it’s good luck.
    A suitcase of pepperoni? Surprised a couple of gulls didn’t carry it off whole.

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 8, 2018 at 1:07 am

    It’s like GG’s account was hacked by someone doing a bad parody of GG

    Preet Bharara @ PreetBharara
    What if Jeff Bezos bought Twitter with the change in his pocket and shut Trump’s account?

    Glenn Greenwald @ ggreenwald
    40,000 people re-tweeted, and almost 160,000 people “liked,” this moronic, plutocratic dreck, fantasizing about a billionaire white knight who comes and saves us all by buying communications platforms and nobly censoring political enemies. #Resist

    Preet Bharara @ PreetBharara
    Omg you need to get a sense of humor

  12. 12.

    danielx

    April 8, 2018 at 1:11 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    What if Jeff Bezos bought Twitter with the change in his pocket and shut Trump’s account?

    if this happens, it will be proof positive that we have truly gone through the rabbit hole and down the looking glass.

    Yeah, I know, as if any more such proof was needed.

  13. 13.

    Duane

    April 8, 2018 at 1:14 am

    The seagulls trash the Empress Hotel, Trump trashes the White House. Seems pretty straightforward. I’ll take the seagulls.

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    April 8, 2018 at 1:16 am

    @Fair Economist:
    He walked along the avenue
    He never thought he’d meet a gull like you

  15. 15.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 1:17 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like Bharara’s response. Quite on point.

    So there was a fire at Trump Tower today, and a man died. The Shitgibbon tweeted about the building being “very well built” or some shit. If y’all didn’t know, it’s thanks to the regulatory state that the fire didn’t become more of a disaster. Buildings have a fire resistance rating as a function of size and occupancy, and Trump Tower is assuredly a Type 1A building, which means 3 hours of fire protection on the primary structural frame. I doubt very seriously that the building is any better or worse built than any other building of its era. It does appear that the building is not fully sprinkled. That is some slumlord shit right there.

  16. 16.

    Bruuuuce

    April 8, 2018 at 1:22 am

    @Suzanne:

    That is some slumlord shit right there

    Just like his daddy. Including the racism. As a reminder, Woody Guthrie despised Fred, for good reason.

  17. 17.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 1:22 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Beautiful photo. How long will you be in Japan for?

  18. 18.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 1:24 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Suzanne: what a sad life GG must live.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    April 8, 2018 at 1:25 am

    @Suzanne:
    Man’s family should sue sue sue.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    April 8, 2018 at 1:27 am

    @Suzanne: Someone in an earlier thread posted some comment that the TT should have had sprinklers in the residential units by 1979…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 1:27 am

    What, no anchovies?

    In a perfect world, the banished’s name would have been Jonathan Livingston.

  22. 22.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 1:28 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Well, he does live in a gated community in Brazil and shills for V. Putin for a living now.

  23. 23.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 1:29 am

    @rikyrah: That would be tough to sue for. Most buildings aren’t required by code to be sprinkled, though there are advantages in the building code for doing so, and the insurers typically want sprinklers. Many older buildings don’t have them, though they are typically done as a matter of course in most buildings today. Buildings are subject to the code in place when they were built or renovated, not the current code. What is telling, though, is that the upper floors of Trump Tower are not sprinkled, though I read that Shitgibbon’s personal apartment and some of the floors below are sprinkled (I haven’t verified that).

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 1:32 am

    @Suzanne

    It does appear that the building is not fully sprinkled.

    Sprinklered. Dolt 45 is the one who was supposedly thoroughly sprinkled.

    ;)

  25. 25.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 1:33 am

    @Another Scott: Fire sprinklers were not that common in the US even into the 90s. Most building owners who don’t suck have been retrofitting ever since. TT apparently doesn’t have sprinklers on any of the residential floors. I heard it reported that Trump’s apartment had them, but I haven’t heard that anywhere else.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 1:36 am

    @NotMax: Sorry…..I am typing on my iPad and I apparently hadn’t taught it the word “sprinklered” yet and DYAC and I didn’t notice.

    Yep, just tested it, and I have now taught it that “sprinklered” is a word.

  27. 27.

    M. Bouffant

    April 8, 2018 at 1:37 am

    @jl: Me too. Took the Princess Marguerite car ferry from Seattle to Victoria once.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 1:38 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: thanks! I come back on the 22nd.

  29. 29.

    Fair Economist

    April 8, 2018 at 1:39 am

    @Suzanne: California has recently started requiring sprinklers on all new and most renovated residential construction but as you say, this shift is new. The reports I’ve seen on Trump Tower are also as you surmised; there was no requirement for sprinklers when it was built; since then they are required for major renovations but TT hasn’t had that.

  30. 30.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 1:43 am

    @Fair Economist: Most insurance companies will give the building owner a substantial break in premiums if sprinklers are installed, but that is some pretty difficult construction in buildings of that height. It takes a lot of pumping power to lift water vertically 60+ stories.

  31. 31.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 1:43 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Wow, that’s like 2 weeks from now. Is it a vacation or apart of some business trip?

    If you don’t mind my asking that is.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 1:44 am

    @Suzanne

    Took advantage of it to allude to a certain suspected occurrence involving young Russian hotties.

    :)

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 1:47 am

    @Suzanne

    Plus it is not simply the same potable water supply as in the rest of the structure but water mixed with some oil sitting in those pipes, to retard/prevent the sprinkler mechanisms from rusting.

  34. 34.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 1:48 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: vacation :)

    Much of Asia, including japan, is pretty affordable once you get there. Even Japan is fine if you use Airbnb, but keep in mind that’s coming from somebody who’s used to the most expensive city in America.

  35. 35.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 1:49 am

    @Suzanne: @NotMax:
    In that case wouldn’t buildings of a certain height have a water supply for the sprinkler systems in the upper floors on the roof?

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 1:52 am

    @Suzanne

    vertically 60+ stories

    He lies about that too. The building by any normal measure is about 58 stories.

  37. 37.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 8, 2018 at 1:55 am

    @NotMax: Sprinklered. Dolt 45 is the one who was supposedly thoroughly sprinkled.

    applause– way to tie it all together. Only thing missing is Flock of Seagulls reference, and for all anybody knows, there’s a perfect song on their album but all anyone’s ever heard is I Ran (I Ran So Far Away)

  38. 38.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 2:01 am

    I also bought a book of animal prints by the old master Kuniyoshi so I’m looking forward to getting a couple of those matted.

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 2:05 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Some do, but a big ass water tank weighs a lot and would require extensive structural work. Also difficult construction. And it would still need pumps to feed it.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 2:06 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Not at all necessarily. Water is damn heavy (lifting up a full jerry can is sufficient to learn that), and a separate static (non-flowing under normal circumstances) storage supply would be subject to freezing in winter. Also, for very tall structures, they are designed to sway in winds so it would require some sort of very expensive gyroscopically controlled storage unit to keep the water from sloshing about.

  41. 41.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 8, 2018 at 2:10 am

    @Major Major Major Major: As I mentioned last night, Madame’s mother grew up in Nara.

  42. 42.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 2:11 am

    @NotMax: Some tall buildings purposely put a weight close to the top in order to reduce sway—called a tuned mass damper.

  43. 43.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 2:14 am

    @Suzanne: @NotMax:
    What do modern very tall buildings do then as a solution?

    As you can tell, IANAA.

  44. 44.

    Fair Economist

    April 8, 2018 at 2:14 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Only thing missing is Flock of Seagulls reference, and for all anybody knows, there’s a perfect song on their album

    I liked Flock of Seagulls and they did indeed have several other catch songs. It’s a little hard finding one to refer to the Trump Tower fire, though. Maybe these lyrics from this song touch on the general issue of dealing with Republicans:

    I made a contact with another world,
    Another being from another planet.
    Another time and another place,
    Another galaxy, another planet.

    It’s a stretch, though.

    P.S. Holy moly, those early ’80s videos are strange. How did I not notice?

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    April 8, 2018 at 2:16 am

    @trollhattan:

    Seagulls are better dressed crows.

    That’s a vile insult to crows. Crows are among the most intelligent of birds, which nobody would ever accuse seagulls of being.

  46. 46.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 2:17 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    That sounds cool. The longest vacation I’ve ever been on is a week and the only country I’ve ever visited is Canada so 2 weeks sounds like a long time to me.

  47. 47.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 2:19 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: cool. (Didn’t remember, I was pretty out of it last night)

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: it is; I have a lot of vacation days. And you should get around more, young man! Even within the US, too much to see.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 2:22 am

    @Suzanne

    Yes indeed. Anyone who has carried a basin of water across a room is familiar with the behavior (and changeable weight distribution) of water once it begins moving back and forth.

    Trivia: The reason so many tenement buildings in Manhattan were built no more than 5 stories tall was because that was about the maximum height which the pressure of the municipal water supply could push water.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    April 8, 2018 at 2:24 am

    @Suzanne:
    There’s a former tallest-building-in-the-world — in earthquake-prone Taipei, I think — whose main design feature was an internal pendulum many storeys high, with a ginormous metal ball at the end to dampen vibration from seismic activity. I’ve always wondered if it was sensible to build something so tall in an earthquake-prone area in the first place.

  50. 50.

    Anne Laurie

    April 8, 2018 at 2:27 am

    @trollhattan:

    Seagulls are better dressed crows. Vermin, I tells you!

    Crow libel! The preferred term, here on the East Coast at least, is “maritime pigeons” — pigeons being universally considered “rats with wings”.

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    April 8, 2018 at 2:27 am

    @NotMax:

    Also, for very tall structures, they are designed to sway in winds so it would require some sort of very expensive gyroscopically controlled storage unit to keep the water from sloshing about.

    Sloshing is only a problem if there’s space for the water to slosh around in, i.e. if you keep the tank half full for some reason. If the tank is as close to full as practical, there will be minimal space for the water to move around in and hence minimal sloshing.

  52. 52.

    Aleta

    April 8, 2018 at 2:31 am

    Lalitha Masson, a 76-year-old resident, called it “a very, very terrifying experience.”
    “When I saw the television, I thought we were finished,” said Ms. Masson, who lives on the 36th floor with her husband, Narinder, who is 79 and has Parkinson’s disease. …

    She said that she did not get any announcement about leaving, and that when she called the front desk no one answered.

    Dennis Shields, a resident who said he lived on the 42nd floor, described the scene.
    “You could smell the smoke and you could hear things falling like through the vents,” he said. “It just smelled like sulfur.”
    He said there were no orders to evacuate but he received a text message from Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael D. Cohen.
    Mr. Shields, who said he grew up with Mr. Cohen, continued: “He said, ‘Are you in the building?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You better get out ASAP.’ That’s how I knew to get out, otherwise I’d still be in there.”

    -from NYT abt the Trump Tower fire

  53. 53.

    Anne Laurie

    April 8, 2018 at 2:31 am

    @Suzanne:

    Some tall buildings purposely put a weight close to the top in order to reduce sway—called a tuned mass damper.

    There’s supposed to be a tuned-mass damper in the 60-story (actually 63-story) John Hancock Tower in Boston. I was an office drone in that building for 15 years and management (of both the insurance company and the building itself) were incredibly secretive about details. But it was generally understood, correctly or not, that MIT supervised a retrofit which solved the notorious “upper-story window panes popping loose and crashing down on the plaza below” problem…

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 2:32 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Also the installation of what are for all intents and purposes gigantic shock absorbers between the bedrock and the bulding’s superstructure.

  55. 55.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 2:33 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’ve always wondered if it was sensible to build something so tall in an earthquake-prone area in the first place.

    Seems to be working pretty well for Japan.

  56. 56.

    Amir Khalid

    April 8, 2018 at 2:38 am

    @NotMax:
    I think the Petronas Towers have those too, and KL isn’t in an earthquake zone.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    April 8, 2018 at 2:39 am

    @NotMax:

    Trivia: The reason so many tenement buildings in Manhattan were built no more than 5 stories tall was because that was about the maximum height which the pressure of the municipal water supply could push water.

    I think there are a bunch of reasons why 5-6 stories winds up being a maximum height. Brick buildings- and most of those tenements were brick- have mechanical problems when they start getting taller than that because the bricks just aren’t that strong. It also becomes impractical to do without an elevator if you want to build a building taller than that; plenty of people would say a 5th floor walk-up is too much. So by the time you start getting higher than about 5 stories, you get into increased construction costs for a whole host of reasons, and you aren’t going to build a low rent tenement using expensive construction methods.

  58. 58.

    Fair Economist

    April 8, 2018 at 2:52 am

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Seems to be working pretty well for Japan.

    The Taipei 101 (1667 feet) is quite a bit taller than the tallest building in Japan (984 feet).

  59. 59.

    Aleta

    April 8, 2018 at 2:55 am

    This (from the Toronto Star) describes the communities and long bus travel to games of young Canadian hockey players.

  60. 60.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 2:55 am

    @Fair Economist: I was merely thinking of an earthquake prone place with lots of tall buildings which I happen to be in. I interpreted Amir as referring to skyscrapers in general.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 2:59 am

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Was hoping the real architect would chime in. The short answer is twofold.

    Pumps (or more accurately, series of pumps), and also smaller internal storage tanks that gravity feed to floors below them. In that case, sensors switch on the appropriate pumps to refill the tanks when they detect the water level dropping. IIRC, that’s the system originally installed and still in use in the Empire State Building.

  62. 62.

    dog worrier

    April 8, 2018 at 3:04 am

    Lurked for years, never commented, but there are so many animal lovers on here that it seems like the best place to get advice right now.

    My neighbors (college kids) left their black lab out in the backyard and the temperatures have dipped below freezing tonight. They’re not home, probably out partying. The dog barked for several hours, was quiet for awhile, and now has been plaintively yelping. Called the police at 10pm but they didn’t do anything. I’m in a western Kentucky city with lax animal cruelty laws. Now it’s 1:48am and can’t sleep since I’m worried about the dog’s safety. Following up with the police isn’t an option.

    Do you think the dog might die? Since it’s a pretty large and fat dog, do you think it has a reasonable shot at making it through the night? It was probably an honest mistake since 30-33 temps are super unusual for April here. They have a tall backyard fence so I can’t see the dog. Is there anything I could toss over to help the dog, or would that cause more harm than good? I don’t want to spark a neighbor war like Rand Paul, just really anxious about the dog’s safety.

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    April 8, 2018 at 3:09 am

    @Roger Moore

    Across the street from the Tenement Museum in NYC is a 19th century brick row house (either 4 or 5 stories, can’t recall which). Atop it now, on the roof, is an ultra-modernist 2-story house, all glossy white walls and glass.

    Imagine the engineering tolerances for that addition were pretty tight.

  64. 64.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 3:11 am

    @NotMax: I saw that last summer!

  65. 65.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 3:23 am

    @NotMax:
    I thought that’s what it would be: smaller storage tanks on or between floors with pumps.

  66. 66.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 3:25 am

    @Major Major Major Major:
    I would but vacations cost money.

  67. 67.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 3:28 am

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: well you don’t have to do it this second.

  68. 68.

    Just one more canuck

    April 8, 2018 at 3:31 am

    @Doug R: I grew up in Victoria (high school at Spectrum, went to UVic), living there until I moved to Toronto for work

  69. 69.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    April 8, 2018 at 3:40 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Oh I know dude. I plan on going plenty of vacations later on.

  70. 70.

    opiejeanne

    April 8, 2018 at 3:42 am

    I have a chorus of froggies singing me to sleep tonight. There must be a lot of them from how loud they are.

  71. 71.

    Aleta

    April 8, 2018 at 3:56 am

    I propose ejection and a lifetime ban for these foul visitors:

    The Keystone crude oil pipeline leak in November in rural South Dakota was nearly double the original estimate, making it one of the largest U.S. inland spills since 2010, a newspaper report on Saturday said. Robynn Tysver, a spokeswoman for Calgary-based TransCanada Corp, which owns the pipeline, told the Aberdeen American News some 9,700 barrels of oil leaked in the Nov. 16 spill, the South Dakota paper reported. The original estimate was 5,000 barrels.
    …
    Operations were restarted less than two weeks later.
    …
    TransCanada officials were not immediately available for comment.
    ”’
    Keystone has leaked substantially more oil, and more often, in the United States than the company indicated to regulators in risk assessments before operations began in 2010, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

    Did anyone point out the relevance of their numerous lies when Tysver said this:

    The TransCanada spokeswoman told the newspaper repairs have been made on the pipeline and a clean-up conducted. “We have replaced the last of the topsoil and have seeded the impacted area,” Tysver said in an email.

  72. 72.

    mai naem mobile

    April 8, 2018 at 4:00 am

    Arizona with its shitty regulatory structure requires sprinklers in residences over 5000 sq. ft. I think the rule is not that terribly old. Keep in mind most residences in AZ would be 1 or 2 story at most. I wonder how the rules work in such a multi unit high rise. What about just regular smoke alarms, forget fire sprinklers? Are those maintained by the building or the individual unit owners?

  73. 73.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 4:03 am

    Guy with a bunch of tattoos just drove by in a Lamborghini ?

  74. 74.

    Corner Stone

    April 8, 2018 at 4:09 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Maybe it’s his dad’s.

  75. 75.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 8, 2018 at 4:13 am

    @opiejeanne: The volume seems to be conflicting with the sleep thing.

  76. 76.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 8, 2018 at 4:13 am

    @Corner Stone: Probably not, the yoots have money too.

  77. 77.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 4:15 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: @Corner Stone: Only a certain… class of Japanese youth is known for tattoo sleeves.

  78. 78.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    April 8, 2018 at 4:23 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I know that was true in the past, wouldn’t be too sure if that’s still the case.

    OT: I have to be up for a shoot in 8 hours, I’m not tired. Why did I do the snuggle time with the girls?

  79. 79.

    opiejeanne

    April 8, 2018 at 4:27 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I’m getting very sleepy now.

  80. 80.

    EBT

    April 8, 2018 at 4:36 am

    The hard part about writing a short story every week is coming up with new ideas.
    And I need to come up with some extras too, so I can just copy paste when the time is right in the next couple weeks while I won’t have a keyboard to access.

  81. 81.

    Major Major Major Major

    April 8, 2018 at 4:41 am

    @opiejeanne: reading a bushy Hideki chapter?

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I believe it’s still partly the case especially in Osaka.

  82. 82.

    mainmata

    April 8, 2018 at 4:57 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: LMAO

  83. 83.

    mainmata

    April 8, 2018 at 5:05 am

    @Suzanne: But that would appear to suggest that, in such tall buildings, no one above a certain floor has any drinking, bathing/toilet or other kind of water supply either. (???)

  84. 84.

    Starfish

    April 8, 2018 at 5:11 am

    @dog worrier: This is terrible. Can you open the gate and borrow their dog for the evening?

  85. 85.

    satby

    April 8, 2018 at 6:11 am

    @dog worrier: I would probably go get the dog too. But it’s been a couple of hours since you asked. I hope the poor thing is ok or that the stupid kids finally came home, though they were probably plastered when they finally did.

  86. 86.

    satby

    April 8, 2018 at 6:17 am

    @dog worrier: and let us know what happened, ok? Sorry that you didn’t get any timely response.

  87. 87.

    Boudica

    April 8, 2018 at 6:20 am

    So Trump Tower isn’t sprinklered and is grandfathered. But how about smoke alarms in every unit? And what’s the requirement for fire alarms going off to alert other residents?

  88. 88.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    April 8, 2018 at 7:31 am

    @EBT: Coming up with a short story idea every week would leave me gibbering.

  89. 89.

    Ramalama

    April 8, 2018 at 7:44 am

    @Aleta: Wonder if there’s going to be a mass exodus of residents moving out of TT to some place more safe (a fire sale)? Can’t imagine rich people would put themselves in harm’s way like living in a building with no sprinklers.

  90. 90.

    Ohio Mom

    April 8, 2018 at 8:06 am

    @dog worrier: Sorry I can’t help you, the only things I know about dogs I learned on these threads. I hope someone pipes up soon for you. You might try emailing Anne Laurie directly, there is a How to Contact a Front Pager on the pull down menu on the masthead.

    Anyway, welcome to non-lurkerdom. Stick around!

    ETA: I see you got some responses as I was typing.

  91. 91.

    Frankensteinbeck

    April 8, 2018 at 8:08 am

    @Roger Moore:
    I don’t know. Seagulls recently learned to pack hunt whales. Sounds pretty smart to me. Cruel, but smart.

  92. 92.

    zhena gogolia

    April 8, 2018 at 8:36 am

    @Fair Economist:

    And I want some of those Tuned Mass Damper babies, dammit! They have this really cute logo and you can buy the souvenirs in the building but I’m never going to Taipei.

  93. 93.

    Barbara

    April 8, 2018 at 8:44 am

    You have to read that whole letter to get the true insanity of the situation, which included throwing one of his shoes out the window to get the last gull out, only barely missing people below, and then in an effort to dry the shoe he had to wash, blowing out the power in part of the hotel in an incident involving a hair dryer and sink.

  94. 94.

    Shell

    April 8, 2018 at 10:36 am

    So,it wasn’t a pepperoni pizza or some such, but a suitcase full of pepperoni? Was he smuggling some back to his land of origin, where Italian eats don’t exist?

  95. 95.

    Suzanne

    April 8, 2018 at 10:42 am

    @NotMax: More trivia: 75′ above grade to the highest occupied floor level (not the roof or other mechanical areas) is the definition of a high-rise.

    @NotMax: Sorry, I fell asleep. Thread prolly dead. Yes, in modern high-rises, water for sprinklers and toilets and sinks, etc is pumped vertically like you said through a series of pumps and tanks. Easy to plan for in new construction, but difficult AF in a retrofit situation.

  96. 96.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    April 8, 2018 at 10:51 am

    I stayed at the Fairmont in Winnipeg once. Very pleasant.

    On the other front, it appears that daughter’s boyfriend had, in fact, been roofied. Probably Xanax, but possibly Rohypnol. They had accepted a drink from a stranger, intended for one of my daughters.

  97. 97.

    Jay Noble

    April 8, 2018 at 1:59 pm

    Something I’ve taken as gospel about high rise and fires is that there aren’t any fire trucks that can reach anything higher than the 5th floor. Anything above that you were pretty much on your own.

  98. 98.

    dog worrier

    April 8, 2018 at 8:01 pm

    Just an update on my comment: I knocked on the neighbor’s door this morning and the dog is fine. Not surprisingly for Kentucky, the owner doesn’t see a problem with leaving the dog in subfreezing weather, but he did say last night was an accident.

  99. 99.

    SWMBO

    April 9, 2018 at 12:36 am

    @dog worrier: Thanks for the update. I have been refreshing the thread all day hoping for good news.

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