Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Bark louder, little dog.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Friday Evening Open Thread: Why Everything Went to Hell in the Late 1960s

Friday Evening Open Thread: Why Everything Went to Hell in the Late 1960s

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198Comments

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    A new thread. That is something good.

    The Smithsonian’s cheetah mom apparently moved her cubs back into the den with the camera. (She’d moved them, one by one, out into the bushes when they were a week old. No more cub voyeurism.) They seem to be fine from their traipse about. All five cubs nestled in; seem to be thriving.

    Here’s cheetah cub cam, for your Friday night.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    @Elizabelle: Cheetahs have cubs, not kittens?  English — what a language!

    EDIT: Began reading about Panthera vs. Felinae and it still seems arbitrary.

  10. 10.

    Raven

    @Baud: Fuck him! I went to the Man in the Sea Museum today and, among other things, learned that astronaut Scott Carpenter was also a aqaunaut and they had a clip of LBJ calling him on the phone in SEALAB.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    @Elizabelle

    Variation on an old joke from the CCCP.

    “The cubs were all born good communists. Now they’re all capitalists.”

    “How did that happen?”

    “They opened their eyes.”

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    @sab:   They’ve had little spots all the time I’ve watched them.  And very active little cubs; they could always nestle into a pile of cheetah cubs when mom (Rosalie) was out of the den, getting some private time (and dinner).

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    @tokyokie: I was a high school freshman that day, taking the subway home.

    At every stop, the conductor, in an unusually excited voice, announced the station name, what transfers to what lines were available at the stop, added “The Mets have won the World Series!”, warned is to watch the closing doors, the train is about to leave the station.

    It’s not often you get to ride in a subway car where everyone is happy.

  32. 32.

    Suzanne

    @Ohio Mom: I’ve been trying not to pee for this whole train ride (boarded at 12:20, have another hour to go) because I didn’t want to use the train restroom. I broke down and finally did it. Because of all the yoga I’ve been doing, my hover squat is on point.

  33. 33.

    Another Scott

    I blame too-low tax rates on the wealthy. Yet another datapoint – one that Suzanne may enjoy scream in horror over…

    Santa Barbara Independent:

    […]

    In his October 25 resignation letter to UCSB Campus Architect Julie Hendricks, Dennis McFadden ― a well-respected Southern California architect with 15 years on the committee ― goes scorched earth on the radical new building concept, which calls for an 11-story, 1.68-million-square-foot structure that would house up to 4,500 students, 94 percent of whom would not have windows in their small, single-occupancy bedrooms.

    The idea was conceived by 97-year-old billionaire-investor turned amateur-architect Charles Munger, who donated $200 million toward the project with the condition that his blueprints be followed exactly.

    […]

    McFadden draws striking comparisons between Munger Hall and other large structures to illustrate its colossal footprint. Currently, he said, the largest single dormitory in the world is Bancroft Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, which houses 4,000 students and is composed of multiple wings wrapped around numerous courtyards with over 25 entrances.

    “Munger Hall, in comparison, is a single block housing 4,500 students with two entrances,” McFadden said, and would qualify as the eighth densest neighborhood on the planet, falling just short of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It would be able to house Princeton University’s entire undergraduate population, or all five Claremont Colleges. “The project is essentially the student life portion of a mid-sized university campus in a box,” he said.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    What could possibly go wrong??!1

    :-/

    (via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  34. 34.

    sab

    @Ken: Internet says that althoygh cheetahs are very large they are not Big Cats because they can purr but they cannot roar.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    True story.

    The time: 1970
    The train: NYC to Philly.
    The conductor: “Next stop is Philadelphia, 30th Street station. Next stop Philadelphia, The Brother of Lov-e-ly Sid.”
    .

  36. 36.

    bemused senior

    My system s group work space in the Stanford machine room was 30 feet from the Arpanet TIP in those early 70s years.

  41. 41.

    Ohio Mom

    @Another Scott:
    I saw that earlier. The only excuse I can think of is that Munger is going senile.

    The list of wealthy people who think they know everything about everything is very long.

  43. 43.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: Old rhyme:
    Passengers will please refrain
    From flushing toilets while the train
    Is in the station.
    We encourage constipation.
    When the train is in the station.​

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    I will also note that, from looking at the plan, it is a relatively simple modification to the basic scheme to get light wells into the building so there could be windows. It will certainly add a lot to the cost, as exterior wall is a lot more $$$. But fuck it, tell “amateur architect” Charles Munger to take a long walk.

    I will also note that there is really no such thing as an “amateur architect”. If you have a license, you’re an architect, even if you’re not working for pay. If you don’t have a license, even if you are working for pay, you’re a designer.

  47. 47.

    Spanky

    @Another Scott:

    “Munger Hall, in comparison, is a single block housing 4,500 students with two entrances,”

    Where the fuck is the fire marshall in all this

    Eta: ok. Never mind. Whatever.

     

    Will there be nets to keep residents from throwing themselves off the roof?

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @Ohio Mom:

    That list of people is actually about people that know one thing well and not so much about everything else. I’ll leave it up to your imagination what that one thing is….

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    @Spanky: If you look at the plan, there’s fire exits.

    What I want to know is what building code they’re following that doesn’t require windows in Occupancy type R. All the editions of the IBC do, and the CBC is based off the IBC.

    Honestly, “amateur architect” Charles Munger probably bribed the Building Official.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @frosty: That was when the trains didn’t have tanks, and just flushed straight to the tracks.  In the 1800s, they didn’t even flush; it was like a privy, with the landscape zipping past at 60 miles an hour three feet below your buttocks.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    And the spaces were small. How the ladies, wearing multiple petticoats plus maybe a bustle, managed to maneuver is beyond me.

  55. 55.

    Ohio Mom

    Warren Buffet’s most unusual accomplishment is getting people to believe he’s just a regular guy, and Charlie Munger got included in that scam.

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    @Suzanne: The university wants the $200M and is willing to ruin the lives of thousands to get it.

    The fact that they can only get it from some 97 year old guy who thinks he’s Howard Roark is yet another illustration that the rich are hoarding far too much money and have too much power.  It’s terrible for society.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    I was listening to a BBC History podcast about the history of windows. I think the guest mentioned that during the 50s, the architectural style used to produce massive housing flats yielded buildings that had aesthetically pleasing exteriors, but also children’s bedrooms without windows.

    Some buildings seem to be designed to impress people or to win awards, but not to be lived in.

  58. 58.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    The fact that they can only get it from some 97 year old guy who thinks he’s Howard Roark is yet another illustration that the rich are hoarding far too much money and have too much power.  It’s terrible for society.

    The university could just say no. This is not just about the power of the rich.

  59. 59.

    Suzanne

    @Another Scott: It’s an ugly building, too, apart from its ludicrous scale. Fugly EIFS and stupid strip-mall-esque developer-driven “ornament”.

    Cheap, cheap, cheap.

    ETA: It has eyebrows GOOD LORD.

  61. 61.

    JWR

    Why did everything go to Hell in 1969?

    Led frickin’ Zeppelin happened, baby!1!!  \m/…(>.<)…\m/  (wOOt!)

  62. 62.

    Spanky

    (CNN)A large solar flare erupted Thursday and is set to reach Earth Saturday, which could result in a strong geomagnetic storm and cause the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, to be visible across the US and Europe.

    “Across the US” means the northetn tier states, mostly. Boarderline in PA, IL, and whatnot. Still, if skies are clear before moonrise tomorrow night you should look northward.

  63. 63.

    Ken

    He is 97. Perhaps they’re anticipating that he won’t be around to contest changes in the designs.

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    I should note that I love Brutalist architecture, so perhaps I shouldn’t get into any discussion about aesthetics.

  68. 68.

    Suzanne

    @pluky: If you look at the plan drawing that is in the link, there’s a whole slew of fire stairs for emergency egress. Those aren’t entrances.

  70. 70.

    Ken

    @Suzanne: The fire department likes having lots of choices of how to enter a burning building, especially if they might have to rescue a couple thousand people.  If they can get in through those emergency exits, that would help.

    That just leaves the logistical nightmare of move-in day.  “Your assigned slot is entrance 2, elevator F from 2:15 to 2:20. Do not be late.”

  72. 72.

    Mike E

    I read in the previous thread where someone trying to get the covid booster at CVS had to run through their interference before eventually getting them to give the shot…my daughter noticed CVS seemed overly restrictive and discovered a smoother pathway with Kroger/Harris Teeter. I followed her lead and got my booster there today, easy peasy. I’m 58. FYI

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken: ​
     

    Cheetahs have cubs, not kittens? English — what a language!

    The cubs vs. kittens things is completely arbitrary. I think wildlife lovers push for the “kitten” designation because they think it’s good PR. For example, the young mountain lions here in Southern California are usually called kittens by the park service people studying them, even though before they started the study I’m sure they would have been called cubs.

  75. 75.

    Spanky

    Ya know, if the university (or some other benefactor) arranged a nice contribution to the local FD, maybe the fire marshall could be prevailed upon to nix the plan.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @Ken:

    The fire department likes having lots of choices of how to enter a burning building, especially if they might have to rescue a couple thousand people. 

    The minimum number of exits is determined by building occupancy type, occupant load (which is determined by a load factor established in Chapter 10), and a maximum travel distance length (which is also established by occupancy type). This building will also certainly be compartmentalized and the stair shafts will be pressurized at that height, and will contain standpipes. The typical floor plan is in the link. Emergency egress is not a problem with the design.

    The problem with the design is that it’s cheap and terrible, and it will have detrimental effects on the occupants.

  77. 77.

    Ohio Mom

    If that building gets built, they’d better put some money aside for the eventual implosion costs.

    But maybe all this bad publicity will keep it a mere blueprint. For the sake of future students, I hope so.

  78. 78.

    Suzanne

    This is ironic, because my boss just told me to change a floor plan today in such a way that would remove a corridor, and I had to demonstrate to her that if we take it out, we cannot conform to maximum travel distance for the occupancy type.

  79. 79.

    burnspbesq

    There is plenty of Brutalist architecture on UC campuses (especially Irvine and San Diego), but this thing will out-brutalize them all.

  83. 83.

    Spanky

    @sab: East Halls at Penn State is pretty utilitarian 60’s architecture, but spectacular mountain views, especially fall days and night thunderstorms.

    A room without a window during a stressful time like college is the kiss of death.

  87. 87.

    sxjames

    @Ohio Mom:  I was in sixth grade.  I remember sitting in the gym (PE class, rainy outside?) and the teacher was letting us listen to the world series on a transistor radio.  Al Weiss (a *very* lightweight hitter) hit a home run putting the Mets ahead in the final game.

    Funny what we remember from our childhood.  But it is a good memory.

  90. 90.

    Mike G

    @Ohio Mom:

    It gets worse. They’re going to build Dormzilla on the site of a maintenance yard a half mile from anything except gyms and sports facilities. It will have no dining facilities, the nearest dorm dining hall or local takeout is about a mile away.

    The whole project is a clusterfuck that will sink the reputation of the college. Students will avoid applying for fear of being assigned to this hellhole.

    UCSB administration has been derelict in keeping up with a decade-old agreement with the local region to build more student housing in a place with a housing shortage and hideously expensive prices, so now they are panicking and pushing this nightmare dystopia as a distraction.

  96. 96.

    Raven

    @Elizabelle: I wrote this about her earlier.

     

    Shit, we know Artie was horribly abused but she’s doing so well it’s still shocking to see how terrified certain things make her. It’s blowing so bad on the beach I took her to “The Truman Show” doc (where they shot the moon scene) just to throw a couple of spoons in the bay. She ran to the end of her leash and flipped on her back just shivering. I put her in the van with a ton of cookies and now we’re back at the condo and it seems that all is well. I gave her  a bone but she just wants to curl up next to me.

  100. 100.

    Raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: It’s strange being here with a new dog. We brought Bohdi here every year for his entire life and Lil Bit for over a dozen years.  Lot’s of memories and they are mostly good. We talk about how rough the last couple of trips here were for them and know that there was some good even in those struggles.

  101. 101.

    Another Scott

    @Gin & Tonic: It seems to be so.

    Metapedia

    Architectural efforts

    Munger is an amateur architect.[39] He has donated to universities on the precondition that the universities follow his architectural blueprints exactly.[39]

    On April 18, 2013, the University of Michigan announced the single largest gift in its history: a $110 million gift from Munger to fund a new “state of the art” residence designed to foster a community of scholars, where graduate students from multiple disciplines can live and exchange ideas.[40] The gift includes $10 million for graduate student fellowships.[41] Munger designed the residence, which houses 600 single bedrooms, most of which are designed to be windowless.[42]

    The Munger Graduate Residence, funded and designed by Munger himself, opened in late 2009 and now houses 600 law and graduate students.[43]

    I think one of the things that Biden’s been able to do in the last 10+ months is get much more money to the IRS for enforcement, etc. They need to get crackin’. Society should be deciding how to invest in universities, not a handful of too wealthy old cranky white guys who have been collecting excessive rents for decades.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  104. 104.

    J R in WV

    @Ken: ​
     

    In the 1800s, they didn’t even flush; it was like a privy, with the landscape zipping past at 60 miles an hour three feet below your buttocks.

    I was on trains with toilets like that way more recently than the 1800s… when I wasn’t even born yet. I’m 70 right now, and within my memory I could look into the toilet on trains and see the ties running past down there.

    Don’t recall which train line that was, may have been from Philly to Harrisburg? or Chicago commuter lines? Sometime between 1968 and 1971… I rode the Chicago commuter lines a lot while at Great Lakes Naval Station the summer of 1970. Was in PA from 1968 to late 1969.

  105. 105.

    The Pale Scot

    @Ken:

    Long after the 1800’s. The NJ Transit Raritan Valley line had cars from the forties, view of the tracks while peeing. I’m sure that was a common thing after the car culture arrived

  107. 107.

    JWR

    Remember the time last week when an anti-mask idiot got floored by one, well-aimed punch? It finally made broadcast TV news. (They enlarged it so we can see what looks like the guy’s glasses go flying.)

    WOODLAND HILLS (CBSLA) – A fight that occurred after a customer got angry over being asked to wear a mask in a Woodland Hills restaurant Sunday night was captured on video.

    No, I am not a violent person, but hey, dude had it coming.

  108. 108.

    Raven

    @J R in WV: When my old man was in school at Illinois after WW2 they would pack boxcars with people going to and from Chicago for the holidays. Apparently it was a wild ride!

  109. 109.

    WaterGirl

    @Raven: She’s a lucky girl.  I have been reading your comments here and there about how great she’s doing and then something surprises or scares her and then she freaks out.

    It’s probably more surprising that it doesn’t happen more often, but she’s doing so great that it’s a surprise anyway.

  110. 110.

    Raven

    @WaterGirl: the last time I was at the dock she and I were today Bohdi and I went and I helped him get in a swim around a bit. I cried like a baby because I knew his time was short and we’d had some great times there.

  111. 111.

    Elizabelle

    @karen marie:

    Cubs born October 12.  Just after their one-week birthday, I noticed some of the cubs were missing.  Wondered if it was the vets/keepers.

    Nope, it was mom.  Moving them one cub at a time.

    Here’s a story and photo from October 22nd.  “Cubs in the Grass.” For being so young, those cubs have some ‘tude.

    Update with pics.  Staff thinks they have 3 boy and 2 girl cubs. Sounds like they were living outside less than a week.  At this point, mom may prefer keeping them in the heated den.

    They are all sound asleep now.

  112. 112.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @Suzanne: i had to look up Brutalism.  It reminded me of Rochester Institute of Technology’s campus.  I looked it up and that is their architecture indeed.  Not a fan.  But at least I feel like I got a weird architecture test question correct.

  119. 119.

    Elizabelle

    @JWR:  That was satisfying.  The glasses flying.  And then, again, enlarged.

    No sympathy for that mook.  And the staff, calling “blue hoodie” their hero.

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    When you and I were in the navy, you couldn’t see the ties going by but everything went directly into the sea. Except the trash, that was dumped by someone carrying a trash can to the back and dumping it.  There was a round chute on the back of the DDG I was on that emptied out just over the water so the screw wash would break it all up and sink most of it. We had a guy swept over the side doing that one day. Fortunately for him he grabbed the top lifeline and someone came along while he could still hang on and dragged his butt (and the rest of him) back over the side.

  125. 125.

    satby

    @Elizabelle: Especially after the asshole shoved the older guy customer asking him to just leave. He fucked around and found out, and it seems to spark joy throughout the land.

    It does for me anyway.

  128. 128.

    Ruckus

    @Raven:

    SoCal doesn’t have a lot going on for Vets day and my buddy (Marine) wanted to do something. I’m going to suggest a tour of the Iowa battleship, we did it when it first opened and a lot was not open for tour, but I don’t know if more is now. I may call to find out because it really wouldn’t be worth the time and money if they haven’t opened up more. It’s $22.95 a head. We didn’t pay that much back in 2012.

  129. 129.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Suzanne: I am trying to not pee on this train, but I don’t think that’s gonna work out. Damn.

    Beware the Amtrak toilet monsters!

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    @Raven:

    I think I know but I’ve never actually heard a good explanation.

    Here’s what the internet says.

    The first toilet facilities on sail vessels being men o war or merchantment was at the bow, or “HEAD” of a ship. It was a hole in the deck, forward of the waterline, and was washed out by wave action or with buckets of salt water.

    Now having been in the navy that sounds a bit too clean an answer. OK a lot of bits too clean…..

    Also I have been on the USS Constitution, in Boston Harbor and may have heard a story but sure do not recall that one or the one I suspect might be the answer you had in mind.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia:   I know.  It’s great.  I watched it a few times a few days ago, but this one is even better, with the clearer video and the flying eyeglasses.

    @satby:  “Fuck around and find out” captures the zeitgeist now, no?

  139. 139.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @debbie:  Oooooo, yes, that’s the video we’re missing!

    This one is very satisfying. I like how blue hoodie does a surgical strike with his running force behind it.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    @Raven:

    You have pictures of everything!

    My dad was in the navy in WWII but would never speak of his time in the navy, not even after I enlisted. I have a picture of him in his uniform after he got out but that’s it as far as I know. This year is 2 decades he’s been gone now.

  143. 143.

    Scout211

    @Ruckus:

    The USS Iowa is very well done and the tours do cover most of the areas of the ship, not the whole ship but through most of the working and living areas of the ship. The deck has many different exhibits and cool things to learn and see. We toured about 3 years ago. My husband is involved in the restoration of a minesweeper (the USS Lucid) in Stockton California and he likes to tour other museum ships. (He was  on a minesweeper in Viet Nam) .

  144. 144.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie:   Here is a CBSLA report about the guy who punched a flight attendant — twice — on a flight out of JFK to Orange County this week.  You will hear the passengers boo him as he is removed from the plane in Denver.  Tall, skinny Asian guy.

    And footage of general mayhem on airliners — two women having a slapfest near the bulkhead, a hogtied passenger sliding down the aisle.  Jebus.

    I blame Trump.  I really do.  Except these mooks do not get away with the bad behavior, and maybe he won’t escape justice/Justice this time either.

  150. 150.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott:Society should be deciding how to invest in universities, not a handful of too wealthy old cranky white guys who have been collecting excessive rents for decades.

    THIS

    There’s a LOT of room to run on bringing back (extremely) progressive taxation.

    No more minimalist taxes on millionaires and billionaires, just so that they can spend it on their pet projects.

  151. 151.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: footage of general mayhem on airliners…I blame trump.  I really do.

    Leader/tribal signaling is a powerful thing.  trumpov was signaling all along that violence against ‘others’ is perfectly fine, and almost nobody took it seriously because he’s such a clown.  Er, kkklown.

  153. 153.

    Scout211

    @Raven:

    On the minesweeper (USS Firm) he said he was only on the blue water.  That was one tour.  On another tour in Viet Nam he was an advisor on a Vietnamese junk.  He was one of two US Navy officers living with 70 member of the Vietnamese Navy.  He said they could go on either the blue water or the brown water.

  155. 155.

    JWR

    @Elizabelle: What I don’t get about that video is that the guy is walking around without having a cop on each arm. I guess there were cops we don’t see, aside from the 3 walking way behind him. I guess it don’t matter. He’s looking at a federal offence.

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    Thank you.

    We saw a lot less than I expected and I’ve been on a few museum ships and even worked on a sub in San Diego while attending school. It was still a commissioned WWII boat in 1970 but the only crew was a chief. I gave tours. The compartment at the foot of the ladder was cleared out so 5 or 6 people could stand in there at one time not unreasonably. Always got the comment that it was roomier than they expected. Then I’d take them back into the normal sections. That got some respect out of them about the room on board. It also got real quiet.

  161. 161.

    dnfree

    @frosty: the verses of that ditty I knew included

    ”I’m so tired of masturbation, Won’t you be my sex relation…” and then the “passengers will please refrain” part.  There were probably more verses than either of us knew.

  162. 162.

    Scout211

    @Baud: It’s a yacht.

    It was a mess.  The former owners stripped so much out of that wooden ship that it was just sad. They have found an amazing amount of equipment and parts all over the country.  It’s really come a long way from the sad state it was in when it was first towed to Stockton

  164. 164.

    Raven

    @Scout211: Do you know about LST 325? https://www.lstmemorial.org/

    The USS LST Memorial, Inc., a group of retired military men, acquired Syros in 2000. They travelled to Greece, made the necessary repairs to the ship and sailed her back to the United States, arriving in Mobile Harbor on 10 January 2001

  166. 166.

    dnfree

    @J R in WV: I’m 75 and I remember seeing the train tracks whizzing by through the bottom of the toilet in the 1950s.  But it wasn’t while I was seated on the toilet.  The bottom had a little disc that retracted when you “flushed” and dumped the contents on the track.  So it was still true then that you couldn’t flush while the train was in the station.

  167. 167.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    My father-in-law was engineering office on a DE during WW II, it got torpedoed, blown in half, very PTSD for everyone. USS Menges! Was towed to Brooklyn Navy Yard, where another DE with the other end blown off was welded on, back into the war of the Atlantic. He and the ship was Coast Guard, but of course once the war was declared everyone was mobilized.

    He never talked about it, but I’m sure his alcohol problem was directly related to the PTSD from that mission. Lots of photos because it was such a huge story, to weld two destroyed ships together and send the new ship back into the war. He was a great guy when he was sober… gentle and kind…

    My uncle was a turret gunner in heavy bombers in the South Pacific, and self medicated with bourbon for the rest of his life. Lots of crew mates shot to rags at 28,000 feet…

  168. 168.

    Ksmiami

    @Gin & Tonic: yes… as I said before, the problem with philanthropy vs a well run government doing public works is the billionaires have massive egos and so much need goes unmet and the ego guys just want their names on the door.

  169. 169.

    Scout211

    @Raven:

    I asked my husband about it.  He was actually in Mobile last month for the annual Museum Ships convention with a few of his fellow board members and he said he didn’t see an LST there. He’ll be looking up that ship now. So thanks.

  172. 172.

    JWR

    @Ksmiami: Hey, you’re talking about a group of people celebrating the brutal takedown of an innocent anti-masker, so what makes you think they wouldn’t enjoy such architecture, too?

    ;)

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:

    Some of the airlines have published the numbers of people no longer allowed on their planes and the numbers are a lot bigger than I would have imagined. 2 jobs ago I traveled a lot for work, over 7 months a year, and most of it flying. I’ve seen a few people that I wouldn’t want to sit next to but never the level that flights have seen in the last year or so.

  175. 175.

    Mike G

    @dnfree:

    I rode a Queensland Railways train in 1976 where you could watch the track whizzing by down the hole as you were whizzing. They locked the bathrooms during station stops.

  176. 176.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mike G: I’ve traveled a fair amount on trains in Eastern Europe. You folks complaining about toilet facilities have no idea…

  177. 177.

    Elizabelle

    @Ruckus:  The airliner mayhem:  I am not aware this is happening in other countries, to this extent.  Is it?

    I want names.

    I want some reporter to follow what happens to John or Susie Mayhem, once their face is internet-famous and their boss/community saw it.

  180. 180.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    WWII deaths 405,399 over 5 yrs.

    Vietnam deaths 58,209 over 10 yrs.

    A bit of difference there but the numbers of heavily wounded survivors is also different as medicine had learned a lot in the interim.

    A neighbor, when I was in single digits, was a WWII vet and he only had one leg left. At the VA hospital I see missing limbs and artificial replacements a lot. And very few WWII survivors. I saw a couple while getting my booster shot.

  185. 185.

    Ruckus

    @Elizabelle:

    I have no idea. They wouldn’t want me to be their boss but then they wouldn’t have been working for me if they refused to mask up. I’d bet I’d have posted a large sign on the door

    “Mask Up

    Or You Are Fired

    No Fucking Exceptions.”

  186. 186.

    L85NJGT

    Amtrak stopped dumping toliets in the 1990s – the gray water (showers & sinks) is still discharged on the tracks.

  195. 195.

    SoupCatcher

    Late to the thread, but had a vague recollection on train toilets and had to check with my dad.  He worked on freight railroads from the mid sixties to the early oughts, and I remember the toilet on the diesel locomotives were still dumping straight to the tracks when he took us on them in the late seventies.  The toilet was up in the nose, and had a sign to not flush over crossings or in station stops.  Cabooses got holding tanks after he hired on, and the locomotives quite a few years later.

     

    Reason number thirty or so on why walking between the rails was a bad idea.

  196. 196.

    BC in Illinois

    @Cacti:

    Hey, let’s talk about the 1960s some more!

    –No one under the age of 50.

    This reminds me of a recent conversation between my daughter (in her 40s) and her daughter (9).  Daughter was talking with her husband about some rock group. G’daughter is in the room.

    D – -I wish I would have seen these guys.

    G’D – – What do you mean “would have”?

    D – – Well, they were a band I listened to as a teenager…

    G’D – – Oh! So they’re dead!

     

    ** (“Collective Soul” is, in fact, alive and still touring.)

    Collective Soul

  198. 198.

    Bonnie

    I thought the 60s were great!  I graduated in 1963 at 17.  However, that was the year Kennedy was assassinated.  But, women got wear pants and all that classic rock n roll.  And, in 1968 MLK and RFK were assassinated.  Our first incidents to learning how cruel Republicans could be.  Still, the 70s were even better for me.  In fact, I enjoyed all my life up to when Trump became president*.  I live in Tacoma, WA, and threaten to move to Canada if things go downhill.  But, I hope it won’t.

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