I Had A Random Thought...

[Ucantalas]

...are you hungry? Maybe you're hungry. I bet you're hungry.

[brkl]

Yeah, I've read Flashback and it's such a shame. It's littered with political stuff that you could scalpel away to make the book better. They're not well written or argued, nor do they add anything to the story.

[Dewar]

I don't understand why people will break the law and endanger themselves to jaywalk, but then walk so slow that I catch up with them by the time we get to the next intersection.

[I Saw Dasein]

On October 4, 1986, as Dan Rather was walking along Park Avenue in Manhattan to his apartment, he was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to know, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?", while a second assailant also chased and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question over and over again. In describing the incident, Rather said, "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea."

The incident and Rather's account led some to doubt the veracity of Rather's story, although the doorman and building supervisor who rescued Rather fully confirmed his version of events. The story entered popular lore and remained unsolved for some time. The incident inspired a song called "Kenneth, What's the Frequency?" by the band Game Theory in 1987. In October 1990, the phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" appeared in an issue of the Daniel Clowes comic Eightball as part of the serialized graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, and was revealed in a later episode to be a key part of the Mister Jones conspiracy theory.Also in 1990, Scott McCloud used the phrase in the first 24-hour comic. In 1994 the band R.E.M. released the song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" on the album Monster. The phrase became the subject of many jokes over the years and slang for a confused or clueless person. Rather was a good sport about it, and actually sang with R.E.M. during a soundcheck prior to a gig at Madison Square Garden, New York, which was shown the following night on the Late Show with David Letterman before their performance of Crush with Eyeliner.

In 1997, a TV critic writing in the New York Daily News solved the mystery, and published a photo of the alleged assailant, William Tager. Rather confirmed the story: "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person." New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said "William Tager's identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my office".

Tager was sentenced to a 25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery outside The Today Show studio in 1994. He was paroled in October 2010 and is believed to be living in New York City.

In the December 2001 issue of Harper's Magazine, writer Paul Limbert Allman speculated that postmodern fiction writer Donald Barthelme (who died in 1989) had somehow orchestrated, or was otherwise connected to, the attack through other unnamed persons, citing unusual passages in Barthelme's writing, including the phrase "What is the frequency?", a recurring character named Kenneth, and a short story about a pompous editor named Lather. Limbert also uncovered the facts that Barthelme and Rather were likely to have known each other professionally early in their careers. 

 

The world is a weird weird place.

[Zeusthecat]

Have you heard Card lately?

 

I always find it interesting when my Republican friends dismiss how crazy these right wing nutjobs are under the premise that there are equally crazy left wing nutjobs. I honestly can't think of any supposed "left wing nutjobs" that even come close to this level of insanity.

[Gormongous]

A former classmate from grad school (I call her Mean Christine) does SCA. She just commented on a photo from a Facebook friend named "Baronne Melisande Outremer." I have no words.

 

No wait, actually I do. I'm not prone to nerd rage these days, but this totally got my goat. It's like having an American persona named "President Mickey Mouse New York." Argh.

[Dewar]

I guess it doesn't mean much to me because I don't recognize those names, but it's just generally pretty silly regardless.

[clyde]

I always find it interesting when my Republican friends dismiss how crazy these right wing nutjobs are under the premise that there are equally crazy left wing nutjobs. I honestly can't think of any supposed "left wing nutjobs" that even come close to this level of insanity.

I may qualify as a "left-wing nutjob" that your friends cite.

[Gormongous]

I guess it doesn't mean much to me because I don't recognize those names, but it's just generally pretty silly regardless.

 

Well, she's Baronne (French for the English word "Baroness," with no equivalent in French peerage) Melisande (queen of Jerusalem from 1131-1153, one of the top three most famous woman of the Middle Ages) Outremer (French for the Holy Land, meaning "beyond the sea).

 

It's the medieval history equivalent of Lord Cap'n Xander Kittysnoggins or my "American" example above. And her real-life Facebook page has that name!

[tegan]

This morning I just started thinking about how Spongebob Squarepants did an episode about why it's not okay to tell racist jokes and somehow managed to do so without being preachy.

[I Saw Dasein]

Elmore Leonard died, which totally bums me out. He wasn't even shot by a femme fatale just trying to go straight in this crazy world! There's no justice.

[Zeusthecat]

There was recently a big federal raid on a series of family owned car washes here in Phoenix (Danny's Family Car Wash). We happened to be driving by one near our house when all of the federal vehicles were there and got our hopes up that they were busting a big underground meth operation. It turns out it was an immigration sting and they had re-hired a number of undocumented individuals after a previous raid.

 

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Dannys-Family-Car-Wash-accused-of-immigration-fraud-220287811.html 

 

What a wasted opportunity.

[Justin Leego]

I was looking up video game websites with the word "Zilla" in the title and found gamezilla.ca/locations/ which appears to be some sort of Canadian internet café enterprise that specializes in children's parties and Iron Man suits. The whole thing is kitted out in the colors of Animal Crossing New Leaf's balloon furniture suite... kind of like if computers had been invented before Ronald McDonald?

[tegan]

Dude, I live a few minutes away from a Gamezilla and it's totally rad. I also have never really noticed how brightly coloured everything is before, but I guess that's because I usually just go there to browse the actual comic/game store part of the place and generally don't look at the other rooms.

 

 

Oh! Relevant story: I did once notice that they sell knockoff Nintendo merchandise using artwork taken from a popular hentai artist. I snapped a picture.

 

[Zeusthecat]

I assume what I believe is false. But I believe what I know is true. I also know what I believe might be true. But I also assume what I know might be false.

 

I think I have all my bases covered.

[syntheticgerbil]

When I go to the grocery store I get really annoyed when I can't bag my groceries myself. I don't really care about much except putting like things together by weight and like to stuff as much in a bag as I can unless it's bread and eggs. I am always relieved when I go grocery shopping at an odd time and there are no baggers available so that I can do it myself. When there is a bagger, I always seem to get some teenager talking to someone else, not paying attention and going really slow. Every time I secretly want to tell them to buzz off but I can't bring myself to be that rude. I also feel bad for the cashier because almost every time this occurs, I can see they are readily annoyed because their line is being held up by a slow bagger. However I have encountered lazy shoppers who refuse to bag their own groceries and buy a ton of shit and the cashier is forced to bag all of that crap for them because the baggers are not on shift, so I guess that's the flip side.

 

Anyway, I don't think most countries even have baggers at their groceries stores. My only reasoning for this is because when I visited Paris for a week and purchased groceries, this is how it was. I was confused at first to see no baggers but ultimately was thrilled on how fast this made checkout. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS MAN.

[dibs]

We only have baggers who sometimes collect for charity. I don't like other people bagging my stuff so I usually shoo them away. 'Shoo' I say.

[Justin Leego]

Tegs, then is it true that 75% of NB conurbations end in an "on" sound, or does GameZilla have some sort of strange, Kid's Net Café bias?

 

With that and the dubiously sourced Peach cushion knock-off I am imagining that GameZilla is a suitable candidate for inclusion in Welcome to Nightvale.

[clyde]

When I go to the grocery store I get really annoyed when I can't bag my groceries myself.

If you bring your own bags, and you hold on to them, the bagger will have to ask you if you want help and you can non-chalantly say "No thanks, I can get it."

If they start bagging your groceries with store bags, just say "Oh, don't worry anout bagging, I have my own bags."

[Justin Leego]

Then open your bag to reveal a rather large ham encased in resin.

[Thrik]

When I go to the grocery store I get really annoyed when I can't bag my groceries myself. I don't really care about much except putting like things together by weight and like to stuff as much in a bag as I can unless it's bread and eggs. I am always relieved when I go grocery shopping at an odd time and there are no baggers available so that I can do it myself. When there is a bagger, I always seem to get some teenager talking to someone else, not paying attention and going really slow. Every time I secretly want to tell them to buzz off but I can't bring myself to be that rude. I also feel bad for the cashier because almost every time this occurs, I can see they are readily annoyed because their line is being held up by a slow bagger. However I have encountered lazy shoppers who refuse to bag their own groceries and buy a ton of shit and the cashier is forced to bag all of that crap for them because the baggers are not on shift, so I guess that's the flip side.

 

Anyway, I don't think most countries even have baggers at their groceries stores. My only reasoning for this is because when I visited Paris for a week and purchased groceries, this is how it was. I was confused at first to see no baggers but ultimately was thrilled on how fast this made checkout. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS MAN.

 

You still have baggers? I don't think I've seen one here for about 10 years. The only exception is when it's a mini-supermarket and there aren't any proper bagging zones, so the person at the till bags as they do it and then hands you each bag as it fills — which they do pretty acceptably for my tastes. Seems like a waste of money for shops to have dedicated baggers knocking around though.

[dibs]

What happened to Peter moledeux? I'm sad he is not cool like he used to be.

[SecretAsianMan]

At the supermarket I go to, they aren't dedicated baggers per say.  Rather, bagging is just another position that's filled.  There usually aren't as many people bagging as there are registers, so the baggers I see will usually bounce between several registers at a time while the customer checks out.  Also, several of the lanes are self-check out with no baggers at all.  I also prefer to bag myself so that I can separate foods, ie raw meat in one bag, boxed/canned goods in another, etc.  Sometimes I don't even use the bags at all.  I keep an old laundry basket in the trunk of my car specifically to carry things like groceries.  Less waste, and it makes for fewer trips to empty out the car.

[clyde]

I sometimes getting a small adrenaline rush by doing something visibly odd in public, such as stacking 10 or so grocery-items (no liquids) upon each other and then risking all. People look at me as if I am blatantly breaking some social contract as I make my way through the parking-lot to my car like some sort of spinning-plate acrobat.

[toblix]

I don't think any of the thoughts in this thread were random. In fact, I think all of them and everything else are just parts of the huge deterministic process that is the universe. When I'm opening a door to go through it, and someone with the same intention appears on the other side, I'm always startled, even though I try to brace myself. It's like my brain is expecting the coast to be clear on the other side of this door, and when a face appears it is briefly paralyzed as it has to adjust to the new circumstance. After we have navigated through the door and I'm on my way, I always look back to reflect, and worry that my face looked unreasonably startled by their appearance, as though I found them hideous. By the way, this also happens when I go by or around corners.