<<Midwest Coffee Talk: The Tens>>

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

When you have your cable TV go on the fritz you get mad.

When you get mad you yell at the neighborhood kids out your window.

When the kids give you the finger you slam your window shut.

When you slam your window shut you loosen the capstones on top of your building.

When the capstones loosen and the roof eventually leaks water into your 4th floor apartment you need major repairs.

When the repairs require the removal of your windows the neighborhood kids throw all the dumpster trash into your apartment.

Don't let your apartment get filled with trash, get Direct TV.

[vid]

Multiple Choice Thread Idea #1

"How long will this thread last before it gets locked?"

I just ate spicy pasta and have a runny nose. Good night.

[Buckeye Native 001]

A compilation of several different phone conversations with some friends from earlier this evening:

Friend #1: "Does the bookstore you work at sell duct tape? My car's side mirror is falling off."
Me: "No."
Friend #1: "Shit. You're no help."

5 minutes later:
Friend #1: "Hey, so Friend #2 was talking to some sketchy guy outside your bookstore. He apparently told her he had materials on him he could use to make an explosive. What should we do?"
Me: "Uh...call the police?"
Friend #2: "Oh shit, he's walking towards another store!"
Me: "Call the police. Now."

10 minutes later:
Friend #1: "Hey, so about eight cop cars showed up along with the SWAT team. We're being held by the police for questioning. They're not going to arrest us, are they?"
Me: "What!? No, they'll probably just want you to give a statement then let you go."
Friend #1: "You're sure they're not going to take us to jail?"
Me: "I'm not positive, but I don't see why they would. Its not like you filed a false report."
Friend #1: "But what if they think we did?"
Me: "..."
Friend #1: "Okay, we gotta go."

10 minutes later:
Friend #1: "Okay, so the police let us go after we gave our statements. What happens next?"
Me: "Huh?"
Friend #1: "To the guy with the explosive materials. What happens to him?"
Me: "He'll either get charged with a felony or misdemeanor depending on the seriousness of the situation."
Friend #1: "Does that mean you'll have to interview him at the jail in the morning?"
Me: "Probably."
Friend #1: "The court isn't going to call on us to provide a statement, are they?"
Me: "What!? No, why would they? The police got your statements, that should be enough."
Friend #1: "You're sure?"
Me: "Yeah, pretty sure."
Friend #1: "Will you let me know what the court decides to do with him tomorrow?"
Me: "I can't really do that."
Friend #1: "Okay, but you'll try to let me know, right?"
Me: "...Sure?"

I know what you're thinking, and you're right: Why am I friends with these people?

[Centropolis]

drinking way too late and listening to The National, that old Cincinnati band.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

So one of Flagstaff's mayoral candidates advocates piping in water from the Midwest to alleviate our water issues

There are people still on that kick? Really? They've got to realize that Republican or Democrat, talk of taking water out of these lakes is the best thing you can ever do to unite the Great Lakes states. You put Canada into the mix, and it's another level of defense. Hell, we get mad when people directly adjacent to the watershed, but still in the states that touch the lake, want the water.

From 2005, in case anyone forgot:

CHICAGO — The leaders of eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces signed a pact Tuesday blocking exports of water from the Great Lakes and calling for efforts to preserve the world's largest body of fresh water.

The pact reached by the governors and the premiers of Quebec and Ontario that border the five Great Lakes introduced strict standards for water usage, sinking tentative proposals to ship water to thirsty regions such as the U.S. Southwest or Middle East.

[Robert Pence]

The water problem won't be resolved with pipelines. What's needed is to reverse the flow of overdevelopment and overpopulation into arid parts of the country. Let them deal with the water problems locally, and by attrition the overdevelopment will wither and die back to what the arid places can support, and the excess population will leave for more hospitable environments.

[Rizzo]

Shoe-shine hustlers are back in full force on the street here in Chicago. Charging you $8 to throw some vasoline on your shoes.....oh and now even sneakers!!

Yeah I was a fool my first time in Chicago. Fell for it because I didn't say no fast enough. Happened to a fellow co-worker of mine when he didn't say no loud enough, and then was demanded to fork over $6.

In 3 years, I've known better. Just say "No, I'm in a hurry!" And they'll back off, but curse you at the same time.

They were very aggressive today though. I'm on the phone, and I start talking loud as I see the crew approach. You know the "I'm so busy and important, I have to talk loud on my phone" kind of act. Nope doesn't work. Guy walks right up to me and reaches down to try and start polishing. I say "No, NO! He then walks backward in front of me. I put my hand out in a "back off" kind of way. The guy then gets pissed. "YOU DON'T PUT YOUR HAND IN FRONT OF ME....You don't do that." I can smell the alcohol on his breath.

Then I see a police car approaching and I step out into the street to flag him and then point at the guy. He starts to do this hobbled run off. I didn't even look back. Don't know if the cop went after him. But they probably broke up the shoe shine gig. At least temporarily.

I look forward to the day when the "panhandle free" zone is extended all the way down Michigan Ave.

[uaarkson]

It's funny, I've never been to a city with worse homeless/panhandlers/general derangement on its downtown streets.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by uaarkson

It's funny, I've never been to a city with worse homeless/panhandlers/general derangement on its downtown streets.

Chicago seems not bad at all. Although, I don't spend a lot of time in downtown Chicago, usually somewhere along the Blue Line.

Western cities seem pretty bad with the panhandling stuff, though.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by LMich

There are people still on that kick? Really? They've got to realize that Republican or Democrat, talk of taking water out of these lakes is the best thing you can ever do to unite the Great Lakes states. You put Canada into the mix, and it's another level of defense. Hell, we get mad when people directly adjacent to the watershed, but still in the states that touch the lake, want the water.

From 2005, in case anyone forgot:

I agree. I live outside of the Great Lake watershed and I am less than 20 miles from Lake Michigan. Illinois has a very small watershed since we reversed the Chicago River to flow backwards to keep the lake clean for drinking and to flush our refuse to St. Louis.

Since we are outside of the GL watershed we rely on groundwater to supply our city.

Anyway a general question about Great Lake water.

Once the GL water leaves Lake Onterio and enters the StL seaway I am sure for many miles that water is still fresh or salt free. What would be the problem if a few water tankers took sea level water and sold it to the Mideast for example for a profit? Just wondering because once the water enters into the StL seaway it is pretty much ocean at that point. Also I have heard that fresh water extends for hundreds of miles past the delta of the Amazon, same case there fresh, but lots of sediments that could be settled out I am sure.

On another note, anyone interested in creating a new Post Panamax locks after Panama creates its extened lock version for the Great Lakes? I understand that it could increase the number of invasive species, and be very expensive, but imagine having large cargo containing import/export ships landing in the middle of the North American Continent.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_Seaway

Date completed
1959

Maximum boat length
740 ft 0 in (225.6 m)

Maximum boat beam
78 ft 0 in (23.8 m)

End point
Atlantic Ocean

Locks
14

Length
2,500 miles (4,000 km)



Panama Canal expansion project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_...ansion_project



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamax

New Panamax

The plans to build bigger locks have led to the creation of "New Panamax", based on new lock dimensions of 1,400 ft (427 m), beam 180 ft (55 m) and depth 60 ft (18.3 m). Naval architects and civil engineers are already taking into account these dimensions for container ships. After this expansion, the Panama Canal will be able to handle vessels of cargo capacity up to 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU); currently, it can only handle vessels up to about 5,000 TEU. ...

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by uaarkson

It's funny, I've never been to a city with worse homeless/panhandlers/general derangement on its downtown streets.

San Francisco and Los Angeles are both pretty bad. San Francisco's bums in particular are vicious sons of bitches.

[mobyhead]

Once in the early 90's I was approached by some dude on Michigan Ave in Chicago. He had a bottle of that white shoe polish with the sponge applicator. Wanted to paint my white shoes whiter. I was like, wtf? I had just gotten out of the military and never heard of "White" shoe polish.

[rockyi]

No shoe shiners around here, just guys making up lies about why they need you to give them your money......("My wife is having a baby across town and I need to get there.", "My paycheck was just stolen and I need to take a cab to the police station to file a report.", I lost my wallet and need to pay the deductible on my insulin.".....blah, blah, blah....)

[vid]

The homeless people here are pretty docile and honest. I've had a few guys ask me to buy them Listerine or booze. One woman once said "I know I am not very attractive but will you please pay to have sex with me?" I told her "Shit, I just realized that I'm gay... sorry!"

Because I can do that.

[Cleveland Brown]

A homeless woman, loudly talking among herself, called me a "fat boy" and said I had a big ass while I was walking into work this morning

I found it hilarious

[rockyi]

The woman on the left either lost the elastic in her hosery or she just has really dirty ankles...Some sexy Rock Island folk.

...imagine the smells in that dance hall.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by rockyi

No shoe shiners around here, just guys making up lies about why they need you to give them your money......("My wife is having a baby across town and I need to get there.", "My paycheck was just stolen and I need to take a cab to the police station to file a report.", I lost my wallet and need to pay the deductible on my insulin.".....blah, blah, blah....)

The best is when they say

Panhandler:"Excuse me, excuse me, can I talked to you for a minute."

Me: "How much you want?"

Panhandler: "Listen to me sir, this is not about money. I don't want anything"

- 1 minute later -

Panhandler: "So if you could spare 40 cents"

WTF? What a complete waste of my time. You're not getting anything. Had you just shut up I'd given you a buck or two just to go away.


I swear, the panhandlers exert all their effort in the worst way. Walking around and begging for money has got to be alot of effort. Why not just open door or something. The homeless guys that hold open doors at Macy's or Water Tower seem to be flush with cash.

It's hilarious when people beg for bus or EL money. If I'm near a stop or station I just say "Oh I'll wave you through" with the Plus card. They frown and walk away. Yeah....I knew you weren't looking for a free ride.

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by Hayward

The best is when they say

Panhandler:"Excuse me, excuse me, can I talked to you for a minute."

Me: "How much you want?"

Oh God, when I hear that "Excuse me sir, can I talk to you a minute" line I just start walking really fast.

[Ayreonaut]

The homeless people in Calgary - and there are a lot of them - are pretty chill. The other day I was asked for a quarter. I didn't have one and told the guy so, and he just said "ok" and wandered off. I've had a homeless guy sit down next to me on a bench and start asking about my camera; we actually talked about it for a couple minutes, then when I got up to leave all he said was "have a good one".

[vid]

That's because the homeless people in Calgary are well paid oil workers who still can't afford a house there.

BTW, I went flying yesterday and will be posting photos soon.