Topics

16

Apple Zone / Portland Memorial Mausoleum

« on: May 28, 2013, 12:55:39 am »

So, one of my favorite places in Portland is the Portland Memorial Mausoleum. This place is a fucking trip. It's eight haphazard and slightly decrepit stories of crypts built into a cliff overlooking a swamp, started in 1901 and just added onto willy-nilly to the present day. It's full of ramps and staircases and elevators that don't go to all the floors, as well as an awful lot of chapels and statuary and a very very large glass bowl fountain. The roof has been leaking for decades, the floor is uneven, every level has a different oddly distinct smell, and the bottom floor is only accessible via one terrifying elevator whose doors somehow manage to open with a loud bang.

Here it is from the front:



From the back:



There is no rhyme or reason to the floor plan. It's like they just started building one day, and kept going at random. There are new cabinets for urns built into random corners alongside crypts that are a century old. It is insanely huge and rambling and there are nested mezzanines and there is a part built in the tens and a part built in the 1970's or 80's and parts from all the decades in between.






Just Google Image search it:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Portland+Memorial+Mausoleum&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=8f2jUYmtC-L5igKeg4DABA&biw=1160&bih=748&sei=YgCkUf3RNYHViwLdzICgAQ

I took a bunch of pictures today, I'll post them later.

17

Apple Zone / So my uncle informs me

« on: May 24, 2013, 03:26:55 am »

That this happened.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/bridge-collapse-skagit-river-washington-sends-cars-people/story?id=19246280

Two hours after he drove over it.

Of course, it's not like we could have seen it coming. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Accountability/bridges

Oh, wait, I guess we did.

The terrifying thing is that there are over a thousand bridges in the region which are similarly critical, and also over a thousand dams... many of which have towns in the flood zone. But the US is budgeting over half its resources for "defense", and critical infrastructure repairs are being shoved aside.

18

Apple Zone / Just when I thought the 1% couldn't get more despicable:

« on: May 14, 2013, 11:46:12 pm »

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/disney_world_srich_kid_outrage_zTBA0xrvZRkIVc1zItXGDP

Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World — by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned. The “black-market Disney guides” run $130 an hour, or $1,040 for an eight-hour day.

“My daughter waited one minute to get on ‘It’s a Small World’ — the other kids had to wait 2 1/2 hours,” crowed one mom, who hired a disabled guide through Dream Tours Florida.

I mean, the paper is tabloid schlock, but the story seems legit.

19

High Weirdness / More Florida WTF

« on: May 11, 2013, 03:14:19 pm »

http://jalopnik.com/bus-driver-charged-with-staging-fight-between-two-stude-501627929

Sanders picked up kids from three Bartow schools – Gause Academy, Summerlin Academy, and Bartow High School – as part of her normal duties, but when she heard two young females, a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old, verbally arguing on the bus, she made the statement, “This is going to be handled today and they just need to fight.”

Sanders picked up kids from three Bartow schools – Gause Academy, Summerlin Academy, and Bartow High School – as part of her normal duties, but when she heard two young females, a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old, verbally arguing on the bus, she made the statement, “This is going to be handled today and they just need to fight.”

She ordered all of the children to get off of the bus, and told the two females – a 13-year-old Hispanic female and a 16-year-old black female – that she would give them Vaseline or baby oil to put on their faces so their faces wouldn’t get scratched during the fight.

The 13-year-old told Sanders that she did not want to fight.

 Sanders went inside her house to try to find Vaseline or baby oil and couldn’t find any. The girls then physically fought in Sanders’ front yard, as witnessed by Sanders and all of the other children who had gotten off of the bus. At least one child videotaped the fight on a cell phone. Sanders did not try to stop the fight, but stood by and watched. The girls fought until they decided to quit. Sanders then ordered all of the kids back onto the bus.

Once the bus was back in motion, the same two girls began physically fighting again. Sanders pulled the bus over and watched them fight until they were done. She did not try to stop the fight. When they were done, she told all of the kids on the bus, “What happens on the bus, stays on the bus,” and then proceeded to take them all to their bus stops.

20

Apple Zone / This game is awesome!

« on: May 02, 2013, 04:21:22 am »

http://candies.aniwey.net/

21

Apple Zone / I'm kind of in love with this guy

« on: April 28, 2013, 08:36:02 pm »

He's fucking amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVFasyCvEOg

22

Apple Zone / On the subject of marriage

« on: April 27, 2013, 09:50:21 pm »

It might be cheesy, but I think this guy has it right: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationships/3-things-i-wish-i-knew-we-got-married

None of my marriages succeeded. I am shitty at choosing a mate, and ill-equipped to deal with the demands of marriage. But from the marriages I've seen succeed, I think this guy is spot-on. People talk about the "50/50" of a marriage, but that's not really how it works. The people I have seen succeed don't think of their marriage as divvied up into "my share" and "your share"; they each give 100% of what they have to give, and the marriage, in return, gives back.

23

Techmology and Scientism / So this is exciting

« on: April 27, 2013, 05:37:52 pm »

http://www.nih.gov/science/brain/

The NIH Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is part of a new Presidential focus aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/02/brain-initiative-challenges-researchers-unlock-mysteries-human-mind

The BRAIN Initiative is launching with approximately $100 million in funding for research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget.

Foundations and private research institutions are also investing in the neuroscience that will advance the BRAIN Initiative.  The Allen Institute for Brain Science, for example, will spend at least $60 million annually to support projects related to this initiative.  The Kavli Foundation plans to support BRAIN Initiative-related activities with approximately $4 million dollars per year over the next ten years.  The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies will also dedicate research funding for projects that support the BRAIN Initiative.

It means that the chances that the program I want to get into will still have funding by the time I apply are pretty high.

24

Apple Zone / BRILLIANT FOOD CART IDEAS ITT

« on: April 19, 2013, 09:43:23 pm »

Nacho cheese sauce food cart: all of the dishes are drenched in nacho cheese sauce.
Donut food cart where you can order donut sandwiches, including a donut BLT.

NOW YOU.

25

Apple Zone / ROGER IS IN CHARGE OF MY LOVE LIFE ITT

« on: April 19, 2013, 09:11:07 pm »

Roger, this is my latest OK Cupid exchange with an eligible hottie. What should I say?

Me:

Your profile is so compellingly existential! We should gaze into the abyss together. To say yes, stand in a hallway. Pick up a shoe, and then drop it. Cry.

Him:

Ok.i did it.yea that felt good

Me:

I'm all about facilitating catharsis.

Him:

Sounds great.is it nap time yet?

Me:

Potato.

Him:

I say potato

It's pronounced different

Me:

How about the other nightshades?

Him:

Sure.whatever works

NOW WHAT?

26

Apple Zone / No wonder our society is sociopathic...

« on: April 19, 2013, 07:03:13 pm »

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/dont-think-of-ugly-people-how-parenting-advice-has-changed/275108/

From 1916's The Mother and her Child by Drs. Lena and William Sadler: "Handle the baby as little as possible. Turn it occasionally from side to side, feed it, change it, keep it warm, and let it alone; crying is absolutely essential to the development of good strong lungs. A baby should cry vigorously several times each day."

As the child grew, regulated contact could be tolerated. "At the age of two weeks, the child may be systematically carried about in the arms 2 to 3 times a day, as a means of furnishing additional change in position," is the precise advice of Dr. JP Crozer Griffith in 1900.

Even bowel movements were regimented. "Children under one year of age should have two movements of the bowels in the twenty-four hours, and those from one to three years at least one stool a day," wrote Napheys. Should the baby not conform to these healthy perimeters, the same books prescribed any number of enemas, draughts, and oils to make things more shipshape.

As for "crying it out," the advice of the early manuals was unanimous. A spoiled baby will be miserable its entire life, prone to hysterics and weakness, unable to cope with the life's hard turns. And the first and worst way to spoil a baby is to hold it when it cries. Per the Sadlers:

    We run into many snags when we undertake to discipline the nervous baby. The first is that it will sometimes cry so hard that it will get black in the face and may even have a convulsion; occasionally a small blood vessel may be ruptured on some part of the body, usually the face. When you see the little one approaching this point, turn it over and administer a sound spanking and it will instantly catch its breath.

27

Techmology and Scientism / How your cat is making you crazy

« on: April 19, 2013, 04:21:01 pm »

This article is such an awesome example of the beautiful intersection of neuroscience and epidemiology: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/308873/2/

28

Apple Zone / OH HOLY SHIT COOKIES

« on: April 16, 2013, 01:49:21 am »

OH MY FUCKING FUCKING GOD COOKIES

WHICH ONES ARE THE APRICOT BASTARDS I NEED TO CRAM THEM IN MY BODY

The tiny pie is mine. Nobody better touch that or they get shanked.

29

Aneristic Illusions / So far, bad things ALEC has been heavily involved in:

« on: April 07, 2013, 04:56:00 pm »

Anti-immigration laws
"Tough on crime" mandatory minimum sentencing/three strikes laws
Zero tolerance in schools - the school-to-prison pipeline
Pushing for school privatization
Laws permitting schools to contract with security companies for enforcement of zero-tolerance laws
Laws prohibiting taking images of abuse inside slaughterhouses
"Food defamation" laws

What else ya got?

30

Apple Zone / HOW NOT TO BE A FAT FUCK v.2.0

« on: March 31, 2013, 03:52:57 pm »

It has come to my attention that, despite what I believed to be reasonable, if moderate, efforts to be active enough and eat right, I am still 20lbs overweight.

SO, I am starting this thread to remind my fat ass of the following:

1. No fucking beer, dumbass. For one thing,  you're allergic to it. For another, it's like 300 calories a pint and will contribute mightily to the volume of your thighs.

2. No wine, either, unless you're at a dinner party. It's whiskey and soda or nothing, and only three times a week, no more than three drinks.

3. No bread, pasta, white rice, or pizza. You can have rarebit and eggs for breakfast ONLY ON CONDITION you run three miles or walk four.

4. You can have up to 8oz of red meat a week. Choose wisely.

5. You're taking one real hike a week, from 6-12 miles of uneven terrain.

6. No desserts larger than a petit-four.

7. Track those motherfucking calories, and get used to snacking on motherfucking vegetables, bucko.