COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Saturday Night Open Thread - The Good Washington


Washington, sometimes called "the other Washington" or the "good Washington" is the northwesternmost state in the contiguous United States.

It is named for its first permanent settlement, which was founded where trappers and traders used to gather every few weeks to scrub their dirty apparel.

The official language of Washington State is Chinook, widely spoken by lumberjacks, fur trappers, fishermen, and drunken grunge music fans. Typical words in Chinook include muckleshoot (which means to give the casino all your money) and skookumchuck (which means to blow salmon chunks).

Washington is divided into western and eastern halves by the rugged Cascade Mountains. People on the dry side of the mountains vote funny. You probably shouldn't call them out on this, though, because the dry side of the mountains used to be in the nuke-making business.

Cultural milestones

Rain.
Bad musical styles inspired by too much rain in the early 1990s.
Bad fashion influences due to the aforesaid musicians dressing for rain.
Starbucks coffee helps keep people warm in the rain.
Plutonium-based nuclear weapons will end the rain...forever.
Mel's Hole - a bottomless pit that brings dead pets back to life.
The Twilight fantasy novel series (and movies based on the novels) were set in the small town of Forks, Washington.
Sleepless in Seattle and Grey's Anatomy present Seattle with far less cloudy days than in reality.

Geology

The Cascade range has a row of active volcanoes, Mt. Adams, Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Glacier Peak. St. Helens erupted in 1980 and blew its top, clogging air filters and blotting out the sun from Seattle to Yakima and creating a thriving cottage industry of trinket sellers making tourist souveniers made of "real Mt. St. Helens ash". Any of the other volcanoes could erupt at any time. You have been warned.

Famous Washingtonesians

Jimi Hendrix (he went to Britain for some sun, and to get famous)
Kurt Cobain, who wound up emulating Mt. St. Helens.
Bill "Rich guy" Gates
Bob "get your pets spayed or neutered" Barker
Ted Bundy
Glenn Beck
Orson "Ender's Game" Scott Card
Bing "White Christmas" Crosby, who was kicked out of Gonzaga University in Spokane for drunkenly tossing furniture out of the dorm window.
James "Scotty" Doohan
Kenny "This Elevator Rocks!" G
Frank "Dune" Herbert
Gary "Far Side" Larson
Kenny "Footloose" Loggins
Eddie "Evenflow" Vedder
Adam "Batman" West
Sherman "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" Alexie
Bigfoot
Ramtha and his "channeler" J.Z. Knight

56 comments:

  1. Yeah, it's beautiful.

    We're going to miss it (when any one of a potential 100 disasters hits.)

    I'll tell my friends, "I used to blog with a gal that lived there; I wonder what happened to her?"

    :)

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  2. Wsshington is famous for being graced by my honorable and august presence at the University of Washington and a day in my honor was voted down by them fuckers in Olympia by one vote, hence I am little remembered and even less appreciated.

    That's the Space Needle back there in the back of the photo, built for the World's Fair, back when. Nice view from up there, I can say that.

    b

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  3. Seattle is the Queen City in King County.

    First out in the open drug dealing I ever saw was in Seattle, on the edge of the campus, where the city cops couldn't go. First exposure to the out and out gay community too, and the radical left.

    I was glad to get back to the sanity of Idaho.

    My mom, and two of my aunts graduated from the U of W. Back in those days Mercer Island was uninhabited, a deer park, gotten to only by boat, and they had the real authentic old trolly system.

    There have been drunken Eskimos down by the docks forever, I imagine they are still there.

    There is a Swedish district in Seattle.


    b

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  4. It rains way way too much.

    b

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  5. Washingtonesians
    ??



    And, Bigfoot was from Montana.


    b

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  6. Jimi Hendrix was part Cherokee.

    b

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  7. Rufus: I'll tell my friends, "I used to blog with a gal that lived there; I wonder what happened to her?"

    Ten more years I move to the Philippines. I'll have a driver and my own nurse.

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  8. Anonymous Bob: My mom, and two of my aunts graduated from the U of W. Back in those days Mercer Island was uninhabited, a deer park, gotten to only by boat, and they had the real authentic old trolly system.

    Right across from Mercer Island is Bailey Peninsula, formerly an island (until the Lake was dropped a few feet). Untouched old-growth forest there, preserved as Seward Park. Old growth. Inside the city limits.

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  9. Anonymous Bob: I was glad to get back to the sanity of Idaho.

    I hear they take a pretty wide stance on homosexuality there in Idaho too.

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  10. Yeah, but he overcame that part, and became a pretty fair geetar picker.


    Seattle reminds me of This Song by Jimmy Buffet

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  11. Mel's Hole - a bottomless pit that brings dead pets back to life.

    Excellent!! that you mentioned that, Miss T.

    Beginning near Ellensburg, it is indeed bottomless, but also has an exit down in Nevada, which is a little know fact about this natural wonder.


    "Mel" seems to have vanished. APB's have been put out for him on the Coast - to - Coast program, with George Noory, and by Art Bell, so far to no avail.

    He may still be falling.....

    If he had taken the Nevada exit, he would have been there by now.....


    b

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  12. Much wider than in most other places these days, Miss T.

    At least among the politicians.

    b

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  13. I wonder how the conversation will go:

    The Wave was "How High?!?"

    All Four Volcanoes "AT ONCE?!?"

    The fault swallowed "THE WHOLE DAMNED CITY?!?!?"

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  14. Jimi Hendrix was part Cherokee.

    This of course makes him related to Rufus....from where he got his enthusiasm for music.....

    b

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  15. Or, my favorite: "One little Philipino gal in a Ford Focus did ALL THAT DAMAGE?!?"

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  16. Anonymous said...

    Wsshington is famous for being graced by my honorable and august presence at the University of Washington and a day in my honor was voted down by them fuckers in Olympia by one vote, hence I am little remembered and even less appreciated.


    Join Amnesiacs Anonymous at um, er

    Gamblers Anonymous. 2-1 odds you don't make it.

    "Invent a wise saying and live forever !" - Anonymous.

    "Being a patriot no longer requires a cannon--but it still takes balls." Anonymous

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  17. That's it - volcano, tsunami, earthquake.....the natural triple....

    Certain death, sooner or later.


    b

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  18. That fault is going to be something when it slips, but I should be okay in my 180 foot elevation hut, even if I am just a thousand yards from saltwater.

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  19. If you look out your window, and discover that you're now at "zero elevation" I suggest you run like hell (real fast.) :)

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  20. Ah, you'll be alright.

    Might be 5,000 years before anything happens, and then it might not be that big.

    b

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  21. The "swimming" might get a little dicey.

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  22. I suggest you keep a Navy chopper handy, and evacuate to Stevens Pass.


    b

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  23. Dicey and icy, Puget Sound is cold.

    b

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  24. The choices will probably be:

    Swim in that direction, or

    Run in "that" direction,

    and, as I said, the "swimming" might be a bit problematic.

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  25. The Lahar is more likely to get me, Rufus. That's when Mt Rainier erupts, and those twenty-five glaciers all melt at once and send a six-hundred foot wall of mud and trees and hot water down here. There's a town halfway between here and Mt Rainier called Enumclaw, which in Chinook means "Place of Evil Spirits"...racial memory you know.

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  26. Well, it does make for a beautiful picture at night. Hell, everone's gotta go, Sometime. :)

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  27. Wow, that's beautiful, alright. But it would make one hell of a "hot bath."

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  28. Well, anyone that sets up shop in a place called "Place of Evil Spirits" might just get what they deserve.

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  29. Anonymous said...

    Dicey and icy, Puget Sound is cold.


    Up here the beach babes put more clothes ON to go swimming.

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  30. Rufus II said...

    Wow, that's beautiful, alright. But it would make one hell of a "hot bath."

    If you dislike Tacoma, here's a video of it being destroyed, tomorrow, or the next day.

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  31. You better watch it, T. That computer-thingie has a little program somewhere that says, "history."

    That new Focus could be on the way to Las Vegas before the night is out. :)

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  32. Rufus II said...

    You better watch it, T. That computer-thingie has a little program somewhere that says, "history."


    If I understand what you are saying, Rufus, not to worry, I use Linux, it's devoid of malware. All my active processes are known to me.

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  33. I was just joking about girlfriend seeing what you've been looking at. :)

    Jealousy has caused the disappearance of many a new Focus, you know.

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  34. Rufus: Jealousy has caused the disappearance of many a new Focus, you know.

    What would anyone want with a lopsided lesbian with a nine inch scar?

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  35. Chinook means "Place of Evil Spirits"

    It does?

    Are you sure??

    I thought it meant 'big warm wind'.

    When the snow melts in a big warm wind we always call it a Chinook....

    b

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  36. from Wiki -

    Chinook winds (play /ʃɪˈnʊk/), often called chinooks, commonly refers to foehn winds[1] in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest.[2]

    Chinook is claimed by popular mythology to mean "eater" but it is really the name of the people in the region where the usage was first derived. The reference to a wind or weather system, simply "a Chinook", originally meant a warming wind from the ocean into the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest (the Chinook people lived near the ocean, along the lower Columbia River). A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have been observed to raise winter temperature, often from below −20 °C (−4 °F) to as high as 10–20 °C (50–68 °F) for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels. The greatest recorded temperature change in 24 hours was caused by Chinook winds on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana; the temperature rose from -48–9 °C (-54–48 °F).[3]


    b

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  37. Anonymous said...

    Chinook means "Place of Evil Spirits"

    It does?


    No, Bob, Enumclaw does. In...Chinook.

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  38. WP:

    The name Enumclaw is derived from a Salish Native American term that translates as "place of evil spirits", apparently referring to Enumclaw Mountain, located about 6 miles (9.7 km) to the north, and referring either to some evil incident that occurred there or to the frequent powerful windstorms that affect the region. The City of Enumclaw says the name means "thundering noise".

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  39. Then there is ChinookWindsCasino
    but that's in good Oregon.

    b

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  40. Ah, well, Enumclaw even sounds a little evil....

    Thanks for the clarification, I need to read more closely.

    b

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  41. The city is located in the midst of flat, level farmlands and dairy farms in the east Puget Sound lowlands. The flat geography in the middle of mountainous territory is due to the ancient Osceola Mudflow from nearby Mount Rainier.

    Presumably the Osceola Mudflow made a loud, evil noise, like spirits.

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  42. Salish and Sahaptin, the two big native language groups out this way.

    b

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  43. Must be something about the rain, and the warm Chinook winds. I just got sleepy. G'nite.

    And, stay dry.

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  44. g'nite here too

    thanks for the thread Miss T


    b

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  45. Candy Dulfur (female sax, top gun), "Lily Was Here"

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  46. The best Jewish attitude I have heard towards Jesus is that of Martin Buber, who referred to him as "my good older brother."

    b



    The best Jewish attitude I can explain about Jesus to christians is?

    If Jesus was the L-rd and Savior that you claim him to be, and IF the Jews killed him (which they did not, the Romans did along with 100,000 other Jews) then Christians OWE whomever killed him a big thanks.

    Without the Christ's killing AND Resurrection a billion believing Christians would never have salvation.

    To me? It's typical that others require a Jew to bleed in order for them to feel OK....

    Just as Ash referred to in the last post. No matter than 6-7 MILLIOn Jews were murdered, No matter that the Arabs had raped, murdered and oppressed the Jews since 640 ce and driven them from their homes in the now Arab OCCUPIED lands in 1948, No matter that the Arabs supported Hitler and genocide against the Jews. No matter that the State of Israel is 20% arab and they enjoy full citizenship rights.

    None of that matters....

    jews who spray nasty words on buildings, have check points against the arabs that live in the disputed territories and might actually burn down a "mosque" (an empty building at best" Jews should learn to behave and not be so offensive..

    The Price Tag attacks aimed at arab owned walls and buildings are in response to the brutal continual murder of Jewish women, Jewish babies and civilians.

    No matter that the entire arab world (with tiny exceptions) have made their lands Judenfree. No matter that the they have attacked Israel 7 times officially and dozens of times not.

    No the world is now learning to live with an un-bowing Jew. Sucks doesnt it?

    We aint polite...

    We will not bow to Sharia, Nor the threat of genocide.

    This bar is nothing more than a reflection of the double standard the world has towards Israel.


    If Arabs MURDER Jewish Babies? Expect that there will be Jews that will spray paint walls and might even be bully like... Get used to it.

    Israel still have a long way to go to catch up the the USA when it comes to brutality.

    You can include Russia, France and any other measure of any nation you can think of...

    No nation would put of with the shit the world dishes out except Israel.

    So in the end?

    If the UN pushes thru resolutions that will cause the genocide of the Jews? israel and the Jews will not comply and too fucking bad...

    Iran is the world's problem, as is the moslem brotherhood and hezbollah.

    America and the world are a bunch of pussies and refuse to look at the real elephant in the room. It aint the Jews BUILDING in Jerusalem or expanding a "settlement" it's the fact that Israel IS.

    So go back to your wheaties you hypocrites, go back to your nice homes sitting on another's land and keep pointing out how Israel is the reason for the world's problems.

    We will have none of it.

    We as a people and a nation have learned....

    We will not go quietly into the night, even if it upsets your standard of living.

    So continue to be the pussies you have become.... I hope each and everyone of you enjoy the humiliation of Islam in future generations that you richly deserve. No place on the globe will be secure from sharia. But you dont see it that way....

    So enjoy the sounds of the calls to prayer... Better learn to say Allah Akbar...

    lol

    fucking fools...

    But to recap, dont expect Israel to be cuckholded for your benefit

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  47. IF the Jews killed him (which they did not, the Romans did along with 100,000 other Jews).

    I agree with that. The idea of, as one of the gospels has it, the Jews saying 'let his blood be on us and our children', or whatever those words were, is absurd.

    That's why I thought that young Jewish man's words in the video were so juvenile and wrong.

    As far as Buber I think he just meant he felt Jesus rightly understood was a like minded friend.


    b

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  48. If you take a really fucked up and faux super righteous view of things we are all occupiers, including you, Allan and Mat.....I think it's an idiotic outlook.

    The Indians were always 'taking people's lands'.....the Sioux got pushed out of the lower Mississippi towards the upper Mississippi then out into the plains, for instance.

    All this pushing around and taking came slowed down considerably when the law finally got a grip.

    b

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