Type your thoughts (Part 1)

Non-Phish General
#9381

Just got done picking up a casket from the airport.

Reason I am bringing this up…

It is for an active duty soldier from WWII.

They just found a few fragments of him on a beach about twenty miles from the Battle of the Bulge.

So essentially we got a casket with a very little bit of ashes, and a full uniform.

Pretty wild.

Even wilder, we will be doing this again in a month for someone else where three teeth is all that was found.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/09/army_pfc_james_konyud_to_retur.html

#9382

^ What is your relation will, if you don’t mind me asking?

Or is this your job now or something?
That’s pretty cool though,…it’s got to be nice for the family to have some closure.

#9383

Work at the funeral home, essentially we are independent contractors for the Army/gov’t.

#9384

^ So you’re working for THE MAN?

:silent: :confused:

#9385

^I’d prefer my tax dollars going to Will’s family over bombing brown people.

Not that we won’t continue to bomb brown people. But hopefully my dollars were the ones that went to Will’s family. :slight_smile:

#9386

“To me war is a lot of prick waving. OK? Simple thing that’s all it is. War is a whole lot of men standing out on the field waving their pricks at one another. Men are insecure about the size of their dicks and so they have to kill one another over the idea. That’s what all that asshole jack bullshit is all about. That is what all that adolescent macho-male posturing and strutting in bars and locker rooms is all about. It is called dick fear. Men are terrified that their pricks are inadequate and so they have to compete with one another to feel better about themselves and since war is the ultimate competition basically men are killing each other in order to improve their self-esteem. You do not have to be a historian or political scientist to see the bigger dick foreign policy theory at work. It sounds like this: What? They have bigger dicks?! Bomb them! And off course the bombs and the rockets and the bullets are all shaped like dicks. It is a subconscious need to project the penis into other peoples’ affairs. It is called FUCKING WITH PEOPLE! So, as far as I am concerned that whole thing in Persian Gulf is nothing more than biiiig prick-waving dick fight.”

~George Carlin

#9387

^Haha, you caught my Carlin reference, I see. :smiley:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzrQSba-1k4[/youtube]

#9388

Yeah I was gonna type some of that from memory until I found a decent transcription. :smiley:

#9389

So, I have become semi-obsessed with this place called Barrow, Alaska. It is the northernmost city in North America, on the very very far northern tip of Alaska, jutting out into the Arctic Ocean. It is 320 miles NORTH of the Arctic Circle! Only 1300 miles south of the North Pole! Right now in Barrow, it is 28 degrees and snowing. That is pretty normal for this time of year. The warmest it ever gets is into the high 40’s. Here’s something really cool, a webcam for Barrow that overlooks part of the town and the Arctic Ocean:

seaice.alaska.edu/gi/observatories/barrow_webcam

Things are far from normal in Barrow. For instance, in the winter, it often gets down to negative 55 degrees, temperatures so cold that nothing works as it should. Cars are rendered useless after only a couple of hours sitting out in that weather if they aren’t plugged into electrical hookups that almost every building has to keep the batteries charged. Try to park somewhere where you won’t have to turn for the first half mile or so, because your tires will be squared off for that period of time! People keep space heaters in their cars all day and night so that they don’t snap off the door handles and shift levers and other things when they get in. We are talking about FREAKY cold.

A large percentage of the population is Inuit (Eskimo) natives who have been there for over 1000 years. They are very in tune with their surroundings, as they know how to do things like walk across the frozen Arctic Ocean (frozen for 9 months out of the year) to go hunting and other tasks without falling through, no matter how thin it is. Get this, their terrain has permafrost about 1300 feet deep! Anyway, I don’t want to go on forever about this, but I am consumed with this pretty bad. I just cannot get enough Barrow. I hope to visit there myself one day. Probably in late March/early April, that way it’s still freakishly cold, but it won’t kill me in less than 30 minutes. :smiley:

#9390

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a guy more geographically obsessed. Aren’t you the one who loves New England so much too and is currently probably jealous of the foliage?

#9391

:smiley: Yeah, that’s me. Weird isn’t it? It’s just what I’m really into for some reason. I would kill to have a job one day where I get to travel all over the place. But actually, I’m not jealous of your foliage, because western NC has the best Fall foliage in the whole Southeast. It’s really spectacular up here in mid to late October. But yeah, New England is my happy place. Especially northern New England, and especially NH. I figured I would tell you guys about Barrow, because I think my housemates might kill me if I don’t quit talking about it.

#9392

I get it. There are some mighty beautiful places in this country.

That ultra-freezing place looks just nuts. But I’d go. :thumbup:

I want to drive the Jeep from here to Alaska some time, if I ever get the opportunity. You should come.

#9393

Here’s a little autism test if you’re feeling bored and a little curious.

Turns out I’m not autistic…phew.

::continues memorizing colors of cars as they drive by::

wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html

#9394

^^ Oh man, I would be sooo down for that. Not only would I get to go to Alaska, but we would be off-roading half the time! That would be fucking awesome.

#9395

Sweet Devin, me neither. Nor do I have Asperger’s.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to hitchhike to Barrow, Alaska.

#9396

I wonder what opportunities I’ve missed because I can’t hear for shit. (all the good stuff is whispered ya know.)

#9397

Did you see or read 30 Days of Night? It takes place there.

#9398

^ No shit? I have never even heard of it. I need to check that out. I guess it’s referring to the fact that it stays completely dark for about a month and a half to two months out of the year. :crazy: Oh, and Neil, you better be hitchhiking at the airport; you can’t get to Barrow by car. Boat or plane only.

#9399

hitchhikes to airport

#9400

What can I say about Bob Ross that hasn’t already been said a million times over? It’s hard not to become enthralled when he is talking and painting.