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No knowing who's nuts

CRANKY
OLD FART

#231

leftovers
& links

 
Thursday,
Nov. 17, 2022

I was riding the bus back from shopping, and a bum got on, with his big dog, a muscular thing that came up to about my groin. All three of us were standing — me, the bum, and his dog, but after a few blocks some seats opened up, and the bum and his dog took two of them. I was still standing.

The bum talked to his dog, but not friendly talk, stern talk. "You better not make me lose my backpack again, or else," and he stressed 'again'. it possible for a dog to make someone lose his backpack, even once?

I was standing right over the man, close enough to smell his stink, and he had plenty. Essence of unwashed clothes with piss on them, and old arm pits.

Fido was very well-behaved, just sitting in a seat, looking out the window, and being scolded by a stinking man. It's all part of riding the bus, but it smelled worse than usual.

Someone got off two rows ahead of me, so I settled into that seat and left the bum's aroma behind, but after a few blocks the odor reached up to me. I was ready to ring the bell and wait ten minutes for the next bus, but the bum rang the bell instead, and he and his dog stepped off.

There was great rejoicing on the bus, but we were idling at a red light, so I watched as the bum approached a door, pulled keys out of his pocket, unlocked a gate, and walked with his dog into what looked like an upscale apartment building. Maybe a condo.

So — he's not only not homeless, he lives in a swanky complex with balconies for every tenant, and a swimming pool. 

Times are getting so crazy there's no knowing who's nuts any more. Always, any city-dweller could tell at a glance who's a bum and who's not, but now even the middle class might stink, talk to themselves, and have a dog they treat shitty.

And now, the news you need,
whether you know it or not

Los Angeles residents who can't afford bail sue to change system 

BangBros offers $10-million for Miami Heat arena naming rights 

Erik Cantu, the San Antonio teen shot by a cop at McDonald's, is awake, playing with LEGOs, family says 

How I became the subject of an equity investigation at the University of Michigan 

Crows found to be smarter than we think 

Will Biden fix Trump's border wall disaster? 

Facebook fact-checkers will stop checking Trump after presidential bid announcement 

Honey bees are only living half as long as they did in the 1970s 

And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, 

Hamilton County sheriff’s sergeant fired for kicking handcuffed inmate in head back on job 

And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops...

Raphael Warnock sues Georgia over early voting restrictions for runoff 

And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops...

Links I liked

Digital books wear out faster than physical books 

The inside story of why the Milwaukee Bucks can't wear cream uniforms anymore 

J Edgar Hoover owned this hotel 

Pasta factory for sale 

The true story of Irresponsible Party Music 

A rather long but interesting rumination on the way and the why things smell 

How does it feel to have your life's work become the basis on an AI app? 

Comic books for sale fifty years ago 

Eating cats, snakes, lizards, and puppies, and eels 

Mystery links
"Like life itself, there's no
knowing where you're going"

click 

click 

click

♫♬  Mix tape of my mind  ♫

• "Theme from Adam-12" by Frank Comstock

• "Irresponsible Party Music" by offroad77

• "One Toke Over the Line" from The Lawrence Welk Show

The End

Lee Bontecou 

Kathleen Booth 

Samuel L Katz 

Douglas McGrath 

Avtar Singh Jouhl 

 

11/17/2022  

Cranky Old Fart is annoyed and complains and very occasionally offers a kindness, along with anything off the internet that's made me smile or snarl. All opinions fresh from my ass. Top illustration by Jeff Meyer. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.  
 
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks. 
 
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S, Wynn Bruce, and always Stephanie...

8 comments:

  1. Hi, good evening, I emailed you an edited version of Farmer's Market Follies, it you still want to run it as a guest post, thanks Paul M

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's half-prepped, and I'm looking for an inappropriate illustration...

      Delete
  2. Basketball is a business, nearly as big as the porn business and much dirtier. Any enterprise that has the bad taste to call their team the Miami Heat should go all-in and immediately start doing business with the Bang Brothers. They could even share corporate tags: FEEL THE HEAT.

    Hell, they could cross-employ: Two cheerleaders and a Strong Forward (that's his porn name, Strong Forward) for a point guard who keeps finding air and a center who always aims for the center and frequently misses.

    The synergies are staggering.

    jtb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strong forward, eh? I always loitered too long in the key.

      The offer is a joke and an attention-getting ploy for BangBros, which is a scummy place even for porn.

      But the arena where the Heat plays is owned by a government agency, Miami-Dade County. So the county is selling something, naming rights in this case — do they have the legal right to turn down the highest bid?

      Delete
    2. My little point, which I might have danced away from without actually making, is that the NBA is as scummy as all but the most fleabag of porn shops. Even then, it's a close call. We associate class with money; that just doesn't work anymore.

      But when you have money, you have lots of friends, they're crowding around the door, but when you're on the road and the spending ends, they don't come 'round any more.

      And I'm not entirely sure that the governance of Miami-Dade county doesn't complete a trio of scum.

      So the offer might be a joke but, like a lot of jokes, there's a basketball-sized lump of serious reality clanging the rim and falling away at the buzzer.

      John

      Delete
    3. So noted and agreed.

      I almost always get your points, but when I agree I free-associate outta my ass and mutter to myself in the corner.

      Delete
  3. Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books

    Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books

    Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books

    Sometimes profound stuff takes a couple tries to sink in. This is non-intuitive, remarkable, and slightly encouraging. I've been a book guy since I toddled, reading, collecting, discussing. I grew up in a modest house with a medium sized library and hash for dinner, which is pretty good food with ketchup. It was mostly my Uncle's left-behind library, but many of the books were terrific.

    The book business has gone digital, but books haven't. The battle rages.

    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are approaching some heavy drama for humans. Big bad weatcher is going to wreak catastrophic havok everywhere — we're talking floods, hurricanes, heat records, blizzards, plague of locusts, etc.

      There will be 'little' power outages often and everywhere, and there will be huge outages that might take months or years to repair, and eventually, the power will be out more than it's on.

      The internet ain't worth much without a steady power source. If there's any rebuilding, it'll be by the people with books.

      Delete

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