That 63 storey hotel in Dubai must surely have fallen down by now. After all, it was engulfed in flames for hours!
After all, we all know those big buildings just collapse when they've been ablaze...
Why are the mainstream media blocking the news of the Address Hotel falling into its footprint after a four hour fire?
Oh... maybe because it's not fallen down?
Really?
Then what about....
Thursday, December 31, 2015
All dressed up and too many places to go
So some folks I know from the way-back machine are gonna celebrate their daughter's big day down in Aruba!
Yup, Johnny K's daughter be gettin' hitched down in Aruba!
If you're a regular customer here at the Falling Downs blog, it won't take long to figure out who I'm talking about. Since this blog has virtually no regular readers, I figure we're good to go!
Now no wedding I've ever had an invite to ever involved an invite to some miscellaneous Caribbean state.
That should be your first red flag right there.
Nevertheless, that's got a coolness factor among a certain percentile of the beautiful people.
"Ya, I got married in Aruba..."
So Johnny K's dear daughter had the big day in front of her, and had 150 folks coming down from Canada to partake of the festivities, and...
Can't say I know anything about the particulars, but it seems like she made an executive decision at the last moment... as in; "I'm not fucking doing this!"
So she left 150 wannabe revellers sitting in Aruba pulling their wires.
Hope my old pal Johnny gives his dear daughter a big hug and tells her it's gonna be OK.
Yup, Johnny K's daughter be gettin' hitched down in Aruba!
If you're a regular customer here at the Falling Downs blog, it won't take long to figure out who I'm talking about. Since this blog has virtually no regular readers, I figure we're good to go!
Now no wedding I've ever had an invite to ever involved an invite to some miscellaneous Caribbean state.
That should be your first red flag right there.
Nevertheless, that's got a coolness factor among a certain percentile of the beautiful people.
"Ya, I got married in Aruba..."
So Johnny K's dear daughter had the big day in front of her, and had 150 folks coming down from Canada to partake of the festivities, and...
Can't say I know anything about the particulars, but it seems like she made an executive decision at the last moment... as in; "I'm not fucking doing this!"
So she left 150 wannabe revellers sitting in Aruba pulling their wires.
Hope my old pal Johnny gives his dear daughter a big hug and tells her it's gonna be OK.
New study validates Doctor Kipling's theory about heart disease link to erectile dysfuntion
A few years ago I attended, for a few months, a private clinic specializing in heart health.
It was my old pal Kipling who convinced me I was wasting my money. I was so impressed with his impeccable logic I never went back.
To the clinic, that is. Instead, I went back to red wine, reefer, and bacon. Not to mention real cheese, not that 4% BF shit the clinic recommended. Touch wood, I been holding up pretty good so far.
The gist of Doctor Kipling's theory is thus; if you don't suffer from ED, it means all those wee blood vessels in your dick are working OK, ergo, it's reasonable to assume that all those little blood vessels in your other organs are probably hunky-dory too!
Now, as much as I love Doctor Kipling, he's not actually a "real" doctor, so I treat his pronouncements with a dose of skepticism. I mean, this is a guy who takes a smoke break in the middle of his ten mile morning jog.
But now his theory appears to have been vindicated. Some legitimate medical researchers in Poland have pretty much told the world exactly what Doctor Kipling told me over three years ago!
It was my old pal Kipling who convinced me I was wasting my money. I was so impressed with his impeccable logic I never went back.
To the clinic, that is. Instead, I went back to red wine, reefer, and bacon. Not to mention real cheese, not that 4% BF shit the clinic recommended. Touch wood, I been holding up pretty good so far.
The gist of Doctor Kipling's theory is thus; if you don't suffer from ED, it means all those wee blood vessels in your dick are working OK, ergo, it's reasonable to assume that all those little blood vessels in your other organs are probably hunky-dory too!
Now, as much as I love Doctor Kipling, he's not actually a "real" doctor, so I treat his pronouncements with a dose of skepticism. I mean, this is a guy who takes a smoke break in the middle of his ten mile morning jog.
But now his theory appears to have been vindicated. Some legitimate medical researchers in Poland have pretty much told the world exactly what Doctor Kipling told me over three years ago!
Dubai skyscraper burns for hours, collapse imminent!
That's what happens when tall steel-glass-concrete buildings burn, isn't it?
Oddly enough, aside from those mysterious collapses in NYC a few years ago, it tends to never happen... but I'm sure this time will be different!
Any second now...
Oddly enough, aside from those mysterious collapses in NYC a few years ago, it tends to never happen... but I'm sure this time will be different!
Any second now...
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Why pro sports in the USA are doomed
I'm watching the Cavs-Denver game, and although Tristan and the boys are up by 11 at the half, I feel nothing but dread for the future of professional sport in America.
Here's why; pro sports requires a viable base of middle class fans.
That middle class is fast going gone. That's why you're watching NASCAR races with acres of empty bleachers. The fans are gone because the middle class is gone.
The Pepsi Center in Denver has a capacity of 19,000 plus. Denver has a population of roughly three quarters of a million. That's what's known as a "small market" in MBA terminology. A Nuggets game with the family, including a dinner out and a snack after, is at least a $500 touch for a family of four.
Who the fuck can afford that? The one percenters!
Are there enough one percenters in Denver to keep this balloon afloat?
And look at Cleveland, foreclosure capital of the USA. The Quicken Loans Arena (and what a droll choice of sponsor here in the foreclosure capital of America!) has a capacity of 20,500. Just like anywhere else, making a Cavs game a night out for the family is going to be a $500 ding in the wallet. Cleveland has a population base of less than 400,000.
When you've got a pop base of 400,000, you've got a working adult base of maybe 20% of that, so the one percenters, the folks who can afford season tickets, are what, around 800?
And not all of those are keen to pay big bucks to watch a black kid throw a basketball, so what's the real fan base?
Pro sports are gonna go down the toilet, and soon.
Here's why; pro sports requires a viable base of middle class fans.
That middle class is fast going gone. That's why you're watching NASCAR races with acres of empty bleachers. The fans are gone because the middle class is gone.
The Pepsi Center in Denver has a capacity of 19,000 plus. Denver has a population of roughly three quarters of a million. That's what's known as a "small market" in MBA terminology. A Nuggets game with the family, including a dinner out and a snack after, is at least a $500 touch for a family of four.
Who the fuck can afford that? The one percenters!
Are there enough one percenters in Denver to keep this balloon afloat?
And look at Cleveland, foreclosure capital of the USA. The Quicken Loans Arena (and what a droll choice of sponsor here in the foreclosure capital of America!) has a capacity of 20,500. Just like anywhere else, making a Cavs game a night out for the family is going to be a $500 ding in the wallet. Cleveland has a population base of less than 400,000.
When you've got a pop base of 400,000, you've got a working adult base of maybe 20% of that, so the one percenters, the folks who can afford season tickets, are what, around 800?
And not all of those are keen to pay big bucks to watch a black kid throw a basketball, so what's the real fan base?
Pro sports are gonna go down the toilet, and soon.
Junior's musical journey
My son Jake decided at age 12 he was gonna be a rock star. I found him a big old electric bass and an amp in the classifieds and figured he was off to the races.
Not so. False alarm. That musical career waned faster than it blew in. He'd come up to my place for weekends, maybe spend twenty minutes fooling with that instrument, but leave it there when he went home. That's what originally led me to pick it up, which is another story (see Gay Baptists on Heroin World Tour 2002).
Six months later something had changed. He was into it. Not only was he playing that bass, he soon branched off into drums, guitar, and saxophone. By the time he was 15 he was all about two things; smoking weed and making music... three actually; he was determined to read everything that Eric Arthur Blair ever wrote in his life.
All of which probably explains the absence of any credits on his high-school transcript.
But he did have his moments during his high school career.
Here he is with my Charvel. He's always had a nasty habit of "borrowing" my shit and forgetting to bring it back. Like my first edition Nevermind the Bullocks pressing...
As his talents developed he had a very Waitesian thing going on, which I quite enjoyed. He was also messing around with putting found video to music he created. I think his Nicotine Run is fucking brilliant!
Alas, and I don't know where I went wrong as a parent, but somehow he fell in with the wrong crowd and started making something called "electronic music." There's a couple of thousand different sub-genres of this so-called electronic music, and Jake could explain every one of them to you. Not only that, but he's probably made several examples of every genre that are out there on the Eternal Web of Shame that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
But he seems to be coming out of this dark period. All he wanted for Christmas this year was a Glenn Gould disc... WTF?
But I got him one, and a couple of days later I get Jake's latest music.
HALLELUJAH!!!
The "electronic music" phase is over!
Not so. False alarm. That musical career waned faster than it blew in. He'd come up to my place for weekends, maybe spend twenty minutes fooling with that instrument, but leave it there when he went home. That's what originally led me to pick it up, which is another story (see Gay Baptists on Heroin World Tour 2002).
Six months later something had changed. He was into it. Not only was he playing that bass, he soon branched off into drums, guitar, and saxophone. By the time he was 15 he was all about two things; smoking weed and making music... three actually; he was determined to read everything that Eric Arthur Blair ever wrote in his life.
All of which probably explains the absence of any credits on his high-school transcript.
But he did have his moments during his high school career.
Here he is with my Charvel. He's always had a nasty habit of "borrowing" my shit and forgetting to bring it back. Like my first edition Nevermind the Bullocks pressing...
As his talents developed he had a very Waitesian thing going on, which I quite enjoyed. He was also messing around with putting found video to music he created. I think his Nicotine Run is fucking brilliant!
Alas, and I don't know where I went wrong as a parent, but somehow he fell in with the wrong crowd and started making something called "electronic music." There's a couple of thousand different sub-genres of this so-called electronic music, and Jake could explain every one of them to you. Not only that, but he's probably made several examples of every genre that are out there on the Eternal Web of Shame that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
But he seems to be coming out of this dark period. All he wanted for Christmas this year was a Glenn Gould disc... WTF?
But I got him one, and a couple of days later I get Jake's latest music.
HALLELUJAH!!!
The "electronic music" phase is over!
RIP Lemmy
See where Lemmy finally bought the farm.
An original and a giant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBIa0o36pPo
An original and a giant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBIa0o36pPo
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