“Hi Mailman, you got my check today?”
Scouting out locations last Saturday to meet Tipping near the TD BankNorth Center (Boston Garden), I ran into these two knuckleheads. At first I thought the sign was original, but every other bum stemming for change in Boston now has his own “catchphrase” cardboard.
******
PRETENTIOUS JUNKIES DOWN UNDER: AN INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN DRUG LIT
By Ramon Glazov
That’s what I’ve always found curious about this book. Why has it taken so long for someone to write an undramatic memoir about the life of a completely ordinary addict, not a celebrity, not a criminal, just an average Melbournian? It’s not the subject matter. Everyone likes to read about whoring and drugs. I’m also not sure any reviewers really noticed Holden’s biggest accomplishment: just writing down what happened. Really, just writing it down. No trying to be tough, or worse, “literary.”

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June 6, 2011 at 4:19 pm
GB
Went hiking the Tongue Mountain Loop Trail in the Southern Adirondacks/Lake George region yesterday. Saw an eagle, a loon, red efts…but there is nothing more beautiful and well-adapted to its environment than a sleek, matte black, coiled up, timber rattler.
June 6, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Dr. Doom
My father would have thought of some rationale to shoot the beautiful rattler, like how it kills rabbits, so that’s competitive with his own desires to shoot and eat the rabbits, plus the rattler is dangerous if you happen upon him/her, etc.
I called him a hypocrite once, and he didn’t talk to me again for several days. I think he wanted to kill me, but fortunately for me, that is illegal, my mother would not have forgiven him, and he really did love me.
June 6, 2011 at 7:47 pm
uncle remus
A couple of potential “czars” right there.
And WTF is up with the ads?
June 7, 2011 at 5:23 am
GB
I would give almost anything to have an honest snake as a neighbor. A black snake, a milk snake, or a rat snake would do.
Were you a precocious child, Doom?
June 7, 2011 at 6:11 am
dave
nieghbors are overrated. i’ve yet to have one that was worth a shit.
except for snakes, they’re ok.
June 7, 2011 at 6:51 am
GB
Yeah, my garden could really use a snake to help with the rodents. A little help with the weeding would be good, too. Lindsay Lohan never did show up to help me. I’m very disappointed in her. She keeps blowing her chances, one after another.
June 7, 2011 at 8:32 am
uncle remus
“She keeps blowing her chances, one after another.”
[insert rimshot here] http://instantrimshot.com/
June 7, 2011 at 8:35 am
uncle remus
http://youtu.be/FkdwV2juaKA
June 7, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Dr. Doom
Tell those bums to get a real job, like these two girls: http://www.jokeroo.com/bin/player.swf?5f9f_f369
June 7, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Dr. Doom
“Were you a precocious child, Doom?”
GB, let’s put it this way, you are corresponding with one of the very few people that can claim to have had a baby rattlesnake (diamond back) as a pet.
I kept it in a large glass jar in my room. Fed it insects. Freaked out about anybody who knew of or saw it. Finally, after being nagged by my mother to “get rid of it”, we took it outside of town and let it go in the vineyards. She was cool about most animals, but not snakes in the house.
June 7, 2011 at 3:43 pm
GB
Dr. Doom’s mother ought to be nominated for sainthood.
June 7, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Dr. Doom
From The Onion:
Planet Earth Doesn’t Know How To Make It Any Clearer It Wants Everyone To Leave
EARTH—According to a statement released to the press Tuesday, the planet Earth has “just about run out of ways” to let its roughly 6.9 billion human inhabitants know it wants them all to leave.
Following a recent series of disastrous floods along the Mississippi River and destructive tornadoes across much of the United States—as well as a year of even deadlier natural catastrophes all over the world—the Earth said its options for strongly implying that it no longer wants human beings living on it have basically been exhausted.
“At this point, I think I’ve stated my wishes quite loudly and clearly,” the Earth’s statement to all of humanity read in part. “I haven’t exactly been subtle about it, you realize. I have literally tried to drown you, crush you, starve you, dehydrate you, pump you full of diseases, and suck your homes and families into swirling vortices of death. Honestly, what more is it going to take for you people to get the message?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” the statement continued. “Get the fuck out of here. I want you to leave now.”
http://www.theonion.com/articles/planet-earth-doesnt-know-how-to-make-it-any-cleare,20639/
June 7, 2011 at 10:17 pm
tipping point
LOL. I’m sure we saw those guys in our wanderings.
I had a great time in Boston. The weather was beautiful and we walked everywhere. I did see a big guy near Fanuiel Hall with a similar sign, but not those specific guys. I was actually surprised at the number of panhandlers considering Boston’s relatively small size compare to NYC.
Oh, and I didn’t even get to go out to that Eye-talian joint. I had originally thought we would go out to eat on Saturday but when we got caught up in other stuff, my husband suggested we push it off to Sunday. That was fine with me but again, surprisingly, none of the restaurants I was interested in was open on Sunday. That is unusual on Long Island. I think I saw AU’s post too late to check the place he mentioned. Thanks anyway.
June 8, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Dr. Doom
In the “You Can’t Make This Shit Up” Department:
“Weiner’s Weener Exposed”
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/08/weiner.explicit.photo/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
“A Democratic lawmaker familiar with discussions with and about Anthony Weiner tells CNN that Weiner’s colleagues are telling him this afternoon he should resign “to preserve his own dignity.”[or what's left of it]“
June 9, 2011 at 7:15 am
dave
not sure if i’ve posted this previously. but this information is important. it needs to be widely disseminated. from personal experience, i can possitively attest to the effectiveness of this method method with mentos’s, also.
http://i.imgur.com/yHrnv.jpg
June 9, 2011 at 3:20 pm
GB
Honey Select is the best sweet corn.
http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/5527
There is no summer without this stuff. I have 2 good patches of it, early and late. Barring an act of God, a midnight raccoon raid, or a nuclear disaster… there will be corn this summer.
June 9, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Nudge
Interesting video.
I’m staying skinny.
June 9, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Nudge
GB, poor Lindsay seems to have gotten addicted to court appearances and jail time. Statistics show that recidivism is a very tough habit to break. She might be spending more time in an orange jumpsuit than anyplace else.
Doom, I would have used “know it all” or “wise ass” instead of “precocious” if asking that same question ~ and I’d mean it in only the best ways, of course.
June 9, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Dr. Doom
Nudge, I know it’s amazing, but going on 6 decades now and I’ve only had my nose broken once, when I was about 13. Damn kid hit me with a haymaker .
Well, the wife said the veterinarian wanted to hit me when I told him how my father used to save money on sick or injured pets by using his boot or a hatchet. The vet was a big guy, too.
Recently, my sister got a $2500 bill for her little pet dog that died. Good thing for her my father is no longer alive to hear about that one.
June 10, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Dr. Doom
JR, I see you’ve been reading that pissant Aussie critic again. Good stuff. I’m telling your mom!
June 10, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Nudge
Doom, your dad sounds a lot like mine .. he was always one to implement cost-effective solutions to critter problems as well as other kinds of problems.
I can admire a know-it-all who really does know it all. My cousin in Ohio is a fine example of that kind (mostly anyway) .. it’s a treat to watch him take down a know-it-all who doesn’t.
Far’s #FridayFlash is excellent:
http://farmanor.blogspot.com/2011/06/fridayflash-last-journalist.html
June 11, 2011 at 5:49 am
Nudge
GB, if it helps, you can imagine how many packs or cartons of ciggies Lindsay is getting traded for in the cellblock .. no, wait, that sounds like a movie Dave would enjoy too much.
June 11, 2011 at 9:58 am
dave
lots of “physical culture” information from the early 20′th centrury, fro those who might be interested in that kind of thing.
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/compindex.htm#pand
June 11, 2011 at 12:36 pm
Dr. Doom
interesting site dave. the secret word: isometrics.
June 11, 2011 at 6:13 pm
dave
clever monkeys. i’ve often said, to anybody who would listen, the primary difference between baboons and humans is the ability to delay gratification. i now also say that the primary difference between monkeys and humans is a prehensile tail. i wish i had one.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/clever-monkeys/
June 11, 2011 at 6:57 pm
GB
http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_running_man_revisited/
a plausible theory….
June 11, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Dr. Doom
well, walking upright obviously has its merits, but we pay a heavy price in lower back pain and bad knees, etc. we may have adapted to doing it behaviorally, but the organic evolutionary process is incomplete, like whales and dolphins swimming by doing the up and down breath stroke. it’s inefficient propulsion relative to the side-to-side motion of fish, the more highly adapted vertebrate ones.
i don’t know about tails. what happened to the apes’ ones?
mr. know it all (not)
June 12, 2011 at 8:46 am
dave
kinda like lord of the flies, only with a happy ending.
June 12, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Autonomous Unit
There’s only so much oil on the ground
Sooner or later there won’t be much around
Tell that to your kids while you driving downtown
That there’s only so much oil on the ground
Can’t cut loose without that juice
Can’t cut loose without that juice
If we keep on like we doing things for sure
Will not be cool – It’s a fact
We just ai’t got suffiecient fuel
There’s only so much oil in the ground
Sooner or later there won’t be none around
Alternate sources of power must be found
Cause there’s only so much oil in the ground
There’s only so much oil in the earth
It’s a fact of life – for what it’s worth
Something every little boy and girl should know since birth
That there’s only so much oil in the ground
There’s no excuse for our abuse
No excuse for our abuse
We just assume that we will not
Exceed the oil supply
But soon enough the world will watch the wells run dry.
June 13, 2011 at 6:25 am
dave
hah, a song about peak oil. if that don’t get the monkey’s attention, nothing will. so i guess that nothing will.
June 13, 2011 at 11:19 am
theroachman
The people of Italy rejected the Nuke industry yesterday. Thanks to Japan.
June 13, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Dr. Doom
Yes, Japan’s Gift to the World: Graceful Exit Plans for Nuclear Fission Power Plants. Couldn’t happen too soon.
June 13, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Bif
Taleb:
“The Japanese Nuclear Commission had the following goals set in 2003: ” The mean value of acute fatality risk by radiation exposure resultant from an accident of a nuclear installation to individuals of the public, who live in the vicinity of the site boundary of the nuclear installation, should not exceed the probability of about 1×10^6 per year (that is , at least 1 per million years)”.
That policy was designed only 8 years ago. Their one in a million-year accident almost occurred about 8 year later (I am not even sure if it is at best a near miss). We are clearly in the Fourth Quadrant there.”
http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/notebook.htm
“Casanova problem (survivorship bias in probability): If you compute the frequency of a rare event and your survival depends on such event not taking place (such as nuclear events), then you underestimated that probability.”
Yeah. Never mind stupid nuclear event, sounds like my life. What are the odds of both girlfriends showing up at the same bar at the same time while I am at the pool table. Or does that count as a nuclear event?
June 13, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Dr. Doom
The Japanese Nuclear Commission clearly have their heads emplaced up their backsides. No wonder they saw nothing coming–it’s gotta be dark up there.
June 13, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Dr. Doom
Bif, you guys have your PC filters turned on high today? Last two posts buried someplace.
June 13, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Dr. Doom
Test comment–censored?
June 14, 2011 at 12:26 am
Robert Fukushima
testing testing one-two-three.
June 14, 2011 at 12:29 am
Robert Fukushima
Never met a hot particle I didn’t like to ingest or inhale.
June 14, 2011 at 12:30 am
Robert Fukushima
well, they do leave a slightly metallic taste on the pallet.
June 14, 2011 at 5:40 am
dave
What are the odds of both girlfriends showing up at the same bar at the same time while I am at the pool table. Or does that count as a nuclear event?
well, if both girlfriends and your wife show up at the same time, that could be neuclear. it is also, like the failure of any particular nuclear plant, beyond predictable, it’s guaranteed to happen; you just never know when.
June 14, 2011 at 7:34 am
dave
santa showing off his testicle while waiting to see the dentist.
http://i.imgur.com/kAiyr.jpg
June 14, 2011 at 11:59 am
JR
Awesome. I’m making Christmas cards out of that one this year.
June 14, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Bif
Doom, you had a number of comments stuck in the lint trap. Don’t know why. I have set you free.
June 14, 2011 at 11:36 pm
Dr. Doom
Patriots died so that I could have my freedom to comment on ZK. Thanks Bif, you’re my hero.
June 15, 2011 at 8:13 am
GB
USA had a win over Guadaloupe last night, 1-0. They stunk it up previous game. I actually loved watching Panama kick butt. Those dudes are good and play as a team..
June 16, 2011 at 1:29 pm
theroachman
Well so much for Geothermal engery plans for this area
http://www.os.is/gogn/unu-gtp-sc/UNU-GTP-SC-10-0905.pdf
or maby they have improved with all the surface lva flow