Wednesday 31 Jul 2024 03:46:18 PM CDT
                                         
                                         
                                         
 
                                         
                                         
                                         Saturday 27 July
                                         
                                         
                                         I blogged about the 
                                         1973 album 
                                         somewhere or other, probably not on this one here.  They would release a couple more -
                                         steadily improving - before Tommy Shaw joined them for Crystal Ball and things really got good.  Judging from its dismal
                                         sales I must be one of the few that liked it.  I have two vinyl copies - one a high-quality remaster - and a CD and wore 
                                         about a couple of 8-tracks back in the day.  Back then about all the bands that worth seeing would come to Memphis and most 
                                         would visit Rock 103 and chat with the afternoon crew for a while.   I used to tape some of the shows - had a high-dollar rig 
                                         with a Pioneer CT-F1250.  Still have in in fact but it's over forty years old and needs an overhaul.  I paid somewhere around 
                                         $900 for it in 1980 or so, having it reconditioned would cost more than that.  Supposedly good condition ones are well over a 
                                         thousand.  If I had the physical and mental energy I'd put together a nice restored 80's setup just for fun, but finding a Sansui 
                                         G-8000 would be fun.  We're talking two to three times what the cassette deck would go for. 
                                         
                                          
                                         I've probably still got the tape around here somewhere - Tommy and one or two, don't remember - of the guys were in the
                                         studio and Tommy played a verse of Crystal Ball that was omitted from the final recording.   Sadly Styx went kinda awry
                                         later.  Dennis and Tommy are a couple of really talented guys and produced a lot of great stuff but somehow things didn't
                                         work out.   OK, enough cultural commentary - how about some news?  Lessee what the local media has for us.
                                         
                                         
                                         The most corrupt president before Joetato finally got around to 
                                         approving of his replacement 
                                         in the contest.  Most of us weren't wondering why it was taking so long - he was waiting for instructions - but whether the chosen candidate would in fact be
                                         what they went with - the dims were looking like a Chinese fire drill.  Is a Chicom fire drill better than a pre-Mao one?  Anyway some folks were having fun with it - might as 
                                         well have a laugh before it all goes dark.
                                         
                                         
                                         
 
                                         
                                         
                                         Dunno what's going on around Gosnell.  School 
                                         principal gets arrested 
                                         for D-something-I and now someone goes for a walk and 
                                         gets assaulted, 
                                         apparently by a person or persons as yet unknown (at least to the victim and police and news people).  I'm just guessing that someone didn't
                                         whack him with a 
                                         Chiroptera specimen. One of those big fruit bats maybe?  Gosnell is over in Mississippi 
                                         county, one of the smaller towns.  For those not familiar with the area here's some info:
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                             |  | Population | 
                                             |  | 
                                             | Blytheville  * | 13,406 | 
                                             | Gosnell | 2,910 | 
                                             | Joiner | 498 | 
                                             | Keiser | 751 | 
                                             | Leachville | 2,039 | 
                                             | Luxora | 942 | 
                                             | Manila | 3,682 | 
                                             | Osceola      * | 7,757 | 
                                             | Wilson | 766 | 
                                         
                                          
                                         
                                          
                                         Mississippi County is one of those Arkansas counties that has 
                                         two county seats - Blytheville and Osceola 
                                         in this case.  Not sure what that's all about, I seem to remember that a long time ago when people had to walk or ride horses to get anywhere it had something to 
                                         do with convenience.  At least that was how I heard it about Craighead county (it has two) so who knows?  Anywhere that's where Gosnell is.
                                         
                                         
                                         Some other stuff, guy got killed by cops, prisoner brought fentanyl into a jail and it killed another prisoner, perverts getting caught perverting, no telling how 
                                         many aren't.  What say we call it a day?
                                         
                                         
                                         Sunday 28 July
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         Usual stuff without much detail.  
                                         Guy from Guatemala 
                                         resisted an ASP type on I-49 over in the northwest part of the state.  Be interesting to know his immigration status but usually we don't see follow-ups 
                                         on those unless somebody gets killed.  Nothing else on the 
                                         latest shooting over in Misery.
                                         
                                         Jonesbororightnow about the only one talking about some wanting 
                                         outdoor consumption of adult beverages 
                                         in Jonestown - walking around outside and imbibing that is.  I don't believe it's a good idea but I don't frequent that area so...  I wonder who figures to make 
                                         more money if they do it?   
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         The 
                                         NEA Report 
                                         thing?  I looked at a couple of lawyers with the name in there and found a couple in the Jonestown area, dunno if this one is one of them
                                         or if one of them is this one.   Didn't look much like the police did anything wrong but you never know how these things will turn out.
                                         
 
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         Monday 29 July
                                         
                                         
                                         I see 
                                         REO is coming 
                                         to Jonestown.  If they were with Styx again I'd go for sure but not a big fan of Loverboy.  Both times I saw REO back in the day
                                         they always closed with Ridin' the Storm Out, which is about as good as it gets for an REO closer.   Got a few full-show videos from recent years and
                                         they still do.   Not that Back on the Road again in its extended Free-Bird-ish fashion isn't a good one too.  They may have used that one for a closer
                                         or an encore sometimes.
                                         
                                         The Air Force is gonna land a C-130 on a highway somewhere near BONO, practicing for disasters - supposedly a New Madrid event that rearranges the
                                         terrain again.  Pretty cool if you've never seen one close up.  I saw plenty when I was in the Air Force, seems almost every base I was at had some
                                         kind of unit that flew them.  ARRS usually, had some weather guys a Keesler, 
                                         flew them into hurricanes.  Sometimes some of us young guys and gals 
                                         was out near the end of a runway they used, at night, and they would be pretty low when they came over.  What do you mean what were we doing there?
                                         
                                         They can operate about anywhere, 
                                         even on aircraft carriers 
                                         but that's just something they did to see if they could.  I seem to remember that one or the other of Clay and Buck has a granddad that was an aviator 
                                         and he was the one that did it, but I may be misremembering.
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         A lot of malefactors in the NEA area (and further afield into the Natural State) are from Memphis or have been active there.  Since gang types 
                                         (I feel like calling them gangsters is an insult to organized crime) aren't tied to a particular geographical area it gets around.  Mobility is
                                         easier than ever, just steal a car.  Fayette and Hareman counties are the two to the east of Shelby (Memphis) and a little too close for comfort.
                                         This bunch 
                                         is connected with Chicago, and there's always been a lot of cross-pollination between Memphis and Chicago, as with Memphis and Detroit.  Looks like some 
                                         relatives in this bunch, and somehow I want to make a Sherlock Holmes-related joke.
                                         
 
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         Tuesday 30 July
                                         
                                         
                                         This is 
                                         one of those 
                                         'just WOW' stories.  
                                         Two of them 
                                         actually.  Senath is a tiny little town - OK, it's over a thousand population so it's a little town but not tiny - over in Misery.  It's big enough to have a 
                                         bank and back in the day I knew a chick who worked there.   I'll just leave it at that.  I was in a business had me in a lot of banks and was in a bunch of 
                                         little ones in Misery and Arkansas and the area around there.   Other places too.  Anyhow it seems there's also a nursing home there.
                                         
                                         Now a guy beating someone with a toilet tank lid is pretty weird any way you look at it, and picking one of those things up is a bit of work and swinging it at
                                         somebody is more.  Now this dude may be pretty big - kind of hard to tell from a headshot - and maybe it was't as taxing for him.  But he looks young and most
                                         nursing home residents are a few decades older.  The stories say he was accused of seriously and violently assaulting another resident as if the perp was
                                         a resident.  He certainly wasn't physically disabled.  Mentally maybe.  Probably.  Maybe some clarification will follow. 
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         Crittenden County is a target-rich environment for 
                                         this.  They could do 
                                         it every week with similar results.  I wonder if 
                                         these people 
                                         are recent arrivals from California where you can steal all you can carry with no consequences.  
                                         
 
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         Wednesday 31 July
                                         
                                         
                                         Last day for this installment.  Going to Jonestown and Paragould tomorrow and will probably be late when I get back.  I never patronized the
                                         likker store that got hit and generally didn't go to any Paragould likker stores when I lived there.  Funny thing - as I remember Paragould -
                                         it's that fairly new (or remodeled, don't remember which) down towards Ironhorse.  Criminals have maximum mobility these days.  As 
                                         Leto II 
                                         asked "Have you not considered how much easier it is to control a walking population?"  I don't know if the movie-makers have gotten around
                                         to desecrating that one yet.  Frank's Dune books are worth reading even if you're not into SF as they offer a penetating exploration of 
                                         sociology and human behavior.
                                         
                                         
                                         See ya in a few days.
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
                                         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                         
                                         
                                                                   
                                         
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                                         DePloraBelle
                                         32 minutes ago
                                         NEA 7 REPORT
                                         Does this make any sense? ®
                                         What difference, at this point, does it make?
                                         Reply 4Gl-)
                                         Chemical Youth
                                         21 minutes ago
                                         The way I read it this is coming from the text of the suit, a lot of stuff about who is
                                         white and who is black.
                                         Some people are like Slinkies -- not really good for anything, but you still can't help
                                         but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.
                                         Reply +1(4+]-)
                                         9
                                         Jessica Atreides Marshall
                                         10 minutes ago
                                         Some people. Wonder what lawyer took that case. Is the plaintiff able to pay him by
                                         the hour for his work? Even if the county just up and settles to make him go away... I
                                         guess a third of 250K for some lawyers is good.
                                         We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives.
                                         Reply 0G ]-)
                                         
=============================
                                         Mack Bolan
                                         45 minutes ago
                                         Ovomit finally did the deed. Wonder why it took his masters so long to tell him to do
                                         it. Was he hoping they would let Moochelle run?
                                         For every action there is a reaction, for every good an evil, for every strength a
                                         weakness, and for every injustice there is somewhere a final justice.
                                         Reply 104+ [-)
                                         Jessica Atreides Marshall
                                         31 minutes ago
                                         It would seem so. I mean, when you think about it, there is great significance to the
                                         passage of time in terms of whether or not Cackles will be allowed to run. And the
                                         significance to the passage of time in this case is that a lot of time passed while
                                         Ovomit's bosses decided what to do. After that passage of time became noticeable
                                         someone made a decision and told him to do it. @
                                         We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives.
                                         Reply +5(+]-)
                                         Belushi Speedball
                                         22 minutes ago
                                         Perhaps someone in the cabal was still burdened by what had been and wasn't ready
                                         to make the plunge to what can be. Well, now they're burdened by Cackles. 3
                                         Those who are inclined to suffer fools gladly should plan to spend a lot of time
                                         suffering.
                                         Reply 1Gl-)
                                         Mandroid
                                         12 minutes ago
                                         I can believe that Ovomit was holding out to have Moochelle put in. It looks like the
                                         committee or however they make those decisions decided this was the path of least
                                         resistance.
                                         Electric eye, in the sky, Feel my stare, always there, There's nothing you can do about
                                         it, Develop and expose, I feed upon your every thought, And so my power grows.
                                         Reply +1(4+]-)
                                         9
                                         Twisted Mentat
                                         33 minutes ago
                                         Big Mike might have been reluctant. Neither of the Ovomits is very smart but much
                                         as she would want it there would always be that nagging fear in her little mind - that
                                         she could lose. That she could not live with. And if the dims do win it will be
                                         surprising.
                                         It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts
                                         acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone
                                         I set my mind in motion.
                                         Reply 42(+]-)
                                         9
                                         Remo Williams
                                         18 minutes ago
                                         It will be - whatever the dims call miracles. It looks like Cackles is being sacrificed.
                                         There's always the chance something could happen that turns it their way.
                                         That's the biz sweetheart.
                                         Reply oGl[-)
                                         DePloraBelle
                                         10 minutes ago
                                         That staged phone call wouldn't have gotten a C- in a high school drama class. These
                                         people are so f***g stupid and believe the majority of the population is. Sadly they
                                         may be right.
                                         What difference, at this point, does it make?
                                         Reply 0G ]-)
                                         
=============================
                                         Tomarcus “TC” Baskerville, 35, was sentenced to 960 months to be followed by life imprisonment 
                                         Courtland “Hotbox” Springfield, 32, was sentenced to 480 months to be followed by life imprisonment 
                                         Montaveen “CGE Tay” Taylor, 26, was sentenced to 420 months 
                                         Martivus “Tavis” Baskerville, 30, 324 months 
                                         Deandra “Dre” Rivers, 28, 262 months 
                                         Thomas “TJ” Smith, 25, 255 months 
                                         Trevin “Scooter” Hullom, 31, 216 months 
                                         Bianca Jackson, 23, 188 months 
                                         Curtis “CB” Baskerville, 38, 180 months 
                                         Mardarius McNeal, 26, 135 months 
                                         Christopher “Lil Chris” Peeler, 32, 120 months 
                                         Davalus “Mighty Shun” Worrles, 31, 66 months 
                                         Deonte “Tez” Walker, 32, 41 months 
                                         Torrance “Phat” Fitzpatrick, 29, 31 months 
                                         
=============================
                                         KaliforniaDreamin
                                         49 minutes ago
                                         HALT
                                         The pics tell you all you need to know. I remember a time when that sort of thing
                                         didn't happen in Paragould. If they catch them it'll be interesting to see if they're
                                         locals. Not that there aren't plenty of local candidates.
                                         Life is a lemon and I want my money back. ~ Meat Loaf
                                         Reply +6(+]|-)
                                         Sinanju Master
                                         33 minutes ago
                                         Yeah, Paragould went downhill fast. It began over ten years ago but the past few have
                                         been bad. I would say that if they don't get a handle on it... what am I - stupid? You
                                         know it's only going to get worse.
                                         Before you can learn anything, you must know what you are studying
                                         Reply +2G[-)
                                         Jessica Atreides Marshall
                                         25 minutes ago
                                         Who was that mayor they had for so long? Not that the one they have now is any
                                         better. Anyway he was all about bringing in people from Memphis.
                                         We have entered the time when all will turn against us and seek our lives.
                                         Reply +2G[-)
                                         9
                                         DePloraBelle
                                         12 minutes ago
                                         The one they have now got those Tesla police cars. Did they ever get them running
                                         again? B
                                         What difference, at this point, does it make?
                                         Reply +1(4+]-)
                                         Twisted Mentat
                                         18 minutes ago
                                         Locals? The way those people get around how do you know where they're from. A lot
                                         of them don't have a driver's license - not that it stops them from driving. Can they
                                         trace them through the EBT or Medicaid card?
                                         It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts
                                         acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone
                                         I set my mind in motion.
                                         Reply +1(+]-)
                                         Phantasm Lord of the Dead
                                         9 minutes ago
                                         Iread somewhere that the Dodge Charger is being discontinued. What will they
                                         drive?
                                         You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now you die.
                                         Reply 0G ]-)
                                         
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