Story Time MkII

So we are back to the second week of Story Time installment of this “satirical blog”. I invite you to share your own, as there is nothing better than looking back onto your own life stories and thinking “how in the f*** did this happen to me? At least I can tell the grand kids and be a cool grandpa!”

So, to set a scene. It is late 90’s, I am a freshly graduated civil engineer with a top-4 finish from a top-3 engineering school in the US. In my class of ~50 graduates, I am one of two who decided to go down and dirty and join a construction company, rather than a design house. First job was one of the many developments in the Orlando, Florida entertainment district – Disney, Universal, Sea World, you name it. It was booming, and I wasn’t the one to pass an opportunity of the lifetime. So I signed the papers, got the top starting salary in my class (36,300 p.a., gooooooood money) and was off.

Day 1 I report, get ushered around, shown the lay of the land, introduced virtually to the team, via an org chart, express interest in meeting the project manager, and am told: it is THE PROJECT MANAGER! You do not speak to him, he is not aware of your presence, avert your eyes if he is in the room, for he is the Lord!

The best I could do was the Site Superintendent, with whom we later had lots of fun playing poker. But on that first day, I got to meet Jim* (all names are changed because it is customary, and they are all dead, so as not to hurt feelings).

So, I am walked into Jim’s office. Jim was the kinda guy who smoked the cheapest, nastiest, stinkiest cigars, because he claimed that the workers will smell the smoke 15 minutes beforehand, and 30 minutes after, so they will work harder thinking he was still around. Jim looks at me, and asks, what is your name, son? I answer. He asks, where did you go to uni? I answer. Then he asks, do you jerk off? I am stunned, being the wet behind the ears professional, but respond yes. He says, good, at least I know you are not a god damn liar! End of the conversation, off I go to work.

Once you are in the wider workforce, there are other hazing techniques. Hey, Mark, go get me a 2×4 stretcher! (2 inch x 4 inch being a standard measure of wood) – fell for that one. Hey, Mark, go to Home Depot (USA version of Bunnings) and get me a 5 gallon bucket of green slack, but don’t get the blue one – fell for that, too. Hey, Mark, go get me a 12 inch raping tool – got clued in on that one – joke being you are sent all around the site from one foreman to the next, who are all in on it, until you get to Bill*, a midget with a beard so thick, all you can see is his eyes and nose, and he unzips. Fun!

Next job, we had George*. George was an ex-Hells Angels bikie, 6’4″ (tall), 300 pounds (big), 5 kids, 4 teeth. Did a 12-year stint in federal prison for running guns across state lines. Nicest guy, if you got the balls to get to know him, which I did, and we had a lot of fun bikie runs from Orlando to Daytona, but that is another story. So George finally figured out what causes kids, and got a vasectomy. And it didn’t go as well as planned. George being George, he let some boys on site know about the procedure, and when he got back he was sore for some time. So he got a nickname, which stuck, as Cowboy George, because he was shooting blanks. He was pissed at first, but in a few years got to embrace his new nickname.

So by now you get to see the fun stuff that went on in the Florida construction world, and the interactions between us.

Which brings us to the story. I linked the official newspaper article so you don’t think I am making this all up.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1998-04-22-9804220645-story.html

On another job we had this guy, Jim (James officially, to us known as Jim) Wheeler (real name – see the link). Yet, what the newspaper doesn’t tell you, is the best part.

You see, Jim was the sort of a guy who always had his best intentions at heart, but always managed to fuck it up. We all know those people. Jim would go on a bender on a Tuesday night, and be at the job site at 6:30 in the morning behind a front-end loader to do what needed to be done to get the crews going.

Now, I have been at the wheel of that machine, and it requires full concentration sober. And Jim was truly upset if he got pulled from behind the wheel and got put on the shovel or sent home, because all he wanted to do was to contribute. Jim loved his job, he loved his crew, it was most of his life. Aye, he cherished his job!

So one day Jim, for whatever reason, could not reconcile his bank accounts. This resulted in a bank calling for a repossession of his car, which was duly towed, leaving Jim with no means to get to and from work. Jim decided that the best way for him to make sure he was at work in the morning was to sleep in a 60 inch pipe stored on site, which he managed for a week or so.

He got found out by the Site Superintendent, who was the God’s voice on Earth (see above), and was told that it wasn’t going to cut it. So Jim made his way to his home base (~45min drive from the site), and decided to get his car back!

His car was financed through a local bank, so Jim thought that his local branch of the bank would have the loan papers there. Again, he wanted to be able to get back to work, that was his motivation! He did not know, or did not think that the actual papers were held in some sort of office a thousand miles away. So Jim walks into the bank, goes to the teller, and demands his loan papers back. He has a Snickers bar in a paper bag to make his point. The teller shits themselves and explains to Jim that the papers ain’t there. So Jim says, give me all your cash, and walks out. Cops can’t find him. Jim vanishes! But he reports to work.

A few weeks after, as the cash has dried out, Jim goes back. To the same bank. To the same branch. With a Snickers bar in the paper bag. Robs them again, and walks out again. Cops are looking, but can’t find the robber.

Later in the day they get him. Jim went to the local bottle shop, got whatever he got, got drunk and passed out in a public park on a bench. Local patrol picked him up with a paper bag stuffed with cash.

Jim got 20 years in federal prison for two bank robberies.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
35 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Counterfiat

Geert Vanden Bossche received his DVM from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and his PhD degree in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

“In the summary appended, I am sharing my informed predictions on the health impact these pandemics will entail in different subgroups of a highly vaccinated population. While these new pandemics are developing, the super C-19 pandemic I’ve been warning about is coming our way soon. In highly vaccinated countries, it will definitely overhaul the pandemics mentioned above. This is because massive replacement of ‘natural infection-acquired’ immunity to SC-2 by ‘imperfect’ vaccine-induced immunity is now driving the evolution of the C-19 pandemic in highly vaccinated countries. This will not be the case in poorly vaccinated countries where natural immunity has been largely preserved and the population is often much younger (e.g., African countries).”

https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/scientific-blog/the-immuno-epidemiological-consequences-of-the-mass-vaccination-experiment-summary

Counterfiat

Here is the technical non-layman version:

Immuno-epidemiologic ramifications of the C-19 mass vaccination experiment: Individual and global health consequences
https://www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org/scientific-blog/immuno-epidemiologic-ramifications-of-the-c-19-mass-vaccination-experiment-individual-and-global-health-consequences

Counterfiat

“It will also no longer be possible to vaccinate children with other live attenuated childhood vaccines once they’ve gotten the Covid-19 shot for these vaccines could now cause severe disease. So, the C-19 vaccine could be a death sentence for a young child!”

Reus's Large MEMBER

Why do you think they are pushing this so hard, especially for the kids.

Stewie

Because they don’t want an unvaccinated control group to be able to compare the coming outbreaks to.

Gouda

Huh, thought Geert was just another grifter in the Andrew Wakefield mould.

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/a-possible-new-anti-vaccine-scam-is-on-the-rise-11591162

Peachy

From the article

Vanden Bossche is a veterinarian and virologist with an impressive set of credentials, including being head of vaccine development at the German Center for Infection Research. On paper, he appears to be a trusted voice that should be listened to.

However, Vanden Bossche has been in the process of starting a large-scale demonization of the current attempts to vaccinate the world against COVID using the shots developed by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. In March, Vanden Bossche sent an open letter to the World Health Organization that made wild claims about the dangers of mass vaccination. These include the idea that vaccination turns people into asymptomatic carriers due to “shedding,” that vaccinating people in high-infectious areas will lead to more mutation, that these variants will confer vaccine immunity on the virus, and that the vaccine will lead to permanent susceptibility to COVID.

looks like his crime has been speaking out against groupthink.

aside from that, seems like he was generally more right than wrong – lots of variants, vaccinated people are indeed carriers, virus is indeed largely immune from vaccine….

Gouda

More problematic is the paragraphs that follow:

Literally none of these are true, and have been thoroughly debunked. Other statements from Vanden Bossche seem to imply he thinks the vaccines will create super viruses the way over exposure to antibiotics does to bacteria, which is not how any of this works.

At this point, it’s worth taking a closer look at Vanden Bossche, which Dr. Vincent Iannelli did in an exhaustive article. The results range from disappointing to disturbing. Despite his credentials, Vanden Bossche is hardly the world-renowned expert that he is made out to be from fans of Weinstein’s show. He is only board certified in veterinary virology, microbiology, and animal hygiene, and hasn’t published a research paper since 1995. He has never published any research on vaccines, and people who actually have, such as Dr. Angela Rasmussen, have called his scaremongering “baseless.”

If one appears to have a poor grasp of the basic underlying science, it doesn’t matter whether one is more right than wrong, as this is more likely to be due to chance as opposed to having a superior explanatory model.

Peachy

If one appears to have a poor grasp of the basic underlying science, it doesn’t matter whether one is more right than wrong, as this is more likely to be due to chance as opposed to having a superior explanatory model.

but senor Gouda, that article merely claims that he has a poor grasp on the science. It’s an ad hominem smear piece.

why should we prefer ramussen’s views to VDB’s? The only thing that article points to is “credentialism”. Ramussen published some papers recently.

one could say in the 1930s that Wittgenstein should be ignored, because he hasn’t published a paper for 15 years…. and that would clearly be a mistake. Same goes for believing the well-credentialed modellers … https://www.ezfka.com/2021/12/22/new-doherty-institute-modelling-shows-1-trillion-australians-will-die-of-omicron-if-boosters-not-mandated-immediately/

anyhow, while I don’t have enough science in me to have a personal technical view on how this is more likely to work, if VDB has been more right than wrong so far, and the credentialed folks have been more wrong than right (as seems to be the case), then it seems to me the question of who has the better grasp on the underlying science is probably still open.

Stewie

“Bossche seem to imply he thinks the vaccines will create super viruses the way over exposure to antibiotics does to bacteria, which is not how any of this works.”

Apart from how similar leaky vaccines drove the virulence and pathology of Marek’s disease, which is exactly how it worked.

Coming

The more virulent strains that evolved are only dangerous to UNvaccinated chickens though

Peachy

Nobody can predict which way THAT might break in humans.

the narrative was slanted to create fear that unvaccinated are going to be fucked. So far, that’s not been the case.

but it’s quite possible that it will turn out that way.

Coming

so you’re going to remain unvaccinated while the experience with Marek’s disease has shown you are likely to get fucked by increasingly virulent COvid-19 ?

It seems to me you just change your reasoning to suit your pre-determined course of action or feelings

Peachy

seems to me you just change your reasoning to suit your pre-determined course of action or feelings

Nobody can avoid that completely. But I do try to be impartial.

the thumbnail sketch of my thinking is:

  • covid (original) wasn’t, in my assessment, a significant threat in the first place
  • my present immunity to Covid (original) is at least as good as having had one of the original faulty vaccines

so there is no case to take one of the original faulty vaccines.

as to potential future variants of covid (evolutions? …releases…?) a separate assessment will need to be made. Same for future vaccines.

Coming

you seem to be heavily defending Prof vanden Bosche

He has no relevant qualifications, and the theory he has posited you have decided to disregard anyway?

Everyone here has very strong cognitive biases

You all desperately want vaccines to be a disaster for humanity, when the reality is probably more towards the middle

Similarly, they previously wanted the government to be “printing money” because asset prices were going up (instead of it just being an irrational bubble)

Then when asset prices started falling, they pretended all this money was never printed it was obviously a bubble, and that a collapse in house prices was inevitable

Peachy

You’ve got about 3 separate ideas in your post. so I’ll comment briefly.

the Bosch:

  • I’m not defending bosche, let alone heavily. I’m just pointing out that his ideas have not been disproven, jsut waved away.
  • i have read/watched some of his stuff and he is clearly not an idiot and is genuine. Whether he is right or wrong – we will see.

The ‘xxines

  • it would be satisfying to see the vaccines prove to be a disaster, seeing as how irrational they were
  • at the same time, I think we all know quite a number of people who we’d rather not see die following their ‘xxine dabbling

“Asset prices falling after money has been printed, therefore money printing didn’t contribute to price rises” is a silly position for a bunch of reasons, including

  • printing was not the sole cause of price rises
  • stocks and flows – just because money is printed once, doesn’t mean prices rise forever. Likewise, if prices fall, doesn’t mean money wasn’t ever printed.

a similar fallacy might be “the ground is not wet, so it has never rained”

Basil Thistlethwaite

The unvaxxed may get fucked by more virulent covid because you sheep keep putting this useless shit into yourself. Is that how it works?

Coming

yes

i mean if i was an evil mastermind, that’s exactly what I would do

Release a fairly benign virus, get everyone to panic, use this as an excuse to increase autocratic powers, and give the grateful masses a “vaccine”

Then deliver a new (or evolve) a virus, which is actually protected against by the former “vaccine”

That way I would kill off all the rebellious disagreeable types, and leave just the malleable sheep

Basil Thistlethwaite

Geez, thank Gawd I’m not a chicken then.

Stewie

Following multiple generations of viruses and chickens.

Chickens life spans are far shorter than humans. If there were 30 yr old unvaccinated chickens that had been exposed to Marie’s disease 30yrs years ago and gained natural immunity, they would still be better off than freshly vaccinated chickens.

Last edited 2 years ago by Stewie
Aussie Soy Boy

If that proves true then the unvaccinated can always run out and get vaccinated or unlike chickens simply stay home and avoid crowds lol.

But you can’t ever get it out of your system.

Hoody
Hoody

We were so poor, we could only afford the 2 colour one.

FW98-ERaAAEN9Ol.jpg
A fly in your ointment

luxury, the 2 colour pen… we were lucky if we had a no-colour pen so we did not have to use our blood to write
😉

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iEIApUNVBKg

banana man

We were so poor, we had to chuck rocks at each other for fun. Mum would hit us for playing with our food.

Gouda

Speaking about “cool stories”…

University dropout buys apartment without parental help, EZFKA housing crisis aborted.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/harry-22-just-bought-a-705k-apartment-without-help-from-his-parents-20220707-p5azv4

Peachy

He is a would-be investor:

But asinterest rates rose he noticed fewer and fewer people at open homes, with no one else present at the Elizabeth Bay property he ended up buying for $45,000 less than the vendor paid in 2020.

“I didn’t set out to get a bargain, I just wanted a quality property with long-term growth,” Mr Charlesworth told The Australian Financial Review.

Also the “as interest rates rose he noticed…” is largely a lie – he bought in MAY – after the very first rate rise.

so the messaging in the article seems to be:

  • don’t expect to get too much of a bargain (propadee rocks)
  • It’s a good time to buy for long term growth (propadee rocks!)

😃

Coming

Are they wrong though ?

Basil Thistlethwaite

Not wrong. Elizabeth Bay would be rock solid long term investment for a young person if they can afford it, in my opinion

Peachy

Jim got 20 years in federal prison for two bank robberies.

they bloke will probably be out by now!

still, it’s a pretty tough sentence for a snickers bar in a paper bag, hey?

if he had done robbed a convenience store that way, do you think he’d still get 20 years? Or is this harsh punishment part of the broader framework set up to give banks a special coddled and privileged status?

Gouda

Bank robbery by Snickers Bar not once but twice probably deserves some kind of an award!

Last edited 2 years ago by Gouda
bjw678

if he had done robbed a convenience store that way, do you think he’d still get 20 years? 

Back then, yes.
These days they charge the guy working there with murder when he defends himself
Shit like that make’s me wonder about some of the more out there theories mentioned here.

Stewie

Lol – another body just floated to the surface. Blockchain.com just announced a $270m loss due to 3AC

What will happen at some point, because it always inevitably does… if something is unsustainable, then eventually it must end….The leverage and positioning used in this way all but ensures that when this event eventually occurs it will be non-linear and asymmetric. Supposed hedging relationships will blow up, either because correlation breaks down….Then traders based in the Bahamas will simply disappear, Celcius’s rehypothication and collateral lending schemes will implode the moment the SHTF and BTC drops 80%, becoming insolvent in a flash. Losses will then flow back down the line until the eventual bag holder, the mug punter Hodler cops it in the nuts.

– Crypto lending and why you should stay the fuck away from it.

More to come

Stewie

Lol

EFEFAD1E-CAB9-4248-B882-6DD0AA1E265C.jpeg
Peachy

That’s awesome!