Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

Originally posted by bilmore
Could you fix your slogan or motto or whatever that "Spree is dead people!" thing is? Every time I see it, I think of Charleton Heston running around yelling "soylent green is people!!"

Nonresponsive counselor. ANswer me and I will change my signature which I forogt about since I am using the ignore signaures thingie.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by W.W.L.D.
A few months ago I bought a Canon Elph S400. The Elph series has always recieved very good ratings, both from consumers and groups like Consumer Reports. It takes terrific pics, is small, and even takes 2 minutes of movies with sound, which are not choppy.

Yes, that is what we have. It's good - i.e. a technologically inept person like me can figure it out and it takes good pictures. My husband thinks it is fun to take 2 minute movies of me when I have just got up in the morning.

[Oliver_Wendell_Ramone]

People throw him drugs, good drugs, at concerts.

Like he can't afford his own. Fucker. I want somebody to throw me a baggy of dope in court this afternoon. Or maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by paigowprincess
Nonresponsive counselor. ANswer me and I will change my signature which I forogt about since I am using the ignore signaures thingie.

Deal.

Running generates endorphins, which affect the body in very much the same way as do the opiate-based hobbies. So, yes, what I said was completely correct. You can develop an endorphin threshhold just like a heroin threshhold.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Or hit by a taxi.


This happened to me. No injuries.

What was the taxi doing in the middle of the lakefront park area? Or were you violating your "no cement" rule? Y'know, you could blow out a knee that way.

[str8outavannuys]

Since I haven't posted much interesting here lately, here goes this:

Last night, when picking up some CPK takeout at the Beverly Center location, our order wasn't ready so we had to sit around and wait. And lucky we did, because who sat down at the big table for 10 next to the takeout area?

Tori and Taylor Thompson, A.J. Melendez, and their parents and a few other friends.

And yes, the Thompson sisters really are that cute. Scary stuff.

Damn I love LA.
str8.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
No, I want to buy a digital camera, and -- other than TITS! in the little window on it -- I have no idea what to look for.

You're a lawyer. You have money. I'd recommend this:

[mmm3587]

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
Oddly enough, I got hit by a car and blew out my knee - permanent damage. My knee twitches each time the "should old people have an unconditional right to drive" argument comes up.

I'm annoyed that it's just old people who may finally be seeing an end to their terrible driving and driving skills not preventing them from keeping their licenses. There are plenty of terrible drivers regardless of age. And I don't just mean the people who drive crazily, too fast, etc. Pure speed isn't as much of a factor, I find, as long as the crazy, fast drivers are also aware of how fast their cars stop and how well they can react. It's the ones who are just barreling along, without covering the brake or looking for cars peeking out of alleys or driveways who cause the accidents

I'm talking about the ones who run red lights (or stale yellow lights, block the grid, turn right on red in heavy traffic when it's illegal, don't yield to pedestrians, don't realize that not all stops are four-way stops, etc. In Chicago, the city is grumbling about cracking down on this stuff, but they've got a long way to go. Unless you do something egregious right in front of a cop, or are a minority, (and usually, I think both are necessary) you won't even get stopped in Chicago. I'm amazed at the amount of stuff I see happen when cops are right there, and they don't do shit about it.

And don't even get me started on all the "tragedy of the commons" stuff: waiting until the last second to leave an ending lane, turning left or right from the penultimate lane, when the ultimate lane is turn only, following turners in front of you through the intersection even when it's obviously about to turn, using brief extra lanes, turn lanes or even just extra space to try to go around traffic at intersections. All these things might save the actor a bunch of time, but they screw the rest of us who are following the rules.

Frankly, I don't get that upset when three drug dealers get killed in a garage in my neighborhood; that stuff happens, and it's a large part of why I don't deal drugs (well, also prison and the prison rape thing). I'd be much happier if the cops would spend more time actually enforcing laws which directly effect most people's lives. Too bad there is no huge ego boost out of getting the guy who always runs every stop sign in my neighborhood, or the tow trucks drivers who come through at 70 mph (seriously), runnning all the stop signs, so they can get to a tow.

At the very least, the city should make all those activities very financially detrimental. Maybe it is easier to get crazy with the tickets to address the illegal parking problem, but that worked. Everyone knows that you get your ass booted now. So move on to the guys who are just a step away from killing somebody with all their crazy driving.

Sorry for all the ranting, I just got back from a wedding, and the first and last legs of the round trip were the Skyway and 90 between it and the city, which are like the Wild West of Chicago driving.

[NotFromHere]

OK, this is a cross between politics and fashion - really.

Why are Liberian soldiers wearing fright wigs?
Few things exemplify the chaos of Liberia more than the sight of doped-up, AK-47-wielding 15-year-olds roaming the streets decked out in fright wigs and tattered wedding gowns. Indeed, some of the more fully accessorized soldiers in Charles Taylor's militia even tote dainty purses and don feather boas. Why did this practice begin and what is the logic behind it?

The cross-dressing combatants blipped onto the Western press's radar screen right around the time the Liberian Civil War started on Christmas Eve in 1989.
According to the soldiers themselves, cross-dressing is a military mind game, a tactic that instills fear in their rivals. It also makes the soldiers feel more invincible. This belief is founded on a regional superstition which holds that soldiers can "confuse the enemy's bullets" by assuming two identities simultaneously. Though the accoutrements and garb look bizarre to Western eyes, they are, in a sense, variations on the camouflage uniforms and face paint American soldiers use to bolster their sense of invisibility (and, therefore, immunity) during combat.

cool picture of a Liberian in a pink wig

[Shape Shifter]

So much for don't ask, don't tell.

Originally posted by NotFromHere
OK, this is a cross between politics and fashion - really.

Why are Liberian soldiers wearing fright wigs?
Few things exemplify the chaos of Liberia more than the sight of doped-up, AK-47-wielding 15-year-olds roaming the streets decked out in fright wigs and tattered wedding gowns. Indeed, some of the more fully accessorized soldiers in Charles Taylor's militia even tote dainty purses and don feather boas. Why did this practice begin and what is the logic behind it?

The cross-dressing combatants blipped onto the Western press's radar screen right around the time the Liberian Civil War started on Christmas Eve in 1989.
According to the soldiers themselves, cross-dressing is a military mind game, a tactic that instills fear in their rivals. It also makes the soldiers feel more invincible. This belief is founded on a regional superstition which holds that soldiers can "confuse the enemy's bullets" by assuming two identities simultaneously. Though the accoutrements and garb look bizarre to Western eyes, they are, in a sense, variations on the camouflage uniforms and face paint American soldiers use to bolster their sense of invisibility (and, therefore, immunity) during combat.

cool picture of a Liberian in a pink wig

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by W.W.L.D.
A few months ago I bought a Canon Elph S400. The Elph series has always recieved very good ratings, both from consumers and groups like Consumer Reports. It takes terrific pics, is small, and even takes 2 minutes of movies with sound, which are not choppy.

I would recommend immediatly purchasing a large memory flashcard. I bought a 256 mb card and took almost 300 pictures plus some videos on a recent trip, and only used about half the card.

Shop around for prices, but check here . (Just be careful about when you order so that you don't get camera-flavoured cardboard)

Second the elph, although I have the older, less-MP S200, which has proven more than adequate for snapshots. Don't bother with Bilmore's suggestion of the top-end professional SLR unless you're a serious photographer, in which case you'd be using film.

Check amazon for memory card deals . . . and you'll support breasticle day.

Adorama has very good prices and reliable shipping. Their store is in NYC, so you could just drop in to buy. bhphoto.com is another place worth considering--also very good prices.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Don't bother with Bilmore's suggestion of the top-end professional SLR unless you're a serious photographer, in which case you'd be using film.

I missed the announcement - this is "baseless throw-away comments" Day?

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by mmm3587
[Rant about bad drivers]

Hmm, I never said that the old biddy who hit me was a "bad" driver. It was her failing eyesight and bad reflexes, brought on by her advanced age, not her "skills." And I wouldn't have leapt to that conclusion if not for her hitting me, driving on for a block after flipping me over her hood, backing up to where I landed in the street and almost whacking me in the head with her door to ask if I was okay and then acting totally confused about the entire incident as they loaded me into the ambulance. Of course, she had the minimum insurance and no assets.

[purse junkie]

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
Hmm, I never said that the old biddy who hit me was a "bad" driver. It was her failing eyesight and bad reflexes, brought on by her advanced age, not her "skills." And I wouldn't have leapt to that conclusion if not for her hitting me, driving on for a block after flipping me over her hood, backing up to where I landed in the street and almost whacking me in the head with her door to ask if I was okay and then acting totally confused about the entire incident as they loaded me into the ambulance. Of course, she had the minimum insurance and no assets.

Yeah, she sounds like a *great* driver!

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by mmm3587

I'm talking about the ones who run red lights (or stale yellow lights, block the grid, turn right on red in heavy traffic when it's illegal, don't yield to pedestrians, don't realize that not all stops are four-way stops, etc. In Chicago, the city is grumbling about cracking down on this stuff, but they've got a long way to go. Unless you do something egregious right in front of a cop, or are a minority, (and usually, I think both are necessary) you won't even get stopped in Chicago. I'm amazed at the amount of stuff I see happen when cops are right there, and they don't do shit about it.

You can pull a u-turn drunk through a red light and they won't pull you over here. My SO gets pissed when people on the Kennedy are driving under 90 mph.

Plus the cab drivers are fucking insane...