So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Hercule]

At some point, possibly the late 70s, our 411 changed to 1411

 

[Matt Crunk]

That cat looks like my Carol, except not so fat.

I don't remember any designated emergency number around here when I was growing up -- you just dialed the operator if you didn't know the number for the police or fire department. 911 came into use very gradually over a span of about twenty years starting in the late sixties, but we didn't have it here until the early '90s.

The Nation's very first 911 service was installed in the unlikely town of Haleyville, Alabama, in the late 1960's, and at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16, 1968 the first 911 call was placed from the mayor's office, and answered a short distance away at the police station.

I know this because the very small town of Haleyville is about 40 miles from where I grew up.

 

[DNO]

Actually the black & white cat was named Oscar. That’s according to ZME Science.

I previously posted the link in case you need to inform them of the error.

Kind of calls into question the validity of that particular website. The tag around the cat's neck clearly reads: "HMS Amethyst April 1949". That would be Simon. It doesn't look like the reverse of the Dickin Medal but it may be. The medal had details, and the name of the animal, on the reverse. There may be a photo of Sam out there, but this isn't it. Now, that's trivial enough to tick me off!

I'm sure Sam was a fine feline, but Simon won what collectors sometimes call "the animal's V.C.".

 

[Stearmen]

Mind over matter.
As a TV news-cameraman for several years covering homicides & traffic fatalities everyday,
I have built an attitude in handling a situation like the one you mentioned.
At the end of my work shift & going home...
I feel good that I made it through the day & give thanks.
I’m in no hurry to get to my next destination. I’ll listen to music that relaxes me.
I’ll think about plans for the weekend & my projects which I enjoy.

Also, after many years driving all over the city, I have developed a route that I know
will not get me inside a traffic jam. Mostly I avoid the freeway. It might take a little
bit longer, but I’m in no hurry.
If I get off work during the height of the traffic congestion, I will walk to the
book shop, or pick up something to eat.
By the time I have done this the traffic has cleared

One thing that has helped me is being able at times to cope when there
are accidents on the road.
I was doing some video of the sleet on the freeway. This lady was going a bit fast
& did a 360º and came to a halt on the exit ramp in the middle of the road.
She was ok, but just sat there stunned without moving. I went over & took her out.
The next car was coming a little too fast & slammed on the brakes but kept going
& completely totaled the lady’s car.
People are always in a hurry or on that darn cell phone.

 

[2jakes]

So Trivial, yet....

When the hose won’t reach the tank.




Solution !

 

[dh66]

I've been stewing on this for a day now, which is about 23 hours and 59 minutes longer than I usually let stuff get to me, so it must be something that ticked me off pretty good.......day before yesterday the great state of Alabama put down a killer. I'm not here to stir a debate on the relative pros or cons of capitol punishment, that's for somewhere else, but back in 1992 this particular p.o.s. raped and killed a friend of mine. Yesterday, his picture was on the front page of the paper, and all over the news. Hers was not. There's people reading that news who weren't even alive then, or who aren't from around here and know nothing about the case, who now know all about this asshole, but know absolutely nothing about the beautiful person who's life he took. I even went so far as to Google search her name.....and HIS g.d. picture is what popped up. Maybe that's trivial, but it really has me ticked off.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

[Trenchfriend]

It ticks me off, that the usual imported US-peanutbutter ("Barney's best" and so on), in german supermarkets, costs 2,29 EUR (350g). I mean, ok, it contains really 90% peanuts. But, are peanuts special??

 

[tonyb]

It's murder as entertainment, dh66. And the stars of the show are the killers. The popular entertainment media are chock full of homicide -- some of it fiction, some of it "reality."

We glamorize violence. And we're steeped in it.

Very sorry for your loss. And I can easily relate to how you must feel about the celebrity status of your friend's killer. It would have my blood boiling, too.

I, too, have no interest in engaging in a debate on the death penalty. I'm sure that my reasons for opposing it will change no minds on the matter anyway. But I wouldn't want to leave anyone thinking that my heart bleeds for the killers, or that I think the world is a worse place on account of their no longer bring in it. Indeed, if a killer were to do to my loved ones what was done to others, the killer had better hope the authorities get to him before I do.

 

[2jakes]

It's murder as entertainment, dh66. And the stars of the show are the killers. The popular entertainment media are chock full of homicide -- some of it fiction, some of it "reality."

I love photography.
Have a Leica, Nikon & it was great that I got a job using a video camera.
I have worked in the TV news media for many years.
There are many positive stories that I have covered for the news.
But from my experience, these stories are usually buried or
towards the end of the broadcast.

It’s sad but true as tonyb pointed out.
The headlines always showcase the losers in society.

I don’t know if the powers that be bend down to the “ratings/sponsors"
or what the public wants to see.

 

[JimWagner]

I don’t know if the powers that be bend down to the “ratings/sponsors"
or what the public wants to see.

Aren't those two sides of the same coin?

 

[2jakes]

Aren't those two sides of the same coin?

No.
There are several coins in the same pocket !

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's actually a three-sided coin, or one of those fancy dice tabletop-gamers use. On one side are the producers, who demand to keep costs low in order to maximize profits. On the second side are the advertisers and networks, both demanding high ratings to maximize ad impressions and profits. And the public is merely the third side of the die, whose impulses are shaped by the pressures of the other two. No member of the public knew it wanted to watch trashy reality programming until the producers, advertisers, and sponsors set the die into motion.

 

[2jakes]

[QUOTE="LizzieMaine, post: 2041203, member: 1381”].... No member of the public knew it wanted to watch trashy reality programming until the producers, advertisers, and sponsors set the die into motion.[/QUOTE]

Up to a point. The public in general is very finicky.
After a while these “reality shows" will go the way of the dodo
until something else is put into motion.
Not saying it will be an improvement.
Who knows.

So far the gritty headlines still prevail,
even before our time.
When I first read about this fellow taking
a bite from an apple while his son later went
on to commit homicide.
Live at 6 & 10!

 

[tonyb]

Well, okay. But it isn't that a gun is being put to the viewer's head, compelling him or her to continue watching.

Murder fascinates. I'm susceptible to that fascination myself. I've read "In Cold Blood" half a dozen times or more, in part because it's one lesson in good writing after another lesson in good writing, and also because a murder story, especially one as "senseless" as what the killers did to the Clutter family, Is hard to resist.

I've found that about the only time I have no taste for a murder story is after the death of a person close to me. At times like that, I just hate death, especially a death that came at the deliberate hand of another person.

 

[2jakes]

Well, okay. But it isn't that a gun is being put to the viewer's head, compelling him or her to continue watching.

Murder fascinates. I'm susceptible to that fascination myself. I've read "In Cold Blood" half a dozen times or more, in part because it's one lesson in good writing after another lesson in good writing, and also because a murder story, especially one as "senseless" as what the killers did to the Clutter family, Is hard to resist.

I've found that about the only time I have no taste for a murder story is after the death of a person close to me. At times like that, I just hate death, especially a death that came at the deliberate hand of another person.

I have no taste for it period, whether in books or movies.

But the reality is: it’s impossible or hard to escape from it.

As much as I enjoyed “Snow White” as a kid, there was that element.

My main concern when I have to go cover a fatality or killing for the news ,
is hoping that it’s not a friend or family involved.

I have other means to enjoy life & probably because of my time spent in
‘nam or my career in the news, movies or books of that nature are not
something I look forward to.
But it looks like I’m a hypocrite because of the nature of my job where I
have to go cover negative stories most of the time.
That’s the way the dice came up.
Someone that knows better can explain this to me.
I will say that I’m doing fine in mind & spirit.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In all fairness, though, you haven't seen sleaze until you've spent some time reading Hearst or Patterson-McCormick tabloid dailies of the Era. A few days after Christmas in 1936, the entire front page of the New York Daily News was taken up by a screaming headline, KIDNAPPED BOY SLAIN, over a lurid photo of the naked, mutilated body of said child sprawled in a snowbank. Imagine having that greet you as you sat down at the breakfast table with your Wheatena and your raisin toast.

To the editors of these types of papers, the world was a carnival of sex, violent crime, cheap sentiment, jingoistic patriotism, Hollywood gossip, sports, horse racing and policy-betting tips, and comic strips. And these types of papers were by far the highest-circulated dailies of the Era.

 

[sheeplady]

I'm very sorry about your friend, dh66.

I think one way we can all personally make a difference is to try to refer to a crime by recognizing the victims of a crime rather than the perpetrators. I try to do this in my own life. It's not much, but it's a start. Also, if certain publications seem obsessed with the perpetrators, or excusing their behavior, they don't need my readership in the future (and ad revenue). I don't read them, I don't share those articles, and I discourage my friends and family from reading that news source.

It's not much. But I'm sick of articles that say, "what went wrong in this nice boy's or girls life?" when they murder people.

 

[2jakes]

In all fairness, though, you haven't seen sleaze until you've spent some time reading Hearst or Patterson-McCormick tabloid dailies of the Era. A few days after Christmas in 1936, the entire front page of the New York Daily News was taken up by a screaming headline, KIDNAPPED BOY SLAIN, over a lurid photo of the naked, mutilated body of said child sprawled in a snowbank. Imagine having that greet you as you sat down at the breakfast table with your Wheatena and your raisin toast.

My first assignment was covering a homicide.

There was a police rope barricade surrounding the crime scene.
A body had been buried in an abandoned field.

My reporter said, “get a close-up of the foot sticking out”.

I did.
The sheriff saw me, he came over & holding me by the collar in a
very quiet but dead tone said...
“Son, I realize you are new, but please don’t ever
let me catch you doing this again”

I never did.

Later at lunch, the realization that it was a human life that had been wasted
made me sick.
I have seen “sleaze” & not from tabloids or the comfort of the breakfast table.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Someday I'll tell you about the case I covered involving a teenage boy who beat his grandfather to death in the bathtub with a claw hammer to get money to buy pot. But not today.

My point was simply to point out that the Era was not a kinder, gentler time where people didn't wallow in exploitative filth, and when the press had the decency not to dish it up to them. Not by a long shot.

 

[Bamaboots]

Dale, I feel for you buddy. I remember when that crime occurred. As a long time LE officer I saw too much of it. My feelings towards the death penalty have evolved somewhat. Not because of deep moral beliefs or political views but because of the financial ramifications. You and I live in a state where the annual cost of housing and caring for an inmate exceeds the annual salary of an entry level prison guard. That cost increases dramatically increases when that inmate is on death row. The average time someone is on death row is around fifteen years. That's too damn long. Others may argue that it is not, that the appeals need that time to run their course. I'm not trying to open a debate, just expressing my opinion.

Most of the death row inmates have court appointed attorney's and in our state it is the only crime that no hourly limits are placed on the attorney's representing these scumbags. We're paying for their defense. My only personal feelings towards this POS or any others that commit such crimes is, I am glad they are gone and perhaps this brings some sort of relief and closure to the victims family.