• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 19 (2024)

Status
Not open for further replies.
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.
 
Today is the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of France.

What's that you say? It was June 6th - Operation Overlord?

Of course you are correct, but so am I. Operation Dragoon began 80 years ago today in the south of France. My father was there, already an "old hand" combat veteran at the ripe old age of 19.

For those of you that like history: Operation Dragoon
 
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.
You've forever changed my expectation of mints. Thanks for that.
 
The bus left my middle son at the stop this morning. I was behind the bus on my way to work and saw the whole thing unfold. If the driver was even remotely aware of their surroundings, they would have seen him running to the bus from the side. His lunch box was on the sidewalk with the rest of the kids.

The school contacted the bus vendor to raise hell even before I had a chance to call anyone.
That's horrible. Some of similar stories make me reconsider the idea of putting gps trackers on kids riding the bus.

The town next door apparently has a really tough time keeping drivers. I have friends who get a text a couple of times a month between 5-6 am letting them know their kids route is canceled for the day and to please make other accommodations.
 
I was shopping at Meijer, where I saw Yellow Watermelon.

So have you seen that or eaten it?
 
The bus left my middle son at the stop this morning. I was behind the bus on my way to work and saw the whole thing unfold. If the driver was even remotely aware of their surroundings, they would have seen him running to the bus from the side. His lunch box was on the sidewalk with the rest of the kids.

The school contacted the bus vendor to raise hell even before I had a chance to call anyone.
Private bus?
 
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.
But, how do they taste? That is the real test.
 
TIL that the Ghostbusters theme song by Ray Parker, Jr. is basically a ripoff of Huey Lewis and the News "I Want a New Drug."



Well, I listened and don't think the songs are all that similar. Music is not my speciality, though.
 
That's horrible. Some of similar stories make me reconsider the idea of putting gps trackers on kids riding the bus.

The town next door apparently has a really tough time keeping drivers. I have friends who get a text a couple of times a month between 5-6 am letting them know their kids route is canceled for the day and to please make other accommodations.
When I was in school, the drivers told the parents and kids they don't wait. Bus leaves at "x" time, you will be at the stop at least two minutes before then. If you show up at or after that time, tough luck. However, if the bus got to the stop early, it would wait until the scheduled departure time to leave.

By the time I was in eighth grade, I was often intentionally miss the afternoon bus home because I liked to walk. (It was only about 2 1/2 miles, or less than an hour.)

Jim
 
It's always funny to work with someone at a job that I had worked with at a previous job. The new "kid" they hired in Public Works used to work with me in bell/valet at a major hotel casino in town years ago. Oddly, just the other day, I came across my old "Valet Supervisor" name tag from that hotel/casino.

We picked up right where we left off, conversation wise.

Jim
 
The 80's had some great songs and music videos, but for every gem there were 50 of these

The Worst Freakin' Songs of the '80s, Ranked

Readers’ Poll: The 10 Worst Songs of the 1980s
 
Respect Yourself by Bruce Willis is both #3 and #23 on that first list. Thankfully I am unfamiliar with the vast majority of those songs.

That's not as true in the second list; I know most of them, and actually I like a lot of them. Singling out Lady In Read by Chris de Bergh as particularly bad makes me think they author is a 13-year-old who's never kissed a girl.

Out of that second list, only Mickey and possibly Rock Me Amadeus are truly awful. The rest I wouldn't turn the station if they came on. I used to put We Built This City on that list too but after hearing the backstory I'm almost okay with it. Apparently Starship was supposed to play an outdoor concert in a San Francisco park and city leaders denied it because they said they city was built more refined music, like classical (if I'm remembering the story correctly) so they sang the song as kind of an FU to San Fran.
 
The Worst Freakin' Songs of the '80s, Ranked

Readers’ Poll: The 10 Worst Songs of the 1980s

that was fun voting in the ranker one
 
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.

How fitting of you to bless that urinal mint with a baptism, especially considering your birthing analogy.
 
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.
This topic makes me think of @BearUpNorth ...
 
There is a lot going on in the world today, but of particular note: the new urinal mints in the bathroom here at my city hall are the best smelling thing I've ever encountered. It's like the sweetest melon that ever lived fell in love with the sparkliest, bi-fruited lemon/orange and their baby is now acting urinal mint in my bathroom. Born of their love, blessing my experience.
1723815425075.png
 
One album that has aged like fine wine is Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair.


The thing about this one - like so many others from the past - is that it's a true album. There was thought put into the order of the songs, they work together as a whole. And I mean, seriously, bands don't do that enough anymore. They sure used to. I bought the album (on vinyl, of course) when it first came out at my local Pegasus Records with money I borrowed from my older sister. Kids like music now, a lot, and that's cool because their music tastes can be very eclectic and pretty broad - but in the 70s and 80s, music was all we fucking had. It was all we had.
 
Most of the songs on the list were just very 80s. They're good for their time. There were a lot of songs on there that I think were really popular because they had good music videos.

I will say that I loved the Milli Vanilli tape. I listened to it so much as 10 year old.
 
There was a concert downtown this week with a (really good) Eagles tribute band. I leaned over to Mrs. P & said 'do you realize this music is 50 years old.' She said "damn we're getting old.'
 
I just watched somebody sign a document. I thought their fingers were trying to strangle the poor pen. My hand would get cramped in mere seconds if I did what they were doing.

Belated thanks to whomever taught me to hold a pen/pencil as a delicate instrument...
 
Readers’ Poll: The 10 Worst Songs of the 1980s
I will list the RS rankings as the other link is a fluctuating as readers vote. As metal/rock listener primarily, these songs, minus Europe, are not in my regular listening rotation. Do I change the station (I have several presets of rock, metal, and pop on SXM and Spotify) when a song on this list come on? Usually not. I don't think any of these songs are terrible. The are all a product of the 80s formulation. I do question why Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" is not #1, however.

1. Starship – ‘We Built This City’
2. Europe – ‘The Final Countdown’
3. Chris de Burgh – ‘Lady In Red’
4. Wham! – ‘Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)’
5. Men Without Hats – ‘The Safety Dance’
6. Falco – ‘Rock Me Amadeus’
7. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’
8. Toni Basil – ‘Mickey’
9. Taco – ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz’
10. Rick Astley – ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’
 
I just watched somebody sign a document. I thought their fingers were trying to strangle the poor pen. My hand would get cramped in mere seconds if I did what they were doing.

Belated thanks to whomever taught me to hold a pen/pencil as a delicate instrument...
They may have been left handed. We are notorious about strangling our pens and pencils. Hand cramps are a thing for us. My signature is notoriously bad. It gets back to they didn't really know how to teach lefties how to write.
 
I will list the RS rankings as the other link is a fluctuating as readers vote. As metal/rock listener primarily, these songs, minus Europe, are not in my regular listening rotation. Do I change the station (I have several presets of rock, metal, and pop on SXM and Spotify) when a song on this list come on? Usually not. I don't think any of these songs are terrible. The are all a product of the 80s formulation. I do question why Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" is not #1, however.

1. Starship – ‘We Built This City’
2. Europe – ‘The Final Countdown’
3. Chris de Burgh – ‘Lady In Red’
4. Wham! – ‘Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)’
5. Men Without Hats – ‘The Safety Dance’
6. Falco – ‘Rock Me Amadeus’
7. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’
8. Toni Basil – ‘Mickey’
9. Taco – ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz’
10. Rick Astley – ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’
I agree with We built this City, Safety Dance, Wake Me Up, Don't Worry, Putting on the Ritz. Chris actually had some pretty good songs. He has album that is good. It's a concept album that's pretty solid all the way through. It's also anti war..
 
Most of the songs on the list were just very 80s. They're good for their time. There were a lot of songs on there that I think were really popular because they had good music videos.

I will say that I loved the Milli Vanilli tape. I listened to it so much as 10 year old.

One of my older sisters was about 13 or 14 when Milli Vanilli were found to be lip synching. She cried.


I will list the RS rankings as the other link is a fluctuating as readers vote. As metal/rock listener primarily, these songs, minus Europe, are not in my regular listening rotation. Do I change the station (I have several presets of rock, metal, and pop on SXM and Spotify) when a song on this list come on? Usually not. I don't think any of these songs are terrible. The are all a product of the 80s formulation. I do question why Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" is not #1, however.

1. Starship – ‘We Built This City’
2. Europe – ‘The Final Countdown’
3. Chris de Burgh – ‘Lady In Red’
4. Wham! – ‘Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)’
5. Men Without Hats – ‘The Safety Dance’
6. Falco – ‘Rock Me Amadeus’
7. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’
8. Toni Basil – ‘Mickey’
9. Taco – ‘Puttin’ On The Ritz’
10. Rick Astley – ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’

That Starship song definitely deserves its top spot. I still enjoy some of those other songs, including Wham! Love me some Wham! From the rest of those, Lady in Red and Don't Worry be Happy are probably the only ones I would change the radio station to get away from immediately. I just remember Lady in Red being played all. the. time. the summer it came out (looking it up now, I was 7) and even back then I hated it. It's that annoying type of soft rock that just never appealed to me. The Bobby McFerrin song was sort of fun at the time but was only fun in small doses. Hearing it once every two or three years is enough now. FWIW though, I can still recall the video, which featured Robin Williams, for that one.

 
I agree with We built this City, Safety Dance, Wake Me Up, Don't Worry, Putting on the Ritz. Chris actually had some pretty good songs. He has album that is good. It's a concept album that's pretty solid all the way through. It's also anti war..
Fun fact: "We Built This City" was actually widely shunned as a conspiracy by the big media companies, since the whole point of the song was to protest against the corporate culture and playlists that had begun to infect FM radio, ruining DJs' independence. It's not that the song itself is all that bad--it's the message of the song that corporate didn't like.

Jim
 
Last edited:
They may have been left handed. We are notorious about strangling our pens and pencils. Hand cramps are a thing for us. My signature is notoriously bad. It gets back to they didn't really know how to teach lefties how to write.
That is because satan was controlling your left hand. ;) I'm opposite, my signature is great but my other writing, which is print, has detriorated over the years since so much typing is done. I'm in my 50s so I was taught cursive but quit using it once I was not required - junior high? I can still write cursive but don't. However, when I studied Russian in high school and college, I would write in cursive and not print.
 
I agree with We built this City, Safety Dance, Wake Me Up, Don't Worry, Putting on the Ritz. Chris actually had some pretty good songs. He has album that is good. It's a concept album that's pretty solid all the way through. It's also anti war..
When I was a prep football referee, at one of the schools, the intro song between coin toss and kickoff was "Welcome to the Jungle." Always got me fired up--love that song!

Jim
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top