The world continues to fall apart. The collapse of the Key bridge in Baltimore was — is — shocking. I had to get off Twitter once the For You stream sent me a series of posts suggesting this WASN’T AN ACCIDENT and was likely caused by TERRORISTS or JEWS or it was a CYBER ATTACK ON THE SHIP or some other rage-farming bullshit. Why is it so hard to hear those hoofbeats and think horses, not zebras. Or they know it’s horses, and they’re just exploiting the once-useful social network ruined by Elon Musk.
Worse was the local resident who carped to a reporter that now the harbor and port would be closed, and traffic would be terrible, and you can forget about same-day deliveries from Amazon, yes you can. I know Baltimore is a tough town, but please: A moment for fishing the bodies out of the harbor before we move on to petty annoyances.
I recall reading a story, years ago, in the Washington Post. The subject was maybe Fear or Phobias or something, but it included a short piece about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, also in Maryland. The bridge employs drivers for so-called “Timmies,” i.e. people with phobias about driving over such a long bridge, but nevertheless required to do so, usually for a job commute. The Timmies (for “timid,” duh) pull over in a designated area and the driver gets in. They can handle the drive however they want — calmly in the passenger seat, crouched under a blanket in the back, whatever. At the other end, the driver gets out and goes to the waiting area for a ride going the other way.
At the time it seemed amusing. But the last time I drove the Mackinac Bridge I did deep breathing all the way across and found myself oddly unsettled. I used to love it; I’d change lanes back and forth between the paved outside lane and the grated inside lanes (for icy conditions) just to hear the hum of the grating passing under my tires. But now I stick to the pavement and try not to think how far down the water is. Not a Timmie, but maybe Timmie-adjacent.
Anyway, look for a lot more Timmies crossing bridges in the coming days.
Collapse elsewhere: I try not to think too much about the British royal family, either, but man, Friday’s news about Princess Kate was a shocker. It certainly silenced the Too Online Encyclopedia Browns for a hot second, after which they roared back to life, blaming her cancer on the Covid vaccine, because rage-farming waits for no one. I was left mainly thinking, when do the bad guys get a hit like this? She’s a young mother with three young children; when does Tubby McBronzer get his fatal stroke? When does Roger Stone get hit by a truck? Where is karma when you need it, goddamnit.
Legal collapse: The Supreme Court heard arguments in the abortion-pill case today; here’s a heartfelt defense of IVF that lays out the stakes, i.e. babies for people desperate to have one vs. crazy people who believe eight cells in a Petri dish has full constitutional rights. Not crazy, bad people. Bad, bad people.
OK, then. Let’s let the investigations unfold and hope for the best. Later.
Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2024 at 12:55 pm
My fear of heights has increased geometrically over the past several years with bridges at the top of the list. My doctor prescribed a very low dose of generic Xanas, which helps immeasurably.
I’m sure Alex Jones already us spinning a conspiracy theory about the Key Bridge tragedy. And Lumpy will soon chime in that –somehiw– Joe Biden caused the collision. We’re a nation of imbeciles…and we’re getting dumber by the day.
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Mark P said on March 26, 2024 at 1:02 pm
There has been some SCOTUS tea leaf reading on the mifepristone case indicating the court might just say the plaintiffs lack standing and avoiding a ruling on the drug itself. I could see that happening; they can save the bombshell for later. I wonder if the radicalist justices ever think about their subversion of respect for the court and what the eventual outcome of that might be. After all, the only means of enforcement of a ruling is the willingness of the executive branch to abide by it. I think Biden is too conservative to ever tell the court to go screw itself, but I’m not sure everyone is.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2024 at 1:17 pm
The Verazzano Narrows bridge is pretty scary. I haven’t been there in a while but last time I was I had two kids in the car who thought it was cool so I kept the anxiety to myself.
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David C said on March 26, 2024 at 1:38 pm
I’ve always been afraid of tall bridges and buildings. I’m not afraid of flying which probably wins me a wobbly logic prize. My last few Mackinac Bridge crossings have been white knuckle affairs. I know a Yugo can jump the curb and take a dive over the edge but nobody has tested the upper limit. Until I find out for sure that an Outback can’t go over, and maybe even after that, I’ll still have to white knuckle my way across. Oh, and I sure as hell am never going to walk across it.
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Jeff Gill said on March 26, 2024 at 1:39 pm
Hat tip for the Encyclopedia Brown reference. Ah, the simple joys of the Scholastic Book Service order form (I was truly blessed; my mother always allowed me three per form, maybe four times a school year?), and the more intense satisfaction of the box showing up on the teacher’s desk, the opening up and sorting of who’s was what, and new paperbacks to take home that afternoon. It was enough for happiness then, and what can match it today?
I enjoyed the Mighty Mac crossing more before we took an evening cruise with Shepler’s one visit, and as the boat circled the pylons the captain told stories from her days as a rescue diver, hunting small cars that had hurtled over the edge or prying open truck cabs in the depths, pulling out bodies. Most of the rest of us on the open deck were looking uneasily at each other as the bullhorn narrative got increasingly graphic about what you could expect a week after immersion. It was enough to Timmify one.
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nancy said on March 26, 2024 at 2:06 pm
My lizard-brain fears are heights and falling, so bridges hit both.
The captain of the Shepler’s ferry must have been thinking of another bridge, because as far as anyone knows, the only vehicle to go off the Mackinac Bridge from the top floor, so to speak, was a Yugo, back when Yugos were a thing. And every Michigan journalist who was here at the time will tell you it was a suicide that no one actually ruled as such.
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nancy said on March 26, 2024 at 2:09 pm
Look, here’s a story about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Timmies. Gift link.
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Jason T. said on March 26, 2024 at 2:23 pm
This morning, a friend and I were writing fake headlines about the Baltimore bridge collapse — we’re both ex-newspaper people, it’s how we respond to horrible news.
He said, “Did the war in Ukraine cause this tragedy?”
I responded: “Woke caused the ship to hit the bridge. Details tonight on Fox”
He wrote back, “Source says bridge pillars were diversity hires”
I said, “Ship wouldn’t have lost power if it were coal-powered”
Well, by 1 o’clock today, all of those theories and more were being floated by various right-wing cranks on Fox Business, Newsmax and X. Maria Bartiromo links the collapse to the “wide open border.” I admit, we missed that angle.
Satire can no longer keep up with reality. Or, as Lily Tomlin said, “No matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up”
https://boingboing.net/2024/03/26/maga-dilirously-blames-baltimore-bridge-collapse-on-the-border-er-covid-er-ww3-video.html
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Suzanne said on March 26, 2024 at 2:55 pm
I hate going over the Chicago Skyway. Last time I had to drive it, years ago with both kids in the car, I breathed deeply, stayed in the middle lane, and went the speed limit and not a hair bit over. Yes, people were passing me and yes, I was getting dirty looks, but I didn’t care. It was all I could do to keep driving and try to tamp down my high anxiety. Last time we were driving through Chicago, I nearly gave my husband a coronary by abruptly changing lanes when I realized the one I was in would take us over the Skyway. Nope, nope, nope!
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Jeff Gill said on March 26, 2024 at 3:23 pm
I just did the Chicago Skyway last Dec. 21, and was surprised it did make me a little hinky, heading north more than coming back south over it.
Nancy, she did talk about a Yugo (now that you mention it); there was a plane crash that was within a mile or so of the straits she dove on, and there was a truck somewhere in the neighborhood that had gone into the water. The truck may not have been off the bridge — it was an uneasy string of recollections. There were some jumpers, too, if I recall correctly.
RFK, Jr. is on TV now, reminding America what spasmodic dysphonia sounds like in full spasm, and meandering enough to make Trump sound . . . no, both are incoherent at best. Waiting for him to get to the announcement already thoroughly leaked, about a no-name Veep who has deep pockets, or as the Church Lady would say: “isn’t that special?”
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tajalli said on March 26, 2024 at 3:44 pm
My unshared response to the previous post was that the main feature of the pandemic for me was the ramping up of general anxiety, like being in a drum with the Badger, Badger, Badger video running 24/7/365.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMxRFCKIqr0
We are probably experiencing a national-wide (global?) shift in the set point for our reticular activation system (RAS) located in the brain stem (below the radar of our logical thought processes) which governs alertness, such that we’re closer to summation (nerve discharge) and, hence, more alert, more anxious overall.
Result: what was once interesting or mildly stimulating has become anxiety-producing.
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nancy said on March 26, 2024 at 3:44 pm
RFKJr’s voice is terrible, and I can’t believe he won’t take treatment to mitigate it. (The treatment: Botox injected into one’s voice box, which sounds terrible, but helps a lot.) But then, he blames it on having once received a flu shot, so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.
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LAMary said on March 26, 2024 at 4:02 pm
I had a boss, or rather a boss’s wife, who had that same voice issue. For the first month I worked there I was discretely asking coworkers what was wrong with Sandy’s voice. Never got an answer, just told to not ask.
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basset said on March 26, 2024 at 4:12 pm
My voice just froze up and quit once, when I was working in tv news in Nashville. Some kind of dysphonia, don’t remember exactly what. Went to Vanderbilt for treatment and they said they were gonna put me with Johnny Cash’s voice doctor… wait a minute, not sure that’s what I’m looking for… but everything healed up just fine.
First time across the Mac was in the late 70s, in an old VW Beetle. Didn’t know the grates were there till I heard this awful noise and saw water waay down there under my lane. I about shit myself, made it over and back though.
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2024 at 4:18 pm
Suzanne…and all other Chicago travelers coming in from the east:
We exit on Indianapolis Blvd. from the toll road, the last exit before the Skyway. Follow the signs for Route 41 and you’ll eventually wind up on Lake Shore Drive…a far prettier entry into the city. With ZERO high bridges and no toll. You can reverse the trip if you’re traveling east and get the same result.
I walked the Brooklyn Bridge in 1999 and felt mild terror. There’s no way I could do it today without medication.
MAGAt scum Nancy Mace is blaming Baltimore on Biden’s infrastructure program. Fucking mole people.
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2024 at 4:19 pm
Diane Rehm had a successful career despite spasmodic dysphonia, taking breaks for Botox treatments. Even so, listening to her voice was difficult.
I’m one of millions of women who took mifepristone to avoid hemorraging. I’ll spare y’all the bloody details excpet to say both my mother and grandmother experienced it too, and they needed hospitalization and surgery with lengthy recovery times. I’m so grateful to have avoided that kind of trauma.
Probably everyone here already knows it, but X monetarily rewards those who are retweeted and reposted. I just read about it this morning. So the more outrageous, the more they profit.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2024 at 4:30 pm
I had to drive over the Mac bridge when I was driving with my father and sister to the U.P. It just so happened that it was my turn to drive and I was unbelievably terrified, I’m not sure how I kept myself from passing out but of course that would have made it much much worse. And ditto about the Chicago Skyway, I only drove on that once and will never ever do it again.
I heard RFK jr speak at a design conference, at that time I only knew about spasmodic dysphonia because I listened to Diane Rehm on NPR from time to time. And now I have a cousin who has it. And by the way the only reason RFK jr spoke at that conference was because his wife at the time was an architect, she has since killed herself and he has another wife now. That and his family owned the Merchandise Mart in Chicago where the design conference was held. Neither of those reasons made him an expert about design and his speech made that absolutely obvious, I remember it being all over the map.
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2024 at 4:45 pm
RFK Jr.’s current wife is Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She has lousy taste in men…onscreen and off.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2024 at 5:00 pm
My reaction was, at least this isn’t another example of aging and failing infrastructure. I don’t think there’s any way to design and build a bridge that withstand a collision with a ship that massive. Maybe requiring tugs is the only way to prevent this.
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alex said on March 26, 2024 at 5:06 pm
Jeff B., I used to take the Indianapolis Blvd. exit and I loved driving up through the old south shore. There were all kinds of interesting landmarks on that route. And it’s one of the few places where you get to see homes that were built before the streets were raised to accommodate sewers and utilities.
Not afraid of the Skyway, though, and love using it now that it has automated tolls.
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Jeff Gill said on March 26, 2024 at 5:09 pm
I had Botox injections into my vocal cords twice, and yes, it’s exactly as awful as it sounds (worse, even); my spasmodic dysphonia got worse, which I was helpfully told repeatedly “is only true for about 10% of all patients.” Yes, thank you, I’m just lucky!
With a good speech therapist I can mostly not sound like RFK, Jr. or Diane Rehm (whose book helped me personally deal with what happened), but there are times, especially with stress and not staying focused, where it all goes to heck and you sound strangled and horrid. The one place where I will claim fellow feeling with the imbecile is that I hear him lapse into and out of it, and I get it. You either give up and find a way to stop having to talk to people, or you figure out how to work past it. I suspect he has NOT done the hard work to learn and practice the vocal skills it takes to mitigate spasmodic dysphonia without Botox (whether he ever tried it or if he’s with me in the lucky 10%).
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Julie Robinson said on March 26, 2024 at 5:10 pm
We drove another bridge of terror between Savanna, Illinois, and Sabula, Iowa, several times a year to visit family. It was two narrow lanes with no median or shoulders, and was long, because the Mississippi is wide. To make it worse, on holidays like Christmas, it also had the only restroom open along the way, and of course everything was stainless steel and unheated.
It was replaced and imploded several years ago, but I haven’t been on the new bridge.
I never liked the Skyway either but we could almost always take alternate routess. Usually we were headed out to the far suburbs and used the tri-state, before they built I-394.
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FDChief said on March 26, 2024 at 5:19 pm
As a former geotechnical firm staffer…in a word; no. The mass of a fully-laden container ship even at 4 knots or so will exceed the lateral strength of any bridge bent in existence. We’re talking probably millions of foot-pounds. It’s not a bridge design flaw.
My favorite take so far is a Xhitter troll who suggested that the shipowner’s DEI initiative means that the anti-white prejudice involved in crew selection caused the accident. Sure, pal. Sure.
Mind you, I’ve read some pretty harrowing accounts of how loose inspections, skimping on maintenance, and the laxity of flags of convenience have produced some pretty sketchy incidents. Shorthanded crews, poorly trained and overworked…like everything else in our financialized economy, as we learned during COVID as the “supply chains” broke down, the redundancy to prevent these failures is gone.
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kayak woman said on March 26, 2024 at 5:49 pm
The first time I crossed the Mackinac Bridge was the night it opened. I have a little card (given to us by the toll worker and filled out by my mother) to “certify” that event. I also have vague memories of ferry crossings. Living in the yooperland we crossed frequently to visit my Detroit grandparents and others.
Nowadays we cross frequently enough that we have “transponders” (not sure if that’s the right word) embedded in our windshields so we don’t have to stop at the toll booth.
If this link works, some FAQs from the Mackinac Bridge Authority about how many vehicles (two, the second a suicide, not the Yugo) have gone over the side: https://www.mackinacbridge.org/ufaqs/can-vehicles-blow-off-the-bridge-during-high-wind/ My dad called me from our beach on L. Superior the night the Yugo went over (before it went over) to demonstrate that the wind was SCREAMING.
We once drove over the Sunshine Skyway after the accident and while they were building the new bridge. It was terrifying.
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David C said on March 26, 2024 at 6:14 pm
I hate this bridge over Green Bay harbor. Sometimes bridges collapse, or partially collapse, due to good old fashioned corrosion. Rust never sleeps. I forgot about the Mackinac Bridge suicide until you mentioned it kayak woman. It was an SUV, so maybe an Outback can go over the edge. I guess I’ll have to keep white knuckling over it. My brother drives truck and sometimes has to make a delivery to Sault Ste. Marie. He hates it too.
https://archive.jsonline.com/news/traffic/no-new-sagging-on-leo-frigo-bridge-on-i-43-in-green-bay-dot-says-b99112046z1-226307681.html/
https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/25/bridge-death-ruled-a-suicide/
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kayak woman said on March 26, 2024 at 6:30 pm
David C, we owned an Outback for a long time and I drive a Crosstrek now. They are fine on the bridge. That said, I didn’t completely own up that as I have grown older I am a little more timid about crossing than I used to be. This was somewhat pandemic related and I am much better as I have stuffed that generalized anxiety into a corner where it belongs. But still. As a “kid”, I crossed in snowstorms and whatever — in a crappy old Ford Pinto wagon no less 🙂 Cheers to your brother for trucking up there. He is appreciated!
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Sherri said on March 26, 2024 at 6:56 pm
The only bridges that have ever bothered me are very old narrow bridges. Well, that’s not completely true. The old floating bridge across Lake Washington on Highway 520 was not fun on windy days, because water from the lake would blow up on you. If the wind got too high, they would close the bridge. The new bridge is still a floating bridge, but is higher above the water so you don’t get water splashed on you.
The 520 bridge is the world’s longest floating bridge. The lake is too deep and the lake bed too soft for a conventional bridge.
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Diane said on March 26, 2024 at 7:56 pm
The Key bridge opened when I was either a freshman or sophomore in college. It is a beautiful bridge in an industrial area and was a godsend for my southeast of Baltimore community. I have driven over that bridge countless times-when I would come home from college in D.C., daily when commuting home from law school in downtown Baltimore and innumerable other times.
When I saw the video and pictures I immediately recognized the bridge. Let me tell you, seeing of these things when in is a place you know well is very different than seeing something from somewhere you don’t actually know. It is quite the gut punch, who knew!?
Anyway, even though it has been years since I have driven over that bridge, I am a bit freaked out.
Trivia: The bridge got its name because it goes over the area where Francis Scott Key’s boat is thought to have been when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2024 at 7:56 pm
I had to drive over the Sunshine Skyway bridge between Tampa and St. Pete once too, funny how I’d forgotten that, it must have been before the collapse but I don’t have a clear memory of when it was, maybe I blocked the memory for my sanity.
There’s a scary bridge in Taos, NM, it’s completely flat but it goes over the Rio Grande Gorge which is waaayyyy down there. There are periodic suicides and in fact a former neighbor of LB’s in Santa Fe, a young woman with lots of issues jumped to her death (there’s no other outcome) a few years ago. The city of Taos has grappled with all kinds of possible physical barriers to stop the jumpers. Reclaiming the bodies from the gorge is a horrendously dangerous task for the poor folks who have to do that.
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Dorothy said on March 26, 2024 at 9:17 pm
My daughter and I drove the Key Bridge in October last year – we left the DC area headed for Poughkeepsie to go to the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival. She did all the driving so I wasn’t sure if that was part of our trip. She confirmed it this morning when she texted me that fact.
Growing up in Pittsburgh you went over bridges many times in a month, countless times in a year. If you wanted to go anywhere you had to go over a bridge. I’m not crazy about them but what can you do? Three rivers slice up that area pretty well. I’ve been on both the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the Sunshine Skyway several times. Did not enjoy those experiences one bit.
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susan said on March 26, 2024 at 10:11 pm
The old Cooper River Bridge between Charleston and Mt Pleasant, SC… I would NOT drive over that one, and cowered as a passenger. It had a steep climb at either end, which I had never seen in a bridge before.
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Mark P said on March 26, 2024 at 11:12 pm
The New River Gorge bridge is quite a ride. It’s waaaay up there. You can drive down a narrow, twisting single-lane road to the river far below, where there is an old wooden-decked bridge with a good view of the new bridge. They offer guided tours inside the new bridge structure, which ought to fulfill anyone’s fear of heights.
Long ago when I was just a small boy we visited relatives in Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, for our vacations. There was a high viaduct with a grated deck over the Cuyahoga River. I was way too young to drive. It was strange to hear the tires on the grating, since we don’t have bridges with gratings in Georgia. My mother worked in downtown Akron when she was young. One winter evening after work all the buses were full, so she had to walk home to Cuyahoga Falls across the viaduct, with high winds whipping around her. it has been close to 60 years since I was up there, so I have no idea whether the bridge is still there, or even a really good idea of where it was.
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Brandon said on March 27, 2024 at 1:58 am
If P. Diddy is convicted of all the charges, he could be in jail for decades.
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David C said on March 27, 2024 at 5:50 am
Don’t get happy, but there’s something the polls aren’t catching and it’s big. It is a swing district Trump carried it 49-48. But the woman who won this special election by a 62-37 margin lost in the last election 52-45.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/26/2231775/-Alabama-Democrat-flips-GOP-seat-after-campaigning-against-threats-to-IVF?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_1&pm_medium=web
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Dexter Friend said on March 27, 2024 at 7:57 am
I love tall bridges, especially that old Cooper River bridge heading over to Mount Pleasant and Isle of Palms…we went to Charleston about 22 times over the years. The Yugo plunged 221, it was first reported, later changed to 170 feet, killing Pluhar the driver, and the Yugo was not blown off, she lost control of the car for whatever reason. Big Mac Bridge has D.A.P., driver assistance program drivers. The new Charleston bridge is a boring flat thing. No fun.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a real hoot…I once got stuck on it for maybe 15 minutes, such a great view. The old Tappan Zee, also great, and the new one just boring. The Verrazano Narrows is another favorite, but goddam! The toll is ridick.
But fuck tunnels. I have had panic attacks when those strobe lights light the way…I think I am over it now, but 30 years ago, change drivers, pull my jacket over my head and sing old church hymns I learned when I was a tiny boy.
Trump’s favorite book is now available for $60, with the US Constitution included, endorsed by That Great American Lee Greenwood. Yes, The King James Version of The Holy Bible, sold to pay legal costs for a case involving a politician schtupping Stormy Daniels as his wife was caring for a baby.
God Bless The USA Bible. “I have many, many Bibles in my home!” Too much? Oh, it’s real alright. Just in time for Easter. Shipping not included, doncha know.
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Suzanne said on March 27, 2024 at 7:59 am
Sharing this from a Facebook post of a guy who was in my high school class:
A two hundred thousand ton ship ( 400 million pounds) going 10 mph loses power making it unable make evasive moves… It hits a bridge pier moving while randomly in a river current and creases one of the bridge pier legs. The pier (What the media calls columns) which is under compression then looses its rigidity and has no redundancy to keep it strong enough to avert an immediate collapse. The top chord which is also under compression gives way simultaneously. The bottom chord is in tension and holds its shape slightly longer until it shears, mostly because of the floor beams and diaphragms that make it an interlocked grid under the bridge deck.
This failure has nothing to do with bridge inspections, poor designs, dynamite conspiracies, or intentional actions. The small flame ups at the outside edges at impact were likely the high voltage lines that power the bridge lighting and support structures being severed and shorting out on grounded steel beem surfaces. There are already incredibly stupid theories on social media that they were blasts of explosives…Which of course ignores the root cause completely which was impact into the piers.
It’s simple science and physics working exact the way it should after an accident.
Most bridges of this size have fender systems and dolphins ( groups of fastened together angled columns…called bents) protecting the piers from moderate impacts. This ship would not have created a moderate impact, it would be a catastrophic impact, not something moderate like the Lady Baltimore would have. Unfortunately the weights involved here make the collapse mathematically certain after any of the constituent load bearing members of one of the piers holding up the span are creased.
They can investigate till kingdom come and the result would be the same.
You can prove this at your kitchen table.
Straighten out a paper clip and than squeeze both ends towards each other …it deforms and has no strength to resist compression.
This bridge stuff used to be my job many years ago and the physics never change.
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Mark P said on March 27, 2024 at 9:45 am
Suzanne, the physics of the bridge is the same as the physics of everyday objects. A home handyman with any experience would have seen failures like that and would (should) have developed an intuitive sense of how things work. But I guess there are a lot of people for whom the world is a mysterious place beyond understanding.
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Heather said on March 27, 2024 at 10:09 am
These days I get anxious when I’m on the el downtown and we go over the Chicago River. I remember in the novel “Housekeeping” by Marilynn Robinson there is a reference to a disaster in which a train fell off a bridge over a river, and the narrator thinks of all of the train cars under the water. It creeped me out and still does. I don’t get anxious going over bridges in a car generally, because there’s a better chance of escaping if something does happen.
I saw the same DEI comments about United’s recent woes with doors falling off planes mid-flight and so on. It surely couldn’t be the corporate greed of the white men in charge, oh no!
My flight this weekend is on a 737…I’m just hoping the recent scrutiny means they’re being especially cognizant of safety issues.
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Jeff Borden said on March 27, 2024 at 10:22 am
It’s nice to know we can find solace in the $60 bibles Lumpy is hawking. They’re sure to become a treasured item in millions of MAGAt homes.
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Little Bird said on March 27, 2024 at 11:15 am
Full blown Timmie here. I absolutely hate bridges. The ones that are really high up from whatever they span completely mess me up. The one over the Taos gorge is the only one that I have to deal with for the most part, and I have to close my eyes to go over it. Good thing I don’t drive. Not only did my once neighbor jump but I know a few people in my neck of the woods who knew personally someone who jumped as well. I guess it’s just one of the very few places where one could be sure of a successful suicide.
Heights and falling are high on my list of things that I am afraid of. Flying is also not my favorite thing. Sometimes I require diazepam for long flights.
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basset said on March 27, 2024 at 11:35 am
And sometimes when a bridge gives way, we get a little warning… or not…
https://www.wboy.com/only-on-wboy-com/paranormal-w-va/the-legend-of-mothman-paranormal-w-va/
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Sherri said on March 27, 2024 at 11:59 am
Anybody who thinks that the bridge pier failed because of anything other than a really massive object hitting it has never taken a high school physics class.
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Jeff Borden said on March 27, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Well, well we’ll.
A Democratic woman won a special election in Alablammy by 30 POINTS after running against the anti-IVF zealots. If women turn out in force this fall, they are going to crush the QOP with their righteous anger.
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Jakash said on March 27, 2024 at 1:17 pm
A lot on the table here today. While I’m not a fan of paying the extortionate toll for the privilege, I love going over the Chicago Skyway. If it were feasible, I’d love to stop at the top and just look around for 20 minutes, or so. My wife, however, does not appreciate the amazing view. She’s not wild about heights to begin with and, for some reason, finds it disconcerting when I’m craning my neck to see as much as I can while driving 60 miles an hour. Luckily, this takes place at times when (see toll reference) the traffic is very light. AITA? Would that this were the only charge against me…
tajalli @ 11: “Result: what was once interesting or mildly stimulating has become anxiety-producing.” While heights have not been an issue for me (knock on wood), I no longer enjoy watching exciting sporting events that I have a rooting interest in, which I used to. The anxiety triggered by the action is just too similar to the other everyday types of anxiety for me to want to put myself through it.
Jeff B. @ 15: In my experience of having tried that and other alternatives numerous times, the key word in your comment about Route 41 would be “eventually.” The vast majority of times, we take 80/94, (the Borman, or whatever), but the crazy traffic on there and on the Dan Ryan are actually more nerve-wracking than any bridge I can think of. Not to be obnoxious, but I loved walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, running across the Golden Gate Bridge, and running across the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge to start the New York Marathon. My regret was that we inadvertently were in the group on the lower deck in N.Y. rather than on top, as I’d have much preferred. Mackinac Bridge, the bridges connecting the Florida Keys, enjoyed them all.
Mark P. @ 37: While I accept expert opinion and am not a conspiracy nut or anything, I’d have to admit that I’m someone “for whom the world is a mysterious place beyond understanding.” I often think that if it were up to me and folks like me, we’d still be living in caves, if not trees!
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Sherri said on March 27, 2024 at 3:01 pm
A disturbing incident happened in the women’s basketball tournament over the weekend. The University of Utah women’s basketball made the tournament, and was sent to Gonzaga for the first and second round. There was also a huge volleyball tournament in Spokane that weekend, so the NCAA put Utah in a hotel in Coeur d’Alene, ID, about 30 miles away from Spokane.
While walking from their hotel to dinner, the team was accosted by men in a pickup truck yelling racist slurs, including the n-word. The same thing happened on their walk back to the hotel after dinner.
The Utah basketball team has a handful of black and brown players, but is mostly white, as is the staff. They reported the incident to police and the NCAA, who found them accommodations in Spokane.
The Utah coach didn’t make any of this public until the team had finished their games. The CdA mayor held a press conference to apologize, but the press conference was disrupted by Dave Reilly, one of the organizers of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/mar/26/racial-harassment-in-coeur-dalene-mars-utahs-women/
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Jeff Borden said on March 27, 2024 at 3:27 pm
Didn’t Esquire magazine profile Coeur d’Alene many years ago as the whitest city in ‘Murica? I’m sure there are many lovely people in Idaho, but the state is a beacon to far right enclaves, Nazis, racists and anti-government types. The experience of the Utah players isn’t particularly surprising.
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David C said on March 27, 2024 at 3:29 pm
Sheri @ 42. I was in a high school graduating class of 110 and we had 15 take physics. I hope other schools are better than good old Caledonia High. Physics was my favorite class. Dropping stuff and math combined. What is better than that.
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LAMary said on March 27, 2024 at 3:38 pm
I’ve been to Coure d’Alene a couple of times years ago. It’s very white. Aggressively white. The lake is beautiful.
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Sherri said on March 27, 2024 at 5:35 pm
Idaho has lost over 20% of its Ob/gyn doctors since they passed their abortion ban.
The governor of Idaho had a statement on his Twitter feed condemning the racism, right after a post bragging about signing a bill prohibiting DEI statements statewide.
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David C said on March 27, 2024 at 6:08 pm
So Joe Lieberman croaked. I wish I could say I felt bad.
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Dave said on March 27, 2024 at 7:20 pm
I have to confess that the only bridge that ever made me nervous was the old Cooper River Bridge, when my new bride and I drove across it, not even knowing it was coming up, in 1978. Narrow, scary, only went across it once.
We’ve been on several of the other bridges mentioned over the years and the only one that I ever thought, what could happen, was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which had its own collapse in 1980, due to a ship accident.
I believe I’ve said it before but I met a man who was from Point Pleasant, WV. I asked him what he knew about the Mothman and he scoffed. He did tell me, however, that his mother was a teenage when the bridge collapsed and could see the bridge from her home. She was looking out the window, got up for a few minutes and when she sat back down, the bridge was gone. It was one of those I can’t be seeing what I’m seeing moments.
I see that the Orange Blob has already made comments about the judge’s daughter, only one day after being placed under a gag order. He truly believes that laws in no way apply to him.
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Dorothy said on March 27, 2024 at 9:00 pm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2024/03/27/bridge-fears-baltimore-collapse/
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Dexter Friend said on March 28, 2024 at 1:24 am
“Today the term is used as a compliment to refer to any loyal Democrat regardless of the region of the country they are from.”
This is in reference to Yellow Dog Democrats, which my dad was always calling himself a proud member of…straight ticket Democratic ballot, anything to keep the goddam Republicans away. And so, in my twilight years, I am going to leave having always voted in every election, and never having voted for any Republican. So yeah, Joe Lieberman fucked my head up, man. I did not understand that man, but I voted for Al-Joe in 2000.
Finally, a Coens film escaped a paywall…I am watching “Miller’s Crossing”, … “…and I am tired of getting the high hat!”
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Brandon said on March 28, 2024 at 2:07 am
Rolling Stone: “Where in the World is Sean Combs?”
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Jeff Borden said on March 28, 2024 at 11:30 am
Off topic, but after watching “Anatomy of a Fall,” I wonder if German actress Sandra Huller wasn’t robbed at the Academy Awards. The film is 155 minutes long, but her work is so compelling I never glanced at the clock.Now, I have to see her in “Zone of Interest.” She’s really something.
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Jakash said on March 28, 2024 at 11:56 am
From the nn.c Wayback Machine over to the right comes this clip of VOCES8 singing Lux Aeterna that Deborah posted in 2018. It’s six years later and the vocal ensemble seems to be going strong. We’ve listened to them a fair amount since then, but I believe this was our introduction, so thanks, Deborah!
I wouldn’t have remembered that this was where we first became aware of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=IwdeqVmXlHk
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