MTA: hipster haters?

Sutherland Avenue closed between the A41 Bilston Road junction and the Hickman Avenue junction in Wolverhampton, because of bridge maintenance work.
posted by srboisvert at 7:25 AM on November 1, 2005

The Pretoria Lift Bridge over the canal in Ottawa was closed for 45min to an hour last night for no apparent reason.
posted by leftoverboy at 7:27 AM on November 1, 2005

In my town there are slight road delays due to garbage collection today.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:28 AM on November 1, 2005

Sorry, reading this and having no idea about NYC, I assumed "the L train" was a euphemism for something illicit.
The truth is rather more prosaic
posted by NinjaPirate at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2005

Uh, the L has been doing this for years now. And, yeah, it sucks. But not as much as moving from North Brooklyn would suck. Or living in the suburbs. Or the Bronx. Or Staten Island.
posted by dame at 7:29 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh, and sometimes they shut the trolleys down before the Reservoir stop on the weekends and run buses along the route. It's really inconvenient and I wish they'd put signs up before you get to Reservoir so you'd have the option of deciding whether or not you really want to go into Boston that day.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:31 AM on November 1, 2005

There are delays on the Glasgow Central-Paisley Canal line due to a points failure.
posted by bonaldi at 7:31 AM on November 1, 2005

1) Not permanently.
2) Not even for every weekend - TFA says "for at least seven weekends in the first half on the new year"
3) It's still going to be possible to get to Brklyn via the L line, just harder - "The L line will still run in two separate segments in Manhattan and Brooklyn".
4) dame: "Uh, the L has been doing this for years now." Yeah, now that I think of it, I had to do a switcheroo the last time I was visiting Brooklyn on the L-line. This isn't even NewsFilter. It's OldsFilter.
posted by Plutor at 7:33 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh, oh! Once I was in Montreal on the subway and the train seemed to skip a scheduled stop. It went from one stop to another but the map said that there was a stop in between but the train never stopped at it. I didn't care about it very much because I didn't want to get off at the missed stop.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:34 AM on November 1, 2005

Makes me glad I live in Astoria! I did want to move to Brooklyn at first (from evil Long Island - no I'm not originally from there, just was there to go to school), but after seeing what kind of space I could afford there, Queens was the logical next choice. Much better space for the $$. I have been pleasantly surprised by many things in Astoria, I'm happy to say. And no problematic L train to have to rely on! Yes, yes, the N/W can be crappy at times, but at least it puts me into Midtown right away. 12 minutes to Lex/59th! Sweet.
posted by doublehelix at 7:39 AM on November 1, 2005

Actually, Plutor, the L does many fun things. Often it turns into a shuttle-bus at Lorimer, either all weekend or after 11:30. I call the latter my MTA curfew. Sometimes it doesn't run at all between Eighth Avenue and Broadway Junction. This coming weekend, it will turn into a shuttle bus between Boadway Junction and Rockaway Parkway. It's annoying but the J isn't that hard to get to.

Although, you know those signs that have a little digging man and say "You'll be seeing a lot of this in future as we make repairs for the next hundred years"? I definitely take that as a threat. In fact, I'm planning on voting against the transportation bond measure so that they'll leave me alone.

I also really enjoyed it when this sign first appeared in 2003. I was like, "Oh, yay, awesome." And now they're a year behind. So I guess they'll change the sign to say 2006.
posted by dame at 7:39 AM on November 1, 2005

On Sunday, the Steel Bridge was closed to MAX service. Trains were replaced by shuttle buses.

HTH.
posted by dersins at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

Jesus if this isn't the lamest post ever. Hey, guess what..the Cortland St station is closed till February. If I had known in September that that was FPP-worthy, I would have slapped it up. Fucking Williamsburg is not the center of the world, thank god.
posted by spicynuts at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005

It is raining outside and I don't have an umbrella.
posted by matteo at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005

The A4 westbound, out of London, was blocked last Friday. An accident involving two cars, and then a broken down van. There were also roadworks all along the M4.

Traffic in central London seems ok, today. No worse than usual, anyway.
posted by veedubya at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005

Yeah, but doublehelix, you still live in Queens.
posted by dame at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005

A guy got hit on the DC Orange Line at Foggy Bottom/GWU station on Sunday morning.
posted by brownpau at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2005

Can you say Foggy Bottom again?
posted by dame at 7:41 AM on November 1, 2005

brownpau: "A guy got hit on the DC Orange Line at Foggy Bottom/GWU station on Sunday morning."

Holy shit! I'm going to be there in four weeks! What a coincidence!

I know it's only been 25 minutes, but I'm already sick of this MassTransitFilter. Can we call a moratorium, now?
posted by Plutor at 7:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Foggy bottom again.
posted by srboisvert at 7:43 AM on November 1, 2005

/WilliamsburgSolipsismFilter
posted by Marnie at 7:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Wait, I know how this thread can be saved: begin posting images now. Extra points for the mass-transit related.
posted by dame at 7:44 AM on November 1, 2005

For anyone living in new York (who are the ONLY people that would give a shit about this) this is not news in the slightest.
posted by piratebowling at 7:44 AM on November 1, 2005

How many New Yorkers does it take to change a light bulb?
posted by brownpau at 7:45 AM on November 1, 2005

The L goes places other than Williamsburg. Bushwick, for instance.
posted by dame at 7:45 AM on November 1, 2005

Alternate Side Parking Rules are suspended Tuesday, November 1, in effect Wednesday, November 2 and suspended Thursday-Saturday, November 3-5 for holiday observances. All other parking regulations, including parking meters, remain in effect.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 7:46 AM on November 1, 2005

The lower deck of the SF Bay Bridge was closed on Oct 15 in the wee hours of the morning for a seismic retrofit project. Extra BART trains were run.
posted by u2604ab at 7:46 AM on November 1, 2005

In my comment about the trolleys I was referring to the Newton-Brookline-Boston "D" line.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:50 AM on November 1, 2005

Heh, having just moved my art studio from williamsburg to the NEW hip place in Brooklyn ... (yes, Gowanus!), I say let them take the bus!
posted by R. Mutt at 7:53 AM on November 1, 2005

You have to navigate round a pile of junk to get into my kitchen.
posted by Joeforking at 7:54 AM on November 1, 2005

The 'L' Train won't run on...shoot, we've already done that one, haven't we?
posted by BackwardsCity at 7:54 AM on November 1, 2005

You just like dirty canals, don't you Mutt?
posted by dame at 7:55 AM on November 1, 2005

Route 9 really sucks in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon people are lined up six deep at Longwood for a train that never comes.
posted by bondcliff at 7:56 AM on November 1, 2005

Yeah, but dame IT BEATS LONG ISLAND. I was there for 4 years after 9 years living in beautiful Berkeley, CA. Pretty much anything (except Staten Island) is better than toxic, nasty LI. I had the anti-Queens attitude for a long time and was quite resistant to moving here. That show "King of Queens" gave me the SERIOUS willies. But Astoria is a good fit for me, and a pleasant surprise at that. It's very safe here, and as a single woman I appreciate that. I've found a sense of community, live within a 5 minute walk to the subway (I lived on LI without a car for 4 years), have amazing ethnic food nearby, and hear lots of different languages on a daily basis (Greek, Russian, Italian, Spanish). And my housemate is awesome. Even my landlord is pretty great. And I can practice with no worries (I'm a classical musician). Lots of good stuff for me. I know Brooklyn is more hip and young, especially Williamsburg, but W'burg and its hipster vibe doesn't really appeal to me in my late 30s. Don't get me wrong - I like visiting the place, but I wouldn't want to live there. To each their own.
posted by doublehelix at 7:57 AM on November 1, 2005

By the way, fares on the TriMet transit system are going up to $1.65 in January. Weep, America, weep for us.
posted by cmonkey at 7:58 AM on November 1, 2005

Ye olde MetaTalk.
posted by Captaintripps at 7:59 AM on November 1, 2005

The TA is upgrading signals along the line to allow trains to be operated by computer

Bring on the robots! It's worth however long it takes if it means at some point in the not too distant future I will never have to deal with an MTA employee again. They keep interrupting my weekends, but I just keep seeing this light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sure the union will drag this out as long as possible.

And besides - Manhattan will get it's turn.
posted by hellbient at 8:00 AM on November 1, 2005

Take a cab!

/cab driver
//slashy slashy
posted by Banky_Edwards at 8:01 AM on November 1, 2005

The Castro Street MUNI station closed at 7:00 pm last night for the Halloween festivities. Also, Market Street closed from Church to Diamond streets, and Castro closed from 16th to 20th streets. At 4 p.m., 16th Street between Market and Castro closed. Other closures in the area included parts of Collingwood, Hartford, Noe, State and 15th through 18th streets.

BART did run two extra trains though.

/public transport filter
posted by trip and a half at 8:03 AM on November 1, 2005

I overslept today and hit major traffic on I-290.

There's no justice in this world!
posted by incongruity at 8:05 AM on November 1, 2005

Williamsburg and Bushwick are all the same dorm now. The L goes to Ridgewood, East New York, it goes to Canarsie, too. But really, who cares. Take the JMZ or the G or the bus or a bike or a car. This is not Lost. Phillie just had a full on transit strike. Get off your cross, W-burg.
posted by Marnie at 8:06 AM on November 1, 2005

You can still ride the bus in New York, no?
posted by Pollomacho at 8:09 AM on November 1, 2005

The driver of the 33 bus to Wester Hailes Shopping Centre has reported that his ticket machine is malfunctioning.
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:10 AM on November 1, 2005

Heh, having just moved my art studio from williamsburg to the NEW hip place in Brooklyn ... (yes, Gowanus!), I say let them take the bus!

Hey, that's where I live. I didn't realize it was the new hip place yet...I thought we were still working on 4th Ave before we got to Gowanus.
posted by spicynuts at 8:14 AM on November 1, 2005

Pollomacho - there are no buses that go over the bridges. Sometimes when they're running shuttles they do it, but it looks as though they're saying "tough shit" on this one.
posted by hellbient at 8:16 AM on November 1, 2005

MattD: Please explain why MeFi should give a shit about your train scheduling.

In a sop to the trivial drift of this pointless thread I will point out that the 41 didn't come again this morning so I had to wait 20 minutes for the 68, which of course goes round everywhere, up to the school then back down the hill which admittedly does have a lovely view across the harbour, up and down to Asda even though nobody ever gets on or off there, I mean why is it on the campus route anyway, does that make sense to anyone? The streets aren't really designed for larger buses anyway, and why do they insist on sending the long ones out in the day then only the little ones out at night, it beggars belief, finally then through Mabe and a mile - a mile I tell you - with no stops at all, what's the point of that? It's the way it cuts in as if to go up the hill to campus then goes around the other way that gets me anyway, so tantalising but then giving you a pointless 15 minute round trip to nowhere and having the nerve to charge you extra for the privilege, and don't talk to me about the 88 - it's a law unto itself. It didn't turn up at all one night last week, there were people out in the cold for an hour - an hour - and no apology from the next driver along of course. It's the young ones I feel sorry for, there's barely anything on 'em and they will go out barely dressed. Honestly I don't know what things are coming to, the country's falling apart.
posted by biffa at 8:18 AM on November 1, 2005

In other important news of the day:

Pupils take productive break
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Dave Murray
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- Dickinson Elementary fourth-grader Daiquanne Townsend technically has this week off....
posted by caddis at 8:18 AM on November 1, 2005

It was 13 degrees today so I walked to my office without a jacket.
posted by Space Coyote at 8:19 AM on November 1, 2005

I had to leave work early yesterday since I work next to the stadium and it was monday night football.
posted by octothorpe at 8:20 AM on November 1, 2005

I work from home...I feel so left out.
posted by johnny novak at 8:21 AM on November 1, 2005

Bushwick, for instance.

YM "South Williamsburg." HTH.
posted by dersins at 8:23 AM on November 1, 2005 [1 favorite]

New Plankinton Ave./2nd St. entrance ramp will only have access to I-43 NB and I-43/I-94 SB. Ramp opens in December 2008.
posted by MikeMc at 8:24 AM on November 1, 2005

When I saw the first few words I thought the post would be about the Chicago El. (I've seen it referred to as the "L")

Here are your CTA customer alerts!
posted by SisterHavana at 8:24 AM on November 1, 2005

Traffic was heavy on the LIE this morning. Construction work on the south service road closes the left lane. The Nothern and Southern State Parkways are the root of all evil on Long Island.
posted by Godbert at 8:26 AM on November 1, 2005

Train service between Kadokawa station and Inotani has been suspended due to minor typhoon damage. Bus service is being provided between those stations until train service can be resumed.
posted by Bugbread at 8:28 AM on November 1, 2005

I thought 112 Ocean Avenue was the root of all evil on Long Island.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:28 AM on November 1, 2005

The M18 - that's starting to clear now after that quiet stretch of the A49 was brought down from Stirling earlier on, so that's very good news. The M11 in the other hand is still very busy indeed, it's nose-to-tail coaches, cars, pedestrians, and if you take a close look you might just be able to make out a piece of pie down there on the road, that's not going to be helping anyone at all. You'll have heard on the news about the motorway pile-up this afternoon - the M6, M58, the M61 and the M56 all collided, so safer to avoid that altogether. Good news however on the A12, those earlier congestions have now all cleared, so you should have no problems at all if you want to go there and bathe a child. Finally, a warning to speeding motorists - police marksmen have now been stationed on all major roads in and out of London, that means anybody caught speeding can be shot in the chin, so best to avoid that too.
posted by chill at 8:29 AM on November 1, 2005

dersins, i think you mean "East Williamsburg" - the real estate euphemism for Bushwick.
posted by hellbient at 8:32 AM on November 1, 2005

Wait, I know how this thread can be saved: begin posting images now. Extra points for the mass-transit related.

Ask and ye shall receive:

Want more? I'm quite the train geek, you know.
posted by Godbert at 8:32 AM on November 1, 2005

But I didn't want to be exposed to Gowanus!

My train isn't due until 2008. Considering the bridge over "Town Lake" in Tempe was due in March 2005, and considering they just finished pouring the concrete pillars for it a week ago I'm not too optimistic about that arrival date.

I never, ever thought I would say this, but I miss LA's mass transit system. At least they have trains. Ones that actually go somewhere.

Banky_Edwards: Please don't do that. If you want to do that, go here.
posted by loquacious at 8:32 AM on November 1, 2005

There are many pockets of evil on Long Island, believe me.
posted by doublehelix at 8:33 AM on November 1, 2005

Alternate side of the street parking is suspended due to All Saints Day.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:33 AM on November 1, 2005

Pollomacho - there are no buses that go over the bridges. Sometimes when they're running shuttles they do it, but it looks as though they're saying "tough shit" on this one.

Wow, I guess you'll have to get yourself some good shoes or a bike.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:35 AM on November 1, 2005

It's cold here, but sunny. I shaved my ass today, and am experiencing some itching.
posted by tr33hggr at 8:35 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh, not trying to come off like a smart-ass, that does suck.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:36 AM on November 1, 2005

Present!
posted by tr33hggr at 8:37 AM on November 1, 2005

So I was on the bus a few weeks ago, heading to work. It was the #40 Mocks Crest, and it was a Saturday so I shouldn't have even been going to work but I figured "Hey, I'll get some work done, it'll be OK". So as soon as we hit the transit mall, this guy gets on. He looked really happy, although maybe a bit off kilter. Anyway, you know how rich people have showers of champagne? Like, they get in and turn the faucet to "Champagne" and then they get all krunked out in the bath? Well, I don't know if rich people really have that, but let's just assume they do. Anyway, this guy who got on the bus smelled like he had a Shit Shower. Not champagne, which is probably pretty sticky, but feces. It smelled like he had bathed in his shit shower but didn't towel off and then ran to catch the bus 'cos he was late for a dentist appointment or something. So this smell, this smell was so horrific that I smelled it for weeks. It was like it was sentient, this smell. Like it attached itself to me and I couldn't escape it no matter how many times I scrubbed myself with bleach and flowers and washed my clothes with turpentine, which smells a lot better than this did.

Anyway, eventually it went away and I still take the 40 to work.
posted by cmonkey at 8:37 AM on November 1, 2005

smart-ass

Touche! (Or is it tush?)
posted by tr33hggr at 8:37 AM on November 1, 2005

I got up early to take the 7 from the Pulaski Bridge to Grand Central Station, only to find that the 7 wasn't running that Sunday. Oh no!!! I had to take bus to the Queensboro Bridge, then take the N and the 4. Local!

Cabs suck. I used to like the drivers OK, but over time, I've found them to be actually *worse* than regular drivers, if that's possible. There's are countless wonderful cabbies, however.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:39 AM on November 1, 2005

Note also: the long-dormant Cascade MAX Station will be serving an Ikea in 2007.
posted by cortex at 8:40 AM on November 1, 2005

I miss LA's mass transit system. At least they have trains. Ones that actually go somewhere.

Do they have trains that go to San Francisco for a reasonable fee, i.e. less than half of the plane flight? Cuz that would be convenient for many people.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:40 AM on November 1, 2005

get yourself some good shoes or a bike

funny you should mention that - i just got some brown adidas that I really like, for $45!
I also got a nice fender for my bike.
E-mail me for pics.
posted by hellbient at 8:41 AM on November 1, 2005

Wow, I didn't realize we were taking this thread *seriously*. I will reformat my post in a MetaFilter-friendly manner.

Take a cab, or the terrorists have won.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 8:42 AM on November 1, 2005

errr..."Dude", What the fuck is the point of this post? I've lived in friggin' Billyburg for 10 years now and have watched it turn from a truly wonderful place for hearty eccentrics and misfits with an adventurous spirit, to a goddamn hipster shopping mall. Bedford avenue makes me want to vomit. All the towers going up make me want to vomit. The greedy creep developers and landlords who have jacked up the rents 500% make me want to vomit, but more then anything it's the massively conformist truck driver hat wearing "hipster's" who wouldn't recognize something unique or an original voice or vision (there own or anyone else's), if it bit them on the ass. Hard. They swallow all the unbelievable shit the landlords and developers and over priced stores and bars shove down their throats without blinking an eye. Doing the "NYC" thing before they move back to Ohio and do the suburban family thing they always knew they'd go back to in the end. Fucking up a real living breathing neighborhood by using it like a receptacle for all the frustrations of their 20's and 30's. Leaving nothing of value behind. /rant

The L train has always been fucked up and we fuckin' like it that way. Keeps the world and the Manhattanite yuppies at arms length. Here'a another clue. There are serious amounts of PCB's and Radon in the soil in Williamsburg. So don't move the fuck out here unless you're willing to deal with those things and leave something of value behind. Here's another hint. All those towers and condo's going up are soon going to drop some serious value when this artificial insane real estate bubble ends (and all signs are that it's already done so). So dude if the point of this FPP is to drive people away from Williamsburg I commend you, but if you just need to prove who cool you are well...jesus H. Christ on a Stick already..
posted by Skygazer at 8:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Route 9 really sucks in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon people are lined up six deep at Longwood for a train that never comes.

Know what sucks most about Route 9? Inbound, trying to make a left onto Chestnut Hill Ave. That's become really popular lately. Sometimes the cars are backed up nearly to Star Market and it takes five or six cycles of the traffic light to make the turn.

It also sucks to be on the D train heading back home when the train stops at Longwood and 4000 people try to force their way onto the train for 10 minutes when I just want to get back to Eliott and I know I have a good walk after the trolley even gets there.

Except sometimes it isn't as busy and then there's usually some pretty nurses to check out.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Are they going to stop washing th cars down with urine on the weekends too?
posted by Pollomacho at 8:44 AM on November 1, 2005

Snakes on the train!
posted by nearlife at 8:44 AM on November 1, 2005

Kiss me on the Gowanus!
posted by hellbient at 8:46 AM on November 1, 2005

I forgot to pull the signal cord on the bus this morning and he blew right past my stop.
I got off at the next stop, though.
posted by Floydd at 8:46 AM on November 1, 2005

1-94 in kalamazoo is being repaired on weekends, slowing traffic to a crawl ... seek alternate route
posted by pyramid termite at 8:47 AM on November 1, 2005

dersins, i think you mean "East Williamsburg" - the real estate euphemism for Bushwick.
posted by hellbient at 11:32 AM EST on November 1 [!]

That border just keeps moving further and further East doesn't it? Pretty soon ' East New York is going to be encompassed by East Williamsburg.
posted by Skygazer at 8:48 AM on November 1, 2005

mrgrimm: Amtrak from LA's Grand Central Station to Jack London Station in Oakland can be really, really cheap sometimes. I've obtained pre-sale tickets for under $30 (one way) a couple of times. Amtrak has (or had) a "Rail Sale" discount ticket page on their site. Once I saw a set of tickets for $14 from San Diego to Seattle. If it wasn't only a one-way deal I would have bought 'em just for the trip.

Oddly, if you grab the coastal Surfliner route (#14, I believe) it can be cheaper than grabbing the more frequent inland Central California Corridor routes. I think because for those you have to ride an Amtrak bus from LA to Fresno, which sucks. Buses suck, as does Fresno.

But the Pacific Surfliner trains are incredible. You can't even drive that coastal central California route if you wanted to, because a huge chunk of it is Vandenburg Air Force Base, and the route that the train takes is incredibly scenic and nearly virgin terrain.
posted by loquacious at 8:48 AM on November 1, 2005

The gentrification in Williamsburg is one of the things also that kept me away. I've seen it happen in other places and just didn't want to put up with that shit. Astoria (as opposed to LIC) seems somewhat immune to the same level of gentrification, so that's fine by me. We'll see, though.
posted by doublehelix at 8:49 AM on November 1, 2005

I rode my bike to work this morning. It was chilly outside. I'm drinking a Diet Coke right now.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:49 AM on November 1, 2005

SEPTA is on strike again. City-based Philadelphians can't get anywhere by public transportation at all. Consider yourself lucky, NYers.
posted by Rothko at 8:53 AM on November 1, 2005

This morning some fog and rain still did not delay my 4 minute bicycle ride into the office. However due to some roadworks on the Schwammedingerstrasse I had mud on my trousers. Also the coffee lady at the office did not smile at me.
posted by sebas at 8:54 AM on November 1, 2005

Astoria (as opposed to LIC) seems somewhat immune to the same level of gentrification, so that's fine by me.

Fuckin' A. The hipsters move above Broadway, and I will be waiting!

We will fight them on the curbs, We will fight them at the bus stops, we will fight them in the taverns....
posted by jonmc at 8:55 AM on November 1, 2005

You guys probably won't believe this... but I have ridden on that very "L" train before!! I was like, "wha?!"
posted by cusack at 8:58 AM on November 1, 2005

There are many pockets of evil on Long Island, believe me.

Truer words have never been spoken Doublehelix.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:59 AM on November 1, 2005

doublehelix: There are many pockets of evil on Long Island, believe me.

Oh, I believe you. I moved out to "The Island" a few months ago to start a job. I think there's a law that says that everyone must be out driving on the highways between 7am and 9am, and again between 4pm and 6pm. Oh, and on some local roads, speeders are shot on sight, so people always go 10mph under the speed limit.
posted by Godbert at 9:02 AM on November 1, 2005

I'm going to a barber in Brooklyn in a few minutes. He's a few blocks away. He charges $7, and I give him $10. He's Chinese. Since he's so close, I don't have to take the train. I could, but it would be the N, not the L. I don't go to Williamsburg because it makes me uncomfortable, and it's far away. I'm hungry.
posted by swift at 9:07 AM on November 1, 2005

Fuckin' A. The hipsters move above Broadway, and I will be waiting!

We will fight them on the curbs, We will fight them at the bus stops, we will fight them in the taverns...

Above Broadway (I'm farther north) would suck if there was a hipster invasion. They seem to like 36th Ave, though, closer to LIC. I still don't see LIC having the same amout of gentrification happening as in W'burg, but I could be wrong. Just keep the big G away from the northerly stretches of Astoria!

johnmc, you're in my zipcode!
posted by doublehelix at 9:07 AM on November 1, 2005

The Pyongyang subway fascinates me for some reason.
posted by SisterHavana at 9:08 AM on November 1, 2005

This is the worst post ever, and yet it's gotten almost 100 responses. Everyone here should be so lucky.
posted by fungible at 9:09 AM on November 1, 2005

Your commuting stories give me a boner.
posted by horsewithnoname at 9:09 AM on November 1, 2005

See, the real news about this post is that there are many galleries that depend on weekend visits from people who live in Manhattan. A lot of these galleries are only open on weekends, so this is real shit news for them. Too bad this wasn't the subject of the FPP.
posted by splatta at 9:10 AM on November 1, 2005

MTA Scheduled System Advisories.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:11 AM on November 1, 2005

The real news is this kind of thing happens all the time. But then, I guess that would make it the opposite of news.
posted by swift at 9:12 AM on November 1, 2005

Above Broadway (I'm farther north) would suck if there was a hipster invasion.

I'm up on Ditmars near the park, homeslice. Stop by the Remote Sports Lounge on 27th and 24th and have a Bud.

(also, it's not that there aren't plenty of young people (even some borderline hipsters, although I see one trucker cap and I'm reaching for a Louisville Slugger) in Ditmars-Steinway, but they're happy to simply become part of the nieghborhood rather than recreate it in their own image. I much prefer my old guy dive bars and Greek delicatessens to a Teany or Urban Outfitters)
posted by jonmc at 9:14 AM on November 1, 2005

i was on the 2 to the gyle today and this guy came and sat right behind me and started really rustling his free newspaper , it was like somebody had sellotaped a pack of pork scratchins in there and he was tryin to shake them out , honestly , then he starts heavy breathing on my neck a couple of times , i thought gtf ya radge , luckily they've built a buses only bit near broomhouse , so you can get through quite quick and get a pie from the bakers in the broomhouse market pretty quick , i was going to ask if the gauntlet was doin bar lunches for a laugh but i didnae want a skelp.
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:15 AM on November 1, 2005

I still don't see LIC having the same amout of gentrification happening as in W'burg, but I could be wrong.

Well, the Queensbridge Houses being nearby would probably discourage the art kids.
posted by jonmc at 9:19 AM on November 1, 2005

Is Graeme Souness fi Broomhouse ?

- that would explain loads like.
posted by sgt.serenity at 9:22 AM on November 1, 2005

iCal calendar for suspended alternate side parking days in New York. I can't believe I went to the trouble of moving my car on Shemini Atzereth. I feel like such a rube.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 9:24 AM on November 1, 2005

This morning, one of the cats ran between my legs on the way to the john. Kinda slowed me down...
*yawn*
posted by cows of industry at 9:25 AM on November 1, 2005

This is the worst post ever, and yet it's gotten almost 100 responses. Everyone here should be so lucky.

The closer a post is to the guidelines the fewer comments it will receive. The holy grail is the 0 comment post.
posted by srboisvert at 9:30 AM on November 1, 2005

johnmc: it's not that there aren't plenty of young people in Ditmars-Steinway, but they're happy to simply become part of the nieghborhood rather than recreate it in their own image.

Yes! That's exactly right - thank you for putting it so succinctly. This is the nicest area of Astoria, in my opinion. Full of character and lacking in pretention. Love, love, love the area. Eeuw, except for that creepy Dahn Yoga on 23rd Ave.
posted by doublehelix at 9:35 AM on November 1, 2005

This bus was parked on my street in 2001.
posted by Dick Paris at 9:36 AM on November 1, 2005

Before my neighborhood was mostly Latino, it was filled with Italians, and before that, it was Germans. Long before that, it was farmland. Asking or hoping that a certain type of person will not "ruin" your neighborhood is really a self-fulfilling prophecy.
posted by hellbient at 9:40 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh. Hello, crap post. Just what are you doing still here?
posted by mds35 at 9:41 AM on November 1, 2005

You know who else doesn't run to Brooklyn on weekends? Hitler.
posted by klangklangston at 9:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Goodbye metafilter, hello metrofilter...
posted by greycap at 9:47 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh. Hello, crap post. Just what are you doing still here?

I think Matt decided to sleep in on his first day as a full-time MeFi admin.
posted by Godbert at 9:48 AM on November 1, 2005

Oh yea, I also meant to say that right at the Bedford Station entrance, (the first "L" train stop in Brooklyn) there is a really good falafel shop. The bread is always fresh and warm and it only costs 3$. Plus they sell Fanta brand soda that was botted in Egypt!
posted by R. Mutt at 9:48 AM on November 1, 2005

Seriously, this time... you guys won't belive this... but I have eaten at that falafel stand!!! It was ok...
posted by cusack at 9:53 AM on November 1, 2005

I just got my new iPod Nano and I'm listening to The Band. The Nano was delayed. It was shipped directly from China (though you'd never know it because they trickily labeled it as if it were shipped to me from Elk Grove, Ca. but I work for the freight carrier so I have the inside info) and got stuck in Customs because the quantities on the shipment documentation didn't match up.
posted by Carbolic at 9:53 AM on November 1, 2005

I much prefer my old guy dive bars and Greek delicatessens to a Teany or Urban Outfitters)

I was on Steinway at the Halloween Costume store on Saturday (scored a sweet Pope costume - it was the hit of the party) and I had a felafel from the corner cart. They put french fries and eggplant in my felafel sandwhich. They didn't warn me about the eggplant so when I bit into it I got this gelatinous glob in with my hummus and I think someone had goobered in the tahini. Then I saw the eggplant. Why would they put fries in my felafel sandwhich? Then I went past the Precious Blood High School (or something to do with blood) which was cool cuz they were ringin da bells.
posted by spicynuts at 9:55 AM on November 1, 2005

Also I had a crazy dream last night about Porfirio Rubirosa and Will Farrell. Crazy!
posted by spicynuts at 9:56 AM on November 1, 2005

posted by caddis at 9:57 AM on November 1, 2005

Spicynuts: Fries in the falafel are both delicious and prevalent. Around here, that's often called a Superfalafel.
posted by klangklangston at 9:58 AM on November 1, 2005

Wouldn't it be AWESOME if the L train was made of GOLD and I OWNED it?
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:58 AM on November 1, 2005

Wouldn't it be AWESOME if the L train was made of GOLD and I OWNED it?

but it's too big to look good around your neck, isn't it?
posted by pyramid termite at 10:01 AM on November 1, 2005

You get falafel on Stienway since that's Little Cairo. Over on Ditmars, it Greek, so it's all about the Souvlaki Lady on 33rd & Ditmars.
posted by jonmc at 10:02 AM on November 1, 2005

What Rothko said.
It sucks.
Consider yourselves lucky that you guys have transit at all. I don't. It took me 2 hours to make a normally 45 minute trip to work.
posted by LilBucner at 10:03 AM on November 1, 2005

Hey, remember that time, when you posted that thing, that one that was really cool, and everyone was like "Whoooaaaa. Neat!"

That was awesome.
posted by mds35 at 10:04 AM on November 1, 2005

Falafel.
posted by tr33hggr at 10:06 AM on November 1, 2005

Kebabs.
posted by mds35 at 10:07 AM on November 1, 2005

What would happen if the Istanbul subway missed a stop?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:11 AM on November 1, 2005

On post: Speaking of kebabs!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:11 AM on November 1, 2005

i said fries in my falafel, not flies!!
posted by pyramid termite at 10:12 AM on November 1, 2005

What would happen if the Istanbul subway missed a stop?

it would stop transport total
posted by pyramid termite at 10:14 AM on November 1, 2005

there was a blockage in my lower intestine this morning, causing massive delays at the toilet bowl. i have since eaten a can of chickpeas and now it seems everything is back to normal. i wish i had a falafel tho...
posted by slogger at 10:14 AM on November 1, 2005

posted by caddis at 10:15 AM on November 1, 2005

It's interesting how many people found this post a waste of time, and yet, continued to click on it, read through all the comments and post themselves.
posted by amoeba at 10:17 AM on November 1, 2005

I only had to wait for one bus this morning! Usually it takes two or three before I've moved up far enough in the lineup-- and not only that, but it was the 99 Nonstop, so I had plenty of time to stop at the Starbucks on the way!

Of course it was pissing with rain, but that's normal around here in November.

I feel like eating my sandwich, but it's only 10:30 a.m.
posted by jokeefe at 10:21 AM on November 1, 2005

Thanks for those Caddis (the first link). The deslote charm and mysteries of The Golden Age of Williamsburg (mp3).
posted by Skygazer at 10:23 AM on November 1, 2005

Latest news: "Seaside Special" under threat in Skegness.
posted by lagavulin at 10:26 AM on November 1, 2005

fungible : "This is the worst post ever, and yet it's gotten almost 100 responses."

People often point at big long posts as evidence that "generating a lot of discussion does not necessarily indicate that a post was good", but I think this particular post should be made the canonical example. And I mean canonical in the sense that "the Pope should bless it as a saint".
posted by Bugbread at 10:34 AM on November 1, 2005

In related news I'm quite certain that I'll be stuck in traffic tonight on Montreal's eastbound 720 or the southbound 13. Or both. Why should today be different from any other day?!?
posted by clevershark at 10:34 AM on November 1, 2005

For SF Bay Area info, check out 511.org.
posted by MikeKD at 10:36 AM on November 1, 2005

Thank you, thank you, loquacious. Excellent info.

Great post.

I worry less about hipsters than I do terrorist bombers. And I don't worry about terrorist bombers much at all.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2005

What would happen if the Istanbul subway missed a stop?

The Tunel is not the Istanbul subway, it's an Istanbul subway.
posted by Pollomacho at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2005

fungible writes "This is the worst post ever, and yet it's gotten almost 100 responses."

We're not laughing with the submitter, we're laughing at him...
posted by clevershark at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2005

This just in:

++NEW JERSEY DEVILS HOCKEY++ VS PITTSBURGH AT CONTINENTAL AIRLINES ARENA...FACE OFF 7:30 PM...EXTRA TRAFFIC IS POSSIBLE ON THE WESTERN SPUR OF THE NJ TURNPIKE, RT. 3, RT. 17 AND PATERSON PLANK RD

posted by Godbert at 10:43 AM on November 1, 2005

This is the worstest post and the bestest thread ever—I'm cryin' with laughter here. (Even caddis's image made me laugh, which probably means I'm going to hell. On the L train.)

Sadly, I work at home and so have no commute to complain about. But my mother-in-law is staying with us this week.
posted by languagehat at 10:54 AM on November 1, 2005

It's trash day here too!
posted by Otis at 10:56 AM on November 1, 2005

Hey, Godbert. I'm going to that Devils game. What's up with the Pens, anyway? The team just kind of imploded under the strain of that talent they picked up. It's sad to say, but Lemieux is really looking old.

Thanks, and I'll take my response off-air.
posted by eatitlive at 10:58 AM on November 1, 2005

They've nearly finished digging up the road outside the Falkland Islands post office - at laast, eh guys? Why do they wait for the tourist season to start before doing these things?

Just went down there to pick up my cheque book, and there were three guys on their knees putting the zebra crossing back, two had paintbrushes and one had a bit of yellow chalk and a plank, he was drawing around it to make the zig zag lines.

Hope it dries before everyone we all drive home or we're gonna smudge it.
posted by penguin pie at 11:00 AM on November 1, 2005

They have Zebras in the Falklands? Cool!
posted by Floydd at 11:04 AM on November 1, 2005

The back area of Matamoros Peubla Mexican on N. 6th and Bedford Ave is the only reason I go down to that cold arrogant talentless block anymore. The Pozole is fantastic (as are the burritos, Tacos and Sopes). Cheap too.
posted by Skygazer at 11:08 AM on November 1, 2005

They have Zebras in the Falklands? Cool!

But do they have zebra kebab's?
posted by spicynuts at 11:09 AM on November 1, 2005

They have Zebras in the Falklands? Cool!

Yeah, terrible road sense though, they have to have help getting to and from the zebra homes to the post office otherwise it gets really messy. Only thing that's worse is when they're too proud to ask for help in the post office and get their heads stuck in their PO boxes. Embarrassing for all.
posted by penguin pie at 11:12 AM on November 1, 2005

But do they have zebra kebab's?

Chewy.
posted by penguin pie at 11:13 AM on November 1, 2005

Why isn't Roosevelt Island flooded by hipsters yet? I mean, come on -- they have the Avac!
posted by eatitlive at 11:14 AM on November 1, 2005

Holy fricking shit, penguin pie, they have tourists in the Falklands? Are they told what it's like before they book? I don't remember seeing any on my two (and a half) tours there. Then again, I spent most of the time with my eyes cast heavenward, asking an uncaring deity what I'd done to wind up in such a place. That and sobbing softly to myself.

If those tourists want some excitement (which is few and far between in that neck of the woods) I suggest a tour of the Bronx. Those Paras can be so... interesting.

*cries at the memories*
posted by veedubya at 11:17 AM on November 1, 2005

We have someone from the Falklands? That's *cool*
posted by bonaldi at 11:28 AM on November 1, 2005

Then again, I spent most of the time with my eyes cast heavenward, asking an uncaring deity what I'd done to wind up in such a place. That and sobbing softly to myself

It's ya positive attitude that gets ya there, veedub, that and never leaving the military base, which looks like the industrial park where they set The Office and would make MattD even more distressed than this DARNED Ltrain debacle (shakes fist at L train).

We keep the 40,000/year cruise ship passengers perky by showing them the felafel trees.
posted by penguin pie at 11:30 AM on November 1, 2005

ADHD Owner's Manual
posted by Skygazer at 11:31 AM on November 1, 2005

We keep the 40,000/year cruise ship passengers perky by showing them the felafel trees.
posted by penguin pie

In the pictures they look like loofah....
posted by Floydd at 11:35 AM on November 1, 2005

I can't be bothered to read through all of the previous posts, so perhaps someone can tell me if we've started the next game of Mornington Crescent yet?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:37 AM on November 1, 2005

posted by Skygazer at 11:47 AM on November 1, 2005

Thanks, Skygazer! Now this thread has everything!
posted by Floydd at 11:49 AM on November 1, 2005

there were three guys on their knees putting the zebra crossing back

They have Zebras in the Falklands? Cool!

No, they are just really cautious.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:50 AM on November 1, 2005

I can't be bothered to read through all of the previous posts, so perhaps someone can tell me if we've started the next game of Mornington Crescent yet?

Yes, and we're playing the Swedish Inversion Rule, so public conveniences are wild.
posted by lagavulin at 11:52 AM on November 1, 2005

Isn't that the program on Showtime? I love that show!!
posted by Megafly at 11:54 AM on November 1, 2005

I ordered the deluxe falafel last night and substituted hummus for the potato.
posted by cali at 12:02 PM on November 1, 2005

That's the show that brought me back to television.
posted by leftoverboy at 12:06 PM on November 1, 2005

I got my haircut. It's just a trim. I also went to a Chinese bakery. Someone just honked outside.
posted by swift at 12:08 PM on November 1, 2005

Someone just honked outside.

Holy SHIT..someone just honked outside here too! Oh man, this is making me nervous.
posted by spicynuts at 12:12 PM on November 1, 2005

My wife just reminded me that even though I don't have a commute, I should complain about the roadwork they're doing outside. Personally, I don't even think Benedict Road needed any work, but fine, they're going through the city systematically resurfacing the roads and fixing the sidewalks, that's great, but they've been doing it for months now, and I thought I left that sort of thing behind when I moved out of New York. If I'm going to live in the boonies, at least I should have a quiet street.

In other news, I think I'll order out for zebra kebabs for dinner.
posted by languagehat at 12:14 PM on November 1, 2005

eatitlive: Yeah, the Pens are killing me. For some reason I've seen more Pens game this season than anything (I think they've been on HDNet twice - hi def hockey has ruined normal TV hockey for me). Lemieux does look old, but his playing style always seemed more "relaxed" to me which may exaggerate the aging effect. I'd expect him to be racking up the points like crazy with all the penalties and new rules.
posted by mullacc at 12:27 PM on November 1, 2005

I walked to work today. It was a pleasant morning in downtown Oakland, though I did pass a guy pissing in the parking lot across the street from the post office on 13th. I looked away discreetly (usually the thing to do).

Along the way, I listened to four songs that were no more than 5 seconds longer or shorter than 3 minutes. Gotta love smart playlists.

I'm glad I don't have to go through this mess, ever.

Hey, banality is cool!
posted by gohlkus at 12:29 PM on November 1, 2005

When I saw the first few words I thought the post would be about the Chicago El. (I've seen it referred to as the "L")

It is the "L". Other cities have an El. We have the "L".

Yes, proper usage requires the quotation marks.

Also, the CTA has never properly served hipsters, so they cannot begin unserving them now.
posted by dhartung at 12:30 PM on November 1, 2005

You know, I've thought about it carefully for a couple of hours now, and I think that including french fries in a falafel sandwich is just not right.
posted by R. Mutt at 12:32 PM on November 1, 2005

The holy grail is the 0 comment post.

Yes, but invariably someone will comment with something equivalent to "Nice post," snarkily or not.

CTA has never properly served hipsters

I agree. Fries should be included.
posted by gohlkus at 12:35 PM on November 1, 2005

gaw... traffic! don't get me started on traffic, how about this weather we are having?
posted by cusack at 12:37 PM on November 1, 2005

i still haven't pooped yet. should i eat another can of chickpeas? should i take this question to askme instead?
posted by slogger at 12:41 PM on November 1, 2005

You know, I've thought about it carefully for a couple of hours now, and I think that including french fries in a falafel sandwich is just not right.

R. Mutt, I fully agree with you. The eggplant I can understand..babaganoush having an honored place in the annals of Middle Eastern cooking. The french fries? It does not compute. Do they put french fries in your General Tso's chicken? Do they put french fries in your Pad Thai or in your Chimichangas? No. Stop it. I do not want french fries in my ethnically pure food. Now, serving them on the side of a felafel sandwhich platter, that is acceptable...it keeps ethnic foods separated on your plate.
posted by spicynuts at 12:42 PM on November 1, 2005

here's a question that's been bugging me ... next time me and my daughter go to burger king, do you think it would be improper for me to ask for the french fries in my hamburger?
posted by pyramid termite at 12:49 PM on November 1, 2005

pyramid termite : "do you think it would be improper for me to ask for the french fries in my hamburger?"

In between the bread and the burger? That would not be improper.
Asking them to bake the french fries into the hamburger itself? That would be improper, unless you offered to pay more for the extra labour involved.
posted by Bugbread at 12:50 PM on November 1, 2005

Speaking of zebras, are they white with black stripes, or black with white stripes?
posted by kirkaracha at 12:52 PM on November 1, 2005

they're camoflauge zebras so they'd be white with white stripes
posted by pyramid termite at 12:56 PM on November 1, 2005

In Amsterdam they eat mayonaise on thier french fries. Its really good - like some sort of gourmet mayo, not the crappy stuff from a jar.

In fact, I once accidentally bumped into a young Amsterdamer while she was eating FF and mayo. This unfortunate bumping caused her plastic cup of mayonaise to fly through the air ( in slow motion - as I remember it ) and land on the sidewalk. She paused, turned and started quietly speaking to me in Dutch. As I spoke no Dutch I had no way of knowing what she was saying. However, my friend from Rotterdam INSISTED that we leave immediately.
posted by R. Mutt at 1:04 PM on November 1, 2005

A beautiful, well endowed, young blonde, goes to her local pet store in search of an exotic pet. As she looks about the store, she notices a box full of frogs. The sign says: Sex Frogs! Only $20 each! Money Back Guarantee! (Comes with complete instructions).

The girl excitedly looks around to see if anybody's watching her and whispers softly to the man behind the counter, "I'll take one." The man packaged the frog and said, "Just follow the instructions carefully."

The girl nods, grabs the box, and is quickly on her way home. As soon as she closes the door to her apartment, the girl takes out the instructions and reads them thoroughly, doing exactly what it says to do:

1. Take a shower.
2. Splash on some nice smelling perfume.
3. Slip into a very sexy teddy.
4. Crawl into bed and position the frog in place.

She then quickly gets into bed with the frog and, to her surprise, nothing happens! The girl is totally frustrated and quite upset at this point. She re-reads the instructions and notices at the bottom of the paper it says, "If you have any problems or questions, please call the pet store." So, the girl calls the pet store.

The man says, "I had some complaints earlier today. I'll be right over." Within five minutes, the man is ringing her doorbell. The girl welcomes him in and says, "See, I've done everything according to the instructions and the damn thing just sits there."

The man, looking very concerned, picks up the frog, stares directly into its eyes and sternly says: "Listen to me! I'm only going to show you how to do this one more time!"
posted by tr33hggr at 1:15 PM on November 1, 2005

Man, you would not believe what's going on down at the Falkland Islands zebra now.

They've finished painting, but they only put a 'road closed' sign at one end of the roadworks, not the other. The zebra has three traffic cones across it but nobody sees them until it's too late and they're sat in the middle of the road wondering if they're going to drive through wet paint - by then, there's no way out! It's crazy down there!!!

Stanley hasn't seen this much traffic chaos since they put those temporary traffic lights on Ross Road and everybody realised that there are no laws here about traffic lights (because we have no traffic lights) so they could jump the red and not get arrested.

I was so confused on my way hom this evening that I tried to turn into the Town Hall car park at the wrong end to escape the wet zebra and stalled right in front of the police station - I just didn't know whether to laugh or cry!!!! (wipes tears from eyes with hysteria at thrill of recounting the evening's japes)
posted by penguin pie at 1:25 PM on November 1, 2005

Metafilter: a goddamn hipster shopping mall
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:29 PM on November 1, 2005

My bus was 12 minutes late yesterday. The 4, you know, that stops at N. High & Chestnut at 5:14? 5:26!
posted by fidelity at 1:34 PM on November 1, 2005

Finally, the G train's time to shine!
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:36 PM on November 1, 2005

it's becoming increasingly obvious to me that the falkland islands need a subway ... if it's run to manhattan, all the art galleries that the lack of an l train are putting out of business can move to stanley and stanley can be the center of the contemporary american art scene ...

i expect portraits of sheep painted to look like zebras to become very trendy ...
posted by pyramid termite at 1:37 PM on November 1, 2005

"The Bleating Zebras" would be a good "hipster" band name.
posted by Floydd at 1:43 PM on November 1, 2005

I'm sorry Great Big Mulp, but the G train is a pox on this earth. IMHO
posted by R. Mutt at 1:51 PM on November 1, 2005

In Amsterdam they eat mayonaise on thier french fries.

They also refer to a quarter pounder as a "Royale With Cheese," I'm told.
posted by jonmc at 1:57 PM on November 1, 2005

No, that's in Paris. In Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. But they've got the metric system, so they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter-pounder is.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:15 PM on November 1, 2005

Well, I'm off home now. I'll be driving.
posted by devbrain at 2:18 PM on November 1, 2005

stanley can be the center of the contemporary american art scene ...

Yay pyramid termite! - you know it's election time down here, right? (of course you do, they talk of little else on CNN and the BBC) Come down here, get elected and introduce your crazy inspired subway scheme. It just might work, I tell you...

I for one will welcome our new hipster overlords (this thread was missing one of those, I thought).

(Good luck, devbrain, we'll all be thinking of you. Let us know how it goes.)
posted by penguin pie at 2:22 PM on November 1, 2005

It's ya positive attitude that gets ya there, veedub

Actually, it was the threat of military prison that got me there. And the lack of outbound transport that kept me there.

the military base, which looks like the industrial park where they set The Office

Suddenly, I realise why I start to sweat whenever I drive by Slough.

Seriously, penguin pie, kudos to you. I've no idea why you'd want to live there, but I admire you for it.
posted by veedubya at 2:23 PM on November 1, 2005

I have mad cow.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 2:28 PM on November 1, 2005

I ordered the deluxe falafel last night and substituted hummus for the potato.

At Truly Med? I didn't know you could do that. That's way better than potato.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:52 PM on November 1, 2005

This evening I'll be taking the E or V train to LIC (21st and Van Alst I believe) were I'll switch to the G train and ride that to Metropolitan and Grand. I might take the L train one stop to Graham Avenue.
posted by Skygazer at 2:58 PM on November 1, 2005

i am LMAO -- this would be understandable as a Friday post, but a Tuesday? My stick figure sex post got 6 responses and I thought it was pretty damned good -- certainly better than L train service being suspended ... what's happening to Metafilter?
posted by terrier319 at 3:04 PM on November 1, 2005

terrier319 : "i am LMAO -- this would be understandable as a Friday post, but a Tuesday? My stick figure sex post got 6 responses and I thought it was pretty damned good -- certainly better than L train service being suspended ... what's happening to Metafilter?"

srboisvert : "The closer a post is to the guidelines the fewer comments it will receive. The holy grail is the 0 comment post."
posted by Bugbread at 3:11 PM on November 1, 2005

Or I might just walk the last few blocks from Metropolitan and Grand to my apartment.
posted by Skygazer at 3:12 PM on November 1, 2005

terrier319: i am LMAO -- this would be understandable as a Friday post, but a Tuesday? My stick figure sex post got 6 responses and I thought it was pretty damned good -- certainly better than L train service being suspended ... what's happening to Metafilter?

I think everyone was/is just posting crap because we all expected this to deleted a long, long time ago. The fact that it's still up surprises the hell out of me.
posted by Godbert at 3:18 PM on November 1, 2005

Comment #203!
posted by R. Mutt at 3:23 PM on November 1, 2005

My stick figure sex post got 6 responses and I thought it was pretty damned good

It wasn't. Sorry.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:24 PM on November 1, 2005

In Amsterdam they eat mayonaise on thier french fries.

I seen 'em do it, man. They fuckin' drown 'em in that shit.

I ordered the deluxe falafel last night and substituted hummus for the potato.

I see there are a lot of falaphiliacs here, but what about the loofa?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:27 PM on November 1, 2005

What does this have to do with John Coltrane?
posted by malaprohibita at 3:36 PM on November 1, 2005

My gosh , the falklands , thats very cool.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:40 PM on November 1, 2005

i just type whatever bonaldi types in really.
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:41 PM on November 1, 2005

i just type whatever bonaldi types in really.
posted by Bugbread at 3:50 PM on November 1, 2005

After reading all these comments, I've lost my train of thought...
posted by CG at 3:51 PM on November 1, 2005

Yes mrgrimm, at Truly Med. I've also been known to substitute extra falafel or extra eggplant as the mood hits. About the only thing they won't do is give you chicken shwarma on lamb shwarma night.
posted by cali at 3:53 PM on November 1, 2005

metafilter: i just type whatever bonaldi types in really.
posted by hellbient at 3:57 PM on November 1, 2005

CG's ellipsis gives me a boner.
posted by horsewithnoname at 3:59 PM on November 1, 2005

penguin pie -- thanks for your concern. There was a quite annoying tailback at that annoying (yeah, you know the one) all-way stop where 53 and 107 come together, but aside from that the ride was uneventful and I had Karl Haas on the radio to keep my company for most of it.
posted by devbrain at 4:02 PM on November 1, 2005

is that a lunar or solar ellipsis?
posted by pyramid termite at 4:03 PM on November 1, 2005

"My hovercraft is full of eels."
posted by moonbird at 4:12 PM on November 1, 2005

.
posted by mildred-pitt at 4:45 PM on November 1, 2005

Cat and Girl did a comic about the hipster Halloween costume the other day.

I took the Q train from Atlantic Avenue to midtown with no incident this morning. To get home, I meandered from the V to the F to the C. (I originally thought I was going to W4 but then changed my mind.)
posted by A dead Quaker at 4:53 PM on November 1, 2005

Y'all in real cities should be glad you don't have to rely on mass transit in Louisville, KY. (Sorry for an on-topic comment.)
posted by davy at 4:55 PM on November 1, 2005

MetaFilter approaches MetaChat more closely every day - not that within the limitations of MetaFilter that that is a bad thing. There was a weak point recently, but now both sites are getting better all the time. There is much too much noise on both, and that is growing exponentially, but lots of good stuff too. I only hope the volume, both good and bad, doesn't just kill them outright.
posted by caddis at 4:58 PM on November 1, 2005

Good to meet another Astorian, doublehelix! (30th Ave here, though I used to live above Ditmars at 43rd St. and 20th Rd.)

I took a taxi home tonight. It cost me $13.00 but I tipped the driver $3, for a total of $16. I don't usually take a taxi home, but I left work late and promised my girlfriend I'd be home by 9.

Traffic flowed smoothly over the Queensboro Bridge.
posted by Vidiot at 5:59 PM on November 1, 2005

Davy- jesus, yes they should be. I once got called up to take a TARC service, where they asked me what services I want from TARC in the future. I told them, service.

I'm too poor to live in Williamsburg, and my siblings go to Manhattan School of Music, so I'm up in Harlem. I don't have to take the L, but the legless guy at the corner keeps throwing bottles at everyone and someone in my apartment building is a Santerian- there are little bundles of chicken(?) bones everywhere.
posted by 235w103 at 6:13 PM on November 1, 2005

BREAKING NEWS:

Transit along the yellow line MAX was smooth and clear of disruptive hooligans.

More as this story develops.
posted by cmonkey at 6:26 PM on November 1, 2005

devbrain, I'm glad it went well. 53 and 107 again, huh? Nightmare.
posted by penguin pie at 6:47 PM on November 1, 2005

Well I did end up being stuck in an annoyingly long cue on the 720. Not that anyone was wondering...
posted by clevershark at 7:44 PM on November 1, 2005

...or should that have been "queue"?
posted by clevershark at 7:44 PM on November 1, 2005

"You will get through, but it's going to take lot longer than it would take on a normal morning," he said.
posted by tellurian at 7:56 PM on November 1, 2005

Today was my first day parking in the executive level of the parking deck. They assigned me there by mistake. Sweet!
posted by intermod at 8:01 PM on November 1, 2005

I can't believe this is still here. I thought it was just MattD's way to help me waste an hour this morning.
posted by dame at 8:05 PM on November 1, 2005

i finally pooped. thanks to everyone for your help.
posted by slogger at 8:33 PM on November 1, 2005

I'm sorry Great Big Mulp, but the G train is a pox on this earth.

Actually, the G train is the MTA's way of saying, "Get down on your knees and bark like a dog."
posted by afroblanca at 9:23 PM on November 1, 2005

Yeah, I was in Brooklyn a while ago, not in my home turf...is the G train a little....short? Like....half the size it should be? Because I was waiting at Metropolitan, and the train just zooms past and stops, filling the second half of the platform. I had to run just to get on the damn thing.
posted by 235w103 at 11:28 PM on November 1, 2005

I took a walk the other day.
posted by shmegegge at 12:53 AM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 1:58 AM on November 2, 2005

Well on that note can I just say the 88 was late again this morning. I told you didn't I?
posted by biffa at 2:33 AM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:58 AM GMT on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:28 AM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:58 AM GMT on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by Bugbread at 4:44 AM on November 2, 2005

Drop your panties, Sir William; I cannot wait 'til lunchtime.
posted by Otis at 6:37 AM on November 2, 2005

...is the G train a little....short? Like....half the size it should be?

Sure is. But now it comes twice as often, ie, every ten minutes instead of every twenty. I have a soft spot for the G.
posted by dame at 7:06 AM on November 2, 2005

dame : "But now it comes twice as often, ie, every ten minutes instead of every twenty. I have a soft spot for the G."

Do I need to actually do anything to make a joke out of this?
posted by Bugbread at 7:13 AM on November 2, 2005

I didn't even think about it that way, bugbread. But now that you mention it, no.

Now that I am posting hopelessly again, I'd like to point out a few things: (1) there is neither a Teany nor an Urban Outfitters anywhere in North Brooklyn. (2) Bushwick & Williamsburg will not be "part of the same dorm" till there is more than one non-Mexican, non–dirty Chinese restaurant here. And I'm still waiting. When I have Williamsburg level services, then I may be mocked.
posted by dame at 7:27 AM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:58 AM GMT on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by bugbread at 7:44 AM EST on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by shmegegge at 9:41 AM on November 2, 2005

posted by Stynxno at 10:55 AM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:58 AM GMT on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by bugbread at 7:44 AM EST on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by shmegegge at 5:41 PM GMT on November 2 [!]

True.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:20 PM on November 2, 2005

Looks like Matt decided that the mainpage needed a longboat.
posted by klangklangston at 9:51 PM on November 2, 2005

On Noise
by Arthur Schopenhauer

Kant wrote a treatise on The Vital Powers. I should prefer to write a dirge for them. The superabundant display of vitality, which takes the form of knocking, hammering, and tumbling things about, has proved a daily torment to me all my life long. There are people, it is true -- nay, a great many people -- who smile at such things, because they are not sensitive to noise; but they are just the very people who are not sensitive to argument, or thought, or poetry, or art, in a word, to any kind of intellectual influence. The reason of it is that the tissue of their brains is of a very rough and coarse quality. On the other hand, noise is a torture to intellectual people. In the biographies of almost all great writers, or wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I find complaints about it; in the case of Kant, for instance, Goethe, Lichtenberg, Jean Paul; and if it should happen that any writer has omitted to express himself on the matter, it is only for want of opportunity.

This aversion to noise I should explain as follows: If you cut up a large diamond into little bits, it will entirely lose the value it had as a whole; and an army divided up into small bodies of soldiers, loses all its strength. So a great intellect sinks to the level of an ordinary one, as soon as it is interrupted and disturbed, its attention distracted and drawn off from the matter in hand; for its superiority depends upon its power of concentration -- of bringing all its strength to bear upon one theme, in the same way as a concave mirror collects into one point all the rays of light that strike upon it. Noisy interruption is a hindrance to this concentration. That is why distinguished minds have always shown such an extreme dislike to disturbance in any form, as something that breaks in upon and distracts their thoughts. Above all have they been averse to that violent interruption that comes from noise. Ordinary people are not much put out by anything of the sort. The most sensible and intelligent of all nations in Europe lays down the rule, Never Interrupt! as the eleventh commandment. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. Of course, where there is nothing to interrupt, noise will not be so particularly painful. Occasionally it happens that some slight but constant noise continues to bother and distract me for a time before I become distinctly conscious of it. All I feel is a steady increase in the labor of thinking -- just as though I were trying to walk with a weight on my foot. At last I find out what it is.

Let me now, however, pass from genus to species. The most inexcusable and disgraceful of all noises is the cracking of whips -- a truly infernal thing when it is done in the narrow resounding streets of a town. I denounce it as making a peaceful life impossible; it puts an end to all quiet thought. That the cracking of whips should be allowed at all seems to me to show in the clearest way how senseless and thoughtless is the nature of mankind. No one with anything like an idea in his head can avoid a feeling of actual pain at this sudden, sharp crack, which paralyzes the brain, rends the thread of reflection, and murders thought. Every time this noise is made, it must disturb a hundred people who are applying their minds to business of some sort, no matter how trivial it may be; while on the thinker its effect is woeful and disastrous, cutting his thoughts asunder, much as the executioner's axe severs the head from the body. No sound, be it ever so shrill, cuts so sharply into the brain as this cursed cracking of whips; you feel the sting of the lash right inside your head; and it affects the brain in the same way as touch affects a sensitive plant, and for the same length of time.

With all due respect for the most holy doctrine of utility, I really cannot see why a fellow who is taking a wagon-load of gravel or dung should thereby obtain the right to kill in the bud the thoughts which may be springing up in ten thousand heads -- the number he will disturb one after another in half an hour's drive through the town. Hammering, the barking of dogs, and the crying of children are horrible to hear; but your only genuine assassin of thought is the crack of a whip; it exists for the purpose of destroying every pleasant moment of quiet thought that any one may now and then enjoy. If the driver had no other way of urging on his horse than by making this most abominable of all noises, it would be excusable; but quite the contrary is the case. This cursed cracking of whips is not only unnecessary, but even useless. Its aim is to produce an effect upon the intelligence of the horse; but through the constant abuse of it, the animal becomes habituated to the sound, which falls upon blunted feelings and produces no effect at all. The horse does not go any faster for it. You have a remarkable example of this in the ceaseless cracking of his whip on the part of a cab-driver, while he is proceeding at a slow pace on the lookout for a fare. If he were to give his horse the slightest touch with the whip, it would have much more effect. Supposing, however, that it were absolutely necessary to crack the whip in order to keep the horse constantly in mind of its presence, it would be enough to make the hundredth part of the noise. For it is a well-known fact that, in regard to sight and hearing, animals are sensitive to even the faintest indications; they are alive to things that we can scarcely perceive. The most surprising instances of this are furnished by trained dogs and canary birds.

It is obvious, therefore, that here we have to do with an act of pure wantonness; nay, with an impudent defiance offered to those members of the community who work with their heads by those who work with their hands. That such infamy should be tolerated in a town is a piece of barbarity and iniquity, all the more as it could easily be remedied by a police-notice to the effect that every lash should have a knot at the end of it. There can be no harm in drawing the attention of the mob to the fact that the classes above them work with their heads, for any kind of headwork is mortal anguish to the man in the street. A fellow who rides through the narrow alleys of a populous town with unemployed post-horses or cart-horses, and keeps on cracking a whip several yards long with all his might, deserves there and then to stand down and receive five really good blows with a stick.

All the philanthropists in the world, and all the legislators, meeting to advocate and decree the total abolition of corporal punishment, will never persuade me to the contrary! There is something even more disgraceful than what I have just mentioned. Often enough you may see a carter walking along the street, quite alone, without any horses, and still cracking away incessantly; so accustomed has the wretch become to it in consequence of the unwarrantable toleration of this practice. A man's body and the needs of his body are now everywhere treated with a tender indulgence. Is the thinking mind then, to be the only thing that is never to obtain the slightest measure of consideration or protection, to say nothing of respect? Carters, porters, messengers -- these are the beasts of burden among mankind; by all means let them be treated justly, fairly, indulgently, and with forethought; but they must not be permitted to stand in the way of the higher endeavors of humanity by wantonly making a noise. How many great and splendid thoughts, I should like to know, have been lost to the world by the crack of a whip? If I had the upper hand, I should soon produce in the heads of these people an indissoluble association of ideas between cracking a whip and getting a whipping.

Let us hope that the more intelligent and refined among the nations will make a beginning in this matter, and then that the Germans may take example by it and follow suit. Meanwhile, I may quote what Thomas Hood says of them: For a musical nation, they are the most noisy I ever met with. That they are so is due to the fact, not that they are more fond of making a noise than other people -- they would deny it if you asked them -- but that their senses are obtuse; consequently, when they hear a noise, it does not affect them much. It does not disturb them in reading or thinking, simply because they do not think; they only smoke, which is their substitute for thought. The general toleration of unnecessary noise -- the slamming of doors, for instance, a very unmannerly and ill-bred thing -- is direct evidence that the prevailing habit of mind is dullness and lack of thought. In Germany it seems as though care were taken that no one should ever think for mere noise -- to mention one form of it, the way in which drumming goes on for no purpose at all.

Finally, as regards the literature of the subject treated of in this chapter, I have only one work to recommend, but it is a good one. I refer to a poetical epistle in terzo rima by the famous painter Bronzino, entitled De' Romori: a Messer Luca Martini. It gives a detailed description of the torture to which people are put by the vaious noises of a small Italian town. Written in a tragi-comic style, it is very amusing. The epistle may be found in Opere burlesche del Berni, Aretino ed altri, Vol. II., p. 258; apparently published in Utrect in 1771.
posted by gramschmidt at 9:58 AM GMT on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by bugbread at 7:44 AM EST on November 2 [!]

- exactly.
posted by shmegegge at 5:41 PM GMT on November 2 [!]

True.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:20 PM PST on November 2 [!].
posted by gramschmidt at 11:47 PM on November 2, 2005

sgt.serenity : "On Noise..."True."

Ok, I give up. I can't keep typing exactly what you type if you keep typing so much. I'd have to resort to cut and paste, and that's cheating. Point is, you claim to type in whatever bonaldi types, but it's obviously untrue, as you keep making little changes to what he types. We've already had one callout on this thread, so I'm not going to make a MetaTalk thread about this issue, but consider yourself called out, sgt. serenity, you lying, deceiving, prevaricating bastard grapefruit eater. I hope you find yourself mildly inconvenienced by the train system of your dwelling place.
posted by Bugbread at 3:50 AM on November 3, 2005

So, Now the Landlord allows threads to go on, just because they're entertaining...
posted by ParisParamus at 4:26 AM on November 3, 2005

ParisParamus : "So, Now the Landlord allows threads to go on, just because they're entertaining..."

Is that why he's leaving it open? I didn't know he'd said anything about why the thread was still here.
posted by Bugbread at 5:06 AM on November 3, 2005

The new buses just started running this week in Chiang Mai. Of course you still got the old 12 baht buses, the song thaews, the tuk tuks, bicycle rickshaws, and 40 or so green and yellow taxis.
posted by blueberry at 5:17 AM on November 4, 2005

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