Drinking and gambling sometimes break out. And dancing. Sometimes big storms break out. Sometimes the Venns collide. It's just the way the gears work. Usually.
Um, the history of the Amish in Lancaster County, PA, includes the urban legend that their (buggy race) sign for "Enter Race Course Here" devolved into the current community name of "Intercourse", PA. Bus tour anecdotes include the First Farmer's Bank answering the phone "First Farmer's Intercourse". I visited the local winery, the Intercourse Blush wine was pretty good.
But I haven't heard the Amish are all that active in the GOP.
I wonder if, in the "bad things happen in threes" meme, that the next one will be El Nino rolling over Los Angeles. That might change a couple of demographics. On the other hand, I suppose Los Angeles benefits from hurricanes and typhoons mostly moving west and toward the pole. I guess a really vicious storm might blow across Panama, and up the coast, though. . (Something for Hollywood to think about?) I suppose it would be at least as believable as "The Greater Los Angeles Blizzard" (Thom Racina, 1977).
@Tam, Oddly, the God Squad wing of the GOP rarely condemns playing the markets the way they do playing the ponies.
That is kind of odd.
Though there might be a categorization-quibble.
On the one side, I see betting on the performance of animals-with-jockeys at a race, which was staged mostly for the purpose of entertainment and betting...and giving track and horse owners a better way to make money.
On the other side, I see betting on the performance of market-price/dividends on large corporations. The corporations are organized largely for the purpose of earning money. I can't quite tell if the Stock Exchange was organized for entertainment, betting, or making money.
And I thought there was an easy-to-describe difference between Churchill Downs and the NYSE.
On the side: this dichotomy appears to have an analog in the hatred of Big Business on the Left...unless the Big Business in question manufactures video performances and sells them to theaters, broadcast/Cable networks, and DVD-creators.
Both attitudes depend on an artificial delineation of 'good' vs. 'bad' that has more to do with culture than with logic.
My hometown of Charlotte, NC, is 200 miles inland and got blindsided by Hurricane Hugo. That SOB hit my hometown by coming from the South and West, via Georgia and SC.
So keep checking the weather channel next time you visit the City That Never Sleeps, or whatever Las Vegas is calling itself these days.
So, uh, would this be a bad time to mention that Vegas does flood every once in a while? They get monsoonal rains down there, and very occasionally they overwhelm the city's runoff sewer system and the lower-lying areas flood. Not sure when the last one happened though. I'm pretty sure that it happened at least once in the 1990s; I remember footage of someone being rescued out of their Jeep Cherokee after they found out that they aren't submarine rated.
Frogs. And/or locusts. Sending water to the desert might be misunderstood as a blessing...
ReplyDeleteWell, Port Royal was sucked down into liquified sand in 1692, so there IS precedent. But the Colorado was have to be feeling awfully spry.
ReplyDeleteDrinking and gambling sometimes break out. And dancing. Sometimes big storms break out. Sometimes the Venns collide. It's just the way the gears work. Usually.
ReplyDelete"New Orleans and Atlantic City."
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you forget to mention New York, the biggest gambling city in the world? The Casino at Wall Street dwarfs the others.
Oddly, the God Squad wing of the GOP rarely condemns playing the markets the way they do playing the ponies.
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDeleteUm, the history of the Amish in Lancaster County, PA, includes the urban legend that their (buggy race) sign for "Enter Race Course Here" devolved into the current community name of "Intercourse", PA. Bus tour anecdotes include the First Farmer's Bank answering the phone "First Farmer's Intercourse". I visited the local winery, the Intercourse Blush wine was pretty good.
But I haven't heard the Amish are all that active in the GOP.
I wonder if, in the "bad things happen in threes" meme, that the next one will be El Nino rolling over Los Angeles. That might change a couple of demographics. On the other hand, I suppose Los Angeles benefits from hurricanes and typhoons mostly moving west and toward the pole. I guess a really vicious storm might blow across Panama, and up the coast, though. . (Something for Hollywood to think about?) I suppose it would be at least as believable as "The Greater Los Angeles Blizzard" (Thom Racina, 1977).
If a hurricane makes it to Vegas... well, it was probably a real corker when it made landfall.
ReplyDeleteWe had a record amount of rain this year and a few serious flash floods. No hurricanes though.
ReplyDeleteCeasers Palace floods sometimes I've heard.
@Tam,
ReplyDeleteOddly, the God Squad wing of the GOP rarely condemns playing the markets the way they do playing the ponies.
That is kind of odd.
Though there might be a categorization-quibble.
On the one side, I see betting on the performance of animals-with-jockeys at a race, which was staged mostly for the purpose of entertainment and betting...and giving track and horse owners a better way to make money.
On the other side, I see betting on the performance of market-price/dividends on large corporations. The corporations are organized largely for the purpose of earning money. I can't quite tell if the Stock Exchange was organized for entertainment, betting, or making money.
And I thought there was an easy-to-describe difference between Churchill Downs and the NYSE.
On the side: this dichotomy appears to have an analog in the hatred of Big Business on the Left...unless the Big Business in question manufactures video performances and sells them to theaters, broadcast/Cable networks, and DVD-creators.
Both attitudes depend on an artificial delineation of 'good' vs. 'bad' that has more to do with culture than with logic.
My hometown of Charlotte, NC, is 200 miles inland and got blindsided by Hurricane Hugo. That SOB hit my hometown by coming from the South and West, via Georgia and SC.
ReplyDeleteSo keep checking the weather channel next time you visit the City That Never Sleeps, or whatever Las Vegas is calling itself these days.
Anything is possible.
So, uh, would this be a bad time to mention that Vegas does flood every once in a while? They get monsoonal rains down there, and very occasionally they overwhelm the city's runoff sewer system and the lower-lying areas flood. Not sure when the last one happened though. I'm pretty sure that it happened at least once in the 1990s; I remember footage of someone being rescued out of their Jeep Cherokee after they found out that they aren't submarine rated.
ReplyDelete