heh...pathetic. Volunteers are not paid. 538's been visiting field offices, and Obama's ground game is far superior--

"The McCain offices are calm, sedate. Little movement. No hustle. In the Obama offices, it's a whirlwind. People move. It's a dynamic bustle. You can feel it in our photos."

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/on-road-st-louis-county-missouri.html

Absolutely hilarious posting.
Thanks for sharing that!

In reply to this comment by hueco_tanks:
Not to take anything away from the joy of hearing Sarah Palin booed, but these people would boo... well... Santa.

•In 1999, fans jeered Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin as he lay on the field for 20 minutes, suffering from a neck injury that ended his career.

•That same year, fans threw D batteries at St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew, who held out for a year after the Phillies drafted him and eventually signed with the Cards instead.

•Matthew Scott, the only person in the United States to have received a hand transplant, was asked by the Phillies to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team's home opener in 1999. The pitch, from his transplanted hand, dribbled over the plate. The fans booed.

•Eagles fans famously blasted Santa Claus with a shower of snowballs at halftime of a game as St. Nick circled helplessly around the field before stadium officials rescued him.

(source: http://www.nestofdeath.com/press/washTimes.html)

Not to take anything away from the joy of hearing Sarah Palin booed, but these people would boo... well... Santa.

•In 1999, fans jeered Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin as he lay on the field for 20 minutes, suffering from a neck injury that ended his career.

•That same year, fans threw D batteries at St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew, who held out for a year after the Phillies drafted him and eventually signed with the Cards instead.

•Matthew Scott, the only person in the United States to have received a hand transplant, was asked by the Phillies to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team's home opener in 1999. The pitch, from his transplanted hand, dribbled over the plate. The fans booed.

•Eagles fans famously blasted Santa Claus with a shower of snowballs at halftime of a game as St. Nick circled helplessly around the field before stadium officials rescued him.

(source: http://www.nestofdeath.com/press/washTimes.html)

Lucky, here are some more for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFHPGu3MidI (July 2006 - oldest?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKmwpBqklXk (Oct 2006 - advanced tricks)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCYevn4O4vo (4chan remix of original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hPx94ZafPE ("escalator helicopter" dated July 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rM0nLNgm9g (triple spinners)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pnSKvk7Mo (reverse spin - half superman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFK1zSLg3zE (people mover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vGtYLyQYrc (las vegas airport people mover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNN_fTSzh1I (st louis airport people mover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBtt_Qx3bp0 (awesome fail)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLzX76i6P4w (awesome fat guy fail)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maaovx9qLOE (fail fall inside)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Y4qVhhUv4 (the sit and spin)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2xjVyn6UuQ (horrible quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8YZSd_Kzxg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBM6LBtD3qQ (cheating cause there is solid metal rail)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIb7fYxH0U (tokyo mall)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw4Nk9sAvmo (rails are too far apart spin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTD-zWoB9IE (the "Severe Twist")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB0NjZR17us (attempt #2 semi-fail)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIQymjki3Xg (Fail)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrtI7dF5ttw (Suge White & fail - nice text effects)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pPLTiva9Bw (downhill pommel horse)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quhqfVB0fQM (low quality good spinner)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXQrw4DI1BI

Nothing new here. In 2003, cops in my town (St. Louis, MO) raided several houses just prior to a large agri-business conference. The targets were potential protesters. Police broke down doors, stole bikes and tools, URINATED on people's floors, and ARRESTED cyclists for "bicycling without a license". Google the terms "St. Louis police" and "bicycling without a license" if you'd like to read some news and accounts.

Les Cowboys Fringants:Les Étoiles Filantes
From LyricWiki
This song is performed by Les Cowboys Fringants and appears on the album La Grand-Messe (2004).
http://lyricwiki.org/Les_Cowboys_Fringants:Les_%C3%89toiles_Filantes

(English translation below)

***French original
Si je m'arrête un instant
Pour te parler de ma vie
Juste comme ça tranquillement
Dans un bar rue St-Denis

J'te raconterai les souvenirs
Bien gravés dans ma mémoire
De cette époque où vieillir
Était encore bien illusoire

Quand j'agaçais les p'tites filles
Pas loin des balançoires
Et que mon sac de billes
Devenait un vrai trésor

Et ces hivers enneigés
À construire des igloos
Et rentrer les pieds g'lés
Juste à temps pour Passe-Partout

Mais au bout du ch'min dis-moi c'qui va rester
De la p'tite école et d'la cour de récré ?
Quand les avions en papier ne partent plus au vent
On se dit que l'bon temps passe finalement...

... Comme une étoile filante

Si je m'arrête un instant
Pour te parler de la vie
Je constate que bien souvent
On choisit pas mais on subit
Et que les rêves des ti-culs
S'évanouissent ou se refoulent
Dans cette réalité crue
Qui nous embarque dans le moule

La trentaine, la bedaine
Les morveux, l'hypothèque
Les bonheurs et les peines
Les bons coups et les échecs

Travailler, faire d'son mieux
En arracher, s'en sortir
Et espérer être heureux
Un peu avant de mourir

Mais au bout du ch'min dis-moi c'qui va rester
De notre p'tit passage dans ce monde effréné ?
Après avoir existé pour gagner du temps
On s'dira que que l'on était finalement

... Que des étoiles filantes

Si je m'arrête un instant
Pour te parler de ma vie
Juste comme ça tranquillement
Pas loin du Carré St-Louis

C'est qu'avec toi je suis bien
Et que j'ai pu' l'goût de m'en faire
Parce que tsé voir trop loin
C'pas mieux que r'garder en arrière

Malgré les vieilles amertumes
Et les amours qui passent
Les chums qu'on perd dans' brume
Et les idéaux qui se cassent

La vie s'accroche et renaît
Comme les printemps reviennent
Dans une bouffée d'air frais
Qui apaise les coeurs en peine

Ça fait que si à' soir t'as envie de rester
Avec moi, la nuit est douce on peut marcher
Et même si on sait ben que tout dure rien qu'un temps
J'aimerai ça que tu sois pour un moment...

... Mon étoile filante

Mais au bout du ch'min dis-moi c'qui va rester...
Mais au bout du ch'min dis-moi c'qui va rester...

... Que des étoiles filantes




***English translation
If I stop a moment
To tell you about my life
Just like that, quietly
In a bar on St-Denis

I'd tell you the memories
Well-etched into my memory
From that time when aging
Was still but illusory

When I annoyed the little girls
Not far from the swings
And my bag of marbles
Became a real treasure

And these snowy winters
Of constructing igloos
And going back inside with frozen feet
Just in time for Passe-Partout

But at the end of the road tell me what will remain
Of the little school and the playground?
When the paper planes no longer fly on the wind
We tell ourselves that the good times are finally ending...

...like a shooting star

If I stop a moment
To tell you about life
I note that quite often
We do not choose but we endure
And that the dreams of little lads
Dissipate or collapse
In this hard reality
Which casts us in the mold

The thirties, the belly
The kids, the mortgage
The pleasures and the sorrows
The strokes of luck and the failures

Working, doing one's best
And struggling, and getting out
And hoping to be happy
A little before dying

But at the end of the road tell me what will remain
Of our little passage through this mad world?
After having existed to buy some time
We'll tell ourselves that we were in the end

...but shooting stars

If I stop a moment
To tell you about my life
Just like that, quietly
Not far from St-Louis Square

It's only with you that I'm okay
And that I lost the taste to care
Because you know seeing too far ahead
Isn't better than looking backwards

Despite the old bitternesses
And the loves that pass
The friends we lose in the mists
And the ideals which fall apart

Life holds on and renews
Like the springtimes return
In a puff of fresh air
Which appeases pained hearts

So if tonight you want to stay
With me, the night is soft we can walk
And even if we know that all lasts but a time
I'd like you to be for a moment...

...My shooting star

But tell me at the end of the road what will remain...
But tell me at the end of the road what will remain...

...Just shooting stars

I'm not anti-porn; I'm anti-porn in relationships. I agree with gorgonheap 100%. Porn is destructive to healthy relationships. I realize most of the guys on this site are porn connoisseurs and don't want to hear it. However, if you look at the research, you might be in for a surprise. From a 2004 Time article:

"[Psychologist] Mark Schwartz, director of the Masters and Johnson clinic in St. Louis, Mo., says porn not only causes men to objectify women—seeing them as an assemblage of breasts, legs and buttocks—but also leads to a dependency on visual imagery for arousal."

And I realize you [generalization] don't care for the site that thepinky references, but please just take a look at the quotes on this site. The last three are quotes from a book and from a researcher. I understand they're not what you want to hear, and you might think they're extreme cases - the second quote from a wife of a porn user certainly is. I have heard complaints similar to the ones Ana Bridges identifies. Women don't want to think their significant other is thinking about anyone but them when they're doing the deed. Use of pornography gets a lot of women second-guessing.

Dr. Phil has a message board dedicated to women whose lives and marriages have been torn apart because of porn. One woman: "...laying in bed hurt because he would rather be on the computer. Before porn I never found myself alone at bedtime." This is an excerpt from a great message from a women... I wish I could link to the individual messages.

"These days, if you're anti-porn, you're called "insecure" and "behind the times". I assure you it is because I HAVE self esteem that I'm anti-porn. These men are deluding themselves about what they're actually witnessing. It's all an ACT. It's PRETEND. And maybe that's just what they want...pretend sex. I have been through the whole porn thing with my ex...whom I was married to for over 20 years. I understand the pain of being lied to...and substitued. Porn IS a substitute...and if they don't think so, they're in denial about the whole thing. What better way for a man (or woman) to come home from a long hard day, and that night have a wonderfully emotional loving experience with the woman he professes to love?

...[hypothetical situation to another poster on the board] If he were the jealous sort, and his wife loved innocent, harmless flirting...yet it caused him considerable pain, isn't that along the same lines? HE would be asking her to stop doing something that *she* loved to do. Because it caused him PAIN. I just don't think these men understand the true amount of pain that this causes to the women. It has NOTHING to do with esteem issues."

She goes on, and I think it's a great post, but way too long to quote the entire thing.

For those of you disagreeing with the concept that porn is inherently wrong or bad, I agree to a point. Porn itself doesn't cause problems - porn in a relationship likely will.

generally people in cities vote democratic, and people in rural areas vote republican. The urban/rural split is more significant than any other demographic in predicting how white people will vote. If you look at a county-winner maps of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, most of the densely populated counties were won by democrats, and the republicans won almost everywhere else. For example, St. Louis city, Kansas City, and Rolla are blue while almost everywhere else in Missouri is Red.
http://www.esri.com/industries/elections/graphics/results_2004_lg.jpg

There are other correlates of living in an urban area: wealth, education, exposure to a variety of people, and irreligion.

So long Screwie, see ya in St Louis!

of interest

Over the course of the last year, George W. Bush has offered his personal congratulations to the 2007 Presidential Scholars, the Super Bowl-winning Indianapolis Colts, the 2007 Scripps Spelling Bee champion, the owner of the World Series-winning St. Louis Cardinals, the NBA champion Miami Heat, the Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes and the NCAA champions from 21 universities.

So, a reporter asked deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto today, will the president be calling Al Gore to congratulate him for winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Fratto's response: "I don't know of any plans to make calls to any of the winners at this point."

-- Tim Grieve - http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/

I feel kind of cool because I've played Pong on an actual Pong cabinet at the Arcade Museum in St Louis. I played around on a virtual reality system at Union Station on that same trip. Made for an interesting contrast.

he might be at ASU, but he's wearing a Washington University in St. Louis sweatshirt... ziiing!

I was curious about any followup activity on this. So far I haven't found much, but some more interesting background I got a LOL out of.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/34992940ABCFBFF886257355000D2A55?OpenDocument

A check of court records shows Kuehnlein [the officer in this story] himself pleaded guilty of assault and stealing in two different cases, in 1988 and 1990. He successfully petitioned a judge in St. Louis County in 1998 to expunge his criminal record, which was making it hard for him to get work as a cop.

The judge ordered those records sealed, as well as records of an acquittal for drunken driving and an assault arrest that did not result in charges.

...

Five years ago, an administrative commission upheld an accusation that Uhrig [the police chief who suspended Kuehnlein] propositioned a 17-year-old girl for sex during a traffic stop in 2000, when he was an Arnold officer.

Cole told investigators that Uhrig had her drive to an empty parking lot where he spoke of jail, petted her arm and face, told her she was "beautiful, hot, and tempting," and suggested a "quickie."

...

Police misconduct is an old story in St. George. In 1981, Chief Milton Russell Schepp worked with the so-called "Syrian underworld" to plant a bomb in a car driven by mobster Paul J. Leisure. Leisure survived the blast, and Schepp went to prison.


Did you catch that last bit? A former police chief set up a car bomb. This sounds like a great place to live, with real role-model cops to help you through your daily life!


Edit: This seems to be a good place to keep up on what develops: http://www.zimbio.com/Brett+Darrow

I'll be going to St. Louis next month, I wonder if I need to install a camera in my car before I go.

So basically, the guy (Darrow) just runs around the town looking for cops to piss off so they yell at him on camera?

What was he doing to piss that cop off?? He only asked what he did, and it was a legitimate question with no attitude in it.

In Rubadub's comment you can read an article where Darrow explains the camera -

Darrow said he installed the cameras in his Nissan Maxima after past run-ins with police. He said he was involved in a physical confrontation in 2005 with an off-duty St. Louis police officer, in a case Darrow said was later dismissed.

It paid off for him to have his driving on video, because this post isn't even his second encounter, it was his third!

Here is his second - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2585482423715017278

Again you'll see that he does nothing wrong.

Waiting for a friend my ass.

Oh yea, that's right, the story was clearly made up. Obviously the kid was driving around at 2 a.m. because he might run into a cop who might yell at him and maybe even might threaten to make up charges after he did nothing wrong. Yea, that's gotta be it!