In Ghana during the ebola outbreak, mobs of people panicked over rumors of doctors
killing people with syringes and drinking their blood and other acts of cannibalism.

Were they really that much different than Texans this week,
panicking over underground prisons being built in empty Walmart stores,
and Obama ordering military takeovers of Texas, Utah, and southern California ?

Conspiracy Theories Over Jade Helm Training Exercise Get Some Traction in Texas
NY Times - MANNY FERNANDEZ - MAY 6, 2015

They took a picture of thunder. Yes, thunder.

A good use would be to mount them on the dashboards of Philadelphia Duck Boats so operators can detect people in front of them through the vehicle:

On the local TV news. Old woman from Texas, walking with her husband, nose buried in her smart phone, stepped off the curb against the light... squish goes the weasel.
Wonder if her husband saw it coming and kept quiet?

I learned from that Simon Pegg movie that swans were dangerous, but now I see I need to ducks to the list. We have ducks all over the place here, I didn't realize they killed people. :eek:

Which is worse ?

Georgia Principal:
Or, her apology ?

I watched that clip, we probably both took the same clickbait from the duck story.

Here's how I see it. The woman was very upset, thinks weren't going her way. These strong emotions required a great deal of her energy and attention to "keep it together" as the leader of the school, the emcee; she was under a lot of pressure at the moment. But she has only a limited amount of wherewithal/composure/calm/attention/etc and in this circumstance, she didn't have enough to cover all imminent loss of control of the audience (the people leaving in the first place) AND control her own emotional response "Look who's leaving: all the black people!".

I think that statement reveals an uncomfortable reality about her perspective, namely that skin color is an important and substantive aspect of groups of people that can be a reliable indicator about lots of other aspects of those same people; "If black, then XYZ."

She saw the people who are leaving and saw black people leaving. She didn't notice or comment on the people leaving as the offended people leaving or the impatient people leaving or the rude people leaving or any other people leaving. The people who were leaving were the people who acted on her instructions "Thanks for attending, that concludes our ceremony, you are dismissed." or words to that effect. I think the very fact that it was her mistake at forgetting to introduce the speaker and prematurely dismissing the audience that flustered her in the first place. That's an embarrassing mistake. The people leaving drew attention to that mistake, people who were leaving precisely because she'd dismissed them. Oooops. That would certainly be uncomfortable.

But in other stories I've read on the incident, there are remarks attributed to her that are just as mean and unflattering, though not as racially prejudiced. The story says she called the man making the video we watched a "goober" and a "coward". Why? Shame, she's ashamed, so she's lashing out. There's another one where she's reported to have said that a crying baby should have his mouth taped shut. Maybe she said these things, maybe not. But they're consistent, and they're awful. I find such revelations about the inner perspectives of people fascinating. And this case, I find them saddening and sickening. I wouldn't want someone who feels like this to run a school, any school.

And her apology is nothing. She's insincere and unrepentant. She just wants the attention to her shameful words to go away and have things return to "normal" where she's the boss and no one can see her inner feelings.

:thumbsdn:

Oh good grief...:facepalm:

Remember the sinkhole at the Nat'l Corvette Meseum? They thought about putting a glass floor over the sinkhole and leaving a couple of the Vettes in there. That idea was nixed as too expensive. I find it questionable at best, but, I can see that there might be an attraction aspect to such a thing.

Here's the latest:

They're gonna build a miniature version of the Skydome where the sinkhole occurred, and make a simulated-sinkhole-multi-media "experience", for 15 people at a time.

It's a simulated hole in the ground.

And it's gonna be called, get this:

The Thunderdome.

I shit you not.

Ever seen a big hole in the ground? There ya go. I just saved you a trip to Kentucky.

:facepalm:

Bwaaahahahahahahaaaaa!

If you don't believe corporations (businesses) are trying to be people, try this one...

Are online reviews free speech or cyberbullying? Court dives into legal fight
Portland TRibune - Peter Wong/Capital Bureau - 5/12/15
... just a further warning:

Don't mention bed bugs in Oregon unless you specify their exact number and location.

.

I recently met an innkeeper who complained of a person who had never stayed at her inn, but because she refused to go on a date with him, he left a scathing review full of defamatory comments about her inn - anonymously. She can't get yelp or whatever it's called to remove it.

That's what hit-men are for.

:eyebrow:

If you don't believe corporations (businesses) are trying to be people, here is one more....

Reddit's new anti-harassment rules anger some users
Zach Miners - IDG News Service - May 14, 2015
Don't be surprised if this spreads through the corporate universe...
"It's my website. I own it. If you want to use it... obey my rules"

.

Look at LL's filter on the world. It's almost like if a corporation does something, anything, that is evidence of the corporate persona, and is Bad merely because a corporation did it.

In the 20th Century it would be "Looks like a negro did it"; now it's "Looks like a corporation did it."

They are all identical and all bad merely by having made the misfortunate act of having decided to exist. This time the crime is preventing people from harassing others on their site. Yeah don't do that, stupid dickhead corporation. It doesn't matter if it's the least "corporate" website ever. They did something. That's bad.