Here goes nothing.... (World Reaction part 5 ?)
 

http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/nissin.jpg

Spoof of a real product called "Nissin Lamen" (noodles). "Flavor: American Barbecue", "Ready in 18 minutes".


http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/Mastercard2.jpg

"United Airlines Ticket to the United States: US$ 1400.00"

"Lunch in a WTC restaurant: US$ 200.00"

"Entrance to the WTC observatory: US$ 70.00"

"Seeing the USA being massacred by shabby third world people: No Price !"

"Middle East"

"There are things that only the Middle East does for you. "

http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/missing.jpg

This one came in today... I think it could be American made.

although i didn't find any of them particularly humorous, i can appreciate the fact that some people need to find humor in the most ghastly circumstances. can't imagine that the families of over 6,000 innocent people would appreciate them so much...

"i agree not with a word you say, but i defend to the death your right to say it"...

Hey, as is often pointed out, and sometimes by me - comedy is tragedy plus time. If you're not connected to the situation, plenty of time has passed.

I can see how these things would be funny. What we have going here in this country is a sort of self-feeding grief at this point, I think. The natural time for really severe grief is over, I think. And what we have now is everyone sharing their own grief, which makes everyone sad again and prolongs the cycle.

The other aspect of this is that... well, I believe that anything can be fodder for humor. I believe that anything is fair game. A lot of people won't find something funny because they don't find it a joking matter. Those people should, IMO, just take it. Because different people handle things differently and the one thing that I find vital is a sense of humor.

All the late night comedy shows have had to come back cautiously, stumbling over themselves a little, to wonder openly whether comedy is permitted. Even comedy entirely unrelated to WTC. That's a shame, I think. The time has come to end this cycle of grief and get on with life - get on with activity, get back to being productive, which will stop the stock market's decline and put everything back on track. One thing that can do that is comedy. The sooner we get to laughing the better off we'll all be.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

No Tony, I think your right. Lord knows the number of quips I've cracked within the safety of my own home in the past week. Were I to crack them outside the home, I'd probably be blasted for being an insensitive unAmerican asshole.

For me, going to NYC last weekend and seeing everything going on outside St. Vincent's Hospital gave me what I can best describe as "closure." Since then, I've had a sense of peace about what has happened. Furthermore, given my current health situation, I have something that requires more of my attention now.

It's like what happened during the Gulf War...the US was riveted to its TV for days on end, then the War ended, and we went back to normalcy. We never forget about it, but we moved on.

I don't know what is going to happen from here, as it seems we are on a path towards some sort of military action. But I personally feel like I'm getting desensitized to the situation, which I'm fighting. We certainly will not forget what has happened, but we must live again...

A friend of mine is in the middle of a class, I believe on the Islamic religion. Half the people in there are Arabic; he is caucasian. Soon after 9/11, he was cracking jokes about the Arabic members hijacking the classroom and flying it into the English building.

Since then I've heard a dozen jokes from him about flying planes into things. It still bothers me to hear that--and I'm someone who normally is NEVER offended by the most off-color humor, being an avid reader of The Onion--but I'd say my natural grief period has quieted into a dull pain for the time being. Humor probably isn't TOO far behind, but it's still too early right now.

On a side note, I wonder if any Cellar readers understand the irony of someone nicknamed "Vegeta" posting comments like these.

Heh.

I was expecting much worse, CZ. If this is the best the world can come up with, we have nothing to fear! ;)

uhhhh....

The... uhhh.... last one... *is* fake, right?

it's fake
 

You'd see jet exhaust trails streaming behind that plane if the photo were real. If you've ever seen jets from a shallow angle, you'd be amazed at how much they smoke.

Sorry in advance for this one.
 

Very morbid but for some reason I still cracked up.

At the spelling.

Thankyou for pointing out the blindingly obvious joe.
I have to agree with Hubris Boy - i was expecting worse.

You'rewelcome.

1) Did the first jet come from the North?

2) OK, what <i>is</i> the irony of "Vegeta"?

I got a good chuckle off that...

Joe, that image was funny...

Undertoad, have you ever heard of the anime "Dragon Ball Z"? Vegeta was one of the first bad guys. Very sadistic and dark. He enjoyed blowing up planets and the like--his job was eradicating indigenous populations for the highest bidder--but eventually, slowly, he became a good guy.

The irony is that he'd never post comments like mine. And yet, he's still my favorite character.

Because our reactions sometimes come from out of nowhere...
 

Given that I work for a wireless phone insurance provider, I knew I would get a few calls from folks who lost phones during the terrorist attacks. And I DID expect a few shitheads to call who would use the events as a "weapon" of sorts. Then...there was today.

A guy was mad because we needed some documentation before his claim could be processed. Needless to say, he was pissed at our company. After arguing with the guy for nearly 15 minutes, he seems to be settling down...then comes this out of his mouth:

Customer: "God, why couldn't you guys have been in the World Trade Center?"

Sycamore: "EXCUSE ME?!"

Customer: "You heard me!"

Sycamore: *trying to cool the blood that is suddenly boiling* "Okay sir, I'm afraid I'm no longer going to be able to help you."

Customer: "What?!"

Sycamore: "Sir, I have been trying to assist you for the past 15 minutes, okay? And that remark you made? That was uncalled for! I'm afraid I cannot help you any further. You have a good day now."

*click!*

Having been in the customer service industry for over a decade now, I have learned to handle customers rather well. But for some reason, the comment that this bastard child made stirred up what could best be described as primal rage.

Understandable enough.
There seem to be alot of wankers in the world, and they mostly seem to be at one or the other end of help desks or customer service. The foxtel(cabel tv here) wanker who phoned up 4 times, in the middle of dinner, whne i aksed him not to comes to mind.

Re: Because our reactions sometimes come from out of nowhere...
 

My God! That is quite an understandable reaction no matter what kind of person you are. For someone to wish death upon you just for having some administrative red tape that he doesn't care for.

I suppose that he may be pretty high-stressed himself right now -- may have lost someone in the distaster that he cares for. But, even if that is true, it's sad that he would express it in that way.

Syc, if you said those words calmly, I'd say that your response was quite understandable -- no, restrained. Just hanging up OR yelling would have been understandable.

Re: Re: Because our reactions sometimes come from out of nowhere...
 

I made sure I told my supervisor about it, to cover my ass. As a supervisor, we have some leeway in handling irate customers, but I'm not one to abuse something like that.

As I mentioned, I've been in customer service for over 10 years now--in person, on the phone, and online. I've been called a lot of different names. I've had customers threaten to meet me on parking lots after closing time. As a whole, I've always handled myself well, even though I can have a temper. I've always tried to handle customers in the most professional way. But in the past 2 months at this god-forsaken job of mine, I have heard some of the meanest, most spiteful comments ever. I have my posits as to why (such as the fact that many people have become too dependent on their wireless phones), but that is neither here nor there. In the span of 8 hours yesterday:

--One customer that told me I better watch my back b/c I denied his claim.
--One customer who wished I had been in the World Trade Center.
--Another customer who began cussing at me b/c of his error in delaying the filing of his claim.

F**k that...I've had enough of the world of customer service. 10 years is more than enough.

Quote:

I suppose that he may be pretty high-stressed himself right now -- may have lost someone in the distaster that he cares for. But, even if that is true, it's sad that he would express it in that way.

This could tie in to why this thread was originally started.

The guy I was on the phone with was from Seattle. Certainly, he could have had someone involved in what happened, but I would suspect no. Who knows?

But given that this customer is 3000 miles away from what happened, maybe he does not feel as sensitive to it as I or others do. I don't doubt that people around the world felt the sadness or pain of what occurred...but as Undertoad said, "If you're not connected to the situation, plenty of time has passed."

I personally feel a moderate connection to what happened. New York City is a mere 90 miles away from Philadelphia. Washington, DC is 120 miles away. The original reports had suggested that one of the hijacked planes was headed for Philadelphia. My fiance works in University City and rides the El to and from work. And, although it was all the way across the state, one of those planes went down in Pennsylvania. Not to mention, a friend of mine works near the WTC. Lastly, although I try to use logic as much as possible, I tend to be more emotional. Therefore, (using some of that psychology education I have), I would deduce that your reaction to what happened is based on where you were, the depth of involvement (friends or family that were at Ground Zero), and your own emotions. Perhaps I could use this as some sort of hypothesis for an experiment. ;)

When I left CVS, I tried desperately to find a job away from the world of customer service, but none were to be had at the time. But I've been there, done that now...and it wouldn't surprise me if it was contributing to my current health problems. I would love to be a consultant, where I could advise a) Companies on how to make customer service, and b) Common folk on how to control their "I want it and want it now!" urges. But it figures, I'm looking for a job in a city with slim pickings and a national economy that is slowing down.

http://cellar.org/pictures/ohshit.jpg

From a weblog that sometimes finds the bizarre and unusual. And just before this image was the one CZ found.

And this was linked to a rather raw address - and the image file size was 120K. I've optimized it so now it's 20K.

Spoof CNN Article
 

http://idisk.mac.com/patrik/Public/new_wtcc.jpg

Just got this in the mail... Amidst all this tragedy - am I the only one looking at this picture who gets reminded of a bottle opener?

-pripp

I haven't been able to find anything along those lines on CNN.com ... I would bet it's a joke. Besides, an airliner could just fly down a few floors and still run into it.

Anyways, a pair of giant bottle openers would make the NY skyline pretty damned silly looking. ;)

blowmetheclown sends this along, entitled simply "Osama Found":

http://cellar.org/pictures/osamafound.jpg

high-rise harmony
 

I wonder what kind of sound those towers would emit if the wind hit them just right?

I could just see crowds of NYC desk jockeys on the streets of Manhattan, all with their heads tilted to one side and clenching their teeth, dogs whining, birds scared away...

Of course the photo's a joke, but I will be very interested to see what they build there. Terrorism or not, that's some very pricey real estate. Once they finish picking up the mess (a few more months, tops) they'll start.

I've thought about this for a while, and I want exact replicas, only tougher to destroy.

Re: high-rise harmony
 

You know Joe, that was my feeling for a while too, show our resiliency, put those buildings right back up. My fiancee changed my mind though, she said that's a grave now, and it should be memorialized like one. I think I have to agree...

hmmm
 

True enough, the buildings will be seen as something very frightening to some now. These feelings will ease with time, but we'll always remember.

I know that if my house were destroyed, I would not build it back the same way, I'd make it better. I'd design a new one with all the good things of the old version, eliminate what I didn't like, and I'd add new cool stuff.

Part of me is in denial about this whole indident. The Twin Towers *gone*? Impossible! Building them back the same would in some way make it as if this whole thing had never happened. There's a comfort in the familiar, and people resist change.

It's cowardly, I know.

dynamo, despite the fact that those towers are a grave, there's no chance that the towers <i>won't</i> be rebuilt. I heard reports that said that the towers had 25% of the office space of lower manhattan, and besides that it's some of the most valuable real estate on the planet, and won't be used solely for a grave.

Look at London, Dresden, Nagasaki. These were cities with hundreds of buildings destroyed and thousands and thousands killed and they didn't turn into memorial sites, only.

True, a memorial is needed, but they'll find a way to integrate it into the design of the next buildings to go there. Don't worry, folks won't forget.

sapienza

Well...I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical because there's another reason why they may not be rebuilt, a reason that none of us want to admit. "Terrorism" didn't get that name on accident. Since that building has proven to be a target TWICE now, perhaps companies aren't gonna want to rent space there.

The country is still reeling from this and probably will be for a while. Those bastards got us, and they're probably gonna get us again before this is over.

the question
 

I think the question here is the purpose we have in mind when we rebuild.

If we want to do the most practical thing, then a super-highrise is out. From what I've been reading lately, building higher than 60 floors isn't profitable, any floors higher than that take so much extra work to build and maintain that the rents they generate don't pay their expenses. Companies still do it for the prestige factor, but that's what they're buying.

A new Corvette isn't practical or cheap, but guess what? Your neighbor doesn't have one.

I'm not on the design committee, so I'll just sit back and watch what goes up. What do we build on the WTC site? That's quite a decision for someone to make, and the structure will no doubt be controversial and full of graft and corruption when it is built. People will hate it when it goes up, then adopt it as their very own. It's the New York way.

If Taliban Wins...

http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/~count0/musnyc.jpg

http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/~count0/sofliberty.jpg

http://aquilal7.if.usp.br:8080/~count0/bush.jpg


Try to keep this from happening : http://www.uzinagaz.com/index.php?entry_point=wtc:D

oh i *love* that middle one of the statue..

I heard this morning on NPR that it would take 9 months to a year to clean up the mess.

-dynamo

The Mayor of NYC said that over a week ago. Its old news.

BTW last week, the operator of WTC had already stated their intent to rebuild - four 50 story towers. Pragmatism before vanity.

The "Waldo" pic
 

The picture of the guy on top of the WTC is faked, see:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/lastpic.htm

A computer related message board decided to take the concept and run with it, with amusing results (waldo just keeps popping up _everywhere_)

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....ighlight=Waldo

-or-
digested down to just the pictures,

http://mmx.bootlab.net/waldo/