Chamblee54

This tasteful collection is courtesy of TwentyTwoWords. The question that started it all was “What jokes or quips do you never tire of hearing or telling?.

Why did the cow cross the road ?The chicken was on vacation.
knock knock /who’s there?/ boo /boo who?/Don’t cry it’s only a joke…
It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.
A man walks up to a horse and says, “Why the long face?”
two pretzels were walking down the street. one was a salted.
As a friend said the other night,/ “He who laughs last thinks slowest.”
That’s what she said.
“Raise your hand if you’re here.”
Two nuns walk into a bar; the third one ducks.
Q: What did the radio say when it was dropped?/A: “Ow. That hertz.”
I know a lot of musicians but i am not one… nor will i ever be. but i love responding to “And what do you Play?” with “the Radio”
What did the ranch say to the refrigerator door? “Close the door, I’m dressing”
Why don’t blind people skydive?/ It scares the heck out of their dogs…
what did the fish say when it ran into a wall?/ dam.
“I see.” said the blind man as he peed into the wind… “It’s all coming back to me now.”
“Working hard or hardly working?”
What’s the last thing to go through a bug’s mind when it hits the windshield?/Its butt.
You can tuna guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.
What do a duck and a bicycle have in common?/They both have wheels… except the duck.
What’s brown and sounds like a bell?/DUNGGGGG.
When the phone rings:/ Every time i hear that thing it’s ringing!
What’s brown and sticky?/ A stick
When people ask the mortician what he does for a living, he says he is a “boxer”.
What did the shy pebble say?/I wish I was a little boulder! .

There is a quote for today. It is from a site called Abu Muqawama, which comments about the middle east. PG found this site while researching a post about refugees created by the war in Babylon. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
“The Iliad is ever mindful that war is about men killing or men killed. In the entire epic, no warrior, whether hero or obscure man of the ranks, dies happily or well. No reward awaits the soldier’s valor; no heaven will receive him. The Iliad’s words and phrases for the process of death make clear that this is something baneful: dark night covers the dying warrior, hateful darkness claims him; he is robbed of sweet life, his soul goes down to Hades bewailing its fate. Again and again, relentlessly, the Iliad hammers this fact: the death of any warrior is tragic and full of horror. Even in war, death is regrettable.” Caroline Alexander, The War that Killed Achilles.

PG saw where two of his FBF had taken a test to see what their “hippie name” was. One was Meadow Lotus Song, when he already used Meadow as an alternative name. The other, formerly employed in law enforcement, became Revolution Breeze.
Facebook applications are full of bugs. Instead, PG made a visit to “Big Android” Google (which is not much better), and a list of hippie name quizzes emerged. The background music was Children of Isizuke Tree. Pictures illustrating this endeavor are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”
The first stop on this voyage of nomenclature discovery was Testriffic. The slogan at the door was “Flower Power! Wanna see what your groovy name from the 60’s would be.. check it out and dont trip over your platform shoes!” ( Purist PG sniffs that platform shoes were popular in 1973, when America was wallowing in Watergate).
An early sign that this might not be the real deal is question one, What do you like to do on Friday Night? Answer three is “get waisted and listen to Janis Joplin”. How do you waist? Maybe she means eating junk food, washed down with Southern Comfort. The hippie name generated here was “Sunshine”. Changing a favorite color from blue to pink made the name “sunburst”.
The next stop on our mystery tour is the hippiechicknamegenerator. Instead of asking dopey questions, this one gives you a field to enter your name. When PG is typed in the box, he finds that his hippie chick name is “Flow”.
There is a debate whether hippy is spelled with a y or an ie. The people at hippy.com take the non authoritarian path, and do not tell you what your HN is. Instead, a unisexual list is provided, and you can choose your own. Some of the options include Papers, DeLorean, and Tranquilla.
Since PG misses being told what to do, he decided to take one more quiz. Also, his immunity is strong these days, and it is safe to use something called Quizpox. QP offers a list of ten items to be checked as appropriate. A pre aquarian distrust of spell check is in evidence, as you are asked if you are a fan of the Beetles. PG did his duty, and was rewarded with the name Peace Brodderick.

PG went on an open ended walk Tuesday. He does this a lot these days. Sometimes he has a destination, and a chore when he gets there. Other times, like today, he just packs the boots and camera, adjusts his clothes for the weather, and takes off.
When you go over the same paths over and over, you see the same things. When you bring a camera, you take pictures of the same things. Sometimes, you catch something that you missed, or a different light on a familiar object. PG finds the urge to digitally record less and less, the more he goes down these paths.
Today, he went on this trail, that comes out in back of Wal Mart. The glamor of Wally World was resisted, and PG went up to Peachtree Industrial. If we went northeast, he would get to I285 in a couple of miles. This does a pedestrian no good. If, on the other hand, he went south and west, he would go by Lenox Square, through Buckhead, and, if he was really athletic, into Midtown and Downtown. That is a very big if.
There were blue lights at the base of the wonderful bridge, along with a tow truck, and two recently altered vehicles. Traffic accidents can be so gruesome, but there was no ambulance here. This will not stop lawyers from getting involved.
The wonderful bridge goes from the former end of Clairmont Road, over Marta and Amtrak, and dumps vehicles onto Peachtree Industrial. Before the bridge opened in 1986, to get from Clairmont to Peachtree Industrial was a chore. You took a left at New Peachtree, crossed over the train tracks on a rickety bridge made of telephone poles, took another left on Peachtree Road, and cut through the parking lot of the Krystal. It is much easier to go over the bridge.
There was a line of cars on the bridge, waiting to get through the intersection. One opened a door, and said something to PG.
“We’re about to run out of gas, and we have to get to Cartersville”
“I’m poor”
“Thank you, G-d bless you, I love you sooooo much”.

If you go to the WordPress home page, you will see a selection of blog posts they like. One day, they featured Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub.
MFB ( please, no acronym jokes, except by the blogowner) is another gem of the blogosphere. As you may have guessed, it is named for Millard Fillmore. MF was POTUS ( and many POTUS are MF) between 1850 and 1853. The last whig to serve as POTUS ( history does not record whether he wore one), Mr. Fillmore helped delay the War Between the States for ten years.
After he left office, Mr. Fillmore visited Atlanta GA in 1854, becoming the first POTUS to do so. A road in San Francisco was named Fillmore Street, and loaned the name to a famous concert hall. Johnny Carson made him a punch line to many jokes. And, there is the bathtub.
In 1917, with America mixed up in a European war, H.L. Mencken published a column in the New York Evening Mail. He claimed that the bathtub had been invented in 1842, and was a controversial device. ( The first model was made of mahogany lined with lead.) President Millard Fillmore installed a bathtub in the White House in 1850, and greatly increased the acceptance of the invention. The story was a lie, but was believed without question by the (unwashed) public.
The present day Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub is one of millions of DYI internet portals. Recently someone found a letter, written by Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States of America.
In 1860, the election of Abraham Lincoln was seen by many as a disaster. Mr. Stephens disagreed :
“I know the man [Lincoln] well,” [Stephens wrote], “he is not a bad man. He will make as good a President as Fillmore did and better too in my opinion.”
MFB is a versatile facility, and takes an interest in the issue of carbon pollution. Maybe a blog named for a political hoax should take an interest in hot air. The post in question deals with one of the “tipping points” in the downhill slide the planet seems to be on. There is apparently methane gas trapped in the frozen arctic regions. When these waters are heated, they will release methane, which is a strong greenhouse gas. Apparently, the arctic methane problem is worse than previously thought. This is something that cannot be blamed on cattle or Al Gore.

The following is a repost. Today is not Friday the 13th, but Monday the 8th. Some say that any Monday is worse than any Friday, whatever the numbers. The consequence of Monday the 2nd is Friday the 13th. The pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
On this cheerful Friday the thirteenth, the world is going to hell. The economy is beyond horrible. People around the world are unhappy with their neighbors. Many people do not have the correct opinions about Jesus.
Craig, at Puntabulous, has an idea. Take a beverage poll.
1. If you could only have one non-alcoholic beverage and one alcoholic beverage for the rest of your life, which would they be?
2. If you could only have one beverage for the rest of your life non-alcoholic OR alcoholic, which would it be?
Note: Your alcoholic beverage can be any alcoholic beverage, and consist of more than one mixers/alcohols.
PG is a retired drunk. On December 31, 1988, he walked to the gas station, got a six pack of Coors in the bottle, and walked home. Shortly after midnight, he finished the last bottle. He has not drank alcohol since.
One day, PG will get all AA in your face. He does feel that life works smoother without beer…in fact, if he had not quit drinking, he may very well be dead. To be fair, that is true either way.
Getting back to the beverage poll, we see that it is reduced to one question. The answer to both questions is unsweetened homemade tea. This makes PG a double heretic. He lives in Georgia, where the tea is sweet and the folks are bitter.
The cheaper the tea bag, the better the taste. Winn Dixie used to have a store brand, Fishers, which had 100 unwrapped bags for 79 cents. The best value today is the Kroger or Aldi cost cutter, and it is two something for 100 bags. When you use three bags to make a half gallon, this is not going to kill you.
Some say you should only leave the bag in the boiled water for a few minutes, or you will get a bitter taste. Many of these people put large amounts of white sugar in the tea, which covers up half the taste. PG likes the bitter taste, and so he leaves the bags in the water until it is time to make another batch, and NEVER USES SUGAR.

PG got up, and looked at the intercom. He wasn’t looking for trouble. Pyromaniacs came up as if by magic, and there was a post about “redneck atheism”.
Actually, there were two posts about redneck atheism, which someone thinks is a clever phrase. Neither one mentions the connection to racism that is implied in redneck. You can tell all the hillbilly jokes you want, but the blunt truth is that rednecks are people that don’t like people with skin darker than theirs. And that is not the way that it is usually phrased.
PG sent an email about that to one of the perps, who is probably going to ignore it. That does not distract PG from a sentence in the other post, which got his Georgia blood boiling. ( Whether or not PG is a redneck is a matter of perspective. Sometimes it is best to defer to the opinions of others.)
The post that got PG’s britches in a tangle was about prayer. The post is part of a series responding to a list of one liners, that start “you might be a non questioning Christian if…”. These are a take off on some Jeff Foxworthy jokes about rednecks. ( In a bit of full circle irony, Mr. Foxworthy is now born again).
The nugget that inspired the pyroboi today was ” You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% failure was simply the will of God.”
The reply to this, and the reason why PG is sputtering, goes … “I can’t speak for people who deliberately pray for things that are manifestly opposed to the will of God, but my prayers are all answered. ”
PG grew up in a Baptist family, and left the church when he was 17. The next 28 years saw various paths and detours, before arriving at a destination of live and let live. His deeply Christian mother died at the end of 1998, and PG found comfort in the kindness of her friends.
Soon, PG found himself at war. He was working with a Professional Jesus Worshiper, who decided there was a problem with PG. One of the weapons that PJW used was Jesus.
Even after the open conflict cooled off, the PJW conducted an on-the-clock ministry in front of PG. This ministry created ill will for Jesus, and served to alienate PG from Jesus and Jesus worship.
The Third commandment says not to use the name of the LORD in vain. Conducting a ministry, while you are paid to work for your employer, that creates ill will for Jesus…this would seem to PG to be a clear violation of the Third commandment. It would seem to be “manifestly opposed to the will of G-d”
PG prayed every day during this long ordeal. He prayed to G-d to make PJW quit creating ill will for Jesus.
The prayer was never answered.

Several movies have had a world premiere in Atlanta. We will take a look today. Pictures are from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. Information about the films is from the Internet Movie Database.
As some of you may know, “Gone With The Wind had it’s world premiere at the Lowes Grand Theater on December 15, 1939. The Lowes Grand site is the current location of the Georgia Pacific building. There is a vacant lot next door, on top of some MARTA paraphernalia. This lot was the site of the Paramount Theater, another movie palace that did not survive.
The GWTW premiere was a big deal. Ten year old Martin Luther King Jr. sang with his church choir. Clark Gable requested a private meeting with Margaret Mitchell, who became the envy of every woman in America. When Mr. Gable checked out of his hotel, a lady was going to be given his room. The clerk asked for a minute to change the sheets on the bed, and the lady said, no, I want to sleep on the same sheets as him.
It was the golden age of movies, and the next year Atlanta hosted the first showing of “Who Killed Aunt Maggie”. The premiere was at the Rialto, on October 24, 1940. The review at IMDB said it was an enjoyable mystery, even if it was a cliche fest. It is not often seen today.
In 1946, “Song Of The South” had it’s premiere at the Fox Theater. SOTS is a controversial item these days. It was based on the Uncle Remus stories, which were written down by Joel Chandler Harris. For those who don’t know, these stories were told by the rural black people that Mr. Harris knew when he was growing up near Eatonton GA. As Wikipedia tells the tale “Controversy surrounding his southern plantation themes, narrative structure, collection of African-American folklore, use of dialect, and Uncle Remus character, however, has denigrated the significance of Harris’ work”. In other words, Brer Rabbit is not politically correct.
The reviews at IMDB tell a different tale. To them, SOTS is a happy children’s movie. The Disney company seems to wish it would go away and be forgotten. Copies are tough to come by these days. PG would say to see it for yourself and make up your own mind, but the Disney company does not want you to.
The female lead in SOTS was Ruth Warrick. Miss Warrick was a versatile talent. Her first movie role was in “Citizen Kane”, as Kane’s first wife. She was in many movies, before moving to television. She was perhaps best known as Phoebe Tyler, in the soap opera “All My Children”. Wikipedia tells a story about her, that is ironic for the female lead of “Song Of The South”
“In July 2000, she refused to accept a lifetime achievement award from the South Carolina Arts Commission because she was offended by legislators’ decision to move the Confederate flag from the state Capitol dome to another spot on the grounds in response to a boycott of the state by flag opponents. A lifelong supporter of African-American rights, she felt the flag should be removed completely, and commented, “In my view, this was no compromise. It was a deliberate affront to the African-Americans, who see it as a sign of oppression and hate.”
In 1949, the Paramount had the first screening of “The Gal Who Took The West”. The female lead was Yvonne De Carlo, who later achieved immortality as Lily Munster. In November 1951, the spotlights returned to Lowes Grand for “Quo Vadis”.
The last film in the GSU picture collection is “The Last Rebel”. This western had it’s premiere at the Rialto, May 27, 1958. The movie was a return to Atlanta glory for Olivia De Havilland. The film is the story of a man, whose wife dies in a fire during the war between the states. PG questions the use of the Stars and Bars on the marquee.
In 1974, Ringo Starr produced and acted in “Son of Dracula”. The movie had it’s world premiere at the Cherokee Plaza Theater. Cherokee Plaza is a shopping center on Peachtree Road, just east of the Atlanta city limits. The theater was torn down during a renovation, and the space is currently the produce department at Krogers.
A local radio station hired a band to play in the parking lot at the premiere. At some point, a long limousine pulled up to a stage, and Ringo Starr and Harry Nillson got out. Both were wearing sunglasses, even though it was after dark. Ringo got on the stage, waved a wand at the crowd, and said “I am turning you into frogs”. He went inside to see the movie, the crowd went home, and the movie was mercifully forgotten.
In 1981, PG went to a supper in an apartment building (now a vacant lot) across from First Baptist Church on Peachtree Street. There was a commotion down the street at the Fox, and PG went to see what it was. “Sharkey’s Machine” had it’s World Premiere that night. Local pundit Ron Hudspeth wore a tuxedo.

There is a discussion brewing in the Jesus Worship blogosphere on the question of ” Is Christianity really monotheistic”. This is in response to a ten part “meme”, on the subject of the unquestioning Christian.
There is a “motivational” poster, with the headline “Ten signs you are an unquestioning Christian”. One of these ( either number one or ten) deals with monotheism. To wit: “You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your God.” Some writers are promising/threatening to write about all ten of these arguments, and the features on monotheism are the first.
PG is a recovering Baptist, who is severely alienated from Jesus, and Jesus Worship. He does suspect that there is a G-d, and is in no way an “atheist”. The tracts linked to above tend to break down the discussion to atheists vs. christians, which is highly misleading.
In any event, PG has been knocking around for some time the idea of a post about the six G-ds of Jesus Worshipers. The appearance of this series…at blogs that ban PG from commenting…has spurred him into action. Whether or not there will be more comments (from PG) on this series remains to be seen.
Christianity (In this feature the expression Jesus Worship Religion, or JWR, will be used) claims to be a monotheistic religion. This means, there is only one G-d. In contrast, the Romans and Greeks had G-ds and G-ddesses galore, and the Hindus have literally millions of deities. In what was claimed by some as an advancement, the Jews worshiped one G-d. ( Zoraroastrians are said to be monotheistic, and did it before the Jews. There may be others.)
One of the sacred tracts of Judaism and JWR is the ten commandments. The first three relate to the concept of monotheism, and the proper way to talk about G-d.
1-Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2-Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3-Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
As a side note, PG has heard something about the use of Lord as a name for G-d. The riff is that “Lord” was an English nobleman. When the Bible was translated by James I, his workers used the L word as a synonym for G-d. The words for G-d in the Greek and Hebrew texts that comprised the Bible do not translate as Lord…that word was inserted by the anglocentric workers of James I. This is something that PG read in a book by Tom Robbins, and has no other source for. It may or may not be true. If it is, then it just might be a violation of the third commandment.
Getting back to monotheism, does Jesus Worship Religion (JWR) live up to the first commandment? This may seem to be a silly question when you consider the concept of the trinity. At some point in the early days of Jesus Worship, a decision was made top split G-d into three parts. We now had the father, the son, and the holy ghost. ( Which makes for a neat blessing…the father the son the holy ghost, whoever eats fastest gets the most ) The first commandment is still in effect, but, well, you just have to understand. The Jews continued to worship one G-d, and when Mohammed started his franchise a few years later, he changed the name to Allah. In that version, there is no G-d but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger.
Meanwhile, the Jesus Worshipers were good at converting and reproducing, and soon had a very popular religion. But was it one G-d only? The faith had a book of ancient texts that they call “the word of G-d”. The fact that it was written, copied, edited and translated by man did not stop folks. The first commandment would seem to prohibit this custom, but, you just have to believe.
PG is willing to concede the point that he doesn’t understand the concept of the Trinity. He thinks it is a concoction of the Council of Nicea, and is a violation of the first commandment. This is something that seems to happen a lot with JWR…to proclaim one thing as a rule, to apparently violate that rule, but have a clever explanation that few seem to understand.

This does not explain the other G-ds of JWR. For this discussion, we will focus on three…the Bible, Satan, and Salvation.
The Catholic Church had a conference to establish a consistent canon for their church. This conference became known as the Council of Nicea. (This conference is where the concept of the Triune G-d was formulated.) The texts in use by the church at the time were collected in one book. Some texts were not used, and there is a good possibility that the texts that were used were edited. This committee effort became known as the Bible.
During the protestant reformation, the new churches needed a source for their authority over the people. It was during this time that the concept of the Bible as the “Word of G-d” became known. This in effect made a G-d out of a book. This is in direct defiance of the First Commandment, which teaches to have no other G-d before you.
The book has been interpreted into many languages, and the interpretations have been interpreted. The star of the New Testament, Jesus, spoke Aramaic. His words were recorded, in Greek, many years after he *died*.Any quote from Jesus has been translated at least twice. This is from texts that were written many years after he lived. And yet, people talk about what Jesus taught, and have confidence, that they know what they are talking about.
At some point, the idea began to float around that the Bible was not only the word of G-d, but that it was inerrant…that is, without errors. This would presume that no scribe copying a text, no Catholic editor assembling a canon, and no one translating ancient languages made a mistake.
This one is too blatant to let slide. When you declare a text to be the “word of G-d”, you are making a G-d out of a book. There is a semantic argument to be made, you can say that this isn’t worship. Lets say it out loud…calling the Bible the “word of G-d” makes a G-d out of a book, in violation of the First Commandment. This is not monotheism.
A quick look at the way Satan is treated by the church shows a curious similarity to worship. Yes, it is backhanded worship, and lots of negative things are said about Beelzebub. He with the horns and tail is given credit for all kinds of powers, and needs to be fought ( with human collateral damage). Yes, Jesus Worshipers give the Devil his due, and then some.
The last “G-d” that we will look at today is Salvation, or the JWR scheme for life after death. Anyone living in the USA has heard this plan a thousand times, and many agree with it. Some do not agree with it. It is up to your imagination (and none of your business) how PG feels.
What is undeniable is the importance placed on salvation in JWR. It is discussed in every church meeting, often at top volume, and with dramatics that would shame a ham actor. Salvation is said to justify all the rudeness and verbal abuse that Jesus Worshiper inflict on their neighbors. If you do not agree with the concept of Salvation, you have no business belonging to a Jesus Worship Church.
Does this hysterical emphasis on Salvation make a G-d out of the concept? As with the Bible and Satan, it is a matter of perspective. A good argument could be made that Jesus Worshipers treat these three items with G-d like devotion, and make G-ds out of them.
The pictures illustrating this feature are from a hike on the Atlanta Beltline site on Veterans Day, 2009. The Beltline project is an act of faith…the idea that people can take a resource, and turn it into something of benefit to the community. It is an activity open to all people, regardless of their opinion about G-d(s). There will be a hike on the corridor in these pictures Saturday, March 6, at noon.

PG saw an announcement on Facebook, about a “Public Art Dedication”, in a park in SW Atlanta. He had never been to a public art dedication before, and hates to miss out.
When going to an unfamiliar neighborhood, it is a good idea to allow lots of time to find your destination. PG was cutting it close, scrambling along Cascade Road, wondering if this was the part they call the black Buckhead. Finally, Peyton Road appeared, and a parking spot was found at 12:31pm, exactly one minute after the event was to start.
The public art was a bright red metal sculpture, on a six sided brick base. The Artist said the hexagonal shape reminded him of the time he spent in the UGA law library, reading law books because of a legal matter. The title of the piece is “Yes We Can”, which a speechwriter fed to a Chicago politician once.
The MC was a lady, wearing a short skirt and knee high beige boots. There is a school next door to the park, and the students were there in abundance. The students were welcomed, and the kids who painted tiles for the base of the statue were noted.
The first speaker was City Councilman C.T. Martin. He said that Peyton Forest was the baddest school in the city. The next speaker was Mr. Webster. He was the husband of Isabel Gates Webster,the namesake of the park. Mr. Webster mentioned that he was introduced to Isabel Gates by a Divinity student named Martin Luther King Jr.
Mrs. Webster studied law, and became a civil rights lawyer. A fifth grader from the school read a story about Isabel Gates Webster. She sued the Georgia Power company, and got a $2 million settlement for some workers, who had been done wrong.
The next speaker was the guest of honor, the sculptor. PG is too slack to look up his name, but he was an art professor at the University of Georgia. Wearing a bright yellow scarf, he introduced the men who built the brick base. He was honored to make the statement that he did.
The principal of the school took the podium next, and led the students in singing “We will overcome”. This is not your daddy’s “We will overcome”. It is modernized, with several breaks for call and response raps. ” Lay down your knives and your guns. Everyone here is going to have some fun”. ( That is not an exact quote).
A catered reception was planned for the school, but PG had enough fun by this point. A few pictures of the public art, and it was back to Chamblee.

There is a comment in a recent thread at Obsidian Wings that says a great deal, both about the debate on climate change, and the way people view things. This was posted by someone called “Turbulence”.
I think what this analysis misses is the fact that for many people, policy questions like climate change responses are more about tribal affiliation than debates about facts. In my experience, lots of climate change skeptics aren’t amenable to information: every bit of information that doesn’t match their world view is disregarded or twisted. Besides, they “know” that climate change is just a crazy scam cooked up by the leftist elites. In my experience, trying to discuss these issues rationally is sort of like trying to convince someone to change their favorite football team. I mean, people argue about football teams all the time, but how often does anyone change their minds based on one of those arguments? Not very, because team loyalty has a lot more to do with tribal identification than it does with facts and figures.
In the post that preceded this comment, the writer said “Importantly, weather is not the same as climate” , to which someone called Chamblee54 replied “What is the difference between climate and weather?” It seems like this is a forest/trees thing…weather is the individual,local event that is part of the overall climate.
There is a law somewhere that you can predict what groups will do a lot better than you can individuals. The gambling and insurance industries ( no wise comments about them being the same thing ) are built on this premise. Yes, it may have snowed in Atlanta four times this winter, but the overall trend is, probably, for warmer overall temperatures.
Pictures from the ” Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”

The 57th Fighter Group Restaurant has been behind Peachtree Dekalb Airport for a while. The official site says it opened in 1985, but PG seems to remember eating there in 1982. What is not in doubt is that it was closed for a while, then bought by Pat Epps, from the oldest aviation family in Georgia. The building needed extensive work, but is back, looking much like it did before.
Another mystery is whether the building went up fresh in the eighties, or was a makeover of an existing building. PDK was a World War I boot camp, Camp Carroll. There are lots of leftover facilities from that effort. The idea is to look like a bombed out European farm house from World War II. The decor is a cross between Bennigans and the History Channel. Flea market merchandise is side by side with pictures of fighting men. Tapes from that era sometimes play on the PA system. ( PG thinks the WW2 theme is a bit tiresome, but that just one of his many opinions.)
PG reckons he has been to 57th a hundred times or so over the years. Many of these have been with the Atlanta Tall Club, formerly known as the Atlanta Sky Hi Club. A “social club for Tall people”, “the club” has been having friday night happy hour parties at 57th for at least twenty years. They usually meet either on the patio outside, or in the disco inside.
The concept of a neighborhood dance hall, like the 57th, is surprisingly unique in Atlanta. While the music is never “cutting edge”, there were usually at least one or two songs for everyone. You could see the chorus line of women for “Electric Slide” or “It’s Raining Men”. The dreaded “Macarena” was a harmless, fun song the first time anyone heard it, and saw people doing that dance to it.
57th is a bar, alcohol is sold and consumed, and you see some strange behavior. Office groups will go for a drink at happy hour, and at 11 o’clock are falling over each other on the dance floor. Exotic dancers from the clubs downtown ( and one nearby on Buford Hiway) will bring “dates” to 57th, often dancing rings around the confused looking older men.
The word is that the food is pretty good these days at 57th. This has not always been the case. It is a theme restaurant, with a patio beside the runway, and a cargo carrier full of atmosphere. The food can live up to this, but sometimes does not. PG remembers stopping for a happy hour buffet in 1988. There were these english muffins, with tomato sauce and melted cheese, that were supposed to be little pizzas. PG thought it was the worst food he had ever tasted.
So Pat Epps wanted to have the 57th open again, and he put his money where his dreams are. PG wishes him good luck, and thinks it is a mighty fine thing to do. A place the size of 57th probably has a killer overhead, and can only count on a large dance hall crowd on Friday and Saturday. The restaurant business is a tough way to make money. The 57th is an asset to the neighborhood, which can only wish it well.