Chamblee54

This content was originally published July 12, 2010. … Uzi called just as I was coming back to the computer with a sandwich. Even though it was Georgia July hot, Uzi wanted to get out and walk. Before long the old people’s favorite place to walk was suggested … the mall. I put clean pants on, and went over to Perimeter Mall. Walking into the capitalism cathedral, I began to think that I was the only white man without a tattoo. The lady at the tea shop did not mind, and offered a sample of some product. The two teas had a lovely taste, and many benefits for good health. …
… On the upstairs part of the mall (where fans blow the aroma of the food court) was the apple store. The merchandise was beautiful, and since I can’t afford it, I didn’t ask what it costs. One computer had a screen the size of a living room TV, and the cutest keyboard. The sales staff was attentive, even the one with the tattoos. As I left, the young lady at the door said “have an excellent day”. Before long, it was time to hit the food court. First, you go for a slow walk around the facility, taking samples from anyone foolish enough to offer one. …
… Then a decision is made. In the best food court tradition, I went to one vendor and Uzi to another. I got a fine meal of chicken, rice, greens, water, and styrofoam, and paid $5.87. While the food court lacked the ambiance of Piccadilly, it was a nice change of pace. After being satisfied that nothing had been missed, Uzi walked out to his car. A discussion was had about the struggle of old fogeyness, and how there has to be something else to do. I walked back inside, took a few more pictures of mannequins, and went home.
This content was originally published July 16, 2010. … I saw the two ladies walking across the street. One was white, one was black, both were carrying a book. The sensible dresses suggested door to door Jesus. … I was working on a picture when he heard a soft tapping on the door. Sure enough, it was the two ladies. The white one stepped forward and said ”Hi we are Jehovah’s witnesses. We are going around the neighborhood sharing a few words from the scriptures. I am sure you agree there is a lot of stress in life today”. I replied “I am looking at it”, and closed the door.
This content was originally published July 18, 2010. … I saw a link on facebook for a site called I Write Like. The idea is to paste a few paragraphs of your work in the box, have their computer hamsters run a few laps, and find out what author your style is similar to. “For reliable results paste at least a few paragraphs (not tweets).” Since the twitter revolution has passed me by (except for Conway Twitty jokes), this is not a problem. There is the matter of comparing apples to oranges. I write blog posts, which is a different animal from murder mysteries. …
My last post was about Mark Twain. After weeding out the quotes, I fed the text into the window. (The ease of copy/paste quotes is another game changer from the days of Dickens.) The droid said ”I write like Kurt Vonnegut.“ The bottom of the page had an amazon link to the books of Mr. Vonnegut. Perhaps this is the true motive. So it goes. … There was a doorstep encounter with a Jehovah’s Witness recently. The blog version was fed into iwritelike . The result: ”I write like Dan Brown”. …
A recent post about profanity is pasted in. “I write like Cory Doctorow”. It is time to go for a walk, before the alabama storms roll in. … On Tuesday the 13th, I wrote about the opium trade in Afghanistan as a possible motive for the war there. When I fed the text to the robots, the answer I got was “I write like David Foster Wallace“. It is better to write like DFW, than to imitate his lifestyle choices. … I Write Like is still in the game. As for the text in this post: “I write like Cory Doctorow“. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in August 1941. Crow Agency, Montana Dudes from the Quarter Circle U Brewster-Arnold Ranch, near Birney, at the Crow Indian fair. · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025

This content was originally published July 5, 2009. … Cynthia McKinney is in an Israeli jail. That is about the only thing I can say for sure. A boat carrying supplies to Gaza was stopped by Israel. Miss McKinney was taken into custody. In a telephone statement, Miss McKinney said : “…I had a suitcase full of crayons for children … My cellmates came to the Holy Land so they could be free from the exigencies of superpower politics“ … As the fishwrapper tells the tale, Miss McKinney was offered a quick release if she would sign a statement. According to her mother, Leola McKinney, the statement was written in Hebrew. …
… The story also has this tidbit: “Israeli officials blame Cynthia McKinney and her group for the controversy, saying they were looking for confrontation to attract publicity. The officials note that Palestinian Authority and the rest of the international community had agreed to the off-shore blockade to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.” A google search of “officials note that Palestinian Authority and the rest of the international community had agreed to the off-shore blockade to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza” did not yield the text of a statement by “Israeli officials”. Nor did it shed any light on an “international community agreement”. The ding ding ding you hear is a BS detector. …
… A google search for “palestinian authority agrees to blockade of Gaza” yields little except confusion. There is an article which says : “Hamas Saturday accused the Palestinian Authority (PA) of supporting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip in a bid to weaken the Islamic movement which controls the territory.” The PA denies the charges, and says Hamas is playing politics. Ding, ding, ding. … What sort of government agrees to a blockade of its own people? What “international Community” has the authority to say it is OK? The suffering in Gaza continues, and that is the other certainty in this story.
This content was originally published July 7, 2009. … The book for the waiting room is “Genius and Heroin”. I finished my part one post on page 123, with Jean Harlow. Continuing through the H section, I see that LSD was the drug of choice for Jimi Hendrix. This is not the first time the I have doubted G&H, nor is it likely to be the last. Later, in a sidebar to Henry VIII, the cause of death for some English kings is listed. The hot poker massage of Edward II is not mentioned. We do see that James I had gout in 1625, probably from the consumption of too much meat. George II met his maker after “excessive pushing” on the throne in 1760. …
… William Sydney Porter went to federal prison for bank fraud. He used the time to write the short stories that made him famous. His prisoner number was transliterated into his pen name, O Henry. … The dealership has a customer workroom. This is a quiet place, without the inevitable TV. Today is the memorial service for Michael Jackson. G&H is a series of mini biographies. The honorees were brilliant men and women who had problems, many of which led to an early grave. I suspect that if it was being written today, G&H it would have a section about Michael Jackson.
This content was originally published July 09, 2009. … MJ is gone, but not forgotten. The rest of the news is kinda rotten. In Iran, the protest and bash cycle is starting up again. In Israel, Mr. Netanyahu is acting strange. (It might not be acting). It would be a natural move for him to start a war with Iran, or maybe a feel good crackdown in Gaza. … Back in the YouEssAA, the pundits just won’t leave Sarah Palin alone. Andrew Sullivan posted a few words on why he won’t let up. His thesis is that a woefully deficient woman was almost elected Vice President, and he doesn’t like that. …
… This is too little and too late. In 2000, George W. Bush ran for president against Al Gore. W turned out to be a dangerous mistake. Maybe, if the press had scrutinized him with the vigor they are showing Mrs. Palin, W would have lost the election. There are indications that 911 was motivated by a personal grudge against the Bush family. If Al Gore had won the election, 911 might not have happened. Even if it had, Gore’s reaction possibly would have been more competent. There is a good chance Mr. Gore would not have invaded Iraq to punish Saudi Arabia. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in January 1941. “Croatian steelworker in union hall in Midland, Pennsylvania · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025

This content was originally published July 16, 2009. … There was a concert in Atlanta on Armistice day, 1971. The show was at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium. I have talked to dozens of people at that show, and heard hundreds of opinions. There was a controversy about police on the stage, with the band almost refusing to play. The Great Speckled Bird didn’t think it was that great, and said the only player that was up to par was Phil Lesh. One person who did like it was someone we will call Hampton. He became “born again” as a Dead Head that night. …
… In “The Doors of Perception” Aldous Huxley describes listening to a classical album under the influence of a psychoactive substance. He had the sense of hearing everything that was available to hear in the album, and pondered the concept of music made to be listened to while tripping, by musicians that were likewise tripping. This was written years before the acid tests in San Francisco. The house band for these evenings was the Grateful Dead. I always felt that the key to the band was Bob Weir. Weir played counterpoint to Garcia’s leads, and lead him on and up. …
This content was originally published July 17, 2009. … There is a dandy little squabble going on right now. On the one hand there is Corey Lynxx. He makes videos without wearing a shirt, or lighting his face. He might have other talents, but that is not evident from his videos. Mr.Lynxx got upset with a local restaurant owner, and decided to call the man at work to discuss this problem. The restaurant owner, a man named Shaun, was busy at the time and declined to discuss Corey’s problem. The next player in this drama is Andisheh Nouraee. Copy and paste is wonderful for Persian names. …
… Mr. Nouraee writes a column for Creative Loafing that I seek out every time I get a copy. The column makes tries to make sense of the world beyond the lower 48, and manages to crack a joke or two along the way. Andy was offended by the manner in which Corey was dealing with his problem, and made a video of his own. The next two entries in this exchange were made by Mr. Lynxx. The video monger manages to light his face, not that it is especially attractive. …
… Andy wrote a cover story at CL a while back about the best five blogs in Atlanta. A lady named Spacey Gracey was not included, and said lots of mean things about Andy. Nor was Chamblee54 mentioned. I took a look at Andy’s twitters. A Federal judge ruled in favor of Alabama and Florida, in the tri state lawsuit over the water of the Chattahoochee River. The Atlanta area has grown astronomically in recent years, without attending to the basic need of people for water. The Georgia legislature would rather worry about the State Flag. …
This content was originally published July 19, 2009. … There seems to be something about Sunday that makes people want to talk about religion. By way of Andrew Sullivan, here is a story about Atheism and semantics from England. The money quote: “Today one of the most insistent forces arrayed in opposition to us vocal atheists is the “I’m an atheist but” crowd, who publicly deplore our “hostility”, our “rudeness” (which is actually just candour), while privately admitting that we’re right. They don’t themselves believe in God, but they certainly do believe in belief in God. It’s not always easy to tell who just believes in belief, since the actions motivated by believing in belief” …
… Maybe the only appropriate thing to do is tell a joke. This is courtesy of funnyjokes.com. … “An old hippie dies and goes to the Pearly Gates. St. Peter looks him up in his big book and says, “I’m sorry, but you’ll be going down to Hell.” The hippie, astounded, peers through the gates and sees God walking in the distance. “God!” he says. “What gives? Remember that time I was tripping on acid? I saw you, and you said we’d be in Heaven together forever!” God thought for a minute, then said, “Oh yeah, but I was drunk.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in March 1941. “This family had moved out of the Santee-Cooper basin and were trying to get an addition built to their small “new” house. Near Bonneau, South Carolina”

This content was originally published July 20, 2009. … The Repubs made a mess. We got mixed up in wars, where the only victories will be ruinously expensive. The economy is a mess. And yet, the “right wing” continues to point fingers, and play any number of rhetorical games. We were offered Sarah Palin as a Vice President. On the other hand, BHO has a fanatic constituency now that is hypersensitive to criticism. It is going to be a long four years. The POTUS is a magnet for criticism, satire, humor, and meanness. It is just the way it is. BHO is a product of Chicago politics, and can more than take care of himself. …
… BHO is the first dark skinned President. He had a white mother, and his father was from Kenya. He is not the descendent of slaves. By the Jewish tradition… i.e. the children of a Jewish mother are Jews….BHO is white. On the other side of the fair and balanced fence, the conservatives movement is a piece of work. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to be POTUS. As firebug William T. Sherman said: “If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.”
This content was originally published July 21, 2009. … Road building is the job of the government. Very few people question this fact. While there is corruption, inefficiency, and other big government problems, millions of motorists travel billions of miles on government roads every year. Likewise, armed forces defending America is the job of the government. Regulation of various markets, public education, and tax collection are all conceded to be the job of government. Perhaps it is time to include Health Care. There is an ongoing debate about health care in America. There are many who say it is too expensive, and that we do not get a good return on our investment. …
… There is profiteering, inefficiency, and unfair treatment of human beings. The ballooning cost is one of the problems with our economy. Will a Government takeover make things better? The shrill voices of the naysayers are frequently financed by the health industry, who wants to keep a license to print money. Those who do not trust government to do a good job cannot be ignored. But the fact remains that in many ways the system is broken. Too many people are without insurance. The medical/insurance oligarchy is notorious for playing games, at the cost of human suffering.
This content was originally published July 28, 2009. … There is a phrase in some circles, “suicide tuesday”. It seems like some people, who chemically enhance their weekends, come crashing down on tuesday. The result is not always pleasant. In some hispanic cultures, Tuesday is considered an unlucky day. There is a saying “En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques,” meaning, “On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey.” Elections are traditionally held on tuesday. In november, it is the first tuesday after a monday. The evil that is done on this day is balanced by the relief of the campaigns being over. …
… According to wikipedia “Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early nineteenth century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote” This may be part of why carnival season ends on Mardi Gras, or fat tuesday. It is the day before ash wednesday, or the start of Lent. This is too catholic for me to comprehend. … Nine Eleven was on a tuesday. D day was on a tuesday. A key day in the Stock Market crash of 1929 was October 29, or black tuesday. In theory, one seventh of all events happen on a tuesday. …
July 29, 2009. … A few days ago, Chamblee54 posted a story about Ben Rothlisberger. As even ESPN is reporting now, the gentleman is being sued because of an incident at a casino last year. I found out about the story at a blog called “yesmeansyes“. The post was written by jaclynfriedman (that is copied off the original post). I left a comment at YMY. It stayed up for a few days, with the note that “your comment is awaiting moderation”. When I visited the blog today, the comment had been deleted. On July 28, YMY posted a story about the negative comments she received. …
… There was a reply to these comments. She used FAIL in all caps a lot, which seems to be the trendy thing to do. The first time I heard the word blog, the writer was talking about Andrew Sullivan. ( Back then it was a “vanity webpage”). Mr. Sullivan is still a leader, admired and condemned in roughly equal measure. He wrote a post once on “Why I Blog.” The money quote: “Rudeness, in any case, isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. Being ignored is.” …
… Here is the comment: “What if Mr. Roethlisberger is innocent? What if the lady is lying? If he was not a high profile celebrity, would anyone care? This rush to assume guilt is another part of “rape culture”. … “Unfamiliar with the concept “rape culture” FAIL. Also, false rape claims happen no more frequently than other false claims of violent crimes – about 2-8% of the time. So we can be at least 92% confident that she’s telling the truth, which certainly makes her allegations worth considering, which is all we’re doing here. … not gonna apologize. FAIL.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture: Private William Henry Dorsey of Co. K, 1st Virginia Cavalry Regiment … wounded on approximately May 10, 1863, and hospitalized at Charlottesville, Virginia, wounded on October 11, 1863, at Raccoon Ford, Virginia, and killed on May 9, 1864, at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025

This content was originally published July 24, 2009. … I read the comments at Puntabulous, and heard about textsfromlastnight. Below is a selection. The texts are labeled with the area code of the sender. Special preference is given to Georgia area codes. … (254): you could play connect the dots with the people ive fucked in this room ///(254): Turns out I’m a social drinker… I just happen to be REALLY social///(302): I’m giving you permission to use the abortion money to pay for your DUI. ///(678): Think about all of the events that have led to this: me sitting in the back of my classroom drinking beer out of a taco bell cup, telling the teacher I have to leave early to go to an AA meeting. …
… (770): Dear Mark, please dispose of your crusty mcdonalds napkins used to jerk it at my desk…(678): discrete masterbation is a lost art/// (678): you were calling yourself Ulickes S. Cunt./// (770): I just needed to know whether or not to wear panties to work tomorrow./// (770): Masturbating after my cheeseburger. It’s unavoidable./// (770): Anddd after the worst sex of my life, he said..”do you mind taking off the condom, tying it up, and throwing it at the door?” Weird.///(770): I know its time to do laundry… i cant even find a dirty sock to wear because they all have jizz in them …
… (770): Should I feel badly because I just bought a really hot pregnant girl a drink after I lit her cigarette?///(770): I got drunk and threw up on a kid at the amusement park. I think they’re pressing charges./// (770): I wanted to tell him he wasn’t actually in me, but my god, awkward?///(770): I kind of had a moment like that kid whose mom cancelled his WoW subscription, except I didn’t try to shove a remote control up my own ass.///(404): her nose should be used as a dorsal fin …
… (404): Watching Miami Social reminded me of how much I miss snorting coke with burger king straws in a life guard hut on the beach until we noticed someone was drowning///.(813): i wonder if i could find a boyfriend who would call me big papa…(404): sure if you go to prison///(404): Words of wisdom-never eat a peanut-butter covered banana on a construction site ever again/// (706): Was it a mistake telling him I couldn’t get the abortion until I was 2 months along on the first date? ///(706): so i decided not to tell her that her fiance is cheating since i already bought the bridesmaid dess …
… (219): I have a deodorant stick dedicated to my balls///(318): Just caught my bro jerking off to a lane Bryant catalog ///(616): theyre doing shots to celebrate her boob jobs anniversary///(706): Just found my girlfriend’s stash of animated Japanese porn…(706): And to think, I actually considered breaking up with her///(706): Did we have sex?…(1-706): No you put the condom on then passed out on the bed so I left/// (706): Now that I’ve come to graduate college. I realized the only discernible skill I learned was how to roll a joint properly. go me….(1-706): Well thats $24,000 well spent. …
… (706): i just met rob pattinson in italy. he’s so stupid, i feel like i would have to say “your penis goes here!”///(706): So I’m going back to my apartment just to get my vibrator….(404): I thought you were moving in with your boyfriend for the summer?…(706): Well….one will keep me from having to pay rent and the other satisfies. I’ll let you figure it out.///(706): hitting rock bottom=girl fakes converting to christianity in order to get out of having sex with you./// (478): Dude. I haven’t taken a shit in a week…(706): Try anal, it works wonders. …
… (760): Dude I just picked up a married chick while her husband was playing pool….(912): What do you mean you picked her up? How are you gonna leave the bar?…(760): I didn’t. I fucked her in the men’s room. Come get me before he finds out.///(912): i woke up with socks on this morning…(485): so?…(912): i didnt wear socks last nigh///(814): I overheard a kid saying to his mom at Walmart: “Mommy.. should we buy cups for daddy’s spit?” … textsfromlastnight is still publishing, although the posts are not dated. The concept is going strong on instagram (tfln), X (@TFLN), and facebook. Puntabulous is currently “Komerčný magazín produktov”. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Dorothea Lange took the social media picture in May 1939. “Tulare County, California Sick woman in FSA camp for migratory agricultural workers” · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025

This content was originally published July 11, 2008. … I got an email the other night urging me to sign a petition. The intent of the petition was to urge Georgia Tech not to tear down the Crum and Forster building at 771 Spring Street. I worked for a few years in an adjacent building. The company located at 771 Spring owned the parking lot. During this time, this part of Midtown did a 180 degree turnaround. A big part of this change was the construction of the Tech Square Complex. This was a psychological breakthrough for Tech, expanding the campus on the east side of the expressway. …
… The current plan is to destroy the building, and replace it with a grassy field. I cannot see Tech letting such costly real estate lie unused. Maybe we are going to have a Presidential Motorcade along Spring Street, and need a grassy knoll. Now, the building in question would need serious renovation. It may not be economically feasible to save it. While the exterior is glorious, my visits to the interior recall a dilapidated mess. And this is Atlanta, where Historic Preservation is a dirty word. The patron saint of this town is William Tecumseh Sherman. UPDATE: 771 Spring Street is still standing.
This content was originally published July 8, 2008. … A blind man and his guide dog enter a Bar and find their way to a bar stool. After ordering a drink, and sitting there for a while, the blind guy yells to the bartender, “Hey, you wanna hear a blond joke?” The bar immediately becomes absolutely quiet. In a husky, deep voice, the woman next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, you should know something. The bartender is blond, the bouncer is blond and I’m a 6′ tall, 200 lb. blond with a black belt in karate. What’s more, the woman sitting next to me is blond and she’s a weight lifter. …
… The lady to your right is a blond, and she’s a pro wrestler. Think about it seriously, Mister. You still wanna tell that joke?” The blind guy thinks a moment and says, “Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.” … The event which put the peroxide in the bottle for this post involved an inactive blog. Now, there are supposedly a hundred million or so blogs in existence. Of those, maybe a hundred are actively posting. The rest go into nogoblogland. One of these inert bandwidth vampires is Jokesandhumoronline. And sure enough, in their farewell post, they had a blond joke. …
… The Blond Bird Lover … You were the sexy blond woman at the Marina Safeway last night at about 6:30. I was the guy in the poultry section who kept lifting the frozen chickens out of the freezer, holding them above my head, screaming ?be free? We know the chickens are frozen, but are they really dead? … I could tell by the way you were looking at me that you liked the cut of my jib. If you remember, I asked you your name and you said “I. Carrie Mace.” But you left so suddenly, I couldn?t get your number. Coffee? …
… A TRUE SOUTHERN LADY … A very gentle Southern lady was driving across the Savannah River Bridge in Georgia one day. As she neared the top of the bridge, she noticed a young man fixing to jump. She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, ‘Please don’t jump, think of your dear mother and father.’ ‘Mom and Dad are both dead; I’m going to jump.’ ‘Well, think of your wife and children.’ ‘I’m not married and I don’t have any kids.’ ‘Well, think of Robert E. Lee.’ ”Who’s Robert E. Lee?” ”Well bless your heart, just go ahead and jump, you dumb ass Yankee … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in April 1942. “Bannack, Montana Old time residents of Bannack, Montana, formerly a booming gold mining camp, who now operate a small mine.” · selah ©Luther Mckinnon 2025