Comments on: Denying Darwin

By: ahfukit

ahfukit — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:00:35 +0000

Frank, according to The Gift Hub, those boys might have been errant Jesus testing you. You passed. If they had been errant Satan, you might also have passed.

Merry Christmas to all you assorted holders-back, and to all the embracers too. God bless us, everyone.

By: jmo

jmo — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:35:02 +0000

I don’t know what this says about me, but if I had been woken up at 4am by two strangers asking for gas, I’d automatically be ultra suspicious of their intentions. Maybe I have lived in the city too long. Maybe I read too many shitty newspapers. It’s kinda sad.

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:57:29 +0000

For some reason I’m reminded of a story my friend told me many years ago about walking up 5th Street in San Francisco toward Market from what was then the Crocker Data Center. He was walking with his boss Joe, an obvious alcoholic, a guy all red-faced and intense, spider-web tracery of burst capillaries on the nose, you know the look. Anyway, they passed a down and out guy whose fortune had been reduced to a clean refrigerator carton and a spot on a sidewalk warm air grate who looked up at them, sized Joe up, and said, “Dude… go back to Europe!”

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:26:20 +0000

The Capote bit always shadows a story like this, Leslie. Even so, consider how scary it must have been for these weedy youth to get in the car with a surly government trained killer such as myself.

McD, thanks for the kind words.

Jon, I always have trouble faced with the concentration of misfortune on city streets, and I’m practiced at looking away from people, or right through them. Had an enlightening moment in DC about six weeks ago. A panhandler asked for cash and I gave him some and asked for directions in return. We had a short conversation and shared a moment laughing at some of the halloween costumes people were wearing. So the dehumanizing aspect of mendicancy was mellowed somewhat by our shared conversation. The fact that the directions he gave me were totally messed up is another part of the story.

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:27:52 +0000

Good story. I’m certain I’d have done the same thing.

That said, I found myself thinking …

I live in an urban environment, in a condo close to downtown, back alley and all … not out in the country or semi-country. Whilst this city is not as bad as most North American cities, there are a few street people here and there, and relatively more near-street people. “They” have been a presence for many years now, and continue to be. Modern capitalism guarantees this. I try to be conscious, I try to “recycle” through the back-alley environment much of what I don’t use or have decided I won’t use any more without being condescending (never know what’s the best thing to do). I also give money on the street more often than not, and have given other stuff in the past (including once the proverbial short off my back, since I was wearing a t-short underneath).

I don’t really know what to do when faced with a continuing procession of people where no doubt I could be of some kind of immediate help (I subscribe to the “there but for the grace of Dog go I” school of thought). I guess I will keep up my passive-aggressive resistance to a full-scale embrace of the core elements of our modern win-lose societal orientation.

By: McD

McD — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:14:25 +0000

The most interesting outcome

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By: madame l.

madame l. — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:19:00 +0000

can you say poof, i mean puff, piece?

By: madame l.

madame l. — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:06:20 +0000

it was getting all capote there for a minute.

in other news: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/dec/15/facebook.socialnetworking

“In Britain, there are just a handful of whales - ”

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moby fucking dick

By: alan herrell - the head lemur

alan herrell - the head lemur — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 17:17:29 +0000

heh