Tubgoat posted:

Lmao, I'll bet nitrogen is cheaper, too.

Excelzior posted:

lol

Tubgoat posted:

Going out joker laughing sounds uncomfortable and would take a long time if there's oxygen mixed in, nitrogren is the gold-standard in civilised executions.

Also, I need to know all the loving insane details you can provide on this "I married into a local-level cabal" thing.

Tubgoat posted:

Also, I need to know all the loving insane details you can provide on this "I married into a local-level cabal" thing.

twit666 posted:

Maybe the code is "1904" when the World's Fair was in St. Louis, people are still acting like that was sooo cool.

twit666 posted:

Welp! I was in the VP for a number of years. My father in law made me do it. I was a dwarf (sleepy) in the parade. I made "dwarf juice" for me and the 6 other dwarfs. It was very potent and we were very drunk during the parade. When I quit I sent them a letter saying, "I hereby resign from The Order (that's what they call it on the inside). I'm going to start my own secret society and we're going to invite women! Our parties are going to make your parties look like nap time in a kindergarten.". My father in law called me a couple days later, really pissed off and said, "Did you resign from The Order?". I said, "Yeah, pretty funny!". He yelled into the phone, "IT WAS NOT FUNNY! Your letter is making the rounds and it is embarrassing!". I said, "If it is making the rounds then somebody thinks it's funny.". He hung up on me and wouldn't talk to me for months.

twit666 posted:

Let's see... Her dad was the head of a non-profit and said that my joining would be good for my business, I had a small manufacturing company at the time. The organization might be good for connections if you're in banking or insurance but nobody manufactured anything and if they did they were big corporate muckity mucks so I tried to weasel my way out of it for a while. My wife said, "Just do it and then quit.". I filledWhen you are inducted part of the form said to include a photo and a short bio. Some people went out and spent money on head shots. I sent a picture of me shooting a water gun at my mom when I was six. They would then read out the bio while your picture was shown on a screen. When the head shot pictures were shown the members would boo and throw stuff at the screen ala Animal House. If someone who had a wife and kids but failed to mention that in their bio they were ridiculed. In my bio I said my life's ambition was to hunt down and kill Charley The Tuna and I was very proud of my 17 year old ant farm. I got applause and positive hoots and hollers. So they all didn't have a rolls of quarters up their asses, most did. Again, a lot of drinking was involved.

The "events" were about lots and lots of drinking. Many of the people knew each other from high school. I didn't know anybody so I'd end up with my father in law and have to smile and meet his old friends who were politically connected. If I wanted to get drunk with strangers I'd rather just go to a bar.

The VP Ball consisted of wearing a tuxedo and sitting in a huge ballroom at a hotel while the city's elite paraded their daughters like heifers to the slaughter. "Announcing Beatrice Throat Warbler Mangrove Busch!", an announcer would say and then everybody would applaud for 20 seconds. Many people are very proud to have their daughters auctioned off. It's a big event for them. Lots and lots of drinking was involved.

The first year I was in the parade I was a clown with an invisible dog. I guess I was good at that so they promoted me to dwarf. We wore giant heads and frightened small children. I made "Dwarf Juice" with Everclear, every frozen juice concentrate, ice and mixed it in a cooler. It was a hit. I think you were supposed to eventually move up the ranks and become a clown on a minibike but I found a home with the dwarfs. I would not accept the promotions offered.

You were obligated to work at The VP Fair itself. I was given a VP hat, a VP belt and a VP shirt. Some people sold beer or soda. I was an Ambassador which meant I got to carry a radio that I would use to contact HQ and tell them that the people selling funnel cakes needed more ice or tell attendees where they could buy a funnel cake. I liked to radio in things like, "There's a guy who's dressed like Jesus and he seems really agitated. I'm in Sector 5". I was in Sector 3. Oddly, you weren't supposed to drink while on the fair grounds.

I did this for every Fourth of July for about 6 years. I suppose if I drank the Kool Aid instead of Dwarf Jooze I could have made it up the ranks and now be fast friends with the head of Mallinkrodt and know some secret handshakes. Oh well... Their secret code to get into an event if you don't have your invite with you is "1902". I think "1902" was chosen because that's the year the building (The Den) where they store the floats was built. I could be wrong. Maybe the code is "1904" when the World's Fair was in St. Louis, people are still acting like that was sooo cool.

Tubgoat posted:

Going out joker laughing sounds uncomfortable and would take a long time if there's oxygen mixed in, nitrogren is the gold-standard in civilised executions.

Also, I need to know all the loving insane details you can provide on this "I married into a local-level cabal" thing.

Tubgoat posted:

post, experience. Thanks!

Atrocious Joe posted:

well that answers how Haight-Ashbury quickly developed a huge speed market

Spergin Morlock posted:

"civilized executions"

mycomancy posted:

St. Louis and it's surrounding suburban hell is one of the most classist areas of the country in my opinion. A common phrase uttered by STL spawn when meeting outside the Metro area is, "what high school did you go to?" Besides being a grammatically incorrect phrase, it serves to pigeon hole both people into a socioeconomic rank, as well as revealing each person's religion, approximate family income, likely connections, etc. It's loving crazy to see in the real world, like watching a pack of chimps figure out new dominance hierarchies in real time.

nut posted:

twit666 posted:

The VP Ball consisted of wearing a tuxedo and sitting in a huge ballroom at a hotel while the city's elite paraded their daughters like heifers to the slaughter. "Announcing Beatrice Throat Warbler Mangrove Busch!", an announcer would say and then everybody would applaud for 20 seconds. Many people are very proud to have their daughters auctioned off. It's a big event for them. Lots and lots of drinking was involved.

twit666 posted:

Stuff

Wraith of J.O.I. posted:

another data point in support of the fourth reich thesis

https://twitter.com/find_evil/status/1399248361140670464

crepeface posted:

...amerikkka

Riot Bimbo posted:

poo poo at least Bezos is leaning into being Lex Luthor On A Budget

FFT posted:

ol' JB is currently worth two and a half times Lex Luthor's highest valuation

Riot Bimbo posted:

Now I'm imagining the inner circle gatherings to just be this stupid poo poo but with a lot more gore and moral depravity and it's completely underwhelming in that way that makes me think i mustve hit the nail on the head because this reality has nothing cool going on and evil has shrouded itself in the banal trappings of rich white people america and is now scared to be even remotely theatrical or interesting.

poo poo at least Bezos is leaning into being Lex Luthor On A Budget

twit666 posted:

I think you were supposed to eventually move up the ranks and become a clown on a minibike but I found a home with the dwarfs.

Riot Bimbo posted:

Now I'm imagining the inner circle gatherings to just be this stupid poo poo but with a lot more gore and moral depravity and it's completely underwhelming in that way that makes me think i mustve hit the nail on the head because this reality has nothing cool going on and evil has shrouded itself in the banal trappings of rich white people america and is now scared to be even remotely theatrical or interesting.

poo poo at least Bezos is leaning into being Lex Luthor On A Budget

The Protagonist posted:

ive started just cackling at random times throughout the day as different crack ping trivia flits in and out of my train of thought


I think I may have a condition. I should get a card or something to inform those around me

Delta-Wye posted:

i gotta admit, i googled for pictures of the kkk parade dwarves

mdemone posted:

it does sound like a hell of a fun party.

twit666 posted:

The Saucer Hovers posted:

i want my god drat science words effort post out of you already make with the business

quote:

Kemper's history was intertwined with that of Harry S. Truman. Truman's father, John Anderson Truman, traded grain commodities futures alongside Kemper until John Truman lost his fortune. John took Harry, then a teenager, to the local Democratic functions in Kansas City where Kemper was also in attendance. Kemper arranged for Truman to be a page at the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City. As a young man Harry would go to work in the National Bank of Commerce, 1903–1905, where Kemper was a director. In 1934 during Truman's first run for the United States Senate, Kemper bought the assets of the failed Continental National Bank which included the mortgage on Truman's failed haberdashery and in turn allowed Truman to retire it for $1,000 (while at the same time coincidentally contributing $1,000 to Truman's campaign).

His former residence was at 1007 Westover Road in Kansas City.

He is the great-great-grandfather of actress Ellie Kemper and writer Carrie Kempe

Anime Bernie Bro posted:

The Week: The rush to cancel Ellie Kemper is based on a lie

anyone notice this

1.) contrive r-slurred conclusion in advance of scandal
2.) debunk r-slurred conclusion
3.) no more scandal

pattern the media does all the time?

quote:

Those who have protested the VPO were not protesting what the VP wore or the basis of his creation myth: early 20th-century black St. Louisans protested their exclusion from being considered prominent and successful men (and women) whose goal was to take care of St. Louis; ACTION protested the VPO in the Civil Rights era, not against a racist symbol, but against a racist organization replete with ties to corporations that had the power to enact economic justice by hiring black workers, but did not; and MORE recently demonstrated the connections between members of the VPO and the police in order to protest legacies of structural racism and economic inequality that resulted in racially biased policing. For MORE and ACTION, the VPO offered a place for St. Louis’s most prominent and powerful citizens to forge important connections that allowed them to maintain their influence in a still-segregated city.