Driving back from Lowes like the loser suburbanite I am. I heard this heinous sound coming from somebody's car. That high pitch squeal of fanbelt or brakes. The sound of somebody's bucket driving around MY neighborhood. And, boy was I pissed because that means some lowlife, poor, minority has somehow penetrated the bubble that is my suburban oasis. I'm all looking around indignant. Sneering.
Then I noticed.
Hey, that sound was coming from MY car. WTF?! No. Way.
Passenger side. Front. The brakes couldn't be bad...how could a Honda have blown a bearing before 30k miles? Did the spouse run a curb? Oh, and it's the middle of the Memorial Day weekend. I'm not thinking it's going to get repaired any time soon.
Maybe I'll take a look - manly man I am. Where to start? Turn the wheel, drive back and forth a bit. Roll stop; roll stop. Or, roll screet; roll screet. Terrible sound. LOUD sound. Embarrassing sound. I like to stay anonymous and stealthy when I'm rolling the hood (of the Land of Kent). Here's an idea: I'll take the wheel off.
So, I jack up the car, remove the lug nuts, and take the wheel off. Now what? Maybe the braking mechanism has broken, perhaps it's the universal joint. Maybe I'll make it worse (like from a $200 repair to a $1,500 repair - I've done that before - timing belt on an old Nissan circa 1991). But, I'm curious.
I start the car (it starts). Check the brake fluid (good). Turn the wheel some more (it turns)... Shit!
As I prepare to put the wheel back on I bump the hub again (or whatever the hell that thing's called). I hear the sound again. Maybe.... I put the wheel down again and look behind the back of the disc (or whatever the hell that thing's called) and lo and behold (perhaps?), I see a glistening. It's a pebble-size piece of glass - windshield safety glass. It's wedged between the disc and the dust shield (or whatever the hell that thing's called). I move the hub = squeak. I fish the glass out. I move the hub again = no squeak.
I put the car back together again and viola!
GOOD GUYS WIN, BAD GUYS DIE!
I am such a man today. Somebody get me a beer, a fishin' pole, and some ass!
Now, had I taken it for repair, do you suspect that the mechanic would have said, "son, you are one lucky somebitch...just a pebble making a lot of racket." Ya' think?
"DARPA's IPTO will create a new generation of computational and information systems that possess capabilities far beyond those of current systems. These cognitive systems - systems that know what they're doing..."
Ty: DB, good question and an even better observation. Ah, DARPA. The brightest and the craftiest. The people who brought us the InterWebNets, GPS, unmanned drones, and killer satellites. Yeah, they’re up to some sneaky shit and this is the least of it. The answer to your question, DB, is: yep, it’s real.
Gotta love the fact that the future of warfare is in DARPA’s hands, in fact, that future will look amazingly different given that 1) a big chunk of the effort is geared toward unmanned fighting. That is, remote controlled, Nintendo Xbox joystick fighting. Dudes in the cubicle next to yours will clock their eight-hour workday fighting HUMANS on the other side of the e planet with remote controlled “fighting vehicles.” Flying drones and automated soldiers dropped in via parachute (and the best part is that they will ‘stage’ wars by shooting the equipment into orbit and when the time is right, drop it all where it’s needed]. Genius and terrifying.
So, yeah, from the hardware to the software and the heavy equipment to the delicate stuff: DARPA’s our team! At least as much as we know…I’d say about 90% of their work is classified.
There is a deal. And, here is that deal. I've been friends with and collaborating with the Otter Prince, Richard Powell, for nearly 10 years. While his gifts and his talents have always been appreciated, I have yet to publicly acknowledge something that we've all always knew: he's a bad motherfucker. He's an artist. He is an NBA All-Star. He's a gangster.
While working on the Kingdom of Leisure 10-year retrospective project, I've gone back through years of archive rehearsal and performance recordings and have re-discovered a hugeness. From Monkeyboy through The Great Escape, brilliance shines through. It's not that I forgot, but that I really had no idea what we held in our hands. Grenades!
Anyone hearing "The Floods of Lexington Pacheco" for the first time - anyone who knows shit from chocolate - knows what they are hearing. That's all set. But, it's fascinating for me to hear, again, the notes leading to today -- the honing of improvisation skills, the discovery of musical communication skills, and the development of unabashed confidence.
In July 1996, he told me that he had recorded some songs into the telephone answering machine, "But I could never play the songs for anyone." Oh, and there were some drums in his basement left from a departed group house member. Oh, indeed.
In April 2006, he told me to fly out to play a gig, "Let's back up Dan for the hell of it." Oh, and there are some drums at the venue. Oh, indeed.
As a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and producer, much respect and acknowledgement from me. Here's to the Reverend DJ Ritchie-Scratchy: keep following the calling. Stay retarded.
Q: I find as I get older that I have to wash my ass a lot more frequently. Like, my ass-morphology has changed such that my buttcrack is now generating additional funk. Or I'm in the shower after a long day and some 12-hour old micro-turd drops out from between my cheeks.
What's that about and do I need to re-learn how to wipe? – RP, California
Ty: RP, good question and an even better observation. Tell me about it! Just the other day, I had to dig out the gnarliest…. Never mind. Yes, as we age, we expand and, sadly, as we age, we become more, say, hirsute.
Feces are generally sticky, it sticks to our fat, hairy asses in ways we, as kids, couldn’t even begin to comprehend. We eat fairly large portions of American foods and given our American metabolism, we don’t absorb as much as we could (especially since most of what we eat is crap anyhow <- get it?). We poop more and toilet paper competes with our fat, hairy asses for adhesion. Do you have to learn to wipe again? Probably not since you’ve obviously given it some thought. But, I’ve discovered that I’m now at a socio-economic status where I can afford the premium TP. That is, the good shit! From Cottonelle (Kimberly-Clark) alone there is Ripples, Ultra, and Aloe and Vitamin E.
On might argue that the future of ass wiping is looking backwards. That is, the corporations have discovered that if they sell flushable wipes to adults, the adults will use ‘em; just like baby wipes. Nothing beats the moist wipe. Nothing except the bidet. No shit!
The Biffy is the shit! For the fraction of the cost of installing a bidet or getting a bidet top for you toilet, you can get the Biffy attachment. Ass as clean as a summer day is long!
I don’t normally wear a tie. In fact, I seldom wear one. In fact, I'm kind of a slob. So what happens when I wear a tie to work? On a Tuesday. For no apparent reason? Questions. "So, er, why the tie?" "Hey, look who’s wearing a tie." "Hey, it’s Ty in a tie." Well, that’s not a question, but you get the point. "Job interview?" "Big meeting?"
It's all pretty silly.
They stop. They stare. They point. I could work with a sneaky pal and pick all their pockets, I could. I could run for office. I could whip it off and strangle ‘em all. If I wanted. Funny thing, a tie.
I don’t really have a good answer. Maybe I just put it one without reason. Maybe I am needy of attention. Perhaps it’s a clever distraction from other inadequacies I have.
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English; 2006 back·slash / bak-slaSH/ • n. Comput. a backward-sloping diagonal line (\), used to separate file and folder names in a path statement.
THE KINGDOM OF LEISURE "One Fine Ride" ... The Washington Post; July 9, 1999; Mark JenkinsTHE KINGDOM OF LEISURE "One Fine Ride" Powder Monkey Byline: Mark Jenkins Edition: FINAL Section: Weekend "Double-u, backslash, space, smartbomb," chant Ty Hardaway and Rick Walkling in "I Like Smartbomb," one of 13 distinctively outlandish shuffles ...