COMMENT THREAD for April Contest. Talk about 'em here

[DS1]

[JeffR]

1. DS1, you should post the contest rules as a reply to the submission thread

[Robb]

2. Congrats to you for wading in

...to this challenging topic. With a cool shot, no less. :toast:

I've got a few ideas, but dang. Toughie.

[JeffR]

3. Tanx!

It is really tough.

[Robb]

4. Heck, if no one else enters, you've won!

Yay! :D

...Should I ever win, I expect similar enthusiasm with the "Things on Robb's Desk" contest. :P

[JeffR]

5. A theme I'm still eagerly awaiting

even if I have trouble scrounging up the air-fare.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. I have a deserving entry, but unfortunately had no camera, only a flashback.

Saw my my grandma panhandling at a stoplight with a sign. The light changed as I groped for my wallet and being already a bit late for work and being polite to those behind me I just drove on.

An image that remains, but can't be shared, and a reminder of how often I have failed to simply do the right thing and just succumbed to the usual social conventions. A shame, not the only one, but one of the more recent.

[Inchworm]

7. Why am I naked waking up in an alley?

Gawd I wish I could take pics of what my eyes seen. I guess that is the magic.

Love the topic and cannot wait.

:thumbsup:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Alley? Mr Hoity-Toity....

try waking up in a dumpster just by the gate to Subic Bay Naval Base precisely in time to see your ship clearing the channel

talk about bad days

[Inchworm]

9. Missed ship's movement?

Gah.. that's a bad week! I came close several times, but somehow always made it.

somehow...

:P

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. thank God for HMM-365

that is all I can say

one of the young Lts I was out with that night recently retired as a 4-star General... makes me feel old

missing movement in the air wing is more a window of time, than a point of time, I guess

[Adsos Letter]

14. Ah yesss...missing a move...

Is that like arriving at the bahnhof in time to see your artillery battery railheaded onto flatcars, with the tailend just disappearing into the pre-dawn darkness...? I seem to recall something like that...

And, talk about feeling old...I was in How Btry 3/2 ACR when a young Captain Tommy Franks was BC of How Btry 1/2 ACR...actually met him a couple times during my stay there.

[DS1]

10. Ouch

:scared:

[Adsos Letter]

13. Ah, yesss...those days in the military...

I do have a hazy memory of waking up in the courtyard "livestock area" next to a certain "establishment" in a small town in Germany...with polizei sirens approaching from the distance...beat feet and arrived at billets covered with a substantial amount of goat dung and hay, and reeking of cheap cognac (the type with a distinctly gasoline quality to it)...

Such a class act...

[alfredo]

15. Woke up in my car, in my driveway and didn't know how I got there.

Woke up in a beach chair in a house near the Ohio river. In front of me was a scene reminiscent of Jonestown. There were bodies everywhere, but no Kool Aid, just cheap booze. I didn't know where I was, but by the look of the hills across the river I was 20-30 miles SW of Louisville. I walked to the road, put out my thumb and hitched a ride in a dump truck. Dump trucks and hangovers are not the best mix, but beggars can't be choosers. Grabbed a cup of coffee and some toast, freshened up in the diner restroom and walked the remaining two miles home. So goes my graduation party. Later that day I sprung both ankles in a spirited basketball game against fellow hungover classmates.

[Inchworm]

17. I was TAD to the line in an "aggressor squadron"

And I was a plane captain. We did "Top Gun" DETs at 4-5 different Air Stations. I woke up quite a few times at sunrise under my plane. Bad.. bad..

Memories though nonetheless.

I wish there were digital cameras then. There would have been some good shots for this topic.

[alfredo]

20. Our base got investigated for the amount of booze sold. They thought

it was going to the black market, but it wasn't, we were drinking it.

We were so bad a whole chapter of a book on Eritrea was written about us.

Here's a review of the book by one of the gross guys of Kagnew Station

http://www.geozazz.com/wrongreview.htm

It is a good book, well worth reading. She details how the imperialist fucked over Eritrea.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Who ARE you degenerates??!

:rofl:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. and we are the ones who SURVIVED!

[Adsos Letter]

24. Consider yourself lucky we don't have pictures Blue...

I'm only sticking to the stories I can tell in polite company... :D


EDIT: ...come to think of it...I DO have a couple of, um...pictures...somewhere...I wonder if I can still find 'em...

Actually, IIRC, I still owe you a shot of me in sackcloth and ashes, with dirt on my head... :rofl:

[Blue_In_AK]

25. You're funny...

Oh, and thanks for the update on Marysville on that other thread. What a God-forsaken place that was -- but, like I said, maybe my perception was colored by my woeful circumstances at the time.

[FlyingSquirrel]

55. Marysville, WA?

[Blue_In_AK]

70. No, California.

[alfredo]

12. Went out to look for a CD and sadly found my entry.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. It's a good one. So sad.

[alfredo]

19. I had another showing a shopping cart in a garbage strewn stream.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. This was kind of a hard topic for me.

I had some real problems finding good shots this morning. Unfortunately for the topic, Mayor Begich's city improvement efforts seem to be bearing fruit. All the ratty bars have been shut down, and even the alleys were cleaned up. Damn. Every place I thought I'd find a homeless camp, all I found was snow, no trash, and there weren't even any panhandlers out, maybe because it's snowing. :shrug: There's ALWAYS somebody out panhandling in front of Wal-Mart, but not even that.

The one I came up with isn't exactly dystopic, but it was just weird enough that it appealed to me. "Don Young, Standing Up for Alaska." :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[alfredo]

23. Usually the suburbs where I am stuck, lacks character. Luckily, bush's

policies have turned it into acres of broken dreams. I am showcasing one because he didn't go silently.

[JeffR]

26. Just want to reiterate that the contest rules should be posted in the subs thread

Already, one of the entries - and a cool photo, too - violates dimension and file size rules, inadvertently.

[Blue_In_AK]

27. I put them in there, JeffR

I didn't know how to do the cool shading part, but at least the words are there. :)

[JeffR]

28. Thanks, Blue. I hate to be a Boy Scout, but the rules should be the rules

at least until a consensus forms that they need to be changed or scrapped.

[DS1]

30. nevermind

[Blue_In_AK]

31. Did you say something snarky?

I hope you don't mind that I did this. I'm sorry, please forgive me. :cry:

[ConsAreLiars]

29. The shading bit is not that hard

The DU reply page has a "HTML lookup table" button
which reveals the code for doing several things.  In this case
it is [div class="excerpt"] <--- Stick that in
front of whatever text you want to do that cool shading to 
and end with ---> [/div]

As a thank you, a reminder that we all do get by with a little
help from our friends - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poUoCggQZd0

[FlyingSquirrel]

37. Ya I fixed that. Had a feeling about that.

The location is a beach in Port Townsend, WA behind a motel. Don't know what's behind the fence... some kind of industry that supports the town besides tourism, I'm sure.

Port Townsend is very beautiful, but does have its seamy side. I took that pic a few years ago - not sure exactly why but now here it is!

Life is funny sometimes.

:D

[alfredo]

32. For you that don't know, that is an Austin Healey Sprite in the

"Here Kitty Kitty."



It was a fun little car.

The Car next to it looks like an old Jaguar XK 120 or similar model.

[DS1]

33. I had no chance of recognizing it

and was beginning to think it was the back of a car.

[alfredo]

36. It was a cute little car. I used to see it at sports car races.

Behind it is a Triumph TR4

[jhain]

40. dh and his bros used to race them

I wonder if that is them??!

[alfredo]

41. You can never tell.

In the gymkhana it was the Morris Mini minor, Morris Cooper, and a host of variations. That was a hot little car.

[jhain]

34. My dh will be sooooo pleased

that someone knew the sprite smile.

Bug Eyes come here to die..........

[alfredo]

35. I can remember things like that and can't remember my neighbor's name.

[jhain]

39. That's what the word, "buddy" is for. n/t

[alfredo]

42. Old girlfriends don't like to be called "Buddy."

[jhain]

43. Your neighbor is an old girlfriend!?

And, you still can't remember her name? ;-)

Here:

[alfredo]

44. No, but as a rule if you can't remember an old girlfriend's name, calling

her Buddy would reinforce why you two split.

The neighbor is never there, so I call her gone.

[ConsAreLiars]

38. Well, I'd post Jean Luc Godard's "Weekend" here if not for the fact

that it is not mine, is a movie, and such. If you can see it in 3D Imax with Dolby, do so, but since the odds of that are zero, get it off some rental or torrent site. It sure fits and essentialized a lot of our reality. Once you see it, you'll never forget it.

(trivial edit)

[alfredo]

45. Kicking this to the top

[JeffR]

46. Since alfredo was kind enough to kick this back up

I just wanted to comment on what an absorbing theme this is. The best part is that it runs counter to conventional wisdom about this time of year, in an "April is the cruellest month" sort of way. At least, that's what I divine from looking at the entries so far.

[DS1]

47. Indeed

it was also chosen to balance out any spring contests, so GD doesn't suffer from greenery fatigue :)


btw, check out this thread, the first picture would be a clear winner imo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3130981

[JeffR]

48. Agreed

The Bushmerican dystopia captured.

[DS1]

50. notice the chest-deep water line, too

damn

[Blue_In_AK]

49. I had some photos of New Orleans

I had considered using, particularly the one of the homeless camp set up at the base of the cemetery vault. http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/gallery/2030436_whvYQ#104130152

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

51. April ain't cruel if

you are a Kansas fan!
well, this year, anyway

Go JayHawks!

[Blue_In_AK]

52. I don't know if you saw my other post about this...

but your game-saver Mario Chalmers was born and raised and got his basketball start here in an Anchorage high school. We're all very proud of him up here. :)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

53. and well you should be

great player

[DS1]

54. I'm really enjoying these entries

keep em going!

This might have been mine if I'd been competing.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

56. wow. what part of the bible

has those quotes from God?

[JeffR]

57. The Gospel of St. Thomas Tancredo

Apocryphal, perhaps, but persuasive throughout broad swaths of America.

[MattSh]

58. Babi Yar...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

[DS1]

59. Sweet! 5 more to go, or until the 18th

I love this contest, it's got dead rats :7

[alfredo]

60. One more to go!

[DS1]

61. 4, some posts aren't entries

and damn - Bull Market Madness - yuck!!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

63. those sit unsold

go figure and I have not seen any building activity on them for a while, I am guessing it will be abandonded

[DS1]

64. They look like it

Those columns are just butt ugly, the side of the hill is like looking at a mouthful of bad braces.

[FlyingSquirrel]

65. Given the current housing situation, that could be a winner --

Heck of a picture. But it violates the dimension and file-size rules so you should probably re-size or it could be disqualified - I had to reduce mine from 1280 x 960 down to 800 x 600.

[alfredo]

66. I wonder about the stability of the hillside.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

67. yeah, so did lots of people at the

city council meeting, but it was kind of ignored

[alfredo]

68. I fully support building on marginal land and leaving farm land

undeveloped, but that appears a bit shaky. I'd have to have a lot of expert, non biased opinions before approving such a project.

It would have been better to put the foundation down in the bedrock. They'd still would have had room for a remarkable deck. I guess it was cheaper to build that way. My house is on the side of a hill and it is partially submerged. The soil could wash away but the house would remain.

[DS1]

62. 4, some posts aren't entries

and damn - Bull Market Madness - yuck!!

[DS1]

69. I'll stop the entry thread tonight.

It would be nice to get one more to balance out the first threads, but if not, they'll be picked entirely randomly. I'll probably write their names on papers and draw them from a 'hat' .

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

71. Could toss a coin

No?

[JCMach1]

72. Oh the irony: my photo of an Armenian public facility

is doing better than any other picture I have ever entered.

What a world...


And yes, I did actually use it... :scared:

[alfredo]

73. I'm surprised that mine is doing well. The photo is truly ugly.

[DS1]

74. I've requested that the polls are shut down tonight

I know the mods are really busy tonight, I even prefaced the request with "Non-emergency", but after seeing the threads on page 3, and the high vote count in each, it was time.

If there are run-offs to be done to get into the finals, they'll be posted here and we can take care of that, then the finals will go up Friday morning until Monday evening. This will give the polls two week days for office DUers, and two weekend days for home DUers. It'll also give the winner a few days more breathing room to pick a theme of have a theme picked for next month. :)