“quirky, defiant, messy, odd, & absolutely charming”- me, according to my 6th grade teacher // Brain Cancer Patient Advocate// Faith/Hope/Love
Royal Oak, MI
Joined March 2009
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St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
Does anyone remember this amazing story? On July 2, 1982, a truck driver from California flew 16,000 feet into the sky in a lawn chair. Larry Walters, 33, from San Pedro, had dreamed of flying his whole life. He bought 42 eight-foot helium weather balloons, tied them to a regular Sears lawn chair, strapped on a parachute, packed a BB gun to pop balloons to descend, a CB radio, sandwiches, and a six-pack of beer.
He expected to float a few hundred feet above his backyard. He cut the rope and shot up like a rocket — to 16,000 feet. He drifted directly into the main approach path for LAX. Two airline pilots radioed the tower: they had just passed a man in a lawn chair holding a gun at 16,000 feet. For 45 minutes, he floated over Los Angeles, freezing cold, too scared to shoot balloons because he might fall. Finally, he started popping balloons one by one and slowly descended.
He landed tangled in power lines in Long Beach, California, causing a blackout. When police arrested him, they asked why he did it. He said, "A man can't just sit around." The FAA fined him $4,000. He became a national folk hero — Lawnchair Larry — and inspired the movie Up.
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
It’s fking batting practice at Comerica right now. #DNMW
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died 200 years ago today, on the 50th anniversary of American independence.
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
John Quincy Adams, when he discovered that both his father, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson had died on the 50th anniversary of independence on July 4, 1826, he believed it to be a palpable mark of divine grace.
“The time, the manner, the coincidence with the decease of Jefferson, are visible and palpable marks of divine favour, for which I would humble myself in grateful and silent adoration before the Ruler of the Universe—For myself all that I dare to ask is that I may live the remnant of my days in a manner worthy of him.”
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
It’s sad that someone would feel compelled to write an article like this.
Within this Atlantic article, the writer strains against the joy that’s been expressed by our foreign World Cup guests, and tries to find evidence of its falseness.
He is unable to.
I have saved you the trouble of reading the article. Enjoy all the happy videos instead.
And @TheAtlantic, you would gain many subscribers if you were to instead print the obvious piece about the joy being expressed. And also pull some happiness to yourself in associating with this joy.
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
Detroit impressions:
• The downtown is full of beautiful buildings. All of them seem to have been built specifically in the 1920s. I guess that is after the city had accumulated enough auto wealth but before the twin hits of Modernism and the Depression. (I hadn't known that the GM Renaissance Center, built as a revitalization project, was at the time the largest private development in US history, and also at the time the world's tallest hotel. It may be large, but it is not pretty.) The downtown is surprisingly depopulated -- both the streets and the sidewalks feel empty. That said, it didn't feel at all unsafe. There are lots of great homes in the suburbs.
• The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation is amazing, and it's worth visiting Detroit for it alone. Among many (many) other things, it contains the oldest known surviving steam engine in the world, the actual Montgomery bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, a deconstructed Model T, a deconstructed Eames Chair, and many great cars, agricultural equipment, locomotives, industrial specimens, and more. (They have the Lincoln Continental that JFK was riding in when assassinated -- which, apparently, was returned to service and used by several subsequent presidents.)
• The museum made me wonder why American car design peaked in the mid-60s. (This fact is very evident at the museum.) The LLMs blame the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. (Not quite wtfhappenedin1971.com, but close.)
• Good food exists but it is hard to find.
• The Heidelberg Project also exists and is unique.
• We stayed at the Dearborn Inn, which is wonderful, and contains cottages modeled after the homes of significant American figures. Dearborn (and Hamtramck) are now predominantly Muslim, apparently for reasons that go back a century to Henry Ford's $5 wage. Dearborn felt noticeably prosperous (we stopped for coffee at a fancy Japanese cheesecake cafe); Hamtramck did not.
• Michigan.gov says that the Hispanic population of Michigan is just 6%. Coming from California, the absence is very striking.
• The Detroit Institute of Arts is remarkable, particularly the room with the American landscapes and the section with the Dutch masters (especially The Visitation). An obvious question is why there is nothing quite like it in the Bay Area given how much richer the latter is than Detroit ever was -- we techies are just so uncultured by comparison. The Diego Rivera murals are amazing (and quite strange; you can see why they were controversial).
• Detroit is full of historic plaques -- they are truly everywhere. This is presumably due in part to the fact that Detroit has a lot of history, but it still has many more than places with comparable historical depth. Some research suggests that it might be related to generous tax credits for historic preservation. Whether or not that is true, Detroit persuades me that other places should engage in more plaquemaxxing.
• I recommend a visit! You overall leave with some sense for how exciting America must have felt in the early 20th century.
St_Molly_AgentofChaos retweeted
The older I get, the more I believe happiness lives in the ordinary. Pets. Plants. A quiet morning coffee. Blue sky. Cotton clouds. Birds singing. The gentle breeze through the trees. A clean, cosy house. Good food. Good hearted simple poeple. So much of life’s beauty is quiet, gentle, and already here. And somehow, one of the sweetest feelings is knowing I get to wake up and meet it all again tomorrow.
