Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - June 24, 2025 [scampydog]

Good evening and thank you for checking in on the Tuesday, ONT. Summer is here - funny tan lines, green grass, grilling, lemonade, and warm nights. Open thread - abstract concepts, cautionary tales, and a verbal shiv or two are encouraged.

Who can craft an impressively long run-on sentence in response to the question below? Ramble on.

What are you getting rid of? pic.twitter.com/aeXmVVDVae

— Giga Based Dad (@GigaBasedDad) June 19, 2025

Long Lines Building. Known today simply by its address, 33 Thomas Street. I was today years old when I discovered this 45-story, windowless, brutalistic building.

Computers at Titanpointe have monitored international phone calls, faxes and voice calls routed over the internet, and more, hoovering up data from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and U.S. allies including France, Germany, and Japan. 6 33 Thomas Street, it turns out, is exactly what it looks like: an apocalypse-proof above-ground bunker intended not only to symbolize but to guarantee national security. For those overseeing fortress operations at the time of construction, objects of fear were nuclear-armed Communists abroad and a restive youth population at home, who couldn't be trusted to obey the diktats of a culture that had raised up some in previously inconceivable affluence; an affluence built on the exploitation and disenfranchisement of people near and far.

By the time the NSA took over, targets were likely to be insurgents rejecting liberal democracy and American hegemony, from Islamic fundamentalists to world-market competitors in China, alongside a smattering of Black Lives Matter activists. For those outside the fortress, in the Nixon era as in the present, the fearful issue was an entrenched and unaccountable fusion of corporate and governmental capability, a power that flipped the switches connecting the world. At the same time, popular culture had begun, in the 1970s, to register a paranoia that has only intensified - the fear that people no longer call the shots. In its monumental implacability, Titanpointe seems to herald a posthuman regime, run by algorithm for the sole purpose of perpetuating its own system.

It is, in other words, a building tailor made for spy movies.

Got a quote you like - even if it came from someone you don't particularly care for?

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." George Bernard Shaw

ONT Intermission

Historical happenings in June.

76 years since Orwell published 1984, (June 8, 1949) a warning about totalitarianism, manipulation, surveillance, propaganda, power, strength, weakness, fear, active distortion of truth through censorship, and word bending. Still relevant and at times reading less like a work of fiction.

It's fascinating to read the various views and interpretations of 1984. Linking Asimov - simply because of curiosity - liberal, a Russian, a commie (allegedly), and his view/review of the book. There is value in understanding the flawed ideology of the other side. Asimov's review was comfortably framed in his worldview/biases/assumptions vs. a political allegory or political horror warning.

*Tips a glass to Winston* - an average and breakable man, yet relatable.

Some people don't want to be saved

pic.twitter.com/UDiCVebMrd

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) June 16, 2025

***

June: Hetero Month at the Old State Saloon! Year two edition. Give 'em a visit if going through town.

Throughout June, Old State Saloon will offer a lineup of special drinks celebrating heterosexuality, including the Brojito, Baby Maker Mimosa, Tetten Russian, and Alpha Mule. The month will feature themed days to keep the party going:

Mondays: Beers for Breeders - Any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male receives a free draft beer.

Tetten Tuesdays - Ladies buy one drink, get one free.

Duo Deal Wednesdays - Heterosexual couples enjoy 15% off their bill.

Special events include Hetero Merch Parties with exclusive discounts, a June 7th International Procreation Day Celebration, and a June 14th President Trump Huuuge Heterosexual Birthday Party. The saloon will host internet influencers, sports personalities, and media figures throughout the month, with more details to be announced.

Heh. Holding quirky traditions and rituals together. Wouldn't change a thing - long arc.

US Open (golf) wrapped up a week ago. It was held at Oakmont CC, outside of Pittsburgh. They have quite the tradition there - a regular money game.

The SWAT is played every Wednesday, Friday, weekends and holidays. Oakmont Country Club has a detailed record of every SWAT game dating back to 1955. Those records are handwritten after each match and stored in the men's SWAT Room. Each year has its own SWAT book, which is stored in a case in the SWAT room. The members arrive and are given their teams, they go out and play and then return to the SWAT room to commiserate and record the day's game.

Surrounded by these people every day? Darwin was just a starting point.

A Chain Of Stupid 🤣 pic.twitter.com/UCBvKLRrxf

— A Man Of Memes (@RickyDoggin) June 11, 2025

True? I'm always a bit of a skeptic with "recently found" items, but this one kept me reading. Take a look at the link.

Last minute updates to the drawings of the Statue of Liberty?

Ruderman's purchase was supposed to be blueprint copies related to the statue's construction. But little did he know that the folder would also contain never-before-seen original sketches of the statue's construction, revealing late changes that had been made to its structural design.

A bit of old school rock this evening.

AC/DC. Because AC/DC.

Sammy and the boys having some fun at Red Rocks.

This ONT is brought to you by: The A-10 Pilots Coloring Book. Best link I clicked on all week.

Just like many tanks of the era, the rear of the T-62 is one of its most vulnerable spots, from many, many angles and ranges. Despite including an anal sex reference, this Air Force instruction manual is really helpful in determining just where the best place to hit the main battle tank is. Even if the GAU-8 can't penetrate the crew through the back door, it can still hit the engine and drive gear, shutting down the tank's advance.

What is your superpower? Surviving weekly HR meetings? Lurking? Email your secrets to: scampydog at proton dot me.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

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