Oakland fire

[War Wagon]

Nope, can't even make any bad jokes about this. 36 dead and counting.

Here it is "Raider Week" and I can't muster anything other than "thoughts & prayers". Seriously.

I don't know a soul who lives or once lived in Oakland.

But I know plenty of Raider fans thru this and other message boards, who probably do know some folk from across the bay.

To all those, my sincere condolence.

An intense yet foolish football rivalry that goes back before my time seems trivial. I will try to keep that in perspective.

[Dinsdale]

I agree with your sentiments, regardless of a scofflaw nature of the problem (which I'm willing to bet happens in my town, as well).

But...

But I know plenty of Raider fans thru this and other message boards, who probably do know some folk from across the bay.

Unless those folks live in San Francisco, or maybe San Mateo, they are "across the bay." Most SF area people are Niner fans, and Easter Bay people are Raider fans, with plenty of wiggle room.


My old buddy used to live in a place much like that in Oakland, years ago. After a few shootings, he moved, but there's a lot of death traps in Oakland/Alameda, due to more people than available housing. I'm thinking city officials are probably going to change their tune in the coming days.

[smackaholic]

As much as I generally take no pleasure in large numbers of innocent folks getting barbequed, the fact that it seems most if not all were hipster artsy fartsy types, means maybe I can squeeze a smidge of pleasure out of it. I suspect the Fire Marshall Bill of Oakland is gonna be a little busy....if he remains employed.

[LTS TRN 2]

smack, you've no idea what your schnozzle is sniffing.. :twisted:

[Mikey]

As much as I generally take no pleasure in large numbers of innocent folks getting barbequed, the fact that it seems most if not all were hipster artsy fartsy types, means maybe I can squeeze a smidge of pleasure out of it. I suspect the Fire Marshall Bill of Oakland is gonna be a little busy....if he remains employed.

You really need a serious reality check.

[Rooster]

I'm of the opinion that anybody who goes into a sketchy warehouse that uses wooden pallets as a staircase to an upper floor to go dancing is asking for trouble. When the place bursts into flames and witnesses say that because of the crap piled up in there it was a rat's nest of a maze, that should have been their first clue to turn around and just go to your local bar and get your groove on. But that's just me.

Seriously, I question the common sense of people who do stuff like this. Maybe it's because of my career choice, but I approach life through a risk vs reward kind of lens. Is the payoff worth the risk of doing X? Is there a high likelihood of something bad occuring that I could avoid, wherein I could get the reward in some other safer manner?

It's like those parkour jumpers-- what possible benefit is there in performing a go/no-go action that has a tremendous probability of killing or seriously injuring yourself? Why bother with the pretense of being all extreme and just go purchase a revolver and play Russian Roulette in the privacy of your own home?

These people obviously did not count the cost of entering a dangerous building and paid with their lives for something as fleeting as dancing to shit music. In my book that's just plain stupid.

[Dr_Phibes]

I'm of the opinion that anybody who goes into a sketchy warehouse that uses wooden pallets as a staircase to an upper floor to go dancing is asking for trouble.

I dunno. I grew up across the road from an abandoned Massey Harris/Ferguson plant that was empty twenty years previous. It was massive, like having a city to yourself, complete with wartime underground tunnels. You'd be a knob if you didn't go in. No sense of adventure, or you're a suburban boy.

[LTS TRN 2]

Unlike S.F., Oakland has allowed negligible enforcement of warehouse loft projects, and there's lots like the Ghost Ship (which was in a really crappy neck o' the woods, Fruitvale--though which, like all of Oakland should, could and would be a wonderful world class city, 'cept for the n-words) and the heat is on...and not just in Oakland. That said, Libby Schaaf is hands down the hottest mayor in the U.S., and a truly major MILF, a real 9.4

[smackaholic]

As much as I generally take no pleasure in large numbers of innocent folks getting barbequed, the fact that it seems most if not all were hipster artsy fartsy types, means maybe I can squeeze a smidge of pleasure out of it. I suspect the Fire Marshall Bill of Oakland is gonna be a little busy....if he remains employed.

You really need a serious reality check.

It's why I come here.

[Screw_Michigan]

I dunno. I grew up across the road from an abandoned Massey Harris/Ferguson plant that was empty twenty years previous. It was massive, like having a city to yourself, complete with wartime underground tunnels. You'd be a knob if you didn't go in. No sense of adventure, or you're a suburban boy.

Rooster is a welfare queen who generally hates anyone who thinks differently than him.

[Rooster]

Typical Left wing "hate" bullshit when faced with any opinion that differs from theirs or goes contrary to the new Buzzfeed groupthink meme. I'd also add that you're stealing Mosche's shtick by using his welfare queen term, but as I've already proven, independent thought is beyond your abilities.

[Rooster]

As for me being a suburbanite or timid when it comes to investigating new or unusual places, I'd disagree. My experiences have taught me that new adventures are always welcome, but that you need to liberally apply discretion and be prepared to extract yourself when the circumstances show that the risk versus reward equation is out of balance.

On the contrary, I'm very well traveled and have seen and done things the vast majority of people only dream of doing. As an Army brat I spent my childhood all over the world, which was continued by a military career, and then a life as a PMC.

[smackaholic]

OK, WTF is a PMC?

I am sure I'll get some good answers. :)

[Goober McTuber]

Prefers Muslim Cock

[Dinsdale]

Perpetually Milking Choads.

[Dinsdale]

Pacedog Man Crush

That pisses me off! I'm calling you out to a brawl behind the grade school at noon... yesterday.

[L45B]

OK, WTF is a PMC?

Poor Irishman?

[R-Jack]

Probably Milking Cocks

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Poor Man's Cuda

[LTS TRN 2]

Plutocrat Minion Chump

i.e., Trump Voter

[Mikey]

Puto Masticando Caca

[War Wagon]

Unlike S.F., Oakland has allowed negligible enforcement of warehouse loft projects, and there's lots like the Ghost Ship (which was in a really crappy neck o' the woods, Fruitvale--though which, like all of Oakland should, could and would be a wonderful world class city, 'cept for the n-words) and the heat is on...and not just in Oakland. That said, Libby Schaaf is hands down the hottest mayor in the U.S., and a truly major MILF, a real 9.4

Who stole somebody's password? :?

Totally out of character. More like a real person and not some pre-programmed Daily Kos regurgitation.

[Dr_Phibes]

On the contrary, I'm very well traveled and have seen and done things the vast majority of people only dream of doing. As an Army brat I spent my childhood all over the world, which was continued by a military career, and then a life as a PMC.

I wouldn't doubt it for a minute, but maybe you've become overly-regimented in your background? Applying those rules and life-lessons to petty things like municipal bylaws seems like the wrong forum for a cartoon exaggeration of Clausewitz's principles.

[Rooster]

Good point.

PMC: Papa Murphy Counterman. I can't be trusted to properly make unbaked pizzas, so I just take the customer's orders. :cry:

[Rooster]

I'm more a Sun Tzu guy myself, cuz I'm all about diversity, safe spaces, and inscrutable Oriental Tongs.

[Innocent Bystander]

There were pictures of the residents holding open flame pow wows inside the building in the past. They weren't teenagers. They were adults. They knew better, and didn't care.

Nobody should have to die being burned alive, but I'll eat my hat if the building owner is forced to deal with the conditions he allowed/created. It wasn't being properly maintained as a zoned business, let alone a residence. Leaching power from the business next door with extension cords? Really? No working alarms, no fire suppression, no building inspections...

What was the old man getting in return, besides cash? Or is there an untold story of elder abuse behind all of this? There are conflicting reports of the goon squad which silenced residents protests of unsafe conditions belonging to either the Subletter or the owner's daughter. But the goon squad existed, no matter who paid them.

Since enforcers were involved, how much of this goes beyond an urban artist commune into Asian immigrant mob action?

Who is going to force an elderly Asian man to take the stand, though? That only happens to runaway Nazis.

[Moving Sale]

They should have burned down O.co

[trev]

Millennials are of the mindset that they know more than their elders or anyone else before them and nothing bad can happen to them. I don't even know how people have become so supposedly "mindful" yet so dumb.

[Rooster]

On the contrary, I'm very well traveled and have seen and done things the vast majority of people only dream of doing. As an Army brat I spent my childhood all over the world, which was continued by a military career, and then a life as a PMC.

I wouldn't doubt it for a minute, but maybe you've become overly-regimented in your background? Applying those rules and life-lessons to petty things like municipal bylaws seems like the wrong forum for a cartoon exaggeration of Clausewitz's principles.

In all seriousness, having a risk vs reward approach to life has worked out fairly well for me so far. It doesn't prevent spontenaity, but it does give me a threshold over which I won't do something foolish unless there is an overriding reason to do so. Also, it would be difficult to apply this strategem only in my professional career and ignore it in my personal life, if only because it becomes a lens through which I view my actions. There'd be some kind of disconnect that would leave me vulnerable to poor decision making in the cockpit because I let my guard down.

[Left Seater]

There'd be some kind of disconnect that would leave me vulnerable to poor decision making in the cockpit because I let my guard down.

This. An old saying goes:

Every pilot is issued two buckets the day of their first solo. The first bucket is luck. The second is experience. The hope is your experience bucket fills up before the luck bucket is empty.

[LTS TRN 2]

There were pictures of the residents holding open flame pow wows inside the building in the past. They weren't teenagers. They were adults. They knew better, and didn't care.

Nobody should have to die being burned alive, but I'll eat my hat if the building owner is forced to deal with the conditions he allowed/created. It wasn't being properly maintained as a zoned business, let alone a residence. Leaching power from the business next door with extension cords? Really? No working alarms, no fire suppression, no building inspections...

What was the old man getting in return, besides cash? Or is there an untold story of elder abuse behind all of this? There are conflicting reports of the goon squad which silenced residents protests of unsafe conditions belonging to either the Subletter or the owner's daughter. But the goon squad existed, no matter who paid them.

Since enforcers were involved, how much of this goes beyond an urban artist commune into Asian immigrant mob action?

Who is going to force an elderly Asian man to take the stand, though? That only happens to runaway Nazis.

The Ng family who owned the building--and several others--are not victims whatsoever. In fact they are classic slum lords, collecting rent and never coming near the property. The proprietor is a scumbag named Derick Ion, whom you've no doubt seen blubbering a (carefully concealing) apology. He'll probably do serious time.

[Rooster]

Will he? As a Vietnamese, doesn't that make him protected game in King Obama's forests? As was explained to me by Will Smith in the movie trailer, Collateral Beauty, Death is an old white lady. See? Even death is a white conspiracy to kill minorities!

[BSmack]

Millennials are of the mindset that they know more than their elders or anyone else before them and nothing bad can happen to them. I don't even know how people have become so supposedly "mindful" yet so dumb.

That is exactly what your parents thought of their children. And every other parent has bitched about how the kids these days know-it-all and don't want to listen to older people.

Sent from my plush penthouse suite in Screw Michigan's dome. It's in the District.

[Innocent Bystander]

I don't think the Ngs are victims at all, LTS. I think they are the source of the rot, not Ion. Ion is the middleman left to hold the bag. It is ultimately the Ngs' bulding, their responsibility. The daughter visited every month. She's told construction is going on -- that means her family's culpability is worse. Who allows 'construction' after letting power be cut off to their own building?

I think the Ngs are skating on their responsibility in this, becduse of the focus on Ion's douchebaggery. Why isn't the media going hard on them?

You're a lawyer like Moving Sale? How are the Ngs going to be handled? How many buildings do they own in the same condition?