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biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:32 am

enframed wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 10:40 pm On my bike ride back from my exercise routine I caught my first "side show" experience. Those people are fucking nuts.

At first I thought you meant carnies.

I'm lost.

andyman wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 8:58 am

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:32 am

enframed wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 10:40 pm On my bike ride back from my exercise routine I caught my first "side show" experience. Those people are fucking nuts.

At first I thought you meant carnies.

I'm lost.

Carnies means carnivals?

Sideshows normally are part of some sort carnivals, arent they? Or are they standalone shows?

Don't have those in Spain.

So it's insanely warm in several places apparently. Meanwhile here just in time for vacation it's cloudy and rainy for two weeks straight.

Side shows are where a bunch of people descend on an intersection, effectively shut it down, and have a "drifting" event. This was accompanied by spectators putting themselves in very dangerous situations attempting to throw water balloons into the cars, at the drivers, as they drift by. This happened for at least 20 minutes, at which point I got kind of bored and got back on my bike to ride home. San Francisco has "critical mass," where cyclists effectively shut down streets. Los Angeles' would of course involve cars.

I caught some on video. The corner of La Cienega and Jefferson, a very very busy intersection.



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8aLxRZDZGuU

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kbv7PeMnA4I

As I started riding home I saw a number of police cars down the street waiting. For what, I'm not sure. I kinda wish I would have hung around to see how it all gets broken up.

enframed wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 9:52 am Side shows

I hate these assholes and everything they live for. They have taken to gathering in my neighborhood before slinking off to wherever they go. The worst people doing the worst shit. Shootings/gunplay are not uncommon. Police do literally nothing about it, but Portland Police do nothing about everything, so that's no surprise. They gather in this giant church parking lot for hours and you will never see a single police car show up.

Thanks for the explanation.

People are stupid.

Yeah I meant sideshow carnival folk. I googled the car phenomenon a bit. It seems approximately analogous to a Philly-Baltimore thing which is called "dirt bike kids", although a lot of them are 30 year old men.

On one hand, these acts are objectively dangerous, antisocial bullshit.

On the other hand, both acts are also part of a larger conflcit between gentrifiers and people being priced out of their homes.

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:39 am Yeah I meant sideshow carnival folk. I googled the car phenomenon a bit. It seems approximately analogous to a Philly-Baltimore thing which is called "dirt bike kids", although a lot of them are 30 year old men.

They do the dirt bike thing here too, lots of wheelies.

biscuitdough wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 11:39 am On one hand, these acts are objectively dangerous, antisocial bullshit.

On the other hand, both acts are also part of a larger conflcit between gentrifiers and people being priced out of their homes.

I think you are right about the latter point. This particular intersection has on one corner a brand new multiple building, multi-story apartments with hundreds of units, anchored by a Whole Foods. Tech is taking over this area: Netflix, HBO, &c., all have buildings/studios nearby. Those people and "work-from-home" is moving in heavily.

Maybe not SF proper, but sideshows are definitely a thing in the East Bay--hell they're even depicted in Boots Riley's new Amazon show!

I blame Vin Diesel. I mean, I always blame Vin Diesel for everything, but I still blame Vin Diesel. What a ridiculous name.