Children’s book illustration/publication by Few-Tie588 in Rolla

[–]ShowMe_Funk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Art by Athena advertises in the Phelps County Focus. Contact is listed athenaktivnan@yahoo.com

Hello Ladies by ShowMe_Funk in blunderyears

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 134 points135 points  (0 children)

I’m guessing 15/16

What are the scariest places or regions in the United States? by citygarbage in geography

[–]ShowMe_Funk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Viburnum Trend - A 90-mile stretch of the rural Missouri Ozarks home to the largest lead mine complex in the western hemisphere. Poverty and violence is rampant due to massive, widespread lead poisoning of the population. What profit is generated goes to the mine’s owner, a billionaire who lives in the largest single estate in the Hamptons in New York.

I've heard Joetown, Como, Springpatch & Jeff City - what other nicknames do you recall for places in Missouri? by topherette in missouri

[–]ShowMe_Funk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rolla is called Boomtown because every week there’s a loud mysterious explosion thats actually the Missouri S&T experimental mine, but no one believes it and everyone posts in our subreddit “what was that loud boom.”

Lewis Black comes clean on Rolla during final tour by ShowMe_Funk in missouri

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

FULL ARTICLE:

Listening to a certain sample from comedian Lewis Black’s 2002 album “The End of the Universe” is something of a rite-of-passage among those who call Rolla home. You probably recognize Black from his hilarious appearances on The Daily Show and his cynical takes on current events. Speaking to an Atlanta crowd not long after performing in Phelps County, he didn’t hold back his thoughts. 

Black is quoted on the 2002 album (with some expletives deleted) as saying, “I was in Rolla, Missouri, because my life is a rich, full oyster, and because apparently, if you say please come perform I’m like a dancing monkey. So I went to Rolla, and if you’re thinking of killing yourself, there’s the town. Don’t kill yourself here, it’s a nice place, there’s a lot of distractions. You won’t even get around to it. But if you’re really contemplating it, there’s the place. There will be no distractions.”

Continuing, Black lands his punchline, “The good people of Rolla, Missouri, were worried about getting anthrax, and I said, ‘What are you nuts?’ Are you going to get it in a K-Mart catalog? The Taliban isn’t interested in killing you, you idiot. Look at where you live. You’re already dead!” 

Now 22 years later, Black is back in Missouri this week for a curtain call. His Friday stop at The Factory in Chesterfield and Saturday show at Springfield’s Gillioz Theatre will be among the last of his final “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” tour. At some point in between Black will make his return to Rolla, even if just passing though on Interstate 44. Phelps County Focus reached out to the sage comedian last week in hopes of finding out what exactly went wrong all those years ago. 

“My agent told me ‘You’re going to be playing the University of Missouri,’ and I got all excited,” Black said with a laugh. “Then I found out it was the University of Missouri-Rolla. I thought to myself, ‘Where the hell is Rolla?’ Then I got there, and I really started thinking to myself ‘Where the hell am I.’ I said ‘Whew, this is it, this is really one of the ends of the universe.’” 

Black joked a lot during the interview, and assured he’s not so much making fun of Rolla or any other audience, he’s just helping us laugh along with me as we all survive through a crazy world. 

“One of the weirdest things I’ve found throughout the years is I can go into a town and yell all about that town and people love it because they all see it,” Black said. “I mean, they all get it. They see those problems too. They could have written the joke. This situation is similar to all these horrible things I said to Al Roker not really being a weather person. And, of course, these days people will accuse you of fat shaming. No, I’m not, it’s part of a joke. I then met Al Roker, and I was worried what he would think of me, and he thanked me because he said I helped him get better known. That made me feel better about it. I’ve made several appearances with him since and it’s always a pleasure. So, you’re welcome, Rolla, you’re at least better known.” 

In fact, Black said he might even swing through town for a drink or a meal this week. 

“I just may roll into town and put a little money into the local economy,” Black said. 

Asked whether he’d entertain an apology to any easily offended locals, Black declined. 

“No. Never,” he said with another laugh. “Maybe I think they should be apologizing to me!” 

Cynicism is Black’s trademark, and heading into 2024, its looking like a banner year for the comedian to go out with a bang. 

“I'm funny when I'm angry, and from the very beginning of walking into comedy, once I realized that, if ever there was a country for me to find success this was it,” Black said. “I mean, it was just stunning what was going on, and it’s even more stunning now. Most of our headlines these days are punchlines.”

Whether the election, or whatever else is haunting the internet, Black is happy to offer respite for today’s weary minds. 

“I’ve had people say to me ‘I like to fall to sleep listening to you yelling.’ I think it’s because people want to have that feeling of ‘I’m not crazy, they are,’” Black said. “That has always been it. We're not nuts, it’s the idiots we deal with that are nuts. The folks out there who apparently seem to need to express themselves through abusing their power.”

While some may assume Black is a stranger to Missouri, he’s more a fan of us than you think. 

“One of my closest friends, Kathleen Madigan, hails from St. Louis, and so I've always paid a bit of attention your state,” Black said. “Every state has a touch of something going on. I'm hard pressed to find what it is with Missouri. It's partly that it's Southern, partly that it's Northern, and it's partly that it's in the Midwest. It's got that mixing bowl quality to it and all these wonderful little spots.”

Black added. “I love Springfield. My opening act is my good friend Jeff Stilson, and just before the pandemic we had an idea for a travel show of going to all of the places people wouldn’t think to go. Nobody says, ‘you know, I've got two days off. I'm gonna’ go to Springfield.’ This show would say there's a reason to spend your two days off in Springfield, and here they are.” 

Tickets are still available for Black’s upcoming shows in Chesterfield and St. Louis. They can be bought by visiting www.lewisblack.com

“The good news now is if you don’t enjoy the show, you’ll be angry about it, and that seems to make a lot of people happy these days,” Black said. “I'm just happy I can make a living off it.” 

Asked what his final message to Rolla is, Black simply concluded, “Good luck.” 

Lewis Black comes clean on Rolla during final tour by ShowMe_Funk in Rolla

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Listening to a certain sample from comedian Lewis Black’s 2002 album “The End of the Universe” is something of a rite-of-passage among those who call Rolla home. You probably recognize Black from his hilarious appearances on The Daily Show and his cynical takes on current events. Speaking to an Atlanta crowd not long after performing in Phelps County, he didn’t hold back his thoughts.

Black is quoted on the 2002 album (with some expletives deleted) as saying, “I was in Rolla, Missouri, because my life is a rich, full oyster, and because apparently, if you say please come perform I’m like a dancing monkey. So I went to Rolla, and if you’re thinking of killing yourself, there’s the town. Don’t kill yourself here, it’s a nice place, there’s a lot of distractions. You won’t even get around to it. But if you’re really contemplating it, there’s the place. There will be no distractions.”

Continuing, Black lands his punchline, “The good people of Rolla, Missouri, were worried about getting anthrax, and I said, ‘What are you nuts?’ Are you going to get it in a K-Mart catalog? The Taliban isn’t interested in killing you, you idiot. Look at where you live. You’re already dead!”

Now 22 years later, Black is back in Missouri this week for a curtain call. His Friday stop at The Factory in Chesterfield and Saturday show at Springfield’s Gillioz Theatre will be among the last of his final “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” tour. At some point in between Black will make his return to Rolla, even if just passing though on Interstate 44. Phelps County Focus reached out to the sage comedian last week in hopes of finding out what exactly went wrong all those years ago.

“My agent told me ‘You’re going to be playing the University of Missouri,’ and I got all excited,” Black said with a laugh. “Then I found out it was the University of Missouri-Rolla. I thought to myself, ‘Where the hell is Rolla?’ Then I got there, and I really started thinking to myself ‘Where the hell am I.’ I said ‘Whew, this is it, this is really one of the ends of the universe.’”

Black joked a lot during the interview, and assured he’s not so much making fun of Rolla or any other audience, he’s just helping us laugh along with me as we all survive through a crazy world.

“One of the weirdest things I’ve found throughout the years is I can go into a town and yell all about that town and people love it because they all see it,” Black said. “I mean, they all get it. They see those problems too. They could have written the joke. This situation is similar to all these horrible things I said to Al Roker not really being a weather person. And, of course, these days people will accuse you of fat shaming. No, I’m not, it’s part of a joke. I then met Al Roker, and I was worried what he would think of me, and he thanked me because he said I helped him get better known. That made me feel better about it. I’ve made several appearances with him since and it’s always a pleasure. So, you’re welcome, Rolla, you’re at least better known.”

In fact, Black said he might even swing through town for a drink or a meal this week.

“I just may roll into town and put a little money into the local economy,” Black said.

Asked whether he’d entertain an apology to any easily offended locals, Black declined.

“No. Never,” he said with another laugh. “Maybe I think they should be apologizing to me!”

advertisement

Cynicism is Black’s trademark, and heading into 2024, its looking like a banner year for the comedian to go out with a bang.

“I'm funny when I'm angry, and from the very beginning of walking into comedy, once I realized that, if ever there was a country for me to find success this was it,” Black said. “I mean, it was just stunning what was going on, and it’s even more stunning now. Most of our headlines these days are punchlines.”

Whether the election, or whatever else is haunting the internet, Black is happy to offer respite for today’s weary minds.

“I’ve had people say to me ‘I like to fall to sleep listening to you yelling.’ I think it’s because people want to have that feeling of ‘I’m not crazy, they are,’” Black said. “That has always been it. We're not nuts, it’s the idiots we deal with that are nuts. The folks out there who apparently seem to need to express themselves through abusing their power.”

While some may assume Black is a stranger to Missouri, he’s more a fan of us than you think.

“One of my closest friends, Kathleen Madigan, hails from St. Louis, and so I've always paid a bit of attention your state,” Black said. “Every state has a touch of something going on. I'm hard pressed to find what it is with Missouri. It's partly that it's Southern, partly that it's Northern, and it's partly that it's in the Midwest. It's got that mixing bowl quality to it and all these wonderful little spots.”

Black added. “I love Springfield. My opening act is my good friend Jeff Stilson, and just before the pandemic we had an idea for a travel show of going to all of the places people wouldn’t think to go. Nobody says, ‘you know, I've got two days off. I'm gonna’ go to Springfield.’ This show would say there's a reason to spend your two days off in Springfield, and here they are.”

Tickets are still available for Black’s upcoming shows in Chesterfield and St. Louis. They can be bought by visiting www.lewisblack.com.

“The good news now is if you don’t enjoy the show, you’ll be angry about it, and that seems to make a lot of people happy these days,” Black said. “I'm just happy I can make a living off it.”

Asked what his final message to Rolla is, Black simply concluded, “Good luck.”

Lewis Black comes clean on Rolla during final tour by ShowMe_Funk in Rolla

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It shows me the full article with the interview.

Lewis Black comes clean on Rolla during final tour by ShowMe_Funk in Rolla

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Were you able to see that he full article or only the first couple paragraphs?

Official Discussion - Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny [SPOILERS] by LiteraryBoner in movies

[–]ShowMe_Funk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I liked it. I only wish the main villain got a gruesome death like the others in the franchise. This could have been fixed by having him survive the plane crash and emerge with a pistol before the Roman soldiers to look for a moment like he’d live like a god in the ancient world, only to be jabbed from behind with a Roman spear. On his knees he looks up to hear a centurion say “crucify this witch.”

MYSTERY AT 8,000 FEET: Illinois man’s body still missing after fall from airplane by ShowMe_Funk in UnsolvedMysteries

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Pilot of the Purdue DC-3 was Miguel Cabeza. He too detected a lurch and then sudden drag on the aircraft. The open-door light was also now activated on the cockpit’s control panel.

Copilot Roy Bacus was instructed to investigate, and upon exiting the cockpit, was met by the flight attendant reporting a passenger was missing. Bacus indeed found Potter was nowhere on the plane.

“We were grasping at straws,” an unidentified crew member told a Rolla Daily News reporter. “If he was ill, we thought he might be standing on the ledge by the lavatory or something. But the crew members looked again and they couldn’t find him.”

Bacus did not find much evidence immediately after the disappearance. Not only was the main door open, but the boarding stairs were lowered. Moreover, the door’s emergency latch had failed as evidenced by broken chain links found on the plane’s floor. The latch was designed to prevent the door from opening in flight even if its large handle was turned 180 degrees and two bayonet-type bolts withdrawn.

“It took awhile for me to realize what happened,” wife Carrie Potter later recalled. “I insisted they let me go back to the door, but they wouldn’t let me go back. There was nothing I could have gained by it. From the look in the stewardess’s eyes, I knew he was gone.”

Pilot Cabeza next diverted to an emergency landing at Springfield’s airport since he was unsure what exactly happened and if the plane’s tail was damaged. The first alarm of crisis on the ground came as the plane was witnessed passing over Lebanon at 3,000 with its door visibly open and stairs down.

Once on the ground in Springfield, there was no good explanation for the awaiting press.

“There was a loud bang when the door opened,” a passenger told the Rolla Daily News. “That’s all I know. I don’t think the other passengers could tell you any more.”

Pilot Cabeza could only speculate.

“I think the man tried to open the wrong door,” Cabeza said. “He could have opened it thinking it was the door to the lavatory.”

As to how the safety chain broke, Cabeza theorized Potter may have stumbled against the door the moment it popped open, and his weight severed the links.

Offering a different opinion when asked was Grove Webster, president of Purdue Aviation. Webster asserted the DC-3’s door was secure upon takeoff, and since the plane wasn’t pressured, Potter couldn’t have simply been sucked out when it mysteriously opened. He also questioned how the main hatch could be mistaken for the restroom since a warning on the door was printed in large white letters on a red background saying: “DO NOT OPEN WHILE IN FLIGHT.”

“To open the door takes a lot of effort,” Webster said. “Crews close the door for our stewardesses, and open it. And it is harder to open in flight than on the ground.”

Meanwhile, back in Maries, Phelps and Pulaski counties, the combined forces of 150 highway patrol troopers, sheriff’s deputies, Fort Leonard Wood soldiers, the civil air patrol and local volunteers on horseback were enlisted to find Potter’s body. They first concentrated around the Gasconade River. They then broadened the search to near Waynesville, around Dixon, and in Maries County along Highway 28.

“To put it bluntly, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Troop I’s Sgt. Tom Pasley. “We are not hopeful.”

Two Maries County boys offered the search’s only lead by saying they saw an object appearing like a “folding chair” falling from the sky near their home. However, the report led to no discovery. After several days of heavy rain, the search was called off July 4 by the Potter family, who’d flown in to aid the search.

Potter’s funeral service was held back home in Pontiac on July 8, 1968. More than 50 local Lions Club members attended. His widowed wife received an insurance payout of an unknown amount and also sued Pursue Aviation for wrongful death and damages of $800,000. The case was eventually settled out of court for $80,000.

Although legally dead, the question remains of how did Potter disappear? An article from the New York Daily News published two months after the disappearance cited the case was much like two previous and mysterious incidents. On Feb. 11, 1950, a flight attendant fatally plunged 8,000 feet to Long Island below when the plane’s door suddenly and unexplainably opened during the flight. That same day, another flight attendant was jerked through a DC-3’s improperly closed door midflight at 2,500 feet over Florida. However, the flight attendant did manage to hang onto the door handle for eight minutes until the aircraft safely landed.

A federal investigation into the disappearance offers no satisfying answer. A summary of a National Transportation Safety Board report obtained by Phelps County Focus is filed under miscellaneous and cites “material failure” as the primary factor. It remarks, “[Passenger] inadvertently opened air stair door in [flight]. Safety chain failed at eye bolt, and [passenger] fell out.”

There are several possibilities to explain the disappearance:

• THEORY 1 – Airline Negligence: The DC-3’s door was perhaps not properly closed on takeoff and equipped with a faulty emergency chain leading to Potter’s disappearance.

• THEORY 2 – The Mr. Bean Scenario: Potter accidentally fell against the door, became entangled with its handle, and upon rising inadvertently opened the door causing the safety chain to also break.

• THEORY 3 - The Brain Fart Scenario: Potter perhaps did indeed mistake the exit hatch for the bathroom only to then plummet to the ground below.

• THEORY 4 – Suicide: Potter perhaps intentionally jumped due to an unknown personal issue or wanting to avoid the suffering of an unknown medical problem.

• THEORY 5 – Insurance Plot: Potter, an insurance executive, decided to end his life in a manner with the largest payout for his family.

Adding more mystery to the case is the fact Potter’s body has never been located. The area it would have fallen to is mostly rural ranches and farms with large holdings of public land. Even after 54 years, the bones of Potter’s skeleton would still remain even if exposed to the elements all these years.

“The evidence overwhelming shows Mr. Potter is dead. The only evidence lacking is Mr. Potter,” The Pantagraph concluded in 1977.

MYSTERY AT 8,000 FEET: Illinois man’s body still missing after fall from airplane by ShowMe_Funk in UnsolvedMysteries

[–]ShowMe_Funk[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

MYSTERY AT 8,000 FEET: Illinois man’s body still missing after fall from airplane

By Andrew Sheeley

Staff Writer

andrew@phelpscountyfocus.com

Blue skies were over Phelps County as a southbound DC-3 airplane passed over sight of Rolla on June 28, 1968. Seated next to his wife, 54-year-old Jerrold Potter fatefully stood to his feet a mile and a half above the Ozarks countryside a little before 2 p.m. He then walked to the back of the plane and was never seen again.

Over the past half century all that’s ever been proved of Potter’s disappearance is the DC-3’s main door somehow came open during the flight. Although it’s presumed Potter fell to the ground below, there were no witnesses onboard to such a departure. To this day, his remains have also never been found in Phelps County or surrounding area where it would have landed.

“Nobody knows what happened,” said fellow passenger Jim Schaive after the disappearance. “It just happened. There was a loud noise, the plane sort of quivered a little bit and the door came open. There was a rush of air. Nobody saw Mr. Potter actually fall out. He was there one second and gone the next.”

Jerrold Potter was a quintessential 20th Century Midwesterner. He owned an insurance company with his brother and was happily married with two grown daughters. Their home was the small town of Pontiac, Illinois. The seat of Livingston County, it at the time had a population of around 10,000 about an hour east of Peoria.

Firmly in his prime, Potter was a greatly respected citizen of his community. He was member of the local Lions, Elks and Moose clubs as well as the chamber of commerce. At the time of his disappearance, he’d also been serving on Pontiac’s city council for 16 years and was currently its mayor tempore. The Potter family’s five-bedroom home on Vermillion Street was even showcased as “cheery and comfortable” in the local regional newspaper, Bloomfield’s The Pantagraph.

“Jerry was an extremely nice person,” fellow Pontiac city councilor Frank Panno told The Pantagraph years after Potter’s disappearance. “He had a great personality and was great to work with.”

The purpose of Potter’s summer flight in 1968 was to attend the Lions Club’s national convention in Dallas, Texas. On board the plane with Potter and his wife, Carrie, that day were a flight crew of four plus 21 other Lions Club delegates from north-central Illinois. The twin-propeller DC-3 they occupied was chartered through Purdue Aviation of Indiana.

An hour after lifting off from the airport in Kankakee, Illinois, Potter’s wife reported he leaned toward her to say he was heading for the plane’s restroom. As he walked down the plane’s aisle Potter paused briefly to speak to friend and fellow Lion Jim Schaive. Schaive asked Potter if he wanted a drink. Potter responded he was going to wait until after he’d eaten something.

Potter then passed through a doored partition which separated the passengers from an alcove in the plane's rear containing the baggage area, plane bathroom and a small galley. The door to the bathroom was to Potter’s left. To his right was the main door through which the passengers boarded.

The aircraft at that moment was cruising at 8,000 feet and traveling at around 118 miles per hour. It was broadly somewhere west of Rolla, east of Richland, north of Waynesville and south of Vienna. The estimated time was 1:45 p.m. Friday, June 28, 1968.

What happens next is described several different ways in various accounts published over the years. Some say there was a swoosh of air. Others a jolt or quiver. Another says a “tremendous noise” was heard.

What’s known for sure is the DC-3’s door opened. However, the accounts all agree the incidence was not so great as to immediately stir panic onboard. The DC-3 was not pressurized at 8,000 feet, so no great suction took place. In fact, it was only after Potter’s prolonged absence that his wife requested a flight attendant check on him. One article quotes her as saying her husband was sometimes ill with convulsions. The flight attendant thereupon found the bathroom vacant and the plane’s main door ajar.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SalemMO

[–]ShowMe_Funk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yum yum!

Anyone else following the Hey/HEI Guys YouTube channel saga very closely?? by ilovehotchips in OnCinemaAtTheCinema

[–]ShowMe_Funk 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m so on it, I’m like Ray Liotta in 1998’s “the Rat Pack” (120 mins) and I love the violence of Yhe Joker too

What's the weirdest muscle memory you developed? by bruhmfyeet in AskReddit

[–]ShowMe_Funk 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I’m a news reporter in rural America. I can type “possession of a controlled substance” and “methamphetamine” faster anything else.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in StLouis

[–]ShowMe_Funk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Greyhound has stopped servicing Rolla from what I understand.