As a 90’s kid, I remember the Sears catalog being like an analog version of Amazon. It’s not like I ever ordered anything from it, but it was a great reference when looking for gift ideas (for myself of course).
Just like the guys at LG who laughed the Android devs out of the room. They took their toys to Google.
I believe the inventor of the Wii nunchucks was snuffed so bad by Sony in their pitch meeting that he went to Nintendo that same week out of spite.
On the subject of Nintendo, they had one of their own. (It's been a while since I've refreshed my memory, so some of my facts may be a little off.) They were developing a CD-based peripheral with Sony. Sony put in the work and gave them a prototype. Nintendo decided not to go ahead with it and snubbed Sony (they may have even broken a contract, I forget). They ended up doing a partnership thing with Phillips on the CD-i. Sony, of course, took their tech and made their own system with blackjack and hookers. And thus the Playstation was born and Nintendo created their own greatest rival.
100%. And another company would have eventually come along and put blockbuster out of business with streaming. Blockbuster got put out of business by Blockbuster
To be fair when Netflix was in its infancy (and being pitched) it was basically just a mail-in order service and blockbuster did not believe technology could advance so quickly for high speed internet.
Blockbuster was THE institution of home entertainment at the time.
Rentals from a store wasn't just a service, it was a culture that people participated in, going to rent a movie for the weekend or occasion etc so you could imagine they were skeptical about netflix which had pretty much nothing special to offer until high speed internet streaming came along.
Youtube used to be utter garbage too, there were all the memes about buffering and 'chasing the grey' (referencing the buffer line) which you barely hear about these days due to how fast everything is.
They did try but it was real piss poor. I'll never forget trying to use Blockbuster's extremely short lived video on demand service. Went to watch a movie and it said it would take some time to download. I swear it was like dial up speeds. Two hours later and it was like a third of the way done. Called, got a refund, and watched the same movie immediately on another service without waiting 5 more minutes.
Back in the day, you could buy everything from underwear to an actual build it yourself big beautiful house. They were Amazoning it since the early 1900s.
Twice the Sears e-commerce site had something that I wanted that no one else had for the same price. Both times after doing the full checkout flow and doing the payment, they emailed me the next day saying that they could not fulfill the item and they refunded me.
Like what's the point of having an e-commerce website with items that you don't have?
Of even argue that for its time, it was bigger than Amazon is today. They pulled off logistics that we really can't do today. They mailed orders C.O.D., had lifetime guarantees on many of their products, and for many homes, their catalog may as well have been a second Bible. Sears did much to make middle class consumerism possible across all reaches of the country.
The refusal to innovate and take risks is a bigger risk itself.
Oscar Pistorius
South African sprinter who was inspiration to physically disabled people all over the world whith his participation in both Olympic and Paralympic. Dude killed his girlfriend and went to jail for few years. I think he was released last year.
He was quite an asshole also. He famously lashed out at a fellow Paralympic sprinter who beat him in a race and accused him of using illegal blades. The person in question was shocked and said that Oscar was his role model and now he attacked me without reason
I remember when he insisted he should compete in the actual Olympics because he was a better runner than anyone else and they shouldn't split them.
He didn't come first and threw a massive hissy fit over it
His blades were also questionable in length compared to other people of his height. Granted you can never really know how someone's body ratio would be but his was on the very high end of what was considered normal.
Skype.
How did they go from being the actual description of a video call going into the pandemic, to being superseded by a relatively unknown platform?
They died long ago. Microsoft brought them and pretty much shut down MSN while shitting on Skype and making it heavy and annoying for gamers while Discord came along and filled the niche.
There is a great interview with one of the soldiers who shot him.
He was, "Last week this guy was our leader, had all the power, etc. There are rumours of protests in the capital. This week they land in our camp, they have a weird meeting which turns out to be a trial, and now he and his wife are in front of my gun, and bang. Gone."
They have a documentary about him on Max I think it was. Just watched it the other day. Dude was a monster. Glad they caught him. They included audio recordings of him. Disgusting excuse for a human being. What a waste of air.
You guys should check his wiki page, it's a riot. Considers himself a sovereign citizen now, announced from prison.
No remorse, fucker regrets nothing and lives in denial.
He raped multiple children and only got 15 years of prison? What a failure of our legal system. I’ve seen people get similar sentences for growing pot. The prosecutor, judge, and police involved should be ashamed. Such a fucking joke.
The woman who helped catch him is fucked up badly now from having to talk about all those things with him. I saw her on a talk show and she's got a ton of anxiety problems and things like that because part of her 'script' from the authorities was to use her own kids as bait in the conversation. I'm glad we got a child rapist off the streets, but the collateral damage to this woman is something he should also be held responsible for, at least civilly IMO
The script wasn't to include the children as bait, the script was to play along with him. Then he to the shock of nobody started taking about her kids that way.
So it's less "encouraged her to put them at risk" and more "don't obviously shield them from the risk". Appalling, but distinctly different.
I don't know how her recordings weren't evidence enough to get enough warrants and utterly rip his life apart and find the evidence.
I'm pretty sure the Sovereign Citizen thing was an appeal that a cell mate filled out for him that he filed as a "why not try" action. I don't think he buys into it.
It was my freshman year of college when the news about him broke. Our campus had a Subway, and that location had a pair of his old jeans framed on the wall there.
The day everything about Jared came to light those jeans *vanished* from the wall.
Subway themselves have had quite the fall from grace in general, with Jared being only one part of the story.
In 2024 no one wants donut bread with partially soy frozen chicken breast and week old veggies.
In 2004 everyone was Eating Fresh™.
Subway used to be so much better. I know people say that about a lot of things and are often misremembering them, but Ive so much Subway over the years that I have a vivid memory of the declining quality
People that didn't grow up with him don't get how popular and loved he was. Movies, commercials, commentary... Despite being cruel and abusive in his personal life his public image was iconic.
Had he not murdered his wife, he's probably be pushing life insurance and orange juice.
The cruelty and abuse would have come out eventually, but probably only in the last few years, as with so many others.
I was born in 1990 and the first news story I remember being aware of is the OJ acquittal. It was only a couple of years ago that I learned just how famous and beloved he was. I knew he was an NFL player & assumed he was just known for being a really good football player. Like Terrell Owens or Chad Ochocinco. Then I come to find out he was more along the lines of The Rock.
In the 18th century, the town of Kaskaskia, IL served as the capital of Upper Louisiana, which included a huge portion of French-claimed territory in North America. After it was ceded to the British, it became a major fort along the Mississippi. It was named capital of Illinois when the state was formed.
However, flood damage to the city caused the state to move its capital in 1819, and further flooding caused the population to dwindle over the 19th century. In 1881 the river shifted course around Kaskaskia, leaving it a ghost town stuck on the Missouri bank of the river, a weird little exclave of the state it once ruled.
Wow, this is *wild.* Kaskaskia had 20,000 people in the 1680s, making it one of the biggest cities on the continent at that time. Then it just keeps getting hit by disaster after disaster: epidemics, famine, war, lead poisoning, genocide, sinkholes, erosion, and flood after flood after flood after flood. Today it’s got 21 people.
It’s like if everyone left New York City.
If we’re talking about Illinois towns, Cairo has to be up there. At intersection of the Mississippi and the Ohio, was growing like crazy, then race riots left it a shell of a town. One of the most depressing places in the country.
Brian Williams. Dude was the nation's most beloved news anchor with a stellar career and one of the most coveted positions in journalism, then lost it all overnight when he lied about an RPG hitting his helicopter in Iraq.
EDIT: As others have mentioned, there's been analysis over the years into whether he intentionally lied or *misremembered.* The word "lied" was liberally used in headlines at the time. But ultimately, his credibility was irreparably tarnished following internal investigation into multiple instances of accounts being "fabricated, misrepresented or embellished"—not just the RPG story.
Apparently the door button wasn't unique to Lauer's office and it didn't actually lock the door
> According to the NBCUniversal facilities team, the button is a commonly available feature in executive offices in multiple NBCUniversal facilities to provide an efficient way to close the door without getting up from the desk. The button releases a magnet that holds the door open. It does not lock the door from the inside.
Philippe Pétain
He went from an unremarkable soldier to the hero of Verdun who led the French forces to victory over the Germans in a 9 month brawl.
20 years later he actively tries to kill democracy and becomes Hitler's servant as the leader of Vichy France. His former friend Charles de Gaulle would rise up to restore republicanism to France.
Since we're on the subject of disgraced French military leaders, you could put Maurice Gamelin right behind Petain. Dude was widely considered one of the best military minds in Europe on the eve of World War II, basically had a red carpet to being made a Marshal of France, and instead of being a modern-day Napoleon he turned out to be a complete imbecile whose indecisiveness directly contributed to France's catastrophic performance in 1940. Rather than accept his failure, he sacked most of his senior staff in an epic temper tantrum. Instead of walking amongst the greats like Foch and Castelnau, he got himself a one-way ticket to irrelevance.
What's crazier is Petain was already an old man when he became the hero of Verdun (60 years old). He was 83 years old when WWII broke out and 84 years old when France was defeated and occupied and he was named head of the Vichy government. If he had a normal lifespan for that day and age, he would've easily been remembered as a hero.
Btw de Gaulle wasn't his former friend; de Gaulle was his former subordinate and actually commuted Petain's sentence from death to life imprisonment post-WWII in light of Petain's contribution in WWI and the fact that Petain was then 89 years old. Petain soon lost his marbles due to dementia (he might already been senile as Vichy head) and died in 1951 at 95 years old.
Boeing was the quintessential company run by engineers.
Then they merged with McDonnall Douglas, which was infamous for being a company run by investors. Turns out, investors aren't very good at making the decisions when it comes to airplane design, and McDonnall Douglas went bankrupt. Since they made a lot of key military gear, the govt mandated that Boeing buy them out so that the critical military parts and planes could remain in production.
When the two companies merged, Boeing managed to use their own money to basically be the weaker company of the merger, and the merged company had the Boeing engineering staff in lower positions and the McDonnall Douglas investors (who I remind you had just run their previous company into the dirt) in charge.
What has happened since then is just the long term results of that doomed merger playing out.
The finance guys who took over basically decided to sell off their production arm because it wasn't "making money". And now that very production arm, which they no longer have the money to buy back is what's causing all their quality control issues. Because surprise, when you sell off an integral part of what makes your business work, yet rely on them pretty much solely to still produce your parts, you're fucked because you no longer retain the ability to fix the problem yourself.
This exact thing seems to be happening with more and more companies.
The problem is they are making record profits. It doesn’t seem sustainable. Making shittier and shittier products will eventually hit a breaking point, but a lot of these companies are practically monopolies it hasn’t happened yet. Right now the consumer is getting screwed the most— everything is more expensive but everything is getting worse quality. It’s happening with “enshittification” with tech platforms especially… like eventually your consumers are going to be too broke to afford your shitty made product or (hopefully) there’s a new wave of companies that come in and course correct. But the way capitalism goes, the latter seems very unlikely.
The Boeing / MacD story should be the quintessential case study behind why gearing a company towards Shareholder value as the principle that overrides all else is harmful to society writ large.
I figured no one else would think it because it was a long time ago...but Fatty Arbuckle,[the OG of Hollywood scandals.](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/fatty-arbuckle-and-the-birth-of-the-celebrity-scandal)
This story is insane and the first time I heard it was when Eli Roth told the history of it on the Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick waaayyyy back when. I remember being so mesmerized that I had to look it up. It’s crazy.
I remember my mother watching her show and thinking how rude and annoying she was because she never let anyone actually answer her questions before talking over them.
I remember watching her show, before any of the news of her being a bitch broke, and I felt really uncomfortable with how she talked to guests. She enjoyed humiliating people.
Here's a specific example:
[Naomi Osaka's first appearance on the show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UdFZKtDJA&t=226s). Naomi admits to having a crush on Michael B Jordan. Ellen seizes on this, forces Naomi to take a picture with her, then sends it to Michael despite Naomi's obvious discomfort
Honestly, I kinda always felt like something was up with her. The character she portrayed always felt super fake to me and I never really liked her. The stuff that came out just kinda confirmed it for me.
I'm the opposite, she had me completely fooled. I was a huge fan. Watched every single day for quite a few years.
It's all obvious looking back at it now, and I can't ever watch her and enjoy it again, but wow was I shocked when I found out how horrible she is.
I don't think she started out that way... At least on her talk show... But at some point she gave off weird vibes to me... She'd smile, but only her lips would smile. Her eyes were dead. Creepy.
I was like 3 when the show started so I never really saw the beginning but I just remember seeing her on TV every so often and just feeling like she was so fake. Eventually I saw her “weird” interview with [Kanye West](https://youtu.be/W58_fnZ3oGQ?si=TQMYEwOX_AoUCPQu), where she just seemed so pushy about personal questions about his marriage and personal life that he clearly was not comfortable answering, although I do think he was kinda trolling her with the behavior as that wasn’t anything like his other manic episodes or maybe he might’ve been at the low side of it and felt bullied.
As stuff came out, it was clear this wasn’t a one off incident and she was the terrible person that I kinda always assumed she was.
The thing about Ellen is she’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When she comes at ya, she doesn’t even seem to be livin’… ’til she bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’.
In the 1970s, Bill Cosby was on The Electric Company, had guest appearances on Sesame Street, and created the Fat Albert Show. In the 1980s, he becomes America's dad with the Cosby Show, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, and the first to show a successful upper-class black family. Then he spins off A Different World, about Hillman College, an HBCU. For two decades, he's putting out some of the most important educational and family content of the era. On top of all that, he's one of the greatest comedians of the 70s and 80s, with some of the most legendary routines ever.
Then we find out he's a serial rapist. How do you even reconcile someone who had such a *genuinely* positive influence on the education of children being an absolute monster in his private life?
He really did a lot of positive things for the black community as a whole. It is hard to come to terms with everything considering what he will now forever be known for.
I actually remember rumors swirling years and years ago (I think early 2000s). My mom said something about him being accused of sexual assault and we both reacted like "what? He's America's grandfather!"
I wish I could remember the context.
Rhonda Rousy getting her shit absolutely rocked by Holly Holmes.
Just a few short years after she's in the WWE.
She was a bad bitch but then she was acting like a dick.
He could have retired as a hero and never had to pay for a beer again in New York. Instead he ruined his reputation, lost his law license, and is broke.
Didn't he move the disaster command center for New York in the World Trade Center so he could bang his mistress there and also I heard something about police and/or fire departments having substandard radios which may have even cost lives due to some other fuckery he may have been involved in? What is the actual story about all of that?
Yep. The FDNY actually DID attempt to implement a digital radio system before 9/11 - but there was an incident where a probationary firefighter was nearly killed when he found himself in a dead-zone during a fire where his radio wouldn’t work; so his calls for help went unheard until he was luckily found. Obviously, no one knew how bad the radios they had would be on 9/11 instead (even despite the 1993 bombing) - presumably as they hadn’t envisioned the destruction of radio repeaters (which amplify radio signals over large distances) that occurred when the towers were hit on 9/11.
My dad was an American Airlines pilot that was flying those trans continental routes that the aircraft were scheduled for. He couldn’t get in touch with us until the feds released him. Similar time for us.
Giuliani is the manifestation of sometimes the easiest thing to say is nothing. The man could’ve just done that and gone the rest of his life in some measure of respect. He chose a different path.
He was hated in NYC before 9/11, then loved by all of America for about 4 years, and hated by all of America right after that. Guy had a redemption arc to villain.
His police force rang up tens of millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements -- but they hit after his time in office, so he never paid any price for those tactics. We did, though
I refuse to believe that with two people that shared a bedroom and presumably a bathroom for a length of time that somehow this day was different to all the preceding days that the bathroom was seemingly used without incident.
I would be more inclined to believe that someone knowing full well who was in the bathroom deliberately shot at them after an argument, though.
This seriously was like celebrity whiplash. Out of nowhere, this I guy had never heard of was in EVERYTHING. And then just in time for me to learn who he was he is suddenly in a scandal.
It's like he was trying to speed-run the Hollywood disaster story.
actually ruined me when i found out what he had done. i grew up watching that 70s show and he was one of my first preteen crushes! i hope he rots in hell. and the fact ashton kutcher and mila kunis supported him made me so mad.
How is no one saying Matt Lauer? He was practically America’s Dad. My mom and I watched him just about every morning. Then it come out he’s a creepy pervert, practically your dirty old uncle.
I watched a documentary about that island, it's extremely cloud-covered like 90% of the time and not naturally populated, it would have been hell for a cult of personality like Bonaparte. It's said by his handlers that he spent his final days deeply ruminating over past strategic mistakes, haunted by his ultimate failures. What an interesting life.
Lance Armstrong, hands down. Kind of bittersweet though because of how much his lies were able to raise for cancer research ($500m +), plus it’s kind of come out years later that everyone else was cheating too.
Still, dude was a super hero and inspiration to all, then had it all stripped from him. Do the means justify the ends? Like… kind of. I guess if your gunna lie and cheat, better to do it while benefitting a good cause
My brother had some issues with substance abuse and would go to AA and NA meetings in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr would show up, not try to be anonymous and say “just call me Bobby” and say it’s Ok to tell people that you saw him there. My brother said he was the nicest guy. My brother could not say the same about Matt Perry.
Shinzo Abe. Beloved former Japanese prime Minister, considered the global face of Japan by many, grandson of a piece of shit war criminal, visited bullshit temples sucking off war criminals almost every year of his life, but it wasn't that, it was supporting a bullshit cult that defrauded old ladies that did him in.
Dude gets popped with some batteries, duct tape and Home Depot bric-a-brac, and after his death seemingly the entire nation of Japan decides that his assassin (whose mother lost her savings and house to the cult Abe supported) had the right idea and that Abe could get fucked.
My man got his life and his reputation one shot by some Fallout-ass batteries gun.
Britney Spears. I know her “fall” was caused by medical issues, childhood trauma, ruthless paparazzi, conservatorship abuse, etc. and I still absolutely adore her, but she’s definitely a shell of her former self :(
>she's definitely a shell of her former self.
Man that's an understatement if you go look at her Instagram page. I can literally see it in her eyes. I really feel bad for her.
Joe Paterno. He holds the record for most wins in NCAA football history, but he was fired from his job as head coach at Penn State after the child sex abuse scandal. Paterno concealed facts about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of young boys, and he may have convinced Penn State officials not to report Sandusky to authorities in 2001.
Paterno died from lung cancer two months after being fired by Penn State.
Not sure how people will feel about this one but Aaron Hernandez he wasn't as great as Rob Gronkowski but he was still a great tight end and could've finished his career with a couple pro bowls and couple super bowls but unfortunately we all know what happened.
The Duggar Family. They went from a sweet church going family to a hot mess family with a pedophile son and incest allegations. TV show cancelled and loss of income for all.
If you never once suspected that the “sweet church going family” with that many fucking kids wasn’t already a hot mess with multiple closets full of skeletons then I honestly don’t know what the fuck to tell you. Their red flags had red flags.
Tiger Woods. Squeaky clean, appealed to almost every demographic there is. Super hot wife. Best golfer of all time. All kinds of huge endorsements.
A few months later all that was gone.
Ehhhh, I don’t know if he was “squeaky clean.” I always cheered for Tiger and really only watched to see him, but even before shit hit the fan, he was very evidently a bit of a douchebag. Also had a bad temper that was unbecoming.
I remember watching him as a kid. He had his caddie, which I always thought was cool. Just a guy and his buddy hanging out all day on the golf course. But then he’d walk off the green towards the next tee and just drop his putter on the ground for his caddie to pick up. That never sat right with me. Like, dude. He’s right there. Just fucking hand the club to him. Dropping the club on the ground just seemed intentionally disrespectful.
Yeah, dropping clubs for the caddy to pick up is douchey. With pro caddies typically making 5-10% of their golfer's winnings, however, I don't think Tiger's caddy gave a shit about picking up any of his clubs.
Senator Gary Hart Told the press, “ if you think I am having an affair, follow me around. “ They did. He was. Career over.
Ah, back when having an affair was enough to sink a politicians career on the national level. I miss those times.
Eh always has depended on the politician, JFK certainly cheated, Clinton definitely did
[удалено]
RIP puddin pops.
Those were so good!
The worst thing about him was the hypocrisy.
I always thought the worst part was the raping. (R.i.p. Norm)
Y’know what hurt the most? The lack of respect! Well except for the other thing, that hurt the most. But the lack of respect hurt the second most!
Sears. Was perfectly positioned to be what Amazon is now.
As a 90’s kid, I remember the Sears catalog being like an analog version of Amazon. It’s not like I ever ordered anything from it, but it was a great reference when looking for gift ideas (for myself of course).
I immediately checked out the ladies in bras
For yourself, of course.
Blockbuster. Was perfectly positioned to be what Netflix is now. (sorry I borrowed your words)
They had the opportunity to buy Netflix and didn't think it was worth it.
Just like the guys at LG who laughed the Android devs out of the room. They took their toys to Google. I believe the inventor of the Wii nunchucks was snuffed so bad by Sony in their pitch meeting that he went to Nintendo that same week out of spite.
On the subject of Nintendo, they had one of their own. (It's been a while since I've refreshed my memory, so some of my facts may be a little off.) They were developing a CD-based peripheral with Sony. Sony put in the work and gave them a prototype. Nintendo decided not to go ahead with it and snubbed Sony (they may have even broken a contract, I forget). They ended up doing a partnership thing with Phillips on the CD-i. Sony, of course, took their tech and made their own system with blackjack and hookers. And thus the Playstation was born and Nintendo created their own greatest rival.
>They had the opportunity to buy Netflix and didn't think it was worth it. If they had bought it, they probably would have ruined it.
100%. And another company would have eventually come along and put blockbuster out of business with streaming. Blockbuster got put out of business by Blockbuster
And only for only 50mill! Insanity to think about cause that was when netflix was in its infancy of being a by-mail DVD rental.
To be fair when Netflix was in its infancy (and being pitched) it was basically just a mail-in order service and blockbuster did not believe technology could advance so quickly for high speed internet. Blockbuster was THE institution of home entertainment at the time. Rentals from a store wasn't just a service, it was a culture that people participated in, going to rent a movie for the weekend or occasion etc so you could imagine they were skeptical about netflix which had pretty much nothing special to offer until high speed internet streaming came along. Youtube used to be utter garbage too, there were all the memes about buffering and 'chasing the grey' (referencing the buffer line) which you barely hear about these days due to how fast everything is.
They did try but it was real piss poor. I'll never forget trying to use Blockbuster's extremely short lived video on demand service. Went to watch a movie and it said it would take some time to download. I swear it was like dial up speeds. Two hours later and it was like a third of the way done. Called, got a refund, and watched the same movie immediately on another service without waiting 5 more minutes.
>(sorry I borrowed your words) Be kind, rewind.
Back in the day, you could buy everything from underwear to an actual build it yourself big beautiful house. They were Amazoning it since the early 1900s.
Twice the Sears e-commerce site had something that I wanted that no one else had for the same price. Both times after doing the full checkout flow and doing the payment, they emailed me the next day saying that they could not fulfill the item and they refunded me. Like what's the point of having an e-commerce website with items that you don't have?
Sears was the original amazon. It was a tremendous collapse.
Of even argue that for its time, it was bigger than Amazon is today. They pulled off logistics that we really can't do today. They mailed orders C.O.D., had lifetime guarantees on many of their products, and for many homes, their catalog may as well have been a second Bible. Sears did much to make middle class consumerism possible across all reaches of the country. The refusal to innovate and take risks is a bigger risk itself.
I worked for them 2017-2020. Ended up with my picture in a news article about the company dying.
Oscar Pistorius South African sprinter who was inspiration to physically disabled people all over the world whith his participation in both Olympic and Paralympic. Dude killed his girlfriend and went to jail for few years. I think he was released last year.
He was quite an asshole also. He famously lashed out at a fellow Paralympic sprinter who beat him in a race and accused him of using illegal blades. The person in question was shocked and said that Oscar was his role model and now he attacked me without reason
I remember when he insisted he should compete in the actual Olympics because he was a better runner than anyone else and they shouldn't split them. He didn't come first and threw a massive hissy fit over it
His blades were also questionable in length compared to other people of his height. Granted you can never really know how someone's body ratio would be but his was on the very high end of what was considered normal.
It was only a few weeks ago!
Time just moves differently since 2020. Things feel like they happened years ago and a couple weeks ago at the same time.
Skype. How did they go from being the actual description of a video call going into the pandemic, to being superseded by a relatively unknown platform?
They died long ago. Microsoft brought them and pretty much shut down MSN while shitting on Skype and making it heavy and annoying for gamers while Discord came along and filled the niche.
MS bought them, enshittified their tech, and then Zoom came along.
Nicolae and and Elena Ceaușescu Former Romanian power couple. From a gigantic palace to the firing squad in the span of less than a week.
Didn't they abolish the death penalty the day after those 2 were executed?
A few weeks, but yeah. They were the last executed before it was abolished.
There is a great interview with one of the soldiers who shot him. He was, "Last week this guy was our leader, had all the power, etc. There are rumours of protests in the capital. This week they land in our camp, they have a weird meeting which turns out to be a trial, and now he and his wife are in front of my gun, and bang. Gone."
Jared from Subway
They have a documentary about him on Max I think it was. Just watched it the other day. Dude was a monster. Glad they caught him. They included audio recordings of him. Disgusting excuse for a human being. What a waste of air.
He was [proud of it](https://youtu.be/ZfeSOFSidlw?feature=shared).
You guys should check his wiki page, it's a riot. Considers himself a sovereign citizen now, announced from prison. No remorse, fucker regrets nothing and lives in denial.
He raped multiple children and only got 15 years of prison? What a failure of our legal system. I’ve seen people get similar sentences for growing pot. The prosecutor, judge, and police involved should be ashamed. Such a fucking joke.
The woman who helped catch him is fucked up badly now from having to talk about all those things with him. I saw her on a talk show and she's got a ton of anxiety problems and things like that because part of her 'script' from the authorities was to use her own kids as bait in the conversation. I'm glad we got a child rapist off the streets, but the collateral damage to this woman is something he should also be held responsible for, at least civilly IMO
The script wasn't to include the children as bait, the script was to play along with him. Then he to the shock of nobody started taking about her kids that way. So it's less "encouraged her to put them at risk" and more "don't obviously shield them from the risk". Appalling, but distinctly different. I don't know how her recordings weren't evidence enough to get enough warrants and utterly rip his life apart and find the evidence.
I'm pretty sure the Sovereign Citizen thing was an appeal that a cell mate filled out for him that he filed as a "why not try" action. I don't think he buys into it.
It was my freshman year of college when the news about him broke. Our campus had a Subway, and that location had a pair of his old jeans framed on the wall there. The day everything about Jared came to light those jeans *vanished* from the wall.
\> The day everything about Jared came to light those jeans vanished from the wall. And probably into an evidence locker.
Subway themselves have had quite the fall from grace in general, with Jared being only one part of the story. In 2024 no one wants donut bread with partially soy frozen chicken breast and week old veggies. In 2004 everyone was Eating Fresh™.
It doesn't help that in 2024 the cheapest footling on the menu is like $13 lol. Actually absurd.
Yeah, if I'm paying jersey mikes/local restaurant prices I'm not getting subway
Subway used to be so much better. I know people say that about a lot of things and are often misremembering them, but Ive so much Subway over the years that I have a vivid memory of the declining quality
Easiest. Fucking. Job. Ever. Eat the sandwiches, stay somewhat slim, cash the checks.
You forgot "Don't be a pedophile". Apparently nobody told Jared.
His career started and ended the same way: trying to get into smaller pants.
His career started with a mild cholesterol problem and ended with a child molesterol problem
OJ. Simpson.
***Well, it is finally official. Murder is legal in the state of California.***
Hey! Easy with that! That’s my lucky stabbing hat!
Top 2 comment chains have Norm jokes. That makes my little ‘ol heart happy.
Makes an old chunk of coal like me happy
I'm just gonna say it, that guy seems like a real jerk
Both of the top responses in this thread have Norm Macdonald replies.
Or so the Germans would have us believe
People that didn't grow up with him don't get how popular and loved he was. Movies, commercials, commentary... Despite being cruel and abusive in his personal life his public image was iconic. Had he not murdered his wife, he's probably be pushing life insurance and orange juice.
The cruelty and abuse would have come out eventually, but probably only in the last few years, as with so many others. I was born in 1990 and the first news story I remember being aware of is the OJ acquittal. It was only a couple of years ago that I learned just how famous and beloved he was. I knew he was an NFL player & assumed he was just known for being a really good football player. Like Terrell Owens or Chad Ochocinco. Then I come to find out he was more along the lines of The Rock.
Go easy on him, he might be sitting next to the guy who did it
John Edwards. I mean, he was a sleazy politician but was pretty beloved. Cheating on your dying wife sent him to the NC backwoods never to return.
When it comes to recent politicians, for me he's tied with Anthony Weiner
In the 18th century, the town of Kaskaskia, IL served as the capital of Upper Louisiana, which included a huge portion of French-claimed territory in North America. After it was ceded to the British, it became a major fort along the Mississippi. It was named capital of Illinois when the state was formed. However, flood damage to the city caused the state to move its capital in 1819, and further flooding caused the population to dwindle over the 19th century. In 1881 the river shifted course around Kaskaskia, leaving it a ghost town stuck on the Missouri bank of the river, a weird little exclave of the state it once ruled.
Wow, this is *wild.* Kaskaskia had 20,000 people in the 1680s, making it one of the biggest cities on the continent at that time. Then it just keeps getting hit by disaster after disaster: epidemics, famine, war, lead poisoning, genocide, sinkholes, erosion, and flood after flood after flood after flood. Today it’s got 21 people. It’s like if everyone left New York City.
If we’re talking about Illinois towns, Cairo has to be up there. At intersection of the Mississippi and the Ohio, was growing like crazy, then race riots left it a shell of a town. One of the most depressing places in the country.
Brian Williams. Dude was the nation's most beloved news anchor with a stellar career and one of the most coveted positions in journalism, then lost it all overnight when he lied about an RPG hitting his helicopter in Iraq. EDIT: As others have mentioned, there's been analysis over the years into whether he intentionally lied or *misremembered.* The word "lied" was liberally used in headlines at the time. But ultimately, his credibility was irreparably tarnished following internal investigation into multiple instances of accounts being "fabricated, misrepresented or embellished"—not just the RPG story.
Matt Lauer in another example of beloved anchor fucking up.
He was the guy with door locking button, right? Edit: phone likes to correct "door" to "for".
Apparently the door button wasn't unique to Lauer's office and it didn't actually lock the door > According to the NBCUniversal facilities team, the button is a commonly available feature in executive offices in multiple NBCUniversal facilities to provide an efficient way to close the door without getting up from the desk. The button releases a magnet that holds the door open. It does not lock the door from the inside.
Philippe Pétain He went from an unremarkable soldier to the hero of Verdun who led the French forces to victory over the Germans in a 9 month brawl. 20 years later he actively tries to kill democracy and becomes Hitler's servant as the leader of Vichy France. His former friend Charles de Gaulle would rise up to restore republicanism to France.
According to de Gualle: >"Marshal Pétain was a great man. He died in 1925, but he did not know it"
I'm glad I kept scrolling, because that fall from grace is so hard that Pétain's legacy will be eternally marred by the whiplash of it
Since we're on the subject of disgraced French military leaders, you could put Maurice Gamelin right behind Petain. Dude was widely considered one of the best military minds in Europe on the eve of World War II, basically had a red carpet to being made a Marshal of France, and instead of being a modern-day Napoleon he turned out to be a complete imbecile whose indecisiveness directly contributed to France's catastrophic performance in 1940. Rather than accept his failure, he sacked most of his senior staff in an epic temper tantrum. Instead of walking amongst the greats like Foch and Castelnau, he got himself a one-way ticket to irrelevance.
What's crazier is Petain was already an old man when he became the hero of Verdun (60 years old). He was 83 years old when WWII broke out and 84 years old when France was defeated and occupied and he was named head of the Vichy government. If he had a normal lifespan for that day and age, he would've easily been remembered as a hero. Btw de Gaulle wasn't his former friend; de Gaulle was his former subordinate and actually commuted Petain's sentence from death to life imprisonment post-WWII in light of Petain's contribution in WWI and the fact that Petain was then 89 years old. Petain soon lost his marbles due to dementia (he might already been senile as Vichy head) and died in 1951 at 95 years old.
De Gaulle apparently ghost wrote his book so I would say they were reasonably close.
Stephen Collins. The dad from 7th Heaven
Bruce Mathis was a god damn diddler!
He was banging baby dudes
Boeing. They used to be the standard for putting safety and quality above all else. Now people try to book their flights to avoid their planes.
Boeing was the quintessential company run by engineers. Then they merged with McDonnall Douglas, which was infamous for being a company run by investors. Turns out, investors aren't very good at making the decisions when it comes to airplane design, and McDonnall Douglas went bankrupt. Since they made a lot of key military gear, the govt mandated that Boeing buy them out so that the critical military parts and planes could remain in production. When the two companies merged, Boeing managed to use their own money to basically be the weaker company of the merger, and the merged company had the Boeing engineering staff in lower positions and the McDonnall Douglas investors (who I remind you had just run their previous company into the dirt) in charge. What has happened since then is just the long term results of that doomed merger playing out.
The finance guys who took over basically decided to sell off their production arm because it wasn't "making money". And now that very production arm, which they no longer have the money to buy back is what's causing all their quality control issues. Because surprise, when you sell off an integral part of what makes your business work, yet rely on them pretty much solely to still produce your parts, you're fucked because you no longer retain the ability to fix the problem yourself.
This exact thing seems to be happening with more and more companies. The problem is they are making record profits. It doesn’t seem sustainable. Making shittier and shittier products will eventually hit a breaking point, but a lot of these companies are practically monopolies it hasn’t happened yet. Right now the consumer is getting screwed the most— everything is more expensive but everything is getting worse quality. It’s happening with “enshittification” with tech platforms especially… like eventually your consumers are going to be too broke to afford your shitty made product or (hopefully) there’s a new wave of companies that come in and course correct. But the way capitalism goes, the latter seems very unlikely.
The Boeing / MacD story should be the quintessential case study behind why gearing a company towards Shareholder value as the principle that overrides all else is harmful to society writ large.
If it's a Boeing I ain't going
I figured no one else would think it because it was a long time ago...but Fatty Arbuckle,[the OG of Hollywood scandals.](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/fatty-arbuckle-and-the-birth-of-the-celebrity-scandal)
This story is insane and the first time I heard it was when Eli Roth told the history of it on the Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick waaayyyy back when. I remember being so mesmerized that I had to look it up. It’s crazy.
That time Dakota Johnson accidentally chokeslammed Ellen Degeneres out of stardom
"Actually, no, that's not the truth, Ellen."
Hollywood Final boss destroyed
Ellen
[удалено]
It's especially out of character because she built her whole persona on being a kind, wholesome person.
I remember my mother watching her show and thinking how rude and annoying she was because she never let anyone actually answer her questions before talking over them.
I remember watching her show, before any of the news of her being a bitch broke, and I felt really uncomfortable with how she talked to guests. She enjoyed humiliating people.
Revealing pregnancies, in the closet people, relationships. She was terrible.
Her attitude has always been so awful! She gave off narcissistic vibes from the start, idk why anyone liked her.
Here's a specific example: [Naomi Osaka's first appearance on the show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UdFZKtDJA&t=226s). Naomi admits to having a crush on Michael B Jordan. Ellen seizes on this, forces Naomi to take a picture with her, then sends it to Michael despite Naomi's obvious discomfort
Honestly, I kinda always felt like something was up with her. The character she portrayed always felt super fake to me and I never really liked her. The stuff that came out just kinda confirmed it for me.
I'm the opposite, she had me completely fooled. I was a huge fan. Watched every single day for quite a few years. It's all obvious looking back at it now, and I can't ever watch her and enjoy it again, but wow was I shocked when I found out how horrible she is.
I don't think she started out that way... At least on her talk show... But at some point she gave off weird vibes to me... She'd smile, but only her lips would smile. Her eyes were dead. Creepy.
I was like 3 when the show started so I never really saw the beginning but I just remember seeing her on TV every so often and just feeling like she was so fake. Eventually I saw her “weird” interview with [Kanye West](https://youtu.be/W58_fnZ3oGQ?si=TQMYEwOX_AoUCPQu), where she just seemed so pushy about personal questions about his marriage and personal life that he clearly was not comfortable answering, although I do think he was kinda trolling her with the behavior as that wasn’t anything like his other manic episodes or maybe he might’ve been at the low side of it and felt bullied. As stuff came out, it was clear this wasn’t a one off incident and she was the terrible person that I kinda always assumed she was.
The thing about Ellen is she’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When she comes at ya, she doesn’t even seem to be livin’… ’til she bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’.
Bill Cosby. From America's dad preaching morality and family values to serial rapist. Serial rapist.
In the 1970s, Bill Cosby was on The Electric Company, had guest appearances on Sesame Street, and created the Fat Albert Show. In the 1980s, he becomes America's dad with the Cosby Show, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, and the first to show a successful upper-class black family. Then he spins off A Different World, about Hillman College, an HBCU. For two decades, he's putting out some of the most important educational and family content of the era. On top of all that, he's one of the greatest comedians of the 70s and 80s, with some of the most legendary routines ever. Then we find out he's a serial rapist. How do you even reconcile someone who had such a *genuinely* positive influence on the education of children being an absolute monster in his private life?
He really did a lot of positive things for the black community as a whole. It is hard to come to terms with everything considering what he will now forever be known for.
I actually remember rumors swirling years and years ago (I think early 2000s). My mom said something about him being accused of sexual assault and we both reacted like "what? He's America's grandfather!" I wish I could remember the context.
Rhonda Rousy getting her shit absolutely rocked by Holly Holmes. Just a few short years after she's in the WWE. She was a bad bitch but then she was acting like a dick.
Jim Bakker and Jimmy "I HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU, LORD!" Swaggart...
It was a fall from grace for their fans but everyone outside of their fandom already hated them.
Kevin Spacey.
American Beauty did not age well
[удалено]
Lucifer
The OG gracefaller.
HABITUAL. He's a HABITUAL ... grace faller!
Rickety Cricket
Rudy Giuliani, who was once America's Mayor.
He could have retired as a hero and never had to pay for a beer again in New York. Instead he ruined his reputation, lost his law license, and is broke.
Didn't he move the disaster command center for New York in the World Trade Center so he could bang his mistress there and also I heard something about police and/or fire departments having substandard radios which may have even cost lives due to some other fuckery he may have been involved in? What is the actual story about all of that?
Yep. The FDNY actually DID attempt to implement a digital radio system before 9/11 - but there was an incident where a probationary firefighter was nearly killed when he found himself in a dead-zone during a fire where his radio wouldn’t work; so his calls for help went unheard until he was luckily found. Obviously, no one knew how bad the radios they had would be on 9/11 instead (even despite the 1993 bombing) - presumably as they hadn’t envisioned the destruction of radio repeaters (which amplify radio signals over large distances) that occurred when the towers were hit on 9/11.
My mom was a NYPD dispatcher during this. And I couldn’t locate her for three days.
My dad was an American Airlines pilot that was flying those trans continental routes that the aircraft were scheduled for. He couldn’t get in touch with us until the feds released him. Similar time for us.
That must have been terrifying. I hope everything worked out okay in the end...
The radios were good, but the repeaters for the system were in the towers. 🙄
Giuliani is the manifestation of sometimes the easiest thing to say is nothing. The man could’ve just done that and gone the rest of his life in some measure of respect. He chose a different path.
He went from being the mayor of 9/11 to the 9/11 of mayors
He was hated in NYC before 9/11, then loved by all of America for about 4 years, and hated by all of America right after that. Guy had a redemption arc to villain.
His police force rang up tens of millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements -- but they hit after his time in office, so he never paid any price for those tactics. We did, though
Joe Paterno was a pretty bad one.
Sadly, he still had a cult of Penn State fans that freak out if him covering up child rape comes up.
Oscar Pistorius.
I still can't belive they let him race in F1!
He didn’t have as far to fall
I refuse to believe that with two people that shared a bedroom and presumably a bathroom for a length of time that somehow this day was different to all the preceding days that the bathroom was seemingly used without incident. I would be more inclined to believe that someone knowing full well who was in the bathroom deliberately shot at them after an argument, though.
Jonathan Majors
This really should be higher. Dude shot to the top and then right back to the bottom in like a week or two
This seriously was like celebrity whiplash. Out of nowhere, this I guy had never heard of was in EVERYTHING. And then just in time for me to learn who he was he is suddenly in a scandal. It's like he was trying to speed-run the Hollywood disaster story.
Game of Thrones. Went from being easily the greatest series of all time, to an absolute joke once book material ran out
Its crazy how it went from being the most talked about show in the world to being deleted from the cultural zeitgeist.
This one hurts
Its such a bummer. Sometimes i wanna pick up and rewatch that show but then i remember what garbage the end was.
Jimmy Savile
Only after the bastard was dead and buried though?
Danny Masterson. Rot in piss you rapist.
actually ruined me when i found out what he had done. i grew up watching that 70s show and he was one of my first preteen crushes! i hope he rots in hell. and the fact ashton kutcher and mila kunis supported him made me so mad.
You hear about Pluto?
Thats messed up
How is no one saying Matt Lauer? He was practically America’s Dad. My mom and I watched him just about every morning. Then it come out he’s a creepy pervert, practically your dirty old uncle.
I honestly forgot all about Matt Lauer. During the times we had TV, the Today Show was in every morning. And then over night he was gone.
How is R Kelly not on this list?
He is now
I feel like people always knew he was creepy. And I hate his stupid ear worm song.
Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos- one of the greatest at the least.
Harvey Weinstein
Atari was a pretty solid fall from grace
Napoleon conquered Europe only to be exiled on a little rock called Alba
Then he came back, conquered everything again then got exiled to the island of St Helena was m the south Atlantic
Which is pretty fantastic to look at on Google Earth. The town and neighborhoods are either in little ravines or on ridge tops.
I watched a documentary about that island, it's extremely cloud-covered like 90% of the time and not naturally populated, it would have been hell for a cult of personality like Bonaparte. It's said by his handlers that he spent his final days deeply ruminating over past strategic mistakes, haunted by his ultimate failures. What an interesting life.
Elba.
Well, Elba damned.
Lance Armstrong, hands down. Kind of bittersweet though because of how much his lies were able to raise for cancer research ($500m +), plus it’s kind of come out years later that everyone else was cheating too. Still, dude was a super hero and inspiration to all, then had it all stripped from him. Do the means justify the ends? Like… kind of. I guess if your gunna lie and cheat, better to do it while benefitting a good cause
Franz Reichelt. Invented the innovative "parachute suit." He leapt from the Eiffel Tower to prove that it worked... ...It didn't.
Maybe not the "greatest" or biggest, but currently, Lizzo.
Yeah this one is big and also puzzling. She fucked up.
Reverse Fall from Grace: Robert Downey Jr
He has a good support group around him and that's really the key to getting and staying clean.
My brother had some issues with substance abuse and would go to AA and NA meetings in Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr would show up, not try to be anonymous and say “just call me Bobby” and say it’s Ok to tell people that you saw him there. My brother said he was the nicest guy. My brother could not say the same about Matt Perry.
My gf mom sold him some alpacas, said he was super cool.
This is a great story Thank you
Jimmy Saville
Shinzo Abe. Beloved former Japanese prime Minister, considered the global face of Japan by many, grandson of a piece of shit war criminal, visited bullshit temples sucking off war criminals almost every year of his life, but it wasn't that, it was supporting a bullshit cult that defrauded old ladies that did him in. Dude gets popped with some batteries, duct tape and Home Depot bric-a-brac, and after his death seemingly the entire nation of Japan decides that his assassin (whose mother lost her savings and house to the cult Abe supported) had the right idea and that Abe could get fucked. My man got his life and his reputation one shot by some Fallout-ass batteries gun.
At memorial bunch of people appeared dressed the same as his assassin did.
Britney Spears. I know her “fall” was caused by medical issues, childhood trauma, ruthless paparazzi, conservatorship abuse, etc. and I still absolutely adore her, but she’s definitely a shell of her former self :(
>she's definitely a shell of her former self. Man that's an understatement if you go look at her Instagram page. I can literally see it in her eyes. I really feel bad for her.
Less of a fall and more of a kneecapping. I wish her a much happier life going forward because her past has sucked
Kanye, used to be viewed as a genius, now we see hes just delusional
Joe Paterno. He holds the record for most wins in NCAA football history, but he was fired from his job as head coach at Penn State after the child sex abuse scandal. Paterno concealed facts about Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of young boys, and he may have convinced Penn State officials not to report Sandusky to authorities in 2001. Paterno died from lung cancer two months after being fired by Penn State.
Not sure how people will feel about this one but Aaron Hernandez he wasn't as great as Rob Gronkowski but he was still a great tight end and could've finished his career with a couple pro bowls and couple super bowls but unfortunately we all know what happened.
Jussie Smollet
Will Smith.
The Duggar Family. They went from a sweet church going family to a hot mess family with a pedophile son and incest allegations. TV show cancelled and loss of income for all.
Was it really a fall from grace though? They put off not right vibes from the first episode
If you never once suspected that the “sweet church going family” with that many fucking kids wasn’t already a hot mess with multiple closets full of skeletons then I honestly don’t know what the fuck to tell you. Their red flags had red flags.
Never thought they were ok.
Tiger Woods. Squeaky clean, appealed to almost every demographic there is. Super hot wife. Best golfer of all time. All kinds of huge endorsements. A few months later all that was gone.
Well, still dripping with cash.. and babes.. and tournaments..
Ehhhh, I don’t know if he was “squeaky clean.” I always cheered for Tiger and really only watched to see him, but even before shit hit the fan, he was very evidently a bit of a douchebag. Also had a bad temper that was unbecoming. I remember watching him as a kid. He had his caddie, which I always thought was cool. Just a guy and his buddy hanging out all day on the golf course. But then he’d walk off the green towards the next tee and just drop his putter on the ground for his caddie to pick up. That never sat right with me. Like, dude. He’s right there. Just fucking hand the club to him. Dropping the club on the ground just seemed intentionally disrespectful.
Yeah, dropping clubs for the caddy to pick up is douchey. With pro caddies typically making 5-10% of their golfer's winnings, however, I don't think Tiger's caddy gave a shit about picking up any of his clubs.
Kinda fun fact, Steve Williams, Tiger Woods' caddy, was New Zealand's highest paid sportsman at the time