![[icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/63873524/3827215) |
A warehouse of knowledge with a storefront full of pornogrophy
|
| You pick a band or music artist, then answer the following questions using only their song titles.
Pick Your Artist: Rush
Are you male or female: New World Man
Describe yourself: Losing It
How do you feel about yourself: Secret Touch (ha ha ho ho)
Describe your current boy/girl situation: Need Some Love
Describe where you currently live: La Villa Strangiato
If you could go anywhere you wanted to go: Xanadu
Your favorite form of transportation: Red Barchetta
Your best friend is: Driven
Your favorite color is: Red Sector A
Favorite time of day: Between Sun and Moon
If your life were a TV show, what would it be called: Where's My Thing
What is life to you: The Main Monkey Business
What is the best advice you have to give: Leave That Thing Alone | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment   |
|
ATTICA! ATTICA!
Now to respond to the question rather than its title: Air conditioning. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Inspired by a post from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) svashtar about someone I do not know, I made a bingo board for saintedwyn . In the interest of fairness, I also made one for myself.
First for SaintEdwyn...
And for me...
| | comments: Leave a comment |
| XKCD is probably one of the better-known webcomics, and it can on occasion be quite insightful.
I've never been alone in decrying the stupidity of many parents, and I couldn't tell you how many times when on that subject someone's said to me "there oughtta be some sort of test before you can have kids." Typically I've either kept silent or disagreed, but never quite so succinctly or eloquently as "panicking over societal decline has done far more damage than societal decline ever has."
What troubles me most about those who call for some sort of government-mandated parental competency testing is how their "solution" is merely an immediate leap to placing more of our rights in the hands of the government, and all the potential abuse that entails, rather than proposing anything constructive.
I do not understand, for one, why extensive parenting classes are not required of high school graduates. The closest I came in high school was a one-semester health class taught by a PE instructor, which was mainly "STDs, drugs, and alcohol are bad, so uh, don't mess with them."
Practical education is desperately needed, from how to apply for and keep a job and how to manage one's finances, to all the realities of the responsibilities of parenthood. Of course, say that to a typical administrator and you'd think you swore at them. | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| On numerous occasions conflicts arose between a city dweller and I, a suburbanite. There seems to be a fair quantity of elitism amongst those who live in cities.
Many of the problems arose from dating wobsites such as OkCupid, in which a woman living in the city outright refuses to date anyone from the suburbs. This is not necessarily non-car owners who live in downtown high-rises, but more typically people who live in houses, condos, and apartments farther out in areas like Wriglyville, Ravenswood, Lakeview, Logan Square, Wicker Park - places in which you practically have to own a car if you expect to have a job and obtain foodstuffs.
When discussing the matter with a city-dwelling friend, she argued that there are inevitible issues about commuting time for either or both parties when they are dating. I live 40 minutes from the heart of downtown, and not much more from the neighborhoods listed above. This is not a big deal. I've certainly never heard of a suburbanite refusing to date another suburbanite who lives less than an hour away. Also, considering traffic and the abysmal quality of public transportation in Chicago, it can easily take 45 minutes to an hour to get from one part of the city to another. Clearly, this is not a commute or time issue.
I'm convinced it comes down to elitism. A great deal of younger city-dwellers I've met have this notion that they are intellectually and morally superior to suburbanites. I've even been told that "suburbia will not survive this generation."
If anything, the continued increases in transportation and information technology are likely to lead to a disapora of cities rather than conglomoration. With the rise in property values, Most blue collar manufacturing and distribution fields have left the cities, with the majority of city jobs now being in the white collar marketing, administration, legal, and financial markets. Rather ironic, if city life is supposed to be "hip" and "real."
Personally, I prefer suburbia over city life. I value tranquility, back yards, basements, and never having to worry about parking over the benifits of city life, as I can always go there when I want. But I'm not here to make the suburbs > cities argument. The fact is that rural, small town, suburban, and urban environments all serve vital purposes in modern society and economy no one could survive at its present standard of living without the others. Each one has its percentages of arrogance and ignorance. To presume you are superior to others simply because of your address is no different than making the same presumption on the basis of your race. | | comments: Leave a comment |
|
I've performed the diagnostics steps of CPR twice. In both occasions, the person had a pulse and was breathing, so I didn't do any compressions or recusitation.
The first was when I was sixteen, working as a bagger at Jewel-Osco, a grocery store. A man in his 20's colapsed in the checkout lane, and no one, not even the young woman accompanying him, reacted in any fashion beyond a confused stare. I hauled the guy out of the checkout lane, found his pulse and put my ear to his nose to feel his respiration. He came to almost immediately. The cashier had finally snapped out of his own stupor and was on the intercom to the service desk, asking them to call for an ambulance.
The second happened roughly 8 years later when I was teaching. Class was either just starting or was about to, and I was talking with another student when I heard someone say, "Hey Mr. Mamer, M--- looks really--" and as I turned to see who was talking, I saw the kid in question who had just risen from his seat, take one step and go down like a sack of meal. My other students recall that I vaulted over a row of desks (I don't remember that) but regardless, I got to the kid, turned him onto his back, and started checking him while telling a girl to go hit the intercom button for me, and a nearby boy to untangle the kid's feet, which were caught up amongst desk and chair legs. The boy was breathing, but still out cold, and I remember peeling his eyelid open and seeing his eye rolled slightly upward. He regained consiousness after a couple minutes saying, "...why am I on the floor?" | | comments: Leave a comment |
| The following is a blag entry from OkCupid's developers in which they map responses to some of the more controversial questions. I found it rather interesting. Realize that the results are not a general sample of the population, but only that percentage which uses OkCupid.
Would you consider role-playing out a rape fantasy with partner who asked you to?
data set: 340,000 people answered
The few states skewing green said “Yes” more than the national average (hello, Nevada!), and the reddish states said “No” more. Perfectly yellow states (like Virginia and Tennessee) answered “Yes” and “No” in the same proportion as the nation as a whole. It’s worth pointing out that because there are only a handful of greenish states and yet roughly a dozen reddish ones on the other side of the mean, those few green ones came down very strongly in favor of rape role-playing compared to the rest of the country. It’s also worth pointing out that cattle outnumber women 26:1 in Wyoming.
Here’s the same question, plotted on Europe:
As you can see, the original England skewed the same as the brand New England. And there’s a strong interest in consent play in Lithuania, perhaps because of repeated Russian invasions. Sadly, countries in white have too little data for conclusions; maybe in a year we’ll be able to look deeper in those places.
Would you date someone just for the sex?
data set: 448,000 people answered
Westward, ho! I guess I didn’t know what I was expecting from this question; maybe that the more “metropolitan” places would be greener and the more “rural” ones redder, and while that turned out somewhat true (for New York at least), the overall geographic continuity of this plot was a big surprise. I guess things are literally more wide-open in the West, and it looks like the depression is hitting more than just pocketbooks in the near Midwest. Is the Rust Belt now the Chastity Belt? One last observation: notice that usually liberal Vermont came out quite traditional here. I wonder what else that state has in common with Georgia.
How often do you bathe or shower?
data set: 261,000 people answered
This is a good example of results that seems surprising at first, but make sense after some thought: it stands to reason people in hot and/or humid states must shower more regularly. I’d be very interested to hear from any New Mexicans why their state bucks this logic; I suppose there are a lot of mountains there, so maybe it should have more in common with Colorado than with its other neighbors. Those of us up North skip once in a while, probably in the Winter. Vermont and Oregon are earthy as hell.
The scale for this map is slightly mislabeled, because this match question has multiple answer options. The first, “At least once a day,” is followed by “Most days. I skip some,” and goes all the way down to “Rarely.” This graph represents the fraction who chose “At least once a day,” and I labeled the scale as I did, because I think it most accurately reflects my query.
Should burning your nation’s flag be illegal?
Attempts to chart this question state-by-state yielded indifferent results, which makes sense since a person’s answer is fairly closely tied to his general political views and only a few states show extreme (far-off-the-norm) tendencies one way or the other on that. Digging deeper, I plotted this question by latitude and longitude. And now the results really show what’s going on: only people in cities believe flag burning should be legal. And even then, many conservative cities are opposed. Look at Texas: Austin, a liberal college town, is surrounded by Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. It’s interesting that Florida, even though it went blue in the last election, is almost entirely red here. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Farrah Fawcett arrived in Heaven, and was greeted by a flight of angels.
"Farrah," one said to her, "You lived a good life. Is there anything we can do for you?"
"Please," Miss Fawcett asked of the angels, "just keep the children safe."
And so, God killed Michael Jackson.
Incredible. Two entertainment icons dying in a single day. And both of them whtie women.
The paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but his lips fell off.
Since 90% Michael Jackson's body was composed of plastic, it has been decided that he will be recycled and made him into Lego blocks so kids can play with him for a change.
There seem to be contradictory reports about the cause of death. Some say it was a heart attack, others say death was caused by food poisoning after eating too many ten year old wieners.
What's the difference between Michael Jackson and caviar? Caviar still comes on little white crackers. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| NAME THE FILM.
Extra credit - name the actor who says the line.
All of these films were made during the 1980's. Some are easy. Some are HARD. There may be more than one quote per film. In case you're wondering, yes, I did all of these from memory, however there were a few I looked up to make certain I quoted accurately.
1. "I am Ergo the Magnificent: small in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose, and wide of vision!"
2. "These things are zerkie-proof!!!" (I confess that I do not know the standard spelling of Zerkie)
3. "They cut the power? What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power? They're animals!"
4. "I just wanted to say: good luck. We're all counting on you."
5. "What are you so worried about? It's Czechslovakia! It's like going to Wisconsin."
6. "You're gonna look awful silly sucking my dick with no FUCKING TEETH."
7. (responding to someone mentioning the Posse Comitatus Act) "Did you just call me a 'Pussy Communist?'"
8. (announcer) "Tonight on... 'Real? Or Bullshit?'" (and I've got to be honest, this could be one of two films. You either know what I'm talking about or haven't a clue. Don't sweat it.)
9. "They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then, they will have my dead body. NOT my obedience."
10. "Somebody once wrote, 'Hell is the impossibility of reason.' That's what this place feels like: Hell."
11. "In the past, I have always fought on the side of the insurgents. Now I am like you: A policeman." (Hint. This line is spoken in Spanish. English subtitles appear on the screen.)
12. "Nobody steps on a church in my town!"
13. "There comes a time, thief, when the jewels cease to sparkle, when the gold loses its luster, when the throne room becomes a prison, and all that is left is a father's love for his child."
14. "She's gone from suck...to blow."
15. "Someone help me please! I'm English!"
16. And last but not least an exchange of timeless dialogue:
Prima: Shiiiiit, maaaaan. That honky muf' be messin' mah old lady... got to be runnin' cold upside down his head, you know?
Secunda: Hey home', I can dig it. Know ain't gonna lay no mo' big rap up on you, man!
Prima: I say hey, sky... subba say I wan' see...
Secunda: Uh-huh.
Prima: ...pray to J I did the same ol' same ol'!
Secunda:: Hey... knock a self a pro, Slick! That gray matter backlot perform us DOWN, I take TCB-in', man!
Prima: Hey, you know what they say: see a broad to get dat booty yak 'em...
Prima & Secunda: ...leg 'er down a smack 'em yak 'em!
Prima: COL' got to be! Y'know?
Secunda: Shiiiiit. | | comments: 12 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | Incredible. | | Time: | 09:42 pm | | Current Mood: | ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/infuriated.gif) infuriated |
|
| An ex girlfriend appeared on my IM friends list this evening. She and I were very close, and I was truly beginning to feel that this could be "the one." I felt more love and loved than I'd experienced in five years or more. But abruptly, she broke off the relationship, giving vague excuses. I hadn't heard from her since until tonight. The following conversation took place. It's embarasing, but I'm posing it anyway because it's so incredible to me.
I: Wow, hi.
She: hi
[general how are you's and such of no interest to anyone]
I: Listen, I have to ask you something. What we had was really special. I really care about you and do you think we could give it a second chance?
She: ...no, Bill
I: Can you at least tell me why? I just don't understand how we went from magic to nothing overnight
She: Bill it wasn't special or magic
I: That's not how it felt to me. And I don't think you're being honest about how you felt either.
She: i was just happy to have someone ok
I: What so the "I love yous" didn't mean anything huh?
She: no bill they didn't
I: what the fuck
She: i was trying to be nice just go away
I: You were... trying to be nice... by fucking lying as you said "I love you" so sweetly how many times? That's nice?
She: what is wrong with you do you not get it i never even liked you i just fucking needed someone get over it
I: What's wrong with ME what the christing fuck is wrong with you how can you treat someone like that?
She: bye | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| Today, I had a customer needing to ship a number of loose items. He dropped a half-full box of random tackle boxes, reels, and other accoutrements of a water sportsman. Sitting atop the pile was this:
Video titles don't get much better than that. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|
As much as I love music, I'm rather unusual in that regard as if I need to concentrate, I can't have music playing. If I do, my mind will focus more on the music than on the task at hand.
I don't even like music to be on during makeouts. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Producing media takes a lot of time, effort, and money. The artists, engineers, distributors, and yes management who work to produce it deserve compensation. If people couldn't make a living as a songwriter, musician, actor, cameraman, editor and the like, then we'd have very little art and entertainment.
Therefore, downloading media without paying for it is wrong.
However...
( Woman Fined $1.9 Million for downloading 24 songs )
www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html
I mean geez she didn't even download GOOD music.
| | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
|
I like this question. Unfortunately, when I find myself truly identifying with a fictional character, it's an unhappy realization, for it's usually that character's flaws I identify with, like the low-ranking officer who kills himself in Master & Commander. | | comments: Leave a comment |
|
A DENTIST'S CHAIR.
How the hell is this not on the list of stereotypical places to be nervous?
| | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| As troubling as the news coming from Iran may be, I also find it heartening.
In case you haven't heard, Iranian Prime Minister Ahmadinejad was up for re-election last weekend. Early reports showed that the opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousav, a former prime minister from the 1980's and champion of Iran's liberal "green movement" (the color name has to do with social and political reform, not environmentalism), was the victor. Then Ahmadinejad claimed a 2-to-1 landslide.
Student protests quickly sprang up amid allgegations of fraud, and were put down, often violently, by Iranian police. Protesters turned to internet forums and twitter feeds to gather support, and even posted on 4chan, asking for help in sutting down Iranian government websites through Distributed Denial of Service attacks which flood a web server's bandwidth, slowing them to uselessness. Others have suggested against such tactics as it would be percieved as Western involvement and serve to "prove the establishment right" that the West is conspiring against Iran.
While the mode of protest was mixed - some were peaceful, others threw rocks and broken bottles at the Iranian police - Iran's response has been consistently oppressive, with mass arrests and the closing of college campuses. The Iranian government blocked pro-Mousav websites, Facebook, and even jammed all mobile phone usage in Tehran.
These are the actions of an oppressive regime which grows ever more desperate. Radical, politicized Islam in Iran is dying. The allmighty Ayatollah and Ahmadinejad just don't know it yet. Sadly, any revolution in Iran will face of extreme religious fundamentalism, a force which history proves is universally violent. But a revolution is comming nonetheless. And unlike that which deposed the Shah, this one will not bear the stink of self-flagelation and utter subserviance to fundamentalist dogma.
| | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
|
A warehouse of knowledge with a storefront full of pornogrophy
|
|
![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/amused.gif){kind=small}
amused![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/annoyed.gif){kind=small}
annoyed
![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/hopeful.gif){kind=small}
hopeful