RANT!'s topics - tribe.net

Toasting Political Christians

PuckerButt — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 05:30:18 GMT

Here's to The Moral Majority,
Apostles of Hatred and Fear:
As I watched Jerry Fallwell on TV last night,
I knew that the Anti-Christ was here.

The Golden Rule he has turned into Lead:
Now it only reads "Do Unto Others".
He wants to insure we have Crosses to bear
And supports laws to repress his Brothers.

His Dogma oozed out like Puss from Christ's Wounds
Reeking of Bigotry and Malice.
I'm certain his Holy Rituals produce
Vomit from Wine in his Chalice.

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

What the FUCK!

TimX — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 23:33:39 GMT

I mean...what the FUCK!!

Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?
From: www.redcross.org/faq/0,109...682_4524,00.html#4524

# Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.

# The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

# The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 90 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and elsewhere since before landfall. All told, the Red Cross is today operating 149 shelters for almost 93,000 residents.

# The Red Cross shares the nation’s anguish over the worsening situation inside the city. We will continue to work under the direction of the military, state and local authorities and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

# The Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

# The original plan was to evacuate all the residents of New Orleans to safe places outside the city. With the hurricane bearing down, the city government decided to open a shelter of last resort in the Superdome downtown. We applaud this decision and believe it saved a significant number of lives.

# As the remaining people are evacuated from New Orleans, the most appropriate role for the Red Cross is to provide a safe place for people to stay and to see that their emergency needs are met. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated.

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

"You keep using that word..."

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 02:55:11 GMT

"You keep using that word. I don't think that word means what you think that word means" (Inigo Montoya).

Looking over Edward's interests, and his disdane for the mis-use of the paradigm, I was taken back to my speech to new philosophy students about the mis-use of words.

My particular bitch is against the use of the word "intuition" in such context as "I had an intuition the plane was going to crash." No you did not!!!! You may have had a premonition that the plane would crash, but not an intuition.

Intuitions are infallable, immediate, a priori truthes (such as a cause must have as much reality as its effect). Now granted one may make a stong case for the immediate nature of true predictions of the future, but I think that uses in this context step away from the meaning of word Intuition. I can see the etemology in progress, but that doesn't make it good usage. We have a word for that already and it's premonition.

Thank you everyone!
Goodnight!
really, be well!

posted in RANT! - 6 replies

Oh gawd! I need to take Latin

SpaceCadet — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 05:37:53 GMT

So I meet with my advisor and now I have to take Latin. Yuck! And I had a wonderfully interesting schedule which has been slashed to normal and mundane. Urggggh. I thought this school thing seemed like a good idea, but I am not to sure about this advising thing. I do not want to do a Grad Programme identical to everyone else. What would be the point in that. Yes, a degree, as was pointed out to me many times, but if that was the sole reason I was at school, well, I could have stayed in my job and not had the headache of school. :stamp foot, pout:

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Im tired of the celebacy "stigma"!

Yul — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 21:48:10 GMT

I'm a 40-year-old-virgin, and I don't give a fuck who knows! Sexual intercourse, in what's supposed to be a free country, should be a matter of choice. I can't say yes to sex at this point in time because this so-called "society" makes it sound as if sex is mandatory. And when people tell me what to do, it pisses me off and it encourges me to do the oppose. "You have to have sex. If you don't, you're going to suffer." Right. And if that's true, then I'm President Laura Roslin: Leader of the Twelve Colonies! Besides, there's this thing called freedom of choice. Look into it!!!

In a civilized world, people of a wide variety of types would be accepted for who they are. But since we live in an unciviled pseudo-society, those who are sexually inactive are labelled abberant and disturbed. But I'll tell you what. If you want me to become sexually active, tell me NOT to have sex. That way, I'll be inclined to have sex simply out of definance. Because as I said before, I HATE when people (who have no authority over me) tell me what to do! If you give me a choice instead of an order, I'll be more likely to do what you want me to do. Doesn't that make sense?!?

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Sound Autoplay

chronovore — Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:16:36 GMT

Attention webmasters and marketing pukes:

If you have something that is important to put into a page, write it down, put in a picture, or put in some no-sound Flash file if you must. Do not ever, EVER put auto-playing sound on a web page. However if you are so completely compelled to put sound on a page, realize that you need to put an obvious means for turning off the sound. If you fail to do so, I am going to rent one of those giant fucking trucks that is essentially one giant speaker, a mess of Klieg lights, and I'm going to fucking park outside your house and loop broadcast your precious motherfucking soundbite right at your house (and by default in this situation, all of your neighbors' houses, simultaneously), with breaks every fifteen minutes to let your neighbors know why they're suffering.

It's because of you. It's your fault, you brought this on them and yourself.

It is then my fond hope that a chapter of Hell's Angels will ride over your prone form in rapid succession.

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Irritating tribe postings

kenbob — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:33:35 GMT

I gotta say, the the most useless thing in the world to post a on a tribe-thread is that 2-word-only response:

"I agree"

Really, if you have nothing more to add to the thread just leave it alone. Save the rest of us the time it takes to GO INTO the tribe, PULL UP the thread just to see your "I agree".

Y'know if everyone followed that useless practice, pretty well 95% of all postings would say "I agree". Is it necessary to make your agreement stand out from everyone else's without adding any further reaffirming or contrarian viewpoint?

'Nuff said.

posted in RANT! - 6 replies

Now this is a good rant!

Tribe Leader — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 19:44:15 GMT

http://fuckthesouth.com/

posted in RANT! - 4 replies

Appologies to "blue" state of mind people living in "red" states

margoeve — Tue, 09 Nov 2004 15:56:47 GMT

But this is a rant link worthy of this board:

http://fuckthesouth.com/

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Bush. Kerry. Nader.

chronovore — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 06:27:04 GMT

Nader? NOOOOOO. Sit the fuck down, Ralph!

Here's my response to a swing-state Nader voter in Stealth Tribe:
" While it is possible that Kerry doesn't differ from Bush as much as, say, you or I differ from Bush, it is unfair and unrealistic to cast him as being the same. The same overgeneralized crap was broadcast far and wide in the 2000 election, but in retrospect it is hard to imagine Gore leading the USA down the same path that Bush has.

Without attempting to make this a statement about you, or an ad hominem attack, I believe that voting for a candidate who cannot possibly win is foolish. It is a purely symbolic gesture, and one that could lead us to another four years of Bush and Cheney.

Tennessee appears to be a /barely/ republican state, based on the results of the 2000 election. In Florida, the number of people that voted for Nader cost Gore the election, though I don't suppose that Bush would have been their second choice -- it's more likely that if they /had/ to choose a runner up, an option supported by other, prioritized voting systems, it would have been Gore. But we do not have such a prioritizing system in place, and until we do we must operate within the parameters of the current system.

Republicans have been working to get Nader on the ballot in swing states in an effort to divide the democratic vote. People who vote for Nader, who cannot win, are furthering the neoconservative agenda. You will not overthrow the status quo, however you may be working unknowingly toward maintaining it."

Maybe I should invite him over here to continue the roaring. I didn't say "fuck" though I wanted to a lot. So I'll do it here.

FUCK! GOD DAMN IT. SIT THE FUCK DOWN, NADER. Try again when we get prioritized ballots, like -- where is that? Australia? New Zealand? Rarrr!

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

You @$$ hat SUV driver...

Elkor — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 01:00:51 GMT

I don't care if you are 18 and immortal. I am 30 and immortal, I still don't drive like an asshat.

Don't come barrelling around a 25mph curve doing 40 in your SUV. If the light hadn't turned green and me started forward you would have been in my trunk.

Oh, and terribly sorry that I used my signal and changed lanes left at the same time you did withOUT signalling. There's no fucking need to swerve to the right before I've completed the lane change and pass me on the shoulder. What are you, stupid? There's a drainage ditch there that you should have ended up in. I though and jogging right and running you into it.

And then you cut around in front of me again, pass another car, cut right to pass another car, and then across 3 lanes of traffic to be in the left hand lane. Oh, and USE YOUR DAMN SIGNAL.

And what was the point of this prick waving? So you could end up in the left turn lane at the light. Which I passed you at. Which you would have gotten to anyway if you'd been sane instead of a testosterone laden prick.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I like driving fast as well. That's part of why I got my 6 cylinder. But I use my signal, and I don't endanger the other drivers on the road.

If I hadn't had people following me, I would have followed -you- back to mommies and daddies to inform them what a prick driver you were. Or I might have just bitch slapped you a few times to make you realize that there are other people in the world that don't want to put up with your shit.

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

We are long overdue for a rant like this

margoeve — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 00:29:04 GMT

I hate you.

You, yes you, the drama queen I wish would get mauled by a rabid mass transit vehicle. You are perhaps one of the few people on earth I despise with such fervor, that I can not be held accountable for my actions were you ever to come within a throat ripping stride width from me. You know this. I've made it abundantly clear, and though you still have me listed as one of you "friends" I think you get the clue that I wouldn't think enough to piss on you if you were dying of thirst.

But "why" I see you bemoan. Why you? No one loves you, you gained a zillion pounds so you’ll gain a zillion more and have gastric bypass, your marriage failed. (Which you didn't have to be Miss Cleo to fucking predict was going to happen from the second you agreed to that farce.) Fucking ‘wahhhh.” And in all your whining and pity parties lies the heart of why I despise you.

You embody everything I’ve tried to destroy in my own being. You are the unexamined life. The un-actualized and the blissfully ignorant and apathetic of those you effect. You are the Marie Antoinette of the scene, brushing off your damaging actions as she brushed off the needs of the poor with her flip turn of phase.

You are a waste of human evolution. The fact that you look like a Neanderthal who was whacked in the face with a frying pan should have been a hint. But we tried to get a look inside to see the “real you” and not be as superficial as you ended up being. You’re prettier on the outside. Maybe you should give those molecules up to something else in the universe? Just think, in a few thousand years, you could be gone to war over as fossil fuel. It was certainly increase your value and give you a purpose other than sucking kindness out of all you touch.

You are willful ignorance. Some might call you selfish, but that would mean you were trying to better yourself through all your usery of others. But you aren’t even that clever. Your self absorbed to maximum capacity in your own little bubble of pathetic, and it is not enough for you to simmer in your own rot, you must feed it by sucking off on those who might have half a clue, and enough soul to find you pitiful. I’ve already played that game with you and watched you systematically pull every thing and every one who cares about you down into your lair of stupid, you festering harpy.

Before I go, I’d like to address your simperingly brainless ‘cries for help’ in the form of depressing ramblings and veiled suicide “threats.” They are not a threat if you never plan to actually act on them. If you wanted to do the world a favor you would just make good on them and swallow the bottle of Liquid Plumber now. I’m sure someone would miss you… for all of a few days before they realized what a bloody succubus hose beast you were and that they were now free of your gravitational wallow pull. Hell, I might even shed a tear too… though it will more likely be due to some dust in my eye than from any possible sorrow at your shuffling off of this mortal coil.

posted in RANT! - 3 replies

existentialist writers

Cecily — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 06:54:02 GMT

I totally fucking hate existentialist writers.

They are mindless fools who refuse to lament the loss of their hearts, as they crucify everyone they observe with the rusty stakes of European intelectualism. They claim to be fallen angels from a hypnotic realm of truth beyond words, conveying their seemingly-zen pictures from the surreal life.... but really they are leaches that suck the life out of life and regurgitate shit! Castrated of their impitus for emotion and left to indulge themselves in selfish diatribes about nothingness, they are nothing but stale, white privilaged alcoholics. They contemplate themselves like Naricssus staring into deep water... from an immobile stance of stagnate energy- missing the point and dancing on the cusp of drowning in their own stupidity.

Jean-Paul Sartre can suck my cunt. Fuck 'im and his fucking friends.

posted in RANT! - 9 replies

Unwritten Rules

margoeve — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 18:56:37 GMT

::For full enjoyment of this rant you may want to visualize me, jumping around, making grand gestures, swinging a rubber chicken, and raising my voice. I originally posted this over at my LJ, so appologies if your reading it twice::

YOU CAN NOT ENFORCE UNWRITTEN RULES! You can't! If it's unwritten, it isn't even a bloody RULE, it's a custom, a social mores, an ethical acceptance, and even possibly a tradition. BUT IT'S NOT A FUCKING RULE!

If you are in an organization that frowns upon people in relationships both being on the board of directors, but doesn’t have anything in the by-laws or guidelines written prohibiting such behavior, TOUGH TITTY! A fucking Mormon and all his wives could run for your board and there ain't jack schitte you can do about it, you know why?
Because it's not a RULE that's why! Of course, if you have rules against Mormons being a member, that's a whole other story... But that's not the point!

Moses though the Ten Commandments MIGHT be important enough to scribble down on some stone tablets. You know why? Because inevitably Schlomo of the Levi tribe was going to get all uppity with him and say, "Oh yea, Moshe? Where is that thou shall not crap written? Like the Almighty would trust YOU after that whole rock hitting thing!*" And that's when Moses would be like, "Aha! They are written right HERE, in stone." And then he would proceed to beat the fuck out of Schlomo with the Ten Commandments, "FEEL GODS WRATH, SCHLOMO FUCK! HAHAHA!"

*ehem*

Anyway, point being, if one of these magical mores from the mystical land of Unwritten is important enough to the survival of your organization, then you have to either trust that everyone else in the organization AGREES with you and will vote it into your by-laws (assuming it doesn't contradict law or existing bylaws). OR that the rest of the organization is wise enough to realize when a relationship MIGHT be a problem, and when it will not and vote accordingly.

Personally, I think (as if you care) that the latter is considerably more preferable to the former. Once you start regulating, you know IN WRITTING, who can serve in leadership positions based on relationships, you start down a very slippery slope. Does this mean no collared submissives can serve just in case their master is the schmuck that didn't get elected last year because of his violent temper? Does this mean someone might have to resign if two board members find, in the closeness of working together, that they are in love and want to date? Oh, and what about Ex's?!?! We know THEY are like nitro and glycerin together, so we must be sure to make a rule that ex's can't serve on the board together for the good of harmony in the organization, RIGHT?

If you can't trust the membership to vote for the best person possible, in spite of or maybe even because of their associations with others, then why even bother having open elections? Let the board appoint people to open positions and only get membership involved in a tie breaker, because after all, only the board and those closest to them know what's REALLY best for the vast membership at large. Oh, I know why organizations don't do that - because it's against the WRITTEN rules of procedure. Silly me.

Now of course, I'm not even getting into the irresponsible choices people make by putting their hats into the ring in the first place. There's no RULE about having too much on your plate and just adding another helping of torment on top of it. There's no RULE against that type of schedule overloading masochism. There's just the ETHICS of an individual running to be self aware enough to know their own strengths, limits, and hot-buttons. And there is the ETHICS of the voter to find out all they can about a candidate so they KNOW if that candidate has that level of self awareness and can cast their vote as an informed, valuable member at large. It's the Ethics of the voter to be able to put friendships aside and look at competency and ability.

If these ethics matters were 'UNWRITTEN RULES,' all the dunderheads who get their cocks in knots and clits in a wad over that "unwritten" nonsense not being followed would be the first people to jump up and shout, "Oh yeah? Show me where it's written?!?"

And then I would have to beat the shit out of them with a rubber chicken, because I'm aaaall out of Ten Commandments.

*ok, so it's been a while since Hebrew school and so the order of things might be mixed up, but you get my point anyway.

No actual rubber chickens were harmed in the writing of this rant.

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Boob jobs for your dog!?

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:31:38 GMT

This world is fuckin nuts!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040820/344/f0sd6.html

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

shorthand in fora

chronovore — Sat, 14 Aug 2004 15:34:37 GMT

Hello, pissy, whiny, bitchy: C'est moi!

Alright, I can deal with leet in a geeky-hipster kind of way. I like it when someone, in the midst of an eloquent thread offering suddenly says, "teh hawt" or "taht r0x0rz" as a form of ironic self mockery. Hey, good to go on that one.

But these dimwitted mouthbreathers that request help in fora are too fucking lazy or stupid to google their own research, and then bitch about the level of detail in the responses. In chat shorthand. It just kills me. Or, rather, I'd like to kill them, or at least their internet account.

(tense-shift, wait for it)

Hey. You. Fuckwit. Don't post a thread with an incendiary but unrelated subject line, begging the local experts for advice. Don't bitch about the detail-level; try asking NICELY for clarification. Do not expect that because you managed to figure out where to ask the question that you've got some sort of god-given right to an answer that is hassle free. More than any of this, you fucking collosal waste of bandwidth and oxygen, do not ever, EVER assume that the time people have spent giving your question consideration and subsequent response, can be met with "u" instead of "you," "ur" instead of "your," "you're," or "you are" (take some time and figure out which variant is called for instead of hiding your incompetence with grammar behind cute but mentally stunted diction), and for goodness' sake, lay off the "LOL."

Do me a favor and unplug your keyboard until you can respond with appropriate appreciation for what you've been given, in other's mistaken tolerance. Later you can eat at the grown-up table with the rest of us.

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

"The Death of Tribe"

chronovore — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 12:41:04 GMT

Okay, I recognize that my meatspace social life is just about nil, so maybe I'm incapable of generating anything objective, but what the hell is with how dead Tribe.net has been lately?

Generally I've seen single tribes go through waves -- hills and valleys -- of traffic. Sometimes they'll be on fire for a couple days, then dead for a few, then back again. This last couple weeks there have been fewer posts than average in almost every tribe to which I belong.

Now, I'm not ranting about this lack of traffic per se, but with the people running the tribes, then bitching about how Tribe is dying. Users have enrolled, curious what will occur, stake their claim by starting a tribe or five, then just sort of fuck off for parts unknown, leaving a trail of "can't be bothered" and "it's dying" messages behind them.

And what of the One Who Is Legion: the Unsubscribed? Here are people that seem to be completely involved in Tribe, really into it, then are suddenly transformed into that chill grey entity. It's eerie to have a conversation with someone, see a posting that is less than a day old, and realize that the person has left with no plans to return. It's possible I've some abandonment issues, but good grief, the manifestation turns the relationship into such a binary toggle from what has traditionally been resigned to fuzzy definitions only. This person is just... gone, though there words the conversation in which they were participating are still there.

I guess the largest thing I'm trying convey is, who are all these abandoners who show up to a collaborative space, expect to be entertained or mollycoddled, then give up and proclaim that the *space* is a loss, rather than their own contributions. It's like masturbating into a puddle, then getting upset that no child was birthed from it. Participation and some forethought are required, as well as continued effort.

To all those who have left then complained, QUIT YOUR BITCHING, you /chose/ not to help.

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

new and just wondering

Cecily — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 18:33:53 GMT

so.... I can rant about anything?
I just fucking rant, and then that's it huh?

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

Death by Playstation!

chronovore — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 10:23:20 GMT

http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=ret&aid=3890
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1882334911266433/

Boy plays Rockstar's ultraviolent Manhunt game. Boy plays it a lot. Boy kills friend with a claw hammer and knife. Parents of victim, and mass media all blame the game.

Okay, here is a clue for the mass media: don't ignore the fact that the murderer killed his friend for money to pay for his drug habit. Don't ignore that someone who's got a drug habit that requires theivery to pay for likely has obsessive/compulsive issues to deal with that are not on the level of "typically impressionable youth." How about, for once, focusing on the life of the nutjob who has committed the crime? Why the hell are you looking at a game which has been clearly directed at adults, and has fallen into the hands of someone for whom it was obviously not intended, but over which he was predisposed to obsess?

It is likely, with the rise of violent, "mature themed" videogames, that if there was a direct cause-and-effect between these games and violent behavior, there would be a huge, readily visible jump in murders committed by the demographic. There isn't one. Actually, if videogames were good at inspiring bad behavior, there would be armies of little Doom and Quake LPBs out there, trying to circle-strafe cops, and being gunned down for their efforts.

There is rarely any mention of the retail chains that sell these titles to kids inappropriately, and worse, parents who blatantly ignore the rare warnings of the clerk about such a purchase. It's always talk that these games shouldn't even be made, despite the obviously large audience that buys and appreciates them, while somehow managing NOT TO KILL THEIR FRIENDS.

From the article:
Speaking outside Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Giselle Pakeerah, mother of the murdered boy, said that "I think that I heard some of Warren's friends say that he was obsessed by this game. If he was obsessed by it, it could well be that boundaries for him became quite hazy."

"I can't believe that this sort of material is allowed in a society where anarchy is not that far removed," she continued. "It should not be available and it should not be available to young people."

Despite the allegations now being made about the influence of the game on Leblanc, the actual motive given for the killing by prosecutor Peter Joyce QC was a rather more obvious one; the teen had lured his friend to a deserted car park with the intent of robbing him to pay a drugs-related debt.

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

Catwoman Rant

chronovore — Sun, 25 Jul 2004 07:17:42 GMT

http://mrcranky.com/movies/catwoman.html

'(How) much pretension must you possess to cite yourself as "Pitof" on the credits of your first major feature film? Either this guy has balls made of solid gold or he's teetering on the precipice of insanity.

"Pitof" the director has so little talent that watching "Catwoman" is almost worse than watching "Tom Arnold: The Musical." Even Martin Scorsese would be hard-pressed to do anything with a script so incompetent it wouldn't pass muster in one of those community college creative writing programs taught by failed screenwriters.'

It's one of the rare times I've felt pity for a film critic. This sounds like more of a waste of celluloid than "Ishtar."

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

cynical cartoon

Tribe Leader — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 05:37:33 GMT

Go to www.illwillpress.com
It's the perfect site for this tribe. You get to see a spiteful character rant about random things that piss him off. Check out the "Fatkins Diet". Very funny stuff.

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Blackout v.2

stanleylieber — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 16:30:32 GMT

Roughshaven, I return to my desk, brushing aside the little train of electronic devices I've wired into the power strip under my desk. My tea is unsweetened, the ice melted, and the cup, now soggy, is merging with the immitation wood surface of my desk. I'm pretty sure my eyes are bloodshot.

When the power went out yesterday, it pissed me off. The sky had paradoxially grown darker in the hour (or so) since I woke up. The wind was still and no rain had yet fallen. I stood up to go try and gently shake Amy awake and tell her I thought the heavens were about to unload on the yard I still needed to mow, when my computer sounded its tibia-splitting alarm and promptly shut itself off. This irritated me far more than the simple loss of power, specifically because I had been in the middle of trying to compose an LJ entry about Career Suicide #1. But now the power was out.

Well, it never came back on. Late into the evening I found myself rounding the corner on the last twenty pages of Plan Of Attack, menaced by the pulsing charge indicator on my MP3 player, which communicated to me through cold gestures that I'd better get used to the idea of reading in silence (a preferrable mode of activity for me anyway, but I digress), when people around the neighborhood seemed to finally collapse under the pressure of not being able to watch television, and took to the streets to launch massive quantities of fireworks at the sky. Everyone seemed to have plenty left over from the day before. The "dick light" (as we affectionately named the soft green clip-on flashlight whose batteries outlasted those in our twin spherical paper laterns) just kept on going, and accompanied me around the house on trips to fetch fresh water and misplaced belongings (well, no one was planning on not being able to see where they were) throughout the evening.

Today at work I'm furiously googling for java applications which can be loaded onto my Nokia 3300 phone so that I might access the Internet more readily tonight on it's 1" screen, if power has not yet been restored by the time I get home.

Before it got too dark to keep drawing last night, I completed the illustration of John Kerry in military uniform intended for my "Non-Partisan Campaign Button" series (to accompany the illustration of George W. Bush from the cover of Cowboy Actor #1, as one part of a two-button set), and would dearly love to scan and post it here if not for the obvious limitations of not being able to do so with the power out, etc.

Tonight, I plan to catch up on The Baroque Cycle.

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Whiggers

Mon, 31 May 2004 17:17:13 GMT

First and foremost, fuck you and your political correctness. I'm from the D and use both whigger and nigger liberally when hanging with my friends (both black and white) in the old neighborhood.

I recently moved back to a small town about 60 miles outside of the D (good schools for the little one). I lived here for about two years some time ago and we had the same problem then. Fucking spoiled white kids talking smack, wearing pants six sizes too large (yes, they hold them up with one hand when they're standing, walking, etc.), listening to whatever the hardcore rap flavor of the month is, and talking "ghetto"- in other words, fuckin' whiggers. They ride around in the cars and SUV's mommy and daddy bought for them, with $4,000 stereo systems (mommy and daddy bought for them too), talkin' 'bout how bad and tough they are; how they're gonna "bust a cap off in your ass". Blah, blah, blah. Fucking punks. Fucking retards. Fucking little faggot pussies who couldn't survive 60 minutes in my old neighborhood. The hardest thing they've had to deal with in life is mommy and daddy refusing to buy them a PS2 because they already owned an X-Box. Fuck you! Like you have any fucking idea what it's like to have a fucking friend die in your arms. As if you have clue one about hardship, being beaten down by the fucking cops, or having a price on your head.

Fuck you. Fuck you all. C'mon, jump in a car with me. Let me show you the 'hood. Oh yeah, that's right, you won't set foot in the D because of all the "fucking niggers" (you know, the folks you're attempting to emulate).

Fucktards. Buy some clothes that fit. Stop talking shit to me (you remember what happened last time you pulled a gun on me? Remember how hard I laughed at you?). Grow up, get a life.

posted in RANT! - 18 replies

Sent to a friend through company e-mail

stanleylieber — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 22:25:35 GMT

Just thought I'd let you know that I just got lectured about not completing a task which I only kept doing (after they decided they didn't want to pay me for it anymore a year or so ago) because I'm a fairly decent sort (okay, well, mostly because I didn't want anyone else here to screw it up -- which, as you'll soon agree, would be an inevitability were I to stop doing it all myself).

The task in question is, of course, making the CD backup of our ISO 9000 website.

Now, I used to get paid $17 extra dollars every day for carrying the responsibility of maintaining the website. After getting paid that extra $17 every day for better than a year, management a tier or two above anyone here in this building decided they no longer wanted to pay two people to work the ISO project for our office (another guy actually writes the content of the documents; I convert them all to a consistent HTML layout and make sure the website stays in operation)(this coincided roughly with the successful completion of our first ISO 9000 audit). At first I was like "so long, suckers" and resolved not to work on the website anymore. I didn't use it anyway, and who needs to do work they don't get paid for? But after a while, when it became clear that they expected me to "train" my replacement, I realized that one way or another, whether I was "doing" the website or not; I was still going to be shouldering the brunt of the work -- and ultimately, _all_ of the responsibility. Because you see, any problems users later developed with the existing site would be my fault. I knew that the only way to retain what meager respect I'd scratched out in this shithole was to continue putting in some token sign of "effort" on a regular basis. Quite frankly, I'm the only person in this room of fifty people who can tell HTML from Sanskrit. And I might as well at least get credit for it. Thus I continue to get away with excusing myself from discussions of _American Idol_. At least I contribute _something_ besides detached silence and (also frankly) lackluster job performance.

So I kept on. In 4th Quarter 2002 I was awarded a "Commitment to Excellence" award -- apparently having been nominated by the outgoing "computer guy" from our organization (I won't go into organizational structure within the company, here, but ONE GUY was responsible for IT concerns in probably close to a hundred [if not more] offices -- as in, he maintained our workstations individually; this ONE GUY manually ran backups, upgrades and performed general remote maintenance tasks for thousands of PCs). Several people physically patted me on the back. I didn't get the $50 cash bonus or half a day off (paid) because the company doesn't do that sort of thing anymore.

But today, as the woman who used to be my direct manager (and who had instigated the ISO 9000 project -- and for that matter my involvement in it) stopped by my desk with a CD jewel case in hand. On its face was inscribed the date of the last time it had been updated; March 19, 2004.

"The agreement is that you'd update this CD every two weeks."

"Today is two weeks after we came back from strike," I countered.

"But it had been _two_ months since you updated the CD when you went on strike."

She opened her mouth and her lips moved. I swear to god my mother's voice fell out of it and proceeded to scramble across my desk, darting straight for my throat to strangle me to death.

I flashed my best George W. Bush grin and buried my honesty and tried to remember that a smile speaks louder than a hundred thousand excuses. I had to physically (okay, well, _mentally_) restrain myself from making the "hand cutting air" gesture favored by presidents since Reagan, which threatened to make me start laughing out loud. But the facial expression alone seemed to work and she turned on her heel and disappeared before I could spit anything else out, which was a good thing because I'm a poor voice actor.

Having written all this, it becomes evident how unstrikingly plain my problems are.

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

No, I don't think so

margoeve — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:36:15 GMT

I know once upon a time, when I was a young teenager, I hurt you with my naiveté and stupid longing for acceptance. Since then I have endured your wrathful confusion at the expense of my sense of self worth. I thought it was my penance to endure it.

It's been 10 years since then, and you still treat me like an emotion target, lashing out at me when all else - that has NOTHING to do with me - bothers you.
No, I don't think so. Not anymore. I'm done. Have your hissy-fit with one of the other women in your life.

If you need to be "left alone," try turning off your fucking IM instead of going into a long diatribe of how I should leave you alone... AS I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU WITH A COMPUTER PROBLEM _YOU_ ASKED ME TO HELP YOU WITH!!!

I've tried to remain your friend through all the usery of my family's kindness, and the emotional baggage belonging to that stupid prude you left me for who later dumped your sorry ass. (If you treated her like this, I don't fucking blame her.)

I've tried to be the "better person" in all of it.

No more. I'm done. You can have your "alone." Be assured of it, as long as you stay far far from me.

posted in RANT! - 6 replies

That's it! I've had it.

margoeve — Wed, 26 May 2004 22:14:10 GMT

The name of this tribe is "RANT!"
Not "Dystopian navel-gazing essay."
Not "Long-winded diatribes about Consumerism."
Not even "bigger intellectual dick contest."

There's sounding intelligent and then there is sounding like hyper-intellectual jackasses masturbating to their own mastery of poly-syllabic words. Guess which ones I think keep posting here?

Get angry. Curse and swear. Rail against stuff that pisses you off. But for the love of ANYTHING sacred, leave the pseudo-intellectual essays for your English class, or personal blog, or someone who actually gives a flying fuck about your Forest Gump-like ponderances on the state of the world.

Sincerely,

The pissed off ranting bitch of a tribe moderator

posted in RANT! - 4 replies

Got Them Dystopian Urban Psychogeographical Blues...

Robert — Wed, 26 May 2004 08:55:25 GMT

I was riding around the downtown core this afternoon, aimlessly wandering and hoping to scavenge some food/money/cigarettes. The corporate scum-bags I work for now quite blithely informed me that I won't be getting paid this week because the "pay system is not in place yet" (whatever THAT means). So, after uttering the obligatory death-threats and informing the yuppy store-manager that I now felt morally obliged to inform the boys in the 'hood exactly who has been calling the cops to harrass them at least twice a day for the past week or so, it looks like there may be some lean times ahead for yours truly. (Send cigarettes!)

I took my last three bucks and ruefully spent it on a jumbo coffee at the Tim Horton's across from the new public-space development at Dundas Square. I've passed by this place at a fairly high speed on my bicycle on the way to work quite often, but I've never really felt particularly compelled to stop and investigate the ambiance of the place in any great detail. To be quite frank, not too much ever really appears to be going on there. It looks to be quite moribund most of the time, especially when you consider that it's located at the busiest, most bustling intersection of the city.

It didn't look to be any different today, really, even though it was a beautiful spring day. With not much else to do, though, I decided to stop for a bit to drink my coffee and read some of my J.G. Ballard novel (Memories of the Space Age, for all my bibliophile brethren out there). My first impression upon walking off the slight ramp that takes you off of Dundas St. onto the main square was that the area sure was an effective and efficient wind-tunnel, if nothing else. It felt a good five degrees chillier almost instantly, and I was forced to don the spring jacket I had with me in my shoulder-bag. Brrrr...After looking around me briefly, it was immediately evident why that was so: the area is bordered by the massive Eaton Centre mall to the west, as well as (surprise, surprise!) some brand-spanking new condo developments to the east. There really wasn't anywhere else for even the slightest breeze to go, other than to whip through the square. Visitors may be turned to icicles in May, but at least yuppies have somewhere to shop and live--heartening, really, as well as an indication of where the priorities of the city planners REALLY are.

The main square is basically a large, flat completely banal slab of grey concrete with some water fountains spouting of intermittently near some concrete benches on the south end. Not very warm and inviting at all. There are a slew of small metal tables and chairs scattered about that, much to my surprise, visitors are able to move about to their liking. I couldn't believe they weren't fastened somehow to the concrete in predetermined locations, considering that they could so easily be absconded with. Not that I could possibly fathom why anybody would do so, as they are clearly more, shall we say, functional than decorative. The possibility of somebody making off with the furniture, however, probably provided the city with the rationale necessary for having the 2-3 beefy young security goons constantly lurking in the background (the militarization of public-space lite, anyone?)

What made my visit to this place TRULY depressing, though, wasn't solely the fact that what should have functioned as an oasis, a respite, from the concrete and steel misery of the urban jungle was instead an extension and exaggeration of it. That was, indeed, bad enough. But, even worse...As I sat down at one of the tables to drink my coffee, I had a quick glance at some of the people around me, hoping to catch a friendly smile or something. (Not much luck there, as this IS Toronto, where smiling is illegal and often punishable by death in extreme cases) And, I couldn't help notice that everyone in the square had pulled their tables to the south end, near the water fountains, where they all sat blankly staring into the occassional spurts of water, as well as every so often stopping to gaze for a moment at the advertisement billboards situated, conveniently enough, on the side of the buildings across the street. Nobody was exchanging a word, just looking ahead for a bit, then looking up. Sorry to say it, but they all began to look like zombies of some sort!

That was enough for me. At first, I have to admit, it all looked a little bit comical, and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I watched people vacillate in almost rhythmic congruency between looking straight ahead and briefly looking up, heads bobbing, eyes vacant. At some point, however, the entire scene began to feel sad and more than a little disturbing...creepy even. I quickly gulped down the last of my coffee, went and unlocked my bike and made a hasty exit, not even caring to look over my shoulder to see if a bit of distance might change my perspective somewhat. As I got further away, I remember a Native friend of mine who once said that the worst thing about "life" in the white man's cities is that almost everything is dead. If that sounds hyperbolic to you, take a little visit to the downtown core of Toronto someday soon and drop by Dundas Square. You just may be surprised.

http://arghfuckkill.blogspot.com

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Rants without context

stanleylieber — Tue, 25 May 2004 17:20:38 GMT

See, this whole "things that don't exist" thing is where I have to get off the trolley with you guys. You're placing the burden of evidence on someone to prove something exists in order to stop _you_ from taking action against them (clinical classification, loss of enfranchisement, etc.). This is essentially making them guilty until proven innocent.

Well, how far do we pursue this line of thought?

And how quickly do we react/prosecute the insane -- what is the threshold for allowing them to prove their suppositions?

It's all very vague to me. Given that simple criteria -- the belief in things which cannot be empirically demonstrated to exist (I will not use the term "don't exist" since again, this require proving a negative) -- virtually any of us must disqualify ourselves from participation in the human race on a daily basis. Certainly, I believe any number of things I cannot prove as a functional necessity of completing my work assignments and paying my bills (not to mention walking down the street without getting stuck on a rock or falling leaf and spending the rest of my adult life sitting on the concrete contemplating each). The act of participating in the world is a process of consciously editing sensory input, which is itself a form of willful misrepresentation of what our senses actually pick up.

Each of us quite literally believes in that which cannot exist, merely as a function of conforming to societal rules, and even in simply communicating with one another.

I say that there is an undefined threshold here between what you're both talking about and what you're saying that is imperative to implementing your concept fairly. (That is, a discrepancy between the words you're saying and what it is you actually mean.) Someone who sees people in the room who aren't there or hears voices no one else hears is pretty easy to brush off as a nutcase -- but what about the person who erroneously perceives a purpose in life itself; or who mistakenly believes there's any intrinsic morality in the animal kingdom, and who believes there is any meaningful personal incentive to not simply pursue Nietzsche's totality of the personal will?

The remarkable thing about most atheists is their stunning adherence to an ill-defined, personal morality which, under cloes scrutiny, has absolutely no rational underpinning.

I say nuke the world. What difference does it make?

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

Fucking TOD people...

Tue, 25 May 2004 02:00:34 GMT

Okay - I SERIOUSLY need to RANT..and RAVE!!! For the THIRD time someone has bitched that my main icon photo was too sexual for Tribe. NOW...there was NO nudity in these photos...no sexual acts being performed...the only SKIN they showed were my legs and stomach yet somebody on Tribe keeps bitching about them so TOD keeps fucking changing my main icon photo. What the HELL is this???? Does this happen to anyone else? Because I damn well have seen WAY worse photos in icons then mine. ERGHHHHH - this is just pissing me off!!!

Miche

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Fucking Language

margoeve — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 12:59:50 GMT

Note: I'm reposting this here because, well, it's the first rant I've written in a while and I feel the need to share the anger. It was inspired in part due to a grueling 2 and a half hour Literature discussion about romance, love and clichés around them, where the nature of language was danced around but never directly talked about. Further, I had 2 hours of sleep in 40 hours and got a barrage of bad news as I arrived at home.

::Begin Rant::
We have a lexicon of words, letter of human creation, symbols that would mean fucking nothing if it were not for the life we breathed into them.
I'm sorry, was use of the word "fuck" too cliché for ranting prose? Fuck you.

Arbitrary. Ambiguous. Abstract. This is the essential nature of language. Know it before you find yourself fit to pass judgment on who puts what words in which order the best. Fuck you.

Arbitrary. Words have inherent connection to the object or concept they represent. None. The word "Fucktard" does not hold all the qualities that make up who you are, though I may use that word to describe you on many occasions. We make up words, stringing sounds together, and hope that somehow that word will call into the mind of the reader what the writer intended. Fuck you.

Ambiguous. Words have no clear cut precise meanings. See above. I say "jackass" and mean a dimwitted inbred sexist idiot and you think four legged beast of burden. Only when we string words together, to narrow down description do we get any sense of shared meaning. But even that meaning can not be certain from mind to mind. Fuck you.

Abstract. The word Asshat does not contain all the qualities that make an Asshat. It stands in place for what an Asshat is, but if you show an example of one, or use more words to describe it, the word becomes more concrete. But the word Asshat will never BE an Asshat. Fuck you.

This is the most basic shit you will find on the nature of those things stacked up in front of you. Those submissions that you turn your nose up at because you do not think something without blood, guts, cum and gore is up to your standard of quality. Let this sink in: Your "standard" is nothing more than an Arbitrary, Ambiguous, Abstraction of some random firing synapses inside that rattling melon of yours.

Oh yeah, and FUCK YOU!
::end rant::

posted in RANT! - 11 replies

Am I the only one who's angry anymore?

stanleylieber — Wed, 12 May 2004 04:03:19 GMT

I really am angry too. Seething.

I just can't muster any words.

posted in RANT! - 5 replies

BBS admins unite

stanleylieber — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:00:38 GMT

You know, something I get really tired of is people trying to listen for the "tone" of a written message in order to decipher it, over and above what the actual words which have been written say themselves. Trying to second guess what the words plainly say, in order to leap-frog any confusing areas of the message and swoop in with a retort which addresses whatever it is you'd
rather believe the person was trying to get across.

Well, that's bogus. I write very deliberately, and I (usually -- heh!) chose my words very carefully in order to say exactly what it is I'm actually trying to say (you know, that fundamental concept of written communication). I feel that I must repeat here that I am emphatically _not_ ever trying to
say what I'm _not_ trying to say. Only trying to say what I _am_ trying tosay.

Now. There are typically enough straw men cluttering the avenues and pathways of this board to choke a sperm whale. I grow exceedingly weary of having words put in my mouth and prejudices assigned to me which I do not agree with. We are all guilt of this, and I am probably not the least guilty. However, when I place words in another person's mouth, or create a straw man I intend to decimate through hot gelatinous napalm, I do honestly endeavor to make sure the dialog I am writing for the other guy is at least believable and in most cases in-character. I like to think that if the person I'm summarizing for disagrees with me they'll let me know in a clear, concise, coherent manner. I do the same when I think someone is mischaracterizing my position.

However, the institutionalization of straw man arguments is not something we should strive for here, on this board. The wise-cracks, the insults, the gentle ribbing is all a part of civil discourse, and should be taken with grains of salt and allowed to roll off of us like water from a duck's back;
but the _inaccurate_ wise-cracks, insults and often not-so-gentle ribbing are another thing entirely. So many times when these pointless little flame wars erupt, the generalizations and characterizations of the other guy's positions are just flat out wrong! Can't we afford each other the common dignity of being insulted in a manner consistent with the reality of our shortfallings?

I am sick of having totally unrelated topics degenerate into religion bashing when religion is not involved in said topic in the silghtest. I am sick of being taken to the carpet for "lawyerisms" just for trying to make sure it's clear what the fuck I am trying to say when I write something; to not have my
words hijacked and twisted into an argument I never intended to make. I am sick of hearing that every other post on this board is liberal hogwash. I am tired of negotiating English syntax between parties who should be capable enough to decipher each other's screeds without my help.

This is a simple instruction for deciphering my own posts: I tend to utilize sarcasm and irony in my comments. Since most users here have been active for at least a year, and considering the volume in which I post, it should be clear by this time that when I write several pages on a complicated topic, reading the first and last sentences of every other paragraph is not going to be sufficient to truly absorb what it is that I'm saying. I find the same to be true for many of you, which is why I generally try to read your entire message and have some idea of what you're talking about before I respond. If
I can't piece it together from whatever it is you wrote, I request clarification. This is not simply a "legalistic" tactic used by me in an attempt to wrangle you into a rhetorical trap; it is a simple attempt at trying to understand your point. Please extend others (and myself) the same courtesy.

The level of discourse on this board has continued to sink, the better that we know each other. Factions have emerged which take pot shots at each other, often sniping innocents in the crossfire. I find this ridiculous. We've already seen $USERNAME leave in a huff when people (myself included) battered
him back instead of simply maneuvering around his bile and pretending the elephant wasn't crushing the coffee table. Others of us take periodic sabbaticals away from the board in order to let the mental closets (now bursting with accumulated reentment) air out. Some of us just disappear and never come back (for whatever reason -- I'm sure it's "nothing personal").

There has been criticism that organizing this board based on my personal whims was sewing it with the seeds of its own destruction. I've never been a big fan of argument-by-analogy, but what happens when my whims change? Do
all you guys just fuck off and die?

I am investigating organizational schemes which will require less direct oversite by an administrator. I long for the days of simply digging in and telling you all to fuck off without the looming aura of my SYSOP powers punctuating every epiphet.

posted in RANT! - 7 replies

Self immolating rage

stanleylieber — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 20:42:50 GMT

You know, I find the kind of snide sarcasm and ironic distancing I often
induldge in to be greatly amusing much of the time, but I also find it to be
an annoying trait in others -- particularly when I disagree with whatever it
is they happen to be talking about.

I'm fucking sick of some shit -- let me tell you!

** logs off of IRC.

posted in RANT! - 7 replies

Half Life 2

chronovore — Sat, 24 Apr 2004 12:25:25 GMT

http://www.forumplanet.com/planethalflife/topic.asp?fid=6549&tid=1352802

This guy -- good grief. He's self-destructing as he leaves his post, and has likely suicided any future game-related press gigs he might have.

He gets his point across, but it just comes off as vindictive and self-righteous and... well, ranty. Most clearly, he feels justified in his rant because he thinks he's got some kind of relationship with the development house that he has allowed to influence his life.

It's one thing to stream all this stuff in an email to one's friends. Blowing off steam, yeah, that's fine. However putting something like this up in a space where ANYBODY has access to it, that's just unwise.

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

Borders Cattle

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 02:17:07 GMT

I've just returned from my local Borders (Black Feathers, Cecilia Tan) after standing in line for nearly twenty minutes. I have decided that 90% of the clientele are cattle and should be slaughtered. Maybe I'm a purist - having grown up near Ann Arbor - but I cannot, for the life of me understand these people. Borders was originally started so that college students and freaks (like myself) would have a place to find hard to get titles that weren't carried by vanilla booksellers. Today, there's one on every corner (next week they're going to open one up in my ass) and now the cattle have overrun the place.

Cattle, with their foamy-flavored-overpriced-so-called-coffee, with in hand treasures such as: "The Da Vinci Code", "The South Beach Diet", "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", and an exceptionally rare copy of Britney Spears' "In the Zone". Cattle, who could have purchased any of these books (and CD's) at a 20-40% savings by stopping by the local Target, Wal-Mart, or K-Mart within a stones throw of Borders. Cattle, whose determination to purchase the latest King/Rice/Creighton bestseller at Borders have pushed copies of Burroughs, "The Cat Inside" and "Tornado Alley" off the shelves. Cattle, that continue to shop AFTER they've reached the register. Cattle, who think that they've gained IQ points in the minds of their friends by making regular journeys to Borders to drink bad coffee and pay full cover price for books. Cattle, who think "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "Look Homeward, Angel" were penned by the same author.

Bah! There should be a quiz to weed out the cattle. Tell me who E.B. White is. Tell me who wrote "On the Road". Fuck 'em! One day maybe they'll understand why I "moo" at them when they see a copy of "Black Spring" in my hand.

posted in RANT! - 20 replies

Does anyone drink real coffee anymore?

Marcus — Tue, 06 Apr 2004 03:04:52 GMT

What's with all this decaff milky frothy shit? Doesn't anyone drink a short espresso or short macchiato anymore?

(another idiot word rant: people who say expresso when they mean expresso :-)

posted in RANT! - 12 replies

Thank God -- I hope this is a trend

MChristian — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 21:04:15 GMT

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&e=20&u=/nm/life_hongkong_phone_dc

posted in RANT! - 2 replies

Life and Death in the City Rant!

Robert — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 05:04:38 GMT

I don't know if it's my glum frame of mind recently, or...the weather perhaps? It's a time of year as I write this during which it's consistently grey and overcast, yet cold enough to make you wonder if it just might snow instead of rain. So, maybe the generally bleak external environment is having an adverse affect on my inner perception of things. Whatever, the case may be, I just couldn't help noticing the other day as I rode my bicycle to work how ugly and rundown the core of the inner-city is becoming.

As I maneuvered my way through congested traffic and gritty sidestreets, it semed like every minute or so, in whatever direction I happened to look, a scene right out of the pages of a Charles Dickens novel jumped out at me. Abandoned, dilapidated buildings with chipped, peeling paint, all the colour faded from old and worn bricks, with garbage strewn all over the front and sides. Aging, rundown prostitutes coughing and hacking as they strolled the strip, hoping to entice a 20 dollar trick with the remnants of whatever good looks they may once have had. As I moved closer to the inner core from my place out in the west end, I also couldn't help noticing that the sidewalk demographic was heavily dominated by those who live on the margins: the homeless; the mentally-ill, wandering from nowhere to nowhere while talking to themselves or barking at traffic; winos; crack addicts; and the ubiquitous crews of bored youth from the projects, all dressed up in the latest hip-hop gear with no place to go, really. Most residents in this part of the city, however, stay inside, well off the streets, locked up safely in their apartments and houses with their TVs and computers the only things keeping them in contact with the outside world as night settles in. No doubt about it, this part of town can be pretty desolate and barren after the hustle and bustle of rush-hour traffic subsides.

Sadly enough, I was actually GLAD to get to work because it at least offered the warmth of the familiar and known compared to the harsh unpredictability of the streets.

This probably goes a long way towards explaining why I'm not exactly Mr. Chuckles lately. It's hard to smile very often when the whole world looks/feels dirty, chipped, cracking, grey, faded, chaotic and cold. Seeing people all around you dropping like flies with nobody there to pick them up isn't very heartening, either. But, it's happening far too often to far too many people for comfort nowadays. And, all this is taking place right in the heart of capitalism's "developed" world! I never thought I'd live to see the day when the world would start to look THIS harsh and ugly. I remember a teacher of mine from high school telling me that if there was a paradise on earth, we were living in it. He went on to say that a friend of his had visited the ghettos and projects here in Canada and was absolutely amazed by how well-kept and clean they were. He said that ghettos where he was from (Detroit) were REAL ghettos. After that conversation, I felt pretty good about living in Canada and more hopeful about the future in general. 15 years later, though, and it feels like the poor areas here in Toronto have become just as atrocious as anywhere in the United States.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what people must be forced to endure in capitalism's colonies, the area of the world most of us know as the Third World. At least I couldn't until I came across a very informative essay by Mike Davis in the most recent issue of the New Left Review called "Planet of Slums." It's a pretty insightful essay in that it both paints a picture of what life in the slums of the developing world must be like and destroys the notion put forward by many of the apologists of neo-liberalism that unfettered capitalist globalization would be some kind of benevolent palliative for the problems of the region. Allowing multinational capital the flexibility to move its operations across borders to where labour was the cheapest was supposed to provide the panacea of jobs and increased levels of "wealth" to those countries already devastated by neo-colonialism and brute accumulation. The playing field between the First and Third Worlds was supposed to be levelled a bit by the free, unregulated global market...or so the argument went, anyway.

The plain fact of the matter is, however, that the Structural Adjustment Programmes mandated by the IMF and World Bank have proven to be about as beneficial to the people of the Third World as a "great natural catastrophe" (in the words of Nigerian novelist Fidelis Balogun). Small-scale rural farmers around te world were forced to compete in the global marketplace with large-scale industrialized First World agribusinesses as subsidies and tariffs on imports were removed. The result? A mass exodus of the countryside's poor to the urban centers, where they hoped to find whatever means of subsistence they could. The wave of privatization and massive downsizing of the public sector, however, only served to ensure that things weren't much better there, either. In fact, these policies resulted in the almost overnight creation of a whole new sector of the destitute in cities around the world as the middle classes rapidly disappeared and the gap between the richest and poorest widened dramatically.

Even though neo-liberal economists and theorists assured critics that globalization would mean more jobs and prosperity in the developing world, it becomes pretty apparent after reading this article that its predominant feature has been the globalization of misery. Shockingly enough, those who currently reside in urban slums around the world comprise 78.2 percent of the population in poor countries and a third of the total global populace. As if this weren't enough, by the year 2020 urban poverty could affect 45-50 percent of the total global populace living in cities. And, by 2035 the world could be faced with the staggering prospect of having to deal with 2 billion slum dwellers by CONSERVATIVE estimates. With "lifeline infrastructures" around the world being rapidly dismantled by compliant nation-states, the only certainty is that the world won't be ready to deal with this deluge of the immiserated at all.

Too many people I talk to still think that this state of affairs isn't terribly relevant to those of us living in the technologically-developed and prosperous First World, that we have nothing to worry about in the land of television sets, computers, mega-popstars and celebrity multi-billionaires. Pick up the newspaper on any given day of the week, or take a little leisurely stroll through the downtown core of our cities, however, and a different picture may begin to emerge. Downsizing, restructuring, unemployment, privatization have all become prominent keywords and issues in popular discourse. The news of public-sector employees on strike as they battle to keep their jobs has become so prevalent it now almost fails to qualify as newsworthy anymore. As the social safety net our forefathers fought so long and hard for is dismantled seemingly overnight, our streets have become increasingly violent as the poor fight amongst themselves for whatever scraps are left over once the all-sacred bottom-line has been satiated. And, as the drug trade becomes the only real career option left for far too many of the burgeoning underclass, the shooting deaths that dominate headlines now will fade to the back pages as they become more frequent and therefore banal. So, the prognosis isn't good, folks, even for those of us who live in the land of milk and money.

Overall, as capitalist globalization tosses more and more people everyday "on the scrap-heap of history," cities EVERYWHERE are likely to become surreal amalgams where deindustrialized war-zones of exploitation, misery and despair coexist alongside the fantasy high-tech entertainment centers and gated communities of those relatively few still needed by the system to reproduce it. I'm not prescient enough to be able to predict with any degree of certainty what the ultimate outcome of such a social dynamic might be, but it's sure to be a wild, tumultuous ride with not much smooth-sailing ahead for most of us. The streets are, indeed ours, and in the near future hundreds of millions will be forced to live on them. How many will be forced to die on them is another question.

Rant over. Here's the article I'm referring to:

http://www.newleftreview.net/NLR26001.shtml

http://arghfuckkill.blogspot.com

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Idiot word errors

margoeve — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:35:14 GMT

Ok, so, you are on a tribe about the hate of stupid people. You do something amazingly stupid, like use the completely wrong word in a sentence. Then you get your balls in a twist over someone correcting you on your piss poor command of the English language.

If you’re going to get into a debate about IQ, maybe you could TRY to use the right word? These aren’t even particularly HARD words to know either. It’s the simple ones that we were taught in High School.

If you make it to age 29 without knowing that “mute” means silence and “moot” means obsolete, and use one for the other, you should probably stay out of the conversation, jackass. You are probably the first person in the history of the English language to get those two words confused. Congratulations on the world’s stupidest malapropism, dipshit.

And while we’re at it, “niggardly” means miserly and has nothing to do with the word often used for black folks. “Awning” is the shelter over the entry of a store, not what you do to hot chicks as they walk by. And “waist” is a part of the body, where as “waste” is something discarded and unused… like your fucking brain, assmonkey.

posted in RANT! - 28 replies

Cold, cold world.

bentrafford — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 05:14:04 GMT

So, I just wrote something in my journal, and it struck me:

"It's such a -cold- damned world."

It is. And I'm really sick of it.

I don't know, maybe it's because I was raised by hippies. Maybe it's because I've seen the horrible things people can do to each other, and experienced them. I used to be much harder than I am now, much more tolerant of people. If someone did something cruel, I used to be more likely to say, "Wow, somebody hurt that person!" than to think "Damn. I'm tired."

That's how I feel these days. A general sense of weariness.

I turn on the television and watch the news tell us all to be afraid. I watch entire television shows based on sexual jealousy, and little else. Commercials where black people marry black people, and white people marry white people, and we all get along. It's getting to the point where I can't even enjoy mindless action movies -- somebody gets shot, and I flinch.

I watch people rush around in cars, shaking their fists at somebody whose only crime is to go a little slower. I watch parents on the street cursing out their children. I saw a kid being bullied the other day, while people just walked on by -- after all, it wasn't -their- business.

I see a society where everything is about convenience -- goods, relationships, lives. The U.S. gov't is dominated by lying madmen who declared war on Iraq, a country where over half the population is under the age of 15. My own country's government is dominated by people pointing fingers and saying, "Not me! It was that guy over there who did it!"

I'm just heartily fucking sick of it all. I wish people could just be a little nicer, a little more tolerant, a little more courageous, a little less envious, jealous and fearful. I wish people -cared- more about what's going on around them.

I'm rambling, but fuck it. I feel like rambling. I never thought I'd grow up to despise the world I'm living in.

posted in RANT! - 4 replies

The Megamachine is Winning...

Robert — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 19:15:21 GMT

The Megamachine is Winning...

Apparently, Mahatma Gandhi once said:

God forbid that India should ever take to industrialization
in the manner of the West. If an entire nation of 300 million
took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the
world bare like locusts. (India's current population stands at about 1 billion, by the way)

Well, sadly enough, the consumerist desires of India's upper-crust, and their need to keep up with their more "advanced" counterparts in the West, are obviously going to take precedence over the ecological wisdom and vision of someone like Gandhi, as Vandana Shiva's latest rant against superhighways attests to.

She, like Gandhi, also despairs that Indians are "being asked to adopt the lifestyles and economies of the 20 percent of humanity which has been using 80 percent of the world's resources." The result is that India's unique cultural heritage of leaving a relatively small ecological footprint on the planet, despite having one of the largest populations in the world, is being threatened by a program of technological development unprecedented in its history.

Ironically, the construction of these monolithic and exclusionary manifestations of what she calls the Monoculture of the Mind is being justified under the ideological rubric of "progress." To her credit, Shiva is one of the few contemporary thinkers to seriously challenge the ethos of development, which is too often imposed upon so-called Third World nations in the name of helping the poor. As she is adept at consistently pointing out, however, these massivedevelopment projects are actually an insidious form of neo-colonialism exacted upon those at capitalism's margins by elite, vested interests.

The coming apartheid of the automobile in India will ultimately mean that "800 million Indians will have to give up their land, their homes, and their livelihoods" as the affluent drive by on superhighways "built by cutting through villages and forests, tearing down...farms and trees." When you consider that automobiles account for 91 percent of air pollution, 64 percent of noise pollution, and 91 percent of land coverage, with all the attendant destruction of more diverse and sustainable forms of living, it is more than obvious that the construction of these superhighways doesn't really help anybody.

Hitler also used the building of a national system of highways as a means of eradicating diversity, autonomy, and decentralization. And, when Shiva points out that "the highways and automobile culture are totalitarian cultures which deny people more sustainable and equitable alternatives for mobility and transport," she makes it pretty apparent whose legacy India is following. It sure isn't Gandhi's.

http://zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=44&ItemID=5009

http://arghfuckkill.blogspot.com

posted in RANT! - 10 replies

Redesign. So what?

chronovore — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 16:49:02 GMT

So I tried to load Tribe.net this morning, and it gave me a brief system outage message. Hm. Okay, no problem, I'll just pretend like I've got a "real life" until it comes back up. I check in a couple'a hours later; it's up. The new homepage, which has been preview-able for the last month or so is now the default. A couple things aren't lined up nicely in Mozilla, but hey, I'm sure it will get addressed in the next rev, or not. Whatever.

There are listings for new Tribes, and announcements, two of which are "New Tribe site design SUCKS!!!" and "This Redesign Sucks" listings. Some people want to rant about the new design. I'd like to rant about people who rudely bitch about shit that they've been given for free.

Ladies, gentlemen, and I use the term with near total abandon, here is your free horse; don't forget to check its teeth. Nevermind that Tribe is still in beta, and has gone through near-constant changes since its inception. Nevermind that nearly every change this far has been an improvement. Nevermind that the people behind the site have placed within easy grasp several venues for suggestions, petitions for features, commentary, etc. for all users. Goodness no, let's stamp our feet, bawl, and otherwise throw a fit in the most public forum possible.

Hey, it's not constructive, it's not helpful... it's not even particularly cleverly worded. At least I'm posting my rant to Rant! tribe, where venom is considered soma, and spellcheckers are checked with our coats at the door. Is it likely that I'm as guilty of being unconstructively critical as these people? Not really; they're bitching about free shit, while I'm bitching about people who bitch about free shit. The free shit they're complaining about is likely to change if they'd only apply a modicum of effort into getting their comments worded in a constructive manner to the correct venue. The topic of my gripe is unlikely to change, even were I to switch this vinegar for honey.

I'm pretty sure there is overlap between memberships, so hopefully we can hear an equally sassy and ill-considered bile-pitch from the defense.

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Always be careful what you wish for:

Rob — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 07:37:57 GMT

I needed to be less busy, so as to devote more time to the essentials, like keeping track of online happenings and drinking.

Hey, I've been fired. Problem solved. Sort of.

I'm drunk now, and catching up on tribes. See what I mean?

I have to wonder a little about the legitimacy of a generic firing under the heading "insubordination", without prior warning or documentation, when the boss recently got upset over a call from a prospective employer looking to verify my current employment. Fuckers.

Okay, back to drinking.

posted in RANT! - 21 replies

Thread-crashers!!

Joy-Lyn — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 19:17:14 GMT

Okay, I’m sure everyone has seen this….

Someone makes a post. Someone replies to the post. Original person replies back with new information. A third person puts in their two cents.

Normal message thread here. It hasn’t gotten too long yet…just four posts in all.

Now…comes the fifth person to post in the thread. Only this person makes it pretty clear that they have not been following the thread at all. They’re barely even responding to the person who originally posted the thread…say the thread topic is about prayer in public school classrooms, and the original poster happens to mention orange plastic rulers (never mind context, just roll with me here) at some point. It’s not the topic of the thread, just part of a description within the original post….but our number five poster grabs on to those plastic rulers and just goes: “Orange plastik (ooh misspelling too…Margo’s favorite) rulers sux! You all sux for liking them! Plastik rulers are always white!”

It’s a silly example, I know. But you get the idea. This jerk comes along and replies to a thread they have barely read, and make insulting remarks about other people’s opinions and feelings.

Can we track these people down and shave their heads? I got zinged by a toad like this in another tribe, and I wished I had the technical know-how to infect his computer so it would emit radiation. Hopefully it would sterilize this creep so he can’t breed. You! Out of the Gene Pool!

I have not problem with people with informed opinions that are different from mine. That’s cool. And the nice thing about these threads is everyone can give their two cents about a subject. Fabulous. Too bad we have to put up with “thread-crashers”. Uninformed numb-nuts who come from somewhere farther than left-field…they’re coming from beyond the stadium parking lot!

ACK!

posted in RANT! - 16 replies

Endless, badly-scheduled appointments

Betsi — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:30:29 GMT

Oh, I'm so sick of this crap that I could just scream. I live in a family of five; all of us have special needs of the mental health disorder kind. This means that four of the five of us see at least one person with regard to these issues on a regular bassis, and all of us have sporadic, wildly unpredictable meetings and appointments. Additionally, I - being a modern young woman and all - need to see my gyno relatively often between refills on birth control patches, and general girly bits maintainence.

So with at least six head-shrinkers (I could be forgetting some), my gyno, and a bushel of sporadic other folks, that makes for quite a lot of appointments. The tricky part comes in when you consider that we have only one car, and only two licensed drivers. We also have very little patience, or communication skills amongst us, due in part to the slew of emotional problems we all suffer.

With that in mind, try to imagine the chaos of our weeks? This week for example. How things turned out:

Monday: no one had appointments
Tuesday: Dadd had one appointment
Wednesday: no one had appointments
Thursday/Today: Dadd had appointment at 1:00, I have an appointment at 2:30, mom has an appointment at 3:10

Argh. Maybe the mess with today's appointment's doesn't sound so bad, but understand they are all in different towns, and the first two are for indeterminate amounts of time.

Why can't we ever seem to get it together??? Four appointments in four days, most scheduled well in advance. How did it have to be such a mess??! For the sake of Crimeny Jicket, we're mostly all ADULTS here!!!!

Aaaiiiiee.

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

The dark side of the virtual...

Robert — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 03:49:54 GMT

The dark side of the virtual...

This spring various U.S. military personnel with combat experience in the Iraqi war will become the first soldiers to try out an elaborate, detailed piece of computer software called Earth. Drawn from terrain data-bases, it is, in the words of one spokesperson from the company that designed it, "a massive, multi-user persistent environment" that will correlate as closely as possible with with real-world physical laws. In fact, there are plans to model the entire planet to proper scale, so that participants could walk across the surface of any nation on the planet if they so desired. Clearly then, although the software is being designed by the gaming company There, this is no game. The pupose behind all this high-tech razzle-dazzle is to help prepare U.S. ground-troops for combat anywhere in the world by familiarizing them with the potential hazards and vagaries of the terrain in advance.

So, obviously, despite protests to the contrary by most vested interests in the U.S. and their cronies in the mass media, this impressive technological display is clearly linked with their agenda of Empire-building and neo-colonialism. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the noose of U.S. global dominance is growing tighter as the planning and strategy behind its military operations becomes increasingly geared toward perfecting its global-strike capabilities. That is to say, the current U.S. military administration wants to be able to deploy manximum martial might quickly and efficiently anywhere in the world. And, they want those on-the-ground-forces to become as proficient as possible at fighting on any terrain imaginable on the planet.

Why, you may ask? To protect the interests of the U.S. and it's allies around the globe, naturally. That's the reason why Bush and his merry gang of killers are using the tenuous pretext of national security concerns to increase military spending to its highest level in years. It's all going to fund an out-of-control military machine bent on enforcing the hegemony of the U.S. capitalist class upon the rest of the world. Dominance, not defence, is the name of the game. Just be careful about levying any charges of Empire-building or neo-colonialism. Who--us? Naaaaahhh...

Consider that in conjunction with...

In a relatively recent anthology of ruminations upon cyber-culture called Digital Delirium (eds. Arthur and Marie-Louise Kroker), theorist Paul Virilio expressed concern that modern computer technology was becoming capable of creating a virtual reality complex and detaled enough to rival what we currently think of as reality. What really fascinated him was the idea that as more and more of us spend more and more time in this computer-generated world, it could eventually challenge what we now call reality for dominance. In other words, computers are a form of media technology that contain within themselves the potential to generate an entire new level of ontology.

And, some people are beginning to lay down roots there...

The Sims, a wildly popular computer game has given birth to an offshoot called the Sims Online. This is an online virtual world composed of cities such as Alphaville, its largest metropolis. It was designed to be a virtual utopia; a place where every citizen has a place to live, is free to pursue the career of their dreams, as well as to be freed from the myriad economic and social contraints that restrict their lives in the real world. In this online realm there are places to work, socialize and hangout; shops, services, and even virtual pets to care for.

Sadly, like most things that sound too good to be true, life in Alphaville has proven to be something of a disappointment for its many residents. Most of the neighbourhoods are controlled by organized crime cartels. Child prostitution is rampant. And, the economy is perpetually on the verge of collapse. Not surprisingly, this generalized social dissolution has led to the rise of various shadowy, self-declared governments/protection-rackets that obviously have learned a thing or two from people like Joseph Stalin and Ho Chi Minh. One former resident, a professor of philosophy named Peter Ludlow, who attempted to alert the game's developers to what was going on in the Alphaville Herald (a separate website), found himself summarily ejected from the city, and his accounts were closed down.

It isn't the fact that an online utopian experiment failed as the the collective dark-side of the digital multitude was given free expression that is so disturbing. It is the idea that an entirely separate ontological sphere is rapidly developing in which a burgeoning number of people are immersing themselves. Taken alongside the fact that virtual technology is increasingly being placed in the service of elite interests in their quest for domination and control of an already desecrated and beaten-down human community, one has to wonder if anyone will even notice what is happening anymore in the so-called real world? Because we aren't very likely to read all about it in the Alphaville Herald.

The stories I'm referring to are here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3507531.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3334923.stm

http://arghfuckkill.blogspot.com

posted in RANT! - 0 replies

Everything does NOT need a "y"

margoeve — Sat, 21 Feb 2004 02:24:51 GMT

I'm getting really tired of people who add a "y" to the end of EVERYTHING so they come off as 'cute.' Usually, this is includes the lack of transitive verbs to result in a caveman/childlike dialect.

I'll give you some of the more recent examples, so you may what I mean:"I go for shooty goodness" (as in someone going for firearms practice) & "I go worky now."

Perhaps this is cute amongst friends, or between lovers, every once in a while... But coming out of 30 year olds, it just has a dimention of "grow the fuckY up."

Of course, I could just be really PMSy right now. ::Big evily fucking grin::

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

The Following Is Brought To You By Hallmark

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 04:36:46 GMT

It's almost that time again. I know the rest of you have been looking forward to this as well. Lets all go out a day or two early this year and gleefully shell out another five ducats for a greeting card that will be opened, oooh'ed over and pitched about a week from now. Because after all, we love our partners.

Let's go way back to 6th grade. If memory serves, this was the last time I got to swap candy and cardboard cut-outs with my peers. Now that's love! When people you can barely stand the rest of the year give you a shitty square of Cardboard with a cartoon charter, an inoffensive message and a Herseys Kiss taped to it, it makes me feel good inside. From the get-go this has never been about love. What I learned is that every now and again "love" can be a grand and mercenary exchange. Learn to judge you peers on the basis of their cartoon representatives and the quality of their chocolate.

I know plenty of people with truly fucked stories when it comes to Valintines day. I've never like the holiday myself and would like to hear what the rest of you have to say.

posted in RANT! - 12 replies

Buy this, because you're stupid.

Thu, 12 Feb 2004 20:01:32 GMT

I really get tweeked when I log on to Tribe and see thesd CRAP listings that these IDIOTS put up, trying to promote some ridiculously stupid product or service or WHATEVER. I'd like to get them all in a room and take turns kicking them all in the HEAD.

For instance:

"The latest craze in Parties, Spray Tanning. For more information visit sprayparty.com"

ARGH!

posted in RANT! - 1 reply

Half-time Breast

Joy-Lyn — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 01:31:09 GMT

Okay...for those of you who don't know, Janet Jackson had part of her clothing torn away by Justin Timberlake, thus fully exposing 1 breast during the Superbowl half-time show.

Now...every time I see something like this on Network television, I feel a shining hope. Have we finally come so far? Are we mature enough as a Nation to realize what older civilizations (Europe) have known for hundreds of years? That nudity is only a big deal if you MAKE it a big deal?

Then of course the very next day my hope is dashed by people who will swear to you that one breast flash on TV will cause everything from teen pregnancy to the crumbling of society as we know it.

"Our children! Our Children! How do we explain this to our kids?" They whine.

Meanwhile their kids are watching their parents get all excited and freaked about a boob, and part of their little brains file that information away...to be extracted again when they are teenagers thinking: "God my parents are making me crazy! How can I make them nuts back?" Guess which brain file pops to mind?

In Europe they have artistic statues, fountains, and paintings...all public depicting men, women, and even children in quiet nude repose. Here? Our outdated Puritanical society? Nothing like that. Nudity is considered porn and therefore evil.

Naked people are ruining the world! Oh No! Grab your Bible (written by multiple authors,all human, and all based on pagan stories from religions that came before)!

Tiresome...closed-minded people must be pretty bored. I suppose they have to get excited about something....maybe if the Superbowl commercials had been cooler this year...

posted in RANT! - 10 replies

Okay..Here's a Tribe rant...

Joy-Lyn — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 06:25:25 GMT

What is the deal with these tribes that exist....only to exist?

There are tribes I'm a member of, with over twenty members, that will go days and days without ANYONE posting.

I've fought back by coming up with posts myself (naturally), figuring maybe some people would rather just respond to posts...but it hasn't really worked. The few responses I've gotten have been tired and weak. Now these have been tribes where you would think a lot of ongoing discussion would be happening, but no go.

What is the point of having a silent Tribe? Does anyone understand this?

posted in RANT! - 5 replies

PANTS!

Elkor — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:38:02 GMT

What the FUCK is with these pants that have the elastic in the side? 75% of the pants at JC Penny's were these "Side elastic" pants. The clerk said they were for men who were "between sizes." I'm guessing she means someone who is a 27 or 29 or something. Wear a fucking belt! I use my pants as a gage to know when it's time for me to lose weight. The fact that I had to buy 38" pants means it is WAY past time for me to lose weight. I see these pants as a concessions for men to say 'No, I'm not overweight. I still fit into my 32" pants.'

Yeah, because you've broken the elastic and they are gaping at the side!

posted in RANT! - 5 replies

I hate her...

margoeve — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:06:29 GMT

You can look back through the posts to see my venting about "Dr. Satan." Well, I have her again this semester. Joy.

I spent 2 hours last night rewriting her (once again partially stolen) syllabus. You see, it contained 18 pages of bibliographical entries for us to read over the semester. Some were "suggested readings." So I culled out those. Some were for us to write up "critical questions." While others were assigned to individuals so they could write Annotated bibliography entries to give out to the class. The whole thing was thrown together in a mish-mosh, so out of interest of keeping my sanity, I reorginized the whole fucking thing.

Because I realised that my classmates were probably in just as much agony, I e-mailed the entire class a copy. And of course, I got an e-mail back from Dr. Satan regarding my rewrite of her syllabus. I'll just quote the part that caused my blood to boil.

"Margo....this looks great! Thx for your extra efforts on this......snow days are a good thing!"

1. You are a professor, with a PhD in Communication, on your way to tenure (even though it's because you're essentially fucking your upstream), and the author of dozen of published articles about communication. Would it fucking KILL you to spell out the word "thanks?!?!"

2. The reason I put in the "extra effort" on this is because you couldn't be bothered to give an half assed one. SNOW DAY didn't fucking enter into it, you raggy twatfart! It was necessity. Pure, plain, simple necessity to decipher exactly what the fuck you want from us this semester, you arbitrarily grading hack! If you put half as much effort into your syllabus as you did sleeping your way into tenure and wrapping your slimy tendrils around this department to choke the life out of it, I could have spent the time READING the assigned work instead of CORRECTING yours, you ingrown labial hair scab!

I... hate... her.

posted in RANT! - 6 replies

Backwards Windows....

Elkor — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:44:03 GMT

So I moved into an apartment a few weeks ago, and noticed this.

For some dumb ass reason, the buildings have storm windows installed on the INSIDE of the apartments.

For those who don't know, a storm window is a pane of tempered glass that is mounted outside so that, in the event of storm, the window glass doesn't shatter from flying debris, hail or snowballs.

I can think of no plausible reason why they would put storm windows on the inside. None. Not one. They are difficult to open, offer NO thermal benefits, and in all, are less attractive than the windows that are on the outside.

That, and the windows themselves suck. They are double pane (Good!) but with hollow aluminum frames (BAD!). Noticing a draft I put my hand down near the base of the window (after opening the storm window) and felt a draft. Since I had some, I put some weather stripping down on the sill and closed the window. No draft now.

So now I am going to get more stripping and put it on all the windows, since they probably all have drafts.

At least I don't have to put plastic over the hole windows (yet). We'll see.

posted in RANT! - 4 replies

HERE I GO

KASSHOLE — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 00:46:56 GMT

Takes a deep Breath.

So Im at school the other day standing in line wait to get my school ID photo taken and there is this woman standing behind me...for once I am glad that it is woman because men always seem to stand to fucking close to me...
well she starts talking to me...(I hate making small talk with strangers I mean really like im going to get this old womans number and be friends...)
I am trying to be nice until she says to me...something about her being a widow and her husband leaving her an obscene amount of money and how she is just taking the college class to see if she can make it...and all this shit...she keeps talking to me and the more she is talking the more I realize that is woman is living in the 1920's in her head.
Then finally she shuts up...and I get enough time to reach into my bag...she says "GOSH, you have a lot of books in there... YOU MUST BE GOING HERE FOR NURSING"
I wanted to PUNCH HER!
I turned and looked at her and said actually...Im here for womens studies/social justice/law.
I think it is sad that women still think that there are only four things that we can be...
a teacher
a nurse
a receptionist
and a flight attendant
(well some want to be veterinarians)
but I couldn't believe that...I must be a nurse...MUST be...not a PRE-MED...or LAW which is actually what the fuck I am...sad.
SAD SAD SAD.
no wonder she was so timid and sorry...I suppose I should feel sorry for her THough rather then being mad...I should pitty the fact that she has not grown out of the thinking that women have but a few choices...
I should be saddened by the fact that we are still producing these broken females...
I should...

posted in RANT! - 2 replies