Writing sucks

DAMMIT. I've been going over the press kit for the XBox 360 again. Initially it contained some pretty easy bits to comprehend. You know, RAM and WiFi and yeah.... Well, apparently all of that wasn't enough for Microsoft. I've been checking press releases, other blurbs.... FAQs and have discovered new and improved support for things like HD-DVD. I barely comprehend blue ray. What the bleeping mother of bleep is this all about?

Trying to keep up and write this article is like trying to run on a greased rubber ball.

I keep falling off.

3 pages of research, 1 paragraph with a bad analogy. ARGH.

On the other hand I'm experiencing a revived interest in netmodelreview. Go look.

I'm trying to find my Mr. Me a birthday gift on t'internet. Amazon now has a auction site that I thought might have some er, different things than what you usually see on EBay. Oh man, does it.

This post on that guy who messes about with an accordion's blog is kind of a continuation of opinions on the Internet thought process. He asked for advice, was given advice in the *comments* and was then threatened by a company who received a bad review. This company comes across as being petulant, rude and threatening. They just mention that someone signed some document and aren't allowed to have an opinion. Then, instead of going directly towards the customer in question, they attack the person who just hosted the comment. It's great to contrast the individual's response to things like this. I've found most people on the Internet don't threaten legal action unless someone has breached their copyright or have actually implied something untrue. Folks that are subject to criticism usually fight back and in a very direct way. Companies just act like bullies.

Just a quickie today

I'm in the middle of an annoying Novell course so not much in the way of blogging today :(. Being ill has pushed everything onto today and tomorrow. Joy and rapture.

Instead, I'll share this:



From flippin' everywhere.

Summer Snow Day

Some random vitriol yesterday and all signs are pointing to a source I didn't expect. I've been on t'internet for about oh.... 11 years? My first website went up in 1998 on Angelfire when they were one of the few hosts that *just* had pop-up ads and nothing embedded. It was a seriously beginner venture, much worse than this one. Once I discovered hex color and table tags, it was all over and your eyes had better be prepared to bleed for it. The one thing that hasn't really been modified since is the layout. I rather like the content/side bar look and there are really just so many ways you can sort out content on a flat 'surface.' So help me, I will never have a Flash intro.

I first discovered random Internet anger via some Usenet groups that started with alt.xxxx. NNTP flame wars, those were the days. I used to get involved with them rather enthusiastically and then.... it stopped. I became a bit busy when I entered college. Not only was I working but I was taking a full load of classes, debating and on the student council. I also (rather amazingly) managed to keep up a fairly active social life and make new friends. The relationships on the Internet became less important or interesting the older I became.

That's not to say that they died completely. In 1998 I had one of the best weekends of my adult life with people I met off the BONG (Depeche Mode) list and one of my real life friends. I showed them around my hometown Portland and we ate, drank and hung out with rockstars. Even now on that same list the same people are around and planning to do something similar this time. But even the haven of the BONG list also had its more idiotic side. People can be stupid, petty, vindictive, opinionated and irritating as much as they are cool. A lot like life...

I run a community on Deadjoural that's designed to 'critique' Internet models. It was never really meant to be a 'nice' gesture, more an honest one in an industry I felt lied to itself more often than not. The amount of hate mail, random comments and vicious attacks on the girls that post and myself pretty much hardened me to the constant accusations of ugly. Well, it hardened me over there. See, 'real' blogging adventures aren't something I've participated in until recently. I didn't see the need. I had a 'blog' with my Livejournal. This account was meant to be more of a... well, professional venture. It's an experimental place and not entirely personal. Because of its fairly benign intentions I wasn't expecting to be trolled.




As Chrissi says, the Internet is serious business. Not just Livejournal or Deadjournal but on the rest of it too. The newest spate of Internet bile came from this post. One day I was looking at this blog, looking at Bloglines and kind of wondering what the fuck the point of it all was. I didn't understand glib 20 somethings (like me) or earnest bloggers (like Foilwoman.) It was a one off comment, a flippant remark that I didn't think anyone would read. (DUH. REFERRAL LOGS.) Most importantly, I didn't think anyone would take it personally. I was very wrong.

I realized one day that people often use assumptions about themselves to judge others. I treat the Internet like I would a game of sorts. To me, it's not necessarily a personal forum. Like I said above, the things that are personal I keep behind lock and key on my Livejournal so the people I know in real life or like on the Internet will respond. I try to keep a hard plastic coating when I log in, plug in and tune out knowing that, to paraphrase Penny Arcade Normal Person + Internet + Anonymity = Fucktard.

Not everyone has the hard candy shell though, do they? Not everyone operates under the protective shield perspective. I keep forgetting that 'normal' and 'sane' humans who haven't dealt with Usenet flame wars for 10 years keep logging on as well. So what does that mean then? I'm not really sure. For every nice person there's about 50 gazillion semi-literate ape-people who think that think randomly insulting folks is good sport. Those ape-people? They're also the ones who like to talk the most.

100th post wooo

Only fitting the subject matter.

You know you're really on the Internet when some anonymous fuck decides to tell you how uncool you are. I wish I could say that it was due to my glorious presence but the IP address is US based so I'm guessing it's probably someone connected to netmodelreview. I know of very few people who just randomly troll blogs and journals to find someone to insult without some sort of incitement to protest. I tend to do similar things but you know, for as much as I get myself in trouble on the grand ol' web, I at least sign my name.

The troll did do something worth considering by bring up a few convenient points already on my mind. The illustrious Jessica Simpson post was a little out of place here. I don't usually dwell on celebrity gossip unless it has to do with Martin Gore getting divorced (?!) or where Alan Wilder is living. Much of this blog has been shameless self promotion, short essays, updates, links and small technical issues. Jessica Simpson was about as appropriate here as a walnut to jello (don't tell the Presbyterian women though.)

So, I like to laugh at bare-pussy 'celebrities' dancing about in tiny shorts. What's wrong with that? Ms. Simpson and her ilk are our versions of minstrels. They are there to entertain us and a lot of people were definitely entertained. That's not to say I'm obsessed with J-Simp's lips it's just that, every so often, amusement comes not from being able to identify Vivaldi's Spring movement from the Four Seasons in 10 seconds but from having the ability towards laughter. It's also not to say that Simp Lips are out of place here.

My time used to be spent contemplating the world's ills. I'd wrap my brain around uranium tipped missiles, North Korean arms issues, stagnating economic indicators in Oregon and the best time to move home. I would sit and contemplate the injustice of my Tommy shirt being made in a country without running water by people who had no hope. I would trace back the beginnings of Communism and try to picture Marx's Manchester over it's new overlay. The manifest in my personality? I was grotesquely insecure and self important. It wasn't until I began to find the humor in the mundane, the serious or the tragic that I found the ability to to cope with my own mistakes.

The troll also said I was boring and bland. Praise Jesus, can you hear my sweet song? I've made it to boring. About 6 years ago the only thing I wanted was a peaceful life. I lived very intensely and felt the world accutely. Because of that, trauma and drama followed me everywhere. Have you noticed that about people who can't laugh at themselves? Have you noticed that they're the ones who can never pay their bills, or are always accusing people of lying to them, or ganging up against them? It's all to do with peace of mind.

I'm not really ashamed of being bland or dull. I'm rather enjoying having a banal life. The excitement comes on my terms. When I want to rattle the honeycomb, I do. When I just want to play Warioworld, I do. When I just want to read about Exchange MAPI client malfunctions, I do. The best thing having a sense of humor can do is allow you to control the direction your life is going. In my recent memory, there hasn't been a single painful experience I can recall that hasn't been made better by possessing the ability to laugh at it.

My train journey in the mornings passes a small camp of homeless underneath one of the many viaducts of Manchester. They have setup a fence around their shelter and decorated it with lost patio umbrellas, pieces of cardboard and purple spangled paper. It looks like a cheerful and pleasant place to be. Hell, I'd pay them a visit if I wasn't so terrified of the possibility of homeless dogs. Every day I see it. Every day I let out a diminutive laugh. Every day it makes me want to cry for those people who can't have the luxury of some stupid spoiled phobia, or even contemplating them from a distance.

Every so often I'm probably going to post a bit of punani or bad dress on my blog. Those will be the posts that get the most attention. Thems the rules. The next day, I might say something about the first Chinese tourist group in London. No one will read that. Whatever one I do, I'll still be a student of history, I'll still read the FT, and I'll still hate the Guardian. One does not automatically discount the other.

On a side note: The troll didn't like my picture :(. Really too bad, isn't it? When I put it up I considered grabbing a wedding photo or a really nice one that had been taken of me all dressed up with make-up on. I didn't entirely feel comfortable with that. This is a pretty simple little blog, with a pretty simple little outlook. That photo is what I look like and there really isn't anyway to get around it.

This is also what I look like... when trying to have a 'normal' expression. I'm a little severe.

Bitter... something

I'm completely unforgiving when it comes to waiting staff. I would be well suited to joining Gordon Ramsay on his quest to fix terrible restaurants around Britain. It's not so much that I'm a demanding customer or that I even want anything out of the ordinary. I don't actually have any unusual tastes or demands, I just want decent service.

What is decent service?

1. What I ordered in completion. That includes sauces, drinks, ashtrays, sugar.....
2. What I ordered in a reasonable amount of time and warm.
3. Clean cutlery, glasses and dishes.
4. To not be ignored, but also to be left in peace.

I'm a pretty good tipper on balance, I usually leave 20% or more even in England. It's a shitty job and a bit of extra money usually helps anyone. Even if one or two things go wrong I'll still tip the basic.

But....

I have no qualms about not leaving a tip at all if the service is horrible.

At the Horse Brass off Belmont in Portland; Mr. Me, two friends and I sat down to have a few beers and catch up. I miss Portland's microbrews almost as much as I miss my friends and make a point of drinking as many as I can when we go back for a visit. We settled in for some lovely porter goodness and kept drinking for a good few hours. Eventually the bar started clearing out, it was getting close to kicking out time. So, we ordered another round thinking we could get a few more in before booting time at 1:45. Up to this point our waitress had already been slow, forgetful and was baring her pierced navel at me. She impressed me even less when she took my beer order, vanished and then promptly started talking to her friends at one of the corner tables. It's not like I was even ordering food, I just wanted a beer that came out of a fucking nozzle. Not tough right?

It never materialized.

Even though the bar service was supposed to be seated I had to get up and get my own whilst she sat talking to her friends. She eventually got off her ass to start harassing us for the check. She came up the first time and found my friends and I still talking and finishing our beer whilst slowly getting ready to go. This wasn't enough for our waitress who then proceeded to interrupt us every 5 minutes until we paid our check. I told her to go talk to her friends and give us a minute to finish our conversation. She asked me what I was talking about and I pointed to the table 4 feet away. Apparently she couldn't tell that 4 feet away was close enough indeed to be able to see someone. Understandably, she only got a penny for a tip from me.


Listen up waitresses, you are not entitled to anything. A gratuity is a fucking gratuity. We do it because we are grateful and not because we have to. I tip very well if someone is competent but I'll be fucked if I'm going to shell out after you forget my order or start talking to your loser friends in front of me. There are going to be some cheap or forgetful assholes who don't give you money even if you are good. Not all of us are like that. I'm not like that. So help me god though, if you ruin my dinner or time out with friends with your incompetence and stupidity, I will not give you more of my money.

For normal people the above sounds pretty straightforward right? Tips are tips and on top of daily wages. We are *giving you money* for being competent or good. It's not a fucking entitlement. Well, some of the people at bitterwaitress.com wouldn't agree with me. Admittedly they do have to put up with some asshole customers. For that I sympathize, I've worked in the trenches of most idiotic places so I understand. But, I stand my ground: you are not entitled to anything except for what your employer provides you. Not. Entitled. To. Anything.

I don't remember updating...

I've been away for a few days. My company decided to me nice to us little techie monkeys and pay for us to hurt ourselves and get drunk. HOORAY! Definitely improved department morale.

In between the aches and pains I've managed to find this.

It's a Google map of the moon with the various Apollo missions marked. Yay!

gamegrrl review

http://www.grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=monopolylive

More Jessica Simpson

I'd like to apologize for the lack of vagina in this post. I know you people aren't coming here to listen to me moan about the New Left.

However, in light of yesterday, I can't help but see the entertainment in this:

A provocative new concept in scent for the new frontier in erogenous zones ... the belly button! Daring, seductive, and deliciously kissable, this roll-on fragrance is fully charged with sweetness that guarantees instant attraction. Simply pick your favorite scent: French vanilla and smooth caramel (Creamy), silky, or juicy, and berry sweet with a subtle hint of crisp green bouquet (Juicy). So irresistible, it's Ok to double dip ...

Here

Via Pop Culture Junk Mail

I can see her vagina!

It's rare that I mention celebrity insanity on this particular blog. However, I feel Mrs. Simpson deserves some attention here:



Wow.

I CAN SEE YOUR VAGINA!

Originally from Gossiplist

50 things you didn't know

Consider this an introduction of sorts. Over the last few days my traffic has increased by a large amount to a small amount. That's nice. For those of you who aren't my friends who clicked on the link regarding the posts over the last few days, you might be wondering who the person is behind the blog. There's a photo over there of me in my Dava Gahan tour t-shirt with no make-up and unbrushed hair. That sums up quite a lot. Here are 20 bite sized tidbits to get to know your blogger.

1. I moved to England 4 years ago to be with my husband

2. I managed to start a career in IT about 8 months before that

3. I'm an MCSA and am one piddly exam away from finishing an MCSE 2000

4. I'm fighting a difficult case of cynophobia

5. One of my most recent favorite television programs was Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

6. I'm a die hard Depeche Mode fan and have met the 3 remaining members. My favorite, Alan Wilder has fucked off to Spain I think. He's a little more complicated to try and snag.

7. If something is conventional or popular I can generally find something wrong with it immediately.

8. I am a member and a coordinator of the Camarilla UK. I like games.

9. My most recent two favorite video games were Doom 3 and WarioWorld.

10. I'm about 5'8" and weigh more than I look.

11. My mp3 play list currently has: Echo and the Bunnymen, Stevie Nicks, Underworld, The Slits, U2 (old...,) Robert Palmer, Yoko Kanno, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, The Meters, The Motors, The Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Smiths, Tori Amos, The Who, Level 42, Guy Delicious, The New York Dolls, No Doubt, Sublime, Love and Rockets, Toad the Wet Sprocket, 14 Iced Bears, Big Country, Violent Femmes, Neil Diamond, Cream, Adam and the Ants, Erasure, The Cure, Electronic, Front 242, Pet Shop Boys, The The, Kirsty MaColl, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Alphaville, The Sweet, Franz Ferdinand, Muse and Marvin Gaye.

12. I read about 3 or 4 books at a time

13. I can finish a 600 page novel in 5 hours

14. I might be epileptic but I don't want to find out

15. I'm sick of stereotypes

16. I can talk to anyone

17. I hate modern society's lack of courtesy

18. I hate modern society's lack of reason

19. I love how privilleged we are.

20. I hate Madonna.

Homegrown

There was a lot of coverage in the US regarding the homegrown nature of the London bombings over the weekend. I'll give the Guardian that much. Whilst it's easy to say that the US is being hysterical and pointing just a few fingers, I think there's a little more to it than that.

Homegrown is something the US can comprehend. Consider Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber...various suicide cults. The mass murder of our own is an issue that Americans have long dealt with. The individual rights aspect of all of the above was hashed and rehashed to death everty time a large scale tragedy took place. With Columbine it was gun rights, with Oklahoma the eternal problem of the Anarchists websites and manuals. We know this debate inside and out.

Leaving the left

I think I'm leaving the left behind.

Yesterday's Guardian article really ruffled my feathers. Why would I want to be associated with such half baked opinions? The left has turned into a group overrun by Michael Moore fat asses running around being annoying and sanctimonious. Would I rather help Africa than ignore it? Yes. Do I want fly covered children thrown in my face to do it? No. I can comprehend the problems of troubled nations without the emotive campaign ads. And I'm not alone, a lot of people can develop compassion regarding a situation just by reading the facts.

I've always been of the opinion that increasing budgets or aid funds rarely solve problems with extreme poverty. With Africa it's various issues including over-farming, corruption, carrying capacity and the desires of the people. It's a complex selection that's taken hundreds of years to develop into the striking situation that makes people want to give them money. It's going to take a lot more than wearing a white bracelet and snapping along with Will Smith to fix it. Mind you, I'm not suggesting they should just be happy with their lot. These people deserve a quality of life just as much as us Northern European types. But there's a huge leap in between living in a hut off of leaves and being stacked in an Urban Box development. It takes massive social and cultural change akin to the sources of the problems to achieve the kinds of goals that people like Geldof evangalize.

The hysteria and rhetoric of the Africa campaigns do us thinking folks a real disservice. The movement and the interest becomes overwhelmed with surface analysis, with well meaning hipsters who only understand half of the argument but think it's the entirety. The truth is the well meaning hipsters would have to give up just as much as our governments if we really were to work on Africa. Our lifestyle; the cars, the bars, the clothes, the mp3 players, the food, the smokes, the chocolate... is almost entirely based off of exploitation in one way or the other. Some of the components in my mp3 player were made in China. How much do you think those people got paid? My leather boots probably came from a cow that hadn't moved from its pen during it's lifetime. My shirt was probably stitched together by an 8 year old Romanian orphan. The diamonds in my engagement ring? Probably African, probably mined by men who sleep with AIDS infected prostitutes and pass it on to their family.

To say that some idiotic little concert featuring the talentless lacklustre crap of an industry that not only completely misunderstands their own artists but is only using the issue to promote falling album sales is going to raise awareness, well... it's bullshit. We've forgotten about Live 8 already haven't we? In a lot of ways it's more harmful to buy the line that these completely unqualified rich and talentless idiots are spouting than to ignore it. You think you understand the issue. You think you know. But like listening to Michael Howard for 24 hours a day, you're only hearing what they think you need to know. Just because it's a liberal or good cause doesn't mean they're telling you the whole story.

I stopped reading the Guardian a few years ago after I was jolted by an article that barely covered any factual analysis. I think it had something to do with the war in Eritera in 1999. I realized that just by reconsidering half facts I had absorbed for argumentation purposes 6 years ago I understood more. Unfortunately this is not a uniquely Guardian shaped problem. The overall quality of reporting for the papers in the US and the UK consists of arguments that should be emphasized with caps lock and OMG for all of the depth involved. When I do pick up a broadsheet I can't help but feel that the journalist is screaming at me or speaking at me from a high and mighty place. I don't like being patronized and I don't like being misinformed.

Whilst I'll admit that the left was right in adopting the same tactics of propoganda and rhetoric to push their causes it's alienating me. I do hope people join the left, absorb and then leave to find their own way. You shouldn't rely solely on one newspaper, radio station or website to tell you what's going on. All papers have an agenda. Despite values of free speech they still have to please advertisers and make money. Journalism is never altruistic no matter the issues they support. And above the commercial interests of the publishing groups The reporters, editors, copy editors, photographers and interns are all human with prejudices. Just because their name is in print doesn't mean they're any better at finding things out than you. They're just a little better connected.

(X posted from LJ)

TVNewsLies ... again

Jesus. Why am I still reading this crap?

I know, because it distracts me from my dog phobia.

Where is the media? Where is the acknowledgement of realty? Where is the information that puts our reality into perspective? Think about it!

I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious: people seem to get set on fire a lot in Africa. Or at least that's the liberal media portrayal. Has everyone forgotten about helping out war torn crying orphans already? In the mind of the customer it's not really news. London is supposedly a civillised city full of good working people who pay their taxes. That's shocking.

Where to blog?

A post on the technodiva blog has started going over what blogging tools to use. Whilst it's good advice, I think it needs to be expanded on.

1. Blogger can be configured to use ftp to copy to your own host. The files you create are kept in two places: Blogger's servers and your own. When I make a post it copies over a new index page via ftp and then copies the archived post to the relevant directory. Works pretty well in my book.

2. My main reservation with using Wordpress is that stupid login for comments. On Blogger, Livejournal, Deadjournal, Hatelife.org and all sorts of Blogging hosts you're not stuck with having to logon to their system. I can control the permissions so that you have to have a Blogger identity but what's the fun of the Internet of random anonymous people can't tell you how much they hate you?

The main limitation I've found with Blogger is no native tagging. Even frickin' Livejournal has support for tags and Open ID. I also seem to be having issues consistently copying over blog entries to my host. I'm not sure if that's on Blogger's end or my provider.

Londistan

The Guardian has come up with an article about how Americans appear to think London is running with bomb happy terrorists. Two of my friends have noticed and aren't very happy. If the alarmist slant of the article was correct, I can't say I blame them. The thing is, it's the Guardian. Whilst it may have a big ol' liberal heart full of Bono penned causes its standards of journalism are pretty god damned stingy.

One of the first quotes the article uses is the roll off the tongue implication that London is a "crossroads for would-be terrorists." In the context of the Guardian article you would think it was a real analysis from a real journo, or possibly a quote from an expert. It's not, it's from an editorial piece done on Newsday.com by a staunch Republican supporter. He might have the ability to report semi-impartially when he writes normal articles but opinion pieces are just that. Remember that everyone has one.

The original NYT article did say 'If London became a magnet for fiery preachers, it also became a destination for men willing to carry out their threats.' But did the Guardian notice that it followed a quote by an Arab man living in London who promised 9/11 over and over again? I'd say with that kind of language it's probably true that London is a magnet for fiery preachers. Wash your mouth out. What was that about reports that Brick Lane had parties after the World Trade Centers were bombed? Does that sound like maybe a few hotheads might live there? So what's the problem with saying it? The Guardian apparently doesn't have an issue exaggerating comments themselves so why are they taking it up with the NYT?

The international edition article goes on to use terms like 'critics' when it comes to inferred problems with civil liberties being too relaxed. The Guardian goes on to back up it's victimization claims with this quote, 'London is easily the most jihadist hub in western Europe.' What Roger Cressey actually said was this:

"It's the paradox of the United Kingdom," said Roger Cressey, a former White House counter-terrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations. In Britain, Cressey said, "you have some of the most sophisticated law enforcement and intelligence operations. At the same time, London is easily the most important jihadist hub in Western Europe."

That doesn't sound very anti-UK to me, does it to you?

Michael Radu might be a little distressed to find out that the information he gained from the British intelligence community was being used against him in one of their broadsheets. The article starts out with a rather supportive statement of 'A U.S. terrorism expert now in Europe studying Islamic jihadist networks said officials at London's Scotland Yard told him last month that attacks in their homeland were inevitable.' The Guardian chose to only focus on the fact that 'London has been an indoctrination and recruiting centre for many years.'

Larry Johnson, in turn, has been just as critical of the US government, especially in relationship to the terrorist reports back in April. (Note the lefty link there.) Peter Bergen of the New America think tank is also fairly opinionated but wait! He should be! His piece is Op-Ed. Hardly front page. I mean, does anyone get to the editorial section anymore besides the Guardian's features staff? Unlike the Guardian, he actually uses facts to back up his claims. He is a thinker.

As far as Londonistan. Well, London's Muslim community was under fire as far back as 2002, probably more. Before all this kicked off, there was even a press release. Ahhh.

Better analysis

WOOOO!

Yeah, that's right. Fuck off out of our world you bastards.

You know, now that people in Public Relations have "discovered" blogging, I'm seeing a notable downward trend in the quality of the discussions online. These are the people who think they understand communication and people in general, yet seem to be the last ones to be arriving to the blogosphere... But arrived they have and now the signal to noise ratio seems to be skyrocketing in the wrong direction. I mean, the great thing about blogging is we were finally able to cut out these morons and get to the opinions and ideas of the people who actually contribute to the world! Yet now these bullshit artists are sort of weasling their way back into the conversation somehow and it's annoying. And don't misunderstand, these people aren't trying to participate in the conversation, they're trying to "influence" it.

from here

Software Engineers Handbook

One of the gals on the Systers list has posted a wiki to:

The purpose of this online collaboration is to give software engineers, software developers, computer scientists, and information technology professionals a good place to look when they are starting something new. The introductory material would be given here, including vocabulary necessary to search the web effectively, and references to web sites, articles, and texts for more in depth coverage.

here

A soldier with an iPod

Apple says they won't cover it under warranty because whatever damaged the screen probably damaged the click wheel, and they don't cover LCD damage. (why not? Is it that bad?) Okay. That's fine with me for a number of reasons. But so what? It's a 400 dollar hard drive for pete's sake. You'd think something so expensive would have a little quality in it. How about a stronger screen? (I swear it was in the case, I have witnesses) How about a click wheel that works!!!

I haven't had any problems with my Creative Nomad yet, excepting needing to reset it after it charges but I'm really glad I didn't go for an iPod after reading this

You like da photos, no?

The walkway from the Metrolink to Deansgate station is way skeevy. Every damn weekend some drunk lowlife gets it into their heads that that plastic is obviously a target for throwing things at. At least it's interesting to take photos of.





There's quite a lot of building activity going on in Wigan as part of a regeneration project. A rather large shopping centre is going up in Spring of 2007. This means the only club night Mr. Me and I would go to was shut down and an old cinema was destroyed.



That sign says 'no headphones at a volume annoying to others.' Yeah. Right. Why is it always the guys that listen to shitty Ibizia dance trash? Why can't it be the fellow Smiths fans of the universe? Or maybe Depeche Mode. That being said, a tinny rendition of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' on please mug me headphones doesn't sound much better than Flip and Phil.



My thumb is not black.

Indymedia grouchiness

This guy slams Portland Indymedia for being silly little reactionary bastards.

Wooo.

Ignorance and Terror

My bloglines account keeps crawling up towards a couple hundred. In addition to various Microsoft, music and personal feeds I also have quite a lot of political commentary. I need my analysis like a vein tapping alley living heroin addict. Most analytical blogs vary between very good and painfully half baked. Only a few blogs actually come inbetween 'ALL GAYZ MUST DIE' and 'ALL WHITES MUST DIE.' The Internet seems to bring out the most extreme in anyone who reads the news.

TVnewslies.org, the site is a hideous and garishly put together page. It's difficult to navigate, the content is punctuated with completely unnecessary exclamation points (!!!OMG!!!) and it makes some mighty claims about it's importance. "Welcome to the web site that CNN, FOX News & MSNBC don’t want you to see!" Sure, the CNN hit squad are going to try and throw me in their black van of network terror for clicking on a link. The main page really isn't worth bothering with, it consists of the usual half assed opinions that The Guardian and various other alarmist liberal papers would have you soaking up.

What pushed me into a hatred frenzy today was not the smattering of CNN/MSNBC/FOX bashing, it was the idea that because not as many people in London died as Iraq or Israel that it was unimportant. The quote in specific is: "However tragic yesterday’s events were, they were trivial as compared to what goes on in the non-white nations of this world." The next paragraph goes on to venture that the ongoing Kyoto drone fest somehow should have been more reported than the bombing of the London transport network. What?

The gist is that because news network covered the mass murder of perceived white working folks that it somehow denied the rightful place of the Iraqis or the environment. Was CNN supposed to shun the attack on London in favor of something that will never be ratified by Congress and most people can't give a flying fuck about? And how, exactly, are suicide bombings in Iraq negelcted? I'm not sure about the whole of the US anymore but every damn time someone flips off a US or UK soldier it gets covered to a bleating death worse than anything Chav Qaeda has ever done. I'm sure that a lot of my knowledge of Iraqi suicide bombers hasn't come from anywhere except for CNN news alerts.

Why can't CNN go and cover the London bombings for a few days? Does that automatically throw Iraq or the silly nosed mountain snake into some sort of halfway home for issues? Not really. The three aren't mutually exclusive and whilst the London bombings and Iraq are kind of/sort of connected, the focus on one doesn't preclude concern or 'newsworthiness' about another. The mainstream news media is neglectful in a lot of ways but this isn't one of them.

(Think about it.)
False dilemma fallacy

Lockergnome Update

Exchange 2003 reveals BCC list

And they think gay men are bad....

AC: "You had sex with animals?"

NH: "Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule."

What Nancy Friday has been telling us all along

*with a Mean Girls inflection* Ew.

Chav Qaeda

Idea stolen from the metaquotes community on Livejournal:

ASBO on terror

Well, yesterday was... something. In the crappy little transit paper The Metro today there was a photo of Tony Blair looking pensive. I like those 'just heard about it' snaps. Though I think our president wins for 'look of shock.' Rather surprisingly I received no flames for the 'League of Exploding Gentlemen' quote on Livejournal In that thread I was accused of being English. I don't know whether that's a compliment or an insult.

As much as I accuse this country of harboring a bunch of hapless, jobless pussies, people are dealing with it well. On September 12th the morning train was dead silent as everyone read the same page over and over again. Today it was business as normal with fat guys pushing in front of the ticket inspectors and inconsiderate cunts leaving their bags in terrible positions on crowded trams. There's supposed to be an increased police presence in Manchester. I think they must be invisible (like an underworld cowboy, heh) because on three crowded commuter services there were none to be seen. Just like any other work week morning.

My friends are all ok, this makes me a happy Tiffany. I made the mistake of telling Mom that I work in London occasionally. Our offices are a stone's throw away from Liverpool St. station. I received a phone call 'just to be sure' late yesterday afternoon. Nice one that. :) I said I was 'safely' in Salford Quays and no reason to be concerned. It was nice that people were worried though.

What is pissing me off at the moment is the first comments of 'it's all Tony Blair's fault,' have begun cropping up. Mostly because it's sloppy thinking. Look people, regardless of Afghanistan and Iraq these people hate anything white and not of extremist Islam. You wouldn't blame abortion clinic bombers on feminism would you? The link just isn't there. Here's some background that I found rather surprising. You know our 'friends' the Saudis? Well, they put all of their eggs in one oily basket. Then they didn't have as much in their reserves, which meant they couldn't sell as much, which meant their GDP dropped like a stripper's velcro pants. You following me? A lot of government services were then privatised or, get this, turned over to private religious groups. Many schools in Saudi are actually Muslim academies. It's quite similar to Catholic schools here and in the states. You don't have to like the pope but it helps.

A lot of these schools are extremist. Over and over again these children are told that the West is responsible for them no longer having the promised government job of their parents and grand parents. Over and over again they are told we are a threat to their way of life and thinking. Does this sound like any other groups you know? Like the IRA, the National Front or the KKK per chance? What we have here, children, is a basic case of indoctrinated racism. I'm not saying the war in Afghanistan or Iraq didn't kind of push things a long. Let me remind you though, these extremist whack jobs started it by driving four large planes into various US landmarks. The US had been operating as it always does, with 'intelligence consultants,' NATO and bombs.

If you believe what the 'secret decoder ring Jihad society of small countries in Europe and Luxembourg' said then you need to think about it again. They're retaliating for a war that was started because another terrorist cell attacked the US on its own soil. What? For the US fighting back they bomb London? And what about Hussein not having terrorist connections? See, they're just making this shit up as they go along because they are crazy. So, blame Blair, blame Bush, blame Clinton, blame Chirac for wanting to deal with the Taliban, blame Putin for being an asshole and not cutting the Chechens loose... Blame whoever the fuck you want to because it's not a rational process people and it doesn't make a difference to them. Deductive logic does not apply here.

The real people to blame are the 'no gurls allowed' idiots that decided commuters were an easy target. They're lazy, they're ignorant and they're below even the most extreme BNP representative. These people are laughable slime who have some deluded idea of whose fault it is they suffer. Do we allow people to say it's all a black man's fault they don't have a job? Well then why the fuck do you give these people the time of day?

There is no way you can give these people what they want.

The best quote from one of my coworkers 'ain't no bloody Arabs going to keep me from getting to work.'

Blogging Evil

In other 'wow these people are a good argument for eugenics' news, another maniac had a blog.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III spent months on the Internet documenting his internal struggle over right vs. wrong. Then, four days before two Idaho children he is accused of kidnapping disappeared, he wrote: "The demons have taken over."

Why be so cryptic people? Just say 'I'm going to go do something bad now. Call the police.' Blog of a Level 3 Sex Offender (?!!!)

And of course, he blames 'society,' for his problems:

I just have a disease contracted from society, and it hurts a lot.
I hope to complete this journal before I die (soon) or turn myself in (I still might do that, I think it is the right thing, but of course, I'm not sure).

From Muhammed

I'm subscribed to a Muslim news list for the occasional sub-continent IT stories they release. I found this today and it made me a little worried but a little hopeful at the same time. These people are scared, probably more so than us WASPs and they have a right to be. For as much as the bombings in London, Madrid and the World Trade Centre in Europe were acts of ignorance and anger, our people are just as much.

HADITH OF THE DAY: MURDER IS A GREAT SIN - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said one of the worst sins a person can commit is "to murder a human being."

Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Hadith 10

*sigh*

This is irritating.

To the extreme.

It's not so much that it's a little well, inside the stereotype box. What really pisses me off about it all is it's about as hot as most amatuer Internet models. The illustrious Demona Drear in all of her lying on caskets would make a better calendar model than these girls. Where the fuck did they get the idea to use Photoshop to copy and paste the images onto things like 'CDs?' So very, very lame.

Plus, how the hell are these girls representative of any of the 'geek' things they're posing for?

The computer geek is skanky. Like way. What is up with her hair? And that eyeliner? Come on. I know of many, many female computer geeks who are way hotter than her. Will someone tell me what the hell a pin up geek is anyway? This just seems like a cheap attempt at finding number 12. 'Shit guys, we've run out of geek types, what should we use?' 'Well, I know this Suicide Girl and she's really into retro...'

How do we know they even do what they say they do anyhow? Ok. The site says so, whatev but they also can't spell:

Absolutely! One of the most important decisions made with the Girls of Geekdom calendar was to make sure all the Girls appearing in the Girls of Geekdom products and website actually are Geeks in the category they represent. It would have been very easy to go out and find models to pose in geeky parafanalia, but that takes away the point of the site. Sexy geeks are out there. In fact, they're everywhere!

Jesus Christ people, if you're going to objectify us geeky ladies then at least fucking do it well.

stolen from the girl on tech

Ugh.

London's burning

This morning someone on my Livejournal friends list posted about an explosion in London. Now there have been 6. Thankfully people keep responding to my request for a roll call. There are a couple MIAs but I doubt they were part of it.

This is some scary shit. I'm over 200 miles away but it still churns my stomach. The English are being funny about it though 'oh we've done this before...' I'm not sure I can be so cynical. I've been on the tube during rush hour and in that part of town (London City) so I know what it looks like. The tube is a mad squish of people trying to get to and fro... the amount of chaos it must be causing is huge.

Well, whoever did this, I hope you're proud.

CNN coverage