I was thinking about this blog entry today while I was out riding (even before the wipeout), and boy, do I need to make it, if only to blow off steam.

People need to remember and follow a few simple rules when they're out enjoying the urban outdoors:

( A rant and bloody picturesCollapse )

nmalfoy posted today about her social life. A friend on MySpace claims "nice guys" are a dying breed (HA!), but of course, the myth still remains:

Girls just don't like "nice guys."

I'm adding my own take to what's contained in this Craigslist post - please read it first, then ( my thoughtsCollapse )

Think I'm full of it?  Want my list of really-nice-guy traits?  Don't care?  Love your "nice guy"?  Tell me!  :)

We decided that Bernie (that's our 8-year-old puppy) could have a rawhide bone last night, since his ear is messed up anyway (they cause yeast infections in his ears) and he's been a good boy of late.

( Oh, shit. Literally. My poor puppy. :(Collapse )

I think karma just sent me a couple of messages.

There's been quite a bit of drama at the Temple this week concerning the HVAC. Tuesday's group was hot and frustrated, but calm and "I hope we get this fixed soon!" Last night, OES called twice, ranting, then I got two more rants, then hung up on, followed by a nasty email.

I am sympathetic to their plight - the Masonic Temple in my hometown still doesn't have AC, so I understand sitting in a hot room in formal dress sucks - but they complain and whine and moan so much that you stop feeling sorry for them and just get pissed. Yet another incident to further solidify my conviction that I will never, EVER join OES. (I doubt they'd have me as they seem hellbent on alienating every person under the age of 50.)

At least the day can't get any worse, right? Right?

If you're upset about something, for the love of Pete:  TELL US.

That tight, pouty tone of voice and eyes cutting down and to the right are dead giveaways, and most men are notoriously bad liars.  You're not fooling anyone, ESPECIALLY YOUR WIFE.

It's the kind of thing that could probably be cleared up in 0.5 seconds, if you would only open up your piehole and enunciate what the trouble is.  Expecting us to instinctively know what the problem is and take steps to fix it (or leave it alone) only happens on asinine shows like Everybody Loves Raymond or The World According to Jim.  (And skinny, beautiful blondes marrying fat, balding jerks is also a contrivance.)

Your wife will thank you, trust me.

ETA: And if your wife guesses what the problem is, do not LIE AGAIN and make it an issue of time rather than your own lazy ass. *rabid frothing*

/end PSA

Especially those of you along the northern and eastern parts of the United States who are complaining or wow-ing about the warm weather:

It's because of El nino

I'm going to make a t-shirt to wear to work that says, "It's because of El Nino!!"

(Although one guy did say, "I know! The last time El Nino happened, I was in South Florida. Not a great year for me.")

Grump.

Proof again that Wil Wheaton is my hero:

Torture is not an American value. Torture is a totalitarian, sadistic value. Suspending access to courts and the right to face your accuser is not what Americans do. It is what tyrannical dictators and despots do, not a democratic republic like the one I was brought up in and love. Time and again, torture has proved unreliable to prevent or solve crimes, and it reduces our country to the level of the very terrorists we are supposedly fighting.

I've been avoiding the news today, for good reason, yeah? We also got the news that my brother-in-law needs hernia surgery. He has a new job, no insurance yet. They want 5K up front for a routine, outpatient procedure. nmalfoy, I know you can relate to that. Fuckers.

The average Joe can work a full-time job and not have health insurance or a wage that gives a hope of saving for the future. The government can pick and choose its "combatants" and detain them for as long as they want without laying charges.

I refuse to accept this as the America I live in. There IS enough for everyone, every person has a RIGHT to humane treatment, and it is the RESPONSIBILITY of the people to step in and say, NO MORE.

With freedom comes responsibility. Exercise both in whatever capacity you can. Your life depends on it.

I find it rather amusing that the original purveyor of the last old and busted wank over at bad_penny is now "Mon Dieu! Quelle horreur!" over the inevitable death threats against the people she called out.

Kind of like giving a psychotic a lead pipe, later saying, "I never thought they'd hurt anyone!" when they go on a rampage.

As some folks well know, this fandom has had death threats before.  Those death threats began over ONE LINE of snark regarding a fanfic, posted in an LJ entry.

Strangely, that bit of fandom history was rather glossed over in the MsScribe/GT wank backstory.  Didn't fit quite so well with Charlotte Lennox's tale of woe, I suppose.

Putting the car in reverse doesn't take the miles off, and you can't go running off at the mouth then claim that you have no hand in what comes after.  Heat. Kitchen. And so on.

At least have the cojones to put things up under your original handle, ya wankers.

(Disclaimer:  please don't assume that you know what my opinion of this particular historical recounting is.  My opinion is rather unpopular (and don't assume that you know what that means, either).  I object to the lack of context for the recounting of the wank, and for bad_penny's "I'm not a slut, I'm just popular!" reaction to the backlash.)

Oh, another whole day of WTF, and it's not even 9:30am.

First off, snoopypez linked to an article that says all women should be treated as "pre-pregnant".

Hm, is this one step closer to the government owning your uterus? If they can't keep you from getting an abortion, they'll accuse you of child neglect if you aren't taking Folic acid supplements and have an 'oops' pregnancy that you carry to full term. Or insurance companies could force you to pay for a percentage of NICU costs if your kid is born underweight.

Classy. I haven't read the Salon.com rebuttal at the bottom of the page yet. Still in the WTF phase.

Second, a survey in Fitness magazine shows that 50% of their readers would rather be jobless than fat, and 63% of women would rather be poor.

Another survey, done at Yale, shows that Half of the respondants would give up a year of their life than be fat. 5% would be willing to give up a limb.

People, BEING FAT IS NOT BAD. Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick. I'd gladly spend the rest of my days overweight than waste time worrying about what other people think of my appearance.

Let's not fall prey to the pretty spin that both articles try to put on the numbers. People aren't thinking about the "commitment" it takes to lose weight. They're concerned about what other people might think of them.

The point? You can lose weight, but you can't fix stupid.

I'm a big conspiracy theorist, as some of you well know.

I quit doing point-of-sale PIN transactions about three years ago.

This is why.

Hackers and other nefarious types can obtain your card number, PIN, and in some cases, your bank account number during a point-of-sale transaction where you use your PIN. Wal-Mart and Office Max have both had their customers' numbers hacked and stolen.

Now banks are trying to pin those losses on the consumers, up to $500. Yeah, right. *stabs*

I wonder how much this third-party merchant paid to have their company name expunged from the notification letters? And how often it's happened in the past.

I've been reading No Place to Hide, and it's terrifying how easily identity information is obtained and used. ( I thought it was funnyCollapse )

So, funny. Funny in an ohmygodwerealldoomed kind of way. Big brother doesn't have to watch you; you're keeping track of yourself just fine. Click, click, click, and they've got you pegged.

Even if you are only marginally interested in how the government tracks people, at least pick this book up to read the chapter on how a program was used to generate a list of possible terrorists that could have been involved in the 9-11 attacks. That program picked more than a half-dozen of the actual hijackers on the first run-through, with the least specific data filter.

It's tough to reconcile, eh?

What.the.fuck.

My rant on this is here, but be aware that it will be offensive to anyone who finds themselves jockeying for rank in their pew on Sunday.

RAR. Someone please schedule me for a frontal lobotomy so I won't have to care about this kind of crap anymore.