Oh yes, boo-friggin-hoo for me. I can't have my brain strip-mined for the sake of profit. My "loss" indeed. And jeez, G, do I need to litter everything I say with smilies to indicate that, no, I'm not being serious. I take nothing seriously, and I (mistakenly) presume that other people are the same way. I'm trying to live an absurd life.
Porfiry, Um, if you seek employment with a company -- an Employer -- you are voluntarily renting your brain power in exchange for monetary remuneration. Where's the surprise? If you don't want to rent your brain power, but instead wish to exercise full and complete ownership of it, you start your own business and rent the brain power of others to assist you. No surprise there, either. So, what's the true nature of your hostility to having your brain power being used to make profit?? That you feel powerless to own and make profit off your own brain power and resent having to rent it out to others? Well, "boo-friggin-hoo" for you. You're brain power in the Capitalist marketplace is worth what it's paid. So, the smilies that you proactively suggest to your board's members they should use to better clarify for others their own editorial intent are just a waste of bandwidth for you? And how can you expect others to read your smilie-less contempt for your friends to your South as being not serious when you, yourself, can't properly read your own proffered smilies involked according to accepted community standards in another's post? I don't see the Canadian logic.
Also, Artists play an important role in society, but there are no artist's (by way of vocation) footprints in the dust of the moon's surface -- only the footprints of "competetive assholes". But no Canadians. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Anyone need their stetson and six-shooters? Strange, isn't it? I'm an American and I hate that kind of crap. Of course, here's a little drama concerning Americans: • M and A are dating. Anyone familiar with my recent, apparently confusing topic on miscarriages and theological considerations in light of abortion arguments might also remember the couple of E and T. • M knocked A up. Not a problem. • M got mad at A for telling E about pregnancy. • A had an abortion. • E knocks up T, with odd circumstances. • A knows about E and T, but agrees to keep M in the dark. (We are now focusing on E and T's situation). • M and A's relationship suffers because, among other things, M cannot stand being "left out" of an issue, whether there is one or not. Paranoia be damned, if you throw enough darts, you'll eventually hit it. • M, in a someday-legendary tantrum, decides he wants nothing to do with E because M hates T to the bone. (Good American friends, eh? What, you get yourself in a jam and they'll hang you.) • M really wants to know what's going on. • After an acceptable standoff, M shows up at E's house. They talk, get everything settled. • M reveals that he knows what's going on, and claims to know because A (his girlfriend) is stupid and won't (A), (B), and (C), the end result of which is that M claims to have raided A's Hotmail account. Okay, now, how American can a person get? M claims espionage against his own girlfriend, with the justification: She's fucking stupid. If she can't protect her shit, she deserves to get fucked. (This from a guy who doesn't understand why his girlfriend doesn't often say, "I love you"?) The point being that the standard's not down on the table. Wallets, accidents, and so forth, it's his common explanation: If ___ can't ____ then they deserve to ____. Seriously, you'll catch him saying that about people who die in fires. It's an interesting American mode, I have to admit. M is so focused on being angry and feeling superior, that if a woman can't ____ then her kids deserved to die in the fire and stop whining at us on the news about it. Sad thing is, it's not far from common. Most American of all is the idea that now that M has put his cards down on the table, nobody's supposed to react. Seriously, I've considered locking down my own computer (M has general license and knows my root-user password) just to see what happens from there. Here's the uniquely American problem, though, and one I think you might appreciate, Porfiry: So imagine that I finally lock down OSX and activate as many passwords as I can on the thing. That would actually slip by him until he realized I changed the password. And that would only frustrate him after about twenty minutes of looking for the password since he knows where it is physically written down and claims to not be able to remember it. Ever have those friends, Dave? The ones that expect to be able to stab whomever in the back and then wonder why the rest of his friends won't stop looking at him askance? Bottom line: If I ever choose to disagree with you about the rudeness and dullness of Americans, it would only be because I think you're understating it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Really, though, it's just an amusing story. M would, in fact, have a response quite similar to Dubya: Why are you all so down on me? Of course, having told one of our friends that he would like to fuck the holy living shite out of the friend's girlfriend, he wonders why she won't be alone with him. Yeah ... Americans. Notes on Americanisms in this thread • Mr G--Sorry, man, but get over it. Americans are rude and dull. • Pollux--That's just like we need to remember that not all Xns are assholes. And it's also just like the frustrating fact that they won't stop being that way. If Americans don't want to be thought of as assholes, or as rude and dull, or hated (per Dubya), then perhaps Americans should stop behaving as such. I, personally, am happy enough to pick on Canadian beer. And I am happy enough to consider that in Washington state we have some of the best bud in the world; Amsterdam aficionados tell me to take the trip for the sights, but not to expect much of the drugs. Quite frankly, no matter how I choose to look at this development, we couldn't have pulled off that kind of product respect without the Canadians sending us tons of better-than-serviceable dope while our own snotty growers worked on jacking the THC content in their personal stashes. I only get the superchron because I know enough people on the circuit. By and large, though, the crappy weed on the street meets or exceeds the rest of the country, and when it steps up to a respectable par, where nobody's bitching at their dealers about quality, I can guarantee you it's because of our dedicated neighbors to the north. Given the number of jokes we tell about other people--e.g. French, Aussies, Russians, ad nauseam--in the United States, I always wondered why my fellow Americans react so poorly to this brand of observation. After all, for all the bad jokes we tell, it looks like we're pissed off because someone has finally pointed out ... well ... the obvious. • Counterbalance: I find it strange that, given the number of ways in which we elect to separate our human selves from nature, we are still more than willing to confess ourselves slaves to the animal instinct. Evolution favors the herd so long as evolution favors accounting and insurance sales as the paramount necessity of the human endeavor. Dave, this may be the only time I'll ever try to pull rank on you period, much less in your own house. But no amount of smilies will make it clear to some people, so no you don't have to. If I might flex my stats to demonstrate, after 3500 posts, I've found that no amount of communication is enough. If you use too few words for humor, you're being too harsh. If you explain yourself clearly, you're writing books. Heck, I must admit that I looked right past a few of the smilies because I'm used to them not meaning anything at all--e.g. we do use smilies to "lighten" some of our blows. But I do wonder, indeed, what is so pissy about the American conscience that it won't address the glaring inconsistencies of life, but will take a moment to comment, quip, gaffe, bite, or otherwise cry whenever someone addresses Americans without calling them the coolest, nicest people on earth. Um ... there's a topic here somewhere, but I keep finding new things that keep me from getting back to it. • Mr. G: Where is this Capitalist marketplace? I can predict the answer, but if you look over to the Considerations on Capitalism topic in the Ethics forum, you'll find the reason I ask. In other words, where is this Capitalist marketplace, and please don't say "the world" or any of the words we use to refer to the United States? But of the brainpower, who are you kidding? The brainpower is important because it can make the idiocies work. But I'm all in with Dave on this point that it's absolutely ridiculous that one should have to strip-mine themselves for a company. What do people think the term human resources means? It means you are a resource like a lump of coal to be burned until you have nothing left to give. A couple of examples: • A friend of mine was a stellar painter. An artist of the first degree. Disney, in fact, pitched for him, and eventually hired him. They wanted his vision, his spark, his creativity. When he got there, they gave him a desk, a bunch of sketched cels, and told him to color them in. Hired for his "vision", he was paid to color-by-numbers. Hardly what they told him they were buying him for. • What bands do you like? Where do you see them live? What labels are they on, and how much of their work do you hear? As relates to strip-mining one's personal resources for profit, I have only two words to offer: Brian Wilson. Or, to be a little more modern, how do you be the local band that I know who signed the deal, did everything the label wanted them to, sold respectably, and still owed money to the tune of $16,000 that they had no say in spending? • Ever hang with writers? You'll find that the more you sell, the more unhappy you generally are. Why? Because the more money you're worth, the less say you have. Demographics and other market statistics compel the companies to put great pressure on writers. Think of it this way: who read Anne Rice's Taltos? The title came to the book only after the word became popularized by a fantasy writer in Minnesota. Look at your great artists of the past; Michelangelo could only paint the Sistine Chapel because he was paid to paint the chapel. In the modern day, he wouldn't do it; after a single session with the marketers who want the colors to be relevant to the current sales trends, and the imagery softened to meet the demands of the more sensitive segments of the marketplace .... You're a lump of coal, G; how does that actually feel? I mean, think of all your prides, all your happiness, all your love, all your hope, all your fear, all your effort. It's all nothing because you are worthless because you can always be replaced because you are nothing more than a mopsqueezer or a lump of coal to the people your brain is working for. Incidentally, do you know who made it that way? Americans! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Well .... Duh. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Porfiry, I know there's a topic here somewhere ... oh, yeah: Let me say that I'm quite proud to see this expression of artistic frustration within a given business market coming from an Apple user. (Hey, there's a question--what platform do these uber-patriotic Americans use?) By and large, though, what I think you'll find is that no matter where you turn, people are going to tell you to shut up, that we all have the same problems. If that does happen, though, ask them why we all aren't doing something about it .... But that's no help. Nearest I can tell you is that you're human, and the entry fee for the American version of the human race is nothing more than your humanity. Check your soul at the front table, man, because it will only hurt you. Ugh. That's not very nice, is it? The short-term advice would be to drink heavily. The longer-term advice would be to find some way to independently devise a tool for somewhere in the entertainment industry. At least there you have lots of drugs to ease the pain. But by and large, though, I don't know what to tell you. Umm ... honestly? I keep looking around and I'm ready to start serving coffee for eight bucks an hour because I can't stand working at all, I really can't stand anything that gets me paid more than that right now, and so forth. I can't even tell you why I kept trying to get corporate-office jobs; the monetary reason has slipped by the wayside. I'm lucky--I have good friend who will stuff me full of dope while I'm out on the lunatic fringe. Most people don't have that. But ... jeez, if I had any good advice to give, I would. But you're not spineless, you're not unsocialized. In fact, what you're describing tells me that someone forgot to remove your spine, and you still remember the social purpose of dignity. So one day I went into a friend's software-testing office. In tow were two of my female associates. We stopped, shot the breeze with our friend, and then took off. What he noticed, and nudged to me as we were at the office, and what we explained to the ladies later was that they had caused a stir at the office. Not by any deliberate effort. But the women who worked in that office were just as greasy and unkempt as the guys on the crew, so that the effect, as my friend put it, was that some of these guys haven't seen a woman in three months. Mind you, not a "woman they can date", or a "woman not their sister", but a woman, period, excepting the two in the corner wearing shapeless sweaters, corduroy pants, and heavy Doc Martins leading me to make the usual assertions about their unavailability for dates. The effect was stunning, though. I swear I heard saliva hit a desktop at one point. You're not spineless. In fact, it is my deepest hope that you don't meet the same fate. Oh, by the way ... if Americans are being assholes moreso than usual, consider the fact that our trumped-up software market went south just as we got a Republican into office who would have let the profiteers rape the market and cause this misery anyway. End result, the market's apparently bad, but people have less money, so they're inclined to be even more ridiculous. Did you drive or fly down to Cali? It's only ... well, okay, a long way to drive. But there's nothing like screaming north through the Siskyous and 100 mph er ... okay, I don't know my metric that well. But you get the point. And there's this long boring stretch running from Eugene, Oregon, all the way north to the Oregon-Washington border that is so boring it's literally lethal. And from there I'll wax romantic on far too many drives made between Salem and the Seattle area. In other words, to sum up an unnecessarily long post, I'm sorry dude. California ... Americans ... job fair ... wow. I feel for you. Book your return flight for a Seattle stopover; we'll get really really drunk if you want, and curse in various, botched languages, about the trials of the petty bourgeoisie. A last note, and this for All Americans: Come on, dudes ... George Dubya may not understand why people around the world don't like us, but if you share that sentiment, quite honestly, I'm not sure what to say to you because I don't know how to speak that dialect of Simpleton. Okay, we've got a bright, young, Canadian idealist forced to look forward to the soul-stripping frenzy of the American-fueled technology market. What, are we so hateful that we would wish this way of being onto other people? Seriously, take a look at what people are telling our kind Porfiry: to live life unappreciated and be appreciative for the opportunity to be unappreciated. I was chatting with a PhD associate of mine the other day. We were talking about how people respond to each other, and why. The kind of American attitude I'm seeing here--G, I'm looking in your direction especially--is one of absolute cruelty that only reinforces the question my associate and I were discussing: Why is how we feel important?. It's like tripping over something and, being so upset that you smacked your shin, you sit there and wait for the next person to come along and hopefully get hurt worse. I just don't get it, man. If people are so unhappy, they should do something to change that, not just sit by and encourage everyone else to feel as poorly as they do. Or I could be useful in the American sense and get y'all your Stetsons and six-guns. Form us a posse and lynch us a Canuck? And I can't tell you who the hell is singing, but 90.3fm is playing the coolest I-don't-know-what-language cover of the Talking Heads. Dave, hang in. If you see anyone from Microsoft down there, be an Aussie and bite him in the nuts. After you reconcile with having someone's nuts in your mouth, you'll feel better. Or so we're told by this or that football player.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thanx, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
LOL! tiassa... you can do better than that. You've such potential. But then perhaps you truly think no one can understand what you're saying; that we're all "thick as a brick." Perhaps you really think such tactics are necessary or good. Ah, well. Don't waste your time or talent on me. You should know by now that I'm not gonna waste mine. Later, Seattle tater... Counterbalance
I'm reminded of the jellyfish, a truly spineless creature. No head, brain, heart, eyes, ears or bones. Yet they've managed to drift around the oceans for 650 million years. Most will just sting, but some can kill you by just brushing up against them. Jellyfish should be avoided. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Don't bother if you think you're wasting your time Generally and observationally speaking, the clear majority of people are quite thick in the skull. I think part of what everyone's missing here is their own arrogance. And, yes, even I make this mistake sometime. But really, is any one of us in here the whole of America? No. I know it's nice to imagine that all Americans are as nice as anyone pictures their own self, but the fact of the matter is that it isn't true. Social custom is designed, in part, to separate us from the animals; society itself is a separation from animals. Yet whenever it pays our pocketbook or our egos, we revert to the natural argument. Thus we hear talk of "natural economy" that is designed to preserve a false distribution of wealth and resources. Likewise, we hear of a natural instinct that leans toward the herd. Are we not individuals? I, for one, will not revoke those things that make me an individual, namely the powers of choice and dissent. Take a look at Russian Communism, the Bolshevik experience, and tell me how well herd mentality served humanity. Tell the ancient Romans how conformity and herd mentality strengthens the artifice of society. Perhaps you've never read a news story or historical account of juries convicting a defendant because the holdout buckled, joined with the herd, despite issues of conscience. From a biographical note in a 1932 pamphlet by Voltarine de Cleyre: You're quite right, Counterbalance. The herd instinct helped Ms de Cleyre, but not, I'm sure, how you intended. To shout with the mob satisfied her immediate bloodthirst, but the effect of what she had done helped to change her philosophy until she railed against the herd mentality. Likewise the herd mentality affected Emma Goldman: What is most relevant, then, is that both de Cleyre and Goldman, respectively ignored and reviled in their lifetimes, are writers in history who are still relevant today. De Cleyre's laments regarding public education do not sound so far removed from reality; many on the right wing will claim the same thing about public education, though ne'er shall left and right meet on such issues. Goldman's comments regarding prison labor came to the forefront in January, 2000, some eighty years after their publication; it seems that the herd, not then ready for these non-conformists, has adopted a large portion of their views. As the Znet Anarchy Watch puts it, Goldman's Patriotism: A menace to liberty has "timely relevance", hardly what we would expect of someone so irrelevant to the herd, eh? Of course, it's not like I've bothered to mention that very essay, right? So why worry about it? You have talent to waste? (I really should put a smiley with that.) (Oh, well.) Really, such outbursts on behalf of conformity leave me wondering if anyone knows what art is these days. Or is art just the pictures you hang on the wall to impress a chick? Take The Simpsons for instance. Its okay for them to be part of the herd. They set the course, and the herd follows behind them. Kind of like the way XP followed OSX. Conformity by MS helps them to survive. Unlike the Simpsons, though, Gates is merely following along. What's your favorite song? What do you read or watch for fun? And why is it your favorite? Does anyone remember the 1980s? I'm not that old. But the herd mentality would have had me listening to Michael Jackson albums, serving Moet & Chandon, telling a big-haired coke-whore named Jenny or Kelli the intimate details of the fine, fine artwork of Ty Wilson, Michael Cannetti, and Patrick Nagel. Not that slapdash, two-dimensional paintings are bad, but what, really, is the point of foil-stamped sunglasses on a lithograph of a Playboy Bunny? Does anyone remember the 1990s? How about that decade? Believe me, I've worked hard to forget it, but a few things still stick out. Levi's jeans--be an original and wear the same shit everyone else is wearing. I have to say, though, I did get a kick out of the MTV cabbie commercials. It struck me as one of the boldest moves in the shift from cajoling one's audience to insulting them. And the herd just gobbled it up. How about those thong-panty sales? You know, a chick in a thong used to be, well, something worth taking a moment to look at. I have to admit, though, it's better than the satin-bikini movement of my junior high years. I can remember the great conflicts of staring at that perfectly triangular panty line, but realizing it was a tiny triangle amid a large ass .... Should I invoke Catholic school? Beamers and fellatio, that's the ticket. The United States, while operating on a relative majority, protects the minority. As de Cleyre writes: Among the fundamental likeness between the Revolutionary Republicans and the Anarchists is the recognition that the little must precede the great .... The herd is the body that sustains. Dissent is the body that leads. Think of any individual you choose to admire; what would have happened if they "ran with the herd"? Einstein? Wright Brothers? Ayn Rand? Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and the like? If the thirsty herd didn't have to be led snarling and whining to water, I might have more respect for its way. But what about herd mentality is really any different, say, from flock mentality? The shepherd tended his flock. The sheep took on the world, tore up its roots, and left much extinguished forever. There are bizarrely anti-Christian articles out there accusing German Christians of not doing enough during WWII to stop the Holocaust. Those who rescued persecuted Jews, who risked their lives, their homes, and their families for the benefit of strangers, were dissenters. How diverse a picture of the herd would you like? Oh, that's right, you didn't want to waste any ... um ... yeah. Any effort. There we go. thanx, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Tiassa, it’s definitely worth my time and my effort to tell you that I’ve laughed so hard this morning I’ve got tears in my eyes. Laughing AT tiassa? No. Laughing at the never-ending Comedy of Errors in which we humans insist upon writing and starring--yes! Hope you’ll appreciate this story. Back in the day I took a road trip with some friends to another state. A weekend getaway. We were traveling in a Dodge Challenger; a small town mechanic’s dream; a state trooper magnet. (Don’t think there were any law officers who didn’t know this car OR its driver.) Amongst the possessions of our merry little group were what we called “bags” in those days, bags of weed, as well as the usual paraphernalia of pipes, stones, papers, what-have-u. So we’re zipping along--as one does in a car like “ol’ black joe”--when we notice a state trooper has taken an unmistakable interest in us. He rides our tail, sans lights or sirens, until just before it’s time to cross the state line. Then the lights and siren go on, we pull over, and spend the better part of an hour giving the guy each of our life’s histories while he makes steady use of his radio; searches our faces for... god only knows what... anyway... When all is said and done he issues a ticket for illegal pipes, that’s all, and cleans us out for nearly all the cash we had on us. In other words, we had to pay for the ticket there on the spot. Needless to say we were royally pissed and our collective mood seriously dampened. We take off, cross the state line, and while riding along in grim silence, Counterbalance, (who was riding in the back seat, still too foggy-minded to think clearly as we’d been enjoying some rather potent stuff all afternoon ) decides that a particular question must be asked, however, being in a particular state of mind the question turned into something of a one-sided argument that started out something like: “How did the guy know we had any pipes? He didn’t find any on us.... (because they were well hid, of course) ...and it was miles ago when we last we used one--a long time before he ever spotted us...Whose pipe did he find? How come he let us go... etc...) But of course the ticket wasn’t for possession of a weed pipe, but for illegal tail pipes. On the car. Counterbalance had rather missed the point. Cracked us all up so thoroughly we temporarily forgot the fact that we were broke and laughed all the way to our destination. ...Ahh, youth! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The point being, dear tiassa, that regardless of whether or not you intended to take what I wrote to Porfiry and run with it (hard & fast enough) in the direction you have, you appear to have rather missed the point. The point, however, is not important enough to reiterate and was, imo, sufficiently clear the first time around for those with ears to hear. The second point: providing you did not intentionally make a minor mountain out of a mere molehill, then as far as my comments go you’ve assumed waaaaaaaaay too much. Far too much to be taken seriously. Then again, I’m kinda reminded of dealing with a hard-of-hearing (though well-intentioned) grandmother who keeps telling you to get a job when you’ve already had a great job for three years. Hell, even some of the money you make is helping to pay her bills. She just isn’t tuned in. Thus, it’s simpler just to nod and loudly say, “Okay, Grandma. I’ll take care of it!" Beyond this, and with all due respect, no, it’s not worth my time or my effort to address anything you’ve written here. *smiles* Counterbalance
Well? One wonders, then, why you even bother at all. For instance, what makes me chuckle about this whole thing is that you keep your hand in, saying the whole time that it isn't worth your effort. Have you seen the Dennis Hopper GAP ad? With the song I Know There's an Answer for the soundtrack? The song is also called Hang On to Your Ego. I suggest you do. Perhaps if you think people are missing your point, you should try having one. After all, a few lines of text to advocate the herd and then you're worried that I'm missing your point? Moo. Moo-moo. Ba-aaaah. Cluck-cluck, E-I-E-I-O. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Tiassa do you pre-write these 1000 word essays or what? I mean......how do you write so much? And why? Believe me, no offense at all, I'm really just marveling.
They're one-draft Tyler Actually, they're one-draft reaction essays. I mostly try to correct the redline spelling errors and tagging difficulties with preview or, failing that, on first reading after posting. You'll occasionally catch me high enough to misdirect a post, and you'll find your standard to/too errors. But the biggest problem I have with this approach is context. Like one-line, witty comebacks, I often think of better ways to say it later. And the confusion that my posts sometime create demonstrates a certain communication problem. Part of it is that I can anticipate a good deal of where any discussion goes. That's the only reason I even stepped into this topic at all. I might have sent Dave a note of sympathy, but there's nothing about the American/Canadian bit that is unexpected or new. So the thousand words often come from a simple point, and then anticipating what are, technically, irrelevant rebuttals. In Adam's words, I feel a lot of what I go over has been covered already, but that's not going to prevent people from trying to go over it again. One of my favorite flare-ups in applicable memory is the fight I had with Blonde Cupid in the Crucifixion was a fraud topic. Despite repeated, detailed accounts of why his argument didn't stand, he merely stood on it, insisting. Problem was that if there was anything more to the argument, we didn't really see it. So, twelve pages later, we're still, technically, on page one. Of my 3500 posts, there's probably less than two-hundred general topics they've gone toward. That's a broad line, but I do believe that the overlapping consistencies of my posts all lend toward a tremendously limited range of considerations. To be honest, after a while, it gets easy. Why else have I been so quiet for the last three weeks? Technically, when the Christian cadre stopped posting, I needed some time to figure out what the hell was going on in the rest of Sciforums. But some of the directions the threads have been going are much more positive these days. Well, there's also a good amount of nothing taking place in them, but what's surprising about that? And I do so enjoy watching the behavior of this crowd. I don't know if people realize how microcosmic it really is. thanx much, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I remember when I first hit this board, I thought to myself: "Every post should contain content, not some witty one-liner, or sentence that takes up less room than my signature." I at first wrote text after text, but response was minimal. It seems the average man or woman when confronted with a 1000 word essay, tends to suddenly have a flashback of their school days and immediately scrolls down to the next post. So I can see where Tiassa comes from in his posts. (although I admittedly scroll because of that dot in my eye, it's really annoying trying to read something and constantly having a dot mask the words. Oh by the way if you wondering what the dot is, I'm sure some of you would suggest that it's a crackpot suggestion, but I ended up with a SQUID implant forcing access into my eye jelly after dropping out of a high altitude dive as unbelievable as it might seem, and yes it hurt for weeks afterwards.) As for Porfiry and any anti-American commentary, I'm going to guess that none of you Americans gave him a job. I too would be annoyed, but perhaps not at a country, perhaps the people that spoke to him acted too snootily, or perhaps they didn't find Porfiry appealing. (They just don't know art, or Artiste's like "Heir, Porfiry" (Okay it's pulled from the barman of the Chatsubo in Neuromancer). Actually Porfiry if you get the chance and if you haven't already that books worth a read, and it is by an American, but I don't think he'd be like your stereotyping. If it was up to me, I would Hire you at the drop of a hat. Hire you for Experimental and Developmental programming, to allow your artistry to shine Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! (Perhaps even Beta testing) That would mean the sort of company you'd be best involved with would be research, and the Research lot are only concerned with money when they want new TOYS... for research Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I always tend to dream of writing some fractalating pieces of algorythm that although could be termed similar to virii are actually for AI creation in various fields, but alas I still lack the skills. So it's an artiste's life for me too.
tiassa, I don't find automatically offensive the negative things anyone might say about any one U.S. American, even myself (especially when I take anyone's god to task Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ). What I do find automatically offensive is anyone saying a specific negative thing about all Americans -- as if we were a uniform, mindless collective, which we are not (too many seemingly enlightened people fail miserably to appreciate the fact). To such people I am compelled to express a ready contempt for believing valid such a logically indefensible generalization. For example, there are a great many ex-patriate Candanian U.S. American citizens. Those Canadian individuals that make blanket anti-U.S. American statements, such as: "Americans can really be rude and dull!" and "I've never met an American in person that I liked" -- do many of their very own countrymen an unearned insult and thereby bring to critical light their own irrational, nationalistic/cultural prejudices. Such prejudices demand critical comment in a truly free, pluralistic society. Oh, so wrong. I may be rude and dull, but all U.S. Americans, just because they are U.S. Americans, are not automatically by their national alliegence rude and dull. You are another over-generalizing twit, dear Sir. And a misguided apologist, at that. You must still be in school? My point, too. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Argument from Authority alert!!!! Anywhere someone is yearning to make profit -- like where ever an artist is who wants to convert their creative brainpower into monetary gain (if you're in school, you still have ample time to find the marketplace's actual locale). Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Even for your own company? So, you expect to ride the coat tails of someone else largely free of charge to survive? Do you still live at home? Being as I own my companies and, therefore, I am gainfully self-employed, I own my own self as that metaphorical human resource "lump of coal". It actually feels quite damn fine. How about you? Who owns you, and why is it not yourself? Don't you mean "Doh"? Like me, you're a type-B. That's a lot to overcome in the "Marketplace". Porfiry is a type-B, too. Oh, oh, oh. How insulting to us B's that the world is actually run by type-A's! Hey, all us B's should band together and kill all the A's! Then, when the next Earth-impacting asteroid comes along, on a direct collision course with our mud ball, we can send telefactor spacecraft out to it to paint pretty pictures on it and convince it that it shouldn't mess up such such a bunch of beauty-appreciative folks. Sorry, dude, but I want the A's to step in and make something saving happen. Surely, soon you will renounce your U.S. American citizenship to actually prove you're not a default asshole, too??? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Being a Portland native, I have to reveal that Seattle is considered the Rodney Dangerfield of U.S. cities, for good reason. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Um, what has "hate" got to do with anything? Where's the surprise across all the kingdom of Naivete' that human experience is constructed primarily upon the foundation of cold, hard reality? Some do it by making staying in school a profession. I've been there. I've devoted years to teaching college courses. I've lots of friends who are over-educated and under, non-academic, work-experienced -- who've never been out here with the working people of the non-clinically detached, Real World. I sense there are many here in this thread who haven't been out here in the real working world, too. So, tell me what's it's really like to be out here where I've been for longer than most of y'all've been in school. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Cold & hard ... a dead porn star? • Britney Spears • N'Sync • Backstreet Boys • Coke/Pepsi • Levis • MTV • Bore/Gush • So far I'm in the last five years ... how far back should I go? The Christopher Columbus controversy? The blockbuster hit of the summer? I think it speaks much toward the herd mentality of Americans to consider the upcoming production of Universal Pictures The Fast & the Furious 2. I love this quote from Universal: Meaning: We'll make it, we'll sell it, and you'll see it because we say it's hip and has attitude. Ever watch the Cleo Awards? They're the American awards for television advertising. What always amazes me about it is that we're two to five years behind Europeans in this. And the advert genre, when it reaches the US, is crap. Think about it: Michael Jackson felt so assured of a hit record that the failure of his last album to sell to expectations has left the possibility of the Beatles' catalog going back up for sale. Now, I'm always happy to see such a commercial rebellion, but can anyone tell me how the recording industry got to be the way it is? Or why one, for instance, disaster film should spawn a competition among studios? Obviously, it's not that Americans want good films, for instance, but that they want disaster films. Or CG surrealistic extravaganzas. Or whatever the flavor of the month is. Furthermore, when I hear Americans complaining that we're not all actually rude, it reminds me of a tourist in some other country, jostling people around and being perfectly American and failing to understand that this behavior is what makes someone sneer at you. It must be that you're an American that they don't like you; it can't have anything to do with the fact that you're acting like just another Yank yahoo. It seems almost as if Americans expect that the world should know how cool we are, and therefore we owe that status no effort. It's kind of like those capitalists I know who will lustily describe the cutthroat aspects of their vision, and then are offended when someone calls it greedy. Of course we're a diverse people. But among that diversity is an overbearing tendency toward being annoying. It doesn't mean we're all annoying in the same way, but it does mean that Americans have a tendency to be, among other things, rude and dull. Think, for instance, of the way I harp on Christianity. I know there are nice enough, decent enough Christians. But where the hell are they? Any given person can be a good person, regardless of labels. But at a time when the nation is giving unprecedented support to an ill-founded, ill-considered military action, and when our directional change in Israeli policy comes both under the scrutiny of a vocally demanding world, and with signs of a dichotomy opening in the executive camp, I find it quite hilarious for people to be defending the American integrity. Our outward manifestations are disappointing. Our individual manifestations--hey, perhaps Dave hasn't met one of that American minority. But then again, some of us are sympathetic to his observation. I have no problem if someone assumes I'm rude and boring simply because I'm an American. If I can't demonstrate otherwise inherently by the actions inspired by my values, then perhaps I ought to think about either why that is or why the observation bothers me. My capitalist associates don't want to be pictured like Douglas' "Gordon Gekko" from Wall Street. They don't want to get up and proclaim that Greed is Good. But they want to enjoy its fruits. The conflict of integrity is their own problem on the one hand, and mine only if I'm asked to trust in it or rely on it. In the meantime, those associates should either change their behavior or decide that an assessment that they're greedy is of no consequence. In the meantime, I'm hardly going to redefine words to accommodate the selfish. You know how Americans sometimes have jokes about, say, Japanese tourists? You know, all those cameras? We find it funny. They find it ... well, somewhat normal, apparently. In the same way, might it be that you have no real idea what makes people think of Americans as rude and dull? Our primary manifestations are rudeness, greed, and a fanatic herd mentality. What do you want people to think? It's not like Dr Jeffries put it, that since we're on top we can't complain. But neither is it true that since we're on top our shit don't stink. Certain common traits run deeply among Americans, and manifest themselves almost uniformly. Guess what? Our overt rudeness is observably on that list. Sounds like the maggot calling the grub white (another Jeffriesism). Also, it's worth noting that you are complaining, on the one hand, about an appropriate sentiment, and on the other about an issue that is sticky enough already. In the first case, I wonder why you're including yourself in that group of people that can be rude and dull. Do you resent, then, that rudeness and dullness are cause for complaint? Who knows? Maybe if I ever meet Dave he'll think I'm rude and dull. In the meantime, I know well of what he writes, so I'm sympathetic. Rudeness and dullness are poor attributes of a person. Are you, then, asserting that Americans cannot be rude and dull? That it is impossible for an American to be rude and dull? Of the second phrase you've noted, it's a hard thing. To the one hand, I used to ask of Christians what, more than 100% demonstration, I needed before a "prejudice" became an "observation". That is, how many times in a row should I trust that this person, despite their limiting label, will defy the common characteristics of the label? It doesn't happen enough for my satisfaction to convince me that the "nice" and "intelligent" Christians are anything other than freak deviations, but that's part of what I always seek to find out. Likewise, I think of Adam, who has reminded me that my observational experience among atheists is inaccurate and that I should have faith that these people are not representative of the result. It's an interesting question. But how many asses would you kiss before it started to bug you? No, but at this point, you're invoking a standard that most people would willingly apply. Why not pick up that sinister-looking hitchhiker? It's not like all sinister-looking people on the side of the road are actually sinister. Is this really the best you can do? How ... well, how rude and dull can you get? Yes, I'm making excuses for Americans, right? Apologism Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Nope, actually. And very accurately expressed, as I recall: Yeah, it makes sense. Contradictory. Did anyone mention that, yet? That Americans are contradictory? Leave it at that; it's just an observation of the state of things with no moral judgment toward integrity. Did anyone mention dense as a generalization against Americans? You're quite the example. We actually find some insight toward that density in your next bit: Well, if everyone owned themselves in that sense, who would do your work? Or do you own those kinds of companies that don't have employees? And do you ever go to those employees and tell them to take a shortcut because it's too expensive to do it right? My father used to sound a lot like you. And then his business partner, whose integrity I had no right to challenge by his standards, sold him out completely. In my father's case, it triggered his breakdown and he's been a much nicer guy since he abandoned all those old principles. Much less rude and much more interesting. But his primary miscalculation seems apparent in your position. He assumed that all the people he dealt with were of his moral standing, and it didn't occur to him that his integrity was rare among his peers. It got his ass burned, in the end. How many days do you have to rush to find a babysitter or lose your job because your boss decided he wanted you to work? You know, that I know you're not scheduled but show up or you're fired routine? Oh, I forgot ... you run your own businesses and don't have that problem. I always like it when management tells labor to shut up and not complain. It's so ... expected. And if I don't own myself it's because I wasn't born with the silver foot in my mouth that would allow me to buy a print shop, a design team, and the attorneys to work out distribution contracts for my novels and my friends' albums. We're working on it though. But, at the same time, we do wonder why our fellow Americans are so obsessed with money that they forget how to find pleasure in it. And that's a fairly common symptom. In fact, of those I know, the more money they make, the more they're in debt. Strange, that. But I suppose that's a question for another day. We look at our rude, dull neighbors and wonder whether the addiction to money is really worth the emptying of our joys. So far, it's not. For instance, since how would you recommend Dave gets the money to start his own business? Does his Daddy have some more to give? If so, should he? No, Duh is actually a rude Americanism which indicates that the point toward which it was offered was quite obvious. I'm sure that, aside from asking the Alphas to economize the Betas a little more, you had an actual point. What is, in fact, insulting in the context it seems you're grasping after is, for instance, demonstrated by issues of product quality. Product quality hasn't gone up. Prices have gone down in part because of cost-cutting measures. Perhaps we ought to cheer the Microsoft alphas for setting the new standard that a product should be released as a final product before its finished. You know, an OS, I can understand for development purposes, but the last four video games I installed on my system didn't just need patching, but needed patching before they would run. The alphas over at the company that made my CD-rw stepped up and did something. To cut costs, they removed part of the software that they included with the drive. But it cost too much to change the printing on the box or on the actual CD they included, so, you know ... it's brilliance. Yeah, technically, the old alphas will eventually be replaced. It doesn't require bloody revolution, but anyone familiar with James Frazier should recognize the pattern of succession within the business world. I'm in a race to eliminate national borders before it gets to that point. At the same time, it's also worth it to me to advocate a different set of principles for Americans because then we can have the best of both worlds. "Love it or leave it" is a desperate slogan of dinosaur alphas. Being that you're a Portland native, that's a little like the shit calling the asshole brown. One of my favorite memories of Portland was the time in late '92 or early '93 when The Oregonian pronounced that Portland was a better city than Seattle because they had better everything. Of course, they compared Deschutes Brewery to Ranier (ignoring, say, Red Hook), touted their minor-league baseball team (who would want the Mariners), proclaimed Pond and Poison Idea kings of rock and roll (thank God we Portlanders don't have to suffer with Nirvana) shortly before both bands publicly dissolved, and said the coffee was better because who wants Starbucks? Mind you, I don't drink Rainier, I don't like Starbucks, and could care less about either the Blazers or the Sonics, but I've lived in Oregon and I can say that one of the reasons I hate it inside those borders is that the purely shitty attitude of the article I've described pretty much applies to the people. When I'm in Oregon, I drink heavily in T&A bars because I can, and that's one thing I'll salute Oregon for. Floater is another. Didn't anyone ever figure out that what Dangerfield was captializing on was other people's jealousy and dissatisfaction? In that sense, I salute your comparison. Seattle, in its cultural manifestations, seems to ruminate on the jealous, dissatisfied condition of human beings. It's helpful to pay attention to the old and young alike. What, you would pretend that the American obsession with work is healthy? Fine. Matter of opinion. But I suppose that obsession is what it takes to own your own self, isn't it? Cold hard reality? How about cold, hard psychosis? Just because it's the way it's been doesn't mean it's the way it must be, except that Americans just don't get it. Take the Beach Boys: successful American product. Sold a jillion records. Their frontman lost it in the conflict between artistic integrity and commercial demand. To the other, what we see now by examining the history is that the Beach Boys would have sold two jillion records if Brian had been spared those pressures. The cold hard reality, or the cold, hard actuary? Have you noticed the beating that the record industry has taken? The cold hard reality is that the old way doesn't cut it anymore. The cold, hard reality is that the more people learn of that cold hard reality the less satisfied they are with the fact that the alleged realists have worked so hard to make reality what it is. Think about the fact that companies are so desperate for money that they copyright words. Why, for instance, is the term "bubble wrap" trademarked? What, do I now owe the original manufacturer money for using their word? Why is it that we could call anything polystyrene "styrofoam" until Rhode Island made a commercial that talked about the environmental difficulties of styrofoam? The company called in their trademark, that's why. As long as the word they owned helped them, they didn't care. But they didn't license the use of it for this commercial which could be construed as casting polystyrene in a negative light, so suddenly they clamped down. Why can I not do business with some companies without receiving a ton of junk mail? What necessity in the Universe makes it the cold hard reality that one must sell data required for the conducting of business for profit? What? Their product isn't enough to carry them through? They shouldn't breathe, apparently, without making some sort of profit? Cold hard reality is a crock. And when the people who see cold hard reality in the artifice of their greed discover that there is a greater reality afoot, it will be quite the cold, hard shock for them. But yeah ... I find the American perspective on wealth and success to be severely unhealthy, and therefore find it somewhat hateful to wish that way onto anyone else. Yeah, that's the kind of answer I got once when I looked at one of the executives at the insurance company I worked at and said, "What the hell do we think we're doing?" Of course, he had no clue as to what I was referring. The board said it was a good business move. The VP said it was a good business move. So the executives said it was a good business move. Me? Hey, I'm no insurance expert, so what should my fundamental question of how taking less money from fewer clients and expecting greater profits matter? The cold hard reality is that these executives know what they're doing. After all, there's a lot of data I never saw. But I always found it interesting that it was a side conversation, over a smoke, that got him a little huffy and brought him to take the same stance you are. Stand on experience, ad nauseam. Interesting, indeed. In the end, the "good business move" devastated the stock, forced a 15% workforce layoff. When things first came apart, they reevaluated their stance on the "good business move" and decided that it was, in fact, an unexpectedly hardening market to blame. Okay. Whatever. And then came the day they had to tell the investors about the layoffs. The world, of a sort, was watching, and instead of going out there and telling the investors that the board blew the situation out its ass, they told the investors that the recession caused a hardening of the market and thus forced the restructuring. (The recession excuse came only after Bush's election and the general acceptance of recession conditions.) Cold hard reality, my ass. At least, that's what comes to mind when I hear some oldster saying, I've been around longer than all you whipper-snappers. I'm serious, man ... why include yourself with those criticized? As you remind when you recap Porfiry's criticisms, Americans can be dull and rude. Why include yourself among the dull and rude, unless you are dull and rude and don't see what the problem is? It seems to me that when discussing such issues, people tend to think of other people in the world much the same way I think of sims or so forth. Tell us about owning ourselves, G. And then stop and think about how much of what you're telling us depends on conditions advocating the actualization of the idyll. It's kind of like when Clinton and Republicans were arguing over "job creation". Who cares? They were all Taco Bell jobs at sub-living wages. Well, not all. But the only reason you don't hear that argument today is because of '95. It's kind of like that assertion that if you put Congress on the same HMO as the average working American, you'd see healthcare reform before the end of the session. It's kind of like my former CEO's golden parachute being equal to one year's worth of payroll that was being cut. It's kind of like my father, a business owner, telling me that at least the Nepalese children working in the factories can help support their families. I asked him what was wrong with paying the parents a living wage. Apparently, his designer-label shirt would cost too much, which was strange since my father wasn't in for designer labels. It's kind of like the cold hard reality of living in a 2,500 square-foot house with three TV's, two VCR's, four MD's, a DVD player, and up to seven computers (combined 750-800 gb storage) and sitting there, watching Star Blazers, toasting expensive wine to someone else's expensive scotch, and listening to a friend ramble on about how cruel it would be to pay a living wage abroad. Hell, I own a car, and I don't even drive .... After a while, the irony is just sickening. And that's a cold, hard fact. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thanx, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Man, that is way too much effort just to poke your tongue out. I prefer the simple Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Adam, Adam, Adam. Surely, you do not mean to imply that us U.S. Amercians are being dull and boring? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Well, tiassa. It appears that you and I have adequately substantiated Porfiry's premise, despite our individually specific intentions. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I'm telling you--it's Captain Kirk Kobayashi Maru: it's no-win. What to do then? Change the rules. Life is performance art, good G. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! thanx, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Not to intrude on this most fascinating debate, but I think a point needs to be made. Whether one decides to become and employer or an employee, the risks of getting independently wealthy are high. And isn't that the ends to the means, after all? I submit it is how one approaches the problem of independent wealth. With little money and a lot of initiative, wealth can be attained without the need of either employee or employer. The consequences of cutting out these two scenarios should be all too obvious. The Q is all to familiar with the rags to riches to rags to riches conundrum. However, the Q has never lost sight of the fact that an employer or employee he has not nor shall ever be. Thank you for your attention to this matter, please continue...
Tiassa Some questions: How many keyboards do you get through in a year? If it's more than one, have you ever thought about getting a warrantee with the next one you buy? (So you can take it back and get a new one in exchange for wearing it out)
Well, being a Mac user Being a Mac user, I technically only go through keyboards when I accidentally destroy them. Such as the time when right after complaining that someday I would spill something into my keyboard, a friend somehow managed to put his water directly in front of it and accidentally knock it over to pour the whole several ounces into the keyboard. Having idiots at the Computer Store up the street (alleged Apple specialists), I was unable to purchase a new, genuine iMac keyboard and settled for a Macally knockoff instead. This one has endured a wine spill, a massive amount of cat hair, Drum tobacco, and enough shake to roll a Philly Blunt except for the fact it's all mixed with cat hair, tobacco, and wine. But it's only in the last week or so (after a couple of months of use) that this thing is becoming as responsive as I expect it to be. I don't expect this cheap PoS keyboard to last much longer. Thankfully, I'm not playing FPS games on it right now. At least not until I reinstall UT for to accommodate a new mod. PC keyboards I've worn out before. After a friend spilled water in one, we got a waterproof keyboard that I eventually used to death in a little over a year. thanx much, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
