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I didn't go to school today. There's a very good reason.
I got up, ate, dressed, and chipped the ice off my car before starting out. I even managed to drive a few blocks.
Then a big, bright red minivan appeared in the intersection ahead of me. I slammed on the brakes but the right side of that van just kept getting bigger and bigger and...
WHAM!
All I could see was white. What the heck happened?! It took me a few moments to realize that the air bag went off. Mainly I realized that because the bag had deflated enough for me to see the windshield.
What was left of it, anyway. Though I didn't take that in yet. At that moment my attention was taken by a middle aged man opening the driver side door of my car and asking me if I was all right. I said yes and he proceeded to try to dial 911 from his cell phone.
So I took that moment to assess the situation. I was in one piece. My back pack in the seat next to me seemed to have barely moved. The car, however, had turned nearly 90 degrees to the right along with the minivan, which had a very large but mostly cosmetic dent in the rear passenger side door.
I also noticed that the driver side airbag had ripped the central part the steering wheel to shreds, there was the broken end of a knob from the steering column on the dashboard, also some sort of washer/nut thing the origin of which I couldn't even guess, and there was some sort of smoke that was making me cough. That cough probably didn't make my response to the other driver terribly convincing.
Then I noticed the little green shards of glass on the dashboard. Why does broken glass look turquoise? Anyway, I looked over and saw why. The panel covering the passenger side airbag and popped up (at roughly 100 mph, according to one of the cops who eventually arrived) and smashed up a good half of the windshield.
It was about then that the gravity of the situation sunk in and I started crying. Bawling, actually. Between the 911 operator, the guy from the corner house who called 911, the other driver, the lady who stopped to help, and the two cops I kind of lost track of how many times I had to tell people that I was physically unhurt.
Now here's the irony of this situation. The airbags, installed as a mandatory safety measure, actually caused me and the car more harm than the crash alone. A *safety* device caused harm. Now, the harm to me was mostly psychological. Being temporarily blinded at the moment of impact did *not* help my frame of mind. That smoke, which turned out to be something akin to talcum powder, and the cough it produced didn't help either. The big kicker was the gaping hole in the windshield. Do you have any idea how much new windshields cost?? Low end is around $150.
The harm to the car, obviously, was very physical. There was much more airbag related visual damage than actual impact damage that I could see. The front bumper of my car was cracked up and there was what looked like a black felt strap sticking out, but other than that it was fine. Strictly cosmetic. The engine hadn't even skipped a beat. The windshield, all that broken glass inside and outside of the car, and that whatever it was on the dashboard however...
And the stupid thing didn't even prevent me from hitting the steering wheel! I didn't even come in contact with the airbag at all! I was wearing my seat belt.
I would love to simply tell the body shop to forget about replacing the airbags. Just vacuum up the glass, replace the windshield, and check the headlight alignment. But that would be illegal. Air bags are a necessary part of cars, whether it makes sense or not, that's the law.
You know what? I think air bags are a really stupid idea. That's not to say they haven't come a long way from the early days when they could blow out eardrums and possibly kill someone shorter than, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here's a thought, if you're really worried about people bumping into the steering wheel during an accident, why don't you make the steering column retract on impact? Or use some sort of smart material that will turn rubbery on impact? Or even both. Use the smart material for the part of the wheel you hold and retract the column.
I think it's doable. I mean, there's already a device out there that can stop a circular table saw so fast that it won't even cut your hand a tiny bit. (There are sensors of the blade that detect skin or something like that. It read a hot dog as a human finger so I don't know what exactly it's measuring.) Granted, the mechanisms are shot afterward and have to be replaced, but this is something that stops and retracts a full speed circular saw in a fraction of a second. I think something can be arranged for a car's steering wheel that won't require full replacement on use.Current Mood:  annoyed Current Music: none right now |
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I ripped this transcript off of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mineka_c I haven't been able to find the original video, however.
This whole thing was so ridiculous that I just had to tear it apart point by point.
>>>
If Your Child is a Gothic, Reform Through the Lord! Listed below are some warning signs to indicate if your child may have gone astray from the Lord. Gothic (or goth) is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in. The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan's temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child:
(Um. Okay. Well, really being Goth is pretty nasty from my understanding. Then again, anything that depressing would be.)
* Frequently wears black clothing. [ Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<gosh,>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.] I ripped this transcript off of <lj user="mineka_c"> I haven't been able to find the original video, however. This whole thing was so ridiculous that I just had to tear it apart point by point. >>> If Your Child is a Gothic, Reform Through the Lord! Listed below are some warning signs to indicate if your child may have gone astray from the Lord. Gothic (or goth) is a very obscure and often dangerous culture that young teenagers are prone to participating in. The gothic culture leads young, susceptible minds into an imagined world of evil, darkness, and violence. Please seek immediate attention through counselling, prayer, and parental guidance to rid your child of Satan's temptations if five or more of the following are applicable to your child: (Um. Okay. Well, really being Goth is pretty nasty from my understanding. Then again, anything that depressing would be.) * Frequently wears black clothing. <Gosh, the jacket I most often wear is mostly black. Does that make me goth? Does wearing black pants to church count?> * Wears band and/or rock t-shirts. <Or maybe the kid likes those bands. *shrug*> * Wears excessive black eye makeup, lipstick or nailpolish. <Well, maybe. It certainly does indicate poor taste.> * Wears any odd, silver jewelry or symbols. Some of these include: reversed crosses, pentagrams, pentacles, ankhs or various other Satanic worshipping symbols. <Ankhs? Up until then I was halfway buying this sublist. Not that reversed crosses are necessarily Satanic. They're also the symbol for one of the saints, Paul I think, who was crucified but requested that he be hung upside down so as not to be killed in the exact same manner as Jesus.> * Shows an interest in piercings or tattoos. <... Uh, ever heard of teenagers?> * Listens to gothic or any other anti-social genres of music. (Marilyn Manson claims to be the anti-Christ, and publicly speaks against the Lord. Please discard any such albums IMMEDIATELY.)<She does? Well, I don't really know anything about her so I couldn't say. This point actually has some validity as music is a rather powerful conveyor of ideas. I wouldn't recommend freaking out, though.> * Associates with other people that dress, act or speak eccentrically. <Define eccentric. Under the dictionary definition just about everyone I know, including my parents, are eccentric. And none of us are Goth.> * Shows a declining interest in wholesome activities, such as: the Bible, prayer, church or sports. <The key word here is declining, which would seem to indicate that the kid had an interest before. Which is different from me, since I never had an interest in sports and would dispute it's inclusion as a wholesome activity. Not necessarily related to the kid being Goth, by the way. Could be the kid is experiencing religious doubts, had a change in interests (it does happen, you know), or maybe something more serious. I'd worry about drugs before Goth.> * Shows an increasing interest in death, vampires, magic, the occult, witchcraft or anything else that involves Satan. <Inquiring minds want to know. These are teenagers we're talking about, right? Their finding out just how big and strange the world is. Death, at any rate, doesn't mean the kid's gone into Satanism. Maybe some kids at school were discussing the death of someone. Maybe he/she saw something on the news. Death is scary. As for the rest... there can be dangers, but don't flip out because your kid brought home a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula.> * Takes drugs. <Get the kid help.> * Drinks alcohol. <Ditto.> * Is suicidal and/or depressed. <This is an indication of a chemical imbalance. Bring the kid to a doctor.> * Cuts, burns or partakes in any other method of self-mutilation. (This is a Satanic ritual that uses pain to detract from the light of God and His love. Please seek immediate attention for this at your local mental health center.) <Or the kid is looking for attention. Still, seeking medical advise is a good idea. Just don't rant to the doctor about how your kid sold his soul to the devil.> * Complains of boredom. <This guy never had kids, did he. I think everyone over the age of 5 complains of boredom. Frequently. Threaten to give the kid chores and they'll be busy in a heartbeat.> * Sleeps too excessively or too little. <Hello! Puberty! All kinds of crazy changes in the body that can seriously mess up the sleep cycle.> * Is excessively awake during the night. <Some people are just naturally night owls. *coughmecough*> * Dislikes sunlight or any other form of light. (This pertains to vampires promoting the idea that His light is of no use.) <Maybe. Or there could be something else going on. Like maybe the kid's sick.> * Demands an unusual amount of privacy. <One word: TEENAGER! I wasn't exactly a normal teen, but I did shut myself up in my room a lot. Hey, I'm the oldest of four. Little siblings are annoying at that age.> * Spends large amounts of time alone. <See above. Sheesh. Maybe the kid's just an introvert.> * Requests time alone and quietness. (This is so that your child may speak to evil spirits through meditation.) <Again, these are teenagers we're talking about here. Maybe the kid's introspective. Maybe the rest of the family is noisy and he just wants time to himself to relax. These kids are trying to find out who they are and it's hard to do that when there's a lot of noise. The inside of their heads is crazy enough without a lot of insanity outside.> * Insists on spending time with friends while unaccompanied by an adult. <... Do I even have to explain how that's perfectly normal?> * Disregards authority figures; teachers, priests, nuns and elders are but a few examples of this. <The rebellious teen is a stereotype for a reason.> * Misbehaves at school. <Normal, but should be dealt with for disciplinary reasons.> * Misbehaves at home. <Same. Seriously, has this guy even seen a child before?> * Eats goth-related foods. Count Dracula cereal is an example of this. <Say what??> * Drinks blood or expresses an interest in drinking blood. (Vampires believe this is how to attain Satan. This act is very dangerous and should be stopped immediately.) <Gee. I guess that African tribe that mixes cow blood with their milk are all Satanic vampires. Seriously, though, this doesn't bode well in our culture and really should be looked at.> * Watches cable television or any other corrupted media sources. (Ask your local church for proper programs that your child may watch.) <Cable is the work of the Devil? I better let EWTN know. (In case you don't know, EWTN is a cable network run by *nuns*.> * Plays videos games that contains violence or role-playing nature. <*bangs head against wall* You know, the funny thing is that kids who play video games are actually less likely to be violent in real life than kids who don't. There have been studies on this. I mean, sheesh, I've played a few first-person shooters. I stink, but I have tried. I also play AD&D and the occasional LARP (live action role-play). And for the record, I go to church every week.> * Uses the internet excessively and frequently makes time for the computer. <Well, this is an indication of something that starts with 'g', but it's not Goth. *coughgeekcough*> * Makes Satanic symbols and/or violently shakes head to music. <Satanic symbols, not good. Violently shaking head to music... Well, it's that or tapping your feet and at least in a car that isn't a good idea.> * Dances to music in a provocative or sexual manner. <Pick a tradition dance style. Any traditional dance style. Well, maybe not the polka.> * Expresses an interest in sex. <Excuse me while I die laughing.> * Masturbates <Ew. But not necessarily Goth.> * Is homosexual and/or bisexual. <Gee. You're really helping us religious sorts look tolerant and open minded. What does a sexual dysfunction have to do with Goth? Or what he really seems to be talking about, Satanism?> * Pursues dangerous cult religions. Such include: Satanism, Scientology, Philosophy, Paganism, Wicca, Hinduism and Buddhism.-Wears pins, stickers or anything else that contains these various phrases: "I'm so gothic, I'm dead", "woe is me", "I'm a goth". <Philosophy is a religion??> * Claims to be a goth. <Okay, then you can worry.> If five or more of these apply to your child, please intervene immediately. The gothic culture is dangerous and Satan thrives within it. If any of these problems persist, enlist your child into your local mental health center. <Some of the above points do warrant a visit to a mental health center, but if the kid really is involved in Satanism then I'd recommend finding an exorcist.> Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: none at the moment |
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The few times I pay attention to the news I sometimes hear about "hate crimes." I watch a lot of crime docudramas and there'll often be mention of "hate crimes."
But what exactly is a "hate crime"? People seem to ask if something was a hate crime when extreme violence was involved and the victim was black, gay, or some other special group. A "hate crime" seems to be a crime committed because the criminal hates what the victim is.
That's silly. If one person beats or kills a second person it seems reasonable to assume that the first person hated something about the second person. If that emotion wasn't involved that'd be much more scary. The idea behind "hate crimes" seems to be legislating how people think. That doesn't seem right to me at all.
But then, I believe people should be treated equally. I really don't care what color skin the victim had or what sexual perversion if any he or she subscribed to. I don't even care if the victim was biologically male or female.
This is all intellectually, of course. If I hear that the victim was a small child that tugs at the heart strings. Any crime of violence is terrible, but the impact is worse when the victim is helpless. But a "hate crime"? No. I don't acknowledge that as a legitimate category. Call it what it is, whether that be assault, battery, attempted murder, or even murder.Current Mood:  blah Current Music: something classical, I think |
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I ran into a discussion about whether yoga and tai chi are incompatible with the Catholic faith. Seems a lot of people put those exercises in the same class as tarot cards and idol worship.
... Uh, reality check please?
Just because something comes from a pagan culture doesn't make it instantly bad and incompatible with Catholicism. Or do these people also want to rid the world of mistletoe, wedding rings, and just about every well known holy day (Easter, Christmas, Halloween/All Saints Day...).
Okay, so these exercises involve the flow of energy through the body and the occasional meditation. It's New Age! It's the work of the Devil! Panic in the streets! AAAA!!!
~.~ Point one: There is energy in the body. No, really. Our bodies generate small amounts of electricity. There's also blood, lymph, and who knows what else. Now what exactly flows while doing these exercises I don't know. It could be all of these or none of these but something else entirely. I know that with acupressure, which also helps with the body's flow, that something gets moving that makes me feel better.
Point two: What's wrong with meditation? It's a huge part of Catholicism. Don't want to contemplate your navel? Who says you have to? Lots of Catholics who perform these exercises contemplate their faith while relaxing their bodies.
All in all, I don't get it. There are a lot of things connected with New Age that actually work. But just because I drink herbal teas, use natural remedies, eat a lot of organic foods, see a chiropractor, and try some Eastern exercises doesn't mean I'm going to buy the philosophy.Current Music: (watching MysteryER) |
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First let me introduce you to Typical Shojo Heroine:
Skinny teenage girl who's good at sports, bad at math, clumsy around boys, hates violence, cries easily, is a strong believer in treating people equally, she manages to make best friends out of people who previously hated her guts, every single (and not so single) guy in the entire series adores her, she's constantly being kidnapped/nearly raped/otherwise in need of rescuing by--
The Toxic Prince:
Tall, handsome, more than a little androgynous, easily made jealous, alternates between trying to seduce Typical Shojo Heroine and pushing her away because he's not right for her (boy has be got that last part right), every woman in the world wants him, men follow him or try to steal Typical Shojo Heroine from him.
Why do I call him The Toxic Prince? Because that's his effect on Typical Shojo Heroine. At first the relationship is rocky and Typical Shojo Heroine isn't even sure that she likes him. When she finds herself liking him she beats herself up over it because of some problem with making the relationship work.
In the case of Red River it's because Typical Shojo Heroine, Yuri, is from modern day Japan and The Toxic Prince, Kail, is from Bronze Age Anatolia. Yuri got sucked into that world through, of all things, a rain puddle.
I'm seeing shades of Fushigi Yugi on the horizon.
Thankfully, Yuri isn't anywhere near as suicidal as Mika from Fushigi Yugi. Not that it'd take much. When she isn't thinking about her handsome prince she's really a very capable leader. And when she isn't just about being raped she can fight.
That last really bothers me. Here's this girl who learned how to use a sword with amazing speed. Yet a guy makes sexual advances on her and she's suddenly helpless! Your legs are free, kick him where it hurts! Your hands are free, scratch his eyes out! *Do* something! Don't just lay there screaming "No!" and wishing for your prince to come save you.
And when the golden couple get intimate do we really have to see them pressing flesh, kissing each other's chests, and groaning? They're in a bed room looking longingly into each other's eyes and the door's closed. You can cut right there, we get the idea. Hitting us about the head with a flowered sledgehammer is unnecessary.
Not only that, but the readers are supposed to want these two to end up together, right? I didn't. Not at all. I wanted Yuri to go home as soon as possible. And it didn't have anything to do with the near constant dangers of that world or the perpetual plots to tear these two apart. It was the terrible effect Toxic Prince Kail had on her emotional and mental well being.
Every stinking time she thinks about that guy or is separated from him her confidence goes out the window. She's not worthy, she's always making mistakes, she's just dragging him down, yadda yadda yadda. Que total psychophysical meltdown.
It is disturbing that there are women who write stories like this. A lot of stories like this. This is why I never really got into shojo manga. There are more believable relationships in shonen manga. And without anywhere near as much nudity.
And this is *shojo* we're talking about. Intended for the under 18 female crowd. Josei is for older women and supposedly is more sexually explicit.
More? I fear for the Japanese culture if that is so.
I give this series, and most of the shojo genre, a thumbs down.Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: (watching World's Wildest Police Videos) |
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I am slowly going mad.
I am desperately trying to find anything I can on two men from the Warring States Period of Japan. One is Oda Nobunaga, who sounds like a real character. Finding info on him isn't too hard. Finding info that doesn't look like it was copied with little regard to copyright laws is something else.
Ah, the joys of internet research.
I am starting to hate the local library right about now.
You'd think they'd at least have a few biographies of 16th century Japanese warlords.
Anyway... right.
The other guy is someone called Kamiizumi Nobutsuna. Or Kamiizumi Ise-no-kami Nobutsuna. Or, well, you get the idea.
This is, aside from having a lot of names he seems to something of a footnote in Japanese history.
Oh, yes, he did start a new kenjutsu school, Shinkage ryu, based on Zen philosophy and teachings of the Chinese militarist Sunzi. He also invented the shinai so that students could pummel each other with fluid motions without risking grave physical injury. And despite being a samurai and a warrior he somehow managed to die of natural causes at the age of 70.
Besides that and a very interesting story involving a hostage and a couple of riceballs there really isn't all that much on him.
There's even less about the school he started. It's hard enough trying to find out anything about his star pupil and successor (who, in a state of severe arrogance, renamed the school by adding his own name to the beginning), but find anything out about the founder? Yeah right!
Books about him? None that I could find. The most I found was on Amazon, and that was a paragraph or two in three history books.
I think I may scream.Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: (watching Stargate Atlantis) |
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Okay, I just finished watching a documentary on the criptospuridia (sp?) outbreak in ... Oh crud I forgot the name of the city. It was on the shores of Lake Michigan, as I recall. (Really bad with names.)
Anyway, I won't bore/disgust you with the details but there was one bit that caught my attention particularly.
After the outbreak that city started using ozone rather than chlorine to sanitize the water because that's the only way to get rid of the parasite (aside from boiling the water, which I suppose is cumbersome for the volume of water run through every hour).
That city is now the only city in America to use ozone to filter water.
Why? What is so great about using chlorine?
Let me give you a run down of my thoughts on the subject:
1) Chlorine is toxic. Chlorinated pools always give me pink-eye and usually an upset stomach.
2) Chlorinated water tastes nasty.
3) Did I mention that chlorine is toxic?
Seriously, why don't we just give up on chlorination as a really bad idea and use this ozone filtering thing? To me it seems like the choice between bleach and vinegar in cleaning. Vinegar kills just as many nasty bugs and things and doesn't have the toxic effects on the user. (Unless your Kittenlark, vinegar smell makes her nauseous.)Current Music: (watching Forensic Files) |
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Okay. I'm really fed up with people making the Catholic Church out to be some big bad bogy out to destroy everyone who doesn't agree completely with what they say.
I just read some of the manga Hellsing and it started out kinda cool. Until they introduced some Catholic priests who didn't care one wit that people were dieing in a Protestant country. One of them even acted like they halfway deserved it.
(Out of the three vampire centered series I've run into two of them have a negative portrayal of the Catholic Church. The other hardly even mentions any religion.)
Anyway, that reminded me of something that happened at Valleycon. (By the way, I will get the pictures scanned in at some point. There aren't very many, though, because my camera wasn't working.)
Somebody went off about how oppressive the Catholic Church was. I tried to say that it wasn't like that. That most of the negative things committed in the Church's name were done by over zealous secular leaders who were even told by the Church that what they were doing was wrong.
He said that wasn't so and proceeded to say that the Church started a war on all non-Catholics by excommunicating them. He also said that he seemed to recall that the war in question was the Hundred Years' War.
...
Uh, reality check?
One, I do believe that would be about the time that the Church declared that Protestants couldn't receive Communion in a Catholic Church. That's hardly excommunication though, since the people in question don't belong to the Church in the first place. It's more of a declaration of policy than anything else.
Two, his attributing the start of the Hundred Years' War to that policy has bothered me ever since. As I recall that war was another spat between England and France and had little if anything to do with religion.
A little quick checking, and I found The History Learning Site's page on The Hundred Years' War. According to this, the war got started as a land dispute and a disagreement over who should be king of France.
Incidentally, I was wrong about the dates. The time is a little early for the Protestant Reformation and since Edward III was king of England, it was well before Henry VIII turned the country Protestant.
I was able to find a bit that mentioned civil war between Swiss cantons as a result of conversion to Protestantism, but that was more on a local politics level than having anything to do directly with the Catholic Church. Reference From the University of California, Santa BarbaraCurrent Mood: annoyed Current Music: none |
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I thought of titling this "The Legend Continues" instead, but 'saga' sounded better. Guess it's my Scandinavian heritage.
Anyway, Windows Movie Maker won't save *anything* now. I tried a clean boot, but I got an access denied error saying I'd have to log on as an administrator.
I **AM** the administrator, you $*#)(&%^#*(#(@*&% machine!
So then it tried to restart but got stuck at a DOS screen. After a couple of tried I realized the printer was on. I turned it off and start up went about as smoothly as usual. (Don't get me started.) But then I couldn't get it out of clean boot. Finally figured that one out, but now everything loads and it takes forever (as usual) for the boot process to stop. And it still whirs all the time.
Not only that, but now all the folders are marked "read only". I unchecked the box and clicked apply then exited properties. When I checked properties again the read only box was checked again!
And the really weird thing is that I can modify and add files in those folders just fine. Except for the video files.
GAAAAA!
Then I turned the printer back on and the stupid thing tried to install itself. After that when I tried to scan something into Photoshop I only got a super basic scan window with no options for color balance, resolution, contrast, or anything!
And I still haven't figured out what happened to the volume control.
After this tirade, the result I got from this Fruits Basket quiz will probably be no surprise:
Omae wa dochira juunishi no MEMBAA desu ka?
[koyasunomiko.com]
I also took a Bleach quiz:
Who's Your Bleach Boyfriend?
Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.
Uryu might be a little too, ah, sullen for me. Then again, Ichigo might be worse, and I was kinda hoping for him.Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: the incessant whir of this infernal machine |
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This stupid thing has been a pain and a blessing from the day I got it. More and more, it's becoming a solid pain.
I performed a standard, shouldn't-cause-any-problems system clean-up. And found out that the volume control had disappeared. Again.
Not to mention the little buttons next to Start on the taskbar. And, for reasons I simply do not understand, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player disappeared and had to be reinstalled, several times. I wouldn't have bothered, except certain things don't work well if they aren't on. Including Windows Movie Maker, which is weird since WMM can't be uninstalled but WMP can.
Speaking up uninstalling... There's a zip drive I used to use but don't anymore because it broke. How, I don't know. Anyway, I thought I uninstalled it. Except there was still a folder for it under Programs. And I couldn't delete the folder because some .exe file was "in use".
Say what?
Anyway, I got rid of what I could and most recently I've been trying to eradicate the traces in the registry. But I started running into errors and the stupid thing even tried to reinstall!
Not only that, but there are pieces of programs I had uninstalled long ago that are still in the registry.
And WMM has been on the fritz. A lot. I can barely work on it for five minutes without it encountering some fatal error and having to shut down. That even happened with Photoshop when I was trying to save one of my comics. Only with Photoshop I didn't get an error message or anything. It just vanished in the middle of naming the document.
AAAAARGH!
Then there was the time Firefox wouldn't open and every html file I have came back as 'could not be found'.
Or the times Windows Explorer crashed.
Or all the various times I've had difficulty uninstalling software. The times mentioned above are not the only times this happened.
This thing is getting way to buggy for use, but if I bring it in to be fixed I'll not only be out of a computer for an extended period of time, but the bill will likely be in the hundreds.
I almost might as well get a new computer, but I don't have the income to justify it. (Heck, I don't have an income, period.)
I've even had trouble with ZoneAlarm, and that's a pretty stable piece of security software as far as I've been able to figure.
And don't even get me started on the battery. That effectively died a few months after I got the thing. I can only use it in the vicinity of a power outlet because the battery will last, at best, for half an hour.
And I can't leave anything hooked up through the USB ports on start up because it'll freeze on looking for a boot record. This is the only computer I've run into that does that.
Not to mention that I still haven't gotten a replacement for the CD/DVD drive that died on me. I'm using a 'temporary' drive that doesn't quite fit in the hole. So I have to do a lot of fiddling to get it open and closed.
I am never again buying a computer from a no-name distributor. From now on I'm going with Gateway.Current Mood: aggravated Current Music: brother hugging incecently |
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Now I'd like to think that I like the environment as much as the next person. Hey, some of my favorite places are out in the forest with nothing but the birds and the wind for noise.
Beyond that, I also like to save money, so something that helps the environment and saves a buck or two is okay by me.
So these fluorescent bulbs sound like a really great idea, right?
Well, there are a couple little problems with that.
One is that, in our house anyway, the bulbs simply don't fit into the sockets. We use standard 60 watt bulbs, so I doubt that there's anything unusual about our light sockets.
The second has to do with safety.
A woman named Brandy Bridges dropped a fluorescent bulb, which broke. This sort of thing can happen with any bulb, and when it happens with your old standard incandescents all you need to worry about is sweeping up the mess.
Not so here.
You see, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury. The same stuff that's in thermometers and other such devices. It's also a serious poison.
So when Ms. Bridges broke that bulb, she called the store she got it from which then directed her to Poison Control, which in turn directed her to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Some people came out to check out the house and found, whatdoyaknow, elevated levels of mercury on the carpet where the bulb broke.
The room was sealed off and Ms. Bridges told that she shouldn't clean it up herself and that proper disposal would cost about $2,000.
Her insurance wouldn't cover even a small portion of this because mercury is considered a pollutant.
...
This would be simply a cautionary tale to handle fluorescent bulbs with extra care, if at all, except for one little detail.
Officials then started saying that the bulbs are harmless and that people can clean up breaks like this themselves.
Personally, I think this later statement is more accurate. Remember the thermometers I mentioned earlier? Well, they contain a lot more mercury than these light bulbs. "500 and 3,000 milligrams of mercury, depending on its size" for a thermometer compared to "between 1 and 25 milligrams of mercury" in the fluorescent light bulbs. (According to The Ellsworth American article Fluorescent Bulb Break Creates Costly Hassle.)
I don't know how many of you still use those old thermometers, or remember when you did use them, but like so many other things they sometimes break. One time our thermometer broke while I was taking my temp. I think I bit down too hard. Anyway, there was glass and mercury all over the floor. Luckily, none got in my mouth because when I heard the glass crack I opened my mouth and the whole kit-n-caboodle fell out.
Anyway, the mercury was pretty easy to get up. It rolled into a ball about the size of a normal ball bearing. Mom got the mercury in a jar and let me keep it in my 'lab.' Actually, it used to be a none-too-well thought out darkroom for the previous owners of the house.
I think that jar is still in there somewhere.
We may have broken several laws cleaning up that mess ourselves, but no harm came of it. Granted, it was linoleum and not carpeting, but I'm pretty sure most city garbage dumps have proceedures for taking care of potentially harmful wastes, like batteries or old paint or last week's meatloaf.
The point I'm making is this: is the hassle really worth it? How much do you really save each month on electricity when using fluorescent bulbs? And are you willing to take the risk of cleaning it up yourself only to find out there is a real hazard (whether physical or legal)? Or do you have $2,000 in ready cash just in case?
If you want to read more about this, I've included some URLs I found.
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http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7446&Itemid=31
http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=147595&zoneid=500
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268747,00.html
http://www.fourmilab.ch/fourmilog/archives/2007-04/000830.html
Apr. 28th, 2007 @ 07:20 pm
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| » In case you're wondering. |
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I can't access the internet from my laptop. Because we're now getting our phone service through our cable company there's this wierd little beep at the beginning of the dial tone. I think that's what's messing with my computer, since it keeps saying it doesn't detect a dial tone.
Thing is, none of the other computers have that problem.
I'd use the cable internet that we just got, but it's only accessable through the family's main computer until we get a router (or rooter, or however it's spelled, never seen it in writing). That night take awhile.
Meanwhile, we've had the most incredibly hard time getting the cable interent to work. First the system crashed, then the problem was supposidely solved but we still couldn't get a reliable connection. When we *had* a connection, that is.
Well, actually, the connection did work. At 5am. Only my daffy little brother wakes up that early, though. On purpose, anyway. The rest of the family did get to enjoy an early wake up when he set his alarm to 5am, and didn't turn it off. >.<
Dad had the dickens of a time getting help out of tech support. I tried this morning and I think the problem has been solved. My impression is you get better service out of these tech guys if you sound like a slightly befuddled young woman than if you sound like Darth Vader without the ventilator.
Seriously, my Dad could be a voice double for James Earl Jones. (Maybe even a body double if you painted his skin dark.)
Mar. 24th, 2007 @ 11:41 am
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| » You may or may not believe this. |
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Okay, a few days ago I ran into something really weird on Fox News. Now I understand that there are a lot of people out there who think that Fox News is the worst thing to ever hit cable news. I don't buy it, since I've actually watched the channel and found it not only entertaining, but refreshingly honest when it comes to the anchors' various socio-political leanings.
So here's the weird thing. A christian group called Commissioned II Love was banned from a Georgia college campus for excessively rigorous recruiting tactics and hazing.
Now the details of their first charge were not revealed. I don't even know if the details had been released to the media. The hazing, on the other hand...
Washing someone's feet is hazing???
Apparently someone thought the practice was demeaning and complained to the campus authorities. But that isn't hazing. Hazing has to be somehow dangerous and involuntary.
So the college said that washing feet was endangering the students involved.
...
Sooo the ancient Christian practice of washing each other's feet as Jesus did with his deciples is dangerous? And it's hazing?
Man, the lady on Fox News was having a time with that. She had two visitors, one who thought the whole thing was nuts and another who thought that foot washing was hazardous. After all, it's regulated in spas and beauty parlors. (Like everything else in this regulation-happy culture.) It was a very frustrating and yet entertaining little news bit.
But sheesh!
If I yelled 'harassment' every time some recruiter shoved a piece of paper up my nose or started jabbering away on the superb qualities of whatever club/organization/you-name-it I'd have shouted myself hoarse in my first year at college.
This is just plain stupid.
Mar. 16th, 2007 @ 02:37 pm
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| » The jet lag cometh. |
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In one week all of America gets to experience that mandatory jet lag known as 'daylight-savings time.'
Oh, did I say "all"? I'm sorry. Some states don't recognize this annual bit of insanity. This means that even when traveling within a timezone, you might have to change your clock.
And daylight-savings time isn't recognized by all nations, so good luck trying to figure out what time it is in, say, central China.
And even among the countries that do observe it, the start and end dates vary. (Heck, there's some start and end date variation in the USA, unless the Federal Government has done something about those exemptions.)
This is going to be even more so now that Daylight-Savings Time is coming a week early. (I hate to think what kind of hob this is going to play with my computer's clock.)
What's the point of all this, anyway? Besides requiring people to reset their clocks and lose an hour's worth of sleep every year, that is.
The story is that it's all in the name of energy conservation.
Big whoop. I can think of a dozen much more efficient ways of saving energy that don't involve the kind of hassle Daylight-Savings brings. (Ever count how many clocks you have in your house? Trust me, there are more than you think.)
1) Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
2) Make sure your house is properly insulated (that includes getting windows that don't leak).
3) Turn the thermostat down at night.
4) If your house is two or more stories, think about splitting the heating between floors so you can just heat the upstairs at night (assuming you sleep upstairs, of course).
5) Use the hair drier less. Towel dry your hair. (This is especially recommended in summer when the evaporative cooling will feel like a God-send.)
6) Get some of those solar windows. You'll love it in the winter.
7) Don't use power strips unless absolutely necessary (a computer station comes to mind). The more outlets you have, the more power you'll use.
8) Cool down the natural way. Find some shade or go to an outdoor pool. (The air inside can feel warmer and closer than outside air because it doesn't have anywhere to go.)
9) Keep a flashlight or one of those glow-spot things by your bed. If you feel the call of nature at 2am you won't have to turn on all the lights. (And the rest of your family will thank you for it.)
10) Throw out the electric toothbrush. Learn to keep your teeth clean the old-fashioned way. (Might think about doing the same thing with the shaver, but I won't press the issue.)
11) Plug your car in during the winter. (You'll put less wear and tear on the engine, need to replace the battery less often, and spend less time each morning trying to get the ****ed thing started.)
12) Cut back on the Christmas light show.
I could think of other things, but you get the idea.
Ah, the benefits of growing up in a frugal-by-necessity household. The myriad ways to save money in every aspect of life.
Mar. 3rd, 2007 @ 01:27 pm
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| » Woof. |
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Animals have it easy. They don't have to worry about politics or getting a job or any of that human stuff.
Yeah. I'm still unemployed. Here's hoping the new Walmart construction speeds up so I can apply for a job there. So what if they only hire part time and don't offer benefits? 30 hours a week is close enough and I don't want to rely on my employer for 401(k)s or insurance, anyway.
So what do a bunch of nut jobs have against it?
Not here, though there's been enough hoo-ha from city hall. I'm talking about some other small town. Didn't catch the name, I came in part way through the news piece. (A small town made it to national news. Whatdoyaknow.)
Ah, before I go on, I'd like to post a picture. I haven't in a while and it'll break up the monotony of the rant. ^^;
 Her name is Anni Mai, and will be the guardian of the fandom section of my website. If I ever start making enough money to get one.
Well, anyway, most of the people from the town really want the Walmart in there. They've been hit pretty bad with failed apple crops and lost businesses. A lot of people hired by their new Walmart used to work on the apple farms. And since the Walmart came in, increased traffic has brought business to the old downtown.
But a group of 11th hour activists claim that Walmart is bad and is trying to get rid of it. Now. Just after the doors opened for business. So far a judge is agreeing with them.
Hoo boy. There's over a hundred people facing unemployment if these activists win. And that's just at the Walmart. I have a feeling a lot of local businesses are going to go belly up if their new cash cow gets slaughtered.
Sorry if this is too much of a rant, but I really feel for these people. I'm from a small town, too. It's all too easy to imagine what might happen if someone tried that here. (There are no other job openings here! I haven't a clue how to weld machinery or bale hay!)
Jan. 18th, 2007 @ 01:16 pm
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| » Stupidity and strange luck |
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This is, what, the third time I've tried to update my journal in the past two days? Both previous times Firefox 'encountered a problem' and had to close. Crazy.
Thank goodness a copy got saved on the site.
>>>
This country's leaders are nuts about avoiding controversy and/or insulting someone. So much so that they actually start controversy and insult people.
I think the best example lately was what happened at the New York City fire department. The firefighters were forced to get rid of a bunch of American flags and 9/11 memorabilia they had in their lockers. The reason was that it was potentially offensive and controversial.
Excuse me??!!
Since when is displaying the flag of the country you live in, *in* the country you live in, offensive and controversial? And don't these firefighters have a right, almost a duty, to honor the memory of their fallen comrades?
Oh brother.
A little closer to home (my home, anyway), I heard that a kid on a St. Paul, Minnesota, school bus got kicked off for -- get this -- speaking English.
I didn't believe it either, but my Dad did some checking. Turns out this school has a bunch of 'academies' in it that are separated by country of origin. The academies are there to help students from other countries learn English and cope with their new homeland.
The students are not allowed to intermingle with students from other countries and they are not allowed to mingle with English speaking students.
...
And how is this supposed to help them learn English, let alone cope with their new homeland?
Now, the kid who got kicked off the bus did get kicked off because he said something in English. Thing is, his family had also recently moved outside that school district so technically he wasn't supposed to be on the bus in the first place.
Still, this is just crazy. Brings to mind the old segregation days with black and white water fountains.
This has become something of a rant column, hasn't it? ^^; I just keep running into such stupid, brain-dead idiotic stunts!
>>>
I've got a real nasty cold. Maybe that's why I'm in such a ranting mood.
Jan. 12th, 2007 @ 01:55 pm
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| » Hello? *knock* *knock* |
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Gosh, Sable_cat's been the only one to comment on my journal lately. I wonder if I've been ranting too much? Or maybe it's just because of the holidays.
I hope it's the latter, because I want to be able to say what I really think, but I don't want to be a bother to people either.
Unlike some cabbies in the Saint Paul area I could mention.
I don't get it. There was some stuff on the news just yesterday about these Muslim cabbies who weren't letting people with alcohol or seeing-eye dogs into their cabs.
Now I know you aren't supposed to drink liquor in a car, even if you aren't driving, but if I had just picked up some things for a party or as a present and then couldn't get home because some over-zealous cabbie had something against drinking alcohol... Well, I'd be pretty ticked.
What ticks me off even more is that they won't serve people with seeing-eye dogs! I just don't get it. What is the big stinky deal about dogs? I've heard that Muslims don't like dogs, but this is ridiculous.
Now after it's been on the air, the story has disappeared. *Poof* It's not on the net except for a few blogs. It's a non-event as far as the media is concerned.
I wonder what the reaction would've been if some Christian cabbies pulled a stunt like that? Somehow I doubt it'd be ignored like this.
Look, I have nothing against Muslims. If that's what they want to believe, fine. I think they're wrong, but I'm not going to pass judgment on them. That's not my place.
It's just that this isn't an isolated incident. In Houston another group of Muslims bought a piece of land next to a pig farm and then ordered the farmer to get rid of the pigs because they're against eating pork.
... I guess it never occurred to them to get some land elsewhere, or just stay with the mosque they already had.
And earlier there was that big stink with the Muslim clerics on the airplane who shifted seats so they were near the doors and started praying. (Just like the terrorists did on 9/11.) Then got incensed when the plane landed and they were ordered off for a search.
Uh, yeah. I'm all for freedom of religion, but these guys were just asking for trouble.
Oh dear, I'm ranting again. *blush* Sorry. This just really gets under my skin, you know?
Jan. 6th, 2007 @ 01:12 pm
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| » What to say... |
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Everytime I've thought of updating this journal all I could think about is all the incredibly stupid things our congressmen have been saying. (I say congress*men* only because it is convienient and I haven't heard any female congressional types make asses of themselves lately.)
Good grief. The rants I could spew.
Then this morning I heard something really dumb.
In San Francisco the 'Got Milk?' people started an ad campaign using scented billboards in subway stations and trains. The scent was of chocolate chip cookies, which was supposed to make people think of getting some cookies and milk.
Great idea, except for one thing. They had to take the ads down because some agency over there said that it might be offensive to the homeless who can't buy milk and cookies and the lactose intolerant who can't drink milk.
Give me a break! If it was a health concern I'd be okay with it since there are odor related allergies. (I have some, though it's hard to tell since my conscious isn't aware of odors.) But this?
One: If you're that worried about offending the homeless, then you better ban all advertizing everywhere. (Do I hear chearing?)
Two: I'm lactose intolerant and I'm not offended. Then again, I don't have a working sense of smell. Still, seeing milk products isn't offensive to me because I'm aware of my own limitations and if I really want something with milk in it I just have to take some Lactaid.
So what gives?
Well, it *was* in wacky SanFran, looney bin capital of the free world. That could explain a lot.
Dec. 6th, 2006 @ 02:32 pm
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| » This close to never drinking orange juice again. |
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Have you heard that monster O.J. Simson is making a book about how he 'would have' killed his wife 'if' he did it?
So here's a guy who is practically rolling in dough to begin with and he's about to profit off a murder that most of the U.S.A. knows he committed. There's a law against murderers making money off their crimes like this, but that doesn't affect him because the judicial system let him off with an aquital.
The civil court found him guilty, but that doesn't matter. (As far as I know he hasn't even paid the damages he owes to his kids.)
It makes me so MAD!! I hate it when justice is twisted around and mangled.
GRRRRAAAAA!
Okay. I'm done. Just needed to get that out of my system.
Now for something completely different. I've been playing with DAZ and some of the things Dad downloaded for it. I think I'm still going to use it mainly as a maniquin and set design, but I think this image came out rather well.
I think I'll call it Triple Threat.
Nov. 17th, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
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| » Frustrations in life |
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First off, I found out the probable reason why the YuYu Hakusho decks were marked down so low. Score Entertainment discontinued the game last year!
Man, that's a real bummer. Apparently, it was fairly inevitable, though. Score had this bad habit of not posting rule updates and banned card lists in time for new pack releases and each successive pack was multiple times more powerful than the last. That combined with the end of the series and it's cancelation from Cartoon Network kinda doomed the game.
So now even the common cards are going to be super hard to find. Nerts. And I only have one Kurama related technique card. I don't have any special Hiei techniques, though I do have three with his picture on it. Two of them are 'bamboo' though.
Since when does Hiei fight using bamboo?
Never mind. Besides that, my computer decided to balk on me, turning a simple CD burning backup session into a literal all night debug. Now the stupid thing won't read any CD-Rs or CD-RWs, which I have quite a few of.
This after the taskbar volume control and the calculator were swallowed up by the electronic abyss.
I so do not need this.
On the upside, my artwork isn't the only popular creative product I have. I've gotten some compliments on story pieces I've written. Now if I can just churn out a complete story I'll be set.
What a time to have writer's block. I need a megadrill.
Oct. 18th, 2006 @ 11:37 pm
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