Dmitri
Land Owner
D&D Geeks of the World Unite!
Posts: 1,466
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Rants
Feb 6, 2007 8:05:04 GMT -5
Post by Dmitri on Feb 6, 2007 8:05:04 GMT -5
two points - then i'm off to class...
1) I find it interesting that people suppose morality to be a concept that can be changed - almost every society on earth, since recorded history began, has held the same basic tenets of practice. For example, can't think of a society in which adultery was considered positive, or theft, or even cold-blooded murder. By positive, I mean actively encouraged as a "good" end to itself. The teachings of Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc. are pretty much the same morally. Minor variations, but nothing major (and Confucious says, "Murder thy neighbor in his sleep and take all his posessions"... maybe not)
2) I agree with Pigdish here that "church", in whatever form that takes, is secondary to your individual worship of your diety. But it needs to be reminded that there is safety in numbers - it's harder to get out into doctrinal error, or just plain weirdness, when you have a group of like-minded worshippers to act as checks and balances. This is why Christians often cite Paul saying "Forsake not the assembling together of the brethern..." and other things like that.
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled rant...
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Rants
Feb 8, 2007 11:23:37 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 8, 2007 11:23:37 GMT -5
Hm, I'm starting to wonder if we should divide this into religious and non-religious rants. My normal ones look rather out of place by now.
Anyway...
ToysRUs.com is run by a bunch of people so dumb that they have bacteria in their intestines ten times smarter than they are! Aaargh! I ordered something from them, then they cancelled it because they felt that they didn't have it in stock, then I call them and they say they'll uncancel it because their website said it was in stock again, and now it's out of stock on the website again and they don't think they'll uncancel my order, yet just today I got an e-mail that it was in stock and able to be ordered. Why? They have never heard of the concept of "back-order". So when they think they're out of stock, instead of just putting your order on hold for a bit, they cancel it. Then, when it's in stock again, they'll let people order and cancel their orders again, just for fun. Plus what I want is a ToysRUs exclusive, so it's not available from anyone else (apart from people who have braved their idiocy and returned with the item to resell for more money). I order a LOT of useless toy crap, and I can easily say that I would rather deal with pretty much anyone else than ToysRUs. So, in that vein: Shop at BigBadToyStore.com. They aren't arseholes who jerk you around like TRU.
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Dmitri
Land Owner
D&D Geeks of the World Unite!
Posts: 1,466
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Rants
Feb 8, 2007 20:51:32 GMT -5
Post by Dmitri on Feb 8, 2007 20:51:32 GMT -5
and... Toys R Us is the Man... ya know, with a capital M... gotta fight the power, brother... Sorry, just got done discussing "Race, Gender, Power, and Marginalization" in my educational philosophy class... Now back to youir regularly scheduled rant...
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Rants
Feb 10, 2007 20:18:33 GMT -5
Post by grond on Feb 10, 2007 20:18:33 GMT -5
GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! STOP IGNORING TRAFFIC SIGNS!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting really tired of almost getting run over trying to walk from my car to my house. It would be one thing if these people could see me. I'm sure most of the world has a valid reason for wanting to run me down with their cars. I'm yelling at the ones who aren't paying enough attention to know that anyone is there!!!!! If it says "NO TURN ON RED" don't turn on red!!! Don't run red lights, don't run stop signs. And for love of (insert deific figure's name here) DON"T DRIVE IN THE LEFT HAND LANE OF A 2 WAY STREET!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah and um, fight the power
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Dmitri
Land Owner
D&D Geeks of the World Unite!
Posts: 1,466
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Rants
Feb 11, 2007 7:59:18 GMT -5
Post by Dmitri on Feb 11, 2007 7:59:18 GMT -5
on grond's page...
why do people walk out in front of you when youi're driving through towns?
I was clipping through millersville the other day, when it snowed, and was floored by the stupidity of people - it's icy, traction is lousy, and yet pedestrians insist on using the "pedestrain right of way" to walk out in front of your car. I saw a few people slipping as they crossed - what makes them think that if they can't walk, I can stop? ARGHHH!!! It just makes me wanna run them over, wdhatever may come. You'd think that a college education would teach kids a little common sense, too...
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Feb 11, 2007 10:05:12 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 11, 2007 10:05:12 GMT -5
Yup, I agree with both of those. I see a lot of drivers who ignore the "no turn on red" signs, or the specific lights just for turning. Plus some of them will honk at me when I don't ignore them- that doesn't exactly motivate me to move quickly. "Let's see, how slowly can I get this car moving?" But I also see a fair number of pedestrians walking/running across when they could have used the crosswalk a half block away, and that is quite hazardous in winter.
Meh, either way, I drive an old car, so one more wreck isn't going to hurt me much, heh.
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Feb 12, 2007 16:47:27 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 12, 2007 16:47:27 GMT -5
Hoo-boy. I was doing an exam on someone who was pretty nearsighted, and I told them they needed to have glasses more than they needed contacts, and they told me they were "working on having my [their] eyes healed." When I asked if they meant the Laser (not my idea of healing), they replied that they were having people pray for them.
You know, I really don't think I remember the part of ANY religious text where Jesus or anyone else "heals" someone because they didn't want to wear their damn glasses. Sure, it's not like God has anything better to do that make you less nearsighted. And it's not like I haven't seen an elderly glaucoma patient going blind who would pray every day. If He didn't stop her from going blind, lady, he's doing SQUAT for you.
Grr. Idiots.
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Dmitri
Land Owner
D&D Geeks of the World Unite!
Posts: 1,466
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Rants
Feb 13, 2007 6:59:53 GMT -5
Post by Dmitri on Feb 13, 2007 6:59:53 GMT -5
I love when people refuse to help themselves when they pray...
Did they ever stop to think that maybe God uses medicine, optometrists, dentists, etc. to heal today? Maybe He has granted the wisdom to create these modern medical miracles (nice alliteration, eh?)
As Rince said... Idiots, Grrrr.
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Rants
Feb 13, 2007 10:31:06 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 13, 2007 10:31:06 GMT -5
Ah, a snowstorm, and already we have the answer to "Who the hell is dumb enough to come here in this weather" in the form of an elderly lady.
Rince is bitter that there were patients and he couldn't just stay home, the roads around Lancaster were MISERABLE.
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Rants
Feb 13, 2007 13:25:57 GMT -5
Post by pigdish on Feb 13, 2007 13:25:57 GMT -5
In the year I've been here in Lancaster County I have yet to find any roads worthy of being called 'cleaned' after or during a snow storm. I have complained to the borough and they even had a meeting last month about snow cleaning complaints. Lets hope things change for the better.
In New Jersey you could drive on any major or local roads during a snow storm because the crews were out in full force cleaning them up. And I used to travel a lot at all hours of the day and never once did I have problems with poor snow removal like I've seen in Lancaster County.
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Feb 13, 2007 13:29:31 GMT -5
Post by pigdish on Feb 13, 2007 13:29:31 GMT -5
Oh, the other thing that annoys me is that the schools close when there is a slight dusting. It's like being in the south, 1/2 inch of snow and everybody panics.
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Feb 13, 2007 14:59:14 GMT -5
Post by Tomas on Feb 13, 2007 14:59:14 GMT -5
In a way I perfer the "poor" road clearing around here. I DC they threw so much salt and other chemicals down that plants and grass near the roads were always damaged by the time spring came around. Around here the chemical would just end up in the creeks and streams that are already polluted by run off from farm fields (Nitrates and lots of them). We have all become too dependent on our cars and expect the roads to be perfect all the time. With actual snow tires, not All Season radials, snow like this is nothing, as long as you drive appropriately. I have always been lucky to have jobs with very flexible time and could just stay home on crudy days. Though I usually went out to have some fun in a parking lot. That is the sad thing up here. I can't find a decent parking lot to play in Tom
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Feb 13, 2007 15:59:22 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 13, 2007 15:59:22 GMT -5
The Lancaster roads are actually much worse than the surrounding area. I drove from Lancaster to Shrewsbury (4 miles north of Maryland) today and the roads around Lancaster were miserable, every accident I saw was within 20 miles of Lancaster on Route 30. It was better around York (tho not a lot) and then I got onto 83 South and you'd hardly know it was snowing, the roads were fine. Ah well, I'll have fun driving back home tonight. At least I'm off tomorrow.
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Feb 15, 2007 13:03:58 GMT -5
Post by grond on Feb 15, 2007 13:03:58 GMT -5
Actually, New Jersey's snow free road condition is a direct result of the garbage fumes ever present in the garden state (america's armpit). And before you get irrate with me, I know, on some of those really magical days in Lancaster, our sewage gets just a little bit backed up, and a fine mist hangs over our fair city, sharing with everyone the lovely fragrence of wet fart (let loose by thousands of chili eaters). Oh yeah, I hate pedestrians too, but I've never been almost run over by one, so the self preservation isn't kicking in to make me hate them as much.
Last winter, while I was stopped at the light at columbia avenue and west end, I observed a child dash out into the street, all of the way to the very edge of oncoming traffic. He stopped short, turned and ran. He did the exact same thing to the next car to pass. I'm a little slow, so I had to see him accomplish his goal to understand his motives. The third he did this to slammed their brakes and almost spun out of control. The little bastard was actively trying to make cars crash. Morons!!
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Feb 17, 2007 11:39:08 GMT -5
Post by Rincewind on Feb 17, 2007 11:39:08 GMT -5
Rrr, some people. Background info: When people get somewhere around 40 (Generally 40+, but earlier for diabetics and in some cases) they have trouble reading things up close (~14 inches away) with their distance correction on. This means that older people tend to need reading glasses or bifocals, or to remove their glasses to read in the case of the nearsighted. Well, I had this 43-year old lady in who was having trouble at distance and near, and I let her know right away that chances are, to help her near vision we'd need to give her some help in the glasses, like a bifocal, or change the contacts around a bit. Well, she flips out, going on about how she never needed anything before and certainly doesn't now and she's never heard of such a thing and why would I say she can't wear contacts, she sees lots of other people wearing them. I point out that I never said that, but she might want to wear reading glasses over the contacts, or bifocal contact lenses, or monovision contacts. Well, this still doesn't go over well, and she keeps arguing with me that her needing some extra help up close is an unprecedented event in the history of mankind, so I let her know that she's free to ask any other doctor in the world their opinion on the subject. I love how people feel that just because something hasn't happened before that it'll never happen. "But I've _____ a lot and nothing bad happened!" (the blank tends to be filled with "slept in my contacts" or something similar). You can drive drunk for years and not kill someone, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. You can launch space shuttles for years and they won't have a problem, but that doesn't mean they can't. Things happen, people's bodies change, and lots of stuff that hasn't happened before will happen at one point or another. You haven't died before either, but that hardly means it won't happen
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