I hate...

... Cellphone Servitude.

2007-08-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

We've become slaves to our electronics. specifically, to cellphones.

It could be said that one part of the vast "human condition" is that we're terrified of being alone, yet we're surrounded by people all the time. even though we cherish personal interaction, the cellphone isolates ourselves further from others. By allowing us to have constant communication woth a small and core group of people, we have a sort of social umbilical that does not allow the natural and healthy feeling of 'need to interact' to arise in simple social situations such as in classrooms or libraries.

People around us become just distractions from our cellphone servitude to our core group of constituants. No longer is localized, small group interaction a personal and friendship-growing activity, but an unnecisary and distracting interaction that stops us from checking our text messages or answering an endless array of phonecalls. and because our total number of core friends generally never deviates in quanitity, a sense of lonelyness could possibly set in becuase of the human need to not only have friends, but constnatly meet and socialize with new people: a refreshing activity that some, are for reasons unknown, afraid partake in.

The power of our mighty communication systems allow us to communicate with people thousands of miles away, but it isolates us from those just a few feet away.

Digg,com, a bastion of totalitarianism from the masses.

2007-08-21T00:10:00.001-07:00

Digg.com might call itself free... liberal.... Where every user can post comments, post news stories, and rate other people's comments and news stories, but in my eyes, this causes a ton of problems.

The ability of each user to quote "digg down" or "digg up" a comment is rather un-democratic. everyone has the right to comment on the media, and this ability to squelch those who the masses of digg decree unworthy is quite anti-free speech of the site... digging down opinions one does not agree with, digging up useless posts like jokes. it does nothing to push forward a fair and straightforward commenting system on news articles and stories.

Furthermore, the ability of the user base to hide unpopular comments stifles opinions. Over a long enough time this could potentially lead to a very narrow-minded user base that unwittingly only reads opinions voted to the top by the overzealous regulars who visit and vote on the site more than frequently.

It also can be noted that a large majority of the news articals that are dugg to the front page are not news at all, but entertainment pieces... which rarely get sorted into the correct articals. The news on digg should be seperated into two categories... serious news, such as floods..people dying, world events. the second page should be for entertainment posts like, for example ripped from the front page of digg.com.. "Halo 3 IMAX Preview Event" which, although Is news, has no value that is beyond superficial... it does not matter to world events that halo 3 is getting a preview... and it shouldn't be on the front page of digg as if it did...

on that note, there's way too many single-image news stories that get dug to the front page, and it should stop!

its up to the users of digg.com to decide if the site becomes something enlightening, or just another useless link aggregator.

...Your rediculousness

2007-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Why do you have to walk in the room, and make all these loud huffing and puffing noises when you're late, guy over there. we're the ONLY TWO PEOPLE IN THE ROOM. there's noone to show off too, and frankly, i dont really care to see you try to fake your dedication to this class.

Frankly, your theater club sucks. The teacher is frikin crazy, everyone in that class is a socal moron.

This post is rather empty-bodied.

...Anti Science people

2007-02-17T01:48:00.000-08:00

I'd been having a good day. A day with friends, good food, good activity, and hell, I got some work done. But then I got home, and my blissfully naive day was ruined by the internet.

Now, I'd like to have faith in humanity, and believe that some day we'll stop being lame, backwards beings that blind ourselves from truth. But every time I try to reinforce my hopes that one day this will be so, The hopes I manifest are shattered.

One of the news stories posted on fark.com mentioned how a Particular Texas lawmaker believed that the "earth revolving around the sun is a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the old testament" (Link)

Lets avoid the obvious fallacy of this argument and look at the slightly more subtle problem with this statement. Why in the world would a JEW, who reads the Torah, which happens to be what Christians call "THE OLD TESTAMENT" undermine his OWN FRIKIN' RELIGIOUS TEXT? I hope this one Texas lawmaker knows that the old testament is in fact the Jewish holy book, but I'd bet money that he does not.

Secondly, and more obviously, what gives about particular people backing down on centuries-old scientific facts? The earth DOES orbit the sun. I'm not going to write an argument for this, because it'd be a waste of time to explain it. But nonetheless, it's so completely backwards to believe that it's not true. If the catholic church can acknowledge that the earth does in fact orbit the sun, and not the other way around, why cant other religious groups do the same? But Oh no! the bible is never wrong, and it was written by the hand of god, AND everything that we -think- is scientific fact is actually just a deception by god to get us to fall to the devil. I write this in sarcasm, but I'm sure some people do in fact think of this sentence as truth, and that just makes me weep.

There's also this wonderful website called "the flat earth society" which holds the archaic belief that the earth is flat to be true, which they point out with contradictory and self-supporting evidence (which you can read for yourself on their forums). In lieu of this, lets recall the Mayans. The Mayans built beautiful stepped pyramids to warship their gods and to show the world they occupied their power. More importantly, they used these pyramids for astronomy. The Mayans mathematically proved that the world is in fact a globe, not a flat plane, and if I recall correctly, they did some amazing feat to the likes of calculating the earth's diameter, to only be off by a few hundred miles.

It befuddles me that some people can be more aloof about scientific fact than ancient peoples like the Mayans.

Science really isn't out to hurt people. It's out there to find the truth. it is not a goal of science to belittle religion, but people will continue to be insecure about their beliefs, and lash back at science because of these insecurities. An amazing part of science is that it's able to look at itself and say "I was wrong about that" then change its stance to reflect a more correct assessment of a topic. Its too bad religion sometimes fails to do the same thing.

... Odor-Filled food in compuer labs

2007-01-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

Dear cute girl on the other end of this desk...

please refrain from bringing stinky burgerking food into these contained airconditioned rooms. the odor of fries and shitty old beef ruins the happy ambiance of 3d work.

you might be incredibly cute, but this assult on my nostrils is infalable.

please be more curteous when bringing your food inside, cute girl on the other side of the desk.

... Bad battlefield players

2007-01-09T00:42:00.000-08:00

It would be incorrect for me to say that I'm the best battlefield player ever, but I think I'm pretty damned good - Better than most of you schmucks out there.

Anyway, as I see a lot of battlefield players die for stupid reasons, I present you with ten tips to increase your survivability in Battlefield 2142, and as a bonus, most of these tips can be applied to your game play in other first person shooters. hurray.

Ten tips for being better at battlefield 2142

1) Look around, Don't allow yourself to fall into tunnel vision

It's too easy to kill someone running at a parallel to your line of vision. Luckily, for me, most people do this. they don't sweep around looking for other players while they're moving. Because of how quickly one dies in this game, the "shooting" element of this game boils down to "who can see the opposing player first." Constantly and actively seek out targets. Don't just look at where you're going.

2) Move from cover to cover.

This tip is pretty straightforward. Try to block the angles of attack the enemy can use to get a bead on you. if the enemy can only shoot at you when you can see them, you've just given yourself an advantage. But remember tip one: don't forget to look around.

3) Watch out for those damned AP mines

I probably die to these more frequently than people shooting me. they're such a nuisance. Run around them in a large arch. revive people who run into them!

4) Don't blindly run around corners.

When running around corners, its better to back away from the wall and look around then actually just turning your head around the edge. it allows the player to see more of the other side of the corner than just hugging the edge of the corner. this all goes back to tip one: look around, see the enemy before they see you.

5) Revive people if you're a medic. Resupply if you're support

I play this game as pretty much a dedicated medic. i'll suicidally run to a fallen comrade and revive them. its just good for the team in general: Every revive means an extra ticket that isnt wasted on a death. Too many times have I been killed and have multiple medics run over my corpse. And remember: they give you points. lots of points.

6) Join a squad

This really isn't much a problem in battlefield 2142 anymore, but its still a helpful tip. Work with people, its the whole point of the game.

7) Listen to the commander.

You might think the commander is an idiot, and sometimes he actually is. Most of the time however, the commander is at least somewhat intelligent and competent in his role. the commander knows whats going on in the battlefield far better than a single soldier does, thanks to scan sweeps and the top-down "See everything" view they get. They are the guiding voice of the masses, so listen!

8) Know when to go looking for a medic

Every time you die, you hurt your team as a whole. those tickets you fight for are precious. When low on health, and not expected to die from leaving your spot, go seek out a medic, or better yet, wait for a squad medic to come heal you. It'll save you lives, giving you a more impressive score, and it'll help your team out in a small way.

9) The knife is a last resort.

yes, its cool to collect dog tags, but the knife should only be used when you have a guaranteed kill. I learned this the hard way. Don't run up behind someone who's standing. they could easily and very often do turn around and shoot, and then you just wasted a life because of arrogance. Also, the knife attack chance is kind of iffy, sometimes being right next to an enemy and using the knife does not lead to a kill, so be safe: shoot.

10) Use the "spotted" quick button often.

Its simple: if you see someone you cant kill, spot them so someone else can. An enemy who's visible on the mini-map is a dead enemy. This is probably the most useful feature exclusive to the battlefield series, so take advantage of it, and help your team win!

...being drunk, and trying to write a book

2006-12-31T23:32:00.001-08:00

it was a long tuseday and mr jenkens had gotten sick of his rum. day after dya mr jekens had tried to find something fun to do,b ut to no avail. thus, the aclhochol started tofowl, and the fowl started to fall from the sky.

he'd alwase wanted to go hunting, drunk, but he had never. afraid of the concesuences of drinkign with a rifle in one hand, mr jekens had a voided the idea for some time now. but this is a new day, he said to himself. h wanted to try something new. soemthing dangerous.

mr jenkens puled out his thomphson MG gun and started shooting nazis just like inr eal life
but he didnt win. it was a harsh predicament in which mr jenkens found himself whtihnin tjhe confines of reality and outside the jokes of the evening. That made him feel good, even if it wa skind of insulting.,

the raptors of the evening founfd themselves scrathicn at the door fof the compound. the woman nnew lynyz she said, and she dried to hack the gibson. but WOW she didnt do it. te aptor had cut throught he glass aND ATE TH FUCKERS.

MY MOUTH TASTES LIKE TUTHEPASTE.

LETS GO SIT DOWN NOW.

...Yahoo answers

2006-12-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

Dear yahoo answers question askers.

I like helping people. The joy I get from assisting the needy or the under informed is quite rewarding, and if I could, i'd do it more often. Before the internet, I was only able to give my very coveted advice to those in my immediate vicinity. these people were sometimes greatful, sometimes angry at the advice i'd give them. But every time I helped someone I felt better about myself in a little way. I wanted more of this "positive feeling" for myself. so i sought ways to help more and more people. along came yahoo answers.

For those who don't know, yahoo answers is an open-ended advice site provided by, well, yahoo. people get to ask and answer questions. They are appropriated points if they answer questions well or get picked for best answer. "great!" i thought, "i'll take a look and try to answer to the best of my ability", or so I thought. after browsing the site for a few minutes, I realized something startling: the people who ask questions in yahoo answers are beyond my ability help. the questions were not hard to answer, life threatening, or simply too complicated, but rather, the people asking the questions just seemed hopeless.

Firstly, I'm going to logically assume that most people who use yahoo answers are native English speakers. the site gets a few posts from people in India, and although their grammar can be a little fucked up, their questions usually have better English than the fodder who are from my native land.

Secondly, a lot of people who answer questions do not use the conveniently placed search bar at the bottom of every answer form to actually LOOK UP INFORMATION. why do people post answers to things they do not know the answer to? Assuming a solution to a problem is not going to help anybody. Furthermore, NO, god will not solve your problems of the flesh. preying to save your marriage when your husband is sleeping with another woman, wont do a god-damned thing.

And lastly, Why cant you people look up the trivial stuff on your own? yahoo is first and foremost, a search engine. is it so hard to type in a question into a form, which probably will get your results faster and more efficently? i guess not for most poeple.

But of course, thats why yahoo answers was created in the first place.

Despite all this, there are people who put yahoo answers to good use: They answer questions truthfully and intelligently, ask interesting and hard to-solve problems, and more importantly use their brains. Thank you, good users. Even though you're only 2% of the population, you make the internet so much more worth while.

-Love,
me.

...Your greenbeans, aunt.

2006-12-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

Dear anonymous aunt:

Your greenbeans suck. They are chewy, flavorless, and have the texture of rubber. I'd love to tell you, but you happen to be an alcoholic who's pretending to be recovering, so i don't want to be overtly blamed for your recession back into the booze, which I can tell from the corner of your eye that you drink regularly. and whats worse is that you lie about it. to your husband and your kids and your relatives, because you cant cope with the pain of recovery.

But other than that, merry xmas everyone!

... Holiday television programming

2006-12-20T02:05:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately for me, the holiday spirit is rampant across every nook and cranny of America. The one time of the year when we truly get to relax is now. Yet this time of family, big dinners, and ample television viewing time is tainted by a meme of America that needs to die out.

Holiday programming. starting November and continuing on through January, it pollutes the airways with it's message of joy and festiveness with endless images of idealistic snowscapes populated by scarf-wearing middle Americans. And this is just the commercials. The same movies, year after year, week after week, are repeated as if the world's last Christmas is upon us.

What kind of person does not get tired of this crap? most of these movies the networks show are comparable to, say, George of the Jungle starring Brendan Frasier, or worse. I've only seen George of the jungle twice, which is enough. never again will I probably watch George of the jungle and I can guarantee I will never have the urge once again to seek out and see this film. The same goes for these Christmas movies. the novelty of the theme wears off after the second showing. Lets try something new, shall we?

Someone needs to make a drama involving Santa. lets have it take place in July, in the middle of the elf's production schedule. suddenly, disease strickens the elf population, causing them to die in troves, but Santa and his crack team of biologist elves are on the job, racing to find a cure before it's too late to finish all the toys! the world waits in fear...

...Well, no. this movie idea should never be made.

The bottom line is, that television sucks during the holiday season. it sucks just enough to warrant me unplugging my TV for a good month. Good riddance, cable!

...People who think the movie The Last Temptation is blaspehmous

2006-12-18T02:48:00.000-08:00

So this blog was started because I hate most everything involving people. You, as a my reader, probably have already decided that this blog is moronic, and thats fine, you can go blog about it somewhere else. more power to you.

My hatred this hour has been generated by reading reviews for the movie "the last temptation" on yahoo movies. (which you can find here: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800087273/info)

There's something particularly aggravating about people who take their faith so fucking seriously, that they cant take a fictional "what if" scenario and just brush it off for what it is: a what if scenario. So what if it portrays Jesus Christ as a normal, human individual. a lot of people I've talked to find that the movie enlightens them to be more attuned to him rather than hate people who created the movie!

Some religious fanatics protested the showing of the movie as if it was some sort of threat to their beliefs. Remember: It was just a movie. If your divine god's worshiper's life-long belief is threatened by a two and a half hour 'what if' scenario, you might want to ask why the tenants of your faith can't hold onto the members it's so desperately trying to save.

And why do some of these posters constantly refer to "the passion of the Christ" as a sort of rebuttal to this film? Although from a neutral perspective I did enjoy the story of the film, I find a sort of moral dilemma amongst a culture of people who find the blood-letting torture of a prophet more acceptable than a inquisitive insight into the mind of the man who was Jesus, and why he died for us. Why is the violence SO much more appealing to Christian audiences than the thoughts and human nature of their savior?

A humanistic Jesus just seems so much more appealing.