Category: Random Thoughts

So I got a comment from yesterday’s post from someone I don’t know. And boy, did that throw me for a loop! Of course, I realise that a website is a public place and that anyone could conceivably come across it and read it. On the other hand, I never really expected anyone to. So it was a shock. I momentarily went ‘holy fuck! I gotta shut this thing down! Anyone could read it!’ But then, I remembered, one of the draws of the blog is exactly that: anyone could read it. There’s nothing like semi-anonymous confessions, or whatever these can be considered to make me feel better about things.. I think it’s a 5 thing. Anyhoo, I of course followed the link back to the poster , and from there, found what this post was going to be about – StorTrooper. Here’s the Stor Trooper me:

In the Globe & Mail letters section today:

“Why are we calling Infinite Justice a code name? Is it being used to

deceive the bad guys and keep them from learning its secrets? That’s what a

code name is supposed to do. Infinite Justice is a brand name. A logo. An

icon. A rallying point. There. I’ve broken the code.”

Ted Schellenberg, Lions Bay BC

Thanks to Nicole for sending this to me. This pre-empts something I’d been thinking about, which is the branding of this attack, so maybe I’ll post something about that sooner than I was going to.

So several statements about last night’s Presidential Address really, really bother me. First, let me refer you to the following compilation of Q & A’s by Noam Chomsky. K. Read that? Now, The Taliban, currently in power in Afghanistan, have asked to see some evidence about Bin Laden’s involvement in the WTC attack. Which seems pretty reasonable to me. That whole international law thing. (On a side note, does the fact that CNN’s headline the for the above-linked article read ‘Taliban refuse to back down’ bother anyone else? No mention that maybe, maybe seeing the evidence that U.S. has so far refused to share with anyone, including it’s own people, is a reasonable request? The U.S. would not extradite someone from U.S. soil without the foreign government making a case that would, I presume, include some evidence against the suspect). Of course, the U.S. probably doesn’t have anything beyond circumstatial and questionable evidence against Bin Laden, and so can’t produce any facts, so simply ignores any laws and forges ahead.

Continue reading “Ah, to be above the law!”

Clearly, this is why I haven’t made a film yet. I haven’t completed about 5 of the 7 steps..

From Slate, two lists of comments and retractions about the recent events.

First Page

Second Page.

In other retractions, Clear Channel is denying a list of banned songs ever existed.

Seeing as I can’t get any work done today, here’s another response; this one is from the South African newspaper the Mail & Guardian. I found this link at Underacheivers.com

Oh joy of joys, knobenvy.com is available! It’s so silly, I’m tempted. But not that tempted. Must resist the evil. But maybe Dean would like this.

Like Lauren, this is an American flag I’d be proud to fly. Especially if you’re not so sure about the star spangled banner.

So I was reading this article, which got me thinking again about unionization. Several years ago, a friend and I started the bare bones work to unionize a student-run computer help centre. It wasn’t that the work was so bad, because it wasn’t. The pay was decent, as student jobs go, and it was a fairly good work environment. So why on earth would we want to unionize? Because the reason the job was so good was because of our supervisor. She was an amazing woman who always seemed to put the interests of the helpdesk staff first. She was our friend. She’d come down and hang out, talk about whatever, make work fun, yet at the same time, she made sure work got done.

Then, she got a sort-of promotion. Essentially, she was handed more responsibility apart from running the helpdesk that took her away from us. Nothing changed immediately, but there were subtle changes afoot. New responsibilities were added to the staff. We were asked to support more, different technologies, without being given (proper) training on what to do. Many of us suddenly changed roles at our jobs, with no recognition in titular or financial form. The student staff was split into 2 groups, the ‘first level’ group, who would respond to most calls, and the ‘second level’ group, whose job it was to supervise the first level group, as well as respond to more difficult questions.

I was put into the second level group. While admittedly, I was compensated by earning an extra $1.50 an hour, suddenly I was expected to lead my peers; reprimand them if necessary. In a sense, it split the helpdesk, and the atmosphere was no longer the same. I ceased enjoying the atmosphere at work, as the tension grew : if someone talked to me, would they be reprimanded for not doing their jobs? etc. My job there transitioned further – I essentially became a network administrator there, redeploying their network and making sure that it was maintained properly. There was no other change in my job description or compensation package, even though I was now doing exactly the same job as full time network administrators. My job satisfaction contined to free-fall, and I quit as soon as I could.

So why do I say all this?

Continue reading “New union drives?”

I feel like I’m waiting for something more. I can’t concentrate on anything. I start things, and can’t finish them. The things I do for fun can’t keep my interest. I can barely finish a thought. I don’t know why I’m writing this, as I’m bored already and off in other things internally. But what? But what? It’s like waiting for Godot. Expectation of something more. Dissatisfaction with the state of the world. Dissatisfaction with everything.

I’m just wasting time until…?