Thursday, April 03, 2008
The Best News I'll Have All Week
Two things today...
First and foremost, I learned that I will most likely not be unemployed come graduation - I have an offer from the CDC. Which is awesome. It's in Atlanta, which I was hoping to avoid, but ultimately liking what I spend 8-12+ hours a day doing is my top priority. So yay me!
And for all three people in the universe for whom my employment status is not thrilling news, it turns out that caffeine may help prevent Alzheimer's. American researchers found that a daily cup of coffee improved the function of the blood-brain barrier in rabbits, the failure of which has been implicated in the disease. And we all know that any excuse for another cup of coffee will do!
Also, have you all seen this site? It's kinda awesome. Vicious, yes, but awesome: Scorned Woman Ecards.
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Now playing: Hot Chip - Wrestlers
via FoxyTunes
First and foremost, I learned that I will most likely not be unemployed come graduation - I have an offer from the CDC. Which is awesome. It's in Atlanta, which I was hoping to avoid, but ultimately liking what I spend 8-12+ hours a day doing is my top priority. So yay me!
And for all three people in the universe for whom my employment status is not thrilling news, it turns out that caffeine may help prevent Alzheimer's. American researchers found that a daily cup of coffee improved the function of the blood-brain barrier in rabbits, the failure of which has been implicated in the disease. And we all know that any excuse for another cup of coffee will do!
Also, have you all seen this site? It's kinda awesome. Vicious, yes, but awesome: Scorned Woman Ecards.
----------------
Now playing: Hot Chip - Wrestlers
via FoxyTunes
Labels: Alzheimers, brain, caffeine, coffee, evil, health, jobs, links, science, work, yay
Thursday, January 31, 2008
One More Reason...
...to hate Fox News. They've actually managed to make me respect Montel Williams. Seriously. Basically, the long-running tabloid talk show host was a guest on another Fox talk show last weekend, and totally read the hosts (video clip here) for their ceaseless (and ceaselessly) inane coverage of Heath Ledger's death, while ignoring those of American troops being ceaselessly killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. His show on Fox was 'mysteriously' cancelled the next day.
Seriously. When Montel Williams is too respectable for your network...we have problems.
Seriously. When Montel Williams is too respectable for your network...we have problems.
Labels: crimes, evil, Fox, media, Montel Williams, stupid, TV, War
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Roots and Evils
What happens when an action motivated by greed conflicts with more basic greed? Litigation, of course. In order to build the xenophobe's panacea that will be the DHS' boarder fence against Mexico (expected to cost billions to build and save about $25.03 in American GDP from illegals), the gubmin is of course trying to seize land.
Eloisa Tamez, whose name probably sounds a bit too Mexican to the DHS crowd, lives on land granted to her family before the American Revolution, and even longer before we hated Mexicans or needed them for gardening. So, DHS is doing everything it can to evict her to build a fence that only a vocal minority of citizens (backed, of course, by monied contracting firms and jingos-at-large) think they want. Ain't democracy grand?
Eloisa Tamez, whose name probably sounds a bit too Mexican to the DHS crowd, lives on land granted to her family before the American Revolution, and even longer before we hated Mexicans or needed them for gardening. So, DHS is doing everything it can to evict her to build a fence that only a vocal minority of citizens (backed, of course, by monied contracting firms and jingos-at-large) think they want. Ain't democracy grand?
Labels: Chertoff, DHS, evil, immigration, Mexico, politics, stupidity, USA, xenophobia
Thursday, October 18, 2007
My Newest Hero
Anyone who knows me knows that there are few companies I hate more than Comcast. Not just because their services are shoddy (random blackouts, digital cable that blips out all the time, etc.) and overpriced, but also because they consistently provide the worst customer service anywhere. Worse than the DC government, even.
Comcast knows it's the only game in town if you want cable TV and/or internet that's faster than DSL. Granted, some lucky folks can get satellite and FIOS, but those have never been an option where I live. So I deal with ever-increasing bills and shitty service and repairmen who show (or don't) at their own whim. Such is the power of a monopoly.
Mona Shaw, a 75-year-old retired nurse, had similar problems with Comcast, and reacted by doming something that, while completely ineffective in the long run, is gratifying just to hear of having happened: she stormed their local office with a claw hammer. This woman deserves a fucking medal. And better cable service.
Comcast knows it's the only game in town if you want cable TV and/or internet that's faster than DSL. Granted, some lucky folks can get satellite and FIOS, but those have never been an option where I live. So I deal with ever-increasing bills and shitty service and repairmen who show (or don't) at their own whim. Such is the power of a monopoly.
Mona Shaw, a 75-year-old retired nurse, had similar problems with Comcast, and reacted by doming something that, while completely ineffective in the long run, is gratifying just to hear of having happened: she stormed their local office with a claw hammer. This woman deserves a fucking medal. And better cable service.
Labels: assault, business, Comcast, corporate hijinks, evil, funny, monopoly, retirement
Sunday, September 23, 2007
One More Reason...
...to hate Microsoft. My school has, inexplicably, decided to put Office 2007 on all of the public terminals. This is of course odd because (a) they never got 2003 working properly,and 2007 is even worse, (b) no one uses it yet, (c) it bloody sucks, and (d) they're always complaining about budgets anyways (why not do something like, I dunno, useful/necessary/not a tech-support nightmare?).
Now, I really HATE Office 2007. The layout is confusing, the menus inscrutable, and the changes completely baffling. Oh, and then there's its incredible insistence on saving files in its special .docx formats. Which cannot be read by previous versions of Word. Even when you bloody tell it to retain formats of files you created at home in Word 2003.
The result? I got home today, having spent considerable time working on a paper at school, only to find that I can't open it here. School's closed. Papers are due. And Bill Gates is another billion dollars ahead of me.
You can install the "Compatibility Pack" from M$, but that entails submitting to yet another preposterous software license, and all the security risks involved with a Microsoft product. Oh yeah, and it makes running Work 2003 even slower than it was to begin with.
Now, I really HATE Office 2007. The layout is confusing, the menus inscrutable, and the changes completely baffling. Oh, and then there's its incredible insistence on saving files in its special .docx formats. Which cannot be read by previous versions of Word. Even when you bloody tell it to retain formats of files you created at home in Word 2003.
The result? I got home today, having spent considerable time working on a paper at school, only to find that I can't open it here. School's closed. Papers are due. And Bill Gates is another billion dollars ahead of me.
You can install the "Compatibility Pack" from M$, but that entails submitting to yet another preposterous software license, and all the security risks involved with a Microsoft product. Oh yeah, and it makes running Work 2003 even slower than it was to begin with.
Labels: computers, docx, evil, Microsoft, Office 2007, rant, school, software, stupidity, waste
