18 December 2007

Right Hand Rings and Neighbors

Have you heard of right hand rings? I've been told that they are diamond rings worn on the right hand, therefore indicating that they have nothing to do with marriage. This is the same as businesses that have made people feel unloved unless they don't receive flowers on Valentine's Day. There's a reason why 22% of women and 2% of men who send flowers on VD send them to themselves. What's wrong with being single? Does not receiving flowers on VD or being given a diamond ring after the age of 20 mean that you're not a valid human being? I absolutely hate how this commercialism seeps into every aspect of life. Now these companies are trying to money off women feeling like they have to prove they're 'Available and Happy'? To me, that's a sign of a woman that has too much material need to be marriage material in the first place. DeBeers wants to sell more diamonds, but want to keep the prices high. In order to do this, they are creating a demand, much like they did back in the 1940s, to keep up with their supply. It's not just DeBeers but every jeweler. There's always a nice cut involved with jewelry, right?

This entry from WiseBread peaks my interest. I haven't been comfortable even trying to get to know my neighbors since I moved out of the dorms in college. Why is it that community bonds through geography have been deteriorating? Strengthening of other community bonds? Religious, cultural, political, and hobby based communities have been thriving. Do people not see the need to strength their neighborhood communities? These are the ones who will really save you from outsiders in the most practical of ways. They're the ones who will call the police if they see someone carrying stuff out of your house when you're not around. They're the ones who you can most quickly get a helping hand from when you're putting up a ceiling fan. They're the ones who will come and check on you because your grass is getting a little long or help you find your dog when he gets out of the backyard. I think we should get to know our neighbors, even if we don't depend on them. It's not like I'm leading the cultural revolution here either, as I can only recognize some of my neighbors and have only spoken to about 2 of them. When I move into a house, I will get to know my neighbors, even if they don't want to know me. I probably won't ask to use their lawn mower, but I will tell them to call on me if they need help in a hurry.

17 December 2007

Banning the Death Penalty

So it seems that New Jersey has now banned the death penalty. I don't really know how
to feel about this. Their reason against the death penalty is because "government cannot provide a fool-proof death penalty that precludes the possibility of executing the innocent." Ok, sure, that's a pretty good reason to do it. But then I ask, why is it ok to imprison the presumed
innocent prisoner for life without possibility of parole? Either way, you're taking his life away.

A related subject is the overcrowding of prisons. I guess New Jersey doesn't have this problem. Granted, the 8 men who had been on the state's death row probably won't overburden the state's prisons anyway. I guess the death penalty shouldn't be seen as a way to clean out our
prisons either, but still. Why were these men given the death penalty? Someone who makes that kind of call obviously thought this was the solution to dealing with them and their crimes. I just don't know what to even make of it. Thoughts?

14 December 2007

Horror Movie Setup

In reading this article, I can understand why the teacher was freaked. Imagine the situation.
Doodle-ee-doo! Doodle-ee-doo! Doodle-ee-doo!
You're alone in a high school, at night. Half the lights are off, and you haven't heard anything outside your classroom for hours. You've just packed up your bag, and now you're walking down the hallway from your classroom towards the front entrance. All of a sudden, some voice
sings over the PA, "Welcome to the jungle, baby! You're gonna die!"
"What the Hell?", you think. "Oh no. It's happened. I'm in a horror movie." You run back to your nice, familiar classroom, being sure not to trip and fall on your way there, barricade yourself in, and call the police.

Here's where it differs from a horror film. Surprisingly, the police show up with a sizable force of 6 officers and 3 police dogs to take on the movie murderer, instead of the one local deputy who is either liked or disliked by every character in the story. They treat everything as though it's a legitimate threat, and they handcuff the people they find, not letting them out of their sight, despite a perfectly reasonable story. They find and 'rescue' the frightened teacher. The teacher hears the story, believes it was a harmless joke and that they probably didn't think anyone else was in the school either. The police uncuff the kids and probably tell them not to do it again, which is about the only thing you can say in a simple misunderstanding.

I fault no one for this situation, unless it's horror movies. They're too stupid to actually lay the blame on, so no harm, no foul here.

Party on, Wayne.

13 December 2007

Thursday, 13 December 2007

Got into work late today. It's not a big deal because I'm not doing anything anyway. Several of my coworkers have expressed the same sentiment. I have begun not caring about this again, which is really a shame.
Yesterday and the day before, I spent a sizable chunk of my day studying Russian. Ends up that paid off and I'll be able to move on to the 2E course. I think I'll do it, but I'm pretty conflicted about it. It'll take an hour a day, every day, basically locking my schedule four days a week to 8am-7pm because of an hour off for Russian and class after work from 5:30 to 7pm. I like having a solid schedule, but I'm not sure I'll like having the same schedule everyday. Also, I don't have any plans during the Spring semester to need to work time off in a work week, but you never know. If I needed to, I would basically have to work long hours on Friday and sacrifice a weekend day in order to make up the time. That's only really valid anyway if I have work to do, but it really sucks.
There was a cold front that came through yesterday, dropping the temperature to... 50! Holy crap! We're all going to die! If Russians thought their winter would save them from Nazis, they would be damned sure to destroy Houstonians with it.
We got cake today at work! Thanks, people who worked on the securing the contract! I really appreciate the cake! Yesterday we were given lunch thanks to all the money we saved by turning off the lights every night. To think, things I do at home all the time saved the company enough to buy lunch for everyone that works for it in Houston. We all know they saved way more than that, because they would only give us between 1-5% of the proceeds. Unless they actually liked their employees, which I really doubt.
I finished rereading Harry Potter 7 again, after rereading the other 6 after hearing that Dumbledore was supposed to be gay. It made absolutely no difference. That's why I am annoyed that J.K. Rowling said that he was. If it gave us a different insight as to why he ever did what he did, but it makes no sense. He didn't go and defeat Gridelwald for several years not because he loved him as a lover, but because he loved him as a friend. Hell, he helped him develop several of his ideas anyway. Why would he bring about his downfall if he was leaving him and his country alone and doing exactly what they talked about the whole time? If J.K. wasn't the creator of Dumbledore, I would say it was just untrue slander.
Now Amanda and I are going to dinner over at her friend's place. I even helped by making the rice dish that she likes to make for parties and such. Hopefully we will have fun there.