You Are 91% Tortured Genius

You totally fit the profile of a tortured genius. You’re uniquely brilliant – and completely misunderstood. Not like you really want anyone to understand you anyway. You’re pretty happy being an island.

HT: CyberChocolate

This story pissed me off.

A 16-year-old girl who caught a cold during a school trip to New York was kicked off her flight home because she was coughing.

Continue reading →

It was a very hard decision to make, but with the last day to withdraw from the semester without a grade penalty approaching at the end of next week, I feel it was the right one to make. I’m behind on all of my bills, and rapidly maxxing out my credit cards. Since September, I’ve felt like I’ve been living on a financial house of cards, but the last couple of months have been incredible rickety. I need to get myself on some sturdy financial ground.

I’ll be able to return next semester to finish my degree. I’m not happy about the situation, but I really don’t feel like I have any choice.

On Thursday, Jules at Originality is SO Overrated wrote a post about one of those jingoistic chain-e-mails. You know the one, or you know one similar to it. It starts by talking all nice about how great it would be if every American, regardless of political ideology, could join in supporting a message with a very narrow political focus.

Like Jules, I hate shit like this. First, they lower your defenses by talking about unity and putting aside political differences. And then they go into this crazy bizzare isolationist rant that can be summed up as “might makes right/if you don’t agree with us fucking hit the road/wooohooo!”

The great thing about America is that everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, opinions are like annoying neighbors — everyone’s got one, but just because you have one, it doesn’t mean (unless you’re me) that your opinion is the same thing as ‘truth.’ But in my opinion, America’s greatness comes in doing what is right not because there is some profit motivation in the action, but because doing right is right. I was reading Right Thinking From The Left Coast, and a quote from David Iglasias caught my eye:

It makes me think of what Bobby Kennedy argued during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the military wanted to do a preemptive strike on Cuba. He goes, “You mean, you want us to do a Pearl Harbor, except we’re the Japanese. We don’t do that. Americans don’t do that.”

Do you think the author of that e-mail would agree with Bobby Kennedy? I doubt it. But holding ourselves to a higher moral code (easier as a country before this current presidential administration) is what America is — or was, or should be — about. But WTF do I know.

If you ask me, it would’ve been funnier if they’d left off the ‘a’ along with that last ‘i.’

West Virginia may have won the National Invitation Tournament, but the Mountaineers’ commemorative T-shirts are less than championship material.

They contain a misspelling.

The “West Virginia” printed on the shirts players wore after winning the NIT title with a 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night is missing the last “i” in “Virginia.”

West Virginia coach John Beilein also could not be reached for comment.

First, I’m a little shocked that a mispelling like this is a national news story. This story, although on Sports Illustrated.com, had a direct link from CNN’s webpage. It must’ve been a slow news day, but I’m digressing here.

What was anyone expecting Beilein’s comment on the situation to be? “Wel, hear ova’ in Wes’ Vahginyia, ain’t nun of us think dat spelin’ uz ahl it dun be krakd up as.”

Okay, not Hell’s Club … Sam’s Club.

Wednesday, we were out of tuna at the Indy, so, since I was unfortunate enough to show up first, Gary gave me $20, his Sam’s business membership card, and sent me on my way. I guess I don’t (overly) mind it. Wait, no, yes I do – Sam’s Club is fucking evil. Here are my very specific complaints:

1. I realize that Sam’s Club is geared towards those yuppie assholes who want to fill their shopping carts with two dozen ten-gallon boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, but would it be that much to ask for an “express” checkout lane? For Christ’s sake, I had two giant cans of Tuna.

2. If I can’t leave the store until you’ve made some stupid mark on the receipt, would you mind not making so much damn small talk? I mean, I realize I’ve only got two giant cans of tuna, but I don’t see what the point is with someone who has a cart full of stuff. Like you can even tell if everything in the cart is on the receipt.

3. WHO THE EFF BUILDS A STORE WITH A PARKING LOT TRAPPED BY THE DAMN LIGHT RAIL?!?!?! The parking lot entry and egress is really very fucked up and difficult and I WANT TO RIP MY HAIR OUT frustrating.

I. Hate. Sam’s. Club.

(And, believe it or not, my hatred for Sam’s Club has nothing to do with its Walmart ownership).

(I freely admit I might at some point change my mind about Sam’s Club, but I won’t be doing it today).

I might agree with Broadsheet’s observation that society is rapidly going to hell in a handbasket, but I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was a kid, and loved the Brickshelf gallery I came across today. Turtle Power!

Dear M. Snay,

This memo is to remind you that springtime has arrived and that you are not in a sexual relationship (unless you count your left hand, I wouldn’t). You will kindly note that this memo is occasioned by your failure to admit your lack of mastery of your own domain Thursday morning after waking, a situation which forced you to think of Dr. A naked every time you had to stand — after all, with all of those hot, sexy, often scantily-clad Towson undergrad girls walking around, it was expecting a lot for your mind not to turn to sex.

Please, self-satisfy before school. It will save you a lot of embarassment. Thank you.

-M. Snay

PS – Kindly note the memo specifies Dr. A. As you’ve noticed, Dr. B is quite sexy.

Tuesday, I wrote about my HEL class holding session outside on that beautiful spring day. What I didn’t mention is that a dude in an orange shirt with a big camera came around and took photos of us lounging about on that grassy knoll which, thankfully, did not leave grassy mud stains on our ass. The photograph was on the front page of today’s Towerlight. The title is a lie – I am not actually in this photo (I got cropped out or wasn’t in frame) but I’m about five feet behind the dude in the cowboy hat.

When I need a new sofa, I know what I’m going to get!

Lego style has apparently been appropriated by the sofa-making industry, whose product called Bekky lets you construct your favorite configuration out of its interlocking pieces, rubberized for your comfort and ready for your speedy modifications.

The commodious components work just like Lego, and drain your wallet in a similar fashion, to the tune of $466 for the four-piece set. Now you can live a nearly-complete Lego life

HT: Gizmodo

Of all the ways to wake up …

So my toilet has been running at odd times. I don’t know much about toilet mechanics except “push down the lever and it flushes.” Anyway, I guess the plunger isn’t properly engaging or whatever, because every few hours, it starts running water like I’d just flushed it. My piss-poor explanation of how a toilet works aside, apparently the older of my two cats, Guy, didn’t quite figure out that the toilet was cycling in this manner.

Anyway, so I’m lying in bed waiting for the alarm to go off (the radio has already begun playing) before I even bother trying to roll, exhausted, off my mattress and getting my feet on the carpet. I hear a low lapping from the bathroom — it’s a cat, drinking from the toilet water. They both, apparently, think they’re dogs (because I’ve caught them both doing it), but as I found out in about five seconds which cat in particular it is. It’s important to note, here, that from my bed, I can see a section of the hallway — immediately to the left, and out of sight, is the doorway to the bathroom. Directly across from the bathroom door is the cross-hall which leads to the spare bedroom.

So the toilet cycles. Immediately, there’s a loud scrambling noise from inside the bathroom, and a second later, a big black and white form literally flies out of the bathroom, soars across the width of the hallway, through the bead curtain that marks the entry to the cross-hall. There’s a new noise: hissing, growling, then Tippy comes flying out — from the best of what I can gather, Tippy was sleeping in the hall until her older — and bigger — brother (they aren’t really brother and sister) came flying out of the air and rudely awoke her. Anyway, Tippy darts out, ear flattened, looks at me with her eyes wide, then bolts for the living room. Guy is right behind her, his eyes are much wider, his ears completely black, tail flat back. He manuevers swiftly through the bead curtain and delivers a long and deliberate hiss at the bathroom (I swear to christ this cat better not be too scared to use the litter box). At this point, I make a noise, and he suddenly turns to face me, adopting a look which I can only describe as “um, no, I didn’t just hiss at the toilet, honest.”

Well, it sure was an interesting way to wake up, at any rate.

Art Asylum is producing a line of action figures based on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I’m giddy with excitement!

(I’m such a child).

I suppose I’m in favor of a “Blogger Code on Conduct“, but this paragraph really pissed me off:

She also thinks it could be time to re-examine whether the blogosphere needs to be completely uncensored.

“There is an unwritten rule in the blogosphere that it is wrong to delete nasty comments. It suggests that you can’t take criticism but now there is a sense that this is nonsense,” she said.

I really hate this notion. The blogosphere should be uncensored. I mean, yeah, delete spam comments, but where do you draw the line between nasty comments and comments that are critical? I’ve took the time, quite a while ago, to draw up a Blog Policy, with a specific comment policy,

“Please feel free to exercise your freedom of choice and not read this blog if you are incapable of doing so and acting in a mature manner.

Only spam comments will be deleted, but I reserve the right to IP ban trolls (I make determinations as to what qualifies as spam comments, and who qualifies as a troll).

In the rare occasion I choose not to recieve feedback on a post, the comment feature will be turned off either at the time of posting, or before the first comment has been left. I will not turn off the comment feature on a post because of negative or unpleasant feedback.”

I’ve never deleted comments for being critical, or banned anyone for making critical comments. That’s because I can fucking handle the criticism that comes with writing a public blog. Death threats, of course, would be a different matter, and that’s what the police are here for.

Mind you, not mine (note the quotation marks).

Today, I got a call on my cell phone from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello?” I asked after accepting the call.

It was ‘phone relay.’ If you’re not familiar, the service is for dead and mute individuals. They communicate with an operator through a computer. The operator than relays their messages to the individual on the recieving end of the phone message, and relays the response back through to the deaf or mute individual.

So, anyway, it turned out be a prank call from one of my coworkers – the operator, in a dead-pan voice, said “This relay call is from [Brain Impaired Coworker], who would like you to know his penis is like a chickenbone.”

You’d think she would’ve figured out it wasn’t a serious phone call.

Towson University is under attack — by Morgan State University.

From The Baltimore Sun:

After considering his options for getting an MBA, Justin Jones-Fosu chose a new program at Towson University over an established one at his undergraduate college, Morgan State University.

Now, Jones-Fosu’s historically black alma mater is championing a bill in Annapolis that could lead to the dismantling of Towson’s MBA program. The bill is based on the argument that by allowing Towson to duplicate a program offered at nearby Morgan State, Maryland is promoting racial segregation.

“I understand the general principle, and I value the foundation that Morgan gave me,” said Jones-Fosu, 25, who is black and a former student body leader at Morgan. “But to take away the choice that I have, to take away the program, really would be detrimental to my degree. … I don’t like it at all.”

Look, this is what it comes down to. Morgan used to have a great MBA program. But then program became not-so great. Consider that in the 1970s, the program had 250 students enrolled. And that by 1995, there were twenty-eight students. I don’t think this a race issue, as some apparently think.

Calvin W. Burnett, a former Maryland higher education secretary who for years was president of historically black Coppin State University, concluded that Morgan had neglected its MBA program at a time of increased state funding. Morgan, he said in an interview this week, bears responsibility for the slide in its program’s enrollment and reputation.

I’m all for Morgan State having a great MBA program. But it seems to me — and I could be wrong — that Morgan’s neglect is at fault. Why Towson, the second largest school in the University of Maryland system (Morgan isn’t a part, at its own decision), should be punished for this is beyond me. Morgan certainly seems to be moving in the right direction:

Otis A. Thomas, Morgan’s business school dean, said MBA enrollment last fall was nearly 70, including a handful of white students. The program’s new director, William Vroman, acknowledged administrative shortcomings in the past but said Morgan is gaining in the highly competitive MBA field and hopes to enroll about 150 students by 2012.

Morgan MBA students’ morale is also on the rise, said graduate student David Turner, 34, who heads the program’s recently formed student association.

“I think there’s a lot of camaraderie and positive energy,” he said. “The program is really gaining a lot of momentum.”

But it was this lack of direction that enabled Towson to succesfully lobby for its own program. What’s the saying? Competition keeps you sharp? Morgan doesn’t seem to have any problems forecasting high enrollment for the future, and Towson’s MBA program will make sure that Morgan stays sharp. Personally, I echo the sentiments of Jennifer L. Gajewski, who, as Towson’s lobbyist, believes “the recent resurgence of Morgan’s program proves that both schools can happily offer an MBA. ‘If their enrollment is up and our enrollment is up, then there are obviously enough students to go around,’ she said.”

Amen!