Life is teh suck today because (a.ka. the official B_tch & Moan thread)

GWC Community Off-Topic/Other
#4647

Slightly left of the topic at hand, but this IS the Bitch and Moan thread and this has been bugging the crap out of me.

Anonymous is making a flashy point in selecting targets for their Mega Upload shutdown rage. But they are also not accomplishing anything and they are inconveniencing a lot of people who have NOTHING to do with the decisions.

  1. Getting an indictment of this nature takes several years of research and investigation, plus a months-long grand jury review. While it is spectacularly weird timing, shutting down the site yesterday had NOTHING whatsoever to do with the SOPA and PIPA protests on Wednesday and earlier this week.

  2. Even if the Department of Justice had decided that this was the best moment to act for some reason related to the SOPA and PIPA protests, it would not be in retaliation. DOJ works for the President and the White House. They have some independent arms, but setting prosecutorial priorities is not done independently of the political appointees. Everyone seems to have forgotten that the White House came out against SOPA and PIPA last week. DOJ did not shut down Mega Upload because of those protests–it indirectly supports the aim of those protests.

  3. Have any of you every used the DOJ website? No? Me, either. Like the vast majority of federal agencies, its website is barely functional. Even people who work directly with DOJ rely on other websites more frequently than the official departmental one. Making the Department’s website inaccessible is not actually inconveniencing anyone. So what’s the point?

  4. Targeting the U.S. Copyright Office is also stupid. That office does nothing but process applications and petitions. It does not set policy at all–it follows the rules that Congress makes pursuant to copyrightable IP.

  5. People think it’s so frakking funny that these sights are down that they aren’t paying attention to the issues underlying them–which they were just days before when they were engaging in the SOPA and PIPA protests. SO FRUSTRATING.

That’s all. Just had to get it off my chest.

#4648

Did you use the confession approach and just agree with the officer? I heard that on the Nerdist Podcast and it actually worked when I was speeding in my neighborhood. Got away with a warning.

#4649

Why isn’t the industry doing that themselves?

#4650

Topgun answered that already: cause they’re dinosaurs who can’t see the forest for the trees.

#4651

Over a dozen subscription file sharing sites have shut down in the last two days, or simply blocked access to and from the United States. Fear of arrest and seizure from the FBI and cooperating international authorities “motivated” by the FBI has gone viral.

This happened before with the prosecution of Pirate Bay but the scope is larger this time. Everything gets bigger and busier as times passes with ramifications becoming more unpredictable. So this or might not be the first day of a future where the United States becomes the backwater of the internet. The internet is oblivious to which country it thrives in.

Anonymous file sharing isn’t a dirty word, it’s called HTTP by another name. Not having a sound legal framework within which the information age can grow up in is debilitating, or embarrassing at the very least, to US participation in that growth. Racketeering? Really?

//youtu.be/9h2dF-IsH0I

#4652

Good to see other views and support.
I’m up here in Calgary, Canada, nothing like buying into a product (streaming Netflix) and finding out that is has been “trimmed”.
Any other Canadian would tell you, it was a bit frustrating to use the search and see sooooo many NOT AVAILABLE over the movie / TV.
After the upgrade they don’t bother showing you what you can’t get…
Listening to the GWC podcast would end up in frustration when one them would suggest a title that is available in the states, but not up here…

Another thing that bothers me is the TV show Frank’s Place, I LOVED this show, Tim Reid was the star along with his wife. The show never made it past it’s first season, it was agreed that it was great, just a little to ahead of it’s time, it was out in the 80’s and was a comedy that didn’t have a laugh track, and had variety of music bands on it’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, from what I had read, they had so many artists playing, that no one can agree on payment, if they were to re-release the show on what ever format. Tim Reid apparently tried his best, but apparently every party has “given up”.

So, again, if I WANTED to watch / own this I’ll would probably have to find it “illegally”… Sigh

#4653

Now, if I may be permitted to be the devil’s advocate for a moment: in this free-sharing, everything is available for nothing all the time world, how are artists supposed to earn their living?

Just sayin’…

#4654

Ok, just talked to my mom. It seems that the decision to send my niece to the pediatric nephrologist was made BEFORE they ran any kidney scans of any kind. So the “kidney failure” was just one of the possible options and as far as I can tell, no one has even read the scans yet. She could be having bladder problems (like I did and which was surgically corrected) or ureter problems or any number of issues. Mom said she wasn’t as active as normal when she was down there last weekend but she was on antibiotics and fighting yet another bladder infection at the time. Fingers crossed that it’s one of the lesser evils!

#4655

So I typed a whole post and accidentally erased it!:mad:

I’m struggling a bit with my online writing class. I was off for the last two quarters and now am in a new cohort. Most of my classmates were together with the instructor last quarter. I was in a similar situation a few years ago and it’s brought up issues for me. I don’t feel part of the group yet and am not sure I will.

I’ve been frustrated because the instructor scheduled all the live chats in the middle of the work day, around a few timezone’s lunch hour. My district server won’t allow the plug-in for me to join the chat. I asked about having a few evening chats for those of us who work. My intsructor told me that evenings were her family time. Well being in the frakkin program is always during my family time!

I pressed it and we had an evening chat last night, which one third of the class attended. The instructor made a point of telling me that other people were upset. It pissed me off that 1- my classmates don’t seem to care about everyone having an opportunity to participate in the live chat 2- she shouldn’t have told me that and 3- the whole point of an online program is supposed to be FLEXIBILITY!

And to top it off she called me by another student’s name in a post to me about my own work.

I am worried that she will be the only instructor for the next class, which is a series of Novel 1,2 & 3 classes where you must have the same instructor for all three. I really don’t know what I’ll do. After this class, I’ll be half way through the program, but I seriously wonder if this is worth the time, money and stress even if it is Stanford.

KHAN!!!

#4656

I am so glad that it is not as bad that you originally feared. Hoping for the best for your neice.

#4657

Glad to hear that this may not be as bad as previously feared. I hoping this turns out well for her.

I would suggest shopping around. There must be other online courses you can take, sure they may not be from as pretigous a university as Stanford… But if you are not getting the personal attention, education or flexability you paid for. What the Hell difference does it matter which Uni it is? You are still getting snubbed, and treated unprofessionally. I suppose it is easier to ignore a student when they are not in the room with you.

Why does this teacher not have assistants that help you? And are there not courses available that would be in a timezone that coincides with your work schedule? Or night courses here in town? Having an actual writing group to meet with physically could be a real morale boost, and be quite inspirational. Anyways food for thought…

Good Luck! :wink:

#4658

Earlier this week a family member (not immediate, but pretty damn close) passed away. I can’t go to the funeral this weekend. I am feeling sad about it. For me, but also for all of my family that is also hurting.

#4659

I’m sorry for your loss and that you won’t be able to attend the service. Your family will understand & know you’re thinking of them. hugs

#4660

Oh gods! I’ve been wondering and checking in hoping there was an update. Here’s hoping that it is, indeed, one of these lesser evils, or an even lesser one.

#4661

Keep fighting until you can’t, Dawn. The worst thing you can do is give up. Just remember, even if it’s Stanford, teaching online classes is usually relegated to adjunct professors, and adjuncts (and I’m speaking from experience here) are usually treated with as much dignity and respect as pond scum in a petri dish by senior faculty and, especially, administration. (Hence the wrong name and the snarkiness about flexibility and family time. Not that it excuses it, just, well, I’m just trying to see it from your prof’s perspective, having myself been an adjunct until recently.)

The worst thing you could do, though, is give up. Hang in there, we’re rooting for you!

#4662

:frowning: Te mando mi pésame (actually, I’ve never been clear on how the word for condolences in Spanish is supposed to be used, so I apologize for the awkwardness of that sentence. Here’s sending you good thoughts).

#4663

So…it was a long day at work. Nothing really crappy, just one of those “quit annoying me” days. I get home and I know the hubs didn’t have the best of days as he had a second day of road trip because of someone else’s mess-up. I see he’s fixing the kennel door and I ask the blatantly obvious “Jake wrecked his kennel door?” I get a glare and a terse “look!” with a motion towards the kennel. I quick peek around the corner and don’t see anything additional so I turn back and say “Well, just the bottom then?”

Wrong thing to say. I get a tirade about the bottom 2x4 that was ripped from the bottom of the kennel door, another motion to the side of the garage with yelling about the 1 foot square section of siding that is now missing on the corner of the garage (that I was obviously too stupid to see), and then a final “and I had to clean up cat barf.”

Now, I know he needed to vent. What really upsets me is that he makes me feel like it’s my fault all this happened. So I head in the house and cry a bit because now I’m stressed AND pissed. I get that stopped ASAP because I know if he comes in, tears at this point in time will just make things worse. I start steak and potatoes for supper and when he comes in, I know he’s calmed down but he just goes on like the rant was no big deal - no apology.

Now I am sitting in my chair while he goes to the hardware store to get replacement siding. I am eating chocolate and drinking wine.

Thanks for letting me vent.

#4664

Ok, so I have to vent today. It’s a good thing that’s what this thread is for.
Begin life story now:
So I’ve had this girlfriend (known henceforth as C) for the last 7 years, and I love her completely. I’m so insanely head over heels for this girl it’s not even funny. Trouble is, she loves me too, but she’s got this idea that we’re not “meant to be together”. She can’t really say why, it’s just a gut feeling. She points out our minor differences such as musical taste (which overlap some) and the fact that we like different kinds of food and such. She kinda ignores the stuff like us having very similar moral compasses, a lot of similar interests (we met because we were both on the same bicycle racing team) and the fact that we’re both very even tempered and have similar philosophical stances. We work very well together, hell we’re kinda like Apollo and Starbuck, Tango and Cash, Bill & Ted. The whole situation is complicated further by the fact that we want to stay friends (really stay friends, not like everyone says they’ll stay friends and then they never talk to each other).
Every 8 or 10 months, she’ll get all depressed and want to break up. I’ll try to hold us together, but in the end we break up. It lasts a few days, a couple of weeks even the whole summer once and she calls. Wants to see me. I of course oblige, because I want nothing other than to spend the rest of my life with her. I’m a sucker. We start out just spending time together, sometimes a booty call, and often she informs me that she still considers us broken up. (Yeah, on the way back to her place.) Eventually we fall back into the routine and she stops telling me we’re broken up. A couple of times during our longer breakup periods, I’ve hung out with other girls. Never sex, or even a date, just hanging out. She gets kinda jealous and snaps me back up. (I think at this point I don’t have to say that I, of course, let her) Still doesn’t want to keep me, but evidently wants to keep me out of circulation in case she changes her mind maybe?
So I’ve put up with this for 7 years, she’s slow to make decisions, and she’s been abused by her ex, so I try not to make things difficult.
Around the first of the year I kinda meet this new girl. Not really, she’s a local racer and we’re aware of each other, but I’d never really sat down and talked to her. We see each other at a restaurant and chat. She’s really cool, it turns out. She asks about C and I, if we’re together. (C isn’t one for a lot of public displays of affection, her ex treated her like a trophy so it weirds her out to be pawed on in public. So, sometimes people wonder if we’re just really good friends.) Anyway, it kinda became clear that this new girl was interested, and man if it wasn’t for my deal I would have been too. In fact, I am. I feel like I got a big slap in the face from what I’m missing, and I feel bad about it. I’m sitting at home, thinking about a girl, and it’s not the one I’m supposed to be thinking about. Why? It made me realize that I’m actually a bit resentful about the situation. I feel like at this point I should at least get “Hey, you’re awesome and I want to keep you”. Sometimes I think about all the perfectly good girls I pass up because I’m clinging to something that’s dead in space. Then I feel bad, because I’m not supposed to be thinking about other girls, because I’m with C. C doesn’t really want me though, so I’m back to wondering if someone else will.
So a few days ago I decide I’ve had enough. I tell her I’ve hit a wall with it and can’t do it anymore. Yup, that’s right, I broke up with her. Planets must’ve been aligned or something, but I managed to stand up for myself. Guess what, she didn’t want to break up. Wanted to talk about it some more, and my dumb ass ended up at her place that night. The next day I tell her I feel unsettled about leaving us hanging, but she wants to talk about it more and she suspects resolution is along ways off. I tell her no, it isn’t. I can’t do it anymore. I’m thinking “fuck that, I deserve better”, but I really don’t want to display the fact that I’m brewing some anger over the situation. Maybe I should, let her know that I feel angry and hurt, but it will only make her feel worse and won’t really change anything in the end. Then I think maybe I should just stop being a fucking doormat and speak up.
When I saw her at the gym earlier I declined her invitation to go out tonight, and said we need to stop.
So I’m thinking about calling this cute blond that was interested in me a while back, and when I hop on Facebook I see

“Cute blond is in a relationship with…FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!”

Fuck. My. Life.

So yeah, it’s Friday night, I’ve got a season and a half of Torchwood left, a bottle of Mexican Coke (with real sugar) and my Eve online subscription is still active. Thanks for listening (or not) and I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled commiseration.

#4665

Edoz - wallow this weekend. Start fresh on Monday. And stay broken up the C - she totally doesn’t deserve you.

#4666

That’s not healthy dude. Be strong. I mean if she throws herself at you go for it but be strong after you meet a new girl.