Archive for the ‘Annoying Things’ Category

We are all real women

Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

I’m offended by the insinuation that thin women are not “real” women. That (all?) men “prefer” women with curves. Earth to the rest of the planet! We happen to come in all shapes and sizes, not just the “breasts and hips” model. And men happen to have varying tastes – some of them are actually attracted to brains and personality too.

We need to stop this dissention in our ranks. A woman’s size and shape have nothing to do with her essence. Pushing the message that any body shape is unattractive is confusing and damaging to our impressionable teens. And we really have far more important things to give our attention to than who looks better in a bikini.

What has gone wrong in our society when it becomes acceptable to insult and demean a woman based on what she looks like, as long as she falls into the group not protected by “political correctness”? This quote from a member of a Child-Free forum on a Family website:

For as long as I can remember I have been disturbed by pregnant ladies. It just seems gross to me. I think they should stay home or something…  It seems so inappropriate to me when I see a pregnant woman waddling around town…

She has a right to her opinion, of course. But how long before it’s okay to discriminate against a pregnant or nursing woman because customers are offended? How long before our exploding population problem means that pregnant women are the minority? How long before glamorising pregnancy is frowned on because it may encourage young women to have children of their own when our planet can’t support them? 

We cannot debase one group for the sake of the self-esteem of another. It doesn’t solve anything, and it causes even more harm. We need to each be responsible for our own self-esteem and that of our loved ones. And then we need to look around us and accept the beautiful men and women we see everyday.

I call an end to the war we’re waging on our own bodies and those of the women (and men) around us. Who’s with me?

Alleged Misplaced Journalistic Infatuation

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

What is happening to our journalists? They seem a little confused these days.

A man was “allegedly” stabbed in a department store.

Well, he was either stabbed or he wasn’t. (And it either occured in the department store, or it didn’t.) “Allegedly” is a legal term required when the perpetrator of an action hasn’t been formally convicted. So, “The man was stabbed, allegedly by his brother” is correct, but you cannot logically use the word without indicating a perpetrator.

Three police officers ”lost their lives” attempting to rescue a family held hostage by a mass murderer.

Not only is “losing a life” a stupid term (no one is that careless), when used in a situation describing an heroic act it is downright insulting. In the example above, it insinuates that the police officers were to blame for “losing” their own lives, not the murderer.

A man was “bashed” leaving a nightclub.

This is a favourite here in Australia. “Bashed” is slang, and has no place in formal journalism. The correct term is “assaulted”.

Don’t cry for me TopGear Australia

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

I made it not through your first,
nor will there be further
viewings of your crap,
this viewer is leaving,
she’ll keep her distance

Oh what a heartache,
I dare to say,
When I think of the laughter,
the memories, and the banter we shared,
TopGear U-K
You will always be
Dear to me, I will miss you, of that you be sure
I hope that one day there’ll be more…

Don’t cry for me TopGear Australia…
Just read my scathing review
Your days are numbered
I hope they axe you
Get off my TV
Before I break it.

Rowling wins – writers everywhere breathe a sigh of relief

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Thank the fictional gods! JK Rowling has won her case against Steve Vander Ark of Harry Potter Lexicon, and RDR Books, who intended to publish a printed version of her material arranged into a reference book.

Vander Ark and RDR Books claimed Fair Use, but presiding judge Robert Patterson ruled that since the reference book contained no original commentary and simply rearranged copious amounts of Rowling’s material, its publication would constitute an infringement of Rowling’s copyright.

Rowling has stated that she, herself, intended to produce a Harry Potter Universe reference work for charity purposes, and Vander Ark’s book would also have infringed on her right to create such a derivative work.

There are better ways to promote your cause

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

…than to harrass already-edgy shoppers at a shopping centre.

Just today I was hurrying through the centre to get to the Post Office for the second time, having decided the queue was too long the first time and that I would do my other shopping first and swing by again afterwards. In that space the cause celebs had moved into prime position:

Hello! Do you like animals?

Wrong day, mate.

I have a streaming head cold and a raging headache, and I can’t take anything for it because I’m pregnant.

I have “popped out” to the pharmacy, the supermarket, and the post office – hoping I would be only half an hour or so, but I’ve already had to go to two supermarkets to get what I need of a list of 5 items (and I’m still one item short because neither supermarket has it in stock). That is on top of “just swinging by” the post office twice.

Wrong day. But tomorrow will undoubtedly be just as wrong.

Do I like animals?

Only on a barbecue.

Don’t get me wrong: I do like animals. I just never signed a contract requiring me to be honest and sincere when asked a leading question by a complete stranger.

Save yourself the martyrdom of trying to interest the completely uninterestable in your cause. There are better ways to bring people’s attention to something worthwhile. Squidoo is one of them.

Here are some top notch lenses created to promote a cause. Learn from the masters, and ditch the supermarket table and posters.

I’ll start with some animal causes since it was an animal lover I was rude to:

Frankster’s Are You Polar Bear Aware and Saving the Dancing Bears of India lenses
Kiwisoutback’s All About Endangered Species lens

And my favourite lenses that promote the concept of empowering people:

Girl Powered Peace by WorldPeaceEmerging
KIVA: For The Love Of Kiva! by MrLewisSmile
The Acumen Fund by SemperFidelis

Good riddance to bad Starbucks

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

So it appears we Aussies don’t like Starbucks enough for them to hang around. They’re closing 61 stores in Melbourne, and I, for one, am delighted to see them go. (My husband is another who feels the same way.)

Like all good coffee drinkers, we were curious when Starbucks opened here. We’d heard of the name, of course. So we gave it a go. Actually we were stupid enough to go to two different Starbucks franchises, three times. (Not each, though.) But each time we left disappointed. The coffee was awful, for a start. And it was cold. But the food was bad, too. The final time we paid a visit to Starbucks, I ordered a piece of cake that was doughy and actually left me feeling ill. I didn’t manage to finish the coffee I’d ordered as it was just making things worse.

So that was that. We avoided Starbucks from then on out. And now, hopefully, those premises will be taken over by real coffee shops.

Long live the real barista!

In the meantime, here are some real coffee lenses to savour:

Making the perfect cup of coffee, by 1SquidAddict
Interesting, fun, & Informative Things About Coffee, by TheCoffeeCorner
The Most Expensive Coffee in the World, by Naiza

And let’s all go argue with Julie:
STARBUCKS vs. DUNKIN’ DONUTS — Coffee WARS!, by JaguarJulie

(Maybe American Starbucks employ qualified baristas, but they don’t here in Aus. These kids just can’t make a decent cup of coffee and there is no way “Starbucks make the best coffee” is a statement you can make here in Australia.)

Bandwidth Theft

Monday, July 21st, 2008

I’ve been put out of business for two weeks. A number of lowlifes with MySpace accounts and some random ignominious bloggers decided to steal my bandwidth by illegally hotlinking to my images. They sucked more than three-quarters of my bandwidth in two days, and yesterday I went to publish something to my website only to get a bandwidth exceeded warning. In the past I’ve used less than 3% of my monthly bandwidth allocation, so I never had reason to expect something like this.

I am angry. Half of my potential income for two weeks is simply gone, because a handful of miscreants wanted some nice images for their blogs. Guess what, though. I know who you are. I have half a mind to send you an invoice. I know how much my bandwidth costs me. I know how much of my bandwidth you’ve stolen. Not hard to work out what each of you owes me on that side. But a little harder to work out how much income you’ve cost me.