Rants Go Here!

Yes, in this country there are many who think one must be unhinged if he criticizes a business. (All praise be to Business and his prophet, Profit.)

Uh-oh. Tin foil hat.

I watched the Seahawks football game yesterday, which leads to today's rant.

I don't mind (much) when players do a little "I'm happy" victory dance after a touchdown or a quarterback sack.  They are, after all, playing a game so it should be fun.

However, some of them gesture toward the sky instead of dancing, presumably to thank their invisible sky father.

1. This presumes there *IS* an invisible sky father
   
2. And that it cares about sporting events
   
3. And that it would favor one team over another
   
4. Or one player over another
   
5. And that a sports victory imparts some kind of superiority, or divine recognition of righteousness, over one's opponent
   

I fully embrace the idea that sports are institutionalized or ritualized combat, and the bible is full of passages indicating the god takes sides in warfare.  However it still leaves an acrid taste in my mouth.

I support the separation of church and sport.

NoCoPilot wrote:

...leaves an acrid taste in my mouth.

You're sitting too close to the screen.

People who cling to ignorance with pride.

"I've never seen a Star Wars movie."  "I've never heard a Beatles song."  "I've never eaten a hamburger."  There are only two reasons for such a paucity of experience, and neither one reflects well on you.

I've never seen a Super Bowl game. Does that mean anything?

Today in a store against my better judgment I was subjected to the song "Do They Know It's Christmas" (1984).

I thought this song was in INCREDIBLY poor taste when it came out; it is even more so today. The "They" in the song (as I understand it) are poor people in Third World nations, who struggle to eat every day and don't have the wherewithal to put on an elaborate Christmas dinner, much less exchange gifts. On top of that, many perhaps MOST of them are not Christians, so the idea of Christmas is not even relevant to their lives anyway!

Yet these rich, over-privileged rock stars got together in a studio to sing a vapid song ostensibly bemoaning the plight of the poor. Sales of the song were donated to LiveAid or some such. (In most of these LiveAid benefits, it turns out some of the "stars" recruited to sing demanded a fee for doing so).

So Bah. Humbug.

_Howard wrote:

I've never seen a Super Bowl game. Does that mean anything?

Not much. Sporting events are a lot more optional than "cultural heritages" like Star Wars, The Beatles or hamburgers.

As popular as they may be, I have a hard time accepting these as "cultural heritage."

Why? Isn't that the very definition of "cultural heritage"?

Quote :

As part of human activity Cultural Heritage produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles. As an essential part of culture as a whole, Cultural Heritage, contains these visible and tangible traces form antiquity to the recent past.

Sounds like Star Wars to me.

NoCoPilot wrote:

People who cling to ignorance with pride.

"I've never seen a Star Wars movie."  "I've never heard a Beatles song."  "I've never eaten a hamburger."  There are only two reasons for such a paucity of experience, and neither one reflects well on you.

I have to ask: What are the two reasons?

_Howard wrote:

I have to ask: What are the two reasons?

1. You live in a cave or 2. you willfully avoid everything around you.

New rant: FAKE SNOW.

In TV shows and movies you almost always see fake snow instead of real snow. It falls on peoples' clothing and hair and faces and just sits there, without melting. The ski slopes are artificially groomed with real but man-made snow from a snow-making machine, so I know real snow can be produced cheaply by a machine. What is it? Actors and actresses too delicate to work in freezing conditions?

For that matter, pouring rain. An ordinary rain doesn't show up very well on camera, so movies show actors being drenched by "rain" that is being poured out on them as if they were in the shower fully dressed.

And fake tornadoes. I watched Twister, and I don't think that was even a real cow.

NoCoPilot wrote:

"I've never seen a Star Wars movie."  "I've never heard a Beatles song."  "I've never eaten a hamburger."  There are only two reasons for such a paucity of experience, and neither one reflects well on you.

If I was asked to name the 30 - or 40 - or 50 - most memorable or important experiences in my life, none of them would involve movies, musical groups, or sandwiches. I shudder to imagine a life in which any of these matters are significant.

I can't imagine life without Beethoven's ninth symphony, or Blodwyn Pig's "Dear Jill," or "Peaceful World" by The Rascals.

Apparently, you can't imagine living without hyperbole either.

I've told you a thousand times, don't exaggerate.

Very good. Now let's work on humility.

Of course I am humble.

I have so much to be humble about!

New rant (or did we do this one already?):

Food containers that can't be opened without a scissors.

And do not reclose. That's just asinine.

HEINOUS PACKAGING

I have a half dozen containers of screwdriver bits -- slot, Philips, square drive, star drive, Torx... For some unfathomable reason they are all packaged in heinous plastic containers, making it nearly impossible to extract a bit. Three of them have broken hinges (plastic that wasn't designed to flex). All of them have broken latches (plastic that wasn't designed to flex). Several of them have broken bit holders inside. All of them are inconvenient-as-hell.

Why why why.

Why Why Why?

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