What the ... gullibility?!?!?!?

Just when you think you have seen it all some moron on facebook posts (or reposts) something like this.

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE… PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY.

Seriously? People fall for this shit? Evidently because I have seen it reposted by several people on Facebook.

How do you not ridicule someone who is stupid enough to post such obvious BS? Heh, I don't which means a few less friends that I didn't really know anyway.

Graveyard Shifts

I have been picking up a lot of extra shifts at work lately. Which drastically cuts blogging time. Mind you it also cuts the inclination to be on the computer much. Especially the way the weather has been lately.

Tonight I start the graveyard shift for a few days. I tried staying up last night and failed. I had pulled a long day shift and was just too tired to stay up. I tried sleeping during the afternoon but even a long walk couldn't tire me out enough.

So now I find myself a few hours away from my shift starting and a long night ahead of me with little sleep to prepare me. Gonna have to try and find some hints for getting the body ready for a shift change before it happens again.

Looking back at 9-11.

The anniversary of 9-11 is coming up and CBC is talking about it a lot. They are planning a lot of news shows with people talking about where they were when it happened or when they found out. It got me thinking of where I was when I found out.

I on the upper floor of a building waiting in line to get my passport. This was in preparation for going to South Korea. A guy a few spaces ahead of me in line, we were waiting for the office to open, was on his cell phone. He was going on about a plane hitting this and that. He was kind of loud and the people around me thought he was just being an ass. As did I. What he was saying just sounded so unbelievable.

I got my passport and went home. When I got home and switched on the news I found out the truth. The guy wasn't being a dick. He was being told the news as it happened. Damn!

I was a news junky back then and was pretty much glued to the TV after that. Friends of mine had been in New York City that week and had been at the World Trade Center on the weekend. I wondered if they were still in NYC. A cousin worked at the WTC. Was he ok?

Then the US closed their airspace. A lot of flights that were going there had to land in Canada. Flights that were supposed to leave Halifax airport were stranded. People here, and all over Canada, opened their homes to those who were stranded. We could have taken in a few people so after talking with my mother we offered up our house. There were actually more rooms offered up than people to fill them. It was nice to see people ready to help those in need at a time like that.

At the time I was helping to run a website that dealt with reality TV. As with most forums it had areas for all kinds of topics. One of our regulars lived in NYC and was posting updates throughout the crisis.

It just seemed so fucking surreal. Luckily, my friends were out of NYC before the attacks happened. My cousin's company had moved from the main WTC towers. Unfortunately, he did get to experience things from a nearby building. He will never forget the shit he saw. And so many others weren't as lucky as he was.

One of the things that pissed me off the most was the reaction of some, especially the Canadian media, in the aftermath. When President Bush, and I am NOT a fan of his, said thanks many in Canada jumped on it. Why? Because he didn't single out Canada. Seriously?

That is how fucking petty, selfish, and stupid some people and the media can be. He started by thanking everyone who helped. THAT included Canada. But he didn't single Canada out, like some other countries. Of all the stupid bullshit to focus on at a time like that. We know the US is our friend and that they appreciated our support. Unfortunately some are so insecure, and the media looking for anything to sensationalise, that they tried to make that an issue.

It seems so long ago now.

Implicit Association Test

After reading Eve's post about taking the Implicit Association test I decided to take it as well. According to the test I have no automatic preference.

You have completed the African American - European American IAT.

Your Result:

Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between European American and African American.

Thank you for your participation. Just below is a breakdown of the scores generated by others. Most respondents find it easier to associate African American with Bad and European American with Good compared to the reverse.

Many of the questions that you answered on the previous page have been addressed in research over the last 10 years. For example, the order that you performed the response pairing is influential, but procedural corrections largely eliminate that influence (see FAQ #1). Each visitor to the site completes the task in a randomized order. If you would like to learn more about the IAT, please visit the FAQs and background information section.

It is an interesting test. I had some reservations about it part way through. The testers had bad on the same side as African-American and good on the European-American side. However, that was switched around.

Does it mean I am not prejudiced? No. Everyone is to some degree whether it is based on skin colour, ethnicity, gender, even hair colour. To paraphrase Eve, only a fool would take the test and start proclaiming it is evidence they are not racist or completely free of prejudice. When I was younger and more foolish my result would have been different.

Doctor Who Quotes

I decided to enjoy part of my day off by catching up on some television. (The weather is too blah to go out and do anything. And 10 minutes after posting this the sun came out.) So I caught up on my Doctor Who and watched the two latest episodes. There were some great lines but after watching the shows I couldn't remember them verbatim so I did what any nerd would do and googled "Doctor Who Quotes". It led me to a great site, Wikiquote. It has a huge amount of quotations by the Doctor, just missing the latest episode. Including the quote that was stuck in my head. "Never knowingly be serious. It went thusly;

The Doctor: Sonic cane!

Melody: Are you serious?

The Doctor: Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious — rule 27. You might want to write these down.

Heh ... I love that one. :)

Now to go look at some Leroy Jethro Gibbs quotes. ;)

What's new?

I started a new job last week. Training actually started the week before. Unfortunately, my employer doesn't want us talking about them on any sort of Social Networking site. I understand why, and agree to it. Which means work won't be providing me with anything to write about and holy shit the stories I could write.

It is only part time for now but with the chance of full time hours. The work is pretty interesting and there is room for advancement. So, as long as I am getting good hours, I can see staying there for quite a while.

This is going to affect my online time, which may not be a bad thing. My shifts can be all over the place. Work has people there 24 hours a day. So if I don't respond to you quickly or post your comment don't take it personally.

What the ... trite phrase?!?!?!

"It is what it is."

I don't know who first started using that phrase but nowadays you hear it a lot. Way too much in fact. The husband of one of my niece's is a prime example of a person who overuses that phrase. It will pop up several times in the course of a conversation.

"What do you think about this or that change your favourite hockey team made?"

"It is what is is." and no explanation of exactly what that means.

"Why did that happen at work?"

"It is what it is."

The first time I remember hearing it used too much was in the first Top Chef series. You would hear it several times an episode. They actually joked about it at the reunion show. Since then it appears all the time on the show.

It has become so overused that I tend to cringe when I hear it and think the speaker just isn't articulate enough to express themself without resorting to some trite phrase.