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Everyone's an Idiot
Apr. 6th, 2013 08:20 pmOne of the exiting new side-effects of my job is that I'm turning into someone who interprets everything everyone else is doing as idiotic. Normally (and hopefully again in the future), I prefer to assume there's some good reason for what's going on, even if I can't see it. For example, that guy who just cut me off probably needs to get into the lane on the other side of me.
On campus, they very carefully tore one building down to replace it, making sure not to damage the building next to it. Not many months later, they carefully tore down the building next to it to replace it, making sure not to damage the new building next to it. Why didn't they save money by tearing down both at once?
After those were finished, an area used for construction supplies was replanted with grass. A couple of weeks later, all the grass was ploughed under, I assume so they can xeriscape it instead. Xeriscaping is a good idea--why did they plant grass?
The new, modernized degree audit system is being written on the mainframe. I just learned that my employer is now getting rid of all mainframe systems. We're not even done making this one yet. Are they going to use the same hard-won strategies in a new platform? (Hello, bug city.) Or are they going to scrap it all and go with the off-the-shelf PeopleSoft program?
There are two main ways that Texas public higher education institutions teach the six hours of required US government. Some teach a 3-hour class in US government and a 3-hour class in Texas government. UT teaches a 3-hour class in Texas and US government. Students then also choose one of multiple three-hour classes going into depth into various political issues. Some powers-that-be (I forget which and can't find the source) decided to stop funding the latter. After negotiations, they are only refusing to fund the latter at community colleges. a) I'm pretty sure professors love teaching the second half of the second sequence. b) UT did a lot of studies before choosing that method. c) What's with the inconsistency?
Sprint disallows updates on many Androids. Because they don't want to support all those updates. Even though people keep buying new Androids with new updates, so they have to support them anyway.
I don't like feeling that everyone's an idiot. It's no fun.
Articles of the Day
Today's articles are not about idiocy, but actual evil. Not the kind where they enjoy being evil, necessarily, but the kind where they are willing to do it for profit.
I've decided I need to get over the idea that modern advertisements are any less ridiculous than the hilariously crackpot ads from the 1800s. Just because we have some sort of truth-in-advertising laws doesn't mean they are enforced. I bet the following article is true:
Cracked.com's Six Products in Your Bathroom You won't Believe Don't Work - from #3, Anti-Aging Creams Will Age the Shit Out of You, "There are only two surefire ways to fight the aging process: time machines and death. But that hasn't stopped every cosmetics company from stocking drugstores, makeup counters, and back alleys with anti-wrinkle creams. And a shit-ton of those creams have chemical compounds called alpha hydroxy acids, which work by penetrating and exfoliating the top layer of skin. So old skin cells are shed and everyone walks away with a shiny baby face.
"Artist's interpretation of exfoliation. [photo of a guy shoveling snow]
"There's only one problem -- while burning off the top layer of your skin, AHAs are also creating thinned, weakened skin that's more susceptible to UV damage, which just happens to be a major cause of premature aging. Oh, and cancer. As more fine lines start showing up, the user is more likely to slather on the cream.
"It's a serious enough problem that the FDA has suggested that cosmetics companies put a warning label on their products. Cosmetics companies responded by laughing and giving the FDA the finger."
Why do they get to give the FDA the finger?
GMO Awareness's Monsanto's Dirty Dozen - on terminator seeds, "Monsanto’s latest technology produces sterile grains unable to germinate, forcing farmers to buy seeds from Monsanto year after year, rather than save and reuse the seeds from their harvest as they’ve been doing throughout centuries. To make matters worse, terminators can cross-pollinate and contaminate local non-sterile crops, which endanger the future seed supply, and thus ensures eventual control of the world’s food supply by Monsanto and the GM industry."
Sure, you can't enforce any laws without making them, so legislators still have to be bought. But who decides what laws to enforce? Not cops. They get to decide whether to be racist pigs, but they are not the ones deciding to imprison people who smoke pot for fun instead of people who are mucking with mother earth for profit.
World Truth TV's USDA Forces Whole Foods to Accept Monsanto - "WFM [Whole Foods Market] and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. ... The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs."
If it's hard to find uncontaminated conventional foods, doesn't that make it all the more important to fight the good fight? What is this "Oh, well" reaction?
How do you even find out who to trust? Not Whole Foods. Maybe if you get too big, it's too hard to find good suppliers, so you have to go bad. Supposedly we can still trust organic labels.
On campus, they very carefully tore one building down to replace it, making sure not to damage the building next to it. Not many months later, they carefully tore down the building next to it to replace it, making sure not to damage the new building next to it. Why didn't they save money by tearing down both at once?
After those were finished, an area used for construction supplies was replanted with grass. A couple of weeks later, all the grass was ploughed under, I assume so they can xeriscape it instead. Xeriscaping is a good idea--why did they plant grass?
The new, modernized degree audit system is being written on the mainframe. I just learned that my employer is now getting rid of all mainframe systems. We're not even done making this one yet. Are they going to use the same hard-won strategies in a new platform? (Hello, bug city.) Or are they going to scrap it all and go with the off-the-shelf PeopleSoft program?
There are two main ways that Texas public higher education institutions teach the six hours of required US government. Some teach a 3-hour class in US government and a 3-hour class in Texas government. UT teaches a 3-hour class in Texas and US government. Students then also choose one of multiple three-hour classes going into depth into various political issues. Some powers-that-be (I forget which and can't find the source) decided to stop funding the latter. After negotiations, they are only refusing to fund the latter at community colleges. a) I'm pretty sure professors love teaching the second half of the second sequence. b) UT did a lot of studies before choosing that method. c) What's with the inconsistency?
Sprint disallows updates on many Androids. Because they don't want to support all those updates. Even though people keep buying new Androids with new updates, so they have to support them anyway.
I don't like feeling that everyone's an idiot. It's no fun.
Articles of the Day
Today's articles are not about idiocy, but actual evil. Not the kind where they enjoy being evil, necessarily, but the kind where they are willing to do it for profit.
I've decided I need to get over the idea that modern advertisements are any less ridiculous than the hilariously crackpot ads from the 1800s. Just because we have some sort of truth-in-advertising laws doesn't mean they are enforced. I bet the following article is true:
Cracked.com's Six Products in Your Bathroom You won't Believe Don't Work - from #3, Anti-Aging Creams Will Age the Shit Out of You, "There are only two surefire ways to fight the aging process: time machines and death. But that hasn't stopped every cosmetics company from stocking drugstores, makeup counters, and back alleys with anti-wrinkle creams. And a shit-ton of those creams have chemical compounds called alpha hydroxy acids, which work by penetrating and exfoliating the top layer of skin. So old skin cells are shed and everyone walks away with a shiny baby face.
"Artist's interpretation of exfoliation. [photo of a guy shoveling snow]
"There's only one problem -- while burning off the top layer of your skin, AHAs are also creating thinned, weakened skin that's more susceptible to UV damage, which just happens to be a major cause of premature aging. Oh, and cancer. As more fine lines start showing up, the user is more likely to slather on the cream.
"It's a serious enough problem that the FDA has suggested that cosmetics companies put a warning label on their products. Cosmetics companies responded by laughing and giving the FDA the finger."
Why do they get to give the FDA the finger?
GMO Awareness's Monsanto's Dirty Dozen - on terminator seeds, "Monsanto’s latest technology produces sterile grains unable to germinate, forcing farmers to buy seeds from Monsanto year after year, rather than save and reuse the seeds from their harvest as they’ve been doing throughout centuries. To make matters worse, terminators can cross-pollinate and contaminate local non-sterile crops, which endanger the future seed supply, and thus ensures eventual control of the world’s food supply by Monsanto and the GM industry."
Sure, you can't enforce any laws without making them, so legislators still have to be bought. But who decides what laws to enforce? Not cops. They get to decide whether to be racist pigs, but they are not the ones deciding to imprison people who smoke pot for fun instead of people who are mucking with mother earth for profit.
World Truth TV's USDA Forces Whole Foods to Accept Monsanto - "WFM [Whole Foods Market] and most of the largest organic companies have deliberately separated themselves from anti-GMO efforts and cut off all funding to campaigns working to label or ban GMOs. ... The main reason, however, why Whole Foods is pleading for coexistence with Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and the rest of the biotech bullies, is that they desperately want the controversy surrounding genetically engineered foods and crops to go away. Why? Because they know, just as we do, that 2/3 of WFM’s $9 billion annual sales is derived from so-called "natural" processed foods and animal products that are contaminated with GMOs."
If it's hard to find uncontaminated conventional foods, doesn't that make it all the more important to fight the good fight? What is this "Oh, well" reaction?
How do you even find out who to trust? Not Whole Foods. Maybe if you get too big, it's too hard to find good suppliers, so you have to go bad. Supposedly we can still trust organic labels.
