Leave the Dead Alone

I just read an article that set me off on a rant. Apparently on display at Harvard there was a book of 19th century French poetry about the human soul that was bond in human skin. Well some group at Harvard decided that it was disrespectful to the dead, and a disgrace, and unethical so they have unbond the book and are seeking ways to “respectfully” deal with the remains. Now there is a lot I have problem with here.

For the record I will state that this was not some Nazi shit where the individual in question was tortured and brutally killed and then had their skin used to make stuff. The skin came from an unknown woman who died in a mental institution (ok to be fair she was a woman in a mental institution in the 19th century so she may have been tortured and potentially died as a result of her treatment) but she was not killed just so her skin could be used for this purpose.

Now I know I can be a bit morbid but personally I am of the opinion that using someone’s skin to bind a book of French poetry about the human soul is in fact quite reverential and highly respectful. Even if we do not know her name using her skin in this way in fact immortalized her in a way which never would have happened otherwise. Let’s be honest here if she had not been used as this binding of this book odds are she would have been buried in a mass paupers grave (are you going to tell me that is really more respectful?). I also want to point out that if my skin was used to bind a book of French 19th century poetry on the human soul, and I found out some pompous self-righteous assholes unbound my skin from the book to dispose of it in the manner they determine was “best” I would poltergeist the living shit out of them.

The biggest problem I have here is everyone has there own unique different ways of respecting the dead, and who the hell are these elitist fucktards to dictate to someone else what is or is not the correct way to honor the dead? How do they know that the dead woman would have found it respectful? What makes them believe that the person who did the binding did so with the intent of dishonoring the dead? Do you know the time and care that goes into binding a book, particularly back in the day when it was done by hand? The process itself is one of respect.

There is a culture in South America ( I cannot remember exactly where) who respect the dead by going out to old, decrepit uncared for graves and digging up the skulls and taking them home to treat as relatives. I just have to state for the record I totally want skull uncle, but my point is if you did that just about anywhere else it would be considered vandalism and grave robbery and disrespecting the dead.

Everyone has there own way of dealing with the dead, and nobody else gets to step in and be the “moral police” and dictate what is and is not the right way. Who the hell are you to decide what is or is not disrespectful to someone else? Are you really so arrogant that you know better? That your way is the only right and correct way?

I swear if there was a way to legally do it I would write in my will that when I die I want my skin to be used to rebind that book. And no I am actually not kidding about this.

Marco Polo Medicine

I have another rant, yes I am really on a roll these days. Today’s rant is all about Healthcare in the US an how it is profit driven instead of paint health care driven.

I go to my doctor because I have been having trouble with my knee. I cannot think of any obvious injury I did to it, but it has been hurting and interfering with my mobility. The doctor takes x-rays, and the x-rays reveal that the joints are perfectly healthy and there is no sign of joint damage, or weakening or indication of sever arthritis.

So at this point we still have no idea what is actually wrong with me knee, only that obviously something is not working right, and it does not appear to be in the joints, but instead of pursuing other tests to try and figure out what is actually wrong with my knee my doctor has to send me to physical therapy because the insurance company’s demand you go through a course of physical therapy before they will even consider approving more extensive testing. Instead of trying to figure what the actual problem is through whatever means might be requited, and than target the treatment to that specific problem, the Insurance companies insist you just through whatever random solution is cheapest at the problem and hope that makes it go away.

This would be like if your car suddenly broke down, and you had no idea why, but instead of troubleshooting to find out what is actually wrong with your car, you simply decide to choose which part is the cheapest to replace, and cross your fingers, that it will resolve the issue.

If this method of doing things would be considered completely nonsensical, and ineffective in the world of mechanics why is is considered a perfectly reasonable way to treat patients with medical problems?

This is the problem when we allow the Insurance companies to be the ones who dictate to the doctors what treatments they are allowed to give when instead the doctors should be dictating to the insurance companies what treatments are necessary to give.

More Problems with Our Society

I have two rants for today (on unrelated subjects) which I am sure me being annoyed and the world, and people is no surprise though I know it has also been awhile sense I have sounded off.

The first matter at hand to be addressed is an article I came across about Netflix. They were criticizing Netflix for using what they called click bait, and their definition of this was when Netflix would post an enticing looking thumbnail image for a new show or movie, that would catch the eye and get people to want to check it out, but ended up being somewhat misleading in which the image did not entirely relate to what the show was about. There is nothing inherently wrong with this complaint and I am not saying it does not happen, but one of the examples they gave in particular is what truly annoyed me.

They brought up this example of a thumbnail image of Thor’s hammer, and the words Ragnarok, and their complaint was that people will click on it anticipating some new Marvel series or spin off, but in actuality the show was an Icelandic series about guess what? Norse Mythology. Now here is the problem, Thor, the Hammer of Thor, and Ragnarok are all authentic, genuine aspects of Norse mythology that *surprise* surprise* pre-date the existence of Marvel.

So this guy who wrote this article is complaining that a series about Norse Mythology is using actual elements of Norse Mythology to advertise its show, because too many numb skulls of popular culture automatically assume anything to do with Norse mythology is related to Marvel.

I want to know than, how should a show about Norse Mythology advertise itself if it is “misleading” for said show to use words and symbols and that are in fact a part of Norse Mythology?

The other thing that bothers me about the whole argument is just the sheer laziness of it all. I do not know about you, but I was taught from a young age to never judge a book by its cover, so when I am scrolling through Netflix and I see something that looks like it could be interesting, guess what I do something apparently unheard of called read the synopsis so I actually know what the show is about before I start watching.

My second rant of the day has to do with fashion now I know I said the two where unrelated but I guess when you think about it entertainment and fashion do tend to go together.

This particular rant is about what I call miss proportioned dresses and to explain what I mean about that is when you have a dress with a floor length skirt and is sleeveless or very short sleeves (though this I can understand, as I know the intent is to wear a shawl or jacket or other such covering) but the one that really baffles me is the long sleeves and very short skirt,

I really want to know what the heck is this for? What season, or weather, or even does this actually make sense for? When does a person sit there and say, well it is chilly enough I need my whole upper body cold but my lower body can go half naked? Or it is so warm I don’t want to cover my legs, but I need my arms completely covered? I am sorry but what are you doing, or where are you going that you only need to keep your upper half warm?

This one particular dress I saw that was supper cute, but I thought to myself, but when in the hell would I ever wear it? In the summer the sleeves would be way too long to be comfortable, and in the fall or winter, my legs would be freezing.

The only way it works is if the intention is to wear leggings under it.

And as a side note since I am on the subject I want to know why it is so hard to find a cold weather appropriate dress. It is quite difficult to find a dress that actually has both a long bottom and long sleeves.

I Am Not Responsible For Your Health

Ok I have been trying to hold back on my rants about the virus and everything that is happening. For one I get it, everyone is talking about it and it does get annoying hearing about everywhere you go plus I am trying not to be redundant and rehash things I have already gone over but I saw something today that just pissed me off and I need to rant about it.

There was a headline today that said “I have a compromised immune system so please stay home to keep me safe.”

I am sorry but what? Really!!! This is the sort of thinking that is wrong with society and the world. Nobody wanting to take responsibility for themselves and expecting other people to do it for them. Here is a novel idea since you are the one with the compromised immune system why don’t you stay home and keep yourself safe? YOUR health is no one else’s responsibility. YOU are responsible for YOUR health.

I am tired of this whole mentality of you cannot do this because I have this. You cannot have peanuts on a plane because I am allegoric to them. You have to have a fence around your pool because I have a kid. You cannot go outside because my immune system is compromised.

I am sorry but NO! I am not responsible for you or your child’s safety or your health. If you are allergic to peanuts than don’t eat them. If you have a kid than watch them properly. If you are vulnerable to the virus stay in your house. But quit expecting everyone else to be inconvenienced and restricted by your own shit. Be responsible for yourself don’t expect someone else to do it for you.

Christian Reservations

So I was sitting here when I had a sudden epiphany (honestly I do not know what an unsudden epiphany is) as to the perfect solution to the Christian problem because we can all agree that the Christians have become a major problem for the rest of us.  Ok to be accurate they have not in fact become a problem they have been a problem since way back before the middle ages when they decided to start gallivanting around the world and destroying every other belief system and stating that either you become one of us or you die.

But to bring it around back to current modern times they have continued to grow in political power and influence and are trampling all over the rights of everyone who isn’t a Christian and want to once again establish a ruling system in which everyone is subjected to their ideology.

It came to me that really the most just and fair way to deal with the problem is to handle them the way the Christian settlers handled the Native Americans. We need to establish Christian reservations where we place all the Christians and within their reservations they can make whatever policies and laws and restrictions they so desire but outside the reservation they have absolutely no input. That way the rest of us can go about our lives and business without Christian interference.

Don’t Get Offended Just Be a Parent

I came across this article that was titled 14 People Who Should Be Banned from Restaurants an I was bored enough just killing time that I decided to look. Most of them were pretty obvious and yeah we can all agree they should not be allowed in the public. But a few I just shrugged at and was didn’t really see it as being that big of a deal and didn’t know why others were getting that worked up about it.

Than one in particular really annoyed me because it was one of those situations were I felt people parents just need to get off their lazy asses and be parents instead of expecting everyone else to do it for them, or just accept the fact that hey we don’t all have kids (or your parenting method) and it is not our responsibility to protect your and or your children’s delicate sensibilities.

So the deal was a guy was in what was termed a “family restaurant” (which you know in this day and age can be pretty much any casual dining or fast food joint) wearing a T-shirt with the word Fuck on it. In poor taste? Maybe, but that big of a deal and worth outrage? No, not really as far as I am concerned.

First of all if your kid even A. Notices it and B. Is old enough to read and C. Perceptive enough to understand it, or curious enough to ask about it (provided they do not already use the word all the time with tier friends on the playground) than be a parent and explain to them what it is and why you do not think it is appropriate to use or say. In stead of getting up in arms, accept the fact that your children our going to become exposed to things you may not like and use it as a learning experience to teach them how to responsibly deal with it.

Personally I do not think that trying to shelter children from everything that might possibly be offensive or inappropriate to some people really is the best way to equip children to be able to function in the world.

If you cannot handle a guy wearing a shirt with a bad word than you are really going to have a lot bigger problems.

 

It is Halloween, Lighten Up!

It is that time of the year again, when people start wagging their fingers and shaming people for dressing up in costumes which are not considered to be “socially acceptable” Now I do not deny that there are some costumes out there which might be in poor taste and maybe not the best idea for a costume, but I also maintain that, just because a person dresses up as X does not mean they endorse X. My niece is dressing up as the Devil for Halloween this does not mean she is a Satanist who horsewhip the Anti-Christ.

I have always stood behind the idea that you can dress up as whateverthefuck you want to for Halloween. It is HALLOWEEN after all. And if you do not like a certain costume or what you think it stands for, consider the fact that a percentage of people dress up in provocative costumes just to get a reaction because they want to be tweeted and facebooked, and youtubed, and have everyone (even the news) talking about it and if you just ignore it, they will stop doing it because it will not longer be rewarding.

So there were two articles I came across that set me off on this rant. One was about snowboarder Shawn White being criticized for dressing up as Simple Jack, now I am not familiar with the movie Tropic Thunder so when I first read the headline it just stated that Shawn White dressed as Simple Jack and was criticized for making fun of people with disabilities.  At first I thought he dressed up as caricature of somebody with a disability which I will admit would be mean spirited. But when I read the article I realized he was dressed as a specific frictional character from a movie. OK so what? Now we are not longer allowed to dress up as movie characters if the appearance and or actions of that character within the context of the movie is considered offensive?

On the same page further down was an article about a father who had to make an apology for dressing up as a Nazi and having his son dressed up as Hitler. Now this may not be the best idea for a Halloween costume but at the same time, Halloween is supposed to be scary, and what is scarier than a real life monster? As stated above dressing up as Hitler does not be default men you support Hitler. It means you have an interesting and maybe twisted idea of good Halloween costumes. Also dressing up as Hitler on Halloween is a lot better than dressing up as Hitler on a Sunday afternoon in the middle of May (i.e. any other time of the year that does not revolve around a holiday where you are expected to dress in costume). If  kid comes to school dressed as Hitler in March, than yeah maybe you should talk to the parents about that, but for Halloween?

We Are Just Going to do a Bunch of Stuff to Look Like We Are Doing Something

I just read an article about the new updates Google is going to be rolling out some updates for gmail. Sounds like it should be a good thing but the problem I have is most of their updates strike me as completely useless or just terrible ideas and the one update that is actually needed does not appear to feature in their plans.

The first new update that completely baffled me was called Snooze which they described as being a way of making certain emails hide from your inbox for a period of time and than come back later. If you are on your mobile device and you get an email that requires a long response in which you cannot reply to at that time you can put it on snooze and it will go poof and come back later.

Now what completely flummoxed me about this is that I am thinking but……but…..but        there is already a feature that lets you reserve emails to respond to later. It is called “Keep as New”

The next update on the list I will admit sounds cool but also very dubious in how it will be used. They will introduce a feature that will make it so that the person you send an email to will need a special code to read said email also they want to create a self-destruct mode.

Now I can potentially see some legitimate uses for this particularly the coded messages but it seems this update is aimed more at those who have leanings to conducting  illegal or morally questionable activities.

They say it is to help improve security but it seems more to help you keep your spouse, parent, boss etc…  from finding out what you are doing.

Next they want to create an artificial intelligence that will determine which of your emails are most urgent and you can set it up where you will not get notifications from any other emails.

So you are going to let a robot determine for you which of your emails are important enough for you to get notified about.

Then they want to create a nudge feature that will remind you to respond to emails you have not responded to yet. Ok this just sounds like it would get really annoying and well you would not need to be nudged if you wouldn’t keep putting your emails on snooze now would you? Because if you kept them as new you would see them and that would remind you to respond.

Now the one update they actually should be doing but are not is providing a way to mass delete emails from the gmail app.

The Things that Offend Me About Valentine’s Day

I am not one of those people who is bitter about Valentine’s Day because I am sad and alone and don’t have anyone to share the day with. I am in fact quite happily spoken for, but even so I have never really been a particular fan of V-Day mostly because the cliche of it all and the convention of it I find to be quite annoying. So this is my list of things which I don’t like about V-Day.

1. Flowers: Flowers in general I have no problem with. I think they are pretty to see growing outside, and I love to keep plants around the house, gardens are awesome. But fresh cut flowers and bouquets I don’t get, and it is not something I would want someone to give me. What is so endearing about something that is just going to die slowly for the vain pleasure of your own enjoyment? If I am given a bouquet of flowers, I think “oh gee how nice, you gave me a dead thing” Yeah that is romantic.

2. Box of Chocolates: I am not going to claim I don’t like candy, sweets, and chocolate, I do, but at the same time I am not really that into chocolate candy. I don’t get excited about it, and I am very picky about what I like and what I don’t like. I don’t like just plain chocolate, and chocolates that come with some kind of filling inside I am very particular about. People always laugh at me because whenever we do have some box of assorted chocolates I have to cut the chocolates in half to see what is inside of them.

3. Jewelry: I like jewelery, I have a lot it, I wear it all the time, but I don’t like jewelry store jewelry. Never bought or worn a piece of jewelry that came from an actual jewelry store. The kind of jewelry that they advertise on TV this time of year is bland, conventional, unoriginal, flashy, and overly expensive for how uninteresting it is. I never wear gold, almost every piece of jewelry I own is silver. I don’t like diamonds, they don’t interest me. Most the jewelry I own has come from Arts&Crafts shows and other similar venues, and was handmade by the person selling it, and is unique and off-the-beaten-path, and I can choose pieces that really reflect something in my personality. Also it is relatively inexpensive.

4.  Teddy Bears: What am I 12? Ok, I admit I do own a few stuffed animals.  But they are not teddy bears, and especially they are not teddy bears holding pink hearts and other such nonsense.

5. Red and Pink: The two colors most commonly associated with Valentine’s Day. Pink needless to say is truly a loathsome color. And red, while it does have its good points (it resembles the color of blood and it looks really good when paired with black) in general is just not a color I am really that into. I don’t really own or a wear a lot of red.

6. Hearts: I really don’t like those continental so called heart shapes of which most commonly represent V-Day. Why? Because they don’t resemble what an actual human heart looks like at all. If someone where to give me a Valentine’s Day card with an image of a realistic human heart on it, I would be thrilled, now that would be honest and genuine. (Also I would accept an actual human heart from one of mine enemies……just saying). For fans of the Big Bang Theory, you know that the so called heart shape comes from the shape of a woman’s ass. So than why call it a heart? Well I guess because it sounds a lot cuter, and more romantic, and is far more easy to market to a wide audience than Ass Shape would be.

 

 

Grab Bag Shopping

I don’t normally order clothes online because I usually prefer to try them on and such first, but as it happens I was in need of some particular items, I will not go into details as to what, because they are of a personal/intimate nature (you can use your imagination) and I had some gift cards from Target and didn’t feel like going to the store so I figured it would be easier and more convenient to get it online because I knew the size I wanted.

So I find what I am looking for and order it, and it came today except for the fact that it was not the color I had ordered (or thought I had ordered) of all things it came in PINK!!!! (shudders) needless to say that color is utterly and completely unacceptable. Just about any other color they sent me I would have been able to make due with, I mean it is not like many other people are going to be seeing it. But PINK?

No I could not stomach the idea of wearing that even if I was the only one who knew I was wearing it.

It wasn’t tell after I had received and had my excitement at receiving utterly dashed when I opened up the package, and than began the process of figuring out how to return that I noticed that it says next to the item in parentheses colors may vary. I don’t recall seeing that when I first ordered the item, though I suppose it could have been there and I just didn’t really pay attention.

But I think that is completely bogus, ordering something online shouldn’t be any different than buying it in the store. If they don’t have certain colors available they shouldn’t show pictures of that color on the website. You should be able to get exactly what you are paying for. When you go into the store and you pick out what you want and go up to the counter to pay for it, they don’t than reach into some grab bag and pick out some other completely random color and tell you, here this is what you get instead.

So they shouldn’t do that when you order online. The color you pick out on their website should be the color in which you receive. They shouldn’t take it upon themselves to send whatever the hell random color they feel like sending you.

Needless to say now after I send the item back I am going to have to go to the store to buy what  I want because I don’t dare try to reorder it online because who knows what they will send me next, though it is hard to imagine anything worse than pink.