What the hell? – Page 12

Just Add Alcohol

December 14, 2010

You know what’s annoying about the drinking age? Aside from the fact that it exists? It’s like a go-to excuse for all sorts of other ageism against young people.

There are many hotels out there that will not let you check in if you are under 21. Hell, Holiday Inn Express’s website will even tell you point blank on their hotels’ pages the minimum check-in age. What’s often the little excuse for having this ridiculous rule? “Oh, we don’t want there to be underage drinking parties!”

Well, the logic there crumbles easily. Most parties with alcohol have at least a few people 21 or older around, mostly since they’re the ones who supply the alcohol to begin with. And if they have the 21+ people for that, chances are those people would be the ones checking in. As long as you allow anyone under 21 to stay at your hotel at all, even families, you run the risk of having underage drinking on your premises. Please. These rules don’t attack underage drinking. They attack youth independence.
Continue reading “Just Add Alcohol”

Sparkle Sparkle

December 12, 2010

I hereby decree…

Leave Twilight alone!

Jesus Christ, am I sick of everywhere I look, mostly online but also some offline, there’s the exact same stale attacks on the popular Stephenie Meyer book series “Twilight”. I used to read most of the Cheezburger sites on a daily basis, but stopped because it seemed like every damn thing on any of the sites was something whose entire humor seemed to be that it was mocking Twilight or Justin Bieber. Honestly, it’s fine once in a while, but all the damn time? There’s other shit in the world, you know!

It’s the same shit, too.

“Oh noes, Edward Cullen is a sparkling vampire? That’s an insult to real vampires! I’m offended!”

“Oh noes, why is Bella so attracted to Edward when he’s totally stalking her? That’s not a healthy relationship!”

“Haha, for Bella it’s a choice between a dead guy who’s 100 years older than her or a werewolf.”

“Oh, God, it’s sooo poorly written!”

I actually did read Twilight recently. It didn’t exactly blow me away, nor really keep me hooked, but I didn’t find it anywhere near deserving of the venom it gets all the time. True, I haven’t read the other three books yet, so we’ll see how I feel then.
Continue reading “Sparkle Sparkle”

Stop Torturing Teens? That Is SO Democrat!

December 8, 2010

And now for a partisan, torturous edition of…

YOU SUCK!!!!

I realize the Republican Party seems to exist for no other reason than to stop the Democrats from doing whatever it is they’re doing, no matter what it is. To be fair, Democrats do the reverse as well, but not quite as much, considering almost no Republicans in Congress or Senate seem to ever vote the “Democrat” side of an issue, while Democratic Congressmen and Senators do so quite a bit. And it’s pisses ordinary Democrats the hell off! But I digress.

So, as part of the Republicans’ agenda of don’t-fucking-let-anything-pass, now they’ve effectively stalled legislation to get teen behavior modification facilities some much needed regulations. HR 911 passed the House and then it’s been in a Senate committee to see if it’ll get put to a full vote before the Senate. We NYRAnians met with the chair of that committee, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), to help move it through the committee. The senator agrees with our position on it. The trouble was some pesky Republican Senators on that committee who seemed to have some qualms about some of what this anti-torture school legislation is asking. Seriously, go to the above link to read Alex’s piece about it in Huffington Post. These Republican Senators have a problem with things like forcing school to do things like, oh, NOT withholding food or vital medical treatment from students as therapy.
Continue reading “Stop Torturing Teens? That Is SO Democrat!”

Kids at Christmas

December 7, 2010

I almost don’t think I should write about this since I’m sort of repeating stuff I’ve said quite a bit already. But, screw it, here’s another!

Right now, I’m at work and getting ready to send the first batch of NYRA’s holiday cards (yay!) and have 97.1 streaming online, the DC version of the generic Clear Channel light rock station that carries that annoying Delilah show in evenings and in December plays 24/7 Christmas music (with a few Chanukah songs thrown in here and there so they can pretend they’re all inclusive). I love Christmas music, I’ve been over this many times, yet there are several songs, which I’ve also mentioned before here and here and here and here and here, which are awful and keep getting played for some reason. Two of the worst are “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. While the latter thankfully doesn’t seem to be getting played quite as much this year, the former is of course getting played over and over.
Continue reading “Kids at Christmas”

Children’s Art

December 3, 2010

So at my job, just like everywhere else this time of year, we get holiday cards from people and businesses we’ve dealt with over time. Our first one arrived a couple days ago, with some artistic image of Texan cowboy boots or something on it (that’s Christmassy somehow, I guess?). Well, it was one of those cards where their images are made by children as some sort of charity thing. Okay, that’s cool.

Except when I glanced at the back of the card, then I got annoyed. Among the explanations that the cards help kids with cancer, good stuff like that, was that this card’s artist was from Midland, Texas… and was 18 years old.

What?

Uhh, no. Just… no!
Continue reading “Children’s Art”

Religious Identity

September 29, 2010

I hereby decree…

I get to choose my own religious identity. You do not.

You know how annoying it is for people to decide for you which religious (or any other for that matter) box you fit in? Especially when it is contrary to what you have explicitly stated?

Some people fit in the neat little box of Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, whatever. But not everybody does, in fact I’m certain most people don’t. And that’s where people get confused.

While I don’t really consider myself non-Christian, lately I’ve been going by Secular Theist. When asked what that means, I say “I believe God exists but I don’t believe in doing anything about it.”

And people totally just nod and say that’s cool…

Oh, wait, no they don’t. They instead insist I’m really agnostic. 🙄

Fuck you, I’m not agnostic. I do believe God exists. Agnostics believe there’s no way to know and may or may not lean either way. I do know God exists.

Or then I get called a Deist. No, I’m not damn Deist, either. Deists believe God created the universe. I do not believe God had anything to do with that. So, no, not a Deist.

Then they get really confused that I don’t believe in a Creator. So that must mean I’m really an Atheist!

No! I’m not an Atheist. What did I just say? I DO believe in God. Just because I may agree with most atheists when it comes to religious fundamentalism run amok, such as the God in School entry a few days ago, doesn’t mean I’m an atheist myself. Just because my belief in God doesn’t take the same form as that of most other theists, doesn’t mean I’m not still a theist.

Or then I get the “oh, you just THINK you aren’t an atheist but you totally are, lulz!” Funny, if I were an atheist, wouldn’t I then be smart enough to be able to have a better idea of my own religious identity than YOU? That must mean I’m either a stupid atheist or an intelligent theist. Can that idea sink into your mind? LOL PARADOX!

Or can you try the idea of not assigning useless labels to people based on what specific ideologies they may have? Or is that too hard?

God in School

September 20, 2010

Saw the following on a t-shirt not too long ago, and pretty sure I’ve seen it elsewhere as well. Don’t recall exact text, so here’s a paraphrasing.

Dear God,
Why do you allow so much violence in my school?
-A Concerned Student

Dear Concerned Student,
I’m not allowed in school.
-God

Okay, hold still while I feed you this tuna sandwich, full of omega-3s to help your brain heal from that.

This is the sort of thing your average social conservative may nod along with, believing a “healthy dose of Jesus” is the cure to everything. Because if only these kids had good old religion in their lives, schools (and everywhere else) would be a haven of peace and love!
Continue reading “God in School”

Libraries Are Silly

August 21, 2010

Remember almost two months ago when I mentioned that libraries around here have weird hours? How they close too early to be convenient on most days and have too short or no hours on weekends?

Well, soon after I wrote that, when visiting the local library on a Saturday, I saw a sign taped to the window saying that starting July 6, they’d be open an extra hour on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, closing at 6pm rather than 5pm. Still closed Sunday, though. I stared at this sign, recalling before when I tried to come right after 5pm one Friday to find it closed. Did I do that? I only said anything on here. Hadn’t said anything to them.

And then I went there again today to read some more of Twilight (you heard me) to find another taped up sign. Saying that as of August 15, the library would be open on Sundays year-round.

My friends…

I am powerful. Make a note of it. 😀

This has been Day 90 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 10. Summertime!

Libraries

June 25, 2010

I like libraries. There’s something uplifting about the idea of a public institution existing for the sole purpose carrying lots and lots of information for the people to seek out freely at their leisure. Public school doesn’t fall under that category because you’re forced to go, which kills the leisure part and turns acquisition of knowledge into a hated chore rather than desirable enlightenment.

Tried to go to my local one today after work, only to find it had closed at 5pm. Normally, this one stays open until 9pm Monday through Thursday but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, only until 5pm. Or rather, Sunday is only open until 5pm during the school year, and is closed in the summer. These hours are long compared to those of some other local libraries, which close at 5pm every weekday and are closed weekends.
Continue reading “Libraries”

Kids Aren’t Any Fatter Than Your Head

June 21, 2010

Now for tubby, chubby edition of…

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

I’m so fucking sick of hearing about childhood obesity everywhere I look. It’s all “oh noes, kids are fat, kids are unhealthy, aaahhh!”

Alright, some of them might be above a healthy weight. So what do you do about it? Maybe they go play in the park a little longer. Maybe they eat some healthier foods. In any case, maybe the adults so involved with these kids’ lives should give the kids healthier options if they aren’t already. Maybe help them (and set an example by doing it themselves) develop healthier habits in general.

Of course, since when do adults actually take personal responsibility for helping young people do better? In ways other than finger pointing and berating the youth, that is. That’s right, they don’t, so they blame everything else they can. So the blame gets put on what mascots fast food chains are using or even, stupidly enough, whether the cartoons they’re watching depict fat characters! (Not to mention the slimming down of Santas I mentioned a couple years ago.)
Continue reading “Kids Aren’t Any Fatter Than Your Head”