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Editorial & Opinion

Monday Misogyny

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 9, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Monday, November 9th, 2009

By request, we’ve brought back our Monday Demotivators. But just this once. We’re pretty sure no-one will ask again, after this edition’s militaristic racism and misogyny, brought to you in part by Best Buy and Nokia.

Much like the US military, Fragger lets you
bomb dark people for no apparent reason.

A number of people have asked what happened to our Monday Demotivators. Well, the fact that it seemed that the vast majority of Flash games are based on animal torture, random violence, and general acts of futility finally wore me down. That, and the fact that I hate Flash games (o_O). So we’ll do this one more time, in the interest of pleasing our visitors. Besides. We may have covered animal torture and random violence, but we forgot racist militarism and misogyny. First up, we have Fragger, in which, much like the US military, you bomb unarmed dark people for no apparent reason. That game’s catapult feature will be good practice for Cheerleader Toss, in which you fling a helpless cheerleader around a basketball court. A moment of violence against women brought to you by Nokia and Best Buy*. Apparently there’s a real-world version too. Along the same lines, if you find the idea of a grabbing a woman’s breasts to cause varying degrees of discomfort while a disco soundtrack plays to be an offensive idea, please, for the love of God, don’t try Booby Blast (very NSFW), which appears to benefit no-one, not even a sponsor. Unlike Super Jump, which, while maintaining the misogyny theme, appears to be an ad for a British motorcycle insurance firm. It at least hints at being an equal opportunity abuser; while you try to get women naked by showing them the “length of your jump”, they tell you how small it is. *Sigh*. Only the British. But enough human-on-human violence for for now, let’s explore a little human-on-duck violence. You may have noticed a little duck Read the rest of this entry »

How I Almost Became A Russian Gangsta

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 22, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

But Joined the Scissor Gang Mafia Instead

As soon as they done bitin’ yo ankles
they gonna bust a cap in yo ass

A couple of years ago, a Russian friend of mine asked me if I wanted to make some money. Since he said “vould you like to make some money” instead of “I have a job you might be eenterested een“, I raised an eyebrow. He said ” I know vaht you are theenking. There eez no-thing eelegal eenvolved“. He explained that all we had to do was travel around the country going to small retailers that stocked cell phones and offer to buy their entire inventories for cash at very low prices. I suddenly realized why I was a hot prospect; imagine a Russian guy walking into a gadget shop in WTF, California or someplace, and saying “I vant to buy all zee cellphones you have for cash“. A few months later, a different Russian friend asked me the same original question, only in this case, the “opportunity” involved getting a free cell phone and envelopes of cash to buy large numbers of tickets to concerts and sporting events. I said I’d take the job if he could get me a date with t.A.T.u., and he laughed. Whenever someone says “there eez no-thing eelegal eenvolved” when telling you about a great new opportunity, the assumption of course is that “something eleegal eez eenvolved“. Although I knew that in both cases my friends were operating at a relatively safe level, somewhere a little further up the chain was some guy named Boris the Blade. Which didn’t scare me; the real issue was that I have a strict policy of not entering gang organizations at the thug level. With hindsight, I’m happy with my decision. I probably would’ve had to work with these guys. Which on further reflection, might be better than joining the Scissor Gang Mafia. Read the rest of this entry »

Not To Be Cryptic Or Anything….

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on September 18, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Friday, September 18th, 2009

A friend accused me of being cryptic the other day. I begged to differ.

n pbhcyr bs lrnef ntb n sevraq bs zvar gubhtug ur jnf orvat ernyyl pyrire ol fraqvat zrffntrf va jung ur gubhtug jnf n frperg pbqr. ur jbhyq glcr n zrffntr va na r-znvy, gura punatr gur sbag gb n jvaqbjf “jvatqvatf” sbag. jung ur qvqa’g ernyvmr jnf gung ur jnf hfvat n zrgubq nf byq nf napvrag ebzr, gur fhofgvghgvba pvcure. gur snpg vf, gur nirentr crefba pbzrf hc jvgu cerggl ynzr zrgubqf sbe rapelcgvba. rira jvgu fvzcyr gnfxf yvxr cnffjbeq perngvba. guvf yvfg, sbe vafgnapr, pbagnvaf gur 500 jbefg cnffjbeqf bs nyy gvzr. bar gung v hfrq gb hfr dhvgr bsgra vf ba vg. vf bar bs lbhef? n tbbq rknzcyr bs whfg ubj tbbq rapelcgvba pna or vf gur xelcgbf fphycgher ol nzrevpna negvfg wvz fnaobea, juvpu vf ybpngrq ng gur pvn urnqdhnegref va ivetvavn. gur orfg rkcregf va gur svryq unir bayl fbyirq guerr bs sbhe cnegf bs gur zrffntr. vs lbh’er ernyyl vagb guvf fbeg bs guvat, gurer ner cyragl bs obbxf ba gur gbcvp, ohg gung yvax vf n gbgny erq ureevat; whfg na bccbeghavfgvp nznmba cebqhpg yvax. gur fbyhgvba gb gb gur fvzcyr pvcure hfrq sbe guvf negvpyr vf eryngviryl rnfl gb svaq; bar zrgubq jbhyq or gb hfr gur vzntr ng yrsg naq qrpbqr vg jvgu gur fnzr fvgr gung rapbqrq vg, juvpu hfrq fgrtnabtencul. vs lbh’ir znantrq gb fbeg guvf nyy bhg, cbfg gur grkg bs gur negvpyr vagb gur pbzzragf naq v’yy onxr lbh fbzr pbbxvrf be fbzrguvat nf n erjneq. Read the rest of this entry »

You’re Only As Jung As You Feel

[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 13, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Why you should buy me a copy of Carl Jung’s pivotal and unplublished Red Book. And you should listen to what I say, because I’m an ENFJ.

If you want to achieve a deity-like status to me, buy me one of the $3250.00 editions of Carl Jung’s Red Book. I’d still worship you if you bought me the regular $195.00 edition, but I’d consider you a less-than-loving deity. Like many people who are slightly crazy, I developed a deep interest in psychology fairly early in life. After exploring abnormal psychology textbooks with a friend and gaining some perspective regarding just how crazy crazy can be, I got a little more serious in my exploration, and have always been thankful that around this time (I was ten or so) Carl Jung’s biography (Memories, Dreams, Reflections) happened to be on the same bookshelf in our home. I read it with considerable enthusiasm, and even greater ignorance. It was admittedly a little over my head, but helped launch my early exploration of alchemy, religion, astrology, and eastern mysticism. In my teens, Jung’s Man and His Symbols became a bestseller, and reinvigorated my interest in Jung’s work, leading me to read just about anything Jung-related I could get my hands on. If you’re not familiar with Jung’s work, you’re at least familiar with the results of his work; although in casual conversation, Freud is mentioned much more often in relation to modern psychology, Jung’s influence eventually superseded Freud’s foundational work in many ways. And if you’ve ever taken a silly Facebook version of the Myers-Briggs personality tests , you’ve used his principles to decide your own personality type. The very thing that was an impediment to Jung’s work being accepted early on later became its chief selling point – mainly the fact that he understood that science as we know it is not a complete enough system of perception, measurement, and analysis to even begin to treat the mysterious territory that is the human psyche. His work has since not only influenced psychology, but modern physics and British pop as well. So why the fuss about Jung’s Red Book? Because it’s never been published before, and has barely even been examined by professionals in the field. It contains artwork and writing he produced between 1914 and 1930, the period during which he developed his principal theories, including the concepts of the collective unconscious, the archetypes, and the psychological types. It’s like finding lost Rolling Stones recordings or symphonies by Mozart. Only cooler. In fact, I predict the release of these volumes next month will have a second-wave effect on psycholgy as a science. And I’m an ENFJ , so you should listen to what I say.

No Need To Get Graphic

[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 15, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Or is there? These handy infographics of Aircrashes and dead Twitter users could save your life and your time.

Statistics Of The “Social Media Revolution”

If you want to die on your next flight, take an Aeroflot DC-9 from the United States to Russia in August, and make sure to get a seat in First Class. At least that’s what this interesting chart suggests. Sometimes an infographic can say so much more than words, which makes the fact that I’m writing about it a little ironic (see infographic below). As I’ve pointed out before, 78.6% of all statistics mentioned in casual conversation are inaccurate. But I still find infographics and flowcharts fascinating. How else could you really wrap your mind around what a million dollars looks like ? This set of graphics, for instance, speaks volumes about how projects really evolve, and in a way that almost every guilty party involved would probably find amusing. And in spite of all the hype about Twitter (including the info in the clip at left) this set of graphics quickly puts things in perspective. The GOP/Dem debates about war and health care that I recently mentioned in this piece can also be summed up more quickly with two photos and some simple copy. What I’d really find interesting though, is if someone made an interactive graphic of how people from a broad set of demographics use their time throught the day. Oh wait. Never mind. Have any interesting infographics of your own to share? Read the rest of this entry »

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