The Harper government is ridiculous. “Tough economic times? LET'S CUT JOBS!”
My mom has been working for Health Canada for like 25 years and they decided suddenly to close the building her and all the other chemists work in, along with another government science-y type building. So a LOT of scientists are out of work in my province. The market for science jobs here was pretty bad to begin with, so a lot of educated people will either be under-employed or moving out of the province.
My mom got a temporary job offer out in the maritimes, so she'll be out there for at least a few months, maybe longer. Thankfully my dad's job is pretty secure, even though he's a scientist as well.

I was told constantly by my teachers that when I was an licensed OT I would get 3 job offers a day. So, when I got kicked out of school, I thought I would not have that sort of boom and choices. But, right now I'm sitting pretty on a job at a local water park in cash control and I have interviews for internships at two big name stores. Woot! So it has to come down what looks good on the ol' resume and what sort of money I get.

So, a while ago I had a bit of news about a project. Project's been scrapped. Like all of my projects…
I really am fickle with my work. I should just combine all of them into one big series of short stories.
Duke Nukem Forever
Edit: I forgot that actually came out…

Wow… bit the bait like a fish on a hook. Signed up for Star Trek Online because it's apparently free to play now. I guess I'll find out what sort of torture I'm gonna end up enduring…

Hippie Van wrote:
The Harper government is ridiculous. “Tough economic times? LET'S CUT JOBS!”
My mom has been working for Health Canada for like 25 years and they decided suddenly to close the building her and all the other chemists work in, along with another government science-y type building. So a LOT of scientists are out of work in my province. The market for science jobs here was pretty bad to begin with, so a lot of educated people will either be under-employed or moving out of the province.

Typical conservative government. They want all that taxpayer money right where it belongs: the hands of the rich. Even better if it doesn't have to go through the government first before it gets there.
She should come to Australia, LOT of demand here for scientists in the mining industry. BIG money too. ;)

This seem to be going wrong for me at the moment in lots of small ways and stuff is really getting on top of me right now. I'm very physically tried from the hours I've been putting in to do various DD things. I think it would serve me best to have an afternoon nap. :)

ozoneocean wrote:
Hippie Van wrote:
The Harper government is ridiculous. “Tough economic times? LET'S CUT JOBS!”
My mom has been working for Health Canada for like 25 years and they decided suddenly to close the building her and all the other chemists work in, along with another government science-y type building. So a LOT of scientists are out of work in my province. The market for science jobs here was pretty bad to begin with, so a lot of educated people will either be under-employed or moving out of the province.
Typical conservative government. They want all that taxpayer money right where it belongs: the hands of the rich. Even better if it doesn't have to go through the government first before it gets there.
She should come to Australia, LOT of demand here for scientists in the mining industry. BIG money too. ;)

New Zealand's right-wing government is trying to mine and frack everything in sight. Such joy. Still, only 2 and a half years until they get voted out … not for that, but because they sold a farm to the Chinese, and all the rural racists that normally vote for them will never forget or forgive them for that. (They also sold farm land to James Cameron, but he's okay by them–not for his terrible films, but because he's white and rich). I love my cuntry. (that's not a spellign mistake–but that was.)

Yeah, “cut government spending” usually translates into “cut services” which always ends up meaning “cut jobs” as opposed to “cut waste” which actually means “cut overpaid political appointees” not “cut service personnel” But then I live in the Soprano State with the most corrupt politicians in the USA. You Aussies and Kiwis wish your government was as bloated and corrupt as mine. You have lean, mean perfect government compared to NJ.

Any of you guys got a spare room? I don't take up much space, I can sleep on a cot… please I want out of NJ and I hear Australasia is an excellent location.

What we have here is a failure to communicate between the electorate and the elected and everybody else inbetween who doesn't have tens of thousands of dollars to buy their own politician.

So how bad would things be if the jobless rate somehow got to near 100 percent (where only the government workers have jobs and all the government services have been cut)?

Lonnehart wrote:
So how bad would things be if the jobless rate somehow got to near 100 percent (where only the government workers have jobs and all the government services have been cut)?

That describes accurately any number of nations in Africa. The last remaining government workers always seem to be the only ones with guns and they end up only serving themselves. Then the government dissolves as any other group with guns tries to take whatever serivces remain from all other groups.

@Hippie Van: I didn't know you were Canadian as well… also isn't our health system provincial? Though that being said yes… government in general is a mess… but I just finished a Macro Economics exam last night so I don't feel like going back there….
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Speaking of which, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I only need three credits left to get my degree, but if I don't take 4 credit courses then I get knocked down to part time which will end up costing me $800 dollars more than paying for the full 6 courses (kind of bad I know). Anyways, I have my two final courses narrowed down to Fundamentals of Java or 2D Animation. Neither have anything to do with my course but I was wondering what you guys would suggest. I don't think any of my friends know much about either

That would depend on what you want to be doing after school. If you're more interested in web development and coding then I would definitely go with Java or a similar course. If you don't really care and just want a fun class, 2D animation is probably going to be more interesting.

So is Java just for web development then? I thought it was actually one of the programming languages

Macattack wrote:
So is Java just for web development then? I thought it was actually one of the programming languages

There are two different things:
Javascript and Java.
Javascript is the stuff that's rendered inside webpages and it's pretty easy to get a handle on. Java is the more complicated thingo that is used for more advanced and powerful sorts of applications.
(As I understand it)
Why are the names confusingly similar? Probably because they're evolutionary related I'd guess…? That and the people that came up with those names were huge dorks who when they weren't naming stuff after Greek mythology and 20thC fantasy elements, chose office stuff like coffee instead.

No offence to anyone, It's just that names for a lot of boring coding and programming from a certain era is really embarrassing.

Sorry, my post wasn't too clear. Java is actually purely a programming language, but it's becoming a little more common in high-end web content and development companies too. There's a few folks starting to use it to create in-browser programs for things like a bank's online account systems. So it's kind of a case of it used to be only programmers who used Java, but some web developers are starting to learn it too in order to broaden their client base. I was just saying that if you're interested in any sort of programming or coding it's a good place to start.

edit: Oz got there first. My bad.

Thanks for clearing that up! It sounds actually really fascinating… rather hard but also rather fascinating… so I guess I have the choice between easy and fun or difficult useful and fun :P Thanks for the input!

Macattack wrote:
@Hippie Van: I didn't know you were Canadian as well… also isn't our health system provincial? Though that being said yes… government in general is a mess… but I just finished a Macro Economics exam last night so I don't feel like going back there….

Maybe you're thinking of your provincial health insurance? What province are you in, out of curiosity?
Health Canada is totally unrelated. It's similar to the FDA in the US, I think. They test food, drugs, etc for safety, among other things. They're basically just responsible for public health in general. I'm sure you've seen a million posters like “HEALTH CANADA GUIDE TO SAFE SUNTANNING” or “HEALTH CANADA FOOD GUIDE” or whatever.

Ugh… gotta love how people name their ships in Star Trek Online. Among the names were teh U.S.S. Shepard, U.S.S. Vakerian, and the U.S.S. Talizorah. As for my ship's name, it's the U.S.S. Cassandra. I've got this weird thing about naming my ships after prophetesses of Doom…

Just got an idea… I wonder if the names “Vas Defrens”, “Vas Iktomi”, or “Vas Qwib Qwib” are taken. Hmm…

I want my Mom to write me a note so I don't have to go to work today.

ayesinback wrote:
I want my Mom to write me a note so I don't have to go to work today.

hahahaha so do i, but i'll probably go anyways.

Poop. The weather is going to get WARM here again, just as I was getting used to it getting cooler.
I wouldn't mind but anyone who gets anywhere near an air-conditioning control here is either an effing psychopath or has 2 meters of insulating blubber between them and the real world-
as a consequence, anywhere that can be air-conditioned tends to be 50 bellow.

At least when it's cool outside I can easily wear a jacket to work without sweating my arse off, just so I can stop myself freezing by the time I get on the train or into the office.

If I had my way air-conditioning would be banned by LAW, unless the temperature was above 35C (about 85 or 90F I think), and then it could only be set to 26C (dunno what that is in F, sorry). Exemptions for sick and extremely old people. The rest of us would have to make do with fans and light clothing.
It'd save a TONNE of energy!

That's my ranty rant rant.

Lonnehart wrote:
Ugh… gotta love how people name their ships in Star Trek Online. Among the names were teh U.S.S. Shepard, U.S.S. Vakerian, and the U.S.S. Talizorah. As for my ship's name, it's the U.S.S. Cassandra. I've got this weird thing about naming my ships after prophetesses of Doom…

Just got an idea… I wonder if the names “Vas Defrens”, “Vas Iktomi”, or “Vas Qwib Qwib” are taken. Hmm…

You should read some of the name lists from the fan literature. Shepard actually is a science ship named for Alan Shepard. IIRC Cassandra was a destroyer/frigate of the Reliant or Miranda class as well as the ship name from my unfinished novel.

My favorite was always USSVon Richtoffen a destroyer which some cadets painted red as gag since it was named for the WWI ace Red Baron. The captain liked it so much it was the only ship in the fleet not in the standard scheme. On the show Yamato which was Enterprise-D sister ship was really named for the Space Cruiser Yamato from the anime. On the classic series the ships were named for mostly US Navy vessels especially aircraft carriers since Gene Rodenberry was in naval aviation.

Could always go forBellerophon forthe great Royal Navy third rate ship of the line the “Billy Ruffian”

I've learned to play bass and guitar. Now I'm writting lyrics. Fun times had.
I'm loosing my (little amount) of artistic tallent so I'm going to music.

bravo1102 wrote:
Cassandra was a destroyer/frigate of the Reliant or Miranda class as well as the ship name from my unfinished novel.

The Reliant was a Miranda class vessel. I didn't know there was a Miranda Class U.S.S. Cassandra in the show…
Oddly enough my ship is a Miranda Class vessel named “Cassandra” for the Greek prophetess of doom so my enemies know they're in trouble (so much good that did as I keep getting blown up). Modified it with parts from the Centaur class ships though…

@Same/A reaver
Lyrics are hard :(

@Lonne/Bravo
I was a warship nerd as a little kid… mainly for capital ships of course- heavy cruisers and above mostly, so I loved knowing ship names.

US ships had the most dull names unfortunately. Generally extremely prosaic: States, famous Admirals etc.
The more interesting ones were things where you couldn't point to the source right away: Enterprise, Constellation… and the ones named after battles were good too since that pointed to a larger more intriguing history (Bunker Hill for example), but those were never capital ships.
The best thing about US capital ships was that they were really well built, well designed and properly funded. Basically solidly good, sensible capital ships, and there were a LOT of them! The worst thing was that they tend to be a bit “stamped out” or production line.

Australian ships are much the same, except there was never anything significant above heavy cruiser. The only real attachment is vestigial nationalism: I like Aussie ships regardless because they're Aussie. That sort of thing. But they're just run of the mill small vessels really with mostly boring regional names… The only interesting names are given to the uninteresting ships.

Other countries… Well Japan has some really fricken weird and special unique little ones and twos that are absolute marvels (the massive Yamato and Musashi for example, but there are others too), but they never had many.
Germany had some well made brutes, but really not very many either, mostly small and the names are only interesting because their history is a bit more exotic to me.heir WW1 stuff is ugly, fat and low slung.
The French had strange stuff with ultra-nationalist names. Their ships look a little bit more scifi… not as classic.
The Italians built their capital ships like they were fine sports cars- all perfectly streamlined and styled into a unified aesthetic whole. Which is cool, but loses that rugged beauty intrinsic in the nobliness and grit of battleships.
The rest just experimented with one-offs that were pretty standard, or they bought them second hand from Britain.

British ships were the gold standard of course- lots of amazing evolutions of cool big and interesting capital ships with actual families of interesting names with histories going back 300+ years! Names going back to pirate fighting days, the Spanish Armada and before! Names pointing to all sorts of amazing and intriguing back stories… The pommy ships were where it was at. Lots of experimentation and modification producing an amazing variety of shapes and configurations.

Yep, I was a ship nerd.

Wow… going from starships to actual ocean going ships…

Ships have always fascinated me. How small we must've felt back then sailing the ocean, and we'll feel even tinier when we get into space…

As for the ship I'm flying in Star Trek Online, I've got a cruiser class now and named it “Enjeru”. Just say it a few times so maybe you'll see what that word signifies. I love giving my ships meaningful names. I guess it's so when people see it they'll stop and think for a bit….

And for some reason I feel… guilty… I went and put down $10 for a cash card to get spending points for the game and used that to buy a cruiser instead of spending ingame game currency to buy one. Then again I'd say the customization options I get for that ship were worth it…

Japanese ship names are as boring as US ship names except they're in Japanese. Yamato is a “state” and a hero and is roughly similar to naming a ship “Washington” Kongo is indestructible so at least that's a tough name. Then you look at Haruna, Kirishima and Hiei and they're mountains. Japanese aircraft carriers were often named for flowers. But being in Japanese they're cool names as opposed to Forrestal (a Sec of Defence), Bon Homme Richard (Poor Richard's almanac and John Paul Jones) and Bunker Hill.

By the way Bunker Hill was the name of a US captitol ship the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill CV-17 before she was an AEgis heavy cruiser. For all intents and purposes a modern cruiser is the capitol ship of the modern navy. You just don't need ships of the line anymore. A heavy cruiser is more akin to a lower rate ship of the line as opposed to anything else.

I was a carrier-kid. Loved them big flat-tops and naval aviation. Everything I picked up about battleships was by wargaming my brother in Jutland and Bismarck! (and Star Fleet Battles) and then perusing the books on ships he had and then turning around and getting the bug to build those badboys in scale starting about 15 years ago after getting burned out on tanks.

Heh… just thought I'd show off a bit with this new ship. It'll be a while before I can fly the Nebula and Galaxy class ships… You need to be an admiral to fly one (so why did Picard get to fly one when he's only a captain?!?)…

bravo1102 wrote:
By the way Bunker Hill was the name of a US captitol ship the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill CV-17 before she was an AEgis heavy cruiser. For all intents and purposes a modern cruiser is the capitol ship of the modern navy. You just don't need ships of the line anymore. A heavy cruiser is more akin to a lower rate ship of the line as opposed to anything else.

I visited Bunker Hill when she came here years and years ago and I recall she was some sort of assault vessel. Yeah, a helicopter carrier, that sort of thing. Not a capital ship in the traditional sense at all. Her role would be more one of support.

But classes were never really hard and fast definitions. Ships always melted back and forth through them like anything else- from light cruiser to battleship to heavy cruiser to battle cruiser to cruiser, frigate, destroyer, minelayer, corvette, escort… At nay time ships that could have been in one class could also be in another. I think in practise classes like those were just an easy shorthand to know how best to distribute a fleet for some action or in comparison to the strength of similar enemy vessels at a given time.
Ageing vessels could change in class because their capabilities didn't fit with their contemporaries any longer, you might even do it to disguise or even exaggerate the capabilities of a vessel.

-Kogo is a good enough name for me, but I never like that ship much aesthetically. Something like the Senkan Fuso is Waaaaaay more interesting in appearance :)

In WWII CV-17 USS Bunker Hill was a fleet carrier. After WWII she became an assualt carrier but though her flight group differed form a fleet carrier by carrying helicopters in an assault role she was still a carrier and to people who worship carrier avaition she's a capitol ship as much as Iowa or any other of her Essex sisters. Just ask the poor guys on Musashi who suffered under Bunker Hill's bombers and torpedo planes. If I remember correctly USS Bunker Hill was among the last US ships to be active off of Vietnam in 1975. Then there were the poor CVB's like Hornet who were Anti-submarine warfare carriers.

“You're not true carriers cause you ain't got fighters, so there.” Bullshit.

So when I get a heavy cruiser, would the name “Ozone Ocean” be appropriate? Although “Skoolmunkee” sounds better…

Or maybe I shouldn't. Those two will probably send some quantum and photon torpedoes my way…

I'm curious though… why do some ships get the names they do?