tomorrow is the last forum before the College Senate votes on the presidents budget cuts. Hopefully we can convince them not to reduce the entire Arts and Humanits Division to dust (this includes cutting Film, Television, Radio, Journalism, and sending Art, Music and Theater into a Community Education area"

It would really suck to lose out on some great programs :(

Polititains always go for the arts and various social programs because they're soft targets: by cutting those they LOOK as if they're doing something an it appeals strongly to a conservative base, when in reality it's less than nothing really.

It saves them from cutting funding to the people who pay for their campaign success and keep them in power: Keep the tax breaks for the wealthy, and all the concessions, grants, contracts and acquisitions keep going to the same people etc. All the things that could in reality really and truly make a difference to budget problems will never be touched and in the mean time the majority continue to massively subsidise the fortunes and the lifestyles of a wealthy few while politicians and conservative think-tanks spin things so it seems like the opposite is true.
________________

Pinky TA has updated! YAY!!!!!!

But I still have to put Genejoke's fanart up online… While doing that I realised that I have a whole wodge of fanart that I've just been sitting on for months so now I have to construct more and more webpages for it, gather more links etc. This is turning out to be a massive job. I shouldn't have left it so long…
I will need an assistant one day :(

Reminds me of a news report from the other week about cuts affecting sports for school kids. The people campaigning to stop the cuts used the argument that cutting the funding would lead to a rise in childhood obesity. Such a lame argument it hurts, the kids benefiting from it aren't the fat kids but the already athletic ones. I have no issue with them trying to keep the funding but use a better argument FFS.

I did a page and as far as mojo? It's long gone. Not feeling up about anything except sleeping. :)

It's crap.

Man, for a 17 page sequence I'll have to do as much designs and research as for an entire 50 page chapter before it. Oh well, at least I have gotten to page 166 with my notes.

Oh well, at least I'll be able to use that for another project in the future too (which happens in a setting inspired by the same culture).

At least the first four chapters (out of 11 + prologue) are written down in my “research shopping list”.

I'll try for one more today.

I'm starting to fear this project. It might actually force me into making 3d models of certain locations, heh.

I finally go all my fanart up! Woot! Man that was a looooong freaking job T_T

Wooooo.

Check it out:

http://www.nightgig.com/ozonex/fanart.htm

ozoneocean
I finally go all my fanart up! Woot! Man that was a looooong freaking job T_T

Wooooo.

Check it out:

http://www.nightgig.com/ozonex/fanart.htm

Damn. That's a lot of fanart.

Genejoke
Reminds me of a news report from the other week about cuts affecting sports for school kids. The people campaigning to stop the cuts used the argument that cutting the funding would lead to a rise in childhood obesity. Such a lame argument it hurts, the kids benefiting from it aren't the fat kids but the already athletic ones. I have no issue with them trying to keep the funding but use a better argument FFS.

I was just thinking about how our local school system has I*don't*know*how*much*money for high school And middle schools football (American), soccer, basketball, wrestling, baseball, track, and (high school only) volleyball, lacrosse, swimming, “color guard”, marching band, jazz band, and symphony band, but if a special needs kid needs special support to LEARN so that they don't become a total dependent on the tax base as an adult — oh, there's no money.

I was just thinking about it because I just got back from a meeting with an attorney who advocates for special needs kids.

By the way, I was also thinking “Who coined ‘grace under pressure’?” and quickly found out it was Hemingway when he was defining courage.

I'd appreciate as many wishes as possible for an abundance of grace these next several weeks.

Two ends of the school funding thing, my five year old son has been certified as gifted and to help he gets funding for a personal teaching assistant for half everyday at school. Which all came to light due to behavioral difficulties, yet a child in another class has similar behavioral difficulties but isn't gifted, he gets zero help.

Today the world can fuck itself.

Nobody respects atheists because they don't have beliefs.

I was entirely insulted today and now my half not a shitty day has been ruined.

Once again, Fuck YOU world.

I used to think that ALL psychotherapists (spiritual-oriented. Non-secular) are these kind-hearted loving people that are like angels with halos on their heads thats why people with depression and other problems see them in the 1st place.

Oh man how wrong am I. Dont believe me? Wait till you actually do business with them. Its sometimes like dealing with a psycho.

I'd leave it at that. lol!

kyupol
Its sometimes like dealing with a psycho.

I'd leave it at that. lol!

The feeling it most likely mutual.

No personal insult intended, but I imagine both sides have a similar perspective.

————-

Ohcrapohcrapohcrap!!!!! I have to finish that feature writeup! SHIZA!!!! >_<

So, according to the DD tech blog, the site will be in Beta for 3-4 weeks during which we can't update anything? *sigh* Too long, man. Too long. Don't need a month to play with buttons.

Chernobog
So, according to the DD tech blog, the site will be in Beta for 3-4 weeks during which we can't update anything? *sigh* Too long, man. Too long. Don't need a month to play with buttons.

You WILL be able to update! The current site (This one here) will be running at the same time as the beta so you can see them both together:
You'll still have full editing and updating access on this old version of the site.

Going down for a month isn't really logical is it? :)

Wow, nice to see Lawrence formally introducing himself here! I've met him in person and he's a really nice guy, as are Kinh and even Brian the Wowio owner.

I Am The 1337 Master
Today the world can fuck itself.

Nobody respects atheists because they don't have beliefs.

I don't respect atheists since they seem to be just as bad about imposing their views on others as most of the religions they fight so hard to discredit.

PS, the belief in nothing is actually a belief in something.

Ozone
You WILL be able to update! The current site (This one here) will be running at the same time as the beta so you can see them both together:
You'll still have full editing and updating access on this old version of the site.

That's great news! Thanks Ozone!

lefarce

I Am The 1337 Master
Today the world can fuck itself.

Nobody respects atheists because they don't have beliefs.

I don't respect atheists since they seem to be just as bad about imposing their views on others as most of the religions they fight so hard to discredit.

PS, the belief in nothing is actually a belief in something.

Who do you think you are telling me I believe in something, I believe in nothing not even you mo fo. That's right I don't believe in you so you don't even exist, that means you're nothing, less than nothing you're minus lefarce.


Obviously that rant is a joke (of sorts) and is inspired by the sort of bile found on youtube comments.

Ah… thanks to a wonderful program called DOSBox I can play Duke Nukem 3D again… though I don't have that extra episode that came with the expansion. And thanks to that I have to deal with a memory bug that occurs if I play the game too long without getting out.

heh… those old days of DOS… when we had to memorize command lines and their associated parameters to get things running on your computer. Nowadays we have GUI computers which allow us to click on icons to do what the command lines used to do and having computers accessible to a lot of people. I wonder what the internet would've been like if we had kept to the old DOS commands, though…

Lonnehart
accessible to a lot of people. I wonder what the internet would've been like if we had kept to the old DOS commands, though…

Porn in wondrous monochromatic gray colors..

Adariel

Lonnehart
accessible to a lot of people. I wonder what the internet would've been like if we had kept to the old DOS commands, though…

Porn in wondrous monochromatic gray colors..

Or any color you want so long as it's spinach green. I have fond memories of that strip poker computer game I used to play back in the 1980s.

—
So we go from blizzards with feet of snow to inches of rain causing the river basins of the USA to flood. And politicians propose solutions that solve nothing but sound as if they're doing something. Sometimes I just get so sad. I know there are things beyond my power and beyond the scope of my existence, but it still saddens me.

I should get out and take a walk. Oh right today is the deluge from the skies. Maybe I'll go out intothe backyard and convert my deck into a raft.

Someone
Or any color you want so long as it's spinach green. I have fond memories of that strip poker computer game I used to play back in the 1980s.

I remember those, also game called bedroom Olympics or some such which was a riff on the old sports games where you waggled the joystick from left to right repeatedly to make the character run, the bedroom version had some curious and strangely familiar motions.

Well it looks like I no longer have a job. I'm the latest victim of government cutbacks, thrown on the scrap heap, put out to pasture, up shit creek without a paddle. :(

Ironscarf
Well it looks like I no longer have a job. I'm the latest victim of government cutbacks, thrown on the scrap heap, put out to pasture, up shit creek without a paddle. :(

That sucks. Here's an idea, make being a member of parliment an unpaid position with minimal expenses paid.

Actually that would probably just make then even more corrupt.

Genejoke

lefarce

I Am The 1337 Master
Today the world can fuck itself.

Nobody respects atheists because they don't have beliefs.

I don't respect atheists since they seem to be just as bad about imposing their views on others as most of the religions they fight so hard to discredit.

PS, the belief in nothing is actually a belief in something.

Who do you think you are telling me I believe in something, I believe in nothing not even you mo fo. That's right I don't believe in you so you don't even exist, that means you're nothing, less than nothing you're minus lefarce.


Obviously that rant is a joke (of sorts) and is inspired by the sort of bile found on youtube comments.

Yeah? Well, as a believer, I don't believe in your ability to disbelieve. Take that, sucka! Heh- sorry. Had to join in the snark.

———————-
I'm sitting in a fast food joint in one of the more economically disadvantaged parts of town- there's a good Samaritan type restaurant/ food kitchen down the block, and bunches of charity and subsidized housing on the other side of the street. I'm waiting for my low income dentist appointment. Amidst all this, the guy in the next stall is playing Minecraft. Low income gaming?

ramlama
I'm sitting in a fast food joint in one of the more economically disadvantaged parts of town- there's a good Samaritan type restaurant/ food kitchen down the block, and bunches of charity and subsidized housing on the other side of the street. I'm waiting for my low income dentist appointment. Amidst all this, the guy in the next stall is playing Minecraft. Low income gaming?

Ha!
My mum and a friend visited the US last year, going around small towns and cities in the north east of your great country! It was really surprising some of the photos she took and her accounts of the place- such a massive economic downturn. Lots of poorer people, towns and areas of cities visibly dying, infrastructure extremely old and not being replaced. Places pretty much trying to survive on past glories that ended with ancient boom times in the 20s, and the 50s…

Contrast that to my experience of visiting some limited areas in Southern California- they seemed well off and very conservative. “White” middle-class people were obviously doing a lot better than the Latinos and many of the black people I saw though and I've never in my life seen so many homeless people living on the street! That almost doesn't exist in Australia.
But the cities, suburbs and towns I saw were well maintained and clean, with new infrastructure.

I have to say though that it's no where near as prosperous and well off there as we are in Australia right now! That's a big difference. Things are going much better here because China is paying a massive bucks for our resources… That's not boasting, it's just an observation of differences.

Even the ads on TV show that up:
-Most ads I saw on US TV were for debt consolidation, anti depressant medication, cheaper car insurance, home security, anti chafing cream for fat people, for getting loans with bad credit, for buying stuff on credit etc.
-Ads on Aussie TV (when I can make myself watch it) are more often for luxury goods, electronic goods, expensive cars, holidays, property and so on.

Some people still find it hard to get work, but they're in the minority here right now.

———————–

That's very sad about Ironscarf! I hope you get something else man! If not, you could always emigrate… :)
And I wish lots of grace on Ayesinback for the coming weeks!

ozoneocean
fairly accurate descriptions of the USA

Yup. I live in the largest metropolitan area in Kansas- I think we have a population around 300k. Our local economy is turbulent. We really boomed in the 1940s because we were a major center in the aviation industry and the wartime economy really pumped a lot of money into the city. Supposedly it was the kind of place where you could get off work at midnight and still have the full variety of nightlife to spend your industry-based income on- a hotspot back in my grandparent's day. We also had a couple of cultural highlights- there was a decent beat population at one time, and I think the Dockum sit-in was supposedly one of the first times the sit-in strategy was successfully used in the civil rights movement.

When I was a kid, my general neighborhood had a reputation for prostitutes and meth labs. They installed a police substation about a decade ago, so the prostitutes moved north by the time I wouldve started being interested. Shame :p. I'm under the impression that the meth trade is still decent, but it's been awhile since I heard about any major busts so it might be that it's declined too. I can't remember what the homeless population is here, but I work at the downtown public library so I see enough of them to know it's a fairly significant number.

I'm weird locally in that I get around on bike, which means I see a lot of parts of the city most people don't. I think I might've counted ten homeless people sleeping at spots along the river on one of my rides. There are certain bridges that the bike path goes under that have huge ridges that make them kinda like Japanese hotel pods, and there are a handful of homeless that are there semi-permanently (if you bother to look, you can see the beds, suitcases, and other small amenities- there's one bridge where they have a little grill that they keep hidden). I keep thinking I should stop and shoot the shit with them, but I'm usually on my way to or from my day job and my clothing artificially represents that I'm higher status than I am.

ramlama

Genejoke

lefarce

I Am The 1337 Master
Today the world can fuck itself.

Nobody respects atheists because they don't have beliefs.

I don't respect atheists since they seem to be just as bad about imposing their views on others as most of the religions they fight so hard to discredit.

PS, the belief in nothing is actually a belief in something.

Who do you think you are telling me I believe in something, I believe in nothing not even you mo fo. That's right I don't believe in you so you don't even exist, that means you're nothing, less than nothing you're minus lefarce.


Obviously that rant is a joke (of sorts) and is inspired by the sort of bile found on youtube comments.

Yeah? Well, as a believer, I don't believe in your ability to disbelieve. Take that, sucka! Heh- sorry. Had to join in the snark.

Nice snark everyone.

I cooled down about this again but will probably be pissed off about it again in the next three hours or so.

And I respect other's religions…sometimes…

i like tolerance.
—-

i know i've ranted about it before, but there really is no need for everyone to hate on someone because they say “i don't like what this military is doing”

it somehow always gets twisted back that they “don't support our troops”
——

are the ads gone for anyone else?

Ironscarf
Well it looks like I no longer have a job. I'm the latest victim of government cutbacks,

so sorry to read this. whether it's phrased “cutback”, “redundancy” or “fired”, it always sucks.

—(wildebeests kicking shit piles)

looks like it's been a shitty week for several of us.

and then there's those that don't believe in shit. makes them constipated, I suppose

Ironscarf
Well it looks like I no longer have a job. I'm the latest victim of government cutbacks, thrown on the scrap heap, put out to pasture, up shit creek without a paddle. :(

I'm so sorry, ironscarf!
Everyone knows you're great, I'm sure you'll find something new before too long.



—

I was going to rant about my job going downhill(mostly because of our district manager, and she's bad mostly because of Head Office), but now I would feel bad. In summary: no more free stuff and I think we almost got robbed again.