http://www.uoregon.edu/~jfrisch/artd252/project_1/index.html
Okay...I made it in like...8 hours.... Okay that's probably not helping my case.
Uh...yeah......
I'd say it's pretty good considering it's based on a completely vague description of what the instructor wanted ("something describing a landscape or complex relationship"), shitty class examples that looked like something from Bud Ugly web design, and a raging hatred for Dreamweaver. *shrug* When in doubt, be an ass, and you can play your gross ineptitude off to parody. Booya.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
LOL
http://www.slate.com/id/2189281/?GT1=38001
Cheers to Michael Agger, you saved me from throwing myself off a bridge this week.
Cheers to Michael Agger, you saved me from throwing myself off a bridge this week.
Monday, April 21, 2008
more signs the apocolypse is nigh...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/132240/page/1
I'm kinda...speechless.
Must...kill...self before world implodes....
I'm kinda...speechless.
Must...kill...self before world implodes....
Thursday, April 17, 2008
over nine thousand?!
It's been a while since I got annoyed enough to bother with actually writing up a response to an article, but this one was worthy.
http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2008/04/17/Opinion/Professors.Dont.Need.To.Teach.Time.Management-3331462.shtml
_________
Deborah Bloom’s “Professors don’t need to teach time management” article in Thursday’s Emerald reflects the immature selfishness that pervades our culture and the UO.
“If I want to pay thousands of dollars a year to mess around and be irresponsible, then that is my own perogative [sic].” It’s funny that she would use a term more related to privilege than autonomy (and misspell it to boot).
There are too many people at this school that treat classes as an inconvenience and intrusion into their social lives rather than the job that they should be. Many of these students are freshmen, making their attitude somewhat forgivable because the transition between high school (little more than babysitting) and college is difficult. The author sounds like one of these students, which probably means she’s taking lower division classes. Lower division classes are generally overbooked and full of problems because they are intended to weed out the slackers, idiots, and immature kids that are here wasting mommy and daddy’s/the government’s money to party and “learn about themselves”. They’ve seen little of the real world, they have a lack of financial accountability, and they aren’t used to the demands of critical thinking, so they become distracted with the freedoms of college, flunk out, and leave. That’s why freshman classes have mandatory attendance, copious amounts of busywork, and pre-major blocks of virtually useless classes that are run like a kindergarten—the people that can’t follow the rules and learn to learn drop out before they become a nuisance to the upperclassmen. The ones that develop responsibility and diligence move on.
If instructors don’t require attendance, then you get the same credit for being absent as the people that make the effort to show up, no matter how much they hate being there. By the reasoning laid out in the article, assuming that I’m able to keep up with the class, I should get the same A grade in a class for having barbeques and hanging out at the mall as the people who go to class every day. That doesn’t seem logical. The issue of distractions is not limited to the people who would rather be somewhere else. Even the students who come to class without being forced are distracting and annoying. The students dragging in 10 minutes late slurping their coffees and blasting their iPods because 11 am is sooooo eaaarly for a class are just as bad as the ones that are texting out of boredom. From the guy sniffling and refusing to blow his nose to the girl eating a smelly sandwich in the back, every student in a class has the potential to be a distraction, whether it is smacking their gum, wearing too much perfume, breathing with a whistle in their nose, typing on their laptops, or rolling their eyes and sighing at the teacher because they already “know everything.”
You’re not the only one here, and everyone hasn’t come from the same place as you. The sooner you realize that, the better off everyone will be. If paying thousands of dollars every year to be here is a ticket to do whatever you want, then they have every right to draw anime in their notebooks and text their friends. Everyone is paying thousands of dollars to be here, just like you. Maybe that guy who is sleeping in class is doing so because he has an egocentric roommate who pays thousands of dollars a year to party all night. Or maybe he’s sleeping in class because he has to work 40 hours a week on the swing shift and he’s so dead tired he can’t stay awake. I offer that suggestion because I’ve been there. That is time management—that is being the adult that you’re supposed to be when you get to college, not complaining that things are unbearable because you can’t sleep in an extra hour or drive to the coast to party due to the obligation you have to do your job as a student—attend class.
College prepares you for real life—skip work a couple times to “jet off to the hot springs” and see how long you have a job. Start thinking about someone besides yourself for a change. That empty seat is one that could have gone to someone who actually wanted to be there. If you’re taking the class because you absolutely have to for a university requirement, go to class, sit down and shut up, and deal with the fact that once again, you’re not the only one in the world. You will still find mandatory attendance and annoyances in upper division courses—and indeed the rest of your life—but you will also find critical thinking and discussions from people that really want to be there and actually care about the material.
If you think school is anything but teaching to meet standards, you’ve already been skipping too much. Writing for example—you have to write a certain amount of words to pass, some standard likely set down by some board of old people who are out of touch with reality. You can pad your papers with liberal “very” usage and add other fluff, or you can take the time, effort, and responsibility for your education to write a real quality piece. It’s not the instructor’s job to make you do that—at this level, it’s your job as a student to take the initiative to develop past rote memorization on your own.
Similarly, you can’t be taught critical thinking—it’s something you develop through the exercises, readings, and discussions that you’re missing by not being in class. “Someone taking notes for you” is not a substitute for your actual presence and interaction. If you already have those skills and you can skip every class and get straight As, take the responsibility to challenge and better yourself by taking honors courses.
Don’t get me wrong. I find it ridiculous to be forced to attend an art class 6 hours a week when I can learn more in an hour on the internet and my learning style favors independent work. But at the same time, I find it depressing when half the class is missing and we end up having a weak discussion about a subject that would otherwise be interesting. I find it frustrating to have to spend half of a 50 minute class playing catchup for all the people who couldn’t inconvenience their busy lives to come to class. Your struggling to catch up after missing class isn’t about just you, you’re inconveniencing everyone there. Teachers that give you a grade penalty for missing classes are holding you accountable for your actions and treating you like an adult.
Unfortunately it is the more vocal percentage of our culture that becomes representative of a group. The guy shouting about Jesus on the corner is more noticeable and more memorable than the quiet religious guy down the street. People that read articles like this in the Emerald or hear half-baked arguments from students about why they should pass after missing half the term see a spoiled “me me me” mentality as the average student rather than the ones with valid reasons for wanting to miss an occasional class, and that’s why they will continue with the policy. Should we have some leeway for the occasional sick or even playday? Of course, and most professors already cut students enough slack to let them miss a few days of class with no penalty. Those engaging and interesting teachers that don’t take attendance know that it shows in your work when you’re not coming to class, and they will treat you accordingly.
If you really dislike a policy, take the initiative, responsibility, and use some independent thinking to start writing letters or petitions to make some change. Write an email to professors asking them to enforce their no-cell phones policy or raise whatever issues are bothering you. They shouldn’t have to be babysitters, but they should have control and authority over their classrooms. If you’re a student that shows up regularly and participates, you’ll be taken far more seriously.
Try going to class next week. Try going to class the rest of the term.
Congratulations on your first step towards growing up.
http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2008/04/17/Opinion/Professors.Dont.Need.To.Teach.Time.Management-3331462.shtml
_________
Deborah Bloom’s “Professors don’t need to teach time management” article in Thursday’s Emerald reflects the immature selfishness that pervades our culture and the UO.
“If I want to pay thousands of dollars a year to mess around and be irresponsible, then that is my own perogative [sic].” It’s funny that she would use a term more related to privilege than autonomy (and misspell it to boot).
There are too many people at this school that treat classes as an inconvenience and intrusion into their social lives rather than the job that they should be. Many of these students are freshmen, making their attitude somewhat forgivable because the transition between high school (little more than babysitting) and college is difficult. The author sounds like one of these students, which probably means she’s taking lower division classes. Lower division classes are generally overbooked and full of problems because they are intended to weed out the slackers, idiots, and immature kids that are here wasting mommy and daddy’s/the government’s money to party and “learn about themselves”. They’ve seen little of the real world, they have a lack of financial accountability, and they aren’t used to the demands of critical thinking, so they become distracted with the freedoms of college, flunk out, and leave. That’s why freshman classes have mandatory attendance, copious amounts of busywork, and pre-major blocks of virtually useless classes that are run like a kindergarten—the people that can’t follow the rules and learn to learn drop out before they become a nuisance to the upperclassmen. The ones that develop responsibility and diligence move on.
If instructors don’t require attendance, then you get the same credit for being absent as the people that make the effort to show up, no matter how much they hate being there. By the reasoning laid out in the article, assuming that I’m able to keep up with the class, I should get the same A grade in a class for having barbeques and hanging out at the mall as the people who go to class every day. That doesn’t seem logical. The issue of distractions is not limited to the people who would rather be somewhere else. Even the students who come to class without being forced are distracting and annoying. The students dragging in 10 minutes late slurping their coffees and blasting their iPods because 11 am is sooooo eaaarly for a class are just as bad as the ones that are texting out of boredom. From the guy sniffling and refusing to blow his nose to the girl eating a smelly sandwich in the back, every student in a class has the potential to be a distraction, whether it is smacking their gum, wearing too much perfume, breathing with a whistle in their nose, typing on their laptops, or rolling their eyes and sighing at the teacher because they already “know everything.”
You’re not the only one here, and everyone hasn’t come from the same place as you. The sooner you realize that, the better off everyone will be. If paying thousands of dollars every year to be here is a ticket to do whatever you want, then they have every right to draw anime in their notebooks and text their friends. Everyone is paying thousands of dollars to be here, just like you. Maybe that guy who is sleeping in class is doing so because he has an egocentric roommate who pays thousands of dollars a year to party all night. Or maybe he’s sleeping in class because he has to work 40 hours a week on the swing shift and he’s so dead tired he can’t stay awake. I offer that suggestion because I’ve been there. That is time management—that is being the adult that you’re supposed to be when you get to college, not complaining that things are unbearable because you can’t sleep in an extra hour or drive to the coast to party due to the obligation you have to do your job as a student—attend class.
College prepares you for real life—skip work a couple times to “jet off to the hot springs” and see how long you have a job. Start thinking about someone besides yourself for a change. That empty seat is one that could have gone to someone who actually wanted to be there. If you’re taking the class because you absolutely have to for a university requirement, go to class, sit down and shut up, and deal with the fact that once again, you’re not the only one in the world. You will still find mandatory attendance and annoyances in upper division courses—and indeed the rest of your life—but you will also find critical thinking and discussions from people that really want to be there and actually care about the material.
If you think school is anything but teaching to meet standards, you’ve already been skipping too much. Writing for example—you have to write a certain amount of words to pass, some standard likely set down by some board of old people who are out of touch with reality. You can pad your papers with liberal “very” usage and add other fluff, or you can take the time, effort, and responsibility for your education to write a real quality piece. It’s not the instructor’s job to make you do that—at this level, it’s your job as a student to take the initiative to develop past rote memorization on your own.
Similarly, you can’t be taught critical thinking—it’s something you develop through the exercises, readings, and discussions that you’re missing by not being in class. “Someone taking notes for you” is not a substitute for your actual presence and interaction. If you already have those skills and you can skip every class and get straight As, take the responsibility to challenge and better yourself by taking honors courses.
Don’t get me wrong. I find it ridiculous to be forced to attend an art class 6 hours a week when I can learn more in an hour on the internet and my learning style favors independent work. But at the same time, I find it depressing when half the class is missing and we end up having a weak discussion about a subject that would otherwise be interesting. I find it frustrating to have to spend half of a 50 minute class playing catchup for all the people who couldn’t inconvenience their busy lives to come to class. Your struggling to catch up after missing class isn’t about just you, you’re inconveniencing everyone there. Teachers that give you a grade penalty for missing classes are holding you accountable for your actions and treating you like an adult.
Unfortunately it is the more vocal percentage of our culture that becomes representative of a group. The guy shouting about Jesus on the corner is more noticeable and more memorable than the quiet religious guy down the street. People that read articles like this in the Emerald or hear half-baked arguments from students about why they should pass after missing half the term see a spoiled “me me me” mentality as the average student rather than the ones with valid reasons for wanting to miss an occasional class, and that’s why they will continue with the policy. Should we have some leeway for the occasional sick or even playday? Of course, and most professors already cut students enough slack to let them miss a few days of class with no penalty. Those engaging and interesting teachers that don’t take attendance know that it shows in your work when you’re not coming to class, and they will treat you accordingly.
If you really dislike a policy, take the initiative, responsibility, and use some independent thinking to start writing letters or petitions to make some change. Write an email to professors asking them to enforce their no-cell phones policy or raise whatever issues are bothering you. They shouldn’t have to be babysitters, but they should have control and authority over their classrooms. If you’re a student that shows up regularly and participates, you’ll be taken far more seriously.
Try going to class next week. Try going to class the rest of the term.
Congratulations on your first step towards growing up.
Monday, April 14, 2008
chicken or the egg?
"Is the twenty-first-century American urban ghetto simply an open-air prison in which the most stigmatized and demonized are confined? Some observers think that the urban ghetto of today is an outcast ghetto, comprised of those that society has no use for. As Marcuse notes, 'Those in today's black ghettos are not productive for their masters; their masters get no benefit from their existance. As far as the dominant society is concerned, they are only a drain on public and private resources, they are a threat to a social peace, and they fulfill no useful social role. They are outcasts....'
Since urban ghetto dwellers have no role in U.S. society, the population at large simply sees no reason to provide for their continued reproduction. In this light, current welfare and public housing policies are mainly attempts to reduce the social expense of the poor. Will the outcasts remain quiescent? Or will the U.S. experience another round of urban rebellions that once again threaten to destroy social order?"
---Jeff R. Crump "Producing and Enforcing the Geography of Hate" p. 241
If today's "social order" is about oppressing the poor and underprivileged, it's goddamn time somebody starts destroying it.
Since urban ghetto dwellers have no role in U.S. society, the population at large simply sees no reason to provide for their continued reproduction. In this light, current welfare and public housing policies are mainly attempts to reduce the social expense of the poor. Will the outcasts remain quiescent? Or will the U.S. experience another round of urban rebellions that once again threaten to destroy social order?"
---Jeff R. Crump "Producing and Enforcing the Geography of Hate" p. 241
If today's "social order" is about oppressing the poor and underprivileged, it's goddamn time somebody starts destroying it.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
what do you want from me?!
No, really.
What DO you people want from me when you insert completely irrelevant information like "yeah, I'm a writer" into a conversation that has nothing to do with that subject? A pat on the back? An awed air of respect?
It's like when you talk to a girl and she turns the conversation to herself, then says something like "I'm a dancer (singer/artist/photographer/model)" with what she thinks is a cute smile, you can almost feel the wave of smugness emanating from her. Am I supposed to like you better, respect you more for your complete lack of modesty and pathetic cry for attention from a mere acquaintance?
And people do this to me all the time. Apparently it’s a socially acceptable way to have a “conversation” now, derailing it to supply your conversational partner with worthless trivia that is supposed to make them like you more, and validate your existence somehow. It’s not really that part that annoys me so much, it's the fact that they're usually terrible at whatever they claim to be:
"I'm a writer"= I write pretentious, wordy, worthless crap in my parents' basement and will never get anywhere in life because I’m so full of myself I’ll never learn to take direction or feedback on my work.
“I’m a singer” (blonde bimbo) = I sing off-key karaoke with the wrong lyrics at the local bar when I’m wasted and all my bimbo friends tell me I’m good so I keep doing it.
“I’m a singer” (pretentious bimbo) = My parents let me (forced me to) take voice classes since I was five, so I can almost hold a note when I’m not singing in that fake high voice that I think makes me hot. I love my voice so much that I’ll burst into song while walking down the sidewalk, and hum in the middle of classes, and I have no shame because I’m sure everyone loves me as much as I love myself.
“I’m a musician” – see above –or- I own an accoustic guitar that I pick up once every two months to strum, out of tune, while humming some folk ballad. –or- I own an electric guitar that I almost never pick up because I’m too busy doing things like buying leather wrist guards and “rocker” attire from made-in-china chain stores like Hot Topic, all the while thinking I’m a individual and unique rebel.
“I’m a model” = I’m an insecure whore, out of touch with the reality of what gives a woman worth and value in this world. I wear too much makeup and too few clothes, and project the attitude that I’m better than everyone, when in reality, I’m pathetically inadequate on every level. I only say I’m a model because I think it makes people like me, when the truth is, I’ve only had my picture taken for some contest or worse, a Shopko ad.
“I’m a dancer”= I take pilates classes at my local gym and/or flail around half-naked on my local dance team to shitty hip-hop music/strip for a living while wearing sweatpants that say “DANCER” on the ass, all of which will never result in respect from anyone except the idiots doing the same thing right next me.
"I'm a gamer" = I play WoW or some other mindless button-pushing sociopathic-attracting game because my boyfriend is borderline mentally retarded and won't give me the time of day unless I do. I don't bother to learn to play the game, and instead get by on declaring that I'm a girl every five minutes to anyone that will listen to me. I wear thickframed glasses that I don't even need and order tacky shirts 2 sizes too small that say stupid things like "GRL GAMR" because the guys on my games told me the picture of my cleavage that I posted online was hot.
“I’m a photographer”= I run around with my pink camera snapping shots of puppies and fences, then develop them at Walmart and change them to black and whites in Photoshop, all the while thinking I’m a deep, innovative individual. I take photography classes and sit smiling smugly while the teacher lectures because I already know everything.
“I’m a digital artist”= see above –or- I draw Hawaiian flowers on my notebook then scan them into Illustrator and then use the tools instead of my lack of skills to make them look like every other piece of uncreative “graphic design” that has come out in the last five years. I bring my Mac notebook to the computer lab and browse Facebook and MySpace instead of doing the lesson because I can’t learn anything from anyone.
I could go on with this alllll day.
Hey everybody! I’m a writer.
What DO you people want from me when you insert completely irrelevant information like "yeah, I'm a writer" into a conversation that has nothing to do with that subject? A pat on the back? An awed air of respect?
It's like when you talk to a girl and she turns the conversation to herself, then says something like "I'm a dancer (singer/artist/photographer/model)" with what she thinks is a cute smile, you can almost feel the wave of smugness emanating from her. Am I supposed to like you better, respect you more for your complete lack of modesty and pathetic cry for attention from a mere acquaintance?
And people do this to me all the time. Apparently it’s a socially acceptable way to have a “conversation” now, derailing it to supply your conversational partner with worthless trivia that is supposed to make them like you more, and validate your existence somehow. It’s not really that part that annoys me so much, it's the fact that they're usually terrible at whatever they claim to be:
"I'm a writer"= I write pretentious, wordy, worthless crap in my parents' basement and will never get anywhere in life because I’m so full of myself I’ll never learn to take direction or feedback on my work.
“I’m a singer” (blonde bimbo) = I sing off-key karaoke with the wrong lyrics at the local bar when I’m wasted and all my bimbo friends tell me I’m good so I keep doing it.
“I’m a singer” (pretentious bimbo) = My parents let me (forced me to) take voice classes since I was five, so I can almost hold a note when I’m not singing in that fake high voice that I think makes me hot. I love my voice so much that I’ll burst into song while walking down the sidewalk, and hum in the middle of classes, and I have no shame because I’m sure everyone loves me as much as I love myself.
“I’m a musician” – see above –or- I own an accoustic guitar that I pick up once every two months to strum, out of tune, while humming some folk ballad. –or- I own an electric guitar that I almost never pick up because I’m too busy doing things like buying leather wrist guards and “rocker” attire from made-in-china chain stores like Hot Topic, all the while thinking I’m a individual and unique rebel.
“I’m a model” = I’m an insecure whore, out of touch with the reality of what gives a woman worth and value in this world. I wear too much makeup and too few clothes, and project the attitude that I’m better than everyone, when in reality, I’m pathetically inadequate on every level. I only say I’m a model because I think it makes people like me, when the truth is, I’ve only had my picture taken for some contest or worse, a Shopko ad.
“I’m a dancer”= I take pilates classes at my local gym and/or flail around half-naked on my local dance team to shitty hip-hop music/strip for a living while wearing sweatpants that say “DANCER” on the ass, all of which will never result in respect from anyone except the idiots doing the same thing right next me.
"I'm a gamer" = I play WoW or some other mindless button-pushing sociopathic-attracting game because my boyfriend is borderline mentally retarded and won't give me the time of day unless I do. I don't bother to learn to play the game, and instead get by on declaring that I'm a girl every five minutes to anyone that will listen to me. I wear thickframed glasses that I don't even need and order tacky shirts 2 sizes too small that say stupid things like "GRL GAMR" because the guys on my games told me the picture of my cleavage that I posted online was hot.
“I’m a photographer”= I run around with my pink camera snapping shots of puppies and fences, then develop them at Walmart and change them to black and whites in Photoshop, all the while thinking I’m a deep, innovative individual. I take photography classes and sit smiling smugly while the teacher lectures because I already know everything.
“I’m a digital artist”= see above –or- I draw Hawaiian flowers on my notebook then scan them into Illustrator and then use the tools instead of my lack of skills to make them look like every other piece of uncreative “graphic design” that has come out in the last five years. I bring my Mac notebook to the computer lab and browse Facebook and MySpace instead of doing the lesson because I can’t learn anything from anyone.
I could go on with this alllll day.
Hey everybody! I’m a writer.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
........................
..........................................
................
..........
-.-;
Meet Thomas. Thomas is pregnant. Huh? Thomas used to be Tracy. Bend gender, Tracy, Bend gender.
I had the pleasure of staring at my TV train wreck style today (I seem to do that a lot lately, with only 5 fuzzy channels to choose from and an inability to entertain myself on my own) as Oprah introduced the viewing audience to a pregnant man who used to be a woman.
Oprah, when did you go so far off the deep end?
I suppose it isn't really Oprah that's done so...as a talk show host, she has to pander to the disturbing interests of the viewing audience. I love how she keeps talking about how she wants to make sure that Thomas and his wife, yes his wife, get to tell their story from their own point of view instead of have them being used, while she dominates the entire interview with leading questions.
Some of the questions she neglected to ask were things like...What is that going to do to your kid? Having a "man" give birth to a kid is going to fuck that kid up, maybe not physically, but mentally for sure, when that poor bastard finds out and has to go through life branded a freak. How is it having a biological child with your wife when it's sperm from some random stranger at a sperm bank? Sperm banks? How do these people pay for this shit? Hormone therapy, breast removal and surgery, pregnancy and care all cost ridiculous amounts of money. Obviously gender confusion is a problem only the rich can afford to deal with. And speaking of gender confusion, when is someone going to wake the fuck up and realize that when children even 5 years old are talking about being lesbians, they don't have a clue what they're saying? Why would you lend that any more belief than when your same little kid runs around making swishing sounds and declaring she has magic powers?
I'm not going to get into ranting about homosexuals today (I can hear the sighs of relief now...), or even Oprah. In fact, I'm just going to quit right now while I'm only semi-behind. Hurray for preaching tolerance. Let's just let everyone be self-serving, ego-centric morons. Go America!
................
..........
-.-;
Meet Thomas. Thomas is pregnant. Huh? Thomas used to be Tracy. Bend gender, Tracy, Bend gender.
I had the pleasure of staring at my TV train wreck style today (I seem to do that a lot lately, with only 5 fuzzy channels to choose from and an inability to entertain myself on my own) as Oprah introduced the viewing audience to a pregnant man who used to be a woman.
Oprah, when did you go so far off the deep end?
I suppose it isn't really Oprah that's done so...as a talk show host, she has to pander to the disturbing interests of the viewing audience. I love how she keeps talking about how she wants to make sure that Thomas and his wife, yes his wife, get to tell their story from their own point of view instead of have them being used, while she dominates the entire interview with leading questions.
Some of the questions she neglected to ask were things like...What is that going to do to your kid? Having a "man" give birth to a kid is going to fuck that kid up, maybe not physically, but mentally for sure, when that poor bastard finds out and has to go through life branded a freak. How is it having a biological child with your wife when it's sperm from some random stranger at a sperm bank? Sperm banks? How do these people pay for this shit? Hormone therapy, breast removal and surgery, pregnancy and care all cost ridiculous amounts of money. Obviously gender confusion is a problem only the rich can afford to deal with. And speaking of gender confusion, when is someone going to wake the fuck up and realize that when children even 5 years old are talking about being lesbians, they don't have a clue what they're saying? Why would you lend that any more belief than when your same little kid runs around making swishing sounds and declaring she has magic powers?
I'm not going to get into ranting about homosexuals today (I can hear the sighs of relief now...), or even Oprah. In fact, I'm just going to quit right now while I'm only semi-behind. Hurray for preaching tolerance. Let's just let everyone be self-serving, ego-centric morons. Go America!
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