The Unseen Servant forums

tkrexx wrote:I'm kinda partial to "Game of Thrones," myself.

This was pretty good and I thought you might get a kick out of it:
Write Like the Wind (George R. R. Martin)

not to interject politics, but I just need to vent.

the SCOTUS PISSES ME OFF

how can they justify the individual mandate as constitutional simply because the enforcement is an additional tax?

Bullshit I say.

Nuke66 wrote:not to interject politics, but I just need to vent.

the SCOTUS PISSES ME OFF

how can they justify the individual mandate as constitutional simply because the enforcement is an additional tax?

Bullshit I say.

While I haven't read all 193 pages, it's actually a very interesting opinion. CJ Roberts was very careful in crafting the majority opinion. He was very careful about limiting the commerce clause argument, which was a wise move IMHO.

It's also worth noting that the majority held that the mandate both IS and IS NOT a tax. For constitutional purposes, it IS a tax. For Anti Injunction Act purposes, it is not a tax, but a penalty. Lawyer doublethink can be marvel to behold.

SocraticLawyer wrote:... Lawyer doublethink can be marvel to behold.

... As long as you don't let it (them) really get to you.

Anyone that says they're not even a bit jaded or skeptical in regards to the honesty, trustworthiness and integrity of our government is either ignorant (willfully or otherwise) or brain dead. IMHO, disclaimer factor ALPHA, of course, yada, yada. Ok, I'm tired and going to bed now...

Argennian wrote:Anyone that says they're not even a bit jaded or skeptical in regards to the honesty, trustworthiness and integrity of our government is either ignorant (willfully or otherwise) or brain dead.

I saw the following bumper sticker not too long ago:

I love my country
It's the government I'm afraid of


That pretty much echos my thoughts exactly.

dmw71 wrote:

Argennian wrote:Anyone that says they're not even a bit jaded or skeptical in regards to the honesty, trustworthiness and integrity of our government is either ignorant (willfully or otherwise) or brain dead.

I saw the following bumper sticker not too long ago:

I love my country
It's the government I'm afraid of


That pretty much echos my thoughts exactly.

+1

Alethan wrote:

dmw71 wrote:

Argennian wrote:Anyone that says they're not even a bit jaded or skeptical in regards to the honesty, trustworthiness and integrity of our government is either ignorant (willfully or otherwise) or brain dead.

I saw the following bumper sticker not too long ago:

I love my country
It's the government I'm afraid of


That pretty much echos my thoughts exactly.

+1

The very first shirts that I bought at my first "Crossroads of the West" gun show waay back when stated:

1) "I love my country but fear my government"
2) "When they come for your guns, be sure to give them the ammo first!"

Just got back from the game store with my BRAND-SPANKING NEW AD&D 1e reprints!

It's actually very cool. WOTC actually did a good job with them.

So things went bad at work today. I had this customer, a little 5' tall Indian lady, out of the blue jump in my face, start screaming at me, spitting all over the place, calling me & my company incompetent and a bunch of other off the deep end shite while her entire office staff looked on in total shock. All because she mismanaged her end of the project & wasn't ready to cut over services but wanted someone else to pay and be responsible for it.

I just stood there and took it. What else could I do? She finished with me then jumped on the call bridge to yell at everyone there. Her staff apologized profusely when she finally left. One of the ladies there hugged me and handed me a Kleenex. I was like huh? She touched her lip and nodded at me. That's when I realized I'd bit down on my lip so hard it was bleeding...

I make it home but am still on edge. My mind's in overdrive. I can't admit to some of the things I was thinking. So I sit down at my desk with a glass of cold water. I need to put the whole thing out of my head. So I go on youtube and put on this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiF5HHkHvX0


Incredible. I went in feeling broken and contemplating extreme malevolence. I came out crying with joy & relief and hope once again for the future. Incredible.


So... anything like this ever happen to you?

getting chewed out at work or watching youtube?

there is nothing worse at work than getting ambushed by a customer on a ranting spree... especially if it is unwarranted.

I'm starting to deal with end-users again with a little more frequency because of my new job. In most cases, they aren't irate or upset with me; in fact, our job is to make the software better for the end user, and they understand that, so they are often excited to be working with my group.

But when I have had to deal with irate customers in the past, I sort of handle them the same way I handle a bully. Or anyone who is trying to exert power/authority over me.

You diffuse that by simply agreeing with them. Give them nowhere to go.

"Your Outage software sucks! I hate using it!"
"Yeah, it has some problems, doesn't it? What don't you like about it? I'll see if we can work on that next!"

Something along those lines. Don't argue with them; that's what they want. That feeds their ire.

Instead, you turn it into an information gathering interaction where you find out what sorts of things need to be improved. Or where the user struggles with the software.

It works at least most of the time. It's just something I wish I knew how to do in high school...

Oh, no, that never happens to me. Customers of the United States Postal Service are never unsatisfied with any avenue of my or others of my brethren's performance. Especially the ones who say, "Well, don't you know who lives here?"

If people could see videos of themselves proclaiming their ignorance, collective and individual, they'd all hide under rocks for a few days, then emerge with a much more humble and open-minded attitude.

Wow, that sounds like a good idea!

Yeah, been losing my faith in humanity, one person at a time for a long time. You know, I was a retired fatalist and somehow, unknown to me how, beautifully-transformed mindless believer in hope once...

Anyways, I'm drunk and been crying so I don't care. And fwiw, my Tavern Resurrection spell-post there wasn't about what happened to me at work. It was about the transformation I experienced while I watched the video. Did anyone even watch the video??

Call it the music & choreography, his incredible skills on the bike, the story & the poor old man, or whatever, but it actually succeeded in making a successful turn attempt vs my evil, undead feelings of anger, grief, guilt, pain, regret, self-loathing, etc., etc.

Yeah I love bicycling (not Red Bull) and am a huge Danny MacAskill fanboy, but it was how I experienced it that knocked the shit out of and galvanized me all in the same slap!

I can't be the only one here that's ever felt like that, right?

Transcendent experiences like the one you describe are both rare and beautiful (at least in my experience), but hard to convey in words. The closest I've come from watching YouTube is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I

Hard to describe, but this video nearly brought me to tears the first time I saw it (and I was at work, so that would have been weird). Like your experience, it had a lot to do with what I was going through at the time, but it just spoke to me for some reason. I would be surprised if it affected others the same way. But it's a good song regardless.

Anyhoo, my point is, don't lose faith in humanity. We have our issues, but we're worth it.