Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[PoisonWing14]

Hey,

As long as it's not cold enough to get frostbite in less than 15 minutes (for people who have to walk to school) and the snowplows are still running (pro tip: they never stop running) my school will stay open. Doesn't matter if 3 feet of fresh snow fell last night. Snow's up past your knees? Get out and shovel that, kids! Don't want to be late for school.

To be fair, sometimes we would get pity snow days. Near the end of winter, if we had yet to have a snow day, the school would just call for one on a random, kind of, sorta snowy day.

So...currently, there is less than 2 hours left until we find out whether we have successfully harpooned and landed on a comet. The Rosetta spacecraft and it's lander, Philae, are out there in space as I type and everyone is both excited and nervous as heck. Xkcd is doing a live updating comic on the eventual landing right now (may have to refresh the page a few times) and there are some live streams going on as well. It's all pretty amazing.

[Josiah]

Hi! My newspaper didn't come today. Seems like, on average, it only shows up about five days per week. I need to call someone about that...

[shauni]

I have never sat and read a newspaper....man that makes me feel like an idiot for some reason.

[Puyon]

It's okay Shauni. I never have either. And if that makes us idiots then we can be idiots together.

[PoisonWing14]

Hey,

I usually only read the paper for the comics, weather reports, and Sudoku. I would say that because I like, and am pretty good at, Sudoku, I am a bit less of an idiot (an imbecile or moron, perhaps), but I have never been able to figure out more than 2 answers in any crossword puzzle, ever. Those require some advanced lateral thinking, man (and, of course, my mom and dad can go through them like clockwork).

[shauni]

It's okay Shauni. I never have either. And if that makes us idiots then we can be idiots together.

LOL, I'm joking. I do read a bit of MSN news, or watch the news on TV, just for stories that sound interesting. Most of the papers we get are 80% add, houses, sports and page 3 models

[Josiah]

Hi! I never got the paper until I moved here (though my parents did at times, in which case I'd read some). Normally, I'd get my news from the internet (skimming headlines, mostly) and occasionally the radio when driving. But they were having a really good deal on newspaper subscriptions when I moved here so I signed up. Though more for the comics and upcoming events info (there's often lots of cool stuff going on around here due to it being a big tourists destination and all) than anything else. That said, since I'm paying for the paper, I feel compelled to look through the whole thing and read whatever stories catch my eye. As a result, I'd say I'm a bit more informed than I used to be.

On a side note though, you may want to find a different news site, Shauni. MSN is horribly biased and often inaccurate, it's got an extremely heavy liberal/Democratic tilt, as opposed to Fox News which has an extremely heavy conservative/Republican tilt. Actually, it seems like most major news outlets these days are fairly partisan (the majority leaning liberal) so you're get some of that whatever one you choose, but MSN has a reputation for being one of the worst.

[Blue Fire Cyndaquil]

Hi everybody. How's life?

I remember when I lived up north I always read the comics when we got the newspaper, but we only ever got it on Sunday. I haven't read a newspaper in years, though.

[shauni]

You pay for your news paper to be delivered? Huh, the only ones we get delivered are free ones. I guess some people might get a paid on as well. Must be annoying if someone steals your paper and you have paid for it.

On a side note though, you may want to find a different news site, Shauni. MSN is horribly biased and often inaccurate, it's got an extremely heavy liberal/Democratic tilt, as opposed to Fox News which has an extremely heavy conservative/Republican tilt. Actually, it seems like most major news outlets these days are fairly partisan (the majority leaning liberal) so you're get some of that whatever one you choose, but MSN has a reputation for being one of the worst.

The only reason I read MSN is its there when I go to hotmail, so no big choice made lol, only the stories that sound interesting like science ones or funny ones, or just plain weird ones.

Something that has been annoying me with UK news lately is "blame game"

Example, a mentally ill man was not correctly diagnoses and he went off overseas and decapitated a UK holiday maker.

This story is horrific, I mean I feel for the family, I really do.

But the news was consenting more on blaming the hospital for a misdiagnose than the guy that actually did the murder.

They did it again when there was a kid who killed his teacher in a class full of kids. They were blaming the police and social workers for missing his psychotic thoughts instead of blaming the calm, mentally capable murderer.

I find it so weird hearing this. I get investigations need to be done to find out how mistakes where made, but the way they tell the story, they are removing blame entirely from the murders.

Another example was Baby P who was neglected so bad by his parents he died. There was a huge mega explosion around the social workers involved, but they hardly mentioned his parents.

I get that inaction is as bad as the act itself if you can stop it, but come on, its like the people that DID the crime are not responsible in the eyes of the media.

[Josiah]

Hi! Some places have free newspapers, though they're usually small and less frequent than the subscription ones.

Speaking of passing the blame, that same thing has unfortunately become common in the US as well. Whether it's a murder, bullying, terrorist attack, or whatever, the current trend isn't to blame the perpetrator so much as to paint him/her as a victim of who isn't really as much to blame as some sort of external source. School shooting? Oh, you can't blame the kid or their his, its the fault of video games. Terrorism? Well those people are all poor and oppressed (not always true, but that's generally ignored), so it's not really their fault. That former policeman who went on a killing spree after losing his job? Totally the fault of the people who fired him, and because he was black and all white people are out to get black people.

From what I can tell, a lot of people (mostly on the extreme liberal side of things), absolutely refuse to believe in the concept of evil (unless you disagree with their politics, than you're either evil or really stupid, but that's besides the point). They really want to believe that every person is essentially good and couldn't possibly do any sort of evil thing unless other circumstances force them to do so. In which case it really isn't perpetrator's fault so that person isn't and evil or even bad, just a victim of circumstance.

In my opinion, that's an extremely dangerous view to take since it tends to lead to criminals (even really bad ones), lighter punishments (or even no punishment) and also leads to a mentality of blaming the victims (or an innocent third party), and seeking to reform or even punish them for the acts of the criminal.

[Blue Fire Cyndaquil]

So, I just found out one of my dogs have diabetes. We're going to have to give him shots two times a day, and check his blood four times, but we can't really afford to do so for long... We've had him for close to eight years now. We're going to pay for medicine for a while, but that money adds up, so we're probably going to have to put him to sleep. I'm not afraid to admit that I cried about this.

[Puyon]

There's never anything wrong with crying over a pet. Anyone who's loved a pet knows that they're more than just an animal. They're a companion. Sorry to hear what you're going through, it's terrible.

[shauni]

Oh man, sorry to hear about your dog. We had a dog three years ago who started to get stiffness in her hips and she kept collapsing, we had pet plan that covered the costs, but she was 13 and started to lose loads of weight, stopped eating and always was sick.

It was a horrible decision but putting her to sleep was the kinder thing to do as she was suffering.

I hope things work out okay for you, and keep up hope as the expense might be manageable and not as bad as you think.

every person is essentially good

I'd like to think we start that way, but I also believe some people are just born....broken.

[Stevenson]

Before the topic gets bogged down, I'd like to suggest the political discussion be moved to the thread for that purpose.

[Josiah]

Hi! If people want to continue on with the topic (as opposed to just stopping here), that's probably a good idea.

Sorry about your dog, BFC.