Caveat Drinkor

[deoridhe]

I managed a really bad Latin pun today. We have huge coffee dispensers that get fresh brewed coffee throughout the day by those who are addicts. Two decanters are caffeinated and one is decaf. Someone mistakenly brewed decaf in one of the caffeinated decanters and left a note on top saying: "Warning! This was mistakenly brewed with decaf. Drinker Beware!" I walk by, my brain minding its own business, when suddenly the worst pun occurs.

Caveat Drinkor.

'kay bye.

Rune of the day: Thurisaz (Giant, Thorn)
Thurisaz is usually associated with Thor, who battled the giants, or Thurses. The is a forceful rune, one that deals with boundaries of strength and what is require to force through them. It has always seemed like a very physical rune to me. It's not one I often think of or draw. You could argue that it represents a very masculine form of force; no dilly dallying around; my way or the highway; lead, follow or get out of the way. All of those things are strong and determined with a roughness that I rarely use or wish to embody.

Thor and I have had a rocky relationship. It's only in the last two years that I've really appreciated him as the protector of mankind - not in a distant soft of way but in a very real and physical way. Thor is the only god that has altered the physical word around me for me. I rarely call on any of the gods (it's not like they're my bleeding nursemaids or something), but Thor is frequently one I call on simply because he's so relevant. When I'm in dangerous travel situations, Thor and Odin are the two obvious choices. Thor, now that I'm getting to know him, strikes me as a very warm man. Not too intelligent, you wouldn't be discussion fine literature or quantum physics, but caring. His roughness puts me off quite a bit, and I'm not sure I'd want to stick around him when he's drunk. His very strength is an unnerving thing; I don't often think of myself as a strong person, at least not in the manner he is.

In a lot of ways, Thurisaz and Thor seem to dovetail even as Thor and the thurses dovetail. Thor has, to a certain extent, become that which he fights. He needed to. He is what stands between mankind and chaotic ruin - and yet he is a chaotic being to a certain extent. He's also often a figure of fun, mocked by the other gods for his lack of wit. The few times he operates through guile it becomes a means by which he is unmanned. Thor is really a man's man, in the traditional sense of the word.

Places where thurisaz was seen today: the workmen breaking concrete outside; my work as it consumed me forcefully; my own anger at things that I read that seemed invasive and wrong.

I'm an apparently intelligent, liberal, not-too-generous, not-too-selfish, relatively well adjusted human being!
See how compatible you are with me!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey
Thanks shorty36 (83%) and seraphim_jaguar (85%)

< H. S. Kim >

• A while ago, I read an article that detailed how Asian men and Black women were going to be "bred out" of existence because they were undesirable as mates. (I will note, for the record, that he was obviously not taking Otaku into account as many of us think Asian guys are hot; that whole 'attracted to what's different' thing, I guess.) I have now run across a web page that is decrying all that he says for two reasons: 1) he's lying (and it's not even the relatively easy lying with statistics; he's making up numbers wholesale) and 2) his agenda is racially motivated to prove that "whites" are superior. Check out the rebuttal.
  

< /H. S. Kim >

< morons.org >

• Herein I find a fascinating article on A Nation of Victims, namely us Americans. Well, we certainly fancy ourselves victims, if the recent lawsuit against McDonalds for serving fattening food is any indication (not to mention the numerous parents blaming everyone but themselves when their kids kill). They indicate a phenomenon known as 'learned helplessness' in here. It's discovery stemmed from some of the most heartbreaking animal research imaginable. Take 50 dogs and put them in a box with a wall going down the middle low enough to jump over. One side of the floor can be electrified to give the dogs a shock. They can escape the shock by going over the wall. It won't take the dogs long to figure this out; shock them once and they jump free. Now, take half these dongs and leash them so they can't leave the electrifiable half. Shock them a couple dozen times. Thereafter, even when the leash is take off and they can jump again, the dogs will not. Learned helplessness. It's believed that battered spouse syndrome stems from similar programming.
  

< /morons.org >

Color me amused. Yay! Straight Pride!

Comments

[kyra.livejournal.com]

Caveat Drinkor.

You're sick and I think I love you.

[deoridhe.livejournal.com]

*bows*

I actually don't know much Latin, so I'm especially proud of that one.

Two quibbles...

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

The McDonalds thing. And it actually isn't just McDonalds -- the whole food industry is shaking in its boots after the Tobacco suit. But here's the deal with the legal precident: the money from the tobacco suit was actually recovered to compensate the States for the money they pays to treat ill smokers on Medicaid. The tobacco industry made money on ill health -- it is estimated that for every $3 profit they make, about $6-8 will be spent on future health care costs.

What's the parallel? The food insustry also spends a great deal of money marketing a product to encourage eating habits that cause overweight/obesity -- and given the reduction in smoking, overweight/obesity threatens to become the #1 contibutor to preventible death & disease.

Obviously, no one's saying "stop eating." And the individual law suits probably aren't going anywhere. But at the same time, if you use the same logic -- industry can be held responsible for causing the states to spend excessive Medicaid funds on disease burden contributed by overweight/obesity... well, lets just say that there is a reason McDonalds cut out transfat and their coming out with healthier oreos and smaller sized snack packs. It will be interesting to see what happens voluntarily within the industry and what takes legal action.

Second quibble: straight pride? Since when has beening straight not been showered with societal approval so that we _need_ straight pride t-shirts? The bridal-industrial complex alone (which scared me even as I partook) illustrates that everyone and their brother is just way too eager to celebrate the creation of a new nuclear family. In the meanwhile, every conservative politician -- incluiding Bushie himself-- is defending said state against the repercussions of Lawrence vs. Texas. Because god help us if we get that inclusive...

Re: Two quibbles...

[deoridhe.livejournal.com]

I thought the big difference was that the tobacco case hinged on the fact that there were internal memos indicating that the industry was intentionally inflating the amount of nicotine, a known addictive substance, to make people even more addicted than they would be naturally. There's no proof that McDonalds has been intentionally adding a known addictive substance to their food to make people eat more. Last I heard, the lawyers were going after Oreos instead since those cookies use trans-fats, which are less healthy, instead of a more healthy and almost as tasty alternative. Someone's probably doing research on whether trans-fats are "addictive" opposed to regular fats. I think the biggest problem facing them in proving the addictiveness of food is the lack of withdrawl symptoms; I would argue fat is psychologically addictive but not physically addictive.

As for the straight pride stuff... I was just amused. It's kind of like my citing the "Victory Tickler" to make fun of the congress men eating their "Freedom Onion Soup" and "Freedom Dogs" in official establishments. Or going on extensive rants about how people need to ask themselves "What would Odin do?" and trying to resist the temptation to ask those cute Mormon boys if they've accepted Freya into their hearts.

Personally, I hold "straight pride" to be in line with "white pride." < rant moved to general journal instead because of length and because it's something I feel strongly about >

Tobacco vs. food

[lightningrose.livejournal.com]

It was damning evidence that they had tried to addict people to a deadly drug, yes. But the grounds for *damages* were recouping health care expenditures. Under that same logic, if the food industry doesn't straighten up, it might have to shell out. Things like marketing foods with little to no nutritional value to kids, recieving government subsidies to provide high fat (dairy and meats) foods for the school lunch programs -- which makes it difficult for lunch programs to increase their nutritional value, lobbying by meat & dairy which heavily influences FDA requirements (which contributes heavily to our nutrition education in the schools). The fact that "moderation in all things" is preached despite the fact that there are foods (like soda) that have no nurtritional value, just empty calories, and god help the educator in the schools who says it (as the soft drink industry provides important funds to cash strapped schools). The more I learn, the more afeared I am.

The biggest thing I've learned is to ask what benefit there is in maintaining the status quo when lots of people are sick with a particular disease. In some cases its money (tobacco, obesity), in others preservation of moral standards (HIV, cholera epidemics -- which connected with anti-immigrant sentiment/feeling).... lawsuits are not always the sanswer. But they can spark change -- as can the fear of them.

testing testing...

[animeg.livejournal.com]

Hey hey! 88% compatable! What does that say about us? ;)

Re: testing testing...

[deoridhe.livejournal.com]

We're inbred to the extreme? Wait, we already knew that.

That was one of the funnier tests, actually. I'm rather surprised I came out well balanced. That doesn't often happen.

Re: testing testing...

[animeg.livejournal.com]

That is funny. Strangely enough, I didn't. Such is the way of things, ne?