Bradley Ansell

I've imported my recent entries to my Facebook notes and I won't be doing any more updates here. This journal will remain online so that the older content that wasn't imported can still be read. It's been great doing business with you, LiveJournal.

I'm now living in Etobicoke with Teresa, her family and their sweet, sweet high-speed Internet connection. Just so you all know, I probably won't be using LiveJournal that often anymore now that Facebook has stolen my soul. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=897285485

OH INTERNET I MISSED YOU SO MUCH GIVE ME A HUG BIG BOY

Just want everyone to know I'm still alive and well, despite not having the Internet for over a year now. To all my friends I keep in touch with on web forums, IRC channels and instant messaging, I'm really sorry I haven't been around, but I am thinking about you and I look forward to getting back in touch with all of you as soon as I get the Internet back.

I guess an update on my life is in order. I'd say what's changed most in the past year is my general overall happiness. It's funny. A lot of shit happened this year, but I've also had the best times of my life, bar none. Hanging out with friends, getting high, spending tons of wonderful time with my life partner, Teresa (llirium), and developing a healthier, happier perspective on life in general, even though I'm still just as broke as I was before. Best of all, any time I'm going through shit in my life, I now have someone I love and can trust with my feelings that I can turn to. Teresa understands me in a way I feel no one else has ever been able to and she's just so wonderful, caring, loving and supportive, I love her more than anything in the world, more than the world itself, more than life itself it feels like! Oh geez, I'd better stop before I get her keyboard all soaked... :)

I also have a boyfriend now! It's been a bit of a long distance relationship since he moved to Keswick not too long ago, but we see each other as much as we can and I'm having a lot of fun with him. Hanging out, playing video games, talking for hours about damn near anything, smoking up and... well... you know ^_^. Teresa is of course totally 100% supportive of our relationship and is really happy for us. She says we're really cute together ^_^. Let's hear a w00t w00t for poly! Yeah! :D

Then there's Anime North 2007. Phew. What a crazy ride that was. I was the table captain of the TCC Con-Aid desk. My duty was to assemble a team of eight people (including myself), train them and schedule them into shifts. The Con-Aid department's duties include information desk, mobility access registration, lost & found, replacement badges, missing children, registration for various events and whatever else needs to be added to our duties during the con. Uh-huh. I actually ended up getting a full team together. One of them ended up getting called in for a business conference a week before the con, another ended up getting strep throat, but there were still six of us.

We all arrived and despite our table getting opened earlier than expected, things seemed to be going alright. Teresa and I took the first one-hour shift. It went fine, but on our way back to the hotel, Teresa had a severe panic attack which ended up with me spending the rest of the day with her at the hospital. She's fine now, and her dad picked her up that night to take her home and drop me off at the con, but damn was that scary... I'd never seen her have a panic attack like that before, I was so worried.

The rest of the con went really well, though, despite our team now being down to five people. There were plenty of volunteers eager to help fill some shifts, so that took a big load off our shoulders. As for what kinds of things happened throughout the con, Christ, there's just too much to go over, I'd need to make a whole other post for that and I'm too lazy to do that today. Okay, I'll say one thing. I got to see the green and red Power Pangers beat up Team Rocket in a wrestling match. Yes, I'm absolutely serious. The con was crazy, loud, *insane*, it was fucking AWESOME and I can't wait until next year!

As for other stuff... hmm... well, I dated another psycho chick for a few months off and on. Surprise, surprise, eh? Why do the crazy ones always gravitate towards me? Oh, who the hell am I kidding, I guess I enjoy the thrill of it, too, even though I always make the mistake of falling in love with them and getting my heart ripped into shreds with poison-tipped razors every. fucking. time. without. fail. Urrgh. But whatever, I dumped her, she's gone now. Yay.

Still no job. I'll be getting my GED soon, though. Maybe then people will hire my broke ass.

Nestle Dibs are the shiznit.

Utena rocks.

I'm high.

brain melting aaugh that's all for now cul8r d00dz

The past couple of days have been quite the experience with that site. Plentyoffish.com is an online dating site I came across just the other day, so I figured what the hell, I'll sign up. Once I filled in my basic info, I realized a lot of glaring oversights, options that should be there, but weren't...

First of all, you can only specify if you were seeking a "Male" or "Female". Now, I don't expect all sites to be progressive to the point of including options for the entire spectrum of genders and sexes, but at least an "either" option would seem like common sense in this day and age. So the site really is only fully, 100% useful to monosexuals. This is where my problems with them began, and in fact, none of the other oversights listed below were the reason for me calling this boycott, they're just there to further emphasize how subpar, lackluster and shitty POF really is.

Then I noticed that rather than providing multiple-choice checkboxes for what you're seeking, like how OkCupid does it, POF only lets you select from a dropdown menu of choices like "dating", "friends", "activity partners" and "intimate encounters" (translation: SEX SEX SEX AND MORE SEX). So you can't specify if you're looking for more than one type of relationship simply because the webmaster can't seem to grasp the concept of multiple choice options.

Now this is nothing short of absolute laziness... the thumbnails for pictures are created automatically by being shrunk down to a 75x75 image WITHOUT preserving the original aspect ratio, so all your thumbnails end up looking fucked up!

As if things weren't weird enough, check out the gargantuan list of forum rules that span across multiple threads!

• Welcome Newbies
• Forum Rules - General
• Forum Rules - Specific
• Forum Posting Guidelines

I bet I could read Part V of the Canadian Criminal Code in less time. By contrast, check out the rules for the Something Awful forums. Less rules, smaller page, and hey, what do you know, the site is actually much better moderated with less trolls, less drama and less overall bullshit! In fact, I'd say SA has the most well-moderated forums I've ever seen on the web, by far. POF seems like yet another forum whose staff can't seem to understand that no matter how many rules you establish, it still won't do shit in comparison to the effectiveness and importance of having a good team of mature, assertive, intelligent, just, sane forum staff. Sure, lots of rules keeps the yes-men in line and allows the forum staff to establish themselves as the supreme leaders of their new-found online totalitarian nation, but good forum staff makes for a good forum community, and isn't that what web forums should be about, anyway?

Finally, the site's layout just fucking blows. It's such a pain in the ass to work with and about as ugly as my stepmother.

---

Anyway, enough about that, on to the drama. I wanted to suggest that options be made for bisexuals, as that was my first concern upon signing up. I searched the forums and found this thread in the suggestions forum: What about bisexual people? (Update: Looks like they deleted the entire thread now, which is why this link no longer works.) Notice that the thread was created on October 17th, 2004. The suggestion's been there that long and still nothing has been done. Way to drag your fucking asses, guys.

Then I noticed the official response to the matter by "admin", a generic administrative account used by all the people of the administration, I guess to hide behind the wooden shield of anonymity so none of them have to be liable for anything...

bisexual girls get 10 times the messages "normal" girls get. Without extreme messaging restrictions they would be flooded with emails. ie over 100 messages/day

What?! Not only is that a total cop-out, it's the most bullshit thing I've ever read. I very much doubt bisexual girls would get over 100 messages a day even on much larger, more popular online dating sites. And for him to say it like he's doing people a fucking favour by "protecting" them from inbox overflow or some shit... what a fucking slimeball. I have to put up with that nanny-state ideology from my country's government all the time, I do not need that shit from a fucking online dating site of all things.

So I do what any honourable, respectable person would do: I call their bullshit for what it is. But I do it tactfully at first. They then told me that bisexuals should "compromise" by changing their preferences once a week, rotating between searching for males and searching for females. I then asked them why us bisexuals should have to put up with that inconvenience while monosexuals have always had their needs catered to. I told them we should be equally represented by having profile options that apply to our sexuality added to the site, as any respectable administrator would do in an instant.

My points were logical, non-argumentative and tactful. I wasn't stirring up shit, I wasn't breaking any rules. The only thing I did "wrong" was providing an argument so strong they couldn't provide a rebuttal the people would accept, so rather than trying, they not only deleted all of my posts in that thread, they also deleted anyone's responses to my posts, thereby deleting the entire conversation, making it look like it never happened.

Below is my final post to that thread, preserved for when they inevitably delete it and ban me for it.

---

Wow, looks like the Ministry of Truth got to this thread!

I guess yesterday I was making points so strong that the administration couldn't provide a rebuttal that the people would accept, so rather than trying they just made it look like the conversation never took place by deleting every post I had made in this thread, plus any posts in response or relevance to my posts as well. Let's have a round of applause for the Plenty of Fish forums death squad clean up crew!

I wasn't being out of line or anything and I hadn't violated any rules. I had actually presented one of the most well-written, well-spoken, well-thought-out arguments in favour of a "both" option. I pointed out how us bisexuals have been getting the short end of the stick around here for the five years this site has been around, and how the more excuses are being shoved at us and the more we're being told to "compromise" the more discriminatory in nature this decision seemed to be, and now that things have got to the point of posts being deleted, I'm convinced this is pure discrimination.

You monosexuals should consider yourselves lucky. Us bisexuals have to put up with crap from society, from politics and now from an online dating site of all things! Our voices are being silenced and our needs have never been represented equally since the very launch of this site (and how simple it would be, too, to add a third option to a bloody DROP-DOWN MENU, and don't give me any of that crap about needing an "overhaul" to implement, it'd probably take just as much time to add another smiley to this forum.)

This site has proven its bias against bisexuals by deleting my posts which exposed the monosexual agenda of the site staff (and no, it's not just laziness on the site programmer's behalf, not even the world's biggest pothead could be so lazy as to not include features for us, so there has to be bias involved, especially considering that it would've been nothing short of common sense to include bisexual options from the very launch of this site,) and I for one take great offense to that. I encourage those of you who are bisexual to join me in leaving this site in protest. Fear not, for there are many better, FREE sites out there to find people on. Sites that have more members, more features, much more practical layouts and interfaces, options that cater to bisexuals and represent us on an equal level and best of all, forums that aren't moderated by an Orwellian collective like this one. Since I'm probably going to be banned for this post anyway, I'll provide a link to one such site: http://www.okcupid.com/. And here's my profile: http://www.okcupid.com/profile?tuid=11650466158399453108

Those of you who wish to discuss this issue further without fear of getting banned or having your posts deleted are welcome to talk about this anonymously on this LiveJournal post: http://bda7dd.livejournal.com/10565.html

Farewell.

I hereby propose a system that will allow social and private health care to co-exist 100% fairly. Simply allow doctors to practice privately, but only allow them to make as much money as they'd make being paid by the government in the first place if they were working for a socially-funded clinic/hospital/whatever.

This way, the social health care system need not fear a mass-exodus of doctors to private health care just because it's more profitable. If I were a surgeon who performed a $10,000 procedure on a patient, whether I get paid $10,000 by the patient or $10,000 by OHIP would matter not to me, since $10,000 is still $10,000 no matter who or where it's coming from.

Not only will this system keep things fair, but it will also actually help the social health care system, too, rather than harming it. People who can afford private treatment will obviously go for it to avoid waiting lists, which will free up the spots in the waiting lists they would've taken up had they gone through social health care, which then allows those who can't afford private health care to receive faster treatment. Even from a financial perspective it works out beautifully, as the tax revenue generated from private health care facilities can then be put back into social health care!

Considering that with this kind of system, everybody (patients, doctors and government) wins, it absolutely baffles me why this kind of system hasn't been implemented yet. If anyone has an explanation, please, I'm all ears.

* * *

While I'm on the topic of our health care system, I think this is a good time for a side-rant on how desperately in need of reform our current system is, too...

I want to know why diabetics still have to pay for needles while the government hands them out for free to junkies. I want to know why people with severe mental health disorders have to pay out-of-pocket for the medications they require even just to be functional members of society. I want to know why dental isn't covered by social health care, considering that many oral hygeine problems left untreated can be fatal, not to mention people with shitty teeth probably have a tougher time finding employment, which puts more people on welfare, which makes the government lose even more money, yet anyone under a certain age (I think it's 18, but I could be wrong) can have plastic surgery to get their ears pinned back for purely superficial reasons covered by social health care. I think Canadians deserve an answer to these questions.

It's completely undeniable that our health care system, as helpful as it can be, is quite fucked up in many areas. Why, then, is nothing being done to fix it?

If you're the kind of person who uses the word "literally" in place of "practically" all the time to place emphasis on exaggerations, you'd be wise to keep your testicles out of my foot's range. And my feet have a Kung-Fu range, so yeah, back the fuck off.

Hi, kids! Want to know how my day went?

Mission:     Arrive at Sheppard & Morningside by 16:00 GDT
             for rendezvous with maternal parental unit.
Location:    Yonge & Wellesley
Destination: Sheppard & Morningside
Route:       Subway from Yonge & Wellesley to Yonge & Bloor
             Subway from Yonge & Bloor to Kennedy
             SRT from Kennedy to Scarborough Centre
             16 McCowan North bus to Sheppard
             85+ Sheppard East bus to Morningside
Est. Time:   1:00:00

I get to Wellesley station at 15:00 GDT. Just enough time should everything go according to plan. I wait for the Northbound subway. Three Southbound subways pass before one Northbound subway arrives. Piss-off #1.

I get to Scarborough Centre. I see the 16 McCowan North drop off its passengers, then loop around to the pick-up point. It proceeds to drive right on by, leaving the people who were waiting for the 16 McCowan North to share the same collective "what the fuck" expression on their faces. Piss-off #2.

I decide to take a detour that might be slower, but would overall take less time considering how infrequent the 16 McCowan comes. I get on the 133 Neilson, which luckily (or so I thought) was already there taking passengers, to head to Sheppard & Neilson to hop on the 85+ Sheppard East from there. It had been there for quite some time, so I was worried I'd miss it, so I ran through the doors of the terminal and book it towards the bus doors. I get on the bus all out of breath, only to find the driver's not there, despite the bus being absolutely packed full of passengers who look like they're beginning to lose their patience. I waited like 15 to 20 minutes for his lazy ass. Unfortunately, I forgot to get my transfer (necessary for getting on the 85+,) so I couldn't say the shit I wanted to say to him. Lucky bastard. I hope he's reading this. Piss-off #3.

Once we reach Sheppard, something happened that everyone who rides the bus all the time hates and dreads... the bus stopped right when the bus we're transferring to was stopped at a red light going the perpendicular direction. Everyone knows your chances are slim to none on getting on that bus. You wave to the driver, but you know this probably won't do shit. He'll see you wave but he won't think of waiting for you to take the five seconds to cross the street, he'll just drive on by before you can cross even a quarter of the way, even though there's no traffic behind him for miles, so it's not like he'd be holding everyone up. As if my experiences with the TTC for today weren't bad enough already, lo and behold, the driver goes right on by. Wonderful. Piss-off #4.

I arrive at my destination a few minutes shy of an hour late. Piss-off #5.

Five in a row. Nice going, TTC. Come April when the fares go up, you'll be at six, and that's not counting the ones that are probably gonna happen from now until then.

What a hell of a long life my dear old grand-dad Ben lived.

He was a firefighter in the British civil defence during the second world war and blown up three times by the shockwaves of bombs. He survived without even catching any shrapnel or getting any limbs blown off. He smoked 'til he was 76, never developed any problems. In his late '80s, he was hit by a car, had a broken hip, broken pelvis, told he'd never walk again, ended up not even needing his cane after a while. He was mentally sound until around age 99, where he went a bit senile and had to live in a home.

But most of all, he was a strong-willed, very kind man. Not a drop of hate in his body. An example the world could live by.

Rest in peace, grand-dad.

(placeholder for photograph)
Benjamin Ansell: April ?? 1905 ~ February 12, 2006.

Remember on August 14th how my dog Casey had to be put down? Well, the same had to be done for her brother, Valcor, today. I've had Valcor since I was 7 years old... I named him, I took him to obedience training, I literally grew up with this wonderful dog. He will definitely be missed. I was there when he was put down as well, just as I was there for Casey. We've buried him next to Casey, so at least now they're reunited in a way... *sigh*... this is really tough for me.

(placeholder for photograph)
Valcor Ansell: September 2, 1991 - January 4, 2005.

It's about fucking time I got my Internet connection re-established, eh? There's just so much I've wanted to write about over the past month but couldn't because I couldn't get online. I'll try to remember as much as I can, but damn if my ADD isn't making it difficult.

Anyway, brief summary of what's happened since my last entry...

• No more court bullshit. Got a peace bond, no convictions, everything's cool.
• Got laid. A lot. No word of a lie: I actually lost count, and I never thought that was even possible. 2005 was definitely the best year of my life, and December was easily the best month.
• The holidays were pretty damn sweet. Smoked a lot of weed on new years out of my brand-spanking-new bong, got some great gifts for Christmas, went to a couple of family gatherings... all in all a great holiday season.
• ... ooh, shiny thing! Gotta go!

Update:

A note to my faithful readers: I apologize for the crudeness in this post, I was bloody wasted when I wrote it. As the old adage goes, a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.

What I need is one of those breathalyzer things that you have to blow into to start your car, but in this case it'd be modified so that I can't log into my LiveJournal if I blow over.

Last night I went to Medieval Times to celebrate Rob's birthday. Me, Rob, Mom, Amanda, Kenn (Rob's brother), Joel (Kenn's husband) and Marco (Amanda's boyfriend) went, and among our group, only me, Mom and Amanda had ever been to Medieval Times before. This was my third time, but the first two times I went were over 10 years ago when they only had one storyline: Black & White knight wins, Green knight goes evil, yada yada yada. Since the plot has been changed significantly, it was like watching it again for the first time.

I don't know how often they change the plot and winners and all that, so I won't spoil what happened. The important thing is that my knight won. ^_^

My friend Aries, who works at Medieval Times, was able to score us tickets for half price, which pretty much made this night possible, what with our limited finances and all. In case you're reading this, thanks again, Aries. You're a true friend. :)

This entry is a living document. I'll update it every time I get more funny shit to copy and paste. For the record, I'm "Implicit Distrust" in these conversations. The handles of the people in these conversations are their real AIM handles, so feel free to contact them and give them your opinions on their views, as I'm sure they'd love to hear them.

Me vs. TheGreatApostasy

10:49:27 TheGreatApostasy: Degenerate scum.
10:49:31 Implicit Distrust: what
10:49:37 Implicit Distrust: Identify yourself.
10:50:03 TheGreatApostasy: Lets just say I cleanse things.
10:52:49 Implicit Distrust: Seriously man, I've got a lot going on right now. You wanna tell me who you are and what you want?
10:53:21 TheGreatApostasy: I'm a member of the FEA.
10:53:31 TheGreatApostasy: Faggot Evisceration Alliance.
10:55:33 Implicit Distrust: Then this is a case of mistaken identity. If you knew me, you'd know I'm not a "faggot".
10:55:45 TheGreatApostasy: Oh.
10:55:49 TheGreatApostasy: What are you?
10:56:09 Implicit Distrust: Socially and subculturally, a faggot is defined as a flamboyant, often gender-dissociated homosexual male.
10:56:19 TheGreatApostasy: Go on.
10:56:19 Implicit Distrust: Which I neither am nor desire.
(editor's note: I should've said "prefer", not "desire". Poor choice of words. I'm still cool with people with non-parallel gender identities, it's just if I had to choose they wouldn't be my first choice, that's all.)
10:56:26 TheGreatApostasy: Oh, okay.
10:56:29 TheGreatApostasy: What are you?
10:56:34 TheGreatApostasy: A panthexual?
10:56:47 TheGreatApostasy: I'm socially conservative, you see.
10:57:06 Implicit Distrust: A pansexual whose gender identity and anatomical structure are one in the same, yes.
10:57:17 Implicit Distrust: Oh really, I never would have guessed!
10:57:50 Implicit Distrust: I'm guessing you stumbled on my OKC profile, then?
(editor's note: Shameless plug... http://www.okcupid.com/profile?tuid=11650466158399453108)
10:58:00 TheGreatApostasy: Yes.
10:58:07 TheGreatApostasy: I had a good laugh, and sent it around the office.
10:58:10 Implicit Distrust: I was guessing either that or you were a member of SA.
10:58:16 TheGreatApostasy: I work for a republican congressman.
10:59:23 Implicit Distrust: Well, I'm glad I could provide some entertainment to a group of bigoted, closed-minded living threats to social progressivism.
10:59:35 Implicit Distrust: You people normally seem so edgy and unhappy.
11:00:14 TheGreatApostasy: I'm not a bigot.
11:00:21 TheGreatApostasy: I just hate degenerates, thats all.
11:00:36 Implicit Distrust: Do you believe that sexuality is a choice?
11:00:44 TheGreatApostasy: Yes and no.
11:00:58 TheGreatApostasy: Fucking everything in sight is a choice. A peversion too, by the way.
11:02:12 Implicit Distrust: So you think that someone would CHOOSE to be part of a socially-unaccepted subculture? Come on, that'd be like a white man disguising himself as black during the days of slavery. It doesn't make sense.
11:02:58 TheGreatApostasy: Maybe that would be applicable if he was having gay sex with all the other cotton-pickers.
11:02:59 Implicit Distrust: Alright, another question. Do you believe animals have autonomy, or are they ruled purely by instinct?
11:03:21 Implicit Distrust: Yes, I have a related point with this...
11:03:58 TheGreatApostasy: Depends what animal you're discussing.
11:05:56 Implicit Distrust: Well, did you know that over 450 species of animals to this day have been discovered as having homosexuals amongst their species?
11:06:04 TheGreatApostasy: Not true.
11:06:44 TheGreatApostasy: Just about the only species, except humans, that engages in homosexuality exclusively in individuals are certain pengiuns.
11:06:46 Implicit Distrust: OH RLY http://www.rotten.com/library/sex/homosexuality/animal-homosexuality/
11:07:07 TheGreatApostasy: Rotten.com, now that's an accurate source!
11:07:15 TheGreatApostasy: Perhaps you can link me to wikipedia next!
11:09:54 Implicit Distrust: Rotten.com has changed its purpose and structure years ago. It's no longer just some "shock site", it's an information repository of things most major news sites couldn't report about due to censorship and such.
11:10:13 TheGreatApostasy: No shit, it is inaccurate and full of nonsense.
11:10:35 TheGreatApostasy: They don't even give their sources
11:10:40 Implicit Distrust: As for Wikipedia, it's a very well-moderated, well-structured, community-based information site.
11:10:46 TheGreatApostasy: No
11:10:49 TheGreatApostasy: It is a mess
11:10:50 Implicit Distrust: Perhaps they are their own source?
11:10:54 Implicit Distrust: Ever thought of that?
11:10:55 TheGreatApostasy: Full of homosexual scandinavian liberals
11:11:30 Implicit Distrust: The author of the article very well could have done his own investigations.
11:11:45 TheGreatApostasy: Could have.l
11:11:48 TheGreatApostasy: Doubtful.
11:19:10 TheGreatApostasy: You're disgusting.
11:19:58 Implicit Distrust: Thank you.
11:21:08 TheGreatApostasy: Hedonist scum.
11:21:29 TheGreatApostasy: Pedophile?
(editor's note: I have NO CLUE where the hell these idiots are pulling their pedophilia accusations from, aside from their tight, virgin assholes that shit out communion wafers and smell like holy water, of course. Maybe it's yet another item in the bag of assorted unoriginal theoconservative insults. I'm actually more confused than I am offended.)
11:21:40 TheGreatApostasy: Mr. Wickstrom told me you were a pedophile.
11:21:42 TheGreatApostasy: Interesting.
11:22:17 Implicit Distrust: You republicans really need to come up with more creative insults than things like "hedonist", "pedophile", "degenerate", etc.
11:22:34 TheGreatApostasy: you are communist scum
11:22:41 TheGreatApostasy: people like you shouldn't exist
11:25:39 Implicit Distrust: Ooh, a communist I am now, huh? What are you gonna call me next, an "ACLU card-carrying pinko commie baby-eating faggot?"
11:25:50 Implicit Distrust: Might wanna write that one down for later, I've always liked that one.
11:26:21 TheGreatApostasy: No.
11:26:35 TheGreatApostasy: you're an ACLU card-carrying pink commie baby-raping faggot
11:27:40 Implicit Distrust: Oh, right, totally forgot about the baby-rape part. I really need to brush up on my right-wing rhetoric.
11:28:24 TheGreatApostasy: Would you lie with a four year old if the four year old wanted it?
11:29:32 Implicit Distrust: I'd explain to the four year old why that's absolutely inappropriate.
11:29:44 TheGreatApostasy: Nonsense
11:29:50 TheGreatApostasy: pansexuality encompasses all
11:30:00 TheGreatApostasy: all are equal under the phallus
11:30:01 Implicit Distrust: All sexes, not all ages.
11:30:09 TheGreatApostasy: ageism
11:30:10 TheGreatApostasy: BIGOT
11:30:39 Implicit Distrust: It's not ageism at all. It's "not snapping the pelvises of children by selfishly fucking them".
11:31:01 TheGreatApostasy: what if they wanted it?
11:31:03 TheGreatApostasy: don't be so bigoted
11:31:07 TheGreatApostasy: You're being way too conservative
11:31:23 Implicit Distrust: To have such masochistic desires shows a lack of understanding or a lack of sanity.
11:31:24 TheGreatApostasy: OR PERHAPS BIGOTRY IS GOOD
11:31:32 TheGreatApostasy: IT ISN'T MASOCHISTIC
11:31:35 TheGreatApostasy: IT IS EQUALITY
11:32:02 Implicit Distrust: How is it not masochism to consent to having your pelvis snapped?
11:32:19 TheGreatApostasy: your profile said nothing was too extreme for you
11:32:29 Implicit Distrust: The desire to have pain inflicted upon you is masochism. By definition.
11:32:31 TheGreatApostasy: perhaps they're so kinky they like the pain?
11:32:33 TheGreatApostasy: Yes.
11:33:36 Implicit Distrust: Like I said, those sorts of desires would show a lack of understanding or sanity, and to fulfill the request of someone who fits that profile would be selfish, oppurtunistic and taking advantage of one's mental disabilities.
11:33:51 Implicit Distrust: Just because I'm kinky doesn't mean I'm not honourable.
11:34:44 TheGreatApostasy: They have a right to have their pelvis broken if they want.
11:34:47 TheGreatApostasy: True or false?
11:35:14 Implicit Distrust: Yes, but I also have the right to not assist in that. If they really want to they can take a hammer to their own pelvis.
11:35:36 TheGreatApostasy: I thought you said nothing was to extreme for you.
11:36:07 Implicit Distrust: That's a slight exaggeration... I do have my limits and taboos.
11:36:12 Implicit Distrust: But very few.
11:36:21 TheGreatApostasy: You lied.
11:36:49 Implicit Distrust: You're a republican, you should get used to it.
11:37:07 TheGreatApostasy: lies
11:37:09 TheGreatApostasy: more lies
11:37:25 Implicit Distrust: I love how it's only okay for you guys to lie. Like lying about WMDs in Iraq, for example.
11:37:54 TheGreatApostasy: WE didn't lie about that
11:37:56 TheGreatApostasy: The Jews did
11:37:57 Implicit Distrust: I would've supported the war if Bush didn't lie about his reasons. Hussein deserved to get his ass kicked, I completely agree. But Bush should've been straight up with it to begin with.
11:38:05 TheGreatApostasy: They told us they were there
11:38:21 TheGreatApostasy: yes
11:38:39 TheGreatApostasy: we could have Iraqi men, children, and women to add to your list
11:38:42 Implicit Distrust: So rather than sending your own experts over to verify that information, you just went to war and took their word for it?
11:38:49 TheGreatApostasy: no
11:38:53 TheGreatApostasy: this is the Jews' war
11:39:12 Implicit Distrust: Then why is your OMG SO PROUD WHITE CHRISTIAN NATION fighting it?
11:39:24 Implicit Distrust: Why are you sticking your shit up other nations' noses?
11:39:35 TheGreatApostasy: we're not christian
11:39:38 TheGreatApostasy: we're freemasons
11:39:43 TheGreatApostasy: Have you heard of the great God Moloch?
11:39:59 Implicit Distrust: Hahaha, this just keeps getting better and better! Oh man, you totally made me lose my composure.
11:40:18 Implicit Distrust: This is wonderful.
11:40:25 Implicit Distrust: Please, kind sir, educate me on this great God Moloch.
11:40:46 TheGreatApostasy: Moloch is the god who is worshipped by the freemasons
11:40:59 TheGreatApostasy: The very same God the Jews worshipped when they ignored Jehova so long ago.
11:41:22 Implicit Distrust: I thought the freemasons were a non-denominational assortment of deists.
11:41:31 TheGreatApostasy: You thought.
11:42:12 Implicit Distrust: So wait... are you allies or enemies of the Jews?
11:42:36 TheGreatApostasy: We haven't decided yet.
11:42:42 TheGreatApostasy: We need more information from this Moloch.
11:42:47 Implicit Distrust: You worship the same God, but are you along the same lines of beliefs with them, or is it kind of like another Catholic/Protestant rivalry?
11:43:44 Implicit Distrust: And do you believe Jesus was the messiah, or are you still waiting for a more warrior-like messiah rather than the pacifist Jesus turned out to be?
(editor's note: When I say "pacifist" I don't mean it pejoratively, so if I've offended you, the reader, that wasn't my intention. I'm referring to how the Jews didn't accept Jesus as the messiah because they were expecting someone more similar to Joshua, so Jesus' "love thy neighbour" approach came as quite the shocker to them. Furthermore, if you're wondering why an atheist like me knows so much about Christian theology, it's because I used to be Roman Catholic.)
11:44:03 TheGreatApostasy: We are awaiting for
11:44:45 TheGreatApostasy: We are waiting for the Aryan Christ
11:44:52 Implicit Distrust: Ahh, I understand.
11:45:42 Implicit Distrust: So are you also part of this Christian Identity movement that some other guy from your office who's speaking to me is from, or no?
11:45:49 TheGreatApostasy: yes
11:46:07 Implicit Distrust: So your movement is called "Christian Identity" but you said you're not Christians?
11:46:32 TheGreatApostasy: Where did I say that?
11:46:48 Implicit Distrust: 11:39:35 TheGreatApostasy: we're not christian
11:47:05 TheGreatApostasy: i meant the gov't as a singular entity
11:47:12 Implicit Distrust: Oh, my mistake.
11:47:14 TheGreatApostasy: I am CI myself, though, as some other people are.
11:57:03 Implicit Distrust: Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some more sin and vileness to indulge myself in.
11:57:11 TheGreatApostasy: end yourself, swine
11:57:26 Implicit Distrust: Oh, don't worry, I most certainly will. ;-*
(editor's note: I misread what he had said as "enjoy yourself", not "end yourself". Don't worry, I'm not suicidal. :))
11:57:38 Implicit Distrust: 8===========D~~
11:57:47 TheGreatApostasy: sad
11:57:59 Implicit Distrust: Toodles!

Me vs. Lord K3nn3th:

11:01:00 Lord K3nn3th: pssst
11:01:17 Implicit Distrust: You another one of those republican drones?
11:01:23 Lord K3nn3th: yes faggot
11:02:55 Lord K3nn3th: god will strike you down faggot
11:03:31 Implicit Distrust: Why hasn't he yet?
11:03:34 Implicit Distrust: Hmm?
11:03:39 Lord K3nn3th: a preliminary investigation reveals that you support pedophilia
11:03:54 Lord K3nn3th: you are damned, son
11:04:57 Implicit Distrust: Maybe this almighty "god" you believe in hasn't struck me down since... oh, I dunno, God promised never to unleash his wrath upon the people of the world again after the great flood, as was symbolized by the rainbow after Noah's Ark? For a religious person you certainly don't know shit about your own fait.
11:04:59 Implicit Distrust: *faith
11:06:59 Lord K3nn3th: He will when he judges you heathen
11:07:27 Lord K3nn3th: I as a respectable Republican man believe very strongly in the LORD's presensce
11:08:22 Implicit Distrust: Seems you're taking a more fundamentalist interpretation of Sodom and Gomorrah. Are you, by chance, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Mormon or something like that?
11:08:39 Lord K3nn3th: and I swear he will send you to hell. enjoy the flames licking away your flesh for all eternity
11:09:17 Lord K3nn3th: The Christian Identity movement
11:09:23 Lord K3nn3th: faggot
11:11:50 Implicit Distrust: Eternal bliss seems boring to me, anyway.
11:12:37 Lord K3nn3th: you say that to justify the fact that YOU KNOW you are headed into the fiery abyss
11:12:49 Implicit Distrust: Considering that heaven is free of sin, combined with your whacked definitions of sin... at least pain I could get used to, but eternal boredom? Just tell me which handbasket to jump in toQ!
11:13:26 Lord K3nn3th: Jump into the handbasket full of nice supple young boys you sick freakish pedophie
11:13:57 Implicit Distrust: You do realize that slippery-slope arguments are the sign of the weaker person, don't you?
11:14:24 Implicit Distrust: Not to mention ad-hominem.
11:14:51 Implicit Distrust: Your position in this republican temple of purity must not be a PR-related one, I'm guessing.
11:15:46 Lord K3nn3th: learn your place liberal
11:15:48 Lord K3nn3th: which is hell
11:15:50 Implicit Distrust: I'm kind of disappointed, though... TheGreatApostasy said he passed my profile around the office, but so far I've only heard from you and him. Is everyone else at the chapel or something?
11:16:19 Lord K3nn3th: nobody else can stomach bothering a worthless pagan like you
11:16:50 Implicit Distrust: As you can tell, I'm an avid debater, but I'm also a multitasker. Let's see how many of these hilarious conversations I can manage at once.
11:16:53 Lord K3nn3th: we are laughing hard at your idiocy, Ben just spilled coffee over his suit and on his new tie
11:17:25 Lord K3nn3th: nobody else cares about you insignificant faggot
11:18:05 Implicit Distrust: The existance of your political party and the place your leader resides continue to remind me of just how little brains are required to get into politics. No wonder I haven't run for any sort of local office, I'm overqualified!
11:18:05 Lord K3nn3th: it's faggots like you that kill off people like terri schaivo
11:19:06 Implicit Distrust: Actually, despite my profile saying I'm a democrat, I more personally identify myself as a socialist. So if my people were in power the state would have saved her life.
11:19:29 Lord K3nn3th: fuck you nigger brains mean nothing Bush was a C student and he is a wonderful politician
11:19:43 Lord K3nn3th: yes "Strong Democrat" more like "fucking communist"
11:19:48 Implicit Distrust: But keep jumping to conclusions, it just keeps making you seem stupider and stupider.
11:20:29 Lord K3nn3th: come on faggot why haven't you defended your liberal pedophilia
11:21:09 Implicit Distrust: Communism's flaws lie within its structure of power. A democratically-elected party with a communist economic structure and a libertarian take on civil liberties would be my perfect idea of government.
11:21:57 Lord K3nn3th: Samuel told me to tell you that you will probably die of AIDS you faggot hippie liberal
11:22:32 Implicit Distrust: Samuel hasn't read my profile in its entirety, then.
11:22:41 Lord K3nn3th: you already have it?
11:23:28 Lord K3nn3th: also a communist economic structure will hurt the wealthy, the elite, the ones with the strong genes, and libertarian "civil liberties" deny the will of god
11:23:38 Implicit Distrust: Heh, obviously you never read it either, then.
11:24:37 Implicit Distrust: You're a religious man... here's something to ponder on. Wouldn't you say that legislating morality is taking away people's God-given free will? That includes the freedom to sin, you know.
11:24:40 Lord K3nn3th: i dont read much into faggo liberal pinko hippie communist godless bleeding heart douchebags
11:25:30 Lord K3nn3th: people have the free will, and duty, to legislate morality and free will to follow the laws
11:25:39 Lord K3nn3th: they can chose not to but suffer eternal damnation
11:26:43 Lord K3nn3th: god you are a faggot commie douchebag
11:26:46 Lord K3nn3th: I bet you use linux
11:26:50 Implicit Distrust: If people won't sin out of fear of prosecution rather than out of fear of God, doesn't that HELP sinners to "cheat the system" of heaven, so to speak? Why not let them sin and let God sort 'em out?
11:27:13 Lord K3nn3th: cancer is evil and it spreads, think about that faggot
11:28:56 Implicit Distrust: It's not like the sinners are harming you. Gay people have sex with gay people. You're not at risk of having your heterosexuality taken away from you by their presence, so let the self-contained "sin" continue if you're so confident they'll get what you think they deserve in the afterlife?
11:34:33 Implicit Distrust: So what do you say?
11:39:33 Lord K3nn3th: FUCK YOU FAGGOT I AM NOT LISTENING TO YOUR DEMON WORDS
(editor's note: Notice the timestamps between the last three messages. It's almost as if he actually did think about it and then freaked himself out by doing so. The ALLCAPS sure do look like a sign of panic. Damn I'm good. This is my new favourite way of fucking with conservatives' heads.)

I went to a job interview today, and something didn't feel right. I investigated the legitimacy of this company and from what I can deduct, my fears are most likely correct.

Exhibit A: The vague HRSDC Job Bank ad...

Advertisement number: 1644449

Title: Sales and customer service agent (NOC: 1433)

Terms of Employment: Permanent, Full Time

Salary: To be negotiated, Bonus

Anticipated Start Date: As soon as possible

Location: Scarborough, Ontario (8 vacancies)

Skill Requirements:

Education: Not required

Experience: Will train

Languages: Speak English, Read English, Write English

Employer: Net-com Promotions Inc

How to Apply:

By E-mail: netcom_p@yahoo.com

Advertised until: 2005/10/14

Eight vacancies, barely any information, throwaway e-mail address, salary TBN... yeahhhhh...

Exhibit B: The Interview

I arrive at a cheap "back of the building" office location. There's some furniture, but the walls are bare save for a few photos. Looks like they just moved in. Turns out it's a call center. Furthermore, it's an "outgoing call center", so basically it's telemarketing.

The guy who interviewed me (Marco Demasi, President) said they have 45 employees, but judging by the size of the office property there's no way in hell they can have 45 people there. The fact there's eight vacancies for such a small location is really fishy, too. He claims the company does outgoing marketing for charity organizations like the March of Dimes and World Vision, then hands me some pamphlets to back up his story. However, when I got home, I did a Google search for "Net-Com Promotions" and found a ton of results listing them as known spammers with possible connections to the spyware industry as well. A Google search for the interviewer's name turns up no relevant results, so it's quite possible it's an alias for a scam artist who's constantly on the run.

The interviewer asked me to come to an interview tomorrow for a "full-day interview", where I'd be trained and supervised on how well I can take the calls. I bet he's just looking to get some free labour out of me and then disappear off the face of the earth the next day I show up to work. Obviously, I'm not going. First thing tomorrow I'm going to call them and say I took a position at another employer. My mom got scammed exactly the same way a while back, and it's lucky I was able to learn from her experience. As my uncle Jim taught me, the intelligent man learns from his mistakes, but the wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

I was out on a date with the lady, and we found a spot for... privacy :). I left my bike unattended and out of my sight, but parked out of sight of most people as well. When we came back, it was gone. Fuck. It was a good bike too.

Today is my beautiful sister's 20th birthday. All the best for this year, Amanda. You never stop making me proud, and I only hope that some day I can be as successful as you are. I know we fight sometimes, but there's no one I'd rather have for a sister. You really mean a lot to me, more than you can imagine. Thanks for being there for me all the time, helping me through all the shit I've been through. :)

One of my Golden Retrievers, Casey, had to be put to sleep today. She was having seizures, suffering from dementia, had a possible brain tumour and a whole host of other problems that made her quality of life pretty much zero. I was by her side when she was euthanized. We took her body home and I helped bury her. She was a great dog. Very friendly, loyal, obedient, beautiful, empathetic and a proud mother of twenty-three (yep, that's right.) Definitely one of the family.

Rest in peace, Casey. You will always be in our hearts.

(placeholder for photograph)
Casey Ansell: September 2, 1991 - August 14, 2005

I was seduced by the libertarian ideals a few years back, and until recently, I continued to hold on to them. I thought, "hey, they're right, why SHOULD I have to pay for other people's expenses?" Then I found myself in a situation where I had to seek the help of our social systems, and it made me realize that there's a lot of good in social assistance.

Let me give you a bit of background. I'm one of those people who's got a lot of skills that'd be useful in the workplace, but, unfortunately, no expensive pieces of paper (certifications, diplomas, etc.) to show for it. In today's world, having a piece of paper seems to be more important than having the actual skills. Just look at the number of clueless system administrators and computer repair technicians out there whose only reasons for having jobs are their A+, MCSE and other certifications that test nothing more than one's skill at memorizing an exam prep.

I've been applying for jobs left, right and center. I look in newspaper classifieds. I look at online job listings. I hand-deliver resumes. I tried to start my own residential computer repair business and not one person I've handed a business card to has ever called me. I've applied to the most mundane, shitty minimum-wage jobs, like stocking store shelves and stuffing envelopes. I've done all I can to find a job for over a year and it's fucking useless. I get no responses to my applications, I've been to zero interviews, I have no money, I even have to borrow bus fare so I can spend time with my friends. Having no money, I can't even afford to get the paperwork that somehow "qualifies" me for technical positions more than my actual knowledge and aptitude does. I'm 22 years old and I still live with my mother, and in 8 days her contract at her place of work expires, so she'll be out of work, won't be able to financially support my sister and I as much as she used to, plus her boyfriend (who lives here too) isn't making nearly as much income as he used to due to the injuries he received in a recent car accident, so he hasn't been able to financially contribute to the household as well as he used to either. I'm truly a victim of bad luck and circumstance.

After many months of toying with the idea, I decided to apply for social assistance with Ontario Works. They send me a check every month that's not a whole lot of money, but it helps me pay for groceries, razor blades, toothpaste, clothing, bus fare... you know, the bare necessities, plus I sometimes have a bit of spending money left over so I can actually enjoy myself on the weekends. This way I can actually *survive* without being forced into homelessness, and that gives me some extra time to continue this futile job search that I'm amazed I haven't totally given up on by now.

It also made me think about the humanitarian aspect of social assistance. Libertarians will complain that their tax money is being put towards things like health care, welfare and other things that help other people. Before I used to complain with them, but now, being someone who had to swallow his pride and ask for help, I realize how beneficial it is to us as a society, because there are people who genuinely need this kind of help and haven't "brought it on themselves." I'm one of them. Sure, there are people who abuse the system, and yes, I disagree with certain aspects of social assistance, such as providing health care to people with tobacco-related complications who brought their health problems onto themselves by getting hooked and smoking two packs a day, but there are good parts to social assistance as well, and it's those that we as a society should fight to protect, and fight to implement in places that don't have them.

Discuss.

Some people use things that just make you wonder where the hell their heads are at. In this entry, I ask the rhetorical "why". Feel free to reply with your insight and opinions, even if just to play the devil's advocate to try and figure out why anyone in their right minds would use this shit.

Netscape

Here's the basic recipe card for Netscape, for those of you who might want to bake up a copy of your own.

• 1 part old build of Mozilla Firefox
• 1 dash of a different default skin
• fuck knows how much worthless, annoying and sometimes even misleading so-called "features" and middleware.
• 1 pinch of rebadging
• 1 heaping tablespoon of marketing

If you're one of the naive, mislead or mentally-retarded folks on Netscape, do yourself a huge favour and switch over to Mozilla Firefox. It's essentially the same as Netscape but without all the bullshit.

Internet Explorer

Gee, let's see...

• Its security architecture is so flawed it should be illegal, and it's so bad that US-CERT -- a division of the DHS -- advised that people don't use Internet Explorer for that very reason.
• It doesn't seem to have full support for any web standards more modern than HTML 3.2.
• Its internal popup blocker (which took far, FAR too long to be developed, might I add) sucks.
• Even if you're responsible with it, all it takes is one moron to visit a maliciously-coded website when you're away from the computer for five seconds to infect the living fuck out of your computer with spyware, sometimes even if they're logged in as a non-administrator since Internet Explorer runs with SYSTEM-level privileges.
• It barely ever gets any updates or new releases aside from the hundreds of critical updates needed to make it even remotely secure against exploits that end up staying in the wild for months before patches for such holes actually get released.
• Its lack of support for modern web standards, plus its introduction of proprietary extensions to existing standards that only it supports has completely fucked up and stagnated the art of web design as both a hobby and a business, and is the reason why web design is such a hair-pulling pain in the ass to get into these days. Yes, I know that NN4 was also responsible for a lot of proprietary extensions during the first browser wars, but two wrongs don't make a right, and while Netscape has since stopped supporting and introducing proprietary extensions, Microsoft still continues to do so as a part of their deplorable EEE strategy.
• It's completely lacking in other useful features like tabbed browsing, caret browsing, mouse gestures and find-as-you-type.
• It doesn't have full support for the PNG image format -- an image format that's been around for TEN FUCKING YEARS.
• Behold the brilliant minds behind Internet Explorer! http://tinyurl.com/aewnd (actual picture of the IE developers from IEBlog)

All things considered, it's just a really shitty browser, no question about it. Its only possible convenience is that it has been included with Windows since Windows 95 OSR2, but even then, that poses the question of who it's more of a convenience to: The user, or Microsoft themselves? Even then, that's no excuse not to download another browser. Even on dial-up, most browsers take less than half an hour to download.

Here's some links to pages that further explain the problems with Internet Explorer, but in a much calmer way. What you're reading right now is a rant, but the following links are a little more educational and a lot less angry.

• Internet Explorer is Dangerous by David Hammond
• Criticisms of Internet Explorer on Wikipedia
• Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer by Daniel Miessler, MCSE
• An extended explanation on why Internet Explorer is insecure by Christian Wagner

Kazaa, Grokster, Morpheus, Limewire for Windows, etc.

There are more than enough P2P applications out there that aren't packed full of spyware, so why the hell do people choose the ones that will infect them? I've even installed spyware-free P2P applications for my clients and told them to use them instead of the spyware-infested applications they had on there before, and not even a week later they've got Kazaa installed again and are calling me to clean up the mess they just made... again. Fucking hell, earn yourselves some Shareaza, Soulseek, Diet K and WinMX, you goddamn twits.

QuickTime, Windows Media and Real Media streaming video

I'm not talking about the players (which also suck, don't get me wrong,) I'm more referring to websites that offer streaming video in shitty proprietary formats that require you to use shitty proprietary software. There are free, open-standard streaming video formats out there that perform better than a lot of the proprietary formats and can be played with pretty much any multimedia software after installing a simple codec, but no, they decide to stick with the shit nobody really wants to use but grudgingly puts up with anyway. News sites are probably the most guilty of all when it comes to this bullshit. What's really terrible is when they use Windows Media, because then you're just plain shit out of luck if you're on Linux and want to view their streaming content.

iTunes and other pay-to-download music services

Why pay for DRM-protected music when you can download unprotected and sometimes even better quality music from other P2P networks, with the added bonus of being able to download more than just music? I don't know about you, but I prefer to consolidate my porn and music downloads into a single application. If you prefer to pay for music for "moral reasons," you must be one real fine upstanding individual to be contributing to the RIAA's funds, who you can thank for bribing U.S. legislators to pass things like the DMCA.

One-Button Mice

If you're on a Mac, I can't see why you'd want to use a one-button mouse. It's gotta be a pain in the ass having to command-click instead of right-click. Furthermore, you don't have the excuse that you're too poor to buy one, because anyone with deep enough pockets to afford a Mac sure as fuck isn't too poor to buy a decent multi-button mouse.

Apple Computers

That's right, I've saved the best flamebait for last. I just know I'm going to get so much shit for this, but guess what, I don't care.

Let's look at the facts here. Macs have less support than PCs do from both hardware and software developers, they cost about two or three times as much as a PC of equal power, they're the choice platform of trendwhores and they are no longer a superior platform for multimedia development, though I will acknowledge there was a time where Macs were pretty much your only choice when it came to multimedia, but that time is no more, as less-expensive PCs can fare just as well as Macs can in this field now, if not better. Hell, even Pixar, which is owned by Apple, uses Linux rendering farms. As far as aesthetics are concerned, sure, Macs are "pretty", as is OS X, but these days you can buy pre-modded PC cases that look much cooler than Apple cases, and some window managers for Linux (such as KDE) have more than enough worthless resource-draining eye candy to drool over.

Some people refer to Macs as the BMWs of the computer industry, but I think comparing them to Corvettes would be a more accurate analogy. They're expensive, they're nice to look at, they were good back in the day, but today they just plain suck and seem to only be bought by the naive and the cultishly pious with lots of cash to throw around.

Last Wednesday my doctor said it'd be three weeks until the pain in my wrist is gone. It hasn't even been a week since I've had my cast removed and today I was out playing baseball with no pain whatsoever. Sometimes my body's healing rate scares me.

It was my first time going, and it was awesome. I'm not even that big of a hockey fan and I had a really good time there. If you've never been before, I suggest you go whenever you get a chance. Tickets are pretty cheap (I think it's $12), so check it out.