Hug because I have BEEN there in a visual torture sense.
Pet Peeve rants.
- Thread starter Mathias
- Start date
Disclaimer: I don't want to turn this into a political thread, and I don't doubt Canada is doing the best they can.
HOWEVER.
My Facebook feed and pretty much every media throughout the country are being completely saturated by comparisons with Canada's immigration offices and network. "You see: it can be done better"; "Look, some countries CAN do it properly", "This is what we should aspire to", and so on and so forth - placing the blame squarely on our government for the horribleness of the life of Syrian refugees. Certainly, we could do more, and we need to try our very best to make sure these people get what they need; I'm not some right wing nutjob who feels they're a threat or a bunch of moochers or criminals or what-have-you.
However, Canada has so far accepted approximately 600 people, with an estimated, what, 6,000 more coming in soon, and maybe 20,000 in all. All of them arrive pre-screened, in ordered groups, ready to be dispatched all over the place, and Canada waited months to accept anyone while they prepared buildings, outfits, hired people, and got the logistics in order.
Belgium, with 1/3 the population, has received well over 50,000 refugees. Germany, with a bit over twice the population (there's some 36 million Canadians and 80 million Germans) has received well over a million Syrian refugees this year, and over 250,000 last year, and about 200,000 the year before. None of these come in easily-controlled groups, per train or by airplane- they come in continuous masses, everything mixed together, along with literally hundreds of thousands of others (Afghans, Egyptians, Jordanites, whatever) claiming to be Syrian to "get in" and make a better life for themselves in a richer area.
If the Canadian coasts were suddenly approached by rickety, leaking boats filled with literally one hundred times as many immigrants as they're expecting (a thousand times what they've accepted so far), I doubt Canada could still treat all of them "with a social security number, blankets, clothing, an address and a means to get there, medical, educational and psychological assessment and help, all within 4 hours of entering the country".
Again, not saying Canada isn't doing enough (it's somewhat ridiculous to fly these refugees literally half way across the world) or that our governments can't do more, but the comparison doesn't make sense. Stop it, it's a baloney argument that anyone with 2 brain cells can poke holes on - yet none of our media are doing that, so hell-bent are they to keep trying to make our right-wing government look bad. They do lots of shitty stuff, you don't need to bring completely idiotic arguments against them.
HOWEVER.
My Facebook feed and pretty much every media throughout the country are being completely saturated by comparisons with Canada's immigration offices and network. "You see: it can be done better"; "Look, some countries CAN do it properly", "This is what we should aspire to", and so on and so forth - placing the blame squarely on our government for the horribleness of the life of Syrian refugees. Certainly, we could do more, and we need to try our very best to make sure these people get what they need; I'm not some right wing nutjob who feels they're a threat or a bunch of moochers or criminals or what-have-you.
However, Canada has so far accepted approximately 600 people, with an estimated, what, 6,000 more coming in soon, and maybe 20,000 in all. All of them arrive pre-screened, in ordered groups, ready to be dispatched all over the place, and Canada waited months to accept anyone while they prepared buildings, outfits, hired people, and got the logistics in order.
Belgium, with 1/3 the population, has received well over 50,000 refugees. Germany, with a bit over twice the population (there's some 36 million Canadians and 80 million Germans) has received well over a million Syrian refugees this year, and over 250,000 last year, and about 200,000 the year before. None of these come in easily-controlled groups, per train or by airplane- they come in continuous masses, everything mixed together, along with literally hundreds of thousands of others (Afghans, Egyptians, Jordanites, whatever) claiming to be Syrian to "get in" and make a better life for themselves in a richer area.
If the Canadian coasts were suddenly approached by rickety, leaking boats filled with literally one hundred times as many immigrants as they're expecting (a thousand times what they've accepted so far), I doubt Canada could still treat all of them "with a social security number, blankets, clothing, an address and a means to get there, medical, educational and psychological assessment and help, all within 4 hours of entering the country".
Again, not saying Canada isn't doing enough (it's somewhat ridiculous to fly these refugees literally half way across the world) or that our governments can't do more, but the comparison doesn't make sense. Stop it, it's a baloney argument that anyone with 2 brain cells can poke holes on - yet none of our media are doing that, so hell-bent are they to keep trying to make our right-wing government look bad. They do lots of shitty stuff, you don't need to bring completely idiotic arguments against them.
Bass. Well, I don't suppose I have a problem with bass. I have a problem with inconsiderate douche-bag neighbors who sit in their parking spot thumping their stupid car stereo with the windows down for at 5 min. It's so damned annoying. It makes my blood boil. It makes me want to grab the nearest blunt object and cause as much trauma as possible. I hope there is a hell and it consists of an infinitely large subwoofer that slowly shears DNA and cell membranes and causes a slow oozing death over and over and over for an eternity, and I hope all that play their bass that loud go to that hell. Did I mention that I dislike loud stereos, especially loud bass?
In hell, hopefully, they would be locked in a room playing non-stop Barry Manilow and John Denver.
People who leave their car parked on the street when snow is incoming and they have empty space on their driveway. FFS people, thanks for making the plow dodge your vehicle and thus leave a giant pile of slow 5 feet in front of my driveway that I need to clean up on top of the driveway just so I can get out.
I am somewhat envious of living in a town where it is conceivable everyone might have a driveway or garage of their own. They've literally changed the traffic code here to allow people to park on the inside of roundabouts in the evening because there's simply not enough space for all the cars, otherwise.
Yeah, I've lived in plenty of those neighborhoods as well. This is a very small apartment community made up of town-homes where every unit has a two car garage, and most have driveways that can fit at least one car, if not two. Every day but garbage day, it looks like triple the population lives here, just from all of the cars and motorcycles that are parked all over the place. Miraculously, when it is garbage day, there's not a car left on the streets. Must be something about Tuesdays that makes cars smaller or something.
My pretty peeve about this issue is that Canada regularly takes in refugees from all around the world. Syria is just in the news, and we're being much more welcoming than normal to these newcomers. We should be the same way with the rest, too.
It's nice that you guys appreciate our efforts. It's like Belgium is rating Canada's post with a hug.
All this talk about the Star Trek Tamarian metaphoric language over in that other thread has reminded me of my own pet peeve.
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax doesn't speak in metaphor. He literally doesn't get them.
So, what is it then when he calls Sakaarans "paper people" huh? sigh
In Guardians of the Galaxy, Drax doesn't speak in metaphor. He literally doesn't get them.
So, what is it then when he calls Sakaarans "paper people" huh? sigh
GasBandit
Staff member
The line is "I think of them as paper people." The use of "as" makes it a simile. Maybe it's splitting hairs, but perhaps he can understand similes ("They are like paper") but not metaphors ("They are paper").[DOUBLEPOST=1450483416,1450483221][/DOUBLEPOST]The line that SHOULD have irritated you, however, was at the end when he said "Ronan was just a puppet." THAT is a full blown metaphor.
I think you're correct. He usually incoherent but the spelling is much worse tonight.
Broken links?This drives me up the fucking wall.
I have what sounds like a clowncar drive by my house almost every day. Music that is all bass and tuba from what I can tell. TOOT THUMP TOOT THUMP. Makes my house vibrate
I work in a large concrete and steel and brick office building. And those fuckers still shake this bunker of a building.
The smell of hot plastic. Like a dagger to the nose.
fade
Staff member
"FYI" is the same way for me.
I used to work for a microfilm company. One of the things we did was duplicate microfilm using a Diazo machine. This used ultraviolet light to expose the film, which fed into a sealed box that exposed it to hot ammonia gas to develop it. If the film ever backed up in there, you had to un-dog the cover plate, which immediately got you a face full of that hot ammonia.
That's the worst "dagger to the nose" smell I've ever experienced in my life.
(90% of the time, this is exactly what my job looked like. Except she's not using a loupe to look at the film.)
My high school chemistry teacher used ammonia solution as his "teach the kids how to waft odors rather than just diving in and getting a snootful" teaching aid. It worked quite well. He seemed surprised when I showed I already knew how to waft. Thanks, 50's-era science experiment books!
--Patrick
Also, every kid that enjoys a good fart, or wants others to enjoy them too.
figmentPez
Staff member
DIY projects that pay no attention to safety. Today's example: Use Ping Pong Balls to Create Diffused Party Lights
For those who don't know, ping pong balls (at least those that meet competitive standards) are made from nitrocellulose (AKA gun cotton), and are highly flammable.
Admittedly, the odds of this actually catching fire are relatively low, cheap dollar store balls that don't bounce and are likely to crack in half on impact are probably made from some cheap plastic that will melt at the temperature at which nitrocellulose ignites, but should someone use actual ping pong balls, and that ball should come in direct contact with a bulb... well, it still might not get hot enough to ignite, but if that bulb is improperly made and the filament is off-center and in direct contact with the glass, then it's easily enough to ignite nitrocellulose.
In any case, there should be a warning about how flammable ping pong balls can be. 170 C (the auto ignition point of nitrocellulose) is not that high a temperature, your average 40 watt incandescent bulb's glass gets much hotter. And once a ping pong ball starts burning, it goes up very fast, with a large flame.
For those who don't know, ping pong balls (at least those that meet competitive standards) are made from nitrocellulose (AKA gun cotton), and are highly flammable.
Admittedly, the odds of this actually catching fire are relatively low, cheap dollar store balls that don't bounce and are likely to crack in half on impact are probably made from some cheap plastic that will melt at the temperature at which nitrocellulose ignites, but should someone use actual ping pong balls, and that ball should come in direct contact with a bulb... well, it still might not get hot enough to ignite, but if that bulb is improperly made and the filament is off-center and in direct contact with the glass, then it's easily enough to ignite nitrocellulose.
In any case, there should be a warning about how flammable ping pong balls can be. 170 C (the auto ignition point of nitrocellulose) is not that high a temperature, your average 40 watt incandescent bulb's glass gets much hotter. And once a ping pong ball starts burning, it goes up very fast, with a large flame.