The Random Crap Thread 2: It Hits the Fan.

Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

So, etymology nerd Leigh has come to visit:

Sinestra is Latin for 'left', and it doesn't take much to see where our word 'sinister' comes from. In Latin dexter is 'right', and notably if you can do things well with both hands you're ambi-(both)-dextrous - two rights. Also dexterity means you're quite physically capable. Right handed bias is everywhere!

In French, 'gauche' is left, and in English we use 'gauche' to mean someone who is ill-mannered and unsophisticated. 'Droit' is their word for 'right,' the direction/side, but also the word for 'right,' as in human rights; in English we have the word 'adroit' to refer to someone skilled. You could say someone who's gauche is not socially adroit, I suppose, if that kind of thing made you chuckle, which it does, if you're me, which you're not. ...I think.

Lefties get it bad. Plus doorknobs and scissors and can openers... Generally not designed in their favour. I've tried opening a doorknob with my left hand to see if it was any different; indeed it's a bit of an annoyance.
 
Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

LittleKagsin said:
We're so discriminated against! But, no I just listened to a podcast about left-handedness and it was interesting. I didn't even realize how much people have hated on the lefties.

This is relelvent to my interests:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/the-18-worst-things-for-left-handed-people

1, 6, 7, 12, 16 and 17 especially.
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I don't get some of those complaints. The cup holder is in the middle because it's impractical on the door; the passenger who is right-handed has to 'suffer' a left-side cupholder... At all events, I don't care which hand holds my cup. The keyboard and controller complaints make no sense to me either: if keyboards had been invented with the number pads on the left side, we'd have learned to type that way, then. It's not like you don't need to use both hands already. It's like saying "The worst thing about knowing the alphabet is QWERTY keyboards, nothing's in order!" Uhm...

But other grievances seem pretty legit. Never thought about how much more horrible those already-loathsome desks would be if I were left-handed.
 
LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

Yes, some are silly, which I why I highlighted the ones that were actually relevent. I've never had a problem with the 10-key pad being on the right or with cup holders.

But no, those desks are AWFUL. For me, I kind of had to sit awkwardly facing the right, just so I could get my hand/elbow to rest on the desk so I could write. And then I felt weird because I wasn't really facing the professor, I was kind of weirdly staring at the person to my right. And I'm awkward enough as it is, I don't need any help in that area.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

Chad Sexington said:
So, etymology nerd Leigh has come to visit:

Sinestra is Latin for 'left', and it doesn't take much to see where our word 'sinister' comes from. In Latin dexter is 'right', and notably if you can do things well with both hands you're ambi-(both)-dextrous - two rights. Also dexterity means you're quite physically capable. Right handed bias is everywhere!

In French, 'gauche' is left, and in English we use 'gauche' to mean someone who is ill-mannered and unsophisticated. 'Droit' is their word for 'right,' the direction/side, but also the word for 'right,' as in human rights; in English we have the word 'adroit' to refer to someone skilled. You could say someone who's gauche is not socially adroit, I suppose, if that kind of thing made you chuckle, which it does, if you're me, which you're not. ...I think.

Lefties get it bad. Plus doorknobs and scissors and can openers... Generally not designed in their favour. I've tried opening a doorknob with my left hand to see if it was any different; indeed it's a bit of an annoyance.
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It's odd you point out that "droit" in French is both "right" vs left and "right" as in "Human Rights", but don't follow up with the obvious "and in English too!". Right vs Wrong and Right vs Left aren't accidental, you know :p
 
Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

Bubble181 said:
It's odd you point out that "droit" in French is both "right" vs left and "right" as in "Human Rights", but don't follow up with the obvious "and in English too!". Right vs Wrong and Right vs Left aren't accidental, you know :p
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Well, it wasn't to exclude them so much as I assumed native English speakers have already made that connection. Also I couldn't much offer a comparison; we don't really use 'left' in obvious negative contexts, whereas 'gauche' is. 'Left-handed compliment' has become 'back-handed compliment' and the most common uses of 'left' seem to be political, where its only pejorative in context by whoever is speaking.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

Chad Sexington said:
Well, it wasn't to exclude them so much as I assumed native English speakers have already made that connection. Also I couldn't much offer a comparison; we don't really use 'left' in obvious negative contexts, whereas 'gauche' is. 'Left-handed compliment' has become 'back-handed compliment' and the most common uses of 'left' seem to be political, where its only pejorative in context by whoever is speaking.
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The simple fact that they're both antonyms of "right" may seem clear to you but isn't to everyone. "Rights" is inherently "right".
 
Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

"Oh dear, I'm out of white cheddar and all I have is orange! I don't remember liking an orange cheese omelette, but maybe my tastes have changed."

They have not, and I still hate it. CURSE YOU WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE!
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

I need a bit of a push to exercise.

Therefore, for every "like" this post gets in the next 24 hours, I shall do one situp or pushup. For every "love", I shall do three.

For every negative rating I get on this post, I shall eat a piece of chocolate cake.
 
Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

bhamv3 said:
I need a bit of a push to exercise.

Therefore, for every "like" this post gets in the next 24 hours, I shall do one situp or pushup. For every "love", I shall do three.

For every negative rating I get on this post, I shall eat a piece of chocolate cake.
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In a surprise twist, we're out of chocolate cake. Therefore, for every negative rating, you must now perform 2 burpees.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Ho-lee shit. The axe falls again today. Not a program director this time, but another air talent fired. This one was the resident drama queen, on something like her 5th divorce. I've gone on about her previously.
 
Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

GasBandit said:
Ho-lee shit. The axe falls again today. Not a program director this time, but another air talent fired. This one was the resident drama queen, on something like her 5th divorce. I've gone on about her previously.
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What are the qualifications? I feel like my basic competence would let me succeed at these jobs.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Chad Sexington said:
What are the qualifications? I feel like my basic competence would let me succeed at these jobs.
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I get the feeling her position is being eliminated. As I said, we had a really bad bad ratings book that we just got the numbers on, so I think the owner is reducing headcount. It's an open secret if the owner had his way all our stations would be completely automated with no air personnel at all.

But to answer your question, getting IN to radio is hard as balls these days. As it is a dying medium, way more people are getting fired than hired, so you're up against every veteran jock in the market. Also, it seems to be more about who you know than what you're good at. But you need a good "radio voice," a connection/familiarity to the social scene of the local demographic you're trying to reach, and of course a lot of familiarity with the music of the format and the goings on of the music industry in general.
 
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blotsfan

blotsfan

GasBandit said:
I get the feeling her position is being eliminated. As I said, we had a really bad bad ratings book that we just got the numbers on, so I think the owner is reducing headcount. It's an open secret if the owner had his way all our stations would be completely automated with no air personnel at all.
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In his defense, those stations are the best.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/think-your-taxes-are-high-the-5-countries-with-the/

List of top 5 countries with the highest taxes. Not surprisingly, Belgium's a number One. (Whoohoo!)

As an aside, the article makes a point of noting that Denmark, for example, at number 4, is regularly seen as (one of) the happiest countries in the world. Not included: Denmark also ranks number one for best health care, best social security, and some other things. Belgium, on the other hand.....

Oh, how I love my country :p
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
blotsfan said:
In his defense, those stations are the best.
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Yes, the demographic least likely to listen to the radio (tech saavy under30s with smartphones/mp3 players) loves those formats.

People who fill out radio ratings diaries don't. They want local events and commentary.

Which is why the stations with the "morning zoos" and such always seem to hang on.

Owners/GMs are torn between the two, wanting good ratings or lower overhead. More and more often, overhead wins out.
 
Celt Z

Celt Z

GasBandit said:
Yes, the demographic least likely to listen to the radio (tech saavy under30s with smartphones/mp3 players) loves those formats.

People who fill out radio ratings diaries don't. They want local events and commentary.

Which is why the stations with the "morning zoos" and such always seem to hang on.

Owners/GMs are torn between the two, wanting good ratings or lower overhead. More and more often, overhead wins out.
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They tried one of those format switches a few years ago around here. It tanked. I think part of the problem was they took one of NY's oldest radio stations (or just oldest FM station, I think), famous for playing oldies, and switched it to semi-contemporary soft rock. I didn't mind the lack of talking heads, but it's one of the only stations that still plays oldies around here, and you can get the contempo stuff all over the place. (And yes, I do sometimes like oldies. I am a dork that way.) I was really happy when they went back to the old format, which honestly was never that heavy in talking.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Celt Z said:
They tried one of those format switches a few years ago around here. It tanked. I think part of the problem was they took one of NY's oldest radio stations (or just oldest FM station, I think), famous for playing oldies, and switched it to semi-contemporary soft rock. I didn't mind the lack of talking heads, but it's one of the only stations that still plays oldies around here, and you can get the contempo stuff all over the place. (And yes, I do sometimes like oldies. I am a dork that way.) I was really happy when they went back to the old format, which honestly was never that heavy in talking.
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We did, too. We took a long-running (but underperforming) alternative rock station and switched it over to a no talk "we play whatever" music format and the ratings went down even more. It's back to being a rock station now. But after this axing, there's only 1 live DJ left on it now (the program director) and one prerecorded guy who puts in maybe an hour a day in the recording booth.

Our spanish station's program director is quaking in her boots. She had the worst book I've ever seen since working here, and her station has the most headcount by far. Like... almost as much as all the other stations put together.
 
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