Wormer's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=Wormer2000-07-21T08:22:44ZRules for Meeting Celebrities (idea)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/Rules+for+Meeting+CelebritiesWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-21T08:22:44Z2000-07-21T08:22:44ZAfter seeing some really dumb things recently that I won't go into, I've decided to insult some <a href="/title/idiots">idiots</a> while simultaneously writing a useful and helpful <a href="/title/node">node</a>. This deals primarily with meeting people like <a href="/title/attractive">attractive</a> <a href="/title/actresses">actresses</a>, since that seems to be what most people think about when they hear "meeting celebrities," but it can scale to anything else with minor modifications.
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Suffice to say that I had the unfortunate opportunity to see person after person after person violate one or more of these fairly common sense things when dealing with someone last night. It didn't get them anywhere, and annoyed the living shit out of the <a href="/title/celebrity">celebrity</a> they were doing it to. This isn't the first time I've seen this kind of thing happen either.
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1. Don't drool all over them. She's attractive. She knows it too. Down, boy.
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2. Don't revere them like you're meeting a <a href="/title/goddess">goddess</a>. Why? Because everyone else does that too. It's annoying as all hell. They like it, but wouldn't <em>you</em> like being treated<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Things guys think girls should know (idea)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/Things+guys+think+girls+should+knowWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-18T01:21:05Z2000-07-18T01:21:05ZIn no particular order:
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1. Never <a href="/title/faking+an+orgasm">fake an orgasm</a>. It ensures that we'll keep doing whatever it is we're doing wrong (if anything). You don't enjoy it. When we find out, bad things happen with the relationship. (Though we might be touched that you wanted us to think that we were effective.) Besides, unless you're really good at faking it or the guy is really <a href="/title/dumb">dumb</a> and/or ignorant of <a href="/title/female+sexual+physiology">female sexual physiology</a>, we'll find out sooner or later.
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2. Don't play <a href="/title/mind+games">mind games</a> with us if you're trying to get us to ask you out. If you do something which makes us think that you're not interested and keep this up for a while, or if you engage in very contradictory behaviors, most of us will just blow you off.
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3. After we're in a relationship, don't play dumb <a href="/title/mind+games">mind games</a>. These include "<a href="/title/Do+I+look+fat%253F">Do I look fat?</a>." Also included are things like "<a href="/title/Do+you+think+she%2527s+attractive%253F">Do you think she's attractive?</a>" because we can't win no matter what we say.
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4. We like you, but that doesn't mean that we have to spend every<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Toy operating systems (idea)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/Toy+operating+systemsWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-17T22:18:49Z2000-07-17T22:18:49ZWhat amazes me about <a href="/title/Microsoft">Microsoft</a> <a href="/title/operating+systems">operating systems</a> is their total disregard for security, expandability, and even functionality. The hardware requirements roughly double with each release of the OS. The software for the OS is typically incredibly inefficient, and the source isn't open so people can't optimize it even if they wanted to.
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<a href="/title/Windows">Windows</a> is called a "toy operating system" for this reason. Its memory protection, where it exists, is horrible. Its security is totally nonexistant. Microsoft keeps releasing standard software with security holes all over it. It doesn't have some of the incredibly useful features that most <a href="/title/X11">X11</a> <a href="/title/window+managers">window managers</a> have, like multiple desktops. Nothing for it is open source, except for the occasional odd piece of software floating around somewhere. Most users I know who know something about computers, know how to program, and aren't forced to use it and don't have an definite economic interest in using it, don't. They use it for games. Hence, it gets called a "toy<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Public school prison camps (place)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/Public+school+prison+campsWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-17T09:03:55Z2000-07-17T09:03:55Z<p>Large elements of the <a href="/title/American">American</a> public, backed by <a href="/title/opportunistic+politicians">opportunistic politicians</a>, seem to want to turn American <a href="/title/public+schools">public schools</a> into <a href="/title/prison+camps">prison camps</a>.</p>
<h3>Some of the current policies in various places:</h3>
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<li>Enforced attendance. This is all well and good. Unfortunately, the schools don't teach anything to anybody who has even slightly above-average <a href="/title/IQ">IQ</a>. Therefore, it is a waste of the student's time. The schools know this, despite their <a href="/title/arrogant">arrogant</a> whinings about how said students may somehow benefit from sitting in a <a href="/title/stultifying">stultifying</a> environment and wasting time. The real reason the schools care, however, is because they have to record attendance, and then send this to the <a href="/title/federal+government">federal government</a> to get their <a href="/title/federal+funding">federal funding</a>. The federal government pays the <a href="/title/public+school+districts">public school districts</a> according to how many student-days they've recorded. So if a student doesn't show up to class, the school loses out on its money.</li>
<li>Policies restricting use of the library to people who have hall passes,<!-- close unclosed tag --></li><!-- close unclosed tag --></ul>…statistically linked (idea)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/statistically+linkedWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-17T08:38:29Z2000-07-17T08:38:29Z<a href="/title/Journalists">Journalists</a>, <a href="/title/news+anchors">news anchors</a>, <a href="/title/politicians">politicians</a>, and <a href="/title/idiots">idiots</a> say that two things are "linked" to imply a causal relationship when in fact none exists.
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For a very clear example of how this logic is flawed, assume that a city which is 50% black. Because of reasons totally unrelated to <a href="/title/race">race</a>, some of those <a href="/title/black+people">black people</a> commit <a href="/title/armed+robbery">armed robbery</a>. The remaining 50% of the population is composed of <a href="/title/white+people">white people</a>, and these <a href="/title/white+people">white people</a> don't commit the same kinds of crimes. The <a href="/title/media">media</a>, <a href="/title/government">government</a>, and <a href="/title/politicians">politicians</a> say: "Being black linked to armed robbery!"
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Now we all read that and realize that it's totally <a href="/title/bogus">bogus</a>. It's also an <a href="/title/extreme+example">extreme example</a> used to illustrate the concept. But look at some of the other things which have been said to be "linked":
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<li>"Violent video games linked to teen violence." This is reported as violent video games causing violence among teenagers. This is wrong. The situation very well could be that violent <a href="/title/teenagers">teenagers</a> are simply more likely to play the games. All<!-- close unclosed tag --></li><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…School uniforms (idea)http://everything2.com/user/Wormer/writeups/School+uniformsWormerhttp://everything2.com/user/Wormer2000-07-17T08:25:43Z2000-07-17T08:25:43ZOne of the stupidest and most simply <em>wrong</em> justifications for school uniforms is that, somehow, they will prevent situations like what happened at <a href="/title/Columbine+High+School">Columbine High School</a>.
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Wrong, wrong, wrong.
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School uniforms are <em>not</em> going to keep people from being abused for years and years. Would the <a href="/title/popular+crowd">popular crowd</a> suddenly stop abusing their chosen targets if those targets suddenly started dressing like them? No. Why? Because the abusers want something to abuse like <a href="/title/politicians">politicians</a> need an <a href="/title/issue">issue</a> to rant on. If they can't abuse on the basis of clothing, they'll abuse on some other basis.
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This is like saying "<a href="/title/violent+video+games">violent video games</a> are <a href="/title/statistically+linked">statistically linked</a> to <a href="/title/school+violence">school violence</a>." <a href="/title/Journalists">Journalists</a> and <a href="/title/politicians">politicians</a> say that something is "<a href="/title/linked">linked</a>" when they want to imply a causal relationship when in fact none exists. For example, with the violent video game issue:
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<li>The people playing <a href="/title/violent+video+games">violent video games</a> could simply be predisposed to <a href="/title/violence">violence</a> already, for whatever reason, and<!-- close unclosed tag --></li><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…