Saturday, March 03, 2007

Volcanic

I’ve Had Enough Of:


UNENLIGHTENED ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEX.


This one speaks for itself, but I have a recent example. In the latest New Scientist, there is a comment upon plans in Texas to blanket-vaccinate pre-pubescent girls against several types of HPV. The argument was that increased testing services would be more cost-effective in terms of saving lives, but that’s not what I want to dispute. I want to talk about the “heat from religious groups and concerned parents” stemming from the proposed immunization policy. Before you scroll to the bottom of this post, and make the obligatory comments (ie. “Parents/Religious groups will NEVER learn”) let it be known that I am aware of this situation. I don’t expect those two sorts of people to condone the proper course of action. I DO expect that someone will eventually find a way to muzzle them, and get on with what must be done.


I doubt that most parents are ecstatic at the prospect of their child(ren) exploring their sexuality. I’m not the only one who sees the only real answer: remove the ‘experimentation’, by giving children detailed, complete information. I’m sure it can be proven that young adults who have had extensive sexual education will not only be more responsible in their choices (which is what parents SHOULD want, because I sincerely doubt you can stop teens from following their, uhhh....noses, yeah.), but those individuals will also enjoy their first experiences more. Anyhow, I’m sure I’ve said this before, but every time I hear something about know-nothing jackasses trying to raise children in ignorance, it makes me furious!


Encouraging young people not to have sex is one thing. Leaving them unprotected because they “shouldn’t be having sex” is criminal neglegence, to my mind. Vaccinations, tests, access to contraception, it doesn’t matter to me how the protection angle is handled. I just wish grown-ups would stop acting like children.


APPLE “PC vs. MAC adds”


Ok, I’m not going to waste time on this one:


    5. PC is not synonomous with Windows

    4. 3rd party software can do most things OSX can do, oftentimes for free

    3. Macs don't get malware because they don't have enough market share

    2. If Macs are for fun, where are the fucking Mac games?

    1. You can't really upgrade a Mac.



DRAMA (the sort which is liable to strike within social circles)


I'm not sure if I mean this one. For all the strife it brings, it can certainly be amusing...but then very often it isn't. All in all, it's at least something to talk about, something to work through. As if we didn't have enough puzzles to solve anyhow. Right now I am leaning towards the side of “not a good thing”, mostly because of certain events on the way home today. Being less of an active participant, I'm not going to speculate, but suffice it to say I have a bad feeling about this. More later, if anything comes of “this thing”.


That's it for tonight. I'll be on the lookout for more to rage about tomorrow. I think it's a David Warren day in the paper on Saturdays, so the outlook on that front is pretty good.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

You were baiting me with this and you know it:

5. PC is not synonomous with Windows

To the general public, mon ami, you are WRONG. To the general public, PC = Windows. These (stupid) ads are targeted to... who? Again, the general public.

4. 3rd party software can do most things OSX can do, oftentimes for free.

This is why 3PS is f-ing awesome. Using a Mac does NOT make it impossible to use anything other than Mac software. *rolls eyes* (Also, you said most. =P Need I say more about that little slight?) And again, the general public isn't exactly the smartest when it comes to these things...

3. Macs don't get malware because they don't have enough market share

Who cares why they don't get malware? (although there have been a few instances that I've heard of and you're right as to the reason) The point is: They don't get malware.

2. If Macs are for fun, where are the fucking Mac games?

I agree 100%. Although iLife is pretty damn fun. Life's not all games, after all. Anyways, here's the standard Mac-user answer: you can boot Windows on a Mac. And that's great and it works, sure, but I find it slows speed just a tad so... My answer - own two computers. Then again, I would anyway...

1. You can't really upgrade a Mac.

There's nothing to say to this, except that essentially, you are right. You can deal with it by again, having two computers. Although I do believe the Mac Pro's have a bit of flexibility here... but I don't know - I've never actually had my hands on one. Oh, and again. The general public has no idea how to upgrade.



All that said, I despise the Mac vs. PC ads. They torture me. Don't blame the product for the advertising... =)

And about the Texas thing: it's really none of what you mentioned that bugs me. What bugs me are the people who go - "Getting the HPV vaccine tells kids sex is OK." - 1) Sex is ok. 2) It says nothing of the sort. I mean, unless it also prevents all the other STI's and is birth control too? Wouldn't that be nice?

This is too fucking long. I'm too fucking tired. Later...

GoldMatenes said...

Stupid choppy net connection...

Vaccination:

Sex isn't wrong. Sex isn't even not wrong. Sex is right, if done so. Flu shot causes you to discuss flu with your doctor, ergo...

PC vs. Mac:

Whatever. However, the Vista one is spot on: Vista forces you to authorise every action and may or may not give you that merciful 'always allow' checkbox.

Drama:

Drama is annoying. Everyone feels down, no one is satisfied, everything is awkward. This could be remedied through communication, but that would require people to open up to each other, and in today's cut-throat world of Survivor and comparing everything, that could mean you might get let down or stabbed in the back. Of course, that's self-fulfilling, isn't it?

In conclusion, arduous work shifts plus exhaustion plus drama does not a happy wolf make.

Anonymous said...

I like the Texas Governor's comment, though: "And I suppose if they invented a cure fore lung cancer, these people would claim it encourages smoking." Amen to that.

Also: Stupid! Lack! Of! Mac! Games!

Anonymous said...

Sex is beyond amazing. I am totally in favour of sex.

You're totally going to love OWL this weekend, because *everyone* thinks this way!

I agree about the vaccines. Informed teens are not more likely to have sex, but those who do are more likely to have SAFE sex. That's why proper education is so important. And what we get in school doesn't even come close to decent. That's why I teach sex ed outside of school. I was thinking of trying to run some sort of sexual and reproductive health day at school, but I don't think administration would like it very much.

Anonymous said...

Laur: We were over this a couple times on the bus to Montreal, so you know most of my thoughts on the matter already, but to sum up: I think it's wrong to assert that information doesn't make someone more likely to have sex. Yes, people will have sex regardless. Yes, information is a good thing. But still, if you take sex-ed classes, you are more likely to have sex. It seems to me that denying that is giving up the great advantage of the informed: telling the truth.

As gold said, sex is right if done correctly. So why bother to defend against the allegation that information makes people have sex? That just gives in to the assertion that sex is wrong.

Texas governor, co. Zyzzyva: And if they did, they wouldn't necessarily be wrong. The difference is that smoking is bad for you in other ways. Sex, on the other hand, is a positive thing if done correctly.

Xamed: About mac malware: the difference between not getting malware because the system is protected and not getting malware because no one wants to write it is that when someone does, you still get malware. And when you do, the system can handle it even less than my bug-ridden PC, with 8 million free virus removal tools at its disposal.

Anonymous said...

Also, curse the lack of ability to edit my comments, but I just thought it would be worth letting you know that it's kind of sad that you haven't been posting recently. Your blog is generally awesome, and to see it succumb to the power of overwork and cut-off internet connections is unfortunate.

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