The Rant Thread!! - Page 3

There's a tv commercial that's been showing lately, and far too often. It looks just like a PSA. It acts like a PSA, and it quacks? like a PSA?

It contains little dialog other than the following, with 4 or 5 people posing for group photo:

Get an AID's test [repeat 10 - 15 times at constant interval]

While those 4 words certainly make sense, I wonder what the hell this "thing" is supposed to "encourage" the typical person to do? How does one respond to this monotonous mantra? What do I say at the next cocktail party? These are important questions.


[CENTER]DO NOT GET AIDS[/CENTER]

Damn, I forgot AIDS existed.

Um... I don't get this rant. Obviously the ad is targeting the conscience of those who think they might be at risk but who for some reason are hesitant or too lazy to get tested. Are you saying those people don't exist? Are you also an advocate of "abstinence only" education who pretends teens won't have sex if we don't teach them how to do it safely?

And if you're asking how people who aren't at risk should feel about this ad and what you're "encouraged" to do if you don't think you're at risk, then ask yourself how you feel about a tampon ad and what a tampon ad "encourages" you to do if you're a man.

Do NOT repeat Reagan's mistake about AIDS!

And it's AIDS. Not AID's. I'm absolutely positive the ad doesn't say "Get an AID's test".

There. That's my rant.

That's OK, I was trying to be subtle. Zen, satire, and sarcasim can create slippery humor.

"Obviously the ad is targeting the conscience of those who think they might be at risk but who for some reason are hesitant or too lazy to get tested. Are you saying those people don't exist?"

How could one not know that millions around the world have AIDS? And how many more have it and do not know?

"Are you also an advocate of "abstinence only" education who pretends teens won't have sex if we don't teach them how to do it safely?"

Comment need not be applied to above question.

"And if you're asking how people who aren't at risk should feel about this ad and what you're "encouraged" to do if you don't think you're at risk, then ask yourself how you feel about a tampon ad and what a tampon ad "encourages" you to do if you're a man."

Homer Simpson or Hank Hill can respond to this. I will not.

"Do NOT repeat Reagan's mistake about AIDS!"

Let's hope not.

"And it's AIDS. Not AID's. I'm absolutely positive the ad doesn't say "Get an AID's test"."

Kudos, you get an extra cup of saki before bed tonight.

=========

Tonton,

I was just trying to say that if I had money to create an AIDS awareness PSA that was aimed directly at an American audience. I would be inclinded to include, not only GET AN AIDS TEST, but also something like BE SMART, AIDS CAN BE PREVENTED.

It was the monotonous, beating of the jungle drums, and the take-off of the "aroma therapy" headache remedy sold in the US that got me. Hence, midwinter's "Apply directly to the forhead!" reponse had a double-meaning. If you have not seen this ad, then the rant would not have been understood.

Paz

MLA? We don't need no stinking MLA!!

If I wanted to use Helvetica for every single new formatting palate, I would tell you. Since I change my font to Times New Roman for typing, why would you make a freaking list with numbers in Helvetica. And Tables, and Charts as well. If I choose a freaking font, let me use it instead of sticking me with your gay choice.

Also, If I make a list, allow me to freaking edit the format of the list instead of putting the "3. " as an object of which I cannot change without selecting the whole thing.

Jesus, just spend $150 and get a new monitor. The tube in the older Apple monitor is probably dimmer already.

I've got a 17 ADC LCD in the closet for the exact same reason.

Send that adapter back.

Nick

I meant backlight.

Nick

This thread is gettin' scary...

Ok, to explain a little, I have no problem with people using text/chat speak if I am being texted/chatted too. I don't even mind it all that much if one of my friends uses it in an email, but what I do have a problem with is:
1.) People who use it in actual writing, or in message boards such as this one. I shouldn't have to perform a search to figure out what the 5 letter acronym you're using means. I shouldn't have to know at all. Just write out your freaking words unless it is a private conversation such as a chat.
2.) people who while using text speak, do it poorly. If you're going to take a shortcut to do something, at least do it right. Example: the 'x' can be used to replace a 'cks' or 'ks' or anything that has an ending that sound like that. Fine. Whatever. I have no problem with that. Now, people who use the 'x' to replace something like a 'ck', 'k', or a 'c'. People who say things like 'you sux' or 'you rox' are complete morons who don't know how to conjugate basic second person verbs. 'that sux' is acceptable, but 'you sux' is not. Get it, morons?

Parents who can't/don't control their kid(s). 'Nuff said.

"Steep learning curve." Yes, a steep hill is hard to climb. But a steep learning curve means that you learn something quickly, not slowly. A flat learning curve means something is hard to learn.

I didn't have a rant....now I do. Thanks for helping me contribute.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN 'AIDS TEST'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is a test for HIV which is the virus which might lead to the syndrome of AIDS which itself is diagnosed symptomatically and not by testing.

Just try to imagine that someone put time on the vertical axis, and knowledge gained on the horizontal axis.

And besides, who's to say what direction gravity pulls in an abstract Cartesian coordinate space?

Oh, God. This makes me think of all of the conflicting styles for code formatting used by software engineers.

And while I know that my preferences are pretty much arbitrary, it still really, really bugs me when I see code that's formatted the "wrong" way.

For instance...

if (x == 2)...
while (stillConnected)...
for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i)...

Dammit, there's a space between "if", "while", "for" and the following paren!

if(x == 2)

...looks stupid! But there is NO space in a function call like...

y = Math.sin(x);

Can't you see that...

y = Math.sin (x);

...is all wrong? Spacing for control loops and function calls is different! Don't you idiots understand that!?

(Five minutes later, after regaining consciousness following an apoplectic fit...)

Thank you for listening. Now, don't get me started about where the curly braces go...

Viagra-popping boomer assholes think that by owning a Harley you are now "cool" or a "bad-ass." You're not bad-ass... you're a trendy, middle-aged, overweight, fad-following prick who often just can't wait to show off your "bad-ass biker attitude." Too bad that your bike is usually trailered behind your Escalade, and people who *really* are bikers- and everyone else- are laughing their asses off at you and your "biker mama" (empty-nester former soccer mom) who have the cutest little matching black leather everything.

I bet that most of you were never cool enough in the 60s and 70s to be included, and you have added this pathetic attempt at "hardass" to your repertoire of laughable midlife crisis-management.

You've watched one too many episodes of American Chopper and think that you can get in one last gasp of acceptance and "cool" before Social Security checks and AARP memberships start rolling in. Let it go, crew... no one is impressed with your $20k bike, accessorized to the hilt, or the pair of obvious saps that are mounted on it.

Getting in a group filled with other stock brokers, orthodontists, lawyers, and doctors and riding around on your trailered bikes does not make you cool. It proves that you are still, after all these years, trying to convince people that you are something that we all know you are not.

These yuppie biker pricks can kiss my ass.

Actually I hate every single wannabe "hardass", whether it's the faux biker, the gun-nut, the war-loving armchair general, the psychotic president, the gang member, the abortion clinic bomber... you name it.

But Jay Leno and his ilk are pretty harmless.

Well, I doubt Jay Leno acts like most of the people I am referring to. Alas, I do agree with you on the "wannabe hardass" thing... the world has a deficit of real men, and they've been replaced by millions of faux-bravado, chest thumping weenies that are all bark. And occasionally bite with an armored tank column.

Well I don't much care for the "real" hardass either. I prefer people who fight with diplomacy and coerce with brains rather than brawn.

That is always preferable as a first choice.

Not just the first choice... the second, third, fourth choice, etc.

Violent action should ONLY be the very last choice.

Anyway, I know you agree with me on the action in Iraq up to the decision about what to do next.

Bush did not use diplomacy effectively. He basically said "Saddam you need to submit to the UN completely or I will attack" then attacked full force, without further hesitation, as though he was "itching" to pull that hair-trigger. I'll bet you anything he would have been seriously disappointed had Saddam fully complied.