“I know I can’t speak for everyone - at least not until “The Device” is completed - but surely it’s not just me who’s getting fed up with fantasy. That’s generic-style fantasy, not the personal kinds of fantasy where I’m locked in a small room with a nuclear bomb in a schoolgirl outfit that can only be disarmed with a vigorous spanking. This is precisely my point - the word “fantasy” is supposed to evoke any wondrous scenario the imagination can conjure, but for some reason we keep coming back to the elves and dwarves! Elves and dwarves, elves and dwarves, elves and motherfucking dwarves. Also wizards.”
—I’m not a huge fan of Zero Punctuation but this, for the love of god, THIS.
May 2012
14 posts
Since when did being dumb become cool? And not just dumb, but proud and dumb? Gloriously ignorant?
The people who loudly proclaim they’ve never read a book and never will suddenly enjoy mainstream social acceptance. As well as those who have no interest in traveling abroad, or visiting the “shady part of the town, you know, the one with all the immigrants”.
Grown ass folk who refuse to eat things, just because. Mushrooms are gross, fish is gross, broccoli is gross, yuck, yuck, will not put in my mouth. Then they sit in restaurants, ordering shit dairy and gluten free, without the onions. Not because of actual allergies, mind you, just because.
Maybe it wasn’t that sudden, maybe I just didn’t notice until it was too late. Until I saw the people sitting in the Finnish parliament who openly despise such trivial things as education and manners. Who like to dabble in legislation concerning the Internet without having the first clue of how Internet actually works.
I’m a librarian and I see this shit at work every day. People who can’t do a damn thing for themselves and need help for everything, even if the instructions are RIGHT THERE. And that’s okay, I don’t mind going over it and slowly explaining how stuff works or how to find things or whatnot. But they don’t listen. They make it loud and clear they don’t give a shit about what I’m saying, they just want it done for them. So that the next time they come in, I can do it for them again.
And yet, everyone’s a fucking expert. Because they have an opinion. Because surely everyone’s opinions are equal and just as valuable.
Well let me tell you something, dipshit.
THEY AREN’T.
“
In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points; people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that.
As the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting.
Likewise, it’s certainly possible someone playing at a higher difficulty setting is progressing more quickly than you are, because they had more points initially given to them by the computer and/or their highest stats are wealth, intelligence and constitution and/or simply because they play the game better than you do. It doesn’t change the fact you are still playing on the lowest difficulty setting.
” —John ScalziIt's my only day off this week, after six days of sheer madness at work.
I called my mom and it’s the only damn thing I’m going to do all day.
Can I tell you about my day? Let me tell you about my day.
Okay, so this may be directed mostly at librariansoul because nobody else could truly understand my agony, but the rest of you can just nod and pretend to sympathise.
I’m temping at I library (that I love) and as of today we have a new management system. Like, completely new, totally different than before (I only just received training for it last week). We have also combined our database with those of several neighbouring cities to form one massive library system. The library had to be closed for weeks for this. It’s a big fucking deal.
The management system doesn’t exactly work. I mean, it does, but magazines and newspapers have completely disappeared, the online database for patrons doesn’t work, there are duplicate patrons, the search functions are complete and utter shit… And patrons arrive and want to return the shit-ton of material they took out for when the library was closed, everyone’s info needs to be checked and everyone needs to ask me about a book or reserve something since they can’t do it by themselves online. And I’ve just seen the software for the first time and it’s my first day at a branch library I’d never even visited before.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt this clueless at work. And I get to do it all over again tomorrow.