Random Rants #88: [incoherent screaming]

[Valka D'Ur]

How about something else entirely? A silly Borg song..."We are the Borg" would actually fit well to replace YMCA....

It scans, but how would it fit with the rest of the song? I like to stay as close to the original song as possible, in rhyme, metre, and theme. It's great when some of the original lines fit with the altered version, like my "Doctor Bones McCoy" filk to the tune of "Good King Wenceslaus":

Doctor Bones McCoy looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
Where the food lay 'round about,
Deep and crisp and even.

 

[Sarin]

It scans, but how would it fit with the rest of the song? I like to stay as close to the original song as possible, in rhyme, metre, and theme. It's great when some of the original lines fit with the altered version, like my "Doctor Bones McCoy" filk to the tune of "Good King Wenceslaus":

Doctor Bones McCoy looked out
On the feast of Stephen,
Where the food lay 'round about,
Deep and crisp and even.

Hm...come to think of it, I don't actually know how the song goes probably heard it a few times in passing, but nothing more.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Hm...come to think of it, I don't actually know how the song goes probably heard it a few times in passing, but nothing more.

YMCA or Good King Wenceslaus?

The original version of Good King Wenceslaus starts out:

"Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen
When the snow lay 'round about
Deep and crisp and even"


My version:

"Doctor Bones McCoy looked out
On the feast of Stephen
Where the food lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even"

So you can see that my version and the original are very close, though they tell very different stories (mine is about McCoy discovering that the crew member he's put on a diet has gone off it in a spectacularly overboard way).


As for YMCA, I was familiar with the chorus and a little bit of the first verse, having heard it here and there, and it was used a couple of times by some of the male singles figure skaters in international competition and exhibitions. I've never heard the entire song, but am familiar enough with the melody that I thought I could pull off a decent filk version.

That's a project that's going to take awhile, though.

 

[Sarin]

I meant YMCA.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

A person of culture I see

Acoustics matter just for ordinary conversation. Tinnitus is a problem I've had for years, so even when there's silence otherwise, for me it's never silent. This can interfere with my perception of what other people are saying, and it really doesn't help if there's an echo. Carpet helps deaden the echoes, and my walking around, arranging the furniture, and Maddy's running around (she's found her favorite mouse toy and has been batting it all around the apartment) won't annoy whoever lives below me.

Not of hygiene though. What most people don't realize is that carpets are utterly dirty. No matter how hard to vacuum them or clean in any other way, they'll always be dirty. You'll notice when you need to rip one out once. If I got the chance to pick between carpet vs. no carpet, I'd always go for no carpet.

There's a very practical reason for keeping the carpet. If I let them rip it all out and install laminate flooring like they do with all other "classic suites" they renovate after they're vacant, it means I am considered to have "upgraded" and they jack up the rent. By keeping most of the carpet, the single kitchen sink (I told them I need counter space more than yet another sink), the original lighting in the kitchen/dining room, and not getting the fancy new stove (I said they could put in the fancy fridge if they wanted, since one thing isn't enough of an upgrade to trigger the rent increase), it's saving me $$$$.

I have a carpet rake, am in the process of deciding on a new vacuum cleaner (the one I have now is at least 3rd hand with no attachments, and I really need one that will work on more than just the floor), and I haven't taken advantage of the free carpet cleaning I should have had after my third year of being a tenant here (I've been here 7 years, and in all that time nobody told me about the free carpet cleaning; I've been paying for that myself).

 

[The_J]

Staying at home today, seems I caught a cold over the weekend .
And really, there's one day where it's not 30°C, and I get sick, really ?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

The milk went bad before the best-before date.

 

[EgonSpengler]

So this city inspector calls this morning about something that needed to be removed from the property last Spring. He says he's received multiple recent complaints from neighbors - I asked him, point blank, "recently?" and he said "yes" - and that if it's not done by tomorrow, he's taking the issue to court. I'm thinking, "WTH, I thought that was taken care of months ago" and I'm getting ready to throw the maintenance guy under the bus. The city inspector emailed me a copy of the complaint, and not only is the complaint dated [flipping] February, the eyesore in question is long gone. I double-checked with the maintenance guy, and I was right, he took care of it back in March (I'm glad I didn't get all up in his face about it ). The guy from the city asked me to send him a photo to prove the work's been done, but now I'm thinking he can just get up off his lazy, confrontational [butt] and take a look for himself. Donkey.

Also, some sloppy journalism in The Washington Post this morning, confusing the events in Kenosha and the events in Portland.

 

[r16]

a thing to remember about New everywhere is their confidence about the power of electronics aka rather avoid leaving trace of calling officials stuff ...

 

[thecrazyscot]

The milk went bad before the best-before date.

You should write a sternly worded physical letter and throw their customer service for a loop.

 

[amadeus]

AMADEUS CONSOLIDATED MILK CO., LTD
OSAKA, JAPAN

DEAR SIR OR MADAM,

REGARDING YOUR COMPLAINT #15894894 WE HAVE DETERMINED WE ARE --NOT-- AT FAULT. TECHNICALLY, WHAT IS PRINTED ON OUR CARTONS IS TRUE: THE MILK YOU PURCHASED WAS INDEED "BEST BEFORE" THE PRINTED DATE.

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PATRONAGE.

 

[Commodore]

So this city inspector calls this morning about something that needed to be removed from the property last Spring. He says he's received multiple recent complaints from neighbors - I asked him, point blank, "recently?" and he said "yes" - and that if it's not done by tomorrow, he's taking the issue to court. I'm thinking, "WTH, I thought that was taken care of months ago" and I'm getting ready to throw the maintenance guy under the bus. The city inspector emailed me a copy of the complaint, and not only is the complaint dated [flipping] February, the eyesore in question is long gone. I double-checked with the maintenance guy, and I was right, he took care of it back in March (I'm glad I didn't get all up in his face about it ). The guy from the city asked me to send him a photo to prove the work's been done, but now I'm thinking he can just get up off his lazy, confrontational [butt] and take a look for himself. Donkey.

This kind of crap is exactly why I call non-military government jobs "job welfare". Government jobs are for incompetent people that would otherwise be unemployable in the private sector.

 

[Synobun]

This kind of crap is exactly why I call non-military government jobs "job welfare". Government jobs are for incompetent people that would otherwise be unemployable in the private sector.

Don't you contract guards from the private sector and complain weekly about how incompetent they are?

 

[Commodore]

Don't you contract guards from the private sector and complain weekly about how incompetent they are?

And the city won't dump the company because they are the cheapest option. So again, it's the government providing job welfare to the incompetent. The corporate security jobs I had in the past would have allowed me to kick this company to the curb a long time ago, regardless of how cheap they are.

EDIT: I also went to work for the city specifically because I assumed, correctly, that I could sit back and be a lazy piece of crap without consequence and still get paid decently to do it. I put in less than half of the effort I put into my corporate jobs and the people I report to think I'm just the cat's pajamas. What does that tell you about how good government is at spotting real talent?

 

[Lexicus]

And the city won't dump the company because they are the cheapest option. So again, it's the government providing job welfare to the incompetent. The corporate security jobs I had in the past would have allowed me to kick this company to the curb a long time ago, regardless of how cheap they are.

And the reason the city has to go with the cheapest option is because if the city government raises taxes to pay for better they'll be branded Communists and voted out promptly?

 

[Synobun]

EDIT: I also went to work for the city specifically because I assumed, correctly, that I could sit back and be a lazy piece of crap without consequence and still get paid decently to do it. I put in less than half of the effort I put into my corporate jobs and the people I report to think I'm just the cat's pajamas. What does that tell you about how good government is at spotting real talent?

Is this a trick question? Do you really want to tell us you're a ne'er-do-well?

"I'm terrible and the government thinks I'm great, what does that tell you?"

Kamikaze by words.

 

[Commodore]

And the reason the city has to go with the cheapest option is because if the city government raises taxes to pay for better they'll be branded Communists and voted out promptly?

No, they raise taxes all the time. They just choose to spend that money on all their little pet causes instead of on things they need. City Hall itself is almost 200 years old and is in really bad shape, but the city refuses to spend the money to fix the place up. They always say they don't have the money, but they'll blow millions on a street car system that actually costs the city more money to maintain than it generates. Or they'll spend millions more on "revitalizing" the banks district in an attempt to turn it into an entertainment hotspot, only to have most of the businesses they spent so much money to attract either close their doors or move across the river to Kentucky within a few years.

 

[Farm Boy]

Hiya Commodore! <waves> We usually just say "good enough for government work" when we get a stupid mandate. Then try and go about making things work from the bottom. It's called low control, high accountability, and it's pretty common in pink collar jobs or highly bureaucratic ones everywhere.

Around here we always seem to send our dumbest primary school kids into the military too(with the occasional exception of a pilot that was good at geometry) , but we usually have the grace not to say it out loud. <winks>

 

[Commodore]

Around here we always seem to send our dumbest primary school kids into the military too(with the occasional exception of a pilot that was good at geometry) , but we usually have the grace not to say it out loud. <winks>

Dumb by what measure? Because joining the military is actually a pretty smart move in the US seeing as soldiers and veterans are one of the most privileged classes of people in the US if they take full advantage of the benefits the government offers them. So while all those "smart" college grads work as baristas for minimum wage while living in rented apartments they can't afford or go back to live with mommy and daddy and defaulting on their student loans, those "dumb" soldiers are getting hired into decent jobs, starting businesses and buying houses because the government provides benefits that make it a lot easier for veterans to do those things than the average citizen.

 

[Farm Boy]

Most of the measures!

The smart ones that knew the right people went straight to trades.

Plenty of smart ones went to service if they didn't know the right people too. But the recruiters scythe through here.