Sarah’s Thought Menagerie

What's the best April Fools' Day prank you've ever had pulled on you?
Courtesy of Team Vox.

Nice. Good one! You certainly did 'get' me, hee hee!

This whole day has been a series of really great April Fools' pranks, and this one is no exception!

When I came in to work today, for example, I went to look at the schedule like I always do, to see what show I would be doing, to see who called out, and just generally to see what's going on. And I see people down to do jobs they don't ordinarily do like, trainees doing director jobs and directors doing chyron or camera, and our boss was even down to do prompter. It was great, they totally got me! Got a lot of us, hee hee! Good stuff. :)

Unscrupulous was the thought that ran thru mind, riding the bus. Different people. Eyes all around. Motion sickness...

More bad news - I just heard from a Vox-er in the UK that LiveJournal's influence in Russia, and SUP's takeover of LiveJournal might spell really, really bad news for Russians on LJ.

For those of you who don't know, LiveJournal is to Russia what MySpace is to the States. Add that to LiveJournal's users here in the States and you've got an audience that only appears in MySpace's dreams.

To read more about this, please check out Karl's post here on Vox about it. Read it, get educated - and pass the word.

Ooph ... sorry 'bout that title. I totally stole this from Everyone Loves an Irish Girl's blog here on Vox:

Here's the link to the original story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/7204543.stm

Dog-lead goths 'hounded off bus'
Chain male goth Dani Graves and Tasha Maltby, Picture Ross Parry A goth who leads his girlfriend around with a dog lead and collar was stopped from getting on a bus amid fears for passenger safety, a bus firm confirmed. Dani Graves, 25, and his fiancee Tasha Maltby, 19, of Dewsbury, West Yorks, claim they have been discriminated against by bus firm Arriva Yorkshire. The black-clad couple said they had been told to leave one bus and prevented from boarding another. The bus firm said safety came first, but it was investigating the complaint. Mr Graves told BBC Look North: "We're used to strange looks, we're used to comments. "But we didn't expect it from someone like that. They're providing a public service. We had our bus passes, we did everything that you are supposed to do to get on a bus." Miss Maltby said she came up with the idea to wear a dog lead, and said previous boyfriends had called her a "weirdo" when she suggested it. She's very animal like, she's kind of like a pet, as well as a partner Dani Graves The couple said they "loved each other to pieces" and the use of the lead was a "sign of trust". Mr Graves said: "She's very animal like, she's kind of like a pet, as well as a partner." He said he "does everything" for his girlfriend, including laying out clothes for her, feeding her and cleaning their house. He said: "You wouldn't expect your cat or dog to do the washing up or cleaning round the house." Firm apology Bus operator Arriva claimed other passengers could be put at risk if the bus braked sharply. Operations director for Arriva Yorkshire, Paul Adcock, said: "Arriva takes any allegation of discrimination very seriously and have interviewed the driver regarding Mr Graves' claims. "Our primary concern is passenger safety and while the couple are very welcome to travel on our buses, we are asking that Miss Maltby remove her dog lead before boarding the bus. "It could be dangerous for the couple and other passengers if a driver had to brake sharply while Miss Maltby was wearing the lead." The company said it was writing to Mr Graves "to apologise for any distress caused by the way this matter was handled".

Recently there has been a business decision - made by "management" aka SUP, the current owners of LiveJournal - to get rid of Basic (formerly "free") Accounts. Many have spoken out against this decision, including LiveJournal's advisory board, but management essentially turned a deaf ear on all of them and went ahead with the decision anyway. That was Wednesday, March 12.

Management then proceeded to put a spin on their decision, in the form of a comment left by the VP of Product Development for LiveJournal, Jason Shellen, on the original news post, as an "answer" (I use the term lightly, dear readers) to the outcry from those thousands of LiveJournal users (including members of the advisory board whose counsel went unheeded by management) who reacted to the news bit. Just read some of the comments there and you get the picture of what's going on very clearly. That was March 13.

Just hours after that "answer" was posted, SUP issued another, formal news item solely as a response to all the negativity they encountered from the original post. Read it and the comments that follow, especially the first comment titled, "worst. idea. ever." which has links to the posts made by a couple of LJ's advisory board members, and you will see that LiveJournal is about to become the next victim in the long, long history of small businesses that get sold out to big companies that have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.

Here's my editorial: The more I think about, the more I want to blame Brad Fitzpatrick for selling the company in the first place. And yet I don't blame him, all at the same time. He's got bills to pay, dreams to pursue, and in all honesty he probably had the best interests of LJ users at the front of his own business decisions the whole time. How was he supposed to know he signed a deal with the devil? Many times in life we get swindled - we get taken for a ride. And I think that's what has happened to Brad Fitzpatrick. I don't know Mr. Fitzpatrick from Adam, but I'm not stupid, I see what's going on here. LiveJournal is in the middle of a political debacle right now, one that many don't see any hope that it will survive.

One thing I can say for sure: SUP are a bunch of snakes, slithering, hissing, corporate snakes. The very worst kind, the Enron kind.

Beware - and stay far, far away if you can!

I'm stuck @ TiresPlus waiting for car to get fixed. So I'm posting to my blogs via cell phone. Good TV at least.

How far from your last home do you live? Why did you move and are you glad you did? 
Submitted by Matthew 25.

Just over 1400 miles. I moved to be with the man who is now my husband, and also to get out of the city I was living in, which although it was lovely, it was also very lonely. I had no family, no friends closer than the friends you keep at work, certainly no 'best' friends, and for romance only a very short-lived one with someone who wanted to keep me a secret from his friends, associates and family. I had moved to the last place I lived because of the job, but ... turns out that when the ONLY thing you've got going for you is more money, it really isn't much at all. A good-paying job does not equal good friends or deep, committed relationships.

So in that regard, yes, I'm glad I moved. On the other hand I'm now even further away from my family than I was at the last place, too far for a day drive by car. And that makes me not glad I moved. But I have many good friends here, a man who loves me more than anything, no matter what, and a job that although it didn't start out too well, ultimately gave me the chance to spread my wings and expand my horizons, and make a difference in people's lives. What more could a person ask for?

Book:  Show us a great coffee table book.  

 

The Star Trek Encyclopedia

Michael Okuda

Yep, you read right: cash for grades. It is an experiment about to get underway in New York City's poorest minority neighborhoods which proposes to reward kids who get good grades with cold, hard cash.

What the hell is wrong with our country!!! What the hell is wrong with the people that came up with that idea!!! "Those against the plan say it's outrageous." You're damn right that's outrageous!!! Since when!!! Since when do we associate the learning process with being a business transaction!!! What we will be teaching these kids is NOT the 3 R's, but we'll be teaching them that anything worthwhile in life has $$$ attached.

We will be breeding a cold, hard-hearted generation who will only see things in terms of it's monetary value and personal gain AND THAT IS WRONG! No good can come from this!!

OUTRAGEOUS!!! This must be stopped. No good can come from this whatsoever. The article in the link above cites middle- and upper-class parents who reward their kids with cash for good grades, or a trip to a nice restaurant AND I SAY THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY!!! We need to dispense with the idea that good grades earn money - and focus instead on improving our schools, improving our parenting, and improving health care, ONLY THEN will we be able to evolve into a higher form, only then will we truly be able to help other countries less fortunate on us! Get it straight!!!

LEARNING SHOULD HAPPEN FOR THE SAKE OF LEARNING.

Cash for grades: this must be stopped!!

Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman

Tonight I saw Braveheart for the first time. I can't believe I've never seen it before. My husband and our roommate raved about it ... despite that I was skeptical, but soon discovered they were right. They were more than right. That ranks right up there with The Fountain in my book. I was absolutely floored when I saw Mel Gibson also directed it.

This movie forced me to revisit my opinion about Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Braveheart really dwarfs that movie. I must confess Braveheart has now taken over the Top Movie of All Time spot in my heart. (Sorry, Alan Rickman.) I would have loved to have seen Alan Rickman in Braveheart. It's too bad he wasn't, but oh well.

What a remarkable movie. What a truly amazing and remarkable movie Braveheart is. I am so glad my husband forced me to watch it. More and more I am growing to trust his taste in movies. ^.-