Random Chatter

[JFierce]

Going through old boxes of shit. Found a gameshark for N64, a book of cheat codes from 2001, and a How to Draw MORE Manga book, I don't even know where that came from.



Looking through the book good fucking lord...... this is hysterical.

[Star Eater]

and a How to Draw MORE Manga book, I don't even know where that came from.

Don't lie J. I found this post from last year

I just bought How to Draw MORE Manga. I'm dedicating my entire artistic energy to the lessons in this book.
Fuck you Loomis and fuck life studies. I'm already planning on making my own anime film. It's about a lone teenager who discovers
he is actually a mystical warrior and goes on a quest with a cute catgirl and a fat bumbling sidekick.

Also I have asked the staff to change my name to GokuNaruto666. Still waiting.

[JFierce]

Damn I thought I hid that post?! Now someones going to steal my awesome story.
Oh and you guys got the screen name wrong I wanted it to be XxGokuNarut0666xX

[JFierce]

My parents and their friends are sitting around chatting. They start talking about Hostess going out of business. Start going into how unions are at fault for running the business into the ground with their ridiculous demands. That they should be happy to just have a job.

I don't know any of the details of the situation I keep my mouth shut. Takes all of 2 seconds to search later and see the Executives of Hostess in 2012 raised their salary by around 300%. The CEO went from 740k to 2.5+mil.


"Oh well.... to keep the company afloat and so you keep your jobs we're going to have to cut your pension or salary. But..... yeah we're going to raise our own salaries by unheard of amounts. Deal with it or get the fuck out. Not like we care we're multi millionaires we'll be fine hahahahah".



That's the mentality of corporate America now, this shit is happening a lot in recent years. Good lord this fucking country

[Spellsword95]

I'd say that it's happening all over the world. Once you get a shitload of green-printed-presidents, you'll crave for even more of them. Greed and selfishness is in our nature.
Not in every one of us, though, there was a Antique Greek philosopher who lived in barrel and had nothing personal but a wooden bowl. Which he threw away when he saw a girl eating soup from a bowl made of stale bread. Then he thought that he don't need his own bowl at all, because he can make it from bread, and threw it away.

[Kamber Parrk]

I've been reading my way through the works of Ernest Hemingway as of late. The following quote is disturbing imagery of a duck that I haven't been able to get out of my mind for several days:

“In front of the barn a woman held a duck whose throat she had cut and stroked him gently while a little girl held up a cup to catch the blood for making gravy. The duck seemed very contented and when they put him down (the blood all in the cup) he waddled twice and found that he was dead. We ate him later, stuffed and roasted . . . .”

from Death In the Afternoon, 1932.

[keeptime]

That sort of made me laugh to be honest. Never read the work of Hemingway, but I might have to now. One of the most disturbing images I read was in a book called "Little Girls In Pretty Boxes" by Joan Ryan, about elite female gymnasts and the culture/pressure surrounding them from the time they're very young. For context, watch this video of the Yurchenko. It's pretty risky because you have to hit all the right marks blind, and a few inches off on the springboard can completely mess up a move.

"...Julissa [Gomez] took off. ... When she popped upright out of her roundoff with her back to the horse, she was slightly out of control, so slightly that the untrained eye wouldn't have noticed. Her left foot landed on the springboard, but her right food slipped off the back and plunged to the floor. Her body jerked as if she had stepped off a curb unexpectedly. Every instinct told her not to pull out of the trick. Keep going, her coaches always told her, because she could hurt herself worse by balking. ... But she had no lift. Her head didn't clear the top of the horse. She crashed full speed, forehead first, into the side of the horse. Her neck snapped. The forced of the vault carried her body over the horse. She flopped to the mat like a shot bird."

That last sentence still gives me the creeps. Naturally I was in bed trying to fall asleep when I was reading this too. The whole book is a big cringe-fest, but really interesting if you're into athletics, sports politics, or children/women in sports.

[JFierce]

Replying on my little topic above. For me I think more often than not greed comes more from those who have never had to struggle without money. Because they have no perspective on what it's like.


750k a year? Fuck I've seen people live great lives with 100k a year. If I owned a company and was making enough to live well beyond comfortable I'd take my salary, make sure my other execs weren't overpaid and start investing into the workers.

If you live in an economy where the average worker can barely afford to live yet alone spend of course the economy is going to suck. I don't even know much about economics like some who might be educated on the details. But it seems pretty simple that if people don't buy then things go downhill.

[Atreides]

You're right. One conceptual model of the economy is that of a money river. Companies draw money out of society's collective money stream, take a little profit and then most of the money goes back into the river for recirculation when the company's employees spend their paycheques and the government spends their tax.

What we're seeing now is a transition form labor intensive to capital intensive industry. Due to automation and streamlined processes companies are able to make more money with fewer employees. Mcdonald's has 400,00 employees, google has 20,000. So not only are there fewer jobs, there is less money going back into recirculation through wages and payroll taxes, thus diminishing the money stream available for society to fund the development of new products, services and industries.

That's the real 99%-1% thing. The rich driving their corporate hirelings to suck too much money out of society without putting enough back into circulation.

[Velocity Kendall]

Israel vs Palastine 2012
Current score
Isreali: two people were seriously injured, with 10 moderately or lightly hurt.
Palastinian: 72 dead including several children and toddlers.

another wonderful result for isreal, well done them

[Kamber Parrk]

It's not going to end well for Gaza. The last time Israel launched a ground war over 1400 Gazans were killed. Acquiring Iranian Fajr-5 missiles and shooting them at Tel Aviv was not one of the smarter things Hamas has ever done. That escalated the situation far beyond the previous status quo.

[Star Eater]

Fuck man, freelancers get taxed so hard in SA. Going to be making some serious claims this year.

[dpaint]

Fuck man, freelancers get taxed so hard in SA. Going to be making some serious claims this year.

Same in the USA, they're upping the Employment tax to 12.4% with no deductions. As a freelancer I'm self employed and so pay the tax. Add to that 5 % state tax, 5% sales tax, 35 % fed tax. The gubberment gets 57 cents of every dollar I make. If I made more or less I wouldn't pay as much but because I am in middle, I'm in the highest tax bracket.

[keeptime]

Yesterday I was working in the campus art gallery. A couple comes in to ask me some questions about the art program here and whether their daughter would be a good fit for it. Over the course of the conversation it becomes fairly clear that this is a very rich artsy family who can afford to do whatever they want for their kids ("You want to go to Italy to see the Renaissance paintings? Sure, let's get on a plane tomorrow!"). I directed them to the school's art building, and later on they came back to say good-bye. The mom comes up to me and says "While I was there I got a phone call from my daughter. OCAD called her and said she doesn't need to do a portfolio interview, she can be admitted directly". I had to try and explain to her how impressive it is to be accepted to such a prestigious art school with one glance at her work, all the while wondering what the hell a 17 year old is producing that blew the faculty's minds so thoroughly and how I could steal her talent.

[JFierce]

Crazy what graphics are at video game wise today. I still remember Atari and just 2 color pixels.

100 Mods running at once in Skyrim. Pretty nice looking for such an expansive game.
Switch to HD when watching of course though. Always loved how some games do water.



Funny how much things have change in just a decade alone.

[Wooly ESS]

I've been reading my way through the works of Ernest Hemingway as of late. The following quote is disturbing imagery of a duck that I haven't been able to get out of my mind for several days:

“In front of the barn a woman held a duck whose throat she had cut and stroked him gently while a little girl held up a cup to catch the blood for making gravy. The duck seemed very contented and when they put him down (the blood all in the cup) he waddled twice and found that he was dead. We ate him later, stuffed and roasted . . . .”

from Death In the Afternoon, 1932.

Hemingway will do that to you.

[JDSart]

Since disturbing imaginery has been brought up, dont mind me leaving this little jewel here.

The beheaded chicken by Horacio Quiroga

[Psychotime]

Speaking of poultry, anyone ever try to save money by killing their own turkey?

I think this was in 2006 or so. My folks knew someone that knew someone that could get us a live turkey from a local farm really cheap.

We brought the smug bastard (no really, that turkey was a stubborn jerk) back to the house, got an old axe and a cinderblock from the shed, and tried to kill him right there under the carport.

I say TRIED, because there was a problem: The axe was dull, and we ended up with the poor guy was rhythmically shooting out of his half-open neck, desperately flapping his wings while we held him down. We finally managed to get his head off after 5 or so more chops that felt like they were minutes apart. It had to have been horrible for him.

Yeah, we never did that ever again.

I can't even remember what he tasted like.

[Januz]

Speaking of poultry, anyone ever try to save money by killing their own turkey?

I think this was in 2006 or so. My folks knew someone that knew someone that could get us a live turkey from a local farm really cheap.

We brought the smug bastard (no really, that turkey was a stubborn jerk) back to the house, got an old axe and a cinderblock from the shed, and tried to kill him right there under the carport.

I say TRIED, because there was a problem: The axe was dull, and we ended up with the poor guy was rhythmically shooting out of his half-open neck, desperately flapping his wings while we held him down. We finally managed to get his head off after 5 or so more chops that felt like they were minutes apart. It had to have been horrible for him.

Yeah, we never did that ever again.

I can't even remember what he tasted like.

Tastes like FEAR... yum yum
(actually I don't think I could have eaten him after seeing that)

[Black Spot]

When I lived in Nigeria, my friend next door's brother tried to kill one on the chicken they kept for dinner. The neck was only half severed when the chicken managed to get away running around with its head flopping about. It wasn't long before it was recaptured and dispatched. Didn't bother me at all at 7 years old.

I was more bothered when the neighbours the other side slit the throat of their goat. After complaining to my mother, who said she couldn't do anything, I went back to watch them shave and skin it.

[JDSart]

A pig being killed the old fashion way is not a pretty sight. You watch the squeling pathetic thing bleeding out on a bucket until it is no more. But the meat of home raised pork is the best thing ever. Is a bittersweet experience. The blood sausages dear lord, so good

[Psychotime]

A pig being killed the old fashion way is not a pretty sight. You watch the squeling pathetic thing bleeding out on a bucket until it is no more. But the meat of home raised pork is the best thing ever. Is a bittersweet experience. The blood sausages dear lord, so good

Ugh. I don't think I could ever do that. With the turkey, the only noise he made was the flapping of his wings. Maybe we got off lucky and...the first chop prevented him from making any noise...I feel bad, now.

I've heard that pigs have the same amount of intelligence as dogs, and some people keep them as legitimate pets. If I owned pig, I'd never eat pork ever again.

Tastes like FEAR... yum yum
(actually I don't think I could have eaten him after seeing that)

Killing it's the easy part. Gutting him is even worse. It's not a pleasant smell, and the turkey himself smelled bad enough when he was alive. When you dunk the body in boiling water to get the feathers out, watch your nose.

We didn't eat him on the same day after all that. We just put him in the freezer for about a month. It took a while, but I'm still able to enjoy turkey. I just like to think the stuff you pick up at the grocery store had a quick death.

I remembered seeing something on Travel Channel about an eastern country where they eat octopus live. I might find the video. With the small ones they wrap the poor thing around chopsticks and then they go right into your mouth before they know what's happening.

Then in Korea, you get a plate of them dismembered into bits, still moving on your plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asSMruqEZCQ

I love octopus, but I think that's just plain evil. Same with boiling lobsters alive.

[JDSart]

Also pigs are castrated when their young as i´ve been told, because of reasons.
I don´t fancy them, i wouldn´t keep one as a pet but them dying like that is still very dramatic. The ones at the factory are likely to be killed faster but their lives are not as good, home raised ones do pretty well until that particular momment.

I wouldn´t really kill an animal to eat either, but its not like haven´t seen it or know how its like. My dad doesn´t mind , he used to breed some animals for eating but the time of my grandparents was different, there´s no real need to gut your own poutlry or to be breaking rabbit necks on this day and age. At least if you live in the city, once you step outside is chickens walking around on every little town, the DIY attitude towards meat is still very much a t i´d

I rather have my octopus cooked but wathever floats their boat.

[Star Eater]

Can we rather not have vids of live animals being eaten in the Random Chatter thread?

[Psychotime]

Understood. Removed the "video" tags, so now it's just a link.

[keeptime]

Speaking of dead animals, tomorrow I get a tour of the veterinary college's anatomy lab! Hopefully they'll let me get a hand in cleaning and preserving animal skeletons instead of just showing me around. Apparently this isn't the first time an art student has wanted access to the lab, and the professor is more than happy to cross the barrier between humanities and sciences. He was even lamenting the fact that there's not enough hours in a day to start an animal anatomy course for artists with real animal bodies.

I'm also waiting on hearing back from someone who might be able to teach me the art of taxidermy. I'm really excited to give all of this a try. At best it'll give me a chance to look at anatomy in detail and help my art, at worst I'll have some cheap and cool new room decorations.

[Star Eater]

Speaking of dead animals, tomorrow I get a tour of the veterinary college's anatomy lab! Hopefully they'll let me get a hand in cleaning and preserving animal skeletons instead of just showing me around. Apparently this isn't the first time an art student has wanted access to the lab, and the professor is more than happy to cross the barrier between humanities and sciences. He was even lamenting the fact that there's not enough hours in a day to start an animal anatomy course for artists with real animal bodies.

I'm also waiting on hearing back from someone who might be able to teach me the art of taxidermy. I'm really excited to give all of this a try. At best it'll give me a chance to look at anatomy in detail and help my art, at worst I'll have some cheap and cool new room decorations.

Had a tour of medical college labs, it was fantastic.

My wifes firm is in the papers today

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/...or-hurt-player

[Kamber Parrk]

Having inadvertently hijacked JFierce’s Hostess ruminations with slaughtered animal reflections, I’ll go back to the Twinkie bankruptcy because it’s interesting.

Self-loathing libertarian and contrarian that I tend to be, I’ll take the anti-union position here.

The 18,500 workers at Hostess were represented by TWO unions—Teamsters and BCTGM. BCTGM represented only 6,600 of the workers. The remainder were represented by Teamsters and a small portion were non-union.

The Teamsters had paid analysts that indicated a strike would take Hostess down and place it into a liquidation bankruptcy resulting in a layoff of the 18,500. Thus, Teamsters was playing ball with management and the MAJORITY of rank and file workers did not want a strike.

BCTGM went on strike. Hostess fell into liquidation bankruptcy. The layoff of 18,500 workers will progress over the next 4 months.

As a nod to JFierce, the compensation packages for the top Officers in Hostess, given the road they were on reeks of total arrogance.

But, the fat-cat union bosses over at the BCTGM are continuing to collect their 6-figure salaries and perks on the backs of 18,500 people they helped put on the road to unemployment.

[keeptime]

My tour of the anatomy labs included seeing a real elephant femur, a preserved horse head chopped in half with all the muscles/organs still inside, and tons of other crazy things. I need to change my major to one that lets me play with animals without the pesky business of keeping them alive.

[JDSart]

I find funny how some teachers in art classes share the same rehashed advice to other people like "well, you have to do your own thing , find your own voice" then they look at me and is like "umm yeaah pal, just, stop that"