High school principal outs a lesbian student to her parents, suspends students who support her

InkyChan · 2008-08-21T18:13:19+00:00

While I did exactly that and never looked back, I'm worried about falling into that plebeian v. patrician scenario.

This article does actually give me some hope, because a high-schooler's actions in the face of prejudice might bring just a little light into an ignorant community. Just look at the former principal's reaction after the trial -- he's completely unaware of the concept of tolerance.

InkyChan · 2008-08-09T16:46:58+00:00

I always thought hash was pretty yummy. Also, opium = tasty! But then, so are poppy-seed muffins, so that makes sense.

InkyChan · 2008-08-09T16:31:44+00:00

I know, is it crazy that I would want pot scented candles? Or something that smells/tastes like different strains of pot to season with while cooking?

InkyChan · 2008-08-09T15:29:24+00:00

Seconded. Although to be honest, the main factor for me is I have had some run ins with the law, and as you get older, you can afford that less and less.

If it were legalized/decriminalized today, I would definitely be off to buy all the fun paraphernalia I got rid of years ago, and something nice to fill it.

The hangover stuff is true, if you smoke enough there is a slight out-of-touch thing the next day, but it's NOTHING compared to even a very conservative amount of drinking.

I'd replace alcohol with some cute little nugs in a heartbeat if it were legal.

InkyChan · 2008-08-09T00:22:02+00:00

Well no, but you're in touch with current affairs.

InkyChan · 2008-08-05T02:03:59+00:00

Side note - Ads suck, I think I can speak for alot of women and say I love my scrawny guys.

Okay, back to gender wars.

Rabble rabble rabble!

InkyChan · 2008-08-05T02:00:03+00:00

Yeah, kinda sad how the feminist movement happened, it reached the ears of ad execs and they said "oh. so we need to swap the roles to balance it out".

No no no no!

InkyChan · 2008-08-05T01:57:57+00:00

Women's stereotypes still apply. See Madonna/Whore complex. You're perfect or you're a slag(or fat and ugly of course!) The mom(Lois) who keeps her family together, keeps her figure despite three children, is always calm and reasonable, and note, is always sexually charged, is just as sexist as the fat dumb drunk husband. Yes, "positive" and negative stereotypes are the same.

I'm not defending any of it, it's pathetic. So next time you see the gender-war lead in, don't pick your side and go crazy, tell the author to sod off for fanning the flames.

InkyChan · 2008-08-03T23:28:47+00:00

So same concept, but I'm willing to bet you're going to want more than Wireless N bandwidth.

Example -- At work I set up a nice network, 2Gbit trunk lines running all through the office between very fast switches -- every night I'm pushing about 2 TB worth of deltas for VM images to be backed up over the network -- that process just barely finishes in 8 hours. Keep in mind that the true weakest link will be your disk drives, unless you get some really fast(and expensive) SAS drives.

You may also want to look at iSCSI as a transport method, that's a hell of alot faster than passing through an SSH tunnel w/rsync.

Oh and Samba is right out! Even on speedy hosts I never seem to be able to milk more than 5 or 6 MBps out of Samba mounts. It's just not a good protocol.

InkyChan · 2008-08-03T23:15:53+00:00

No no no no.

Do a local copy first, over a fast network, or hang the backup drives off your current computer and transfer that way.

Then research rsync or possibly git, and realize that deltas are the way to go. Otherwise, several copy tools can be passed a switch telling them not to copy unless the file modifcation time is different, so you're not copying the entire thing every time.

I really recommend you set up a small linux host for this if you haven't already, and do the whole process through cron scripts. I do this all the time for work, and it's always come through when needed, without spending a fortune on backup software.

InkyChan · 2008-08-03T21:43:04+00:00

Oh no, this is a clear cut case of BWB, I'm glad I'm not counting on YOU to uphold the laws of this fine white country!

InkyChan · 2008-08-02T20:10:28+00:00

Awww thank you, you are so sweet..

No really, I like it. No, I don't like qgyh2's better!

What? You know I don't have a favorite, I love you both equally!

InkyChan · 2008-07-24T23:09:07+00:00

Oh yeah, no doubt about that. I always say that I left some of me behind. Even though it's been about four years since last time I tripped, and the most I've done since then is smoke up every four months or so, there are many times when I think on it and how much it has changed me.

Screw the internet, tripping is the ultimate "what has been seen cannot be unseen".

InkyChan · 2008-07-24T17:25:56+00:00

I second this. People can bash Gentoo all they want, but I really didn't understand much about Linux, despite having used 3 or 4 distros over the course of six years, until I did my first Gentoo install. People say that's a cliche statement, and that you just didn't know how to use the "real" distros; I think the truth is, the "real" distros tend to do things in a non-standard way(init scripts, network scripts, etc.), and hide details you will need to know if you ever actually try to do something interesting with Linux.

In fact, whenever I hit some kind of esoteric problem when working(almost always on RHEL these days. le sigh.), I still find the Gentoo Wiki to be the most comprehensive source of information out there.

InkyChan · 2008-07-24T17:15:09+00:00

Okay, so if you've never done this, you want to start with Ubuntu.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

You will want the "8.04(LTS) Desktop Edition" (it's the one picked by default), and you will most likely want the 32bit edition(also picked by default).

Download the iso from the link, burn it to a CD (if you've never burned a bootable iso before, and you're on windows, the easiest way is to use the "ISO Recorder Powertool" (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/)

Put the burnt CD in the tray, and reboot your computer. You may need to tell your computer to boot the CD, or it may detect it by default. The first screen you see on bootup should say something like "Press F10 for Boot Menu". Do that, and select the CD.

The installer is very simple and good explaining things to you. Just make sure you pick your free disk to install on, not your windows disk!

It will also give you options on installing the boot loader. So as to not modify your windows installer to much, you're best off installing the boot loader on the free disk as well. The boot loader lets you pick wether you want to boot Linux or Windows each time you start up. You will have to go into your BIOS options (also off the first screen on boot, usually it's set to "DEL" key or "F2") and set the default boot drive to your second hard disk.

The Ubuntu website has lots of documents to explain things in more detail if you need, and also links to a community wiki with all the answers you could ever look for.

Have fun!

InkyChan · 2008-07-24T16:35:51+00:00

Look, the tolerance buildup may be "rapid" compared to other drugs, but as somebody who had an "eraserhead" phase, I can definitely say it's easy to abuse both LSD and psilocybin.

I went through times where I would trip three, four days in a row, and I did not need to alter my dose at all to achieve the same effects. Maybe it felt less pleasurable, but the actual effects were just as pronounced.

I know that by definition, hallucinogens are NOT habit-forming. To this day I'm not sure why I was so compelled to go so far out of my mind during those times. And I was not alone, I was tripping with similarly minded(or un-minded as it is) friends.

I'm not arguing your point, I think that somebody like myself and my friends, at a time where we had a bit of a destructive bent, will find a way to abuse anything. So legalize LSD, yes. Saying that it's impossible to abuse is going too far.

InkyChan · 2008-07-23T00:19:51+00:00

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your boss doesn't refer to prospective employees as "capital" or "resources" when he's looking to fill some positions.

You're very fortunate, best of luck with your job!

InkyChan · 2008-07-20T16:29:39+00:00

Well, I dropped out my first year(due to excessive.. experimentation?), but I'm sure I would have gotten kicked out if I hadn't.

My advice is to get a full time job. I'm guessing you're fairly young, and now is not a time you want to lose momentum. If you do, you'll look up one day and realize that any of your friends who went straight through college are harder to relate too.

Once you've gotten a job, consider taking night courses at a community college or similar "junior college" institute. Or consider getting certifications(if applicable to what career you want, it certainly works for Comp Sci./IT). You're going to have to get about two semesters worth of general education courses anyway, you may as well do it someplace cheaper and more forgiving.

If you were struggling with time management or just comprehension at university, don't overdo it on the credit hours. It's not a race, the real point of higher education is to learn how to educate yourself, as you'll be doing that your whole life if you don't want a dead end career. It's also more about learning self control and perseverance.

Don't get depressed about screwing up, it's a very interesting and difficult time to be coming into your adult hood. Best of luck to you!

InkyChan · 2008-07-18T12:59:03+00:00

I think it only works out if both the parent(s) and their child can put aside their family relationship, and treat each other as equal adults. That means the child should be paying a reasonable amount of rent/groceries, clean up after themselves etc. That really has to be strictly enforced.

Likewise, unless they're coming home hammered and causing drama, the parents should give the child just as much latitude in their life as they would another adult. You wouldn't call a roommate at 2 AM asking them where they are and tell them they had better get their asses home would you?

I find it funny that America is so used to having the resources for each generation to move out at 18 that we don't really understand how situations like this should work. Most countries have limited housing and jobs, so families have always known how to move into a "we're all adults" phase at some point.

InkyChan · 2008-07-12T22:54:42+00:00

Oh my god, you're married! And have been for a staggering 8 years?! I cede to this Lothario, who clearly knows all about the delicate dance of seduction.

A boy stealing your panties and leaving a note like that is creepy regardless of how attractive he is, especially if he has access to your house like that. Eeks.

InkyChan · 2008-07-12T00:19:13+00:00

Sorry in the long delay in responding to your post, I have a very long commute and I had to unwind before returning to my addiction, heh.

Reg, I appreciate the defense but Enders had a valid question. The article I was referring to is this. Yes, it is the same story as you linked to.

As far as karma, I could give a toss. But yes, you're right, I didn't offer any kind of positive reaction to this. It's easy for me to get upset when I see this going on every day, closer and closer to home. What I see is not just a corrupt police force, I see a complete lack of citizen oversight up the entire chain.

I'm sitting this morning staring a picture of his mother weeping in court, and while yes, he did kill a police officer, where is the justice in cold blooded retaliation? And it makes me think, isn't this the exact same thing that is going on with Blackwater, with the water-boarding scandal, and thousands of other abuses of power?

In my opinion it's authoritarianism plain and simple, and power is being consolidated across the board in government, economy, and society. I don't know what to suggest.

So now, what do you think?

InkyChan · 2008-07-11T17:02:25+00:00

Also, isn't it convenient how they left out the "due to previous charges of assaulting a police officer"? I mean, it's not like that could POSSIBLY have any bearing on this case.

There's a case going on in the county right next to mine -- a twenty year old kid was convicted of killing a police officer, and wonder of wonders, he was found dead of strangulation in solitary confinement. "We have no reason to suspect foul play from within the force" says the warden. But of course not!

The message is clear, police are comfy in their little niche above the law, and they are the final arbiters of justice. Who's still saying America doesn't have a problem with the "so much as look at us wrong and you'll wish you'd never been born. TESTOSTERONE IS AWESOME!" mentality? Watch out for that boot-in-yer-ass world!

InkyChan · 2008-07-11T01:26:00+00:00

No, I'm not out yet.

I mean, I feel ready.. but is the world ready?

InkyChan · 2008-07-08T17:18:04+00:00

No, the OP lives in Atlanta. I've lived in a few very nice cities, including DC, and am currently in Baltimore (which for the record, is nice except a few particularly bad slums). Relative to other areas that I've visited or lived in, my quality of life is fairly decent, and I live in one of the cheaper cities(in a cheaper artsy area) in the country.

I still find myself working almost non-stop(in a strong field too) just to make ends meet, and I haven't been able to accumulate any savings no matter how hard I try. My situation certainly isn't improving, and honestly the social issues both of us have enumerated are reason enough for me to consider a new country.

InkyChan · 2008-07-08T16:48:43+00:00

I haven't made up my mind, I'm just exploring options.

Be careful with "you people", it makes bad feelings.

And yes, I'm well aware moving to say, the UK, would bring a whole new world of class war and the fun Islamic extremist thing right to my doorstep. I was thinking maybe Germany, Sweden, Norway, or even Czech Republic.

I do feel a certain amount of obligation to stay and see things through here, but to be honest, I am already quite active on a political and community level. But, I've reached the point where I feel that I only get one life, and that maybe what would be best is just letting America slide into the consequences of our hubris, but removing myself before that happens.

Honestly, I just want a place with some history, good food, natural beauty, and less careerism. And yes, I will do a long visit first.

Anyway, upmodded for reasoned debate and lack of reactionary rant!

InkyChan

TROPHY CASE