Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[Atma]

Predictions for who wins KOTF this year.

-Marley
-Saber
-Darkhorse candidate:Berlin Alexanderbotz.

Now back to looking at fanart people have been giving me while I sleep.

[Josiah]

Hi! Tipping is definitely country dependent. In Japan, for example, you don't tip at all.

I'll be leaving for GDC in a few hours, so I probably won't be on all that much for the next few days.

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

So I had a pretty crappy day yesterday for no real reason in particular. Guess I just woke up feeling sad since it was the first day of classes resuming, and then nothing happened over the course of the day to shake me out of my mood. And I guess being snapped at by my ex (er, Cheryl?) for no reason during drumline rehearsal when I was just trying to be helpful and making awkward eye contact with Gladys as we passed each other walking through campus didn't help either. However, instead of going to bed, I humored my friend and played a game of League and ended up just laughing an insane amount and it ended up finally helping me to shake the awful feeling that had been following me all day.

In conclusion: League is not a life-sucking game. It's good for cheering up a bad day.

[shauni]

Hi! Tipping is definitely country dependent. In Japan, for example, you don't tip at all.

In the UK, tipping is only really done if you really enjoyed the food or if the service was something special. I hate it when you get a receipt over seas and it says "service charge". Bugger off, you might not deserve a tip, and whats more, your charged a tip then they expect a tip as well. No thanks I say.

I don't get a tip from users for fixing a PC so why should they for getting me a Beer or a coffee?!

I'm glad you said that about Japan Josiah, at least now I know it isn't expected. I'm going there in just over a month and a half.

CRAP I don't feel like I'm organized at all!

[Atma]

In my foreign land, it is customary to tip with a piece of cornbread.


And in unrelated news, I finished Gundam AGE:Universe Accel for the PSP this morning. I found the game while kinda fun to be pretty underwhelming. In fact, it's nothing more than a Gundam flavored version of Danball Senki. So yeah, I don't really recommend it. Danball Senki on the other hand is fun to watch and play.

[Silver]

The difference is, I assume waiters and waitresses earn at least minimum wage over there? For whatever reason, they get paid less than anyone else here. The idea is that they'll be rewarded if they do well, so the pay will reflect their performance. Doesn't necessarily work that way of course, but that's the idea. Capitalism, yay!

[Giga-Gar]

I have a question for you Josiah. If one of your students corrects you on something you said in class, would you feel offended or put off or anything like that, regardless of the tone the student said it?

[Josiah]

Hi! In the middle of class? Or after class or in my office or something like that? That would make a bit of a difference. And, of course, tone is important. Students should ideally be respectfull. That said, if they correct me on something and they're actaully right (most students who have tried to correct me on something have been wrong), I do appreciate it. But the way it's handled is kind of important.

[Giga-Gar]

Thanks. I ask this because two of my professors made errors in class. One was that in the 19th century, Egyptian trains used mummies for fuel, when actually it was a joke from Mark Twain's "Idiots Abroad." The other was that Egyptian hieroglyphs are read from right to left, when it actually depends on which way they face. (Source: Mark Twain and an Egyptology professor and textbook.)

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

So the hearings on Prop 8 are this week! Currently stalking the transcripts during class. Oh well.

Some details:

OLSON: I know that you will want me to spend a moment or two addressing the standing question, but before I do that, I thought that it would be important for this Court to have Proposition 8 put in context, what it does. It walls-off gays and lesbians from marriage, the most important relation in life, according to this Court, thus stigmatizing a class of Californians based upon their status and labeling their most cherished relationships as second-rate, different, unequal, and not okay.

...

JUSTICE SCALIA:The California Supreme Court decides what the law is. That's what we decide, right? We don't prescribe law for the future. We -- we decide what the law is. I'm curious, when -­when did -- when did it become unconstitutional to exclude homosexual couples from marriage? 1791? 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted? When -- when -- when did the law become this?"
OLSON: When -- may I answer this in the form of a rhetorical question? When did it become unconstitutional to prohibit interracial marriages? When did it become unconstitutional to assign children to separate schools.

...

OLSON: But what I have before you now, the case that's before you today, is whether or not California can take a class of individuals based upon their characteristics, their distinguishing characteristics, remove from them the right of privacy, liberty, association, spirituality, and identity that -­that marriage gives them.

...

OLSON: It is like you were to say you can vote, you can travel, but you may not be a citizen. There are certain labels in this country that are very, very critical. You could have said in the Loving case, what -- you can't get married, but you can have an interracial union. Everyone would know that that was wrong, that the -- marriage has a status, recognition, support.

...

OLSON: If it prohibits gay and lesbian citizens from getting married, it is prohibiting their exercise of a right based upon their status. It's selecting them as a class, as you described in the Romer case and as you described in the Lawrence case and in other cases, you're picking out a group of individuals to deny them the freedom that you've said is fundamental, important and vital in this society, and it has status and stature, as you pointed out in the VMI case.

COOL STUFF GUYS

[Silver]

Speaking of errors, Twain's book was called The Innocents Abroad, not "Idiots Abroad". I read it earlier this semester.

[Blastotoise]

Hey!

It feels so good to be able to close the pebbleversion tab for the first time in like a month

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

The Onion has a marvelous article today. I'm still allowed to link to it even if it's got bad language, right?

Well, here it is anways.

[Stevenson]

Aloha! Updated my signature. Attend for some education.

So I picked up my collector's edition of Bioshock Infinite today, and...well, I can't say it in any other way, they gave me a lot of stuff.

I mean, what am I even supposed to do with a figure of a handyman that's like two inches tall?

[Giga-Gar]

Sell it on ebay of course!

So due to the hearings today, whenever I've come across an opponent to gay marraige, I just think to myself, "they arn't bigots, just ignorant. It's not their fault." But then I remember Socrates' "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance," quote and them I'm like \/ \/.

But in other news, I'm trying to work on a project for class that's due on thursday. Unfortunately, the professor has not left out any of the promised materials and Easter break starts tomorrow night, so he's not really giving us much time.