Random Thoughts Showcase Spectacular

[Catharsis]

Hey, fireplace tv is good tv! They even swore!

Location: Snoreway

Your Honor, I rest my case

It's not much to do now when the sheep are in house and we're being snowed in!

 

[PureElegance]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7laBfy89qK8
GONG XI GONG XI GONG XI NI YA!
GONG XI GONG XI GONG XI NI!

Imagine listening to this song over and over again, that's what I went through at Yu Yuan Gardens during the lantern festival I wouldn't mind it as much normally, but the way they did it was loop 30 seconds of the song XD Oh China.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhz91S8UKP8
The version is from 1990 by Timi Zhuo when she was tiny! Imagine having something you sang when you were tiny being played every single year ALL THE TIME? XD

The main bridge was packed, as in you couldn't even move your arms. I thought it was a lot of fun even though my friends were dying, haha. The lantern structures everywhere in Yuyuan were SO cool! There were giant snakes, huge Three Kingdoms people (even Guan Yu was stroking his luxurious beard), scenes from Journey to the West including Monkey eating the immortal peaches, and so many cool, moving lantern structures. When nighttime came EVERYTHING lit up and it was beautiful! To think some of my friends didn't want to spend $8 to go inside! I don't understand it when people who get excited at first about something, but because they listen to other people they convince themselves not to do what they want @_@ (I'm talking about good things, not killing someone XD) I was the only one who didn't waver the entire time, it was weird.

I really like my friend Laura. She seems genuine and has a good attitude about life. We always have nice, unexpectedly deep conversations whenever we're together. She told her father about me loving Chinese history and Zhuge Liang. He said he respected that and wants me to teach her about her heritage since she knows nothing XD He also fangirled to her about Zhugey for a moment. Yesterday she and I talked a lot about the years leading up to 1949 in China and now she wants to speak to her grandparents and hear their stories! She said they still extremely hate the Japanese... She should definitely take advantage of this opportunity! Whenever I see old people here, I always wonder what they've seen.

It's great, she ordered Three Kingdoms and several random people I don't know are ordering it too and asking me for translation recommendations For example, when Laura was by herself she looked up Gan Ning's wiki page and loved his rogue pirate seeking redemption story, so she ordered the book. I also remember one of my friends took me to the side and told me her cousin gave her money specifically for reading the classics and so asked what translation I'd recommend. "MOSS ROBERTS!" XD

 

[Cerceaux]

Doing circus costumes again, and I have to somehow applique metallic gold spandex onto green crushed velvet unitards to make them "look like snakes"...

What have I gotten myself into...

I found one with my name still written in it though hahah. I had to wear one at least twice, and they were in circulation before I even joined. I'm hoping I can make them slightly less ugly, or at least more interesting.

 

[Iskanderia]

God, college kids are so bad at drinking. Not only do they drink enough to vomit, but they get so drunk that they can't even make it to the bathroom to throw up. Frickin' amatuers. They make us respectable drunkards look bad.

I hate the freshmen here sometimes because at times they walk through the hallways at 6pm yelling, "I'M DRUNK!" But they've stopped lately so that's good! I think it's just a few of them though who act like total weirdos, stomping in the hallways and all.

You're not the type who humiliates others and turns into a terrible person, but ever since I've been little I've been exposed to those types of drunks and it disgusted me so much that when I was a child I promised myself that I don't even want to be anywhere near the point of losing control of myself. I've seen people that I look up to and love turn into idiotic and publicly humiliate me and others and what's worse is that they later don't even remember what they did.

The people who act like that when they drink tend to be young people. Sure, there are older people who act like maniacs when they drink too, but it's much less common (these people tend to also be white trash). The main difference between young and old drinkers is that younger people haven't yet learned to appreciate the taste of a good drink, so they drink only to get drunk. They're much less likely to have a glass of wine with dinner or a beer or two while watching TV just for the taste or to relax. They want to drink ALL the booze.

Johnny and I will still occasionally go out and drink enough to get a buzz, but more often than not, we'll only have a drink or two; and if we do get a little drunk, we don't act like assholes. Even a few years ago when I was going through a really rough patch in my life and was drinking to get drunk at least once a week, I didn't get so messed up that I acted like a fool and embarrassed myself and those around me (other than posting crazy shit on Scape, that is. But it's the internet. What is it for if not for saying outrageous things to strangers who you will never meet in real life?)

Back in high school and college though, it was a different story. Even then I wasn't the type to puke all over the place and cause a scene but I definitely hadn't yet learned what my limit was and how to avoid becoming out of control and I didn't know how to carry myself once I got to that level. I also hadn't learned how to appreciate the taste of a good drink, so drinking was about nothing more than drunkeness (like nine times out of ten when someone says that alcohol tastes gross, they are young. Flowers is one of the very very few full-grown adults I have heard say this).

My point is that, your negative experiences with being around people who are drinking is probably *mostly* due to your age and the age of the people you associate with (as a child, the older adults who you saw acting like assholes when they drank were just that - assholes - and were no way indicative of how most adults handle alcohol) . As you and your friends get older, I predict that your feelings about alcohol will change into something less negative because the people who are drinking around you will have gotten better at knowing their limits and how to handle their liquor and, as I said, they will be more likely to just have a couple drinks rather than getting totally shit-rocked every time.

I'm not trying to talk you into drinking or anything. I just wanted to make the point that once you and all of your friends are married or otherwise settled down, drinking probably won't seem like such an asinine thing that you look down on other people for doing because you will no longer see as much asinine behavior associated with drinking. Who knows, you might even be like my friend who never tried a single sip of alcohol until he was like 32 because he felt like you do, but now, five years later, he can enjoy the occasional glass of wine or froofy girl drink with friends. This is because that at this point, he's had enough experiences with seeing us drinking like responsible adults without going buckwild that it doesn't seem like such a huge deal anymore. (I don't think he's even gotten drunk yet and he probably never will - though I kinda wish he would just once because it would be hilarious to see that dork get plastered like a college freshman).

PS: Sorry if this comes across as condescending by implying you are not an adult. There are different levels to adulthood though. I'm talking specifically about adults past college age and closer to late 20's and beyond.

 

[Iskanderia]

Oh, damn it. Double post. And it's not giving me the option to delete it. Can you delete it and this one, Flowers? Thanks.

 

[PureElegance]

The people who act like that when they drink tend to be young people. Sure, there are older people who act like maniacs when they drink too, but it's much less common (these people tend to also be white trash). The main difference between young and old drinkers is that younger people haven't yet learned to appreciate the taste of a good drink, so they drink only to get drunk.

In my life the people who act like that are older people (as in 30s-older type) and not white trash at all, not at the parties I went/go to XD That's what weird about it, how people literally transform! So I can't really relate to that old vs. young thing since it's been the all the same to me. At least my classmates are really great when getting their free beer and all, it's a lot of fun to go to bars and clubs with them! If you ever go to China again though I wouldn't suggest going to some of the places we go to, I'm not sure if it's sanitary at all XD Also watch out for fake liquor, I keep hearing awful things about that, but so far my friends haven't gotten it.

(like nine times out of ten when someone says that alcohol tastes gross, they are young. Flowers is one of the very very few full-grown adults I have heard say this).

I don't feel the urge to drink so I don't mind his opinion or think it's shocking since I know others that way too. My mom is also the same and doesn't drink much because she never loved the taste after having to force herself to drink for years at parties/dinners, she mostly drinks the very occasional champagne and 1000 year old wine now or nothing at all. My dad can drink anything and he's usually good with it except for a few times. He doesn't drink that often though.

My point is that, your negative experiences with being around people who are drinking is probably *mostly* due to your age and the age of the people you associate with (as a child, the older adults who you saw acting like assholes when they drank were just that - assholes - and were no way indicative of how most adults handle alcohol) . As you and your friends get older, I predict that your feelings about alcohol will change into something less negative because the people who are drinking around you will have gotten better at knowing their limits and how to handle their liquor and, as I said, they will be more likely to just have a couple drinks rather than getting totally shit-rocked every time.

I can't relate to that since I'm talking about all kinds of people, and I've had a lot better experiences with people in their 20s. I don't care about people who drink, I hate the type of drunkeness that makes you miserable. I'm not talking about my friends at this point in time, I'm talking about older adults and people who become awful in general, and I've had a lot of experience on that side and when I do the people drinking around me are at least 10-20 years older. So I'd rather not generalize about younger and older people.

I've never known many of my classmates to get "shit-rocked" except for a few. Whenever I go out with my friends whether here or in New York it's fun. They get drunk or a bit tipsy, but nothing like throwing up or doing stupid things even with hard liquor. At NYU whenever we're done with a meeting we go to a bar, everyone gets a million rounds of drinks and shots, but we have a jolly ol' time. When we go out to clubs people usually only get silly, at fancy parties they get silly. Maybe NYC/Shanghai have a different type of drinking life, I don't know. It's only around some places where I've seen people throwing up and ruining lives, but overall people my age have been fun. The people I've met in college and abroad have actually made me feel better about drunks, especially since they accept me the way I am. I don't think people are bad if they drink though, that's silly XD

I've seen plenty of responsible and not responsible drinking, from when I was little to now, but I hate the bad side of drunkeness. Something happened again a week and a half ago and I was thoroughly depressed. I only told Cerceaux about it because it was terrible and I don't want to share things like that with everyone. I don't think getting drunk to a barbaric point is something to be proud of, laugh at, or be accepting of. I don't like it when people change like that, it makes me sad and for a moment I think very darkly about people and want to separate myself from them.


Anyways, our photography class' last assignment was "light," and they LOVED my pictures! I was trying to convey loneliness and emptiness in the one they especially loved. I worked on it for a while and slowly transformed a picture of our kitchen window's light into something meaningful. I was so happy when my professors and classmates said that it had a lot of story, questions, and feelings, and loneliness. They said it had just enough in it, it was subtle and successful. I got bashful and all, "Thanks, that's what I was trying to do! :B" When I walked to the vending machine during our break people still told me that they loved the window picture. I was able to tell a story only using a window, a poster, and a table, and I think I've finally gotten better at understanding the mental process of photography My dad has been trying to teach me about it for a while but now it finally clicked.

So I'm doing:
1. Guzheng classes
2. Brush painting classes
3. Traditional Chinese dance team (I still don't know how this happened, but here I am XD)

I also took a Chinese cooking class today! I love how I'm exploring all my artistic and writing side here I miss China every day even though I know I'm not leaving for some time, but I'm really going to miss it here.

 

[flowersofnight]

Oh, damn it. Double post. And it's not giving me the option to delete it. Can you delete it and this one, Flowers? Thanks.

Obviously you must have double posted because you were drunk

Also watch out for fake liquor, I keep hearing awful things about that, but so far my friends haven't gotten it.

Yeah, fake liquor is bad news. See that fine documentary "Puttin' On The Ritz" for details.

My sister's off to Puerto Rico today (with baby in tow) for a friend's destination wedding. The level of entitledness to hold one of those is mind-boggling XD

 

[Berserk]

My experience lines up more with what Iska said, except that alcoholics (who tend to be older and probably are often the white trash she speaks of) are an exception to the rule.

I'm kind of an exception to the rule too. I've always been really lightweight in the literal sense. I have almost no body fat no matter how much I eat, and I'm technically underweight if you go by the BMI scale. My first drink was just a beer, and I knew right away from that experience that liquor and heavy drinking wouldn't be good for me.

So I've stuck with drinking beer/wine/cider, and over time I have developed some tolerance to alcohol so I don't get drunk as fast now. Or maybe it's just that I've learned to drink with a full stomach and pace myself, I don't know.

None of my other friends drink for the taste, although I don't drink for taste alone, either. I would call it the "experience" more than just the taste, because it's a combination of flavor, the alcohol's effect, and also aesthetics I think.

Most of my friends basically want to drink juice or pop that makes them shitfaced instantly. They just get cheap vodka or Everclear and hide it with pop, basically. I think that's lame and shitty and wouldn't drink that way even if I was a heavyweight.

I think one of these days I'm going to have to get some experience with shots/liquor under my belt though, just so I can learn how to handle it and learn what my limits are with it. But wine, cider, and beer (if I ever grow more of a taste for beer) will probably always be my go-to drinks.

By the way, has anyone here tried mead?

 

[Iskanderia]

@Flowers: how DARE you, sir!

And yeah, destination weddings are something. If you want to pay for my trip sure, but I'm expected to spend like four figures for the privilege of watching you walk down the aisle? *pfft*

@PE: sorry for another wall o' text:

Did I somehow managed to offend you?

Apparently I misunderstood your original post on the topic. You were talking about the darker side of drinking, while I thought that you were talking about people acting stupid and silly and being loud when they're drunk (since that was what I was talking about in my previous post that you replied to). So, when I said (jokingly) that it's mainly white trash who still act like that as adults, I was talking about people who are still doing keg stands, running through the streets half-naked and screaming, puking all over their friend's couch and acting like the worst stereotype of a frat boy at, like, 35.

As for my statement that "like nine out of ten times when people say that alcohol tastes gross, they are young" (which, by the way, I don't have a problem with someone who feels that way either, nor do I find it shocking. Not sure where that came from): I was making a generalization that allowed for exceptions to the rule by using the arbitrary silly number of 90% and saying "like" before it. I was clearly not trying to say that this number I pulled out of my ass was anything remotely like an actual statistic based on hard data.

In response, you talked about how your mother doesn't really like alcohol (though she can enjoy the occasional glass of wine or champagne and therefore is not at all who I was talking about) and how your father doesn't drink much either. This doesn't really refute my point. I said that I don't know too many people my age who still can't at all tolerate the taste of alcohol. This doesn't mean that everyone my age (or even many or most of them) are huge booze enthusiasts that get together regularly for single malt scotch tastings. It just means that often people who once hated ALL alcohol, will have found at least one or two drinks they can enjoy by the time they're my age. This doesn't sound unlike your parents.

And I'm sure you don't actually think that I was saying was that *all* college-aged people get crazy drunk and act a fool while *all* older adults are responsible drinkers, right? Because you seemed like you were getting kind of defensive there when describing your parents' and your friends' drinking habits. I was just talking general trends. Non-alcoholics in their 30's don't order shots when they drink as often as those in their early 20's in general. They tend to be different kinds of drinkers. Sorry, but this is true. It just is.

But yes, it's also true that the most depressed and depressing drunks tend to be older people. Maybe they've had more time to turn into bitter wrecks and have lost their youthful optimism and ability to just have fun. With my appallingly extensive family history of alcohol abuse, I can see why, even if you had only been witness to a fraction of the things I've seen, you might have sworn off all alcohol forever at an early age (which begs the question of why some adult children of alcoholics, like myself, do drink. Well, the biggest thing is that it's just a fun thing to do sometimes and life's too short so why not do it if I can do it without turning into a monster like my parents? The much less common reason, but one that does still pop up sometimes is that abusing drugs amd alcohol was the only coping mechanism that I learned from my parents - they taught me to deal with my problems by escaping from them [I'm working on this in therapy]).

*phew* Alright, enough.

Tl;dr: sorry if I somehow offended you. That wasn't my intent. We were talking about two entirely different types of drinking apparently.

 

[Cerceaux]

When I was in high school somehow kids got the idea that they'd get a buzz from sucking rubbing alcohol out of cotton balls so they started doing it at school and the school had to have some ultra serious PSA about the dangers of drinking rubbing alcohol and it was pretty much the dumbest thing ever.
Natural selection at work.

 

[PureElegance]

Did I somehow managed to offend you?

... no How awkward, you don't need to apologize for anything XD If you really had offended me I would have ignored you or something XD

If I were to have a destination wedding I'd really try to pay for everyone's ticket over there. I never understood forcing people to pay to travel to your wedding. Maybe if it was a small wedding with 3-4 guests (LOL GOOD ONE), but I still think it's 'bleh.' I'm sure a few of my friends wouldn't mind coming to my wedding and would pay, but I'd feel bad about it anyway.

It just means that often people who once hated ALL alcohol, will have found at least one or two drinks they can enjoy by the time they're my age. This doesn't sound unlike your parents.

My mom is like Flowers, that's why I brought her in. She doesn't like alcohol as I said, but will only drink it out of politeness (or once in a while in Peru) although I know Flowers wouldn't drink it out of politeness (neither would I), so in that way they're different. It's not about enjoyment but about the social situation and who you're with. The only drink she really has only on a few occasions is a few sips of champagne and wine and once in a while a cup of beer she'll sip from when she's in Peru. She's been that way for as long as I can remember and has that drilled into my head. She was a big party girl when she was younger, but she rarely drank, she loved to go to clubs only to dance, and I'm the same way!

Her work socials and holiday parties get gross though, and those are her coworkers and big cheeses, and a lot of the drunk ones don't even take a taxi home *cringe* Banks' holiday parties seem to be the worst unless you're another drunken depressing person there.
I mentioned my dad because I felt like it, I wasn't trying to refute whatever you said. I only thought you thought (XD) the idea of not liking alcohol when you were older was weird because IIRC when you sometimes talked about drinking before you mention Flowers not liking alcohol, he seems to pop up during drinking discussions particularly for his lack of love for alcohol, but I don't think him at his advanced age of 85 not liking alcohol is unusual because I know a lot of people like that including my mom. I know you're generalizing, but I guess my experiences are the exceptions to your generalizations so people like Flowers don't stick out to me.

When I replied to you I was talking about the depressing kinds of drunks, I wasn't talking about the silly/loud kind. I wrote:

You're not the type who humiliates others and turns into a terrible person, but ever since I've been little I've been exposed to those types of drunks and it disgusted me so much that when I was a child I promised myself that I don't even want to be anywhere near the point of losing control of myself. I've seen people that I look up to and love turn into idiotic and publicly humiliate me and others and what's worse is that they later don't even remember what they did.

I wasn't getting defensive, I was just saying that in my experience people in their 20s have been a lot better with alcohol so I can't relate to what you were saying about me getting older. Most, if not all, of my really bad experiences have been with older people. (Even then they also do stupid frat-boy things when you'd think they'd be able to control themselves by this time, esp. since they're not generally trashy at all when sober) I was saying that for me this doesn't have anything to do with age because I think people of all ages and social groups except children have the potential to turn into a shadow of themselves, ugly and depressing. They're probably different types of drinkers, but when it comes to who gets stupid and depressing drunk I can't relate to any age-related explanation. If anything it was my friends and the people I know here in college that have lightened me up, especially since they're cool about everything, I was much worse in my thoughts about drunks and human nature when I was tiny.

Anyway, my friends and I were debating something on the subway today.

We were talking about my friend whose jacket is kind of falling apart, and she wants to throw it away. Another friend said she should donate it, but the original friend said she doesn't think it's worth giving it away since it's really messed up and tearing up, especially since it's losing most of its buttons. The friend who suggested donating it said that the poor and desperate people would be happy with anything, and that anything would be good when you have nothing. The original friend said that she doesn't want to give something this bad to a poor person only because they'll take anything, it would be kind of insulting. The other one said that when you have nothing anything will be okay and can be put to use. Another friend piped up and said that people still have dignity and all, even when poor, but the donate it girl said she doesn't think so when you're desperate. We went back and forth about this jacket until someone interrupted us with talk about food.

I was on the "not donating it" side. My grandmother, as much as I like her, is really bad when it comes to this. She'll grab whatever bad dirty clothes, even really tacky ones she gets for free, she can find and go to Peru with them and give them out as gifts because, as she said, the poor will take anything. My parents always get offended since they don't think those clothes are even good for a dog (she also gives it to me as gifts!). One of our most recent experiences was last week when my parents and my grandmother were visiting the cemeteries in Trujillo, and my grandmother had a cemetery boy follow her for two hours in the sun to cut and replace the flowers and clean the tombs for each tomb she went to. By the end of it, she asked my father if he had one sol (38 cents) to give to the boy as a tip, she gave the boy the coin without even looking at him, and my parents couldn't believe she said that, my mom couldn't speak and my dad ended up giving the boy much more.

I think it's the same as the jacket situation. At least for me I don't believe in giving things to people because they'll accept anything. I give away my clothes often to Peru, but I don't give away something so old with gross stains on the underarms or whatever. This issue really bothers me.

The Shanghai Science and Technology Museum was SO MUCH FUN AHHH. It's WAY better than Natural History museum in NYC, it was so much more fun and adventurous. We climbed bridges, did a fun space thingy, traveled through the rain forest, went through mirror mazes (this was hilarious since we kept bumping into the mirrors), played soccer, did a little archery, boxing, and ping pong, sung karaoke with robots, did weird space training things, etc. It was so much fun (FIVE DOLLARS FOR THE ENTRANCE FEE? HOLY TOLEDO) XD The exhibits were so interactive, educational, and strange, even startling you!

 

[Cerceaux]

^I think you guys all have valid arguments regarding the donating. For me, I sometimes donate damaged things if they're made from good or interesting fabric because I know people who will buy stuff just to cut them up and use the material. I've gotten crappy old 80s wedding gowns that no sane person would wear and taken the beads and ribbons off, etc. But something like beat up old shoes belongs in the trash because there's no way to salvage it.
And it's true, poor people won't buy trash because nowadays you can get brand new pretty decent clothes at WalMart for Goodwill prices. Not to mention there are charities that will give poor people really nice clothes for free if they're looking for work and stuff. My city even has a service that collects used prom dresses to rent out to people for free. Nobody wants to *look* poor.
But when in doubt I'd still donate because the garbage can get sorted out and recycled or shipped overseas and then 5 years later you can turn on the Discovery channel and see some guy in Papua New Guinea wearing your faded old "Do it in the road" t-shirt while he's planning his big Moka.

 

[flowersofnight]

But when in doubt I'd still donate because the garbage can get sorted out and recycled or shipped overseas and then 5 years later you can turn on the Discovery channel and see some guy in Papua New Guinea wearing your faded old "Do it in the road" t-shirt while he's planning his big Moka.

Donating used clothes to give out for free in the Third World puts local tailors and garment factories out of business, keeping the people stuck in poverty. Congratulations on ruining things, ogre

This just in from the legal front in Australia:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/quee ... 6405863272
Transcript here:
http://www.justinian.com.au/storage/pdf ... _Baker.pdf

 

[Cerceaux]

^I don't think those particular guys in New Guinea were really supporting "local tailors" in the first place though. Most of them were naked and pretty much just sat around smoking all day while their wives did all the work. xD

I just donate to local thrift stores, what they do with stuff after that is beyond my control. I like to think that my fabulous clothes fly off the racks though.

 

[PureElegance]

Donating used clothes to give out for free in the Third World puts local tailors and garment factories out of business, keeping the people stuck in poverty. Congratulations on ruining things, ogre

I was in my China Law and Society class and talking to a guy about this and about social entrepreneurship in general, and its dilemmas. For example, he's doing an internship here in Shanghai which is a program that has young people from all over China and apply to a pastry school, and if they get in they get training and education in cooking and things related, so they're able to work and get their own places. He really likes the program, but at the same time he wonders if its really doing any good, if its solving any real poverty problems in China. I think it IS doing good, but at the same time I know what he means.

Anyway, you know that shoe company TOMS, which gives a free pair of shoes for every pair you buy from them? You could say the same thing, that it beats out local competition, however I don't believe its a bad thing because it does provide many people shoes who wouldn't be able to afford them or have access to them anyway. For example, if you gave shoes to a poor mountain village in Peru, those would be one of the few pairs of shoes they'd ever have. Normally they'd make their own sandals or repair their shoes, but would probably not have new ones. I know my father grew up with a pair when he was a child, and this was a luxury (same goes for school supplies, those would have to last you for a very long time before you were able to buy new ones). TOMS was started because of the founder's experience with the children in the poor areas of Argentina who had no shoes and suffered as a result of it--he wanted to improve their health. It wouldn't be keeping them in poverty since they wouldn't have access to them, shoes are more like a luxury in especially poor places. Some of the places TOMS donates to do have local markets, but I wonder how many people can actually afford much of what's being offered in local shoe markets, but it definitely depends on the place. I mean, here in China a lot of the local places rely on foreigners or middle class Chinese people to buy their trinkets and bags (but what about the places without any middle class or tourism?). I know TOMS checks first to see if the people can't afford the shoes before giving them out though.

Of course it would be better to give people jobs (like SoleRebels does in Ethiopia and Nisolo which works with Peruvian shoemakers) making shoes, but I don't think TOMS is really keeping people poor. People keep bringing up "but it's hurting the local economy" and I have to wonder if they'd rather not have companies like TOMS, who are at least doing something for children suffering from foot diseases and unable to go to school because they're barefoot--hindering their education and future prospects--and raising awareness even if it is not perfect (but they're improving by opening factories locally), and keep the status quo. I'll still donate clothes because would everything automatically improve if we stopped the donation giving model? I don't think simply giving donations is the way to go, but perhaps that in addition to seriously tackling the deeper problems would do much to improve.

I prefer the "working with" the local people type of charity instead of dropping off goods, and it looks like TOMS is improving by starting a factory in Ethiopia to employ local people as well as working with local manufacturers, I think this is a huge accomplishment especially since it's a relatively new company.

At least TOMS is allowing me to have this discussion, I like to think about what's actually happening when I donate, the motivations of companies, business models, what are the best ways to help, etc.

Michael was also telling me about the arguments against microfinancing, and I wasn't sure what to think about that because I previously thought it was a good idea. I'll have to do more research, but I have many friends involved in that area and they've done a lot.

And it's true, poor people won't buy trash because nowadays you can get brand new pretty decent clothes at WalMart for Goodwill prices. Not to mention there are charities that will give poor people really nice clothes for free if they're looking for work and stuff. My city even has a service that collects used prom dresses to rent out to people for free. Nobody wants to *look* poor.

When my friends and I were talking about poor, we're talking about people in places like India and South America.

 

[flowersofnight]

Anyway, you know that shoe company TOMS, which gives a free pair of shoes for every pair you buy from them? You could say the same thing, that it beats out local competition, however I don't believe its a bad thing because it does provide many people shoes who wouldn't be able to afford them or have access to them anyway.

I've decided that Americans are poor and needy in the grand scheme of things, so I'm providing them with a legion of free high-quality foreign lawyers. After all, many people can't afford legal representation and they're missing out on justice because of it. I hope that doesn't interfere with your career plans too much. You did save the receipts from those student loans, right?

Really though, this sort of thing never works out. It's like countries that have oil, so they just buy everything instead of developing local industries. In the long run it's not sustainable. Being given stuff is essentially the same. And just like oil, Western do-gooderism eventually dries up too.

 

[Berserk]

So I'm in the process of learning html/css, and I'm working on this project for my class. Normally, Firefox is the browser that renders my code most satisfactorily while IE usually sucks. But I finally found an exception to that rule, and I don't understand it:

I don't want the manicule to look all cramped and ugly like that in Firefox browsers

Chrome renders the manicule like IE does too, so I really don't get why Firefox is apparently so backwards with its Unicode support. Not to mention how much smoother the text looks in IE than Firefox.

Does anyone know if there's a way to get Firefox to display better looking Unicode characters? Or at least why Firefox apparently sucks so bad in this regard? XD

 

[flowersofnight]

Does anyone know if there's a way to get Firefox to display better looking Unicode characters? Or at least why Firefox apparently sucks so bad in this regard? XD

I think it's probably something to do with the default font being different (see Tools->Options->Content)
In general, when you're writing HTML you shouldn't assume anything about the way text looks. The user can change his settings any way he wants, and override all your font settings etc. If you really need something to look a specific way, use an image.

 

[Berserk]

I already looked at the default font settings for all three browsers and they were all Times New Roman. Besides, the CSS is set to Palatino which is what they are all displaying. Miscellaneous Unicode characters are the same across most fonts within the same font family anyway.

There seems to be two different character sets for Unicode's miscellaneous symbols, and Firefox seems to be using the outdated one. Even the default "disc" bullets looked slightly different on Firefox.

The manicules are being inserted by the CSS as part of the list style, not by the HTML, btw. I guess I'll just use an image instead, but I figure the fewer images that have to be served the better. And using a font character has the added advantage of scaling up and down with the zoom function better than an image would. If someone changes the font size on their browser, the image wouldn't adjust accordingly the way a font character would, so I would really rather avoid going that route if possible.

EDIT:

Same default character encoding, same default fonts, three different miscellaneous Unicode symbol sets!

I can't even find any explanation on Google. It's 2013, why isn't this shit standardized?!

 

[PureElegance]

I've decided that Americans are poor and needy in the grand scheme of things, so I'm providing them with a legion of free high-quality foreign lawyers. After all, many people can't afford legal representation and they're missing out on justice because of it. I hope that doesn't interfere with your career plans too much. You did save the receipts from those student loans, right?

What, how are shoes and lawyers even the same though? You don't go to school for years to become a shoe seller on the street or take out loans to do so (at least not nearly as much). In LSAT terms I think this is an equivocation flaw!!

It would be different if we were talking about dropping off Western doctors and not training the local ones in performing certain types of surgery, but I don't know how this is the same as dropping off shoes in areas where no one would have access to them or are even close to having jobs as lawyers because of lack of education and good health. Also, because they don't have shoes, which is part of the uniform, they can't attend school, so would not giving them shoes really push them back? Wouldn't not giving them shoes keep them in the same place they were in, without education? I do think more should be done besides donations, but how is giving the shoes something horrible when people don't have access to them at all to begin with? It is a huge difference for someone who never had shoes to finally have a pair, this isn't something trivial. In some especially bad places you really do need to give away shoes (and now they're donating glasses as well as funding eye surgeries, are you really going to tell me that this is beating out the local markets for pairs of glasses, so we shouldn't be giving them away at all?)

The way I see it, if we were able to give children shoes to prevent them from developing foot diseases/problems and allowing them to finally go to school (which is why TOMS was started) while at the same time opening places to employ local people, isn't that something good for the long run? I'm not sure how it's interfering with career plans since it's helping kids become healthier NOW through protection with shoes and allowing them to have more opportunities to improve their lives.

I agree that donations on their own are the best solution, but at some level they're necessary. For example, even at the homeless shelter I volunteer at in NYC, I sometimes see the same people time and time again. I also see people with loads of food taken from other churches come to mine for even more food. Even though I know some people are dependent on these types of shelters, I wouldn't want the shelter itself to be closed down because that wouldn't actually help with anything, same with places like the Salvation Army/Goodwill and initiatives like TOMS, other companies, and NGOs giving things like clothes and supplies. But I think the way TOMS is doing things now, donations along with working with local organizations and opening their own factories in the countries, is much better.

This isn't a black and white issue and I don't agree with the idea that donations are automatically keeping people in poverty because you have to take into account different types of situations, what is being given, what the benefits are, etc.

I had oodles of fun at Changfeng Park today! We went on one of those pedaling boats, and I was the CAPTAIN! At first I wasn't pedaling so my friends called me a princess and said, "So where do you want to go, YOUR HIGHNESS?"
"*points* All the way over there "
It was fun though, I started pedaling and steering the boat and I felt like I was finally living my dream as the captain of a ship We pretended we were explorers in the middle of ocean and keeping a travel log like, "Day 82, still no sign of land... Day 110, rations running low, killed my horse for food. Day 121, land spotted! However, nature has moved against us and is sending fierce winds, but we will prevail! Day 123, finally on land, currently speaking to a local chieftan." We went around the entire park, under bridges, crashed a few times, made sharp turns, it was an adventure.

I can't believe I did that though, right now it seems like a dream. I learned how to say "I'm a good captain." Wo shi yi ge hao chuan zhang.