9.13.2006

Short Takes

-Roadside memorials are silly. They have the potential to cause more accidents as drivers take their eyes off the road and glance over at the large white cross some parent has erected for their kid. You don't own the road... build it in your backyard!

-Get acronyms right! Double acronyms are so common place. "ATM machine", "Built on NT Technology", etc. are all heard on a daily basis.

-Male underwear boxes are marketed to the wives and girlfriends who are really buying the underwear. How else can you explain the fact that some muscular guy's package is prominently exposed on the box? What (straight) guy wants to see another's package tightly wrapped in tightie whities? If anything, it's a reason to NOT buy the product.

-On an agenda I purchased: "reliable softcover system". I have no fucking idea what this means. Perhaps the previous burlap bag was not so effective when used as a spatula. The softcover system not only gives the impression of further luxury, but it's more reliable to boot!

-Dumb suggestions -- in a class I recently had, the professor asked students to voice their concerns and expectations regarding class etiquette for the semester, and asked for suggestions. When one student raised the question of people leaving class early and noisily distracting the other students, another student proposed that if someone knows they have to leave early, they should stand up in front of class at the start and tell everyone why and when they will be leaving. How do people like this make it past kindergarten?

5 Comments:

At 13/9/06 11:24 AM, Blogger Chartier said...

Ah man, it feels good to read these. I always enjoy short takes.

I drove up to Repentigny yesterday because someone proposed a short drive. I couldn't stop thinking about the conversations we had when we use to drive around. Great stuff.

I especially enjoyed the last one. I think it would be interesting to compare higher scholars and the amount of control they enjoy having. I'm pretty sure the higher in school you go you end up meeting more control freaks.

 
At 17/9/06 7:53 PM, Blogger Portelance said...

I was baffled by the person's suggestion, and yet I was the only person laughing out loud in class. It just seems unreasonable to force someone to stand up in front and say "uhhh hi.... I have an appointment at the gynecologist so I have to leave class 10mins early"

 
At 18/9/06 10:20 AM, Blogger Portelance said...

Another example just this morning of a person making a comment in class -- a person who clearly has no business being in university. I hate to use the stereotype, but there is little else to describe her than a dumb, fat blonde. We were watching The Corporation in my class on globalization, and she made a completely ignorant remark, showing how she didn't really understand what one of the people interviewed was saying. She had the whole class burst out into laughter at one point over her stupid comments, but then she got on the defensive and tried to sound smart by keep talking. Sometimes, when you've already sounded like an ass, it's best to keep your mouth shut. She opted to keep digging that hole.

Comments like "I'm sure rich people who went to Harvard and are CEOs of companies know what happens in sweat shops" in response to a person who's family lives in the third world and has experienced its effects first-hand are little more than moronic and inflammatory.

 
At 18/9/06 11:29 AM, Blogger Chartier said...

Ahahaha

I'm always impressed at how people don't listen to themselves speak, or are unaware of the things they say. Someone I know got a free, non etched key with the non programmed car starter. He stated that he could unlock any car using the starter if he would get it activated. (i.e. He gets a sunfire, gets the key etched and the starter programmed. This would make his starter able to open any sunfire)

 
At 18/9/06 2:06 PM, Blogger Portelance said...

That's hilarious. He must think he's a fucking genius to have thought that one up. Of course thieves haven't done it... they're not smart like him!

In response to the Harvard comment, a girl just turned around and said to me, laughing, "did you know they have a sweat shop behind Harvard?"

Me: "Yeah! Whipping is a popular extracurricular activity."

 

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