Recently in siue Category
Wait, Which Way Does Time Go?
[ rakaur on Tue Oct 17 at 11:58 AM // category: school, siue, technology, web ]
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”
— Voltaire
This is about Facebook, SIUE, and a kid named Mike Turk. If you don’t want to hear about it, then by all means stop reading.
Now, before I start, I’d just like to make it clear that this isn’t about Mike Turk. This is about idiots. I don’t know Mike Turk, but I’m willing to bet that he’s probably an idiot. The “anonymous” girl is even more of an idiot. Also, and more importantly, the SIUE administration are all big blubbering idiots.
The parts of the story that I’ve heard (and I haven’t taken the time to learn it thoroughly, mostly because I don’t care) go something like this. An “anonymous” girl (hereby referred to as “DrunkenSlutBag”) had sex (or some sort of sexual contact) with Mike Turk, probably as the result of alcohol. Mike Turk decided to post it on Facebook, and make a big deal about what a slut she was. DrunkenSlutBag decided she took offense at this. Apparently when I wasn’t looking, Congress passed a law that made it illegal to offend someone. DrunkenSlutBag made a big deal over it, and long story short, Mike Turk is now up for expulsion from SIUE.
Now, let me be clear here: this is a big steaming pile of bullshit. I don’t care about Mike Turk, I don’t care about DrunkenSlutBag, I don’t care. What I do care about is Mike Turk’s right to say what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, how he wants about anyone he pleases, without fear. SIUE and a bunch of English majors have taken this away from him. I’ve heard people throw around words like “libel” and “slander,” but apparently no one actually knows what these words mean, despite the fact that they’re all English majors. Let me help you out. Now, “slander” doesn’t apply at all, because it was written about, and that makes it libel. Let’s have a closer look:
libel noun
1 Law: a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. Compare with slander.
2 the action or crime of publishing such a statement
3 a false and malicious statement about a person.
4 a thing or circumstance that brings undeserved discredit on a person by misrepresentation.
Take a close look at those. Notice the words “false,” “undeserved,” and “misrepresentation.” Mike Turk told no lies. DrunkenSlutBag may not have exactly deserved what he did, but it was by no mean misrepresentative or false. Mike Turk has committed no crime. When it comes down to it, she banged that dude, and she doesn’t want to own up to the fact that she’s a whore.
So, then, why is he up for expulsion? Because he offended someone. Next thing you know, people will get the crazy idea that they have the right to express their opinions as they see fit. Who knows? Maybe this idea will catch on and they’ll add it to the Constitution of the United States, giving it a catchy title like “freedom of speech.” I’ve heard people say “freedom of speech ends when it violates someone else’s rights.” Whose rights have been violated? We’ve already established there’s been no crime here. So my question is:
What on earth gives the University the right to think that they can tell Mike Turk, or anyone for that matter, what they can or cannot say, or where they can or cannot say it? What gives the University the right, when something that happened outside of their control was talked about on a medium also outside of their control? The only way the University ties into any of this is the fact that they’re both students. I remember paying the University money to teach me things, not to tell me what I can and cannot say or do, thank you very much. Perhaps they have forgotten a basic fact: we are your bosses. We pay your salary. If we’re not here, then neither are you. Your sole purpose in life is to serve us. So please, stop being idiots, and get your acts together.
This is absolutely ludicrous, and it should under no means be tolerated. The University has absolutely no reason to do what they’re doing. He didn’t “misrepresent” the school anymore than any other student that gets drunk at some party. What about DrunkenSlutBag? She’s the one sleeping around; doesn’t that make the University look bad? Shouldn’t we kick her out, too?
I don’t know either of these people, and I probably wouldn’t like either of these people if I did meet them. This isn’t about them. This is about what is basically right, and what is basically wrong; and, what the University is doing is very basically very wrong.
-- rakaur // 2006.10.17 @ 11:58 AM
Duck With an F
[ rakaur on Thu Sep 21 at 11:29 PM // category: school, siue, technology ]
So, school pretty much sucks, huh?
No, not really. The only class I find myself having problems with is English 102. I’m fine at sitting down and writing out great crap about stuff that I know about. I am not fine at sitting down and finding a research text that says what I already know just so I can say that I got it from there. Why? Mostly, because I’m lazy, and I would rather sit down and spew out a paper in 30 minutes than spend a month finding source that say what I already know. I know it’s how it’s done, and that’s the way it is, but I think it’s mostly crap for anyone that isn’t involved in a research intensive field. There’s also the fact that my JumpDrive full of my research got lost at school somewhere; and, I’m sure some asshole will erase everything on it and keep it even though the damn things are like $15 and I’d pay $50 to have it back with all of the stuff I have on it.
So, to anyone in PH 3310 at computer #1, give me my damn JumpDrive back.
-- rakaur // 2006.09.21 @ 11:29 PM
On School, Mac & Love
[ rakaur on Tue Feb 28 at 03:18 PM // category: apple, hardware, life, nikki, relationships, school, siue, software, technology ]
So, I fucking hate my new college, and I’m not even there yet.
I applied on January 9th (no Shostakovich jokes, please) and as of yesterday I hadn’t heard anything back. So I called, and some woman answers “SIU Edwardsville.” I say “I have a question about admissions” and she says “ok” and suddenly the phone starts ringing again. Gosh, thanks for letting me know you were going to transfer me. It rang for a solid two minutes, then someone else answers “SIU Edwardsville.” So, once again “I have a question about admissions” and at least this time I get an “ok let me transfer you to admissions.” Phone rings there for about 30 seconds until I finally get to someone that can help me.
“Yes, I see that your check has cleared. However, we never got a copy of your transcript from Lewis and Clark. We assumed you were currently enrolled.” No one fucking told me I had to go do that, I figured for $30 they could request it themselves, but no. So my application has just been sitting there for two months. So, now I have to go to Godfrey and pay them to send a transcript. Fucking assholes. I told the lady “for $30 you should be able to do that yourselves” and she says “sorry, send it” and hung up on me.
Good times.
Also, I’m going to have to take out like a $2,650, four year loan or something, just to buy shit for school. Since I have to spend a shitload of money anyway, I figured best thing to do is get a laptop (excuse me, notebook). So I looked for the thinnest, lightest, longest battery life notebooks I could find, and came up with Sony VIAOs, which are like $2k. I poked around for a few hours trying to find other solutions, but they’re all around $2k, give or take a few hundred dollars. So, I think to myself “fuck it, I’m getting a Mac.” So I go look up the new MacBook Pros. They’re pretty sexy. A MacBook Pro, plus extra battery and a backpack that will carry it is going to run like $2.2k. Same as any other notebook coming close to the specifications I need. So, why not? Why get a Sony VIAO and live with the giant piece of crap known as the Windows Desktop Experience? If I do that, I’ll use Windows XP and Office 2003, which suck. They both suck. The constant crashing and stupid buggy crap will drive me just about batshit crazy. So, if I wipe it and throw some Linux distro on there I’ll have to suffer through the Linux Desktop Configuration File Experience, and I am just about sick, sick, sick to death of that shit. Trying for hours just to get X Windows working, and good fucking luck with sound. Why should I even have to think about shit like that? Isn’t this a “modern” operating system? And if I do that I’ll be using OpenOffice, which leaves a whole lot to be desired. I’d probably end up writing most of my shit in vi and pasting it into OO. So why not just get a slick MacBook with Mac OS X? Apple’s software is way more minimalist and simple than Microsoft’s piles of shit. I’ve been wanting one anyway, so, there.
Good times.
I had a nice long talk with Nikki last night, about her past. I only knew half of it, and half of it was a big lie. Every now and then it’d get to me, and get me kind of depressed. Some of the shit is hard to accept. After talking to her, though, from start to finish, with the whole truth, it’s not so bad. I feel a lot better about everything, and so does she, and we’re even closer than we were before. More and more, I can see myself spending the rest of my life with her. It’s only been eight months, but people have gotten married in less. I swore up and down I’d never do it, but I can’t see myself without her. I really do love her.
Good times.
-- rakaur // 2006.02.28 @ 03:18 PM
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