Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Television news is doing something that really pisses me off. Any video that's popular online gets a showing on the evening news now. It's not even just something that might pass as news, cute puppy/kitten videos, kids, any video that goes viral now ends up on the evening news.

Oh no, please, don't give us actual in depth news coverage, keep the cute kitten videos coming!

This Invisible Children/Kony video is now of course making its round on the TV and radio news shows. But has any news show given any details on the other side? The fact that the Invisible Children foundation exists to pay its staff and the film makers, that it gives only a tiny fraction of the money to actually help? The fact that Kony isn't even in the country anymore? Does the news mention that the founders of Invisible Children actually worked with the bad guys before making this video? (The video is made to take people in though, so it's not surprising that it moved folks.)

Yes. One station did. NPR.

Lots of groups (*cough* right wing, conservative ones) attack NPR. LIBERALS! Oh so left wing! But know what? They're also the ones who do the in depth news. They don't just give 15-30 seconds per story, they'll take as long as needed to cover it. I've listened to 10 minute or longer news stories on one single issue! Not to mention, they cover all the stuff that more mainstream media doesn't.

(This week they've been running a series of stories about a weed called pigweed and how cotton farmers are dealing with it. What I've taken from the story: Farmers know way too little about evolution. They think that since they had one herbicide that worked on it, it would work forever. Hello, evolution calling, it's for you! Think of predators and prey: One gets better so the other has to get better so the first has to get better again. IT'S HOW LIFE WORKS! But no, please, go on thinking that one herbicide will work forever! /rant rant)

Anyway. Last year NPR was the charity I donated to. This year it's ASPCA. (I had thought that signing up for the monthly donations would make those commercials less effective on me. Wrong. They just make me want to donate more. :/ ) They're both worthy, I have no idea which I'll give to next year.

Edit: ARGRRRAGRUG*#$(_FG!# And as I post this, a news-talk show is doing another story on that Kony video. Sigh. I have to stop watching the news. This is making me rage.

Edit 2: And of course I'm not saying that the kids don't need help. Anyone in a warzone needs help, especially children. It's the self-serving Invisible Children foundation that I'm talking about.

Edit 3: Speaking of videos, eek, wow! This is all animation and motion capture, not a real person.
Video here. The middle of the video (which is what shows when you embed) is suggestive, so I'm linking to it instead. It is mostly work safe, though sex is mentioned.

I resisted posting about this through the 8741947103471341 hours of news coverage.

I resisted posting about this even when the news shows gave it so much more coverage than the Endeavour's last flight into space (and our second to last spaceflight ever), which is a whole lot more important.

But this... this is the last straw.



Why, Google, why? ARRGGG

THIS FUCKING WEDDING. Why do people care? Why do Americans care more than even British people do? God dammnit, "royalty"? Really? Who in the world cares? WHY? Why in the world are people paying so much attention to this?

Gods above, it's like when people are obsessed with stars getting married. WHAT DOES IT MATTER? Unless you personally know these people, why do you care?

And seriously, why would anyone care about royalty (except perhaps those in the country they're from)? Do you somehow feel they're better than everyone else? Because of the skill, because of the outstanding quality of strength and personality and will they had to... be born to the right parents?

Thankfully the wedding is now over. Maybe this endless coverage will end and Americans can turn their attention back to important issues. Like Obama's birthplace and education record.

Grumble.

Must. Resist. Commenting. In this post a happy person left a comment.

I almost peed when I saw this.

She almost peed. Because she was happy. I swear, I swear, I swear I want to stab these people. How amazingly stupid, what awful, stupid, horrible, awful slang. Gods above, what in the world makes these people not just accept but USE such stupid slang?

Also, the Oxford English Dictionary has added "lol". No, this will not change my opinion on it. No, this will not make me start using it. I will go to my grave never having used "lol". (Other than that way, referring to it.)

I'm in such a bad mood. It's only Tuesday. I don't want to be at work. I want to be home. I want to RP. Stupid Keen is whining in my head. I'm hungry. I just want to go home and stay there.

I'd say "being an adult sucks", but I suppose if I were a kid I'd be using pee slang. Maybe I should be happy I have to be at work...

My third time writing up this post. Let's see if I actually post this one. No idea why I don't seem able to leave an angry post visible to people.

Damned Halloween event ended. Got one mount. On my druid. Who has travel/flight form, so doesn't need a mount.

Did the fight 70 times. 5 80s going every single day, never missing one.

So many posts about people getting 4, 5, 8 mounts per character. And I got a grand total of one across all of mine.

If Cata wasn't just around the corner, this would be the final straw to get me to quit WoW.

In my whole online life, the idea of a group with no standards to join generally doesn't work for me. MU*s, linkshells, guilds, all the same. My current guild works off the "Hey, I got a friend, okay for him to join?" idea. This brings a lot of crap into too-close contact with me.

I was just called a cowards. Because I didn't want to run an instance. I never run instances! I'm on WoW to fricking RP!

The guild has three 12 year olds in it. 12! I boggle that someone that young can even function, let alone get on the net and figure out how to get onto WoW. (Bit of an exaggeration, but not all that much.)

12 years old. That's a good deal less than half my age. *rubs head* (Not all young people are bad, of course. We have two good 17 year olds in the guild... but there's a big difference between 12 and 17.)

I have such a headache. Back to work RL, plus I get endless IC crap. People ICly (and OOCly) hate our guild, so they generally attack our members for no reason. Tonight my poor little rogue (who isn't a fighter) got jumped by 8-12 big melees (DKs, warriors, etc). Overkill! Fricking hell!

I have such a headache. I like it when a guild/linkshell is like a family or good friends, where everyone gets along and helps each other. This fricking guild has one member who is a rabid "OMG YOU MUST DO THIS AMOUNT OF DPS OR YOU'RE UNFIT TO LIVE!". He endlessly bites members' heads off about talent/gem/armor/whatever the fuck crap. This is a RP guild! Not a raid guild! *froth* I do not want to hear that crap! That's the exact thing that would drive me away.

Ranty McRant Rant. Why can't people just be nice to each other?