Rant VIII: The Reckoning

Bubble181 · Apr 4, 2024

GasBandit said:
... smells like a security guard got himself a bike, imo.

I dunno. They know there's cameras trained on the exits, and sure, local security apparently can't watch them, but Memphis can. It'd be pretty risky. There's an old piece of garbage bike abandoned near the back of our building, my guess is someone rode in on that, tailgated into the secured bike shed with a backpack, cut my locks and drove off pretending it was his own bike. We'll see.

evilmike said:
That's rotten. Is work going to help you out with this?

I'm pretty sure work and the building management will point to one another and/or claim "at your own risk" parking rules. Unfortunately for them those rules are posted in the underground parking garage but nowhere near the bike cage. So, honestly, I'm not sure.

PatrThom · Apr 4, 2024

Bubble181 said:
honestly, I'm not sure.

I would be right there with you until you said "secure badge access" and "locked cage." At that point, the "responsible" party either has to be negligence on the part of whomever's job it is to restrict access to that area, or else it has to be an inside job, both of which fall under the company's responsibility, n'est pas?
Like, if company plans/secrets get stolen because someone "forgot" to lock a door, they're not like, "Oh well, stuff like that happens." No, they pin that right onto dude-who-was-supposed-to-lock-door.

Downside: You might have to sue your employer for damages, or whatever the Belgique equivalent of that is.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy · Apr 19, 2024

Haligonia, a local news page on Facebook: Post about gas prices going up.

Me: Maybe we, as a society should make changes to our habits so we're not so reliant on fossil fuels? Carpool, public transit, biking, work from home, etc? Maybe push for more infrastructure, services, and incentives to move away from fossil fuel reliance?

Replies: Fucking communist! Liberal idiot! Did you know your bike was transported by truck? You're ignoring people who live out in the country! You just want to eliminate cars! We'll always need fossil fuels! I say drill baby drill! Fuck your socialist propaganda! Climate change isn't even real! Trudeau is a fascist dictator!

*sigh* I don't know why I even bother making comments like this when all I get are insults and bad faith arguments.

ThatNickGuy · Apr 19, 2024

ThatNickGuy said:
Haligonia, a local news page on Facebook: Post about gas prices going up.

Me: Maybe we, as a society should make changes to our habits so we're not so reliant on fossil fuels? Carpool, public transit, biking, work from home, etc? Maybe push for more infrastructure, services, and incentives to move away from fossil fuel reliance?

Replies: Fucking communist! Liberal idiot! Did you know your bike was transported by truck? You're ignoring people who live out in the country! You just want to eliminate cars! We'll always need fossil fuels! I say drill baby drill! Fuck your socialist propaganda! Climate change isn't even real! Trudeau is a fascist dictator!

*sigh* I don't know why I even bother making comments like this when all I get are insults and bad faith arguments.

"I think you're a terrible person and hope you get hit by a car."

PatrThom · Apr 19, 2024

Is that the 2024 equivalent of "Drink bleach?"

--Patrick

Squidleybits · Apr 19, 2024

Our extended family (mine really) had some super strong and odd opinions about us buying an electric car a few years ago. None of them made sense.

Tress · Apr 19, 2024

Social media is a megaphone for idiots. Try to remember that they are just a very vocal minority and that most people either agreed or disagreed rationally. They just didn't feel the need to tell you about it, unlike the morons who can't help but yap to everyone.

Frank · Apr 19, 2024

Not just a megaphone for idiots. Internet traffic is now 50% bots. A lot of social media traffic is just nonsense designed to rile people up.

Cog · Apr 23, 2024

I hate this country and everybody who lives here. I need to get Gaby out of here before it collapses.

IronBrig4 · Apr 23, 2024

Cog said:
I hate this country and everybody who lives here. I need to get Gaby out of here before it collapses.

It's a rough situation, no doubt. Ecuador is sandwiched between two massive drug suppliers (Peru and Colombia) and it's caught in the middle of their turf wars.

Up until a few years ago, I wanted to visit Guayaquil. Now I'd rather stay away.

PatrThom · Apr 23, 2024

Cog said:
I hate this country and everybody who lives here. I need to get Gaby out of here before it collapses.

Que tendría toda la suerte con la sortie.

--Patrick

MindDetective · Apr 23, 2024

Cog said:
I hate this country and everybody who lives here. I need to get Gaby out of here before it collapses.

Is there anything we can do?

Cog · Apr 23, 2024

I think that the wave of crime only makes our problems more aparent. Ecuatorians just don't want to be the ones fixing our problems. Most of them believe that the goverment is a magic entity that can fix everything without cost for them. I just don't know how to save my daughter because I know the future is going to be worse.

Cog · Apr 23, 2024

We just had a referendum with several modifications to the constitution, including tougher penalties for hired killings and allowing extradition. We had another one just over a year ago, and they voted NO solely because the president wasn't popular. This time they voted yes, but in my province, no won because the leader of the most popular party against the current government told them to. Two mayors have been murdered in this province.

ThatNickGuy · Tuesday at 7:02 AM

I nearly hit a pedestrian this morning. I was biking to work, down Octerloney St, going a good 20-25 kmph.

She stepped right out to cross without looking. I slammed on the brakes and said, "Next time, look both ways."

She LAUGHED.

I said, "That's not funny. You could have been seriously hurt."

She just kept walking.

Fucking hell, people. Looking both ways before crossing the street should be something that's ingrained in you by the time you start grade school.

mikerc · Tuesday at 7:20 AM

ThatNickGuy said:
I nearly hit a pedestrian this morning. I was biking to work, down Octerloney St, going a good 20-25 kmph.

She stepped right out to cross without looking. I slammed on the brakes and said, "Next time, look both ways."

She LAUGHED.

I said, "That's not funny. You could have been seriously hurt."

She just kept walking.

Fucking hell, people. Looking both ways before crossing the street should be something that's ingrained in you by the time you start grade school.

And if you didn't have time to react & had plowed into her no doubt she would have blamed the "dangerous idiot on a bike" instead of her own stupidity.

PatrThom · Tuesday at 4:28 PM

ThatNickGuy said:
Looking both ways before crossing the street should be something that's ingrained in you by the time you start grade school.

Would have also accepted "where the ones who don't have fallen victim to natural selection by the time you start grade school."

--Patrick

Sparhawk · Tuesday at 6:57 PM

ThatNickGuy said:
I nearly hit a pedestrian this morning. I was biking to work, down Octerloney St, going a good 20-25 kmph.

She stepped right out to cross without looking. I slammed on the brakes and said, "Next time, look both ways."

She LAUGHED.

I said, "That's not funny. You could have been seriously hurt."

She just kept walking.

Fucking hell, people. Looking both ways before crossing the street should be something that's ingrained in you by the time you start grade school.

I trust humanity so much that I look both ways on a one-way street.