"I don't mind what language an opera is sung in so long as it is a language I don't understand." - Sir Edward Appleton

***

What do you call a man who confides to his pals about how miserable he is, how little sex he is getting, how little he is being paid, how he has no friends and how life seems miserable in general?

Some answers I got: "sad.", "a whiner", "A whinger", "dont tell me........... humanities grad student!", "[The Associate's real name]" (x2), "quite a sorry man", "wo-man", "attention seeker", "[His own name]", "40 year old virgin", "loser" (x3), "A miserable sod", "angsty. you can also call him *** [Ed: The name of a mutual acquaintance], but i don't think that's the answer you're looking for", "Is this a trick question?", you [Ed: Gah.]

My suggested answer: "a loser."


What do you call a woman who confides to her pals about how miserable she is, how little sex (or love, if you like) she is getting, how little she is being paid, how she has no friends and how life seems miserable in general?

Some answers I got: "normal" (x5), "a normal gal" (x3), "the average singapore girl", "loserette", "depends on how she looks", "a 40 year old virgin", "Also loser", "a woman", "typical", "single", "a blogger", "girlfriend", "kimberly" [Ed: GAH.]

My suggested answer: "a poor girl who is discriminated against by her company and society by virture of her sex, needs TLC, a big hug, a bar of dark chocolate, a Jack Rabbit, a night out with the girls and lots of sympathy"

Someone: "hey, at least women know how to solve their problems :P"

***

A good response to those who claim that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear from invasions of privacy:

"Anyone that thinks that violations of privacy are inconsequential should examine the behavior of the FBI under Hoover, and the executive branch under Nixon. They kept extensive files and detailed records of non-violent war protesters and civil rights activists through the fifties, sixties and seventies. They used the information they gathered to try to blackmail people like Martin Luther King amongst others, and suggested to these people that they should commit suicide."

***

"There's a door-to-door salesman. And he had one customer who never wanted to buy anything. "Maybe tomorrow," the salesman would politely say.

But every day he came back, the customer got angrier and angrier. "I don't want anything. Don't come back!" But the salesman always smiled and said, "Maybe tomorrow."

Finally, one day, the customer got so mad, he spit in the face of the salesman.

The salesman wiped the spit from his cheek, looked up in the sky and said, "Hmm. It must be raining.""

Commentary on the above story:

"This story is intended to be seen as some sort of insparational (sic) tale of a courageous guy who's doing his best to help humanity in the face of hopelessness. But that's not what this guy's doing at all. He's just being an asshole. Him (sic) going around annoying people doesn't help anyone. It just wastes his time and pisses them off. He's contributing nothing to society and is just feeding off the rudeness of others to make himself feel noble."

[To people who approve of religious harassment] "So, if I call you every morning to ask you if you are ready to follow the path of Cthulu, you would never get upset? I doubt that. People dont want things forced on them. Period... If these folks were knocking on doors to persuade you to become a baby-sacrificing satanist, perhaps you'd feel differently."


I wonder if court protection orders can be taken out on those who harass others so.

***

This is ridiculous. Someone added me to MSN and asked for Emma Watson's ICQ/MSN contact. Gah.

Oh, and this person had the cheek to ask me to speak French.