... if it weren't so sad.

Flickr is doing the same stupid thing that LJ tried to pull a few weeks ago. They're restricting users from Germany, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore from watching photos which have been as "moderate" or "restricted" (by other Flickr users!).

This means that I, as an adult German citizen, cannot view any photos on Flickr that anyone has deemed inappropriate in one way or another. I'm an adult, for fucks sake! Gimme back my porn!

Seriously though, I know that there are laws in Germany that prohibit websites from letting minors access "adult material." Which is difficult to define, but that's besides the point here. The solution to this is not, however, to prohibit EVERY GERMAN CITIZEN (or, for that matter, all the Austrian and Swiss citizens caught up in the flames) from accessing the nekkid pictures.

Find a way to limit access to your site according to the arbitrary laws citing certain ages as a measure of maturity around the world. Or take a fucking stand for a change, and force all the countries around the world to acknowledge that the Internet is a worldwide phenomenon, and that local laws about the minimum age for viewing porn don't mean a thing in a world where teenagers know far more about technology than their guardians or the local authorities.

Won't somebody think of the PORN?!?!!?!

Wenn sich Leute abfällig über Dinge äußern, die mir wichtig sind – ob nun bewusst oder unbewusst – wenn also in meiner Wahrnehmung sich jemand lustig macht über meine Liebe, über mein Spiel, dann geht mir das regelmäßig viel zu nahe. Hängt mir noch tagelang in dicken dunklen Wolken über dem Kopf und vernebelt mir die Sicht auf alles Schöne.

Deshalb entscheide ich jetzt, mit wem ich noch über welche Themen rede. Da haben die ganzen Schlechtreder, die Arroganzbolzen und Naserümpfer einfach mal Pech gehabt. Die kriegen dann von mir nur noch Smalltalkpampe übers Wetter, über Frau und Kind und über den neuen Gartenzaun aufs Brot.

You've all read about the "scrotum in a kid's book"-bruhaha by now. Neil Gaiman has posted a letter from a librarian in his blog today which makes me (once again) very happy that I do not live in the U.S.

Christofacists picketing libraries because they grant their patrons internet access? Signs with slogans against "library porn?" What's next? Banning crayons from child care because the kids could draw something inappropriate?

The computer rooms for computer science students at my university are open 24/7. The machines used to run continuously, since you never knew when someone would use one next, and because it's better for them than turning them on and off all the time. Everyone who has worked with computers for a while should know this, right?

Well, we now have something called "power management", where a bunch of idiots university management tries to save money by finding new ways to save energy. They decided that all computers have to be turned off when they are not in use.

During the first two weeks of this new policy, three of the (highly expensive) machines died.

This doesn't phase the power management guys though. Since the department of computer science will have to pay for the new machines, the loss won't appear on their balance. Clever, isn't it?

"I have something to say to all of you who have something nasty to say about me or other women who are built like me, women whose names you know, women whose names you don't, women who've been picked on, women whose husbands put them down, women that work or girls in school. I have one thing to say to you:

Kiss my fat ass!"



(found here)

Our LYS stayed closed this morning, because our boss hasn't returned from her vacation as planned. We're not sure if she simply forgot that there would be no one here to open the shop if she stayed home another day, or if something happened to her.

So, when my colleague arrived at 1pm, she found the shop still closed and an angry mob of customers at the door. People also called in to bitch her out about the shop not being open. "How can you do that?!" "I needed my yarn!" "That's unacceptable!" yadda yadda.

Hello? Our boss didn't show up, and we don't know why. Maybe she had an accident, maybe she's ill, hell, she could be dead for all we know. And all you care about is your stupid yarn? You'd think we run an ER, people got so riled up about this. What kind of emergency is it to wait four hours for your precious skein of yarn? Sheesh.

Today I had an extremely shitty day at work, with most of the customers acting like complete idiots. Then on my way back home, on my bike, in the rain, some stupid bint on the way to her car crossed right in front of me, forcing me to hit the brakes really hard to avoid slamming right into her.

And I very much wanted to swear at her, which I normally don't do, but I was in a particularly fowl mood. But all the swear words running through my head were in English! And I really didn't think it'd have quite the right effect on a sidewalk in a small German town if I swore at her in any language other than German. *sigh*

So I swallowed my anger and rode home through the rain.

fin