Pure Defect

AFTER the band was chosen and the napkins color-coordinated to match her shoes, Kacey Knauer, a bride-to-be, had another critical matter to address: her skin, and the skin of the nine women in her bridal party.

"How long until these brilliant brides-to-be figure out that they can hire models to be their bridesmaids? Then they can have the perfect human accessories."

So Ms. Knauer, the 35-year-old owner of TempTrends, a staffing agency in Manhattan, invited her nearest and dearest — including her mother and future mother-in-law — for a night out at the TriBeCa MedSpa, replete with mimosas and cupcakes. An aesthetician assessed each woman’s face and devised a treatment plan — a quick chemical peel, say, or an injection of a wrinkle-filler. Or maybe, for a bridesmaid with age spots, a series of Fraxel laser treatments over months, allowing for recovery time.

For Ms. Knauer, who will be married in December, cosmetic interventions for herself and her entourage are as vital as the centerpieces or food. “If I were 25 or 26 and getting married, a bracelet, necklace or matching earrings would be fine,” she said.

This steaming pile of text can be read in its entirety here, and it quite well should to grasp the context of the rant.

Okay now with that out of the way lets turn to this repulsive story about empty beings. I will venture a guest that the bridesmaids of Ms. Knauer are either zombies, dosed to the eyeballs on Lithium, or just plain stupid cows; they have to be otherwise they would have realized that her insistence (albeit carefully worded and deployed) in the cosmetic alterations is in fact translated as this:

This cracks me up because they make it seem as if the industry that fuels these procedures and practices is in no way connected with the pounding ad campaigns that brainwash women into believing that they need these things done. Anybody with a brain however (see also: not bridesmaids) would see through such nonsense to the heart of the matter and realize that these women are just as caught up in filling their bodies with chemicals to enhance their external appearance as a coke head who is sucking down lines in order to maintain that crucial high.

The absurdity of this article really soars when it comes to rationalizing the expense of cosmetic procedures for a wedding by saying “They will never choose Botox over a great dress, but they will say ‘Maybe I’ll have a buffet over a sit-down at the rehearsal dinner,’ ” she said. Or: “I’ll spend the money on Botox rather than lunch.’ ” So even though the economy is in despair and various markets are suffering these women would opt for Botox or a new dress and forgo eating. That to me indicates a failure of sorts, more specifically in the ability to employ logic and reason. If they were making these poor decisions for themselves and themselves alone I could almost forgive such transgressions but the fact of the matter is that they are preening and primping to put on a show for someone else so that person can have pictures of fake-tanned, artificially whitened, and surgically augmented mannequins frozen forever in their wedding photo album.

Maybe I'm being too hard on women, right? Just perhaps I took the low road and fired off venom and bile about things which we cant fault them for because they have no choice, they are programmed by the media right? Bollocks to that as well; we've seen the push for all manner of changes in how women are treated, how they now have more choice and power and freedom than ever before in their lives thanks to the Women's Rights movement; yet it seems so many cannot escape the childhood princess fantasies long enough to realize how expertly they have been fleeced by surgeons, planners, and media moguls alike. Forgive me if i don't excrete a single milligram of sympathy for these vapid creatures passing themselves off as women, when you subject your body to these things for the sake of others whom you likely have no real connection with it makes it hard for others to feel the least bit sorry for you.

Labels: bridesmaids, cosmetics, marriage

First there was Bear Sterns and their collapse, followed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now I bring you First National Bank of Nevada and First National Bank of Arizona which as of this FDIC notice are now government property. Granted both of these newest failures are anywhere near as large as the previously mentioned financial collapses it seems to indicate that things are tumbling down hill in a very unpleasant fashion. If I were a moneyed person I would certainly be looking to move away conventional ways of eschewing away money and perhaps shift to things that are more independent of the overall economy, which is a overly verbose way to say now would be a good time to invest in a good hunting rifle, some ammunition, a reloading kit, and perhaps 50 acres of undeveloped and un-hunted wilderness. If you want to read a much more knowledgeable take on the whole thing have a look at Credit Writedowns to get a much better understanding of what is going on.

Labels: banks, collapse, financial

I apologize for the lolcats-esque title but it was necessary because my brain hates me right now.

According to reports, there may be a back door built into Skype, which allows connections to be bugged. The company has declined to expressly deny the allegations. At a meeting with representatives of ISPs and the Austrian regulator on lawful interception of IP based services held on 25th June, high-ranking officials at the Austrian interior ministry revealed that it is not a problem for them to listen in on Skype conversations.

Source

The short version of this article seems to be that the Austrian Interior Ministry claims they can jack in to Skype conversations with relative ease, however no other real backing information seems to have come out yet. Also of course there are mentions of a few ISPs putting in bridges for easier snooping of packets and the like. With this cat out of the bag I wonder how long before some enterprising young hacker or software engineer pulls Skype apart and indeed finds a backdoor or other weakness that could be leveraged by a government for spying purposes? Makes me glad I finally moved over to something a bit more transparent like Mumble.

Labels: mumble, skype, spying, voip

If someone brutally murdered someone you love, would you have the courage to confront them? Would you even want to? For some victims of violent crimes, these meetings are vital to the healing process.
Jennifer met with and forgave the man who killed her father.

On February 13, 1988, 17-year-old Jennifer slept in her bedroom as her father, Franklin Kennedy (known as Ken) was forced into his bed, stripped naked and brutally stabbed to death.

...

Over the next 16 years, Jennifer married and had five children. Still haunted by her father's horrific murder, she enrolled in a "restorative justice" program, designed to help victims and their families heal from the devastation of violent crimes through meetings with the offenders.

from CNN

Okay up to this point I can agree with wanting a face to face with the killer of a parent, that's completely understandable for a number of reasons, however it goes down hill from here.

As their meeting ends, Jennifer reads a statement to Billy. "I have traveled a very, very long journey. ... Part of my ending piece to my journey is to tell you that I forgive you. I forgive you for what took place that night. I forgive you for that; I've made peace with that. I had to because I was so angry and I was so hurt. He was such a great person. Just because he was gay didn't mean he was bad. I've forgiven you for that. Maybe you can find some peace in that, because I have."

Accepting an apology from the killer is also fine; provided you can stomach down the bile long enough to accept and believe that the apology is sincere. However then returning the gesture by conveying your forgiveness just turns my stomach. You forgive people who call you a derogatory word, or who cut you off in traffic, or who otherwise slight you in minor ways; to offer up forgiveness for a crime so unspeakable as killing someones father especially your own. It is beyond me how people could even bring those words to their lips in such a situation as being face to face with the killer of a parent.

Were I to be put into that situation I suspect I would have been physically ill just to know that my own tax dollars were supporting and protecting the life of a convicted murderer who robbed me of a parent. How anyone can tolerate such things is truly beyond my comprehension. The worst part is that vapid heads everywhere flock to Oprah as some kind of messiah with her messages of forgiveness, learning, growing, whatever you want to call the crap she spews. This is just another gleaming example of why she and her empire are completely full of shit.

Labels: oprah, rant

So yet again I am slacking off at keeping this place up to date, which given my work schedule the past few weeks is pretty reasonable. However now that things are winding down (I can count all the calls today on a single hand) there should be a bit more spare time to put towards some decent content and ranting here. For returning visitors it can be noted that the theme is new with some tweaks to make it more pleasant to the eye to read. Also some of my more extraneous contact points on the web are being slowly tied in such as Flickr, Twitter, etc. As soon as I get a chance to abuse some code and upload a few things there should be direct parsing of twitter on the blog instead of having to click a link, as well as a few more touches to make content feel more connected with the blog rather than being an after-thought that was shoe-horned in at the last moment.