What happened at Davis was a big deal. If you stay with the video till the end you can see that the protesters got the police to back off and leave them alone. With nothing but words. The actual pepper spraying was hard to watch, and the standoff was tense, and I don't know why the cops finally decided to back off (except for the fact that Davis isn't NYC or Oakland), but it seems to me that this was a successfully executed non-violent resistance.
Watching the video sort of highlights how much that letter is total bullshit, in my opinion. _________________ Rise up children, life goes on and on
Wise up children, life goes on and on
Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 3013 Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:31 pm Post subject:
A friend of mine from college is doing graduate studies at Davis right now, and she posted this open letter from a UC Davis professor calling for Katehi's immediate resignation. It's a good read.
My friend's Facebook profile picture is also now this:
_________________ Change has a way of just walking up and punching me in the face.
^ I can't believe this is becoming a frequent thing.
Ten days ago protesters were forcefully removed and pepper sprayed from McGill campus as well-- instigated by a "peaceful occupation" (there is a lot of controversy surrounding the actual events) of the principal's office and administration building; fueled by the four-month strike of non-academic workers on campus and the proposal of tuition hikes over five years, not the Occupation movement. One thing led to another and the campus was swarmed with riot police, people were getting arrested, social media flooded with posts about the events.
I cannot believe that universities--supposed safe havens for expression--are becoming locales for such acts of violence against demonstrators. McGill is beside a hospital and sees a lot of student demonstrations and protests-- now whenever an ambulance goes past people perk up, nervous of the sirens being squad cars. Not a good feeling.
It'll be interesting to see if the air has changed when I get back in January.
(sorry for huge photos)
The next day there was a bunch of stuff outside the admin building--
A week later an open forum was held for people to voice their opinions, seek solutions, move forward.
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Posts: 9677 Location: the goondocks
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:31 pm Post subject:
Apparently I will not be able to cook till November 30th. That is the earliest the gas company can come out to restore service.
Since I moved in May I have not had an account with them and have been apparently stealing gas. I had thought it was covered under my water and electric bill since that was the only utility bill I was receiving. However, that was not the case.
It's going to be tiresome not being able to cook till then. Luckily, I don't use my heater or else I'd be really upset. Eating out isn't as bad as feeling frozen in my own place. _________________ "Right is right even if no one does it, and wrong is wrong even if everyone does it."
--Rachel Joy Scott
I'm feel weird doing this, but for anyone who logged onto this page and is wondering how this topic got started, please look at my post at the bottom of the last page.
Inthebeast and shannon, thanks for posting that information. It helps me a lot to know that this situation is getting more attention.
Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 2706 Location: springfield
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:16 pm Post subject:
Dan--my friends have been posting about that on Facebook and Tumblr all day, but I forgot your daughter was there. I think your response to that letter from the admin was right on the money. Theirs reads like they were in serious CYA mode, as well they should be.
My mother's telephone had been busy for two days and I figured it was off the hook. Someone suggested calling the local police to check on her and I did.
While I was waiting for the call back I almost puked thinking about her laying dead on the floor (she has been really shaky since the suicide). I was livid with myself for not going up there or calling the police sooner.
They found her OK (the phone had been off the hook - for two days!?), and, ironically she almost shit when seeing the officers coming up to her house in that maybe they were bringing bad news about someone else.
Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 979 Location: San Diego
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:34 pm Post subject:
Yesterday was my birthday and I got fired, or apparently I am going to be notified today. The managers ethics are borderline illegal and I will present a lot of the issues to a labor commissioner. Whether I stay fired or not is no longer my problem but devoting almost 6 years to a company one muse ensure that no one ever goes through this again.
Im just super pissed it happened yesterday. I dunno what is annoying me more, belated wishes or the fact that Im not sure if I'm gonna be able to pay rent this month. _________________ “Does a man ever tire of looking at the sunrise…when he's balls deep in Kevin?”
Joined: 07 Apr 2006 Posts: 979 Location: San Diego
Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:55 pm Post subject:
I was beaten on and attempted robbed today. basically i was on the trolley to the SDMA library to do volunteer work and some cholo tried to rob me failed and repeatedly punched me in the right eye.
Stuff like this happens. What pissed me off is that it was full in the trolley and no one helped, no one wanted to even help in the description for the report obviously i couldn't help out much do to the fact that i was getting punched in the eye. This sucks. _________________ “Does a man ever tire of looking at the sunrise…when he's balls deep in Kevin?”
Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 3013 Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:22 pm Post subject:
God, that's the worst, Adan. I'm so sorry. If I were there with you I would have pepper sprayed him and roundhouse kicked him in the head, just for you.
_________________ Change has a way of just walking up and punching me in the face.
God, that's the worst, Adan. I'm so sorry. If I were there with you I would have pepper sprayed him and roundhouse kicked him in the head, just for you.
Yeesh - bodyguard? I like that one-two combo.
I got mugged once a long time ago and it really sucked, but it did give me something to talk about in the locker room later.
Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 2973 Location: SLC, Utah
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 12:18 am Post subject:
F#minor wrote:
I was beaten on and attempted robbed today. basically i was on the trolley to the SDMA library to do volunteer work and some cholo tried to rob me failed and repeatedly punched me in the right eye.
Stuff like this happens. What pissed me off is that it was full in the trolley and no one helped, no one wanted to even help in the description for the report obviously i couldn't help out much do to the fact that i was getting punched in the eye. This sucks.
WTF, I can't believe people were just standing by doing nothing about this. Aggggh. I'm sorry, that is awful. _________________ happiness is not a fish that you can catch.
Joined: 13 Jul 2004 Posts: 9677 Location: the goondocks
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:14 am Post subject:
I'm surprised to hear that this happened in San Diego. I never thought of it as a "bad" town, but, then again, every town has its bad parts. _________________ "Right is right even if no one does it, and wrong is wrong even if everyone does it."
--Rachel Joy Scott
Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 2973 Location: SLC, Utah
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject:
It has been snowing all day. Overall, I'm happy about this- we have been having a nasty-ass inversion in Salt Lake City and the snow is good for cleaning the gunk out of the air. However, the driveway of my apartment building is ridiculously steep, and I'm not sure I can go anywhere. I've gotten stuck on that blasted thing before, and I don't want to risk it right now since I'm alone, which means no one to help me push the car if I can't make it. Soo....yeah. I was going to spend my afternoon going to a book store and a craft store, but now I might be spending it....playing video games I guess? _________________ happiness is not a fish that you can catch.
Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 2973 Location: SLC, Utah
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 6:41 pm Post subject:
I have a new supervisor. Again. This makes...oh...FOUR in the past year, I believe. Part of it is that the company has been growing faster than fuck, part is that I've switched responsibilities, and part is that someone went on maternity leave, but still.
This new one is a lot stricter than the last. I just had my first review with her and it was like getting teeth pulled. I work one Saturday a month, have the whole 4 years I've had this job. Every other supervisor has let me pick whatever Sat works best for me. She is now making me stick to the same Saturday. I've worked 8am-430pm (except Mondays, I work late) the four years I've been here. She asked me if I could switch to 830-5. I politely told her that I would not prefer to do this, and she said I could keep my schedule for now, but that she might have to change it in the future.
One of my favorite things about my job has been people treating me like a professional adult, no one looking over my shoulder. She seems like a shoulder-watcher and I'm not sure I'm going to be that happy with it. _________________ happiness is not a fish that you can catch.
Joined: 02 May 2007 Posts: 2973 Location: SLC, Utah
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:00 pm Post subject:
I do not know why this is really irritating me, but it is. A "friend" on facebook (I haven't actually seen this girl in years, and even then she was more of a casual aquaintance) posted the following quote on facebook.
"Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy. This is physics." - Albert Einstein
As soon as I read this, my bull shit radar started going off. Now, I'm no Einstein expert and I'm certainly no physics expert, but this quote sounds like some mumbo-jumbo new age thing and not something Einstein ever would have said. Now, I enjoy mumbo jumbo new-age quotes as much as the next semi-vegan-semi-hipster-semi-new-age-hippie-20-something year old, but attributing this crap to Einstein really has me irked. I tried to google around and find something proving this quote is crap, but no one seems to have a definitive answer. _________________ happiness is not a fish that you can catch.
Ugh, I mentioned how I was passing on a promotion because it would mean changing branches and having a new boss.
Turns out it is not that simple. My friends are telling me that I will look like a non-ambitious loser by not going for it. Because of that I could be moved from my high action branch to the slowest one kind of as punishment.
So now I am going to apply, but turn it down if chosen. So I'm basically wasting their time just to appear that I would be open to moving. But this means that I might not take the promotion (and salary increase) and still be moved from where I am. Lose-lose scenario.
The biggest problem with the other branch is that their full-time staff only work about 2-3 hours per day on desk. Whereas I like being on desk 6-7 hours a day. I have no idea what they do with their time, but I am not good without structure and specific tasks.
The context for this is that I lag on all the 'cool' new techie things like e-books and facebook pages, etc. But I am the hardest working guy in terms of physical demands and pay the most attention to detail in terms of doing things right.
The problem is that they are building a brand new library to replace my branch and everything will be new and high-tech. They are putting in automated systems to replace the labor type work I do. Our new library director loves everything new and doesn't appreciate the basic ground work I do that goes under the radar.
The ultimate irony is that I am older and way more educated (in academic ways) than the cool young hot shot staff that I work circles around.
Ultimately, I'm hoping that I will still be needed at the new library as the dude who oversees the machines and keeps things moving when things go wrong.
I've paid my dues here and deserve to stay. It really bothers me that I could be moved around like a pawn by some misguided management decision.
Oh. and I get that things change and you can't stand in the way of progress, so I will adapt. _________________ Under cherry flowers none are strangers
yesterday my flight was $550. Today its $740. I'm so upset. I booked it anyway...but still! _________________ "oh no! jabba is going to choose jenny lewis for his wife. R2D2 will destroy him!"
i don't know why i even bother anymore at work anymore.
for the last few weeks i've been working on organizing getting soil analysis run in-house instead of shipping them to an external lab. i've been doing crazy cost analysis too. you should see my excel spread sheet, its 9 tabs with just numbers. its intense. I made simple "fact sheets" for all the number breakdowns. I figured out how to save the company 41% a week by only doing 34/ 132 samples. Crazy savings! i've made sample reports, i've ordered all the supplies, i've prepped all the supplies...basically i've been doing a lot of work while everyone sits idly by doing dick all.
So i sent out a big long as e-mail today about soils. it took me about half hour to write it (i wanted it to sound good and professional) My reply from my boss: "ok, we'll get Sean to go out on the site and do it"
WHY? Sean hasn't been working in the lab for the past 3 weeks and he has never done soils before so he wont know whats going on. Kind of bullshit.
Also, I have not gotten a single "thank you" or "good job" or "we appreciate you're work". I've been so fucking frustrated over this stupid bullshit. The one time i talked ot him about it, he looked at my fact sheet, read maybe 2 lines said "waste of our time" and tossed the page outside. I walked out and started to cry. I just want a little bit of recognition. That's all.
I think I mentioned a few weeks ago how I wanted to take a cake decorating course and to do so I would have to leave a few hours early twice. I think I also mentioned how it was denied. I am royally pissed off because now Diana gets to take a course for flower arranging. Her course is twice a week for 12 weeks. She is on straight afternoons, so basically she would be leaving early 24 times. Hers was approved.
Did I mention how all this week all shes been doing at work is looking for flower shops that are for sale that she can buy? My course was something to do on the side to make me happy because I love to bake, hers is for another goddamn fucking career.
BULLSHIT. _________________ "oh no! jabba is going to choose jenny lewis for his wife. R2D2 will destroy him!"
Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 3013 Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 11:31 am Post subject:
Can someone back me up, please, that it is rude to take someone's oatmeal (which is steel-cut and therefore needs to soak overnight before reheating) out of the saucepan, put it in a plastic bowl, and leave it on the counter while you use the pot to make your own breakfast? Like, I came back in from my run, saw this, and felt the way I used to feel in college when someone would take my wet laundry out and leave it sitting there in a pile on top of the machine so they could use it.
Putting this here while I stew/cool off upstairs, because if there's one person you're not allowed to yell at about fucking with your oatmeal, it's your semi-invalid mother on the first day she's not going to her hospital outpatient program because the insurance company won't pay for it anymore. _________________ Change has a way of just walking up and punching me in the face.
Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 2706 Location: springfield
Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject:
thegirlinthesong wrote:
Can someone back me up, please, that it is rude to take someone's oatmeal (which is steel-cut and therefore needs to soak overnight before reheating) out of the saucepan, put it in a plastic bowl, and leave it on the counter while you use the pot to make your own breakfast? Like, I came back in from my run, saw this, and felt the way I used to feel in college when someone would take my wet laundry out and leave it sitting there in a pile on top of the machine so they could use it.
Putting this here while I stew/cool off upstairs, because if there's one person you're not allowed to yell at about fucking with your oatmeal, it's your semi-invalid mother on the first day she's not going to her hospital outpatient program because the insurance company won't pay for it anymore.
Yup, that's pretty rude, but I also agree that you're probably better off not mentioning it in those circumstances.
We are negotiating (as part of SEIU) for a new contract and the city is demanding concessions.
I don't want to give stuff up, but realize that we really should: both for PR and legitimate fiscal reasons.
But my co-workers are all militant and outraged. They refuse to understand that our benefits are too costly and unsustainable. And that the public has reached a point where they are pissed off about how much our medical/pension takes from the budget.
But if I try to talk sense to them I am suddenly a traitor. _________________ Under cherry flowers none are strangers
We are negotiating (as part of SEIU) for a new contract and the city is demanding concessions.
I don't want to give stuff up, but realize that we really should: both for PR and legitimate fiscal reasons.
But my co-workers are all militant and outraged. They refuse to understand that our benefits are too costly and unsustainable. And that the public has reached a point where they are pissed off about how much our medical/pension takes from the budget.
But if I try to talk sense to them I am suddenly a traitor.
would they cut jobs or not renew contracts as a result? _________________ "oh no! jabba is going to choose jenny lewis for his wife. R2D2 will destroy him!"
Yes, layoffs are pretty much the alternative. Or they just impose a contract if the is a total impass.
The council is under tremendous pressure from residents to cut back our benefits.
I see my co-workers as basically 'killing the goose that laid the golden egg' by not accepting any compromise.
I guess the real test will be if we go on strike, which I pretty sure most would back off from. _________________ Under cherry flowers none are strangers
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