Etiquette, manners, and customs are human constructs. We can create new ones. We can modify or discard old ones. The fact that we rarely do says something about us.
Likes and dislikes are rarely entirely sane and rational. They are also personal. I don't like nickels.
I have worked fairly steadily in the food service industry for a bit over five years. One of my jobs was at a fast food place that I shall call Sandwich Emperor. I was frequently assigned to the task of order-taking and/or collecting money from the customers.
One of the things about this job is that employees were expected to count down their drawer themselves at the end of the shift before handing it over to management to make the count official. I didn't like counting nickels. Quarters make sense: four of them make a dollar. Dimes make sense: two piles of five make a dollar. I'm a very visual counter: I sort things into piles and then count the piles. Pennies make perfect sense: each one is worth one.
Nickels bother me: it takes four piles of five to make a dollar. So, I made it a sort of secret goal of mine to run out of nickels by the time my shift was over. This led me to a new practice. If a customer wasn't one I was especially fond of, I'd make sure their change was as heavy on nickels as possible. An even ten cents change as two nickels instead of one dime, for instance.
People in customer service jobs put up with a lot of crap. We need a way to express our frustration with more subtlety and good taste than serving the customers sneezers. I propose that anyone in a cash-handling customer service position adopt my practice of giving out change that's heavy on nickels as a subtle sign of displeasure.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Review of Arion Lord of Atlantis Issue #1
Review of Arion Lord of Atlantis Issue #1
What is it? Arion Lord of Atlantis issue #1
Comic book. Glossy cover. Non-glossy interior. Color throughout. Written by Paul Kupperberg with art by Jan Duursma. Lettered by todd Klein. Colored by someone credited only as Tatjana, I'm assuming Tatjana Wood. Co-edited by Ernie Colon and Laurie Sutton. 23 story pages. Dated November 1982.
This plot summary contains spoilers for a 28+years-old c-list DC sword and sorcery title that I picked up from a fifty cent box. You have been warned.
Plot Summary: The story kind of picks up in media res from the Arion backup stories in Warlord. Arion is astrally projecting, and fighting the embodiment of a star. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Arion's body is possessed by his enemy Garn Daanuth.
This presents Wyynde, Arion's loyal sword-swinging companion, with a dilemma. You see Garn/Arion is threatening the female member of the group, who does not seem to be named in either dialogue or caption boxes throughout the entire issue. Wyynde stabs Garn and Arion's body receives a near-fatal wound.
By issue's end: Arion's body and soul reunite, and he recovers form his near fatal injury; Arion defeats the star; and Arion's mentor Caculha dies.
What's good about it? There was definitely plenty of action. The artwork was crisp and clean with as much realism as you can get in a sword and sorcery book where a giant woman made of fire appears. Todd Klein's lettering is always beautiful and this book is no exception. While there was no letters page, as such, there was a text page asking for letters and explaining how the creators of the book came together to create it.
What's not quite so good? I am not incredibly familiar with the Arion backup stories in warlord, having read very few of them, and I was somewhat confused by the events of the book. This could have been fixed with a few recap captions or dialogue balloons.
What the ....? moments: It's 45,000 B.C. more or less and the king of Atlantis has situation room with a giant television screen: archaeology and evolutionary biology both say this absurd.
Who should get it? Sword and sorcery fans.
Rating: 3 stars
Method Of Acquisition: I believe it was the fifty-cent box at Apparitions.
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Bright Shining Hope For The Future: Buggy Technology
Well, work is a subject I've touched on before. It's kind of an inexhaustible well of stories about how crazy people can be, life's little frustrations, and the horrors of modern technology.
I have probably mentioned that one of my jobs is as a cashier at a fast food place that I shall call Burrito Gong in order to protect the guilty.
Well today, the credit card machine stopped working again for half an hour or so. It does that about once a month. Sometimes customers want to know why the credit card machine is not functioning.
At one point I was tempted to say: Because James Cameron was right and the machines are taking over.
Now that I've had time to think on it though, the very unreliability of technology is our best hope against a Terminator future. Think about it if SkyNet regularly spontaneously crashes, the Terminators aren't going to be able to hunt down all that many humans.
I have probably mentioned that one of my jobs is as a cashier at a fast food place that I shall call Burrito Gong in order to protect the guilty.
Well today, the credit card machine stopped working again for half an hour or so. It does that about once a month. Sometimes customers want to know why the credit card machine is not functioning.
At one point I was tempted to say: Because James Cameron was right and the machines are taking over.
Now that I've had time to think on it though, the very unreliability of technology is our best hope against a Terminator future. Think about it if SkyNet regularly spontaneously crashes, the Terminators aren't going to be able to hunt down all that many humans.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Have A Happy Holy Day
Well, the season is upon us once again.
I've got no objections to that.
I just want to wish everyone a (belated) Happy Hanukkah, a slightly belated Slammin' Solstice and Cool Yule (they were yesterday), a slightly early Merry Christmas and Triumphant Sol Invictus (they both fall on December 25), a Super Saturnalia (it started on the 17th and ends tomorrow), a Good Kwanzaa (starts December 26), and a Blessed Boxing Day (December 26).
Tell me what I missed.
I've got no objections to that.
I just want to wish everyone a (belated) Happy Hanukkah, a slightly belated Slammin' Solstice and Cool Yule (they were yesterday), a slightly early Merry Christmas and Triumphant Sol Invictus (they both fall on December 25), a Super Saturnalia (it started on the 17th and ends tomorrow), a Good Kwanzaa (starts December 26), and a Blessed Boxing Day (December 26).
Tell me what I missed.
Friday, December 10, 2010
In Memoriam to Grandma W.
My maternal grandmother died recently. I'm going to miss her.
She had flaws and imperfections. I do not want to ignore that entirely.
I think her grandkids had a significantly different experience of her than her own children. To us, she was loving and attentive and probably sober.
One of my good memories, was that she was in a way my first employer. She had a paper route and hired me as her assistant. It was a rural route covering several miles of dirt roads, delivering a free weekly paper. She did the actual driving, and I folded and bagged the papers and put them in the tubes.
In a way, she was what I wanted in a boss. She didn't micromanage and she didn't intrude on my thoughts with a lot of empty chatter.
On the other hand, she didn't wait to make sure my arm was back inside the van before driving to the next house.
She had flaws and imperfections. I do not want to ignore that entirely.
I think her grandkids had a significantly different experience of her than her own children. To us, she was loving and attentive and probably sober.
One of my good memories, was that she was in a way my first employer. She had a paper route and hired me as her assistant. It was a rural route covering several miles of dirt roads, delivering a free weekly paper. She did the actual driving, and I folded and bagged the papers and put them in the tubes.
In a way, she was what I wanted in a boss. She didn't micromanage and she didn't intrude on my thoughts with a lot of empty chatter.
On the other hand, she didn't wait to make sure my arm was back inside the van before driving to the next house.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Anarchon- another Champions character sheet
This is kind of a placeholder post. I am working on something serious and with a bit of depth, but it's not finished yet. My maternal grandmother died a two days ago, and I am writing something to memorialize her. It's not done yet.
In the meantime, here's this, my second try at creating a Champions character:
Costumed Name: Anarchon
Real Name: Mikail Goldman
STR: 14 DEX: 20 CON: 15 BODY: 15
INT: 16 EGO: 13 PRE: 12 COM: 8
PD: 4 ED: 4 SPD: 3 REC: 6
END: 40 STUN: 42
POWERS (& Skills, they don't seem to have their own space on the character sheet):
Acrobatics, roll of 15 or less (14 Points)
Find Weakness, roll of 12 or less (15 Points)
Martial Arts, two extra *1/2 multiples (28 Points)
Climbing, roll of 14 or less (9 Points)
Stealth, roll of 13 or less (5 Points)
Shield: Armor Power for 9 PD, 3 ED, Obvious Inaccessible Focus, Unbreakable, Universal Applicability, Miscellaneous Limitation- Only Protects Anarchon's front and left flank. (10 Points)
Shield: 6D6 Energy Blast against Physical Defense, Obvious Accessible Focus, unbreakable, universal, Reduced Endurance cost twice (now takes 1 END) (30 Points)
Armor: Armor 3 PD, 3 ED, Obvious Inaccessible Focus, breakable, universal (7 Points)
Gun: 4D6 Ranged Killing Attack, OAF, breakable, universal, Charges: 6 (22 Points)
Knife: 1D6 Physical Hand-toHand Killing Attack, OAF, breakable, universal (7 Points)
CHARACTER DISADVANTAGES:
Hunted By NSA, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Hunted By FBI, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Hunted By Michigan staties, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Full time (comes up on 11 or less) (13 Points)
Goes Berserk (on a 14 or less) when the following words are mentioned: government, politics, political, party (in the political sense), Republican, Democrat, capitalism, mayor, governor, senator, representative, judge, cop, gendarme, police, bill (in the legislative sense), capitol, conservative, liberal, right wing, left wing, president, law (Common trigger); recovers on 8 or less. (30 Points)
Public Identity (10 Points)
Psychological Limitation- Hates Parking Meters, Very Common, will take Irrational Actions (such as attacking parking meters in preference to living foes that are actually trying to hurt him) (20 Points)
2 Dice of Unluck (10 Points)
Backstory, such as it is: Mikail Goldman grew up reading comics. At one time his favorites were the patriotic heroes, like Nazi Smasher and Yankee Commando.
Somewhere, his viewpoint began to change. He saw the people of America as wonderful and beautiful and worth fighting for, but the Nation/Government itself as an evil to fight. He started small: jaywalking and never putting coins in the parking meters.
One parking ticket too many put him over the edge. He decided to become a costumed vigilante dedicated to fighting the power and aiding the little guy. He wears a lightly armored costume and carries a shield that he sometimes throws.
He is on the run from the law. So far his worst crimes are Attempted Murder and Assault With a Deadly Weapon, along with a lot of vandalism and destruction of public property (his favorite targets for property crimes are parking meters).
In the meantime, here's this, my second try at creating a Champions character:
Costumed Name: Anarchon
Real Name: Mikail Goldman
STR: 14 DEX: 20 CON: 15 BODY: 15
INT: 16 EGO: 13 PRE: 12 COM: 8
PD: 4 ED: 4 SPD: 3 REC: 6
END: 40 STUN: 42
POWERS (& Skills, they don't seem to have their own space on the character sheet):
Acrobatics, roll of 15 or less (14 Points)
Find Weakness, roll of 12 or less (15 Points)
Martial Arts, two extra *1/2 multiples (28 Points)
Climbing, roll of 14 or less (9 Points)
Stealth, roll of 13 or less (5 Points)
Shield: Armor Power for 9 PD, 3 ED, Obvious Inaccessible Focus, Unbreakable, Universal Applicability, Miscellaneous Limitation- Only Protects Anarchon's front and left flank. (10 Points)
Shield: 6D6 Energy Blast against Physical Defense, Obvious Accessible Focus, unbreakable, universal, Reduced Endurance cost twice (now takes 1 END) (30 Points)
Armor: Armor 3 PD, 3 ED, Obvious Inaccessible Focus, breakable, universal (7 Points)
Gun: 4D6 Ranged Killing Attack, OAF, breakable, universal, Charges: 6 (22 Points)
Knife: 1D6 Physical Hand-toHand Killing Attack, OAF, breakable, universal (7 Points)
CHARACTER DISADVANTAGES:
Hunted By NSA, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Hunted By FBI, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Hunted By Michigan staties, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Full time (comes up on 11 or less) (13 Points)
Goes Berserk (on a 14 or less) when the following words are mentioned: government, politics, political, party (in the political sense), Republican, Democrat, capitalism, mayor, governor, senator, representative, judge, cop, gendarme, police, bill (in the legislative sense), capitol, conservative, liberal, right wing, left wing, president, law (Common trigger); recovers on 8 or less. (30 Points)
Public Identity (10 Points)
Psychological Limitation- Hates Parking Meters, Very Common, will take Irrational Actions (such as attacking parking meters in preference to living foes that are actually trying to hurt him) (20 Points)
2 Dice of Unluck (10 Points)
Backstory, such as it is: Mikail Goldman grew up reading comics. At one time his favorites were the patriotic heroes, like Nazi Smasher and Yankee Commando.
Somewhere, his viewpoint began to change. He saw the people of America as wonderful and beautiful and worth fighting for, but the Nation/Government itself as an evil to fight. He started small: jaywalking and never putting coins in the parking meters.
One parking ticket too many put him over the edge. He decided to become a costumed vigilante dedicated to fighting the power and aiding the little guy. He wears a lightly armored costume and carries a shield that he sometimes throws.
He is on the run from the law. So far his worst crimes are Attempted Murder and Assault With a Deadly Weapon, along with a lot of vandalism and destruction of public property (his favorite targets for property crimes are parking meters).
Saturday, December 4, 2010
The first Champions character I ever tried to build
Costumed Name: Brick Breaker (named before I read the sample characters and saw Brick)
Real Name: William Wallace Standard
STR: 38 DEX: 13 CON: 25 BODY: 21
INT: 6 EGO: 12 PRE: 12 COM: 2
PD: 8 ED: 4 SPD: 2 REC: 12
END: 76 STUN:60
POWERS:
Instant Change (5 Points)
Density Increase started at 40 Points for +20 STR, +20 CON, +4 Body, +12 PD, +12 ED, -4" Knockback; Reduced END cost to 0, which made it 80 Points; thinking about it a little more: added a couple limitations: Only In Hero Form, and Only While Berserk, which I figure cut it back down to 40 Points again.
CHARACTER DISADVANTAGES:
Hunted By United States Army, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Unusual Looks (people react poorly on 14 or less) (15 Points)
Goes Berserk (on a 14 or less) when attacked; recovers on 8 or less. (25 Points)
Goes Berserk (on 11 or less) when made fun of; recovers on 11 or less. (15 Points)
Public Identity (10 Points)
(Brick Breaker currently has a surplus of Points, will reballance later; In fact, will probably rework from the ground up later as system knowledge and willingness to make judgment calls increases)
Backstory, such as it is: Dr. W. W. Standard was a promising bioengineer, hired by the United States Military to run one of those biological weapons research programs we like to claim we don't have. Through an act of sabotage, he was exposed to his own germ bomb. He mutated into a hideous creature and smashed up his lab.
Now he's on the run from his former employers, allegedly because of the danger Brick Breaker poses to the public. It's simply a fringe benefit that General "Earthquake" Jefferson will have some measure of personal satisfaction in obtaining revenge on Standard.
Real Name: William Wallace Standard
STR: 38 DEX: 13 CON: 25 BODY: 21
INT: 6 EGO: 12 PRE: 12 COM: 2
PD: 8 ED: 4 SPD: 2 REC: 12
END: 76 STUN:60
POWERS:
Instant Change (5 Points)
Density Increase started at 40 Points for +20 STR, +20 CON, +4 Body, +12 PD, +12 ED, -4" Knockback; Reduced END cost to 0, which made it 80 Points; thinking about it a little more: added a couple limitations: Only In Hero Form, and Only While Berserk, which I figure cut it back down to 40 Points again.
CHARACTER DISADVANTAGES:
Hunted By United States Army, a Large Group, with Advanced Weapons and Trained Personnel, Fanatic (comes up on 14 or less) (30 Points)
Unusual Looks (people react poorly on 14 or less) (15 Points)
Goes Berserk (on a 14 or less) when attacked; recovers on 8 or less. (25 Points)
Goes Berserk (on 11 or less) when made fun of; recovers on 11 or less. (15 Points)
Public Identity (10 Points)
(Brick Breaker currently has a surplus of Points, will reballance later; In fact, will probably rework from the ground up later as system knowledge and willingness to make judgment calls increases)
Backstory, such as it is: Dr. W. W. Standard was a promising bioengineer, hired by the United States Military to run one of those biological weapons research programs we like to claim we don't have. Through an act of sabotage, he was exposed to his own germ bomb. He mutated into a hideous creature and smashed up his lab.
Now he's on the run from his former employers, allegedly because of the danger Brick Breaker poses to the public. It's simply a fringe benefit that General "Earthquake" Jefferson will have some measure of personal satisfaction in obtaining revenge on Standard.
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