Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
What do you do?
one thing I love about Spanish is when somebody asks you what you do for a living, usually there is no distinction between what you do in general or particular, it’s just Que haces en Barcelona? so the perfect answer is Talking with you.
Posted by owen on from a roof in barcelona 06/07 at 04:40 AMMy usual answer to “What do you do?” is, “I’m a top.”
Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 06/07 at 07:31 AMMZ, from last night: The “noanchoviesusa.com” site is really cute, and very well done. I think my corporate pizza masters should swallow him whole now that I know he’s there, and close up his shop so no further pizza options are available to Taneytownies out of spite.
I also love “vikinganswerlady.com” the most!
“Table compiled using notes from article “Catalogue of Scandinavian Mail” by Sonia A. O’Conner which is in Dominic Tweddle’s “The Anglian Helmet from Coppergate"."I shall have a character named “Dominic Tweddle” in my book.
And, since CatLady won’t get up off his lazy rump and write more of his Hel book, here’s a great concept for something Norse to write:
“The Gjermundbu Mail Shirt
Sven Skildbiter’s article on the details of the only mail shirt found in a Viking Age Scandinavian context.”A ready-made title! The Gjermundbu Mail Shirt...now admit it, Expendables, you’d snatch a book with that title right off the shelves of your local bookery, wouldn’t you? Especially if it was written by Snorri Langergaard, eh?
Helga, from last night: FPA was fascinating. I’m a fan because of his baseball poem:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_sad.shtmlHe was irked by the song lyric, “I’ll be loving you/Always/With a love that’s True/Always” so changed it to “I’ll be loving you/Thursday/With a love that’s true/Thursday” which he felt was more accurate and realistic. His book are free eBooks on manybooks.net if you’re interested....
Hello Mew (again from last night), grandfatherly tales of war are always interesting and should be passed on to sprogs. (Love that word! New to me as well as to MZ.) My own father’s most edifying tales of the Korean War are tales of being sexually harassed by the captain of his ship. >sigh<
Hi Owen! How’s that rooftop livin’?Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 06/07 at 08:06 AMDid you say top or fop?
I just got called for a job. If I’m not called for a second one tonight, maybe I’ll have a chance tonight. Have to rush out… damn it I hate this kind of thing-- Mudge can life pay me reparations somehow? I’ve decided that while I still don’t understand that whole discussion, I agree with you about it.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 06/07 at 08:12 AM“Fop” ROFL “fop” I wear clothes that are old enough to vote, and a few that are old enough to drink “fop” LMAO
If we’re handing out checks to make up for shit, I want goboodles of money for living in a culture where Mary Kay LeTourneau the pedophile can marry her victim, and I can’t even be seen in public kissing Punkin...safely, anyway. Still less pass my Social Security taxes on to him (or whoever I’m with when I die, seriously doubt it will be Punkin). Or leave my worldly goods to him safely, secure in the knowledge that he’ll get them as the law provides because the law don’t provide.
Every gay man in America deserves massive reparations because of Matthew Shepard’s murder. That event sent the horrible, accurate message that “your life matters nothing while you’re alive but we’ll sure enforce the dickens out of the hate-crimes laws once you’re dead...but the boys that kill you matter too, so they’ll get token sentences.” Neither one is serving life, please note.
If making me understand that straight people who make the laws and customs are sure I am not worth as much as a straight person isn’t a crime worthy of reparations, why isn’t it? No one ever explains this to me. Will one of you reparations-passer-outers give me a reason?
Just one.
captcha="wife" >hollow laugh<
Posted by Mudge on from Austin, Texas 06/07 at 08:39 AMOh, y’know the fop comment was just an impulsive meaningless turn of phrase.
I guess that there’s a lot of ways that us straight white male New Yorkers don’t have it so rough, and I’m not sure who I want reparations from and for what. A few ex’s I’d like to sue, but that’s tricky at best. Just the universe in general… what I need to do is attain the necessary discipline to write a novel on company time. I must have faith in my ability to be disrespectful of whatever workplace I have at the moment.
I totally failed the Iran quiz, by the way.
Posted by James on from work 06/07 at 09:57 AMBoth Henderson and McKinney are serving double life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole. McKinney, in particular, only avoided the death penalty because Shepard’s parents decided to be merciful and brokered a life-without-parole deal. Despite occuring in a very conservative state, the entire arrest, trial, conviction, and sentencing process took around six months, which is extremely fast for high-profile homicides.
The Shepard murder produced massive public sympathy and an outpouring of political support for stricter hate-crime legislation. It was impossible to “enforce the dickens out of hate-crime laws” before Shepard died, since at that point neither federal law nor Wyoming state law had provisions for prosecuting murder on the basis of sexual orientation as a hate crime.
Reparations claims are made to rectify public historical atrocities directed at an entire class of people. All of the world’s Jewish population was targeted by the Nazis, and much of it was destroyed; hence, it can be argued that the German state owes reparations to those Jews that survived. Reparations for slavery are even more simply: slavery deprived an entire class of people of their rightful share of their own labor product, artificially impeding the social and economic progress of slaves and their descendents. Hence, it can be argued that the American state should attempt to return the appropriated surplus value.
Shepard’s murder was treated precisely as our criminal justice system dictates murders should be treated. If anything, the entire process was expedited because of the moral outrage that both citizens of Wyoming in particular and Americans in general felt that sexual orientation could form the basis of such a violent and senseless murder.
It’s one thing to make a fallacious argument for reparations; it’s another thing entirely to predicate that argument on blatant misinformation.
Posted by The Infanta on from Queens, NY 06/07 at 10:02 AMI guess I never should’ve declared my troll issue resolved. Watch out, Mudge, you may have your own Wiki page soon…
Anyway...hello Owen. You’ve been missed.
And there you two are: Mudge the Top and James, the straight white male Cat Lady from Hell’s Kitchen.
It’s raining again in Astoria…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 10:09 AMThe Infant likes making arguments where none should exist...hence the name. Though most infants I know never argue at all...many, if treated properly simpy sit and and observe our crazy ways with a sparkle in their eyes. So I guess the nickname doesn’t really fit. What do I know anyway…
I am very much enjoying the sarcastic wit of James and Mudge...but if anyone is owed reparations it is Planet Earth...we have crapped upon her for far too long and she may be looking for payback any day now.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 06/07 at 11:14 AMDidn’t I pass La Infanta under the 59th Street bridge when I rode my bike over it when I used to live in Queens? And I don’t think we need to pay Earth anything-- she’ll collect on her own soon enough, with interest.
Posted by James on from work 06/07 at 11:33 AMHello again. It’s come to my attention that The Infanta’s post, as far as I can tell, is not the beginning of new troll presence here.
Ultimately, I’d be surprised if the facts in The Infanta’s post are not accurate (I claim no expertise in the case being discussed) but my question is this: Why approach it in such a manner?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 12:45 PMthat was my point, Mick. It’s all about the approach…
Where’s Michael, by the way...still in exile I believe...but haven’t “seen” him around here lately.
Posted by JOS on from Downtown Chicago 06/07 at 12:50 PMI got an e-mail from Michael just yesterday. He’s still traveling.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 12:52 PMI was merely trying to set the record straight. At a time when the GOP is fomenting anti-gay hostility, it is important for us on the left to get the facts right. I apologize for my abrasive tone, but I am very sensitive about this issue.
Posted by The Infanta on from Queens, NY 06/07 at 01:50 PMThanks, Infanta. Much appreciated.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 02:03 PMSorry about that, Infanta.
Posted by JOS on from Downtown Chicago 06/07 at 02:08 PMOne more article on those evil beheaders in Canada:
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/070606notterrorists.htm
Posted by JOS on from Downtown Chicago 06/07 at 02:50 PMHello, Everyone
Blair backs Police 101% over London terror raid. http://tinyurl.com/ghcgy
and U.S. dropping more bombs on Afghanistan (to kill insurgents of course) http://tinyurl.com/npcr7
another quiz!: http://tinyurl.com/qbsuv
Posted by TM on from 06/07 at 03:09 PMGreat post, Mickey! LOVE the answer the Australian woman gave - might follow suit.
Hello, my fellow expendables Owen (give me Barcelona any day - over Madrid for one), Mudge (thanks for the FPA link), James, The Infanta, JOS and TM (what can one expect of Blair??). I have our dog for company if not my husband who is going to come to Daylesford tomorrow, which means that I have to take Kelly for a few walks. It will be another cold day: 52F or so - brrr.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 06/07 at 03:45 PMHello Helga. Say hi to Kelly for me.
TM: I did as poorly on your quiz as I did on the Iran quiz. Anyone else try?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 03:50 PMHello all. Liked the blog entry today, Mickey. It is sad that people ask “how do you make your money?” but I suppose since most of us are condemned to wage slavery for most of our life it does make sense to ask this.
But I much preferred the musicians question, we are so much more than our work. As for the australian woman’s response, I think that could come across as rude - don’t know if she meant to be as such.
Even though my main motivation in life isn’t money making or having a career, I must admit that I HAVE asked a lot of people “what do you do?” when first meeting them. It just seems natural, sadly. I would probably feel offended if they just “enjoy my life”, as though I was being scalded..
Because that’s normally an opening gambit and then I’d ask about what other stuff they’re into..
Anyway, was reading this again recently on wage slavery and possible alternatives…
The RICH Economy by Robert Anton Wilson
(from The Illuminati Papers)If there is one proposition which currently wins the assent of nearly everybody, it is that we need more jobs. “A cure for unemployment” is promised, or earnestly sought, by every Heavy Thinker from Jimmy Carter to the Communist Party USA, from Ronald Reagan to the head of the economics department at the local university, from the Birchers to the New Left.
I would like to challenge that idea. I don’t think there is, or ever again can be, a cure for unemployment. I propose that unemployment is not a disease, but the natural, healthy functioning of an advanced technological society…
Posted by Paul M on from Scotland 06/07 at 04:53 PMJust found this too…
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We’ve heard it many times, especially in the workaholic United States, where it’s the first question many people ask when they meet someone new:“So, what do you do for a living?”
Here are a few creative suggestions from CLAWS members for unconventional replies to that dreaded question…
Posted by Paul M on from scotland 06/07 at 04:55 PMHey Paul, long time no see. Good to have you back.
I agree. We’re all guilty of keeping the “What do you do?” question alive. I’m gonna check out your links now.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 05:03 PMHey Paul and everyone, and Infanta too, good to have you around here then. So about the what do you do thing, at parties I’ve often said I was a hanggliding instructor; not a hangglider, no money in it, but plenty of work for instructors. I give lessons off of the Jersey Palisades…
Right. Lately I say I’m a PRMF. First 2 letters stand for Proof-readin’...
Posted by James on from 06/07 at 06:50 PMSorry to do this to everyone, but I had to post this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9TlsVXnBn0Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 06/07 at 07:48 PMThe david lee roth on leno thing was taken down due to copyright whatever. So as consolation, and to live up to my namesake, here’s this one--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdXTDovB9K8
Good night! It might explain some of the computer trouble some of you have been having…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 06/08 at 03:08 AM
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