Writer's Block: On the List

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I'm responding to this mostly to rant about how off-base other responses I've read to this question seem to be. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were all architectural: The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. (Only one of which still exists today, ironically enough).

So why are people listing as possible Seven Wonders of the Modern World things like Internet, their car, their children, beautiful sunrises, orgasms, or true love? First off, while I'm sure your car and your kids are great, I doubt everyone marvels at them with equal awe in the way the majority of people likely agree the pyramids are fucking cool. Orgasms, sunrises, and love are far from modern; they're practically primordial. I think there is also a Seven Natural Wonders of the World, but even responses like "The Grand Canyon" kind of piss me off because they are in no way modern. What happened to the architecture theme, here? Sure, I think orgasms and true love are cooler than the world's snazziest bridge or skyscraper-- but I'm sure Herodotus did too when he compiled his list. He was just working with certain criteria.

Anyway. I don't know enough about modern engineering to compile any sort of Best Of list myself, but I just needed to get that off my chest, especially since the Writer's Block questions have been rather uninspiring of late. And I'm on my period (which means I've been in Japan exactly a month!-- which blows my mind), so that's probably the reason why this is particularly grating on me when it's such a minor, stupid thing to be concerned about.

Writer's Block: On the List

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I'm responding to this mostly to rant about how off-base other responses I've read to this question seem to be. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were all architectural: The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. (Only one of which still exists today, ironically enough).

So why are people listing as possible Seven Wonders of the Modern World things like Internet, their car, their children, beautiful sunrises, orgasms, or true love? First off, while I'm sure your car and your kids are great, I doubt everyone marvels at them with equal awe in the way the majority of people likely agree the pyramids are fucking cool. Orgasms, sunrises, and love are far from modern; they're practically primordial. I think there is also a Seven Natural Wonders of the World, but even responses like "The Grand Canyon" kind of piss me off because they are in no way modern. What happened to the architecture theme, here? Sure, I think orgasms and true love are cooler than the world's snazziest bridge or skyscraper-- but I'm sure Herodotus did too when he compiled his list. He was just working with certain criteria.

Anyway. I don't know enough about modern engineering to compile any sort of Best Of list myself, but I just needed to get that off my chest, especially since the Writer's Block questions have been rather uninspiring of late. And I'm on my period (which means I've been in Japan exactly a month!-- which blows my mind), so that's probably the reason why this is particularly grating on me when it's such a minor, stupid thing to be concerned about.

Writer's Block: Under Protest

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My babysitter (my parents were out of the country for a week) at the time had my siblings and I boycott the 2004 Superbowl because CBS refused to air during the game an ad promoting awareness of a social cause she supported. I don't remember the ad or what it supported, but I did miss that whole wardrobe malfunction thing-- so, win one for me.

That was just by association, however; I've never really done a support-the-cause boycott, like "If you believe in X, you should stop buying Y's products!" There are some things I feel I probably should boycott, but I'm just not in a consistent enough life position to be too picky right now. (Or I'm just lazy?). For instance, I don't agree with Walmart's business practices, but in Elkhart it was close to my house and cheap and so I would go there when Target or Meijer was too much trouble to get to. Some things I do just for the mundane practicality. I mean, hell, the very act of killing living things makes me sad-- let alone some of the housing and killing practices in the meat industry-- but meat is nutritious (and delicious) and if I don't eat me some beef or fish on a regular basis, the iron in my blood drops and I get anemia symptoms. And when I was in college I just couldn't shell out twice as much for the farm-bred organic chicken, you know?

That said, there are some companies I refuse to do business with-- but for personal reasons, such as a bad experience with them. My #1 blacklist organization is Bank of America, which scammed me and probably ruined my credit score by incurring an unmentioned fee (and interest) on a credit card I never received in the mail, never used, and never received a bill for. I had the account, but without mention of the possibility of this fee when I signed up for the card and no notification of it once it was incurred (until Debt Collection starting calling me!), how the hell was I supposed to pay it off? I've heard that stuff like this has happened to other Bank of America customers, too--- most of them my age. The bank apparently makes quite a few bucks ripping off college students who don't have the resources or legal savvy to fight them. Very few lawyers find it worth it to go to court over something like $500, but to a student with loans and no full-time income that's a lot of money-- and Bank of America, with its fat ass sitting pretty as the monopolizing bank of many college campuses, can apparently scam enough people to make it worth it to them.

I also generally avoid products whose ads make me cry. This is my silliest boycott, but, come on: Why would I buy a product whose selling point is how miserable it makes the competition? Even if the competition is a fictional Italian chef or an iron . . . I just think that's a terrible way to sell a product, and in solidarity for crying chefs and irons everywhere, I will not buy (so long as I can help it):
*Bertolli frozen meals. (Crying Italian chef). Also, I don't really like these that much anyway, lol.
*Whisk fabric softener. (Lonely crying iron).
*IKEA actually went so far as to not only make a sad ad, but actually make fun of me for feeling sad about it. I've never purchased anything from IKEA, but I'm torn because their other ads are so clever (and in a non-mean way) and someday I may want to furnish an apartment. Verdict is still out.

Writer's Block: Under Protest

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My babysitter (my parents were out of the country for a week) at the time had my siblings and I boycott the 2004 Superbowl because CBS refused to air during the game an ad promoting awareness of a social cause she supported. I don't remember the ad or what it supported, but I did miss that whole wardrobe malfunction thing-- so, win one for me.

That was just by association, however; I've never really done a support-the-cause boycott, like "If you believe in X, you should stop buying Y's products!" There are some things I feel I probably should boycott, but I'm just not in a consistent enough life position to be too picky right now. (Or I'm just lazy?). For instance, I don't agree with Walmart's business practices, but in Elkhart it was close to my house and cheap and so I would go there when Target or Meijer was too much trouble to get to. Some things I do just for the mundane practicality. I mean, hell, the very act of killing living things makes me sad-- let alone some of the housing and killing practices in the meat industry-- but meat is nutritious (and delicious) and if I don't eat me some beef or fish on a regular basis, the iron in my blood drops and I get anemia symptoms. And when I was in college I just couldn't shell out twice as much for the farm-bred organic chicken, you know?

That said, there are some companies I refuse to do business with-- but for personal reasons, such as a bad experience with them. My #1 blacklist organization is Bank of America, which scammed me and probably ruined my credit score by incurring an unmentioned fee (and interest) on a credit card I never received in the mail, never used, and never received a bill for. I had the account, but without mention of the possibility of this fee when I signed up for the card and no notification of it once it was incurred (until Debt Collection starting calling me!), how the hell was I supposed to pay it off? I've heard that stuff like this has happened to other Bank of America customers, too--- most of them my age. The bank apparently makes quite a few bucks ripping off college students who don't have the resources or legal savvy to fight them. Very few lawyers find it worth it to go to court over something like $500, but to a student with loans and no full-time income that's a lot of money-- and Bank of America, with its fat ass sitting pretty as the monopolizing bank of many college campuses, can apparently scam enough people to make it worth it to them.

I also generally avoid products whose ads make me cry. This is my silliest boycott, but, come on: Why would I buy a product whose selling point is how miserable it makes the competition? Even if the competition is a fictional Italian chef or an iron . . . I just think that's a terrible way to sell a product, and in solidarity for crying chefs and irons everywhere, I will not buy (so long as I can help it):
*Bertolli frozen meals. (Crying Italian chef). Also, I don't really like these that much anyway, lol.
*Whisk fabric softener. (Lonely crying iron).
*IKEA actually went so far as to not only make a sad ad, but actually make fun of me for feeling sad about it. I've never purchased anything from IKEA, but I'm torn because their other ads are so clever (and in a non-mean way) and someday I may want to furnish an apartment. Verdict is still out.