Cringeworthy, but maybe not actionable

I guess I’m probably the last person in the world to have seen this video, which I’ve been hearing about for a few days. I didn’t know all the details until now, but now I face a different kind of puzzlement: why would anybody want to sue over this? The woman was completely unbothered by the details of her surroundings, until she ended up soaking wet. Why does she think that she has any case? What would be the grounds? Nobody pushed her in, nobody impeded her exit from the fountain. I think it’s time for America to admit that 1) not all embarrassing behavior should be rewarded with attention and 2) not every instance of public embarrassment should end in a lawsuit.

Cripes

Dear Arizonans,

What does one buy when one’s state representative was, along with several other people, gunned down in a shocking mass shooting? Hint: the answer should not be “the type of gun used to commit the attack.”

I fully expected that there would be a run on Bibles or something, but not guns. Silly, naive Nicole.

I can haz oversight?

Or, why it’s not a good idea to display unmoderated tweets in any sort of official setting. Like, say, during an EU summit where dirty old man Silvio Berlusconi is going to be front and center?

It’s not enough to know that a technology exists, if you have no idea how to use it effectively.

What is “Something I’m going to regret faster than I would have expected,” Alex?

The answer: Legally changing my name to the ridiculous nickname of a television character.

Although Castle has recently supplanted Chuck as my favorite still-running tv show, I am still really enjoying this season of the nerd/spy dramedy. Chuck as both a show and a character had been getting on my nerves ever since the most recent, and probably final, death of Agent Superman (whose actual name I have aleady forgotten).

His abs I remember just fine.

Luckily, the show somehow turned around for me over the last several episodes, and now I’m firmly back on Team Chuck. Even at its worst, Chuck is a smart and funny show that turns its minuscule CGI budget (I guess they’re not too flush after paying all the cool guest stars like Richard Chamberlain, Summer Glau [reunited with her Firefly co-star, the delusional Adam Baldwin], and Nicole’s Future Husband Isaiah Mustafa) into a selling point, instead of a reason for despair.

I guess I’m  not the only one whose life is enriched by Chuck. I watch it for the lulz, and the former Douglas Allen Smith, Jr. watches it for…motivation? I say former because this man’s legal name is now Captain Awesome, which is the nickname of Chuck’s ridiculously good-looking doctor brother-in-law.

Another shirtless/towel pic, merely for comparison's sake. You're welcome, comparison.

I get why this show is so cool and Captain Awesome in particular is pretty special, but why would anybody do this? The real-life Mr. Awesome’s new signature, which is a smiley face bracketed by arrows, has been rejected by his bank because it’s too easy to forge. I can’t even imagine what other stupid consequences he may have to face because of his new name. I think that the judge who granted the name change was smart to allow this; sometimes you have to do really stupid things in order to learn valuable lessons. Unless the world is nicer than I suspect it to be, I give this name change 5 years, tops.

Sigh

I would like one day to be a juror, but am terrified of the people who end up on jury duty. Being around people that dumb can’t be good for you.

There’s some middle place between lashing and shrugging

The story of the Polish Neo-Nazi couple who learned that they were Jewish is really interesting to me. I wonder what it would be like to discover that you are the thing you hate. I applaud Ola and Pawel for turning their lives away from hated and crime, and think it’s fascinating that they now practice Orthodox Judaism. But some of the quotes that appear in this article about them make me uncomfortable.

“I’m not saying I don’t have regrets but it’s not something I walk around and lash myself over,” said Pawel. “I feel sorry for those that I beat up … but I don’t hold a grudge against myself. The people who I hurt can hold a grudge against me.”

And Ola said that while she wasn’t proud of her past, she wasn’t embarrassed either. Really? I could be embarrassed over it. They stopped being Neo-Nazis because they realized that they were Jewish, but they’re not embarrassed about the spewing hatred and beating up people part of the movement? Eh, these two seem like extremist joiners, so maybe they see any endeavor that advances their current belief system to be okay.

I’m going to watch the documentary when it airs, and maybe I’ll come away with a different understanding of this couple.

I’m never going to be able to move and/or have children

I really love living in the New York metro area, but it’s so expensive here. I have lived in much cheaper places and loved it (Montreal, how I miss thee!), but this is always going to be my home. I would love to be able to live somewhere else for a while, not only to give my wallet a bit of a break, but also because I like to experience new people and places. The South seems like a worthwhile region to consider, since it’s cheap and I have a lot of relatives there, but it’s stories like this one that make me believe that maybe I’m better off staying here and paying the Northeast Premium.

Why would a middle school arrange the student elections so that only students of certain races can hold office? What student government positions are available to those children who are neither white nor black? How could anybody think that this would be okay? This is why people still find it okay to make jokes about Mississippi.

As somebody on Gawker pointed out, it’s good to see that the school practices what it preaches (scroll down)…

This is not what people mean when they talk about “family togetherness”

It’s not a good idea for parents to get arrested at the same police checkpoint that ensnared their teenaged child. I’m pretty sure that this will never be included in one of those “family fun times” brochure.

Any idiot with Microsoft Word and five minutes can make a poster

Except for this one.

For Pete’s sake

Silly senators. The Supreme Court justice nomination process generally goes better when the substance of your criticism is about the person being confirmed. Jeez.