wednes | OMF'nG!

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OMF'nG!

Have you all seen the totally disturbing, excruciating minute of video of the "mom" who laughs at her kid as he almost dies from falling from an amusement park ride? The caption says "Mom" but I think the kid calls her Janice. In either event, if I see this bitch, she's DEAD! Okay, not really. But this woman is vile.
In all seriousness, I debated posting this because it's really upsetting. For now, I'm pretending that it is staged.

I got a new toothbrush this week. I used to have this one, which was pretty good. But the heads are not replacable and you need, get this--BATTERIES. What kind of self respecting product requires me to purchase multiple batteries just to use it? I daresay that technology has progressed to the point where such an annoyance should be well past eliminated. With that in mind, I procured this which I like very much. I like having a fresh charge on it every morning and night. Nice, powerful vibrations--on the toothbrush. You people are pervs!

As I may have mentioned, I have an abiding fondness for Granola Bars. I gave up almost all candy and am having granola bars in its place. You have to watch out for them because sometimes it's a close call between a granola bar and a candy bar. Case in point, are the Sweet "N Salty approximation made by Reese's. Yeah, the candy guys. Hershey makes one too. Everybody's getting in on the act of imitating my favorite granola bar. That's good for me, the consumer. Anyway, these Reese's bars are tiny. Very tiny, and far too sweet IMHO. I maintain that the Nature Valley ones are still the best. I like the mixed nut variety, but the peanut and almond are both very tasty.

I'm pleased to say that I had a good meeting with my Life Coach today (well, yesterday now). It turns out, she is much smarter than she let on, and her plan makes a lot of sense to me. Thankfully, I went ahead and did all the assignments even though they were annoying and emotional and I didn't see the point. So I'm glad that it turned out not to be a collosal waste of my time, even though I do have to take the damn Meyer Briggs again. Further, I am glad that I didn't give up right away like I planned.
She pointed out something today that I had never thought of. You'll catch me saying pretty often How does so-and-so get all these great jobs, they SUCK! I'm increasingly sure that I don't suck, so it was baffling me that (without trying to sound like a dick) people who clearly had less intelligence, less creativity, and less applied knowlege than me were getting jobs that I was already lowering my standards to take. Damn, that sounds pompous as hell, but it's true. The revelation was that I am not a follower. That and I'm totally discounting the importance of environment in terms of succeeding on the job. I am reminded of John Locke (the one from LOST) who was miserable in his crappy job until a firey plane crash improved his life and gave it meanning--until the season 2 finale anyway.
The point being that there really are aspects of this situation that I hadn't been looking at. It now seems more possible for me to really get the kind of job I want. And the Life Coach has this awesome system that's all about psychology and chakras, brain structure and archetypes...fascinating shit. I'm very interested to see how this all works out.

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*giggle* That could be my favorite part of Dawn of the Dead. Just hilarious.

And yeah, I saw that video on America's Funniest Home Videos a few years back. I didn't click to watch it again, because it is disturbing. That woman is just appalling. Feh!

Duh. Forgot to mention that your life coach sounds pretty cool.

Yeah...I was pleasantly surprised.

I'm sorry, did you say America's Funniest Home Videos?!?

It almost made me cry, I can't imagine anyone finding that funny. The kid was clearly terrified and looked to be in serious danger. People die on those crapshack rides all the time.

Yep. While AFHV could be downright hilarious, they would on occasion show stuff like this. Definitely a "Who would think this is funny?!" moment.

Hi there!

Not to play advocatus diaboli, but it looks like the Mom doesn't realize that the girl is actually hurt, and thinks she's just slumped down out of fear from the ride. I'd be curious to see how trapped the girl is, or if she's just sliding down in her seat because she's scared shitless, but otherwise safely locked into the ride. [shrugs]

That probably sounds cold and insensitive of me, but I'm jaded. I used to work at Great Adventure in Jersey, and I've seen plenty of people act like they're being tortured by inquisitors on a ride, then they get off the thing and are perfectly fine.

That being said, I think I would have at least checked to make sure that she wasn't ... you know, actually hurt. :(

Hi there!

Ahhhhh, I just watched it again. They're on the Slingshot ride. They had one of these at Action Park. You sit side-by-side in a pair of chairs, and two thick cables of bungee cords get attached to either side of you. The ride engineer releases the latch, and the two of you get rocketed up into the air, where you then bounce back down once or twice, and hang relatively limply until the operator can bring the car to a complete stop. The girl falls down in her seat just after the first bounce, and then gets stuck as the ride is being lowered so they can get her out. You see the horizon stablize as Janice/Mom reaches over to the girl's arm to make a feeble attempt at helping her up.

So yeah, Janice/Mom was being really very insensitive to this chick's screams for help, but the ride had essentially stopped moving by the time she could have done anything about it.

Why am I still defending this bitch? :(

Not sure...

;-}

The idea that any mom would laugh while her kid is screaming that they are in pain/falling/need help is sickening and infuriating.

I guess what gets me most isn't so much the actual danger but that the kid is clearly terrifed, and later screaming that "it hurts." Laughing at that is pretty awful.

But yeah, I suppose it's reasonable to think that there's a margin of error there.

Unfortunately, I disagree with you on the video clip thing, for several reasons.

-She's not laughing at the kid, she's laughing becuse she's having fun on the ride.
-The kid didn't fall out, that is one of those bungee swing/slingshot rides. There is a bottom in the car they are in, he may have been uncomfortable and scared, but he was fine. Sure accidents hapen, but we see that he made it through unscathed.
-People say awful things when scared. In fact, on many of those rides, there are disclaimers on the Jumborton expressing that extreme events produce exteme language, so listen at your own risk. I've heard a kid say he was having a heart attack to his mom while we were at a horror movie one night. I heard a kid scream that his leg was broken when he had a rock in his shoe. I even heard a kid in a grocery store shout that his mother wasn't his mother because she wouldn't buy him the junk food he wanted. They went on and on, and you'd think that something truly awful was happening, When it was the kid not getting the attention or answer they were looking for.

The kid was scared, that's for sure. He thought he was going to enjoy the ride and it freaked him out and a part of that was because he was sloshing around the chair. However, I also imagine that after it was all said and done, he would remember it as being fun, or he would never go on one again. Either way it is a learning experience.

I'm not insensitive to the fear, but I think a part of this rings to my dumbing down of America and the coddling of everyone today. Things are scary. Things are hard. Sometimes you have to suck it up and deal with it. In the end you may realize you had a good time. I mean, I'm pretty sure the woman didn't force him onto the ride (Obviously, I don't know this for sure, but I'm discussing this on a statistical level where the vast majority of the time it's one of the above scenarios).

Hi there!

That kid is a boy?? Ohmigod, you're right!! I thought it was a girl.

The problem is that she continued to laugh after it was clear that the kid was in serious distress. The kid wasn't trying to get candy, he was falling out of a ride that was hanging in the air high enough to kill him. It was more than legitimate. The Mom/Janice is an aweful person.

Perceived distress is different than real distress, and we don't know which the case was here. Again, maybe the kids was fine and had his feet on the platform below, and was just being whiny. We don't know that, but it's as much (or more) of an option than him being in legitimite danger.

I think what you are talking about is perceived or real danger. The distress was very real even if the danger was minimal. It doesn't matter whether or not we think it's legitimate distress. The kid did think it he was in real danger, and he's in the best position to make that determination. And it's pretty obvious that he wasn't secured properly.

What we do know is that one person was hanging by a strap at his neck that should have been at his sternum and screaming for help. And the other person was laughing the entire time, even after it became obvious that the kid was in a state of panic and possibly in danger.

Yes, danger vs distress. You are correct.

What I saw was a kid suspended by his armpits, not his neck, and that was after the motion had pretty much stopped. It rode up on his neck sure, but it was the armpits that were holding him there. He didn't fit into it well, but the likelyhood of him falling out seemed minimal from my take and experience on them.

The kid was paniced, yes, but I've seen literally just as much panic from an 9 year old kid who wouldn't go into a bathroom in a restaurant on his own. To me, I see it like when you see a kid hit their head and look to the parent to learn how to react. If the mom jumps in and says, "Oh my baby. What happened, are you ok oh my gosh, oh no!!" the kid is going to start screaming everytime they get a hangnail.

Again, obviously either of us could be on the right track if she was neglecting his screams, and in real danger, or if he was just a whiny pansy who needed to get a grip and deal with it. I hope it's the latter because I do believe it is the more likely scenario (meaning that accidents do happen but hundreds of people ride that everyday, and they tend to work pretty hard at making sure bad things don't happen. It's not like it's a county fair, I hope).

Why do you keep comparing an amusement park ride to a store? She didn't even LOOK at him! She couldn't possibly have known that he wasn't in real danger. She assumed it. His reaction and behavior are perfectly reasonable.

I admit that what I am reacting to is that it's...well, a fat kid. And even though it's not realistic, there is a very real-feeling fear that you're going to break/fall out of the ride and die, and it'll be your own damn fault because you're fat. That's not just a Wednes thing, it's fairly common among the hefty. So when something doesn't feel right on the ride, the amount of sheer terror you feel is increased exponentially.

It looks like he's down way too far in the seat and that the belts are holding him on by his head. The "mom" didn't even check to see if he was in any real danger. Epcot aside, people die on those cheap carny-run amusement park rides every year.

That said, I'm curious to know how they got that shot.

Annnnd if you look at the comments on youtube, the reaction is pretty much exactly what you were scared of.

People suck.

Also, your icon and background have slightly different timings, so they're out of sync most of the time. It's making my brain do flips.

I think that's related to your browser, they are in sync on mine. At any rate, I'll probably change the default icon before long.

They mount cameras on an arm off of the seat. This way you can buy a copy of your ride when you are done. They will also project it onto a huge TV for people on the ground to see.

There's no question that you and I are more worthy than those who "suck" and no question that they will get jobs and thrive in situations that would make us crazy/er.

You're a leader, and while it's lonely at the top, it sounds like you're on your way to a better understanding of the lame world and your place in it. It boggles my mind that it took me 20+ years of work to realize I needed to work FOR OTHERS. It's the client that matters, and once I got out of my own head enough to accept that, things really took off.

Bravo to you.

PS: Nice Escher action

Thanks! I always feel awesome when I figure shit like this out. I could ride the high for days if I wasn't menstuating (sorry if that's TMI).

As for the icon, I made that thing when I first learned how to use Imageready. It was modified from a much large gif that I spend hours sizing and cutting frames to see what works best.
Then so many people stole it w/out credit that I stopped using it even though I really liked it. But now it's back, because that's just how I roll...

Being a mentor to so many younger artists, I have a real respect for people who know how to learn, not only from their own pasts, but the experience of people who pay attention to areas of life I never have.

As to Mr. Escher - Have you ever seen the woodblocks he cut to make his prints? As good as his work is, the teensy tolerances and brilliant raftsmanship of his carving is almost unbelievable.

However barbaric, my suggestion for your fine tessellating patterns when used en masse is to make the white a nice brown color so the contrast won't trigger epilepsy. :)

Keep up the good work!

Ha! Epilepsy...

Kinda makes one want to Wang Chung.

You kids today!
You with all your wanging.
And all your chunging...

You're no damned good!
lol

Okay, I totally love this new layout. My favorite so far!

And yay on your Life Coach! Glad to hear she's actually got stuff on the ball.

Thanks. For some reason, I have a really hard time finding one that is functional on all levels. I wish I knew more about layout design.

Yeah, it was a wonderful surprise about the Coach.

Coupla things...
First, the kid has a 5 point harness on, including a strap up through his groin and one around his waist. He apparently slid off the seat, but he wasn't actually going anywhere. That video you've linked doesn't show the full harness for very long...but if you look at the very beginning, you can see the strap up through his legs and the one around his waist. He isn't even suspended by his armpits or neck, he's suspended by his crotch and waist. This is a chopped version...I found the full-size vid elsewhere and it shows the strap most of the way through. I'm sure it hurt like a bastard to be hung up on your groin strap, though. I'll sure pass. Eeesh. Hello, castrato.

Second, that ride has a floor and a front. The video implies that the only thing holding him in from plunging downward was the straps. T'ain't so. Once the initial BOING was over, they were just being lowered. Painful being hung up that way, but not deadly.

And at the very end...is it me, or did the woman have earplugs/earbuds in? Looked to me like she pulled some out of her ears at the very very end. Maybe she didn't hear the kid actually screaming words, but just heard generic screaming. (Hell, *I* scream on rides...and LOTS of people say "Make it stop! Stop this! Stop stop!" in the middle of a ride where you can't possibly stop it even if you wanted to. And then go on it again. Go figure.)

If I were on that ride, being shot into the air and flipped around, I'd be screaming and laughing and trying not to puke so hard I seriously doubt if I'd notice if the kid next to me was having issues until I was basically ready to get out of the ride. I might not even notice that there WAS a kid next to me being flipped around like that.

Guess I just don't see it as evidence that she's abusive, or laughing at the kid...I see it more as obliviousness, and a seriously crappy strap design on that ride. Padded shoulder bars would be much preferable, but then your head gets all whacked around. There's a reason I don't do rides like that.

I'm kinda glad that people are pointing these things out.

I was pretty horrified.

Have you already talked about World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and I just missed it?

I've mentioned it a time or two. It's in a few stores but it will be a while before I get one. Early reports are that it kicks ass.

I wasn't able to watch the video at work and couldn't imagine what all the hubbub was about. However, upon finally viewing it I was mortified. I'm definitely on your side here. That situation is just plain creepy, whether the child's danger was real or not.

Indeed. Aside from whether the actual danger was real or perceived, the child was obviously terrified.

Yeah, I don't like Janice much after watching this video. She did check on him, I saw her touch him. So yeah he was fine, but the poor kid was in pain, which wasn't funny. I'm shocked it was on that funny video show. Geeze.

I meant to post this icon with that last post.

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