Georgia on My Mind

So the mess in Georgia is continuing. I see from my Clustrmaps thingy that I’ve had at least one person logging in from Georgia. I hope that whomever you are, you’re doing ok.

I’ve actually been paying attention to the situation in South Ossetia for some time now. I’m of the opinion that if they, along with Abkhazia and any other breakaway territories of any nation, really want to be independant, they should be allowed to be. Vote should be held and the governments should be made to follow them. Yes, this means those two nations would become independant, which I’m sure the Russians would love, but I’d also hold them to the same standard over Chechnya, and any other place in Russia that wanted to be its own country. I’d even apply it to the USA if, say, North Dakota decided they wanted to strike out on their own.

Now, Russia has been saying that the Georgians have been pushing this and oppressing the people of South Ossetia (rather like how they oppressed the people of Chechnya, but nevermind). I don’t really buy this explanation. I don’t doubt that it’s at least somewhat true, but it doesn’t justify what Russia is doing. Clearly they’re out to basically rebuild the old Russian Empire/Soviet Union, and that’s not good for anyone. They need to accept the fact that they’re a second tier country now. There’s no shame in that.

I hope this mess comes to a peaceful end and soon. The fact that Ukraine is now putting pressure on Russia helps. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Sic Transit Isaac Hayes – 1942 – 2008

1942 - 2008

Famous singer and, sometime Chef, Isaac Hayes has died. The man who sang the theme song to Shaft has finally returned to Xemu, or whatever Scientologists think do when they die.

Hayes is best remembered by most of the world as a singer and for his appearance on The Love Boat, but like most people my age or thereabouts, I mostly remember him for his appearance as Chef on South Park, something which sadly ended after the episode “Trapped in the Closet”, which Hayes felt was disrespectful of Scientology (well, duh).

I certainly don’t agree with Hayes’ religious beliefs (or the fact that he was happy to participate in the bashing of any religion but his own), but I did always enjoy seeing him on South Park, and it’s a great pity that he died at a fairly young age. He will be missed.

Civilization IV Question

Here’s one for y’all. I have Sid Meiers Civilization IV Beyond the Sword for my PC. It’s a great game, and now that I’ve boosted the RAM in my PC I can actually play it!

The problem I’m having is that, for some reason, none of my cities are able to build aircraft of any sort other than airships. I’ve researched all the tech and I’m currently up to Future Tech 4. Is there some sort of setting I need to change or something? Can anyone help with this?

Bitching Even More Random Than Usual!

I work in tech support for a chain of auto parts stores. I often have to call the stores to ask them questions about various things and troubleshoot their systems. Most of the time the phone gets answered thus:

Thank you for calling X Store, this is Y Employee, how may I help you?

But now there’s a trend I’ve noticed. It’s not just with the company I work for, but lots of places when I call them. They’ve started to answer the phone like this:

Thank you for calling X Store, this is Y Employee, I can help.

Argh, argh, argh…

I don’t know entirely why this rubs me the wrong way. Part of it is that it sounds very abrupt. It’s also the employee stating the obvious; of course they can help me. If they couldn’t, they damn well better not be answering the phone. It seems very unprofessional. I just don’t like it, especially because, “How may I help you?” is more formal, more polite and makes much more sense.

So there you go. Probably the most pointless and random bit of bitching I’ll ever do on this site. Go, me!