This Friday, March 14th is a holiday known by math geeks as "PI Day".

Um... 3-14. Get it? Don't feel too bad if you don't. You also won't understand why 1:59:26PM is called the "PI Minute" (although it should be AM if you ask me)

Anyway, check here for the official website and here for the wikipedia entry.

Does anyone know what the hell we're supposed to do on PI Day? Drinking I suppose, maybe 3.14159 Litres of beer? I will be studying for a Computer Networking Exam, doesn't get much geekier than that.

Well, except maybe this:



Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: holidays

The day of Love. Love of money, that is.

Americans have this uncanny knack for working the money-angle on any concept, even one as noble as a holiday for celebrating love. You hear the commercials as well as I do, they are all but unavoidable, and all of them with their same, sick message; If you love your female (yes Female, but I'll get to that in a min...) partner, then you need to prove it with cash.

How vulgar! How ludicrous! How asinine!

How American.

They took Christmas a long time ago. Halloween is right behind, now being recognized as the second largest retail holiday after Xmas. And now, our dear, sweet, not-so-innocent Day of Saint Valentine's, falls prey to rampant consumerism.

Worse yet, the adverts are blatantly sexist.

"Buy HER the gift SHE's always wanted."
"Make sure SHE knows how much you love HER."

Don't believe me? Listen again. Sexist. Consumerism I can almost stomach because it knows no prejudice, but sexism don't fly.

Of course, Steak and BJ Day is the outcome of this silliness and a half-hearted attempt to return balance to the equation. But it's like handing someone a hundred dollars and then punching them in the face. It might balance out, but it still isn't acceptable.

The current state of Valentine's Day has become as trite and offensive as "Steak and BJ Day"

Don't like it? Good. Then don't accept it. Don't tolerate it. Don't feed it, and it will die.


What makes me more sad is that we need a holiday as a reminder to cherish our loved ones.


Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: americans, anti, consumerism, holidays

Back in the day, events like this would have got you burned at the stake. Thankfully, we can now celebrate our pagan holidays in public without them being incorrectly identified as Black Mass

I guess they would call it a Gray Mass, where we drink and dance together, but instead of an orgy, we all go home to have sex in private.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: holidays, Satanism

I can almost hear the Entire Americanized Christmas Industry, as thought it were comprised of thousands of leeches, howling with hunger, and poised to suck the capitol-blood right out of the consumers wallet-veins.

Who ever thought that a non-refundable expiring line of credit good at only one business would make a good gift?

http://www.ihatechristmas.com/ is spammed out with a bunch of (ready for this?) Advertisements for THINGS TO BUY.

the songs... can anyone, someone, please write a new christmas song? This is closer, but still rehashing or mashing the old stuff. Same here.

Ah well, the lights are pretty, and the kids seem to like it.

So let's all take a moment to remember the True Meaning of Christmas - A Christian attempt to displace the pagan ritual of Yule by taking the Biblical god and dressing him (sorry, Him) up in spandex and fishnet, then saying he looks like The Earth Mother...


Flame on,
-CZ

Labels: americans, anti, consumerism, holidays

This is the third year I have made it to the Annual Boiled In Lead show at First Ave. I was sober-cab for the entourage: Xtina, Jess, Colin, and Jess' VERY SWEET AND NICE AND SINGLE FRIEND Nancy, WHO BY THE WAY, IS SINGLE. There was and opening band, "Savage Aural Hotbed" a band which uses auto parts, containers, and power tools as percussion instruments; a pseudo-cross between Devo and Stomp.

The Minnesota Pipes and Drums (as in Bagpipes) band also made an appearance, as they have in previous years, although we didn't make it to the show in time to see them this year.

Last year, the show started later, (Around 8-ish) and didn't stop till 1:05 AM when the bouncers pushed us out the door. This year, the doors opened at 5, but the idea of pogoing for 9 hours straight is sick, so we figured arriving there about 9-ish would give us plenty of time, and 5 hours of dancing and headbanging should be plenty, right? Bars are open till 2AM now, right?

Wrong.

Boiled in Lead went on at just after 9, and we arrived just after they started. Coolness. And coolness it was, until just before 11 when they took a bow and left. Grr.

The band came back out to play for another fifteen minute encore. Yay.

Then they left. Grr. For good. Double Grr. The roadies started packing up the stage, and some lame-o mix music came on. It wasn't long before we were ushered upstairs to the VIP room, (It seems that everyone is a VIP when they close down the main room...)

WTF?

Didn't First Ave almost close last year because times were so f-ing hard? And now they shut the party down at 11:30? I could tell the crowd had just reached the proper level of intoxication for uninhibited dancing, and they shut it down.

ELEVEN-FUCKING-THIRTY? St Patricks Day on a Friday, and they shut it down before midnight? Sorry dudes, but where I'm from, the party doesn't get started until 10PM, and doesn't peak till after midnight, and that's on a Non-Holiday Weeknight.

From now on, I am not only checking the Start Times for bands, but the Finish Times as well. I recommend you do the same, and make sure to have a backup plan when the bouncers push you out of First Ave at 11:30 and you need to find somewhere to finish what you started...

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: A Day In The Life, holidays, Minneapolis Event, Ubersuck

Aargh! I missed it!

Yesterday, 19 Sept, was "Talk Like A Pirate Day"!

Well, I won't miss 'er next year...

Arrrr Matey,
-C

Labels: holidays

Here in the U.S. of A., there are three 'Hot Buttons' you should be aware of:
Religion, Politics (AKA: The New Religion) and Open Source Software. And really, the latter two are safe to talk about as long as neither person truly understands the subject. But Religion, (Organized religion that is, not the personal relationship between someone and their own existence that I would call Spirituality.) is something you generally avoid bringing up unless you really want to get into a fist-fight.

Especially during 'The Holiday Season'.

Unless, of course, you post it to a blog.

Check out the link above to see how some people are handling the diverse religious cultural 'melting pot' that is America. Realize this is probably a few idiots giving Christanity a bad name, but if you actually meet one and get forced into a corner by some malcontent who demands you write Merry Christmas instead of Seasons Greetings, and a fist-fight seems inevitable (or attractive,) then simply ask them of the following:

1- When was Jesus born? (Answer: Not December - If the shepherds were out tending their sheep in the fields as reported in Luke 2:7-15, then it would not be anywhere near the end of December.)

2- Where is the celebration of Jesus Birthday mentioned in the Bible? (Answer: Its NOT, and if you REALLY want to piss them off, throw in Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32 and Proverbs 30:6 about 'not adding to what is written'.)

3- Have you heard of any Wiccans getting upset because we refuse to say, "Merry Yule!" ? (Answer: No, because the Christians burned them all at the stake.)

Yule on,
-C

Labels: americans, anti, holidays, Religion