QotD: Rid the Earth
Posted May 7th, 2003 @ 11:28pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: If you could rid the earth of one thing, what would it be?
My Answer: Stupid people. But then there'd be nobody left <grin>.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
Posted 07 May 2003 at 11:51pm #
Brands. Because then everyone would be forced to think for themselves. No more easy default mass-consumption answers to what you want. No chain resturants, no major automobile companies, no international soda brand selling me products before my movies. Just local independent artists and creators making the best products for themselves and their friends.
If your favorite anything (drink, food, recreations) involves a brand name I promise you it's bullshit. Very, very, very, very, very few major brands are the best. If you truely love something that is strongly branded you need to do yourself a favor, start researching, and find out what the real best thing is. It's out there, probably being made by hand, in limited quanities for a lot more money than your everywhere "favorite". You have the fricking internet at your disposal, it's not hard...
Posted 08 May 2003 at 12:36am #
I disagree Mikey. My favorite BBQ restaurant is a chain. I wear New Balance because they are the best. It's stupid to let chains think for you but it's more stupid to avoid them just because they are chains. I have a friend who doesn't like Sonic just because it's a chain, regardless of their cheap & good food.
Nevermind that prices would go through the roof. I think that's easily the last the in the world we need right now.
Posted 08 May 2003 at 6:21am #
Bananas. And though there are plenty of figurative ways I might have meant that, I mean it literally. Oh god bananas - I 'ate 'em.
You 'eard me.
Posted 08 May 2003 at 6:23am #
I'm not going to go either way with this one. Brand names, to me, do not signify the best, but nor do smaller uknown brands. For instance, I think Diet Coke is the best diet soda there is. Why? Because I think the other diet sodas taste like arse. Am I wrong? No, it's just my opinion.
And related to the QotD: If I could rid the world of something, I'd rid it of hypocrites. But then there'd really be no one left. 🙂
Posted 08 May 2003 at 8:14am #
Hair...
Way too labor intensive
Posted 08 May 2003 at 1:38pm #
I think Diet Coke is excluded from being the best of anything*. 🙂 And I would argue that opinion does matter. If everyone in the world proclaims Herman Hesse to be a brilliant and amazing author and you really don't like his work, you have to admit that is YOUR hangup.
And I fall for brands. All the time. I like Coke, I won't drink Pepsi (but I like RC, Afrri (sp?), and Jolt is okay) I wear Diesel shoes and I think they make amazing kick-ass clothes. I own a pair of Levi Type 1 jeans!
But things I don't know about, or that are local creations, I tend to enjoy more. There is less of that TRUST aspect that you have with a national brand. I can get a coke anywhere, and while it may taste a little different (and better) in Mexico, it's Coke. I trust it. When I'm down there, I'm not going to risk buying some weird local beverage because they have Coke, and I know I like it. This is what I hate. I hate, HATE, it when people travel to foreign countries and go to McDonalds. I want to punch Ronald McFuckingDonald in his face.
*How many Diet Colas have you had? And furthermore, why do you drink Diet? By drinking Diet anything youare showing that Taste and Flavor are not your number one priorities, so neither is quality.
Posted 08 May 2003 at 3:08pm #
Men - aah just kidding 😉
Posted 08 May 2003 at 5:35pm #
Erik, you seem to hate stupid people so much. Why is that?
Posted 08 May 2003 at 9:07pm #
Mikey, I'm a diabetic, it would be harmful to my well-being to have too many sugared drinks. Have I had many diet sodas? More than you'll never know and/or try yourself. I think Diet Coke is the best. It is my personal favorite. And like my other favorite drink, Guinness, it's an aquired taste you pompous judgmental schmuck.
Just kidding about that last part. 😛
Posted 09 May 2003 at 4:21am #
The thing with any alcoholic drink is that by the sixth one you don't care what it tastes like, you just want more. 😉
Or so I hear. I've never been able to get drunk. Sad, isn't it? I get very hot and find it hard to care about things, but I can still think and talk. Hell, I won a game of Risk after the seventh beer (granted, I wasn't the only one drinking 😉 ).
Anyway, after the first few, they're all the same. One of many drinking rules: drink the cheap stuff, you'll be throwing it up anyway. 🙂
Posted 09 May 2003 at 4:23am #
Oh, and mikey, re: brands.
I work for a brand and, believe me, we make the best. ;-D
Posted 09 May 2003 at 2:04pm #
Like Adam, errr, codepoet, I've tried to get drunk all of twice and have found myself unable to do so. I get warm, usually a little tired (from the warmth mostly - if it's chilly outside I don't get tired), and though I enjoy acting drunk (when else do you have a free pass for acting sillier than normal?), I can immediately snap out of it and go write code or carry on real conversations.