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GeekNights 070322 - H.P. Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu
Tonight on GeekNights, we talk a bit about H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. In the news, the USPS raises stamp prices, and the RIAA isn't having a good go of it.
Scott's Thing - Reverse Exploding Sandcastles
Rym's Thing - The Homer Collection
Comments
Back in high school, people in Excalibur (the role playing club) mentioned Cthulu and even one of the presidents' screen name was something like Cthulu Umbra. I never looked it up but it's on my list now. I love Anne Rice but she is definitely not horror... more like suspense/romance for... those with non conventional tastes? Hard to describe. I wouldn't call her trashy though I'm sure some would.
The first horror novels I ever read were from R.L. Stine's Fear Street series, my last year in elementary. A neighbor who was in junior high lent me one of her books. Goosebumps was for kiddies then lol. I did try them but they didn't have the same kick. Sort of watered down or something. Then the TV show came out and it was all the rage for everyone else. I liked Are You Afraid of The Dark? and The Twilight Zone better. I read a mixture of the older and then of more contemporary novels, the older stuff being the required reading in school like Edgar Allen Poe (which is who I started thinking about while listening to this episode). Lovecraft sounds like Poe and a really creepy episode of The Twilight Zone (like the one where the main character had to live on as a ventriloquist doll, ::shudders::) rolled together. That mixed up with the feeling I had when I first took Astronomy and pondered a little too deeply on the fact that the sun is also orbiting the center of the galaxy and taking us on a merry little ride to a very bad end for all we know.
Can't wait to try Lovecraft out though.
When something is heavily discounted or subsidized, people get used to paying a certain price for something without considering what it's actually worth. Then when the price changes to more closely match the real value, people get mad. Take gas for example. Even at $34a gallon, you are getting a bargain on gas. Also Skype, who was giving away their service for a whole year, now charges for US calls. It isn't a matter of them making it too expensive now, it's a matter of it being too cheap before.
The post is basically giving their services away for almost nothing. You really can't complain unless you are a junk mailer. If you are a junk mailer, you deserve it.
What about the RPG?
Also, check out Yog Radio. It is a podcast done by a couple of Brits.
We LARPed a one-off Cthulhu game a while ago up in Albany for a lark.
If you're talking about the physical expenditure vs. service, you have a point. The problem is that is not at all what's happening -- it's only the surface activity.
I already pay my fucking taxes. Being forced to pay more to buy a stamp is an additional tax -- a "stamp tax," some would say. Now, it would be one thing if the post office was self-sufficient, as it is supposed to be by law. But it is not. The U.S. Postal Service is constantly being bailed out by executive budgetary provisions in direct violation of its founding charter.
This is the same exact problem I have with WoW. You've already purchased the game, but you have to continue purchasing it... and purchasing it... and purchasing it... in perpetuity. Except with the government, there isn't an initial purchase and a subsequent subscription; there is an initial subscription (income taxes) and a secondary per-use cost (stamps). Then there are the sales tax, the gas tax(es), the phone tax(es), the energy tax(es), local sales tax, property tax, medicare, medicaide, social security withholding (as though I'll ever reap the benefit of THAT atrocity), municipal tax, water tax, residency tax, school district withholding, excise taxes, tariffs, bed tax, school levies, fire levies, public works levies, community center levies, board of mental health levies, children's services levies, capital gains tax, tax on sales of stock....
And I'm not even getting into all the supplemental government services that you have to pay for in addition to the over-taxation. Let's throw out government-owned toll roads, municipal utility bills, building permits, repair permits, building inspection fees, car inspection fees, emissions testing fees, sidewalk repair assessments, sewer and grade frontage assessments, driver's licenses, fishing licenses, hunting licenses....
My point is that the government is nickel-and-diming us to death at the same time that it is insolvent and tremendously fiscally irresponsible (pork, anyone?). That is why a stamp -- no matter what the cost -- is too expensive. Either operate the government on the existing tax or don't operate it at all. We shouldn't have politicians (or postal employees) sitting around thinking up new bullshit ways to take our money and waste it.
Think of it this way: If Nintendo charged you for the Wii, then a per-diem cost to play it, then a fee to turn it on, a fee to turn it off, a fee to have it in your house, a fee on each controller, a fee to buy the game, a per-diem fee to keep each game, and fee to get to each level, and then assessed you at the end of the year with one sliding-scale charge for all of your Wii activity throughout the year, you would go bananas.
That is what the government is doing when they sell you stamps.
Now you see I think our point of views on the USPS differ because our experiences with this service have been different. It would be one thing if they really did do everything they could to deliver my mail to me and their services were exemplary. If only that unofficial motto "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" printed bold on the big post office near Madison Square Garden and B&H; Photo were actually true. My experience with the U.S. Postal Service is probably right on par with your experiences with UPS.
I actually like UPS because they have always gotten my packages to me in good condition and in a timely fashion, which is more than I can say for USPS. UPS, with me, was very flexible about rescheduling if by some fluke they couldn't get the package to us. I hate Fedex. They never delivered when anyone was home and were evil about rescheduling. They would bring the package at the exact same time, next time around. Does that make any sense?
Going back to my main point, I swear, from the earliest I can remember, the postal service has been shoddy at best. Before it was my mail, it was my mother's mail. Torn up magazines, torn envelopes, half open packages that looked like a rabid dog had been at it. Later on, lost birthday cards to my mother ::shakes fist:: Some of this damage happened at the hands of the postal worker who was delivering. As for collecting mail to be sent from your house, they don't do that for apartments in the city as far as I know and I'm sure they would laugh if you suggested it.
Before college, I thought it was because we lived in Brooklyn and perhaps they thought certain people in Brooklyn didn't care about their mail but no, no matter where you are it's the same. My latest escapade with them was in September. I ordered a bunch of old Final Fantasy games because my FF experience started with FFVII way back when and I wanted to see what the older games were about. After being shipped, these games should have reached me within a week. It took more than a month. And why? Because the USPS got confused and sent my games elsewhere, so they could figure out where it was supposed to go. In the meantime, I raised a fuss and told Amazon to send my games by UPS. They did, with no extra charge and no fuss and record speed delivery. Then, one day, the first shipment emerged from the phantom zone and arrived. But where did it arrive? At my billing address and not my shipping address, about 200 miles away. Hurray for the USPS.
I would pay whatever for UPS because I know I'm paying for quality and I see what I pay for. That is not the case for USPS. Giving their service away and oh what a service that is. $1 is too much for that service.
Perhaps my opinion of UPS may change when I graduate and have a full time job but as of now they still work well with my schedule. ::kisses fingertips:: Bellissima
Some evidence.
This is actually a good thing. After researching in a vain attempt to disprove Scott, I've found that the free market system has produced enormous competitive pressure on the USPS, forcing government to actually get its head out of its own ass and reform. This proves that there is still hope that statutorily-controlled monopolies can be brought to their knees by private industry. Congratulations, federal government, you've done something right.
Good news, everybody! According to Wikipedia, the postmaster general is no longer in the presidential line of succession.
Oh, and for the sake of my self-esteem, I'm going to assert my previous post as a standard rant against all other government spending. Jerks.
For Scott - I have the mega adventure "Beyond the Mountains of Madness" and the "Keeper Pack" for the CoC RPG. The Keeper Pack even includes an expedition patch suitable for sewing on a jacket or hat!
If you guys want to get into a Cthulhu game we moved our game nights to Friday.
Also, anybody know how legal/acceptable this site is?
Dr. West is a guitar-wielding, giant robot riding mad scientist that likes to rock out as he lays waste to the city of Arkham.
I found out that Dunwich is based off a town in Massachusetts that Lovecraft visited in 1928. The town's name is Wilbraham, and it is practically next-door to Springfield. The reason why this fact directly affects me is that my grandparents on my father's side live in Wilbraham! When I found out about this, I was in shock as I couldn't believe that my beloved lived in an area that served as a model for one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories. Now armed with this knowledge that may seem trivial to most, I'll probably never look at Wilbraham in the same way ever again.
I bet (I truly hope not though) that there is a bookstore somewhere around there that actually sells one of the bullshit Necronomicons. If I ever do come into a situation like that, I would be really creeped out/