Wow, I just read that Ontario's highest court overturned a judge's ruling that awarded $300,000 in damages to a woman who got into an accident while driving home drunk after an office Christmas party in 1994. Maybe this means there's hope for common sense after all!
If you're not quite sure what I'm talking about, recall that a year or two ago it was all over the news that a woman was suing her company for allowing her to drive home after drinking at an office party. She won, despite the fact that she went somewhere else after leaving the party, and the fact that people at the party did try to dissuade her from driving (or, at least, that's what I think happened, if I remember correctly).
The reason I remember the incident is that the ruling struck me as extremely stupid--on par with the ruling that held McDonald's accountable for the burns a woman suffered from spilling hot coffee on herself while she was driving. I even wrote an essay that mentioned the case, entitled "Wasn't Me," because I thought, and still think, that the ruling(s) demonstrated a trend in society for not taking responsibility for one's own actions. Why should companies be held responsibile when people do things that they should know not to do anyway? How often do we hear that we shouldn't drive while under the influence, or while trying to eat, drink, or talk on cellphones? Doesn't common sense tell you not to do these things as well?
It was truly disheartening for me to realize that judges, people I would expect to think logically, would make rulings that basically implied that people can shift the blame for injuries that are caused by their own lack of common sense! So I'm very glad to hear that the judgement was set aside. I mean, it's a tragedy that a woman was severely injured in a drunk driving accident, but it was ludicrous to hold the company responsible her own actions and decisions. Gah. That essay made the point much more clearly...maybe I should post it...
Found this fun polygeek test through Karen's blog. ^_^ (Edit: Whoops! If all you see is a picture and a white block, try highlighting the block to read the text!)
You are 30% geek
You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.
Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend.
You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines!
Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals!
You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.
(Edit 2: Here's another test that I took. It seems pretty accurate in a literal sense as well--re: I am yellow.)
YELLOW
You are very perceptive and smart. You are clear and to the point and have a great sense of humor. You are always learning and searching for understanding.
I got an oil burn trying to take the plastic wrap off of the roasted eel (not bad, but not as good as BBQ eel--unagi) after it was finished being mircrowaved. OUCH! It's kind of ironic that I should get one only a few days after hearing my coworkers talk about how painful they are, but it's an irony I could've avoided.
Even though I ran cold water over my finger right after I got burned, and even applied an icepack to it a couple minutes later, it still hurts, burns, now--hours later. Take my advice, avoid oil burns at all costs! I'm just grateful that only one of my fingers was really burned...I'd hate to imagine how painful this would be if I had to feel a couple of fingers burning. Ouch ouch ouch!! Okay, I'm outta here, gotta get that icepack again! =*(
On Saturday, after softball I had to rush downtown for a Utarpa meeting. I was incredibly late, considering that I left at 6:30pm, which is when the meeting was supposed to start, and I didn't drive downtown, but to Kipling, from which I took the subway. So yeah, I arrived around 7:25pm. @_@
Anyway, after the meeting ended (at 8:00pm, so I spent an hour commuting for half an hour of a meeting ^^;;) I wanted to call my former (and future) suitemate, Anna, to see if she was in and I could drop by. I went down to the payphones only to find that both of them were occupied, and by people who seemed to be in the midst of big long conversations that wouldn't last anytime soon. Now I could have walked to the res and just gotten the front desk to call up to see if she was there, but I did that last time, and I felt kind of silly when I found that she wasn't actually there. So I stood and waited. One of the girls on the phone turned and saw me standing there, waiting, but then she turned around and kept talking. After a bit more waiting (probably ony two minutes or less, but it felt like more), I started to get kind of impatient, wondering if one of them would ever get off the phone.
Then the girl (who had seen me waiting) surprised me by finishing. She waited outside the phone booth (yes, it was a booth, with a seat and everything) while I was calling, so I thought she was waiting for the other girl to finish so they could go hoome together or something. As it turned out, though, after my very brief call, she went back in to complete her call, or so I guessed. Boy, was I stunned and gratified. It really brightened my day to know that there is such courtesy left in the world. I was pretty touched that she would interrupt her conversation for me, especially as she had no way of knowing that I only wanted to make a quick call. Very sweet. Great to know that courtesy isn't dead!
