Wow. I thought I had it bad when it comes to tech support.

Debalina Das, 22, a computer help-line agent in the city of Hyderabad in south India, punched the button last winter for a call from the United States.

The caller greeted her with a torrent of racial and sexual slurs, accused her of "roaming about naked without food and clothes" and asked, "What do you know about computers?"

The diatribe ended with the comment:"This company is just saving money by outsourcing to Third World countries like yours."

What a horrible way to treat someone.

Some further food for thought on the whole outsourcing controvery:

Economists view international trade as equivalent to the discovery of a more efficient production process. As Alan Blinder put it recently, "It has long been a mystery to economists why so many people view creative destruction that stems from technology as okay, while similar creative destruction that stems from international trade is something to be opposed."

Hardly anyone feels guilty about using tax preparation software rather than paying an accountant to handle their tax returns. Yet many people would tell you that there is something wrong with outsourcing tax preparation to accountants in India.

Read the rest, if you care, here.

Some friends have asked me to post 10 or so quirks or idiosyncrasies of mine on my blog. I have to ask, what are quirks really? What I might call a quirk could be something perfectly normal to another. Alas, your wish is my command.

- I talk to my cat.

- My heroes are men like Burt Ruton and Richard Branson.

- My brain is one big carnival, so I spend a lot of time there. If I'm not frolicking through a vast fantasy land, I'm musing over a thousand different subjects.

- I am fascinated by subjects like "collective unconscious," "lucid dreaming" and "cosmic religious feeling."

- I hate the movie "Dirty Dancing."

- I'm addicted to popular science. I'm an avid reader of any magazine, forum or blog that will spoonfeed me news of breakthrough technologies allowing me to look forward to a realistic future world that is currently the sole domain of science fiction. For example, I eagerly await the day I can book a flight on Spaceship Two to a hotel off of Earth's orbit or fly a cherry red Moller skycar on NASA's Skyway to have dinner in Portland if I wanted.

- I am the type of geek who got very exited when Google hired Vint Cerf as chief "internet evangelist". Whatever that means.

- Peanut Butter and pickles makes for an excellent sandwich.

- I like to buy a lot of red wine, not only because I like the taste, but because I appreciate the label.

- restaurants are assessed by the spiciness of their buffalo sauce. On that note, KFC is a fine establishment and the Outback is a dump.

Why are human beings so obsessed with staying young? What does that say about us as a species? Friday night, Matt and I mused for a few minutes about growing up... ageing. I told him that I was apprehensive on turning thirty and he replied that he found becoming twenty-six somewhat bothersome. We are only twenty-five, why are we even worried about these things?

I remember a commercial I saw when I was a little girl. A skin care commercial featuring five or six women professing the number of their years. 29, 30, 30, 31, 28. They were lying about their age of course. In actuality they were more like 31, 36, 39, ect... What was their secret? Oil of Olay, clinically proven to reduce wrinkles and other signs of ageing. None of it made any sense to me at twelve. At that age, twenty-nine seemed like eons away and I was busy counting the days until I turned eighteen. When I turn forty I'll come back to this post and laugh at myself.

Geneticists claim ageing breakthrough

A genetic experiment to unlock the secrets of the ageing process has created organisms that live six times their usual lifespan, raising hopes that it might be possible to slow ageing in humans.

The geneticists behind the study say the increase in lifespan is so striking, they may have tapped into one of the most fundamental mechanisms that controls the rate at which living creatures age.

They say immortality will have to wait. How long I wonder? Science makes such incredible leaps in their research these days. What will come in a year? Two years? Ten? The next headline could be "Geneticists stop the ageing process." How will we number our lives then?

At least when immortality becomes a treatment available for everyone, I'll finally have enough time for all those books I've been meaning to read.

I was going to make a Lord of the Rings analogy with this. Something about the Prancing Pony, Strider's Pipe and Sharkey, but I decided to save that for another topic.

Most of my small audience knows I'm a smoker and have tried to quit at least twice since I've had this blog. On the 8th of December, I will quit again making the best of the non-smoking ban I-901, but until that date arrives every cigarette I have shall be savored as though it were the last. Already, I hear the sound of non-smokers nodding in approval, applauding: "Good for you. See, I knew this would work. It's for the greater good." Or something lame like that.

Screw the greater good. I loathe that phrase as much as I loathe "it's for the children."

I'll repeat here on my humble blog what I've already said aloud to others. This initiative was not even necessary and is a bold intrusion into the affairs of private business owners. It grates at my libertarian mindset. There exist already a high number of bars, clubs, restaurants and coffee houses where smoking is not permitted. That number would have increased naturally in time because of consumer demand. If any individual wants to dine, drink and work in a smoke free atmosphere, he or she should avoid the businesses that cater to smokers. The responsibility is theirs, it's that simple.

I realize there is no good reason to continue smoking and my decision to stop will no doubt save my life, but I'm doing this grudgingly. It's exactly the type of result that the well-intentioned folk expect from this ban and I'm resentful towards the way it came to be. The lobbyist, the nanny State have triumphed--triumphed over my choices and those of other individuals by using the shadowy guise of "protecting" another person who is perfectly capable of looking out for his or herself. The whole thing is absurd.

Is it really neccessary anymore?

While I enjoyed a fleeting vision of the sun beating down on Cultis mountain this morning, it's really not worth the fall of darkness at 5pm. Are we really saving energy or are we just keeping an old tradition for the sake of it? Call me selfish, but day light at the end of the workshift is why I enjoy getting off at that hour. It also throws off my delicate sleeping pattern and sleep is very precious to me.

Please, isn't it time we stop the madness.

I don't like having a small television, it really dappens the movie watching experience. Yesterday, I decided to move my TV upstairs infront of my bed. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. My TV would be closer and what could be better than playing Final Fantasy stretched out on my back? Or come the weekend, watch anime to rekindle that childhood Saturday morning cartoon ambiance? Up went my DVD player, playstation, television and all my movies and games (hauling my heavy stand up the steep and narrow stairway was quite the heroic feat, I might add). Several minutes later, everything was setup.

Ah, I thought as I stretched upon my bed, what a difference a few feet can make!

Something was very wrong though. As I stared at the television, my head propped on the pillow, everything seemed way off target. My once small tv was suddenly large and cumbersome, throwing off the whole relaxing element of my loft. My bed... a cloud lined in silver, a place of dreams and serene contemplation was invaded by Sony and Hollywood.

That does it. I decided without a moments hesistation. The TV shall stay downstairs once and for all.

Down the treacherous stairway went I with my heavy TV stand, movies and the rest of my electronics. My meager entertainment center is now back in the corner of my apartment where it belongs. Balance and order restored in the loft. I feel asleep early that night, relishing the warm feel of my sheets and the sound of piano playing softly. As for movies and video games in the future, I'll just have to get a bigger TV.