Originally Posted by Charbs

oh...and... what times do they picket?... like if I usually get to campus at 8am... what if i come to campus earlier? am i going to avoid a picket line? like if i came at 730 instead of 8?

By what i've heard about how long the backups get (despite the insistence that the police will keep them down), getting there for 7:00 or 7:15 might be better.

Originally Posted by PilotMal

The aim is not to hurt anyone. Jeeze.

As if I would actually do that. What you do is drive slowly, inch forward, and they'll move out of the way - its common freakin' sense. You block me, I will do what I can to get through. They are legally un-able to touch you in any way, and I'm presuming that means my car as well.

But even moreso, as a driver, you are legally unable to hit a pedestrian. :p

I'm not going to be in the picket lines, but let me give you and any other radical-thinkers (whether joking or not) a piece of advice:

Think.

If I was in the picket line, and your car came anywhere near me, I wouldn't kindly move out of the way. I would deliberately flop down onto the car, and mislead everyone into thinking you had actually struck me**. I would then charge you with either wreckless endangerment, or hit and run (depending on how you played it) and probably win, since I'd have dozens of witnesses. And I wouldn't feel bad, since the driver had certainly endangered lives.


**I've actually done this before when someone was backing out of a mall parking lot, and scared the shit out of the driver. I didn't go so far as to sue them or anything, I just wanted to prove a point and make sure that they pay attention next time since they could seriously hurt someone.

Stupid being poor and dependent on the GO buses.

Well lets say you attempt to fake it and get flatten instead. Would you rather risk your life than move away? I sure as heck don't want to die yet especailly at a picketing line....

Originally Posted by Stan

Well lets say you attempt to fake it and get flatten instead. Would you rather risk your life than move away? I sure as heck don't want to die yet especailly at a picketing line....

As with anything logical, when you change the scenario (ie. the axioms), you may change a lot more information than you intend (ie. the theorems):

-If an attempt at faking would get me flattened, then the driver would have had intent to flatten me...you don't flatten someone by 'edging up' as she's describing.

-And of course if you drive up full speed into a crowd of protesters, you're going to flatten some people...suppose I'm among them. Unless I have super reflexes and can magically fly out of the way, I'm going to get flattened...I wouldn't be faking it, it'd be real. So would any other people who got flattened, whether they had intent to 'fake it' or not.

-So naturally, if someone is maliciously going to slam into me with the car (which I can't say with complete certainty won't happen), then it's no different from someone striking me as I cross the street...so the fact that I'm picketing is irrelevant.


It's all mathematics.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

**I've actually done this before when someone was backing out of a mall parking lot, and scared the shit out of the driver. I didn't go so far as to sue them or anything, I just wanted to prove a point and make sure that they pay attention next time since they could seriously hurt someone.

Shame on you. People like this guy, and Unions, will do anything and everything in their power to cause a ruckus.

Everyone STAY AWAY. The campus isn't fenced in. Just skirt them.

Originally Posted by InYoutoGive

Shame on you. People like this guy, and Unions, will do anything and everything in their power to cause a ruckus.

Everyone STAY AWAY. The campus isn't fenced in. Just skirt them.

Ironically, I do not think Mike is picketing anymore.

Originally Posted by InYoutoGive

Shame on you.

Shame on me? Shame on the careless driver who backed up and came about 4cm from hitting me with their car. I taught them a valuable lesson (which hopefully they still remember)...I had nothing to gain from the event.

People like this guy, ... will do anything and everything in their power to cause a ruckus.

By crossing the line and continuing to provide tutorials, office hours, and grading services for my students? Oh yeah...causing quite the ruckus. You know, what a ******* I am...not picketing for a small fraction of the money I'm normally entitled to because my corrupt union has decided I'm out of a job for as long as they like.



Yes, I would 'dive on a car' to teach someone stupid enough to drive into a pile of living, breathing people a lesson. I'm not embarrassed of that fact, because (and no offense to the people talking about doing it in this thread...because I don't think you'd actually go through with it) someone who would actually do that and endanger a whole pile of lives needs a psychiatric assessment.

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

Ironically, I do not think Mike is picketing anymore.

Definitely ironic... I wouldn't hold it against the accuser, I think s/he is a new poster attracted by the strike, and probably isn't familiar with Mowicz.

I'd also like to point out that my eccentricity does not mean I'm prone to causing a ruckus (infact if you ever met me, you'll find I'm rather quiet). Infact, I often times just use my eccentric tendencies for good, rather than evil...ie: to help me teach.

Case in point: I once brought in a loaf of bread and a bread-knife to help illustrate the concepts of integration and differentiation in |R^3. (Unfortunately for my current batch of tutorial students, I forgot my loaf of bread this year, so I had to describe the concept and have them 'pretend' I was holding a loaf of bread). "You have to integrate over the pumpernickle."


So eccentric, yes...there's no denying that my methods are radical, and I'm a sad, strange person. But it doesn't follow that I'm a bad person, I have the best intentions in mind.

Of course I would never DREAM in my life of intentionally hurting anybody. What I'm saying is I don't feel its reasonable to hold up the student body when this whole thing isn't our fault in the first place. While I have the utmost respect for human life and well-being, I don't have respect for a group of people (CUPE) who aren't acting in the best interest of the workers they represent - rather, they're acting on their own private agenda rather than being the "voice" that they are supposed to be.

Though I wouldn't dare actually hitting anyone with my car, its not going to stop me getting angry and frustrated when my way into school is blocked tomorrow. Yes, you have a right to picket, but at the same time I also have a right to attend the classes I have paid for. I realize there is a five minute blocking limit but that five minutes is more than enough to seriously back up traffic.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I'm seriously frustrated. I picked McMaster for its stellar academic reputation and I knew that I would be getting the most for what I've paid for; now, I'm starting to doubt that.

Originally Posted by PilotMal

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I'm seriously frustrated. I picked McMaster for its stellar academic reputation and I knew that I would be getting the most for what I've paid for; now, I'm starting to doubt that.

You have every right to be frustrated...I mean heck, even as a TA, even if I were picketing, I'd still have to cross the line and be inconvenienced! I'd like to explicitly state that all I meant was the plan of 'driving slow and hoping people move' could seriously backfire (and that I never thought you were serious).

What this issue ultimately comes down to is power...the union is trying to shift the balance of power to bend the university over its knee. It's sad that the students get caught in the cross-fire, but you are where the leverage is.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

You have every right to be frustrated...I mean heck, even as a TA, even if I were picketing, I'd still have to cross the line and be inconvenienced! I'd like to explicitly state that all I meant was the plan of 'driving slow and hoping people move' could seriously backfire (and that I never thought you were serious).

What this issue ultimately comes down to is power...the union is trying to shift the balance of power to bend the university over its knee. It's sad that the students get caught in the cross-fire, but you are where the leverage is.

Yes, driving a car at someone is SERIOUSLY dangerous (obviously) Even if you do it slowly, if your foot slips off the brake for even a second, your car could lurch forward and do serious damage.

Don't do it. There's a reason why minimium liability on car insurance is two million dollars.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

So what do we do for undergrads? We give them bursaries...and with good reason.

What do we do for grad students? We give them TA-ships...for the same reason.

show me that most undergrads can live off of bursaries alone and I'll admit that grad students should be able to live off of a TA-ship alone.

in fact, both of my sisters, after graduating their undergrads, took a couple of years to work, make some money to afford grad school. one is currently attending the other has graduated grad school, both worked and SAVED MONEY in order to afford the expense of more school.

we all understand that as grad students you have the added finacial burden of undergrad debts, but I have never seen anywhere that McMaster promised grad students financial security, meaning basically a free education, where all the money comes from bursaries and TA-ships and goes straight back to Mac.

I'm getting emails from my TAs telling me to follow the CUPE blog and give support to the strike.

Not impressed...