@Kitteh_on_A_Cloud: Earliest cars and trains were also expensive, inefficient, and difficult to use when compared to the standards of the time, i.e. horses. But the progress didn't stop, and these days they are used almost universally and are actually a pretty good way to move around. Not to mention they directly led into planes, which is an even faster manner of transport.
The renewable energy sources are now in the same position as cars were back in the day. They may not be much now, but it should be obvious we cannot let this stop us.
@Chow: Fully agreed! I read there are already cars which run on electricity. They're pretty much still prototypes, but I think that of all sources of energy that we have right now, electricity is the least polluting. I think the process to creating electricity was also one of the less polluting ones? I could be mistaken, though. It would be great seeing renewable energy sources reach their full potential and to live on a cleaner planet. It's something we definitely should keep on striving for.
Electricity is not a source of energy: it's just plain energy, one of the end results of all the stuff we were discussing about. Coal, nuclear power, water, wind, solar, all these things produce electricity - and not all of them are good ways to do so.
Those cars are already in full swing, not just prototypes. The market just isn't that big yet and you have to calculate where you drive more (to hit the necessary loading points).
@Vnavekul: Oh, I didn't know. I'm not really up-to-date with what's happening in the world as off lately. Mainly because most of the so-called 'news' is depressing. Another quarrel between the political parties in my country, war in Syria and such... I've actually been to Syria a couple of weeks before the revolution started there. It was such a peaceful country. Or at least, it seemed that way. It will never be the same again.
Hopefully not. Change is really necessary there. But you are right about most of the news. It also really irks me that foolish things like horse meat in Ikea food gets more attention than those events. But (as a journalist) I understand: it just gets boring for the viewers/readers. A buzz like that Ikea-thing to chat and joke about gets you more hits, viewers and readers.
@Vnavekul: That's another thing that's been bothering me, actually. Namely: the media blowing stuff out of proportion just to get more hits and views. It's quite shallow. Money talks.
Okay, next thing that's bothering me: I'm almost 23 years old and yet my mom is STILL telling me when to go to sleep, as if I'm still a toddler. It really isn't getting in her head that I'm practically an adult now. It's gotten to the point it feels humiliating to me.
Don't hold it against her: parents can be a little condescending to their children, for the most part because it is a hard thing for them to accept that the little tyke they raised is all grown up now. My father tends to do the same thing.
Just remember you don't need to necessarily obey her anymore.
@Chow: I guess that in her eyes I will always remain her little baby chick, hehe. I know she cares a lot about me, usually even more than neccessary, so I don't hold it against her. I know she wants the best for me. It's just a bit annoying at times.
You know what I also hate? The constant threats. For example, I came to an agreement with them that I would go see my boyfriend during the Easter holidays. Now they're constantly using it as a threat to keep me as a nice little sweet girl. I fucking HATE it. It's like a sword of Damocles every day. And you know you're basically powerless, because your parents got all of the money... It feels even more humiliating than my mom entering my bedroom without asking (even when I'm naked when dressing up, she doesn't give a fuck) or telling me when to go to sleep, when to get up, what her ideal daughter would be like and other things that actually really don't interest me at all. I care for my looks, but maybe just not as much as her. I'm a student, I got bigger worries than wether I'm wearing the right skirt for a presentation in class.
I think they need somewhere to vent their frustation from the problems of their life. Just like you're venting here about them, they're venting on you.
I want you to try to do something, even if it's hard or whatever: ignore them when they do something you don't like. It will show them that you're not reacting anymore to their drama and calls for attention. If your father tells you anything like a threat, ignore him. They hit you on your shoulder? Ignore them. Your mother is blaming you? Ignore her. If they ask why you're ignoring them simply say "I'm tired of it".
Just don't fuel their drama. Simply ignore them. It works for bullies, it works for dogs, it works for kids, I think it will work for drama parents, since they want to draw your attention and vent, also. The principle should be the same. You choose to react, even if you don't think so. It's a choice you make you react or do whatever and keep it going. Simply don't. You choose your reactions, don't forget that.
Now, on my part. It's nothing too serious, it's just a turn off to me. Where I live, we have a mandatory army service. It's nothing dangerous like in the US for example. They just send people to random camps in my country, we basically do pointless chores and some training for 9 months and that's it. It's more or less a waste of time. And I'll be leaving at 21 of March. When I return, BG2EE would probably be out. *Sigh*
@Vnavekul Greece. Yeah, we got that *too*, on top of the other ones. And it is. On one hand it's a waste of time and being away from my computer, friends, family etc. On the other, it's a different and unique experience and getting out of my comfort zone, doing something new. Got mixed feelings about it.
Feeling very sick of life today. I've worked too much lately, topped with renovations done to my house to make it better isolated. And I need to be rested as saturday I go on a 1-day cruise to Newcastle. Holidays, which are relaxing for other people, are very taxing for me, being in a different environment, in a different schedule, with lots of stimuli.
Been watching too much erotica yesterday, as I felt like reading a book to relax but all my books are so heavy: mental illness, poverty, resource problems, free will, the anxiety off loosing a world view: all books are about heavy subjects. I never seem able to get myself interested to buy a book that's relaxing. I wouldn't even know what I find relaxing. History mostly, but I've about read through all relaxing unread books in my cupboard and the difficult ones remain.
And yesterday too much input about all kinds of evil: Tahrir square is unsafe for women and an imam saying woman go there ''cos there wanting to be raped', there being some 50.000 extermination camps and getto's in WWII, recent study revealed, brutalities done to jews rounded up in Belgium and locked up in Mechelen, people taking holidays by plane and wasting a lot of unrenewable oil that way, myself having an ecological footprint which would need 1,8 earths if everyone had it, so still too much. And when I eat my porridge of wheat, it's basically killed plants. Bodies of plants. I can't take all that death on earth anymore, yet I'm so much longing for my own one. Still some 40 years to go till I can finally rest. So tired.
Been keeping up with the other topic here, the one about EA and their fucking microtransactions. Makes me think the entertainment industry is slowly dying. Dying to capitalism, that is. Want to buy a game? You only buy half of he experience nowadays. The other half of your game comes through DLC. Ohhh, how I've come to HATE the term 'DLC'. Monetising games is typical of corrupt systems like capitalism. Basically it comes down to monetising EVERYTHING that can be monetised. Before I know it, I'll have to pay to continue watching a movie, I'll have to pay to see the end of the story in my game, I'll have to pay to see the other half of my book. It's all about MONEYS. I'm getting so fucking SICK SICK SICK of it. And then there are the idiots with the stereotypical narrow-minded answers such as 'Don't like it, don't buy it'. That's not the friggin' POINT, guys. The point is that we consumers just let ourselves get fucked by capitalism when the opportunity arises. Excuse my language here, but I just need to rant. I remember the time I bought the original Baldur's Gate and got the full game without shit like DLC. Bioware/EA even fucked up their last game, Mass Effect 3, in favour of implementing multiplayer and microtransactions. When confronted, they just stick their haughty head into the sand and show us their ass instead. The consumer doesn't matter anymore. Money does. It's as if whole the entertainment industry is slowly turning into a money whore. Or maybe it has always been that way and I have only just now realised that. It really hurts me. I don't want to be seen as a walking bag of money. I want to be seen as a fan, as a supporter of projects. I want good relations between producers and their fanbase, both communicating with each other on a basis of mutual maturity and respect. But that's just a childish dream, I guess.
Those things do exist however. But perhaps you are looking in the wrong place for it? Nintendo-games are still awesome in my opinion and that BioWare-community is the worst example of a 'community' imaginable in my opinion. And besides that... Gaming isn't the only entertainment out there. There a still a lot of great shows, books and movies coming out in my opinion.
And also, I think that it's not narrow-minded if you say "If you don't like it, don't buy it". It's pretty much the truth and the only solution to such practices. Businesses experiment to make more money. If they sell shit to you, the you're the only one to blame if you buy it. That's how it is. Yes, yes, in a perfect world they would be a perfect relationship between consumers and publishers and all the games would be free and being fueled by donations which the people would give every time.
You have one weapon as a consumer: money. Use it. Don't buy stuff you don't like and more people should start doing that. If it doesn't get them money, they will stop doing it.
Personally, I don't mind capitalism. It's about freedom. You choose what to do with your money and your product and noone dictates what to do with your property, like the state for example. You buy what you want, you sell what you want.
And capitalism promotes competition and evolution. Racing to make something better and more advanced because if you don't, you'll perish.
@Vnavekul Greece. Yeah, we got that *too*, on top of the other ones. And it is. On one hand it's a waste of time and being away from my computer, friends, family etc. On the other, it's a different and unique experience and getting out of my comfort zone, doing something new. Got mixed feelings about it.
9 months is not that bad, you will get a new experience in life and maybe you will get more mature. I have been in the army for 3 years, arguably it was a waste of time because I didnt advance in my personal life, but this period I will remember for the rest of my life and don't regret it at all.
Do you go to a therapist by chance? Those aren't all very healthy thoughts, if you don't mind me saying.
Psychiatrist+mental health worker+medication+my own 'experience expertice' (sorry, that's what google makes of ervaringsdeskundigheid, I don't know how the client movement in Anglo-saxon countries call it).
Sometimes the levies break though, that keeps Weltschmerz at bay. Basically life sucks. Most of the time I try to forget that by focussing on things I can change: how the city government deals with 'our people' (=people with mental health problems), at least I can meaningfully try to here. I have more influence how people in my hometown are treated than, let's say the Sudan, Iraq or any other place where it's worse to live than in Holland.
But sometimes the levies break as I said, especially if I exert myself too much. The coach on my workplace advised me to skip the work today and just focus on resting today. I've been to the 'Halting-place' today, a once-a-month meeting with an inspiring story, a consideration (proper word? the secular equivalent of the word 'sermon') and music. A place to relax and reflect, no matter what your religious background (I'm atheist myself). I met some nice people there and went biking through the woods. Felt better and more relaxed for a while.
But my my, how strange life is, if you let your mind take a distance from the daily bustle. There's not much in life that makes sence, or can't be questioned, if you think of it and take our daily routine less at face value. A strange kind of theatre. And my mind can't make much sense of it, really.
Why for instance, is money 'a means to distribute scarcity' yet fails so miserably: there's people willing to work that can't find work, there's people in need that can't meet their needs and lose their homes or starve, and there's people who don't have scarcity at all but instead have far too much and waste money on luxuries that's depleting the earth, while natural resources get scarcer and scarcer. I don't get it, why we don't change the system, even with all the financial, economical, ecological, climatological, water-, oil- and other crisis that are either there or brooding to strike hard in the near future.
Why the hell is there so many people carelessly driving cars, as if oil is either an unlimited or replenishing resource and as if the atmosphere has unlimited capacity to store CO2 without it's isolating effect for the earth driving up temperatures?
This post is already getting too long with only scraping the surface of my bewilderment of things that most people seem to take for granted. Another thing that keeps me wondering: why seem most people seem to take things for granted? Is everyone hiding their true dispair or is it that rare to despair in life?
@Son_Of_Imoen: Whoa, whoa! That's a lot of worries there. The thing is: people are selfish. And greedy. They will take situations as they see fit and strive for their own benefit, to make their own life as best as possible. It's harsh but true. There are also situations that humans can't do anything about, such as a poor economy and being jobless. In such situations, they can only do their best to find something useful to do. It's not always up to them, nor is it always their own fault. It's just how the world works, I'm afraid. We all live our own life. We all aim to make our own life worthwhile. We have families we care for. But usually that's as far as it goes in an individualistic society. It's impossible to care for all of humanity. The emotional weight would burden you to the point of no return. Of course we have to care for others, but in the end, there's only so much we can do. People mainly have to find a way out of their own problems. We can help them, but we can only go so far. As for depleting resources, it's impossible NOT to. Nowadays, having a car is mandatory, especially for work. Time is money, friend. It's sad, but that's how it is. We have to be dynamic, flexible, and reachable at all times of the day. For work, for family, for friends. Cars are convenient tools that help us in this. I myself plan on getting a driving license myself soon. Should I feel bad for contributing to spoiling of the air? Of course. But I cannot reach my college by bike. I have to take a bus, and these spoil the air just as much as other cars. It's how it is. Humans need energy. They need to keep their houses lit, have running water, keep warm during the winter. It's impossible NOT to spoil anything. Humans also are luxury creatures. It's all part of this comfortableness in life. We all want the best for ourselves, our families and our friends. We're a bit spoiled creatures, you could say. If animals were able to have higher intelligence, I' sure they would think like we do. They would also become biased and self-centred. We can only try to live along. Myself, I might be selfish, but I have learned from my own past that depending on others can easily turn into a weakness. I don't like weaknesses. So I focus on my own life and my own happiness. Of course I care about others, but I can only do so much for them. It's a simple fact of life you gotta deal with.
@Archaos: Yup, that's how it is. You see, you can worry about pretty much everything. At such moments, you gotta think of Imoen and dare to be a bit more careless and carefree. Our Sun won't extinguish for 50 million years or something. The mere fact that I'm guessing here proves that I'm not worrying that much about the future. Try not to let everything weigh you down too much, @ Son_Of_Imoen. It's not neccessary. Try to enjoy the small things in life too. My biggest joy is my boyfriend at the moment. I really don't need anything else but him. See how simple things can be? I suggest you to take some days off of work and rest a bit, do something you enjoy. From what you have written, I sense you're close to a mental burn-out. Don't let it go that far, ok? Life is shitty, but it also has its good moments. Try to focus more on the happy little things, such as your bus coming on time in the morning, a nice breakfast, some time with your beloved ones, a birthday party, exercising a bit in the gym, and so on. You'll feel better if you step out of yourself and look at the world in a more positive light. And this is coming from a huge cynic. Btw, @Archaos, don't worry, I'm not neglecting your posts to me, I just am a bit busy at the moment.
My fucking PC just crashed. Can't even get to the log in screen. It's constantly rebooting itself to the error mode screen where you have to choose between either starting Windows normally or in a safety mode. Fucking hell. As if I needed even more problems. Got a big test tomorrow too, for which I'll probably fail anyway. Fucking Mondays.
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud: I'm sorry to hear your PC crashed. Guess we'll see even more double-posts from the iPhone (kidding, a yoke to lighten the mood, don't know if it helps).
I've been following your advice to taak a few days off. I'm taking a holiday starting today until next wednesday. Saturday I'll even be on holiday - a ferry trip to Newcastle. I'm trying to calm down and get rested in advance.
More unhappiness however: my nose is dripping and my throat hurts, I think it's called 'the cold' in English?
@Son_Of_Imoen: Ah, it's good to see you have taken my advice to heart! Not like it's that helpful anyway, but still! Sometimes a change of environment really can calm you down. Now promise me not to think of any of those worries during your trip! You actually remind me of my dad. He's also always worrying. Worrying about his work, worrying whether he's making us happy enough, worrying about having enough money to sustain our family, and so on. It's both touching and sweet. Worrying isn't bad, you know. It shows that you care about others and the world that you live in. It shows you're not indifferent. It's actually a good personality trait. But it can also become a dominant trait and start to hurt you and make you miserable. That is when you gotta tell yourself to take a deep breath and let of some steam. As I said earlier, you can only do so much. You're no superhero. No human is, sadly. You can only do what you think is best. There's no simple answer to the questions you wrote down in an earlier post. But those questions aren't worth any pain or unhappiness. People will be people. There will always be agreeing and disagreeing. Nobody's perfect. Anyway, I wish you a nice trip. Also, seems like you might be catching a cold indeed. Make sure to dress warmly, cover your neck and chest especially well with a scarf or warm sweater, and make sure to drink lots of tea with little to no lemon. Last but not least: take medicines. They exist for a reason.
Been on a ferryboat/cruiseship in force 7 winds and high seas. Many passengers got sick, I didn't feel too well either, though I did some dancing on 'Sultans of Swing' in the club onboard, while the deck heaved and sighed beneath me. Ship entered IJmuiden on 12:00, but now, over eight hours later, I still feel dizzy in the head and my head feels like it's still bobbing up and down with the waves.
Fighting an invasion must have been horrible for those British and American soldiers in WW2, having to fight with your head still swimming from sea-sickness. I'd get a bullet straight through the head straight away from staring dizzy and blank in the distance, not knowing where to point my gun as the horizon would still be swinging up and down while I stand on the beach. I'm glad I'm just a tourist.
Who also one my respect is those sailors in the 17th century, sailing the seas in wooden ships without heating on board. The icy March winds were awfully chilly today on the North Sea. Imagine having to hoist or lower a sail in such winds. Even greater respect for the Norsemen in their open boats in the 8th/9th century, though what they did was horrible.
Comments
The renewable energy sources are now in the same position as cars were back in the day. They may not be much now, but it should be obvious we cannot let this stop us.
Just remember you don't need to necessarily obey her anymore.
I think they need somewhere to vent their frustation from the problems of their life. Just like you're venting here about them, they're venting on you.
I want you to try to do something, even if it's hard or whatever: ignore them when they do something you don't like.
It will show them that you're not reacting anymore to their drama and calls for attention.
If your father tells you anything like a threat, ignore him. They hit you on your shoulder? Ignore them. Your mother is blaming you? Ignore her.
If they ask why you're ignoring them simply say "I'm tired of it".
Just don't fuel their drama. Simply ignore them. It works for bullies, it works for dogs, it works for kids, I think it will work for drama parents, since they want to draw your attention and vent, also. The principle should be the same.
You choose to react, even if you don't think so. It's a choice you make you react or do whatever and keep it going. Simply don't. You choose your reactions, don't forget that.
Now, on my part. It's nothing too serious, it's just a turn off to me. Where I live, we have a mandatory army service. It's nothing dangerous like in the US for example.
They just send people to random camps in my country, we basically do pointless chores and some training for 9 months and that's it.
It's more or less a waste of time. And I'll be leaving at 21 of March. When I return, BG2EE would probably be out. *Sigh*
Greece. Yeah, we got that *too*, on top of the other ones.
And it is. On one hand it's a waste of time and being away from my computer, friends, family etc. On the other, it's a different and unique experience and getting out of my comfort zone, doing something new.
Got mixed feelings about it.
Been watching too much erotica yesterday, as I felt like reading a book to relax but all my books are so heavy: mental illness, poverty, resource problems, free will, the anxiety off loosing a world view: all books are about heavy subjects. I never seem able to get myself interested to buy a book that's relaxing. I wouldn't even know what I find relaxing. History mostly, but I've about read through all relaxing unread books in my cupboard and the difficult ones remain.
And yesterday too much input about all kinds of evil: Tahrir square is unsafe for women and an imam saying woman go there ''cos there wanting to be raped', there being some 50.000 extermination camps and getto's in WWII, recent study revealed, brutalities done to jews rounded up in Belgium and locked up in Mechelen, people taking holidays by plane and wasting a lot of unrenewable oil that way, myself having an ecological footprint which would need 1,8 earths if everyone had it, so still too much. And when I eat my porridge of wheat, it's basically killed plants. Bodies of plants. I can't take all that death on earth anymore, yet I'm so much longing for my own one. Still some 40 years to go till I can finally rest. So tired.
Edit: in my opinion-overload.
By the way, read my post to you if you haven't.
And also, I think that it's not narrow-minded if you say "If you don't like it, don't buy it". It's pretty much the truth and the only solution to such practices.
Businesses experiment to make more money. If they sell shit to you, the you're the only one to blame if you buy it. That's how it is.
Yes, yes, in a perfect world they would be a perfect relationship between consumers and publishers and all the games would be free and being fueled by donations which the people would give every time.
You have one weapon as a consumer: money. Use it. Don't buy stuff you don't like and more people should start doing that. If it doesn't get them money, they will stop doing it.
Personally, I don't mind capitalism. It's about freedom. You choose what to do with your money and your product and noone dictates what to do with your property, like the state for example.
You buy what you want, you sell what you want.
And capitalism promotes competition and evolution. Racing to make something better and more advanced because if you don't, you'll perish.
Sometimes the levies break though, that keeps Weltschmerz at bay. Basically life sucks. Most of the time I try to forget that by focussing on things I can change: how the city government deals with 'our people' (=people with mental health problems), at least I can meaningfully try to here. I have more influence how people in my hometown are treated than, let's say the Sudan, Iraq or any other place where it's worse to live than in Holland.
But sometimes the levies break as I said, especially if I exert myself too much. The coach on my workplace advised me to skip the work today and just focus on resting today. I've been to the 'Halting-place' today, a once-a-month meeting with an inspiring story, a consideration (proper word? the secular equivalent of the word 'sermon') and music. A place to relax and reflect, no matter what your religious background (I'm atheist myself). I met some nice people there and went biking through the woods. Felt better and more relaxed for a while.
But my my, how strange life is, if you let your mind take a distance from the daily bustle. There's not much in life that makes sence, or can't be questioned, if you think of it and take our daily routine less at face value. A strange kind of theatre. And my mind can't make much sense of it, really.
Why for instance, is money 'a means to distribute scarcity' yet fails so miserably: there's people willing to work that can't find work, there's people in need that can't meet their needs and lose their homes or starve, and there's people who don't have scarcity at all but instead have far too much and waste money on luxuries that's depleting the earth, while natural resources get scarcer and scarcer. I don't get it, why we don't change the system, even with all the financial, economical, ecological, climatological, water-, oil- and other crisis that are either there or brooding to strike hard in the near future.
Why the hell is there so many people carelessly driving cars, as if oil is either an unlimited or replenishing resource and as if the atmosphere has unlimited capacity to store CO2 without it's isolating effect for the earth driving up temperatures?
This post is already getting too long with only scraping the surface of my bewilderment of things that most people seem to take for granted. Another thing that keeps me wondering: why seem most people seem to take things for granted? Is everyone hiding their true dispair or is it that rare to despair in life?
"Life... is strength. This is not to be contested, it seems logical enough. You live, you affect your world."
Btw, @Archaos, don't worry, I'm not neglecting your posts to me, I just am a bit busy at the moment.
I've been following your advice to taak a few days off. I'm taking a holiday starting today until next wednesday. Saturday I'll even be on holiday - a ferry trip to Newcastle. I'm trying to calm down and get rested in advance.
More unhappiness however: my nose is dripping and my throat hurts, I think it's called 'the cold' in English?
Fighting an invasion must have been horrible for those British and American soldiers in WW2, having to fight with your head still swimming from sea-sickness. I'd get a bullet straight through the head straight away from staring dizzy and blank in the distance, not knowing where to point my gun as the horizon would still be swinging up and down while I stand on the beach. I'm glad I'm just a tourist.
Who also one my respect is those sailors in the 17th century, sailing the seas in wooden ships without heating on board. The icy March winds were awfully chilly today on the North Sea. Imagine having to hoist or lower a sail in such winds. Even greater respect for the Norsemen in their open boats in the 8th/9th century, though what they did was horrible.