The $%*! frustration thread

[Sajainta]

I was supposed to hang out with friends this evening, but I'm sick and I can't go.  >:[  And I'm pretty sure one of my friends is ignoring me.  I have no idea why.

[Lord J Esq]

I hate losing my writing. It's one of the worst frustrations for me. Sorry to hear it happened to you, tush.

[Lord J Esq]

It's frustrating that the about 28,000 people in Japan died in the tsunami but the media prefer to spend most of their time on the disaster by talking about the nuclear meltdown, which hasn't killed anybody yet and will never kill more than a small handful of people at worst. There are so many worthier angles for covering the story. The tsunami even has the kind of sensational video footage that the media usually love. I don't mean to say that the (partial) meltdown isn't newsworthy; it obviously is. But it doesn't warrant hogging such a large percentage of the coverage of the story of the overall disaster. The media's fixation on the nuclear meltdown strikes me as misanthropic, as if to say humanity is too arrogant and a meltdown is proof of our hubris. I don't appreciate the sentiment.

[tushantin]

It's frustrating that the about 28,000 people in Japan died in the tsunami but the media prefer to spend most of their time on the disaster by talking about the nuclear meltdown, which hasn't killed anybody yet and will never kill more than a small handful of people at worst. There are so many worthier angles for covering the story. The tsunami even has the kind of sensational video footage that the media usually love. I don't mean to say that the (partial) meltdown isn't newsworthy; it obviously is. But it doesn't warrant hogging such a large percentage of the coverage of the story of the overall disaster. The media's fixation on the nuclear meltdown strikes me as misanthropic, as if to say humanity is too arrogant and a meltdown is proof of our hubris. I don't appreciate the sentiment.

Amen.

The death of those 28,000 people is a glimpse of how horrible the end of civilizations really is. It's downright saddening that every miracle we build, every step to dream we take, can be broken and destroyed by a simple natural/man-made event like that.

[Bard_of_Time]

I hear ya, J. But it's sad that they're playing to what people care about. Who cares about 28k dead? (we do, obviously, but we're not most of their demographic) You really can't do much for those people, and (even more sickening) it'll never happen to us. But there's a slight chance that their reactors might blow up? Oh no! We need to know how EBIL nuclear power is! We can get people to donate to Japan to help save their reactors so they won't blow up! (if people bother enough to donate)

Current frustration: I appear to have an infection. In a rather awkward place. Fun doctor times awayyyy...

[tushantin]

But there's a slight chance that their reactors might blow up? Oh no! We need to know how EBIL nuclear power is! We can get people to donate to Japan to help save their reactors so they won't blow up! (if people bother enough to donate)

You're right.

You see, India has a little something called the Shiv Sena, a right-winged political party who are extremists in every way. If they don't like something, that something becomes wrong by default. And the consequence? They burn things down. For instance, they were against the release of the movie called My Name Is Khan and threatened movie-goers not to go to the film, and caused chaos so that the workers at the cinema wouldn't dare honor the openings.

Even worse, there's hardly any intelligent politician in their midst. For every slight inconvenience cause either by the government or the people they respond via Bandhs; that is, saying, "Close all your shops, hospitals, and every business you own! If you don't we'll be there, break your bones, destroy your business and burn the buildings!" <--- And this leads to economical losses of our nation.

Recently they've been causing bandhs and problems in order to discourage nuclear deals, because fuck! I think they were so moved by what happened at Japan, about how the meltdown could potentially destroy half a nation, that they decided to go on a shooting rampage against the police, shoppers, bystanders, etc. just to stop that!

And we're afraid of terrorism.  I think we're all terrorists at heart. Which reminds of the moral learned from the political movie Gangajal:

The political leaders are but a reflection of the republic that chose them. We all want people who are often like us to lead our nation, only to despise them when their sins come to light. And we retaliate in ways far worse than what we've experienced.

[Lord J Esq]

It would be a fitting irony if despised political leaders truly were representative of the public that elected them, but it would also be damning for the premise of democracy. (I don't have a problem with that potentiality, but many people would.)

[GenesisOne]

Since the current flavor of frustration is elected representatives of a republic, I find it frustrating that all of their political grandstanding and charisma seems to be the only thing center-stage in their campaigns. Instead of addressing the issues with ironclad promises to find and execute solutions to the bigger problems (for example, America's crumbling infrastructure of railroads, highways, and dams), they use it as leverage to win votes without anybody wiser to their ulterior motives. Those who are the wiser are the silent minority whose vote had as much impact as a drop of water does when filling a bucket of votes.

You know what elections really need? And I'm not just talking about the presidential election here, but all elections, right down to the local level. <--Analogy Alert!!

During baseball season, the attention of sports fans shoots first towards the leaders of the American League and the leaders in the National League, right? The box scores for these leaders makes it easy to see who the top players are. It's all laid out: hits, runs, errors, batting average, earned run averages, etc.

I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great if we could have box scores for the U.S. government? Candidates could present their lineup for key posts, and we the people would be able to evaluate which team had the strongest bullpen or the most home run hitters. And why stop there? We could use a similar process for our representatives. When election time rolls around, we could look at our senators and congressmen and think (metaphorically, of course), "Well, this guy been averaging around .220 for his last term. Let's see if we could find a .300 hitter." This way, it would be easier to find out who to keep and who to kick out.

But that's just my idea. What says you?

[Shee]

Before I bitch about women, Genesis - being a sports guy I LOVE this idea.  Naturally I see some problems such as what stats are we keeping track of?  Voting?  Spending?  What else?  Still, it intrigues me.

Now... after scene study tonight it would appear that ol'  :shock:2.0 isn't as interested as she says.  We were supposed to go out yesterday and I heard nothing until today when she texted to say her phone was busted.  Which she was on every free minute of class.  No hellos, spoken apologies, acknowledgement.  Guess it's time to let this ship sail.  It kills me...her support of my comedy AND acting was unlike ANYTHING I had ever received from anybody, and for it to come from her it meant the world to me.  She is also supremely talented and SAG eligible (a big deal)...  I'd be lying if I said this didn't hurt (lots), but it ain't the end of the world, and there is a certain...tiny....silver lining being the "freedom" from it all.  Could probably bore y'all to death but I'll let it rest there.  Tomorrow is another day, another mic, another night.  8/7.


Bon Voyage, 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PopKVxY_lvw   - Almost Gone, Barely Here

[tushantin]

@Lord J: Yeah, they don't represent the public's interest at most times. So what do they actually represent? The public's mindset, that's what. Just sayin' that's what I'm talkin' about.

@Genesis One:   Since I'm not so familiar with Baseball, I have no idea what ya mean there...

[Licawolf]

I annoys me when I wake up with the feeling that I had an interesting dream, but I'm not able to remeber it 

[tushantin]

I annoys me when I wake up with the feeling that I had an interesting dream, but I'm not able to remeber it 

Here ya go!

Don't mind me, I'm just your friendly neighborhood Super Nu.

[Kodokami]

A friend of mine convinced me to buy Portal 2, which is perfectly fine of itself (except for the $65 price!). However, before getting to the multiplayer part, he demanded I play the entire main story. So the next 6 hours or so were filled with "you're doing it wrong," "you're so slow," and "god, how do you not see that?" Many plots were spoiled before I reached them as well (though I have to admit, they were predictable).

I should have played it on my own time.

[Mr Bekkler]

I just got Portal 2 as well, though on PC it's 50 bucks. Playing slowly, on my own time, and loving the hell out of it.

[GenesisOne]

@Genesis One:  Since I'm not so familiar with Baseball, I have no idea what ya mean there...

What I mean is, representatives' and senators' could be kept track of. I'm not just talking about popularity ratings, because rarely, if at all, does popularity have anything remotely to do with job execution on the representative's end. S/he could be (un)popular for all the right or wrong reasons and we the people would be getting mixed messages by just listening to the popularity ratings.

I'm talking about statistics such as:

- Stances of current political issues of high priority (I mentioned America's infrastructure in my last post)
- Number of bills proposed and sent through Congress
- Success to Failure ratios of said bills (and consequently any riders attached to said bills)
- Previous positions held (e.g. mayor, chairman of a city council, judge, judge)

It's like baseball cards, only for our elected representatives.

Does this make more sense?