Random Rants 76: Argh! Augh! Ahhh!

[MaryKB]

*cries*

Donald's silly speech caused This Is Us to be postponed another week.

 

[Takhisis]

*commiserates*
Disney Channel first delayed some of the later episodes of Ladybug S2, and then decided to move them to Mondays at 7 in the afternoon, a time at which, if I am home, it's only because I'm working, because this is summer and one has to take advantage of the sunshine. (although, lest Traitorfish fret, apparently my skin remains a tanproof whitish mess)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

*cries*

Donald's silly speech caused This Is Us to be postponed another week.

At least you get to see it. When soaps get interrupted/pre-empted, that's it. They don't get re-run or postponed.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I bought a 4 TB hard disk to store my X-plane photo sceneries. I formatted it to exFat because some random smartass at a simulation forum said it was faster than NTFS. Unexpectedly, after copying my photo sceneries of north America and Europe (about 3.5TB) the disk has become highly fragmented causing stuttering while flying. Problem is windows don't know how to defrag exFat partitions, so I must use a specific program called Defraggler which is going to need about a week to defragment the whole disc. Moral: don't believe on random smartasses.

 

[Phrossack]

Rant: I have no idea where I'm going in life for the next few years, and it's getting in the way of making any kind of plans.

None of my choices are ideal. I don't think I can stick around in my current job forever, but I'm about to move to another place close to work. I like the idea of working in conservation, and am only ever at peace when I'm in the woods by a stream and away from civilization, but I'd have to go back to school for biology (ugh), and nature's going to die off entirely within my lifetime, which is not great for prospects. I also like the idea of moving to another country for awhile, but I'd have to leave behind my aging parents and possibly my dog. And there are no signs of good jobs for me overseas.

I can't keep doing what I'm doing but don't have anything else to do either. So I don't know whether I should bother with, getting a car, because I might just have to move and sell it anyway after a very short while.

 

[Synobun]

Rant: I have no idea where I'm going in life for the next few years, and it's getting in the way of making any kind of plans.

None of my choices are ideal. I don't think I can stick around in my current job forever, but I'm about to move to another place close to work. I like the idea of working in conservation, and am only ever at peace when I'm in the woods by a stream and away from civilization, but I'd have to go back to school for biology (ugh), and nature's going to die off entirely within my lifetime, which is not great for prospects. I also like the idea of moving to another country for awhile, but I'd have to leave behind my aging parents and possibly my dog. And there are no signs of good jobs for me overseas.

I can't keep doing what I'm doing but don't have anything else to do either. So I don't know whether I should bother with, getting a car, because I might just have to move and sell it anyway after a very short while.

Look into WWOOFing.

 

[Phrossack]

Look into WWOOFing.

I've never tried it myself, but my dog does that all the time. He has it down pat.

 

[Takhisis]

I like the idea of working in conservation, and am only ever at peace when I'm in the woods by a stream and away from civilization, but I'd have to go back to school for biology (ugh), and nature's going to die off entirely within my lifetime, which is not great for prospects.

Well, the point of conservation is to prevent nature from dying off entirely within our lifetimes.

 

[Phrossack]

Well, the point of conservation is to prevent nature from dying off entirely within our lifetimes.

Much, much too late for that. Decades too late.

I still enjoy spending time in the woods and streams but all that remains environment-wise is to keep track of the worst culprits and bring them to justice.

 

[Takhisis]

And restoration.

 

[Synobun]

Much, much too late for that. Decades too late.

I still enjoy spending time in the woods and streams but all that remains environment-wise is to keep track of the worst culprits and bring them to justice.

Pretty much every scientist disagrees with this perspective. What do you know that they don't?

 

[rah]

NAH, once the planet gets rid of all of us, eventually it will be all right.

 

[Lexicus]

Pretty much every scientist disagrees with this perspective. What do you know that they don't?

I mean, I have read several different news pieces that mention many scientists, at least ecological scientists, are in despair that irreparable harm is being/has been done to virtually every ecosystem you can think of. I think many scientists are more pessimistic about these questions than the general public.

 

[Synobun]

I mean, I have read several different news pieces that mention many scientists, at least ecological scientists, are in despair that irreparable harm is being/has been done to virtually every ecosystem you can think of. I think many scientists are more pessimistic about these questions than the general public.

Different is not the same as dying off entirely. We'll never kill this planet unless we crack the damn thing open.

 

[Lexicus]

The original formulation was 'nature dying off entirely,' I believe, which is somewhat open to interpretation. I certainly did not think Phrossack was talking about cracking the planet open.

 

[Phrossack]

Pretty much every scientist disagrees with this perspective. What do you know that they don't?

I'll spoil this so we don't derail the whole thread.

Spoiler :

I'm not talking about the rock of the Earth, or the philosophy of "it'll recover in five million years so don't worry, do nothing." Both of these arguments exist solely as excuses for avoiding ending the annihilation of the environment.

We're aggressively passing many irreversible tipping points that unleash unstoppable vicious cycles, such as melting ice caps > less albedo and fewer obstacles to more melting > more melting. We're aggressively exterminating many species--which is irreversible, no matter what pie in the sky dreams of cloning people have. We're exploding both our population and our per capita consumption. We're melting permafrost that holds in untold quantities of methane that will wreak havoc.

And are people changing their ways en masse and immediately? Do they realize the desperation? Not really. For every person who's aware, there are several who are blissfully ignorant and more who actively resist any and all change. Bolsonaro's planning to obliterate the remnants of the rainforest, Trump's expanding both pollution and drilling, and there's no end in sight to this. At a certain point it won't matter how green and clean we are because GHG emissions will snowball and the shattered remains of our forests and seas can't handle any more. Consumerism has won, everyone else has lost. All that's left is punishing the crap out of the worst culprits for sinking the ship and burning the lifeboats.

 

[Synobun]

Sounds pointless.

 

[Lexicus]

I'm not talking about the rock of the Earth, or the philosophy of "it'll recover in five million years so don't worry, do nothing." Both of these arguments exist solely as excuses for avoiding ending the annihilation of the environment.

Doesn't "we're already doomed" seem like another excuse for inaction? That was actually the excuse offered by the Trump Administration when it rolled back some Obama-era fuel efficiency standards (IIRC).

 

[Phrossack]

Doesn't "we're already doomed" seem like another excuse for inaction? That was actually the excuse offered by the Trump Administration when it rolled back some Obama-era fuel efficiency standards (IIRC).

Spoiler :

It's accurate and meaningful, though. "The rocky substance of Earth is indestructible" or "It'll all buff out in a few million years" are both gross and likely deliberate misinterpretations of what people mean when they warn about the dangers to the environment, and are meaningless. Nobody cares what happens in a few million years, and nobody's talking about cracking the Earth. Nobody says these things except to give an excuse to do nothing and to discourage change.

What I'm saying is that on this ship, we know:

- who blew holes in the hull to start sinking it and then burned or stole the lifeboats;
- why they did it; and
- how to make them pay.

Simply letting people get away with the worst and most unforgivable crime in history--the cover-up of climate change by Exxon and others, and the non-stop work to cover it up since) is unthinkable to me. Though it's hopeless, we should still try to do the right thing or we're not much better than them. I just don't know if I want to devote my life to that, is all.

But anyway, this is beside the point. I was just ranting that I have no clear or viable destinations in life now, making it impossible to really make plans or decisions.

 

[rah]

Based on that post, it seems like you know what you want to do. The only question is, can you make money doing it.