I just don’t feel like doing anything anymore, or at least nothing which could in any way be considered productive. A year or so ago I was looking for things to do… Still on my terms of course, but looking for things nevertheless. Things were different back then, something good seemed to be happening, at least in a way…
All I’m looking for right now is a good enough fantasy world to dive into and somehow manage to stay there, forgetting all about “reality”. The problem seems to be that I’m not crazy enough to stop perceiving “reality”, or at least not the right kind of crazy for that to happen…
Some months ago, there was a piece of news about Tel Aviv University creating a “Supercenter” for renewable energy. For a moment I was surprised, as Israel seemed far from the most likely place where something like this would happen. But then I remembered Shimon Peres’ statement about developing alternative fuel and energy as a part of the war against terrorism and it all made sense, especially since he’s perfectly right.
The current situation not only provides income for some governments who finance terrorist activities, but also provides leverage for others who practice what I like to call “diplomatic terrorism”, Russia being the prime example. (Exactly what is “terrorism” and the even more subtle methods used by Western countries is a topic for another time.) The fact that the largest oil reserves are in areas which have always been so unstable and the largest natural gas reserves belong to a former superpower which hopes to regain that status certainly doesn’t help, but the situation would be bad regardless of where those reserves would be. Having the whole world depend on a few parts of it in order to function is a recipe for disaster.
A world economy is a nice idea in principle, but until we come up with a new version of human we can’t all depend on some. Even if those who rule the countries which become the main suppliers of those resources don’t initially plan to use them as leverage, others will replace them sooner or later, and those others might have other ideas entirely. That means that any commodity of vital importance should be produced locally. If that’s impossible, there should at least be a local alternative.
Looking at it from another perspective, it’s simply too risky to depend on transportation when it comes to something as vital as energy. Something might go wrong with the supply chain even if nobody tries to disrupt it on purpose, plus that there are inevitably some losses along the way. That increases costs and creates insecurity.
And I didn’t even mention the environmental aspect so far. From my point of view it’s the most important, but this post is not about that. I just want to point out that switching to renewable energy sources would be a good thing from all points of view. Those who aren’t too focused on the environment don’t even need to think of this aspect as such a move would also provide security, independence and even economic benefits.
Back to the matter at hand, it makes perfect sense for Israel to do something like this, they are in desperate need of security and stability. But such a difficult situation shouldn’t be required in order to take such a measure. I think all countries should follow suit and share the results of their research and preferably also share funds and resources in order to end the world’s addiction to fossil fuels as soon as possible. Each country could look at it as a matter of national security, because that’s exactly what it is.
I find it very interesting that the fear of terrorism is used as a means to preserve the current state of affairs when changing it would directly reduce the threat. On the other hand, reducing the perceived threat is not desirable for many who are currently in positions of authority, which means “the people” should wake up and start fighting for their own interests. People should understand that it’s as simple as that, switching to renewable energy benefits their long-term interests, period.
Considering the timing, I have to start by saying that this post has nothing to do with the United States elections. What was there was working badly and therefore required change.
Bad things don’t usually change in this world of ours, or at least not for the better, but the good or “functional” ones sure tend to. The problem isn’t usually the change itself, though in case of the good things it can be, but the way it happens. Sometimes the change is for the worse, which is obviously a big problem. Other times it’s just change for the sake of change, not making something noticeably better or worse, only making it different, which is pointless at best and very frustrating at worst. And yet other times the end result of the change may be somewhat positive if you view it objectively, but the balance between the good and the bad things brought by the change doesn’t lean heavily enough towards the good to make it worth struggling to adapt to the new conditions.
I think this happens because it seems easier to improve on something that already works than to fix something that doesn’t. Why don’t people realize that it’s not so? When you try to improve on something that already works, the result must be undeniably better for the change to be worth it. When you try to fix something broken, all you need to do is make it function, even if poorly. It is, however, true that the bad things tend to be more important than the good things, which does make them harder to change, but that only means we should try harder!
I have a set of “rules” when it comes to change. I don’t mean to sound like a dictator, but it might be nice if others would follow them…
When something does not work, you must determine why that is and whether or not the problem can be fixed in a reasonable manner. If it can be fixed and it is desirable to do so, fix it. If it either can’t be fixed or was working too poorly to begin with, replace it. That may sometimes mean destroying it and building something new in its place, possibly including a few parts from the old thing if they’re still functional and appropriate for the new thing. Try anything you can think of, at worst it still won’t work and leave you no worse off than you currently are, just don’t let it continue not to work!
When something works poorly, you must try your best to fix it, making it work better. However, you must take precautions in case your attempts will cause it to work even less well or even fail completely. You can try many things, but you first need a reliable contingency plan in case your attempt fails. Even something that works poorly is usually more desirable than something that doesn’t work at all.
When something works within acceptable parameters, you must be very careful if you wish to make any changes. It is true that it could work better, but it could also work less well or not at all. You must think very carefully before doing anything, only making changes which bring an undeniable and significant benefit. Keep in mind that even adapting to a good change could be a problem when the change is not desired, so if your attempts could also affect others you must always take their opinions into account and not do things that would negatively affect them. And if you wish to sacrifice some things in order to improve others, you might wish to reconsider. Yes, it is desirable to improve, but you must be sure that the improvement is real and significant enough to be worth the effort of adapting to it.
When something works well, it would probably be better if you’d leave it alone. The risk of any change making it be, or at least appear to be, worse is far too great. Of course it could be even better, nothing’s perfect, but that’s just one of the reasons you should not try to change it. Since nothing can be perfect, striving for perfection only leads to unhappiness. Treasure a good thing for what it is, they are few and far between…
I think this applies to a lot of things in life, from the least important to the most important. We would all be better off if people would learn to treasure what works well and focus on fixing or replacing what doesn’t…
Decided to clear my answers and start over yet again. It was rather pointless to be fair with their system if they weren’t fair with me. Picking the answers I’d want a potential “match” to pick and selecting the appropriate importance was pointless since I’m not looking for a “match”, and since they don’t let you pick differently for the “friend” score and don’t even say how it is calculated I have decided to do it the other way around. When it tells me to pick what I’d like my “match” to answer, I’ll pick what I’d like a good friend to answer, and select the importance accordingly, making the “match” score relevant.
Moving on to something else, I’ve been having a really bad feeling these past few days. Right now it’s actually making me sick… I feel like something very bad is either about to happen or just did. Of course, I assume it concerns Andra so I get even more worried. I’m so scared that I’m not even sure I want to know what’s going on, if anything really is… Some of these feelings did prove true in the past, especially concerning her…
Perfect World did manage to keep me interested so far, but lately it was starting to feel like a chore. Even though a Venomancer is far better suited for my solitary playing style, there were more and more things that you just can’t do alone. But the main reason it was becoming a chore was that it was taking too long to level up by sticking to my plan. I didn’t want to use the “Crazy Stone” quest and I didn’t want to grind, which meant that I had to do a lot of Dragon Quests. But I also didn’t want to teleport, as that’d mean spending money and I stick to the idea of not doing anything in order to earn money but also not spending anything unless I absolutely have to even in games. That meant that each Dragon Quest turned into over two hours of flying from one place to the next, which was not fun at all.
Still, after playing Calad for 30 days I wanted to play Kalee for 30 days as well, and made a plan to get her to level 40 during this time. Since a plan’s a plan, that’s exactly what I did. Kept on looking for errors to send to the developers too, at least it seems that nitpicking is one of the very few things I’m good at.
But all that is done now, managed to get her to level 40 last night, sent the last e-mail today and now I’m taking a break. They have announced an expansion for December 1st, so I think I’ll be back a few days before that. I’m curious what new things will be added, even though I assume they won’t be for somebody as low level as me, and especially not for someone who insists on playing alone. This of course only applies if the expansion will also be free. I still think I’ll get back even if it won’t, I’ll probably try to get Kalee to level 50, but doubt I’ll stick around long after that.
But… I wonder how many World of Warcraft players fail at saying “screw it” when a game starts to seem more like work than play… Quite a lot of them, from what I know…
