New Testingstan

I was grouchy and sarcastic and mean to a poor person in Bangalore yesterday because his employers (Comcast) have provided terrible service through no fault of his. It was really satisfying at the time, but now I feel kinda bad about it.

i just got home from biking to and from work at my first day at that ngo and went the whole day without using the internet for personal reasons once

smug sense of self-satisfaction level:

Dare I ask what NGO?

non-governmental organization

for example, Red Cross, or your local homeless shelter (if it's not run by the government)

Phantasee wrote:non-governmental organization

for example, Red Cross, or your local homeless shelter (if it's not run by the government)

i don't think that's what he's asking

i misread

my bad

uhhh i think something to do with addictions counselling?

Don't worry Phant I did the same thing; I was lucky enough to spot the mistake and delete the evidence.

RedImperator wrote:I was grouchy and sarcastic and mean to a poor person in Bangalore yesterday because his employers (Comcast) have provided terrible service through no fault of his. It was really satisfying at the time, but now I feel kinda bad about it.

First World Guilt

Wanna talk about first world problems? I found myself thinking today, "You know, this golf set's getting kind of old, I need to get a new one."

I then reevaluated whether I really have all that much to complain about.

So what I'm to gather is that you're a worthless shitstain upon the face of humanity?

Golf!

Flagg wrote:So what I'm to gather is that you're a worthless shitstain upon the face of humanity?

Nope, just that today, in the grand scheme of things, I didn't have much to bitch about.

Golf!

Yes, scottish sport, you use a number of sticks of varying lengths with metal or wood mallets at the end to hit a small ball into a hole. Fewest swings at the ball wins.

My complaint about golf as a sport is how much water, fertilizer and pesticides they use to keep these greens green, and how much fuel they burn to mow their giant lawns.


Especially when you build several of them on an island with a Sahelian climate where they have to desalinize the ocean's water to give the 1 million people on it enough to drink and sustain a first-worlder way of life. With energy supplied by the Oil Power Plant next to it.


Shit isn't really "sustainable".

Aaron wrote:Dare I ask what NGO?

a local group, the phoenix residential society, which provides housing, peer support, recovery care, etc. for people with psychiatric disorders, substance abuse issues, brain injuries, and such

it started in the early 80s when policies of de-institutionalization basically left huge swathes of the mentally ill homeless, in prison, in psychiatric wards, or most commonly, shuffling between the three

so a few people in the community set up 'the phoenix house' as a sort of halfway house for these people, and then it just grew into what it is today

since mental healthcare in saskatchewan is generally fucking atrocious a lot of work ends up being the responsibility of a handful of local ngos that work together

Ahh, there is a similar group here, the phoenix centre

could be one inspired the other, idk

Where some may see waste, I see man's triumph over nature. And common sense. Pursuit of futility seems all too human after all, and polo's just too damn easy. Besides, ya gotta have a hobby

I regularly go 30 over par while my dad collects social security and has a 7 handicap. But I don't subsidize all those lawnmowers and plastics manufacturers and pesticide purveyors and Thurston Howells so I'm a better person right? I suck at exploiting pesticides, preferring gas exhaust at 4,000 feet and lead vapor at 100 yards. Yay me I"m saving the world because I don't golf well or often right Oxy?

Oh ghetto edit NGOs that are supporter-funded are pretty cool. Even Greenpeace. Though I prefer Boy Scouts and Medecins sans Frontieres and Red Cross (even though Red Cross gets gubmint funds IIRC).

well my one is mostly government-funded

sooo

Nietzslime wrote:well my one is mostly government-funded

sooo

Well yes but you're Canadian

sooo

par for the course.

Still, good deeds is as good deeds does.

Oxymoron wrote:Especially when you build several of them on an island with a Sahelian climate where they have to desalinize the ocean's water to give the 1 million people on it enough to drink and sustain a first-worlder way of life. With energy supplied by the Oil Power Plant next to it.

Is it better if it's a nuclear reactor?

Ps. Where is this?

the azores?

Questor wrote:Is it better if it's a nuclear reactor?

Ps. Where is this?

Well, given the island's geography it would be hard to find space for one, unless you were to do like the Japanese and build artificial islands.

Phantasee wrote:the azores?

The Canary Islands, specifically Gran Canaria (it's Spain). It's at a few hundred kilometers west of Western Sahara (aka the lower half of Morocco), with basically the same climate as the Cabo Verde.

The island's basic source of income is primarily Tourism, followed by building things for the tourists, and then all the tertiary industries that come to support these two basic activities. Plus they have a big harbor with a container terminal.

Let us just say that the Island's economy was hit pretty hard by the global recession and the Spanish crash in real-estate value...

There's a bit of "hope" there in that the prospectors may have found Oil under the surrounding seas...

OK, well I don't see why you need a golf course there, much less 4.

Because rich assholes want to play golf, wherever they are, irregardless of the local conditions ; and that the local authorities are only too happy to see more tourists come and spend their money here.


Note that as it's has been fully part of Spain for something like 500 years, the people there have a first-world standard of living, which doesn't help the whole environmental picture. For example, sixty years ago the island was still relatively green, with some rivers in the humid season reaching the sea ; but with the intensive exploitation of banana plantations for a few decades which killed the water tables, the island now looks like Mars with a few bushes here and there.

irregardless is a fucking bullshit word

you're not even a native speaker man

i expected better of you