Venting Thread Gamma

[Dutch guy]

Didn't he play Call of Duty: WORLD AT WAR? And not the "and World of Warcraft" quoted in the article? WoW doesn't really seem like that much of a preparation.

And neither does playing CoD for that matter. It just seems like an excuse.

[Metcarfre]

My understanding is that 21 years is the maximum sentence allowed to be handed down, but at the end of that time another judge may choose to extend the sentence?

[Elomin Sha]

That is true. It has been mentioned a number of times of a possible extension.

[dackwards d]

"We need to do an article on that murdery guy. What's new with him?"
"Ah, nothing really sir. We already did an article on him when last we got something new. It was a whole hour ago though, I'll take a look... Yeah, nothing."
"Well find something dammit!"
"Uhh... Well, I seem to recall someone mentioned video games in relation to him way back when."
"Perfect. Bring out the standard 'video games turn our children into killers' article, plug in the names and we're golden. Now go away, I wish to clutch my enormous belly and laugh evilly until my top hat falls off."

[Metcarfre]

Did you even look at that article? There was at least half a dozen links to other articles about the other aspects of the trial.

"'elp, I'm a gamer and I'm being repressed!"

Give me a break.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

If every name was desecrated because there was a mass murderer of that name, there will be very few pure names left.

[dackwards d]

I did read the article, and had actually read one of the articles it linked to beforehand. As a gamer, I... don't feel repressed at all. I don't believe that 'the man' is trying to use this case to 'get me down.' The idea of someone honing their marksmanship through Call of Duty (as one of the articles says), or even worse, WoW, strikes me as comical so I reacted with something I found funny - a caricatured situation of a fat, rich man who doesn't understand games giving the order to shitlist it again because they want to sell news when they haven't got any.

[leapy]

Honestly? In 21 years, noone but the victims' closest will remember his name. Once he is sentenced that families and the media will keep it in the public eye for another year or so, expressing their anger at the leniency of his punishment and so on, the media might remind people with a "and after only 21 years, this psychopath will be freed next week" when the date comes close, but otherwise he'll be out of sight and out of mind. With his 'freedom or death' statement it's possible he'll kill himself though, or somebody inside might do it for him considering his actions.

Don't be so sure, remember the Jamie Bulger case? Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were their names. That was in 1997. And the Soham murders? Ian Huntley murdered two girls. That must have been over 10 years ago and I still remember his name. I'm sure that in 21 years there will still be plenty of people who remember the name Anders Behring Breivik.

[Drinnik]

Honestly? In 21 years, noone but the victims' closest will remember his name. Once he is sentenced that families and the media will keep it in the public eye for another year or so, expressing their anger at the leniency of his punishment and so on, the media might remind people with a "and after only 21 years, this psychopath will be freed next week" when the date comes close, but otherwise he'll be out of sight and out of mind. With his 'freedom or death' statement it's possible he'll kill himself though, or somebody inside might do it for him considering his actions.

You say that, but names and incidents like this stick; look at Thomas Hamilton and Michael Ryan. Those are names and atrocities that won't be forgotten.

[Geoff_B]

I think it'll be a long time before this one's forgotten.

And what annoyed me wasn't the fact that he played games for whatever reason, it's the association with gaming that the case now has. Especially with WoW, Whether or not it was actually what he was playing, WoW's name, and by extension Blizzard, has now been associated with the case. So now when a gamer says they play WoW, some people might think that it's a terrorist training tool and the ten million subscribers are in fact mass-murderers. It's silly I know but there will be people who think like that, especially the ones who read the Daily Mail. Like my own parents for example.

[dackwards d]

I was three months old during the Hungerford massacre and only 9 years for the Dunblane massacre, so I'll have to chalk them up as before my time. I knew about the Soham murders, and have long considered the Jamie Bulger case to be one of the biggest faith in humanity destroyers I can think of, but I had to look them up just then to know who you were talking about. In my experience people tend to remember events but not names, though that experience may not be the norm. But based on that I think in about 20 years people will be saying "Anders Breivik is nearing the end of his sentence!" and getting back "Andrew who?" They'll remember the guy that killed 77 people back in '11, but the name? Probably less so.

[Geoff_B]

Maybe it's because the Dunblane, Soham and Jamie Bulger cases happened in the UK, where I happen to live, that I remember them rather vividly. I guess the people of Norway would have a longer memory of this than the rest of the world.

It's one thing to have something happen halfway across the globe, it's quite another to realise you're actually living on the same island.

[Drinnik]

Mate, I lived in Liverpool at the time of the Bulger murder. My Grandma used to live in Crosby and go shopping in the Strand, where he was snatched from, and I used to go there on a semi-regular basis. I was 11 when it happened and don't think I'll ever forget the mood of the city at the time.

It was so subdued and dark, even us kids knew something terrible had happened.

[dackwards d]

I think Geoff hit the nail on the head there - proximity makes it more... affecting, I guess. Definitely more memorable. Nothing that big has really happened anywhere near me, so my opinion is probably a bit skewed. There's an element of hope there too I guess. Anders' psych eval came up with him as a narcissist, and he has said that one of the main purposes of the killings was to draw attention to his manifesto. If people forget who he is, and he rots in jail with his manifesto unread until the day he dies, that might be the best punishment for him. Except unfortunately there will always be a few people that agree with his views, and as long as he's alive he'll be the rallying cry for a certain subset of crazies, and they'll send him letters and write their own manifestos and shoot their own victims...

[the amativeness]

GAH I HATE RENDERING! STABBY STABBY STABBY!

[gcninja]

I fucking HATE feeling useless. This is a semi-confession that I'm sure many feel but it EATS at me that I can't do shit. I know the saying, "Think globally, act locally", but I want to help the world all right NOW.I try to help homeless or down on their luck people, not for the karma or what not but because I want to. (Can you give me a reason why pedophiles, rapists, murders, and defrauders get four walls, three meals and cable fucking tv a day, yet a person who had a run of bad luck or bad decisions gets the cold harsh treatment of nothing? THAT WE PAY FOR) Times though I can't do anything I HATE myself.

Like last night I was stuck in another city where I go to school an hour and a half away from home because my friend who I ride with, her alternator went bad. So we bought a new one, but there was a good chance it could break down (the old one) before we got home to replace it. Neither of us knew what to do or how to, though it didn't seem difficult. We started taking it out, she knew a little about cars and I know basic electronics so it couldn't be IMPOSSIBLE. However, just as we started her BF left from home and drove all the way there to help. Again, I could do NOTHING, instead he had to take 3+hours out of his life to help us with something simple. To top it off, he probably only got 3-4hours of sleep before work.

Then today at my first job, theres somebody else I work with named Robert. He has some sort of muscle issue where his left leg is crooked and so is his left arm, but he functions well, hell he even walks faster than me. Today though, when I was in the break room as he climbed onto a stool, he slipped, fell right and I'm pretty sure hit his head on the next stool. I and somebody else helped him up and he said he was fine. Still, I HATE that I can't help him or anybody else in his situation in ANY way. Whether it's some breakthrough medical procedure, or prosthetic limbs to replace them. SOMETHING. This is why I want to own my own company, have a friggin biomedical engineering department and essentially GIVE IT AWAY.

I adore bill gates with how he uses his money as a philanthropist. I WANT TO DO THAT. Now however, I have to watch as people try and make do with "what -enter overbearing excuse for higher being- gave them". It just eats at me to the point of almost punching a wall at my uselessness in life. For now, I'm just going to start with giving away bags of basic toiletries, cleaning stuff, and small visa gift cards to homeless people.
Vent over. whatev.

Note: before any of you say its pity, NO it's not. It's just fucking not..

[The_Doctor]

My housemates drank all my booze!

[Lord Chrusher]

Being depressed and insecure is so much fun! It ruins a perfectly fine evening prematurely.

[the_lone_bard]

Doc, awwwww, I hate it when people do that!

Chrusher, no reason for insecurity, from what I know of you, you're awesome dude. Otherwise, always here if ya need someone to talk.


As for my daily vent, well, it contains drugs! So spoilers, cause why not.
Just realised today is 4/20 over in the us and canada and what not. And that I am still in (Albeit reduced and soon to be gone completely, thank god.) pain in my legs, with nothing more than an "Well, shit son, I dunno! Go see these guys whenever they can see you, probably in a month or two" And since if I wanted to go and smoke, I would needa take a 7 hour train ride (at 3:30am) I'm basically stuck with Panadol... It's like treating a severed leg with a bandaid!

[TheRocket]

This is a mini vent, because it in no way makes my life horrible or is really anything hard to deal with... but fuck cooking oats! I forgot if you're doing it in the microwave to ignore all instruction and boil the water a bit before hand. NOw there are oats all over the fucking place. They are on my clothes, my counter my floor my microwave. I do not have babies I shouldn't have to deal with teh feeling of gelatinous squishy cereal everywhere jsut yet!

[Deedles]

I am mind-numbingly bored right now.

Now this might not seem like a big deal, because I could just fire up the Wii and continue on my play-through of Skyward Sword. Watch a movie or do something else that entertains me.

WRONG!

I don't have time because I need to get this assignment done, but I'm having such issues concentrating and it's just ... gah. Frustrates me to the point that I nearly freak out about it.

All this, because boredom is leaving me unable to focus, and if I try to do something which would make me not bored all I feel is this panicky sensation while thinking that I don't have time to be doing that stuff, I should be studying.

Fuck.

[auberginequeen]

My roommate has graduated from her undergrad program and is moving to Boston to live with her boyfriend who is a PhD candidate at MIT. She leaves tomorrow.

And yeah, I only knew her 8 months. Yeah, we didn't talk much. She was often busy due to her being in 4th year.

But damn it, I'm still going to miss her. A lot. I've never been too good at dealing with life changes, especially when people leave. I hate it. I really can't express how much I do. But I know she has to leave, I mean, she can't stay here forever.

But I'll miss her personality and her quips and her weird-ass stories and just... her.

I keep trying to express it but whatever I say comes off as inappropriately mooshy. I just want her to know that I'll miss her, because no matter what I'll remember all the crazy adventures we went on in her car with her classical battle-music playing on the radio.

I'll remember how I could just mention a Biological concept and she'd instantly understand what I meant.

I'll remember the times she, her boyfriend, and I played SSBM on his gamecube.

I'll remember how whatever I said she would agree, and vice versa. We seemed to have a lot of the same political opinions.

I'll remember that time she used a coupon to buy a dead spider mounted in a box from the mall and how awesome that was.

I'll remember how she did partial facial reconstruction on the cast of a skull she ordered off the internet.

I'll remember all the times she was worried she was getting in my way, all the times she told me off for not being very assertive, the times we played board games together...

Maybe I haven't made as much of an impact on her life as she has on mine, but it still really hurts to see her leave. Maybe I'm overly clingy or something.

She said we were the best roommates she's had.

I just hope that's true.

... *sniffles*

I'll never forget you.

[Psyclone]

*hugs* She sounds like a really great friend.

[TheRocket]

For fucks sake I am so sick of people being flakey.

[Elomin Sha]

Sorry, it's a skin condition.