The Last Poster Wins! [v21]

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Then I want zero political complaints from you because you are doing absolutely nothing to change what is happening in the nation.

Haha this is pretty much how I feel. xD It's even funnier when they voted FOR someone dumb and then complain about that person doing dumb things. Well duh! xD Happened a lot here with our last prime minister!

Still weird to me that you guys gotta try and vote on a Tuesday. I read it's just a traditional thing and a certain republican keeps trying to get it changed to a weekend but for some reason it doesn't go through. My friend said it's probably to stop the poorer working classes from being able to vote as they'll be too busy working. :P Conspiracy!

This. ;O; I was out of Uni for over a year and I STILL couldn't pick up a job in my field (or at all, really) cause everyone and their mother wanted you to have so many years of experience. Then tell me, what was the point of even going to Uni? And I can't believe those people whose parents pay for them to go to Uni and they WASTE it by not going to classes and such. Do you even know how much debt the rest of us are in? D; That makes me sad. And yeah, failing Uni is so hard they'd probably pass you on attendance alone. Or the other way around, if you don't attend at all but still get the work in. Geeeeeeeez.

Honestly, instead of teaching us about algebra and calculus (who really needs that?) they should teach us about politics, how to vote, pay bills, real estate and all that other useful life stuff we'll need later on. I can't believe none of that is taught in school, and we're just expected to immediately know everything once we become an adult. xD

Yeah I can imagine it would be even harder in a field like yours with people wanting experience. :( I know you're not exactly working in your field but it's related right? You must be getting close to having enough experience to apply for other things? At least in my field, I can say I got plenty of lab experience while doing my studies. xD Plus everyone always wants volunteers around here so it's not hard to get work experience. Gonna be tough to get an actual job though. Darn you, world! *shakes fist*

The more I think about it, this "life skills" business idea sounds better and better! xD So true, there are so many useful things people should know... how to maintain cars, rent houses, home maintenance, tax returns, apply for jobs etc.

On an unrelated note, I came across this site the other day and it looks kinda interesting. https://www.designcontest.com.au/

[Neo Emolga]

Yeah I can imagine it would be even harder in a field like yours with people wanting experience. :( I know you're not exactly working in your field but it's related right? You must be getting close to having enough experience to apply for other things? At least in my field, I can say I got plenty of lab experience while doing my studies. xD Plus everyone always wants volunteers around here so it's not hard to get work experience. Gonna be tough to get an actual job though. Darn you, world! *shakes fist*

The more I think about it, this "life skills" business idea sounds better and better! xD So true, there are so many useful things people should know... how to maintain cars, rent houses, home maintenance, tax returns, apply for jobs etc.

I don't know why a lot of companies are now disregarding degrees and don't see it as experience. A lot of these classes are hard and passing those classes does show you're at least diligent and responsible enough to study up and meet the expectations of these classes. Doesn't that stand for something?

Also, like you said, we need "life skills" classes WAY more than the mandatory algebra and calculus classes that 99% of the planet hates with a passion. Let that 1% go out and find careers in fields of mathematics by taking electives in that stuff if that's what their passion is, but the rest of us don't need to have it shoved down our throats for us to gag and choke on it. I don't want to know how many people have given up on a degree simply because they were forced to take unrelated math classes that they couldn't handle when those math classes had absolutely nothing to do with their intended career path or what their major was for.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

I don't know why a lot of companies are now disregarding degrees and don't see it as experience. A lot of these classes are hard and passing those classes does show you're at least diligent and responsible enough to study up and meet the expectations of these classes. Doesn't that stand for something?

Also, like you said, we need "life skills" classes WAY more than the mandatory algebra and calculus classes that 99% of the planet hates with a passion. Let that 1% go out and find careers in fields of mathematics by taking electives in that stuff if that's what their passion is, but the rest of us don't need to have it shoved down our throats for us to gag and choke on it. I don't want to know how many people have given up on a degree simply because they were forced to take unrelated math classes that they couldn't handle when those math classes had absolutely nothing to do with their intended career path or what their major was for.

Yeah it's pretty interesting how they force maths on people. I probably use maths more than most people in daily life. But I can't say I've had to do any complex calculus. xD I don't know much about US college stuff, but I heard that often everyone has to do a common first year or something where they have to do all kinds of subjects (like maths!) that aren't even related to their course? And then after that they specialise? Is that right?

Over here you don't do that. I didn't need to do any maths at all for my science course (unless I wanted to). I only did chemistry and biology subjects and I ended up doing first and second year statistics by choice, which I enjoyed and probably should have pursued cos I'd be rich right now. XD

[Neo Emolga]

Yeah it's pretty interesting how they force maths on people. I probably use maths more than most people in daily life. But I can't say I've had to do any complex calculus. xD I don't know much about US college stuff, but I heard that often everyone has to do a common first year or something where they have to do all kinds of subjects (like maths!) that aren't even related to their course? And then after that they specialise? Is that right?

Over here you don't do that. I didn't need to do any maths at all for my science course (unless I wanted to). I only did chemistry and biology subjects and I ended up doing first and second year statistics by choice, which I enjoyed and probably should have pursued cos I'd be rich right now. XD

It's pretty similar over here as well. In fact, you could simply go to college as an "undecided" major, do the first year mandatory classes, and then decide a little later. And it does include algebra, some kind of history class, an English/literature class, and some kind of science class. After that, it kind of depends on what college you go to. Some will require one thing over another and vice versa, but generally, it's the same kind of deal.

For my business major, I had to take a "Quantitative Methods for Business" class which was a butt-load of loopy, mind-grating algebra and a bit of calculus, but it really had nothing to do with business, unlike what the name implied. And I was happy to get a D- in that one simply because I at least passed and didn't need to take the class all over again. After that came a few statistics classes which were still math-based, but they were a LOT easier to follow. Yep, there were still crazy-looking formulas and stuff, but it at least made sense and you could see where some of this would be applicable to business in terms of forecasting and probability. I still wouldn't want a career that directly deals with that stuff. I mean I could handle it, but I wouldn't enjoy it very much.

[Noblejanobii]

@Noblejanobii Now I come from a country where we ALL have to vote, even if we have no idea what's going on, or we don't want to. And I don't think this is any better. If half of us don't care about how we vote, how is that bettering the country? I'd rather we have a system like yours, where you only need to vote if you wish to. You told Neo that "you're throwing it in the faces of those who have protected your right to vote by saying that you don't want to", but isn't it his right in the first place whether or not he chooses to? Just because someone is given the right to do something doesn't mean they have to, especially if it might make it worse. Believe it or not, not choosing to vote is a choice as well. You're entitled to your decisions as someone else is to theirs. Respect their choice. Don't take personal offence where none is intended. O:

I mean it's not like I'm studying this and plan to take part in it as a living or anything. Must mean I know nothing huh? There's a reason I used the term "civic duty". People not voting even though they can drive me crazy because often times they're the ones complaining about everything that's wrong with the country and then do literally nothing about it. Like okay, because you *****ing about it is going to make a difference. Sure. I'd rather everyone vote because then if something goes wrong they can complain all they want because they participated. But in Neo's case, he's not voting and then he's going to complain no matter who gets into office. That's not right. It's not fair to the politicians, it's not fair to the people who did vote, and it's not fair to the country as a whole.
@Neo Emolga Again, not like I plan on doing this for a living or anything. Nope. Not at all. I mean I am a political science major that has been drowned in election studies for over a year now, but that means nothing to you, right? I have no authority whatsoever.

I get that this is a horrible election, but just swallow your pride and deal with it. I did because I get that if I don't vote that means someone else gets to vote for me. Have you seen that Doritos commercial? Where people go to get a pack of Doritos and if they aren't registered they don't get the chips they want because by not registering and effectively not voting someone else is choosing for them. That's why you have no right to complain. You willingly let someone else choose for you and that nulls your voice because you already let someone else speak for you in the election. And you're right, people should be able to call out a flawed leader, you know how we do that? By voting. Crazy concept isn't it. But think for a second, as a political science major, I get ask Politics questions all the time. People complained about Obama to no end around me because I knew what I was talking about when it came to politics. And when I asked them, did they vote? They said no, they just didn't feel like it. Well great, then you helped get him elected. It's no more useful to us as politicians to have people complain about something if they won't vote to get it done. Yeah, you have a voice, but if you don't put that voice into a vote, it's not doing any good.

Haha this is pretty much how I feel. xD It's even funnier when they voted FOR someone dumb and then complain about that person doing dumb things. Well duh! xD Happened a lot here with our last prime minister!

Still weird to me that you guys gotta try and vote on a Tuesday. I read it's just a traditional thing and a certain republican keeps trying to get it changed to a weekend but for some reason it doesn't go through. My friend said it's probably to stop the poorer working classes from being able to vote as they'll be too busy working. :P Conspiracy!

I mean to be honest I'm going to complain about who I voted for but I get that right because I actually voted. Meh. It's just one of those things.

So if I remember correctly the reason we vote on Tuesday is because back in the days of farmers you couldn't vote on a Sunday because that was the sabbath. And we needed to account for travel time so we gave people Monday to travel to their polling location and thus Tuesday became voting day. I don't understand why they won't change it though. If they don't change it then they should at least make it a national holiday because so many people literally cannot vote because of work and that's beyond stupid because it's not like they're choosing not to vote, their voices are being nulled against their will. And absentee does help with that because certain states (like mine) allow for early voting due to work but not everyone can stand in line for that long to vote absentee. That's just so stupid.

[Neo Emolga]

@Neo Emolga Again, not like I plan on doing this for a living or anything. Nope. Not at all. I mean I am a political science major that has been drowned in election studies for over a year now, but that means nothing to you, right? I have no authority whatsoever.

I get that this is a horrible election, but just swallow your pride and deal with it. I did because I get that if I don't vote that means someone else gets to vote for me. Have you seen that Doritos commercial? Where people go to get a pack of Doritos and if they aren't registered they don't get the chips they want because by not registering and effectively not voting someone else is choosing for them. That's why you have no right to complain. You willingly let someone else choose for you and that nulls your voice because you already let someone else speak for you in the election. And you're right, people should be able to call out a flawed leader, you know how we do that? By voting. Crazy concept isn't it. But think for a second, as a political science major, I get ask Politics questions all the time. People complained about Obama to no end around me because I knew what I was talking about when it came to politics. And when I asked them, did they vote? They said no, they just didn't feel like it. Well great, then you helped get him elected. It's no more useful to us as politicians to have people complain about something if they won't vote to get it done. Yeah, you have a voice, but if you don't put that voice into a vote, it's not doing any good.

I'm not saying anything against your political science major...

Also, I don't get that Doritos analogy. Voting for a presidential candidate isn't the same as selecting a bag of chips. But to turn the tables on that analogy, let's say the only flavors available were "skunk butt" and "withering maggots." I'd prefer not having any chips at all, thank you.

In terms of it meaning someone gets to select for me, that's an unfortunate truth. I actually do wish more people would stand up, openly reject what's going on, and refuse to go along with it so much so that it forces the system to have to change based on the desires of the people and alternative candidates have to come forward. Instead, people are all too proud to just be compliant and complacent with a system and candidates that they're voting for when really in their hearts, they don't like them at all. Right now, voting simply says "oh, I'm totally okay with this system and these candidates." And "oh, it's okay if you think I really like that candidate!" Because right now, voting, even if it's for the "lesser evil," still implies this.

Here's the thing. Let's say I vote for a particular candidate that I know is bad, but I vote for them anyway. They win. And they do terrible things while in office. Trust me, there's no good feeling that comes out of that either. And guess what? I'm partially responsible for that. I used my voice to say I was satisfied enough with this candidate that I gave them my vote.

And that's the thing. Neither of these possible candidates secured enough of my personal minimum standards. As a result, neither of them are awarded with my vote. If I was hosting a cake contest with a cash reward and all entries just threw raw ingredients all over the floor and made a mess, why should I award the grand prize to any of that? Would you? Would you just say "well, guess I gotta give one of these jokers all the prize money." That would mean time after time, you'd be fine lowering your standards even though the winner didn't even come remotely close to your expectations and undermined the spirit and intention of the contest in the first place.

Well, that's how I feel right now.