People in America and Britain have a much higher quality education than people in, say, Egypt or Afghanistan. Despite the much higher education level, we are much more apathetic toward life. So yes, I do think education levels have nothing to do with apathy levels. Government is not inherently evil, but when people stop caring who leads them scum rises to the top.
I don't know if it's just me and the area I live in or what, but school systems seem to me to be getting harder, not easier. Several years ago, I worked at a horse boarding facility. We had one young girl (maybe 11 or so) who owned and boarded her pony there. She was a sweet kid with a down-to-earth nice mom. This mom told me that her daughter was stressed to the point of tears because she was given a copious amount of homework each night. I was never given that much. A few months ago or so, a friend of mine with a 11 month daughter told me that kindergarten now requires children to read BEFORE they are even admitted. Which is ridiculous and pushing children too hard too young can do more harm than good.
That's what I hate about society. It operates on all or nothing, black/white. Where's the middle ground here? Where's that vast shade of grey?
Rawr! Something has been gnawing at my mind for my mind. Diversity is fine, as long as you don't actually are any different. It okay to have a disability, as long as you don't actually have any special need. It okay to be from a diffrent culture, as long as you just eat stuff with funny names, not is you actually have other values. Sexual diversity is okay, as long as you don't do anything all that different, like non-monogamous relationships. Doing different things in life id okay, as long as you prioritize isn't all that different. It okay to like vine or beer, or like chicken or beef, but if you don't drink or has chosen to be a vegan you got to defend that choice all the time. It okay to be of a different faith,,, but not one of thous ones. etc. Some days I prefer a extremist stating clearly that they don't respect other people choices, then all thous people that say they are tolerant but whos tolerance is only skin deep.
The census data tables are in, just checking them out and man there are so many more hispanics, like a 40% growth to 50 million, and a 18% increase in Amerindians, but they are still a small number. I heard that nyc's hispanic population and overall population count was not accurately counted because of people's legal status. I tried my best to count everyone, but some people were just too scared or suspicious or pissed...:/ Man, ecuadorians are taking over queens...
For fun, I just took the official UK Practice Citizenship test and failed. Apparently I'm not qualified to live here. But the questions were hard, well some of them. I mean, who knows stuff like when married women got the right to divorce their husband?!
Lol. Yeah those tests are pretty crazy. I doubt I would pass the US one, though I have never actually tried.
And well said w176. I do agree with you. Whilst we do need some restrictions on freedoms (for instance, we can't have people preaching hate), so long as what people do doesn't impact on society in a negative way they should be allowed to carry on. I did a presentation on that very topic the other day, actually. How do we balance the ECHR with a free and democratic society and still restrict those who could destroy our very beings? Granted, this was from a legal perspective, but my point stands
I just revisited Ace books submission guidelines, and it states that you only need to send in the first 10 pages of your work. I got that! I was waiting to be completely done, edited, and re-edited with everything before I submitted anything, but this seems mighty tempting, if nothing else I can work on my query letter skills sooner than I thought, and besides, it might be a long while, maybe another 6-10 months before I finish to my liking.
Know what's funny? I toyed with an idea of writing a mystery series set in Elizabethian London, and now I'm reading a book for my History of England class called Elizabeth's London0[/I0] by Liza Picard. I can almost hear my protag saying, "Good timing, my good man. Good timing! Now get to it!" Elizabethian England, here I come!
*Is in ragged Colonial clothing with a large blue blanket over for warmth* They are long gone, mate. The British came in and just took them...pressed them for service to their Royal Navy. I hide in a cupboard and waited for them to leave. I am the last survivor. ...
The Brits are sneaky...crafty.... Still, *reveals he's a British Royal Navy soldier* I am Commander Jacob Proctor! I'm the cross between Horatio Hornblower and Richard Sharpe.
Bon voyage! *sets sail on the HMS Timberton* I have ye know that I stole this from the English and have proudly told them I am holding their ship hostage. They are to deliever me 20,000,000 gold in Francs or else I'll sink the bleedin' thing to the bottom of the Channel!! Nah, I won't. I love the ship.
Just give me a cabin to myself, some occasional fiddle music, decent grub and plenty of grog and a candle to read by, I should be okay for a week or so
