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Basically, most of Europe has their s*$! much better together than us.
Which is exactly why the Powers That Be here have spent the last 30-40 years demonizing Europe and the EU and UN.
Heck it was one of the big reasons we didn't switch to the Metric system when we had the chance. Among other things, obviously, but a campaign of "we don't need to be like those pansy Europeans!" was definitely a contributor.
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I would change it so
1) Education is free, and a minimum allowance subsidy is given for students to survive but not thrive.
2) Everyone gets a minimum of one vote
3) With each degree you get further votes. Therefore the more educated, the stronger your power, but even the uneducated get a say.
Oligarchic republic I believe that's called? Too lazy to look it up.
If everyone gets a vote it isn't oligarchy. Meritocractic republic would be more like it. Though it be still sort of democracy with everyone getting a vote, it isn't a full democracy if citizen's votes have different value.
While tempting, I am against it, because getting a degree is far from being sensible person with good judgement. A lot of academicians (at least around here) are rather hardcore conservatives with tendency to deny various aspects of science outside of their own field of expertise.
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You're not wrong, Mark.
And a big part of why you get reactions like that is that our culture has trained us to see coworkers as equal parts competition and burden-sharers, with anyone who doesn't devote themselves wholly to the job being seen as "not doing their share" and making more work for the others with their absence or inactivity, all while pitting them against each other for limited access to raises, privileges, honors and recognition, etc.
"We're all in this together so everyone has to give 110% so you don't let your teammates down. Oh, but you should give 120%, otherwise one of the other guys might get the only raise we're giving out this year."
There was an episode of the show NewsRadio that was called "The Shaft" where this was well illustrated. Boss announces that the raises this year will be minimal, but there will be ONE super big raise, and one person will get "The Shaft", getting no raise at all. The remainder of the episode follows the employees as they proceed to tear each other apart.
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Maybe this is changing, maybe my company is a holdover to old values, but traditionally the American ethic is to work yourself into an early grave so that your kids can succeed.
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When asked “why are you taking the time off” your answer should be “it improves my productivity”.
Given how many people still don't believe that casual dress codes and working from home increase productivity despite the clear statistics and science backing both, I think that's a hard sell.
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When it comes to term limits, I am still thinking fondly of having the leaders being sacrificed to gods when their extended terms end or there is a major FUBAR they fail to handle.
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Y'know the one thing I've envied a lot of other countries for? Not the government... the vacation time.
In lots of other countries it's almost mandatory you take time off from work. Here in the US if I'm ONLY working a 40 hour work week I'm a slacker; less than that, regardless of personal circumstance, I'm a drain on my fellow citizens.
Last month I took 2 days off around my birthday. I wasn't going anywhere, don't have any family besides my girls in the area, so basically it was a 4 day weekend around the house I've been quarantined in for months. 2 separate co-workers asked, with an offended tone, why I was taking the time.
Maybe this is changing, maybe my company is a holdover to old values, but traditionally the American ethic is to work yourself into an early grave so that your kids can succeed. The catch is, often in our society unless you're really blessed, those kids also end up working themselves silly for the same net result.
Just once I'd like to take 6 weeks in a row during the summer, have the financial freedom to drive around the country or even travel abroad, and just get away without caring at all about the mountain of work that will await me when I got home.
I more think that companies have switched to very Simpsons-esque "you shouldn't have gone on vacation!" philosophy where going on vacation is actually a secret punishment because no work is being handled while you are out of the office and you will return from vacation with the quiet understanding that all of the work that was sitting there while you were away will magically be done by office gnomes or you are fired for being a lazy bastard who dared to use vacation time.
So what you are saying is that it is a Total Eclipse of the Heart?It really is like nothing I've ever seen in my lifetime, and I'm old. I lived in the Central Valley back when rice burning was still a thing and you'd wake up to a dim, yellow-skied morning.
But it's now 3 hours after sunrise and so dark in the house that if you turn off the lights you'll run into the furniture. From where I'm sitting about 20' from the front window, I cannot see outside at all; not even the sky.
It's impossible to describe or take a decent picture. Even the total eclipse wasn't this dark.
Just amazing.
Scary. But amazing.
Turnip greens, bright eyes...
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Thank you everyone. I miss my little cuddly boy. I know it was the right call. But I always wonder that if I'd been a better rat mom they would have been with me a little longer :(How old was he?
2.5 so pretty young. Rats dont get that old but usually they start to have problems after their 3rd birthday.
Of course dementia can happen even when young, even in animals.
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Looks like I'm going to have to be more forceful.
As someone who is family with political operatives I don't want to hear about politics, especially when it's specifically against the rules.
So please, please, take it to private messages.
Looks like I'm going to have to be more forceful.
As someone who is family with political operatives I don't want to hear about politics, especially when it's specifically against the rules.
So please, please, take it to private messages.
Acknowledged.
Do what you guys want. I'm obviously in the minority. I'll see you after the election I guess.
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I'm obviously in the minority.
You're not alone.
My suggestion is perhaps a FaWtL spinoff channel? Because privates can only be between two folks, but Cap is 100% right.
SpaWtL?
(Oh, and, despite the toe bleeding, we're doing real well!)
Still hurts, though.
(Man I'm a wuss!)
Unrelated, anyone got any ideas about hunting gods' sacred animals?
:D
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Okay.
Just had a meeting at work that...yeah. Helped things a bit. While I was the highest ranking person on the call and we were missing one person due to an unforeseen personal tragedy, it felt good to know that I am not crazy, that other people have the same issues I have, and the ideas brought up were met with a can do/let's try this attitude.
It helps to know one is not insane. Or inane. Or whatever.
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but I apologize for my posts of a political nature.
If there's still time, you might consider removing the offending material posted after he made his request
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Wednesday night D&D.
My bard (who bears an odd resemblance to Mr B Natural) is 140ft up, having been forcibly levitated by a glabrezu.
They are still playing the recorder, though, and have also taken off their trousers and knotted the legs up, to make a sort of improvised parachute.
And I'll have to wait until next week to see how badly this will work, since this is the last round of the evening...
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What I Learned Yesterday: Impus Major is 19 years old and still weighs only 116 lbs... while wearing a leather jacket!!!
What I Learned Today: We can never move north of the Arctic Circle (nor south of the Antarctic Circle).
It's almost 3:00 pm, and it never got light. It's brighter now than it was before, but it's still maybe that "45 minutes after sunset" glow rather than any actual light. Even the sun's orb was never visible. And while the kids and I found the whole thing pretty amazing and cool, both GothBard and Shiro declared the day, "Depressing and oppressive". So I'm just guessing living somewhere where you get a least one day like this a year would be a bit much for either of them.
(And interesting note -- I have a degree in physics but I'm not sure that's the definition of the Arctic Circle. I *think* it's the latitude where you get at least one day a year where the sun doesn't break the horizon, but I'm not sure...)
EDIT: Oh, look at me actually being (almost) right and everything!
The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. It marks the northernmost point at which the centre of the noon sun is just visible on the December solstice and the southernmost point at which the centre of the midnight sun is just visible on the June solstice.
All this just tells me there should be a market for a street-level Batman-style character whose primary opposition is against the injustices of the system rather than the unfortunate people just struggling to get by and driven to desperation by a world that gives them zero options.
OH WAIT WE HAVE THAT. HIS NAME IS TERRY MCGINNIS. HIS MAIN VILLAIN IS A LITERAL NUCLEAR CEO FOR FHTAGNS SAKE.
I thought we were headed towards a man in a Guy Fawks mask...
V for vendetta is still one of my all time favorite super hero flicks.*(this is a comic book post*)
Woooo! Got notice that my plaguestone dwarven forge has shipped!
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Just heard from Eve. She and Mom got lucky; their house survived the fire. Two of their friends lost their homes. They're going back tomorrow.
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I'm sorry, I suppose I didn't need to overreact, I've just been hearing a lot of political crap from both Republicans and democrats at home, work, and literally just walking to the store.
So I'm a bit exhausted with it.
For the record Mark, I did not flag or take issue your posts complaining about work or worker's rights.
At any rate, sorry, I didn't mean to overreact.
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I'm sorry, I suppose I didn't need to overreact, I've just been hearing a lot of political crap from both Republicans and democrats at home, work, and literally just walking to the store.
So I'm a bit exhausted with it.
For the record Mark, I did not flag or take issue your posts complaining about work or worker's rights.
At any rate, sorry, I didn't mean to overreact.
Er... no.
We were flagrantly violating the generally-agreed-upon rules of FaWtL simply because it was a convenient place to vent.
You quite properly (and vehemently) corrected us.
No offense taken.
Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Glad you didn't disappear, though!
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Speaking of workplace woes, our new director is one of those, "It's never OK to complain! Find a solution!" guys.
They never last, and it never ends well.
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Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
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Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
My father smelling of anything would be quite the feat!
So my father got an "urgent reminder" from Phi Beta Kappa that he needed to renew his membership and attend the reunion. I responded with a very polite letter (in my father's name) indicating that I thought that attending the function would be contraindicated, as the stench of my rotting corpse might offend the other attendees.
I got a marvelous letter back from the organizer, thanking me for being so considerate, and letting me know that she'd be sure to remove me from any future mailings.
And she did.
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Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
My father smelling of anything would be quite the feat!
** spoiler omitted **
I find that story quite amusing.
It would appear I have allergies again.
I personally find it obnoxious when my Alma mater asks me for money. like you already got all the money out of me your gonna get.
Seasonal allergies? isn't that usually in the spring?
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Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
My father smelling of anything would be quite the feat!
** spoiler omitted **
Yeah. I just use the, "If you can find his body, I promise to buy whatever you're trying to sell him" usually works. You know, since the combined efforts of the US, French, Malagasy and South African Coast Guards couldn't locate his body.
Yeah. I just use the, "If you can find his body, I promise to buy whatever you're trying to sell him" usually works. You know, since the combined efforts of the US, French, Malagasy and South African Coast Guards couldn't locate his body.
Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
My father smelling of anything would be quite the feat!
** spoiler omitted **
Also something that seems like it leads to a fascinating story.
I personally find it obnoxious when my Alma mater asks me for money. like you already got all the money out of me your gonna get.
Seasonal allergies? isn't that usually in the spring?
Depending on what you're allergic to and where you live, you can get them anytime.
Ebon, for example, is allergic to citrus pollen. Which means she gets her allergy season in the winter of all things - because she lives in Arizona, and winter is when the citrus plants that grow there come into bloom, because it's too hot for them the rest of the year.
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Also something that seems like it leads to a fascinating story.Yeah. I just use the, "If you can find his body, I promise to buy whatever you're trying to sell him" usually works. You know, since the combined efforts of the US, French, Malagasy and South African Coast Guards couldn't locate his body.
Though I have the hide of a rhinoceros. I don't know that a post on the internet targeting me could offend me.
Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elder berries!
(wait... I guess that's not technically targetting you...)
You are a hamster and smell of elder berries!
My father smelling of anything would be quite the feat!
** spoiler omitted **
His sailboat got caught between two cyclones between Reunion island and Madagascar. As Captain Nemo said in 20000 Leagues, "a coral tomb makes a quiet grave". It was fitting.
Huh that is interesting and kind of crazy. It sounds like the beginning of an adventure novel.