I am out of contact with net most Mondays and Tuesdays, if no rain is expected in Sao Paulo. I go to work on house I am building, by myself alone. Instead of lurking those days, if I am not active, please takeover for me. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
People are indeed getting fatter, but it has nothing to do with their laziness. The United States ranks on the top of the list of work hours and productivity for Industrialized nations, including Japan. Ironically, it may be that lack of time for anything else that makes Americans fat. Since the work hours have increased dramatically since, for instance, the 1970's, and woman have joined the work force, there is less time for cooking a healthy meal. Hense the creation of fast food and less excercise. Suburbs have made walking impossible, since people with travel miles to get to work. Not laziness, just overwork. They are not less educated. In fact, Americans of this generation get more degrees than the last. What fools you is the rest of the world has caught up. The ACT and SAT (college exams) have actually increased in difficulty over the decades. The present generation is in fact, considerably more educated than the previous. The complaint is that Americans do not go into the sciences like other nations. The reason has to do with the fact that the market for such jobs is generally low paid and small. It is not that the Americans cannot do it, there is no need. In many nations with high unemployment, students hang around in universities, many times getting science degrees that will not help them in the future. Pop culture is simply a term for new culture. Mozart would have been considered Pop culture of his time, and was enjoyed by a younger generation. Sound familar? You anti-Americans really must take a rest.
Isn't it possible there were other composers popular around Mozart's time that aren't remembered now? When we experience the pop culture of previous centuries we're privileged to get a somewhat filtered version. When we experience our own, it's more immediate, and there are advantages to that, but the quality is less uniform. Future generations will decide which bits are memorable...
You know, I saw a billboard for a radio station the other day that almost made me break down and cry. It was a sign that had "80's, 90's and today!" at the top, and underneath the number was a picture of someone who represented that generation. The 80's: Lenny Kravitz The 90's: Bono Today: GWEN STEFANI Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! AmishRakeFight
Our very own Wikipedia: Influence is a term that refers to the ability to indirectly control or affect the actions of other people or things. The meaning of influence therefore depends on who or what is being affected, and to what end. Now you can read the rest. AmishRakeFight
Quite correct. Influence is NOT the same as domination. And the U.S. is far from alone in attempting to use influence - every nation does (or tries). Influence is not the mark of an "empire." Empires use domination to control other regions. And influence isn't necessarily a bad word. Individual people try to influence each other all the time, such as when asking the boss for a raise and in the process of teaching.
But influence can be used in domination over other countries and regions. Influence is a powerful thing with it you can make people do what you want or make the countries do the same.
To some degree, certainly. But influence alone will NEVER give you the control that domination will. Surely you understand that, right?
At some point in time in the future, there will be no USA as it is known now. I think at some point in time there will be an alliance of countries together forming several "coalitions" for lack of a better terminology and the countries will no longer be called the names that they are today but something different based on the coalition formed. There will be a global government under which all coalitions must submit and that government will be ruled by one man and the world will accept this one man as such because his ideas bring peace and prosperity, not fear and despotism, to the whole world until a revolution occurs by a country that decides to not live under his rule.... History does repeat itself in many shapes and sizes....
Mark my words, Light. It will happen. Maybe not in our lifetime but it will happen. There was an interesting study done that showed that 50% of the people surveyed missed important information because of what they were told to look for. They were told to count how many times a person in a hat handed a ball to the person on the right and how many times a person not in a hat handed a ball to the person on the left. After the clips were shown they were asked if they saw anything unusual in the clips. 50% of the highly intelligent, well educated people said that they did not see anything. What they missed was a man who was going all around in the clip dressed up as a gorilla. Why? Because they were so intent on seeing what they were told to see. Think on that for a moment and why you responded to my post the way you did. You have been programmed by your education and your intelligensia to believe what they believe and anything outside that realm of belief must be false. We all have been programmed that way. The question becomes then who is correct and which intelligensia is the truth and will direct our lives to live its fullest. and isn't it those who think out of the box that change the world?
Genetic engineering will give pigs wings long before then. Blinkeredness, now that's a tougher one to crack... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Jaybee.
All of that has nothing to do with the point, Finewine. The thing is that people are people and a huge majority of them are intent on remaining separate and distinct from others. For good examples of that just look at the difficulties of the Europeans trying to form a union. And also consider the many, many failures of the U.N. in their attempts to unify all the different countries - even on some fairly simple issues. Different people have different ideas and agendas. And trying to get the whole world to pull in just one direction is impossible. As with other endeavors in life, jealously and greed keep them from agreeing on common goals. There will always be countries seeking the upper hand over others while at the same time being determined to protect their own self-interests.
I do not think that I missed the point. I expanded on it at a different depth of thinking. I agree with you as it stands right now, there still is that independent spirit, everyone with their own agenda. But cataclysmic events of nature or social agendas can change the face of the earth as we know it and unify the world. What I see is the dumbifying of that independent spirit. What I see is a world that is becoming dependent on their government for everything instead of the governments being dependent on their people. What I see is the people becoming sheep and so content with their own selfish pursuits that world events and policies are not studied or thought about unless it somehow makes their life miserable. What I see is a setting for a biological cataclysmic event that will change the power structure of the US and the world simply by attrition of numbers. We are use to world domination as being a negative thing, a loss of freedom, a loss of personal rights, injustice to civil liberties but what if there came a person who could end the wars, make the economy strong, feed the hungry, heal the middle east strive, provide fuel for everyone, erase debt after such a cataclysmic event? We say it can't be done. Why do we assume that? Just because right now it can't be and therefore it can't be in the future? It was said at one point that the world was flat and you'd fall off of it. It was said at one point that man could not fly to the moon... how many other things have been discounted in the past to only come to exist in the now and near future? With the right infrastructure, the right conditioning, the right catyclismic event(s) taking place, the world could band together against a common enemy. The people already are banding together on the internet. I would never have known you or been able to share and talk with you about your views on life without the internet. Businesses are thinking global now instead of nationally so they can make profit 24/7. The world populations are seeking a government that will listen to their plight and not the plight of governments' business as usual. There will be a man who sees the future in a different way and will seize the day and the power of the world and the world will embrace him because he is able to "tickle the ears" and give the world what it wants. Why is it we discount things simply because they do not fit into our preconceived idea of what should and will be? The US will not be recognized as the US in the future. It will either be non existant or it will join another coalition and be under that name. Speculate as to what could cause the US to lose its status as a super power and the world banding together under the leadership of one man instead of saying it can't happen. The world is pulling in one direction already. Name me 3 things that all people desire and want? Name me 10. The difficulty is in the how those things are achieved... but we all want the same things. It must be something so big that all will want to work together, to survive.
I'm confused what enemy would there be for the whole world to band together against? What you say seems good...................on paper but if this were to ever happen in the real world it simply wouldn’t work. Maybe at first it would but differences between cultures, religions etc. would cause it to crumble to the ground. History has shown that if an empire is large enough with too many cultural groups it will cause tensions within itself, the only way to counter this is to have a totalitarianism type of government. Just look at the Soviet Union when they lessened the totalitarianism controls of the country social tensions arouse once again. No one will ever want to be under a totalitarian government so it will simply not work in the real world.
You misunderstood me. The main problem is that you don't quite recognize the full extent of human nature. And I didn't say it could NEVER happen - I actually said in a thousand years or so. As someone has just pointed out, people need a common enemy to cause them to want to band together. If everyone's on the same side, who does that leave to be their enemy? You can forget things like hunger, disease, natural disasters and such as representing an enemy. Those have never worked in the past except for the last one and it's only for a very short duration. And individual countries don't want to be led, they each want to to be the leader. That's the whole problem with the EU. They've attempted to handle that by rotating the leadership and some countries STILL won't buy it. One of the big problems in the U.S. has always been something called "states rights." Meaning they don't want to be told what to do by someone at some remote distance from them. They won't even follow the lead of the U.N. - an organization which THEY worked hard to help set up! I'm afraid that what you have is all dreams and no substance. It violates some of the very basic things that make people human. Think about it. Oh, one more thing - I want to address your last paragraph. Just who says we all want the same things?
US debt limit nears $9 trillion I think historians will look back and see that Bush presided over a crucial time in our Republic and his leadership abilities will seriously be found wanting. Michael
We've had that last one before and the "bonding effect" is pretty short lived. As to the first one, a more likely outcome is everyone grabbing what they can and to heck with cooperation.
