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Jim Charter <jrc### [at] msn com> wrote:
> Every week I face classrooms of people who often are turning to cab
> driving as a refuge of last resort. When they find that once again they
> have to crack open books and face rote-learning challenges some are
> openly discouraged and humiliated, others react with extreme hostility
> and defensiveness.
What is it with the western culture that makes studying and intellectuality
a good thing and a shame, all at the same time?
--
- Warp
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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Chambers wrote:
> > It's official: the Finnish are more intelligent than the Americans!
> > How can I move to Finland? :)
> I was thinking the same thing until Warp mentioned that the sign of the
> temperature in centigrade is how he decided whether to wear short
> sleeves or long sleeves. I don't think I could handle that. :-)
There are other things which you should consider more seriously.
For instance, you might not need to fill tax forms ever, but OTOH you'll
be paying quite a lot *more* taxes than in the US.
And do you even know how much gasoline/diesel costs here? An American
would drop his jaw into the ground if he saw it. Translated to the US
units, gasoline is about 9.5 dollars/gallon, and diesel is 8.3.
Oh, and cars cost almost double what they cost, for example, in Germany
because of all the taxes. (In Germany, IIRC, a tax of 16% is put on the
price of sold cars, while in Finland it's something like 96%.)
Not only that, you have to pay mandatory annual car insurance (good
thing, I suppose) as well as a mandatory annual car tax (you receive
nothing in return, it's a *pure* tax for simply *owning* a car, without
any benefits).
Own a TV (or, for that matter, any device capable of decoding TV
signal)? Tax. Own a house? Tax. Own land? Tax. Inherit some money or
property from a relative? Tax. Win a car abroad and want to bring it
to Finland? You'll have to pay almost the original price of the car
in taxes.
And if you think you'll get rid of the RIAA by moving to Finland, guess
again. (Ok, the situation might still not be *so* bad here, but it's
quickly going in that direction.)
On the plus side, you'll usually get a fast broadband internet connection
for a quite moderate price here.
--
- Warp
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Warp wrote:
> What is it with the western culture that makes studying and intellectuality
> a good thing and a shame, all at the same time?
Because western culture is shaped primarily by non-intellectuals and
pseudo-intellectuals.
I think the cause of the way that being smart is not worshipped in the
same way that being good at football is worshipped, is because pursuing
athletic success doesn't change you the way that pursuing intellectual
success does. Becoming good at scoring goals in football doesn't change
you, it just makes you richer. Becoming good at understanding nature
does change you. A football star is not as different from the average
Joe as is the man who developed the TV set that enables the average Joe
to watch the football star perform.
Ask an average Joe what he would do if he were good at football, and
he'd point at the football star and say "what he's doing." Ask him what
he'd do if he were good at math, and you will find that he has no clue.
And that the question annoys him.
Regards,
John
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Warp wrote:
> scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote:
>> I
>> said that if you boasted about how much work you'd done at a school in the
>> UK you'd likely get beaten up by a group of bullies at lunchtime!
>
>> I blame the parents!
>
> I think it's just a question of primitive jealousy, which the western
> culture does nothing to fix.
>
> "He has done more than me, he thinks he is better than me. I'll teach
> him a lesson."
Entire books have been written on how envy has been one of the most
destructive influences in human society. Oddly enough, none of these
books were written by socialists.
Regards,
John
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On 6 Jul 2008 01:12:33 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:04:30 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>>>Why is a duck?
>>
>> "Have you considered the possibility," I countered, "that I simply
>> assumed that you were another drunken, disheveled, ignorant bum? This
>> city is full of them, you know."
>
>LOL, but I don't think I'm disheveled. Or drunk, for that matter - I can
>still type. When I'm drunk, I can't type.
>
>That said, there's rum in the freezer; it should probably come out.
>
I googled the phrase and the first hit was a short story, that is a line from it
:)
When I'm drunk I can delete someone's bug report by mistake instead of replying
:oops:
--
Regards
Stephen
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Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> Chambers wrote:
>>> It's official: the Finnish are more intelligent than the Americans!
>>> How can I move to Finland? :)
>
>> I was thinking the same thing until Warp mentioned that the sign of the
>> temperature in centigrade is how he decided whether to wear short
>> sleeves or long sleeves. I don't think I could handle that. :-)
>
> There are other things which you should consider more seriously.
> For instance, you might not need to fill tax forms ever, but OTOH you'll
> be paying quite a lot *more* taxes than in the US.
Finland is regarded here:
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm
as the 16th on the list of economic freedom. Hong Kong is at the top,
and North Korea is at the bottom (#157 of the ranked nations). The US
is #6 on this list.
If the taxation in Finland is as bad as Warp says, it must be horrid in
the places farther down.
Regards,
John
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I recently said:
> The US is #6 on this list.
Correction: The US is #5 on the list.
Regards,
John
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Warp wrote:
> What is it with the western culture that makes studying and intellectuality
> a good thing and a shame, all at the same time?
Weird, isn't it? I mean, nobody wants to be an idiot. But then, nobody
wants to be a geek either... [Well OK, *few* people want to be geeks.]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> All I can say is that IME, as soon as you ask somebody about a job they
>> instantly say "how many years experience do you have?" If you say some
>> number less than 3, suddenly nobody wants to know you. I have no idea
>> what the hell is so special about 3, but what ever. Employers seem
>> completely uninterested in what qualifications you have, only how much
>> experience you have.
>
> How long have you been where you are now?
Far too long. (At any rate, much longer than 3 years!)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Jim Henderson wrote:
>
> I'm just waiting to see how many get the reference. ;-)
I think very few, if any, would have gotten it without my second message.
> Jim
--
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
http://www.zbxt.net
aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid
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