Just to make it clear, since i was the one posted the ratios and stated "not as big as many people may think" (i don't want you to think i approve "genocides"): i compare rates (between countries), so the actual numbers (of female babies) are irrelevant - the actual female babies are important. but...
He probably assumed it was a typo and didn't want to upset you by writing (sic) when quoting your post, no need to invoke genocide or nazis.
Unless you want to, of course.
Well, i want! And if you read the title that exists on your comment you may understand why... you can say i have a bad taste of humor, or that invoking genocides is appropriate enough.
So... that English woman who was Born in 1815 "invented coding"... hmmm.
You really don't know who Ada Lovelace is, do you?
She is the daughter of a great MAN: Lord Byron, who we honor in Greece because he died like a great MAN... fighting Muslims!
I personaly honored him many times when i was serving as a conscript in the Greek S.F. (we don't forget our friend!) in a way i know he would liked, and all Greeks do the same, in school, the military, or as civilians.
GREEKS REMEMBER YOU - HONOR AND GLORY TO LORD BYRON
Yes, but when we compare rates between countries and/or the world's average the "actual numbers" MUST BE irrelevant - we discuss "genocides" here, so "even one murdered is too much" sensitivities are... unimportant.
SEX RATIO (MALE(S)/FEMALE) - at birth:
India: 1.12
China: 1.11
I am skeptical about these figures. Many people have an interest in covering up this problem. In China, there is also a lot of cover up in the other direction, from parents that had a daughter, and didn't report the birth, so they could later have a son as their "one child". Often times these girls are raised in the countryside by their grandparents, and kept out of school, so the government doesn't know about them.
I am also skeptical, and even those (not so high) numbers i suspect to be exaggerated for the reasons you mention - it is the usual problem with demographic/social/economic/etc statistics: you need a local person to explain why they are wrong!
What you write is wise but i compare "genocide" rates like Hitler/Stalin would have done - and i think that way is the only right way to examine India's/China's "genocide of females".
So... that English woman who was Born in 1815"invented coding"... hmmm...
I posted that documentary link because i am a "sexist" (i believe that boys and girls have biological differences that effect their brains, so become different both intelectually and behaviourally) - and you went back to 1815 to prove me wrong! But i am also a fucking racist Greek so: Here is a couple of milleniums older stuff - i the Greek win, you barbarian lose!
In a more serious tone: some overlap exist - but still, the boys will choose the pistol and the girls the doll. Watch the documentary (all of it), and you may understand why it is ridiculous to deny nature.
(for the record: i believe that ISP's should -try to- block access to such materials if users ask for it)
If you believe that, then you have failed to understand the Internet at a profoundly fundamental level.
The Internet was designed from the very beginning for all of the intelligence to be at the edges. The network itself is supposed to be as dumb as it is possible to be while still moving everybody's packets around. If you want censorship, it's your job to implement it on the tiny little network in your house, or even individual nodes on that network, and leave everyone else alone. No one else should be spending any CPU time for what you want.
I had a VERY small part in helping the first Greek real ISP build its network - i know the network fundamentals (if you read carefully you will notice that i wrote "try to"), but i also know that most "internet" users dont know anything about networking. You must understand that censorship is a very strong word to use for cases like, e.g., a parent who does not know about packets/node/networks asking his ISP to block porn - and ISPs have enough CPU time to -try to- help. Just because YOU know about networks, does not mean everyone knows about them - and for many people, having an ISP helping its customers block porn is customer service.
Since India + China are half the world's population, they tend to be around the world average on things. Remove them and the rest of the world's average would probably be ~1.05.
That is a good point (i am too tired to do the math now!), but that's why i also posted EU and USA ratios (less suspect for female genocide), so... even from the 1.06 and 1.05 ratio, both India and China are not so far with their 1.12 and 1.11.
Hey dude, I REALLY* LIKE (grammar) NaZi's, AND GENOCIDES (of orthographic mistakes) - and it was not a "small mistake", but a fucking HUGE (thing - think), so i REALLY* THANK YOU!
* if you read my signature you will understand that i struggle with my English because i am not a native speaker - i think (do you see what YOU did?) most native speakers appreciate corrections.
the EU could make it illegal for ISPs and mobile companies to automatically block access to obscene material. Rather than implementing a default block on pornography, the Council of the European Union believes that users should opt in to web filtering and be able to opt out again at any time
O.K., this is better than the opposite (i.e., "blocked by default unless users specifically requested access to it"), but does this means that "the EU could make it illegal for ISPs and mobile companies to NOT automatically block access to obscene material if users OPT IN to web filtering"? (for the record: i believe that ISP's should -try to- block access to such materials if users ask for it)
SEX RATIO (MALE(S)/FEMALE) - at birth:
India: 1.12
China: 1.11 World: 1.07
E.U.: 1.06
U.S.A.: 1.05 source: CIA.
While there are more male than female births in India and China, the difference from the World's average is not so big as many people may thing (note for the "/." SJW's : i don't support killing females... o.k?!)
I live in greece at the moment, but I'm a dual citizen. Both Greek and American.
What you call "Othomanic ways", in Greece is called "ragiadismos". It's a state of self-pity that I really never understood. And it's something easily played against your critical thinking if you choose to accept it. I really do not care for it, nor am I going to acknowledge such a false stereotype. So don't waste your time trying to talk me into it.
The way you can persuade me is with facts and numbers.
I like people who are direct - i respect it. I like to be direct also:
I am a nationalist (but not socialist) - i support Golden Dawn VERY actively. You may argue that i am too pro-Europe to be GD - i do it because i am an "ANTI-FASCIST"! I just mention it because i don't consider myself to be a "ragias"
This is enough to lay waste to your theory about "Lazy" Greeks/ You can make the case of richer countries being more productive, sure that's normal. But lazy? No.
Few hours ago i made a reply to a fellow Greek - read what HE wrote!. But you want data: why don't you go to any field growing any product and ask any producer about the ethnicity of his workers... 1.5 million unemployed Greeks, about 1 million illegal immigrants working full time in Greece - i, even as a nationalist, am unable to blame the illegal immigrants working in the fields that they steal the work of Greeks, because NO Greek is interested to work there. O.K., i have a friend (until a couple of years ago was one of the most well known Greek SCADA engineers!) currently working in his father's fields... but he is a rare case - tsekare tora enan "anergo".
Krugman is a liberal. Primary surplus means nothing with the size of the debt on us. You can buy into the misinformation if you please. But to persuade me, you will need to show me numbers.
Oh... you want numbers... i respect numbers, and i respect people who respect numbers, but when i deal with Greeks the "numbers" become a way to avoid the truth. Sou to egrapsa apo tin arxi: tha kataliksoume na brizomaste me ta gnosta "ante gamisou re malaka" kai ta loipa... asto re patrioti, giati na xalasoumai tis kardies mas? Se ligo tha exoumai pali ekloges (elpizo!), as pame na apofasisoumai ti theloumai na ginei stin Ellada. Pare kai ena binteaki tora gia na min nomizeis pos thimosa: oi Germanoi ksanarxontai!
Agreement isn't necessary - and it makes for more interesting conversation, no? The way I figure it, anyone who agrees with everything I say is going to be both boring and wrong at least some of the time and be unable to point it out:-)
Heck, if APK had an account, I'd friend him despite the huge battles we've had - on many topics we don't see completely eye to eye but we're able to appreciate each other as human beings (I know, shock to everyone who's been here watching from the sidelines the last decade).
You just become friend to APK - SERIOUSLY! And now you have to help me as a friend: who is this APK?
In the few weeks (maximum a month) i have a Slasdot account, (not directly - mostly by others replying to people that replied to me) i was been called "APK" several times: "he become the Greek APK", "he is APK pretending to be a Greek", "he is APK registering an account", etc - i undestand that this was not a compliment (i am not so stupid!). so... hit me with the truth!
And the tradition of men playing all the roles, including those of the women, was the rule in Shakespeare's time. (Maybe that's why Romeo and Juliette couldn't marry - Jullie was a guy:-)
Please... don't make comparisons like that to a Greek... when we Greeks were building the Parthenon the British* were still hunging from the trees like apes! And when we used males for female roles in our theaters we did not even had started building the Parthenon. Anyway, my point is that we Greeks (even me, a religious and traditional guy) are not so "puritans" as non-Greeks may think. A recent Greek movie that was something like a success in Greece (and in Europe): Strella (the movie is well made, but STUPID... i saw it, don't waste your time! A GREAT movie, and about what you wrote -"Jullie was a guy"-, is a Chinese called: "farewell my concubine" - you should see it, if you have not already).
* I love Shakespeare AND British people... but i like to make fun of "barbarians"!
A great documentary about how biology (not culture) effects genders and differentiates males/boy from females/girls, so that males/boy choose masculine jobs/toys (e.g., coding... yes, its "masculine"!) while females/girls choose feminine jobs/toys (e.g., nurses... good for them!) - a great point was that the most "free" a society is, the more those gender differences will be observed: Brainwash: The Gender Equality Paradox (note: i watched it just yesterday, thanks to user "popo" posting it in the "Science Still Seen As a Male Profession" story - by the way: ENOUGH WITH ALL THE GIRL-CODERS FUCKING STORIES)
Yes, i understood that you are a "give me the facts, not just your fucking opinion" kind of person - i have no problem (and i do it very often) giving my opinion (i am a Greek you know - if you have an opinion, i have 10 more than you!), but when people post numbers i like to post numbers also.
By the way, if you read the whole thread, you will find that the guy i originaly replied to, answered with some L.A. newspapers article, a definition of "civil servant" beyond what is usualy used for that kind of statistics, plus a statistic of our labour force that was not what he originaly mentioned (10% of our population) - but you will find in my reply to him a link to Greek official data (checked by EU/Eurozone goverment partners) for every person payed by the Greek state (including local administration that are NOT "civil servants"). I don't try to spread lies to protect the reputation of my nation (its beyong saving!), i just hate mis-information: we never had 1 million civil servants of any kind, and because i read it very often in foreign media i get a little disapointed from the quality of information, even from reputable foreign media.
Plus keep in mind how problematic are statistics without interpretation from a local person: our latest official labour force is 51.9% of population - but in Greece around 1/3 of our economy is "grey"... every Greek knows that our real labour force is about 2/3 to 3/4 of population.
Anyway, i like people like you: you like to have YOUR opinion based on facts, not just someone else opinion - i try to be that way myself.
I am very righ-wing, i am very pro austerity (as imposed by you, northern-Europeans EU partners, to us fucking Greeks! Show no mercy - and i am serious...), but there is a limit in what you just mentioned: "There is good reason for a sovereign state to run it's own bank" - i still believe that Greece is a sovereign state, and while i demand from you, northern-Europeans EU partners, to invade my country and treat us fucking Greeks as NaZi would had (I AM SERIOUS!), i will never agree in giving up my nation's central bank, because i want Greece to continue to be a sovereign state in the future...
I feel that a nation's central bank is similar to its army: national - we still need them, both national armies, plus national banks (note: i am a very pro-European, even a "con-federalist", but still... i am a Greek nationalist!)
Maybe Greeks are different but in Germany, if you borrow money, you are fully expected to pay it back. As soon as possible. Greece can make as much racket as it likes, but the Germans still want their money back. And frankly, I agree. If Greece is not willing to pay back what they take, that's theft, and they can go without aid for all I care. Especially when the borrowed money doesn't actually go to fixing its major economic issues.
I am Greek and if i borrow money a feel obligated to pay it back. BUT: I must remind you a story...
Hitler, when invated Greece, put a pistol in the head of Greece and "borrowed" some money (actually ALL the money the Greek state had!) - HITLER, A HONEST GERMAN (!), repaid (with the "agreed" interest) some of that money (in 2 payments), but he (and his HONEST NAZI GOVERMENT !!!) suddenly stoped to be the head of Germany... then the new non-NaZi goverment asked Greece to wait until the "borrowed" money be returned to Greece so Gremany could rebuild (Greece agreed)... Germany, because Germans are great people, managed to rebuild itself very soon... But Germany again asked Greece to wait until the "borrowed" money be returned to Greece because Germany was still divided to East and West (Greece agreed... again)... Germany managed to be united, something i am very hapy about, long live Germany... BUT THE UNIFIED-GERMANY "FORGOT" TO SIGN THE PEACE TREATY BETWEEN EAST-GERMANY AND WEST-GERMANY, something that makes Germany not obligated to return the "borrowed" money to Greece...
note: i don't mention the destruction of Greece from WW2 - i just mention the "borrowed" money from the the national bank of Greece...
Since that time, all the other banks have divested themselves of Greek bonds (and have been recapitalized by the ECB). There is no worry of contagion this time, because no one expected Greece to repay anything, and they prepared appropriately. The European governments are laughing as Greece falls over the edge.
You see what you did there, yes? European government are laughing because of sentence #1 -- the banks are saved and taxpayers will pay the bill. Just ten years ago, that would have been the most strange reason for a government to laugh that anyone can imagine. Today, strangely, everyone accepts it as perfectly normal.
I don't want to give my opinion (because i am a Greek), just to confirm that our original debt was to private entities but it become a debt to public entities because the European goverments choosed it - the private entities lend us money, for decades we payed huge interests to them because of their risk, but when the time come for the private entities to absorb the results of their risk taking... we end up having the European citizens blaming us Greeks!
but the major problem is not having enough money to pay their bills.
They have enough money to pay their bills. They don't have enough money to pay the bills and the debt burden. And they've basically been asking "we're drowning, can you stop pushing us under the water so we can take a few breaths?" - but the bureaucrats don't understand appeals to humanity and insist on the rules and contracts and deadlines.
Again, i would just like to confirm that we have money to pay our internal bills (we have a state's budget surplus) - note: i don't blame the "bureaucrats", nor i believe that they are un-human (i actually believe debts should be payed back as the rules and contracts and deadlines state)... i just inform that we do have enough money for surviving.
Hmmm... some other Slashdoter informed me that what you wrote to me originaly is not correct, BUT: even while he is correct, you are also correct (with the latest info you add). Since your central bank is not involved in the daily business of your governmentm then it is not a real (national) "central bank" - our Greek central bank is not just a department of European Central Bank but ALSO the bank our state (the whole public sector) use for its various everyday banking activities. To be honest (and please don't get offended if you are a Dutch as i guess) i find it stupid a state/goverment not to have its own bank dealing its everyday banking business, when there are big private corporation (or even certain very rich individuals*) that have their own bank!
* A friend of mine works as an economist in the very small private bank of a very rich Greek ship-owner/investor who has so many daily transactions that prefers to do them from his own bank! note: this bank has only one "customer" account: that of its owner, exclusively.
Think about it - when you wrote "And my advise to LBGT people is to try understand this difference: we, heterosexual religious people, also citizens in democracies, who support LBGT civil rights", it certainly gives the impression that you believe that transsexuals and transgenders in general cannot be straight. Not that there's anything wrong for those who are gay, lesbian, or bi, but it's simply a wrong assumption.
It is not my problem that "Tt" in general (or even those feeling heterosexual specificaly) choose to associate themselves with "LBG". While i am afraid you may get offended by what i will write: people from USA have a very "shallow" culture! I am a Greek... we have a very "deep" culture, and a long tradition that has evolved thru the milleniums solving many issues that a "naive Yankee" can never understand. In some other reply to you i posted a link with a centuries old traditional Greek dance (it is about us Greeks killing Muslims... that's not the point, it does not consern you directly, so ignore this fact) - everyone there is a male... even the bride... we Greeks don't laugh about that (remember: its about killing Muslims), and the bride is honored. People from USA will never undertand the symbolism of a male dressed up as a female - they may believe is a carnival of some kind, lets have some fun, etc... but it's about killing Muslims!
The real issue is equal treatment. The church has a loooong history of active discrimination against LGBT, divorced people, inciting hatred of jews, etc. It's a question of public order, not religion.
The change in public views is spotlighted in how the church lost influence in the most catholic country in the west over just 20 years. Evolve or become increasingly irrelevant is the choice now - and that choice up to the church.
The simple fact is that when plover wrote "This is how organized religion dies", he had it right, even though I wouldn't necessarily have phrased it that way. I have no problem whatsoever with religion evolving to meet the current needs of people - it's something that should be encouraged. But obviously many former and current parishioners have a problem with a church that is increasingly irrelevant to them and those around them.
Let's agree that we disagree for now, and leave it to time to make us both wiser!
Slashdot Mirror
Just to make it clear, since i was the one posted the ratios and stated "not as big as many people may think" (i don't want you to think i approve "genocides"): i compare rates (between countries), so the actual numbers (of female babies) are irrelevant - the actual female babies are important. but...
He probably assumed it was a typo and didn't want to upset you by writing (sic) when quoting your post, no need to invoke genocide or nazis.
Unless you want to, of course.
Well, i want! And if you read the title that exists on your comment you may understand why... you can say i have a bad taste of humor, or that invoking genocides is appropriate enough.
You really don't know who Ada Lovelace is, do you?
She is the daughter of a great MAN: Lord Byron, who we honor in Greece because he died like a great MAN... fighting Muslims!
I personaly honored him many times when i was serving as a conscript in the Greek S.F. (we don't forget our friend!) in a way i know he would liked, and all Greeks do the same, in school, the military, or as civilians.
GREEKS REMEMBER YOU - HONOR AND GLORY TO LORD BYRON
Yes, but when we compare rates between countries and/or the world's average the "actual numbers" MUST BE irrelevant - we discuss "genocides" here, so "even one murdered is too much" sensitivities are... unimportant.
SEX RATIO (MALE(S)/FEMALE) - at birth: India: 1.12 China: 1.11
I am skeptical about these figures. Many people have an interest in covering up this problem. In China, there is also a lot of cover up in the other direction, from parents that had a daughter, and didn't report the birth, so they could later have a son as their "one child". Often times these girls are raised in the countryside by their grandparents, and kept out of school, so the government doesn't know about them.
I am also skeptical, and even those (not so high) numbers i suspect to be exaggerated for the reasons you mention - it is the usual problem with demographic/social/economic/etc statistics: you need a local person to explain why they are wrong!
What you write is wise but i compare "genocide" rates like Hitler/Stalin would have done - and i think that way is the only right way to examine India's/China's "genocide of females".
Funny, nobody told the woman who invented coding.
https://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWo...
So... that English woman who was Born in 1815 "invented coding"... hmmm...
I posted that documentary link because i am a "sexist" (i believe that boys and girls have biological differences that effect their brains, so become different both intelectually and behaviourally) - and you went back to 1815 to prove me wrong! But i am also a fucking racist Greek so: Here is a couple of milleniums older stuff - i the Greek win, you barbarian lose!
In a more serious tone: some overlap exist - but still, the boys will choose the pistol and the girls the doll. Watch the documentary (all of it), and you may understand why it is ridiculous to deny nature.
(for the record: i believe that ISP's should -try to- block access to such materials if users ask for it)
If you believe that, then you have failed to understand the Internet at a profoundly fundamental level.
The Internet was designed from the very beginning for all of the intelligence to be at the edges. The network itself is supposed to be as dumb as it is possible to be while still moving everybody's packets around. If you want censorship, it's your job to implement it on the tiny little network in your house, or even individual nodes on that network, and leave everyone else alone. No one else should be spending any CPU time for what you want.
I had a VERY small part in helping the first Greek real ISP build its network - i know the network fundamentals (if you read carefully you will notice that i wrote "try to"), but i also know that most "internet" users dont know anything about networking. You must understand that censorship is a very strong word to use for cases like, e.g., a parent who does not know about packets/node/networks asking his ISP to block porn - and ISPs have enough CPU time to -try to- help. Just because YOU know about networks, does not mean everyone knows about them - and for many people, having an ISP helping its customers block porn is customer service.
Since India + China are half the world's population, they tend to be around the world average on things. Remove them and the rest of the world's average would probably be ~1.05.
That is a good point (i am too tired to do the math now!), but that's why i also posted EU and USA ratios (less suspect for female genocide), so... even from the 1.06 and 1.05 ratio, both India and China are not so far with their 1.12 and 1.11.
* if you read my signature you will understand that i struggle with my English because i am not a native speaker - i think (do you see what YOU did?) most native speakers appreciate corrections.
the difference from the World's average is not so big as many people may thin(k)
I'm sure it's not for trying!!
I like (grammar) NaZi's, and genocides (of orthographic mistakes) - thanks!
the EU could make it illegal for ISPs and mobile companies to automatically block access to obscene material. Rather than implementing a default block on pornography, the Council of the European Union believes that users should opt in to web filtering and be able to opt out again at any time
O.K., this is better than the opposite (i.e., "blocked by default unless users specifically requested access to it"), but does this means that "the EU could make it illegal for ISPs and mobile companies to NOT automatically block access to obscene material if users OPT IN to web filtering"? (for the record: i believe that ISP's should -try to- block access to such materials if users ask for it)
the human kind
SEX RATIO (MALE(S)/FEMALE) - at birth:
India: 1.12
China: 1.11
World: 1.07
E.U.: 1.06
U.S.A.: 1.05
source: CIA.
While there are more male than female births in India and China, the difference from the World's average is not so big as many people may thing (note for the "/." SJW's : i don't support killing females... o.k?!)
I live in greece at the moment, but I'm a dual citizen. Both Greek and American.
What you call "Othomanic ways", in Greece is called "ragiadismos". It's a state of self-pity that I really never understood. And it's something easily played against your critical thinking if you choose to accept it. I really do not care for it, nor am I going to acknowledge such a false stereotype. So don't waste your time trying to talk me into it.
The way you can persuade me is with facts and numbers.
I like people who are direct - i respect it. I like to be direct also:
I am a nationalist (but not socialist) - i support Golden Dawn VERY actively. You may argue that i am too pro-Europe to be GD - i do it because i am an "ANTI-FASCIST"! I just mention it because i don't consider myself to be a "ragias"
https://www.creditwritedowns.c...
This is enough to lay waste to your theory about "Lazy" Greeks/ You can make the case of richer countries being more productive, sure that's normal. But lazy? No.
Few hours ago i made a reply to a fellow Greek - read what HE wrote!. But you want data: why don't you go to any field growing any product and ask any producer about the ethnicity of his workers... 1.5 million unemployed Greeks, about 1 million illegal immigrants working full time in Greece - i, even as a nationalist, am unable to blame the illegal immigrants working in the fields that they steal the work of Greeks, because NO Greek is interested to work there. O.K., i have a friend (until a couple of years ago was one of the most well known Greek SCADA engineers!) currently working in his father's fields... but he is a rare case - tsekare tora enan "anergo".
Krugman is a liberal. Primary surplus means nothing with the size of the debt on us. You can buy into the misinformation if you please. But to persuade me, you will need to show me numbers.
Oh... you want numbers... i respect numbers, and i respect people who respect numbers, but when i deal with Greeks the "numbers" become a way to avoid the truth. Sou to egrapsa apo tin arxi: tha kataliksoume na brizomaste me ta gnosta "ante gamisou re malaka" kai ta loipa... asto re patrioti, giati na xalasoumai tis kardies mas? Se ligo tha exoumai pali ekloges (elpizo!), as pame na apofasisoumai ti theloumai na ginei stin Ellada. Pare kai ena binteaki tora gia na min nomizeis pos thimosa: oi Germanoi ksanarxontai!
Agreement isn't necessary - and it makes for more interesting conversation, no? The way I figure it, anyone who agrees with everything I say is going to be both boring and wrong at least some of the time and be unable to point it out :-)
Heck, if APK had an account, I'd friend him despite the huge battles we've had - on many topics we don't see completely eye to eye but we're able to appreciate each other as human beings (I know, shock to everyone who's been here watching from the sidelines the last decade).
You just become friend to APK - SERIOUSLY! And now you have to help me as a friend: who is this APK?
In the few weeks (maximum a month) i have a Slasdot account, (not directly - mostly by others replying to people that replied to me) i was been called "APK" several times: "he become the Greek APK", "he is APK pretending to be a Greek", "he is APK registering an account", etc - i undestand that this was not a compliment (i am not so stupid!). so... hit me with the truth!
I'm not from or in the US.
O.K., i mis-understood.
And the tradition of men playing all the roles, including those of the women, was the rule in Shakespeare's time. (Maybe that's why Romeo and Juliette couldn't marry - Jullie was a guy :-)
Please... don't make comparisons like that to a Greek... when we Greeks were building the Parthenon the British* were still hunging from the trees like apes! And when we used males for female roles in our theaters we did not even had started building the Parthenon. Anyway, my point is that we Greeks (even me, a religious and traditional guy) are not so "puritans" as non-Greeks may think. A recent Greek movie that was something like a success in Greece (and in Europe): Strella (the movie is well made, but STUPID... i saw it, don't waste your time! A GREAT movie, and about what you wrote -"Jullie was a guy"-, is a Chinese called: "farewell my concubine" - you should see it, if you have not already).
* I love Shakespeare AND British people... but i like to make fun of "barbarians"!
A great documentary about how biology (not culture) effects genders and differentiates males/boy from females/girls, so that males/boy choose masculine jobs/toys (e.g., coding... yes, its "masculine"!) while females/girls choose feminine jobs/toys (e.g., nurses... good for them!) - a great point was that the most "free" a society is, the more those gender differences will be observed: Brainwash: The Gender Equality Paradox (note: i watched it just yesterday, thanks to user "popo" posting it in the "Science Still Seen As a Male Profession" story - by the way: ENOUGH WITH ALL THE GIRL-CODERS FUCKING STORIES)
Plus keep in mind how problematic are statistics without interpretation from a local person: our latest official labour force is 51.9% of population - but in Greece around 1/3 of our economy is "grey"... every Greek knows that our real labour force is about 2/3 to 3/4 of population.
Anyway, i like people like you: you like to have YOUR opinion based on facts, not just someone else opinion - i try to be that way myself.
I feel that a nation's central bank is similar to its army: national - we still need them, both national armies, plus national banks (note: i am a very pro-European, even a "con-federalist", but still... i am a Greek nationalist!)
Maybe Greeks are different but in Germany, if you borrow money, you are fully expected to pay it back. As soon as possible. Greece can make as much racket as it likes, but the Germans still want their money back. And frankly, I agree. If Greece is not willing to pay back what they take, that's theft, and they can go without aid for all I care. Especially when the borrowed money doesn't actually go to fixing its major economic issues.
I am Greek and if i borrow money a feel obligated to pay it back. BUT: I must remind you a story...
Hitler, when invated Greece, put a pistol in the head of Greece and "borrowed" some money (actually ALL the money the Greek state had!) - HITLER, A HONEST GERMAN (!), repaid (with the "agreed" interest) some of that money (in 2 payments), but he (and his HONEST NAZI GOVERMENT !!!) suddenly stoped to be the head of Germany... then the new non-NaZi goverment asked Greece to wait until the "borrowed" money be returned to Greece so Gremany could rebuild (Greece agreed)... Germany, because Germans are great people, managed to rebuild itself very soon... But Germany again asked Greece to wait until the "borrowed" money be returned to Greece because Germany was still divided to East and West (Greece agreed... again)... Germany managed to be united, something i am very hapy about, long live Germany... BUT THE UNIFIED-GERMANY "FORGOT" TO SIGN THE PEACE TREATY BETWEEN EAST-GERMANY AND WEST-GERMANY, something that makes Germany not obligated to return the "borrowed" money to Greece...
note: i don't mention the destruction of Greece from WW2 - i just mention the "borrowed" money from the the national bank of Greece...
Greek here as well.
We are indeed lazy, and we simply are unaware of that.
We think that spending a day in the office is what productivity is about.
Number one rule amongst us greeks is this: if nobody is watching, then don't do the work.
It is no coincidence that the word we use for work also means slavery. We equate work with slavery in our minds.
And that is why there is no real progress in Greece the last few decades.
I am also a Greek and i must confirm what my fellow Greek is writng... that is the truth...
Since that time, all the other banks have divested themselves of Greek bonds (and have been recapitalized by the ECB). There is no worry of contagion this time, because no one expected Greece to repay anything, and they prepared appropriately. The European governments are laughing as Greece falls over the edge.
You see what you did there, yes? European government are laughing because of sentence #1 -- the banks are saved and taxpayers will pay the bill. Just ten years ago, that would have been the most strange reason for a government to laugh that anyone can imagine. Today, strangely, everyone accepts it as perfectly normal.
I don't want to give my opinion (because i am a Greek), just to confirm that our original debt was to private entities but it become a debt to public entities because the European goverments choosed it - the private entities lend us money, for decades we payed huge interests to them because of their risk, but when the time come for the private entities to absorb the results of their risk taking... we end up having the European citizens blaming us Greeks!
but the major problem is not having enough money to pay their bills.
They have enough money to pay their bills. They don't have enough money to pay the bills and the debt burden. And they've basically been asking "we're drowning, can you stop pushing us under the water so we can take a few breaths?" - but the bureaucrats don't understand appeals to humanity and insist on the rules and contracts and deadlines.
Again, i would just like to confirm that we have money to pay our internal bills (we have a state's budget surplus) - note: i don't blame the "bureaucrats", nor i believe that they are un-human (i actually believe debts should be payed back as the rules and contracts and deadlines state)... i just inform that we do have enough money for surviving.
* A friend of mine works as an economist in the very small private bank of a very rich Greek ship-owner/investor who has so many daily transactions that prefers to do them from his own bank! note: this bank has only one "customer" account: that of its owner, exclusively.
I now see my friend that you choosed to ignore my advise... poor girl... many Slashdoters will associate you with me... but that is your problem!
Think about it - when you wrote "And my advise to LBGT people is to try understand this difference: we, heterosexual religious people, also citizens in democracies, who support LBGT civil rights", it certainly gives the impression that you believe that transsexuals and transgenders in general cannot be straight. Not that there's anything wrong for those who are gay, lesbian, or bi, but it's simply a wrong assumption.
It is not my problem that "Tt" in general (or even those feeling heterosexual specificaly) choose to associate themselves with "LBG". While i am afraid you may get offended by what i will write: people from USA have a very "shallow" culture! I am a Greek... we have a very "deep" culture, and a long tradition that has evolved thru the milleniums solving many issues that a "naive Yankee" can never understand. In some other reply to you i posted a link with a centuries old traditional Greek dance (it is about us Greeks killing Muslims... that's not the point, it does not consern you directly, so ignore this fact) - everyone there is a male... even the bride... we Greeks don't laugh about that (remember: its about killing Muslims), and the bride is honored. People from USA will never undertand the symbolism of a male dressed up as a female - they may believe is a carnival of some kind, lets have some fun, etc... but it's about killing Muslims!
The real issue is equal treatment. The church has a loooong history of active discrimination against LGBT, divorced people, inciting hatred of jews, etc. It's a question of public order, not religion.
The change in public views is spotlighted in how the church lost influence in the most catholic country in the west over just 20 years. Evolve or become increasingly irrelevant is the choice now - and that choice up to the church.
The simple fact is that when plover wrote "This is how organized religion dies", he had it right, even though I wouldn't necessarily have phrased it that way. I have no problem whatsoever with religion evolving to meet the current needs of people - it's something that should be encouraged. But obviously many former and current parishioners have a problem with a church that is increasingly irrelevant to them and those around them.
Let's agree that we disagree for now, and leave it to time to make us both wiser!