Richie, I won't argue with this, because what you say is true.

Please consider two things, though: After 33 years of age, you have roughly 30 more years to make money by working, and that thirty years is 3/4 of your earning time in life. if the difference is 1,500 in earning power, on the average per month, then that 1,500 per month extra does add up if it goes on uninterrupted for 30 years.

That's A. B. is that some people study not only to make more money, or to make any money, but because they enjoy knowledge, gaining knowledge. Some people go on creating new knowledge and they enjoy that. It's fine that for eleven years they are losers, because they enjoy those eleven years, and thirty years as well that comes after that. Money is good, I won't deny that; money is great, it is power, it is sexy. But for a few people so is knowledge and creation.

Furthermore, for still fewer people, the gaining and creation of knowledge is essential for a base-line happiness. They suffer and wilt in mundane. Their excitement does not come from money, or from luxury trips, or from zip-lining or clusterefffing in Malaysia; their excitement comes from being able to write a nice poem, or from discovering some obscure fact that creates havoc in legal theory, or such like. These people may or may not be rich, and those who are not rich, are not just saying they are happy despite being poor (these are very-very few in numbers, but they do exist), but they indeed revel in making an ear-steam engine, even if the invention never gets popular use or even a patent.

I agree with you, though, still, Richie. Most people are satisfied with making enough money. For those whose ideals for life consists of hard work, raising a family, giving the god and country their just share of the guy's earning, then by all means. Whatever tickles your fancy. And to be honest, most people live a life like your ideal, and those people are the happiest they can be in that role.

The only difference is that people are different. I agree, your choosing working over education was a smart choice. I agree with Einstein's choosing education over playing the violin was a smart choice, or basketball. (Einstein tried out for the Niegenstreudeldorf's local talent search, and -- thankfully -- did not make the team.)

And I certainly agree with your math, too, as long as you can see that after 33 the picture of earning power changes very drastically.

hey sugar lips those numbers come from the BLS and are usually based on national statistics

so if what you see doesn't parallel exactly what is reported, it may be an anomaly related to your local geographic region

No, it is not your duty to be the world police. Nobody asked you to be. You are the self-appointed world police. You get there to stop people from beating and killing each other, and raping their women. So you, as a world police, beat them, kill much more many of them than they could ever, on their own strength, but granted, you don't rape the women, because that's anti-christian and you would get court-marshalled anyway if you did.

So what is it so grand about going to a far away country, looking for a man, shooting up everybody, not raping the women (good for you!! you are a very good man) and beeetchign about the uniform because it stings when you get hit. You wish you would lose the arm, the leg, the kidney, the life, as opposed to being stung? you are not realistic my young friend.

You are pulling names of countries out of hats. There is no country in the entire world where people do not get beaten and killed by each other and women do not get raped. Give your head a shakie.

And what about being a police? A world police? You go to faraway countries to kill and punish people, even those who never beat another one, who never killed another human soul, who never raped a woman. Think of it this way: How many countries sent troops to Philadelphia or to Abaquerque, or to New Hampshire, to punish and police the Americans for beating and killing each other, and for raping the women in Phillie, Humphie, and in Alba? You are not making sense. YOU DON'T HAVE THE MORAL RIGHT TO DO THIS TO OTHER COUNTRIES AND THEIR CITIZENS, MUCH LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE NO RIGHT TO POLICE PEOPLE IN YOUR COUNTRY.

This is how the world sees America. This is the answer to "why". And your given answer is fuel to the fire of hatred: "What? they think they actually have the RIGHT to do this to other countries' citizens?"

You are making lots of sense. But only to Americans. Not to any other soul in the world.

Because the English are insufferable pricks...with bad teeth.

I'd venture to say that the reason is that Americans send their troops to far away lands from their country, to kill people on command and without reason or cause; and yet if the same thing happens to Americans, then it's blue murder they cry.

For some strange reason, hypocriticality attracts hatred by other people.

I mean, the Americans sent, have sent, and are sending troops to half a dozen countries of which I know, where they killed thousands of people, destroyed the landscape, even trees and plants can't grow there any more, and then they washed their hands, came home, and now it's a "disgrace" to support Viet Nam war dodgers, and we are starting to see hero movies about Viet Nam.

I am sure a lot of the Britons, their friends, and people in other countries, both democracies and not, both Christian and not, both atheist and not, are full of hatred for the American government, and by osmosis, justly or not, for the American people. The Americans sent troops to, for instance, Afghanistan, supposedly to find Bin Laden. Ten years later the troops are still there, the country is more of a pile and rubble of once-buildings-now-rock than ever, and Bin Laden has not been caught.

This is suspect. There were Nazi war criminals who escaped the invading liberating forces, and escaped to unknown lands; these men were well protected and their looks and identities changed. Nobody knew where they were; yet these Nazi war criminals were tracked down, brought home, tried and executed by Israel and Israeli secret service men after the second world war. Israel did not invade Paraguay or Uruguay to catch these men. Isreal did not spend three trillion dollars to bring a number of these war criminals to justice. Whereas America has the whole world mobilized, has waged war on terror for ten years now, created havoc, disorder, pain, torture and mother's and wive's tears, for the same ten year period; and they were unable to catch just one man. Oh, and they did spend three trillion on the wars in the last ten years.

So this explains why most people in the entire world hate Americans and most definitely the American Government: Americans act like psychopaths, to whom the suffering of other humans is not worth a penny, let them suffer, they say, it's no skin off of our backs. Americans treat each soldier fallen in Afghanistan as a national hero, yet the men were there to kill Afghans; no tears are shed for the lives of Afghans. They are cooookooraches, the Americans give that air to the world, the Americans make the world believe they think of Afghan lives as dirt, specs of boogers. So why do Americans get surprised for their "government" being hated?

Secondly, they are ineffective, the well-fed, well-organized, well-protected, well-armed and well-armoured American troops. (For each American soldier that gets killed, five hundred Afghans have died. Afghan fighters are vulnerable to bullets; American troops have such an effective body armour that only their necks are vulnerable to injury. Almost all American casualties happen when an American army truck drives over a landmine, or American troops have to enter a building or cave in only one possible, small spot. In the landmines, there are millions of shrapnesl pieces flying, they have a good chance of hitting at least one neck. In case of going into a building, there are hundreds of Afghan warriors and patriots firing at one man, so some bullets find the neck. Americans, however, even if they fire just a few shots, will kill a man, each time.)

The joke is that the Americans still haven't caught their man, a man, one man, despite having spent more money on this than the entire world's economy generates in a year, outside of America. And thirdly, they are stupid, for having to ask "why does the world hate us?"

At least we got to the point where Americans are asking this question. They are asking it as if it was an incredibly stupid thing to ask, as if it was an incomprehensible thought. The more they ask, the more they will learn the opinion of others of their country, and the more they will learn how badly their country's international affairs have been managed. Americans will finally learn, I very much hope, that it is not nice to be international bullies to the nth degree. Americans will finally learn, I hope, to listen to newscasts of other countries, and not rely for their individual knowledge of the world entirely on the American news media.

You see, Americans established at least one torture colony, and nobody blinked an eye about that. Not one American, anyway.

But America, which was the most popular and most beloved country in the entire world for a good 40-50 years after the second world war, compeltely and utterly destroyed the goodwill of the world toward it, it turned itself to be the most hated nation in the world at present.

Why? I am asking this now. Why did the Americans let this happen? How could they? Where was their humanity, their conscience in the last ten-twenty years?

i guess we could chat about that on the porch...i'm told i over analyze it, apparently most people are not concerned with artistry believability or production techniques, in that particular industry.....i responded that they should not have suggested the film...

“Sex is interesting, but it's not totally important. I mean it's not even as important (physically) as excretion. A man can go seventy years without a piece of a$$, but he can die in a week without a bowel movement.”

Charles Bukowski