what can be done about poverty?

Having a menu of thoughts in your head does help in confidence for speaking to a group. Glad we could help!

Glad to hear your presentation went great, Nora.  

The debate.. might have moved on a bit.   

I can just see it:
• We solve the problem of global poverty in online discussing
• Norc cribs it in her presentation to class
• It's caught on video and goes viral
• Norc gets invited to present to the United Nations, launching her fame and future career
• We get squat except to get blamed for lack of productivity in our real lives

The Debate Blue ?
How arrogant are humans at times. IDK. Ive watched several TV adverts this last week alone that have, I know, been dished up & out on TV for years. "Poor little Totsi is starving etc please help etc" Yes, its sad & difficult. A child thats a mere bag of bones, while "mum" looks pretty healthy to me ? who can say ? Is she also suffering ? in a different way ? Is it real ?  Is it even propaganda even ? Against the weather & Natural forces we can do NOTHING, so, when bad things happen we could try helping couldnt we ? share food, grain, water, medicines etc ? We are expecting help arent we during the floods we are having. Expecting our Government to bloody well help a bit more ! But the "totsi" I saw on TV must be 25yrs old by now ? is she well ? has she a life ? or, sold as a prostitute ? child bride ? could be dead in all reality ? I think, we, as ordinary people who care & show they care by sending our last pennies, food parcels etc, WE should also be educated as to helping these people. For all our love & best intentions, where is the fooking Aid & money going ? The ones who know, who SHOULD know, are the Ambassadors, the Relief Workers, Charitable Organizations, Chairmen/women, Officialdom. Embassies. Are they "on the drip" ? from not just the UK but, any & all countries helping ? How much Aid/money is lost before it leaves the tarmac ? Because I have small trust & faith & am a tad bit paranoid people think Im a cold hearted bitch, I just wonder about the "grey area" sometimes thats all.

You worry with good cause Azriel- it would not be the first time a scandal has broken revealling half the money raised went on admin, or the food parcels only got as far a the corrupt government of the region who then seize them all and sell them on for profit whist their people continue to starve. Sadly there are some right bastards out there.

And thats what goes thru my head ! People are people, we all feel the little fingers of temptation creep off on their own ! You pinch a pound, get away with it, becomes £10 next time, & so on, till the addiction's got yer ! Find a few cohorts to go along with you, safety in blackmail ! So what if a few people die ? they are gonna any way, I dont know them, do you ? Well, shut up & stuff a few more quid in yer pocket !

In Sierra Leone they had a creole saying: "Usai you tie cow, nah deh he go eat grass."

"Where you tie a cow, is there he will eat grass."

They expected officials to be on the take, just shook their heads and shrugged. It's not easy to revise a system once the culture has accepted it. They simply assumed the American president was the richest man in the country.

Sadly I think reform wil only happen quickly under a benevolent despot that puts a fair system in place, executes anyone who goes against the system, then after about 15 years steps aside for fair elections in a new environment.

I'm not holding my breath.

P.S, I didnt mean I thought YOU were arrogant Blue !!!!!!!!!!!!
God no !!!!!!!  I was voicing out loud !! sorry if It came across as me attacking you ! I wasnt ! Sometimes things sound clearer when you talk to yourself than when you just think inside your head ?

bungobaggins wrote:

Norc wrote:gosh, thanx guys, i just neeeded some  bullet points for my presentation ^^ it helped  it went horrible both time i tried to rehears it with the group, i didn't know how to word myself and it all was confusing and broken, then when i had the presentation (last person) i nailed it oh eyss... liek a boss!!

Group presentations are the worst!

naah, it went fine :)they were nice and actually did more work than I ( ) i made my presentation during lunch.. whoops. but i nailed it :lol:not to get cocky or anything (fucking janteloven) but i did way better than them :Plike they read, read, and had lots of complicated words they couldn't pronounce or knew what meant. maybe it is a little harsh, i dunno  

i am in an english class with just second years  and i know very few of the people there, but one dude i went to junior high with (?) was in my sister's class, and he was nice to me  made it a lot easier.. also i felt i knew him, although i probably don't... (i mostly sit alone in english class, so that this wasn't a terrible experience was good  )


i am glad i made an interesting thread out of this  i'de love to contribute, but naah.. don't have the time x)

That's why you can spend so much time writing us: you sit alone.

Why are you in English class with second years? Your english is better than most native speakers, I wager.

speaking of poverty.. 

a polish guy just rang our doorbell.. he was selling these cute toys, like proper ones.. and i felt so bad rejecting him   and it just made me think.. what is poverty in poland and what is "poverty" here..i feel so bad, because obviously we are more wealthy than him, because we live in a house and have food in our fridge and don't have to go door to door and sell toys to make money, but still. my family can't afford to buy stuff we don't need, my family can't afford to buy lots of "fancy food" at the store, we seldom have the money to go abroad on holliday, i've once been to spain, class trips and outtings (going skiing where there's lifts, rent ski boots, buying ski-equipment, go bowling) it's always been a question of economy. i feel bad every time i ask for money for something. if i need a new winter jacket/shoes or something, that counts as my birthday present.

i know this got a bit personal, my point is, nothing about my appearences or house or clothes can tell u that, and therefore i felt soooo bad saying no to that guy. he was very polite and sweet and i genuinly felt like a horrible person. i couldn't tell him like "no, i can't afford that".. so i just said "i don't have cash" (hoping that he didn't have a card terminal with him)...

life's a bitch.

halfwise wrote:That's why you can spend so much time writing us: you sit alone.

Why are you in English class with second years?  Your english is better than most native speakers, I wager.

yes. i sit alone. it's really sad. 

i switched maths with english, but i couldn't have english with third years because it is two course (like u have to have the first course of chemistry to have chemistry 2) it doesn't make sense, and it is really easy english! but if i sharpen my pencils, i might get another 6 to lighten up my end results  (instead of a lousy 4 in math  i already had two science subjects, so i could swap one of them  )

Yeah, I sat alone a bit in my last year of Videregående as well as we weren't a full class. Though I was so bored at that point that I mostly sat with my feet on the other chair talking to the people sitting behind me. I can't have made all that good an impression on my teachers, but it went allright.

And 6'es on the end results never hurt. I took a third year in french in my last year just because it gave me to extra grade points on my final total. So whatever grade I got I actually got two points higher.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm not the best of examples to follow.   

Both grades and money are numbers games, and not always meaningful.

The funny thing is, that up to a point I haven't reached yet, whenever you bring in more money it always gets spent on something and suddenly you don't have money anymore.  Like maybe you've been getting by without a car, or with only one when life would be so much easier with two.  So when the money comes in you instantly spend it on this thing, and suddenly you don't have extra cash anymore.

The better decision is to squirrel more away into retirement funds and not make that extra purchase, but you still end up with no extra cash.  My income keeps going up slightly year after year, but I don't notice a difference...I live just the same as before.

I know there's a low and a high end of the income spectrum where this doesn't hold true anymore, but maybe you don't have to assume that polish boy is in deep need.  He's just trying to earn a little extra spending money, which will add slightly to his quality of life but not change it dramatically.

haha... yolo..
i already have three 6's (nynorsk (!), religion and ethics, and history) so if i can maintain them.. and talk a bit more in norwegian that's the oral-norwegian 6 and if i do good on særemne.. perhaps.. another.. then perhaps english  and maybe i can get my gym grade up, from 4 to 5, then my lonely 4 in physics is no biggie.. it'll be the only one.. then just survive chemistry (happy with a 5 there) and i am all done

social life can fucking wait.

Don't be afraid to go online with physics assignments, but if they are due tomorrow there's no guarantee someone will pop up online in time.

test next monday  the theory of relativity and induced electricity something

Norc wrote:yes. i sit alone. it's really sad. 

i switched maths with english, but i couldn't have english with third years because it is two course (like u have to have the first course of chemistry to have chemistry 2) it doesn't make sense, and it is really easy english! but if i sharpen my pencils, i might get another 6 to lighten up my end results  (instead of a lousy 4 in math  i already had two science subjects, so i could swap one of them  )

You should sit in the back with the slackers and goof off during class. It worked for me.

well.. i don't usually get to choose where to sit because like 90 % of the people in class have had classes there before so they have already found seats.. i try to aim for the walls, i can charge my computer there and i don't feel like the centre piece of the room  

Well, I would suggest putting your feet on a chair next time your in English. Preferably by a wall too. But if you want a 6, maybe not.  

That doesn't look bad at all. Though 6 in Nynorsk.   That's incredibly annoying. Good for you.   

Norc wrote:test next monday  the theory of relativity and induced electricity something

oo! Fun stuff. I'm off for a ski trip this weekend, but if you have any questions get them in by thursday.

Relativity in High School? Too cool. I only got the chance to teach that for a couple years before they eliminated the advanced classes as the population grew and they couldn't afford to tie me up teaching electives that only a few would take.    I taught quantum and everything.

haha... yeah, we'll see . the teacher likes me and i dunno, i sometimes raise my had and say stuff.

i was surprised at the nynorsk grade too  

also.. i wrote a task about Knut Hamsun's Pan, got a six    in a good place at the moment it seems.. not mentally but still...

Hold on you sit near the wall to charge your computer Norc?

Boy do I feel old, teacher used to throw chalk (yes actual chalk for writing on a board!) at my head just for looking like I wasnt paying attention, let alone arsing about on a pc.  

Most of my professors gave up on trying to tell if we were taking notes or goofing around on laptops. It was great.