Goggle Doodle

[MoonlightandRoses]

Today’s Goggle Doodle by 15 year old Sarah Harrison is great!!! The theme is “What I See For The Future.” I also see that for the future. See here: http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/148053/doodle-4-google-2017-contest-winner

Moonlight and Roses,

 

[HandsInTheDark]

...removed because I'm not interested in involvement in this board at this time...

 

[A_Little_Show]

Things are NOT as bleak as they may seem.

- USA schools are the best they have ever been right now. High school graduation rates are the highest they have ever been. Standards for high school graduation are the highest they have ever been. Literacy is the highest it has ever been.

- Over the past 10 years, a federal health survey has shown that child obesity rates have plummeted 43%. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/...ng-children-plummets-43-in-a-decade.html?_r=3

- Over the past 10 years, recycling has increased 3-fold in America, with more than 33% of trash reported as being recycled in the U.S. as of 2008, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

- Crime in general and violent crime in particular are the lowest rates ever recorded in the USA right now. Student violence has decreased to 2% of the levels recorded in 1994, the worst year ever recorded.

- Smoking: According to the Center for Disease Control, 15.7% of high school students are lighting up, which is less than half the number back in 1997.

- As of 2008, 92% of U.S. drinking water was graded A by the EPA vs. 79% in 1993.

- Cancer mortality rate has dropped 11%, according to the U.S. Department of Health. The 5-year survival rate for cancer patients increased from 50% to 68%.

- Commercial aircraft crashes are at a historic low.

- USA household income adjusted for inflation (purchasing power) is the highest it has ever been right now.

- USA life expectancy is the highest it has ever been right now. Minority population life expectancy has particularly improved. White men with only a high school education are the only group to have declining life expectancy, and the primary reasons for premature death are drug overdoses, suicides, and liver damage due to alcoholism.

- USA unemployment rates are lower than "normal" right now.

- Education, entertainment, communications, and health care accessibility are the best they have ever been right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the world:

- Poverty rates are the lowest they have ever been right now.
- Childhood mortality is the lowest it has ever been right now.
- Education rates are the highest they have ever been right now.
- Violence rates are the lowest rates they have ever been right now.

Watch this TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world

 

[MoonlightandRoses]

Hands in the Dark, while I respect your opinion I see things differently. In my seven decades of life I have seen great improvement in regard to the sentiments expressed by Sarah Harrison’s “doodle.” Things are definitely not perfect, but as I see it they are clearly going in the right direction. Now, this is a relatively short period as compared to the six thousand years of written history and so this improvement can be considered to still be fragile and that is why I was so excited in seeing 15 year old Sarah’s image. With expressions like that I have great hope for the future. Thank you for your mature reply.

A Little Show, I agree with you. Thank you. I feel that the history of the last few centuries makes a strong case for long term (definitely within a lifetime) optimism.

Moonlight and Roses,

 

[SimonDoom]

Things are NOT as bleak as they may seem.

- USA schools are the best they have ever been right now. High school graduation rates are the highest they have ever been. Standards for high school graduation are the highest they have ever been. Literacy is the highest it has ever been.

- Over the past 10 years, a federal health survey has shown that child obesity rates have plummeted 43%. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/...ng-children-plummets-43-in-a-decade.html?_r=3

- Over the past 10 years, recycling has increased 3-fold in America, with more than 33% of trash reported as being recycled in the U.S. as of 2008, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

- Crime in general and violent crime in particular are the lowest rates ever recorded in the USA right now. Student violence has decreased to 2% of the levels recorded in 1994, the worst year ever recorded.

- Smoking: According to the Center for Disease Control, 15.7% of high school students are lighting up, which is less than half the number back in 1997.

- As of 2008, 92% of U.S. drinking water was graded A by the EPA vs. 79% in 1993.

- Cancer mortality rate has dropped 11%, according to the U.S. Department of Health. The 5-year survival rate for cancer patients increased from 50% to 68%.

- Commercial aircraft crashes are at a historic low.

- USA household income adjusted for inflation (purchasing power) is the highest it has ever been right now.

- USA life expectancy is the highest it has ever been right now. Minority population life expectancy has particularly improved. White men with only a high school education are the only group to have declining life expectancy, and the primary reasons for premature death are drug overdoses, suicides, and liver damage due to alcoholism.

- USA unemployment rates are lower than "normal" right now.

- Education, entertainment, communications, and health care accessibility are the best they have ever been right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the world:

- Poverty rates are the lowest they have ever been right now.
- Childhood mortality is the lowest it has ever been right now.
- Education rates are the highest they have ever been right now.
- Violence rates are the lowest rates they have ever been right now.

Watch this TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world

Bravo. It's nice to see a little optimism, supported by facts, for a change. There's too much pessimism, across the political spectrum.

 

[MoonlightandRoses]

The Random House College Dictionary defines Politics as “1. the science or art of political government 2. the practice or profession of conducting political affairs 3. political affairs 4. political methods or maneuvers 5. political principles or opinions 6. use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control” the same source defines Political as “1. of, pertaining to, or concerned with the science, or art of politics 2. of, pertaining to or connected with a political party 3. of or pertaining to the state or its government 4. having a definite policy or system of government.” Unless everything is political, which I do not agree with, then the image linked to in the first post of this topic is not political or about politics and this topic is not political or about politics so, for the sake of consistency, this topic should be moved from this board.

Thank you Simon for your contribution to this topic.

Moonlight and Roses,

 

[MoonlightandRoses]

I do not feel that the image linked to in the first post to this topic is about diversity. Diversity is about differences. That image is about similarities. The word similar is defined by The Random House College Dictionary as “having likeness or resemblance” and similarity is defined as “1 the state or being similar; likeness; resemblance 2 a point of feature like or resembling another or another’s.” That is similarity refers to people or things that have important factors in common, but are not exactly the same. Well in that image there are eight people. Since they are people they have much in common as all people do, but they look somewhat different, they may have different beliefs, different sexual orientations, different gender identities, different abilities and are of different ages and sexes. Those differences are minor compared to their similarities resulting from them all being humans with feelings, hopes, loves and fears. So maybe the image is really about similarities.

I have suggested to Laurel that a new board be set up and called "Diversity," "Ideas" or "Free Your Mind," but now that I think about it maybe it would be best to call it "Similarities." Also I would like to thank Laurel for listening to me and for giving me the platform to write my ideas, even if those ideas may be opposed to Laurel’s. Since this post is not about politics and since the Goggle Doodle image is about similarities, people getting along, the readers of this post should demand that this thread be moved out of the Politics Board.

Moonlight and Roses,

 

[MoonlightandRoses]

Sameness and differences, what some might think of as diversity, although what I think of as similarities is a fact of life, there are ways that people are different although they have many important similarities. People may not want to hear about it, but it is there, it has always been there. Talking about different sexual fetishes is dealing with it, discussions of interracial sex is dealing with it, discussions of gay sex is dealing with it, different writing styles is dealing with it, different likes in music is dealing with it and so on. Even the very idea of writing erotica is based on sameness and differences. Many people feel that people who write or read erotica are deviants, but that does not take into consideration that people have different likes, but at the same time people, whatever they like are people. Sameness and differences is a very rich topic that can lead to creativity, so it is an important topic for literature and art, unless one is always writing the same stories with identical characters. Sameness and differences is realistic; trying to deny it is not realistic.

Moonlight and Roses,