Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. There was a point in my life where that would be well beyond my means, not to mention during my childhood where we were really poor, I should have known better. While I'm not rich by any strech of imagination, I draw a steady paycheck as a teacher. And investing in a party dress…

I would totally buy it for a special ocasion. 200 dollars is a lot for casual wear but not excessive for a party dress. Green doesn't do much for my coloring - nuclear white skin, black hair- but I would still buy it.

Not the only one, I'm always looking for new books / authors because I read a lot and was insanely excited.

Read just the first one, The Duke. I bet you'll be so engrossed you'll want to read the rest.

I really enjoy Gaelen Foley, the Knight Miscelany especially. They're so fun and unpredictable.

Teresa Medeiros has a few, fairitale inspired. They're very fun reads.

I don't live in the UK, but my best friend does. She's been living there for twelve years and has never been unemployed, she pays her taxes, as do most immigrants who live and work there. The crisis hit the UK pretty hard and faced with less money, the government did what my government did here also: massive defunding…

I haven't heard it in quite a while, but as soon as Rebecca posted that video, it all came back to me, that plus Blur was the soundtrack of my late teens/early twenties.

I love this although I'm ashamed. But the heart wants what it wants

I own that CD. After Kurt Cobain's death and Pearl Jam's Vitalogy I went a little crazy and bought their cd. Also, most of Offspring's opus and Presidents of the United States. We all react differently to grief.

I was talking about the stress on the Social Security system. To keep the system going, the government wants workers to keep contributing for it as long as possible and to not draw on their pensions. Because jobs are scarce (stagnant economy, crisis) and no one currently holding jobs is retiring ( early retirement is…

It's not for you, no. But for us, well, you get an ageing population and our young, qualified workers are no longer in the country. They're not planning to come back either. That means a shortage of qualified workers for us in a few years. For example, our teachers, eingineers and nurses are, on average, forty five…

We are paying in kids. Well young adults. Our immigrants are no longer ignorant and unqualified. Right now, you're getting highly educated professionals, like eingineers, doctors and nurses, scientists etc. And white-ish.

Let me tell you, as a Portuguese, that I really don't care for Germany's birth rates right now.

Yet.

As someone who actually lives in a country with very low (and decreasing) birth rates, let me just tell you, it's not as cut and dry. But ofcourse we all believe what we want to believe.

Let's start with an increasingly elderly population. They are a heavy burdon on the social security systems and the NHS. Now with a lot of young people active, the system was perfectly viable, but with less and less young people contributing the system is colapsing. This leads, obviously, to a decrease in quality in…

Revolution is never as fun as it seems on Broadway. Take the Russian revolution: sure, it brought a lot of positive social change in European countries (mainly because the elites were scared something similar happened to them) but it also lead to millions of dead, hunger, the horrors of gulags and cold war. And now…

I can't help thinking first world countries are going to pay dearly for these policies, because a huge mass of people whithout hope and nothing to lose is the most dangerous weapon of all. Radical movements to the right and to the left are already picking up pace in Europe and, frankly, I fear for the future.

You just keep on thinking that, that's so cute. If you take a look at Europe, where birth rates are at minimums and see the host of problems it brings, you'll see momyhood is not a luxury but actually a way to keep society afloat. But people don't matter amirite?