lairdside

I guess it varies from school to school. We covered a considerable amount of history, with a reasonable amount of detail. Much of which was probably extracurricular I realize in retrospect. Our teachers tried to actually inspire us to learn, rather than just to pass exams.

I just disliked all the memorization for WWII intensely, turned me right off, and in the "toss up" between geography and history when choosing my options, geography won hands down as a result.

nxylas

In that case, I dunno. I'm inclined to instinctively recoil from the idea of foetuses being harvested for vivisection purposes, but I may feel differently if I had a relative dying of some disease that could possibly be cured through stem cell research.

veryfunny

Typical, speaking out of two sides of your mouth.

Duncs

I loved History at school and took it right up to A level. Probably should have stuck with it a Uni instead of law. Mind you i arsed up my A level by spending to long on the question on the Irish Home Rule Crisis of the late 19th Century. After writing about 9 pages in the exam i realised i had around 40 mins left for 2 more questions oops! but i was so engrossed in my explanation i just didnt see the clock. Classic exam failure. Ended up with a B instead of my predicted 'A', a great disapointment to my teacher(back when A's were hard to get not like today).

There lots of US History to read and that doesnt include the pre colonisation history of Britain and Ireland. Currently i am reading Niall Fergusons new book 'Colussus' which is a history of American Empire. Its very interesting so far. If you want a good overview of US History try Hugh Brogans 'Penguin History of the United States of America' (he is a lecturer at my old University Essex).

lairdside

With a background in history and law have you ever considered becoming a law librarian? One of my nieces-in-law did the qualification after graduating from law school (I think it was some kind of masters) and loves it

lairdside

Here's a link about it:

http://www.aallnet.org/committee/tfedu/education.html

nxylas

Oh, so obviously it's different when you do it.

veryfunny

Ask me a question and I will give you a straight answer. Where do I stand on cell stem research? I am for it.

nxylas

But presumably you reached that conclusion after weighing up both sides of the argument. I think my answer was pretty straight: against, but acknowledging the complexity of the issue.

veryfunny

Lets just agree to disagree, no harm no foul.

nxylas

I get the impression that you thought that quote from Kurt Vonnegut represented my views, whereas they don't even represent Vonnegut's (he's far too intelligent to fall into such an asinine way of thinking). If you read it carefully, you will see that he is satirising the idiotic level of what passes for political debate in Bush's deeply divided America. You can read the article it was taken from at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0512-13.htm

veryfunny

You are taking this far too serious, I just wanted your opinion on what a conservative was and stem cell research.

nxylas

Well I have given the latter, but what is a Conservative? In America it seems to be someone who is really, really angry about the fact that there are people who are not exactly like them in every respect.

veryfunny

lol lol lol that was a funny one. I think both sides need a chill pill.

Jesse Ventura for President!!!!

nxylas

Did you see tonight's Simpsons ? A hugely outspoken attack on the wave of phoney patriotism currently engulfing America. I loved it, but it was enough to make Rush Limbaugh break out in anal cysts.