@ewing - What kinda calls? Pranks? Angry rants? Emotional breakdowns?

ANSWERS:

Owen: My monthly comic list has gotten a bit out of hand, with 25 or so titles I'm reading.  Some are bubble titles, and some are limited series and ending soon, so that may drop a bit.  Here's the list...
Berlin by Jason Lutes (more like yearly than monthly), Rasl by Jeff Smith, Powers, Fatale (or Criminal or Incognito - whichever Brubaker and Philips are doing at the moment), Saga, Mind the Gap, Mind Mgmt, The Massive, Moriarty, Saucer Country, Whispers, America's Got Powers (Jonathan Ross, more than a talk show host), Spaceman (and anything Azzarello and Risso do), Secret, Manhattan Projects, The Walking Dead (in hardcovers, not monthly), Batman, Detective Comics, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Batman & Robin, Batman, Inc., Batwoman, Birds of Prey, X-O Manowar (really excited about the Valiant re-launch, I was a huge fan in the early 90's), Harbinger, Bloodshot, Archer & Armstrong.  Wow, I may have a problem.

Big Damn Artist - I'm with Doctor Submarine, Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You...and at Christmas Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You

Owen, was that prompted by the DC reboot at all?  I've really liked Snyder's Batman and his Swamp Thing even more.  1st time I've read Swamp Thing monthly since Alan Moore's run.

Last edited by dbngaa (2012-07-02 19:56:56)

Partly. I wasn't really a fan of Grant Morrison's take on Batman, so I was interested in what it'd be like post-Morrison. Also, I started university at around the same time as the New 52 debut - so that meant I could actually afford to keep up with a few titles (thanks student loans!).

@vidina - When you found out you were going to be a father, did you feel too young/not ready or anything like that? Or did the parental instincts just kick in?

Vidina, I'm curious about the ages you state for you and your sister in " middle school"  How does the grade system work where you are from? Here in the U.S. most kids start kindergarten around age five and then elementary school goes from first to fifth grades with middle school being sixth, seventh and eighth grades and high school being ninth through twelfth grade. Middle schoolers here are usually 12 or 13 with 16 year olds being in middle of high school as sophomores or juniors. Are your grades structured differently or do you start school later?

In Scotland, it is-

Nursery: 3-5
Primary: 5-11
High School/Grammar/Secondary:  11-18
College/University is optional after High School, I didn't go until I was 21.

You can leave High School at 16 but they try to keep you on for two more years by paying you. Which is nice. Primary can start at 4 and High School may start at 12, it depends on which part of the year the child's birthday falls. It can get a wee bit complicated but what I wrote above  is bascially it.

You talk funny. It almost sounded like you said the gub'mint pays you to go to school.

All our Europeans: how well do your universal health care systems actually work? Choice of doctors, wait times for procedures, etc.

/America: home of cheering for people dying because they can't afford insurance

@Zarban
Here in Iceland it is working rather well considering everything.

A little overview (from wikipedia):
The health care system is largely paid for by taxes (85%) and to some extent by service fees (15%) and is administrated by The Ministry of Welfare. A considerable portion of government spending is assigned to healthcare
There is almost no private health insurance in Iceland, and no private hospitals.

We pay for it with our taxes but then again... when the hit comes the system takes the biggest part of the blow.

Here is a little example. Few months ago my wife woke up one morning with a pain in her back. Three hours later she was admitted into the ER paralyzed. She had a virus infection in the spinal cortex and the inflammation paralyzed her from shoulders down. She is now in recovery and doing better although she is still in the hospital.

Ok let's look at this. Because we have been paying for the health system with our taxes we got world class health system. She has gone to countless different tests and scans.  She has had drugs that are so expensive that if we had to pay for them our self we would have been wiped out financially. She has been in hospital for almost four months and is geting access to amazing doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other specialized staff. She gets food, drugs and full service. I could go on and on but I'll keep this short.

Bottom line. We have payed since my wife got sick for the ambulance that took her to the hospital in dollars little under 38 bucks.

We pay for it in our taxes and the health system has been taking a massive hit because of the economic crash. The budget is being slashed rather heavily. But the doctors and the nurses are doing amazing work. Truth to be told most people I know think the US system is inhuman and nobody understands why you let the government  and the big business do this to you.

Last edited by AshDigital (2012-07-12 22:06:11)