I think the major change in the world since the good ol' days of our childhoods is that there are now twice as many people as there were back then.

Which means twice as many busybodies and perverts per square mile. Now if the busybodies would just annoy the perverts and leave everyone else alone...

Hmm, I only count 3 golf courses and a horse race track.

The golf course just NE of my house is about to be turned into apartments. That one wasn't too popular since it had a fairly major road going right through it. Not sure if they're going to build on all of it or just the section closer to Dun Laoghaire.

Nope, not Scotland. Try Ireland, about 7 miles SSE of Dublin.

Damn, I hate helping other people get drunk, they never help me. :laugh:

I don't think the mathematical relationship between population and busybodies is as linear as the mathematical relationship between population and perverts.

Ok, twice as many perverts, four times as many busybodies.

I think Mike is right. It seems that population pressure and other factors are driving human cultures to change to more personal problems. I would guess that the frequency of encounters with pettiness and useless confrontation has increased by well over an order of magnitude in the past 20 years or so.

:laugh:

Sounds like a perfect solution to me!

Why is it that the idiots & freaks can't just stay in their own little corner(s)? Why do they feel so compelled to piss the rest of us off????

Because they're idiots and freaks, of course! :lol:

It's mathematical, to do with the numbers of souls we can keep close.
I can't remember the 2 young French sociologists names, or even exactly when I read their thesis. How ever, they travelled the world to prove their theory.
One, the "tourist", the other, the "hidden cameraman". The tourist would suddenly drop to the ground writhing, shacking.
In the little village, people came out of every door to help.
In the big city, people crossed the street to "not get involved".
The same pattern all over the world. The conclussion? The more people crowded around us, the more we have to insulate ourselves from them, for our own sanity.
The more we have to insulate ourselves, the worse we can be to others.

Some go on to become the Adolph Hitler's, the Idi Amin,s, the Adnan Koshogi's, the Robert Mugabi's of the world. Others steal little girls called Madeliene, or push wheelchair bound American cruiseliner passengers over the side of ships at sea. Remember the
Achille Laura?

On the other hand, it has been a lovely sunny winters day here today.

That seems to make sense but I would like to see corroborating data regarding the conclusion.

An alternative explanation of the phenomenon is a large city has emergency services trained to handle a situation like that and people are drilled from birth to let the professionals handle the job. There is also a proliferation of lawyers who teach people not to take risks because they can be sued if they make a mistake; or even if they don't.

In a small town, there is nobody else to deal with it, so people don't assume it's someone else's problem.

Many states have Good Samaritan laws to a) protect people who try to help and b) require any trained people who happen to walk by to help.

When my husband was a security guard in the Philly burbs, another guard had this argument with management. A formal policy came down from headquarters stating "call for help; do not attempt to assist yourself." PA had a Good Samaritan law... and the guard was a trained EMT! There were other guards with Red Cross certifications in CPR, First Aid, etc... and according to company policy, they had to "call the professionals" and stand there and possibly watch people die, which they'd got those certifications to avoid. Yes, they should take a second to call 911. Yes, they should make sure the doors are unlocked so the paramedics can get in. But odds are they can do more good trying to help the person than they can standing outside waving at the ambulance as it pulls up!

Not to mention that ambulance response time is 5-15 minutes... by the time the professionals get there, they may be just hauling a corpse to the morgue.
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/n...hard-push-fast

This has nothing to do with what they want you to do and everything to do with what they intend doing to you to protect the company at your expense. It's a policy they put in place so they can avoid being sued by saying, "What person xyz did was against company policy and person xyz has been fired. This company absolves itself of all responsibility for the actions of person xyz."

If person xyz was being awarded however, the company would be very quick to claim it was due to their wonderful training program or hiring policies.

Too damned right Mike.

Almost every statute in this regard I have looked at, is all only to protect the company or insurance industry from litigation.

You are a cynic after my own heart my friend.

LadyM, the "call for help, do not attempt to help yourself" idea, is purely the public servant projecting their own lack of useful knowledge and competence, on to the rest of us. And their reluctance to make any decision at all in case they get in trouble for making the wrong decision.
Because they don't know anything, it is presumed, we know even less, because after all they are the government. How dare we challenge their authority with actual knowledge.

Me? I'll continue to stick my nose in and help where ever I know I can. So there. (Now, where is that cheecky icon).:p There it is.

Ermph. It sounds like even Australia is ruled by lawyers.

Oh, they caught on very quickly from their American colleges.
They really have a good hold on the corporate rights game. Not so strong in the humanities department. Professional ethics? Bah humbug.

You might have heard the reason that the testing labs are replacing rats with lawyers these days.

It's because there are some things that a rat just won't do. :lol:

Rats are not actually an unintelligent animal.

I've just had an idea. Burt Rutan needs a couple of new crash test dummies.
Sorry to hear about the men killed in the accident.

Do you think it would be possible to train lawyers to push buttons, get banana, push button, get Hershey bar, push button, go to Mars.
And "beauticians", most of "Hollyweird", really important people like that would be needed to colonise Mars. Right?

And then we all go like hell the other way. ANY other way.:laugh:

I heard it was because the scientists were getting attached to the rats and didn't want to hurt them.

:laugh:

Well you can get attached emotionally to critters. I do.
I would not be without my white dog.
Named Bowie, he has a brown right eye and a blue left eye. Not a David Bowie fan, but the name seemed appropriate.
The small herd of cattle in the paddocks, are as affectionate as any dog I have had.
You wanna try a 2 ton cuddle from a jet black Angus bull? He is amazingly gentle, even with kids. That's Black Jack.

Boffins and lab rats are akinned.