:snicker: Better than the short story I read where an alien race's definition of sentient was: "Only sentient races put other creatures in cages."

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist

I like learning about Japanese culture and tradition and all that. But sometimes it's so bloody hard to find stuff that's not watered down to nothing.

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist

Very funny UW! Some of the Japanese "cult" and fashion stuff is totally scary.

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"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think she's armed." -G. Stoddart

Japanese make an art of everything! writing, dressing, fabric design etc. (They produce higher quality wools and silks than Italy,) Thats what I love about their culture. Its their respect for art and creative minds and encouragement, not just academic minds like the west focuses on (maths and science,) Well thats what I found throughout high school. They barely touched on careers for artistic people when i was there.

(Art has its own academic nature.)

(BTW- I have nothing against maths/science, there are things in science that I find facinating to learn about too.)

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up- Pablo Picasso.

I wonder if it's a case where, in Japan and other Asian countries, the fine arts are revered and do flourish but aren't so much presented as things to major in in university? Or maybe it's a case where there are a good number of Arts majors but we're less aware of them in the West, as the Asian students who come to universities here tend to be top maths and sciences students.

I remember, some years back, Atlantic Monthly magazine had a big article that focused on universities around the world and noted that more Nobel prize winners and patent recipients in fields like engineering and the sciences were affiliated with universities in the West, but in the same article, someone who had been on the admissions committee for Harvard's medical school was quoted saying that if they accepted students exclusively on academic merit, the students would be nearly all Asian women.

I was going to ask about your avatar pic, Candi! I couldn't immediately tell what it was before I read your comment, but now I see it...very cool...was that done with pastels/chalks?

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There is no problem that cannot be solved with time, patience, and a judicious amount of high explosives.

Springie, how do you put a picture in a post? I'd love to show the bigger version of the swan picture.

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Candi

Hollywood is a land of money and cowardice.

-Henry A. Lee, Cracked.com columnist