Uncensored ramble: It's become evident to me again recently that there's a backwards generational slant* on information processing. Children see a world of data, understand fact-checking and verifiable sources (as though they've sat through some Harvard Referencing classes..) because the internet is an unwieldy beast and you can't always trust it. I grew up with nightly news; Channel 4 says basically the same as BBC and 5 phrases things a little differently, they all pretty much agreed what was news and how it should roughly be interpreted. The internet does not agree. It's also the most frequently updated source of data on many (I'd go so far as to say, most) subjects. Naturally this is the resource that kids go to and have learnt a little critical thinking to process the plethora. Data has always been the same and people providing you data have always put it through their own perspective (.. yeh? .. 'through their own perspective' ...  ... that was  *tumbleweed*  a  joke...? anyone? .. .. yeah my sense of humour's weird..) so nothing has really changed except how much data we get and how we approach it.

*This is another of those terms I've adopted.. generational slant typically occurs when children observe parents/adults in action without understanding why adults are doing [the thing], the meaning or context of those actions becomes irrelevant to the future generation. Later the child as an adult can replicate (believing it to be the same) with a completely independent motivation born of their own perception, potentially leading to wildly different results from the 'same' action.

Completely random this thing about rats!

Off topic but on my mind today:
I once knew a woman named Margaret. She's probably among the top ten people I've ever met; smart, resourceful, kind, aesthetically pleasant (I'm shit at lists like this but..) Margaret has a presence that could sit beside you as easily as look into/through you. Amazing woman. We were talking about.. oh I dunno I was probably going on about the weight of the world around my shoulders and my arrogant assumption that since I had contributed some pain to the world I was now responsible for all of it, or something along those lines. She could draw your attention without speaking, so I was rambling and she grabbed my gaze saying, "You're only human." Those clear eyes showed me conceited and vulnerable, it was uncomfortable (little like a butterfly on the pin) but it pushed me into consulting with reality before letting the feelings overwhelm me. Most often when struggling with life (being functional) it's this nihilistic bitter hatred, as though the world somehow expects me to pick up its litter and pair its socks while it sleeps... but I'm only human. I have a mind to observe the world around me, my actions and dependants to take responsibility for and personal power through which to do that. I'm only human. And (unless another animal's reading english) you're human too.