Sadly, this is not always the case. I’ve recently come across senior-level and  influential individuals who believe that:

“rural children would be better off out riding their ponies”

“there’s no evidence to prove that access to internet benefits anyone really, and what would anyone do with all that bandwidth anyway?”

” rural dwellers should be satisfied to have great scenery, what do they need broadband for?”

I could rant for hours about this, but I’m more interested in what the rest of the world thinks. Am I just a hopeless evangelist, or does this show the long-term effects of the digital/ age /pc literate divide?

I have no links with this group, but I noticed an interesting article today:

 http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1016285.shtml

Ireland.  A broadband basket case. Or not?

An on-line virtual world, low on graphics, peopled by everyone from war-mongers to would-be politicians.At first, it can be slow to grab you. Just log in, eat, train, work, blah blah blah. After surviving for a few weeks you begin to grasp the full meaning and potential of this glorious game.

I’m currently living in e-Ireland and it is rather uncanny how this world mirrors real life (RL), mixed-up politics with all parties a similar shade of green, questionable aims for irish unity, massive population growth followed by a recent decline, high costs, military neutrality, lack of affordable housing, massive hikes in food prices…you get the picture.

More than anything, I’m truly impressed by the diligent and earnest individuals  that bother their backsides to offer constitutional change, university education and social assistance to new-borns and juveniles.  If RL politicians had half of the ideas or the IQ of this lot, we’d be on the pig’s back.

Medical history texts show I’m in illustrious company:  Julius Caesar, King Henry VIII, Ivan the Terrible,  Napoleon Bonaparte,  Richard III,  Louis XIV,  Mazarin, Mirabeau,  Richelieu,  Doctor Broca, Valeria (daughter of Diocletian), the wonderfully named Curius Dentatus, and the fictional Robert The Devil.

However, folklore differs in how this omen should be read. 

• “to be born with teeth is a sign of future greatness”
• “the ancients predicted the highest destinies to male children born with teeth and the illustrious names we have cited seem to give some credence to this prejudice. But on the contrary the same anomaly is considered an evil presage for the female sex.” 
• “infants born with teeth arouse suspicion, they are called the “hard-bitten ones”
• “If a baby is born with teeth, it is a sign of great intelligence and betokens a wonderful future of greatness”

But had I been born in Nigeria……gulp…

• “Among certain Edo tribes (Esa, Kukuruku and Sobo) children that were born with teeth were “forbidden”, and among the Bini they were killed.Among the Isoko it was customary to kill children born with teeth for the welfare of the family and the wider community”

So what does my destiny hold, doom or domination? I’m still waiting to find out.

Now I’ve always considered this childhood event to be pretty normal, but it seems others are somewhat freaked-out by it. Do you know anyone born with teeth? Were you?