Hi folks,

So every now and then a person comes to these here forums, very hopeful and excited about the concept of a deep and inter-cultural exchange on the basis of language learning, proposes the creation of a Skype group for this purpose, believing that if a one on one is great, then a many on many will be merrier. But many of the founders of such groups seem to lose interest in the idea and in the learning of languages altogether, leaving their propositions hanging out there for people to catch on even after they themselves have forsaken them.

So my question to the people who participated in such groups, are they any good? Did you improve you skills in the language that you are seeking to learn?

Last august, Tunisia's Minister of Education said that children in school will start learning French in second grade (7 years old) and English in third grade. Children would have then started learning arabic (Modern Standard Arabic which is different from the tunisian dialect) the previous year.

I think that this is too much for a child to learn. And I fear that in trying to catch two rabbits we are going to lose both.

What do you think?

I really think that Tunisian movies do not represent the society that I know. Some Tv series do but they tend to misrepresent some things or exagerate some aspect. Some talk shows are just horrific! We are having a proliferation of such shows where people come and share about their misdeeds, their degenerate natures and the messed up relations they have with people around them in general. And the lies they tell!!

Sometimes I fear that I may actually be living under a rock and that I am not seeing what is happening under my nose.

I don't think the facebook account should be visible to everybody by default! New comers here , who may not want people to know their facebook accounts , may not notice that their facebook accounts are visible to every one!

This is the title of a TEDx talk. the speaker talked about some really interesting concepts that are now considered to be facts although we have no proof for them. For instance the constants of nature that are actually not constants. The video here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKHUaNAxsTg

I have been getting the feeling recently that science has become like a dogma. People who decide to go against what "science says" , even if they give some good and sound arguments , are isolated and almost accused of being heretics. In 2008 a documentary titled "Expelled : no intelligence allowed" was released. This documentary explained how some scientists were coerced into not raising their doubts about the theory of evolution. Be you against or in support of it , this must be an alarming behaviour by the mainstream scientific community.

I personally like science , and I find the things it describes absolutely marvellous. But forcing people to think in a certain way , or presenting things that are not facts as actual established truths , cannot in any way advance the cause of the human race , and most certainly not that of science. 

Ernest Vincent Wright's novel "Gadsby" is a truly remarkable work , for this book contains no "E"s. 

Any chriptographer will tell you that E is the most widely used letter in the English alphabet , thus the challenge is a considerable one. 

You can verify this , here's a link to read the book. 

The book is in the public domain , no worries about copyright issues:

http://spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/