Post 25

I've decided to sit down and just write out a quick thing for fun. Who knows how long it'll take.

Off i go!

Tristan felt the leather of his cloak; it was moldy and scarred from use. The ground felt hard even through what was left of his armor and he could feel the blood leaking from every cut he'd taken.

His day was not going well.

Hours before Tristan was sitting in the tavern, enjoying some dwarven ale the Leaky Tap was famous for. Next to him was Dirk, his long time companion and cohort in all things juvenile. Tristan downed enough alcohol to kill anyone not used to the Leaky Taps staple dwarven beer.

"Another, barkeep. I need my nourishment." From across the bar slid a massive drink, cold liquid slopping over the sides as Tristan leaned back and downed it in one gulp.

Dirk watched in silence, sharpening his favorite dagger. Its sheen was bright and exceptionally clean, his name oddly befitting this habit. The din of the tavern kept everyone relaxed and chatty, a good sign for adventurous types like Tristan.

Outside, the road leading to town was quiet. Tristan walked out, letting the oak door slam loudly behind him. But something wasn't right; his sixth sense for danger that had kept him alive countless times was causing the hairs on the back of his neck to tingle in anticipation. Even his breath seemed to move slower in the chill night air. Tristan kept his hand on his sword, just in case.

Thinking back, he imagined that perhaps going outside was a poor choice of action.

Almost on cue, he heard the snap of thick branches. The cracks were loud, and he knew these were no ground twigs. These were the thickest branches of the tall trees surrounding the Leaky Tap.

Something very big was coming.

Tristan turned around and rushed through the door into the tavern, his entrance silencing everyone present. He looked around the room with a face that told everyone all they needed to know: ready yourselves.

The crashes grew louder as men and women, most adventurers themselves, grabbed swords, armor and sharpened weapons in the precious moments they had before whatever it was came stomping into the road separating the tavern from the forest. Dirk looked on and smiled; he loved battle, reveled in it, and was ecstatic that this time, the fight had come to him.

Tristan had few words of encouragement, but told them what he could.

"From what I can tell," he began, "it is incredibly large. It's possible we're looking at a troll, being that we're far from the roaming grounds of giants. Understand this: we work together, but stand alone. If any of you make a fatal mistake, i will not sacrifice myself to save you. IF this is a troll, and from what i know, an immensely large one, it's slime will corrode whatever you use against it. Avoid its mouth at all costs. Do you understand?" They all nodded in solemn agreement, several looking to those beside them. The scrubs were shaking slightly, but knew that the veterans of excursions into the wild, others like Tristan, knew what to do. All in all, they seemed prepared.

Tristan led the rabble outside and even through the loud crashes of trees and the shaking of teh very ground they stood on commanded them into simple formations. He hoped not too many would die today; he wanted the Leaky Tap to stay in business.

Everyone was standing in ready positions around the tavern when the sounds ceased. Tristan saw a half elf relax and stand, smiling. "NO! Don't move!" But it was already too late.

A tree trunk swung down across the road. It was massive, feet across and incredibly long, easily able to reach the half elf. He was too slow to react, those next to him tumbling out of the way as he was crushed beneath its weight. A bloody red and white pulp remained and a stench emanated from where the roots of the tree should be.

A massive, deformed foot covered in bulbous deformities slammed onto the road. The trees on either side bent and twisted, and the largest troll Tristan had ever seen lumbered into view.


Hmm, i quite like where this is going. I'll leave this here, and continue later. Enjoy!

Post 24- End of Summer classes

Well, today is my last class. Which means i now have nothing to do this summer but write, write and write some more from this point on.


Look to the future gentlemen.

Post 23- Delayed, Smoke And Ash

I get sick too often. Well, here's a lot more of Smoke and Ash.

The girl Hunter was grinding onto wasn't very attractive. Desperate, she'd put on a low dress and done her hair. The beer was already affecting him, and she looked much better in the changing lights and loud music. By now Michael's actual ability was out manuevering Hunter's energy, and he kept getting requests to dance with other women. Every time though, the girl in his hands looked up at him and smiled, beaming, and he just couldn't bring himself to let her go. In all honesty, Michael was falling for her, slowly but surely.

The first time Michael and Samantha kissed was at 2:30 am, on the dance floor at Jimmy's Bar. He asked her her name, and she told him. He didn't find out any more about her on purpose, because he liked the mystery.

By then Michael was focused on her and he had sobered up quite a bit. Her features were delicate, like a rose without thorns. When he finally found a few precious seconds to move his eyes off her, Hunter was gone. There was no way to tell if he had taken a girl home or gone back on his own after having a few more drinks.
“Is something wrong?” the girl asked, and pouted ever so slightly.

“No, no. My friend went home is all. I didn't see him go,” he said softly.

“Oh.” She smiled. “Well, it's getting late you know.”

“Yeah I know. It's okay, I don't feel bad about missing it.” He held her close, and kissed her again. She pulled away, and Michael looked surprised. “What's wrong?”

“I have to go...” She held Michael's hand as she walked to the counter and retrieved her bag and pulled out a pen and paper. She wrote something quick on it. “Here, it's my number. Call me, okay?”

“Okay, I will.”

Samantha walked out, looking back for a brief moment before exiting through the swinging doors. It was almost time for last call, so he headed back to the bar and ordered a few more drinks so he'd go home warm in the cool air. Damn, tonight was good, he said to himself, before realizing he'd have to pay for Hunter's rent. He took a seat next to an old man way past his prime, his skin aged by smoking, and a young women with dark red hair and highlights of black. She was drinking her own whiskey or rum, of which Michael couldn't be sure. When he ordered his drink, she turned to him, and asked him a very open question.

“Do you like that girl?” She was so forward that Michael was taken aback.

“Uhm, yea. She was nice.” He responded, surprised.

“You don't have to lie. I can see it in your eyes. She was a beautiful little thing too. You should be happy.”

Michael looked closer, trying to tell if she was just fucking with him or if she was completely serious. Her eyes were incredibly dark, a deep shade of some color Michael couldn't quite place. Her black lipstick shined against her soft, white skin and her hair kicked out energetically from its roots. She was looking at him with a soft smile, enticingly sexy, and along her neck was a patterned tattoo of a symbol Michael didn't recognize.

“Well?” she pushed.

“Yes, yes, okay? She was amazing. It's been awhile since I met someone I felt I actually liked. Why the fuck do you care?” He wasn't comfortable talking to this strange woman about this, not at all.

“Because, I was watching. It was...interesting.”

“Huh?” He was truly confused now.

“Tell me; what took her from a simply attractive woman to whatever it is she is now in your mind?”

Truly stunned, Michael leaned back a little. He had to think hard on this, through the liquor and dehydration, to come up with his response.

“It was her smile. I think. The way she looked at me, I could tell she felt the same. Guess that's all there was to it.” He paused. “What's your name?”

“Well, wouldn't you like to know? Let's not..” She leaned in close, her lips incredibly close to his ear, “make this personal.” Michael's eyes followed her hand, tipped in red nail polish, as she looked him in the eyes unblinking. It slowly moved toward his cheek...and touched it ever so slightly. Michael was lost in the sensation of arousal; the way she'd simply touched him to make him feel this way making causing an even more heightened attraction. With the slightest pressure she caressed it, following a line to his neck, causing arcs of cool energy to race through his veins. The hair on the back of his neck stood upright, and with her thumb she pushed his head to the side. It was moving to be in line with hers. He was breathing so heavily he thought he was having an attack of some kind. His eyes followed her arm as his head turned, as his entire heart seemed to shift in his chest. Face to face she was the most beautiful human being he'd ever seen in his life, and he looked her in the eyes. His heart stopped. He was unable to breathe, as if her movements controlled what he could do. She leaned in and closed her eyes, and kissed him.

Michael felt warmth fill him. His heart started to beat again, then more quickly until it was going in machine-gun bursts. He closed his eyes and rode a roller coaster of pure adrenalin. His hands reached up on their own and one held her waist, the other the back of her head. He was on fire, full of heat, lust, and desire. She was the one he'd been waiting for. He was sure of that now. Why else would.. Michael lost his thoughts as her other hand moved up his leg, causing it to spasm. Sensing that he was having too much at once, she let go and leaned back. Staring him in the eyes she pulled a few hundreds out of her bag on the counter, and placed them on the table. The old man sprang for them but the bartender was too fast and snatched them, as the old man cursed and continued to drink. Without blinking she got off her stool, and grabbed his hand.

“Come with me.” She said.

Michael followed.

 

“It could be said that men are weak creatures. That what they do is beastly, inhuman, and wrought in lucid imaginings. Simply put, men can be considered monsters of the classical bedtime stories, of the things we never wish to be. They are only animals, looking for survival in a world doused in chemical addiction and laced with debauchery. But the truth is much darker. We seek excuse for these actions of violence and sexual perversion. We seek affirmation that we are the 'norm'.

We are the monsters of our own nightmares. We scare ourselves. We are what is human.”

-Prof. Of Psychology at Clintwood International College

Lucas Brown, Phd.

The girl didn't so much as drag Michael from the bar as she guided him along a path he was destined to follow; or at least it felt that way. She never once turned back as they exited the bar, went out the doors and down the street. Then something struck Michael, like an anvil to molten metal.

“Where are we going?” he asked for the first time.

“You'll see, Michael.”

He'd never told her his name. He'd never said it out loud the entire time they were at Jimmy's. How did she know? Was she a stalker? Was she going to kill him?

“Are you going to kill me?!” He couldn't stop himself from saying it.

She stopped in the sidewalk, turned around and came nose to nose with him. Heat seemed to emanate off her body in waves, pulses of it washing over him. It was amazing, as if every beat of her heart could warm her surroundings.

“No, I'm not going to kill you. I wanted to show you something. Something I think you can appreciate.” She licked the sliver between his lips and worked her way into his mouth, and they embraced. From that point on Michael followed her without question, unsure of the ending but excited for the journey of wherever he was headed.

This was the best night of his life.

As it turned out, the location wasn't as important as the reasoning for the woman. She took him to a darkened alley, empty say for the trashed newspapers on the ground and the guttural howl of the air being squeezed down the passage. As he followed her down it, he was drawn to one particular place of no obvious significance. It lay just beyond the dumpster, and the woman let go of his hand and stood on the point. He stopped, terrified for what would come next.

“Wha- what?”

“Come here. I'm not going to hurt you.”

“O-okay.” He took a step forward, then another. She reached out to him and mouthed 'come' and added an innocent smile to the end, and he closed the last few feet without exploding or being shot, like he thought would happen.

Even in the breeze he could feel her warmth. It drew him in almost as much as her deep eyes and beautiful visage, but more than that, as he stood there waiting, he felt the breeze die down. This was a key moment, Michael was sure, but for what reason he did not know.

“I wanted to show you this.” She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small box.

“What is it? A keepsake? Something important to you?”

“You could say that.” She smiled that pulling smile that made you swallow and your manhood jump, and she opened it. Inside it looked like a normal box, but it was lined with something hard to make out in the darkness. The woman grabbed his hand and put it inside, and he could tell what they were immediately. Cigarettes. A Hundred at least. They were hand rolled, set beside one another perfectly, and they seemed filled to the brim with tobacco.

“Go ahead, take one. I made them myself.” He was compelled to grab one. He held it up in the light and it seemed to glow, the white paper glossy and soft at the same time casting a sheen onto the brick wall beside them. He could make out every detail. They were perfect.

“These are...these are perfect. I've never seen such...well...good ones before. How did you..?”

“Trade secret.” She replied, and giggled.

It was hand rolled, of that Michael was still certain, but either she was a master roller or she had used a machine to do it, because it was symmetrical, lump less, and had no markings of being roughed by human hands. Michael was lost between her allure, the sweet scent of tobacco in the air, and the sensation of the beating warmth undulating across his every feature. He wanted to smoke this cigarette with this girl, and he wanted to do it now.

“Can we smoke one?”

“I thought you'd never ask. Here, you take that one, and I'll have my own.” She pulled a lighter out of her pocket, and put the box away. She lit one of the cigarettes, breathed the open air in deeply, and breathed back out again. The smoke washed over him, a fog. Out of it came the lighter, which he took.

Michael held the cigarette in one hand, light the end, and sucked in.

Post 22- Smoke and Ash

Enjoy, fellows. Hope this suits your fancy.

Jimmy's Bar was a place they'd been to often, but rarely for long. They'd come in before, picked up a few beers, and gone home to drink with Jack and Kate most of the time, so actually staying and spending several hours or more was something totally new.

At this time of night, the early birds had indeed caught the worm, and on the dance floor you could see the guys with beverages in one hand and another on the waists of some girl. They had been drinking since the bar opened, Michael surmised, because a few were wobbly and looked as if they were a single sip from toppling over. Jealous of the fun they were obviously having, Michael and Hunter nodded to one another and approached the bar, eager to get started.

Hunter went with his old favorite, a German lager known for kicking like a race horse, and he sat listening to the music while his friend glanced over the bar and ordered a rum on the rocks. The bartender was a gaunt man, but he had dexterity where others had strength, and he simultaneously accepted tips, mixed tequilas, rums, and whiskeys and talked to the patrons. Everyone was laughing and having a good old time. The alcohol was already starting to hit Hunter and he wanted very badly to get on the dance floor and try his luck.

There were indeed some very attractive females out there right now.

This place was more like a club in reality, with the bar being fairly simple. Its name was more a moniker from the past owners, and 'Jimmy' himself was no longer the propriator. It had a massive dance floor, lights swinging across it and making patterns that allowed the too far gone to enjoy the visual splendor. Outside people stood around talking, making new friends and chatting up the girls one last time before they went home alone for the night, or trying to steal them away from there soon to be lovers for the night. It was all so beautiful, Hunter thought, as he finished his first beer and ordered another. To his right was Michael, and they listened in to some guys on their left who were clearly distressed at something.

“I just can't believe it, John” said the first.

“Well, we can't get into it now. Just drink. We'll *hic* talk to him in the mornin'” followed the second man.

“John, he's out there right now. We've gotta talk to him before he goes off on another of his stupid rambles.”

“You're just...jealous.” His eyes were wide at that statement. “Why don't you try it? I hear it's one hell of a” He stopped, lost in thought.

“Yur one hell of a mate, but ya gotta give the man some credit. He's got himself a woman, an escape from all this bullshit, and, well, he seems to be having more fun then any a' us.”

“He's a fruckin' smoker! That's gotta be worth somethin', Johnny boy.”

“All it's worth is a smack to the face and a talkin' to. The boy's got himself an addiction, a bad one at that, and we gotta stop 'im 'fore it gets worse.” John was resolved.

“Fine, i'll talk to him. Christ.”

And with that, the first man stood up from the stool, placed a 5 on the counter which was quickly grabbed by the bartender, and walked out the front doors. His friend John fell off the stool, causing a few people nearby to laugh.

“Fock you ya goddamn hippy.” John stood up and shambled out of the bar. He was clearly one of the early birds.

While such conversations were common at Jimmy's and bars elsewhere, it was rare for full grown men to take a stand when it came to their friends. At their age it was just an unspoken rule that you let your buds do what they want. This struck Hunter as something to remember.

Michael asked “What do you think that was all about?”

“Who knows man. Maybe he was a pothead or some shit. Only qyestion I got is why they'd be so caught up about it.” Hunter's brow furrowed a little, and he turned to Michael waiting for his reply.

“Meh, maybe they just didn't like smokers. Like a rule in their circle. Seems like that, at least.”

“Yeah. Hey, speaking of which,” Hunter had another sip of his lager, “you heard from Jack or Kate? I know you were sleeping but still.”

“Not a word. Could I get another?” he said to the bartender, who refilled his small glass with brown liquid.

“Wonder what they're up to...” Michael looked at Hunter and shook his head.

“Just drop it. If they wanted us to know they would've told us.” With that, he downed the last of his rum, and slammed it on the table. “Let's play a game.”

“Like what?” Hunter looked skeptical.

“A betting game. I take a girl home, I don't pay rent next month. Same rule applies to you.”

“And if we both win?” Hunter was smiling; nobody liked paying rent.

“Then we're both badasses and get some pussy. If we lose we share in the loneliness. Deal?”

“Fuckin' deal. You're on Mikey.” Hunter chugged the entire beer, stood from the stool and loudly exclaimed to the entire bar “Ladies!” He got a few interested looks. “Let's dance!”

He jumped down from the bar area to the dance floor and immediately started trying to imitate a good dancer. Before long, there was a women at his side, infected by his energy.

“You cocky bastard,” Michael said under his breath, and laughed. He walked down to the dance floor calmly, took note of a cute girl who was already dancing with a fairly gruff man, extended his hand, and asked politely “May I have this dance?” Her smile was all the confirmation he needed, and he took her hand and pulled her away from the large man, spinning her around and letting her feel like a top on a precipice. She was light and airy in his hands. Close up Michael saw she was wearing dark eye shadow, and her leggings and boots were a definite boon to her attractiveness. She'd come tonight, obviously, to get some action herself.

Michael was happy to oblige.

Post 21- EVERYTHING

I'm sitting in my room looking out a window at a wonderfully mauve blue sky, and i can't help but wonder...why has everything turned out so easy RIGHT when i thought my life was getting bad?

I just took an Anthropology final...the only one i was legitimately worried about...and finished in under 30 minutes. It was probably the easiest final i've ever taken.

In fact, tomorrow, i get to take a final that no matter what grade i get on it, i pass the class.

Lack of motivation, anyone?

Anyway, i've been sick the past few days, and i haven't commented or clicked anyone in a while. With the semester winding down and summer coming along swiftly, it's time to get back in the blogging ring.

Expect stuff to start showing up on your posts, ladies and gents.

Additionally, original pieces and more Smoke and Ash is to come; stay tuned!

For now, however, i'll leave you with my new favorite champion in League of Legends, Irelia.

Take care folks!

Post 20- Film, Theatre and LoL

So, this is dead week for me at college, and we're in the middle of final performances for my directing class. My show goes on Thursday and i'm incredibly excited for it.

It's a directed version of Dr.Fritz, or: The Forces of Light by David Ives. It's a funny, quirky play, and my actors have done a wonderful job with it.

Also due this week (or rather in about 4 hours) is a 6 page paper i'm writing as a comparison between earlier Soviet Montage (Namely Battleship Potemkin) and teh more recent montage film Koyaanisquatsi: Life Out of Balance. Should be an interesting look at the differences between montage then and now, and how they create varying degrees of emotional response.

As for League of Legends i've been kicking ass in the last few days playing an AP built Kog'Maw. The little guy is practically wiping the floor with the ranked 30's i've been playing, as long as i don't get close.

For you guys in college or even life, what has been something recently you've had to master or analyze?

Post 19

It's been 5 days since my last update.

Figured i'd talk about stuff i do, and post the essay i had to write for a class yesterday. In fact, i wrote it in 3 hours. Impressed yet?

Also, i'm a nub at LoL even though i'm good and have been winning games; but what's awesome is that i just found out how to activate abilities on items. So even though i'd been winning a lot, i had never used an items active ability....UNTIL NOW.

Anyway, doubt you guys would be interested in declining birthrates, but the following is an examination of whether it is a social, economic, or political problem (or otherwise).

Declining Birthrate: Social Problem?

Governments across the world have started noticing a big problem regarding their replacement rates following modernization. The demographic transition model, a model for pre-industrialized and post-industrialized nations and their birthrates, has proven true for every nation brought into the graces of modernization. However, at the end of this model, and as we are only just discovering, it appears that at Stage 5, major nations are predicted to decrease in population size slowly over time. Beginning as early as the 50's, this pattern began developing in major nations around the world, and today, is being followed by a frightening number of major powers. But why, exactly, does this keep happening? From Germany, to Japan, the UK, the United States and others, the question is not what is happening, but why. Is the trend of smaller families and fewer children an evolutionary adaptation, a social problem, a response stimulated by economics, or something else?

The Extent and Severity of Declining Birthrate

In Japan, which has the highest population density of any country today, people live in tiny homes, are surrounded by other people, and are allowed only the smallest amount of privacy (Crowded Nation). When Japan's Prime Minister publicly advocated increasing Japan's birthrate, people were shocked. But since the transition following WWII from an agricultural to an industrialized society, Japan's birthrate fell steadily from replacement value. By 1957 Japan's birthrate had taken an unprecedented nosedive by 50 percent in the ten years prior. After an extensive review process, it was determined that by the end of the 21^st Century, Japan would have half as many citizens as it does today, worsening current labor shortages by a huge degree; there would be more funerals than births for the first time in its history; and the population's average age would skyrocket (Japan: Men ignore families). This followed the pro-natal policies being taken back by the government in post-war Japan (Crowded Nation).

Across the world in Germany, there was a similar story. There was a decrease in births after 1964, but total population in the territory had tripled between 1871-1974 from 20 million to 60 million (due to in-migration, more births than deaths). But from 1971 onward the death rate has been higher than the birth rate, with in-migration expected to lead to a slight increase in population. Family size has diminished from 6, to 4, then 2, and so on since 1936. In The Population Development in the Federal Republic of Germany, a panel concluded that the decline was due to: secularization, less family planning on a daily basis; an increase in geographical and social mobility and urbanization, including new living and family structures; changes in economic activity, including gainful employment outside the home for women and changes in self-conception; and the spread of birth control influencing number and time of births of their children. Following this, governmental subgroups within population studies were created to help combat the declining rates and discover their root causes. The argument remained that Germany's birthrate would rise from immigration, but with even the best models in the panel, the total population was determined to decrease no matter what, with either increased emigration/immigration or otherwise not being enough to balance the population decrease.

For the newly transitioning industrializing nations known as the Asian Tigers, the long term forecast is even more grim. In The Long Term Forecast of the Demographic Transition in Japan and Asia, the aging of the population predicted in China, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore was to: adversely affect economic growth, voting structures, savings rates, and social security; be faster in Asia major than it had been in Japan, multiplying these negative side effects; lead to a shrinking labor force; a primarily old population withdrawing life savings rather than young people putting in savings affecting capital accumulation following economic growth; and the reversal of the 'demographic bonus' associated with higher birthrates after an industrial revolution and an increase in available resources (cheaper work forces, etc).

The above graphs are of the trends of population decrease in various industrialized Asian nations and of the changes in age and the dependency ratio in these nations. What the Long Term Forecast determined was that these trends would lead to a higher old voter population than young, and would encourage stagnant policies and right wing voting tendencies, and that their pay-as-you-go social security was to suffer. Additionally, rising tax revenues during population growth would be reversed, and that this would happen “strikingly fast”.

Socio-Economics/Politics and Their Relation to Birthrate

The cause of the falling birthrate can be attributed to many different contributing factors. In Visions of the Volk: German Women and The Far Right, feminist politics in Kaissereich through the Third Reich in Germany were examined. While not directly related, it was a unique case where prior to WWII, pro Nazi feminists advocated the power of women as 'carriers of the blood' in the hopes of having powerful Aryan children. While not causative, it is important to realize that following the fall of the Third Reich, these policies were completely eradicated and birthrates fell drastically.

China, a nation that contains roughly 22 percent of the world's population but only 7 percent of its arable land, only recently had its population growth increased 3 percent in a single year (1986-1987). It attempted a one-child policy to help alleviate the exponential growth (Prosperity in China Raises Birthrate). But even with the demographic bonus associated with the increase, families everywhere were paying the fines to have more than one child, and the government, realizing this, abolished the policy.

In In Praise of Good Breeding: Pro-Natalism and Race in the British Media, Jessica Brown discussed the slew of policies the British government was considering for implementation after it was found that every nation in the European Union was below replacement rate. These included increasing the influx of migrant/immigrant workers, increasing the retirement age, and reconsidering the types of benefits associated with childbirth. The low-fertility rates have raised fears among the populace, perpetuated by the media (or at least talked about) that question what will become of British identity, the labor force, state pension plans and more. The point Brown made was that the role women and their reproductive labors played in nationalist policy was significant, deserving of central roles in government projects, because the work they performed in the home was “integrally tied to the economic, military, and moral strength of the collective.” This served to tie socio-economics more tightly to the changes in female reproductivity, a counter-intuitive but logical discovery. It is generally assumed by many that the falling birthrate was due to various socio-economic pressures, but seeing the political and media scene being affected by it was an interesting find.

It is obvious, however, that families are growing smaller in industrialized nations, that men and women both are working longer hours, from Japan (Men Ignore Families) to Germany (German Women). This has effected people on the conscious and unconscious level, causing viewpoints to conflict and smolder. One woman in Germany discussed her dismay at being sneered at when she enrolled her son in afternoon classes, something only becoming popular today after more than 200 years of schools letting out by 1 pm (German Women). This change is freeing women to have a full-time job and not require a sitter, but in the article, it was evident there were negative sentiments to this change. Some German women viewed this as a cop out of sorts, because a mother should stay home to take care of her children, as is tradition. What was increasingly obvious were the social changes regarding the positions women held in German society. German policies, following the birthrate crisis, encourage them. These policies to support parental cohesiveness include paying 67 percent of salary for men, bridging the traditionally accepted gender roles, on family leave during the first 14 months after childbirth. In fact, many men opt to return to work after a much shorter period (2 months), showing a value for the job than for the family. Additionally, more women were being given higher positions within companies, and the article brought up the point that conflicting interests in population policy and the freedom of choice could arise if companies begin requiring women to take maternity leave, where they would be paid less money for not working but instead raising their child, a deal to some and a gross violation to others. The prevalence of salary as a concern for starting a family isn't just isolated to Germany, with many socio-economists viewing it as a factor in causing smaller families around the world.

On the other hand, some sociologists believe that social norms that influence reproduction have varied from culture to culture throughout history. Following industrialization population increased with resources, but birthrate declined sharply in many isolated communities simultaneously following the French Revolution (Why are Modern Families So Small?). The family size decrease matched family size discrepancies (less variability/diversity in family size) and seemed related to the expanding of modern social networks and less communication with relatives. While prestige influence (behaviors associated with increased social power, i.e. better jobs requiring more time for work and less for family) correlated with the decline in births, it seemed unlikely to have preceded declines in fertility rates, as many of these 'modern' jobs were created after the problem began to arise. These social influences are described in Modern Families as the 'group control' hypothesis, with economics and individual choice being viewed as 'individual control'. In Modern Families the evidence tended toward group dynamics and communication as the likely source for why the population decline occurred in lieu of economic and resource-related prosperity in nations around the world. 

Effects of Reform and Plans for the Future

In the United States welfare reform caused a massive ripple in 1996 when it was decided that states would govern themselves concerning the availability of welfare to families, especially those single mothers who had children after already having welfare. With The Family 'Cap' told the story of one mom who after having multiple children and being subjected to the policy changes, she survived off charity and part-time jobs to feed her four children. This reform bill seemed to be a complete contradiction to the almost universal trend for governments to encourage mothers to give birth when they were below replacement value. This 1996 welfare reform bill allowed states control over their own welfare checks; 22 followed New Jersey in saving money and in their words teaching 'personal responsibility' by capping the size of welfare families, a policy eerily akin to the one child policy in China. But the reforms got results. Following their introduction, a Rutgers University Study revealed that abortions rose by 14 percent in New Jersey and birthrate among welfare recipients dropped by 12 percent, with abortions higher among black women than hispanic or white women. It raised the question that child birth and having a larger family are both socially and economically motivated, but more importantly, showed that government reforms in relation to population policy could have a measurable effect, something many policies elsewhere found difficult to overcome.

But back to Japan. Robo Sapiens Japanicus, a witty title for an otherwise mainly academic article, examined the changes to be expected for the nation in the world that has 52 percent of the its robotics. It looked at how the central role of household robotics/technological devices could offset Japan's aging population. It postulated specifically that the declining birthrate in recent years could be attributed in large part to shrinking family budgets, the high costs of education for children, the death of public childcare facilities, long working hours for adults as well as unpaid overtime, and the replacement of regular working employees with 'just-in-time' workers. But in Japan's factories robotics have already replaced much of the cheap labor force, and introduction of the bill passed by Japan's government allocating $36 Billion to robotics development seems to support the idea that robotics are being seen as a solution for many of the problems associated with decreasing population. The introduction of this new technology could be seen as a possible solution to issues with child rearing in traditional Japanese family units; it is adaptable to their long hour lifestyle and convenient for the average 'nuclear' family in Japan, which already includes members that aren't necessarily related biologically. While fears were expressed, ranging from the loss of family direction to spiritual and intellectual cultural stagnation, the possibility to compensate for the gradually aging populace was presented as an appealing alternative to other, more extreme birthrate solutions.

Conclusion

It remains to be seen if the decline in populations for post-industrial nations will continue. Its relation to social viewpoints, economic trends, political policies and even biology are so varied that it is hard to form an ell encompassing theory. It can be said, however, that the declining birthrate is most assuredly a social problem in some respect, either fueled by or contributing to social problems around the world. In Japan, the United States, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere, the approaching storm of cheap labor reduction, empty homes, lower capital and increasing out migration seem a certainty and pose tremendous problems for not only the everyday citizen but also the human race as a whole. In a world where emigration to low-fertility nations accounts for 80 percent of their growth (Longing for the Good Life), what will happen when those migrations stop? While not a problem to mull over during our lifetime, it is important to consider the ramifications modern socialization, communication and prosperity will have in ages to come.