AngusThermopyle

How can I put this diplomatically? Wait! I've got it! You're a first class idiot. That sums it up I think.

Yikes! I forgot all about the northern forests! That could spell trouble, maybe we should burn it down. That'll stop the little bastards!

Sure did, I even got to break out the Ugly Stick a few times and catch dinner, it was great.

Agreed and agreed again. The pursuit of knowledge is never fruitless, the greater the understanding of our past the better our chances of not repeating past mistakes. Not only that but knowledge such as this can only serve to enrich us all.

I think what Oleg is trying to say is that its a shame the little girl didn't get to sing publicly.

Actually they were'nt "armed to the teeth", they carried the standard issue weapons. No grenade launchers, no MMG's, no anti personell mines, no artillery support. Would you say that was a slight exageration on your behalf? Next point: when ambushed it is very difficult to turn the advantage to ones own side. Given the fact that they were cops and not trained millitary personell its not surprising that the outcome was what it was. Further to this was the fact that they were not acting as a coherent group but rather more on an individual basis, advantage, ambusher.

Well I just read the article and I must be going blind because no where did I see any mention of what you stated. Come on, admit it, you just made that up for dramatic effect didn't you.

WTF! Obviously you have the most fleeting grasp of the internet and the technology that makes it possible. First question, do you even know what DNS stands for? I'll be nice and tell you. It means Domain Name Server, the key word here being server. Now, could you explain how the US controls all the servers belonging to all the providers in all the countries around the world? No you can't, because obviously they don't. If they did do you think internet connectivity would even exist in countries hostile to the US? And just how exactly could they even begin to control all those servers in all those countries? Do you think all those countries would stand for the US controlling their internet resource? What they can do is the same thing that all other countries can do, they can attack and disrupt through the use of various means, DoS, that sort of thing. They can not however control another countries internet service. Just more paranoid garbage based on an extreme lack of knowledge. By the way, the newest and most effective attack is now the DDoS attack, very difficult to counter and very effective in shutting down the parties attacked. If you are interested in knowing more about this subject I suggest you check out this site, the Gibson Research Institute. This guy is good, one of the very best in the world. Spend some time on his site and you'll start to learn just how these things are done. a really interest article is the one where he describes a DoS attack against the institute using Zombie Bots and how he countered them and finally shut them down. Gibson Research Institute

The first problem is that its anecdotal evidence, in other words no evidence at all. The second problem arises when people discount these disciplines due to a lack of understanding and knowledge relating to the subject. I can understand why you discount them as you've shown many times that you have an exceedingly poor grasp of the sciences. With the above statement you show clearly your lack of understanding relating to science. They do not use "past discoveries" to explain new phenomena, they use established and proven principles which they then apply to the question at hand. This statement is so silly and false it doesn't even warrant an answer, once again your abysmal lack of knowledge is trumpeting itself loud and clear. A meaningless question, sounds nice but contains zero substance. Sure we can, because its not real. In effect nothing happens at all, our environment does not change, we enjoy no relations with others, and once awakened no fears are dispelled. This is because its not real, its just a dream. Key to this is the word "if". Sure it can change your interactions with reality but it certainly can not change reality. We can dream that the earth is flat but it will not become flat because we dream it. One can try to live the life they wish to live, with or without dreams. The obstacles to living the life we wish to live are primarily other people and circumstances. No amount of dreaming will influence other people or change external circumstances. I would love to go on dissecting your silly post but I'm quite busy. However, I should address this following statement as it says so much about you. I should first make it clear that I'm not angry, amused yes, angry no. This is just one more example of you projecting what you wish upon myself, as such it is false and empty. If you presented anything other than meaningless drivel you might be able to challenge my thinking, however what you do present is merely cause for laughter, lots and lots of laughter.. Enjoy your dreams...errr...reality...no...dreams, whatever, just enjoy your delusional state.

wow! It may surprise you but for once I find myself in total agreement with you.

So, in other words just more of your unfounded made up crap and opinions. What an interesting style of debate you have, first declare all but yourself to be insane, then make up unprovable illogical crap and announce any who do not buy it are insane so they cant possibly understand. How lame can you possibly get? If thats the best you can do then you should just save it and spare yourself the embarrassment. Conversely you could just exercise those amazing powers of yours. Just imagine that we all agree with you and presto! We'll all agree with you as you will have altered reality to fit your perceptions. And you really have the nerve to call others insane, perhaps you should look in a mirror before making such statements.

Russia has always born such a stigma because they were and are once again becoming a menace. You simply can not compare Russia with the US, apples and oranges. No matter how you may wish to condemn the US they simply are not a totalitarian state that has murdered up to 50 million of their own citizens.

You know what? I was actually reading what you were saying until you got to this point. Thats where you blew it. Just look at what you posted, a few psychology for dummies books and you are pronouncing people insane over the internet! That strikes me as just a little insane.

Yes, the culture of violence will move with the people, it always has. Cant argue with that. The qualifier being "at least" makes this a very open ended statement. It allows the person making the statement to be correct no matter what rebuttal is made. In this case obviously it takes at least a generation, I dont think you would see signal changes to any demographic within ...say...about five or even nine years, more likely about 30 to 50 years. The real point however goes back to the first quote. The culture of violence moves with the people. It always has and probably will for the foreseeable future, distastefull as that may be it remains an indesputable fact. So what is the answer to this part of us? This distastefull side of our human condition?

Like em both, though I do prefer Bob.

Thank you AW, I really dislike it when other people attribute things I did not say to me. Actually I noticed that the condemnation of the police was pretty firm and one sided as well. Don't get me wrong, I certainly do not love the police (I really like the early stuff by the band though) however I do realize that they have a job to do and without them we'd all be pretty much screwed. By its very nature the job the police have to do is one that will bring them into conflict with those they serve, actually, some of those they serve. For the most part I find police officers do a good job. Of course, as with everything, you will find some bad ones, but I believe the bad ones are an extreme minority. I find it ironic that one who rails against stereotyping on a regular basis would then indulge in exactly the same behaviour.

Who was blaming immigration? What I actually said was the solution would probably include some sort of immigration reform, no where did I say immigration and immigration alone was to blame, I do believe I included other factors that should probably be considered as well. Is your tunnel vision so extreme that it now impairs your ability to comprehend what you read?

Ahhh, your usual style. How on earth would you know anything at all about my ego or how I percieve the world, as usual you are projecting your beliefs and placing them upon others. If anything that is one of the hallmarks of the true egoist. Here's a little clue as to my thought processes. You are correct, I do not believe in a god, however I also see Humans, including myself as deeply flawed and preoccupied with themselves to the exclusion of other concerns. Further, as such I take great pains to view things from a detached perspective. I see no need to rely on some unidentified and unproven entity to provide a moral compass. I further do not understand your insistence that unless one does so then one is insane. You then make the strong implication that I am insane because I do not share your views. Views I might add that include the somewhat odd assertion that reality is only what you perceive it to be and is therefore subject to change at your behest. That would appear to be an indicator of an unstable thought process, don't ya think? Having said that I will further point out that any discussion involving the ego or the id is subject to personal beliefs and not based in observable fact. Freud used to be of great interest to me until I discovered tha despite some ground breaking work he was actually a slave to his ego. After discovering this I decided that I would not discount his theories but rather view them with a healthy skepticism. Any who would take all of Freuds work at face value really should look at themselves, they'll surely find Freuds ego at work, perhaps even examples of the super ego which was another of Freuds postulations. By the way, when you talk of the "is" I believe you are mistakenly referring to the "id". You should read up a little on the subject before feeling bold enough to accuse others of being insane.

You assume that I rely upon society to provide my moral compass, in that assumption lies the flaw within your point. Given that there is plenty of bad in this world finding the good may not be so cut and dried. The fact that I am an adult of reasonable intelligence should be indicator enough that I can determine right from wrong and "evil" from good without society or "god" having to point this out to me. Discounting morality as corrupt and useless merely serves to illustrate an extreme bias or prejudice, something that could be described as morally bankrupt or corrupt in actual fact. Having said that I believe it should be clear enough that I do not require either some internalized mythical being or an externally voiced mythical being to provide my moral compass. If one finds it necessary to attribute any finer conditions of the human state to this being then more power to them. However it does not mean that one must believe in this mythical being in order to be capable of displaying the better parts of human nature.

We must be polar opposites. I don't like stores like FS and BB. They tend to hire anyone they can and product knowledge suffers as a result. Many times before I gave up on them I ended up explaining a product to store staff as they simply didn't have a clue about the product. Add to that the frustration one feels when trying to get service as you watch the employees go out of their way to avoid contact with you whilst continuing their little chat about the weekend and you have all the elements needed to lose my business. As for stereo stuff, well the last place I would shop would be FS or BB. They tend to carry main brand stuff, not the good stuff. When it comes to stereo I go with specialty stores such as Target Hi Fi in London or Peak Audio in Halifax, these are stores that sell first class equipment and have employees who are extremely knowledgeable. Yes, I am anal enough to actually wait until I'm in these cities before making a new audio purchase. I also love buying bulk. When I buy food from Costco I divide it up into single person sized servings and the bulk goes into the freezer for individual use. This is no more than I would have to do if I shopped elsewhere. Most retailers do not cater to single people so you usually end up repackaging for single use.

Hmmm, this is troubling. Is there any answer thats easy, I would say no. The answer would probably have to include immigration reform as well as some sort of reform to our citizenship requirements. It does sound reminiscent of the troubles many European countries are facing now. Is it a problem caused by immigration? Perhaps economic circumstances should be named as well, could cultural influences be part of it too? The answer is sure to be one that isn't easy and I believe will cause some pretty heated differences of opinion. Having spent quite a bit of time in Haiti what I can say is that rioting is just a part of life there. Perhaps thats also part of the problem.

I love Costco. The membership is no big deal, in fact I made the membership back with my first purchase after renewing my card. Being a guy who builds his own computers I tend to watch hardware and peripheral prices very closely. My new UPS was $35.00 cheaper than the next best price I could find anywhere in town and this trend continues with their other goods they offer. Not to mention the fact that they do stock merchandise of far higher quality than Wal Mart. Besides, go around supper time and you can just wander around eating the samples. Presto! No need to worry about cooking supper!

It appears that your thread is based in an assumption that there is a god. This is very much an open question as no proof has ever been presented for the existence of God, so therefore the question of God being the universe is very much in doubt. would it not be better to encourage people to behave in more humane ways through the use of moral guidelines rather than appealing to an unproven entity to provide our guidance?

Just in case anyone is curious about some of the recipients who receive grants you should check out Holy Fuck. They're techno pop, sorta, nothing objectionable about them really. They sorta sound like they were influenced by Kraftwerk with some old ELP, Rick Wakeman and Genesis (pre Disney Collins). Nothing objectionable, but certainly nothing really noteworthy either. Nothing deserving of special funding in any form. If people like what they do then they'll buy it and they'll do well. If people don't like it they wont buy it and these guys will have to get jobs, rather simple really. Given that people don't like it the question that arises is why should we fund it? Why prop up something most people do not like through artificial means? Purely for the sake of "art"? Holy Fuck

Actually AG I agree with you. Every member is entitled to fair process. In all honesty I have to admit to a huge bias in this instance having served under the man and having observed his incompetence personally. One thing I will never forget is that truck from HQ arriving everyday to load up on fresh food while he kept the boys on "boil in a bag". He thought nothing of throwing BBQ's for the coalition leaders in Mogadishu with his own mens food, food that he was denying them. Another I have no respect for is Dallaire. It was my misfortune to serve in Rwanda under him. He can never be forgiven for deserting ten of his men and doing nothing while they were slaughtered, even though he was well aware of what was happening. Not to mention the fact that he was too gutless to tell the UN where to jam their orders and do the right thing when thousands of innocent people were being openly slaughtered. His career was far more important to him than all those lives he allowed to be taken without lifting a finger in defense of them. A true coward and political yes man if ever there was one, certainly not a soldier by any measure.