Phi for All

Does it have anything to do with arms sales? At the back of my mind, whenever I hear about new or old flare-ups of hatred, I picture someone lobbying for the arms dealers. Lobbyist: "Are you going to just let them take your land like that?" Hothead #439: "We don't like it, so we're sending someone to negotiate." Lobbyist: "And how long will that take? You know those people never listen." Hothead #439: "What do you suggest?" Lobbyist: "How much is it worth getting that land back once and for all? I know these guys...." Who stands to lose billions if sales are down because some sort of peace is achieved?

I work with many great people from India, Calcutta and Hyderabad mostly. I may get to visit in the next year or so. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tupperware has more use than you do for a tight seal?

Totally off-topic but I couldn't resist: The normal ratio of Views to Replies is between 7:1 and 8:1. This thread, due to it's title, has a ratio of 126:1. Sex *is* fun! Or there's just a lot of voyeurs out there.

Two rednecks are having a beer on the front porch. The first one says, "Hey, lemme ask you sumpthin'. If I was to sneak over to yore trailer some Saturday and make love to yore wife whilst you was out huntin', and she got pregnant and had a baby, would that make us kin?" The second redneck squints his eyes up and scratches his head for a while, then finally says, "Well, I don't know if it would make us *kin*, but it shore would make us EVEN!"

You probably won't be on a sub during basic, but if you are don't open the window. Stay safe.

Right on. In the US, I think movies are a big part of the problem, exaggerating and glamorizing a tiny part of the culture as a whole. Thus we end up with a country where people buy cars and homes to gain respect, guns for security and clothes so we can be thought attractive. Take away our stuff and you'd think we'd fall apart. We don't though. We adapt and realize the stuff is not really us. We pull together in times of crisis (unless there's a Walmart to loot) and show our character when it's most appropriate. The US has some strange values on the surface, but dig a little deeper and the bedrock is there.

Like most things, I think good representation should be a mix of all views, old and young, conservative and liberal, fiscally and socially minded, passionate and calculating. Only when all sides are considered can you be sure of a considered vote. If the entire parliament were just out of college, or all in their sixties, then you'd be in trouble.

Italy has no nuclear weapons, so if it comes to war France has the advantage. Plus more cheese.

I question this definition. Are you defending it or amending it?

There is a special level of Hell for those who even suggest such a thing.

Dignity is a point of view. You're assuming she had to lose her dignity to earn that money.

In the US, when you yank someone's chain you're having them on, "taking the piss" I think you call it, making fun of something they are being too serious about. I know it's part of your persona to be self-deprecating but I don't know why. Your posts are just fine, more knowledgeable than a lot of people's. You're not (quite) in the top ten on our Loony List, so stop worrying.

Since the home page is sort of like marketing for us, we don't want people being directed to silly posts like yours always are. We feel the tone of the forum should be.... Gotcha! I really have no idea why your posts wouldn't appear, except maybe it takes a bit more time than your giving it. I just saw you dangling that big chain and decided to give it a yank *. * I hope that doesn't mean anything sexual in the UK.

I wish the masses bothered to check facts. In some ways we are still subject to 19th century rabble-rousing, although innuendo has been replaced by spin and those who do bother to check facts quickly lose ground from the sheer volume of what is being reported 24/7 from all points of the globe. It's a good thing but it's a bad thing since the good thing is because of the bad thing - to put it in a sound byte makes you nod but tells you nothing.

Why are you so worried about voicing your opinion? You have another current thread about heavily censoring what you say politically. Are y'all getting thrown in jail for speaking your mind in Texas these days?

Help her with the ironing. Less complaining, and she'll probably be so grateful that, well, the iron won't be the only thing that's hot in your house. . Either Cl or HCl would work. When your wife sees the clothes, wrinkles will be the least of your problems.

(<- Me, not holding my breath)

I think we already have, to a certain extent. Litigation is increasing all the time. But worse, in the political sense, is that people have no time to really think through all the news that the media makes available to them, so we're often assaulted by mere bytes of sound, simplistic arguments that carry too much weight with the force of brevity. Look what effect the simple sound byte "WMD" has on people. Politicians have to be careful these days, since a lengthy, eloquent defense of freedom of speech and the right to symbolic protest can be rebutted by "he supports flag-burning". Four little words that would probably stir up a lot of false patriotism against someone who truly wanted to protect the US Constitution more than a piece of cloth that merely represented it. I do think people will be watching what they say a bit more in the future. Unfortunately, in the US, our democracy is strong but our freedom of speech is very fragile lately.

How would you feel if you had taken the time and effort to respond to someone's post with a well-thought-out post of your own, only to find out the next day that they had deleted the original, making your own post pointless? We have to consider continuity of the threads for those who read them later as well. It makes a thread look really goofy if someone goes back days later and amends a bunch of his own posts that others have responded to.

Could it be because you drank a bunch of pop, milk, gatorade and water trying to quench a thirst? I've had those types of thirst where no amount of water seemed to help and I ended up a bit queasy. I can only imagine what it would have felt like if I'd mixed so many different (and possibly volatile) liquids.

Absolutely not. I remember Michael Moore pointing this out specifically in Bowling for Columbine. In Canada the news is a very good mix of what's important, both discouraging and uplifting. In the US negativity tends to overshadow everything when it comes to news because no one leaves the room when they start talking about a cache of automatic weapons found in a suburban home. In fact, Moore asked a reporter (or a cameraman, I forget which) which story he would go after if he could only choose one, the weapons cache or a story about a dog saving a baby from drowning. The reporter wouldn't hesitate to go for the weapons. Much more riveting journalism.

I think the key here is to look at individuals. You can't be expected to love everyone since some really don't deserve it. I don't think our instinct is to hate each other so much as we tend to judge individuals too quickly based on very little information. It's the Fundamental Attribution Error at work, and it allows us to *group* people into definable categories. When you actually talk to an individual and get to know them, you find that most people are pretty cool and there is almost always something to like about them. But if you keep people at arm's distance and refuse to get to know them, it becomes relatively easy to hate them eventually. I'd love to see someone try that here in the US. A national broadcast with only positive news and some time for your local affiliates to mention practical news like road closures, election results and business highlights. People here *say* they would like to hear more good news, but can they really pull themselves away from the network casts with all the shootings, drug busts and tragedy coverage? Sadly, I don't care enough about you to expend that much energy, but thanks for *your* effort.