metalslug

+1 People with carefree, happy attitudes are often also people who blame their misfortune on karma, god, "blue mondays" or "shit happens". Shit never just happens. Somebody, somewhere, makes shit happen. Those who constantly plan for contingencies are usually better off.

Did you really just compare the integrity of modern US immigration law to the mid-20th century law of minority regimes in India and Africa ? ...and in the same reply suggest that others should have a "more realistic world viewpoint" ? On a sidenote: Right and wrong are points of view, much like good and evil. The fact that they were (or are) written into law means that somebody, at some time, believed it to be "right", even if it wasn't you.

Avril Lavigne. I've got a thing for petite women that dress and behave like tomboys. Have not seen a recent photo of her though, maybe I need a new fantasy.

Sociopathy is a loosely-defined term that may be used to refer to several things. What would you like to refer to? ...and why is this an unacceptable quality for a professional in this position to have? Some forms of big business have daily turnovers in millions of dollars. One decision, one comment to the media, one deal.. can translate to millions in losses or gains. This is not to say that all CEO paycheques are justified, but some may well be. If the CEO that takes $1million per day is also making $5million per day for his shareholders, then that is probably preferable to the $10k CEO that only makes $1million for his shareholders. For the directors and shareholders that appoint and pay these CEO's, it's often a case of simple math.

I dont completely dismiss your point, especially since this specific example is a 3rd generation owner. But... Who appointed his minions? Who appointed the right people in the right positions in order to be profitable? Who devised the incentives to keep them there? Having you on staff was a stroke of business genius, not so? Surely that deserves reward? If the rich CEO is not entirely reponsible for the company success then he cant be held reponsible if the company were to fail either, correct? One rich CEO once told me: "When a fish rots, it always rots from the head on downwards." ...with the implied lesson that the top guy is always indirectly responsible, for better or for worse; He appoints staff, who in turn appoint other staff, who's overall competency, productivity and profitablity eventually form the sum of the decisions of the top man.

If crime statistics showed that a disproportionate number of crimes were being committed by people driving blue panel vans, would the authorities be at fault to stop and search a disproportionate number of blue panel vans ? Profiling has been around for quite a few years already. I'm not sure how racial profiling is any less valid than other forms of profiling.

It's South Africa, and so perhaps not as interesting as US events... but this article has religion, politics, racism and the judiciary all in one event. That's got to be worth something in this forum... Link

You are certain that Christianity holds the patent on creationism? Atheism and Christianity are not the black and white of all religious debate. How about deism or any number of other beliefs?

Paypal was good for the few times that I used it, until they put me in a Catch 22... I originally registered with an email address that later became obsolete. When I logged into PayPal to change the email address, it said that I first had to confirm my identity or ownership of the account by using the code or link that would be sent to the currently registered email address (now obsolete), which of course I could no longer access because the mailbox no longer exists. I sent 2 emails to Paypal support explaining the problem and received no reply. I had no other choice but to cancel the account and re-register. Oddly enough, I did not need a confirmed email to cancel the account.

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Do you think the "7.5 million" was a statement blunder? ...which also just happens to coincide with the national population count? The first time I read that quote; it was fairly obvious to me that Micheletti intentionally implied his belief that the entire nation would rise to defend the country as an 'army', not necessarily as troops with guns, hence the 7.5 million. It's a bit of a shocker that you two didn't get that.

Sure, this is Africa, we got plenty...

...only when applied to specific examples. I have yet to see that definition repeated in any reputable dictionary. I know people that have had bad experiences with alcohol. If such a person, or even their friends & family, subsequently avoided alcohol because they believed it would give them hangovers, or impair their health in some way, would they be considered ignorant and cowardly? ...or would they be considered prudent? ...or would they be making a simple personal choice resulting in no harm or foul towards anyone else? (Keeping in mind that it is possible to use specific kinds of alcohol responsibly with no ill effects, sometimes even having a real good time!) Until people can agree on what racism is and is not, it will always be difficult define racist behaviour.

Could you perhaps elaborate on why this is a "great experiment" ? Do you want to test game theory on a community forum? To what end? With respect to "Albert W. Tucker", the legal analogy is a poor one anyway. Troll dude... troll.

Every time I hear Miranda, this movie dialogue comes to mind... Not a reflection of my real opinion though, I'm in favour of due process.

I have my doubts, except perhaps for making very short-term predictions. A computer program is only as good as the data that you feed it. A computer reaches conclusions based on raw mathematics and statistics, with very limited intuition for human nature and politics. Changes in world leaders and their economic advisors, natural disasters, consumer spending, national morale, war and diplomacy, corruption, insider trading, legal settlements costing billions,... are all things that can affect economics and the survival of big business, and only a fraction of these have elements of predictability. If the best team of world economists are struggling to make reliable predictions on the "overwhelming complexity of today's markets" then I doubt that a machine is going to trump them, at least not for several decades still.

Keep your mind out of the gutter. You're blocking my periscope...

*raises hand*... Several years ago I spent some time on IRC networks. On two occasions ladies from the US did actually phone me just to hear me speak. Go figure. It should be noted though that it's specifically the "english" South African accent that's popular. In a country with 11 official languages, the Afrikaans accent is considered "gutteral" (think Lethal Weapon 2) and the native African accents sound just as they do anywhere else in Africa.

...start the next "The poster above me..." thread.

Dude, You just keep sticking it out there for forum members to cut it off each time. Is someone putting you up to this ? Enough with the alternetive reality shows already

Sweet cheezus! I'm now reading that neither the debris nor the oil slick was from the aircraft. At least we will all get to write a new thesis on the cause.

100MB ? ...and I thought 3MB was a big photo. I'm in South Africa, will you be swimming across if I win?

Reminds me of this post too.

I agree with this logic, but then I read from CNN... I would expect that it's quite possible for fuel tanks, even if detached from other parts of the fuselage at high altitude, to remain largely intact until impact with the ocean surface before rupturing or leaking. Apparently this minister does not agree. Given the fuel slick in one location vs. the wide debris fields 35 miles apart, which is more likely?

Are we talking about bullshitting strangers or bullshitting people we've already met? Sexual chemistry very seldom happens online, it happens face to face. It might speed things up to bullshit online to get a physical introduction, but from there on you often get reevaluated on physical chemistry anyway. You score, or fail, based more on that than on your online persona, whether it was BS or genuine.