Albert Flasher

[quote name='Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f']A total of 230 Lebanese have been killed so far and only 25 Israelis. I'm not saying that Israel is targetting civilians, though it might be. I'm just saying it is knowingly killing civilians. [/COLOR][/quote][COLOR=Sienna] Just something I wanted to say... Isreali bombs are designed to take out buildings and structures that the Hezbollah uses - bridges, radio towers, airports, whatever. Civilians, obviouslly, get caught in the way - but if the Hezbollah wasn't using those structures, there'd be no reason to bomb them. The Hezbollah rockets, on the other hand, are designed to hurt people. They're gigantic flying claymores, full of ball barings and shrapnel that tear off arms but don't destroy buildings. They're designed to wound, not kill. If you looked at the number of wounded people you'd see the numbers would be rather even. I feel bad for the unarmed UN workers who got killed (One was a Canadian, so that makes me extra sad) but, as has been previously stated, the UN is so bloated and corrupt and bloody beaurocratic that it's presence in the Mid East serves no purpose, and the scouts had no reason to be where they were. Funny how this conviently popped up just as the whole of Iraq has desended into a Mad Max society of gangs and guns. I think there's a lot more going on right now than just another little Mid Eastern war. [/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Ozymandius Jones][COLOR=DarkOrange]It looks pretty good to me. I liked The Sixth Sense and Signs, but hated The Village, so hopefully he goes back to the earlier writing. That being said, it is being billed as his "first movie without a plot twist" which automatically makes me suspicious. M. Night without a plot twist? That's like oreos without the chocolate...[/COLOR][/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] It's probably just a ruse so people don't expect anything, and then, BAM! Turns out it's a dude. It looks pretty good to me. Gamatti is an actor I've always really liked, the story sounds pretty interesting. I like how Shymalan always keeps the monster-effect to a minimum, always keeping them in the dark and giving you just a little glimps - that way, the movie is more than just eye candy. I hate the Village, so I hope this is better.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]What makes you think so? Are you admitting that Israel is evil then? Decent people can win wars, as long as you have a good strategy. The muslim army was under constant threat from the tribe of Quraish in Muhammad's time. The muslims fought and won against armies larger and far better equipped than them. And although islamic governments and their armies aren't decent nowadays, the muslims in muhammad's time certainly were decent, fair people.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] This isn't a book, or a poem. This is the real world. There's no such thing as knights in shining armour. There is no chivalry. You win wars by hurting your opponent more than he hurts you - if that means civilians get caught in the crossfire, it is unfortunate, but it's a part of war. If the Palestinians don't want to fight a war, than they should stop provoking the Isreali's. "Like poking a rancor with a stunstick," as they say. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]I'm a consumer. I consume things, often in vast quantities. I'm of the opinion that if it can't be deep fried, barbecued, or doesn't come in an individually sealed package, it is of little to no use to me. It is often said that consumers see the world differently than other people. For example, instead of fingers, we see sausages - big, juicey sausages, ready for the grill... mmmm... Instead of hubcaps, we see pizza pans. Everything non-edable appears in a lower resolution than food or things that our brains mistake for food. This allows us to distingusih our prey much easier. I pretty much live to consume, and prepare things for consumption. I love the sound of sizzling meat on the grill, or fries frying in oil, those sounds are the ones that make life worth while. Our stomachs are botomless consumption holes. I'm not the kind of consumer built for speed, but for durability - I don't have the pure speed of uh... that skinny Japanese guy who shames his family with each hotdog eating compatition he wins. I'm built more like Micheal Moore - I can eat for endless stretches of time and facistly spread my opinion at the same time. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I smell baconbits... [/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]No, they are puporsely terrorising the civilians to pressure the militants into releasing the kidnapped soldiers. Basically, their message is "give us back the soldeirs or we will destroy your country and your people". Israel is using terrorist tactics as much as Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel has the right to defend themselves and to try to get their soldeirs back. But they are using the wrong methods. [/COLOR][/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] Ok, what do you prepose they do? What other methods are there? The terrorists hide amongst civilians - they can't just search every house and every person. Their only course of action is to target an entire civilian body in order to root out terrorists.[/COLOR] [QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] Ummmm.... yes it is their fault if they are knowingly killing these civilians. Alot of civilians that have no connection whatsoever to the militants are being killed. I still don't see why anyone would justify this. Honestly, put yourself in these people's shoes. I'm pretty sure none of you would appreciate being killed for some other people's crimes.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] They don't knowingly kill civilains - they knowingly kill terrorists. Everyone else is collateral damage - it's unfortunate, but it's part of war. And it's the only way to deal with these kind of people. And no, I wouldn't like to be killed for someone elses actions - but I don't see what that has to do with this. If someone elses crimes put the civilians in danger, if they hide amongst civilians, than it's their fault. They antagonize Isreal into a fight, and than cower in civilian areas, and yet it's Isreal's fault that civilians get fragged?[/COLOR] [QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] Decent people don't give in to terrorists and "oblige' them by killing the human shields. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna]Decent people don't win wars, either.[/COLOR] [QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] There are other tactics they can use that won't result in killing innocents, if they would simply pause for a moment and think rationally. Perhaps, warning the innocent people of the attack? Perhaps luring the terrorists out with various techniques, cooperating with the civilians and having them direct them to the terrorists. The civilians are not going to cooperate and help the Israelis if they are willing to kill them.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] You warn the innocent people, you warn the terrorists. I mean, what do you expect Isreali to do? They can't just ask "Hey, who're the terrorists? Ok, thanks ma'am." and just go capture them. They don't have the resources, and they'd lose to many troops to traps and false information (Since any civilian can easily be a terrorists). It would be a millitary disaster. It wouldn't work. And besides, it seems that most of the civilians wouldn't WANT to help - why else would they have elected Hamas?[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] But I also believe that it's hypocritical for anyone to call these groups the "terrorists" when Israel also kills innocet civilians, and and many more than the militants too. The militants, and the general population for the matter are called terrorists, while Israelis are not. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] A terrorist is, by general definition, someone who deliberatly targets civilian targets with the goal of causing terror (Hence the name) and panic in the civilian population. The Isreali's aren't TRYING to kill civilians, they're trying to neutralize terrorists - if terrorists continue to hide amongst civilians than Isreal won't have much choice. [/COLOR] [QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] There is absolutely no justification in killing innocent people. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] The Isreali's have a right to defend themselves. If the terrorists continue to hide amongst innocent people, innocent people will die - and it's not the fault of Isreal. [/COLOR] [QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f] As far as I can tell, it is only the civilians being 'flattened right now, while Hezbollah countinues to fire rockets into Israeli towns. Israel isn't really accomplishing anything. It isn't stopping the attacks from Hezbollah, and instead is killing innocents with their disporportionate attacks.[/COLOR][/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] The Hezbollah (And the Hamas etc) are perfectly willing to use their people as a shield, so you can't blame the Isreali's for obliging them. [/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Chabichou][COLOR=#004a6f]Whoa. The situation is really getting bad now. Now Hezbollah, a lebanese militant group has kidnapped another two soldiers. Israel has replied with extreme force and killed 55 people, the vast majority being civilians. It makes me so angry how they can get away with that. What Israel is doing is just plain terrorism. Don't get me wrong, Israel has the right to defend itself from any further attacks from militant groups, but why must civilians pay the price for what these militants do? Why must Israel bomb the airport, bridges, and people homes too? It's so sad.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] Bridges, airports, etc... all of them are stratigic targets. Isreal is trying to neautrialize the terrorists in the area. Terrorism is such that a terrorist is almost indistinguishable from a civilian, so sometimes civilian targets get caught in the crossfire - it's called 'collateral damage' and it's rarley intentional. Civilians wouldn't be killed if the Palestinians weren't resorting to terrorist tactics. Why is it that when Palestinians kill/kidnap innocent people, you say nothing, but when Isreal retaliates, you call them wrong and evil and 'terrorists'?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=DarkOliveGreen]I used Internet Explorer for a long time. Until my IE freaked out and started really pissing me off. It was incredibly jerky all the time, everything was significantly slower than before, and, most frustratingly, it would freeze and crash if you minimized it or clicked on the back-forward buttons more than 10 times per opening. I can't explain it but damn it sucked. Than I got Firefox and everything was WONDERFULLY BETTER. Still crap, seeing as how I'm stuck with 56k, but significantly faster than IE or anything else I've tried. It also has the incredbly awesome Tabs feature, the awesome search bars that have a whole bunch of options, everything was just superior to IE. I havn't used IE in years, so I don't know if it's improved or not.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]If by that, you mean 'randomly squiggle things up-down while saying 'Chee-cha-choo huang fat chow!'', than yes! TPBM is [i]wicked pissed[/i] that FOX cancelled Futurama! (But is excited that it's being renewed!)[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]False, never been to Japan before. The only thing I even own that was made in Japan is my Sony TV. My computer is too cheap to have been made in Japan, it's 100% Chinese sweat-shop built! TPBM has broken out into spontaneous air-guitar on more than one occasion, with hilarious results![/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Wow, how's he going to work some stupid twist into this one? Hard to put an unexpected twist on one of the most read books ever. Maybe it'll turn out that the FBI has been spying on Hogwarts via satalites, and the movie ends with SWAT teams storming Hogwarts and arresting everyone for Witchcraft. Eh, I've never been a big fan of Harry Potter, movies or books, but maybe Shymalan will do something unexpected and make it more watchable for me. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]True. I named the CPU Spanky. It is very, very dark in here. SEND HELP! TPBM has illegally pirated more than 1 movie this month. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]What do you feel is the greatest live preformance by an artist ever? This includes CDs, DVDs, or concerts you've attended, and also includes CDs made up of live preformances from various concerts. I have four top acts that I simply can't rank, seeing as I love them all. Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!: This one is a no-brainer. Frampton was an incredibly arena rocker, even if his studio albums weren't anything special. It is the greatest-selling live album ever, and with good cause. The album is highlighted by the incredibly epic version of "Do You Feel Like We Do," which is simply indiscribably awesome. About half-way through, it breaks down into one of the greatest examples of guitar playing ever, with a lot of awesome solos and an incredibly cool, albiet gimmicky, 'talking guitar' effect with the help of a talk-box. Very, very cool. Rush - Rush in Rio: The recording quality on the album isn't wonderful, since it was recorded with, in Neil Peart's own words, primative Brazilian recording equipment, but that doesn't change the fact that the album is absolutly BEAUTIFUL. Alex Lifeson is a master of live guitar playing, and almost every song on the 3-disk show decends into a ripping guitar solo. The highlight of this album has to be the stunning rendition of 2112, which features some incredible guitar playing and sweet vocals. Oh, and the drum solo O Baterista (Drums and synths, actually) by Niel Peart and the guitar solo on La Villa Strangiato are also noteworthy. Rush - Rush R30: Rush celebrated the 30 years since their debut with a world-wide tour, and they released a DVD from their show in Germany - and it didn't disapoint! The show opens with an massive jam session that burns through a whole bunch of songs, many of which aren't on the DVD at all. That was the defining moment of the album, but pretty much every song on the album was incredible. As I've come to expect with a Rush live preformance, most of the songs include an awesome guitar solo, and there's another Neil Peart drum solo called Der Trommeller (I think that means The Drummer in German, but my German is sketchy). All in all the show was awesome, and there was a really cool little interlude part way through the show that showed bobble-head versions of the band fighting dragons or... something. It was in German so I'm not 100% on what was going on... The Tragically Hip - That Night in Toronto: The Hip are a great studio band, but are even better live. Why? Because lead singer Gord Downie's stage presence is incredible. He captivates you and makes it so you can't look away. The thing about Downie is that no two preformances are alike - he has a habit of screaming out things in the middle of songs that may not seem to make sense but do in a way. My favourite part of the DVD was the song "Fully Completely."[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Popular people? Bah! My experiance with the popular people is simple: rats. Dirty, stinkin' rats to a person. No personality, no individuality, nothing to speak of. They're wretched creatures who spend all their time making sure they have the right hair or if people like their cloths. They almost never have original opinions and just do things because "Famous Person X" did it. I deliberatly try and remain as unpopular as possible. My opinions and styles are almost never the same as the popular people, and I love it that way. I'm not part of the increasingly popular "Non-Conformist" movement either, because that's basically become a different kind of conformity and popularity. I just basically be my hockey-watching, pizza-eating, computer-game-playing, fat-kid-in-sweatpants self, which is constantly at odds with the "We don't like you because... *guh*" popular people. And yes, this was a massive generalization of popular people, so any popular people here can feel free to call me whatever you feel like. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']I was talking more about the govorner thing not the cultural genocide thing. Oh and about those computer things have you seen the matrix?[/quote] [COLOR=Sienna] The governers weren't the problem... the people were all pissed off because the Roman culture replaced theirs, which they obviously didn't like. Oh, and about the Matrix... "Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window." I'll just manufacture them in Japan, make them the size of Ritz crackers, and if they go apeshit on me I'll just play frisbee with them. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']Ahem go down the way of the romans will we? Hope you like having your throat slit.[/quote][COLOR=Sienna] The Romans commited cultural genocide on any people they conquered. They treated them like inferiors and made them pay tribute and fight their wars etc. They Romanized them. I have no intention of doing this. All the provinces will be essentially the same as they are now, just with no one to invade and with a more opressive police force to keep fanatical nuts (Religious, political, or otherwise) in check. The Romans had the right idea, but my idea builds and improves on it... in theory. Of course, the governers will probably all aspire to take my place which would probably get me assassinated... maybe if I used a mind-controlling chip... or... wait, I got it! I'll build computers to rule everything for me! What knows more about human needs and wants than a computer?[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Avenged666fold] -radical religion(mainly muslim)-beacuse they will be a a small burden in my life and no dictator want's that! :animesmil -ritch people- beacuse I hate them -old people-there gonna die anyway -ugly people-Cuz I wanna be the only one -smart people-beacuse they will overthrow me -sensitive people-cuz you whine too much -gay people-same as ritch people -all irritating animals-this includes misquitos wasps and monkeys -north korea-beacuse I can[/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] Whoa... you like, combined all the worst aspects of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and George Bush into one bulleted list of ultimate doom... that took skill! If I was a facist dictator... I'd divid the world into provinces, and than personally apoint each one a governer on my payroll to rule them. I secret police organisation would obviously be necessary to quell any malconents, but aside from that I'd let people do what they want, so long as they answer to their governers, who in turn answer to me. Than, I would have an island fortress built for me in Hudson bay, and I'd hang out with my drinking buddies and smoke Cuban cigars. Oh yea, and I'd also fix it so that my hockey team always wins.[/COLOR]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR=Sienna]This one is tough. I mean, I'd be perfectly content without friends or people or what-have-you - I'm not, honestly, too fond of other people these days. Love? Who needs it - I've seen what women do to men, and it ain't pretty. Music? Sure, I'd miss it, but I can live without it. I guess that pretty much narrows it down to 3 things: Books. Be it a magical fantasy adventure or an epic space opera, a facisinating historical text or a piece on modern politics, I pretty much exist to read books. It's helped me with my understanding of english and just generally passes the time. Sci-fi are my favourite, for sure. The computer. Nothing in my world would be the same without my computer. I spend quite literally all of my time on it, doing whatever. The internet is especially important - even if I am relegated to 56k, it's essentially the only thing that keeps me sane. I can talk to random people, play video games with other people, I can pirate movies, and probably most important, I can download a mod of SWKOTOR where everyone is a naked female blue Twi'lek who's only dialoge option is written in Turkish. And lastly... hockey. Sue me, I'm Canadian - and damned if I love hockey. Nothing beats gathering around the TV with a ginger beer and a half-eaten meat lovers pizza watching les glorixious. I'm sorry, there's simply nothing.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[QUOTE=r2vq][color=#ff7520][/color][color=#007520]I have to disagree. Those two are now among the greatest commercials I have ever seen. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-F6jL21bzc]This is one of them.[/url] The new Futureshop commercial where it's dubbed four times within 30 seconds is amazing too. 8) [INDENT]Wow, how do you keep your prices so low for your [i][b]CANADA DAY[/i][/b]....... sale? Oh we use the same commercial for all our sales, like this one, our [i][b]CANADA DAY[/i][/b]....... sale, and just dub them over![/INDENT] -r2[/color][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] Hey man, 'least that one's better than the one where those two guys in shiney space-suits shot lasers out their butts! If you thought that was awesom in English, man you gotta hear it in French - that's literally worth owning a TV for! Another one is the Skittles commercial where these two kids are standing in this back ally (or something) and than this rainbow appears beside one. He puts his head through it, and on the other side is this tiny little island populated by a pleseant little round black man playing the drums or something. He says "Hey mon, want some tropical skittles?" and, as everyone would do, the kid takes them. Now, this add isn't especially funny - but it'd be damn funny if it wasn't a little round black man, it was [i]Dave Chapelle[/i]. "Hey mon... want some... [i]magical[/i] skittles?" Hilarious! And, of course, most mega-corporation advertising is incredibly stupid and generally over-the-top.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Is utopia possible? I'm inclined to say no, it's not - it's simply too unlikely. And, to tell you the truth, I don't particularily want a utopia. Think about it - what IS a utopia? It's a society where everyone has the same goals, the same ideals, everything is happy and nothing ever changes - it's perfect already. What happens to stagnant water? Yea. Humans - and, by extension, our civilization - grow through conflict. Through opposing ideas and wars. Look at all these inventions we have now - the computer, for example. Do you think we'd have Boeing 747's or Windows without the World Wars? Not a chance - we grew through out fighting. We changed and came out the better (Argueably) for it. In a sense, a utopian society is basically a facist government that forces everyone to think exactly the same way - they'd have to, else conflict would surely arise. I'd rather keep my identity than live in a stagnant pool all my life, thanks. Even if it were a good idea, it's still impossible.[/COLOR]

[quote name='Transtic Nerve'] (and kill Starscream ofcourse cause no one likes Starscream) [/quote] [COLOR=Sienna]I like Starscream :( Oh wait, I was thinking of Depthcharge... kill away! If I could go back in time... And stop myself from every building a time-machine. ****, I'm not to be trusted with time! I'd probably go back in time and mess something up! I don't want that kind of guilt! Wait, would that be a... CONFUSING EVENT IN TIME?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Metal... I've always said metal could be a very listenable genre if it wasn't for the vocals. The guitars, the drums, everything, is quite awesome - a lot of technical prowess, although sometimes it could stand to slow the heck down. The vocals are just... blegh. I hear people say "Well, it's not easy, y'know!" but I don't care. You know what else isn't easy? Pulling your testicles out through your armpit - [i]but it doesn't make it fun to listen too![/i]. I know ALL metal isn't just screaming mindlessly... but there's far too much of it. I know people say it's "Raw emotions" and other crap, but to me it's just somone who's really good at screaming over guitars playing fast for the sake of playing fast. [/COLOR]

[QUOTE]'Laughable' is a word I'm quite fond of, too... it helps me describe things that are.. laughable. When I laugh I look at the dictionary and ask myself 'Is there a word that can describe this situation' and.. thankfully, one word is there. That word is.. laughable.[/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna]Quite a life saver, that word is![/COLOR] [QUOTE]Why do you love to grandstand, Cygnus? [/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] Mostly because it's fun. [/COLOR] [QUOTE]Well, the number seven crops up as a 'special' number several times throughout the Bible (and in several other religions). Symbolically, it has a special meaning just as the number 6 and 666 does.[/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] [i]And[/i]?[/COLOR] [QUOTE]You don't understand religious faith but faith itself is something you already have zealously embraced. You've simply placed it in a different concept.[/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] Depends on how you define faith; to me, faith is when you believe in something that flys in the face of logic and evidence. Therefore I wouldn't call it 'faith.' [/COLOR]

[QUOTE=The Boss][color=navy][size=1] Actually, Judaism is one of the oldest relegions in the world, I do believe. The story of Moses may have been a tall-tale to a certain extent, as were several others. But Judaism is the roots of Christianity, so I personally believe most of the stories from the Old Testament were atleast original tales. It could be said that the Christian Old-Testament is the Judaic holy text, if I'm not mistaken. Christians just built onto an old relegion as Jesus came along. Heh. And the re-telling of the flood story by several faiths kinda makes ya ponder if 'A Great Flood' really did occur sometime in history.[/color][/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] Judiasm, while old, is most certainly not the oldest. The Mesopotamian clutures had their own religions, as did various different tribes and whathaveyou. I was referring to a Sumerian myth when I refered to the flood myth - it's not just another 'There was a big flood.' story, it was nearly word-for-word what the bible said; only without the Christian overtones. In the Epic of Gilgamesh (Oldest epic story of all time, I believe.) the protagonist was on the Tigres river, on a big boat, going to trade at another city. He had a bunch of different animals, his family, and a lot of beer. Than it started to rain - a lot. The entire world flooded, and only his family and boat was left. Than he used a bird to go find a tree branch - exactly like Noah. The similarities are more than I can list here (and I'm no expert on Sumerian myths to begin with), but the stories are nearly exactly the same - with one big difference, the Gilgamesh epic has no Christian overtones. Christianity plagerised the story, nearly word for word, into their Flood Myth.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=The Boss][color=navy][size=1] Basically, yes. Oral tradition of the Judaic peoples for the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the actual Apostles and Jesus himself acted as the Prophets directly and wrote their own texts themselves. It could be said like this. The Old Testament is almost like a series of handed down stories, such as Noah, Job, and Moses. These, for me, are more than less, ancedotes for the Christian followers. The New Testament, is more than less a direct writing in which Jesus and the Apostles wrote their quotes and sermons down. I haven't read the entire Bible, not even close. But what I have drawn from it and what I have read, this is what I've interpreted for myself and my own guidance.[/color][/size][/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] They were bards of Homerian preportions for sure, but I highly doubt they were divinly inspired. In fact, many of their stories originally came from pre-Christian religions, which were modified to fit in with the general message of Christianity. Most notably is the Flood myth. Other things, such as Moses' escape from Egypt, were originally your average folk-tale - based on real events but dramaticized by the bards to make a good story, until one day someone said "Hey, if I change a few things this would make a pretty good miracle story for my new religion..."[/COLOR]