Albert Flasher

[quote name='Retribution][size=1']Very true, but at what expense?[/size][/quote] [COLOR=Sienna] The expense of liberty, of course. And I'd take opression over total anarchy any day. Besides, compared to a lot of Middle Eastern, African, and Asian (even South American) nations, the Iraqis had a lot of things going for them; semi-stable economy, fairly modern cities, the basic securities (i.e you weren't afraid of walking down the street for fear of a bombing). Obviously Saddam could only maintain this by crushing the dissidents with an iron fist; not the greatest way to rule a country, but, considering the situation he inherited when he became the countries ruler, he handled it the only way someone could. 'Least he kept the zealots in line...[/COLOR] [QUOTE]I'd like to see a picture of him right before he's hanged, with the noose around his neck and his bewildered face.[/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] This is the age of the internet... I'd wager that about 30 seconds after he's hanged you'll have the video on YouTube and hundreds of the above-mentioned pictures with 'Where's your Allah now?' captions plastering Farks and YTMND.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna][B]"I got one,"[/B] Geoff said, breaking the stunned silence of the people onboard the train, standing and raising his hand simultaniously, [B]"who the hell are you? And how the hell did we get here? What's going on?"[/B] He was raising his voice now as panic and fear gripped him. The two at the front of the train opened their mouths to reply after a second of pause, but they were immediatly drowned out as seemingly everyone got to their feet and started shouting their own questions as the same fear and panic began to grip them. The two tried to raise their voices over the din, but they were drowned out by the crowds screams and, subdued, looked at each other with a 'What next?' look and fell silent. Geoff, realising that he would never make himself heard this way, and began to walk down the isle towards the two. Unfortunatly, it seemed like he wasn't the only one with this idea, and he found himself fighting through a squirming, shouting crowd of men and women all fighting to get out of the train. The two vainly insisted that they remain inside the train and settle down, but there was nothing they could do as the crowd muscled their way past them and poured out of the door into the strange land outside. In truth, it looked much like the world they had come from. But every one of them knew instantly that it wasn't. It was something new, something none of them they had ever experianced, and it silenced them immediatly. Some fell to their knees, others mewed helplessly, and some just stared in complete shock as it dawned on them that something was definatly wrong. Slowly, one by one, they regained their wits and turned to face the pair in the train, mouths agape, horror gripping them in the very depths of their spirits. [B]"What do we do now?"[/B] Geoff said, again the one to break the silence. And then the two explained.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]No one should be surprised by this. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long. I must say, though, that I take a small amount of sadistic pleasure from the irony that post-Saddam Iraq is in far worse shape then it was during his reign. Baghdad, once a functioning modern city, has decended into a Mad Max gang-ruled cesspit, overrun by constant violence and divided between religious factions that war with each other. The economy is in terrible shape too, and the infastructure of the country is completely wiped out. Saddam may have been a despotic mad-man dictator, but at least he could keep his country from decending into madness...[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Minako][COLOR=Indigo]*blink* That's really cool HedonismBot! Being Finnish myself (though I live in the states, I go there often) I have to say that Finland is pretty cool. However, living there is something different. The winters are long and cold and dark (hence, the higher rate of suicide in the winter), heh heh. But the people are all really nice and most of them speak English, so whenever I'm stuck on a word, they can usually help me. :D I'd recommend going to Helsinki, and to Pori, if you're there in July, then you can catch the world-renowned Jazz festival in Pori. Tampere, and Turku are nice cities too. :)[/COLOR][/QUOTE][COLOR=Sienna] I'm Canadian, so I'm used to (and quite fond of) those dark, cold winters, so I don't think that'd be a problem. I like the cold quite a bit, actually. And yea, Helsinki is definatly on my list of places to check out, but I also want to go to Turku and Oulu, and maybe Espoo. And thanks for the heads up on the Jazz festival, if I ever get to go to Finland I'll be sure to try and check it out in Pori. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Been a bit to long since the last "Greatest Song Ever" thread, so here's another one. I know that people have a habit of switching favourite songs on a weekly basis, so here's a place where you can post about the song you love the most this particular week (Or however long it takes until you change favourites...). Ok, I'll get things rolling: [B]Friends of Mr.Cairo by Jon & Vangelis[/B]: That girly-sounding guy from Yes! teamed up with Greek synth meastro Vangelis in the early 80's and produced 3 albums and a string of solid songs (He Is Sailing and One More Time most notably), but, in their short career, they would release one of my absolute favourite songs, Friends of Mr. Cairo. The song is an 11-minute+ tribute to early cinema and gangster movies, using exerts from (among others) The Maltese Falcon and the Thief of Bagdad as interludes. The song blends catchy synths with Jon Anderson's angelical, etheral vocals to create an absolutely awesome song that I can listen to again and again. Runners Up: World Container by the Tragically Hip, A Night in Dildo by the Arrogant Worms, Dirty Life and Times by Warren Zevon. So... what's cool in your musical world these days?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]More and more I'm finding that it's impossible to get good food any more. Everything that used to be good and tasty has been replaced by terrible, crappy 'healthy alternatives.' Now, I respect that some people like to eat terrible-tasting food for whatever reason, but more and more it's not becomg an 'alternative,' it's becoming the rule. And the worst part, to me, is that it's not just the food billed as health-food that's being effected. Companies realise that they can make a terrible, cheap product and, as long as it's got the '0 Trans Fats' logo on it, they get away with it. Take Doritos, for example. Doritos used to be awesome. You could come home from a long day at school, sit down in front of the TV with a bag of Doritos in hand, and just forget all your troubles; now, Doritos have become sickly, stale, pale triangles of terribleness. Ritz crackers are the same way, they're absolutely terrible now. It's really, really depressing. I respect that some people don't want to eat food that's bad for you, and it's really annoying that my own personal decisions - that taste > health - is not being respected. Has anyone else noticed the incredible drop in quality of junk foods recently, under the guise of health-food?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna][B]Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty.[/B] You 'other people' may not have heard of the Boys, but they're pretty big in Canada... they're god-damn hilarious. So awesome, in fact, that Mike Clattenburg and Paul Roach and the rest of the boys got together and decided to make a movie... It was simply awesome. It was vulgar, it was raunchy, it was stupid, but holy crap was it funny. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Dr. Funk']Probably Zanzibar, Africa. I went their several years back and it had some of the greatest SCUBA diving sites I've been to.[/quote][COLOR=Sienna] Zanzibar is a great place to visit, no doubt, but if you were forced to live there, I think you'd change your team. Seriously, the bush monkeys will drive you friggin' crazy, and the periodical bloody coups aren't too pleasent either. Although I guess if you're really into clove it wouldn't be so bad... and I guess Freddie Mercury was born there, which is kinda cool, although the government there has put the kibash on any mention of Mercury for... you-know-why... Anyway, another place I'd really like to go to is Finland. I've heard a lot of great things about the place, it produces some of my favourite hockey players, the people are supposed to be really nice, and I've heard nothing but good things about the uhh... buxomity of it's broads. The only problem is the language barrier; Finnish sounds really cool and all, but so far the only words I know are 'Suomi' (which means Finland) and 'Sisu' (Which I'm told means 'go,' although someone has told me it also means 'guts.')[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Shinje][color=crimson] In any case, I'd rank the virgin Mary menstruating on priests as this shows most tasteless moment. It wasn't funny at all. Who wants to see a statue pissing blood over the Pope? Sick.[/color][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] I do! That episode ruled. It did a very good - and accurate - job of satirizing those freaks who come from around the world to see supposed miracles. And how could we forget the time Cartman tricked that kid into eating his own parents? Classic stuff. The whole point of South Park is to be offensive; to go, as you say, to far. That's what makes the show so good. It doesn't have a bunch of ******, pointless jokes like Family Guy, and it's not confined by political correctness like The Simpsons... it's perfect.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Phar Lap was an Australian racing horse who was totally kicking the crap out of all his competition until he was found in great pain, and then died. The autopsy found that his intestines were inflammed and people suspected that he was poisoned; or at least, that's what Wikipedia says. I don't buy it. During the 30's, Arsenic was given to people and animals as a form of [i]medicine[/i], as a tonic of sorts. Chances are it was arsenic that killed Phar Lap, but it was most likely by his own'ers doing.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Gavin, I think they're reffering to a phenomenon called [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori]Hikikomori[/URL], also known as Acute Social Withdrawl. It is real, and there are cases of the Hikikomorites killing their families. It's hard to say how come this happens almost exclusivly in Japan. The most probable reason is that, in Japan, a lot of pressure is placed on the male children by their parents and society as a whole; they are always being pushed to be better or work harder, and society's expectations are often rediculous. As a result, a lot of people find it easier to just cut themselves off from it all. I don't blame them; life in Japan isn't all it's made out to be. So damn crowded, too.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]The more offensive it is, the better. That's what makes the show so special; they don't give a **** about being politically correct, they'll make fun of everyone and everything, and it's one of the best shows on TV as a result. Yea, Irwin's death was a tragedy, but it doesn't mean it can't be lampooned based on the odd circumstances of his death. The episode will probably be funny.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Sandy]What a mighty good upbringer you'll become... *rolls eyes* I agree that many problems people have with their children/pupils are caused by the fact that they don't have any control over them. Children suffer from being able to do anything they want, because their idea of right and wrong isn't fully developed yet. However, there are much, [I]much[/I] better ways of discipline than corporal punishment. People who become victims of brutal violence in their childhood will get scarred for life - I'm one of them, so I speak from experience. Love and violence rarely mix up well, so loving parents and upbringers should use methods of punishment that don't violate children's rights. Examples of these are grounding, putting the child on a bench, denying the child the things he or she would want to do etc. It's these sorts of things that teach kids that they've done wrong. Violence only teaches them that violence is alright. Sorry that this has nothing to do with gender segregated classrooms, but I just had to reply to [B]only1specialed[/B].[/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] There's a difference between 'abuse' and 'teaching a lesson.' If your kid steals money from your wallet, and you smack him in the head with your belt buckle a few times, guess who: [I]he ain't gona steal from your wallet anymore![/I] It's the same concept in the classroom; a student skips a class and you break out the paddle, he'll be there next class! Unless the kid is incredibly stupid or just a masochist, he'll learn that doing bad things is bad. In our society, you do something bad, the worst you can do is give them a stern 'talinking to,' which is about the least effective mathod of deterrent I can think of. If a kid does something bad in school, you can send them to detention, which is a piss-off, but it won't stop them from being bad like a beating will. Back on the topic, I don't understand gender segregated classrooms. They don't make much sense to me. It seems like the kind of thing a school would do so they can say "Hey! Look! We're innovative!" and get more people to send their kids there. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Oh yea, and Australian Cleavage. Probably shouldn't ask about that one.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE=Aaryanna][COLOR=DarkOrchid]Not that I think it?s okay that she tried to kill herself and ended up killing someone else instead, but am I the only one who noticed this part of the article? [SIZE=1][INDENT]?Brunstad, who was treated for an ankle injury, had told friends she planned to kill herself after another female student at [b][U]Holy Innocents Episcopal School[/U][/b] refused to have sex with her.?[/INDENT][/SIZE]Not only was she refused by another girl, she was attending a private Episcopal School where being a lesbian is considered a sin. It just gets me wondering how much this kid had to deal with on a regular basis, as I?m sure if anyone knew she was a lesbian, well I'm sure she was given a lot of grief over being that way. I just think there is a lot more to the article than a girl wanting to die because she didn?t get sex. I would imagine it was probably one of many things that happened. And that last one was what drove her over the edge. It makes me sad since if I was the parent and I knew my kid was gay, I wouldn?t send them to a private religious school. That's just asking for trouble in my opinion. :animesigh [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR=Sienna] So... basically, the two things I detest most, love and religion, were the driving factors behind this tragedy? Nifty. It's a shame that someone would be driven to suicide, but, as has been mentioned, it certainly wasn't very smart to kill herself in a way that would put another person at risk. The part of the artical that was most curious to me wasd the part about the girl sending text messages to her classmate. It seems more like the girl was trying to get back at the girl then kill herself. What I mean is that she intentionally tried to kill herself and someone else at the same time so the girl would think it was all her fault. Just a theory, though.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]God damn, man, could you have picked a better font, lol? I seriously hope you don't post in the RP like that, lol. [B]Name:[/B] Janne Thoresen [B]Race:[/B] Human [B]Age:[/B] 29 [B] Gender[/B]: Male [B]Class:[/B] Tracker [B] Personality:[/B] Janne is a fairly easy going person. He's not quick to anger and typically comes off as a fairly warm, if socially awkward, person. He's not very social, but that's not because he's cold and distant so much as he's content with isolation. Janne is also notorious as a yellow-bellied coward, typically fleeing at the first signs of danger, even if it puts his allies at risk. [B] Appearance: [/B] [URL=http://www.hyung-taekim.org/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=4]Janne[/URL] [B] Weapon:[/B] Diemaco C7A1: A C7 assault rifle that is Janne's primary weapon of choice. It has a high rate of fire while maintaining accuracy, and it is capable of being hidden under his overcoat easily, making it ideal for Janne's style of fighting. It is capable of firing special rounds depending on the situation, including incindiary, UV, and Silver Nitrate rounds. .44 Magnum: Nicknamed Modano, Janne uses the unwieldy sidearm only when his C7 is exhausted. The .44 fires massive slugs that can do a lot of damage, but it's lack of accuracy at an extended range mean that he can only use it up close. Modano is capable of firing all the same special rounds as the C7, but it is also capable of firing a special tracking round. *note: The whip is mostly for show, and not really a weapon.*[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Men At Work.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Personally, I could never imagine having plastic surgery. For several reasons; one, I don't care enough about my appearance to actually want it 'improved' by outside intervention. Two, I hate hospitals and surgery and things of that nature, so I'd never go under the knife if I didn't have to. But as for do I condone it? Well, I've got nothing againts it. If someone feels like doing something like that to their body just because they try to make themselves look more normal, then, well, I can't stop ya. Don't see the logic behind it myself.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]I think it's been long enough since my former post to post again... My username is HedonismBot, first of all, comes from a minor character in Futurama. The guy in my avatar; the big fat 'bot who's so lazy he's actually built into a chair, lol. It also represnts my lifestyle; enjoy the moment, and screw consequences (Other things are to be screwed aswell, but we'll save that for a different forum...). My custom title is "Friend of Mr. Cairo," a line derived from my favourite song of all time, The Friend's of Mr.Cairo by Jon & Vangelis, an 11 minute epic based on the Maltese Falcon movie. I just love the song so much I had to include it somehow... My signature is a qoute from one of my favourite movies, The Thief of Bagdad(sic). It was an incredibly well done movie from 1940, with incredible effects for the time. Some of the things they did with the limited technology they had available, aswell as the vibrant and imaginative colours, make it an awesome movie, even by today's standards. If you havn't seen it, the movie Aladdin is BASICALLY just an animated, Disneyfied version of it, and a far inferior one at that. The qoute itself is by the Jinni, the monsterous lamp-dwelling slave. He says it after the blind prince Amhad inadvertantly uses the 3rd wish to transport himself back to Bagdad's palace so he can be with the princess who he loves, leaving faithful friend and sidekick Abu (not a damn monkey this time) trapped in the mountains without a way to get home. It's a cool qoute, but it also reinforces my opinion that you should always listen to your stomach, and ignore the urgings of the heart.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Junk food comprises around 90% of my diet, the other 10% being bacon sandwhiches and poutine. Soft drinks are probably my favourite incarnation of junk food; assuming there are any in the house, I'll have 1 or 2 cans a day, usually a Coke or a Rootbeer, although Canada Dry Ginger Beer has become my favourite for it's bite and taste, as well as the lack of availability. If I can, I like to get the locally brewed soft drinks, because they taste better, but they're more expensive and harder to find, so I usually just drink the mainstream stuff. Personally, I hate Pepsi the most... It's like Coke that's a few weeks old and watered down that somehow contains more sugar... It's a loss on all fronts. Aside from soft drinks, I love chips and granola bars and... well, if you stand a high chance of dieing from it, I probably like it. The exception is fast food - especially McDonalds - which I cannot stand based soley on the fact that fast food tastes like ****. I'm a huge junk food junkie and my computer desk is covered in old wrappers and crumbs... Speaking of which... I could sure go for some Doritos right now...[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Holy crap, there is so much drama on these boards. None of this crazy crap ever happens to me... Not that it's a bad thing, though. Me, I've never really had anything in my life screw me up. My parents never beat me or drank or faught (Well, nothing serious). I was never betrayed by a good friend. I never got into trouble at school - hell, I go to my principal's house to watch the game and have a beer every saturday - and I never got into trouble out of school. Everytime I log onto these boards, I read about how something dramatic, soap-opera-ey has happened in someones life, but nothing like that ever happens to me. As such, I'll answer the second question: What's made my life so totally kick-***? Nothing, really. There is no defining moment in my life where I can say "Wow, my life sucked before [event] happened." I guess the closest thing happened at some undefined point last year where I realised that the key to enjoying life is to look at things from your own perspective. I'm fat, not in great shape, a geek, I dress like a vagrant and smell worse... But I enjoy every moment of it. The reason is that I've changed my perspective on life; all these conceptions in our life (i.e that fat people are somehow lesser beings then fit ones) are based on things drilled into us from childhood; so, for a while in my life, I did feel pretty depressed and mooppy about my looks... But then I realised that all these things I think because someone else told me to, because someone else thinks something that I have to think it too. So that's where my "**** other people and there opinion's" attitude comes from, and that's why I enjoy every minute of my life. Oh, my, that was quite long winded...[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]So when is this RP going to be up?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]First I'd just like to say that being a Communist and being a terrible human being are two different things. And then I'd just like to say that Che Guevara is one of the most overrated pop colture icons of our day. He overthrew dictators and had them replaced with an even worse Soviet (There's a difference between Sovietism and Communism) system of government. He was personally resonsible for the founding Cuba's forced labour systems. He's generally considered a brilliant leader; but that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, he never had one recorded combat victory throughout his entire career as a 'freedom fighter.' As a politician, he was even worse, and it was as a result of his managment abilities that Cuba's economy nearly collapsed. I don't get why he's so popular. I'm a fan of socialism, and I think that mild communism can be a good thing, but I realize that Che was nothing like the image he built up around him. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Naked at an abandoned colony, you say? What exactly is an abandoned colony? Like, the kind of colony that the first settlers made when they landed in North America, or, like, a nudist colony in disrepair (Which would be more fitting)? Anyway, I'm generally pretty disconnected from the world at all times thanks to painkillers and that yellow liquid medicine that tastes like banana popsicles. But aside from meds, I usually escape from 'tupid reality by watching hockey games. That's pretty much what I look forward too every day at school. I like to just hole up in my living room on my SuperChair, have a beer and proceed to yell at my television set for the next 3 hours. That's what keeps me sane, believe it or not.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Sienna]Just as a BTW here before I sign up, I'm pretty sure it's spelt Baal, not Bail, but eh, not my character... Name: Geoff Vangelis Age: 28 Gender: Male Appearance: [URL=http://hyung-taekim.org/displayimage.php?album=11&pos=12]Geoff[/URL] Personality: Geoff is a fairly relaxed individual. He doesn't take anything seriously and views even life threatening situations with a '**** happens' attitude. He's also a bit of an introvert, which means he's not very likely to be starting a conversation or being with a large group of friends. As a result, people tend to think that he's a dark, lonley person, but the truth is that he's a tremendously cheerful and humerous individual who's fun in a 1-on-1 conversation. He's not really loyal, though, nor is he brave. Bio: Geoff was born to a middle class family, and had a rather unremarkable childhood. He was never an exceptional student, but he usually got passing grades. He was never an exceptional athlete, nor was he ever a truely popular person in school. He never even had a girlfriend, not that he really wanted one. He really has led an average life; at least, he had been, until he a train ride home to see his parents was interupted by... something strange. Weapon: Hockey stick.[/COLOR]