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An interesting twist on this earthquake.    There are thousands of people who will drive cross country in the US to protest a silly torch in the name of the inhumane treatment of Tibet.     But what can any of us do for the victims of this earthquake?     Send money to Red Cross?    Say our sympathies?

The leaders of China actually responded to this earthquake very fast.   Compared to say Bush's two weeks to get around to Katrina.    I just think protesting a torch is a damned silly thing in the greater scope of things.

Tuomas,   it should never be thought of as selfish to have a baby.    I understand your conflicting thoughts but you should never think of your offspring as digits.   

There are babies being brought into this world by people with no access to birth control.   There are some women who have babies to receive a bigger welfare check.    It's a sad fact.   But your baby is one that will have access to education and resources that could help this world.     He/she wouldn't be a burden on anybody (except maybe you at 3 in the morning )   

You're in a healthy relationship.   My parents didn't even have one of those.   Have a baby.  Why not?   The last thing the human race needs is *exclusively* unwanted babies of unprepared parents.

A reason for plate tectonics?  I wouldn't say the Earth has "reasons" but don't forget that the continents are slowly moving.   Pangea, yes?

Death toll rising to 10,000

I think earthquakes are events we have become indifferent to because it seems like there are so many of them.    The last big one I remember was 2005 in Pakistan.  Rescuers had difficulty getting to survivors because of the mountains.  Something like 80,000 people died in Pakistan.   Its magnitude was smaller than the one in China.  (measured at 7.5 -7.7)

Here's the seismic information on the Sichuan quake:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2008/us2008ryan/#maps

8 on the richter scale is HUGE.   The one in China was not 8 and according to this chart there's average 1 per year measured 8.0 - 8.9.

Less than 2.0    About 8,000 per day
2.0-2.9    About 1,000 per day
3.0-3.9    49,000 per year (est.)
4.0-4.9    6,200 per year (est.)
5.0-5.9    800 per year
6.0-6.9    120 per year
7.0-7.9    18 per year
8.0-8.9    1 per year
9.0-9.9    1 per 20 years
10.0+     Never recorded

If you haven't studied the Richter scale you should look into it.   A 5.0 is ten times more powerful than a 4.0.    So 9 or 10 on the Richter scale is unimaginable to you and me.    We have never recorded a 10 but it seems likely we will someday soon.    There was a 9.5 in 1960 and that was only 25 years after the Richter scale was invented.

Luckily I've never experienced anything but the table shaking a little bit.   

Maybe Mittens goers will each have to bring a designated item that he can burgle and nothing else.  Like a big pile of staplers.

right...

the bible is a ufo in its own right

Some of those are a stretch.  ( instead of following the formula I think he just ripped off other media )  I wonder which one of those cliches was going to be the war of Wookies.    I mean do you really want ALL movies to have something similar to entering the belly of a whale?   Or fighting a dragon? I dunno.   

Emerald has mirrored my opinion, and wonderfully so.


All those probabilities seem spot-on from a logic point of view.   I'd like to add this theoretical.   If you believe there are flying saucers at Area 51 because an alien crash landed and left us his ship......  (no not the usual question of "wouldnt our government already be using them?"  but...)


Wouldn't it be probable that dumb aliens from across the universe have access to the UFOs too?    If you really believe in UFO Auto Pilot AND you believe the universe is teeming with humanoids.... then its likely we will also be visited by the Walmart shoppers of the universe who stole the crafts from the peaceful intelligent aliens.    And that my friends, is scary.



And that my friends.... is who we would be if aliens gave us their lightspeed ships.   I'm not exactly sure we deserve the technology until we build it ourselves.

Han Solo wasn't in Ep 1 -3 because he was busy looking for his wife.  Its a fact. 

WIFE FORCE ONE!!

I'll take Emeralds word on it.   For Ep 5 and 6 anyways.   


Another factor besides the lack of Kasdan's collaboration, is how much Lucas ripped off Akira Kurosawa.    Hidden Fortress is said to be the inspiration for New Hope so maybe the new movies sucked so hard because he tried to do something original?    Or were they copies of bad movies this time?   Either way I'll take Kurosawa any day.   I'll  take Sergio Leone (who also copied Kurosawa) with bad dubbing any day.   Lucas?   It better be damn glitzy and full of speedy things.

I haven't seen Hayden give a good performance but someone told me he was great in Shattered Glass.     It's entirely possible he's a decent actor.   Even though I couldn't stand him in Star Wars I blame it on Lucas' oppressive directing style.   

I saw Ep 1 2 3 and thought they were decent from a "Yay!   Special Effects!" perspective.   But every performance was cardboard.   Including Natalie Portman, Sam Jackson, and Ewan McGregor.   This wasn't their fault because Lucas neither respects his actors nor gives them the opportunity to breathe life into their performances.   He just tells them "stand there. swing light sabre this way.  smile.   say the line.  nothing more."   My friends and I pretty much laughed our asses off at the dialogue of Ep 3.

People say things such as "Lucas is getting old" or that he's losing his touch.    But the only good Star Wars film he directed was "Star Wars: A New Hope".   That was before the world discovered him and let him get so full of himself.   He actually had something to prove.   (sort of like the Wachowskis and how the first matrix movie was excellent.... and now they're doing Speed Racer....)


The best Star Wars movies were directed by Richard Marquand and Irvin Kershner.    Lucas is a great producer but HORRIBLE with actors.   He's honestly one step up from Uwe Boll as far as getting a good performance from an actor. (that seems like a bold statement but I'm not referring to his stories, his filmmaking, or his technical know-how.   Merely his ability to draw out a good performance.)   I think he doesn't pride himself on directing and feels no obligation to effect your emotions one way or the other.    I'd hate to see what the acting looked like if he didn't have access to A list celebrities.

Having said all that.... Lucas is the world's best film producer.  I wish he had handed off Ep 1 - 3 to a young director with something to prove.  Brian Singer would have made them so much better for instance.   Or Peter Jackson.   Or any of the directors of the Harry Potter movies.   Anybody really.

I'm with you.   Guys like Alex Jones are good to have around, even if he and his followers go to the extreme EXTREME.

There are certain issues he picks up on that nobody ever would (except maybe the Guardian) because of all the corporate interests.   Thumb scanning, forewarnings of 9/11, even the Bohemian Grove "fraternity" stuff is all good information he has relayed to me.


But witnessing Bohemian Grove ceremonies, for instance, and concocting that they must be sacrificing human babies ...is well... just horse shit.   We all know there are secret societies in this world.   Skull and Bones,  Freemasons, Illuminati, Bohemian Grove.   I myself was in one called the Order of the Arrow.    We had ceremonies in the woods and secret hand shakes.    Pretty harmless Boy Scout stuff.

But yeah.  Alex Jones finds some good facts (which more people should) and then expands on them with his own desires of a history of evil in this nation.     To get too far into the Alex Jones mindset is to get depressed and to feel like cattle.    Unless you go around with a megaphone like he does.   And then you're a nutter.   Like I said I watched ALOT of Alex Jones on local television, because it was so fascinating.

Oh wow.   Plenty of shows to catch up on already.  TMBG have a podcast?!!!!  Also, I'm a huge fan of Gervais (it was awesome to see him in GTA4).

Cameron:   I've seen 2 clips of Spic and Speck but my favorites are the sketches they do for Rove and Thank God You're Here.    Have you seen this one from the UK?   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsKJNOA5NJo&feature=related

Hamish is so amazing at improv.   And oddly enough his humor and behaviors a tad Gervais-like.

Monkey:   

I apologize as I was playing a bit of devil's advocate with you.    The funny thing is that I have antagonized my friend Zach before AS Bill O'Reilly and it had nothing to do with Colbert.   I had just watched too much O'Reilly and decided to "channel his spirit" for a few minutes.    My friend actually got very very upset ... visibly... to the point I thought he was going to hit me.   So I stopped and collected myself.   He got the joke afterwards but I always regretted adopting the Bill O'Reilly persona for that 5 minutes or so.


Believe it or not I've actually met Alex Jones.   I think he lived near me in Austin.  Once he and his family sat at the booth across from mine at a breakfast joint.   ( Alex Jones is one of the foremost "9/11 was an inside job" howlers. Charlie Sheen and Joe Rogan and I forget who else have since joined his cause.  )    In fact I watched his community access program quite a bit before 9/11 ever happened.    The Bohemian Grove program, his refusal to be thumb scanned,....  Ive seen quite a lot of his stuff.   He definitely believes in the NWO.

Hi Captain and DarkMaster!    I'm an oldbie whos been gone a long long time.     Pretty soon you guys will be able to make better games than I ever did.

*cough* Space Mail  *cough*

SSH, I propose making a new thread combining both Aliens and Globalization.   That would be the mack daddy of "evenwolf plays devil's advocate" thread.

[So I've returned & within a day I've voiced out against UFOs and gov. conspiracies.   I apologize.  Wish to make amends.    Hope to lighten up the mood a bit. ]

I gotta tell you.   I've never been a fan of radio talk shows.    The last thing I want to hear in the morning is people squawking about recent events.  So I held out on podcasts for a really really really long time (with exception to Grundislav's great shows a few years back).    But weeks ago a friend directed me to a radio show that I am now absolutely addicted to.   So here's how we're going to do this.   If you have a show that you think people will enjoy write up a "pitch"  to attract listeners.    Separate your pitch from your overall podcast comments and provide a link. (preferably a "greatest hits" sound bite).  This isn't a contest but look, mine is really really funny so it makes me wonder what else is out there!  Grund feel free to go all out.

----------------------------------------------
Pitch:   "Hamish and Andy"

A radio show broadcast in Australia starring two young comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee.    They have weekly segments such as "Way Back Wednesdays" where they call up a stranger and convince the person that they are old buddies.    Also, they do a lot of publicity stunts like becoming conjoined twins, adopting kids for a week, invent a new flavor of potato chip, and ask viewers to share stories.  They do perform a few TV skits here and there and do interviews with famous Aussies like Hugh Jackman and Catherine Zeta Jones.   Truly the shining gem of the show is Hamish Blake, an improv comedy genius with a reputation for being a slob and playing XBox too much.

"Hamish and Andy" Sample

"Hamish and Andy" Website
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I understand the title of the thread as satire and Monkey's attempt to distance himself from the nutters.    But the way this convo was introduced is giving those nutters credibility and wrongly so.   Have you ever heard someone say something like "I'm not homophobic but don't you think gay people are...?"

Yeah yeah yeah great attempt to distance yourself from those assholes.    Not much of a disclaimer really.  You said what you wanted to say and no harm done.... even though harm is done in retelling such generalizations.

Talk about globalization all you want.  I found your comments on a global senate wonderful.  I'm out.

Merging the Canadian dollar is likely a strategy indeed.  The other things mentioned are a bit shady but I'm open for conspiracies with any sort of evidence backing them.    I just thought that choosing one guy of the lot and juxtaposing him with evil (instead of say G.W. or Hillary or McCain) is just well.... wtf.

Obama has been the one guy distancing himself from special interests (excluding sorts of memberships mentioned by ProgZ, who by the way needs a few more tid bits to back up his claims as their FAQ didn't include "world domination" or the like.  http://www.cfr.org/about/faqs.html   Worst tidbit on the FAQ is that some of their meetings' minutes are withheld from the public.)

But Obama is the one guy whose hands are fairly clean as far as his campaign goes.   The whole message has been overall positive, honest, and a grass roots effort.   I've kept my eyes on it since Feb. of last year.    Not once have I seen his eyes flare with fire or lick his lips with a forked tongue.

And another thing is this.    How do you start an argument about the anti christ and ask people not to talk about religion?     "Well I happen to be an atheist and think the anti christ myth is rubbish.   But yes Obama IS that mythological figure as told in many fables."


Its downright angering.  These claims are worse than the Jeremiah Wright bullshit, and have no evidence backing them.   All fact based conspiracies are welcome in my mind.