metalslug

Perhaps they should be thankful, but certainly no more and no less than you. Are they bitching about paying taxes? ...or bitching about paying significantly higher taxes than others of lesser income? I completely understand the need for the current tax scales (relative to income) and I certainly cannot think of a better way to handle it, but that does not mean that I have to like it, especially if I believe that I am not using more public resources than others of lesser income. We're talking personal taxation here, not company taxation. Can it really be said that wealthy people have personally used exponentially more public resources than others? ... and to the extent that they owe an exponentially higher levy for that usage? Is it not also true that many public services, infrastructure and resources are not entirely 'free', and that extra levies already exist, either directly or indirectly, on those that make more use of them than others? If I own a trucking company; I need to get my vehicles registered and licenced each year. That costs money, more money than my employee who licences his one beemer for personal use. The DMV gets that money. I pay for toll roads where applicable. The revenue from toll roads goes into road infrastructure. I pay for fuel. Fuel is taxed in many countries and the fuel tax revenue is used for road infrastructure and/or other public expenses. My vehicle maintenance facility uses lots of water and electricity. I'm not getting it free, I collect the bill each month. Yes, both may be partly subsidised by the state (my taxes again), but above that I still pay more for using more. All of these costs reduce the company bottom line, which in turn reduces my personal bottom line. So, my company is paying infrastructure levies per usage, and then it's also paying company tax. Beyond both of those I'm also paying personal tax. I got rich off the activities of my company, and so I should personally contribute considerably more to public infrastructure for expenses that my company has already paid for. I cant help feeling at least a little sour about that. One of the people on my staff is an engineer. His brilliance has contributed hugely to the success of my company, which is largely to be expected relative to his qualifications and experience. He gets a good salary, slightly above market average. I've been told that he thinks I'm getting rich off his hard work, but he has not resigned in protest or started his own company. Maybe he prefers the job security, labor protection, steady income and little personal financial risk. Who can say? I do not drop to my knees in gratitude each time that I buy a Mac and fries. I paid for it and the franchise is grateful for my business. Disclaimer: I do not own a trucking company (or an engineer) and I am not living in the U.S. I therefore concede that my analogy above could be flawed relative to a U.S. scenario.

Almost all followers of a scripture-based religion will dispute any idea or claim that contradicts those scriptures, including aliens and evolution. The most open-ended religions are therefore those that do not have a scripture. I have often suggested deism as a much overlooked alternative for people that struggle to find a religious identity for themselves, because deism is more a philosophy than a religion. However, even deists do not claim to "know that God exists", they merely believe in the likelihood that a god exists and not necessarily as an exclusive entity with a fixed identity. This belief therefore makes allowances for aliens, evolution and much more.

While I get the intention of your point as an example, many South Africans would disagree with that statement. 'White' South Africans are from a very diverse spectrum of cultures, the least of which is traditional African. Although they may be born on the African continent and may be familiar with African culture from what they have learned and witnessed, they are very unlikely to have been raised in it. Indeed, much of modern 'white' South African culture comes from movies and television from the U.S. We also have a strong and proud Afrikaner community who are still close to their traditional Dutch-based culture and whose intentions are often confused with racism. There is also the Portuguese, Chinese and Indian demographic, of which the Indians appear to maintain the closest ties to their culture. This is perhaps why there is still a considerable rift to overcome between black and white South Africans. Despite being born in the same country, the cultural gap is closing very slowly, if at all.

I've sometimes wondered if a day would come (or has already come) that a man with "Lami" as a last name would be knighted. Who could address a knight as "Sir Lami" and keep a straight face ?

You could serve cocktails. Ah, no wait, those are for circumcision parties.

Roger that. It has to be E. I'm quite certain that this is the point that warped is trying to make here.

Roger that. At 36, I didn't do one either. There was not much that I had not already done that a stag party would have improved on. I have long believed that stag parties are for younger people that are trying to cram 10+ years of bachelor life into one night before having to commit. Would I have done one if I married younger? Probably not either. The only reason I would have married younger was if I found the perfect partner, in which case I would have made sure there was no risk of messing up the relationship.

Credibility and context. Responding to the ramblings of a completely anonymous forum member is a bit like having a conversation with a propaganda poster pinned to a streetpost.

oh.. Is this not a thread about Shane Warne's bowling style ?

I would think one's home security is relative to the crime rate of the area one lives in. I'll skip on the details for now, but I don't recall seeing even a single home in my area that has unrestricted access all the way to the front door. However, sometimes tight home security only leads to a more determined intruder. Instead of just quietly robbing your home while you are away, they realise that the easiest way into your home is through you. Imagine being ambushed in your own driveway by an armed group of six and bundled into your own house. That's how it sometimes goes down here. The thugs are fast and organised. Even if you had a gun within easy reach, you would need to be Annie Oakley to get them all. Private security companies in my area are generally quite good, way better than the local police. Panic buttons are quite effective, very loud and triggering an armed response within a few minutes. "A few minutes" will give intruders enough time to shoot you, if they really wanted to, but most intruders are looking for a little quiet time to rob or rape, and will almost always flee when the home alarm is triggered.

Grammar mistakes do not bother me in a place like Bonfire. It's a casual place; lazy fingers, limited education and drunk posts can slide here, it's all good. The place where this gets funny is Speakers Corner, where opinions are expressed on serious topics. Good grammar is usually an indication of good education and/or an indication of someone who is well-read. Members in that forum would generally like us to believe that their posts have credibility. Good grammar, in my opinion, lends weight to this perception. Poor grammar has the opposite effect.

Link not working? Here's the image then. As with quade's post, I have edited this image to remove identities.

Oh, it can get pretty weird for sober people too. Check out this gem: Clicky

Link

And as long as people think that racial divides and racial statistics are exclusively about skin color there will always be misconceptions.

DZ.com thread Link http://www.milehighclub.com/beyond.html Also note that stories of sex on the dropzone are often less reliable than stories of sex in freefall. Dont believe all the DZ gossip.

I empathise with people that need to eat 'clean', because so many things that are supposedly 'dirty' are really tasty! I'm in the I.T. business. For the last 15 years I've eaten at least 5 'fast food' meals each week, every week. (McDonald, KFC, pizza, etc). I almost never eat breakfast, I frequently snack after 8pm, and I do no significant exercise other than about 10 miles of walking per week. I break nearly all the diet rules. I'm now 37 years old. I weight exactly the same as I did when I was 18 (10% below my BMI), and my doctor stated that I have "the cholesterol levels of a baby" when recently tested. I feel like a million bucks. This either means that I have the metabolism of a fission reactor or there are some misconceptions about diets. Of course I am no dietician, there are likely to be many other factors that I'm not considering, but I remain somewhat mystified that most health and diet fanatics seem to be no more healthy than me.

+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?