SBS

I see your point, but the fact that her 5 children are dead is very real as well. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I agree with you. I would like to see a murderer who is "normal". How do we determine which types of mental illness qualify you to commit these heinous crimes and not be held to the same standards as the rest of humanity. Yes, this is worse than stabbing YOUR CHILD to death in an instant of rage or unclarity. But WTF??? She took the time to get her 5 (FIVE) CHILDREN!!! HER CHILDREN!!! one by one and KILL THEM. SHE KILLED HER CHILDREN!!! But even if she were to kill only one of HER CHILDREN, how sick and twisted is that? How is this excusable in any way? Why should this woman be allowed to hide behind anything at all??? I find this to be incredibly disturbing news. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

-S That's already in my CV. You gotta do better. Um...Semen Guzzling Whore??? I was trying not to get too personal, but I guess "Butthead!" was a little vanilla... -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

Well, he sounds serious. I would send him as much personal information to him as soon as you can...you don't want to miss this opportunity. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I take offense to your comment which is a very clear, non-debatable personal attack... Butthead! -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

Last year's DVD shipped to every continent, and this year's distribution should be even wider. ------------------ Have you found a new continent??? -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

This is so wrong. I think that two things need to happen: 1) We should know who this person is, because this can affect us all. Especially so that people at this person's drop zone know of this person's nature. 2) I think that a suit should be filed against this person, that should include a stipulation that this person not be allowed to use Dropzone.com. Sort of a virtual restraining order if there is such a thing. There is no reason that this person should be allowed to hide behind this veil of annonymity. When people are scammed on ebay or by mail order, etc., we let people know so that they are protected. This is so much worse than losing a couple hundred bucks in a scam...this is our livelihoods...we can't fuck around with this. -Steve _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

Understood. Thanks for the clarification. Steve _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

Not to get picky, but I would appreciate you not putting words in my mouth...religion and politics had absolutely nothing to do with my post. You're perfectly welcome to disagree. You can't, though, just group me with Christian Fundamentalists because part of what I say may be somewhat similar to part of what they might say. I talked about humans vs. animal survival...not anything about one human vs. another based on their belief structure. Sorry. I just see an enormous difference and take offense to being categorized like this. Thanks, Steve _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

GOOD LORD!!! I had to read the hints. Even then the puzzles were tough at times. A few hours later, though, I am going to sleep a cheating champion. Thanks for the entertainment for the evening, but screw you for keeping me up til 3am. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I think that this is a symptom of a much deeper human issue. I, personally, think that we depend too much on our intellect, and we think that reason will get us through anything. I think that this approach to the world has caused us to evolve in such a way that we have lost some of the faculties that we once may have had, or may have developed. We seem to lack some pretty standard skills that belong to damn near every other species except for man, this being a case in point. Everything else has a place in the natural balance of the world. If the world is destroyed, it's not going to be dolphins, or monkeys, or fleas with their great technological advances that will be the cause. It will be us, because of our dependence on this faculty of "reason" that we hold so dear and think makes us so much better than everything else out there, that we will ignore what is going on around us, and our basic needs. Just something to randomly throw out there... Let's just say that the world has an energy, or a balance, or whatever. It has a natural flow of life. The animals that ran to safety don't cause an imbalance, but we do. The animals didn't get harmed, but we did. I'm not trying to say anything spiritual, or say that the world is alive and flipped us off with a giant wave, but what if these disasters like this are indirectly caused by us, and it is the world's way of trying to restore balance? This is the Speaker's Corner, right? :-) -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I am speaking from a business sense, and can't speak to Ford's political and social viewpoints, and certainly not how he spent his money. At no point did I say that he was a stellar human being...just a successful businessman under capitalism. Which is something that I addressed in the paragraph that you didn't quote. So you are suggesting that we become socialists? We can debate theory all day, because we haven't really seen either one in pure practice. Now we're just down to a difference of opinion. I will read your book. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

The way you mentioned Henry Ford seemed to be in a negative tone, and representative of your point. I, though, find people like Ford to be a good example of what capitalism can be. If I misinterpreted, though, I appologize. I think that your statement about no absolutes is a great one. It needs to include as well, that there are no absolutes when it comes to capitalism and our society. We are not a purely capitalistic society, but the problems that we have seem to be blamed absolutely on capitalism. Here is a small example: (from Ayn Rand) Someone goes into business. Capitalism says that he can charge what he wants to charge. If he charges too much, nobody buys what he is selling, if he charges too little, he doesn't make a profit. If he charges the same as everyone else, he doesn't have an edge. He adjusts accordingly. In the United States: The man goes into business. He charges too much, he can be accused of attempting to monopolize, unless he has adequate competition, in which case, he would not be able to charge that high a price anyway. If he charges too little, he can be accused of unfair competition. If he charges the same as others, he can be accused of conspiracy. Is this man actually free to set prices, and conduct business as it was meant to be conducted under capitalism? We say we live in a capitalistic society, but as you said, there are no absolutes. We are not purely capitalistic, any more than Lennin represented pure socialism. Completely eliminating profits would eliminate their desire to work at all. We just want them to not have motivation to keep us sick. The higher ups need to make a profit, that's just a fact. You may say that they don't do any work, but I think that it takes brain juice to make a company function. So, the less profit there is, the less the company makes, therefore, the less the skilled laborer who you are fighting for makes. The math that you did earlier just doesn't make sense, and that is this: cost of labor + profit = actual value of labor What doesn't make sense is that you expect that someone is going to realize the full value of their labor. But, without the addition of the middleman who you say doesn't do any work, the value of our labor is not what you now consider to it to be. How much is it worth for me to swing a hammer on the side of the road? What do you suppose people will pay me to pound nails into a random board on the side of the road? Probably not much. But, if someone hires me to build a house, I'm going to make a lot more money. Can I build a house on my own? Yes. Is it likely? No. People want things faster, better. So, we have a small army to build the house. Who is in charge of the army, and who makes sure that we get the work over the other guy? While I am swinging a hammer, how am I going to be out looking for my next job that I will need in a few weeks? I can't...so we have someone at the office do it. Gotta pay them...oh, crap...that comes out of my hammer swinging pocket. But what right do I have to complain, considering that I am working more than I would if they were not there? I could go do contract work, I am perfectly free to do that. But I, a free human being, choose to stay with a company making a wage that is slightly less, but is insured for a certain time to come, as long as I continue to do adequate work and earn said compensation. Getting back to the equation, the actual value of labor equals not only the labor of the hammer swingers, but the labor of the office people, the owners, the managers, the accountants, etc. These being people who do jobs that were made more necessary by things such as the assembly line. If you worked for a company that made a couple of cars a year, how many accountants would you need? Why is it that we are always so concerned about the laborers? Why are they owed anything more than the rest of us? Why do we think that any of us are owed anything at all? I can lose my job tomorrow. That is my company's right, to fire me if they don't think that I am doing a good job for them. I can also quit. I have that right if I don't think that they are right for me. Why should I have rights that they don't? I saved a $125,000 job this year single handedly. That was 10% of our revenue in 2004. What would I have saved if they hadn't created this company and invested $25 million? So, what was the value of my labor? To them, it was $125,000. It was a week of my time, and it is twice what I make in a year. I'm not complaining, because I agreed to do the best job that I can, and take pride in it. I have sold my labor at a price, and expect that my company will profit, just as I do. I think it's crazy to think that the investors, who actually had risk, and in the end are providing a living for 5, 10, 100, or thousands of people, don't deserve to go home to a nice house at the end of the day. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

My german is not fantastic, but as I just returned from Germany, I think I can help with this... Hello to all the Nuit of the Glisse fans. Something something something...hot german chicks...something...sheep loving...something...in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. http://StyleDeLaGLisse.tobiasmuench.com I am looking for internet sex with elderly gentlemen who like a man with a tight ass...please visit me at this new website: http://forum.tobiasmuench.com I will impregnate an animal on the site on January 15th, and if you are there, you will automatically get VIP status. I think it is a great new Nuit de la Glisse forum. Euer Tobias Hope this helps... -Steve _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

So you are suggesting that the assembly line is not the fruits of someone's labor? Someone came up with an idea, implimented it, and made money off of it, and that is wrong? How is that different than pounding steel into horseshoes, picking fields, and sewing dresses, selling them, and making money (except that it takes more brain power than muscle)? Did the booms in population have nothing to do with competition for jobs? And do you think that it should have been illegal for Ford to create the assembly line, because he owed anybody anything? Why would you say that the fruits of his labors were owed to anyone but himself? So Henry Ford did no work? How did any of these skilled laborers know how to build a car? Do you own a car? What do you think your car would be like, if you had one at all, if we had not had people as innovative as Ford, that were able to profit from the fruits of their labor? Why would he have done any of it, if at the end of the day, he had to go home to his shack and eat beans? The problem with healthcare is not that there is competition. The problem is that specifically in the prescription drug market, the end result of success is that people no longer need your services. It's a conflict of interest, which we eventually lose. Would you suggest that we socialize healthcare? I, personally, don't want my next trip to the doctor's to be like going to the DMV or courthouse. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

And when someone is not there to pay the wages, the labor is valueless. So, it is the fruits of the labor of the company owner that allows the workers to realize their own. Why should that company owner not make a profit? One needs the other. The company owner needs the worker to produce, and the worker needs the company owner to give value to his/her labor. The idea is that they negotiate a wage with which both parties are happy. Does that always happen? No. Is that the fault of capitalism? No. People are going to misuse and abuse systems, regardless of what is in place. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

Capitalism works on the premise that one can obtain labor at a lower cost than its actual value, ie the exploitation of workers. --------------- Since when? That is how WE approach capitalism. In its purity, capitalism represents a balanced exchange for goods or services. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Reply To -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That is an incorrect statement. Our Founding Fathers were not Christian. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUZZZT! Wrong answer please try again. ---------------- Actually, they were Diests...they did not acknowledge God by name. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I'm pretty sure the only true part of the story is that they were left, everything after that is pure speculation. -------------------------- No, no...they came back to tell everyone what happened, and then in the spirit of the whole thing, chose to go back into the water in an undisclosed location, allow the search to start from scratch, and ultimately... well, you gotta see the movie. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I sat in my hotel room in Munich sending emails and chatting with a friend in San Jose. I listened to the firecrackers, bottle rockets, and ambulances, then took a stroll to see the damage. You would not believe how trashed the street was. They have a pedestrian street that was litterally covered for a half mile solid with glass and leftovers of amateur fireworks. Unbelievable. On one hand, I think I missed a hell of a party...on the other hand, I still have all my fingers and toes...

That is very thought provoking, and introspective. At the same time, though, I think it's kind of disturbing that there are some who feel this way about us as skydivers. Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't skydive without a consideration of death. I think that it's important to learn the difference between not caring, and having a healthy respect. We go out to get good at something that is inherently dangerous, but we do it with calculation, not disregard. I think that the sentiment is great, and is a solid start, but the theory may take a little bit of refinement, in my opinion. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I had one for a little while...yes...hurt like hell. I'd probably do it again, though, if I were drunk enough. -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I'm in love with Kate Beckinsale, but I don't think she reciprocates... _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I thought you meant when all your friends pee on you on your birthday...my bad... -S _____________ I'm not conceited...I'm just realistic about my awesomeness...

I will have to make sure to find this place and pay my respects on your behalf. I thank you for the story, and more importantly, I thank you for the recommendation.