Jesus H Christ

[Kesslan]

Nah man, 64 is where it's at.

Renting a cottage up at the isle of white, grandchildren on your knee... Vera, Chuck and Dave. Yeah man, the only thing better than being 24 is being 64 and still having someone that needs and feeds you.

That's provided that you last that long and don't wind up dead face down in the gutter somewhere.

Knowing you, you'll some how rocket to stardom in some political field, become infamous for your eccentricities and expensive tastes, and then be found some day ODed on a cocktail of assorted narcotics and booze.

[Meer]

Yeah man, but that's many years from now. Also, who knows, When I'm 64 I might be more interested in mending fuses when the lights go out.

[Tassik Cormal]

*laughs* You know... I'm hoping I'm not the only one who's picked up on it, but thanks you Meer. You are epic. :3

[Ironklaw]

Someone recently made the point that the absolute worst thing we could do for Africa right now is continue sending aid. The lady recommended that rather than essentially funding corrupt regimes with aid money, we instead do things like directly invest in African businesses (helping to create jobs and workable economies) and basically cut out the government middle-man.

But then, if we stopped sending aid, assholes like Bono, Bob Geldof and the whole association of people devoted to promoting African aid (and, indirectly propping up psychopathic tin-pot dictators like our dear Mr. Mugabe) will collectively shit themselves and find themselves unable to get more undeserved meetings with global leaders, thereby decreasing their own senses of self-importance. Anyway, I digress.

I find myself agreeing with the lady who came up with that idea of cutting off aid to Africa. We've been sending it forever and truthfully, the place has only gotten progressively worse. Funny that governments are quick to cut important funding to projects in their cities, states, provinces and nations but the millions in aid dollars keep flowing unendingly into the pockets of the corrupt and undeserving. Hot damn.

[Meer]

I still laugh that some Australian woman found a powerful weapon against Global hunger. She owns a company that produces dog food and their R&D department developed a dehydrated meat paste that she assured everyone was a totally different formula than the dog food she made. It wasn't particularly delicious, but it was filled with nutrients and it was filling... enough to keep people alive for sure.

Africa collectively shit its pants and declared her a racist for trying to feed them dog food. They have too much pride to eat anything she made and if she sent it to Africa they would send it back... they went on to say (and I shit you not) if she REALLY wanted to help, she should send money.

They then sat back down... and their citizens continued dying in the streets from mal-nutrition.

[Kesslan]

See thats part of the problem with a good chunk of Africa and the Middle East. Their still literally living in a dark age mentality. Oh sure you can find relatively modern weapons, armor, TVs and other such things depending on where you go. But in the end they have shown very little progress as a whole towards modernization in beliefs, customs and all the rest.

I'm also pretty sure Religion is at the heart of most of the conflicts in both areas as well. Religion is honestly one of the worst things humanity has ever invented.

[Kasuke]

Seriously?

We're in 2009 people >.>

Shaedyn and I had a deep conversation about people these days.

Honestly, now isn't the time to be hating on each other. We've done that for decades. We're bringing us to our own doom pretty much. :/

[Pooshie]

We're in 2009 people >.>

Isn't it because it's 2009 that we're all "hating" on each other? The progression of time will never have anything to do with human nature, although I often wish it would. With so many of us Humans on earth, it's inevitable that we're gonna start getting on each other's nerves, no? Mistrust, hatred, fear, etc are all part of who we are as a race. And they're probably why we got so far to begin with.

[Meer]

I'm also pretty sure Religion is at the heart of most of the conflicts in both areas as well. Religion is honestly one of the worst things humanity has ever invented.

I'd say it's probably the most convenient actually.

99% of religious conflict only uses religion as a mask. You think the Popes in Europe really cared about the spiritual aspects of The Crusades? Of course not. They wanted more land and more power. You think the Taliban really care about protecting Islam? No. They're just ticked because they don't get everything their own way.

Religion is a great idea that has been usurped by opportunists, and much like the fandom, you only hear about it when people are making asses of themselves... so of course it gets this negative stigma.

If Religion had never been created people would just find another reason to kill each other. Just like if the Furry Fandom didn't exist people would just look for other reasons to justify their perversions. So just like everything else, don't bash religion, bash the people who abuse it. I'm religious and have NEVER hated someone else for not having the same beliefs as me, and I certainly don't support going to war or killing people for the same.