^ They could even save on expensive Toronto rent by moving into the van. I'm telling you, that's affordable housing right there.

^ It's got a HUGE back seat.

Blessed, no one's ever been reported to die of boredom. If you have proof otherwise, do let us know. I loved this article. It reminds us, in a round about way, that life should be enjoyed and lived to the fullest. The momentum of mediocrity is always lurking in the shadows.

^ Though I agree with you, this particular religious strife in Nigeria is directly related, I believe, to the uprising being staged by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Mend is complaining that such an oil-rich region of Nigeria has a population living in abject poverty and to add insult to injury, the polution levels from oil pipe leakages and buring natural gas makes both the air and water unuseable. Now, Mend decided to take up arms against Shell and the other oil companies to get a fair share of their own wealth. Of course, the standard operating procedure in such cases (Iraq is a good example at the moment with the destruction of the Shia shrine) is the use of overwhelming force and creating sectarian or religious strife. This is what you're seeing now. The result of Shell using either the Nigerian government (for the heavy lifting) or the CIA (for clandestine church burnings and such) or both. Hope this helps.

When I look back on my 61 years, I sometimes think, "If only I had taken the time to really experience everything out there, I would probably be dead by now." This world has a lot to offer—too much, really—and every time I'm met with the blinding variety of life-endangering options available to me, I find the safest bet is to bolt the windows shut, put in earplugs, and not try anything once. After all, you've only got one life to live, so why take any chances? A good start to living a long, healthy life is to make a list of all the things you've always wanted to do but could never work up the courage to try, and continue avoiding these things. Just think about the hundreds of terrible things that can go wrong while taking part in a breathtaking, potentially fatal activity such as skydiving. Life is too short as it is, so it's better not to put it at risk by leaving the apartment. When you think about it, there are thousands of simple little ways to add some spice to your life while simultaneously putting it in great jeopardy. You could go hiking and risk getting lost and dying alone in the wilderness. Or go white-water rafting and meet your watery demise. Host a dinner party and get shot by an angry guest. It would be a shame to miss out on a future full of silent afternoons indoors and evenings alone in front of the television just to get the cheap thrills that make life worth living. Now, there's nothing more enjoyable than traveling the world and sharing whole new experiences with different groups of people, and there's also no faster route to a life-threatening disease, crippling injury, or untimely death, depending on where your perilous travels take you. Instead of risking your life, have your relatives or friends buy you a spoon from each place they go. I do this, and while I find it to be wholly unsatisfying, it has the distinct advantage of not requiring me to climb aboard a death ship that travels at speeds of 800 miles per hour while 30,000 feet in the air. Getting a bright and early start to your day is one of the most common ways to imperil the precious, fragile gift that is life. Walking around in the blistering morning sun and breathing in the toxic, polluted air might sound refreshing to the devil-may-care thrill-seeker, but it will only result in melanoma and lung cancer in the end. A safe, boring alternative that won't get you killed is to just stay in your room all day. Instead of learning to wind-sail, learn how to use your imagination. Don't get too carried away, though. The human mind is capable of conjuring up some gruesome images that could give you nightmares, and people who have nightmares are 50 percent more likely to die in their sleep. When I am sitting in a windowless room and my imagination gets out of hand, I immediately temper it by turning on a vapid, thought-preventing talk show or '70s sitcom. Since straining your eyes too much can make you go blind, I recommend just listening to the TV while staring at a wall. Some other uninteresting, dull, life-preserving activities you can do in the safety of your own home include: carefully rocking in a chair, sleeping, shutting your eyes and lying still though not technically asleep, counting ceiling cracks, pacing back and forth, and thinking about different numbers. Any or all of these are wonderfully effective, monotonous ways to prolong your life. So, before you go mountain climbing, hang gliding, or even consider taking your life into your hands with a Caribbean resort vacation, take a moment to think about the wear and tear such activities can cause. Your body is not a toy—it is an extremely fragile shell that should always be handled with great care and never be exposed to temperatures above or below 80 degrees. And remember that just because you stay physically healthy and out of harm's way, that doesn't mean your life can't be wrecked emotionally, spiritually, or mentally. It's best to think, feel, and believe in things as little as possible. My advice: Take it one excruciatingly slow, mind-numbing day at a time. If you can go to sleep each night comfortable in the knowledge that you will probably wake up in the morning, you will have truly discovered the key to leading a long, drawn-out, stable, and completely unfulfilling life: staying alive. Source

Originally posted by sheherazade: What's wrong immigrant? You're so sweet. I purposely rolled my eyes just to get a violent reaction from you. Alas, I failed. Mine was obviously an opinion and this article you posted does not surprise me at all. I still have family and friends in Tanana so I am kept abreast of how bad the employment is for young, highly educated immigrants. I'm not talking about an undergraduate degree but advanced degrees and specializations worth gold in the US. I don't know what the problem is but I'm sure institutional racism has a lot to do with it. Instead of fight and make it right, I chose to flee south. In hindsight, it was not a bad decision.

Stats? :rolleyes:

^ Pimpin ain't easy, or is it, good Ahura?

^ Danyeerow, can you believe how much jealousy and envy these people are throwing at this brother? Walee waxay u baahanyihiin a galon of haterade.

Originally posted by Paragon: The Melvin Avenue resident is eager to contact the anonymous Hamiltonians who want to give him a vehicle. One is a 1991 Plymouth Sundance. The other is a 1998 van. With a sedan and a van, the brother is more than ready to drive to Scarboro or Etobicoke and find himself a single-mom. Though kind and very generous what these good samaritans offered, vehicle donations in Tanana are fully tax-deductible. In other words, whatever the value of that vehicles was, the donor can deduct it from his or her tax obligations this year. It's really a win-win situation. Just one question remains, why are there Somalis still living in Hamilton, Ontario?

Oh Canada how I pity thee. A great place to study, to raise a family but not a place to spread your wings and be all that you can be. That is reserved for the land of the free and the home of the brave. Sure it's a bloody cruel and violent empire but one that's oozing with opportunities for minorities. Indeed a dichotomy. And though I wasn't born in Texas, I came here as fast as I could.

^ You went to the wrong school saaxib. In mine, if we can't beat them, we are to eat them.

Originally posted by Ducaqabe: Another example of Bush standing up for what he believes is right. Good for him. I know I didn't just read Ducaqabe cheering Dubya. :eek: If these were genuine calls of concern about the security of the US, this would have been their top priority: For Uncle Sam's debt to the rest of the world already amounts to more than a third of his annual domestic production and is still growing. That alone already makes his debt economically and politically never repayable, even if he wanted to, which he does not. Uncle Sam's domestic, eg credit-card, debt is almost 100% of gross domestic product (GDP) and consumption, including that from China. Uncle Sam's federal debt is now US$7.5 trillion, of which all but $1 trillion was built up in the past three decades, the last $2 trillion in the past eight years, and the last $1 trillion in the past two years. Alas, that costs more than $300 billion a year in interest, compared with, for example, the $15 billion spent annually on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). But no worries: Congress just raised the debt ceiling to $8.2 trillion. To help us visualize, $1 trillion tightly packed up in $1,000 bills would create a pile 100km high. But nearly half is owed to foreigners. All Uncle Sam's debt, including private household consumer credit-card, mortgage etc debt of about $10 trillion, plus corporate and financial, with options, derivatives and the like, and state and local government debt comes to an unvisualizable, indeed unimaginable, $37 trillion, which is nearly four times Uncle Sam's GDP. Only some of that can be managed domestically, but with dangerous limitations for Uncle Sam noted below. That is only one reason I want you to meet Uncle Sam, the deadbeat confidence man, who may remind you of the film Meet Joe Black; for as we get to know him better below, we will find that he is also a Shylock, and a corrupt one at that. Read more.

Alleubaahne, it doesn't take much to please you, does it? Saaxib it's unfortunate what's going on in Muqdishu and the rest of Somalia but I'll take a wadaad over a warlord any day. In my view, the worst wadaad is better than the best warlord.

I would not be at all surprised this is the work of the CIA. Nothing is working for the "coalition" in Iraq. Unless of course, chaos (and vandalism as Xiin says) was the original plan all along. If that were the case, then all is "good" in Mesopotamia.

Is the dude in the image facing forward or backward?

^ That's not what the little birdie told me. Now, if I could only corroborate what she said. Originally posted by BonefieD_CriTic: Castro is like J. E. Hoover - Dig dirt on him and you are finished - You must have a guardian angel on this site who comes to your rescue whenever you "speak" your mind and you're chided about it. Lucky you, I guess.

^ That's just wrong both in Islam and on a human level. Think, child, think! You say you don't hate them but you're sad Hitler didn't exterminate them? What other pleasant thoughts do you have in that head of yours?

^ He's gonna deny the existence of Germany.

^ Everywhere, dear. Just open your eyes.

^ Though I live in a 50% Latino town, shamefully, all I know in Spanish is: que passa hombre? and mucho trabajo poquito dinero.

Are there no rumors on Amelia? Are you people scared? I want nothing but the low down dirty shame on that girl.

^ War ileen balaayo. NGONGE: come out, come out, wherever you are.

Iran leader faces Holocaust case An Israeli lawyer, Ervin Shahar, says he has asked Germany to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with denying the Holocaust. Mr Ahmadinejad was widely criticised when he said last year that the Holocaust was a "myth" and that Israel should be "wiped off the map". Germany passed a law in 1993 forbidding Holocaust denial. It is punishable by up to five years in prison. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. Mr Shahar said he wanted the German federal prosecutors' office to take the issue before the constitutional court in the hope that international arrest warrants would be issued against Mr Ahmadinejad. Correspondents say prosecutors will have to consider whether Germany has jurisdiction and whether President Ahmadinejad enjoys immunity. International case "I'm awaiting a response about whether they will file charges but I don't know how long it will take," Mr Shahar told the Reuters news agency. The crime as described is directly linked to Germany, committed among others against German nationals of Jewish descent Ervin Shahar "It doesn't take days but several months." On Monday, British historian David Irving was found guilty in Austria of denying the Holocaust and sentenced to three years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to the charge, based on a speech and interview he gave in Austria in 1989. Although Mr Ahmadinejad did not deny the Holocaust on German soil, another law passed in 2005 permits the filing of international cases in German courts. Mr Shahar hopes the case might result in international warrants for Mr Ahmadinejad's arrest, thus preventing the president from entering the US or Europe. The lawyer believes Germany is the best country in which to file the suit, because it is the "most influential European state" and because the country is directly linked to the case. The prosecutors' office in Karlsruhe has not yet commented. Source

^ Yac. Originally posted by Socod_badne: How many sects and schools of thoughts are in Islam? Innumerable. Exactly! That proves my point. I don't think it does good SB. It only proves that there are many sects and schools of thought in Islam. All those sects and schools of thoughts claim to believe in Islam while at the same time having different opinions of it. That is only possible because not everone sees things the same leading to different interpretations of a single text. When you accept that, you'll understand where I'm coming from. Saaxib I don't know how much Arabic you know but as a fluent reader and writer of the language, I assure you the Quran is no layman's book. Please don't confuse this with some faiths where the congregation is encouraged not to read the book but speak with a priest instead. That's not the case with Islam as the only barrier to reading the Quran is one's own laziness. Having said that, the study of the Sunnah and Tafsiir of the Quran are no weekend jobs. Some people dedicate their lives (just as a professor in, say, physics would do) and those are the culama. Simply donning a khamiis and wearing a beard does not. If the latter is what you confuse for a caalim, then I don't blame you but if you equate the casual (or occasional) reader of the Quran to someone who studied it, then I'm afraid you're mistaken saaxib. Saaxib you wouldn't ask someone who never went to school to do differential Calculus but you would expect every Farah to know all there is to know about the Quran and Sunnah by just reading about them occasionally as most of us do? It is true that there are many schools of thoughts and opinions but it's never on anything but peripheral and minor issues. If you have examples of major disagreements, let me know. And finally, though you have the option to go it alone, you can't, in the same breath, say there's no such thing as a caalim.