Raijor

I have done business with Chinese manufactures importing a variety of items made for my company on an OEM basis. My advice to anybody buying is to know your contacts. If you can not go there yourself have an agent you can trust do it for you. My first experiences were learning ones and it took several attempts to locate and establish relationships that I felt I could rely on. Also, it takes a very long time to build a relationship where you could feel comfortable trading on a person's word. In the end the best deal is not always the "best" deal. Best of luck.

Very nice gesture by Victoria and Hike .... Kudos all around. I second your assessment of the Hike strap. I am a lucky owner of two along with key fob. I have one on my Ferrari rep and it is my weekend watch I wear when shooting (Archery ... re-curve) just because it is so supple and comfortable.

Are you rejecting Admin's reality and substituting your own? If you are I would like you to clearly state what you would have people believe about the circumstances of TTK's banishment from the forum. What specifically does mean and what am I to understand you mean from . Also, your use of the word is completely unreasonable and the premise that you put forth with it is not supported by the vast majority of posts on this thread. I do not know TTK, I have not purchased a watch from him and have never had a conflict with him on any board. I only know him from his posts. Given TTK's propensity to attack, attack, attack and never give an inch when he was angered by somebody on the forum, it is very easy to believe Admin's explanation of events. I have dealt with Admin and Mods on occasion on issues and have found these people to be fair minded and to have exercised reasoned judgment. I take at face value what they have said. Correct me if I am wrong? I wish you well ... Peace be upon you.

Ouch ...

I am really in the minority but I like the watch ... the first time I saw it I went WTF has Rolex done, but the white gold version has grown on me. I do not sail and would have no use for the ten minute countdown timer but would buy the rep if it were sized like the gen at 43mm and had a white dial.

Hi Pal, things are warming up here in the great white north. I am wearing one of the straps on my SS Ferrari and will post pics... it is both beautiful and comfortable. I am using the Key fob too ... thanks

I received an email on that and was interested until I realized how flawed the rep still is. The Gen only comes in a white dial on the white gold model and the gen has a 42 mm case. These flaws are just to much for me.

Sir, it is just plain mean to kick anybody when they are down ... when experiencing the Luciferous feelings of epicaricacy or schadenfreude it is best to keep them to yourself ... they are in bad taste and reflect poorly on your parents and your upbringing. To TTK ... One day at a time ... I wish you well ... peace be upon you.

Done the Gen thing and feel it was money wasted. Waste = greatest sin for me. A good rep serves my purpose now. This is just my belief for me and I do not want people to think that I judge others by my standard. I have come to a point in my life that I am satisfied with a less extravagant footprint. Cheers

A great and interesting link. Tossing salt to practicing Santeria ... now that is a contrast in Pagan practice.

For me the issue raised is not the choice between turning a friend in or not turning a friend in. It is whether people are motivated and act based on their internal value hierarchy or whether external forces move them to action. I believe that people act based on their own internal value hierarchy at all times and that people follow what I call the for ever ... for now prerogative. For ever ... for now means ... "These are what my values are for ever but only for for right now and I can change them any time I want". ... and this what I believe I know for ever ... for now. It has been a very long time since I had to tackle something like this. I wrote four paragraphs on this before synthesizing it to the one above and I still am not completely satisfied with my interpretation. Cheers

Brilliant

That is an amazing bit of work .... Wow ... Time to watermark your photos and put the mark right in the middle of the watch ... that will be the end of people passing your photos off as their own.

I am a fan of Reggae and have Sirius .... been playing stuff like this in the car from the all Reggae all the time channel Eek A Mouse - Ganja Smuggling

I have had a Collie and a German Shepherd and both were intelligent, even tempered dogs. Both nice dogs and were good around people and children. The Shepherd was something else when it came to learning things. He was spooky smart sometimes and was very easy to train . Ingo was male Shepherd had the same coloration and coat as the dog in this photo and he was a very big dog coming in over a 110 lbs.

I view this place as part of life's toy department. It is a place for enjoying my interests with the like minded individuals and where the more serious side of life usually doesn't intrude. This is the place that my parents warned against when I was growing up and they said "life is not all fun and games." Life may not be all fun and games but it is good that I have some place for it.

Manners are the lubrication that allow us to exist side by side in close quarters. They keep interaction civil. When people who are well mannered receive communication that they perceive as ill mannered their sensibilities are offended. The internet as a communication tool has eliminated the close and in person contact that was the norm 20 years ago. I can not accept that because texting is a quick tool for communication that manners can be eliminated. I will not reply to emails I consider rude that I receive in my business life or in my personal life and here on the forum. A simple hello and thank you for you help is not hard to offer and takes only seconds to add. About Law School teaching a get to the point communication ... I too went to Law School and graduated with an LLB and was taught to think and communicate in a precise manner. I was never taught to eliminate good manners from my communication with others. It is just good form. Cheers And one other thing ... Use spell check ... it does help your message come across better.

I tend to believe that the bigger the watch the bigger the overdraft. I know some people with real big money ... were talking numbers where I would give all mine away for just a slice off their pile and these people don't put it into watches. Watch people will will spend whatever it takes to get their fix and those not into them could care less. On the expensive end I see Rolex where I live otherwise Seiko and Citizen are the typical watch fare.

I don't think so ... you have no clue as to my faith and what I believe except through the words of my signature ... what you do every day will make you a good person ... or not. I do not have qualifications I have an education where I learned to think critically, read and write effectively and synthesize ideas to create coherent presentations. And you have stated nonsense in this quote. The things you think are facts are interpretations of event by others. When you speak of the Council of Nicene creating modern Catholicism/Christianity you are only allowing for one explanation of Church history. For example Emperor Constantine's Nicene council is usually pointed to as the source for the doctrine of the Holy Trinity of God the Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost, yet the Trinity was present in the church long before Constantine's council. The Catholic Church gets blamed for inventing the Trinity yet the Catholic Church was not around in a its modern form. The truth is that there was no cohesive Roman Catholic Church ruling Christianity before Constantine and that is because Christianity was an illegal religion and an underground practice. Christians were persecuted, tortured and put to death by the state. It only makes sense that Christianity as an organized religion could only begin when it was no longer a crime to be a Christian and its members did not have to fear for their lives for practicing their faith. It was not until hundred's of year's later between the 5th cent. and the 7th cent. that the first vestiges of a Catholic church government rose where there was the Bishop of Rome as the head of the Church and making it an official Roman Catholic Church functioning similar to today's. In order to understand the Council of Nicea we need to understand Constantine 1 and what took place. In 312 AD, Constantine claimed he had a vision from God, he saw a flaming cross in the sky, and the words emblazoned across the Cross "in this sign conquer". Constantine painted the Crosses on the shields of his soldiers. It is assumed it was Jesus Christ whom he accepted as God. The fact that Constantine saw the Cross and the sun together can explain why he worshiped the Roman sun god while at the same time professing to be a Christian. He conversion brought a political / Religious unity to his empire. Under Constantine in 312 AD, Christianity was adopted by Rome and persecution of Christian's ended. Constantine 'Christianized' the Roman Empire and made it the religion of the state. But historians disagree whether or not Constantine actually became a Christian. His character certainly did not reflect the teachings of Jesus. Constantine was vain, violent and superstitious and he waited until he was dying before asking to be baptized. Constantine did not care about the theological issues as much as he did keeping the peace and his power in the Empire. Christianity was useful to him in that aim. Now to the claim that the Trinity doctrine was invented by the Catholic Church at the council of Nicaea in the 4th century. History has a different story. Its been said if one tells a lie long enough, and hard enough, people will begin to believe it. This is revisionist history. There was a clash within the two differing sects of Christianity at least 50 years before the Nicene Council and they only differed on how Jesus was God though both agreed he was God. What was debated at the Council of Nicene was whether Christ was a being created by God which one group promoted, or that he was the same substance as God considering that he was God as proposed by the other sect. The issue of the Divinity of Jesus was not what was dealt with at the Nicene Council as that was accepted by all. This was never an issue. Jesus Divinity as God and of the substance of God was affirmed as was Giod the Trinity. Hence the Nicene Creed .. "I believe in on God the Father Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all time, .....And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the giver of life, that proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and Son is worshiped together and glorified together, ...." So there you have another interpretation of what the Nicene Council represents to Christianity.... Unity. Nothing more. It is this unity that allowed the Church to grow. It would ultimately splinter again into many sects later on when thinkers began to question the behavior of the leaders of the Church. At no time has the Divinity of Jesus been questioned or his message corrupted. Your point about modern day Christianity having corrupted the message of Jesus is nonsense. Take a moment to read the new Testament where Jesus's message is and you will see it is not corrupted at all. It remains as it was when he first laid it down for his Apostles. Along with being intolerant and mean spirited toward other Religions you are ignorant about what you are speaking about as you clearly have not done any research on your own about the Council of Nicea and what followed for Christianity. History does not allow for only one interpretation of it. Peace be upon you.

Sir - I will be direct. You are intolerant and disrespectful of people whose religious beliefs are different than yours. My knowledge of Christianity and Catholicism is significant having been educated from the primary grades through completion of high school in Catholic Private Schools where religious studies were compulsory from kindergarten through grade 12. In University I completed a four year B.A. Honors Degree with a double major in History and Religious Studies on comparative Religions. Irrespective of what you are trying to say now your earlier post speaks for itself and shows you as you are and not as you wish you were. You would serve your God well by showing respect and tolerance of the beliefs of others rather than insulting them. Peace be upon you.

I have nothing disrespectful to say about the Koran and what is in it. People can believe what ever they want to believe in my world. I respect the faiths of others and acknowledge that I do not have the final answers. My answers will be given to me when I leave this life. That Moslems do not believe in the divinity of Jesus is not disrespectful in and of itself. It is the way that this point is expressed that can be. Saying I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus is very different than saying "Christianity is a corruption of God's message" There are Christians who believe and claim that "the Koran is a book inspired by Satan and that Mohamed is one of the Anti-Christs of history along side the likes of Hitler". I do not believe this. How are Moslems to feel when they read something like this? I believe that the are justifiably hurt by such language but no more so than Christians who hear that their Religion is a "corruption of God's message". Neither of these are professions of faith - rather, they are mean spirited, intolerant and disrespectful slags against another's different faith. Believe what you wish to believe but hurt none in doing so. It is not a difficult thing to accomplish. Put a limiter between brain and tongue and accept that with free speech comes responsibility. Peace be upon you.

Very well said indeed. Perhaps the best point in the whole thread. Belief is a choice and faith is belief without proof.

How do you know what his intention was in making those statements? It came across very clear to me as a mean spirited and disrespectful swipe at Christianity. We are all responsible for what we say. Peace be upon you.

I rated his post unfriendly because of the above quote. ... how friendly is that statement and how should people who are Christians feel about it. It is a mean spirited statement and goes beyond a profession of faith. I would have also rated it as intolerant if I could have but there is no such rating. His post went beyond merely outlining his beliefs ... he disrespected the belief of others. This is not friendly and he deserves the unfriendly rating I gave him. I do not want to debate which religion is the right one and I will not. I have not spoken publicly about my beliefs and I will not. It is just this attitude of intolerance of others beliefs he expresses in his post that is the genesis of religious conflict around the world. The "my religion is the one true religion" attitude is responsible for all the bad that has been done in the name of God through the ages. A little more acceptance and tolerance of one another would go a long way to making the world a better place. His post that shows a complete lack of understanding of the Catholic flavor of Christianity. There is nothing remotely voyeuristic happening in the confessional. Before posting on something he knows nothing about he could have done a little research and perhaps he would have understood how far off base his point on confession is and how disrespectful to a Catholic it is. Specifically, the priest is not doing anything voyeuristic in the confessional and the penitent is laying bare all sins before God and asking God's forgiveness. The definition I have found for voyeuristic is:A person who derives sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies or sexual acts of others, especially from a secret vantage point. I would submit that this use of language is plain disrespectful of Catholics. Have I been clear about why I rated his post unfriendly.? Peace be upon you.

Excellent lume application