Victoria

I think i may have found what would suit how about this with special package, q james bond theme music!

One of the best Hotels in the old Iron Curtain, they say, FxrAndy.

If you want a sneak peak at it, take out Queen Latifah's Last Holiday from your local viddie. She plays a dying woman who treats herself to a last magical holiday, no expenses spared.

It made such an impression on me, this Hotel, that one day I want to stay at the Pupp.

What about that "special level of hell" reserved for child molesters and people who talk in theatres?

That's just above the special level of Hell reserved for forum debaters. I hope I'll remember to bring my SPF 70.

I got Purgatory as well

WHAT!! Both of you get to fiddle your time in relative comfort, whereas I'm practically living in the Devil's Anus??? :cc_confused:

Cripes. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I have never done drugs, I'm not a promiscuous girl. And I only accidentally look at porn (what can I say -- that Looney Bin is hard to find).

How fair is that??!! Dante sucks!

Great story VIc.. enjoyed reading it.

Thanks, K. Much appreciated.

@Jsmith11: Thanks too! Very true. Of course, we give things meaning, but sometimes we must admit -- objects carry a meaning of their own.

Also, another bit of news -- my father agreed to let me photograph one of his older gens for this excellent thread. Photo coming up, but I think you gents especially will love it!

And here it is. An Omega Seamaster Cosmic.

My then young father bought that one day in the late 1970s, probably around the time of my birth. Manlike, he doesn't recall any details. I would've remembered what I ate that day, and the suit the AD assistant was wearing.

Here is what it would look like in newer vintage condition. Ebay Auction # 140213153669. 3 Days/3 Hours to go, and it's only U$243.49.

Grant you, that looks mighty nice. It's not all scuffed up like my father's.

It's not missing that beautiful Omega crown.

It definitely has better markers.

Bet you even the forum modders are looking at this watch as a lost cause.

...but this watch bore witness to my father's early manhood.

Wearing this watch on his wrist, my father healed his patients, kissed my mother, scolded his daughter (gently), washed his dog, took his family to Eastbourne for seaside holidays, played football on Copacabana beach, shook hands with Egyptians, Japanese, Swedes, and Peruvians, and in fact, was wearing it the day his father was buried.

He knew how much his old man hated fuss and ostentation, and though by that time he had bought other timepieces, this is the one he chose to say goodbye to his own father.

It's wonderful to own reps. It gives one a sense of freedom and adventure hard to replicate (ironically enough).

But owning a genuine watch of this calibre, however modest, is incomparable.

You're living your lives as grown men and women now, and one day your child will remember you as I have above.

Do you want them to remember you wearing a rep?

Why not.

But it's wonderful to look back on your life, knowing something you owned was real.

And I might go on...

Better not.

No, it's all right. We're just talking.

I am not one to take anything personally, how ever much I disagree with you on this one, Sssurfer.

That test is similar to the famous one where college students were put into a room, and told to adjust a k.nob. In the other room was a person hooked up to (fake) electrodes or similar. These cried out in utter agony every time the test subject turned up the current.

This tested why we follow orders, even though we know our actions cause physical pain to others, right? A very interesting exercise, with all kinds of Twentieth Century implications (non-Nazis and non-Communists following "orders", etc.).

I think the implication is that we do it to save ourselves, from "repercussions" -- bad grades, being blamed for something, or just hoping we're not "next".

But your actions have consequences, no matter what.

In Medical School, the first two years in the US are about gross anatomy and diseases. But I also got a session in Medical Ethics. One question posed was the following:

"Two men have just been rushed to the ER. You know one is a police officer who has taken a bullet in defense of others. The other patient is a long-time violent criminal, who has the exact same wound. There is only one operating theatre available, and you're the only attending available. All things being equal, it's your call as a physician: who do you treat first? The other will die waiting."

This was posed in open discussion, so I got to hear others' answers. Most chose the policeman, of course. I did too.

A few chose the criminal, since they reasoned the policeman knew the risks doing his duty, whereas one should save the criminal, to stand trial for his latest crimes.

Marrickvilleboy, at the end there was no right response, the prof said. He just wanted us to think about ourselves, our actions, and motives, although it was more "real" than your class. These things MIGHT have happened to me had I stayed the course.

Anyhoo, nice thread. A parting shot:

Philosophy means to me, exploring the unexpected with the unknown.

Ok you guys, The Moment of Truth has arrived:

http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv

Sheesh.

I expected this thread to be full of zinga-zing-zing insight when I returned. There's only this little test to enjoy -- how ever silly it was. E.g.:

"Do you have any pagan religious beliefs?"

Yes, I throw salt over my left shoulder when I spill it, etc. But this question would be answered with a Yes by a santeria practitioner, who slaughters chickens for their "beliefs". It's way too broad.

The result...I'm going to!

Fourth Level of Hell

Just before the river Styx is the Fourth Level of Hell. Here, the prodigal and the avaricious suffer their punishment, as they roll weights back and forth against one another. You will share eternal damnation with others who either wasted and lived greedily and insatiably, or who stockpiled their fortunes, hoarding everything and sharing nothing. Plutus, the wolf-like demon of wealth, dwells here.

Click on this Flash site. It will give your Level more meaning.

http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/

There's a shock. Turns out I'm a Hoarder and a Waster.

Well, sheeeeeee.

Anyone who has ever seen my rep watch and strap collection, knows THAT. But I'll be damned to the Fifth Level at least, if I don't share my goodies with folks!

Oh, and one more thing in the risk/reward. How good do you think he felt, walking away with the adrenaline rushing through his veins and feeling of chivalrous heroism in his heart. Subconsciously, we men live for moments like this in our imagination, but don't often get the chance to see them through.

Dude, one time I lunged myself at a little girl who was crossing traffic. She and I were almost run over, but she most certainly would've been.

I am not an heroine, and obviously, I lack a huge pendulous pair. *checks* Yep, still missing.

I was a fool, because I could've died, leaving my parents bereft and childless. In retrospect, I don't know if I would repeat my action. I sometimes have awful nightmares about this.

Speaking of which, my Chinese collector condenscended to answer my email, I have paid for my watches, and can sleep the sleep of the Just. Or at least, the rep watchful.

May you gentlemen have interesting conversations in the meantime. Oodletoo.

If they are perfect strangers who know absolutely nothing about the other one, sacrifice is not going to happen, unless because of previuos obligations socially taken (e.g. firemen), number considerations (e.g. sacrificing one to the life of many), or because of being driven by a specific meme that is intentionally (either consciusly or inconsciously) spread to take advantage of others' sacrifice.

I knew someone would counter with that.

An anecdote as rebuttal:

One time, my mother and I were in a dark carpark near Coconut Grove. It was late, and we were walking to our car, when suddenly my mother saw a stranger with a balaclava covering his face, approach us. SHE SCREAMED! I was stock silent.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a man jump the wall separating his side of the carpark from ours, and rush headlong towards us, running after the would-be thief. This hero had no gun, and no knife we later saw, and he was actually rather skinny, and runty.

He came back, huffing and puffing, asking us if we were okay. It happened in a matter of SECONDS. Pah. It was over. We each of us went on our way.

To this day, I have no idea who this Good Samaritan was, and why he would risk his life for two unknown women who he probably will never meet ever again.

All kinds of cynical explanations ("maybe he thought you were hot" ) don't explain his actions.

There are no memes to explain this selfless behaviour of trying to save a life which has absolutely no connection to yours. IMHO.

The only thought-system that ever answered that one to my satisfaction is Buddhism: it's called compassion.

That's beautiful.

You get a somewhat similar version of that in Catholicism, with Jesus dying on the cross in order to redeem all of Humanity from the sin of...being human. A noble and sublime idea indeed, except that few people ever really get it., which is understandable, since (especially for the Buddhists) it borders on insanity.

For me, Jesus dying on the Cross illustrates the point I just made above. Selfless giving of one's life for the continuation, indeed REDEMPTION of others.

I also appreciate in Judeo-Christianity that God is unknowable, omniscient, and omnipresent. God doesn't exist in a rock, it explains. It's beyond human comprehension to fathom what God is, and even my own ideas of God may well turn out to be wrong. As an intelligent being, I'm willing to accept that incomprehensibility.

But hey, we just had that religious argument.

Philosophy is much less controversial, because you actually have to know crap to talk about it.

What makes you believe that your Professor has any answers? He's just doing his job, which at best, should be preparing you for the life-long task of examining it (ie, developing your consciousness), and at worst, throwing you curve-balls which neither you nor he can ever really connect with.

Right. It's just an exercise to help you develop argumentation. There is no right or wrong answer.

Williams sounds Nietzschiean to me. There is no odour of categorial imperative in his "no conditional factors" argument.

E.g.:

Sometimes human beings act contrary to what is good for themselves, and their survival. Mothers do so for their children, almost as a given, but perfect strangers with no relation to another person, can give their lives for that person too. Why?

It's not conditional. It's almost irrational, in fact. It's contrary to utilitarianism, which undermines that particular philosophy.

EDIT: This last point reminds me of an anecdote about Jeremy Bentham, the godfather of Utilitarianism, of course.

One day, he sat down to write a woman who he wanted to marry, all the reasons why it would make perfect sense for them to be wed.

He wrote them in tidy, 1-2-3 bullet point fashion. Every argument was sound, completely true, and logical to the nth degree. In short, marrying Jeremy Bentham made perfect sense, and maximised Utility to its fullest degree.

There was only one problem.

The woman didn't fancy him.

Depends on the path the friend is following: kleptomaniac, ok. Serial rapist, not ok. Non-violent bank robber, ok. Violent mugger, not ok.

I know what you're saying, but man was that funny. :ltongue:

Basically, victimless crimes are less inhuman than those which physically hurt people. This is why we're not outraged at rep watches, but are outraged at rep eggs.

As for sixth senses, we all have that (and this business of women having more is nonsense. We're just better at recognising patterns). It's 3,000,000 years of genetic encoding which allowed us to survive.

I'm with Jung in this. Sixth sense (the collective unconscious, if you will) is simply the reservoir of human experiences bursting through every corpuscle in our bodies.

our friends when they travel a dark path?

Rape, and things of this nature, are usually preceeded by other behavioural sign posts. Recklessness, irresponsibility, malice.

One of the hardest decisions one has to make, as an adult, is judging when your friends are bad for you. First, you should try to help them, but if that fails, you have to walk away for your own good.

Obviously, this cuts both ways. One could be that person.

This only works if you're not using a router.

Right, that's my case. I posted it should it apply to others too.

However, if you're having problems, try getting a torrent.

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1219532

Yes, Nolsen posted that and that's how I viewed it.

It downloaded fairly quickly, and is 167MB total. However, the sound is worse than Demon's I'm sure. The torrented one is very tinny indeed (still watchable).

One thing is clear, Vicky:

Your avatars just get funnier and funnier

:cc_chinese:

BTW, the other day when I clicked on my own ID, I found out I could:

View My Profile

Find My Topics

Find My Posts

But also add myself as a friend. That's nice.

I'm reminded of Plato who said that people choose friends who resemble their own soul. And then he ruined that galactic bit of wisdom by mentioning something about white horses and black horses.

Philosophers. *smirk*

@Ryyannon: "why would you consciously or unconsciously choose a rapist to be your friend?" Precisely. Plato was right. You choose friends who resemble your own soul -- he just didn't add the unconsciously bit.

And if the husband in question was cheating on his wife with you.

It's difficult to say this without sounding sanctimonious, but that's just not my style. Once, when the husband of a friend started giving me rides to-and-fro, I stopped it suddenly.

It's not because I'm a saint, but I firmly believe that you don't put temptation in your way.

Actually, this might go a little way to explaining why I suddenly clam up with certain people. I'm a very flirtatious girl, and I fear hurting guys because I'm very loving. But do you know, when I have broken up with guys, almost all (with one exception) remained my friend? One serious ex-boyfriend even named his daughter "Victoria", I recently found out. Anyway...

At certain levels of society all over Europe, it's expected.

In my mother's family, it was and is a given. Didn't help that they had "marriages de convenience". But fortunately I come from a bourgeois, boring British family on the other side. Having one's mistress attend the funeral alongside the widow,

Ok so I thought I might post a philosophical question out to you guys. Its for my philosophy class.

I once took a philosophy class with a professor who believed that reality didn't exist. That we were all figments of our collective imagination.

I asked, "Do you have a mortgage? Stop paying, and you'll see if you exist."

He wasn't best pleased with me.

Living as I do, a very cerebral life within myself, I have come to the conclusion that overthinking is just as bad as living life (in the phrase of Aristotle) unaware. To quote Aristotle again, happiness consists of virtuous activity.

And I could never be happy ratting out a friend.

Hope this brief reply helped, Marrickville.

@Ryyannon: Something similar also happened to me, too. This is unrelated, but I always tell my friends, if you think I will ever tell you if I see your bf/husband cheating on you, about it, think again. I'll NEVER do that.

Agreed.

Speaking of which, when was the last time you were taken up the Ar$enal?

Err...words fail.

Don't worry. I'm not that touchy though. A little bit of me laughed. The other little bit took out the ruler.

@UncleJay: THANKS! From the horse's mouth himself. You can't get any better than that.

The whole egg thing was taking it too far IMO, same with the condom with the 'holes' in them. It seems like the Chinese will copy anything to save a few bucks, even if health risks are involved.

These are my scattered thoughts on the documentary:

Very well done Part 1, concentrating on the officialese reaction to the Fake Trade.

Christophe Zimmerman, of the World Customs Organisation (which I didn't even know existed) was highlighted and though charming, he looked like a guy swimming upstream whose head was being held down by his shipmates.

The reaction of famous brands (Cisco, Microsoft, Nestl

Will the U.S. dollar ever bounce back against the Euro?

Not if the USA wishes to stay competitive with the Chinese. I know it sucks for our hobbies, and for travel, etc. but this is really key to the US economy.

As ever, thanks for the info this post elicited, Ryyannon. Can you believe I still have my old Lloyds bank account, and haven't made at least inquiries like yours, in all these years?

Correction...

All FIVE accounts have been Banned...

FIVE accounts? Crikey.

Oh, just checked, including A. Kahlert, who so many people welcomed so cordially.

When I read his intro post, I WAS going to say something chippy like "Not another one", since his syntax reminded one of this Manzen creep. But it would've been very rude to a stranger.

Perhaps sometimes it's apposite to be rude...

Vic great combo but for that amount of money you should have gotten a normal length strap and not open an extra hole on a long one.

I knew you'd say something of the sort.

Almost all my OEMs are 115/95, such as my OEM rubber diver. It took me AGES to find a JV strap of that size -- due to the fact that even the OEM buckles give me a powerful nickel allergy chafing under my wrist. To the side, not so much.

If I'm spending that kind of money, I might as well get one I'll actually use in comfort.

Nevertheless a beauty and perfect combo with the 113

Thanks.

AFAIK, a lot of kevlar straps still have a leather backing.

According to V, Don's doesn't.

http://rlx.homestead.com/don6.html

Revealing a PM or any kind of personal communication publicly without a person's consent is, IMO, the worst thing a person can do online.

But since Herr Manzen is on a time-out, and hardly an elegant person at the best of times, perhaps Mods would be interested in knowing he's not taking this seriously.

Here is his charming little Valentine to me:

"was willst du machen,du bist doch die voll F*TZE"

I won't translate, but he uses the equivalent of the c-word in English to address a lady. Nuff said.

EDIT: Ahh. A duplicate account?

...the clot thickens.

If you really do own that then what the hell are you doing here with us replica people???

Hey now. If this thread has revealed ANYTHING is that us replica people aren't exactly hurtin' for money.