We Remember The September 11th

[Azat]

I knew you were a business major but could not get why you were taking circuit analysis class.

 

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Because you have been thought that greed and selfishness is a bad thing in school, I think you should quit that school because they are lying to you. The economy of this world is driven by greedy selfish individuals and corporations and greed and selfishness are great things. Greedy people give much more to the world than you and I do. Here is a comparison for you. Bill Gates(greedy selfish SOB) donated over a billion dollars to different charities last year(I actual do not know the exact figure, but I am sure it was well over a billion), Azat (a poor unselfish(is there such a word) bastard) only gave sub $1000. Nuff said!!!

 

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I love this last game that you wanted me to play with you. So you list 3 companies that have out of over 5000 publicly traded companies in the US and I list 3 successful companies each turn and lets see who can list more. Ok, here is my list IBM, DELL, Microsoft. While I am at it let me list the 10 largest companies in the world to demonstrate my point about business friendly environment in the US.

General Electric

Microsoft

Wal-Mart

Exxon Mobil

Pfizer

BP-British Petroleum

Johnson & Johnson

AIG - American International Group

Citigroup

 

Now I wonder why only 1 is a non US company. Maybe you can ask your profs to explain that. Oh one more thing the market cap of those 10 companies listed above combined is(if you can believe this) 5 times your entire countries GDP. Maybe you guys should just sell out to one of them.

Nuff said!!!

 

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And here is some info for you to ponder. Your GDP per capita is practically half of that of the US, what is going on?

Economic Info for year 2000(sorry I was unable to find 2001, but I am sure it is not MUCH different)

USA Australia

GDP (US$ bn) 10,208 357

GDP per head (US$) 35,897 19,731

Consumer price inflation (av; %) 2.8 4.5

 

Maybe you should ask some of your business school teachers why Australians suck compare to the US when it comes to GDP per capita and production and why inflation rate is practically double that of the US

 

Nuff said!!! - whatever that means.

 

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By the way I am glad that you are a double major and especially since one is business. This will help you in investing in the future and maybe you would want to invest in a market index fund with the largest rate of return in the last 70-80 years. You will first look at the Australian markets and will not find it there. Then on to Asian markets and will not find it there either, no need to look at socialist European markets either because you wont find the big returns here, and even if you had you would have been taxed up the ^%##^. There is one place for you to look to find the greatest returns, including those bad few years of the great depression. 12%+ return my the DOW for it's history is something that no one can match.

 

Nuff said!!!

 

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As for your other comments, I was not talking about your knowledge of history or facts, I was referring to the "American weaklings" that you were referring to in those 3 planes that did nothing. Well my dear juggs, prior to 9/11 everyone was told to do nothing. because most hijackings ended with the plane flying to some country and eventually the release of the passengers. And only an hour after 9/11 started the 4th plane was notified about the previous 3 and people did do something.

 

Nuff said!!!

 

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I know my answers are all somewhat of a joke, but I feel they get the point across. If they do not maybe I can list more information for you. But I am not going to get on some pissing match with you. I am done with my part.

[Accelerated]

Thanks for the advice guys, escpessially the bit on doing a technical major, it sure makes sence to do one early if at all...

 

I dont think you guys understood me on what degree(s) I am doing. I am basically doing 2 separate degrees at the same time. A Bachelor of Business majoring in Finance, AND a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Tellecommunications NOT a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Business and Tellecommunications. It could be that the courses in the US are structured differently, hence the confusion. But the bottom line is at the end I get two degrees (becoming very popular here in AUS), instead of one. Hence at the end I will be equally capable to pursue a carreer in Business or Engineering or both.

[Azat]

It's same here in teh US you would end up with 2 degrees here as well. But i can't imagin doing 2 like that in 5 years. each is a 4 year program here and it would take one 6 years here to do both. not counting people like Sip who make all of us look bad with their geekiness. "Did Masters in 1 year" Yaiks.

[Sip]

Double majoring is a lot less common among the engineering/technical majors as the liberal arts majors. I know quite a few people that do things like Russian and History or Biology and Political Science ... it so happens that many of the classes they have to take are common to both majors and thus, they save a lot of time.

 

But there are VERY few that do an Engineering type major and something else at the same time. Esp at UCLA where the engineering school is separate from other liberal arts type stuff.

 

At the graduate level however, there are some concurrent programs ... for example, you can get your Computer Science MS and MBA (Management) degrees both in 3 years. I decided that if I were going to do a business/management type thing, I would do it much later in life and for now, just go full force with 1s and 0s

 

They do have this funny business about "minors" though ... you do a major and take only a few classes and get a minor in something else. A lot of people do that ... for example, major in Chem and minor in econ (with maybe only 3 or 4 econ classes).

[Accelerated]

Here the Engineering Degree (not including compulsary work experience) goes for 4 years, but the Business degree is 3 years. They are basically able to squeeze the two together by getting rid of all electives, so the only choice that you have is the major your going to do for each degree.

[TigrannesIII]

Russian and IR! Used to have history in there, too, but having to take an extra semester to get a useless history major wasnt gonna be worth it. Might pick it up again, but we'll see how things are. Ecli u menya net vremeni, ya ne izuchayu istoriyu.

[Sip]

What's IR?

[TigrannesIII]

intl relations. you'd be surprised, i actually have diplomatic skills and know how to play politics (since i'm so blunt here). i dunno what i wanna do right out of undergrad, we'll see where i'm at.

[Boghos]

A few comments:

 

- anti-americanism: based on ideological grounds, anti-imperialism etc - it should be no surprise to anyone that powers act as they act, it has been like this from time immemorial. I even think that of all hegemonic powers the UDS has been the least harmful to the rest of the world. More often that not it is used as an excuse to justify domestic failure in many countries.

 

- anti-amercanism: based on envy - the European version of it. I have absolutely nothing against Europe, actually on the contrary, but let´s view things as they really are, Capitalism in its true form only exists in America and a few other places. It does improve standards of living.

 

- anti-americanism: based on culture, especially american middle class consumerism and ignorance of world events - even though this is a personal issue, that is based on values that are very much open for discussion, it is a simplistic view of society. Most countries have similar middle classes, and on the other hand the US has a very sophisticated segment of worldly upper middle class people.

 

Armenian anti-americanism - usually a phenomenon of recent immigrants that have diffculty adapting

 

September 11 - well I guess there are so many things you can mourn that it is left to the individual to decide, but when all the other tragedies are used not to feel sorry for 9/11 it doesn´t sound right

 

Hiroshima, atomic bomb - to believe that the decision was based on the cost of human lifes is to accept propaganda. WWII was very bloody, and humans are often not very nice, draw your own conclusion. Come on this was the country that interned its very own citizens of Japanese origin

 

Being a diaspora Armenian - for me it entitles being a good Armenian, whatever that is but also a loyal citizen of your respective country, whatever that is, too

 

[ September 18, 2002, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: Boghos ]

[THOTH]

Boghos -

 

good comments (I will refrain from further on the Hiroshima debate - only to say if one is questioning my position please read all that I said on thi issue)

 

The US is disliked/hated for many reasons. Much of this is understandable (again for a variety of reasons) however much is severely misplaced IMO (some for the reaons that have already been stated here). Suffice to say that if the US did not exist in this world of ours here & now it would be a much much worse place. Can the Europeansd be trusted (not to appease the next Hitlwer, not to purely act in narrow self interest) - can the nasties be kept at bay? And the US is the engine that drives the world economy. I'm not discounting all the other activity - but a world without the US would be a poorer, more violent and more dangerous one for everyone IMO.

[MJ]

I don't know much about Hiroshima, and I think it is hard to justify its occurrence under any scenario. However, I would like to commend you for your sober perspectives.

 

And since you like the jokes of Armenian Radio, I would like to paraphrase one of them:

 

"Anti-Americanism is not an opinion. It is a diagnosis..."

 

Gotto go…

[Boghos]

Well Winston, let´s not get carried away here, "if the US didn´t exist, blah, blah" that is an impossible and unreasonable supposition. My analysis is ex-post.

[Sip]

Well ... maybe we should put it this way ... if the US kept completely to its own and did not stick its nose everywhere, I still highly doubt the world would be any better off than it is right now. I just can't envision the "Arab World" for example, being a happy, up-beat, all-one-family, sort-of a place ... but they still blame all their problems on the big satan.

 

They were killing and raping each other loooong before the big satan came into the picture.

[THOTH]

quote:

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Originally posted by Boghos:

Well Winston, let´s not get carried away here, "if the US didn´t exist, blah, blah" that is an impossible and unreasonable supposition. My analysis is ex-post.[/QB]

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Perhaps I refer to a possible near future where the US is no longer the dominant player financially, militarily or culturally....let us suppose that China has this role...or (gulp) Europe (EC)....Sure hard to envision how this could occur without (basically) the collapse of all we know...so obviously this is theoretically speaking...or perhaps the issue is that without the US - it means (basically) the collapse of all we know...thus (I propose) that all these folks who rail such againt the US are basically calling for the collapse of everything as we know it...and to be replaced by....? (some Communist/Muslim/Totalitarian supposed paradise....????? - here is the reach....)

[THOTH]

quote:

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Originally posted by MJ:

I don't know much about Hiroshima, and I think it is hard to justify its occurrence under any scenario. However, I would like to commend you for your sober perspectives.

 

And since you like the jokes of Armenian Radio, I would like to paraphrase one of them:

 

"Anti-Americanism is not an opinion. It is a diagnosis..."

 

Gotto go…

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War is murder...when is it justifyable? The same is true for "acts of war". Obviously there are whole multitudes of moral arguments surrounding the dropping of the atomic bombs against Japan (civilians)...but what truly distinguishes (morally) these attacks from others perpetrated against civilians (during WWII) of perhaps similar (or greater) intensity (but without the nuclear bogeyman)? I think we certainly might be able to offer our opinions on this issue - but I doubt we can answer it.

[Boghos]

Yes indeed there are some prospects that are frightening...But I think the US will remain as a hegemon for a long time to come, for exactly the reasons you hav pointed out before. If there is an up and coming country, that is China. But let´s forget about it for the moment and try to enjoy life

[MJ]

Another Armenian Radio joke came to my mind:

 

Question: Which of the two countries is more aggressive - the US or the USSR?

Armenian Radio: Of coarse the US, since it meddles with the internal affairs of USSR at all corners of the world.

 

P.S. Wanted to also add that my previous message was addressed to Boghos.

[Accelerated]

Like when? (looong before) Apart from perpetual conflict between the Ottomans and Persians, the Middle East was in relative peace for 500 years, certainly compared to neighbouring Europe...

 

and its 'Great Satan', not 'Big Satan'

[Sip]

Well, maybe we should let the turks take over everything again to bring "peace" to the area

 

Assuming we are talking about the period after the Mongols destroyed everything ... yah, the turks came and took over pretty much the whole region ... but after the breakup, do you really think those regions could have gone on being happy happy neighbors? Common ... aggression it's a written rule in Islam! At least in Christianity, we are supposed to turn the other cheek (we all know how that ended up working). But Isalm is by nature a violent religion.

 

I always start laughing when I see all these people on TV in the US talking about what a peace loving religion islam is... when the heck did that happen? Did they rewrie the Koran since the first time it was written?

 

The fact remains, I believe, that as the world got more and more dependent on oil, that the region was bound to become a center of conflict ... if not christians and muslims, if not the same old, tired, jew and muslim, battle, then for sure the Shia vs Sunni ... they would have found a reason ... any reason to control the black gold.

 

I appologize for the "BIG" Satan mistake. Won't let it happen again

[Accelerated]

Well, how do you know wether its not-peace loving. You havnt read the Koran (Im assuming), so how would you know? Your just taking someone elses word for it, and as far as I see it everyword that comes out of CNN (or any other media source) must not be simply taken to be truth. Also, I have a number of Muslim friends, and the trully religious ones are much more calmer and friendly and less aggressive.

 

As for the Koran, as far as I know there is a clause for self-defence, but as we know, all who engage in war will claim to be defending themselves.

[Sip]

I went to school in Iran up to 8-th grade. Although we were in an Armenian school, they did force "Arabic" on us after 5-th grade with all these "examples" from Koran... this was after they cut Armenian language instructions from 2 hours a day to 2 hours a week. Also, growing up in a country like that, esp after the revolution, you are constantly exposed to Koran and it's wonderful lessons.

 

A lot childeren's programming had those "lessons"! We didn't have much choice growing up ... it's not like we got cable-tv or sattelite and this was way before the internet age. The TV there had two channels ... and usually at night, after the news, it was either Koran reading or some mullah interpreting some passage from Koran on the other channel. It's amazing how much you tend to pick up as a kid growing in an environment like that, even if you hate reading as much as I do.

 

But don't get me wrong ... I think a lot of those "lessons" are very valuable. I am not against Islam in any way. Just like I am not against Christianity in any way. It's just that I think one really needs to understand who really wrote that stuff and what were the real motives. Learn the lessons ... analyze the life style it advocates ... and then decide on your own how you want to live. Just don't attirbute your "analysis" and "interpretations" of a subject to be part of the original material!

 

I have never read the bible either but I am fairly certain I've got the gist of it down. Charlton Heston did a pretty good job with those commandments ... Barabas was also cool. I also watch the religeon channel here once in a while for fun. Mc Hammer's GOD hour is always a lot of fun ... he is really good ... He makes me want to jump out of my seat and praise the lord.

 

[ September 19, 2002, 06:32 PM: Message edited by: Sip ]

[Accelerated]

I see, I thought you had grown up in Germany...Why did you move from Germany to the States?

[Sip]

The goal was to move to the US the whole time ... Germany was a must since there was no way to come straight from Iran.

 

Reasons? Many ... we have family (uncle, aunt) who have been here a long time, my and my brothers' educational future, a place where we could finally call "home" and be fully accepted in, and not be considered "odars" ... are probably among the most important ones.

[joseph]

I like to ask a question,in the last 500 years of europes and middeleast history,where most of the wars fought,just in the last century two wars in europe that claime the lives of over 100 milion cristians and 5 milion jews,before that the british and the irish,the incuisition,etc. i can go on and on ...any one can tell me how many arabs were killed fighting each other,who first use poison gas in history,who anihilate the indians,who inslave the africans,who killed 1 milion algerians and who ruined the libian cities,who invaded ethiopia,who colonise africa who introdused heroin to the chinees people.it was ok for churchel to difend his country against hitler while the british army was acupying most of the world.i am not defending islam i am only trying to say some fact.