Posts by LoveUniHateExams

46

Canadians and Europeans, what do you think of your national health care ?

by RubaDub in

jw
friends

we have been in a battle over health care for so long here in the us regarding public, private, gov't subsidized, obama care, medicare for all, and just about every permutation of the above.. we hear the horror stories here that people wait 20 years for a check-up (ok, bit of an exaggeration), but you get the point.

one side tells us that canadians flock across the border when they are sick and need to see a doctor.

the other side says that is simply not the case.. so tell us, if you live under one of the government systems would you replace it?

LoveUniHateExams

I think it's good in principle.

I'm a Brit, and I think our NHS is on balance good (free healthcare at the point of delivery).

But there are serious issues that need sorting out. One issue is health tourists - foreigners who come to the UK, legally or illegally, just to have our expensive healthcare (free at the point of delivery), then they p*ss off home. This means that it's totally free for these people because they've not paid taxes. That needs to stop.

Another problem I noticed when I was a hospital porter (2000-05) was the fact that there were 'too many chiefs and not enough Indians' ... meaning that we porters needed less management types and more blue-collar types getting stuff done. A related issue was that of some porters claiming overtime but fiddling their hours. This went on all the time - I personally witnessed it a lot. One porter's hours were supposed to be 9am to 5pm but he went home every day at 3.30pm. One day a week was our early day - we got to go home an hour early. This particular porter went home early at 3.30 anyway. On his early day he went home at about 3.15 or 3.20pm. But he always wrote his hours as 9-5 (and 9-4 on his early day). Millions of pounds must have been wasted like this.

OTOH, I've benefited from the NHS in 2013 - after my first year of uni, I needed to go into hospital for 10 days or so. I was impressed with how good everything was - even the food was good, with vegetarian options, halal options, etc.

19

What was your favorite video game?

by LoveUniHateExams in

i've never been that big on video/computer games but i used to have a ps2 and my absolute fav game was star wars battlefront ii, released by pandemic in 2005.. you could choose to play as three different classes of soldier and fight for the rebels, the imperials, the republic or the battle droids.

as you played and gained points by killing the enemy, you could unlock a fourth and fifth class of soldier.

you could also play as a hero or villain - such as darth vader, luke skywalker, princess leia, etc.. there was something absolutely awesome playing as darth vader and cutting down or force-choking rebel soldiers on the tantive iv.. .

LoveUniHateExams

When I was a kid (10-12 years old) I had a Commodore 64. A few of my mates had an Amiga (much more expensive) or Sega Megadrive (Sega Genesis in the US).

I remember a couple of good games on the Amiga called Sim Earth and Sim City. I guess 'Sim' stands for simulation because you could build your own city or even earth, letting evolution happen, etc. I never really played those games but I was always fascinated by them. My parents rightly said that an Amiga was too expensive just to play games on - "go out and kick a football about!" XD Looking back, they were right.

19

What was your favorite video game?

by LoveUniHateExams in

i've never been that big on video/computer games but i used to have a ps2 and my absolute fav game was star wars battlefront ii, released by pandemic in 2005.. you could choose to play as three different classes of soldier and fight for the rebels, the imperials, the republic or the battle droids.

as you played and gained points by killing the enemy, you could unlock a fourth and fifth class of soldier.

you could also play as a hero or villain - such as darth vader, luke skywalker, princess leia, etc.. there was something absolutely awesome playing as darth vader and cutting down or force-choking rebel soldiers on the tantive iv.. .

LoveUniHateExams

I've never been that big on video/computer games but I used to have a PS2 and my absolute fav game was Star Wars Battlefront II, released by Pandemic in 2005.

You could choose to play as three different classes of soldier and fight for the rebels, the Imperials, the Republic or the battle droids.

As you played and gained points by killing the enemy, you could unlock a fourth and fifth class of soldier. You could also play as a hero or villain - such as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, etc.

There was something absolutely awesome playing as Darth Vader and cutting down or force-choking rebel soldiers on the Tantive IV.

There were space battles, a chance to hunt indigenous life-forms, or you could play a kinda galaxy conquest. You could also join up online with other players.

The first Battlefront was pretty good, too, although it lacked a lot of the sequel's features.

60

Did You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Were Typically “Racists”?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was a jw from infancy.

we had a melting pot type of congregation.

i grew up with all types of witnesses , all with different backgrounds.

LoveUniHateExams

Here's a fact that is difficult to swallow: ethnic groups differ in many ways, i.e. the races of human beings are different in many ways.

As Simon said, there's athletic ability. Mean percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres vary according to ethnic group. Among average people, there's lots of overlap so it doesn't mean much. At the tail end of the distribution, however, it means much more. That's a big factor why elite sprinters of white, Indian and Asian origin are no match for elite sprinters of West African origin. No white or Chinese sprinter will break Usain Bolt's 100 and 200m world records. Sorry folks, call me racist but it ain't gonna happen. XD

Mean percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres is highest among West Africans. But this doesn't mean that West Africans are superior human beings, they are just more likely to be the best sprinters.

Mean bone density varies among ethnic groups. Sub-Saharan Africans' bones tend to be denser than Europeans'. That's one factor why you don't see many black swimmers winning medals at the Olympics.

East Africans (as opposed to any other ethnic group) excel at long-distance races. I'm not too sure about the details - either they have greater relative lung capacity or they are better than other groups at transferring oxygen to their muscles. Result: the world's best marathon runners originate from East Africa. But this doesn't mean East Africans are superior human beings, they're just more likely to excel at marathons.

Mean IQ also varies between ethnic groups. This is a very sensitive subject. Anyone who wants to explore this subject is typically deemed 'racist' and has their funding withdrawn. But there is variation re mean IQ. 'Orientals' (Asians in the US - ethnic Chinese, Japanese) and Jews typically score highest. Their mean IQ is approx. 115. Whites' mean IQ is approx. 100. Then Latinos have their mean IQ. Then native Americans and African-Americans have their respective mean IQ scores. The mean IQ for African-Americans is approx. 85. The mean IQ for South African Bushmen is less that 60. There is a trend, that trend being: mean IQ increases the further you move away from the equator. Like I've repeatedly said in this comment, this doesn't mean that Asians and Jews are superior human beings. It just means that these two groups are over-represented in intellectual fields such as astrophysics, engineering, computer science (Chinese) and poetry and script-writing (Jews).

We are all members of one species, Homo sapiens. We are all unique individuals with our own talents, skills and flaws. Each of us deserves the same dignity and treatment as human beings.

60

Did You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Were Typically “Racists”?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was a jw from infancy.

we had a melting pot type of congregation.

i grew up with all types of witnesses , all with different backgrounds.

LoveUniHateExams

My local congregation had JWs from different ethnicities but it was majority-white.

There weren't any racists in that congregation, or if there was, they'd kept their rampant white supremacism on the down low.

There were one or two teenagers who said typically stupid teen-age jokes - e.g. one woman was called Connie and because she was of color (actually ethnically Indian, despite originating from the West Indies), one silly boy thought it was funny to name her 'Coonie' - not to her face or to any adult, just to other teenagers.

But apart from that, no - no racism.

65

KURD is the word - and the word is KURD

by Terry in

jw
friends

kurd is the word - the word is kurd________who the heck are they?.

once upon a time, world war one ended and three people created a new place out of thin air called: iraq.

(gertrude bell, lawrence of arabia, winston churchill).this new country was divided up into 3 chunks:kurdsunnishia_____solemn promises made by colonel t.e.

LoveUniHateExams

Independent? The U.S. Military casts a shadow over them all.
Who can come and go - when and where? - all the Arab countries I named are independent. The US doesn't decide who enters and leaves those countries.

Ah, what would being INDEPENDENT actually mean to tribes with differing religious loyalties and blood relations? - ok, consider one of the countries on my list: Jordan.

Jordan is ruled by King Abdullah, a Sunni Muslim who is a Hashemite, i.e. he claims he is a descendent of Prophet Muhammad. He rules over Arab Bedouin and Arab Palestinians (both Sunni Muslim), and minorities, such as Christian Armenians. King Abdullah is on record as saying all Jordanian citizens are equal citizens, the one proviso being that it's illegal for Christians to proselytise. Any Muslims who leave the faith must do so very carefully. As for any Muslims who are Sufi - I don't know about them.

Despite these points, Jordan is a relatively rich, prosperous, stable country. The US doesn't rule the country; King Abdullah does.

Lebanon is even more diverse, with different faiths and minorities being guaranteed a number of seats in the Lebanese Parliament. Again, Lebanon is a relatively stable country.

I think, Terry, that you're conflating influence and control - yes, America is a big player in world politics and so exerts some influence on many countries. But that's not the same as the US controlling those countries - those countries (the Arab countries I listed) still retain their independence.

65

KURD is the word - and the word is KURD

by Terry in

jw
friends

kurd is the word - the word is kurd________who the heck are they?.

once upon a time, world war one ended and three people created a new place out of thin air called: iraq.

(gertrude bell, lawrence of arabia, winston churchill).this new country was divided up into 3 chunks:kurdsunnishia_____solemn promises made by colonel t.e.

LoveUniHateExams

the Documentary's last half dealt with the blow back to the world at large in the Middle East, the aftermath and consequences of promises made seemingly in "good faith" to the Arabs that they'd have their independence - but ... the Arabs have their independence.

Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Lebanon are all independent Arab countries.

If I've missed something, could someone explain it to me ...

23

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is Dead

by cofty in

the so-called caliph, one of the most evil men in human history, has blown himself up along with three of his young children while being pursued by american special forces.. the ambition of isis was to expand the territory of the caliphate under the leadership of al-baghdadi to whom individual jihadists swear allegiance.

now isis have nowhere to call home and no leader.

what a pathetic bunch of losers.. they will of course appoint a new caliph and reprisal attacks will no doubt follow in western capitals by christmas but the more contemptible they appear they less likely it is that young men and women will join their delusional cause.. respect to the elite forces who hunted him down - those on the front line and the many intelligence specialists who made it possible.

LoveUniHateExams

Well done US special forces - love it!

They apparently killed a fair few of his lieutenants and bodyguards, too.

According to Trump, Baghdadi ran screaming and whimpering into a dead-end tunnel, and then detonated his suicide vest.

I hope this is correct - his last moments alive were spent crying and whimpering like the coward he was.

There are plenty more ISIS men out there, America.

Kill the b******s.

9

JOKER

by peacefulpete in

i don’t think that the world needs that many brooding psychopathic avengers.

i don’t know that we need any........they’ve lost a lot of their original innocence, and they can’t get that back.

and, they’re stuck, it seems, in this kind of depressive ghetto of grimness and psychosis.

LoveUniHateExams

I don’t think that the world needs that many brooding psychopathic avengers. I don’t know that we need any - yeah, but Joker (2019) is just a film, a fictional story.

I don't think there's any correlation between violent films and violent crimes.

I think Simon might have a point - the film seems to be getting slammed by woke critics ... y'know, the kind of critics who gushed over The Last Jedi (2017) & Captain Marvel (2019).

25

Do You Support Sanctuary Cities?

by minimus in

jw
friends

if you do support sanctuary cities, would you be happy to live in one?.

hey, in the bible, sanctuary cities were acceptable, right?

?.

LoveUniHateExams

@Smiddy - the general trend is that sanctuary cities are Democrat cities.

Take San Francisco. SF is a sanctuary city (I think). It also has big problems with crime such as theft and people defecating in the street. Yes, you read that last bit right.

I'm not sure if Baltimore is a sanctuary city or not but it also has similar problems because it is a Democrat-run sh*t hole.