"May you live in interesting times..." -Chinese curse?

[Japher]

I once got a fortune cookie and it said "you have a magnetic personality" so I glued it to a magnet and stuck on the fridge...

It was really funny when we were drunk.

[Provost Harrison]

That figures

[Lancer]

"It's starting allready, the religious right is getting the Republicans to use "the Nuclear Option," further excacerbating the culture wars and the Two Americas, tearing the country appart on petty social issues. Iraq could go into civil war if the Shia abuse thier power. NK has nukes, and Iran is getting nukes. Russia is falling back into dictatorship. The most powerful nation on earth is in the hands of trigger-happy Cold Warriors as the possibillity of oil wars starts to rear it's ugly head. Need I go on?"

"Need I go on?"

Whatever floats your boat. Besides, sounds interesting, though a tad leftist

[Japher]

He didn't start the fire.

[Qilue]

Originally posted by Japher
He didn't start the fire.

http://www.teacheroz.com/fire.htm

[Traianvs]

Re: "May you live in interesting times..." -Chinese curse?

Originally posted by Lancer
Ages ago someone told me that saying was a Chinese curse.

Figures too, as when you look at the past times that we discuss here, interesting times, are those of conflict mostly, difficult time in which to enjoy one's life.

Happily, I think we live in fairly boring times. Sure, there's the ongoing struggle to establish a stable democracy in Iraq, but most are unaffected by it. Maybe a bit in the wallet, but that's it. No 'great powers' are struggleing in the mud for a continent, feeding millions into a meat grinder. No tank armies are spreading dictatorship across europe. Great fleets aren't blasting away with broadsides in the channel or bombing each other in the pacific.

I guess we have nukes to thank for these boring times, right?

So, where's it going to get interesting again?

Oh you're so absolutely right, there are no countless civil strifes, rebellions, wars, hunger, epidemics, poverty and downright **** going on now
Many countries in Africa are being devastated as we speak, and soon we'll have polluted our world so badly that it's irreversible...

But in your comfortable chair, everything is well

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Japher
He didn't start the fire.

Since when did you become Billy Joel?

[Q Classic]

Well, to be fair, Lancer's right. In America, times are a-boring.

Now, say, in Iraq, they're more interesting.

[Lancer]

"But in your comfortable chair, everything is well "

Nah, I've had a touch of flatulance of late.

Anyway, I'm not saying everything is peachy, it just can't compare to the scale of death and destruction seen in the past.

"Now, say, in Iraq, they're more interesting."

People are no longer being tortured and killed there by the hundreds of thousands. Jets are not flying overhead releasing nerve gas...

[Q Classic]

People are no longer being tortured and killed there by the hundreds of thousands. Jets are not flying overhead releasing nerve gas...

...but people are getting to vote now. They're in the middle of building a new country, and are beset on many sides by those who'd see them fail.

Or, Lancer, is that boring for you?

[Atahualpa]

Re: "May you live in interesting times..." -Chinese curse?

Originally posted by Lancer
Happily, I think we live in fairly boring times. Sure, there's the ongoing struggle to establish a stable democracy in Iraq, but most are unaffected by it. Maybe a bit in the wallet, but that's it. No 'great powers' are struggleing in the mud for a continent, feeding millions into a meat grinder. No tank armies are spreading dictatorship across europe. Great fleets aren't blasting away with broadsides in the channel or bombing each other in the pacific.

I guess we have nukes to thank for these boring times, right?

So, where's it going to get interesting again?

Umm pardon... China and its struggle to acquire Taiwan. North Korea and its lunatic leaders now posess atomic weapons.. The China-Japanese conflict.

Just that the focus has shifted to the east, doesn't mean that the whole world wouldn't be affected.

And soon we might have to thank nukes that times become VERY interesting!

[Spec]

Re: "May you live in interesting times..." -Chinese curse?

Originally posted by Lancer

So, where's it going to get interesting again?

So, interesting to you would be WW3? Are you serious? What if it happens in your country and they bomb the **** out of your family and home.

Go rent a war movie or something....

[Spec]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
Well, to be fair, Lancer's right. In America, times are a-boring.

Now, say, in Iraq, they're more interesting.

I dont get how getting bombed for no reason when going to the market place is interesting. Or how going to the market place without getting shot at is boring....

There MUST be something I'm missing....

[Lancer]

"...but people are getting to vote now. They're in the middle of building a new country, and are beset on many sides by those who'd see them fail."

Hardly a 'curse' kind of interesting.

"Umm pardon... China and its struggle to acquire Taiwan. North Korea and its lunatic leaders now posess atomic weapons.. The China-Japanese conflict.

Just that the focus has shifted to the east, doesn't mean that the whole world wouldn't be affected.

And soon we might have to thank nukes that times become VERY interesting!"

I agree Ata, but these things are potential disasters. Also, the "east" was for more interesting (in the sense of a curse) during WW2 than today. How can the stalemate in Korea (even with the north's nukes which it can never use) compare to hitting the beaches of Iwo or the battle of Inchon? China isn't in an active war with Tiawan, the straights are boring compared, for instance, to the Leyte Gulf when two massive fleets were trying to annialate each other. China-Japan today? That's a lovers spat compared to the rape of Nanking.

No, comared to the past, according to the non Chinese curse , these times are b o r i n g. Thank God.

"I dont get how getting bombed for no reason when going to the market place is interesting. Or how going to the market place without getting shot at is boring...."

It's from the perspective of the curse you see. I'm all for peace, love and harmony.

[Atahualpa]

Well what is the effect of two massive fleets that try to annihilate each other? Some square miles of sea are unpassable...
What is the effect of a nuclear threat? The whole world would probably get involved if China decides to go rough on Taiwan. Hooray for WW3.

We are only living on the verge to an interesting world... conflict is inevitable, it's just a matter of time.