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Thread ID: 61441	2005-09-05 03:32:00	The golf balls, sand and a professor:OT!	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
386208	2005-09-05 03:32:00	Just a little pick-er-upper here: A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."	SurferJoe46 (51)
386209	2005-09-05 10:33:00	I like that Joe . Good downhome philosophy . While I'm here, I'd like to reassure you that not all, or even a lot of Kiwis dislike America . There is a sort of liberal cult in the world that requires it's adherents to damn anything Americans do . George Bush is Satan on wheels, and every one of your business people are out to enslave the third world . Basically it is envy . The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth, economically and militarily . So its an easy target for criticism . And when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina strikes, there is a certain miserable satisfaction for some people to see the behemoth stumble . However most Kiwis are warmly disposed towards Americans and we sympathise at times like this .	Winston001 (3612)
386210	2005-09-05 10:38:00	I like that Joe . Good downhome philosophy . While I'm here, I'd like to reassure you that not all, or even a lot of Kiwis dislike America . There is a sort of liberal cult in the world that requires it's adherents to damn anything Americans do . George Bush is Satan on wheels, and every one of your business people are out to enslave the third world . Basically it is envy . The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth, economically and militarily . So its an easy target for criticism . And when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina strikes, there is a certain miserable satisfaction for some people to see the behemoth stumble . However most Kiwis are warmly disposed towards Americans and we sympathise at times like this . And I second that .	Cicero (40)
386211	2005-09-05 20:27:00	Same here. sarel	sarel (2490)
386212	2005-09-05 22:06:00	George Bush is Satan on wheels, and every one of your business people are out to enslave the third world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . And when a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina strikes, there is a certain miserable satisfaction for some people to see the behemoth stumble . . Well yes and no . I think George is one very evil man . He's looking after his own interests and those of his mates, and thinks that the American elete should be running the world . I won't digress into how much [corrupt] power Americas government has in order to achieve this, or as to how the American "democracy" has empowered a man who does not have majority vote . However i do not hold George against the American people! . . least of all against the state that was, and the people who have just lost everything, in many cases including there lives . To hold the actions of government against the people it represents is silly . One would have to disown all french people for starters because of the act of terrorism commited against us some time ago now in the form of a bombing organised by french agents . . The list would go on and on till there was no-one left . Ive been watching the DirectNIC (http://mgno . com/) journal of life as seen on the 10th floor by people who have stayed to keep their data centre running . I'm also very aware that what they report is only what they see from the relatively intact parts of the city . At least its not tainted with sensationalism and political correctness as the mainstream media tends to be . It good to see a report from people who are part of whats happening . The emotion is honest and real . New Orleans is not alone in their plight, Natural chaos that is badly managed by beaurocrats is a scurge on the whole planet, and a reminder how fickle everything we call civilisation can be . So who has thier act together with enough food and drink stashed to keep them going should a similar level of chaos be induced by quake, flood, or other natural event here?	personthingy (1670)
386213	2005-09-05 23:27:00	Oops... I allowed myself the luxury of being sidetracked. :p Excellant post SurferJoe. Personal priorities is something that it is all too easy to forget about.	personthingy (1670)
386214	2005-09-05 23:34:00	Well the Americans elected him (or not, depending on your viewpoint) so they must take some responsibility for his dilly-dallying. Before any discussion on GWB it should be mandatory to first watch Fahrenheit 911 (www.michaelmoore.com/) - gotta love this open letter. (http:). A Oh and you can still fit a spool-full of sugar into that jar...	andrew93 (249)
386215	2005-09-07 01:42:00	Thanks for all the support there guys/gals . . . . it's refreshing to hear that some of us in the US are not thought of as "The Ugly American" . Really, though, the US has had a long time in the saddle by now, and it's not with any mystery to me that there is a little/lot of sniping about what people perceive as the bully up North . F'rinstance: Democracy is NOT what the US stands for . . it is a Federalistic Republic . True democracy cannot be practiced by much more than 20 or 30 people . . . . . it gets too top-heavy after the head count gets higher . . . . same with Communism . . . it just doesn't work in large numbers . Now, Federalism or Socialism can work pretty good for large numbers of people . . . even though it seems to generate a "haves v have-nots" class distinction thing . The election furor that you mentioned has a series of checks and balances installed in the Congress for just those sort of happenings . . . where there is a clouded decision by the popular vote . . and remember that we vote by an electorial college here, then the Congress steps in to make the vote final . That's what happened, and it seems that the losers are always sour about any loss . . . not to mention losing to the Congress too . As far as the evil GWB . . that's a call that I don't want to make . . . as I feel the election process is just deciding the lesser of two evils anyway . Demon-splitting is not what I want to do here, and I personally refuse to vote at all . . as is my constitutional right . . to NOT engage in voting . I feel the seat of power is not in the presidential suite anyway, and the Congress has all the power of the US . We have 3 basic seats of authority . . the Executive (President and Vice President . . etc); Legislative (Congress and lawmakers); Judicial (The US Supreme Court) . With these three checks and counter-checks, the actual direction of any laws or presidential decisions and appeals are handled in a very sophisticated way . So . . . it's not just one evil man, if he is that . I do not want to sound defensive here, as there are some very dastardly scoundrels who get into office from time to time . . . Clinton comes to mind, and JFK . With all the bugs and glitches in the system . . . I still feel a person can get a pretty fair shake, legally and philosophically too . When I worked at a hospital in Los Angeles, one of the lunchtime discussions was about where one would prefer to spend prison time, if one had to go to prison . We totally dismissed staying in Hotel Greybars in countries like Mexico, Spain, Italy, South America, or any African or Communist (the WALL still stood at that time) country . What we all decided upon was that if we could not be in a US prison, we'd want to be in an English or Australian (and by extension, a NZ one too!) prison . I feel the comraderie of the Colonies and the territories of the old English Crown was probably the best in the world . . and even though not perfect, very powerful . The vote was still being counted about West German prisons; we had no problem with our opinion of East German prisons though . So, you see, we can sink or swim by association here guys/gals . My greatest admiration of NZ is the individuality of it's citizens and their ability to see the fire in the smoke . . . . . . usually! My concern is that there is a very poor understanding of the actual US system of justice and elections and just generally misunderstandings of the American way of life . We love our wives and families, work hard to achieve the American Dream . . . . a 3 bedroom house, 2 cars in the garage, a refrigerator full of food, and Saturdays and Sundays off after a 5-day work week . We like our TV's and our microwaves and out airconditioning and our football and no restriction on driving from state to state needing visas and identification cards . We are basically like you . . . but our football has pointy ends!	SurferJoe46 (51)
386216	2005-09-07 02:08:00	SurferJoe46 I actually like old Georgie Bush - I think he's got the worst job in the world (somebody will be dissatisfied somewhere with anything he does) and he is certainly doing what he said he will be doing during the last election. For that matter, we will probably see Jed Bush in the White House too - and I thought he was the best of the lot - what you think about Jed SurferJoe46? My 2 cents sarel	sarel (2490)
386217	2005-09-07 02:41:00	You haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11 have you? A	andrew93 (249)
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