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THE NORWEGIAN FREIGHT TRAIN

"Pain, is just weakness leaving your body"

"...damn you for not giving my TEST" - Metallica

"After this show i'll be fat and happy again.....If i make it to the show...." - Lee Priest

"Lets put some weight on the bar.." - Shawn Ray

"IT DOESN'T MATTER" - The Rock

-Warik

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Many things in life will catch your eye, but few will catch your
heart. Pursue those

"Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity."

"In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take prozac to make it normal."

quote:

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Originally posted by Hugh Gellatts:
Rich smart people often aren't that happy though. Trust me, I lived in NE for a while.

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If they are rich and smart but not happy, then I wouldn't consider them too smart. =) No offense intended, of course, if this applies to any one of you out there.

quote:

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Originally posted by Hugh Gellatts:
I find "exceptionally intelligent" people rather boorish to be around. I wouldn't want to be that way.

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Hugh,

We only seem boorish because we have to talk down to normal people's levels. We have to restrain our minds so that everyone understands. This is the curse of intelligence. It is the average that are boorish.

-Warik

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I know what you mean.

It's hard to find people that can think for themselves, or discuss any topic from the upcoming Super Bowl, to Clinton's shady deal, to the way Microsoft plays games with Wall Street....most people don't know and don't care...AND ARE TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANY OF IT IF YOU EXPLAINED IT...and this is the number one reason that our government is able to push through all kinds of silly regulations...

In short, people who have half a brain...I know what you mean about how people suddenly have to "get to class"...when you are not talking about who is going out that night...

Most people are content to go to school, get a degree, take the first job they get, and live paycheck to paycheck their whole lives. These are the people that wake up in the middle of the night screaming when they are 38, with three kids, a mortgage, and $512 in the bank. It is then that they realize the first half of their lives was wasted.....and they can ride out the second half in utter medicority, because they were too stupid to pay attention in the class called "life".

Unfortunate for them? Surely. Unfortunate for those like us? Definately not.

If everyone was successful in life, Hell, if even a FEW (10,000,000+) more people were successful in life, how would people like us live?

There would be no one at the front desk of the gym to fill out our memberships, no one to wait tables at restaurants, no one to work in the sales or billing department for various companies, no one working in department/electronics/office supply stores as cashiers or doing miscellaneous jobs. What would we have? We'd have a world of engineers, computer programmers, scientists, doctors, lawyers - you name it.

Is it better the way it is now? Certainly not, but it wouldn't be much better if everyone had the same goals and actually persued them.

My goals? Degree at 21. $1,000,000 at 30. Retirement at 50-55. Goals of my peers?

Warik: "So you're 23, eh?"

Peer: "yep"

Warik: "What's your major?"

Peer: "I'm majoring in *major* but I'm thinking of changing to *other major*"

Warik: *evil smile followed by maniacal laughter*

It's simply perplexing how one could hate something so much, yet love it so much at the same time.

I had my degree at 21....and I'm working on the "million by 30" as well. I don't know about reitrement yet, but "self-employed by 33" sounds good. I'll work until I die if it's my name on the building.....

I understand what you are saying about how we need front desk people, and wait-staff...and in today's society, the decision (conscious or subconscious) to be mediocre by another person means that there is in fact "more for us". So I smile inward when I hear that also.

However, I contend that it IS in fact unfortunate that most people don't amount to much....it is the successful who bears their burden. Government is structured to the lowest common denominator....how much better would this place be if the "lowest common denominator" were a lot higher?

I agree with you in principle though.

In a way, it is unfortunate that most people don't amount to much. When you look at it from a different perspective, if more and more people throughout history had aspired to be better than they turned out to be, our society might have reached a point where it did not need any front desk people or wait-staff.

The world (or at least the United States) would be a much better place if the government were less intrusive and more like a government than a "babysitter." Most of our tax money goes to programs such as social security, medicare, and other unnecessary government programs. Imagine if people were more dependent on themselves instead of the government. Less dependence ===> Less money the government wastes ===> Less taxes we pay ===> More money we, and the poor, have to spend ===> Happier America. So simple, yet so difficult.

It's nice to know I can talk to someone about this stuff without being told that I am an inhumane elitist bastard.

=)

quote:

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Originally posted by Warik:

It's nice to know I can talk to someone about this stuff without being told that I am an inhumane elitist bastard.

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Those are just the insults of those who are incapable or unwilling to work as hard as you for the things they want. You'll see, in time, that people who were your friends come to resent your success because you are not average like them.

Is the result worth the sacrifice? I would have to say so. Besides, I'd rather have one good friend then a multitude of "pretend-friends."

All men are created equal, but they don't remain equal for long. There are those of us who do not wish to settle for what life has to offer us. There are those of us who do not wish to be slaves of our Fates; there are those who wish to be MASTERS of our Fates. THOSE are the ones who succeed and can consider themselves to be better. The rest?

Average.

I have more than once been accused of being an elitist because I have no patience for stupid people...interesting since I am the "dumb" person in a family of genius's.

However, my father once told me, and it has always stuck with me:

You miss one of my points, and confirm the other:

I could start a bunch of intelligent threads, but few people could answer them. The moron-level discussions of many of these posts should clarify my point that most people are unwilling or unable to think on a meaningful level. There have been countless intelligent posts here....track them and note who responds cogently.

401,

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YOU CANNOT IGNORE GENIUS.

IT IS FORTUNATE FOR THOSE IN POWER,THAT MEN DO NOT THINK.-ADOLF HITLER

WHEN I HOLD THE DECK OF CARDS,PEOPLE BACK DOWN.I HAVE NO OPPOSITION.

quote:

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Originally posted by MattTheSkywalker:
I could start a bunch of intelligent threads, but few people could answer them.

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Maybe you should give it another try. We've got you and me here. Chesty is back from his hiatus... buncha others out there. And if all else fails, MrMuscle can amuse us with his "im to dumb to know" responses. =)

quote:

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Originally posted by kat:
"I have more respect for the man who is uneducated and has less mental capacity who tries his best at everything he does than the genius who is a lazy man"

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Good quote.

The man who is uneducated and has less mental capacity but tries his best at everything he does is the exception in this society. He is the one who succeeds; that is what I respect. I have no respect for the lazy genius who is wasting his intelligence by doing nothing with it. Unless, of course, he is the genius who CAN be lazy because the completion of his tasks requires little or no effort.

quote:

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Originally posted by THE STEEL BEAST:
HERES THE REAL PROBLEM I SEE.MEASURING A MAN`S SUCCESS THROUGH MONETARY VALUE.

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I am not measuring a man's success solely through monetary value. I'm also measuring it through the way he lives his life. Notice all the talk of one's direction when he is young and choices and such. The man who starts his adult life with NOTHING and finds himself 30 or so years later living more-than comfortably and being the envy of his neighbors is just as successful as the millionaire of whom you spoke.

I know a few investment bankers who make big bucks, and they are complete frauds.

They underwrite companies ("bring them public" for anyone who may not know) and then they are forced to hype them because of the firm's investment banking ties to the company they brought public.

Often, the best analysts are the ones who work for firms that are not affiliated with an investment bank.

One example is Henry Blodgett of Merrill Lynch - he was (is?) an Internet analyst for them, and he has almost never issued a "sell". Why do you think that is? he comes out and criticizes tech investing, AFTER the Nasdaq drops 60%. Hey thanks dickhead...I wasn't sure. There are legions of these people.

I honestly think Microsoft is the industry leader in fucking with these people. A few weeks ago, Microsoft came out and said "we aren't anywhere near our projected earnings this quarter." The stock dropped to 42.

I've seen Microsoft do this shit, so I bought some. Just TWO WEEKS later, Microsoft anounced that they "did better than they thought" and although they missed the quarter, they'll make the fiscal year estimate. Not surprisingly, the stock price is up to 61. I sold about half of what I bought.

I'm not an analyst, and I realized Bill Gates is fucking with Wall Street because he can. I amde 33% in two weeks. It wouldn't surprise me if he engineered that to buy back the company chepaer.

The only people more worthless than most investment bankers are venture capitalists.

Neither group can do anything on their own.

Anyway....I admire you keeping your integrity working there.