Extreme Talk

WEC – World Extreme Cagefighting – LIVE 12/3 – Miguel Angel Torres vs. Manny Tapia

http://www.versus.com World Extreme Cagefighting: With two spectacular wins that sky-rocketed him into the pound-for-pound stratosphere, WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres has been one of 2008s great success stories. But the only man standing between him and likely recognition as Fighter of the Year is one of his greatest rivals, Manny Tapia, an unbeaten contender who has been waiting six months for his shot at the 135-pound weight class greatest prize. The World Extreme Cagefighting organization is pleased to announce that on Wednesday, December 3rd, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, these two warriors will finally meet in an explosive contest guaranteed to produce fireworks. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3 AT 9PM/ET.

Duration : 0:0:31

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Where Do You Stand?

Where do you stand?

The earth is warming and polar bears will be extinct in less than thirty years.
Agree or disagree.

Gay people should have the right to marry, just like heterosexual people do.
Agree or disagree.

Illegal aliens have a right to be in the Unites States and partake of our benefits and services.
Agree or disagree.

The shootings at Virginia Tech shows that gun control is necessary, regardless of the Constitution.
Agree or disagree.

Our military should be pulled out of Iraq.
Agree or disagree.

Our educational system needs revamping.
Agree or disagree.

The President of the United States is wrong.
Agree or disagree.

Rosie O’Donnell is wrong.
Agree or disagree.

There was a time when thoughtful people engaged in debate over issues of importance and even frivolous ones. We respected others’ opinions even when we did not agree with them. A good discussion was invigorating, not demeaning. And name calling was out of bounds.

The times have changed. Listen to talk radio or the television news stations and you will hear opponents called vile names and their characters attacked as frequently as their views are. This is considered entertainment by some. There’s even a name for the more extreme talk show hosts- “shock jocks”- and, as we now know, at least one company contracted to have their host use “irreverent and controversial” speech as part of his services.

My concern, and I think many of yours, as well, is that this has become more the norm and less shocking. It has permeated how adults conduct themselves and civility has been lost in most areas of life.

Some complain that our children have lost manners and respect. I submit that we, as a population, young and old, have lost what was once taken for granted in our behavior with one another- kindness and the civility that makes for a gentle way of living.

But one person can make a difference. Here’s a short story of how one little boy changed his classmates, and so the world:

When he became old enough to understand and strong enough to accomplish it, I asked my son to begin holding the door for the person behind him and open it for those coming toward him. At first, he was pleased to get the “Thank you, what a gentleman.” But he soon began to see that others didn’t hold the door or went through the one he was holding without even a recognition that he was there.

He became dismayed, but I comforted him by telling him they probably didn’t know how to respond since it was so long ago that this had been done. With my encouragement, he continued to do this and to say “Thank you” when someone did something nice for him. Lo and behold, one day he came back from school and told me the children were holding doors for each other and saying “Thank you.”

A little thing, you say? I say it changed the world. His corner of the world, but the world nevertheless.

Now what about your world? Can you make it kinder, gentler, more civil simply by changing your actions toward others? I think you can. I think you can bring all this into a world that has become mean, rude and frightening. Just by changing your words, your attitude, your intentions.

This is what I think will move us toward that better way of living:

Accept that other may have an opinion that differs from yours and that it doesn’t make them evil, stupid, wiser or better. It’s probably that their experiences have influenced their thinking, just as your experiences have influenced your thoughts.

You can disagree without attacking the other person’s integrity.

Be careful of how much news and talk radio you partake of. It dulls the senses, makes us think cruelty is “normal” and desensitizes us to things which should always outrage us. It also makes devils out of those who disagree with us.

Be careful of “political correctness”. I think it has done more to promote prejudice and dullness of thought than anything else in the many years past. It is used to block critical thought and discussion because no one wants to be called a “bigot.”
Keep close to your heart the way you wish the world to be. That is what you will express.

Do unto others what you would have them do to you. It may not be that person who reacts in kind, but the next one may be the one.

And being a commuter, this can make all the difference in how the commute affects you and your life. Never be too hurried to do a kindness or be polite. It will lessen your stress, increase your healthiness and leave a bright mark on your world.

If you don’t believe me, just try it for a week and see how good you feel.

Be well,

Dr. M.

Dr. M. Mastria
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/where-do-you-stand-147146.html

Recession – A Divine Creation

A general dictionary defines recession in many ways like, “A period of an economic contraction, an extended decline in business activity, a general global slump that will last several months or years,” and so on. Recession is a time when economic disasters start, stock markets go haywire, mighty organizations drop to their knees, jobs get cut worldwide, best practices become worst practices, and so on. And, not to be left behind, the media and management gurus also go high pitched with their own theories of why things failed, whose heads should roll, who should be lynched, statistical gymnastics, witch hunts, etc. During such times you may ask, why on earth do the so called business best practices that gave abundance and happiness till now suddenly became worst practices? For this people may say it is because the universe is a random, chaotic dance of meaningless happenings. This may seem true, because we see several personal and singular disasters that just don’t make sense. But, on an overall scale, underneath all the chaotic occurrences there are hidden reasons and purpose to all things that happen around. Coming back to the main topic, though economists, business leaders and rationalists often believe the creation (and elimination) of recession, meltdowns and global business downturns are completely under man’s control, it is not entirely true. There is actually a higher supernatural power in charge, and it is necessary to understand the hidden spiritual reason why mankind goes through phases of abundance and famine. Though rationalists and scientists may chew your head off for attempting such a non scientific explanation, it is also not possible to dismiss it entirely. Modern men fear turning towards religion and spirituality for answers because it attracts ridicule. Refusing to believe in the supernatural does not make it a lie. But if one is willing to set rational logic aside for the moment and look at any option that will give some answers, then you will get some explanations.

Science and rationalism may somehow explain how disasters happen in the universe, but it cannot explain why they happen. And that “why” reason is well documented in most religious books, but not easily available inside most management or economic books. Almost all religious books from centuries have explained why mankind goes through troubling times and disasters, but perhaps the best explanation of how and why recession occurs is given in the Jain mythology. According to Jainism the world goes through a relentless cycle of positive and negative phases called Sushama and Dushama, (and their combinations), which can be used to understand a recession.

A perfectly good phase is called Sushama Sushama (extreme happiness). This is the phase of a feel good factor when businessmen believe they are invincible, organizations make enormous profits, customers are in plenty demanding better and better services, willing to pay premium for goods and services, etc. People easily talk about fashionable things like the sky being the limit, firing on all cylinders, nerves of steel, etc., and keep doing things at a reckless pace. Businesses start believing they are capable of everything and start mergers, hostile takeovers, diversification, etc. Frequent success in one field also gives them a false confidence to try their hand in areas they are not experienced with. Businessmen and the public start believing that if one pours enough money, then anyone can become successful in any business. So individuals and organizations start developing many tentacles in the hope to give end to end service, or have a stake in every stage of the value chain, etc. For example, successful steel companies may start software industries, while software industries may try their hand in television sets, oil manufacturers start peddling agricultural products, etc., in the name of diversification. The mantra is growth, growth and growth.

Slowly a small tilt occurs and it enters into a phase called Sushama Dushama (happiness with some unhappiness). This starts because when things go higher and higher, common sense and moderation takes a backseat, and greed takes over causing the bubble to expand beyond what it should. This is a phase when businesses slowly start feeling the pinch with revenues going down, and entering into a phase of slowness.

Soon it enters into a phase of Dushama Dushama (extreme unhappiness) when the bubble finally bursts and everything starts going bad, a period which we call recession or depression. This is a phase where everything that was good earlier will seem now bad. The very factors that were bringing successes earlier will now bring failures. Best practices will now seem like worst practices. Suddenly every safe investment and practices become risky. The very foundations of every business thought and practice that worked so well earlier now gets ridiculed, questioned and insulted. All the business heroism will suddenly vaporize and people enter into a state of panic leading to abrupt cost cutting by putting sudden brakes on everything. The mantra now is freeze, freeze and freeze. This, in turn, will lead to a situation like a car pileup on a on a highway due to an accident. Mighty businesses fall down like nine pins and billionaires get wiped out for inexplicable reasons. The trigger for this phase often starts in rather mysterious and unpredictable ways like, for example, creating a 9/11, a dot-com burst, a bird flu, or a sub prime crisis that no one could have imagined or prevented.

Slowly, after some agonizing months or years, it enters a phase called Dushama Sushama (unhappiness with some happiness) where rays of hope start appearing again and things get better. Eventually things improve to good old days of Sushama Sushama, but only for a short period of time. And the cycle starts again as it is an eternal never-ending process, a law of nature that every human should accept. In short, these phases keep humans from becoming too confident and arrogant of their capabilities. There is no escaping from this mighty circle. It is nature’s way of moderating things, letting the steam out or throwing a spanner in the works when it is necessary to do so. In fact, if you observe closely such feast and famine cycles are already visible all around us. For example, flowering trees goes into full bloom and then slowly loses all its leaves and flowers, only to start all over again. And no amount of watering or fertilizers will ensure the flowers remain intact all the year round. Similarly, humans have to learn to endure periodic positive and negative phases, no matter how hard they try to avoid the negative phase.

Finally we can conclude this article with a couple of quotes that can teach us how to handle a recessions and meltdowns.

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“When humans are too happy, even the gods are jealous.” – Old jungle saying

Thejendra Sreenivas
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/recession-a-divine-creation-698448.html

Why are there sooo many christians in the usa? Like proper Extreme ones?

I never hear anyone in the uk talking like an Extreme christian!
sure we have christians but nothing like the ones i see on R&S!!!

Whats made america like the christian capital of the world?

well it might have something to do with the puritans. the religious freaks that fled europe & settled in america.
also the u.s. has very little real culture or history,religion was a good cloak to hide behind while they decimated the native "heathen" population. even today they will say "god gave them this land". not we slaughtered the native population in the name of our god. it may be a case of admit what you’ve done or, rave on like a lunatic so you never have to stop & think about what you do in the name of your "god"

P.S. you i- i tried to give you a thumbs up (great answer) but i hit the wrong button sorry!

Ken Kamler: Medical miracle on Everest

http://www.ted.com When the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest climbs occurred, Ken Kamler was the only doctor on the mountain. At TEDMED, he shares the incredible story of the climbers’ battle against extreme conditions and uses brain imaging technology to map the medical miracle of one man who survived roughly 36 hours buried in the snow.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the “Sixth Sense” wearable tech, and “Lost” producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Duration : 0:20:50

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Can anyone EXPLAIN this nonsense. HE CHEATED I left; Talk about SELFISH to the extreme!!?

This is an email from my husband, soon to be ex. I told him working on me is removing my feelsing for him and moving on….his reply! "All im trying to do is do what I need to do to eventually give you what you want and need out of me you see improvements for a reason – the reason is because im working, how could you not understand; well, I know how – anyway – you should definitely do what you feel you should do for you but when I say work on you, I mean work on the areas that cause issues in our relationship; on your end work on the negatives that you bring to the table, so that when we reunite; we can be happy While I’m working on me, I need my freedom to do whatever I want to do; you may not need that, but I do you’re so caught up in what im doing, you’re not making you better for us Yes, I am asking you to wait; I want to be with you everyone who asks me, work, friends, etc. I tell them, we’re separated, but we’ll be back together, we’re just working on things"
the negativites he is speaking on is me snooping and catching him lying and cheating, and clowning on him. Well the only solution to that is…to leave right?? I don’t see any other way to work on that when he’s "free to do whatever he wants" when he OBVIOUSLY is referring to being with "other chics"

Kinda hard to explain it when one doesn’t understand it… Some couples will break up over cheating and some couples decide to stay together and work things out… A couple that chooses to work on things need to be together and not separated, otherwise it makes it harder to discuss things and communication is a real must here…

However if he is saying that he is willing to work on things but needs his space from you then leaving probably is the right thing to do because there seems to be a lack of commitment…