julianw

It's true that Muslims do not believe in the Holy Trinity, but all prophets are manifestations of God, so they certainly believe that Jesus is divine, just not greater than Muhammad. Muhammad stated it himself that Christ is a true prophet of God and the words he spoke are unquestionably the words of God.

Being eaten alive is more natural.

You want to play sometime?

The Bible also contradicts itself in parts. One must read it as a whole. The Qu'ran states that you could marry four wives provided you treat them equally. The very next verse says but no one is capable of treating two humanbeings equally. A Muslim with more than one wife definitely needs to read his Qu'ran more often. As for Muhammad's marriages, most of them are for political alliances. He and his followers are hunted mercilessly across the desert of Arabia. They have been driven from their own city; their women and children murdered or worse. That's when they have no other choice but to fight back. It might be hard to understand in today's world, but those marriages were tactics for them to stay alive. Before Muhammad, the pagans lived in Middle East were uncivilized barbarians. (For example, a common practice is to bury their first-born child if it's not a son. )After Muhammad, the Ottoman Empire, advanced in culture and science rose to power under his banner and ruled the area for many centuries. I think it's a good thing that Muhammad lived to spread his teachings.

As for Bush's stance on Taiwan. I can assure you that he repeated stated that there is only one China, which pretty much means he doesn't recoganize Taiwan as an independent state. It doesn't go against the 'status quo' you mentioned. Some in Taiwan does want to become part of China and there are different reasons. Many of them are from mainland themselves and some for trade opportunities with mainland. I guess the major problem is that China doesn't approve of Taiwan independence even if Taiwan wants it wholeheartedly. But Northern Ireland also wants to break away from Britain. Does Britain allow it?

Hmm... Major confusion here. So you are talking about the democracy in Taiwan. There will be negotiations but China at least offered them to keep their current election system instead of writing entire new laws (what happened in Hong Kong). The laws are drafted by Jinyong, a famous journalist but more famous for his martial arts novels btw.

HK's last British governor was appointed by the Queen. Ruled till 1997. Very unpopular in HK I might add. The current governor, however, was voted in by the HK people. (Not that popular either these days.) The people in HK want more democracy and less influence from mainland China, but China did give them more freedom than Britain did. At least for now. It's just that some factions within HK feel cheated since they believe that China promised more than they gave. Also, Ender's link is a bit old. (2001 I think). A few months ago, Bush said in one speech that Taiwan is not within the US's perimeter of defense. (The Chinese government considers it a major crap-in-your-face for Chen.) Bush also supports 'one-China-policy', which basically means maintaining the current situation between Taiwan and China. Without the support of US, China would definitely have taken Taiwan a long time ago. But since China progressed into the 80s, their main approach has become the peaceful one I described.

I don't think anyone can top puss'.

Chen won his first presidency with only 37% of the votes. The other two candidates who believed in one democratic China divided the rest among themselves. (Yes, they have a f******p system.) He won his second presidency through a lot of controversy. Apparently he got shot in one of the calves (? ) and declared national emergency so half a million soldiers who happen to be the base for the opposing party couldn't vote and he won by a slim margin. I don't know. Taiwan has a strong military. Invasion would cause a lot of damage. Not only that would not look good internationally, why would China want a Taiwan that is ravaged by War. Btw, China not only doesn't tax Hong Kong (no plan to tax Taiwan either) but spent billions on HK to weather it through the depression that hit all of Southeast Asia. It's correct that HK has limited democracy, but it's more than they had under the British rule. Remember that Britain used to appoint the governor for HK.

Damn! Where can I find one? I'd happy if one person can remember my name in 500 years. Yes, yes. I meant no disrespect. I just disagree with them, better?

Zulu - Great photoshop art! Since I have no idea how it's done, I will just sit here and quietly admire your skills. Hildegard - Bastila.

Keep in mind that China did make a peaceful offer to the Taiwan authority. If Taiwan agrees to become a province of China, they are granted complete freedom for at least 50 years just like Hong Kong. But unlike the case of Hong Kong, Taiwan's government will be free of influence from mainland since they are allowed to keep their military and maintain their current election system. So basically it's just a matter of hanging some PRC flags on the land of Taiwan, and many factions within Taiwan do agree with this arrangement. If this Taiwan issue cannot be solved through peaceful means, you can't say China didn't try.

Don't you find it amazing that nearly 2 billion people today would utter the name of a carpenter who lived two thousand years ago with love? He must have done something right. The Qu'ran states that man and woman are equal. Today's Islamic fundamentalists should go read the Qu'ran and not listen to some militant guy who never had a good understanding of the Qu'ran in the first place but decided to interpret parts of it anyway.

The Bible is not perfect. None of the religious scriptures is.

That's pretty much how the story goes. After 49 days of reflection, he became the Buddha and walked off preaching. As he departed, an elephant stood in his way, so he tossed it into the air. They say the elephant fell from sky after three days. Now, if that's not animal cruelty I don't know what is.

He is a local prince and has never been to China. Buddhism spreaded to China at least 5 centuries after him.

'Buddha' is only a title. Any person can achieve the rank by having perfect understanding of the truth. Siddhartha is the grand Buddha (might not be the actual term in English) who not only attained understanding of life for himself but also capable of teaching all about the religion. There are many Buddhas in Buddhism (that woman is one ) but only one grand Buddha.

Here is the female buddha: Pretty, ain't she?

Not really. Those are everywhere.

Still no screenshots yet?

Thanks, guys! :D The Mandalorian originally was meant to be an image of Mira's warrior self (if that makes any sense ). Since I couldn't quite pull it off, you are welcome to interpret it whichever way you like.

Here's a Mira: Well, sort of... (It's actually based on a certain anime character. Mus' probably knows. )

Nationalism is evil, but Patriotism is not an absolute good either. To serve the entire mankind is definitely greater than to serve your own country. If we have a truly just and effective international governing body (unlike the UN), pledging to its flag would make more sense to me. I am not suggesting abolishing the pledge, however, since pledging to the American flag is probably the best option we have for now.

Alternative ending for darksiders would have been nice.

Travelocity is pretty good, at least from my experience. Here is a link: http://www.travelocity.com/