Albert Schweitzer

The hotel I worked for in Phuket cannot be reached (dusit Laguna Resort Hotel). I hope they are all fine. However a friend of mine is in charge for the Accor hotels in that region and he said there is one Sofitel that they have no communication with. I think he is taking the first flight to get there... might give you some news on that soon.

I hate it. Now that I am home I could play..I bought a new wireless network adapter since my old one didnt seem to work anymore. Well I can connect to our home's network but it doesnt let me access the internet. I dont know why??? I disabled the new firewall and it should work now but it doesnt. I have the impression it has to do with service pack2 ... Any advises?

I changed 360°! I now work in a company that rates closed ended funds and open ended funds (and other connected businesses). We are doing this mainly for banks and investment advisories. I now work in Advisory which is simillar to Marketing. I get in contact with banks and make them buy a license for our plattform. It is fun since it is a strong company on the market but we are all young as hell. I got into that business because I already had contacts with hotel investment companies. I changed from the Hotel Industry since I had the impression they do not give us the career opportunities we deserve. We are constantly told that hard work, diligence and modesty will pave our way but in the end not the learning process counts but simply the time you work in a hotel. Now I am given somehow more attention. The company actively tries to motivate me and to keep me. They pay this and that and I am able to speed up my career myself. I know the hotel industry and I realy loved it. I loved my studies in Lausanne and I loved travelling. Not to mention the fact that most people in the industry are realy realy nice characters. But the environment has changed. Even in 5star plus you only meet newrich and badmannered people. Ofter the lowest employee shows a better behaviour than the person having booked the king-suite. I was fed up working for newrich russians, white socks americans, arrogant french and unintelligent germans. The whole image I had of top hotels suddenly vanished. Also, the industry is very old fashioned. Organisational structures, managemnt practices and logistics can hardly be improved because most chains are stingy as hell. Not surprising that McDonalds succeeded just by standardising some processes... There is too much running through my mind when talking about this ... I guess it all sounds a bit confused. So let me put it this way, I now have the impression I can better organise what I work with and dont depend on what I am given. Family hotels is a totally different story. They are more focused on quality and reputation than on quick revenue. And they depend on their reputation and not on the central reservation system of a chain. You should call yourself lucky!

Exactly my thoughts aswell. Just to add to the misery I can mention that I work in the hotell business.........and the last month before christmas is my (and most others in my business) personal hate period. Period. Do any other countries have the tradition where firms and companies take their employees out to restaurants? It's living hell! People quarrel and smack their bosses in the face, lose their jobs because they can't fucking behave and ends up in bed with someone who is obviously not their wife! And when they're not busy doing this the run around and puke all thinkable places. And I have to endure all this shit! So when January nears I start to relax a few days! Edit: It's great for kids of course! However, for us grown ups it's only about balanced reciprocity or swapping gifts! Mindless! I worked in the same business untill a few months ago. I liked it but I also hated it realy realy a lot, for exactly the same reasons you just mentioned. And yes, we had a company christmas celebration and all of us got realy realy smashed. I went home at about 6 in the morning and showed up at 9 again in the office. Could hardly walk straight. However I got to mention that our business environment is very tolerant during this period and there is hardly any work to be done.

I am back home on the 23rd. I guess many of us will have time to play between christmas and NEW Year. So lets have a few sessions. Would be fun!

Dont get me wrong. I wasnt criticising the US in any way. I was simply astonished by the suffering these people accept just to arrive in the US one day

Yesterday there was a great documentary on german TV about the train that comes from deep down in south america and crosses the border to North America. Many hispanics jump on these trains and take this illegal trip to the USA. But the train needs weeks to arrive there. Most of them dont have more than the clothes they are wearing and depend on the food and water villagers are throwing to them. The journey is very dangerous. There are hardly any places on the train to sleep and many fall down, get killed or their legs cut off by the wheels. But there is no time to sleep long anyway since they all have to watch out for patrols. A hard journey and only a minority finally arrives at the border. What still lies ahead of them is a river and a long desert. It is incredible how many take this dangerous journey. It is said that everyone needs to try it at leas three times before being successful. But they try it over and over again. They leave children and family behind to try their luck. Unbelievable how they dream of living in the US. They believe that the country they are entering is the paradise... they think of clean roads, expensive cars and a rich life. I may assume a quarter of a million is regularily entering the country and what they probably dont know is.. for them there is no such thing as minimum wage, or labour rights.. they got to take what they are being offered.

Sorry but I couldnt resist. Quite a funny map. But I guess it will take approx 30 seconds untill someone tells me that this has been posted here years ago.

You die for what you believe in! Otherwise you dont die for it but you die because of it.

oh, dont deliberately misinterpret me. Hell I do. And I am actually one of very few in Berlin defending the russian memorials. They are huge, they were build for propaganda purposes, but they remember the fallen russian soldiers. As ugly as they may be, I want them to stay. But dont forget, russia never build them to remember the soldiers but to show the superiority of the stalinistic empire. I have no problem respecting and honouring those russian soldiers that died in WWII. On the other hand I make no difference between the US and Russia dealing and abusing the death of soldiers for political purposes. As if Stalin cared about his soldiers, as if he cared about whether they had bullets, a rifle or just a wodden stick. Also, a great percentage of russian soldiers did not fight that war because of their heroic conviction but because they were forced into battle. Many resistance fighters had zero to no connection to the Red Army and many were later on executed because they were not loyal enough. The russians had any right to defend themselves. It was the germans that started it and dont push me against the wall, accusing me of saying the russians were the "bad guys". Let the soldiers speak for themselves and not a silly Putin do it. Â Putins statement deliberately tries to declarify all circumstances of this battle. I just hate historical clarification moving backwards. Honour the soldiers, but never forget the role that BOTH bloodthirsty governments played in that war.

"We won the battle because we were stronger in spirit, and on account of the heroism of our people," Putin said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Yeah, dream on buddy. Seems like Putin is trying to tackle the modern minority complex of the russian people. Well to attack an army that has tanks with frozen petrol and soldiers that are already half frozen is no great act of heroism. And then to loose three times the amount of warmly dressed and well equipped sibiran soldiers is no great success either. Typical russian to define their Pyrrhus victories as "great russian achievements". http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/battles.htm#Battles

If you use a weapon made in europe then at least only the enemy dies. But if those poor chinese soldiers use equipment "made in china" then I may assume everyone might blow up, even them

Was it under guarantee? And the food on this oven is probably on its way to moon

Notice to the Citizens of the USA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry if this has already been posted, but I felt you all needed to be aware. In the light of your failure to elect a suitable President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise". You will learn that the suffix 'burgh is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed". There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary then you won't have to use bad language as often. 2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize". 3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to Cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents - Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon". If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire. 4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness. 5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through. 6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders" which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs. 7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 97.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "5hit". You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. 8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day". 9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. 10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps". Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers. 11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself. 12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all, it is lager. From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer", and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager". The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Knat's Urine", with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Knat's Urine". This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion. 13. From December 1st the UK will harmonise petrol (or "Gasoline" as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2005) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon - get used to it). 14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. 15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776). Thank you for your cooperation.

i hope you did not mean me  if so we'd have to discuss a while... better via PM to let this thread on topic  pah... on topic.. I say bavarians always claim cultural superiority!!! Is that on topic enoug for ya? (no, didnt mean you. I was refering to Borody talking of a weihnachstmarket as a Beer,sausage,bretzel market (=typical bavarian).

Okay, I know that the cell chip will be about 10 times faster than current CPUs, but do you seriously believe this is fast enough for OFP2? Or even to play OFP Resistance in medium high settings? I doubt that! I guess we have to wait for CELL II .

Oh no! Not that English breakfast again! I would have killed for a reasonable continental brakfast when I was in England! I can't stand those baked beans and little sausages which tasted like a mix of pure fat and flour! The taste of baked beans in my mouth stayed for a whole week no matter how many times I brushed my teeth! I am fine with a british breakfast. It is kind of very heavy and very greasy but for a brunch it is just fine. However the sausages are terrible. Not because the brits like it that way but because those are the sausages they get in the shops. Give them small little Bratwursts and they are just as happy.

Thats the purpose it is in bavaria and therefore they are bavarians (or Franken or whatever ). And in germany you can very well get pretty much drunk from Glühwein ... and happens to me every 23rd of december.

Okay wait up here... Wheinachtsmarkt is not a bavarian festival.... it is a national thing and the bavarians should keep their culturally dominant mouth shut for a while. A weihnachtsmarkt is not a beer festival serving fresh bretzels and weißwurst. No oversized, overblond, overloud bavarian waitresses are serving and there is definetly no terrible bavarian music... of course the bavarians insist that the best christmasmarket is located in Nürenberg but I strongly disagree. There are hundred great ones out there, from west to east, from south to north and each region has its own specialities. The town where I come from is known for its Printen, a very special gingerbread. I realy like this thread but I realy get pissed if the bavarians claim (as always) ... "yeah zhat iz typical bavarian, you zee!"

In germany we say the opposite. "Look at the elderly people, they receive their pension at the age of 55 or even earlier. And they get more pension than they paid into the fund during their life. They created a national deficit of which the interest payments alone are unaffordable.

Very good point someone made http://www.gamezone.de/kolumne_detail.asp?kid=48&rand=2711125012 Sorry, this article is in german only... but I try to find it in english too. Fact is Valve is basically allowed to charge you fees and fees over and over again over time for playing this game. Basically every 30 days!

One day Bastler you have to teach me how you did that. I want to make a map like that for my friends around the globe.

happy thanks giving everyone. I never celebrate it but I signed 2 contracts today and sooo yes it must be a happy day! Â

This reminds me of this film named "Troja" with this Brad Pitt. I watched it because I expected great bloody battles and what do I get. A FILM FOR WOMEN. It was nothing else than a shitty love-story with lots of oily men, somehow mixed up with a litte action. Is this the new trick? Do they try to make women trap their boyfriends by telling them they are gonna see a Bruce-Willis style movie? and once we are inside we are forced to see this xxxxxxx which is like a cheap 1dollar love-novel why you can buy in any kiosk?

Wow, just played it the second time and it is realy awesome in medium difficulty. Lots of enemies, perfect AI (I mean perfect). And just like in "thin red line" you realy get overrun by enemies if you are not careful. First you fire your heavy machine gun then more and more come runing over the hill and in the end you need to give up your MG-position and need to retreat. In the end you dont even have bullet left, the japanese are finally jumping into your position and then it is balionette against balionette. Awesome game, thumbs up. I hate myself for having reacted to the Doom3 Hype, from now on I trust my own feelings.