Mic09

I think that a mistake was made 20 years ago - and whatever the world's police decides to do now will not be a great move.

Star Trek is Fiction, and Lord of The Rings is fiction. There was no Starship Enterprise or Minas Tirith. But there were floods, crucifixions, ancient battles and kings, and that's what the bible tells us. I don't care about whether David was the descendent of Abraham or if Peter betrayed Jesus 3 times or whether we should only eat animals that chew their cud. In my opinion it's fiction, a made up belief, that we should or shouldn't eat animals that chew their cud. What is a historical lesson is that there once lived people who based their diet on these parameters and that is an important historical lesson. Eating pork won't send you to hell (if one exists). That's a 'myth', a 'fiction'. But it's a fact that those ancient people believed that you should not eat pigs and that tells us a bit about their history. I hope that makes sense.

I feel like I've read this every year since around 2008. And every year, there is a Leicester, a West Ham, an Everton, even a Leeds or a Burnley who somehow challenge for Europe. I feel like the top 6 isn't closed at all, and the club are wise enough to know that the £100m could be invested next year once we become an established PL league team. Can I just remind everyone that around 12 months ago most people had us fighting in relegation places? It might take another season to turn that image around, and with players like Bailey, Martinez or Buendia I am confident we can get 8th place and push for better targets next season.

It's very 1984. Who knows who the enemy is, and how quickly that will change.

Sure, and I appreciate it's a bit wishy washy but it's more than speculation considering the overwhelming geological evidence of flood impacts. Plus I am sure there are biblical scholars who can defend this argument better than I can. What we do know, there have been numerous great flood's in the past. It's only reasonable to assume people who lived through them would want to pass the story on and eventually, centuries later, write it down. I'm sure there are bible buffs that could look at data known and say that this or that flood was the starting point of the story. But it's just as reasonable to assume that the story of the great flood could have been many different floods. Here is a list of some of these from wikipedia: You can then connect these stories to others, such as the Atlantis story, but let's not go down the rabbit hole and because that's not the point. The point is, there were historical events that have affected people's lives and they decided to pass the stories on and eventually write them down. So it's a bit more than 'fiction'. It's Chinese whispers over 10 thousand years.

I agree with you. But people in charge have to before they decide to invade a country. It's really difficult to argue that a trillion dollars wouldn't have helped to prevent a great amount of suffering for a greater number of people. Looking at statistics (and current events as they unfold), the Afghani operation does not look like a success.

What don't you accept in the story that I gave an example of? That there was a flood? Because that likely happened, and likely people believed it happened because 'God' made it so. I agree with you that this is where we can reach the 'looney' territory, but bear with me here. There probably wasn't a Noah and he didn't take all the animals with him. But the story of 'we better watch ourselves because the world can change around us quicker than we think' can be even more relevant now with rising sea levels and rapid climate change. I guess people of ancient middle east had similar problems as we did. I guess what I'm trying to say, you don't have to believe Noah took the animals on the Ark in order to believe that people of the middle east have been affected by a rapid environment/climate change. You don't have to believe that Jesus was the son of god and died for our sins to believe that Roman's wanted to stop a Jewish revolt because of geopolitical tensions. You don't have to believe that David killed Goliath in order to believe that a weaker state of Judea battled against major rivals for territory in 5/6th century BC. You don't have to believe in the Adam and Eve in order to appreciate that evil and suffering in the world is caused by human greed and imperfection.

I'm not sure this is a strong return for 20 years of military action, almost a Trillion $ of spending, around 50k of Afghani Civilians dead, about 4k allied soldiers dead, 70k Afghani military dead. I imagine a scenario where a TRILLION dollars are spent better and these lives aren't lost.

I wouldn't call it 'fiction' - just like the Bible, it's a book rooted in ancient stories. Ancient scriptures can tell us a lot about history and the lives of the people who lived back then, but they have to be taken with a scientific eye. As an example, the great flood story and Noah's Ark is widely reported in many cultures, not just ours. It's clear it had great meaning to those people and they passed it in oral tradition before it was written down. Something likely happened ( Black Sea flood of 7th Century BC?* Persian Gulf Flooding?*) so many of those 'fictions' bring us a piece of history that can be looked into. BUT, we have to be careful in taking moral lessons from these people, because, well, they are ancient. We have moved on and learn new things about the world. Star Trek is fiction. This is history wrapped in legend, myth, moral lessons and passed on through one mouth to another for thousands of years. *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis *http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/2_infopgs/IP2IceAge/ePersGulfFlood.html

while it sound like a good idea, I don't necessarily like the notion that a 1400 year old book can tell me the rules of how I (or others) should lend people money.

it's a bit of a running joke mate

I'm sure Grealish will be the one laughing come May 2022.

I thought that last season he looked like a youngster coming in to fill a gap. Today he looked like a Premier League player.

Surely Adidas could have gone for the retro badge? Why didn't they?! Is there something that stopped them from doing so @NurembergVillan

Newly promoted team on the first day of the season away is not easy. But, we have reached a stage where we are expected to win. It won't be a nice surprise if we do, it will be a dissapointment if we don't.

I was just reading about the match on BBC football, and I remembered something. Just a few months ago, Arsenal tried to join the European Super League. Have a good day everyone!

not if Konsa has anything to say about it

anyone got the link to the presser?

Am I the only one that thinks Mings wouldn't be the optimal choice for the job? Of course he is commanding - any elite CB has to be. But is that enough to be the captain? At the minute, for me it's Martinez that's the new Mr Aston Villa. Somehow he strikes me as someone who will be sitting there with Bailey and Ings and arranging for family meet ups to show them around Birmingham. Isn't that what a captain should do?

Naah, the name is good - it's more relevant to the local traditions of 'Packers' 'Steelers' ' Chiefs' 'Patriots' or 'Cowboys'. We are Villa and we support Aston Villa. An MLS brand can only benefit from the name 'Villains' as it's more marketable in the US demographic. (purely opinion based)

I'm no anti-vaxxer (I have the full works of everything there is to take) but here is an interesting take on the ridicule of people who decide not to get vaccinated. There are numerous studies that show that imperfect vaccinations (like our Covid19 ones) where the vaccinated person can still be infected and pass on the virus may lead to a greater spread of more dangerous strains: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4516275/ https://www.nature.com/articles/414751a

If he picks Matty Cash and decides to play him as a no10, is that further evidence we did a switcheroo with Grealish?

Is it the old story of 'if he played for Benfica and was called Jamez Wardprowsinho' he would be worth £50m?

look, just say it's happening, we don't want this weighted and reasonable debate here ok?

it'shappening gif*