A'Villan

To be fair I didn't and still don't understand parts of it. So I'll take your word for it. I simply interpreted it as saying that we can never be all-knowing and that a certain level of humility comes with that. That's what resonated with me. I also interpret the last paragraph to mean that the spirit of Christ has been lost on us in favour of a dogma implemented by people who do not merit such authority. So in saying that, I don't really know how @limpid has drawn the conclusion that population manipulation (you could be a rapper, limpid. Not that @mjmooney would approve) is the end product or result here. To me it seems just the opposite. The author is saying that we have foregone the true message in favour of a system which would lead us astray, Perhaps not one of my better posts. But then again not many on this subject seem to be

Played a game of futsal with a new team tonight. Got off to a winning start in what was a challenging game. Lost count of how many I scored. Most importantly.. *Dances while singing "WE UNDEFEATED, WE UNDEFEATED!"*

Welcome to the club big Minga! (Why does the 's' button have to be next to the 'a' button on the keyboard, are harmless typo could be taken the wrong way!)

A natural f***in' idiot!

I'd probably prefer to engage discussions about Smith than I would Bruce too. However unfortunate it may be, Bruce is still relevant to some degree and will be 'til this seasons end as far as I'm concerned. At least. He achieved 83 points and a play off final which is better than the Champions League winning RDM was on course to do, same goes for Smith's record as is.

That's my point mate. He got you goals. If Hogan can do that like he did for Brentford then we have an asset. Unfortunately I'm unconvinced.

Fair enough. Everyone sees it through their own lens. If by yesterdays men you mean their best is behind them, then yes, you're probably right. If you're point is we would be better off looking for other managers for our future then I would agree wholeheartedly. We haven't been top half of the Premier League for the better half of a decade. All these managers have operated at a level on par with our standing during that time.

Darren Bent couldn't beat a man or dribble and he went alright for a period of time. I'd like to watch Hogans goals at Brentford before making any predictions on whether or not we have a player who can rekindle the strike rate he enjoyed there. Whilst here I think he is averaging 1 in 6, and I would agree with the notion that he hasn't offered a whole lot to our general play, whereas Tammy and Kodjia are both comfortable being a focal point and pivotal to our attacking impetus.

Going to chime in on this one. I think you're slightly undermining the likes of Bruce, Allardyce, Pulis and Moyes. Hughes I don't really know anything about. All these men have had some degree of success as managers at the highest level in the world excluding the later stages of the Champions League. Allardyce was set for the England job, Moyes got the gig to replace one of, if not the all time greatest manager in the game at United. Pulis has shown his worth, albeit at the relegation scrap end of the table. If you consider them to have achieved average levels of success then I wonder what you define as worthy of recognition achievement to be for a manager. For me, even the likes of Neil Warnock and Alan Pardew have a case to be made as having noteworthy results in the best country for football in the world. Bruce had us on 83 points last season (correct me if I'm wrong) and in years gone by that was enough for automatic promotion at times. It didn't pan out that way this time. His football is far from aesthetic and I disagree with the above comment about him not really doing tactics because it was quite clear that a game plan was very basic. That aside, he gets results. To land one of the top jobs is extremely difficult to do. We haven't had a manager of world class repute since Houllier. Before that we had MON. I would say that MON isn't even that much better than Bruce. Bruce made it to an FA cup final and very nearly won it with a team inferior to that which MON had at Villa.

Yeah I agree wholeheartedly on reading this. A night in a cell and a $400 fine isn't the end of the world either. I've drawn a few premature conclusions here. I might have to go over to the 'Ever Choked On Your Own Prejudice' thread and confess. It's pretty clear I held some preconceived ideas on how you dealt with the situation. Thanks for taking it in your stride.

It's all a bit beyond my comprehension and the ins and outs go over my head. In Australia the payment granted to the unemployed has not risen in 25 years. Recipients live 30% below the poverty line and are required to work 5 days a week in order to be eligible for this payment in a scheme that makes them 'job ready'. This work that they engage in does not gain the individual any formal qualification or prepare them for a skilled role outside of being at a certain place at a designated time. A tax rate of between 30-45% on incomes ranging from $40,000-$200,0000+ applies. Yet multi-billion dollar corporations are taxed at a rate of less than 1%. Based on this I don't foresee a system where the power balance resides with the people or for the people. But I don't pretend to know anything on the matter.

I enjoyed reading this: Becoming like Christ involves the humility to accept that God knows better than you do about any particular fact, and that Christ is Who grants you true freedom. "True freedom" is extending that humility to the recognition that you are don't have the right nor have you been blessed with the insight to better run anyone's life but your own, and those children who have been entrusted to you and for whom you are still responsible for raising (side note: this period of responsibility ends sooner than most parents would like to admit). It makes perfect sense ethically; In spiritual governance, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles don't meddle in the area affairs of area seventies, who don't meddle in the affairs of stake presidents, who leave Bishops to be autonomous, who don't direct individual families. In ideal physical governance, why should any entity at the top be concerned with the specific actions and methods of any entity below it? We can't craft a governing system that can discern every circumstance with full clarity, the nature of governance is that it is consistent despite individual circumstances. This is why it should be absolutely minimal when it comes to individual lives and actions. If government were used to encourage or enforce "good policy", the logical and eventual conclusion is that government should structure everything to optimize everyone's life-when you sleep, what you eat, how you exercise, everything. "True freedom" results in the pains of misusing agency, yes, but in mortality we're going to experience horrible things no matter how well managed we are. This was the very war we fought in pre-mortality: Faith in the growth offered by freedom and our capacity to eventually become like Christ, or fear that we will fall short or suffer and to eliminate all risk (and all growth). Every single person on this Earth stuck with freedom for the first round. Given that we have received a Savior who paid for our mistakes and not a would-be who would force us with divine power and knowledge, changing our faith and allegiance to a system of compulsion run by fellow mortals for the second round seems absurd.

Bit of a random post, but I like your location. I'd never heard of Abenaki before. I love reading up on Lakota Sioux culture and philosophy. Their sense of community and principles are something to aspire towards and always gives me hope for people. Those two peoples might be very different, I wouldn't know. Native Americans makes me think of Lakota people and they always cheer me up.

All warfare is based on deception - Sun Tzu

Where's Neo when you need him!

I just want to reiterate my apologies for the way my post was written, it was adversarial, something I accused police of being, and therefore I was also being a hypocrite. I didn't mean to suggest that you simply ignore his antics or even tolerate them, rather that you approach him in a way in which he didn't feel judged, condemned and punished, which I believe he would of the second you asked him to identify himself with the intent to caution him. I did a terrible job of suggesting that a little bit of compromise and forgiveness may have elicited a better response from this man, maybe even allowing for some restitution with him acknowledging his behaviour rather than getting defensive and being difficult. I know what a caution is. If I'm honest with you, I'd feel pretty hard done by receiving an infringement that hangs over my head for throwing a minor tantrum. We're all fallible, it's human nature. Instead of a purgatory culture for those who do wrong we might employ a reformatory approach. Justice is the treatment of people in a way that is fair and morally right. When you can't trust individuals to be fair and just with one another, there is no reason to trust a group of those same individuals to be any different. The police are no different. We act like our justice system doesn't make mistakes, like it's not run by fallible human beings who will make errors. This is why I mention restitution, compromise and forgiveness as a better alternative to dealing with errors than judgement, condemnation and punishment. I may be making a baseless assumption here, but it doesn't seem to be that you asked this fella what the problem was or why he was acting up, instead you proceeded to exert your authority over him by addressing him as an offender (however minor) and not in a way that recognises his human nature. I have a few issues with the system, this isn't meant to be a personal attack on you. By all means you come across as someone who did what you thought was in the interests of those around you. The manner in which you dealt with my post (which could easily be called antagonistic) shows a commendable decency and good spirit. By the way, when you say of sound mind, I trust your judgement. I wasn't there and so cannot make any meaningful observation. That said, he was clearly having a lapse in decision making and I question the sanity of anyone who becomes unnecessarily disruptive or even abusive as you eluded to earlier, even if momentarily out of sorts. You don't have to be destitute or diagnosed with a pathological condition to have issues. But it's good to know that had someone exhibited a lack of insight or inability due to illness that you would have let it go. That shows leadership. I work in mental health, with the homeless and with at risk youth, and those who can offer the strength and power of compassion to those who need it most make this world a better place.

I was told about two hours ago that I have a knack for brevity Do you think we were unconvincing? Because I don't and that's not the message I wanted to convey. While it wasn't a resounding victory Abraham squandered two sitters that should've been put away and that would have been game over. Even though we were absolutely gifted that penalty we still created more chances than Ipswich and always looked like being the first team to score. It just so happened that both goals were from set-pieces and not open play but that is not an indictment of our build up play as we had some decent moments in that regard. Their best chances were a direct lofted pass from deep midfield which split our CB's and put them through, rounding our keeper only to have the shot blocked by a last ditch intercept. Their goal, which was a quality strike but uncontested, we gifted a virutally unmarked run down the right wing into space and allowed Ipswich to get in behind, then two Villa players scrambled to chase the Ipswich player who'd been played through down the flank which meant that a central runner was left open for too long. A mishit pass intended for that runner rolled across the top of the box and was collected by Ipswich who then played a harmless pass to the goalscorer who hit one home from range. Someone needs to have a word with Hourihane about closing down a player that's within range, he's been guilty of allowing a number of shots from outside the box to go uncontested, ultimately ending up in goals. I mean should we stand off 'til they've walked the ball into the net? I don't get it. Chalobah hit the woodwork too but aside from that they didn't threaten. So there were costly errors but we did enough to deserve victory and that's what we got. Just because we conceded two or three pieces of play that meant the nerves kicked in doesn't mean we were unconvincing. It just shows how the pressures of expectation surrounding our overall season compound the feelings we experience throughout a match.

Some of the defending was there was an art form. Only not the type we are looking for. It was like the perfect parody for bad defending I can imagine. Shambolic. He's had ridiculous transfer budgets with Brum, from memory they were absurd for the championship at the time. He won 18 of his 24 victories with Hull by 1 goal in one of their promotion seasons. There's a similar stat about his other Hull promotion but I forget. To his credit he got Sunderland to their highest ever Premier League finish, again, if memory serves correct. The Sunderland board expected European placing with the transfer budget he was afforded. He had players like Sessegnon, Muntari, Bent, Gyan, Mignolet, Henderson, Welbeck at his disposal. He's not the worst manager in the world but he will never be cutting edge. Even

Politics. Poly meaning many. Ticks being blood sucking parasites. Politics - many blood sucking parasites. I wouldn't mind being a politician. For changes sake. Because people shouldn't be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people. As is, that's not the case. You said money and status aside, it seems like those very two things are fundamental traits of leadership according to our current crop of politicians. The ones in power anyway. I'm over it. Tired of seeing people of the belief that power corrupts, like it's some innate aspect of life to be accepted and not just a massive assumption based on what's apparent. Like an alternative reality has never been accomplished by changing perceptions and then engaging in action congruent with the belief system. I'll trade in patriotism for humanity every time. Society today has a tendency toward dogma which entails stigmatic persecution of those who would bring the financial elite in to question. Whether that be innovative thinkers that aim to bring about change to the system or people who would speak against or oppose the atrocities committed by a people or person. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 in Australia there are significant restrictions on the right of any citizen to express certain opinions, including; criticism of the sovereign, the constitution, the government, or the law. Onus of proof is on the defendant, the presumption is not of innocence. How is that a free-thinking democracy? Divide and conquer. The military isn't there for the peoples protection, it's just there to protect an investment. Democracy means 'power of the people, not power over the people'. Anyway, I doubt I'll ever have a political career but I've been getting involved. I'm attending a public forum called 'profit vs the planet' tonight and have just written a submission for the Royal Commission into Mental Health. I have subscribed to emails from one political party who's main focus is on regulating the banks and bringing speculation under control, just to expand my horizons and understanding. They say politicians need to be well remunerated in order to attract the best talent to the role. We need leaders who don't need the money cause they have the heart and mind to bring their best innovations and efforts to such an important leadership role. They should have their sights set on establishing a world that people want to be a part of instead of using propaganda and fear mongering to have people looking over their shoulders about stepping out of line and expressing their truest feelings about the world we live in. 84 men suicide per week in the UK. That's basically one-fifth of the entire Premier League, every week. In a first world country. Tragic loss of talent and potential. The focus of politics instead is racist ideology that exudes ignorance and destruction as a philosophy. If it's not Trump on Mexico, it's Netanyahu on Palestine, Turkey on the Kurds, Abbott calling the first fleet 'good' for indigenous Australians and then being appointed an envoy on indigenous affairs, we nearly forgot about the Middle Eastern conflict for a second there. What ever happened to benevolence, goodwill and sportsmanship? End rant.

This. Over a third of the way to go and we're within reach of a playoff spot. We've had some of the best results and performances of any team in this division under Smith. I understand the disappointment as for whatever reason things haven't gelled as we'd have hoped but it would be insane to let that stop us from aspiring and hoping for better.

People say we were unconvincing against Ipswich but that's only because the game finished 2-1 with them hitting the woodwork late on which would have made it 2-2. I understand the angst because dropping more points would be demoralising no matter which way you look at it. Add to that the league position of the opposition. The reality is though is we created much better chances and more of them than Ipswich. Abraham should have had 4 and that's not an exaggeration, two sitters were squandered. Had we converted more chances the mood would be less filled with doubt and concern than it is right now and there would be less reason to call our team into question. I'd like to point out that the goal we conceded against Ipswich was another stunning strike from outside the box, we've been on the wrong end of a few of those.

Guti.

I don't know. 40 million isn't all that much today. Fernandinho has been vital for City and Brazil and he went for 34million back in 2013. Gana has impeccable awareness and timing when defending. Some of the best I've seen. He makes it look so simple and effortless when anticipating the movement of his opponent. He's hard to fool. Get too close and the ball is his. If he had the ability on the ball like a Matthaus or an Alonso he'd be absolutely world class. He doesn't though. Decent feet and an adequate passing ability for his position is never going to get the crowd jumping but his defensive efforts are elite.

Chin up and keep striving. The most important recognition of your efforts should be your own so that you know your value and why you do what you do. Leadership is about creating a world that people want to be a part of, whether you get the credit and plaudits or not. Understanding it's bigger than any one person. Seems like you are making a concerted effort to see that your workplace benefits from the time you invest in it. Maybe it's time to have a chat with those above you about what you think you bring to the table and where you'd like to go. Explore their thoughts on the matter too. That's what my sister did. She ended up with a $15,000 annual raise and then a promotion to national manager . She started as the front of shop retail chick and that's where she was for years but last year wrote the bosses a letter detailing her contributions and got the nod for promotion.

It's a difficult dynamic to understand let alone articulate so I know what you mean. I find it interesting to note that a presidential candidate for the U.S came out and said in an interview that a Rockefeller came to him and said they were funding feminism to create a divide in the family structure and make people more dependent on the state. I don't know what to believe in regards to that. But I mention it as an example of how complex it all is. Like @Davkaus has insinuated, it might lack accuracy. I meant to say that there have been no black leaders of the largest super power or empire of the world since LSS in the Roman Empire times. Pull me up on it if I'm wrong, I'd appreciate it in fact. It's not an incredibly silly comment as far as I'm aware. Rice was the first black female to be appointed to a few different roles. I'm open to being corrected. Though I fail to see how your post makes gives any foundation as to why mine was silly, let alone 'incredibly silly'. Again, all for being shown the light.