Interview the person beneath you

What is interesting - and may have long term effects - is how the continued weakness of the dollar against the Euro is changing local exchange rates around the world. Economies seem to be shifting their benchmark from the dollar to the euro.

Does the European economy have the strength to be the world standard for exchange rates?
 
I'm no economist, but at the rate George Dubya is makin' friends around the world, I would say that the politics of the situation will eventually override the economic logic and the Euro will supplant the US dollar as the world benchmark.

Should the EU scrap all protective import tariffs and be a truly global free market?
 
The largest single-country economy will probably be China, but the EU will probably be the largest economy.

Would you support a charity that approves of and participates in vivisection?
 
Yes, as long as they only practice it on themselves. (Somehow the words "charity" and "vivisection" don't really go together...)


Who is your most senior living relative?
 
My dad is 39 - for the 43rd time, but my grand aunt beats him by 5 years.;)

He's the son of your father, but not your brother. Who is he?
 
He is the son of my father, but not my brother. :) Half brother.

What's in your country the common age for marriage?
 
30 for men, 28 for women aparrently, but 40 years ago people were getting married on average 5 years earlier.

How far do you take free speech? - If I have an opinion that involves something illegal or completely unethical, should I be allowed to talk about it openly without getting into any kind of trouble?
 
of course yes, the ability of someone who doesn't agree with you is to demonstrate that you're wrong, not to not allow you to speak... unfortunately, here in Italy, the prime minister doesn't think in this way... :(

should animals use in the medical research be limited, or not allowed at all?
 
Not allowed at all!

Is this thread getting too political – and is this a bad thing? Or is this just us excercising our right to free speech?
 
I think in the terms of this thread, politics and free speech overlap somewhat. Contributing to this thread is purely voluntary - it's not as if someone absolutely has to answer a question. Censoring what gets discussed in this thread would violate our rights to freedom of speech.


What's your favorite day of the week and why?
 
joined this thread from a little, but i think that in 26 pages of posts many arguments have been asked and answered, and if in this days there's a lot of political questions, maybe it's because it wasn't discussed a lot in the previous periods... anyway, I think that in these days, due to the particular situation of the world nowadays, it's normal that many people are thinking about politics...

so, cause Captain doesn't want so many political questions :), what do you think about cell phones ringing at the cinema or at the theatre?

________________________________________________________________
ok, english is not my first language, that's why I'm so slow writing... :)
 
I only asked because I have been particularly preoccupied with politics recently and have asked some fairly political questions, so I was trying to gauge the feelings of others. If everyone else is tired of this kind of questioning, then I, at least, will back off. But if nobody is offended there is no reason to stop. So, Tetano, it's not that I want to stop, I'm just being considerate to those around me.

But as you ask – people who are so inconsiderate that they leave their mobiles ON in the cinema deserve to be pelted with popcorn and showered in sticky, fizzy drinks! :mad:

Do you think the fortcoming election in Iraq will be peaceful – or at least, with no MORE violence than is usual on a day-to-day basis?
 
I love speaking about politics... my girlfriend hates it, so at home i can't, and here at work, well, i don't have so many occasions...

I hope that Iraq elections would be peaceful, but i don't think so... just have a look to some newspapers, every day the violence is increasing, there is someone who wants to frighten the population and prevent them to go to vote... and if i were in Iraq, i would be more than frihtened...

remaining on politics, iraq would be divided in indipendent -or federated- republics aftere these elections or would it remain united?
 
Iraq is not a natural unit. After Turkey lost World War One, Britain was mandated to rule the countries of Mosul, Mesopotamia and Basrah. To simplify it's (mis)management, Britain knocked these three territories into one. called it Iraq and imposed a king on them.

As can be seen today, the Sunni muslims, the Shia muslims and the Kurds tend to dislike and mistrust each other. So how can Iraq remain a unified country? A federation of three autonomous states, co-operating on matters of defence, foreign affairs, etc, seems to provide the best hope of peaceful co-existence.

Is there any one episode in the history of your country of which you, as a national of that country, are ashamed?
 
As a german citizen I don't need to mention which episode this was, right? However, I am originally from Iran and don't know enough about its history.

A short break in the political talks: Why is sound spoken [sawnd] and wound [wu:nd]?
 
Who knows. English pronunciation follows no rules.

Why is it that english is one of the only languages that doesn't have pronunciation rules (like German, spanish, etc)?
 
Because we're British! And one in the eye for all those foreign Johnnies! :p ;) :D

Seriously, though, it probably has to do with the fact that you cannot reconcile German, French and Danish pronunciation to one set of rules. These are the three languages that have, during the course of the past 2000 years, contributed most to the English language. Then, of course, there are the modern influences: various Indian languages, various African languages and, of course, the American bastardisation of many languages into a new kind of patois that has influenced the whole world. There have been many attempts to create an Academy, à l'Academie Française, to protect the English language, but all have failed. The nearest thing we have to an absolute authority is the Oxford English Dictionary, who have embarked on a policy of inclusionism rather than protectionism.

Why does German have such a rigid structure?
 
It fits their personalities. ;)

If I may return to the vivisection discussion... we can't even manage to enforce the ban on murder and genocide, what makes you think banning animal testing would work? (Geez, I feel like I'm in the presidential debates!)

On that note, what did you think of the debates? (You can listen to them throught the iTMS for free if you missed them.)
 
If that's the intellectual standard of the candidates, then all I can say is "God help the world!"

I have never yet met a Yank that I didn't like - on a 1-to-1 basis - yet when two Yanks get together, they start getting all misty-eyed and patriotic and waving the ol' red, white 'n' blue around. Get a whole population together and they fall into some kinda patriotic frenzy and go totally apesh1t, re-electing some Texan bozo who seems hell-bent, not on solving the woes of the Middle-East, but exacerbating them!

George Bush is a total half-wit! His ancestors come from Ireland. I think that if you research the issue further, the place that he comes from is missing its village idiot. Yet the Yanks in their "apple pie"-induced madness elected him to be their President! He was elected to stamp out terrorism born of religious extremism in the Middle-East, yet it was the extremists of the religious right that voted for him.

The whole situation has been polarised to the extent that the world is on the brink of disaster. The arrogance of the US in its collective mind, assuming that everyone in the world wants to live in some kind of carbon copy of the USA, is staggering! It is nothing short of dictatorship. There are more forms of govenrment in this world that the US version. As long as the citizens of any nation are free to do what they wish, within the bounds of acceptabilty, they should have the freedom to live unmolested by the converting zeal of some idiotic upstart in a cowboy hat. Sure, an emirate may not be the the most perfect form of government, but it has worked for over 1000 years. How long has the US been around? 200+.

If the US is so great, they should be leading by example, not imposing their vision of the world on others by force.




Next question: Should CQ just shut up and start asking about browsers 'n' stuff again? ;) :D
 
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