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#1
July 17, 2005, 06:27 PM
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Whiteguy has a Pretty Silly Idea! (PSI)
I've just had this crazy thought. And before I share it, I am thinking that this is not the place. Maybe I should get a blog somewhere and do it there. This is not what forget cricket was meant for, I know. I don't even know how to set up a blog, or what it is exactly. So go ahead and feel free to remove this topic moderators, if you'd like. Maybe it's dumb and a waste of internet space.
It's just that the 12 pages so far on the London Bombings have been thoroughly interesting, and I though maybe I could do something to motivate people to reach out and understand each other. Here is my idea: We are all busy with our work, lives, family and circle of friends, and religious institutions, that we do not venture out and meet "others." So this thread is for this reason. Go out of your way and try to befriend a person whom is not your own race, ethnicity, countrymen or religion. Go ahead and tell them that there is this crazy whiteguy whom married this desi girl, whom seems kinda allright and is starting to start a thread about experiences from different people than those that you already know. Lets agree to one person every six months. It'll be easier for those in western worlds of course. Don't forget there are ignorant id*ots whom represent every segment, so don't continue if you meet and id*ot, and try another time. Now if you meet this person and have an ok repoire, tell them to do the same, with another person every six months and share the info here on this web site, (within forum rules, of course) Imagine if many people do this and it spreads exponentially. Could be good for traffic here. Who knows. Most likely I'm just crazy!%^&*()*&^%^&*(@#+. lol. My first story last night: I was talking to an Indian girl, a friend of the very large party I was with. My wife's best friend's sister had this huge birthday party. She is Sikh. We had a good conversation, small talk. And than she said to me. "Most white people hate the fact that all these Indians are coming here don't they?" I was kinda taken aback at first. And than I remembered all the conversations I've been having here with my new Bengali friends. I realize that we as whites have this stereotype as all being "racists." I told her that unless she runs into some "whitetrash," alcololics, drug addicts, or just mentally challanged people, which would be easy to do, considering that many Indians rent out cheap basement suites to whites whom have not succeeded in life, and hence get drunk, and spew stupid rhetoric sometimes, over 90% of whites love the immigration that is going on. If they didn't, there would have been mass protests, and whatnot, against it. Most whites think it enriches our culture. Further, I told her, most white guys, think darker skinned girls are the most beautiful in the world. (Which is totally true for a lot of us.) My wife and her were talking about Indian music later, and Indian dance on T.V. She told her that I watch that station all the time.  (Indian girls dancing. I have been doing that way before I ever met my wife. I think, I changed this girls mind last night about us being all racists. I think this is good. I suspect that it is because of many things in our history. But I also told her that only in the recent years, did women get the vote. The non-landholders got the vote. Black and Natives got the vote. Chinese got the vote. After WWII an infux of soldiers came back. The government gave them free University. Huge middle class developed. Common farmers, "peasants" turned North America in huge cities, with a huge middle class all voters. Large racist laws were challenged, by the now new emerging middle class, and emerging intellectuals, that came from common workers, whom had no voice before. THESE are the ones that have been the ones whom have new power, and are running more and more of the show every day. That is why, today's westerners, are totally differn't than 5, 10 or even 20 years ago. Anyway, I told her all that, and than my wife and I, and a group of others went from a restaurant to dance club, and just danced all night. It was great. So make a pledge here that you will do this, and than you have six months to return. Add your stories friends. Meet one person every six months. Halve hour of your time. Edited on, July 17, 2005, 11:35 PM GMT, by whiteguy. Reason: too many mistakes man! 
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#2
July 17, 2005, 06:38 PM
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Whiteguy
While I understand your enthusiasm for inciting mass intermingling, you should realize that this forum consists of a large number of Bangladeshis living abroad. For these people mingling people of different backgrounds is not a choice. Many Bangladeshis have inter-racial marriages and have very good friends who are not Bangladeshis. Another thing you mentioned about whites, is that they like brown women. Well most Bangladeshis I know, it is the guy who's married to the western girl, so white girls must also be liking brown men. Edited on, July 17, 2005, 11:38 PM GMT, by newbie.
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#3
July 17, 2005, 06:43 PM
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Mr., Newbie. I am assuming that there are many people here whom do not live in western words. I also am assuming that there are many parts in the western world where intermingling is confined only at work, to a professional degree. Many western areas are kind of split into neighbourhood of their own reace, etc. Here it is more intermingled all around. But maybe my assumptions are wrong.
Maybe this is dumb, your right, maybe it's happening already. I do come up with dumb ideas from time to time you know. I guess no one will see my face if I'm embarrassed, so I thought lets throw it out there.
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#5
July 17, 2005, 09:47 PM
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People of today don't care about skin color i think it's more the inside or i might be wrong
Edited on, July 18, 2005, 3:11 AM GMT, by desi_pride.
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#6
July 18, 2005, 12:58 AM
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My lovely wife, who is very wise and has a level head says I'm being too pushy in pushing my ideas. Than no one will listen to me. She's a smart cookie. I accept her criticism positively and am going to go study. Good night. Edited on, July 18, 2005, 5:59 AM GMT, by whiteguy. Reason: error
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#7
July 18, 2005, 10:55 AM
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#9
July 18, 2005, 12:36 PM
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For an example i have a bag pack with me since i have joined and i always take that with me where ever i go. Even though i am well know in the office and i think people loves (whom i work with) Somebody made a objection to the upper level about my bag pack after the london thing as we have to take shuttle every morning to office. So small stuff like this hurts feels like what i am doing here... But also i feel proud at the same time cause i didn't had to defend my self as some other co-workers and my boss defended me... Anyway may for those people i am still here and love this country but i am not sure that majority thinks like you and others....
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#10
July 18, 2005, 03:36 PM
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My comuter froze, and now i have to write it again. I cought some viruses, keep putting them in AVG vault, and waiting till my Aug. 15th final to deal with it.
Anyway here goes again. Firstly Mr. Akabir, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences with me. I appreciate it. I would like you to look at this from another angle. First of all, 75% of the population of America lives in cities rather than small towns and villages. That is opposite of 100 years ago. Here is a story: I went to the Czech Republic, to my mom's home town. It was a surprise. I got off the train, and walked 2 kilometers to my grandmas house. It is house number 59, there are 59 houses in the village. I saw peole looking out their window. Staring at who I am. By the time I got to my grandmas house, she knew I was coming and they didn't have phones back then in villages. Only just two years ago, finally phones lines were put in. If I was brown, I might have concluded it was racism. If I was with my wife, I might have concluded it was racism too, but it was not. The same happens by the way, when there is a visitor from the major Czech capital from Prague. The licence plates of the vehicle say P for Prague. Everyone is intreagued, and stares. Now imagine what will happen when I go to Bangladesh. IN Dhaka, probably nothing. But in the small villages where my wife's mom is from, I'm sure I will get a lot of stares. Some may already hate me cause I'm white, christian, atheist, infidel, etc. But I know, that this is not the majority, and most will just be curious villagers, becasuse I will be new to them. Now consider if the reverse happened. Lets say 4 white bombers with backpacks bombed a train in Bangladesh. I am quite sure that there would be eyes staring at me, if I was on the train with a backpack. It's not racism, it is just human nature, and fright. Statistically, we all know that there are 3 million riders a day using Londons system, hence the chance is 55 out of 3 million. I know this. I took statistics. Yet I still pondered dropping my wife on the skytrain (we have tube above ground here), and had some unfounded fear. Another story: I was at the Bangladesh festival this past month. I dressed in the typical Bangladeshi clothing, all the way to the wooden sandles, made in Bangladesh, while my wife was in a Sari. When we walked in, boy, all eyes were on us. They weren't really smiling at first either. They were just perplexed, confused, and didn't know what to make of us. They have never seen it before. lol. But by the end of the night, they were smiling, and I was introduced to douzens of people, none of whose names I can remember, and they were taking pictures. I had a great night. Now to the backpack issue: I remember when the highschool massacre happened by the white Columbine boys, they were wearing long raincoats. I remember that everytime I saw a white boy with a long raincoat at our college, I thought to myself, what if he has a rifle? I tried not to think it, but I did. I remember when I saw two of them, how suspicious I got. Now, some time has passed, and I don't think that as much anymore, but still catch myself doing it. It is not racism. It is just a defense mechanism. Another story: I remeber a black football player was visiting Northern Canada. It is mostly Eskymos, and indigineou Natives. They do not have any sun. No one is brown, let alone black. I can not remember what fucntion he went there for, but he said he knew they have never seen a black person, only on tv. He knew they would stare. And boy did they, when he described it. It wasn't racism. The Natives are very discriminated agaist, probably only group here that still is due to reservations and what not, but that's another topic and we wont go there. Anyway, the natives were just staring cause they never seen a black man. If one was to live there, he/she would have to get used to that, and understand it is not racism, again there are exceptions to every rule. So what to do about the backpack issue? It's funny, I was thinking about it already before you wrote this. Here is the best I can come up with. Although, a small bomb can be hidden anywhere, they were backpacks. So that is the cue, that will remind people for the next little while, which will trigger their memory to the countless news images of the 4 bombers with packpacks. So, I guess I would just use some other type of carrying case. I don't know if this will help, but it is worth a try. Just keep in mind, it is not racism, and most people really do think like me. I assure you. Again, if they didn't there would be mass protests to immigration. And there aren't. I also heard on the news that they have been thinking about random searches. Boy would that be a huge mistake. People result to dumb things when they are scared. I hope that does not happen. I know when I've had my bags checket at Walmart, it angered me. I didn't go back there for a long time. I was dressed nice, and thought I didn't look suspicious. But I felt like I was being treated like a thief. Had I been non white, since the checker was white, you can imagine my conclusion. So maybe the people whom were giving you advice, were really looking our for you. Maybe they were looking out for themselves. That is something you have to sort out. Now that is not to say there arent' racists. There are. But contrary to the myth, it is not the majority, but the minority. Just like Muslims are not all bombers.  I hope I helped, and did not offend you in anyway. It can easily happen with words, and a lack of facial expressions and emotions. Good luck on the subway. If you have more incidences, than let me know here, maybe we can brainstorm what to do. Like calling CNN, and wearing a big sign on your head, saying NOT A TERRORIST!, and having to show the public what you have to resort to. etc. etc. who knows. Khuda Havis, God be with you! and good luck with the ignorant small towns folk. Edited on, July 18, 2005, 8:41 PM GMT, by whiteguy. Reason: missed a sentence.
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#11
July 18, 2005, 04:01 PM
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Thanks white guy for ur understanding...
I get your point and i know that even before you unswer me and that's why i am still here. I left germany after 3 months cause i couldn't take that at all as most of them was like that. By the way the thing that happen with me happened in a shuttle Which carries us from parking to the office. Its not a subway where people don't know me or something... Also looks like usa politics is also controled by this folks as we saw who won in the last election, where he got all his votes from not the big cities all from these small towns.... Anyway I am hanging in there trying to pass my knowledge to them (as most them listen to FOX only) By the way there r lots of advantage in a small town too. Like in columbia (which is not that small) people who knows me r as friendly as back home. Gtg i will continue later if i get the time
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#12
July 18, 2005, 04:23 PM
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Well, I'm glad you haven't lost hope, because we want you here, and we want your daughters! hahahaha, just kidding!!!
 On a serious note, my father in law, (and I should point out that he is the most dark Bangladeshi you will meet. My wife is halve way, since her mom was not as dark). I say this because he would stand out in Germany. My obvious question was to my father in law, "Did you experienced racism in Germany?" He surprised me by saying no. He said everyone was very nice, and there are very hard working people. Maybe it is just some German areas, or people. I have to say that Germany is the model we all learned from, as westerners. During imperialism, all the nobles and politicians of each country thought we were the smartest of the world, and everyone should live like us. Especially the Brits saw themseves like that. Than Germany is in reparations, poor, broke, lost the first War, being punished, variety of reasons. Hitler, came along and promised them everything. Germany almost took over the Imerialist Brits, and everyone in Europe. It was isolationist America that saved the day, entering the War late, not really wanting to. Now, what we as whites learned is this. Hitler wanted to only have White Bonde Haired Blue eyed people in Germany, and eventually the world. Slavs (I'm a slav - Poland, Czechs, Russia, etc.) were to be slaves of the Germans. I forget the rest of the agenda, but it was to be Germans, than some nation slaves, and the rest were to be exterminated. Like wwhoooaaa!!!! And this guy became leader. And it was because of economic chaos and desparation, and the brand new medium called television. I think, most white people everywhere learned HUGE from their shameful history. I think because of our shameful history the majority of us are very tolerant, and try to understand others. I think our tolerance gone so very far, the reaching out and understanding, that that is what has caused all white cultures to undergo a mixing of everyone from the world. Hitler and the Imperialists lost. The religious fundamentalists lost. Just like the terrrorist will loose! And this is what is meant by that phrase, however, I can see how SOME, can take that statement oppositely or personally, on both, or rather all sides. Wholly, I have to register for my Psychology and History courses for september, which incidently, makes me better able to express what white people feel, but don't always know how to express...hopefully that is, no one is taking the opposite of what I'm trying to convey.
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#14
July 18, 2005, 10:12 PM
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#15
July 18, 2005, 10:26 PM
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hmmm, i guess that one way of looking at it. You are a positive guy.. i like that
I applaud your comments, and encourage your stance on certain things, but demonising whites is not helping the issue. The colour of your skin does not determine how honest or "good" you are - there are many Bangladeshis in Bangladesh who are really bad (and I mean, really bad).... So, I implore you to talk as a human being, not as merely a "whiteguy" -- I don't care if you're black, red, yellow, or pink-with-purple-polkadots. Edited on, July 19, 2005, 3:30 AM GMT, by jabbar.
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#16
July 18, 2005, 10:42 PM
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Looke like racism doesn't exist among white people. It's all a perception that others have. Cool!
Just an inside news for you(white guy), south asians are the most racist group of people. A lighter skinned person within our some race looks down on darker people.(North Indians towards South Indians and even within Bangladeshis its prevalent.). If you could ever read a Bengali newspaper, you would see the emphasis on "fair skin". Infact I have heard lot of racist comments about blacks from South Asian people. I am not sure how we acquired this trend, might be due to colonial influence of British, the Aryan invaders or something!
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#17
July 19, 2005, 12:06 AM
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Demonishing whites? I'm surprised by that statement. You got me all wrong. How did I do that? I was doing the opposite I thought. I thought it was angelic, not demonic, that we looked at our history, learned from it, educated ourselves from it, and most of us don't judge anymore. It is a perception that many non whites have because of our history. I was trying to point out that now in the last decade or so, we are probably the least racist of people, however, our history catches up with us, which influences perceptions. American movies too, about the south, about the natives, our past marriages laws, etc. etc.etc., etc,.(Funny, notice how I say our, yet I am an immigrant, funny how I blended right in since I was so young.) As to me speaking as a whiteguy, what is wrong with that? Maybe its because of my Psychology training. A lot of research and textbooks put people into categories. White Black, mainly, but than there are Brown, Asian etc. It's because they may do research and need to categorize it. For instance, there is research about many diseases, but for a variety of reasons, environmental, or biological, it may effect twice as many Black as Whites, or vice versa. That is valid reasoning for pointing out the difference. Further, there has been a lot of research about Blacks and pregnanacy at early age. Latino's. etc. Than, if the problem lies in a certain category of persons, the help and grants for the research is given for that category, to help them. Whether its medical, health, psychological, economical, etc. So there are many reasons in Psychology, where differeces need to be established. Hence, I may talk as a "whiteguy" rather than a human, because it is normal in our discipline, and for that I appoligize. I would add that I took a marketing course, and even they do it for the purposes of marketing to their target audience. So the money is spent most efficiently. It would be a waste of money to advertise sari's in a non south asian, or non indian group. So, since there is no racism involved, and since most of us westerners are proud of whom we are, than for the benefit of psychology, advertising, marketing, business and whatnot, it is acceptable. Hows that? Is that good?
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#18
July 19, 2005, 12:14 AM
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and i don't know how it came about either, but I'm glad it is stopping. oh man, gotta go pick up my baby. sorry if there are any errors.
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#19
July 19, 2005, 03:02 AM
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baby sound asleep. So back to the racism statement above by Nayeem007.
(By the way, those whom are bored, please just skip this thread, it is not an issue I dwell on either, rather curiously discuss) In Canada, every day you hear commericals saying "stop racism." In every classroom, in highschool and college, there are government posters with a big hand saying stop racism. It's kind of like "OUT" in our culture. It's talked about discussed, and it is interesting to ponder. But in the Bangladeshi culture, there is racism. I know this from my wife and other Bangladeshis I've talked to. Even when the famous singer (forgot her name) sang a Bangla song at the festival, (my wife translated), the guy said to her. "Thank you. You are so beautiful, and you have such beautiful fair skin." How's that supposed to make the not fair beautiful girls feel?" (Whom icidently I think are hotter, but don't tell anyone, that's the reverse of our friend on stage) Even my mother-in-law kept telling my baby to stay out of the sun. lol. etc. etc. It's ingrained into the culture over centuries. But, education can change this. So the question is, is there discrimination in Bangladesh based on skin colour? If 5 guys apply for the same position, but they are all different shades of skin colour, but equal resumes, will the whitest guy get the job? This is exactly what research Psychologists like me do. They did surveys across United States, and found that if they gave bosses the identical resumes, but changed the surname, more people were called. If a black guy came for a job with a resume and a white guy, what would happen? Lots and lots of research on this. End result, research is published. Everyone is outraged. Government pushes through legislation, that every company over 100 people that hires workers, must represent the population demographically. Isn't that exciting? Now, the playing field is fair. Did a psychologist do that in Bangladesh? Could he/she conduct such research? How would he categorize the people. Different shades of colour? According to categories, 1 to 5? 1 whitest, 5 darkest Would the ones, get more jobs than the 5's with equal resumes? If so, it needs to be corrected. The centuries old perceptions need to be fixed so everyone is treated fairly and equally, and not en masse or as the exception. This is being done in India currently. The untouchables, represent around 20% of the population, so a certain of percentage of seats are selected for them in government to ensure they get the job. Yet, sadly, racists sometimes leaves these spots vacant!!! rather than hire an untouchable, but it is slowly changing. As you can see, this is a major topic of study by Psychologists, world wide. From everything I know, it seems like Bangladesh also needs to study this racism thing through psychologists. Anyway, this is a fascinating topic for me. And it is because i am not a racist, and never have been that I look at the beautiful women of the world, (like MTV's Angelina Jolie Beyonce, Sierra and countless others and I see ony beauty. If they are pink with polkadots doesnt' matter to me. It gave me more choises of a wife. I found one that was perfect. But, it matters to a lot of people world wide, and it is usually not whites anymore, (only exceptions to rule) nor most westerners, because we have dealt with the issue through discussions, statistics, categorizations, job placements, education etc. Even universities and colleges ensure they represent the populace through a variety of their own legislatures. So, that should dispell the "whites are racists myth," which I, perhaps erroniously, thought was prevalent among South Asians. In sum i'd like to say, that I love you guys. and this is my area of study, so chill, don't frak out with this topic and maybe think about this as something different. I've learned tons from everyone here and have been having a great time with these various discussions, which I view as being positive. Certainly makes you "foget cricket", doesn't it?
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#20
July 19, 2005, 03:54 PM
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The Melting Pot: Ethnic Background
Though the overwhelming majority of the population in Bangladesh forms a homogeneous ethnic group today, the racial mix of diverse races occurred in this region over a long time. Broadly speaking, there are two major racial elements in the people of Bengal: (1) the primitive tribes like the Kols, Sabaras, Pulindars, Hadi, Dom, Chandala and others who were designated as the Mlechchas; (ii) the Aryan and Aryanized elements. The major pre-Aryan racial elements in Bengal were the proto-Austroloids. There is a striking similarity between the language of the aborigines of Bengal and the people in South-East Asia, the archipelago and the aborigines of Australia. The Dravidian languages of South India also belong to proto-Australoid group. Bangladesh, being the frontier of South Asia, also came into contact with the Mongoloid tribes who lived in the adjoining areas. The Mongoloid influence was dominant in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region where Chakmas and other tribes belong to this category. The Mongoloid influence is, however, limited in other areas. Scholars maintain that there is also a substratum of Negroid racial elements in the racial mix in this region. Thus Bengal was the home of mixed races long before the Aryans came. The Aryan influence in Bengal was primarily limited to upper castes. The gradual stages in the Aryanization of Bengal are not very clear. It appears that the Aryans brought the indigenous people into the framework of Aryan society. This is indicated by the fact that some of the indigenous tribes were classed at Khastriyas (the warrior class). The majority of these pre-Aryan tribes were classified as untouchables. The process of racial mix did not, however, stop with the coming of Aryans. The Semitic traders from the Arab world frequently visited the coastal areas in the Middle Age http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/countr...ngladeshm.html
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#21
July 20, 2005, 08:08 PM
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whiteguys,
2 suggestions: 1) Why don't you change your nick to something other than "whiteguy". You are, apparently, trying to push racial equality etc. etc., but your nick gives the impression otherwise. 2) stop posting such long, tedious threads. Rather, I suggest you make a blog (eg. http://www.blogger.com/start, or just search google for "blog").
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#23
July 20, 2005, 09:38 PM
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Newbie, thanks for sticking up for whiteguy. And Jabber, thanks for the blogger address, i'll check it out sometime. Incidentally, I'm starting to run out of time. School will be starting soon Jabber. But Newbie is right. Just skip it man, skip it. Just get over it, and skip it. :duh:
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#24
July 24, 2005, 12:05 PM
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OK, I'll skip it
 I too have many things on my plate. I am in Utrecht, Netherlands on conference, and am jet lagged from flying half-way across the globe 
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