Quote Originally Posted by Crocodile View Post
Ok, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time on a shiny day the Raccoon, as usual, visited his BFF the Beaver at the river bank just to find the water level in the river went had fallen below the lowest mark ever. Both friends stood puzzled by the water. Then the Raccoon spoke first:

- Why hadhas the water disappeared? The ecology of the entire region is in danger! What are we going to drink?
- I know why is that that is! That is because the frogs drank all the water. I respect the frogs when they jump on their land, but when they go into water they drink it, so eventually they drank it all!
- No, that can't be a(< the) reason. The frogs are too small.
- That's just the frogs' propaganda. I know them better because I used to live closer to the river when I was a child. I'm telling you it's the frogs! They are so greedy. When they see water they drink it.
- But both of us drink the water too.
- Why are you protecting them?! Do you want the frogs to come to your pond and drink all your water too?!
- No, I didn't say so(< that). But we have other life forms in our pond who drink water and it does not seem logical they would drink it all.
- Remember, I said long ago there is not enough water in the river to allow us to drink and swim in it because of those dry desert creatures. They need water, so we can't drink it as we want.
- I don't agree with that. If they want to drink more water, they should start digging for it in the ground rather than spend their entire time hunting each other.
- I don't want to hear what you say and I don't want to reply to it. The frogs are the most hypocritical of all. They drink the water, they swim in it, they don't care about the desert creatures, and finally they drank the entire river!!
- Come on, I don't see any logic in what you said. Please, think it through first. Look at how much water is flowing every day. Do you think frogs can drink it all? What about the tomorrow's water? Where is it coming from? Perhaps, something has happened to the river flow? Maybe, something got stuck up the river that prevents the water to flowfrom flowing ?
- I prefer to ignore what you said.
- You're not logical! How could what you described could ever happen?
- Well, I choose to express an opinion, instead of just picking holes in what everyone else is saying, without ever letting on what my own views actually are...!

THE END

Extremely well-written story btw, Crocodile. поздравляю!
если и есть хоть одно животное, которое имеет понятие о том как реки запруживаются, то это бобр.)

btw I'm using < to mean BETTER (at least to me)

Do you have an example of that? I mean, I was under the impression I express my opinion clear (< clearly) enough as long as I have itone, but sometimes I just don't have enough info to base my opinion upon, and I think it's obvious from what I'm trying to say. However, when I see someone's(< someone has a) firm opinion, I usually start asking questions, to understand the source of that opinion, at times in a belief I can share that opinion toand make it my own. One of the good ways of finding the truth is to look for the contradictions. If I present them and they do not get an adequate explanation, I can safely throw those opinions away for myself and look for something else for myself. I'm truly interested in what's around me (there were reasons for it), but I hate reading books or articles allegedly "explaining everything" - a tactic_ sometimes used by the "followers". The simple reason for that (Or: ... reason is (that)...) is those fantastic books' authors are not here to comment. I cannot have a dialog with them, cannot present my questions to them, cannot present those(< them) with the contradictions, etc. That's why I choose to talk to the real people who have based their opinion on something, and try and dig below that something in a hope to find (< in the hope/in hopes of finding) something useful. If all I hear is "the US/capitalism is responsible for all the evil on this planet" without an adequate explanation, I reserve a right to myself (<< reserve (myself) a/the right) to have some fun with that. I think that complies with the free spirit of the Interenet discussions. (And I hope people would correct my English the same way I try to help those who learn Russian.)

Having said that, I think we can do some fair damage control here. If you want my opinion, just ask. You know somea fair amount of my opinions, I believe, like:
- I hate the communism
- I prefer the Western-style capitalism to any other form of the resource distribution presently available
- I think things should be measured in comparison
- I think the 9/11 was neither designed nor performed by Al Quaeda
- I think the Soviet Power was just another disaster that hit Russia and some other countries
- I don't think the US is evil, and I don't think the EU is the best thing that could ever happen to Europe
- I don't think the pan-European ideology is sound and solid
- I support Israel in their struggle to survive as an idependent state against the surrounding Arab nations who dream to wipe(< of wiping) it out
- I think the so-called Palestinian-Israeli conflict is fed by the external sources (i.e. the other nations use it for their benefit_) and I think it's a very dangerious thing to do because the Meggido Mount is located in Israel.
- I don't think Islam is a(< the) source of the(< 0-art.) so-called Islamic terrorism
- I think the big religions were the best psychological and philosophical acheivements of their time, but nowdays they are holding the spirituality of the humanity back
- I think the(< 0-art.) wars are perhaps the worst things that happen to the humanity and I support destruction of the local customs(< the destruction of local customs) in favor of establishing the global uniform planetary culture
- I support the expansion of the humanity into space
- I think the .net developers are not shallow and their PMs are

What else do you want me to share? (Please, don't ask me anymore where did I served in the military, because I hate that experience and I don't want to discuss it.)
...givingen I don't think...