read greeks

[Legia_Manchester]

First of all, I am not Greek...

Second of all, Shez is right... Finland is a great country (I have been there twice) and you are seriously ruining its reputation. Finnish people are really nice but all you come off to me is as a snobbish, xenophobic pri*k, no offense. Just look at some of the crap that you've said, insulting Russia, and 'unknown' countries like Estonia and Latvia... now try to tell me I am wrong!

[This message has been edited by Legia_Manchester (edited 11-24-2000).]

 

[Jari Litmanen]

Look pal no offence but I appoligised for what I said but look at the other comments in this thread by the others here. I'm not the only one to be pointing fingers at.

 

[Russian Rocket]

Provoking????? Did I say anything bad about you? Did I say anyting bad about YOUR country?


as for Gazprom and Nokia. I used Nokia as an example. For sure have production all over the world. But how many people in the world have cell-phones? About 50-60 percent. Ok. But how many of them have Nokia cell-phones? I am pretty sure that Nokia is a leading cell-phones transporter, but not way bigger than them all. Allright. So about 33% percent (which is a lot) of the people who own cell-phones have Nokia cell-phones. 33% out of 50% is 16%.

So 16% of the world's population SUPPOSINGLY and ROUGHLY have Nokia cell-phones.

Europe and former USSR republics alltogether have population over 1 billion. Europe has over 850, and all the rest have just enough to make it for one billion. One billion is about 1/6 or 1/5 of the world, and about 17.5 percent of the world use gas Gazprom provides.


Of course,I am not saying that "here -- Gazprom has more percent than Nokia does..etc". NO. I am pretty sure that Nokia is a richer company than Gazprom, which I DID say in one of my posts. About 50% percent of Gazprom's profits go for taxes, and recent Russian market crash of August 1998 made many companies in Russia crash.


and do you see here, that your comments are the ones that offending? I said calmly something like: "please do not consider me over-patriotic, but I think that Russian hockey league is better than Finnish"... What did you say? "it is an insult to say that your hockey league is better than Finnish.." Couldn't you say something more nice that time? Like: "Well, I think differently... etc.".

And i am the one who is provoking????????

 

[Chris16]

Jari I don't think Shez is Greek either.

Alot of these guys I don't think are...lol

By the way, about Weightlifting Sydney 2000:

2 gold

2 silver

1 broze for Greece.

Total 5.

China had 7, so we came in 2nd! The next closest was Bulgaria with 3...So facts are facts!

Dimas and Sabanis etc... have been dominating since Barcelona 92'!

Don't tell me Hungary, Bulgaria etc... are better ok?



[This message has been edited by Chris16 (edited 11-24-2000).]

 

[Legia_Manchester]

Chris 16..... I AM telling you that they are better because statistics don't lie!!!

A good 8 years does not make a strong reputation!

Please do some homework before you come and tell me that Greece is a traditionally stronger weighlifting team than the above mentioned countries........

[This message has been edited by Legia_Manchester (edited 11-24-2000).]

 

[Russian Rocket]

Actually, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are not heroes in the world war II or in general.

Especially the Latvians -- they never had their own separate country until 1917 when the Russian revolution broke. At that time, Lenin, soviet dictator, a brilliant student and a pretty smart guy took the power in his hands and gave Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland independence. So he was the first actual person to make Latvia a separate country. You know what they do now? They consider Lenin and Stalin enemies of their state. I mean Stalin -- ok, the guy was very rude to them. But why Lenin? Also, those guys in Latvia after the coup of 1991 and after declaring their independence again, started "anti-russification" meaning that you could not be a citizen of their country if you wouldn't speak their language. And in schools, students were taught any language but Russian. There were a lot of stories when families got kicked out from their homes for nothing.... One family, a Russian family from Riga had about 6-7 children. In 1988 they got their own appartement, appartement they owned. In 1991 they were kicked on streets by government. Also, those guys recently made a memorial to the soldiers who fought for Germans in WWII. And Hitler's birthday is still a holiday for many there... Of course they have to be careful, which they are, because they can kicked from the EU or some other country union...

as for others -- this argument started from someone telling Jari that he is ugly..... Who is right here?

 

[Jari Litmanen]

Yeah thats correct RR and it's completely false anyway. Anyway what kind of guys comments on other guys appearances unless they are gay!
hmm EU what? Latvia?? ughhh
EU :
Finland
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
Luxembourg
France
Italy
U.K.
Austria
Ireland
Germany
Greece
Spain
Portugal
Belgium
These are in my opinion right now the biggest and most important countries in europe therefore were inducted first in the EU. Finland held last years EU presidency this yr it's Portugal I think.. =)
hmm Norway I don't think is yet in the EU but is also a big euro country in my opinion.

[This message has been edited by Jari Litmanen (edited 11-25-2000).]

 

[Legia_Manchester]

"These are in my opinion right now the biggest and most important countries in europe therefore were inducted first in the EU. Finland held last years EU presidency this yr it's Portugal I think.. =)
hmm Norway I don't think is yet in the EU but is also a big euro country in my opinion. "

ummm, no, the reason you don't see countries like Russia, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Czech Rep. etc. is because of their political situations/location (i.e. Eastern European countries so they were, and in some cases still are, considered communist)......... I don't know why Norway isn't there?
....... Poland and Hungary will be in the EU within a few years, in fact they had talks about it recently.

 

[Jari Litmanen]

No I didn't mean it like that but I wouldn't call Russia a country that would suit the eu. They wouldn't benefit them. Although Russia is a nice country etc and everything but these countries are all former commie countries and are in a bad state. They wouldn't benefit the eu. I have been to the czech republic it's a great place I think they should be in the eu once they get a few things fixed. Prague is a truely beautiful city in my opinion one of the nicest in europe maybe even the best. But I also love Paris, Helsinki, Stockholm, Vienna, Athens they are great cities. I like London too but cause I lived their so long 9 yrs it's hard for me to comment. I wasn't really a tourist heh it's also were I was born........
could we finish here... =)
Legia your comments haven't been very polite when taking into regard that I haven't actually said anything rude about anyone. In this thread I haven't said anything particularly rude. I know what I've posted so don't start...... you can call me whatever you want if it makes you happy but what I don't understand is why everyone points fingers at me... check the start of this point then decide if I acted rationally or not...

[This message has been edited by Jari Litmanen (edited 11-25-2000).]

 

[Chris16]

Legia,

I think *8 YEARS* dominating a sport is sufficient enough to called a "power" in it...

 

[Legia_Manchester]

Jari - I don't have anything against you... or the fact that you are proud of your nationality... however, and I know I am not the only one who believes that many, in fact, too much, of your statements could be deemed nationalistic... you put down Russia and Gazprom, told someone to not even compare Estonia and Latvia to Finland, etc. etc. etc.

I don't think those kind of comments are really necessary... I admire that you love your country and stick up for it... but you don't have to go so far sometimes.


Chris16 - a little misunderstanding between us.... Greece has been one of the powers in Weightlifting over the last few years, no doubt.... However, I was talking about OVERALL AND HISTORY-WISE... look at the WC statistics throughout its history and you will find Greece is ranked 17th overall. I have the stats if you want proof.

 

[Chris16]

Oh...

You meant OVERALL. Ok, I see what you were saying now. Yeah Greece like u said have only come alive in the past 8 years.

But still History is just that HISTORY. It's good for nothing but statistics now...

The last Olympics saw Greece dominating and coming behind China in 2nd. Thats the PRESENT, which is worth alot more than the Past...

[This message has been edited by Chris16 (edited 11-25-2000).]

 

[Russian Rocket]

of course Russia would not suit the EU... I mean there is no reason why Russia should join them and I am not sure that EU want Russia to join... After USSR broke up, Russia still was against some of the EU decisions (like bombing Iraq, and Yugoslavia)... anyways, Russian economy is in deep sh*t, although you cannot judge it by the look -- in most Russian cities, the atmosphere is not that bad -- like in many european cities... Jari, get that bad propaganda out of your head and visit Moscow... You won't regret

Anyways, I have never been to Moscow or Saint Petersburgh or any Russian city on European continent

but if you look deeper, the things in Russia are not that well... There's a huge debt, war on Caucasus Mountains, and geographical problems Russia faced throughout its history. On question that is asked by americans: "why Russia never got richer than USA" I always answer that it's because of the yearly weather -- here in USA cows and pigs eat grass throughout the year, but in Russia you have to save a lot of grass for them so that they would not starve in winter.... Russia will never have a stable economy and that is why I think commie regime is the most suited for my country -- czarist regime sucked badly, and now post-commie regime sucks too with very high corruption level... Those 50 commie years were the ones Russia was admired for the wealth...


anyways, offtopic here...

 

[Russian Rocket]

As for the strongest man competition -- I watch that sometimes , and Scandinavian (Finland and Iceland), Baltic (Latvia and Lithuania) and Oceanic coutnries dominate it. One time there was a russian guy and I was way overhappy..

But that competition still does not show where the real strong men are... If truly strongest men from Russia would have been chosen, than it would be questionable who will lead the competition... But who will go to some Siberian village and find a guy who daily does the amount of work in freezing weather that is done by those competetitors at the strong man competition in Cyprus, Malta, Morocco...

And 80,000 Russians were strong enough to show up at the game Spartak-Arsenal with -10 celsius.... even Wenger said: "strong people"... Like Vikings who drank a lot of rum and smoked a lot of dope before a big fight (that is true

)... My brother once at the age of 16 about 3 years ago with damaged liver drank one bottle of vodka and was able to walk up to 8 miles and drag his friend along.... But recently there was a case in here in California that a high-school kid at the age of 19 died after drinking 6 small glasses of tequila which is not stronger than vodka....

as for weight-lifting -- wasn't Russia also good at it?

 

[Legia_Manchester]

RR - you just made my day, man!!

A whole bottle? Wow, man, that is impressive... I think it's the Eastern European blood we have!

My friends and I like to call vodka 'Polish Water'.... we drink Wyborowa, the good stuff.


Oh, and yeah, history-wise, the USSR is the best country overall in weightlifting, just so u know.


Chris16 - no hard feelings, eh? It was just a mix up... and plus, I miss the days when Poland used to dominate weightlifting, but hey, what can u do?!?!

Unfortunately, as I live in Canada and do not get ESPN, I rarely (if ever) see the Strongest Man Competition... man, I used to love watching that! It was so cool! I still remember some of the guys, Bill Katzmaier (US), Manfred Hoeberl (the Austrian pussy with 26 inch biceps

), Bishop Dolegiewicz (Canadian of Polish descent), Magnus Ver Magnusson (Iceland), Flemming Rasmussen (Denmark), Derek Boyer (Fiji), etc. etc.
Man, I miss that show!!!!!!!!

 

[Russian Rocket]

well it wasn't me -- it was my brother... And his friend apparently drank MUCH more than my brother... Also, about 1 hour before that, they both drank 1 gallon of beer on a soccer match (the city team, btw, was losing the whole season) and after the game they both drank about 2 bottles of Stolichnaya Vodka.... they were so drunk that they were not allowed to take public transport (bus or street-car) and walked 8 miles....... Also, they got arrested when they almost came home on a 8-mile trip from the stadium....

I thought vodka was a Russian product -- at least it is the only product transported here in America... there was an american kid once also who got drunk by drinking...beer (!!!)

.... What a loser.. they are all weak here...

 

[Jari Litmanen]

Yeah you're both right RR and Legia. Many consider us nordic people to be crazy to stand such cold temperatures. In Finland our national relaxion method is taking a sauna. Saunas of coarse originate and come from Finland. Then after a Sauna you have a beer and run into the cold and jump into freezing water after drilling a hole in it then you get out before the water freezes. Then you enter the x-tremely warm sauna again and you continue. It's great fun as for Russia no worries RR I'm sure I'll visit St. Petersburg some time. It's right next to Helsinki (well close) and it's nicer than Moscow cause it has the Hermitage and nicer public areas but I have heard it is very poor which is a shame. But many fins are still mad about loosing Karelia to Russia or as we call it the ORIGINAL Karjala. This is where Putin spends his holidays and originates from. He might have finnish blood...
The Vikings were scary if you ever have a chance to come to one of the scandinavian countries (Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark) then have a look at the museums that cover the topic. There are scary looking ships they used....

[This message has been edited by Jari Litmanen (edited 11-26-2000).]

 

[Russian Rocket]

Actually, Jari, Karelia was a part of Russia for, i don't know, 500-600 years now.... And Finland was a part of Russia from early 1800's to 1917 when Lenin gave it to Germans... But then, nazi Germany and USSR signed a non-aggressional pact in 1939 in which secretely, the nazi Germany allowed us to take over Baltic countries and Finland.... And the Finnish of course did not like that -- they attacked our forces on...skis.... Of course it was not an Ethiopean army, it was Russian, and we are also addicted to bad weather...


As for sauna -- yep, i think it is a Finnish word... But there is something known as Russian sauna (banya)... It is basically the same thing you said, but for the americans it is very hard to understand -- we use parts of a tree or a bush to shove ourselves... Later of course, we run to the ice if it is cold and dig a hole there and wash there.... And then come back..


There was a Russian movie made in 1995 which ended up being the best Russian comedy of 1995... There was a Finnish actor also who speaks Russian (forgot his name). It is basically about how the Finnish guy wants to see real Russian hunter (as he dreams) but when he joins a group of "hunters" he sees how much we drink, and that in order to go to hunting, you do not have to bring the gun

And throughout the movie there was no living being killed...

2 years ago there have been a sequel to this story, and it was about how the same group of hunters, but without their Finnish friend, got lost in the Finnish bay and went to Finland instead of the place they needed to go.... It's funny, though..

I knew that Yeltsin spends his holidays in Karelia... Don't know about Putin.. and visit St. Petersburgh... Or at least Moscow... In Russia it is not like in USA, there are no slum regions like here, and policemen usually take a bum off the streets if he/she is lying down on the street in front of everybody, again, unlike here..

 

[Jari Litmanen]

Yeah in Finland we have a law that if you drink on the streets you will be fined 500 marks. Drinking in public is not allowed.
Of coarse the idea of the Sauna is from Finland we invented it.... yeah when there is a sea link between st petersburg and helsinki I will go. A few russian ships operate the line I have heard. I am sure I will go to st. petersburg some time but I know I will never go to Moscow. (well u never know)

Yeah visit Helsinki. We have the best hotel in scandinvia so I'm sure if you visit it you'll have a fun time!
the hotel's website: http://www.hotelkamp.fi/
pics of the hotel:

rooms

restaurant

Hope you come.. I recommend u stay at this hotel.. they have cheaper rooms of coarse if you're not looking for anything too expensive


[This message has been edited by Jari Litmanen (edited 11-26-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Jari Litmanen (edited 11-26-2000).]

 

[Russian Rocket]

Well... I have never been to Europe.. in Russia I lived on the very far east, near North Korea border... I plan a trip to European Russia this summer (Moscow->Perm->my city Vladivostok->California) which looks like a trip around the world....

If I ever go -- I'll remember...

Oh yeah, there are laws in Russia of course too, but not a lot of people follow them... For 14-year old it is no problem to buy alcohol... In Moscow and other European Russian cities they made the laws stricter, but not where I lived...