The worst part of that whole tsunami thing...

What was total voter turnout?

I imagine it was more like 25% of those that could vote voted for Kerry and 28% voted for Bush...

Xentor, please direct your attention here: Times you probably shouldn't have laughed.

Change of subject- someone please bring me some coffee cake.

It's always reassuring to click on a page and see that the conversation has drifted back to the 2004 election. Godwin's Law - Gramsci's Corollary.

Since when did a thread in SG stay on topic?

It's apparent that you don't understand how major disaster this has been to some of us. This is by far the biggest peace time calamity in Scandinavia, in relative term much much worse than your 9/11. Additionally, the slow pace of increasing bad news has made extremely painfull to follow. So sorry, I'm not really in the mood to joke about this and yeah, I react emotianally to the jerks who don't seem to have any sensitivety at all.

I agree with MustiMan.

How would people enjoy a little relief with a few jokes about firemen or children being crushed to death under a million tons of building...

not so funny now....

Oh noes my tech support times are ruined!111

"Somebody set us up the bomb."

yeah i know im a little late on this but, fuck you (and not in any nice way) yeah, there are 50,000 kids without parents a roof, food or a sustainable economy... lets all make a joke. Happy New Year, Asshole.

[Edited on Dec 31, 2004 by tantra666]

i see what youre saying but the guy kept following it up with 'duuuuuuh nah dood im an ignorant asshole' style things.

i'm pretty offended. 150,000 people died. thats quite literally FIFTY 9/11's. just because it didnt happen on american soil doesnt mean its any less tragic.

oh no, i just made a tasteless joke!

man the toeside slash that could of been laid down

when I lived in hawaii we had a tsunami warning once (in 1994 after the big kobe earthquake in japan) the tsunami luckily never came, but we got out of school and stuff, and I saw on the news that there were several people waiting at the beach with surfboards.


::headdesk::

Well, hurricanes always bring out the surfers too.

There's some mental process going on there I can't comprehend at all.

Seriouslyy, on the topic: I think this is going to be one of those things that can't be joked about, and if you do, you're instantly thought to be an asshole. 9/11 is another, and, definitely, the Holocaust.

And I don't have a problem at all with that. There are things that just can't be made funny without being far too disrespectful to the dead, and those things should be spoken up with reverence and sorrow. The whole attitude of "Hey, it's just a joke" betrays a spirit that can't handle sorrow.

Let's all get upset because someone made a joke.

Some people love dead baby jokes. Some people don't. Some people have seen a dead baby and get offended at the thought that there are jokes about it.

Every time NASA blows up a shuttle, the old jokes are brought out and dusted off. And some people are offended. There were jokes about Princess Diana, JFK, and Kurt Cobain. And even though nobody died, there are plenty of jokes about kids being molested at Neverland.

The strange thing about all of these jokes is... They're funny. Maybe not to you. But SOMEONE thinks they are hilarious.

As for the "joke" that started this thread.... Not that funny. But it isn't because it referenced a tragedy. In fact, the tragic aspect may have been the only thing that was funny about it.

Lots of people died, and that is really horrible. And this guy is insensitive. Don't we all have something more important to do than to call him names? Also.... Not all Americans are fat.

Thanks.

Edited for a spelling error and to admit that I am fat.

[Edited on Jan 01, 2005 by gutterman]

apparently someone did surf the tsunami

this story was in todays copy of the Wales on Sunday newspaper
I surfed death wave

Jan 2 2005

Lucy Ballinger, Wales on Sunday


A WELSH dad waiting for the perfect wave off the palm-fringed coast of Sri Lanka had to surf the Boxing Day's killer tsunami to survive.

Martin Hambrook, from Porthcawl, paddled patiently on his surfboard in the waters off the island's southern coast, watched from the beach by partner Vicky Maxwell, 42, and their seven-year-old son Jai.

But when the tsunami swept Martin up, all Vicky and Jai could do was run to the safety of a hotel balcony and watch in horror as he tried to surf the massive wall of water to safety.

"It was really terrible because I was surfing on a wave I wasn't supposed to be on," said Martin, who has been surfing for at least 20 years.

"As an experienced surfer, when I saw the wave come I realised something was wrong, but I couldn't escape because my surfboard was tied to my ankle."

Amazingly, the 40-year-old stayed on his board as he was sent crashing over a white sand beach until he reached the hotel and leapt off in the restaurant as the ocean rolled back to feed a much larger, 30ft high wave.

The family fled to higher ground and safety. They had a lucky escape as Sri Lanka has been devastated by the unfolding tragedy with 29,000 confirmed dead so far, more than 12,000 injured and a million people homeless. It was one of the worst-hit countries.

Childhood friend Nick Newton Williams, from Porthcawl, has been desperately trying to get in touch with Martin all week since the tragedy on Boxing Day to find out if the family were safe.

Last night Wales on Sunday was able to tell him the family was OK.

He said: "They had been staying in the Hansa Surf Lodge in Hikkaduwa, and had the front room right on the beach overlooking the surf break where Martin spent his time surfing.

"It was totally wiped out by the tsunami, which is why we all got really worried and have been posting messages on boards and doing what we can to trace him.

"I have been sat here as have a number of friends, not able to get any more information.

"At one point we heard they were stuck in the jungle and Vicky had hurt her back badly. But as these pictures show they are OK and it is such a relief."

Martin, who worked in Somerfield until November, and Vicky save up to fly to Sri Lanka every year, and planned to spend three months there.

Despite being due back this month, the family has decided to stay on the island to help local people and friends to clear wreckage from the destroyed buildings.



[Edited on Jan 02, 2005 by joew]

hmmm. answer me this...

it's not ok in society to tell a joke about black people anymore but it is ok to make a joke about thousands of people dying innocently in a natural disaster.

so have you ever make a racist joke to lighten the mood as somebody said?

in my opinion it's all about the circumstances. people should be intelligent enough to know when the mood is right to tell a joke like that. if they are too ignorant to know this they should shut the fuck up.

I just saw it in the paper one guy actually did surf the thing. He ended up in the restaurant of the hotel he was staying at. Martin Markwell

If you look to 3 posts above you'll find I beat you to it .
Had to copy the story though as my link wouldn't work!!!!

I bow to your obvious superiority

as everyone should

I think "Phuket" is pretty funny