A certain Anthony "not Hopkins" Vickers managed to write up this very interesting article. While Gibbo's gamble makes sense at the first glance, it seems that placing a huge bet on a season where 90% of the chips are down is no diff from Jeff Hardy doing a Swanton off the ladder ala #TeamXtreme vs #TeamDudleyville at Summerslam, TLC style.
To put things in perspective, this means either 1 of 2 scenarios.
Scenario 1: The Championship is quintessentially a Blackjack season where you know you're gonna have some weird talent tantamount to a 1 man #TeamMIT.
Scenario 2: In the face of low home crowd turnout and Michel "Baise Angleterre!" Platini's very own FFP, the Riverside will very soon witness its very own showstopper by New Year 2015. Not that I'm talking abt the Montreal Screwjob ofc...
Now if only we can see El Dinero himself appearing somewhere in RWS lol!
A/N of self-wankery: After some soul searching, I realised one terrible truth. I might be the only Kabukimono in Singapore.
They say this type of ppl forever cannot get a decent gf, let alone making it big.
Maybe that's why Maeda Toshimasu ended up becoming Maeda Keiji.
Maybe that's why Uesugi Kenshin was equally batshit crazy enough to have Keijirō as his left hand man...
“其不可三也。发巨桥之粟，散鹿台之钱，以赐贫穷。今陛下能散府库以赐贫穷乎？”
To put things in perspective, this means either 1 of 2 scenarios.
Scenario 1: The Championship is quintessentially a Blackjack season where you know you're gonna have some weird talent tantamount to a 1 man #TeamMIT.
Scenario 2: In the face of low home crowd turnout and Michel "Baise Angleterre!" Platini's very own FFP, the Riverside will very soon witness its very own showstopper by New Year 2015. Not that I'm talking abt the Montreal Screwjob ofc...
Now if only we can see El Dinero himself appearing somewhere in RWS lol!
A/N of self-wankery: After some soul searching, I realised one terrible truth. I might be the only Kabukimono in Singapore.
They say this type of ppl forever cannot get a decent gf, let alone making it big.
Maybe that's why Maeda Toshimasu ended up becoming Maeda Keiji.
Maybe that's why Uesugi Kenshin was equally batshit crazy enough to have Keijirō as his left hand man...
That part which got ABBA lol'ing...
曰：“未能也。”
“其不可四矣。殷事已毕，偃革为轩，倒置干戈，覆以虎皮，以示天下不复用兵。今陛下能偃武行文，不复用兵乎？”
曰：“未能也。”
“其不可五矣。休马华山之阳，示以无所为。今陛下能休马无所用乎？”
曰：“未能也。”
“其不可六矣。放牛桃林之阴，以示不复输积。今陛下能放牛不复输积乎？”
曰：“未能也。”
“其不可七矣。且天下游士离其亲戚，弃坟墓，去故旧，从陛下游者，徒欲日夜望咫尺之地。今复六国，立韩、魏、燕、赵、齐、楚之后，天下游士各归事其主，从其亲戚，反其故旧坟墓，陛下与谁取天下乎？其不可八矣。且夫楚唯无强，六国立者复桡而从之，陛下焉得而臣之？诚用客之谋，陛下事去矣。”
汉王辍食吐哺，骂曰：“竖儒，几败而公事！”
令趣销印。
《史记; 留侯世家》
司马迁著
Trans:
"This, then, is the third factor made impossible. Distributing the corn of Juqiao and the wealth of Lutai to the poor, is this what Your Majesty is now capable of via emptying the treasury?"
(Liu Bang) Replied: "I am unable to."
"This, then, is the fourth factor made impossible. After the defeat of Yin, education became the axis of society. Weapons were stashed away and covered in pelts of tigers' hide. All these were done in order to announce the intent of not waging war again. Can Your Majesty now cease all military actions and start focusing on education, never to declare war again?"
(Liu Bang) Replied: "I am unable to."
"This, then, is the fifth factor made impossible. Releasing the horses at the peak of Mount Hua to prove the futility (of war). Can Your Majesty do without the cavalry?"
(Liu Bang) Replied: "I am unable to."
"This, then, is the sixth factor made impossible. Releasing the oxen beneath the trees of cherry blossoms to show no intent of stocking up supplies. Can Your Majesty truly do the same?"
(Liu Bang) Replied: "I am unable to."
"This, then, is the seventh factor made impossible. All who march under Your Majesty's banner have left behind their family members, tombs (of their loved ones), and ties of the past in order to follow you. Day and night, they looked forward in carving out their own niche of ground. If you are to reinstate the descendants of the other six warring states by exalting the nobility belonging to Han. Wei, Yan, Zhao, Qi, and Chu, surely your followers will return to their former masters. Going back to their respective family and tomb of their dead... who then can Your Majesty vie against for the entire land? This, then, is the eighth factor made impossible. Besides, the Chu faction has no capable rivals. If the other six vassal states choose to return under their former lord, how then can Your Majesty use them to your advantage? If you are to use this manner of strategy, surely Your Majesty will lose everything."
The King of Han stopped his meal and spat out whatever left in his mouth. Cursing aloud, he swore: "Useless scholar! You nearly ruined me!"
Hence, the command to retract his order.
《Annals of History: Marquis of Liu》
Written by Sima Qian
P.S: Well, at least Li Yiji could have easily been more damn suay, I guess...
To be cont'd...
Now gonna sleep asap, Marvel Heroes tomorrow?
Analysis:
After the three #MomentImpossibru, Liu Bang only ended up getting more bad news. Quite a bit like Ricky "not Martin" Gervais only stopping short of calling the infamous 101 A-listers as A-sluts. Now let me assure that I'm not out to ruin anybody embroiled in the scandal. I mean if you're guilty of wanking, you're gonna get caught one fine day. If you end up playing the heroic hacker(s), either you'll go to jail or as what Jimmy Kimmel has implied, you're going to hell under 60 secs. 'Tis that simple. [1] So w/o further ado, let us look at the remaining 5 moments of IMPOSSIBRU!!!!!!!
Impossibru IV
I recently read somewhere that the wealth gap in UK is truly shocking. If 'tis indeed true that 99% of the nation's wealth are owned by the super rich, then someone better try asking that Iron Lady how successful her legacy has been thus far. What Zhang Liang suggested was no diff from distributing the national reserves to the mega poor. Not just 10% or 50%, but 100%.
Viable?
Liu Bang's answer was no diff from me asking Gervais whether distributing hacked photos of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton would be enough to prevent more rape cases happening at Columbia University itself. [2]
Impossibru V
Education is good for preventing war, but educating ppl in ways of war ain't so. That is unless you're staring at war itself. Let me say out loud that war is nothing to laugh about. If you want to do so, please refrain from doing it in public. If not, I can assure you that even your father and mother will support you being stoned. [3]
Education together with a declaration of no-war, how attractive can that be? Surely like the prev Impossibru, surely every long suffering civilian would want it badly! Sadly, there's a reason why this is deemed Impossibru V. If Impossibru IV was all about assuming an unrealistic Robin Hood, then Impossibru V was pretty much being an unrealistic Confucius.
In war, you don't just appease the poor and suffering. I don't know how the children of Japheth view war itself, but it seems that we the Chinese do have an obsessive interest in maintaining the commoners firstly and foremost during times of unrest. In this case, it's better to be a Roman than a Chinese. Period. [4]
Impossibru VI
Horses in ancient times are not like those innocent victims plaguing UK quite some time ago. I know PETA will issue me a "wanted dead or alive, but preferably dead" bounty for my aforementioned statement, but meh.
You see, how the folks see horses were pretty much like Americans see the 2nd Amendment. Jokes aside, it's actually a necessity in times of conflict.
If the idea of sending beasts of war away to some ulu ulu mountain peak sounds familiar, you're not alone. I won't be so crazy to say scrapping the 2nd Amendment would make any sense, but exiling the ISIS to Iran would be a more appropriate picture. After all, animals bred solely for war purposes tend to die off pretty fast in the wilderness.
So would this be viable for Liu Bang?
Cavalry has always been a valuable part in ancient warfare. Due to the insane difficulty to training both the beast and master, relieving your army of vital tactical units is tantamount to giving yourself a harakiri.
Impossibru VII
Oxen were used for carrying supplies. Nothing wrong w/this, right? When it comes to war, ancient or no ancient, supplies will always make or break your chances of victory. During the Battle of Hanshui, this was exactly what Huang Zhong did. [5] In short, releasing vital livestock has got nothing to do w/whatever acts of mercy advocated by Buddhism. Rather, this very act was meant to tell the masses "NO MORE SPARTA!!!!!" [6] through saying "NO!" to military stockpiling. [7]
So could Liu Bang do it?
Well, if he could do it, he wouldn't got himself beat by Xiang Yu during the siege of Xianyang.
Impossibru VIII
Apart from Impossibru I stated in my prev post, Impossibru II to VIII were all abt the King Wu of Zhou vs the King Zhou of Shang. While it's a tad likely that Zhang Liang's gf got some affinity with rocks coloured yellow, chances were that Zhang Liang's analysis was based on that military manual given to him by the Sage of Yellowstone [8] Since said manual was written by the famed Jiang Ziya, 'tis a no brainer to see Zhang Liang quoting examples from the relevant history.
I still remember annoying both my churchmates and NSF mates during my youthful years. How, you might ask. By mentioning Middlesbrough like some socially inadequate idiot. Sadly, this might have created a certain semblance of mockery directed towards my beloved Boro.
So what am I trying to say here? To see Zhang Liang quoting examples from the Zhou-Shang conflict is just like me mentioning Middlesbrough to the likes of Steve, Carl, and Benny. In short, it's called influence developed since young. [9]
Which now comes to Impossibru VIII, better known as Impossibru d'le Présent. This time round, Zhang Liang reminded Liu Bang where all his employees hailed from. Yes, you've guessed it. All, if not most of them hailed from the six vassal states under Xiang Yu. As it has already turned out, there were plenty of able individuals unhappy with Xiang Yu. It's like me paraphrasing that Original Guy earning enemies 10 x faster than whatever amount of ka-ching entering his BTC account due those distributors getting implicated. [10]
If Liu Bang was to heed Yiji's advice, however, he'd risk losing his entire base. [11] You see, the only motivation these lobos had was to have their own land. Feudalism has always been a history of fiefdom where your only ticket to recognition lies in having an acre of land or few. [12] Whatever Xiang Yu refused to give them, Liu Bei could promise them. By lobbying the support of the other six vassal states, these players would willingly transfer themselves back to their former clubs. There's no right or wrong behind the concept of pragmatism b/c we're all pragmatic to varying extent. [13]
At the same time, Xiang Yu was also that de facto dictator no one dared to oppose. Even if the six vassal states were to join Liu Bang's cause, Xiang Yu would make it double sure that they'd come back begging for their lives and everything else.
To put it in a nutshell, any attempt to undermine the power of Xiang Yu via bribing the six vassal states would come back and bite Liu Bang hard like a pack of ungrateful mutts. Period.
Liu Bang's final verdict?
Refer below...
Refer below...
P.S: Well, at least Li Yiji could have easily been more damn suay, I guess...
To be cont'd...
Now gonna sleep asap, Marvel Heroes tomorrow?
[1]: Now let's see if that Original Guy will hack this blog. *shrugs*
[2]: If you think I'm being both a misogynist and an outright asshole, you're only half correct. You can call a misogynist an asshole, but you cannot call an asshole a misogynist.
[3]: And when I say stoning, I can assure you that the ancient Jews were never guilty of smoking weed.
[4]: Pretty much like how it's better to be a Frey or Bolton rather than being a Stark. Jon Snow shouldn't count b/c he's Ned Stark's bastard.
[7]: Due to significant sensitivities, I'd appreciate it if this comment fails to spark off whatever jest made in the name of nukes. I am serious here, guys.
[8]: Don't bother Googling for that term. I made it up myself. That pseudo-jerkass ah-kong he met tho was real.
[9]: More specifically 1996 if we're talking abt my beloved Boro.
[10]: As both Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics might have implied, unintentional consequences tend to go beyond whatever foresight and results we human beings are capable of otherwise.
[12]: On an unrelated note, I remembered Cyrgon asking Sparhawk why did he choose to go against him. Sparhawk's answer? Because he only desired a small corner of the world to live in, that Cyrgon was in fact threatening to take away Sparhawk's very own little niche.
[13]: Which reminds me of how terribly pear shaped Fàbregas' stay at Camp Nou went. Well, at least he nvr emulated Luís "not Suárez" Figo. That'd be utterly hard to stomach esp if Los Blancos end up pulling off this.
Forgot to add this, need to have Impossibru...
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