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The US (and the world) has a long history of attempted and successful assassination of prominent figures, especially activists and politicians... especially activist-politicians. (Caesar, Gandhi x 2, Rabin, Bhutto, Kennedy x 2, Mubarak, Reagan, Thomas Becket, King, Lincoln, Pope JP II, Nasser, Trotsky,
Romanov (multiple), Evars, X, Rockwell, Cermak, Ferdinand, McKinley, Garfield, Jackson et al)
The proposal is basically a public lottery where you nominate the date, time and means of death of your chosen public figure, anywhere in the world (not just the US) and wait to see whether you win.
If you "win", i.e. You get it right, then you replace the recently assassinated leader, effective immediately. Betting then begins on your chances of being offed in violent fashion.
Googol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol
[DenholmRicshaw, Nov 07 2008]
Dead Pool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_pool
Reminds me of this... [Jinbish, Nov 07 2008]
One problem with betting on death
http://en.wikipedia...sassination_markets
[ye_river_xiv, Nov 07 2008]
[link]
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My bad, Mubarak, president of Egypt. I was recalling assassinations and attempts from memory, at the time. |
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According to the BBC, Mubarak has survived six assassination attempts. In June 1995 there was an alleged assassination attempt involving Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad while he was in Ethiopia for a conference of the Organisation of African Unity. Upon return Mubarak is said to have authorised raids on Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya which by 1999 saw 20,000 persons placed in detention related to the revolutionary Islamic organisations |
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I reckon Obama is a 1:3 chance to see a full term, after the hoopla we've been seeing and the sheer mistrust of him being peddled by right wing nutjobs in the US. |
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Stop jinxing our shiny new president! We have not even had a chance to take him out of the box yet to see what he can do. |
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Obviously it's 1:3, he either lives, gets assassinated, or dies of natural causes. There's no fourth outcome of him metamorphosing into a butterfly. There's odds attached to each of those. In reality for an assassin to take down any American president today, it's more to the order of a 10^100 to one shot. The odds are against the assassin, he has a better chance of turning into a butterfly. |
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one to a google? Are you insane? The odds of the entire SS team going completely insane without external intervention are much higher than that, not to count weapons larger than a rifle, methods other than bullets, guns that can shoot five miles, rail guns, fun with nitrogen and any other number of possible schemes. God forbid, it is quite possible. |
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It's pretty easy to aim a nuclear weapon. |
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The Us assassinated Rabin? News to me... |
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I seem to recollect something about a lottery and death - was the story by R L Stevenson? |
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-edit (after a google)
The Suicide Club, Robert Louis Stevenson. |
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sp: google - should be googol - see link. |
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While not quite this, I used to work with a group of individuals who maintained a weekly book, the "Celebrity Death List". Participants would provide a list of 5 celebrities they thought would be the first to die. Once prepared, the lists were compiled into the Deathlist proper, which would then be frozen for a period (6 months I think it was) and funds (£1 each) collected from all participants on a weekly basis. On the death of any of the celebrities on the deathlist, the full kitty would be paid out to those with the correct predictions and be shared equally between them. Celebrities had to be 'famous', and news of their death providable in obituary, or internet form. In order to avoid unpleasant scenarios, should a celebrity already be, or become personally known to any of the participants, they would be declared off-limits and struck from the list. In instances of multiple simultaneous celebrity expiry, the kitty is split accordingly. If any of the participants kill, or participate in the killing of any celebrities (whether they be on the list or not) - they are immediately disqualified from the scheme. |
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//Are you insane? //
That, on the other hand, is very possible. Obama will not be assassinated. |
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I thought the reporting of the Obama 'plot' was hilarious. Two Neo-Nazis wearing white top hats were going to kill 100 black people and THEN assassinate a presidential candidate who would be followed constantly by cameras, security and supporters. |
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I dont think Jack Bauer even got out of bed for that one. |
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I think it was 10^100 black people. |
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No one ever talks about left wing nut jobs. Must be they don't exist :) |
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The main problem with an assasination lottery of any kind is that it promotes assasination. Government entities tend to frown on that sort of behavior. |
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//The main problem with an assasination lottery of any kind is ...// |
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That and if you do win, you would probably be answering a lot of questions: |
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"And how, exactly, did you know an assassination of the president would be executed on the fifth, Mr. [UnaBubba]?" |
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[+] Hey it's better chances than the lottery. |
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//The Us assassinated Rabin? News to me...// |
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WTF? Who said anything about that being done by the US? I included Julius Caesar in the list, too. |
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So why would the winner of the lottery be made a leader again? Or was the point of this idea just to bring up the topic of Obama being assassinated? |
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The whole racial glass ceiling was well cracked by Colin Powell and Condi Rice*. |
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If Bush managed to survive all the hatred (and assassination attempts) directed at him, Obama is going to skate through this presidency. |
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* Someone who raised the bar for hotness in the secretary of state department. |
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I was thinking specifically of Bhutto and the likelihood of a string of assassinations in Iraq if Obama opts to pull US troops out summarily. |
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>>> * Someone who raised the bar for hotness in the secretary of state department. <<< |
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Well, given that the bar was set by the dear Madeline Albright, that was not that tough a task. The trick will be to raise it again. |
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Or not. Skill sets should be the primary factor in filling such spots. |
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In case no one knew there are websites out there where people bet on who is going to die/be murdered. |
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On a side note: considering if he was assassinated would there be a chance for a race war? I was chatting with a guy on the bus and he said there was a chance should obama be assassinated. |
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Anyone ever notice that the word assassinate is the words ass 2x in front of inated? |
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//The whole racial glass ceiling was well cracked by Colin Powell and Condi Rice*. // I'm sorry the election didn't go your way. But appointments aren't as significant as the democratic process, as a way of gauging racial attitudes, however much those individuals may have helped to change those attitudes. Obama's charisma undoubtedly changed attitudes. A Hillary or a P---- VP also would not have cracked 'the glass ceiling' for women. |
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Canada had a female PM awhile back, so did Britain... they sucked as much as the males. |
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Oh, terrible even. But that's hardly the point. It's about systemic inequality that's a hindrance to progress. It may be my bias but I don't believe the two conservative women you cite offered anything other than patriarchy. Thatcher rose to power but yeah, as a conservative. And Kim Campbell was elected by party caucus for a very short term, so she didn't really transcend the systemic inequality. |
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// I'm sorry the election didn't go your way // |
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I'm happy that Obama was elected. I'm likewise happy to not paint everything with black and white brushes. Condi wasn't elected, but she represented the United States and was someone to look up to. |
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// however much those individuals may have helped to change those attitudes // |
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That's what I meant, cracking the ceiling. |
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[normzone] Madeline Albright may look like a ghoul, but she has nice mannerisms and a sexy voice. With the lights out, maybe that's all you need? |
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//No one ever talks about left wing nut jobs. // |
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Are you sure? Google returns c. 384000 hits for that phrase (as against c. 464000 for "right wing nut job"). So there's a difference, but not much of a difference. |
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A nutjob is a nutjob is a nutjob. |
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//That's what I meant, cracking the ceiling. // |
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My tone was different though. |
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You could prevent the problem of people going out and murdering folks to win the bet by doing the following: |
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1) Everyone signs up for their guess
2) The organizer then for each person picks two other random guesses, and averages the three, then assigns that average to the person as their new guess, but does not tell them the result. |
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So your guess still has a big effect on when you will win or not, but it isn't exact enough to risk a murder conviction. |
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JFYI. I guess its Gandhi x 3? Mahatma Mohandas
Karamchandra Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi. |
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Musical high chair of death? |
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