Gather round all your friends and take out some cash, or war bonds. Cast your bets and put them in a box along with the cash, ready to be dug up again in twenty years time.
Who will be the next big enemy of our glorious liberty? The Chinese? No. Maybe some angry Hindus. Could be more Arabs. Surely not Castro, or those closet-commies in Russia.
Odds are decided on factors such as accuracy - angry Indonesian Muslim students, would fetch a higher price than, say, an evil uprising in south-east Asia. (They're always evil, and always somewhere else, right?) The smart money hedges their bets against factors leading to success such as arsenal size, organization, and backing by larger states.
Personally, I had China pegged as the next big global bogeyman after we shooed all the commies out from under our beds. I should have seen this one coming.-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 Call Centre Sweat Shops http://www.theage.c...29/FFXQP51AOPC.html [sdm, Oct 09 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] The next bogeyman's revolutionary vanguard. http://www.halfbake...rrilla_20Halfbakers [beauxeault, Oct 09 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004] Those who are getting hard done by today will be those who will rise up to fight tomorrow. My money would be on an as-yet-unknown Central African dictator. Or perhaps a united global army of call-centre staff.-- stupop, Oct 09 2001 There's no shortage of people who get hard done by. increasingly so in the Western world too. This will make the next 20 year bet even more interesting.
As for a *global* collective of call centre staff. I thought they were all being moved to India where the workers come cheap. [see link]-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 5/1 Saddam (again) 8/1 Assorted former-soviet central Asian republics (ones with oil) 10/1 North Korea (Football world cup next year in S Korea) 12/1 Sudan 20/1 Iran 33/1 Wales 50/1 Canada 200/1 New Zealand 1000/1 Utah-- pottedstu, Oct 09 2001 You beat me to that one UB. Aside from that, boogieman is also accepted as a variant in some dictionaries but not others. In some dictionaries, bogeyman doesn't exist, but boogerman does. I’ll take your word on this one <eyeing suspiciously>you’ve been right all these other times.</eyeing suspiciously>-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 To be honest I would'nt be at all surprised to see Saddam kick off again if the UK and US (are foolish enough to, imho) commit ground troops into Afghanistan. I think the silly money is on Wales though, its only a matter of time before those mutterings that tourists hear in untranslateable welsh transform themselves into direct action!
UB is AfroAussault Mormon? or rather I should ask AfroAussault.. are you a Mormon? (not trying to be funy, just genuinely intrigued)-- The_Englishman_Abroad, Oct 09 2001 My money's on enraged J-Lo fanatics. Very unstable lot.-- DrBob, Oct 09 2001 We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia. Goldstein is our enemy. To think any different than this is a sign of a sick mind, my friend.-- st3f, Oct 09 2001 What's a "J-Lo", [DrB]?-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 sdm - J-Lo = Jennifer Lopez (at least thats what I am assuming DrBob meant?)-- The_Englishman_Abroad, Oct 09 2001 sdm: The former girlfriend of P-Diddy.-- Aristotle, Oct 09 2001 Aristotle, TEA: Thanks. I feel very uncool.-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 Swap you for a Steve Irwin.-- sdm, Oct 09 2001 I think we've all missed the obvious here. *We're* the next global bogeymen.-- Guy Fox, Oct 09 2001 what? HalfBakers?-- hippo, Oct 09 2001 Half-bakers, the time has come for us to make ourselves heard. Too long have the full-bakers and non-bakers of this world reigned over us in brutal tyranny. We must unite and take up arms. We must protect our film noir homes....-- stupop, Oct 09 2001 The massed ranks of the HalfBaker (the corp that puts the 'infant' into) infantry, resplendent in our gold hats, khaki ponytail fasteners, cat hair padded jackets, intelligence test bras (if appropriate), burlap underwear, klein bottle socks, stealth shoes and cargo pantaloons...-- hippo, Oct 09 2001 Of course, the militia have been training underground for some time now (link).-- beauxeault, Oct 09 2001 don't forget our stealth custard knickers-- po, Oct 09 2001 We can also place bets on when the next big in-joke will surface, and how much whacking it will take to become very un-funny.-- sdm, Oct 10 2001 [Englishman Abroad] - Yes, I am. Not a good one though. Haven't been to church since Jr. High. (By the way - "Assault," not "Aussault," I'm not Australian) I'll gladly be minister of defense, but it's probably not a good idea. I've been thinking up some "less than moral" strategies including things that the few of you who don't already hate me would finally push you over the edge into "AfroAssault sucks, let's kill him."-- AfroAssault, Oct 10 2001 It will be Poland. Just watch. They've already started to infiltrate our lives. Look around you and find the extent of their reign. You'll be suprised.-- canitbee, Jul 21 2002 random, halfbakery