OT: Apology to China

[Tannin]

"Lest" is old English, seldom used these days, Coug. It means either "for fear that" or "so as not to". I was using it in the second sense. It is most commonly heard in just one particular phrase these days - that "lest we forget" I said above.

It was a little naughty of me, somewhat irreverant, as "lest we forget" is the phrase usually used as the concluding words in a memorial service for soldiers who gave their lives. It's sort of shorthand for something like: "we are all standing here at the dawn service with our heads bowed and our hats off to make sure that we never forget the debt we owe to these brave men who gave their lives".

Now I suppose I better define "irreverant"!

 

[CougTek]

7h49am, not too bad considering the hour change hun?

Thanks for the explanation about Lest.

No need to define "irreverant". Irreverant is the same as the french word "irrévérencieux" and I don't need a dictionary to tell you that. So in case you ever need to plug that term in a french sentence...

 

[CougTek]

I just remarked the hour of the forum hasn't been adjusted yet. I thought this stuff could be set to automatically change to adapt to the summer and winter time. I guess I consider little Windows commodities a given even for the Unix world.

 

[Tannin]

I have mixed feelings about changing back from summer time. On the one hand, it's good to change the clocks at the office so that I can open the doors on time. On the other hand, my main clock here at home I don't change. It is set to daylight saving 365 days a year, simply because I hate having to set the bloody clock back! I really, really hate getting home at this time of year, when nearly every day is perfect, after there is no longer any sunshine to speak of. And I don't like being reminded of the approach of winter every time I look at the clock.

 

[Mercutio]

Most of Indiana doesn't do DST. I'm fortunate enough to be in the small, sensible part that takes time changes with Chicago, but there are actually places in Indiana (e.g. State Line City) where one side of a town is in a different time zone from the other.

 

[i]

I am extremely sorry to do this (flagreen, you may actually have to moderate something!), but I noticed this story on CNN this evening:

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/04/07/china.us.spyplane.ap/index.html

Everyone, please forgive me for posting something to this thread that actually relates to the "apology to China".

 

[flagreen]

I am extremely sorry to do this (flagreen, you may actually have to moderate something!), but I noticed this story on CNN this evening:

I would have expected this sort of rabble rousing to have come from a consonant. I had thought you vowels knew better than to misbehave in such a loathsome fashion.

:monky: Watch it!

 

[Handruin]

Maybe "i" was upset that no one bought him/her on the wheel of fortune? :sqnt:

 

[Bartender]

It's been pretty quiet around here. The bar is well stocked, the kitchen is ready, but the patrons are few. I thought of providing some entertainment (as if some of the regulars weren't enough). After carefully reading through some other posts, a gaming corner sounded pretty decent. What do you think about that Buck?

 

[Buck]

That sounds like a good, but risky, idea Bartender. You know, Handruin and his mates have the same idea. How do you expect to make money? Remember, you're already well stocked with goods, that aren't selling, why do you want to invest more money into something that looks so risky?

BR

 

[Bartender]

But is it really that risky? Regardless of what I sell, I already have a location, I have regular customers (lively bunch at that), and we even hold the occassional party. So there is some activity, but perhaps we don't appeal to enough folks. So I figured, that a few computer systems plugged together in a big booth, with some flat panel displays, and we'd be set.

It's true that electronics and food or beverages don't mix too well, but only the cheap stuff is most susceptible, like keyboards and mice. You sell me some pretty good sets for under $30.00. We'll just include that in our overhead, and let everyone pay a few cents more for beer.

I think the risk is in not trying.

 

[Buck]

I'm glad you feel so confident Bartender. Once you get that rig setup, we'll all give it a try, and let you know what we think. Make sure you spec out the right components, and have a special on beer that night. You know, the usual gimmick, 1 pint of ale for $2.00 for all gamers. Maybe a special from the kitchen would be good too.

BR

 

[timwhit]

Buck are you having a conversation with yourself again? Time to see the therapist.

 

[Bartender]

Good points Buck, I think we'll throw in few specials as a lure. We could even give games away at first if you purchase so-much from the kitchen.

 

[Buck]

Good idea, but I think the key is not relying on the game itself. You have the place and atmosphere, just provide an extra service for now. Who knows, eventually, you might just open a separate gaming room. You could rent that out by the hour.

 

[CougTek]

Could someone explain me why the damn Mother Queen had to be celebrated at 6h30am Estern Time? One of my neighbor watched the ceremony when it started this morning, but somehow forgot to lower the volume. I was awaken by Gregorian songs in the middle of "my" night. No need to tell you that I'm now quite pissed.

What were they thinking in UK?

 

[Mercutio]

Maybe because it was 1:30-something GMT over there, which is a perfectly reasonable time to throw a funeral.

The more interesting question is, why would a self respecting quebecois (sorry I don't know what all the right special characters are) watch the Queen mother's funeral? I know she was a sort-of war hero - symbol of Britain's defiance of Hitler and all - but aren't you Canadians largely free from Britain's tyrannical yoke yet? Or is it just that you'd rather watch their TV programs than ours?

 

[CougTek]

The more interesting question is, why would a self respecting quebecois (sorry I don't know what all the right special characters are) watch the Queen mother's funeral?

Because he is english speaking, probably consider himself a Canadian and he has nothing to do with a Québéçois (it's ok for the accents). I don't really care what he is, I just want to be able to sleep at 6h30am in the morning, especially only three days after the time change (my body still considers that 6h30am is in fact 5h30am).

At least I have been able to take back some sleeping hours after 9am, so I'm ok now (I knew it wouldn't be a good day to sell on the stock market, so I didn't have to follow the fluctuations as closely as usual).

 

[Tannin]

The English watch because ... well ... just because they are the English. Not everything in this world is subject to rational explanation. Some things just are. Ocassionally very drunk people manage to stumble across this essential truth and give voice to it in song - the one that goes "We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here because we're here because we're here ... This, by the way, is an even worse thing to hear at 5:30AM - unless, of course, you are the one singing it.

The Irish watch because they are very sorry to see the old lady dead from natural causes, so they sit there polishing their Kalashnikovs and promising themselves that the younger menbers of the Royal Family will not get away.

And the rest of the world watches because ... well .. because even watching an English funeral is better than watching American sit coms.

 

[HellDiver]

My goodness! Tony (in his various disguises) keeps cracking me up lately! I never suspected the ol' Aussie had a sense of humor...

BTW, those comments are plain cruel! I love 'em! :twistd:

(sorry, had to borrow the smilie from SR. Hey, Handruin! Any chance of adding this one to our default list? :diablo: is pretty good too, but it's just not the same...)

 

[Handruin]

Consider it Done!

 

[Tannin]

:-? 8) :lol: :x :evil: :roll: :wink: :>: :?: :idea: :excl: :mrgrn: :eekers: :>: :>: :>: ?

 

[HellDiver]

Handruin, you da man! :twistd: :twistd: :twistd:

(by now I only wish it was on the left side of reply editing window, among the first 20 "emoticons", but hey, I'm pushing it, ain't I? :roll: It's just that I got used to using it fairly often on SR... Definitely pushing it!

But to be perfectly honest I think the smilies are a wonderful thing to have, and I mean only the meaningful emoticons. Electronic means of communication lack the emotions too badly, things often get interpreted the wrong way because without hearing person's intonation and/or seeing his face it's all too easy to mistake an innocent joke for a grave insult, etc. Emoticons help resolving such issues because albeit they're not in the same ballpark as having visual/audio contact with another person they still convey at least some of the intended meaning of words used...

Yup, shameless rambling, as usual... )

 

[Handruin]

:-? 8) :lol: :x :evil: :roll: :wink: :>: :?: :idea: :excl: :mrgrn: :eekers: :>: :>: :>: ?

Ok ok, I've fixed the right arrow as well.

:>: has been replaced with

:right:

:right:

 

[Handruin]

Handruin, you da man! :twistd: :twistd: :twistd:

(by now I only wish it was on the left side of reply editing window, among the first 20 "emoticons", but hey, I'm pushing it, ain't I? :roll: It's just that I got used to using it fairly often on SR... Definitely pushing it!

But to be perfectly honest I think the smilies are a wonderful thing to have, and I mean only the meaningful emoticons. Electronic means of communication lack the emotions too badly, things often get interpreted the wrong way because without hearing person's intonation and/or seeing his face it's all too easy to mistake an innocent joke for a grave insult, etc. Emoticons help resolving such issues because albeit they're not in the same ballpark as having visual/audio contact with another person they still convey at least some of the intended meaning of words used...

Yup, shameless rambling, as usual... )

It's a fair request. I believe it will take some database hacking to make it work. phpBB2 doesn't offer a way to reorganize the smilies once they've been added to the list. (which sucks)

Let me see what I can do when I get home tonight.

 

[Mercutio]

I guess I'm the last holdout on the emoticons front, too. I really dislike the graphical smiley-faces used here and elsewhere. Typing a ":" and a ")" is too much work?

I have no idea what some of those annoying yellow symbols are supposed to mean, but and are all pretty easy to understand and universal to any textual communication.

I think we could do without them with no loss in the quality of communication here.

 

[timwhit]

I totally agree with Merc here. I hate the dumb smileys, it makes the discussion look like there are a bunch of 10 year old girls involved.

I have never used the yellow faces, and I hope I never do. I have them disabled in all my posts.

 

[HellDiver]

Actually, a large portion of those smilies are tied to ';'+')', ':'+'P', etc... So once you type that regular "" or "" - the "yellow face" shows up in your post (if you have those enabled, of course!). No extra work at all, Mercutio! About the only smilie I'm actually willing to actively click on is the :twistd: one - at least when it matches my own expression at the moment of typing a reply... That, those two : :roll: , for the same reason.

And I don't think it has anything to do with 10 year old girls. I've seen enough on-line communities torn apart in extensive flame wars over something that started out as a simple mis-communication between two people. Usually something that was taken in a totally wrong way and responded to "in kind" (which obviously wasn't very "kind" due to the mis-communication!).

But if you don't like it, timwhit - there you go, you have them disabled. A perfect example of freedom of choice in action!

 

[timwhit]

But if you don't like it, timwhit - there you go, you have them disabled. A perfect example of freedom of choice in action!

I just wish I could turn them off in other people's posts.

 

[Tannin]

Hmmm ... I certainly don't like too many of them. But like them so long as they are used sparingly. I use smilies in maybe one post in five, and only a few of them. Of the ones that are available:


Sometimes: :wink: :-?

Rarely: :mrgrn: :eekers:

Never: :?: :right: :idea: :excl: :evil: :x :lol: 8)

Only discovered the last page last night, so I've never used any of those.

 

[Handruin]

I'd say start a poll. If people really don't like them, I can remove them entirely.

 

[timwhit]

I think it is just Mercutio and me that don't like them. I guess I will survive with them. But, isn't there anyway so that I don't have to see them (an option or something)???

 

[Splash]

. .

I think it is just Mercutio and me that don't like them. I guess I will survive with them. But, isn't there anyway so that I don't have to see them (an option or something)???

. . . .Special no-smiley sunglasses. . . . . 8^(


. .

 

[HellDiver]

Theoretically speaking, there should be a hack for phpBB that would allow this (requires an addition of a param to user's settings and checking of this param in the script that renders the page for the user). But whether one exists specifically for phpBB2 - I don't know...

 

[Cliptin]

If it helps any, I have noticed that if I use smiley code but leave the checkmark checked then smilies will not appear. As is proper.
If someone includes my message in a reply and turns smilies on, then my inset message shows smilies too. :bow:

 

[Bartender]

And the rest of the world watches because ... well .. because even watching an English funeral is better than watching American sitcoms.

Isn't that the truth sometimes. When the bar gets quiet, it's nice watching the occasional show, sitcoms notwithstanding. The problem is that many of the new American sitcoms are either NOT funny, or weird, dabbling in the occult and witches. So I turn the old knob to public television, and voila, BBC TV (sorry, no Aussie programming yet – is there any good Aussie programming? Aussies always seem to be in forums or chat rooms). Granted, some of the shows are not so new, but they make you laugh just the same. Keeping Up Appearances, Waiting for God, As Time Goes By, etc., are all worth the time for me.

The Queen mum’s funeral? Sad to see her go (some are not), but certainly not worth watching or at least not worth aggravating my neighbors over. So, if you’re ever my neighbor Coug, no worries, the next funeral for a royal family member won’t interfere with my sleep or yours.

I guess it’s time for a little television now, the place seems quiet and the patrons are scarce.

 

[CougTek]

The Queen mum’s funeral? Sad to see her go (some are not), but certainly not worth watching or at least not worth aggravating my neighbors over. So, if you’re ever my neighbor Coug, no worries, the next funeral for a royal family member won’t interfere with my sleep or yours.

Although I don't plan to ever live in the States, it's nice to know. Thanks.

 

[i]

I'll add my thoughts about the death of the Queen Mother.

I actually wound up thinking about 2 different things.

It was sad. Not because I owe any royal person any allegiance, but because of what her death symbolized in my mind. She was the Queen Mother, and at one point the Queen of England. Perhaps as some faint relic of my childhood naivety, in my mind that represented one of the ultimate representations of power.

And even she couldn't avoid death.

I know it's a sudden switch of gears, but about a month earlier, during some TV network's ongoing James-Bond-athon, they had a brief interview with Roger Moore. He looked so old! I had a hard time believing it at first ... for heaven's sake it was James Bond! And if James Bond can't escape time and age ... what hope do any of us have?

So that was the first thing I thought about. I found that the Queen Mother's death was a very touching, subtle, yet very real reminder of the mortality we all face.

The second thing was that it represented yet another living connection to the past that was gone forever. Here in America, I get the same sort of feeling when I hear about a veteran, or really anyone who's lived a full life, who has died. It's a link to the past ... via a person who lived in times I will never be able to truly know ... that's gone forever. That matters to me. It makes me wonder about how things were back when they were younger. What events did they go through in their lives? What were the big ones? What were the small ones? Did they find, as I have so far, that in the end either kind - big or small - can have a lasting impression on one's life? And finally, what insight, and what character and impact to our own lives, have we all lost as they leave us behind?

It was sad.

 

[Cliptin]

...
sorry, no Aussie programming yet – is there any good Aussie programming? ...

Haven't you ever seen Bananas in Pajamas or Teletubbies? Oh, the Aussies have a plan. It starts with the stupification of our youth!

 

[GIANT]

. .
I rarely watch the ol' tele, but I thought that I heard of an Australian export that is basically some sort of daredevil-based real-life show, where they use just common folk off the street to perform daredevil stunts -- or something like that.

. .