Tenn,
I'm studying Computer Visualization and Animation, thankyouverymuch

It's pretty maths heavy.. and I'm crap at maths (good at the theories, bad at the rules and implimentation).

Got my exams in 2 weeks, programming, maths, principles of computer systems (which is basically building a computer from a single logic-gate, switch-by-switch, all the way up to a full computer ..on paper). I have projects for my other classes, rather than exams.. busy busy busy :(

Pip, I'm not sure about any of the specifics that were mentioned about the mayfly and the spider, I was simply describing how the finely tuned symbiosis between (any) predator and prey may have come about, in the examples given by Takeshi.

I'm not sure there was particular substance to his example, or if Takeshi was just having a lay-conversation, about ideas rather than concrete species.. maybe so though, we'll see what he says :)

This story just got posted to the BBC's Backstage mailing list, along with the link to this post (on BB).

Hopefully someone on the inside will notice the bad press, and make less of an effort to make fans into criminals.

Gruben:

"Reminds me of this guy:

http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12673

He supposedly hasn't sleep since 1973. Don't know the validity of the article though."
__

This is from a follow up article (which has more details on him; being tested by 2 sets of reporters, etc) :

In April, 2007, however, Ngoc reported that he was beginning to feel grumpy due to the lack of sleep.

Haha, no shit :)

OK, the only reference to modified physiology, is this:

"Effects of the dynamic properties of sleep settings remain to be systematically elucidated, but the possibility remains that physical, social, and temporal factors generating variation in human sleep ecology, as reviewed here, may be paralleled by variation not only in sleep behavior but also its physiology.

..in the "Implications and Speculations" section. And they don't make mention of even considering this in their own study, only that it should be looked into at some point down the line, by somebody.

"This question deserves direct investigation in future
sleep research."

"The evolution of sleep and state regulation are not of central concern for the present discussion, for here we are considering the contemporary range of human variation in sleep behavior, its possible consequences and sequelae. Rather, human evolutionary history is relevant to the issues at hand insofar as it defines the set of constitutional capacities, vulnerabilities, constraints, and plasticities that undergird and structure patterns of human variability in sleep behavior."

This is from the paper on sleep you linked to, it specifically says that they are talking about the trends in various human cultures, within the framework of our brain's flexible system of sleep needs. That we have a wide enough spectrum of need, built-in, to accomodate the different places we live, and the differing ways we spend our nights (and they ask the fundamental question, why have we evolved this capacity?), but not that we have evolved in response to artificial light.

It doesn't seem (I didn't read every sentence, I did some focused skimming) to talk about changes to our genes or physical make-up, if it does, please be kind enough to point out the passages.

I didn't ignore your point, I just didn't feel it well made enough to do anything other than try to get more information about your thoughts, by asking questions, so I could try to assess what you were putting forward.

I will follow your link and hopefully better understand your ideas.

Antinous:

Cahoots it is then!

"Heh" indeed :)

Have you got any sources on what you say about us being genetically altered due to using artificial light? Have there been studies, where a baby borne of a mother and father who use lights, has been immediately transported to a completely different environment, with no artificail lights and had it's sleeping patterns observed?

Since lights have been with us consistently since we discovered fire, how would we know what was genetic and what was merely the result of us growing up artficial-light-normative?

I genuinely didn't know (and still don't, frankly) that we had changed genetically through our use of technology, in anything other than a massively long-term way, like agriculture leading to better food and our health changing with different qualities of input, which still might not be genetic. Just a better localised environment probably.

ANNN TIIII NOUUUSSSSS!!!!!!

..that wasn't very christian at all.

Buddy66: *tag*

Haha! Your thread! *runs away*

No, I think all changes are random, as Antinous said "When one is advantageous, it may stick around".

How do you suppose a change might be less random?

It seems like it either is, or isn't. Is there a theory behind what you are suggesting? Because it sounds like you are saying there must be some sort of 'awareness of the game' involved, but not fleshing it out. So if you have a mechanism in mind, I'm interested.

No, as far as I know, we have only been directly involved in breeds, not species. We have a single (as I recall, I will try to find the article) brand new species to our name, a bacterium if I remember right, but it was engineered, and I know that's not what was being referred to.

Other than those, I can only imagine (as Antinous suggested) that our changing of the environment may be 'having a hand in evolution', but that's pretty indirect, and it certainly hasn't been conscious either.

Takeshi

Even if it did, how easily do you suppose the spider or its DNA arrived at the conclusion that the scent was what attracted juicy female mayflies to its web in the first place?

Please read (or reread) what I wrote to you above.

The DNA didn't arrive at any conclusion, the DNA has not stopped changing, it's merely being selected (at this moment in time) for (amongst other things) it's abilitiy to attract a cetain type of food more easily, because of a procedurally created propensity to smelling similarly to a mayfly in heat.

There is no "element of intelligence". There is only interaction, selection and time.

Whoa, I'll just excuse myself here by saying my post above is only about evolutionary theory, and not in support of the sleep-hating devil child, being the latest thing in human genetics.

Also, Nelson, take a look at the article I linked to in my post above, it' s very interesting.

Here's a link to a really interesting New Scientist article about the drug modafinil, and the race for 'sleepless' humans.

Also, Takashi:

"You seem to be suggesting that certain spiders have learned to mimic the scent of a male mayfly completely by accident.

Do you really believe that it was all by chance?"

I'm afraid I agree with Antinous here. It is not the "by accident" that you are suggesting, but it is certainly not motivated 'consciously' by either the animal, nor it's genes.

There is indeed a symbiosis between an animal and it's food supply, but it's the millions of years of environmental interactions that make these physical changes so finely tuned.

Essentially, we can say that at some point, way back, the spider doesn't eat mayflies. Over time, all the species in the spider's domain (including the spider) slowly change as genes mutate and are spread amongst their individual pools. All the while, the spider is probably catching various things in it's web, not just mayflies, but them also.

At some point, slowly of course, but after a certain threshold of changes, the mayfly has adopted a scent it uses to mate. Similarly, the spider, at some point, maybe before, maybe after, gains some kind of scent gland that happens to smell a little bit like the mayfly sexy-smell.

Now, no matter how weak the similarity between the spider smell and the fly smell, there is a minute advantage to that spider. Statistically, that spider will catch more mayflies, who happen to get fooled by the fugazi fragrance, than a spider who doesn't possess that talent.

Now, as that spider is a little bit better equipped (or even just better fed), she will likely breed more, and pass those genes on.

Eventually, each successive generation of spider is selected (by the mayfly's interest in the smell) for the best 'smell' talent, so the spider and mayfly become profoundly linked. The fly choosing the most closely smell-tuned members of the spider-species - each generation - by doing it the service of flying into it's web and providing a meal, essentially breeding it's own demise, by voting for better rogues each round.

So, an animal doesn't select it's own future form, it's environment does (predators, prey, weather), but not consciously, only by interactions (being food, being prey, being rained on).

I hope that doesn't read sarcastically, it was not intended in the slightest.

I have nothing but respect for you guys, and in truth; Takuan in particular (slimey bits aside).

God damn... every time I turn around, I miss the show..

Takuan,

Well I'm not sure of the answer to your question, whether 'retarded' means anything to me any more, but it clearly means something to you.

I haven't seen the thread with Xeni's take-down, but I'm glad it's not a rumpus in here.

For me, I think the word has lost a lot of it's original meaning, like most words in this ilk, it goes from preferred-medical-usage to common-parlance to offensive (then to 'ironic', if you're a hep intarwebber).

I don't find it that offensive, but I understand why others may.

Although I will continue to use it in my own parlance, I will try my utmost, barring only a faulty mass-storage-chip in my brain, to not use the word on this board again, if only for the sake of your poor over-barbed hide.

holy crap, I thought u were suggesting rob roy for takuan's..

i was feeling pretty retarded.

phew..

Antinous takes mine!
Well done :)

Sister:

War Gods of the Deep?

Here's a poser for you guys, while I try crack Agent's.. and cry over Sister's

Fiend One Dancer

It's pretty striaght forward one.. SciFi :)

Agent, they are pretty tough, I can only think of something-"axe"-something for your first..

And the second? ... I need more sleep.

Takashi, I was gonna jump in on Razzabeth too.

Indeed, you can start hallucinating (proper 3d in-front-of-you stuff) in just 2 or 3 days.
I used to do various work-related things that meant I didn't get sleep for days at a time, it really does mess with your head.

Once, after only about 2 days, I was treated to the sight of very realistic (but see-through) leprechauns, about 10-12 inches high, Irish dancing on the armrest of the chair I was sitting in, and laughing at me - really. All the while I was describing exactly what I was clearly seeing, to my flat mate, who was a little freaked out, but enjoyed the descriptions none-the-less.

On a completely separate tip, the longest I ever went without sleep was a certified seven days, although this one involved chemical sustenance, I never even nodded off once.

Now that was an experience -zzk -zk -zzt (excuse me, i twitch now)

Der Golem; wie er in die Welt kam, 1920 version on google video

Nice new club-house folks, well suggested Ant.
Cool Central Americanny vibe with the decor.. I like.

And also, this is surely the nearest to the surface we've ever played.. only 5 down.. we're practically running through the BB corridors, naked, waving game banners.. Fill your lungs gang, that's fresh air :)

Underground Officers

Enemy Mine?

Spoonerism+Innuendo; it just writes itself, doesn't it? :)

I imagine Antinous is more of a Fellow Taoist, than a Cunning Linguist, if ya know what I mean..*nudge nudge* *wink wink* *say no more*

ugh.. c'mon, it was right there..

#30

The Frames drummer used to live upstairs from us. He was a bit of a grump, but then, we were a bit overzealous when it came to enjoying ourselves.

He was probably actually a really nice guy. We made him mean :(

Slowe,

of course dusty boobs, would require a BustDuster !!

..thank you, thank you! I'll be here all week, try the lobster, it's delicious.

@DusterBuster

Ah ha!

I imagined the "al", exactly like csbmonkey did.

Well played sir, well played.

Risen?

I know, it's horror :(

Christ redux

Final Fantasy II? :p

"You should absolutely put your money towards green transportation if that's what most moves you."

Golden pun missed, or uncalled.. tragic.

#34

Very nicely said Nelson.

"He says in His book do not blaspheme Him or His name."

Yes, but in Dawkins' book, he says "blasphemy is a victimless crime".

They are both books.. should I believe yours or mine?

I presume you will answer that there is a fairly stiff penalty for not believing yours. As has been much discussed on BB, believing your book because I was hedging my bets against being punished, would make me less than rightous.

I am as sure as my reason and knowledge let me be, that there is no god.

If the heavens opened and s/he/it (don't say that, all as one word, quickly) walked in and told me in no uncertain terms that there was indeed a god, I might be a bit more open to it, but so far, not so much.

Have they not always been called "Aussies"?

MRXAVIA #19

Of course you can't just send in a request for "me in london, please", it was a joke, to highlight the question of "how much is a reasonable request".

The fact is, that there are various CCTV operators in London, so you would have to know whether the camera you wanted was a city camera or a privately operated one, and then which company operated it.

Also, I wonder, how much footage (time / angles of same area) you could get for your tenner.

"Cell phone world is not reality folks!"

Ugh.

Gosh really? You mean when I'm using it to communicate and organise how my time is spent.. When I get work through my social contacts, and get paid.. It's all an illusion? Geez, and everything seemed to have worked out so far.. what a fabulous string of coincidences.

#46
Ha, I was thinking the same thing about Wild Wild West.

Maybe it's acknowledged in steampunk circles, or maybe not.

It's probably the tentacled-baby of the genre, locked in a back room and never mentioned, even though everyone can hear it suckering up and down the walls all night.. looking for blood.

#5 HalloweenJack

This, from god-dot-com.livejournal.com:

"Sometime I'll have to tell you guys about My other male offspring, Thog, Who I sent to earth to save the Neanderthals. The funny thing about the Neaners was their extremely low threshold of amazement. The only miracles that Thog really had to perform were walking near water and raising some old guy from a dead sleep.

**sigh**

I miss those guys. It's a shame how they slowly died out after realizing how completely unattractive they were.'

Haha ha ahah ha.

We are ".. fearful of Muslims.."

As people have said, we just don't have a problem mocking ourselves, which is somewhat different to specifically mocking others.

I'm sure you know this already Evidence, but the fact is, most people in western society have grown up in a christian-normative environment. Whether or not their parents supported it, their society was most likely christian, of one sort or another.

So all the christian-type things you hold dear, as your own, that you choose to define a part of you and your community, are also things we know and have grown up with and have relationships with, for better or worse.

You don't own god, as a man or a christian.

Not the general notion of a god, nor a specific instance of one, like Jesus.
Nor do you own the words, people or books of your faith. They are academic, they exist beyond the importance you place in them. They are part of our landscape.

Public Domain, if you like. No-Man's-Land, Every-Man's-Land.

To me, and many other people, Jesus and God (upper case, this time) are just characters, interwoven into the fabric of our culture and to be taken as fables to better live ones life, like fairy tales, not as existing beings who can spring forth from the pages of mythology and interact with us today.

To me, they are no different to Odysseus, or Heracles (who was also the son of gods). Some rudimentary version of them may have existed as people in some far off time, but their value to us today is as lessons and entertainment. Either way, stories and iconic characters are vitally important to our culture, artistic expression and idea of who we are as human beings.

As to whether I feel the same way about the characters in Islam, I'd say I don't know them well enough to comment, just like I wouldn't know which hentai character I'd rather enslave. I don't have enough interest or information to make those jokes. And if I did, would my audience have enough interest or information to laugh along?

..and who says he was talking about your god anyway?

Jeff, that's a pretty interesting argument.

"Algebra is -so- yesterday."

Yeh.. but that's only because you were in algebra class yesterday :p

( ..actually, I am on Mondays too, with some trig and 3d thrown in for good measure)

Yeh, I saw a few reports on some BBC and Channel4 current affairs shows, that show carbon-offsetting was as bona fide as selling plots on the moon, or naming stars.

I don't know enough to make a real judgement, but I can imagine better, more tangible uses for the $6000.

Wait, we can do that?

Is there a reasonable limit to how much you can ask for? Is it unreasonable to ask for all the footage you appear in? If you lived in london, that could be quite the request, and would keep the camera folks pretty busy for a while.

That's what we should do. Everybody request ALL the footage, from ALL the city cameras you appear on. Tie that shit up.

I LOVE IT.

__

LSK, they already do it with CDs.. what's the difference?

Wait, that's from Doctor Who?

Looks like Cthulhu enjoying a juice box, albiet with a very long, bendy straw. Presumably it would be 'people & apple' flavour, or some equally evil concoction, so long as it had 'no bits', he's a finicky little fella.

Ant,
yeh, i did, then i thought of my very witty IRC line as I was brushing my teeth, and rushed back to share :)

"I went to that IRC channel that the younguns are talking about. They're jabberin' away over there in real time. You'll have to check it out."

I've seen the future, and it IRCs

This is my last:

"Why is it your area? And why can't you secure it from the government? If you're so set on independence, build an economic base, outearn the British, and present terms of secession when you're strong enough to warrant it. Violence is a shortcut to something you haven't earned yet."

And "earned"? "Earned" the right to the land that was invaded and taken from us? You say above that it is correct to take the property of a robber. You are arguing at cross purposes, contradicting yourself.

Basically, it looks like you are saying "might is right", and I just have no desire to get into that, because I'm not a fan, and so we are not likely to reach any agreement.

"I do know, and I act by my own standards, no one else's. If my country does the same, and the standards are good ones, then I would be counted as a patriot."

And you seem to agree with everything done in your country's name.

We are not going to agree here.

I beg favour and bow out.

* in tears *

Guys.. that was beautiful..

* sniffle *

We need to fight and make up more often. I'm just so sorry I wasn't here for the fight, but I am here for the hugs.

Hi Greg! Arkizzle..
__

Antinous: Outed is right. Love the new uniform.

Just to be very clear:

I am not advocating violence.

I am not suggesting anyone 'deserves' to be attacked.

I am not defending attacks on civilians.

I am looking at how (an) oppressed people have dealt with their oppression, and how the line between freedom fighter and 'terrorist' is both a matter of perspective, and historical hindsight.

"if I were living in Northern Ireland, and you or anyone else was willing to commit terrorism for the sake of a united Ireland, and achieved a united Ireland, I would immedeately become a terrorist for a *divided* Ireland, since I would conclude that terror was the way to achieve a political aim."

So, in a general sense, no matter the rightness of the cause, even if someone else had bombed and acheived the 'correct' outcome - for the population - you would immediately take the other side, and because bombs were involved, bomb for it?

If that is what you are saying, that is possibly one of the most retarded things I have ever heard in my life.

"But if your political preferences aren't being made the law of the land, then argue your point civilly or leave the area."

Whose area? OUR area, or the occupying force's area?
Why would the British have listened to anyone, if they hadn't been fought with? This isn't a problem of decades, it has a history of HUNDREDS of years. With death and oppression for thousands, and a further 20-25% of the whole Irish population, if you include the potato famine, which was remediable.

Do you actually think that everywhere has had an equal democracy, for all people, for ever? How do you use politics if you aren't allowed to vote or gain office? And then, when you finally secure the right to vote or stand, how do you use politics when the odds are so stacked against you, as they were in Ireland for those later years, or NI in the '70s, 80's and 90's?

"If you're being killed, fight back"

We did, we had civil wars.

What about torture, beatings, wrongful arrest? The Guildford four, the Maguire seven, the Birmingham six, just to name the high-profile cases you may know of, not to mention all the individuals who suffered the same and more under the RUC and, earlier, the Black and Tans.

"And this is the crux of the matter. You think that the black and white, pre-9/11 view was morally wrong.."

No, I think your your self-satified, island-state mentality, casually ignoring the crimes against, and exploiation of, the world at large, by your elected government and it's tools, for decades, is morally wrong. I never suggested America 'deserved' to get attacked.

It is up to YOU to know what YOU are doing in the world.

"But I will not read it, because it was presented in violence.

Yes, burying your head in the sand, and ignoring the reasons things happen is the perfect solution.

Sarcasm aside, that's not just my view..

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

..crap, that's me on the BlackList now huh?

shit.

* gosh.. awkward *

Also, I think you too easily dismiss the Unabomber manifesto.

Industrial Industrial Society and Its Future

It contains a lot of views and information, that a great many people may sympathize with (in part or whole). Have you read it before deciding it needs censoring?

PhoneBook

"Don't the sympathizers of the IRA still want a unified Ireland?"

Maybe, but they are not terrorists if they aren't blowing things up, they're politicians.

A belief in a unified Ireland is not a crime, nor a reason to be called a terrorist, it's a personal view, and in some, a political stance.

"To me, the fact that one has to resort to violence to make a point means that the point in question in indefensible by rational means."

So you are saying that a united Ireland, or indeed a non-British-ruled Northen Ireland, as a point, is indefensible?

The violence may be indefensible, but the point? I'll thank you not to tell me, or anyone living in Ireland, what we can and can't want for the future of our land.

Nor to tell any citizen of any country that they have no right to civil uprising, whether you force the label 'terrorism' onto it or not.

It's easy to ignore anyone's humanity when you label them a 'terrorist'. You no longer have to think of their history, or the struggle they have gone through to be heard in their own land. No, everyone we call a 'terrorist' is now a faceless, evil doom-bringer, no matter what their political aims.

"Before the major terrorist attacks of the 90s and 00s, I didn't have to think about what some radical right-wing religious believers thought about the way the world should work."

Are all 'terrorists' "radical right-wing religious believers"? Or is it just easier to not have to care about international politics and you own foriegn policy? It's a pity it took a few men on some planes, flying into your buildings to make you aware of the world we all live in, but it's a worse pity, after turning around to see, that you still have such a blinkered, black & white view of it all.

Perhaps if you had looked earlier, you wouldn't be looking around every corner for the brown boogieman.

"Home Office figures suggest that two-thirds of those involved in anti-social behaviour - including vandalism, threatening behaviour and street drinking - abandon it after their first warning."

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha Hah!

FWIW

I have a phone on me, or near me, 24/7. If the light didn't go on (which could be solved with some light-ingenuity), I would never know whether it was active or not.

..unless of course, I was near a stereo and got the techno-rooster-pulses referred to above (weightedcompanioncube #11)..

Joel, sounds like the "window" in Back To The Future 2..

"Might as well give up on my junior year."

It's a deal! :)

#24

I dig.

(the notion, rather than the dusty boobs)

also: dusty boobs, kinda sounds like gerontophilia :)

" Um, this female figure's cleavage *was* invented for the gaze of men, as you handily rely upon in point 1. "

Also, I would suggest that this cleavage was invented for the gaze of people. I also know a few woman who like a boob or two, including the likes of coop's retro styled 'tomboy' work-woman above.

emm.. dungarees, a flannel shirt and work boots?
yeh, probably, maybe not so tight tho.

And, who sez dust-accumulated-cleavage is unsexy :)

Teresa, sorry about the discrepancy.

I was really trying to let NS understand, that we hadn't all waited til he was gone, and then had a big disemvowelling party in his honour. I was trying to suggest that we, as readers (and Xopher specifically), don't have that power. However, I could have been clearer.

Also, I hope your computer nasties are now playing nice.

* cleavage (doh!)

Dan:

Yeh, because cleveage doesn't exist, and women don't choose low hanging tops, we men force them to wear them, and invented cleveage to oppress them.

"Like a female figure posing for the gaze of men doesn't fall under that category."

That's a whole lot of assumptions.

"She's not dressed in working clothes because she's working, she's modeling them as she poses."

Dude!
1. she's not a real woman, she isn't 'doing' anything.
2. Are you suggesting, that if she was a real woman, there is no way for her to have been wearing those clothes in any capacity other than posing for men? Sounds a little sexist to me. I know lots of women who use tools and get greasy (hoho), in ways entirely unrelated to "the gaze of men". Does that mean they're doin' it wrong?

Pipenta, you said it far more eloquently than my blunt-weapon-brain would allow.

Nice.

Gonna chime in with another shocked "no one likes dandelions?" statement.

"Dandelions are harmful to a lawn."

Meh, fuck a lawn. I prefer dandelions :)

And: #3

So I guess 'fuck like a fish' would have been my suggestion.

I imagine "think like a fish fucks" is closer to it..

OK.

FlamingPhoneBook

Has Virgin stated anywhere that they are adding bandwidth to the benefit of 'prioritized' customers?

I may have missed it, but not that I can see. All they have said, is that they are going to prioritize those extra-paying customers, and with that information, all that can mean, is "to the detriment of other services" running in the same bandwidth.

HERE

Take it in, notice the fact that it happens regularly enough (about the same things) for the rest of us not to have to even think about "remaining silent about it", and relax!

See: #85

Nobody, you are quivering paranoid mess.

The only person with the power to disemvowel a post is Teresa. Xopher mentioned it because he (and we) knew it was probably gonna happen if you didn't keep it civil.

I thought you were a long-time reader? I thought you and Cory were tight?

If you had been on BB and reading comments any time recently, you would know both, why disemvowelling is done, and that it reflects the EXACT things people were advising of you yesterday.

Be polite. Thats IT.

ColdSpell, you're a legend!

#16

The first half sounds an awful lot like Billy Holiday's version of "Gloomy Sunday" (which is an incredible song - about a woman committing suicide, after the death of her lover - for those who have never heard it)

Link to wikipedia article on Gloomy Sunday's very interesting history. Note the addition of the 3rd verse in the Holiday version, added to make the record more 'sellable' (and slightly to it's detriment on a purely artistic level).

# 9 / #11

Yeh, there's nothing like a camera to reinforce the "illtempered and foul mouthed" nugget in anyone..

Video please! :)

well that IS pretty weird..

* subject 10 is showing an increasing aptitude in the telepathic range *
* recommend increasing her level status, and proceeding as normal *

"This isn't an especially interesting thread to jump into after "years" of lurking."

Yeh, modern trolling standards are definitely dropping, why I remember, when all we had was tin-can-telephones, the trolls'd at least make the effort to be controversial in their opinions..

War! God! The Empire!

..now it's all 'what does "basically" mean?' Not exactly inspiring the use of Troll's Bane is it? A bit of polite conversation, and they jump ship..

I'm going to go "benefit of the doubt" on this one, and prescribe the best course of action to be one of two things..

1. Come back, be nice, everything's fine.
2. New name, slink back, no body knows, your little secret.

Either'll work fine.

Now my bloody dinner is cold :(

Honestly NB, I do see where you are coming from, you did get pounced.. but you definitely invited it. (hear me out, there is no fight here)

You will, I assume, agree that people on the internet can only respond to what you say (they know nothing of you IRL). You will also, hopefully, agree that people will not only respond to what you say, and how you say it, but even how you type it too.

"This buyer guy's whole attitude seems sort of pissy, IMO. The camera store tried to make things right, and he's raising even more of a stink because of it. "

In your opening line you insult the guy (with no prior knowledge), and then move on to misrepresenting the situation, by conveniently leaving out the trouble and grief this guy had to take from the seller. They only contacted him because of the bad review, the didn't just "tr[y] to make things right", they waited until it was in their interest.

"What does "basically" mean. DID they, or DIDN'T they? Was there NO packing material whatsoever? Or just not as much as one would reasonably expect for $75?

Then, you make a point (in a fairly ungenerous tone) over the word "basically" as if he's misrepresenting the situation of whether they "DID or DIDN'T", and demand he tells us which.

All-caps, as I'm sure you are aware, signifies shouting. Sometimes all-caps are appropriate for emphasis and sometimes they just look like you're shouting about stuff, especially when coupled with demands and disbelief.

You finished with implying (in weasel words) that he's an asshole.
__

The vitriol I mentioned, began in your next post:

"Oh William: the majority of your comments to me are pure garbage."

How was that to be taken? Should we all just sit back?
This is a community. As you have mentioned, you have been reading BB since day one, you should know how this shit goes, because it happens at least once a week.

"The vitriol started when William and then 3 other people started mini-dogpiling on me, since I was a stranger around here and obviously not allowed to express a negative opinion.."

William politely, and without any personal attack, pointed out the facts. He questioned why anyone would start their posting-life on BB with a petty rant about facts they don't have. I bet lots of people thought the same and said nothing. (yet)

No one else had said anything to you by then, just William, to whom you reacted like a dick.

At that point, you were coming across like a troll (to me at least), and Antinous took the time to politely tell you there was a better way to converse.

It was only after two people had taken the time to politely point out that you were coming across pretty negatively, that I even got involved. I pointed out that saying someone "seems to be" an asshole is, in fact, known as Weasel Words, nothing more. No attack.

Avram politely (and genuinely I presume) asked what you hoped to gain, with your current tack, and made a very good point that Jason didn't owe you the answer you were demanding, and that if he did answer, it was a generous act.

Again (#53), you open with sniping personal shit, and continue to dig the hole deeper.

Takuan responds with, as you put it, an 'inscrutable arcane sentence'. You respond, including calling Tak a schmuck, whilst admitting you didn't get what he had actually meant.

Tenn tried to reason with you too.. with valid, friendly advice. She even tried a joke, which you later turn into another reason to dislike your tone.

Then, we are an "elite little club", and I'm a putz.

More of the same, only now Antinous is less generous, and you list a lot of words that aren't very friendly. Then you get fairly elitist yourself, going on about BB "years ago" and how you tried to console Cory.

At #71, I tried to explain my 'jibe'. Also, now, offering the same advice that everyone else has offered thus far.

__

Yes, you got pounced, because you were acting like a dick. Even with your first post made, if you had backed down when William first responded, and just heard what he was saying instead of going off on one, you wouldn't have been "dog-piled" at all.

FWIW, there is no "privately.." on BB, as far as I know Antinous and Avram are not in nefarious cahoots, it was most likely just a cryptic aside, for grins.
Of course, maybe they are in cahoots and we should all watch our backs, just to be on the safe side.

..and that's the end of that chapta'..

#73

So, by implication, this is a bad vendor?

pffft.. may as well go comatose for the foreseeable..

I mean, I thunk my ass off.

LeavingHalfway:

Have you filled out your 27b/6?

#66

Can I have some of those words too, or are they just for Ant and Tenn?

"I made a humorous, friendly comment to Antinous (see #56) and Arkizzle waded in on it (with his or her "bi-polar" jibe) when he or she clearly didn't even freaking.."

If you read your post-history from the standpoint of never-having-met-you-before (like the rest of us), following the train of thought from your first post to now, it reads like an emotional pendulum, swinging between making 'in' jokes with people you just met, to shouting selected words of the diatribe you are delivering, aggressively, to the same group of people.

It reads quite erratically, hence the '"bi-polar" jibe'.

I truly don't give two shits whether you "clap every little pissy poster on the back", but do you have to start with assuming facts and spouting vitriol?

As has already been mentioned, you could have just asked the 'packing' question, clarified the facts, and then given an opinion. But you didn't, you decided the facts in your head, and chose to act on your conclusions while insulting the person involved, in a way that didn't even have the courage of it's convictions.

If you think he's an asshole, just say so. If you don't have enough information to reliably call him an asshole, don't imply it and then take it back.

In before reliably calling me an asshole :p

Wow, is that what extreme bi-polar looks like?

me: flagged

..I tried to warn you before Antinous..

punch the monkey baby, punch the monkey!

No pop-up, but i tried to "look at this comment" the other day, and when the box popped up, all it was was a microsoft ad, with no submission boxes.. I couldn't submit the comment i was going to , and couldn't submit a 'heads up' to Teresa either..
I retried a couple of times and just ended up resigning it to be done later, and only remembered it now u bought the pop-ups up.

#43

The whole point of the precise tracking is so that it can calculate your fare, no? Call me naive but I doubt there's an ulterior motive.

As mentioned above, the ability to track and log movements through the system, and tie them to an individual through ticket identity (season or not) or bank details was in place long before the Oystercard system. Further, it was a direct response to the terrorism that the rail and tube networks had seen over the years.

So yes and no.

I've definitely heard ppl on this board (astro-turfing presumably) arguing against any reform of Tibet's situation, and for China remaining in control, by using the exact argument mentioned by Tenn, above, and offering no middle way.

It is not unknown.

Also, I don't think Tenn is saying there is only one way or the other, I think she is suggesting that something needs to be done rather than nothing.

#6

"The earliest trials in 2004 featured a 4x4 inch grid of electrodes to translate incoming.."

THEY WERE GREAT!

well done Sis fer gittin' 'em, and well done Antinous fer posin' 'em!

Nice Game people.

You mean you've just been preening my feathers?

"seems to be" "doesn't seem to be"

Weasel Words

Wow!

And a second to Rocky & Bullwinkle :)

* sound of air bubbling through trachea *

...n.. no.. not.. not.. the.. the.. lasss.. last.. ..riitteess...

Nooooooo!

* flock of birds, startled into flight *

Kaw Kaw Kaw!

#7

FTW!

I could not agree more with their number one choice.

CLIP #01: "We're sorry, but the clip you selected isn't available from your location. Please select another clip."

Dammit!

..you mean there's NO gay fire fighters?

Wow, I never knew that..

And: "We will not survive as a culture if we are weak"

*chuckle*

I didn't know people still talked like that.. What in the world does it mean in this context Jeff?

Harrumph!

well that's the last time I take a bullet for you bunch of ingrates..

(unless of course this is the last post, in which case I'm doing it under duress, and not out of a friendly sense of loyalty, hah!)

My Oyster is unregistered..

London Underground has been able to track travelcard movements (season and single) in detail for decades. Now I suppose it's easier to associate specific information to that card, like Chip&Pin or CC info.

Hmm.. never came across Billy Roll, but in Holland I ate this stuff when times were bad. It was always the cheapest thing in the shop, so a few slices of 'clown face' and a loaf of turkish bread kept us alive when the chips were down..

Never again! (until the bad times are back, I suppose)

#24
Wow, that's not the Israeli army I know.. (maybe not gitmo, but yes to the wiretapping and erosion of civil rights, plus sledge-hammer surgical strikes and multiple collateral damage.. a sour ring indeed)

Also, I thought Antaginous (Antagonistus really, but mine flows better) was GREAT!

I'm going to reappropriate it and use it apropo (or specifically non-apropo, maybe) from now on.. like when you're pulling hair, or when you get a bit bitey.

Frankly, I don't think you're bitey enough.

I gave a guy my coat once..

Once.

Tenn, I know some high roller casinos.. wanna come make mad loot?

#49

dammit! :)

Also: nice that we have the specs to defeat it.

You think I'd let you guys lose? On your own?

Go on.. Go on without me, I'll hold these bastards back, GO!

I always knew it'd end this way, on my own in some malaria filled trench on the wrong side of Ho Chi Minh.. No ammo, no hope, damn it! Just this one grenade and a whole mess of VC wanting to meet me real bad..

DON'T LOOK BACK! JUST RUUUNNNN!!!

Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat! Rat-Tat-Tat!

Krak! BOOOM!!

Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat!!

* strains of Adagio For Strings playing in my mind *

(go on, I'll wait. open the link in another window and read my post again, it's much better)

hmm.. i thought phantom menace was a great guess :)

one word eh?

OK, this waaaay off, but i'm gonna let u in on my pain..

Aragon?? :

ARA = Tsunami = Wave "The model parameters for aerodynamic roughness from below (ARB) and wave-dependent roughness from above (ARA, z_0a) are assumed equal."

GONe = Invisible

god damn.. i'm stumped, even after a brute force attack on wikiP sci-fi film list.

Antinous,

A word to the wise (while I try to restrain SisterY):

Each time you pose a game, you have to state the topic or category, otherwise we'll never get it..

..and coz it's the rules dammit!

Derryl @42

Actually, I genuinely couldn't see what your sentence was trying to convey until MissLauraLee pointed it out. It was either the way u wrote it or the way I read it.. meh.

However, I would put on a not-too-shakey bet, that people who own digital cameras, and have the opportunity to post their photos to the internet, and be analysed and tracked by a government, probably also have access to the 'reading' section of the internet, and may even have the good taste to read BB and Instructables.

Do I think we should restrict our own knowledge because Teh Pedoz'll use it to their own nefarious ends? No. I suspect there are FAR more politically endangered people in the world than pedo' endangered ones.

The people paying for this research are the government, the airforce and the military. Not the anti-NAMBLA groups, not parents of harmed children.

Do you think the military will share such a nice toy as this? I doubt it.

Have fun fun fun :)

Nice, it's no trouble, is it?

Also, Antinous:

You dastardly rogue. I can hardly think of answers, for the war going on between my brain and my finger, hovering over the link you posted.. I wanna guess the answer! BUT I WANNA CLICK THE LINK!

evil.

Tenn:

Nice blog yo!

..and nice masks too. I like Jimmy.

I've been missing out on all the fun! :(

Tak, I think u need to ramp up your invocation spell to reach the UK.. I didn't even get a tingly spine, and how's that gonna work out when "the day" finally comes? pfft.

I was gonna pose 'Dark Crystal' to Antinous, but it's not 'snarky'.. nor current.. emmm..

(Also: Antinous is on board! Woo!)

Antinous, near enough :)

I was away and didn't get to vote! :(

curses..

ok.. one small addition that makes it complete.

Cory

..and a PLO scarf :)

you know he does.

shucks you guys.. *blush*

Antinous

Here is a cat that looks a lot like Cory

Seriously Xopher, if all that came out of this marathon, was the words you wrote about your conversation with god, then it was all worth it.

I'll say it once more, you really spoke to me. That was some beautiful humanity right there. I would frame those words if I were you, I might even frame them myself. Although I'm not gay, the parts about god wanting you to live a life alone, are powerful.
Really.

Thank you for taking the time to organise your thoughts so eloquently, and thank you for posting them.

Xopher's Treatise to God FTW!

#13 LICENSE FARM

I presume this is the picture you were linking to above..

Hah! It's uncanny!

Also, are you actually suggesting you would accept alien seeding on Earth as the start of life here? Do you really mean aliens are an acceptable conclusion to intelligent design?

In fact, that idea does not go against evolution at all. As many have pointed out, evolution does not speak to the origins of life, only to the mechanism of it's variety and complexity.

I for one, find it infinitly more probable that an alien species seeded Earth a billion years ago, than god zapped it into existence (along with the universe) a mere few thousand. That however is not my conclusion.

Seriously Evidence, you may still be here asking and answering questions politely, but I'm finding your manner increasingly unhelpful, your unwillingness to actually engage the ideas being presented to you (generously and clearly) comes across as passive-aggression.

People are writing you multi-hundred word treatise' on various ideas, trying their level-best to responded point-for-point to your propositions, and you respond with single sentence parries, more about word play than truth.

If you put as much effort, thought and clarity into even one of your answers as the folks here are doing over and over, you would seem at least like a participant who respected his opponents (opponent in the debating sense only) and worthy of the time and effort you have been shown.

I think you are toying (consciously or not) with people here, and would ask that you either start making yourself VERY MUCH CLEARER, using verbose unambiguous language, or resign the conversation, because it is not helping anyone at all.

#609

"I did not trust that the text was Your Word when it came to the facts of Creation, because before it existed you gave us a truer Word, which is Nature itself, and the text contradicts what we can observe."

..and the rest. Beautiful.

#32

What does that even mean?

Did anyone follow the link to Jessica Fridrich's website? She's the specialist conducting the noise signature research.

Turns out, besides arming the machine to hunt down freedom-lovin' photo-bloggers, she's a crazy fast Rubik's Cuber achieving up to TEN MOVES A SECOND ! !

Check out this video of her solving the cube in 14.33 seconds, and read about the multiple conditional algorithms (up to 100) she uses in her head, to achieve it.

I think we're gonna need more that a little bit of 'add noise' to beat this one.. Mental.

"Why would you reject His salvation?"

Why would you assume Xopher needed saving?

"Get this straight once and for all...America has only gotten to be powerful from subjegation or outright anhillation of any person or persons who are believed to be dangerous in even the most minute way, to the country."

Quick! Someone call the president, I think we have the answer to "Why does the world hate America?".

"I smiled when you condemned it the first time."

Good, so did I.

The second time, I was reasserting to HemiDemiSemiQuaver that I'm allowed have an opinion unrelated to my abilities.

Please excuse both the capitals and the repetition.

HEMI:

"..if you can't deal with.."

Once again, why are you having to reduce my opinion to my ability to 'deal' with modal editing?

"12-year-olds can remember complex key combos.."

So.. I'm less able than a 12 year old? I don't follow..

Seriously, you need to step back, and hear me say I DON'T LIKE IT, not I'm so retarded I can't use hotkeys or combos.

There is no comparison to Photoshop to make. Nor did I mention Vim. As I understand it, Vi still follows the letter-navigation convention.

__

XOPL, I almost fully agree with you. You are right, vi is just anther editor that I will use or not.

I originally said 'fuck vi' lightheartedly, thinking all the ppl who have stuggled with it, might get a giggle, because it has a reputation for being an cumbersome beast.

Still, I don't like it. Either I have a valid opinion, and am allowed to joke with people who may or may not share that opinion - but who definitely know enough to understand the opinion, and laugh or not.. or I'm a "big fat baby".

That's a toughy.

Hep:

How does 2.5 mm thinner relate to HALF the volume, or HALF the battery capacity?

Also, and I could be wrong, but I'd imagine that the 2.5 mm is actually the depth (the thinner side of the phone), not the width (or girth as you called it).
__

And this story is running on many other sites.. still a rumour, but that is what it is being reported as.

http://news.google.com/?ncl=1154976847&hl=en

But how much actual drug could you fit into one?

I didn't see this info in the article, but I wonder if an active amount of anything other that LSD would fit in there. Perhaps they are intended to be used in.. flocks? teams? .. eh .. help me out somone.

Also, noticed they are called Voxels, so when they do eventually get drug-drugs in there, we can say "let's Vox' pop!" ..ugh

RIP Albert Hofmann

"Instead of all of this energy and effort directed at the war to end drugs, how about a little attention to drugs which will end war?"
-AH

Thank you for the worlds Albert, I wandered them entranced.
__

Everyone else: read this book..
Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream

I forgot to write, against the exam method I mentioned, that besides not memorizing codes, it's standard practice to compile to check for errors, multiple times before anything works.. So the exam is unrealistic in a real-world scenario.

(I understand this wasn't directed at me, but..)

You think that's the choice any of us are making? Based on what we'll say on judgement day?

How about, none of it stands up, so getting to judgement day was never even an issue.

If I ever get to meet a god, on any day, I'll have a lot of things to say and questions to ask, but they won't be about rabbits or cud, nor about my lack of faith.

Emm, not really. I was just showing a better line of mistranslations, that Khatru may have employed to better service his point.

I don't think you have any valid proof to be honest. So far it has just been dodging and weaving, and ambiguous language.

If you have some books or articles you think I'd enjoy on the subject, please do share them.

I'm not demanding anything of you Evidence, because I don't think you can give it, and that will just leave me disappointed or frustrated, like Xopher above, and so many others in similar conversations around the world.

Funny thing is, when I was being taught C, the exams were to write a program that could do 'x', and we had to write it with pencil and paper. No syntax highlighting, no compiling to see if it works, just write the code, eye-ball for mistakes and hand it in.

This is both clever and counter-intuitive.. It makes you not rely on the computer/highlighting to jog ur memory, and makes you understand rather than memorize..

But it also doesn't take into account that all but the most hardcore programmers don't memorize all the codes they will ever need, and will either reference books or google regularly.

It isn't remembering codes that makes a programmer, it's understanding syntax and knowing how to break down a task into useful chunks.

"This prophecy does not announce explicitly, in the Hebrew text.."

Also note, they have differentiated between "the Hebrew text" and the translations, suggesting they have different (or varied, at least) meanings. Suggesting the KJV is probably inaccurate.

I believe you are right, it is Isaias.

Basically the articles I've read dispute the word 'almah' when 'betulah' would be more technically correct, and in fact, more the norm of the time and of current times.

There is a long standing debate on this subject, which has been addressed by both the church (inc. the pope) and it's detractors over the centuries. Oddly however, the papal stance, was that it did not signify a virgin birth.

The Papal Catechism:

"This prophecy does not announce explicitly, in the Hebrew text, the virginal birth of the Emmanuel: the word used (almah), in fact, signifies quite simply a young lady and not necessarily a virgin. Besides, we know that the Jewish tradition did not propose the ideal of perpetual virginity, nor has it ever expressed the idea of a virginal motherhood."

There is quite a good article on jews for jesus that seems pretty unbiased:

"One cannot assert that the prophet was speaking of a virgin technically on the basis of the word almah. Nor can a serious student lightly dismiss the word as having no possible reference to a miraculous conception."

So, between us, we are probably not going to reach a satisfactory conclusion here. Maybe we should try anyway, if only for the media coup it would give BB.

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Meh, go to bed, I'll call you if it turns ugly.

*imagining what coders turning ugly might look like*

..not much different - ZING! :p

N, there are 12 colours, so I suppose I can actually colour-code 12 senders individually, or maybe 12 groups of multiple senders..

So, I suppose, if I can make my grouping efficient, and pertinant, yes. Realistically I just have some mailing-lists I'm on (using the yukky MajorDomo) and my girlfriend colour-coded. The rest of my mail is just random or noise that I haven't seen the need to label.

Also, re: the filtering, I personally just set filters as I need them. But you can do actions in gmail, like "filter messages like these" when you have a selection selected.

Or you can do custom filters using the following: From / To / Subject / Has The Words / Doesn't Have / Has Attachments.

From there you can tag, label, colour, forward to another address, delete..

It's probably not as uber functional as some progs, but I really like it for what I need it for.

A great feature is consolidation of all your addresses. Once you can prove you have access to an address, you can send from it - from within gmail, and because gmail supports forwarding, you can set up mulitple accounts for different things and have them filter/forward to your main address. So you only ever have to access one account, but can send from your work/friends/shopping/porn address.

Arkizzle:
You are ignorant.

O noes!

That's a little broad, friend, seeing as how I made reference to a single program, of which you know nothing of my experience. And you granted the only point I was actually making, so what's up?

Yes, "all extremely powerful software has a steep learning curve", does that mean I have to like this one? NO

And don't even imply that maybe I was saying 'fuck vi' because I prefer Word.. please.

I use all sorts of programs, that I have sacrificed time, sanity and social standing to learn over the course of years. Terminal apps, web, 2d, 3d, music.. mostly they are pretty complicated and powerful. You have no grounds to call me ignorant of anything.

Get to know me, there will be plenty of reasons to call me ignorant, this time however, I have my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Repeat: FUCK Vi

I'm not sure if you are saying that in 1600, young women tended to be inexperienced sexually or that the meaning of the word 'virgin' in 1600 was explicitly unsexual.

Our modern ideas of sex, and our modern projections of what we think the sexual practices of the ages past, are very likely misguided, to say the least. History's glossy surface, is often troubled by real life's inevitable tarnish.

Also, the word virgin has had a sexual connotation since around 1300:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity#Etymology

In defense of the translation though, 'almah' does not explicitly mean virgin, but the social norms of the time would probably preclude the discussion.

It's an interesting debate though.

Evidence, sorry, I didn't reload between reading your "back to the lizards line" and posting my "back to the virgin" one.

No Evidence, for a moment, back to the 'virgin' :)

COW, thanks for the (second :p) clarification.

Your first comment just read like so many similar (but serious) comments I've read over the years, about everything from macs to coding to usenet to bbs'. So, props to you for getting the tone right I suppose.

Personally I am a hand-coder, simply because it's how I started. I remember, when it came out, trying to use 'Composer' in Netscape Communicator to wysiwyg some pages together.. I was rightly appalled and ran straight back to my textEditor.

That said, it was 11 years ago, and shit musta changed by now. I have no doubt DW is a solid program (if a little code-bloated in output), and like all great programs, it's results can be vastly improved by understanding what is going on under the bonnet ('hood' if ur from the US)..

However, Yish:

FUCK Vi

Fuck it to hell and back. (precluding all the vi-boys: yes it can do stuff, but its pure grief to figure out)

#14, yeh, you can colour code senders and subjects in GMail.. and use filters to direct mail to various folders. it's just not a hassle at all, a couple of clicks and some typing in each instance. And conversations are grouped anyway, a feature which I've loved since moving to GMail.

Also, Gmail's spam blocker is second to none. I got maybe 5 or 10 spams in the first few months of them setting up shop, since then I NEVER get spam. EVER.

OTOH I was assigned an Outlook WebAccess account for work-related stuff, and it's the worst interface/spam-handler/intuitive program I've used in many years. In it I get TONS of spam. And the exchange server is set to deliver the spam anyway (just updated with marked subject line), so I have to delete them one-by-one anyway! CLEVER.

And if you use it in a non Windows environment you can't change the filter options. Meaning you can't filter spam (the 50% the exchange server catches anyway) if you are on Linux or OSX, thanks Microsoft!

Caipirina:

"" The sun rose late on that December morning, illuminating hundreds of men squatting in the fields next to the tracks, mile after mile, their asses towards the train, pooping on the same ground hundreds of men had pooped on every single day before.

Men only. Modesty forces women to poop in the fields before sunrise, or to hold it until after the sun sets. ""

Now, I know we could just say it's up to the girls to define the limits of their own 'modesty', but it's just not that simple. If it was easy to do as you please, there would be no caste system, no untouchables, no invisibles. But there is.

'Modesty' is the same reason women in some islamic societies have to cover their bodies and faces. We don't just say, "throw off the burqa, there is no law in the Quran about it", we accept that the society in question dictates these norms, and that there would be much trouble if ignored.

However, I for one am happy to call for these women's daylight poop rights! (and ending the Indian caste system, burning burqas, letting Saudi women drive.. )

COW, really?

Is that where you want to drag this?

Into an *ugh* mac vs windows debate? You had a potentially valid point in the first place, but by the time you had written 'Mac' for the third time, in that derogatory tone, you had laboured it past usefulness.

Meh.

Agent, agreed, the sentences are virtually the same, albeit arranged differently.

A weak point indeed, I'm sure there are much better examples of differently translated passages..

...

A quick google revealed the altogether more profound mistranslation of the word "almah" (young woman) into the greek word "parthenos" (virgin!), here, starting the now dogmatically unquestionable myth of the virgin-birth.

Also here, the mistranslation of the word "Ekklesia" as "church", when it actually means "assembly" in a completely secular way. This was decreed specifically by King James in his rules of translation:

"" Two of the rules which King James made mandatory affected the translation of the Greek word "ekklesia":

Article 1. The ordinary Bible read in the Church, commonly called the Bishops Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the truth of the original will permit.

Article 3. The old Ecclesiastical Words to be kept, viz. the Word Church not to be translated Congregation etc. ""

This other site has a lot more studies in a similar vein.

Antinous, I didn't mean that kind of suga'.. It was very punny though :)

Sis', I always thought it was age related.. I even double checked on wikipedia before I posted!

And Tenn? She's clearly wise, far beyond her years.

Also, thank you :)

I hope that's a reference to my incredible (tired) EnigmaBrain, and not an assumption of age, kōhai.. We may be closer than you think.

And where's my bloody cookie!!

I think I need some sugar.

SCUBA SM

SOLVED!

""[I'll] see your cognitive excess and raise you one headache. I will give a virtual cookie to whoever...*"

morse→binary→morse→hex

Yes, looks like your comment did get chomped, there was also a stray "," and a number "9" in your 2nd binary transformation.

I have a headache, now where's my cookie?

..and a nude pic of Takuan..

Wait.. you've seen Takuan with clothes ON?
I didn't realize we made clothes in that... shape.

__

I can't believe this thread is still going to be honest, the answers that have been offered have been pretty damn good; clear, concise and verbose.

Even with little or no useful information from Evidence (per all the quality answers offered), everyone seems to be on their uber friendliest/helpful behaviour, even the ones that have sounded snarky. We're on post #439 of this shit for goodness sake!

Seriously, mad props all 'round for the level-threadedness, even to Evidence, for actually returning day after day to continue to investigate and chat.. somewhat one-sidedly on the info-ratio in fairness, but not at least, from the woefully misinformed high-horse he started on.

You guys have learnt to make friends! :)

(what ever happened to ol' MoonBatz?) ← entirely rhetorical..

Oops! -10 HP & -10 Sanity for accidentally naming He Who Shall Not Be Named..

..does that even count as invocation? ← not rhetorical..

#359

Well, you see Ant, that's the problem, I'm tit-led as well, But That's OK!

The point is this: we can enjoy tits without having to go through the rigmarole of seeing nice boobs, wanting said boobs, following boob's instructions, taking wallet out, paying for something, walking outside, taking the wrapper off the new item, only to find no new boobs.

I mean, how much longer can we suffer the constant and repeated disappointment (a barrage, if you will), of being led by boobs into situations, only to emerge on the other side, with a new BBQ grill and no jumblies!

It's about taking back our desires, and not letting ad-men toy with them; dangling our deepest wants before us, whilst whispering booby promises in our ears..

THIS MUST STOP! THERE ARE NO BOOBS THIS WAY!

However Antinous, I have heard your message of inclusion, and admit I was shortsighted in excluding both gay men and straight women (and anyone else who didn't fit neatly into the two former categories).

Why should Boob and Moob alike, not be cherished and protected from this insidious menace of commercial exploitation. Join with me, ALL.

I think we need a manifesto..

Hands Off Our Boobs!

Un-Tit-Led

Re: Un-Tit-Led One

Or, maybe he was outting himself, and doesn't like boobs at all ! ! !

*gasp*

#141 Kawika

"Untitled = No breasts going forward."

While I laud your fine word-snoopery, I fear you have been caught up in the politics of your own time, and missed the political mire of the moment. I shall now reveal why I am more the semantic detective than you.

Mark was making a very clear statement, to all the agents of media and product dissemination worldwide, to the effect that advertising relying on scantilly clad women, will no longer have an effect on him. In his own cryptic way, he has named himself:

the Un-Tit-Led One //cue: Inspirational 'making a point' muisic//

If only more of us, hetero men and lesbian women alike, could throw off the shackles of ages, and not be unduly influenced by these friendly, jelly appendages. Herded into unnecessary purchasing decisions, blindly Led by Tit, as it where, into relinquishing our hard earned sheckles for some un-tit-related chicanery.

Of course this position, doesn't infringe upon the love-of-bosoms itself, quite the opposite, it states that boob-love is unconditional, and will not be cheapened nor appropriated by the likes of one product or another. That we will not be coerced any longer, that boobs will not compromise our good sense of value, and judgement.

Now let us go, and all be Un-Tit-Led Ones, that tits can return to where they should be, cupped in the loving palm of one who truly worships their ever-loving power.

Who's with me!

Holy Shit!

Gibson? Prachett?! Haldeman?!!

Rollin' with tha big dogs!

Well done Cory!

Jordan, the only sensible, fact based comment of the whole thread.. nice.

~ or ~

Citation Needed!

WHOA!

Steady on there Mark, we're all friends here.

There are opinions, and then there's just base slander, and you sir, are veering very close to the line indeed.

I shall away, and bid you good day sir!

This Just In!

""In the first analysis of proteins extracted from dinosaur bones, scientists say they have established more firmly than ever that the closest living relatives of the mighty predator Tyrannosaurus rex are modern birds.""

""“Our results at the genetic level basically agree with what has been seen in skeletal data,” John M. Asara of Harvard said in a telephone interview. “There is more than a 90 percent probability that the grouping of T. rex with living birds is real.”""

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/science/25dino.html?hp

It is feasible and does not take great faith to believe it.

Sources?

Are most you biblically illiterate or have never really consider it?

I'd say plenty on here have perused more of the bible, than plenty of people who portend to go by it's word.

Takuan, I always wanted tabi when I was a kid.. for years.

Never got em though, and I'd feel like a plonker getting them today.. ya know, now I'm "retired" from all that ninja business.

An let min p0wnz0r becuz tehy has can openers

O hai maek bebehs kthx

Haha haha ha

In before Australia and Jamaica aren't in Europe ;p

#72/74

Actually it is only a questions of degrees, between US possession laws and European ones. Of the countries I can speak of:

In Ireland it is absolutely illegal, and they will charge and fine/jail you for varying amounts of dope (including 'personal').

In the UK it was only recently (2004) re-classified from class B to C, and is in hearing at the minute as to whether they will change it back, on account of recent evidence to cannabis's harmfulness. Even at class C, it still merits a 2 year stint for possession.

From the Home Office recommendation:
It is unlikely that adults caught in possession of cannabis will be arrested. Most offences of possession result in a warning and confiscation of the drug. But some instances may lead to arrest and possible caution or prosecution..

In the Netherlands, cannabis is only decriminalized (not legal). Again, for varying amounts and situations, you can still be charged. Also, contrary to popular belief, not all of the Netherlands is favourable to smoking, Amsterdam and Den Haag being the big main two proponents.

In France it is absolutely illegal, but they make a distinction between use and possession/trafficking/production (only since 1994 though). 'Use' can get you up to two years, and possession/trafficking/production up to 10 years.

In Australia it is illegal (contrary to a lot of stories you seem to hear), but may be looked upon leniently in different states/regions.

Even in Jamaica it is illegal, although it is always a contentious political issue.

That said however, here is a snip from an article about the UN criticizing governments who have eased the cannabis laws in their countries, both to illustrate the fact that some Euro countries do have decriminalized cannabis laws, and to show that the UN is going to make it very hard for any country choosing to ease their laws:

UN RAPS EU COUNTRIES OVER CANNABIS LET-UP

VIENNA, Austria -- Some European Union countries are "undermining international law" by relaxing rules against cannabis, the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board ( INCB ) said today.

INCB officials rapped Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain for decriminalising the cultivation and possession of cannabis for personal use, in the board's annual report published in Vienna today.

And it slammed the Netherlands, where cannabis is on sale for recreational use in coffee-shops, as well as draft Swiss legislation, which it sees as a move towards legalising cannabis, for breaching UN conventions.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n354.a05.html

There is a list of cannabis's various legality around the world here, on everyonedoesit.co.uk.

But in the Book of Evolution, is it not written:

"Let no man be still, for his genetics are not."
Ev 29:12

And does Jesus not ruminate:

"Blessed are the monkeys, for amongst them we have a common cousin."
Ev 40:15

I can't remember any more, I'm sure the you other readers can look up your bibles and include some more.

Well, Christiaan Postma just wrote back.

There's wil be no flash version! :(

The good news, however, is that he's looking into producing full-sized versions of the ³clock², to sell.

I look forward..

#17

That was their joke.