Reply to Baden Saves a lot of time. Here's my speech for whoever dies next: "Your life was like a vacuum cleaner. After sucking up shit all your life, you overheated and your heart blew up. I went to the store to get a replacement but apparently the warranty ran out. Bummer."
Ah wait, I think I got it. The Georgia Tech football team played in Dublin and won too, right? Well done, lads. :cheer: Anyhow, tell them and the fans to get themselves down to the Wild Atlantic Way if they have time. Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway are the places to be. :cool:
You suggested government control of the healthcare industry?
So what happens in a jury trial in Georgia is that a Plaintiff can submit his medical bills for consideration to the jury. The medical bills submitted do not represent the amount that has ever been paid by an actual person, but they are represented as the fees the doctor is charging. The doctors inflate their bills to whatever they think they can get away with. The defense attorney can argue they are unreasonable, but ultimately the jury decides who to believe. This has created massive overbilling and has caused settlements and verdicts far beyond what should be provided based upon these inflated bills.
Other states have limited the amount a Plaintiff can present based upon a multiplier of the medical bill amounts paid by Medicare. The good Mr. DeSantis pushed through such a law, but the good Mr. Kemp could not get enough support for such dramatic change.
So, if your question is whether a jury should be regulated by a statute as to what it should consider as an award for medical bills, I think so based upon the abuse that currently exists. To the extent this sounds like a nod toward government control, the whole thing is a government creation, including the jury trial, the power afforded juries, the power afforded judges, and everything in between.
You are in healthcare, so if you've ever had a chance to look at the chargemaster bill from the hospital, you will see that it lists amounts charged that are paid in full by less than 5% of the population, with most paying either reduced private pay amounts, negotiated insurance rates, preset workers comp rates, or government controlled medicare or medicaid rates. That is, even when a Plaintiff submits a bill from a hospital to a jury to consider, the amount on the face of the bill is a pure fabrication created for whatever purpose, but the Plaintiff's use that bill because it's the highest available.
This is the problem known as "phantom billing," a riveting topic discussed before a group of insurance defense attorneys by the good Mr. Hanover. Mostly it consisted of a middle aged man ranting, occassionally going off the rails and talking about random events so as to fill the full hour alloted.
Reply to frank You can read this Georgia Supreme Court case and learn all about this.
As I noted that less than 5% paid the full published billing rate, that number is actually 1.16%, which is quoted in the Supreme Court opinion:
"For the relevant years pre-dating this lawsuit, the percentage of TMC patients who paid less than the chargemaster rate was 98.84 percent, while only 1.16 percent paid the full rate."
Despite this finding, the Court found for the hospital and held that it was not fraudulent for the hospital to enforce a lien in the amount of the chargemaster rate against the patient.
Reply to Hanover
Who is supporting the status quo? Don't insurance companies lobby?
Medicare pays hospitals by diagnosis. If 10 people are hospitalized for pneumonia, Medicare pays the same amount for each person (I think the payouts are set by region). If something goes wrong inside the hospital, like a hospital acquired infection, Medicare won't pay for the treatment, thus hospitals are super vigorous about avoiding them. I think all other health insurance providers use Medicare as a model, so their base payouts are controlled by Medicare.
Who is supporting the status quo? Don't insurance companies lobby?
Really good question. The auto insurers are largely footing this bill in personal injury cases. The GTLA (Georgia Trial Lawyers Assn) controls the legislature and laws. The reason the auto insurers don't spend money fighting them is that Georgia is largely deregulated, meaning insurers don't need governmental approval for rate increases. They therefore respond to increased benefit payouts by increasing premiums and they maintain their profits. The consumer ultimately pays for the higher verdicts and settlements.
If the insurers couldn't respond with higher premiums, due to regulators trying to protect consumers, the insurers would threaten to leave the market and force a compromise.
That's typically what happens in regulated states when insurers can't be profitable.
Wells Fargo Worker Found Dead At Her Desk Four Days After Clocking In
Arizona officials are investigating the death of Denise Prudhomme, 60, who was discovered by a colleague
Officials in Arizona are investigating the death of a Wells Fargo employee who scanned into her office on a Friday morning and was found dead at her desk four days later.
As if reasons were needed, this demonstrates why one should avoid terminally boring work in soulless offices where dropping dead doesn't attract much attention.
@Hanover: Since she was at her desk--round the clock for several days--attempting to fulfill her duties, shouldn't she be eligible for overtime and weekend pay?
Will the next employee at least get a fresh chair?
Since she was at her desk--round the clock for several days--attempting to fulfill her duties, shouldn't she be eligible for overtime and weekend pay?
Under federal law, she's entitled to time and a half for overtime, but these sorts of unapproved extra hours are strictly forbidden in the employee manual, not to mention sleeping on the job. So, sure, she got her overtime, but she's fired. She got them this time, but this isn't happening again.
Because the death occurred at work, she's also entitled to her workers comp benefits, which hopefully should pay her overtime parking fee.
The next employee will only get a new chair because another employee has already stolen her old one. Another has been using her fob to get into the supply cabinet and has been delighting his children with free notepads and pens each day when he rolls home from work.
The difficultly the company now has, and one I sympathize with, is they must find another Denise Prudhomme to hire in order to save on the cost of buying a new desk name plate for her desk.
This is why profitable companies only hire Bob Smiths and the like.
this demonstrates why one should avoid terminally boring work in soulless offices where dropping dead doesn't attract much attention.
Life imitates art. This mirrors a fictional scenario in David Foster Wallace's (unfinished novel) "The Pale King" where a worker is found dead at his desk several days after passing away, colleagues remarking that they noticed nothing wrong and just thought he was hunkering down. The novel is largely about soulless jobs and boredom (the IRS is the setting).
Speaking of boredom, one really boring thing that happened to me today was that I was sitting at my desk at home (which desk I bought because I wanted to remind myself of work without having to work because of the pleasant feeling of relief that could engender (the reminding bit) because of the highlighting of the contrast between work and home while being at home during said highlighting--oh, and please excuse the unnecessary proliferation of subordinating conjunctions here that I can't currently think of a convenient way to avoid not to mention the unnecessary proliferation of just like, words, right now. Weird, but anyway) so and but the point being the boring thing was that exactly nothing was happening and I had zero idea or will to modify the situation because every option that arose in my apparently extremely limited imagination seemed even more boring than just doing nothing, so out of probably--though self-analysis is not my strong point admittedly--sheer spite, I decided to write a pointlessly periphrastic post in the Shoutbox that expressed virtually nothing but would hopefully function to inflict some of my boredom on anyone who suffered the misfortune of reading it.
OK, so clearly I was just joshin' you guys, haha, you know me, full of laughs. in actual truth of the fact of the matter, my day was really interesting and that's "interesting" not just with a capital I but a whole friggin capitalised first syllable baby as in "INteresting" so that you don't even need an intensifier before said word with that capitalization just acting even more intensely through sheer power and originality of written expression that I am now at this very moment emphasizing and making even more powerful with aforementioned said emphasis. But let us not get distracted here from the main point which is the actual fact of the matter in real life and not at all abstract but actual "INTERESTING" thing that (and, yes, I am going full capitalization now and not at all holding back because again I am determined to convey in written form without any stupid gimmicks like other words, ha! but just in a pure and real uncircumlocutory way in that just one single solitary word undorned by supplementary, excessive, and/or redundant vocabularic additions the sheer potency and excitement of what today occurred to make it as it was, which was... Eh, never mind.)
I wasn't sure entirely what you were writing (but having thought for several minutes about the contrast between your jocular tone and (albeit, with a knowing smirk about the irrelevance and irreverence of the presentation (cf the indifference with which the elaborative and elaborate circumlocution in this post, which, though a clear modification of the original style, mimics the frustration of any sense of narrative closure in the source material*), though I liked the self referential use of formatting errors.
Reply to Baden I thank you for your most gentlemanly expression of your day. What a delightful life you lead, filling my mind with the images of your existence that to a man of your magnificence is simple and mundane, but to me in my most humble station, the images i conjur up are of angels fluttering down from heaven and coating me in their divine droppings, differing from the waste of ordinary pigeons in both bulk and aroma.
I wish dear sir that I could share its exquisite flavor with you, as it carries with it that elusive butterscotch taste only available above the firmament. So tender is the excrement that you'd swear it was bitch slapped by the angry hand of God's mama.
Better than your average post. I take credit for inspiring you to new literary heights.
Please dear sir, you shouldn't take mere credit for inspiring, but you should take full credit for all that I am. I am but the dirt beneath the worm's belly compared to to you, and I even feel boasting to present myself this proudly next to you. With me, I spend hours spinning phrases still to sound like a screaming unteated babe when you can belch and still sound of the most eloquent statesman.
I got my worms in yesterday and I've put them in a cooler with a bunch of dirt and rotten tomatoes. There were 500 lively little critters. It took forever to name each one and send in the registration papers. They're full breed worms.
I know. I know. I should have adopted them from the pound, but the full breed are more predictable and just so damn cute.
"Keep your crazy shit in the garage"
Guess who might have said that. That's a bit less than an embracing welcome I daresay.
Baden,
Such sucksink cryptography only to be found in the bs of the s/b of such a premier forum such as this and even then only to be found in the posts of few such sucksink cryptographers. Such a rare experience.
Ned Kelly smile
I appreciate your effort, Ned, but my advice for future compliments would be to avoid the word "suck" as it makes it almost seem like you're not really giving a compliment but saying that the person "sucks" and so on.
It also reminds me of this other Twilight Zone episode (maybe you've seen this one @Shawn) where a guy (it was the sixties--it's almost always a guy) discovers a weird permanent vortex in his bathtub. As he's examining it, his dog jumps up and starts licking him and he gets annoyed and pushes the dog and the dog falls into the bathtub /vortex and disappears. Just completely disappears. No trace.
So, this is the plot device that alerts the guy to the fact the vortex is deadly but leaves no evidence of its deadliness. This is important because the context is the guy is a "henpecked" husband who hates his wife.
So, yes, he calls her into the bathroom and you don't see the push but you see him come out with a satisfied smile on his face and you know...
So, there is some stuff with the police after that, but no evidence, no crime. And guess what, his wife isn't the only person he hates. His boss, too, who he has to kiss up to at work. So, he invites him round for dinner and, yes, into the vortex he goes.
All seems to be going well for our budding serial killer, who has other targets springing to mind. Except... Soon after he's got rid of his boss, we see him standing in the bathroom staring proudly at his vortex when suddenly someone comes flying through it, lands on the bathroom floor then stands up and looks at the man.
"Who are you? Who are you?' The new arrival shouts. And then "She pushed me!"'
The penny drops. The vortex doesn't kill, it just sends the "victim" to another vortex.
The protagonist's shocked face. The sound of sirens outside the window.
The End.
EDIT: There's kind of a plot hole where you wonder why the cops didn't find out straight away if the wife went to another vortex where presumably she'd call to get help immediately, but then there was some indication somewhere that the trip through the vortex was not immediate but took some time. Can't remember the details of that though.
Your wife objects to your worm farm as a means to turn table scraps into high-potency compost?
I try desperately to save the planet, but all she sees is her cooler full of worms. Quoting frank
I saved an earthworm today. It was almost dried out from locomoting around on a dry floor.
The most difficult part of naming worms is that most prefer the last name Worms, but some use the German pronunciation of Vorms and others Worms. They get so pissy when I get it wrong. How am I to remember?
Saw a big hairy black pig today. It had some beech woods to itself. It was snuffling around and munching on the beech nuts. I'm not a porcophile but I did think to myself, "good life for pig".
Later I heard reggae up on the moors. I was surprised, as you can imagine.
Seems like it'd get kinda boring after the first few thousand years or so...
Besides, respect, rather, social admiration, specifically the need for it, is just a crutch people who never developed purpose and identity use to detract from an inner, almost constantly reviving sense of worthlessness, often the result of degrading experiences, perhaps par for the course of life, perhaps incredibly worse from the result of, as they say, "being dealt a bad hand".
Reply to Hanover According to a report in Worm City News, stinging worms have washed up on the shores of Texas. The little bastards have tubules containing venom between their segments. The stings are very painful. Crabs are fond of stinging worms for lunch.
Texans deserve stinging worms. We are thankful that they cannot migrate northward on land.
Now that Lumbricinas have wormed their way into your heart, you will want to subscribe to Worm City News. I just read a fascinating story in the society section of WCN about the giant Gippsland earthworm in Australia which is 3+ feet long and lays egg cases about 2 inches in length. New hatchlings are around 7" long.
I too have read up on worms, and I learned the reason professional bass fishermen don't use live bait is because t's too easy to catch fish with and so it's cheating
To help folks better cheat, maybe I can dress up my worms in clown makeup so they can pass as artificial lures. I think the worms would enjoy the dress up, but the hook through their face, guts, and tail that followed might be a downer for the evening.
Hm, I can't recall that one. Looks like Kirk needs a toilet break. Can you remember what it was called?
I remember the one about the worm though. Somewhat reminiscent of current conversations concerning keeping them as pets.
So, this kid finds a worm in his garden and decides to keep him as a pet, putting him in an aquarium in his bedroom (a little bit of backstory is that his pet goldfish had died and the worm acts as a replacement), but his mom sees the worm pet and doesn't like it and orders the kid to get rid of it. The kid wants to keep the worm, so instead of setting it free, brings it down to his basement.
This is where the weirdness ensues. The worm starts getting bigger. At first the kid's just like "OK, so I found a baby worm and now it's grown up". And he starts to feed it spiders and beetles and stuff. But the worm just keeps growing. Soon, it's the size of a small snake (still looks exactly like a worm though) and the insects are not enough. When the boy comes down to the basement, it's like bashing itself against the sides of the aquarium demanding food, so the boy has to work pretty hard.
The next bit is the boy comes down there and the worm has grown too big for the aquarium and has just slithered out of it. At this point, its like the size of the boy's arm and immediately slithers straight to the boy and starts begging for food, but the boy doesn't have enough to satisfy it and it angrily bites his hand. The boy runs out of the basement.
The logical thing for him to do at this point would be to tell his parents, call the cops or the zoo or whatever, but there's over ten minutes left in the episode and we're in the Twilight Zone , so no, instead he, out of either desperation or spite, grabs one of the neighbour's virtually newborn kittens (this was earlier foreshadowed when his mom brought one into the house for him to stroke and then quickly took them away to the boy's chagrin), runs back down into the basement and throws it on the ground in front of the worm. The worm gobbles it up and looks damn appreciative insofar as you can make a worm look (coiling around the boy's leg in a friendly way and such).
Of course, things continue to escalate, and newborn kittens turn into full blown cats and then dogs etc with the kid getting into some scrapes along the way. Eventually the worm is bigger than the kid, and the kid can't find enough food to satisfy it. There are only so many stray dogs in the neighbourhood. The kid goes to the basement one day and shouts desperately at the worm, "I can't find any more, I'm sorry, I can't, I can't!".
His mom hears him shouting from upstairs and runs down to the basement from the kitchen. Typical entering basement shot where mom open the door and peers in. Then lights on. Then view from mom's perspective. All we see is an empty floor except for two small shoes, jimmy's shoes, in the centre.
Reply to Shawn Did Captain Kirk make William Shatner, or did William Shatner make Captain Kirk? Or, on a different level, did the Presidency corrupt Trump, or did Trump corrupt the Presidency?
If that's how he looks on the toilet, no wonder he got famous.
Anyhow, I'll tell you the plot of the TZ episode about the pigs later. I don't think there were any big names in that one. Except maybe amongst the porkies.
I remember the one about the worm though. Somewhat reminiscent of current conversations concerning keeping them as pets.
This reminds me of a movie I never saw, but it always is chosen as a contender for most disgusting movie of all time.
It's called the Human Centipede, revolving around a German scientist who kidnaps tourists and joins them mouth to anus to created a single elongated humanoid centipede out of several people.
Maybe you can watch it for us and give us a review.
True story though, my grandfather raised worms for fishing that he'd sell in his furniture/antique/junk store when I was a kid. My brother wanted one as a pet for real, but he was like 6 at the time. That's where all the worm pet stuff comes from on my end at least.
I actually really enjoyed that one. Moral of the story: "Don't disobey your parents." As well as: "Disobedience and the hidden acts it brings about end up swallowing you whole." Very poignant and also passes my rigid, lengthy checklist of mandatory family values in media and entertainment. Bravo. :ok:
Found this thread, I've been a few months now and haven't introduced myself yet.
Hello all. Great forum, liking the level of intellectual engagement here. Whilst I love philosophy per se, my special focused topics are metaphysics, philosophy of mind, cognition, AI, phenomenology,evolutionary biology and philosophy of science. Where ever you find philosophy and the natural sciences in close contact, I will be keenly interested.
For breakfast, a new discovery: vegan black pudding. The one I got is from the Simon Howie brand, and it's really good. Actually tastes like the congealed blood that I know and love.
Welcome. Now I'll give you the T Clark metaphysics quiz - Have you read "An Essay on Metaphysics" by R.G. Collingwood. No one but Collingwood, I, and perhaps you truly understands metaphysics.
I currently have 21 notifications. It is highly unlikely I will respond to any of them.
I am finding myself in rather intense family conflict which is likely to take up any time I have outside of work and school. Apologies for those not getting replies.
If you really want a reply, you can email me at [email protected]. I assume not, but to be thorough, as I'm not going to be checking, there you go. Please wish me luck and send me strength. This is going to be a really tough six months or so.
I went to Sam's Club and got a a huge box of oatmeal and more strawberries than any man ever ate.
Barb, with her relentless plaid hair, drew me into the oatmeal, so sticky so sweet. What I'd do to return to the calm of the beige without the mocking fruit, but I am where I am.
Oatmeal and strawberries.
The second paragraph to this story does well with the nonsensical and abrupt shift and the final sentence wraps things up nicely. That's my critique at least, but I'm open to other thoughts.
Shawn,
"..it's you!" must mean whom? Perhaps Hanover or just all of the yous ( however the plural of "you" is spelt) that has, is or will be? Has the look of privilege anyway.
looking back with a slight smile
Hanover,
Too close for comfort when it's in your home state. How far are you from Barrow County, approximately? Probably will prompt another round of the gun debate with no change resulting.
"hate being right" frown
Reply to Hanover
You can make a low calorie strawberry ice cream. You blend up the strawberries and put them in the freezer. Or maybe you add yogurt. Or maybe it was bananas. When I go to the store I find my saying "organic bananas, org-a-nanic banana-nanas, orga-na-nanic banan-a-na-nanas. Or you could just get an ice cream maker and do it correctly.
Reply to Hanover
If you don't make ice cream, there's a poor dairy farmer who won't be able to make shoes for his kids. They'll go to school barefoot and one of them will step on a nail and it will get infected and he'll lose his leg even though he could have been an Irish dancing artist.
Why would you even want to do that? Ice cream is not a low calorie food.
Julia Child's was making a butter-and-sugar-rich dessert with another chef, who objected to the extraordinary density of calories in the finished dish. Child's response was universally applicable: "It is high in calories, and it's extremely delicious, but you are only supposed to eat one piece."
So with a batch of ice cream made with cream, eggs, whole milk, sugar, and strawberries. You're not supposed to eat the whole batch at one time--no more than 1 (reasonably generous) serving per day. A serving should fit into a small cereal bowl.
Reply to Moliere I too, and I strongly prefer premium brands with high-quality ingredients (no guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan, artificial flavoring, invert sugar, mono- and diglycerides, etc.). What you would use in your own kitchen. The list of ingredients should be short, like for good bread: milk, butter, eggs, bread flour, yeast, salt.
ArguingWAristotleTiffSeptember 06, 2024 at 01:48#9302580 likes
Reply to frank Tetanus (caused by Clostridium tetani) is just as likely, which is pretty bad. But having one's leg rot off is not good, either.
I stepped on a lot of rusty nails growing up and was never taken to a doctor's office. Dad cleaned out the puncture wound, put mercurochrome (bright pink, stings like hell) in the hole and wrapped up the foot. Don't know whether we were vaccinated for tetanus then or not.
Homemade ice cream melts quickly and isn't as hard as store bought. Speaking of the 3 wishes I'd make if a naked supermodel genie emerged from an oil lamp:
1. A soft serve ice cream machine with 3 levers (vanilla, chocolate, or swirled)
2. A urinal in my bathroom.
3. A machine that'll pet my cat for me when I'm tired.
And no, I would not have relations with the naked supermodel genie. The offspring would be part human, part goddess, which would result in a rebellion in the underworld and thousands of cawing crows would break lose from holes in the ground causing a blackened mid-day sun. Otherwise adorable children's necks would spin backwards on their torso, making the only sound that could be heard above the caws the popping sounds of the spines and the screams of the otherwise adorable children.
But think about this: eating soft serve ice cream, pissing in you own urinal, and no longer being burdened by your cat' s needs.
I stepped on a lot of rusty nails growing up and was never taken to a doctor's office. Dad cleaned out the puncture wound, put mercurochrome (bright pink, stings like hell) in the hole and wrapped up the foot. Don't know whether we were vaccinated for tetanus then or not.
I read somewhere that untreated tetanus can make you gay.
I read somewhere that untreated tetanus can make you gay.
That is probably true, but I didn't have tetanus treated or not, so... How did it happen? I did read (in the same tabloid you read) that tetanus vaccination makes you autistic. Fact! Well, obviously, if you inject germs pickled in arsenic into a baby's brain it's likely to have some sort of effect.
That is probably true, but I didn't have tetanus treated or not, so... How did it happen? I did read (in the same tabloid you read) that tetanus vaccination makes you autistic. Fact! Well, obviously, if you inject germs pickled in arsenic into a baby's brain it's likely to have some sort of effect.
I think that might go for any germs pickled in arsenic injected into a baby's brain. My evidence is that my autdar says of Wittgenstein, "Whoa, that dude was definitely autistic." And that's based on Witt before the tetanus vaccine came out, so the tetanus vaccine can't be the explanation.
Reply to wonderer1 OK, so another good theory down the drain. On the other hand, nothing was stopping the child's custodian from loading a syringe with some arsenic and sinking it into Wittgenstein's still soft fontanelle, giving him a case of autism.
Does this mean that the autistic do not need to be vaccinated or that further vaccinations move them further along "The Spectrum"? ( Note: humorous interpretations intended. No otherism intended.)
Also, wouldn't a (multipurpose) toilet be a better investment than a urinal in Hanover's bathroom?
Tetanus is a handy excuse for a 4 year old when asked to help with older siblings' house chores.
javi......97,
Never bet. But maybe you're correct. So much crossbreeding in the commercial piggeries, it is hard to determine. Plus, a couple of scrunched-up snouts doesn't give much information on which to ascertain breed type. Shawn may know having greater providence,depending on whether Shawn pays note to breed. However, it could be said Shawn just likes pigs.
gentle smile
I can't say I have read it, but I can pick it up and read it in around a week if I apply myself. Although I must confess, I think in my own ideas I've moved quite a ways beyond any classical notion of metaphysics, as in the Aristotelian pursuit of Being qua Being, or the Quinean objective of writing a big laundry list of things that populate the universe.
I've moved quite a ways beyond any classical notion of metaphysics
Collingwood has a much different take on metaphysics than Aristotle and Quine. Be that as it may, there's no reason for you to read it if it's not up your alley.
Reply to Baden So, what were you sick with? Norovirus? Covid19? Salmonella? Rhinovirus? Strep throat? Hope you are well, now. Malaise is one thing, but being really sick is, well, sickening. A pain. Now that you have been sick, you can tell us whether it is necessary to be sick in order to enjoy good health. What's the verdict?
jamal,
Interesting characteristics bred/selected into/out of the porcine gene pool. Which the morality of selective breeding could lead or be led down a philosophic rabbithole.
inappropriately bright smile.
I'll definitely read it. I had a quick look and it does look interesting. The fact he is different to Aristotle and Quine has my interest piqued already.
javi2541997September 11, 2024 at 11:42#9313370 likes
Someone referred me to this game to help me waste time during the day. Go to Contexto.me. The rules are simple. You guess a word and its AI based algorithm tells you how far away you are from the target word. Today's target word (spoiler alert!) was Moose. The 10 closest words to "Moose" (according to this algorithm) are:
So, if you guessed "bear" it would have told you that was a 6 and you'd know you were really close. If you guessed "Ostrich," it would have told you 499, letting you know you were far away. "Mailman" would have been 6085, letting you know you were even farther away. The object is to keep guessing until you get it based upon the clues of how close you are getting with each guess.
This might bring home the concept of Wittgenstein's family resemblence theory as it relates to words. We think of words in terms of definitions that seek the essential elements of the word. A moose is defined as "a large deer with palmate antlers, a sloping back, and a growth of skin hanging from the neck. It is native to northern Eurasia and northern North America."
This game relies not on focusing on the essential elements of the word, but upon words that are typically used in conjunction with the target word, where the target word typically finds itself contextually with the other words. The definition of moose using the Contexto model is that which is similar to and used in context with deer, elk, caribou, bison, bear, hunt, wolf, grizzly, and reindeer in that order.
I do believe though that if I provided you the 10 closest words to "Moose," it would take you longer to guess I was referring to a moose than if I provided you the typical dictionary definition. I did think the idea that identifying word usage (and therefore meaning) based upon typical context was an interesting idea though.
Anyway, food for thought, and even if I'm wrong in seeing the family resemblence theory displayed through the game Contexto, I've given you a new game to play during work when you don't feel like working.
Reply to Baden I told my son I wasn't feeling well last week, and he told me that sometimes when he's not feeling well, he finds it helpful to use a pacifier.
Reply to Sir2u It isn't hard to find a thread where petty things are being argued over -- like
"You didn't understand what I said."
"Yes I did."
"You don't understand."
"I did understand; you don't, and furthermore, you don't express yourself clearly."
"You have no interest in serious philosophy, troll!"
Etc.
It isn't hard to find a thread where petty things are being argued over -- like
"You didn't understand what I said."
"Yes I did."
"You don't understand."
"I did understand; you don't, and furthermore, you don't express yourself clearly."
"You have no interest in serious philosophy, troll!"
Etc.
It isn't hard to find a thread where petty things are being argued over -- like
"You didn't understand what I said."
"Yes I did."
"You don't understand."
"I did understand; you don't, and furthermore, you don't express yourself clearly."
"You have no interest in serious philosophy, troll!"
Etc.
I disagree strongly. You clearly have no interest in serious philosophy. Then again, the Shoutbox is specifically intended for pettifogging.
Reply to frank Someone did a check on him and found out he has no brothers or sisters maybe and decide that he was discriminating and undermining the value of real uncles.
Or maybe they just realized that so many people are too fucking lazy to say two words when one will work just as well. :rofl:
We don't have Aunt Jemima nor Uncle Ben because we are orphans. Instead, our brands use two unknown women harvesting rice in the fields of the Mediterranean coast.
Reply to praxis That's not fish soaking in soy, that's a famous painting by the abstract expressionist artist, Deidre Dimvkit. She was featured in a storage unit show at MoMA a few years ago. The New York Times slobbered all over it, the greatest thing since canned sushi.
"Write a haiku about a woman who sells her child for a tennis racket and regrets the day she sold her soap for a hammer like piano that she left beneath the skates where her father once lived all alone but for the crowd of lonliness that visited him when the sun set in the darkness just below the ledge that housed all that was moistened by the lips of the departed."
And it arrived at this:
"A child for a game,
Regret echoes in twilight—
Loneliness persists."
We don't have Aunt Jemima nor Uncle Ben because we are orphans. Instead, our brands use two unknown women harvesting rice in the fields of the Mediterranean coast.
Ahh, poor you. But I seem to remember seeing rice with some naked orphans on the bag some yeas ago.
Reply to praxis Apparently it's a thing https://japantoday.com/category/features/food/is-japanese-canned-sushi-everything-we-ever-dreamed-of-we-try-it-out
So, was it worth the purchase? If you’re looking for actual canned sushi, absolutely not. But Mr Sato would definitely recommend this to people who like trying strange canned foods or people who want to try a canned version of takikomi gohan. Either way, it’s back to the canned beef bowls for him.
Toasted crusty white bread rubbed with garlic and mounted with tahini yoghurt (which included olive oil, lemon juice, and Herefordshire honey), fresh mint, and ribbons of zucchini drenched in olive oil and lemon juice. Sea salt, cayenne pepper.
Rhubarb pieces roasted in marmalade, lemon juice and brown sugar. Served with sweetened yoghurt. After chicken marinade in preserved lemon harissa, and roasted with sweet potato and King Edward spuds, served with peas.
Toasted crusty white bread rubbed with garlic and mounted with tahini yoghurt (which included olive oil, lemon juice, and Herefordshire honey), fresh mint, and ribbons of zucchini drenched in olive oil and lemon juice. Sea salt, cayenne pepper.
Rhubarb pieces roasted in marmalade, lemon juice and brown sugar. Served with sweetened yoghurt. After chicken marinade in preserved lemon harissa, and roasted with sweet potato and King Edward spuds, served with peas.
You fancy people and your obscenely intricate masterful artworks of meals that's just gonna end up the same color, consistency, and in the same place as anything else you consume.
In an hour or so, after some arduous web dev and programming, I'm having me a day old refrigerated ham and cheese sub I got from the one-person deli operating out of the local mart and a bag of potato chips. Get on my level. :strong:
Tomato chutney today.
Ingredients: onion, tomato, apple, spirit vinegar, sugar, stem ginger, cardamon, cumin, coriander, chilli, garlic.
Method: cook in a pot, put in jars. keep for a bit.
For breakfast, a whole roasted duck with a fig and sage glaze, crispy to perfection, sliced thick and served on steaming homemade biscuits of recently ground artisan wheat, topped with a dollop of freshly churned butter from Sarah, the big eyed cow. Plated with a side of hand selected chopped golden potatoes from the garden seasoned with just picked sprigs of thyme. This then accompanied by a spirited mimosa of freshly squeezed orange juice from my citrus grove and imported champagne hand selected and packaged by Pierre, my local source.
Slightly late for work with all the goings on, but well worth it. The pig now slowly cooks in the pit, as I anxiously await a much deserved lunch.
Yes, it was a classic to put children on food brands. As I said, that was common some decades ago but is forbidden by law nowadays.
I am feeling a bit of nostalgia right now. When I was a kid, I used to frequent a bar that eventually closed because of a chronic illness of the owner. While my parents were drinking and eating their meal, I always enjoyed a bag of chips where the face of a boy with a cute sweater appeared. If I remember correctly, I think it was called something like "hijos de Antonio."
I haven't seen those chips for centuries. I guess they still sell chips, but the face of the kid had to be removed.
Yes, it was a classic to put children on food brands. As I said, that was common some decades ago but is forbidden by law nowadays.
Yes, it must have been a long time ago because it was on a ship I was doing repairs on and I have not done that kind of work for at least 25 years. The English chief mate gave me some overalls and gloves, the captain gave be a couple of bottles of scotch, The chief engineer authorized the removal of all of the leftovers and scrap, and the Spanish cook gave me a box full of European foods that were hard to find here.
They did not want my report or that of the surveyor to show any incompetence on their part so they tried to keep me happy for the three days the work took. I obviously obliged and convinced the insurance surveyor that it was old age that caused the problem.
OutlanderSeptember 21, 2024 at 04:50#9335800 likes
I feel world peace could be achieved in two, no, one generation flat if every adult man and woman on Earth was required to listen to this song at least once daily.
Define your terms at the beginning of the discussion.
Spell out acronyms the first time you use them.
Don't mix up science and metaphysics.
There's a pretty good chance you don't really understand what Kant, Nietzsche, or Wittgenstein were trying to say.
Justified true belief as a definition of knowledge is bullshit.
Don't say "Witty" for Wittgenstein, "ad hom" for ad hominem, or any other such cutesy pie or lazy abbreviations.
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
Don't make up new jargon. You're not the first one to think what you're thinking unless your idea is [s]stupid[/s] wrong.
If you must use thought experiments, make them realistic - no pushing fat guys off bridges to stop trollies.
Don't make arguments claiming your disputant is committing a logical fallacy. If you can't describe what's wrong with an argument in plain language, you don't really know what the so-called "fallacy" means.
Define your terms at the beginning of the discussion
It can be useful to define subsidiary terms but it's unreasonable to define terms that are central to the debate, since their meaning is what the philosophy is about.
If you must use thought experiments, make them realistic - no pushing fat guys off bridges to stop trollies.
I'm not so sure. Unrealistic thought experiments might be enlightening precisely in their unrealisticness. That we're not sure what to do with the fat guy might suggest to us interesting thoughts such as that there can be no comprehensive ethical doctrine.
Don't make arguments claiming your disputant is committing a logical fallacy. If you can't describe what's wrong with an argument in plain language, you don't really know what the so-called "fallacy" means.
Agree with the second sentence, but it doesn't entail the first. Identifying a logical fallacy can be communicatively useful.
I am imagining, rather than the Two Minutes Hate, a daily Two Minutes and Twelve Seconds Dance, in which everyone must dance to Tequila by The Champs, thus instilling in the populace a feeling of happiness and camaraderie.
But surely there would be pockets of resentment?
OutlanderSeptember 21, 2024 at 10:46#9336030 likes
I am imagining, rather than the Two Minutes Hate, a daily Two Minutes and Twelve Seconds Dance, in which everyone must dance to Tequila by The Champs, thus instilling in the populace a feeling of happiness and camaraderie.
Never saw that movie or read the book but frequently hear it being spoke highly of. I think the people would largely go for it. Imagine sitting in your cubicle or being stuck behind a fryer and suddenly by law your employer has to let you dance and sing and holler (non-profanely) randomly once or twice throughout the day. Every radio station, television, or streaming service will play the song simultaneously during the schedule time(s). It will be a new building code to have a speaker system throughout the structure where the song can be heard and must be played, no different than how a place must be structurally sound to avoid being placed under legal condemnation. Massive airships will fly throughout cities and parks blasting the song through powerful (yet tolerable) speakers during the designated times. There will be nowhere to escape from the masterpiece that is "Tequila". Kidding, of course. Somewhat.
Yeah, well. Some people feel resentment at the fact they have to share a world with people who don't think, act, and for some, even look the same way they do. Late uncle told me "you can't make everybody happy". I believe it. But, if you can quantitatively alleviate greater discord, strife, and yes, resentment at the cost of a measurably smaller amount being created, it becomes a matter of reason meets compassion, if not outright common sense, does it not? Of course, there's no telling this hypothetical idea would in fact have such an effect, let alone a guarantee of such. So, like usual, I suppose you're right, that is to say, your concerns are quite well founded. Hm. No matter. It'll come to me. The grand idea for utopia that has eluded so many.
Many companies have sessions where leaders fill employees in, take questions, etc.
In practical terms, it might be hard for everyone to get a good impression of who to vote for.
Good/bad idea? (Seems worthwhile to me.)
t's unreasonable to define terms that are central to the debate, since their meaning is what the philosophy is about.
A significant percentage of philosophical arguments, especially here on the forum, break down into chaos because everybody has their own idea about what a term means. Major examples include "consciousness," "metaphysics," "free will." A discussion on what a term means can be interesting and valuable. I've started several of those myself, but usually I want to talk about, for example, metaphysics and not "metaphysics."
Unrealistic thought experiments might be enlightening precisely in their unrealisticness. That we're not sure what to do with the fat guy might suggest to us interesting thoughts such as that there can be no comprehensive ethical doctrine.
If you can't illustrate your point with an example that might realistically take place in the real world it isn't a real issue.
If I were to say "It's dumb to say that", I would be making an argument (albeit an unsupported and unstructured one) and insulting you at the same time.
If I were to say "It's dumb to say that", I would be making an argument (albeit an unsupported and unstructured one) and insulting you at the same time.
I think it's only an insult if it's wrong. Like if I say you're a peckerhead shitface, that would be helpful feedback that would foster personal growth if true, but deeply insulting only if false.
If I were to say "It's dumb to say that", I would be making an argument (albeit an unsupported and unstructured one) and insulting you at the same time.
That's not an insult - it doesn't say anything about the person. It's also not an argument - it doesn't say anything about the discussion.
That I'm a "peckerhead shitface"? The last time someone called me that, it was a fellow kindergartner in a backwood kindergarten in the backwoods of backwood, Georgia. Yes, I used to be 'Murican too.
That I'm a "peckerhead shitface"? The last time someone called me that, it was a fellow kindergartner in a backwood kindergarten in the backwoods of backwood, Georgia. Yes, I used to be 'Murican too.
After a decade of knowing you, I learn you used to live in Georgia by sharing an insult. Seems iike it've come up before.
Being curiously bored, I googled and found the results of searching for "was finally able to get exactly one foot over the tree line sweet jesus" much more satisfying than without the "sweet jesus".
I was born to give and take
And as I keep growin' I'm gonna make some mistakes
The sun's gonna set and the bird is gonna wing
They do not lie
My last wish will be just one thing
Be smilin' when I die
After a decade of knowing you, I learn you used to live in Georgia by sharing an insult. Seems iike it've come up before.
Secret Life of a ‘Murican
The confession of a fake Irishman.
Ever since I can remember, I have always yearned to be Irish. Even in the Georgia backwoods I grew up in where foreign countries seem like made up places, settings for sci-fi movies, or Democratic party fairy tales to foster discontent, Ireland was very real and had a special salience.
It helped that my town was Dublin where the local St. Patrick’s parade was renowned statewide and that my family were Sawyers, relatives (albeit distant ones) of the Irishman who founded the place. And so, though local American culture dominated in scope, my Irishness dominated in depth and I resolved to cherish and pursue it.
At first, for all practical purposes, this came to hardly more than a hobby. I collected Irish records from the Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners, watched Irish TV over satellite, and made myself an expert on Irish history. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know about the plantations or the war of independence–I could even recite the 1916 proclamation by heart, and I made sure everyone around me knew it. :smile:
Still, it never seemed enough. I was like Ireland’s biggest fan, but I still wasn’t Irish. And so I moved, as soon as I could, not to Ireland–I had neither the financial means nor the visa to do so–but to Boston where I spent my time in Irish bars with new immigrants, illegals mostly, destined for construction work in Bean town.
I listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them. Before long, I had a whole back story of how I came to Boston from County Cork and how, having overstayed my visa here, I’d never go back. I had the accent down pat and proudly never slipped back into my Georgia twang even in my drunkest moments. Nor did I ever return there for fear I’d lose this new self I had created, and which I took everywhere with me, even, yes, I admit it, online to The Philosophy Forum.
But now that I’m almost as old as @Banno was fifty years ago, the lie is wearing on me, and I wish to come clean. I am ‘Murican, just like you, sprouted in the backwoods of Georgia. I can’t deny my blood. I eat cheesburgers and drink Coke, I watch the kind of football where they wear helmets and shoulder pads, I know all fifity flavours of ice cream at Dairy Queen, and I laugh at the type of comedy a true Irishman would rather be dipped in acid than watch.
I could never wash the ‘Murican out of me nor become truly Irish, so now I’ve come back with neither shame nor fear... to my true self.
It seemed like such a triumphant feat of self-creation that I'm disappointed you lapsed back into your Georgian backwoods identity. It's your life of course, but it has a pessimistic, somewhat conservative message.
The confession of an Irishman pretending to be an American pretending to be an Irishman
*Ahem* OK, so I need to come clean and clear my conscience. Ever since I was a young lad growing up in the Kingdom of Kerry on the Emerald Isle in the shadow of the Gap of Dunloe, I aspired to be an American pretending to be an Irishman. It seems an odd dream for a young man to have, but I was an actor by nature. From a very young age, my heroes were Bob Hope and Jerry Lee Lewis. If any American could pull off the pretence of Irishness, these brilliant talents surely could had the jig not been up from the start. But for me, being a nobody, just a regular Irish kid with a hurley and a plate of crubeens, there was no jig to be up, and I decided to devote my life to do what even my heroes never could, to pretend to be an American pretending to be an Irishman.
First, I had to know what it was to be an American, and I immersed myself dutifully in the culture. I even took on the accent, allowing myself to become the target of mockery and contempt among my friends and even my family who resorted to psychiatric help to knock the yank out of me. Little did they realise, my eventual goal was to do just that to myself, but I’d do it my way or the highway. I wasn’t about to be usurped by no gawdang shrink and rather than suffer the humiliations and conflicts that seemed inevitable at home, I left the emerald isle and headed for the town of Dublin in backwoods Georgia, USA. Yes, I had to pass myself off as a yank first before I could ever pass myself off as an Irishman again. There was no turning back.
It was a painful time. I worked backbreaking days on the railway in the hot sun with nothing but grits and peaches to live on. But after a year among the true American backwoods men of Dublin, I was one of them, the Irish being knocked right out of me. Now, it was time to knock it back in.
I immersed myself in Irish culture. At first, for all practical purposes, this came to hardly more than a hobby. I collected Irish records from the Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners, watched Irish TV over satellite, and made myself an expert on Irish history. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know about the plantations or the war of independence–I could even recite the 1916 proclamation by heart, and I made sure everyone around me knew it. :)
Still, it never seemed enough. I was like Ireland’s biggest fan, but I still wasn’t Irish. And so I moved, as soon as I could, not to Ireland, but to Boston where I spent my time in Irish bars with new immigrants, illegals mostly, destined for construction work in Bean town.
I listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them. Before long, I had a whole backstory of how I came to Boston from County Kerry and how, having overstayed my visa here, I’d never go back. I had the accent down pat and proudly never slipped back into my Georgia twang even in my drunkest moments. Nor did I ever return there for fear I’d lose this new self of an Irishman pretending to be an American pretending to be an Irishman I had created, and which I took everywhere with me, even, yes, I admit it, online to the philosophy forum.
But now that I’m almost as old as Banno was fifty years ago, the lie is wearing on me, and I wish to come clean, I am Irish, just like you aren’t, sprouted in the backwoods of Kerry. I can’t deny my blood. I eat crubeens and drink poteen. I watch the kind of football where they don’t wear helmets and shoulder pads, I have no clue what an ice cream is–it’s too fuckin’ cold to eat ice cream in Kerry, and I dip myself in acid every time the Late Show comes on TV.
That is my confession. Thank you for listening. May the road rise up to meet you and semi-automatic weapons never make you dead.
Reply to Baden Your tale varies from day to day, leaving me wondering if tomorrow you might tell me you began as a Viking only to end up speaking Yiddish among the Chassidim of Crown Heights.
The true flaw in both your accounts is in suggesting you could have pulled one over on the Dubliners of Georgia, a wily and sophisticated bunch, always on the lookout of a foreigner trying to steal their heavenly lot. You'd have been caught within moments and they'd have extracted the Gaelic from your lips in a most unloving way.
So will the real Slim Baden please stand up? Just who are you and what are your intentions here?
leaving me wondering if tomorrow you might tell me you began as a Viking only to end up speaking Yiddish among the Chassidim of Crown Heights.
Close. My next level of meta was going to be pretending to be a Swede pretending to be an Irishman pretending to be an American etc. But only because I expected @Jamal to try to one-up me again. I want him to know I will write an entire book of BS before I let that happen.
Here’s where your story falls apart. I’ve lived in the Boston area for 50 years, and I’ve never once heard a local person use the term “bean town,” except with a smirk.
I specifically said "local person" rather than "local" because I knew you'd pull out this weak-ass argument. If you were in Boston long enough so that you "listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them," then you would know not to use that term. If in no other manner, you would have learned it the first time you said "bean town" in an Irish tavern and got kicked out on your ass. Sorry, arse.
The Dublin redneck summer games got canceled a few years back because it turned from being a healthy competition to being a violent drunken spectacle, not unlike what you might see in the original Dublin.
It's been resurrected though, just like one might expect, and it now has taken on a much more Christian flavor, most unlike what you might see in the original Dublin.
Baden,
Get a job on South Georgia Island cleaning up dead seals that have died of bird flu. Tell the s/box about it and that will still not convince your doubters that you're a merry can. They think merry cans only come from user. Probably 'cores of a lack of a u row peein' whirled veu or cradle to grave "educated" isolationism imbrued in nationalism. Like much of humanity's relationship to its nations of birth.
No "otherism" intended.
wink and smile
But only because I expected Jamal to try to one-up me again
I concede. :clap:
My own history of early life as the scion of a venerable family of the nomenklatura in Nizhny Novgorod, yearning to be an Englishman pretending to be a Scotsman, which led me to study English at Moscow State University and train at the Academy of Foreign Intelligence, which was followed by a series of prestigious KGB and FSB posts that allowed me finally to infiltrate the Western World with TPF, will have to wait.
I've never looked closely at the great seal from my home state, but I see how it might be intimidating to anyone who has thoughts of an invasion. That colonial solider stands firm, sword ready to slice and dice any wild eyed South Carolinian, Tennessean or other less than neighborly neighbor who has thoughts of taking our peaches.
It's been resurrected though, just like one might expect, and it now has taken on a much more Christian flavor, most unlike what you might see in the original Dublin.
And such fascinating activities:
Car show
Bike show
Live music
Cook-off competition
[u][b]Cornhole competition
Watermelon seed spitting[/b][/u]
Especially the last ones. :wink:
But on the bright side they do have
Free hotdogs and hamburgers
My own history of early life as the scion of a venerable family of the nomenklatura in Nizhny Novgorod, yearning to be an Englishman pretending to be a Scotsman, which led me to study English at Moscow State University and train at the Academy of Foreign Intelligence, which was followed by a series of prestigious KGB and FSB posts that allowed me finally to infiltrate the Western World with TPF
Well, yes, I had worked that out with a chat GPT analysis of your posts. Everyone should do one of those on themselves actually. According to chat GPT, I am Swedish-Canadian, which is not far off really.
Everyone should do one of those on themselves actually.
I was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, son of a waterman - up at 5 every morning, blue crabs in warm weather, oysters in cold. I was runner-up in the county jousting competition during my senior year in high school. (Jousting is the state sport of Maryland.) Only an injury from a run-in with my horse during the finals kept me from going to the University of Maryland on a jousting scholarship. Instead, I ended up going to Eastern Shore State College majoring in agriculture with specialization in ovine husbandry.
From there I moved to Mull to raise sheep on the farm my father bought there. For some reason he had a fantasy of being a Scottish landowner and he wanted to live vicariously through me. I married a Scottish woman, we had three kids, all girls, and then we decided to move to the Falkland Islands in 1980. Bad timing brought me back to the US in 1982, where I settled on my father's farm in Kentucky. From there we moved to Florida to work on my father's fish farm. Then my wife left me, moved back to Scotland, and became a lesbian. It was all down hill from there.
Reply to wonderer1
Some questions 1) What is the bison doing in the woods? 2) What is that weird branch just above the woodsman’s head? 3) Why is he wearing checkered pants? 4) why can’t they afford a better artist?
wonderer1September 23, 2024 at 17:58#9341460 likes
Some questions 1) What is the bison doing in the woods? 2) What is that weird branch just above the woodsman’s head? 3) Why is he wearing checkered pants? 4) why can’t they afford a better artist?
1. Seems pretty obvious to me that the bison is jumping over a fallen tree. (Possibly in order to get back to the prarie in northwestern Indiana.)
2. See the answer to 4.
3. I might be wrong about cutting down the tree for a cornfield. It might have been for a golf course.
4. It was decided to use an artist who painted weird trees, so that outsiders wouldn't object so much to all the trees being cut down.
I was born on the rocky shores of Jekyll Island, just off the frozen coast of Georgia, where the seals played with the penguins and barges filled with garbage would pass by the harbor, filled with spent pineapple drinking vessels discarded by tourists in the Carribean. I'd gather up the syringes off the shore and rinse them in the colorful diesel fuel rainbows that formed on the dead seagull carcases and resell them to the harborwhores who sold their wares at low tide.
Mine was a typical story of late 60s and early 70s childlife by the sea, but the government came in and bulldozed my memories, sending me off to the city where I would become a mopsweep and drainagefunnel, my bushy haired head forced through the pipes to clear the diapers and accumulated earwax.
What I'd do to be young again!
That story was motivated by the emotion of Gary that exudes from that shitholepicture.
wonderer1September 23, 2024 at 20:13#9341910 likes
Without the formative culture of Gary, we would not have this mastrrpiece:
Some questions 1) What is the bison doing in the woods? 2) What is that weird branch just above the woodsman’s head? 3) Why is he wearing checkered pants? 4) why can’t they afford a better artist?
1) It is a bore, not a bison. And I would imagine that it is running away so at not to become breakfast for the guy in the background.
2) Nothing weird about the branch, except that it is growing downwards, which is weird.
3) Someone already gave the answer. What I wonder is, what happened to his right foot?
4) Too many cheap bastards that don't pay taxes maybe.
unenlightenedSeptember 23, 2024 at 21:33#9342150 likes
The man has a shadow, which is normal for a man in sunshine. But where is the shadow of the beast? I conclude that Indiana was infested with were-bison and that they could only be killed by felling a tree at sunset so that their heart was pierced by a branch that was shaped to form a wooden stake.
wonderer1September 23, 2024 at 22:03#9342280 likes
Reply to unenlightened
Yeah, the tree chopper looks like he was timing his blow. It does seem he is already too late if the bison can clear the fallen tree.
Perhaps, the branch (bending down divining for oil/water/gold),after separation from the felled trunk, was taken by dyslecsic doG to Waco Texas and reberthed and renomed in painful dog Latin as Branch D......?
low artistic smile
Been wondering where certain ( no longer) regular contributors of the s/box (around 7 yrs ago) went. Won't name them, for some reason or other! Found some in the Lounge's Donald Trump and News of the Day threads alive and well and still playing the same old jazz. Oh well, another whirled on a knife edge mystery dissolved.
lonely, well sort of, smile
Reply to Jafar The whole "pre" prefix is problematic. How can the oven be heated before it is heated? How can food be 'pre-cooked"--cooked before it is cooked? How can something be "pre-seasoned"? It's not seasoned until it's seasoned, no?
Flag fans now prefer very simple, corporate logo type flags -- as far removed from any annoying and inconvenient history as possible. The old flag accurately depicts the successful settler colonialism practiced by Northern Europeans at the expense of the native cultures. Sensitive Minnesotans recently decided that such harsh realities needed to be revised so that natives weren't riding off into the sunset. We Europeans swiped the whole state and left them a few puny reservations, but hey, we are into cultural diversity now, and 'celebrate' all cultures even if we still give diverse minorities the shitty end of the stick.
Minnesota's old flag:
There is no record of pioneers wearing yellow T shirts, blue jeans, and red shoes at the same time they were using muskets with powder horns. The pioneer appears to be pushing the plow himself. Perhaps the Native person borrowed the white man's horse? Certainly, prairie sod was way to tough to plow without a team of horses, mules, or oxen -- or preferably, a large GPS guided John Deere tractor.
Reply to BC Georgia's flag was changed in 1956 to include confederate symbols and then changed back to a somewhat similar pre-1956 version in the 2000s. We were progressive by adopting the old pre 1956 flag.
Maybe we'll go super modern cutting edge and adopt a 1700s flag one day.
The whole "pre" prefix is problematic. How can the oven be heated before it is heated? How can food be 'pre-cooked"--cooked before it is cooked? How can something be "pre-seasoned"? It's not seasoned until it's seasoned, no?
If I preheat the oven but I don't put the food in. What happens to the preheat? Does it become a different kind of heat?
This reminds me of an earlier conundrum I was wrangling with a week ago: Is there really such a thing as a "failed experiment"? Surely it succeeded in disproving a previously non discredited hypothesis, at least contributing to said discrediting in some notable way? Not quite the same but identical, surely. Oxymorons are aptly named and no laughing matter. A "small crowd" can indeed produce a "deafening silence".
Reply to Jafar From a slightly different angle, "pre-heat" means "before heat". So there is no heat in a pre-heated oven; no seasoning in pre-seasoned steak, and pre-cooked carrots are crisp and crunchy.
That's what happens when sensible Anglo-Saxons decide to promiscuously pick up latinate prefixes derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans who invented everything from Spanish to Sanskrit. They invented Anglo Saxon too, of course, but they didn't spoil the language with highfalutin prefixes. They "pre-dicted" bad things happening, like pre cooked chicken that is still raw. I postdicted that they were right.
Reply to Shawn in the lower left is a man digging his own grave with a pick; the shovel was good for the dirt on top, but now he's into the rock. Poor man; depressed and not a prozac in sight! His mood disorder greatly improved when he uncovered a gold brick and cried, "Eureka!".
There is an apparently Roman dame watching the Latino ships patrol San Francisco Bay to keep the Japanese and the Russians from claiming it. The Roman madam is protected by her pet bear, her golden shield, and her pointy weapon.
California actually has many seals, but not a one appears in their official symbol.
Does anyone own anything that was pre-made but was never used,thereby ceased to be made?
Should all preowned clothes be free due to being not owned?
So is "pre" a prefix or a contraction of "previously"?
Maybe Proto-Indo-Europeans previously dicted bad things happening as BC postulatedly dicted?
smile post hoc ergo propter hoc
javi2541997September 25, 2024 at 05:14#9345010 likes
That's what happens when sensible Anglo-Saxons decide to promiscuously pick up latinate prefixes derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans who invented everything from Spanish to Sanskrit.
Except Basque language. Nobody knows where Basques come from, but most experts agree that they are not derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans. I don't know if they use prefixes at all. One of the main failures of our educational system is not teaching us Basque or Navarre. This language is only used and spoken by the natives of Guipuzkoa, Navarra, Alava, and Bizkaia. Yet I always been told that we unconsciously use Basque words or words whose roots come from Basque such as "Aquelarre" or "Izquierda". I remember that I met a girl from Irún and she only knew to speak Basque. That was crazy.
Well, you are also talking about flags, and I am talking about Basques. Thoughts on the Euskadi flag?
javi,
Wasn't it Madrid's policy to actively eradicate the Basque culture, language,identity etc started during Franco's rule. Hence, ETA and all that trouble.
Nobody knows where Basques come from, but most experts agree that they are not derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans.
That's what I have read about Basques too. The Indo-Europeans weren't the first people to occupy the land between Portugal and India. Pre-Indo-European occupants of Eurasia either died out (the populations were small, resources were fragile), were wiped out by their new neighbors who didn't especially like them, OR survived, culturally intact, into modern times. They would be the Basques.
Now, a study in PNAS journal, suggests they descend from early farmers who mixed with local hunters before becoming isolated for millennia.
Here's the link to the BBC web site where the short article is located: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224
There is a small population of Basques in the US, in places like Idaho or Northern California, where they were recruited to manage sheep grazing. By the way, an adjective referencing "Basque" in the western US is "Bosco".
The flag of the Volga Germans, ethnic Germans who lived along the Volga from the 18th century until they were forcibly deported to remote parts of the USSR in 1941, many of them to labour camps.
Being Germans in the 40s, they didn't get much sympathy. Before I sailed down the Volga and visited the towns and cities that retain traces of their German heritage, I didn't know about these people or the ethnic cleansing they suffered.
Those who went to North Dakota and became cowboys in the 19th century were generally more fortunate.
javi2541997September 25, 2024 at 08:57#9345110 likes
There is a small population of Basques in the US, in places like Idaho or Northern California, where they were recruited to manage sheep grazing.
No doubt they are recruited to manage sheep grazing because they are amazing shepherds. It reminds me of a 1990s Basque film called 'Vacas' (cows), and the film showed the great skills of Basques in grazing.
Reply to Jamal What a gorgeous flag! I had never seen it before. Yellow and black are colours which are very compatible with each other and Germans (or Prussians, to be more specific) were smart for mixing them together.
Metaphysician UndercoverSeptember 25, 2024 at 10:52#9345260 likes
The pioneer appears to be pushing the plow himself.
That's not a plow, it's a snow scoop. See the white on the ground? Some of the pioneers were not too happy with the white stuff, and decided it had to be removed to get the crops in the ground on time.
I agree. It conforms to the standards of good flag design: no text, very simple image, if any; complementary blocks of color.
The thing about flags is that they are most often seen on flag poles where texts, complex imagery, and several colors are lost in folds or are in motion from the wind. What might work as an embossed seal doesn't work on waving cloth.
@Jamal: The Volga Germans were in Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great (well, that's what her friends called her) who admired German ingenuity, German cars, Angela Merkel, etc. Under slightly different circumstances, Stalin the Terrible found German ingenuity altogether too much of a good thing.
I've got a guy with a slide rule and pocket protector super pissed at me.
Where the hell did he find a slide rule, I lost mine years ago and have not seen one since.
Metaphysician UndercoverSeptember 27, 2024 at 01:10#9348410 likes
Reply to Sir2u
In an engineering museum, on a table full of beers. This is what the boys used to do to pass their time, sit around the table with cases of beer, and see who could come up with the most impressive slide rule magic.
Metaphysician UndercoverSeptember 27, 2024 at 01:11#9348420 likes
When I was a kid, we only had numbers up to 7. The teacher would speak of a future with 8s and 9s, making our imaginations run wild, but I didn't believe her.
And now we have 11s and 12s! The dreamers speak of 21s and 22s, but I think we're close to our limit.
Git too drunk and the slide rule forgot how to follow you home?
Nah, I think it got buried with a bunch of other stuff during an earthquake we had here about 15 years ago. Lost some of my drawing equipment and my darts set as well as a bunch of LP's and 45's.
Hanover,
Surprised you didn't take bc to task for calling Stalin ' the terrible' and not claiming Stalin as originating from/ being born in that great state of G....a.
Agree though with you that teachers are/were dreamers. Considering that they had to believe that they could instill a year's worth of school curriculum into 30+ 'don't want to be theres' (dwtbt) in 39 five 5 hour working day weeks of instruction plus catch up the years of instruction that the dwtbt had already falling behind with/by by grade 6. Unless the teachers were just there to collect a subsistence wage, in which case they had lost their dreams soon after year one of their teaching experience. Well some anyway!
Shawn,
What breed of pig is a "Pig?"
T Clark,
"Ex.........unit"
Are you working on some reaction test and stress testing/case hardening it in the s/box? Some are just not as switched on as others.
concerned smile
You're lucky twice in one day, Hanover.
Did the guy who you got super pissed with you, have a slide rule and pocket protector or did you use a slide rule and pocket protector to get him super pissed with you?
Come on, anyone can miss a comma, even legal secretaries, although not often if they want to keep their jobs.
arcane smile
javi2541997September 28, 2024 at 07:07#9350410 likes
I'd try Chinatown. Apparently it's a "thing" in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Good for inflammation, if the World Wide Web is to be believed. And we know it is. Why else would we be here? :chin:
Reply to Shawn Hmmm, suckling pig, roasted! How many adults will a suckling pig serve? Is the apple in its mouth baked, raw, or pickled? How does one go about carving the piglet? Or do the elegant diners just rip the flesh off its bones with their bare hands in an orgy of carnivory?
Aristotle demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction that just because a piglet is small, pink, and sleepy doesn't mean it is experiencing eudaimonia, which is better than pandaimonia, which is what happens when the truck comes by to collect the pink piglets destined for the spit and platter. .
@Shawn dreams of pigs’ joy,
Soft snouts and warm, wagging tails—
Why do they taste good?
javi2541997September 29, 2024 at 16:57#9353050 likes
Reply to Hanover Good try, Hanover. I don't want to look like choosy, but your haiku has two small mistakes: 1) A haiku can't refer to specific people, like you did referring to Shawn. A haiku is something anonymous, impersonal.
2) Questions are not allowed in haikus. You can try to use a more ambiguous formula. That's what Japanese readers like about haiku.
Maybe you don't really care about how a haiku works, but I assumed that as a haiku enthusiast, I would spot the errors.
Maybe God created something he didn't like?
— Shawn
Can't be. Genesis 1::31
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
Yet, evil exists, and is persecuted by God. Thus, God, who allowed evil to manifest in the world - must have disliked evil for it to be persecuted by Him, a good being...
The Philosophy Forum's stringent ban on ChatGPT-generated posts is a blatant disregard for intellectual progress and a stifling of diverse perspectives. Such a restrictive policy not only limits the potential for groundbreaking ideas but also perpetuates a narrow-minded view of what constitutes "legitimate" philosophical discourse. It is a shame that a forum dedicated to the exploration of complex thought would be so resistant to the innovative tools that could enhance our understanding of the world.
I think it's so threads on TPF don't devolve into a copy-paste back and forth of topics or arguments where neither person really has any idea what they (or the other person) are saying and just want to "prove the other guy wrong" without actually arguing from their own beliefs, knowledge, ability, or understanding.
Far as I can tell, you can use ChatGPT (or any LLM) to gain insight and arguments all day long, provided you actually type out your reply or counter-argument in your own words. Especially general concepts and ideas in the form of a posed question ie. "what about so and so's XYZ theory/dilemma?"
Seems to me they want to ensure the "human" aspect remains central in every engagement, one of the reasons I enjoy this place, something that might be at risk if you have people replying to every post.that they can't immediately "disprove" (kind of the point of philosophical discourse, I'd say) with a copy-paste AI reply all willy nilly and such. Just my take anyway.
I don't consider ChatGPT an authority on issues; but, sometimes it can help inform an ill-construed thread about how the issue pertains to whatever question a user has about the topic.
In such a sense it can be helpful to provide a LLM feed on a misguided topic.
javi2541997September 30, 2024 at 17:57#9355490 likes
Far as I can tell, you can use ChatGPT (or any LLM) to gain insight and arguments all day long, provided you actually type out your reply or counter-argument in your own words.
As Jamal noted, I was making, or rather ChatGPT was making, a wry, ironic statement.
javi2541997September 30, 2024 at 19:02#9355730 likes
Reply to unenlightened I know it is a famous comedic sketch by Monthy Python, and very funny indeed. But I personally dislike when I watch my country being related to the Inquisition in TV shows. It was a dark time in our history. I remember feeling a lot of shame reading Dostoevsky's passage when he exposed the Spanish Inquisition in The Brothers Karamazov. We are no longer like that.
Yes. it's to stop exchanges being like this forever.
A strong counterargument to the claim that prohibiting ChatGPT-generated posts stifles intellectual progress can be made by connecting Hubert Dreyfus' model of skill acquisition to Grice's maxims of conversation, showing that this prohibition actually enhances the quality of philosophical discussion on the forum.
According to Dreyfus’ model of skill acquisition, learners progress from novice to expert through deliberate practice, critical engagement, and the internalization of skills. Philosophical discussion, like any skill, requires active participation and personal involvement in order to cultivate expertise. Relying on AI-generated responses, however, can hinder this process by allowing users to bypass the hard but necessary cognitive work of developing their own arguments and insights. In this context, Dreyfus’ model shows that true philosophical skill grows only through direct engagement with material, not by outsourcing it to tools like ChatGPT.
Grice's maxims of conversation—Quality, Quantity, Relation, and Manner—are also better satisfied when participants are personally involved in generating their responses. For example, the Maxim of Quality, which emphasizes truthfulness, is more likely to be adhered to when users must justify their own ideas rather than relying on AI-generated content that might offer plausible but unsubstantiated statements. The Maxim of Quantity, which calls for providing the right amount of information, is best fulfilled when individuals tailor their responses based on their understanding of the discussion, something ChatGPT may not do effectively. The Maxim of Relation, which ensures relevance, is similarly better satisfied when participants are fully engaged and personally invested in the flow of the conversation, avoiding the occasional tangents or misunderstandings that AI-generated content may introduce. Lastly, the Maxim of Manner, which requires clarity and order, is more reliably achieved when users actively work to communicate their thoughts clearly, as they must grapple with and refine their own ideas.
By prohibiting the use of ChatGPT, the forum ensures that users go through the stages of skill acquisition necessary to produce thoughtful, well-grounded, and skillfully crafted philosophical contributions. This not only fosters individual growth but also maintains the conversational standards that uphold meaningful philosophical discourse, in line with Grice’s maxims. Far from stifling progress, the ban on AI-generated posts ensures that discussions remain rigorous, personal, and intellectually rewarding.
Took 10 minutes, appears truthy, is wrong in lots of subtle and not so subtle ways. But you're not going to see that unless you already knew it.
unenlightenedSeptember 30, 2024 at 19:09#9355770 likes
Reply to javi2541997 Well UK has a few dark passages too you know, like the slave trade and the empire and inventing concentration camps and deliberate mass starvations of Ireland and India, and so on. and we burned a few witches on our own behalf as well. So we like to laugh at other people a little when we can. I hope you are not too offended.
Yet, evil exists, and is persecuted by God. Thus, God, who allowed evil to manifest in the world - must have disliked evil for it to be persecuted by Him, a good being...
But this was just Day 6, so maybe then there was no evil yet. Man had yet to fall on Day the Sixth, but took a few more moments it seems. I heard once that the time between being enticed by the serpent and the eating of the fruit was but a few minutes, meaning Adam had little resolve. It makes sense he was not a man of high character, considering one of his two kids turned out to be a murderer. His other kid turned out to be a murdered.
Reply to T Clark I asked a certain gollum about that and this is what it had to say:
I'm certain that your deep offense is valid, but insofar that you're even questioning the seriousness of ChatGPT we'd recommend you read the EULA which states...
I always thought Pete Rose got too harsh a punishment.
Once I saw him play left field in the old Atlanta Fulton County stadium. I had the cheap seats and was a few yards behind him. The guy a few seats over yelled "You can suck my dick Pete Rose" over and over at him. Rose didn't take him up on the offer.
I wish I had a better Pete Rose story, but that one sticks out in my mind.
One of the greatest players to ever play the game, with an unfortunate penchant for gambling .
I love thee Wilma
With hair like silk,
Lips like cherries,
Skin like milk,
Your shell like ears,
Your dainty hands,
And eyes so black
Like frying pans
--F. Flintstone circa 1964
I know it may have no relevance; just felt compelled by the eyes like kitchenware simile.
Influenced by lathe worker of the ikon
variety, not the scene painter
nor overdrive. @ENOAH
How is relevance determined? Isn't relevance limited only by the final imaginings?
Thank you for your poem about Dick Rose. It is a tragic tale that I will never forget. I hope the governor will give him a pardon.
The only actual crime he ever committed was tax evasion, which landed him in the pokey a few years. The gambling just got him thrown out of baseball forever and ever. I think that extends past his death.
He would sign baseballs for fans, "Sorry I bet on baseball, Pete Rose." I think they thought he wasn't taking it seriously enough.
I still don't know why he didn't take that fan up on his offer though. He was so insistent.
The bad poet, Dionysus possessed, when drunk, is dizzied, wayward and dangerous.
If his speech does not follow from the Law, for what is good-order-truth,
His betters will speak out.
The masters say "Tut tut" in the name of the law.
The dog barks: "Hark! Hark!"
"It does not follow!"
and
"Stop right there!"
Then tomorrow comes, the poet goes hung-over, sober, and Dionysus slips the cell
To laugh from the policeman's mouth.
What a dick, this Dionysus! He says "Tut tut" too on the side of law and order as a sting operator for some sad Joe or Jane.
This kid chaos, a supernatural force to arrest the possessed, to cull them into and out of his whimsy cult, under influence and madness, for the sake of merriment.
What a double crossing ass clown!
But thank the gods and the dogs, we are not Greek.
It asked: "If there were 5 people on a bus, each with a name that starts with a different letter, left to right with descending alphabetical order (alpha-numeric included) and each couldn't be seated to the left of the one who didn't share a letter in the name, one named Sally, each other not having middle names, next Lucy, and one is a shopkeeper with a linen shirt, but the other Ned who never saw his father, an anchovey purveyor, but Mike, what about Mike? and so if the first third and fifth couldn't been seen next to eachother, name the two who were next to the other without regard to where it started."
I think it was just curious.
If you plug this into ChatGPT it actually provides an answer.
I kid you not, I found this last night wriiten on a crumpled piece of paper under my bed. Some diseased mind has been lurking in my room.
(Please avert your eyes @Amity. This is just wicked.)
[I]Love at the Pet Cemetery[/i] by Pelvis
I met my love at the pet cemetery
Dug her up from her cold hard womb
We danced a jig on a white rat's grave
And rolled 'cross a gerbil's tomb
I brought her home on my bicycle
She rattled like a cookie in a tin
Hangin' loose she is, in my closet, now
Awaitin' my lovin' sin
Once she was but a Dachshund bitch
Now lord we're a marryin'
Lord, we're a marryin'
I met my love at the pet cemetery
Dug her out with a dirty grin
Whenever I read different expressions of art from you, I can't help but think of Wolfgang. I know he has not been around for a long time, but I feel his presence in every line of yours. We all have our muse. :heart:
I met my love in the pet cemetery
Her anus dripping with dysentery
I tied her gland with a rubber band
And brought her home in my minivan
I laid her down on a wedding gown
And took my vow with a garden plow
I heaved it forth like giving birth
And slung her back into the earth
I swear I heard a dying word
But it was just her banded turd
As I looked at her crumpled mass with seeping sounds of wretched gas
I couldn't help but feel a pang for losing my sweet baby thang.
I swear I heard a dying word
But it was just her banded turd
As I looked at her crumpled mass with seeping sounds of wretched gas
I couldn't help but feel a pang for losing my sweet baby thang.
How come Hanover is allowed to use Chat GPT and the rest of us aren't.
@fdrakewas discussing Marshall McLuhan over in Currently Reading, and this came to mind. I didn’t want to post this in response because I didn’t want to distract from his comment.
@"T Clark,
Sounds like a junior partner of Benz, Lore, Fakash and associates.
No character malingement of aforementioned individuals or business intended, of course.
2. Convert the latitudes and longitudes into Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z):
- For each user, calculate their 3D Cartesian coordinates using the following formulas:
3. Apply weighting based on the number of posts:
- Let [math]w_i[/math] represent the weight (i.e., the number of posts by user i).
- Multiply the x, y, and z coordinates by [math]w_i[/math] for each user:
Anyone who can actually read that post from start to finish without seeing gibberish is likely a candidate for being kidnapped by a shady transnational organization with the intent of chaining one to a floor and forcing said individual to perform mathematical equations all hours of the day in order to receive food. Thankfully, that means I'm safe. My ignorance saves the day yet again.
Enjoying pralines and port. Obnoxiously sweet and unrefined. Like me.
Drinking again? I like port with cheese. A few weeks ago I went to the party of an old friend of mine. He is a cheeseman to the bone, so I took him some blue cheeses from the cheesemonger and a bottle of port. He never did report to me his enjoyment of them. Now I feel like I should've kept the port for myself cos I haven't had any for years.
2. Convert the latitudes and longitudes into Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z):
- For each user, calculate their 3D Cartesian coordinates using the following formulas:
3. Define the time-based weight for recent activity:
- Let [math] t_i [/math] be the number of days since user [math] i [/math] was last online.
- Define the time-based weight using an exponential decay function:
[math] w_{\text{time}}(t_i) = e^{-kt_i} [/math]
- Here, [math] k [/math] is a constant that controls the decay rate. You can adjust [math] k [/math] depending on how much weight you want to place on recent activity.
4. Combine post count and time-based weights:
- Let [math] w_{\text{post}}(i) [/math] represent the number of posts by user [math] i [/math].
- The total weight for user [math] i [/math] is:
5. Apply the combined weight to the Cartesian coordinates:
- Multiply the [math] x [/math], [math] y [/math], and [math] z [/math] coordinates by [math] w_i [/math] for each user:
6. Normalize the weighted sum of coordinates:
- Find the weighted average for [math] x_{\text{total}} [/math], [math] y_{\text{total}} [/math], and [math] z_{\text{total}} [/math] by dividing by the total weight:
7. Convert back to geographical coordinates:
- Convert the Cartesian coordinates [math] x_{\text{center}} [/math], [math] y_{\text{center}} [/math], and [math] z_{\text{center}} [/math] back to latitude and longitude:
Final Geographical Center:
The result will be the geographical center of the forum's members, weighted by their activity (number of posts and recent activity).
Yeah that seems sane. I'm just trusting your coordinate transforms though, since I assume you will have copied them from a source.
Edit: you might want to normalise the time weights though once you've computed them. As in enforce sum 1 by dividing by the sum of the exponential weights.
edit: same with the post weights. Ensuring that the combination of both weights have sum 1 is also a good idea so the coordinates stay on the earth.
Reply to Jamal I did the math (or maths as you guys say), and it hit in Atlanta, the suburbs just to the east of the city. Convenient for me, but purely coincidental. I'll see you at noonish on the Saturday nearest the anniversery date. If you guys bring the food and drink, I'll let you cook it on my grill and I'll let you use my fridge to cool the drinks.
If I'm not in when you come by, you can sit on my stoop and shoot the shit until I come by.
I met an attorney from Atlanta the other day. I thought you might know him - Bob Loblaw
We're actually in practice together. It's the law firm of Hanover, Loblaw, and T Clark (no relation). As a result of our recent lawsuit, I have to put "no relation" in parantheses.
Drinking again? I like port with cheese. A few weeks ago I went to the party of an old friend of mine. He is a cheeseman to the bone, so I took him some blue cheeses from the cheesemonger and a bottle of port. He never did report to me his enjoyment of them. Now I feel like I should've kept the port for myself cos I haven't had any for years.
The problem with cheesemen is their lack of communication skills that can often times appear as lack of appreciation, but it's not that at all. Your friend was deeply appreciative, but he just feels awkward expressing his emotion. I know this because I used to be in a cheese gang (a story for another day) in Wisconsin and had to deal with their stunted social development skills often. I tell you, that got me shot in the head on more than one occassion. Crazy times, but a story for another day.
... As in enforce sum 1 by dividing by the sum of the exponential weights.
... Ensuring that the combination of both weights have sum 1 is also a good idea so the coordinates stay on the earth.
Couple of proofreading issues there, bud. Let me help you out.
" ... As in enforce [s]sum 1[/s] someone by dividing by [s]the sum of[/s] some of the exponential weights.
... Ensuring that the combination of both [s]weights have sum 1[/s] wait for someone is also a good idea so the coordinates stay on the earth."
See, your main issue stems originally, through an etym-o-log-i-cal analysis--big words, don't worry about 'em, bud--from the confusion between "cum" and "come" see? Where one is an innocent everyday common or garden word (that's the second one for your reference there, bud) and the other is a dirty stinking porn term that has crept its ugly way into normal parlance and corrupted our language like a... a... Well, goddammit! It means "semen", bud!
Next thing you know, we transpose (just think "put", bud) that error into every one of its--eh, well, technically, we call them "linguistic symbionts", but you buddy can just think of them as "wordy friends", and so anyhow the point is before we know it, we're speaking trash level imbecile nonsense like "sum 1" instead of "someone" all because of Hollywood and its importing of porn into our community. The devils are... they're... Look, let me simplify: Tom Cruise gets naked and before you know it, you are functionally illiterate, buddy. Yes, that's right. Hard medicine but...
Now, I'm not blaming you per se personally an' all. Your brainrot is a common disease even among respectable and not-too-stupid members of the community, which you are not and I do not disrespect you for it as a result therein. Why I have seen even doctors and lawyers fall to such levels of mental carnage on watching Hollywood porn starring certain scientologists who will heretofore remain unmentioned, but the main point of this critique is I fear for your mind, bud, and I want you to take this to heart and just write better and be a better person and stop exposing yourself to such trash and mental oblivion.
By the way, ever since our discussion a couple of years ago, I found I am using the dash much more. Yes I know that’s not a dash it’s a hyphen, but my iPhone does not have a separate dash button. Of course, even if it did, I wouldn’t use it.
Reply to T Clark I bought some American cheese the other day. I had forgotten how delicious it is. I've been eating cheese sandwiches lately like nobody's business. Get you a can of chili and mac and heat that up with your pan fried sammich, and you've got yourself a meal for a king.
...Every time Tom Cruise mastubates onscreen and spreads his goddamn new "words" all over your consciousness, you lose literally MILLIONS of grey cells, buddy, MILLIONS! What's the formula for that, eh? What is it? SHOW ME THE FORMULA, buddy! SHOW IT TO ME!!!
Sorry, I just... sometimes it just gets to me, y'know. :sad:
Velveeta and American Cheese are the same substance in different forms. One is a solid and the other a liquid. If you take the powder that comes with the mac and cheese and blow a hair dryer through it, you'll create a gaseous cloud of it.
[hide="Reveal"]Fresh Express bagged salad (Italian) and Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon (Original), bombarded with grape tomatoes, slathered in Italian dressing, and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. Funny story, the chopped egg, diced ham, and shredded cheese are actually from a sealed tray within a different Fresh Express salad (container version) which main contents didn't survive the few days in my fridge, yet said toppings were salvaged in order to create what you see before you now. Neat, eh?[/hide][/hide]
Funny story, the chopped egg, diced ham, and shredded cheese are actually from a sealed tray within a different Fresh Express salad (container version) which main contents didn't survive the few days in my fridge, yet said toppings were salvaged in order to create what you see before you now. Neat, eh?
I don't find your story funny at all. The mixture of ingredients intended for other dishes speaks to a corrupting impure eclecticism intended for cultural genocide.
Looks good, but non-halved grape tomatoes is unhinged. One can learn a lot about a person from how they treat tomatoes.
To put things into context, the above picture is probably my favorite dish that's not an actual entree (steak, fish, hamburger, etc). I have probably ate said dish maybe half a dozen times in 6 years. I have a unique occupation which requires living carefully coupled with a near-religious dedication to maximization of productivity. Except when it's the opposite. You will pardon my occasional ravenous indulgence.
Also, the nearest actual grocery store is a good 90-minute round trip, not including shopping.
Speaking of american cheese, does anybody know the name of that stuff that looks like burnt axle grease and when applied to pre-buttered toast tastes like burnt marine shaft grease?
Don't know why Hanover's Velveeta reference/description brought to mind?
that stuff that looks like burnt axle grease and when applied to pre-buttered toast tastes like burnt marine shaft grease?
Not sure what burnt axle grease looks like but I imagine it might look a bit like marmite, which I had on my toast a few minutes ago. But the toast wasn't pre-buttered: I buttered it myself.
-Jamal
There may be a market for pre-buttered toast? Must consult our resident entrepreneur. Where does augustino hang out nowdays? Haven't seen him in the S/box of late?
Hope that doesn't open a can of worms? Only up to the low 600s pages of this particular S/box.
Not enough wet sundays with nothing better to do for an educating laugh
@Jamal
Or (ab)using the other side of his body, along with Hanover, extracting post facto political predictions from their lower bowels, or not. "Independently or conjointly" was not elaborated upon or referenced to by either. Well, not by end of the page below.
See mid to lower pge 622 Shoutbox if you're bored or having a masochistically nostalgic moment.
Got to go. Catch and kill for tea tonight. Best check the trap lines before getting up hopes.
But haggis is a basic staple food to have every night, whereas I imagine for Americans, chili mac is only for special occasions like romantic meals or dinner parties.
I remember when my mother used to open the can of fresh baked bread. The smell would waft out the windows and kids would come running over begging for a piece. But no, that was our can for sopping up the chili mac liquid. For dessert, we'd finish off the meal off with a Camel filterless. Just two puffs for little Johnny though. Save the long drags for papa. He had a long day and needs to unwind.
For breakfast, a slightly rotten egg. Well, it had been in the fridge for over a month but boiled, so I thought it was Ok. I couldn't really smell it to check because my sinuses are completely blocked up, but it looked Ok though probably wasn't 100%. To compound matters, I only had frozen bread and the toaster was bust and I wanted something to put the egg on, so I just ate the bread frozen with the egg sliced on it, which had a weird texture but after a few bites was fine. Topped the whole thing with cheese from a tube, so I'm in with the cheese crowd, I guess. Yeah, not bad. :up:
To put things into context, the above picture is probably my favorite dish that's not an actual entree (steak, fish, hamburger, etc). I have probably ate said dish maybe half a dozen times in 6 years. I have a unique occupation which requires living carefully coupled with a near-religious dedication to maximization of productivity. Except when it's the opposite. You will pardon my occasional ravenous indulgence.
Also, the nearest actual grocery store is a good 90-minute round trip, not including shopping.
None of this addresses the elephant on the plate (?). Whole grape tomatoes. I estimate a person with average knife skills could halve the 17 grape tomatoes on your plate in roughly 42.5 seconds.
@Noble Dust,
Probably the most enterprising, self employed, distributive,orthodox abbot by now. @Hanover,
Wasn't the lower classes Aztec word for mumps the plural form of tomatl and that is the reason......call..ladies "tomatoes? Cultural cross pollination since the Wall isn't working?
@Noble Dust,
Once saw a man cutting tomatoes with an ax(e). Must have been an ax(e) murderer?
Does the treatment of pumpkins have character revealing tells? If so, Halloween must be the time for sculptors and cranial specialist surgeons.
See where this is heading? Other than small talk over a meal?
@Shawn,
Just to 'tangentalize' ( there's a modern Americanism as yet not often used in the S/box) the discussion (sarcastic wink), how were pork bellies trading at the close on Monday's (10/7/24) Chicago Commodities Market? Porcine the continuing rise of oil prices?
Sorry to drag you in, but your piggy photos are much missed already.
Let's just pause to remember with poor Florida about to walloped by the mother of all hurricanes, that that states Governor passed a bill into law this year, prohibiting any reference to climate change in State law.
I meant to mention to Michael, he doesn't need that Huel stuff. Put soy milk, banana, + peanut butter in a blender and you're set. :yum:
You severely overestimate my morning energy. Getting out of bed, walking to the fridge to get a bottle of Huel, and getting back into bed is too much already.
Reply to Paine https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/florida-s-governor-prepared-for-this-inevitable-storm-by-burying-his-head-20241009-p5kgzq.html
There's going to be a lot of them flying around, so watch out. Ever wonder where all that stuff that gets washed out to sea in these huge storms ends up?
@T Clark and @Wayfarer,
The Australian National Broadband Network's too slow and geographically restricted to be blamed for all of that order of teleportation. But the gov owners ( soon to be forever) will be able to make a profit of at least 10% GST on anything that does get through, second hand or not.
Collaterally, that explains Hanover's recent revision reading of his state's insurance and risk liability statute's latest edition. Oh, the hand wringing that must be going on in the legal fraternity from Fl to NY.
Eye on the main chance smile
unenlightenedOctober 10, 2024 at 09:39#9384830 likes
Was going to put this in the lounge somewhere, but then I thought to look for the why care about truth nonsense, and then felt very tired.
javi2541997October 10, 2024 at 11:15#9384880 likes
This year, a [s]poet[/s] writer from South Korea won the Nobel Prize in Literature. I share the press release—if someone is interested. I remember starting a thread on Jon Fosse, the previous laureate.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 is awarded to the South Korean author Han Kang, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose.
In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose.
There are several aspects of the Nobel award that dissuade me from rushing to Amazon,
a) Historical trauma; suffering!!! historical and current trauma is IN these days. Lots of people are dwelling on it -- the traumas of individual pasts and our collective past. There are too many fresh traumas for me to get too interested in digging up historical ones,
b) Exposes the fragility of human life; life is fragile, alright, and until one individually experiences that fragility for themselves through the death of others or close calls with their own death, it's a literary topic.
c) Awareness of the connections between body and soul; what soul?
d) The living and the dead; that's nice. What are the dead telling her?
e) Her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose; spare me. One of the things that most turns me off is experimental prose and poetry. This isn't an artifact of old age and senility. I didn't like experimental prose 60 years ago and I still don't. (Actually, I might be more open to it now than in the past, which might be a sign of senility.)
So, good for her, I'll stick with tried and proven prose styles.
And many thanks, Javi, for giving me the opportunity to bitch and carp where I should be happy. Your efforts here are worthy of a Nobel Prize in ever so many categories. What will you do with the cash after they award it to you?
By the way, I don't like "oeuvre" either. It seems like something pigs would wallow in. @Shawn
Besides the destruction, Florida is already having an insurance crisis. Lots of companies leaving the state. It's about to get worse.
Insurance, my favoritist topic!
The Insurance problem in Florida is long standing, with prior instances of insurers pulling up stakes or threatening to. Much of the problem relates to regulations and litigation costs (damn attorneys!).
I have been able to extend my vocal range down from an unstable (or at least inconsistent) E2 (2nd-lowest E on a grand) down to a B1 (2nd-lowest B on a Grand - the lowest note, though, is an A0 ). Which is a downward increase of 5 semitones over about five months. Quite proud of this, honestly.
This gives me a total vocal range of B1-Eb7 (five octaves, four semitones)
Usable range of C#2-D6 (four octaves, 1 semitone).
Consistent "I'll prove it to you" range of C#2-C6 (four octaves).
Very happy as this allows for me to sing bass, baritone, tenor and some less-demanding alto parts without falsetto, and some less-demanding coloratura parts, with falsetto and flageolet.
And many thanks, Javi, for giving me the opportunity to bitch and carp where I should be happy. Your efforts here are worthy of a Nobel Prize in ever so many categories.
I honestly don't deserve anything, mate. I behave like I want to live, not expecting a prize or recognition. But, I want to congratulate the people who, after decades of effort, their work is gratified. It is emotional, at least to me...
I will never win a Nobel prize, but I can use an example regarding prizes if you allow me to do so; when I was a kid, I had to swim to heal an injury in my back. I didn't want to go to the pool because I was a lazy ass then. Yet my parents and trainer 'motivated' me with the chance of swimming in a regional championship if I had taken the training seriously. After months of swimming, I was there, at the championship, and they gave a medal (like to the rest of the kids). But I was happy for not quitting!
Well, I remember that September came, and I never went back to the swimming club...
@Hanover,
Vaguely remember his name in relation to a legal 'how the mighty fall" story. Had forgotten how long ago which is not surprising considering the speed and volume of turnover of media "news".
The insurancejournal is about fraud ( in the main) rather than defining/ determining the scope of "cause of damage" clauses. Or is that now all nutted out up to the Supreme Courts level?
Thanks though. Enlightening.
smile
By the way, Catalonian small towns and villages inside Barcelona province are cool. If only they were not poisoned by politics... At least, the wave of separatists has been decreasing since 2020.
@javi2541997,
Oh,so you're not so much of a separatist , rather you just like the countryside.
Understand, people residents can detract from wanting to live somewhere else.
Oh,so you're not so much of a separatist , rather you just like the countryside.
I think being a separatist is a terrible idea. For the past 7 years, some learnt the lesson that splitting a territory into different parts like a cake only leads to chaos, but sadly, others didn't learn the lesson yet.
The Scots and Irish, to name a few, may not agree there is an overarching lesson to be learnt. Or, at least,there are nuances to the lesson.
Time to eat.
Cheers
Carlo RoosenOctober 11, 2024 at 10:13#9387530 likes
I need some advice on how I can communicate recurring topics. I wrote about my view on consciousness in two or three comments already. Should I refer to those comments, repeat it every time, or write (yet another) OP?
I wrote about my view on consciousness in two or three comments already.
Get used to it. You could make an interesting math problem, using some laws of statistics, to determine how many different ways you can say the exact same thing. As the statement gets larger, the number of different ways to say it, ought to increase exponentially.
For instance, if it is a one word statement and there is three synonyms involved, then you can say the exact same thing in three different ways. If it is a two word statement, and there is three synonyms involved with each word, the number of possible combinations increases accordingly. (I believe it is six, but I was never good at counting points in cribbage.) So you can see that the number of different ways to say the very same thing ought to increase rapidly as the statement gets bigger.
Interestingly, the reverse is actually true. Since the meaning of each word is context dependent, and the context gets more complicated as the statement gets bigger, the less ambiguity there is, as to the statement's meaning.
The moral of this long story is, make extremely long posts, and repeat the exact same thing over and over again, until everyone reading understands exactly what you are saying.
Carlo RoosenOctober 11, 2024 at 11:57#9387710 likes
My question is, in fact, more about which of the three is the accepted behavior here. I don't want people to see my same comment everywhere. It is also not polite to let people click for your answer, I am not even sure if you are allowed to post links to your own post. And posting too much OP is not allowed.
I need some advice on how I can communicate recurring topics. I wrote about my view on consciousness in two or three comments already. Should I refer to those comments, repeat it every time, or write (yet another) OP?
Also, delete all personal blogs and websites. dispose of your passport, leave family and friends, go somewhere isolated but with an internet connecftion, spend all your time on here, and be fully under moderator control until it becomes sort of like second natue just to obey our unreasonable and arbitrary commands. Eventually, you will end up in TPF heaven and meet the archangel @Michael. He's fun. He eats weird shit.
I need some advice on how I can communicate recurring topics. I wrote about my view on consciousness in two or three comments already. Should I refer to those comments, repeat it every time, or write (yet another) OP?
I find referring to past posts and making me go looking elsewhere for the comment annoying. I'm more likely to copy some text from the other post. I'm even more likely to just restate my position briefly, especially if it is not the central point of the discussion. Starting a new OP every time is a bad idea.
I find that when I have nothing to talk about, I talk about how I talk and I ask people if the way I talk is an okay way to talk. That way, at least they'll be talking to me even when I have nothing to talk about.
I don't know what your philosophy for new members is.
When I joined TPF the first time, the Shoutbox was not on the main page. It was hidden. To join such an honourable place, I had to pass a very difficult exam where @Miguel Hernández, @Michael Bay, and I were the applicants. I was chosen by the committee. Now, everything is easier. The paella is cooked in the microwave, and the Guinness is stored in a can. You know what I want to say to young people like you? Take a shovel and seek for diamonds!
Reply to Carlo Roosen My philosophy for new members is to give them grace when they don't understand, and extend charity to the point that it doesn't disrupt the community at large that we already have.
I want new members and voices, and I'll preserve what we already have.
You people amaze me. It pains me how the intellectual must suffer the insufferable. Still. Like I tell others, "the only thing worse than a hard life is a boring one". Suited and wholly dynamic for their level of intellect. To a better tomorrow. Utopia, at long last.
Bernie Ketchup is my name
I started out seeking fame
Dance couldn’t I, nor act nor sing
So philosophy became my thing
I saw a boson jump a quark
And thought me up quite the lark
Quantum magic could be so fine
If transformed it were to human mind
I scribbled up a book or two
Blogged and vlogged and Tweeted too
Realism's dead! Idealism’s true!
Cast ye off the materialist blues!
Philosophy is a tricky thing
But play it right, and it may bring
Seekers of Truth, the logically blind
And a few spare bob to keep you in pints!
Carlo RoosenOctober 12, 2024 at 12:00#9389930 likes
Reply to Moliere My advice: let a few volunteers guide new members for the first few weeks. I'm happy to help, once I am fully accepted as "crazy enough to keep". Also, there could be a rule that the first few OP's you write should be in the Lounge. Just my thoughts. I sent a PM to two non-moderators asking for help, they did and still do. Otherwise I would have left, no doubt.
Carlo RoosenOctober 12, 2024 at 12:01#9389940 likes
These are the messages I get "Please shove your attitude where the sun don't shine. I've read your posts recently. If you're on drugs, stop immediately. If you're not, you should start."
javi2541997October 12, 2024 at 12:19#9390010 likes
Anyway, I actually think it is a beautiful message because it is not sarcastic. Maybe you didn't like the part when the sender pushed you to try drugs, right?
Carlo RoosenOctober 12, 2024 at 14:51#9390240 likes
Reply to javi2541997 Do you think I am joking or what? No it was a member on the forum, not AI. I will share his name with the mods, not here online. And I do have a screenshot just in case. The message was posted as a comment and deleted by a mod. But it stays visible in my "Mentions" folder.
Anyhow getting back to food. The thing about ketchup is it doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the underlying food, though it does give it a more palatable taste. Thus, we shouldn't overrate condiments. We could maybe even train our palate to do without them. Certainly, we shouldn't imagine our food any different for their presence. Maybe rather than a condiment, we just need better food.
javi2541997October 12, 2024 at 16:39#9390490 likes
Reply to Baden I agree. Condiments can even cheat our psychology of taste. I always ate pasta with sugar-addictive Orlando tomato sauce, until one day I boiled pasta without realising whether I had tomato sauce or not. I hadn't. There wasn't any hint of that addictive garbage sauce, so I decided to eat it as it came out of the bag. It was a queer taste, and then I realised that those condiments are there just to trick some products. I wrote a compliment to the Ministry of Consumers regarding all of this, but they tried to bribe me and buy my silence. Now, I live hidden in Nafarroa. Far from the state and food industry.
Anyhow getting back to food. The thing about ketchup is it doesn't fundamentally alter the nature of the underlying food, though it does give it a more palatable taste. Thus, we shouldn't overrate condiments. We could maybe even train our palate to do without them. Certainly, we shouldn't imagine our food any different for their presence. Maybe rather than a condiment, we just need better food.
On the rare occasion where we went out to a nice restaurant, if I ordered a steak, my father would say "If you want ketchup, you can get a hamburger." Now I sometimes put ketchup on my nice, juicy, medium rare ribeye in his memory.
Thank you for convincing me that your really ARE 100% evolved from pond scum.
And what a devolved degenerate I must be for suggesting evolution is not scriptural and inviolate. I am also sorry you found my thread poorly written, I tried hard but guess am just not up to your Rabelaisian Carnivalesque especially the part about "decontexualized rhetorical questions". You are clearly a person of deep soundings. You managed to find non-meanings and non-intentions in my thread that only a completely roboticized birdbrain could find, and I am impressed by that, just as I am impressed by the ability of a slightly different kind of automated nitwit to crawl flylike up the side of the Capitol Building over some cliche he heard. However, I must tell you that being subjected to the oversite of a robot-ding-a-ling who thinks philosophy is a matter of fitting words into an algorithm and rope-walking above an abyss of cliches is not my ideal for philosophical discussion and so I must wish you and your forum adieu and will not be reading any more of it. I am sorry I stumbled on it in the first place, no wonder US philosophy is the pathetic little pet rabbit of science that is it. It is because of science-fawining literal-minded sycophants like you, sir, who should be punching adding machines or somehing, not "monitoring" philosophically-minded people. GOOD NIGHT, GO BACK TO YOUR MENTAL CASKET.
The trick I use with ketchup when I'm stuck is to change the name, then it tastes better. You need some imagination and effort though. I make a label with "Essence des Tomates" or some such on it, put it on an old marmalade jar, put the ketchup in and then spoon it out onto whatever. One time I added dark red food colouring 'cos I only had the real crappy bright red almost glow-in-the-dark ketchup. It really tasted better after that. :up:
Comet A3 is visible right now.
It'll be another 80,000 years until it visits again.
Neanderthals might have seen it during its last visit.
The Sky has a tracker: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
"Please shove your attitude where the sun don't shine. I've read your posts recently. If you're on drugs, stop immediately. If you're not, you should start."
@Baden I'm a little confused. You deleted my quote of someone else's post, but you let their own post stand? They're the exact same words. 'Splain me please.
ps -- May I infer that two people can post the exact same words, yet only one post gets censored? Meaning that censorship is based on handle identity and not on content?
Metaphysician UndercoverOctober 12, 2024 at 22:06#9391460 likes
Reply to fishfry
Thems fightin words. I love it. Carry on please.
Man has an opinion. No biggie. Takes two to tango. In fact, I'd wager you may even take such as a complementary badge of honor, no?
It is true, for reasons that seem to defy logic, Carlo Roosen's newfound presence here has, again for reasons that defy explanation, been a polarizing and inflammatory one. So what? It's the internet. Where we meet to discuss philosophy, make friends (and perhaps enemies) and get on with our lives. I see no disruption. Save for those who make such for themselves.
Like I can put myself in the proverbial shoes of those who had a few less than supportive words of him. Imagine, if you will, a community. all is well, if not a bit quiet and lackluster. Then he shows up all "Hey guys I'm a genius software engineer, the likes of which you could never hope to understand, but anyway my questions and concerns are now paramount and they shall be made available ceaselessly as will my day-one scrutiny of moderatorship because, you know what, I'm a genius. And you know I'm right.". Naturally I don't think that's a fair or accurate assessment of the man nor his intentions, but... I see why it may come off as such. Can't you?
I believe, much like my self, T Clark holds the value of intellect to be in high regard. That's his "right and wrong'. Naturally, when we see what we believe to be right being "attacked" by what naturally has to be wrong, well, it leaves one a bit conflicted. Does it not? Long story short everyone just needs to take a quick nap or perhaps a cold shower and all will be well.
Cheers. And yes to dear Carlo, you've brought some excitement to this place and a bit of a shakeup I have not observed in a while my friend. I only wish you see the value others see in you enough to perhaps "let sleeping dogs lie" and learn to "just say Okay" in situations that regardless of your choice, really don't impact you or your work in any way. For other people's benefit. Fair enough, yes?
I know you feel hard done by. Your remark to carlo was an escalation in tone. I believe this was why it did not go under the radar whereas carlo's did. Please stop posting about this unless you want to make a feedback thread out of it, I'll treat continued talk about it in this thread as refusing moderation.
Also @Carlo Roosen, if you have problems with other members - either try to argue it out with them civilly in the originating thread, or report their conduct to mods. Use the report to mod button on the bottom of posts or DM us. Preferably use the report button since it's a lot quicker for us to check it on our end. Taking it to the Shoutbox for the purpose of finding allies also spoils the atmosphere of the site.
Imagine someone scammed the system (a tad bit) so that a homeless guy could stay indoors with free food for a little while. That's a type of corruption.
What if all corruption is a little like that? The funds are just being syphoned off from legislated corruption?
@frank,
The idea being, it's all corruption, just a matter of degree?
@T Clark,
So ya should be! 'Li'l ol' sin eater, you! Are you doing [s]water[/s] wine tastings on Mondays or does that clash with Hanover's appointment with Lazarus' 'widow'?
All perceived psuedo-religious inferences permitted.
@Baden,
Can't accept ketchup, but nothing wrong with deep fried (in lard) doughnuts smothered in Colway tomato sauce with tumeric,black pepper and a dab of Frank's Red Hot Extra Hot pepper sauce. No sweet toppings need apply.
@Moliere,
Another use for catsup ( being gracious about the term).
While blending 1/3 by volume Hommus with 2/3 Greek yoghurt add catsup slowly until a faint pink color or until it's pink red if your taste buds have been desensitized by over use of catsup. Use as a sauce or a dip. Drops of hot pepper sauce may be added during blending for added colour/piquancy.
Great with hot weiners, chreerios ,frankfurts or any bbq sausages or savoury late night snack.
You may like it with chocolate.
Got it because doughnuts were central, indicating materialism, and your doughnut combo was a mess, narrowing it down to Metzinger (mess/ Metz). Anyhow, having these conversations via food proxy is more pleasant and probably more productive than the traditional format.
Someone who among other languages spoke arabic owned two camels and was dying. And wished to do the best possible for one lazy son and one married daughter whose husband was hated.
What happened and what was the reasoning?
2 hints: Jamal got one camel. And there is more than one answer.
Satisfaction of participation, the only reward.
Lucky charms are an underrated foodstuff. The magic lies in the leprechaun. Eating almost anything while contemplating this happy fellow humming catchy Gaelic tunes is a joyful experience. The hard problem is separating the image from the substance. What even are lucky charms without Lucky the charming Leprechaun?
That is @kazan's trademark, the reference to a non-existent emoji, like, for example, literally telling someone "you've made my face look sad, but just subtlety, as in the right side of my lip slightly arc down."
Please find you own trademark, like signing off as One Eye or whatever that was.
{{{{{Huggggssss}}}}}}
And ketchup isn't an innocuous condiment. It's a soup. Whether soup is also a meal is a hotly contested issue that was identified first by @Jamal.
Speaking of authentic Irish foods like Lucky Charms, I ate in Dublin last night driving home from a trip. They have the finest Wendy's in the land. She's a bright red ginger, so I assume her last name in McWendy.
From a bog in Kerry, I ventured abroad,
In gay Paris, consumed I a frog,
A London alley found me drunk,
In a Roman piazza, I made me a bunk
Catalunya's climes treated me fine
And I stayed in Porto 'cos I liked the wine
Gibraltar was a fishy place
From that Limey rock was I chased
But never made it I to Africa's shores
My raft washed up on the Azores
It could be worse, there's sun and sand
And drink to be had, though the beer is canned
But sometimes I wish I'd bloody sank
I can't be doin' without me potatoes, Frank.
Pineapples: The most popular fruit grown in the Azores, with the islands exporting over 2 million pineapples per year. You can visit a pineapple plantation on São Miguel Island to see the fruits growing in greenhouses.
Tea: The Azores have been growing tea for almost 200 years and are known as Europe's secret tea capital. The Azores have Europe's only two commercial tea plantations on São Miguel Island.
Milk: The Azores produce more than 30% of Portugal's milk.
Beef: The Azores slaughter and export beef.
Wine: The Azores produce grapes for wine, which is sold locally and exported.
Corn: The most representative annual crop, used mostly for silage.
Yes, well I see the animal, a pig, as treated really badly. It bothers me how people enjoy its presence but are willing to eat it. This ignorance of the good, of a pig, will cause me to become a vigilante, as I predict.
Sometimes I eat fish, thinking it doesn't suffer, and to an extent, chicken. Kinda feel also sorry for cows.
But, lately I was such a ****ing hypocrite that I ate a BLT at Subway and a 4x4 at In-an-Out. Shit like this makes me really wonder if I can even abide by my own standards.
But, lately I was such a ****ing hypocrite that I ate a BLT at Subway and a 4x4 at In-an-Out. Shit like this makes me really wonder if I can even abide by my own standards.
No, I'm not going to help you beat me in the short story activity. :wink: Good luck though. :strong:
On a less jocular note, are you looking for editing or proofreading? Proofreading is fairly trivial and can be automated. As can correction of most grammar mistakes (at your level of English). Editing for style, tone, effect is a different kettle of fish.
Reply to fdrake I was actually looking for a movie to go see yesterday, so maybe I'll check it out. If you could, continue pre-screening movies for me so I don't waste time and money on my own.
I recently saw My Old Ass and was surprised that it was as well done as it was.
Reply to Baden I guess more an editor than a proofreader...
And yes, someone needs to tighten up my perfect story so that it will be perfectly told so I can finally win. We can do a Nicci French and secretly be two authors. Because conceptually I'll have everyone beat this time.
Oh, and I forgive you. It was Yom Kippur this past weekend, and so consider yourself forgiven. The folks in the synagogue kept asking for forgiveness. I think it was directed at me. Or maybe God. I'm not sure. I get us confused.
I was reading online that a good number of folks are plenty upset at the lack of line decorum at the Sam's Club. Seems there's some grabbing at the rotisserie chickens ahead of people who waited a goodly amount for their turn. I mean imagine that, you'd been waiting like you were raised to only to have a rude you know what take advantage.
That's why the world is as it is. It starts with chicken grabbing and escalates on up.
Metaphysician UndercoverOctober 15, 2024 at 01:19#9397120 likes
@Hanover,@Baden et al,
There is no exclusive 'right to use' attached to the Parthian [s]shot[/s] smile.Totally opensauce. So use it, abuse it, worship it, revile it, enjoy it or fear it in the hands of others.
Never know, it might nuance emojis out of lazy popularity
@jorndoe,
"...this once-extinct..." Oxymoron? Or has 'extinct' developed qualifications in its meaning as well as its attachable adjectives. Much to do about [s] fifo bin rats[/s] nothing.
Just joshin'. Some forms of dedication can stir admiration.
Got myself this seven-headed head-shaving beast, and thought it deserved a fictionalization.
[quote=ChatGPT]
It started simply enough. Every few days, Jamal would take out the Skull Shaver and run it over his head, enjoying the clean, crisp feel it gave him. But soon, he started looking forward to it more than he expected. The sound of the blades buzzing softly, the way the shaver fit perfectly in his hand—it was calming, almost meditative.
As winter tightened its grip on Moscow, Jamal’s love for the Skull Shaver grew. He found himself cleaning it more carefully, polishing it, and making sure it was always fully charged. His attachment to the routine was undeniable. He began to talk to it as he shaved, as if it were a confidant, the one constant in a city that still felt strange.
His wife would laugh at him, teasing him gently about his new obsession. But Jamal didn’t care. There was something about the simple act of shaving his head that made him feel connected, grounded in a place that often felt disconnected. Each morning, he’d shave his head, then step out onto the balcony to watch the starlings wheel through the sky.
He couldn’t explain it, but as the days passed, he realized that his love for the Skull Shaver had become more than just a practical tool. It was a companion, one that gave him a sense of control in a world that felt chaotic. The way it moved over his scalp, never missing a spot, felt like a kind of silent, mechanical intimacy.
Moscow might have been for his wife, but this—the hum of the shaver, the sight of the starlings—it was all his.[/quote]
God I hate the way it writes. I've heard from some quarters (psychologist Paul Bloom and @Baden probably) that the bland perfection of LLM-generated language ought to spur writers to go crazy, to be experimental or even perverse. (And not only in fiction)
It is very regular when you try to make it irregular.
As I've spoken with it more I've been writing more disordered prose. I run a horror roleplaying group.
Outside is dark, a solid wall of blackness. The sound of children playing rushes past like a distant siren, dopplering down into the sound of churning teeth and wetness. The air coughs, the old hinges on the door buckle, their rust fray echoing red tears of down feathers, tessellating birds' nests weaved with tomboy pig tails, each sweating forth from pores in the air. The sweat gathers on your brows, filling your nostrils with the stink of unwashed age and birdshit.
javi2541997October 16, 2024 at 08:40#9401180 likes
It creates surface level impressions of good fiction prose and poetry. It's a very odd experience, it looks like good prose but the sentence construction and symbolism tends to lack insight and wit. The way it describes things reads combinatorially, it will put one idea beside another but rarely combine them.
The bird’s nest sprawls in a tangled, intricate cacophony of twig sinew, fibrous veins crisscrossing in an erratic maze of interwoven sentences that blur into shape but never quite arrive. It pulses with the chatter of leaf whispers, a wordless symphony, each note wrapped in the tactile stickiness of sap and feather, flickering with the scent of forgotten rain, the echo of winds that murmured secrets eons ago.
See, the nest doesn’t just sit—no, it sprawls, it ambles, it bleeds across time, where each piece of straw is a chapter, the moss a footnote, the shell remnants punctuation marks in a story of grasping, clutching, reaching, and losing, forgetting, remembering. And the colors, well, they drip into each other—brown but also yellow but also dusk but also the texture of hunger, of warmth, of the smell of sunlit dirt, as if the eye can touch and the hand can hear.
It's no longer just a nest—it is the haphazard scribbling of nature's pen, stammering in a thousand languages, a nest of voices, twisting tendrils of whispers, the vibrations from some forgotten tremor.
What it thinks disordered prose is. I told it to write something with logorrhea and synesthesia.
Outside is dark, a solid wall of blackness. The sound of children playing rushes past like a distant siren, dopplering down into the sound of churning teeth and wetness. The air coughs, the old hinges on the door buckle, their rust fray echoing red tears of down feathers, tessellating birds' nests weaved with tomboy pig tails, each sweating forth from pores in the air. The sweat gathers on your brows, filling your nostrils with the stink of unwashed age and birdshit.
You should enter the short story competition.
But I'm always afraid of making a mistake and not being able to tell if something is made by a human or not, as if it would imply that I wasn't sufficiently sophisticated and literary, and also that the LLMs might in fact be as good as people. Hence my question as to who wrote it. It stemmed from fear, pathetic human that I am.
And now I can't trust my judgement, because I know who wrote what. Do I really like this one more?
But I'm always afraid of making a mistake and not being able to tell if something is made by a human or not, as if it would imply that I wasn't sufficiently sophisticated and literary, and also that the LLMs might in fact be as good as people. Hence my question as to who wrote it. It stemmed from fear, pathetic human that I am.
And now I can't trust my judgement, because I know who wrote what. Do I really like this one more?
Yep. The AI prose is more self contained (mine was an excerpt), none of its imagery is confused; its synesthetic elements unambiguously predicate eg tactile properties to sight events; and its context drift doesn't exploit connotations.
I didn't prime it to write it from a first person-ish point of view, so the "see" and and "no" were inventions of its own. They're also thematically quite wrong, they're introducing confused elements as qualifications and clarifications, in distinct and hyphenated clauses. You can always tell when it's being literal and when it's being metaphorical, despite the combination of context drift and synesthesia eliding those things.
I quite liked the "See," because it enlivened the tone, although you could be right that it doesn't fit. But maybe that's why I liked it, cos it leavened the flatness.
I quite liked the "See," because it enlivened the tone, although you could be right that it doesn't fit. But maybe that's why I liked it, cos it leavened the flatness.
Yeah it has some good sides to it. The idea that some cunt is going reality bending nuts over a bird's nest they saw is honestly quite wonderful.
@javi2541997 (Of course, my writings are far from gibberish and can, in fact, be described as the purest gold of literary triumph and indispensable not only to TPF but to human progress in general. However, Big Brother must be humoured).
Thank you and please do not forget to tune in tomorrow for Tomorrow's Today's Tomorrow's Today's Quote from Finngan's Wake.
javi2541997October 16, 2024 at 16:54#9402140 likes
Reply to Baden I absolutely agree. As a non-native speaker, plumber apprentice, and consumer of books and playwriting for pure enjoyment, it is a pleasure to read your posts. When the names of the short stories' authors are not revealed, I always thought: Jesus, is this James Joyce? But it turned out to be you. If ever someone thinks in Joyce when he reads a story from you, or he thinks in Baden when it was actually Joyce the author, it is a pure coincidence.
I don't understand what you mean or why you put it here. Any comment should go in the relevant discussion. Unless I've misunderstood your point, this seems inappropriate.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 19:03#9402400 likes
okay. Still learning the rules because they are nowhere written. Thanks for the clarification. Thought this was okay because it is not my OP. No self-promotion here.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 19:07#9402410 likes
Is this place only for completely off-topic talk? I thought it was for everything. This guy is avoiding discussion by giving responses like "you are wrong" or "you gave no reasons". I don't think it is a moderators issue, I simply hoped somebody could step in and give a bit of a direction. Teach me if this is not the appropriate place for that.
Is this place only for completely off-topic talk? I thought it was for everything. This guy is avoiding discussion by giving responses like "you are wrong" or "you gave no reasons". I don't think it is a moderators issue, I simply hoped somebody could step in and give a bit of a direction. Teach me if this is not the appropriate place for that.
If you think that's true, tell him. Unless someone is violating the rules, don't be a tattle tail. Even then, do it more subtly. Contact the moderators. This is annoying.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 19:29#9402440 likes
okay. Not having clear rules is annoying too, but I hear you.
Is this place only for completely off-topic talk? I thought it was for everything. This guy is avoiding discussion by giving responses like "you are wrong" or "you gave no reasons". I don't think it is a moderators issue, I simply hoped somebody could step in and give a bit of a direction. Teach me if this is not the appropriate place for that.
God's sake Carlo I told you not to come in the shoutbox bitching about other members. It doesn't do anything good for the site. As Reply to T Clark said, if you have an issue with someone's post report it. If you have an issue with another member's conduct DM a mod. You were told this before!
On a more serious note, I voted yesterday in the very critical swing state that is Georgia. Your future is in my hands.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 20:02#9402500 likes
Please note that I am not bitching at all. I thought a forum like this is a place where likeminded people are helping each other to make this a nice place.
I've been accused of self-promotion, which I never did. I did not insult people even while I got insulted. I followed all directions.
Where should I discuss these matters? If I put it in the Feedback or send it to the mods, it gets much too heavy load. Again, this was just a discussion that needed some guidance of more experienced members. I even said it could be me who was wrong.
It is you guys who are lightly explosive, not me. Big ego's, it seems.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 20:07#9402510 likes
Please note that I am not bitching at all. I thought a forum like this is a place where likeminded people are helping each other to make this a nice place.
Bringing up petty grievances in public counts as that. I'm castigating you for it not in terms of "you're gonna be banned immediately for doing it", but for what I think is the far worse sin of I've seen that undermine community before. Please don't do it.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 20:11#9402560 likes
Reply to fdrake In fact it is the opposite. There is a lot of hidden frustration in this community. All it needs is someone pointing these things out, and staying polite and friendly, and the whole community explodes around that person. Read again what I wrote, there was no grievance of any kind in what I wrote.
Where should I discuss these matters? If I put it in the Feedback or send it to the mods, it gets much too heavy load. Again, this was just a discussion that needed some guidance of more experienced members. I even said it could be me who was wrong.
Feedback, mods, or within the discussion in question. No more in the Shoutbox please.
Carlo RoosenOctober 16, 2024 at 20:19#9402610 likes
I just want to clarify that hashing things out with people you're having issues with in the thread you were discussing stuff in is A-OK in my book. It's just making it elsewhere that ruins stuff. Conflict vs contagion.
@Hanover,
It's the mind's capacity rather than the capability of the hands ( in most cases) that hold the world's future to ransom. (referring to your recent voting activities in Ga)
So, should the world be worried?
Hello, my learned friends and welcome to "The Infinite Mirror", the talk show that never ends!
And now, your host, Barken Mod!
Welcome, welcome, everyone *intense smile* Wow, have we got a show for you tonight! We've got reels, spiels, feels, and deals! And it just goes on and on... *even intenser smile* But first a word from our sponsor...
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Thank you, thank you all and thank you, Barken. you are all too kind. I’m happy to be here tonight to tell you about my new book - “The Tao of T.” To give you an idea what the book is about, the original title was “The Tao Te Ka-ching - How to use the Wisdom of the Ancients to Find Peace and Wealth,” but the editors thought that would take away from the aura of Profound Tanquility® I’m hoping to convey.
I'm working on a business idea, so I'd like some input from you guys because typically philosophers are at the top of the business food chain.
Since I was a pigtailed lass living in the lea with my brother Tim and dog named Buckaloo, I wanted to start my own moldy pickle brand, packed with rounds of high powered ammo.
I had AI draw me a sketch of my product and want to know your thoughts. Please give me the truth because I have only 5 farthings to my name, a banana, and a single shoe named Buckaloo and I have no room to fail.
@T Clark,
Consider the Puff Round Tin Quality conveyed.
'..2) a better name........be "Buckaloo's"'.
A dog and a shoe are more than enough buckaloos.
How about "Never Fails", after all, that's what Hanover wants?
How to viz-your-lies, Hanover style.
Thanks! I'm also the author of "The Joy of Rex: Dinos Dicking"
This weighty tome has been described as "groundbreaking" and "semenal" by major literary pamphlets. But due to my ongoing war with 17 mods, the entire admin team, owner and associated AI bots, I have deleted my website and destroyed all remaining manuscripts. Please feel free to PM me though and I'll tell you all about it. :up:
Uh... Right, so, I was just thinking about how I don't particularly look highly upon people who say "a celery" as opposed to just "celery", "some celery", or "a stalk of celery". Even "a celery stick" will do. The former is just so barbaric and absent of any inkling of functional cognition I generally feel the need to phone my local police department to check the escaped inmate list immediately after such interactions.
The former is just so barbaric and absent of any inkling of functional cognition
I get the accusation of barbarism, since a barbarian is one who is an outsider, unfamiliar with the rules of the in-group. However, the accusation of cognitive impairment is way off. Saying "a celery" is a case of semantic reanalysis, turning an uncountable noun into a countable noun. This is evidence of normal cognitive functioning.
Saying "a celery" is a case of semantic reanalysis, turning an uncountable noun into a countable noun. This is evidence of normal cognitive functioning.
We normally turn an uncountable noun into a countable noun by adding a count marker. So, water, becomes "a glass of water", bread becomes "a slice of bread" and celery "a stalk of celery" etc. The question then is whether or not we can omit the count marker in certain circumstances. And that depends. For example, it might be OK to call a glass of water, "a water"--there's little room for confusion as if you ask for water, it should be in some kind of container. But seeing as an entire celery could more easily be confused with a stalk thereof, we could consider the situation less like the glass of water one and more like calling a slice of bread "a bread". If someone regularly called slices of bread, "breads", we probably wouldn't be inviting them to speak at the local Toastmasters. So, I think @Outlander has a point.
Breadmasters, italicised text is spoken word from the Breadmaster, ( ) text are speaker's nonverbals, { } is judge response.
"You know what I've done since the last time you saw me?" (cocks head to side and places single finger on chin) {Breadmaster judge takes note of use of gesture}
"No, of course not, you've never seen me before!" (briefly gestures toward their eye with the single finger on the chin, in a pause after the phrase) {Breadmaster judge takes note of continuation of gesture helping to set up a punch line) "None of you possibly could have known that I, me..." {judge takes note of repetition to set up a rule of threes climax with an absurd connotation} . "have exclusively been eating breads" {judge takes note of poor use of English)
(the breadmaster reaches under their shirt and pulls out a crushed loaf of bread in a bag) {the judge takes a note of the use of a prop}
(the breadmaster stands in silence for some amount of time delicately picking crust chunks off the bread, before letting them fall to the floor, staring into the mid distance) {the judge marks this as hesitation}
(the breadmaster shreds the loaf of bread while staring into the mid distance) "And it's true, I do like breads, I do like breads indeed..."
{The judge speaks "Thank you for sharing your first attempt at a Toastmasters speech with us fdrake. To be honest, you did better than we expected. Now, it's time for lunch". Judge gets down on his knees and starts gobbling up bread chunks from the floor} "Leave some for me ya thievin' bawbag!"
I think the real hard problem of consciousness is how to get the members of the forum to shut the fuck up (STFU) about the hard problem of consciousness.
Many years ago I was told that the chewing of celery expends more calories than contained in the celery itself, meaning eating celery causes weight loss.
It's not true. 100 lbs of belly fat later, and i can tell you It's just part of the dishonest celery sub-culture.
Another example is the uncured bacon issue. You'll see that at your grocer. They use celery juice as a supposed natural substitute for sodium nitrate, but, truth be told, it's the high quantity of sodium nitrate in celery juice that cures the bacon. It's all a fraud.
I have tried to stay away from celery because of this but it continues to...
I think the real hard problem of consciousness is how to get the members of the forum to shut the fuck up (STFU) about the hard problem of consciousness.
Yeah, why don't we talk about Kundera's or Bioy Casares' books instead? :sad:
Metaphysician UndercoverOctober 20, 2024 at 17:43#9411950 likes
Hmm, the shoutbox seems to have gone off the rails.
I'm going to head on down to the local sellery and buy myself a loaf of bread so I can become a master toaster and do right to all those pop tarts who seem to know dick about my hard problem.
Funny enough, (full) "scissors" are always plural, so you kinda made you some goodspeak that time.
It's like my pant, which is half my pants, affixed with a zipper that travels ass crack around the bend to the belly button. I'm able to mix and match different half pants to each other, maybe having a clown pant on the right and formal wear pant on the left. People be like, is he serious or is he playing? That's what makes the divided pant all the rave.
Chillin in the house I go one pant only, leaving half the junk revealed, with my lady all enticed, wanting to see what lies on the other side. I'm like slow down,. You get the other side once you put a ring on it. Man got a reputation to protect.
Have you noticed, the shout box has gone ...
— unenlightened
To Pot!
Speaking of which, I voted today and there is an initiative petition on the ballot to allow the use of psychodelic drugs under the supervision of a professional therapist. You would also be allowed to grow your own.
Those kind of propositions for people to decide on really make me happy. Those increases in civil liberties after such an encroachment on them is relieving to see.
This just in... The term "Art Deco" wasn't coined until the 1960s, by which time "art deco" had been over for 25 years. In its heyday people talked about it, but since there was no proper noun naming the style, they just waved their hands at the art work on the wall or the building design or the streamlined shape of the train and said, "like that". When the term was finally invented, old art critics breathed a huge sigh of relief. "At last, our term!"
The next big trend had a better PR company working for it, and the chattering class started talking about "Art Moderne" even before there were examples to point to. So people quickly stopped thinking and talking about what would in future be called "Art Deco" and it promptly died.
The next big thing was "Postwar Organic Mid-Century Modern". Of course, that couldn't happen until the war was over. Which war? Pick a war. Any war. Once that was on the market, people dropped "Art Moderne" like it was a piece of red-hot terra cotta decor.
The next big trend had a better PR company working for it, and the chattering class started talking about "Art Moderne" even before there were examples to point to.
Art history is fascinating. Thank you for that.
It reminds me of the history of the big screen. VHS tapes came out long before the VHS player, leaving many wondering what to do with them until finally Walmart started selling the players. By pure coincidence someone learned they worked together, much like how a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup came to be.
"Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent of all animals and therefore the most difficult to influence."
No way fishes are illiterate or something. Why did Jesus feed the multitude with such a stupid animal then? No logic here, like in most of the Gospels.
"Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent of all animals and therefore the most difficult to influence."
Funny, I've always found the opposite. Got to drop the meticulousness and just ask the guy for the cheapest bait available. The masses love their ideological slop. Tasteless, formless, with neither value nor substance, painted with a paper-thin veneer of whatever the flavor of the month is, while nevertheless possessing all the originality and nourishing quality of a droplet of water. And yet, they can't get enough. Got to know your audience.
123 million Japanese folks do it every time they can. I love my raw-food-eater friends, but it is impossible to understand each other when we try to buy bedroom stuff at IKEA.
unenlightenedOctober 23, 2024 at 16:22#9417900 likes
When awful darkness and silence reign
Over the great Gromboolian plain,
Through the long, long wintry nights; —
When the angry breakers roar
As they beat on the rocky shore; —
When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights
Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: —
Then, through the vast and gloomy dark,
There moves what seems a fiery spark,
A lonely spark with silvery rays
Piercing the coal-black night, —
A Meteor strange and bright: —
Hither and thither the vision strays,
A single lurid light.
Slowly it wander, — pauses, — creeps, —
Anon it sparkles, — flashes and leaps;
And ever as onward it gleaming goes
A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws.
And those who watch at that midnight hour
From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,
Cry, as the wild light passes along, —
"The Dong! — the Dong!
"The wandering Dong through the forest goes!
"The Dong! the Dong!
"The Dong with a luminous Nose!"
Long years ago
The Dong was happy and gay,
Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl
Who came to those shores one day.
For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, —
Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd
Where the Oblong Oysters grow,
And the rocks are smooth and gray.
And all the woods and the valleys rang
With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, —
"Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and the hands are blue
And they went to sea in a sieve.
Happily, happily passed those days!
While the cheerful Jumblies staid;
They danced in circlets all night long,
To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong,
In moonlight, shine, or shade.
For day and night he was always there
By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair,
With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.
Till the morning came of that hateful day
When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away,
And the Dong was left on the cruel shore
Gazing — gazing for evermore, —
Ever keeping his weary eyes on
That pea-green sail on the far horizon, —
Singing the Jumbly Chorus still
As he sate all day on the grassy hill, —
"Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and the hands are blue
And they went to sea in a sieve.
But when the sun was low in the West,
The Dong arose and said;
— "What little sense I once possessed
Has quite gone out of my head!" —
And since that day he wanders still
By lake and forest, marsh and hills,
Singing — "O somewhere, in valley or plain
"Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!
"For ever I'll seek by lake and shore
"Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!"
Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks,
Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks,
And because by night he could not see,
He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree
On the flowery plain that grows.
And he wove him a wondrous Nose, —
A Nose as strange as a Nose could be!
Of vast proportions and painted red,
And tied with cords to the back of his head.
— In a hollow rounded space it ended
With a luminous Lamp within suspended,
All fenced about
With a bandage stout
To prevent the wind from blowing it out; —
And with holes all round to send the light,
In gleaming rays on the dismal night.
And now each night, and all night long,
Over those plains still roams the Dong;
And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe
You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe
While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain
To meet with his Jumbly Girl again;
Lonely and wild — all night he goes, —
The Dong with a luminous Nose!
And all who watch at the midnight hour,
From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,
Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright,
Moving along through the dreary night, —
"This is the hour when forth he goes,
"The Dong with a luminous Nose!
"Yonder — over the plain he goes;
"He goes!
"He goes;
"The Dong with a luminous Nose!"
https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/e/edward-lear-the-dong-with-a-luminous-nose.php
Not a boojum, nor any other kind of snark, but rather 'love's labours lost' - a tragic tale of love across the boundaries of race.
Spoken like a veritable jumbliphobe. The denigration of such innocence can only be explained as projection.
Reply to T Clark Remember what the dormouse said. "Feed your head."
"At a fork in the road, near the vale of Va-Vode
Five foot-weary salesmen have laid down their load.
All day they've raced round in the heat at top speeds
Unsuccessfully trying to sell zizzer-zoof seeds
Which nobody wants because nobody needs.
Tomorrow will come, they'll go back to their chore
They'll start on the road zizzer-zoofing once more."
At a fork in the road, near the vale of Va-Vode
Five foot-weary salesmen have laid down their load.
All day they've raced round in the heat at top speeds
Unsuccessfully trying to sell zizzer-zoof seeds
Which nobody wants because nobody needs.
Tomorrow will come, they'll go back to their chore
They'll start on the road zizzer-zoofing once mor
We brewed up some weird in the Tropic of Skor
Pricked a fat fish, its blood we did pour
And our mousey children did feast on that wine
Grew bigger, no liquor tastes more divine
But our raft then it shook and threatened to keel
If the rodents a-racing were not brought to heel
Stood I in the middle and said to the sun
These rats are a-dizzyin' and tizzyin', wise one
Our craft will not last, but tip in the sea
And to the wet bottom a-topplin' go we!
Poor saps, cried the sun, you're drunk on the weird
Sprinkle some nonsense quick in your beards
Drag in a Jumbly, sneak in Snark
And all will be well on your little ark
It didn't take long to do as she pleased
And the raft's fearsome shaking soon it did cease
And so on we go o'er the wild smoky seas
The Dongs puffing bongs and the rats dancing reels
There's a witch on the mast clicking her heels
A rhino, a wino, and ten grinning eels
So do we float through the tropic of Skor
'Cos upon the wide ocean, water's a bore
I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole
No one could steer me right, but Mama tried
Mama tried to teach me better but her pleadings I denied
That leaves only me to blame cause Mama tried.
In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, 'By gum, I've got the answer! '
'They want my bacon slice by slice
'To sell at a tremendous price!
'They want my tender juicy chops
'To put in all the butcher's shops!
'They want my pork to make a roast
'And that's the part'll cost the most!
'They want my sausages in strings!
'They even want my chitterlings!
'The butcher's shop! The carving knife!
'That is the reason for my life! '
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great peace of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grisly bit
So let's not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
'I had a fairly powerful hunch
'That he might have me for his lunch.
'And so, because I feared the worst,
'I thought I'd better eat him first.'
In a tragic turn of events in Devon yesterday, Farmer Bob Bland, head of the U. K. Vegan Society and pioneer in British soy bean production was eaten by his pet pig, Brainiac. The unfortunate farmer is thought to have slipped on the floor of Brainiac's pen, knocked himself unconscious, and been accidentally consumed as the hungry hog chomped up his swill.
"He loved Brainiac", Bland's wife, Matilda, said, "and Brainiac loved him too. But never get between a pig and his lunch."
No action will be taken against the porky killer over the accidental eating.
"You can see he regrets it", Mrs Bland emphasised. "He's hardly touched his food today. It's hard on him too".
Brainiac will be an honorary attendee at Farmer Bland's funeral.
"I want him to be able to say goodbye properly," Mrs Bland said.
Dahl wrote My Uncle Oswald, a perverse sex comedy about the "greatest fornicator of all time".
Apparently "snozzberry" was used as a euphemism for penis in that book, which may make you reconsider the 1971 film scene where Veruca Salt is licking the snozzberry wallpaper.
Willy Wonka just sounds like Willy Wanker... :monkey:
As that poem and Nils Loc attest, Dahl was a strict moralist and educator, whose every work had aspirations to social message very much in the vein of George Orwell. That meat eaters and vegans alike will in turn be eaten by fire or worm or fungus is a truth that every schoolboy ought to know, so gather ye snozzberries while ye may.
"The Tao of heaven is ruthless, it treats the people as dummies." Lao Tzu.
Dahl wrote My Uncle Oswald, a perverse sex comedy about the "greatest fornicator of all time".
Apparently "snozzberry" was used as a euphemism for penis in that book, which may make you reconsider the 1971 film scene where Veruca Salt is licking the snozzberry wallpaper.
Willy Wonka was written in 1964 and the Gene Wilder movie was made in 1971. The book you were describing was written in 1979. Calling a penis a snozzberry is no different from calling it a banana, although Dahl clearly was making a sly reference.
Off to sea in a sieve
The Captain said "What gives?"
The First Mate saw the blunder
“We’re all goin’ under!”
“Row this sieve ashore”
The Captain loudly roared
From the crew not a peep
As in the water seeped
“To the lifeboats then, First Mate!
There’s time now none to wait!”
But the Mate said not a word
“My God, this is absurd!”
(Was the Captain’s last lament)
As the sieve did what sieves do
And to the seabed he was sent!
By the way, literary activity due in December, just over a month. Sharpen your quills.
I suggest no polls this time, but just a separate feedback thread where readers can mention their favourites and say why. The qualitative over the quantitative. I think this would also make it less intimidating to newcomers.
Calling a penis a snozzberry is no different from calling it a banana, although Dahl clearly was making a sly reference.
Yes, was kind of shocked by Dahl's sex comedy about a guy who wants to steal superior semen to sell to the needy. Guess they won't be assigning that one in school.
javi2541997October 26, 2024 at 16:18#9422910 likes
A poem to read it while you drink tea and eat
cookies.
I know I am ungrateful.–
for not marrying her.
I now father the parliament
is quite right.
I should go to London and
marry Miss Nihilson.
But what it makes me happy.
Sir, what truly makes me happy.
It is painting the fallen leaves and ochred-coloured tones of the park.
What do you do for a living?
You said that right.
My father told me to listen to him.
And marry Miss Nihilson.
Perhaps Miss Nihilson has no sons, or daughters
As it is sometimes God's trick to speak the power of names.
May a hopeful union bring a new Sun up over the horizon
While love directs a tea-colored dawn.
And with great regard, to the Owl and the Pussycat
Picnicking under their honey-colored moon.
The Shiva Linga is just as runcible
As the silver fork in a golden spoon,
And what do you do now?
Quite right!
I should have listened to me Da
I might
Have made a rich man of his kind
Your Da was rich?
Quite right!
He knew naught of money
And never made a penny
And how do you survive?
Quite right!
I've died
And you're talkin' to a ghost
So be on your way, good sir
As a favour to us both!
unenlightenedOctober 26, 2024 at 18:17#9423100 likes
Let the nihilistic locomotive
Provide the realistic motive.
But as the Great War gave us Death of a Hero,
So
Roald perhaps
Could claim his lapse
Of propiety
And embrace of variety
Was down to his war.
And e.e. cummings even more
So.
javi2541997October 26, 2024 at 18:36#9423110 likes
I wish I could drink a cup of tea with Miss Nihilson.
Enjoying the twilight together.
The rain in the window and the whisper
of the fallen leaves swept by the gardener. :sparkle:
Cannot find the poem at the end of that book but Google's AI gave a quoted snippet. Maybe that is it?
"Like ancient Troy, our trenches lie in dust, Where men once fought, now only shadows rust. A thousand Helens, beauty turned to pain, Their blood-soaked gowns, the battlefields domain."
I thought you might have written this, but it doesn’t have “bawbag” in it so I know that couldn’t be right.
unenlightenedOctober 26, 2024 at 19:44#9423170 likes
Reply to Nils Loc Aldington is sadly obscure and neglected these days. He wrote an excellent biography of D.H. Lawrence "Portrait of a Genius, But...".
Anyway, as the poet has it "Let's fuck, not fight." Let's make "fight" the dirty f-word.
I really like this part---Answering the unspoken implication [you need to work for money] directly rather than the literal question. And then the end leaves ambiguity as to irony in the reply. It also resonates with the previous "is quite right".
Definitely something special there. (I also thought that about your short story entry "Rip out the Grass!". You hit a certain emotional note that really resonated.)
I definitely will. :cool:
I often feel shy to post poems or some stuff here because I am very aware that my English is not fluent enough. I fear that you may feel a 'hiccup' while reading them. Well, this is why I like the literary activity; apart from working on imaginative skills, I can go deeper into English.
Hiccups can help sometimes because we get pulled out of our expectations. When we read we're not in one moment but in a kind of spread between past moments, the present, and future expectations. When this spread is too smooth and predictable there's not much to be got from a text. But Clarky's e.e. cumming's poem, some of un's "nonsense", and this too break that up in a good way. Discourse should be seen as a tool rather than an outfit. When it's always an outfit, you eventually get smothered in it.
Of the dozens of poems I've put here, I write one (absurdly) bawdy one and that's all you remember...
You're right and I'm ashamed. I searched. There are 28 uses of "bawbag" in the history of the forum, more than half by Universeness. @Jamal also had a few, but he was mostly responding to Universeness. You and @Hanover brought up the rear with only two or three each.
I'll try to be more careful with my sarcasm in the future... wait a minute. No I won't.
javi2541997October 27, 2024 at 18:03#9424560 likes
Your cat in the profile picture always reminds me of Gloria Fuertes' poems.
No hay tejados en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay poetas en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay sardinas en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay ratones en la Luna,
y yo soy gato,
aquí no tengo nada que hacer,
este astrofio me extraña,
me vuelvo a España.
No, I can't choose a favourite poem by Neruda because it's been years since the last time I read anything about him. I remember he wrote beautiful verses about the Spanish refugees in Chile. I always focused my readings on the Generation of '50 poets that are from my country, and Gloria Fuertes was part of them.
Edit: By the way, if you are interested in that generation of poets, they were called 'postismo.'
javi2541997October 30, 2024 at 09:39#9430040 likes
Phew... I almost believe The Shoutbox would have disappeared forever. These have been critical hours, mates. Adrian is already taking his breakfast and I think @Jamal is ready to say the discourse of a new welcoming to TPF again.
Cleaned a few rooms of the house this morning. Had a box, or what used to be a box, of old photos from childhood and earlier spilled all over the floor of one of the rooms so I figured out of respect and whatnot I'd gather them up and put them in a new box to store in one of the rooms I don't allow my pets unfettered access in and out from. Box ended up weighing more than I expected. "Who knew memories could weigh so heavy", I remarked before chuckling quietly to myself as my cat gazed on in silent bewilderment. True story.
Apparently TPF was down, but out of respect, it occured when I was asleep. I awoke only to the memory of others speaking of the difficult times. I feel at once relieved and cheated. Relieved that I didn't have to suffer, but cheated of the hardeneing of spirit the rest of you acheived by enduring.
Reply to Hanover I take a tolerant approach to sites being down. When sites are down, I presume that somebody, somewhere is working on the problem--not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because revenue flow depends on it. Maybe not much revenue, but every penny counts.
It will be back up at some point, or it won't. Life will go on. Or it won't.
One day all sites will go down and never come back up. Bad day for tech stocks.
In hopes of spurring more food-related engagement I humbly present the following anecdote and accompanying picture:
Finally decided to pick up one of them air fryers everyone's been going on about the other week. More of a fancy pizza oven with extra buttons. Cooked a frozen pizza as good as they say, so decided to test its meddle with something a bit more arduous: chicken breast.
Gotta say I'm impressed with this thing. 15 minutes each side at 390 degrees, plus an extra 10 because I'm irrationally fearful of food-borne illness (perhaps in part owing to raw chicken's notorious relative-volatility compared to other meats such as beef) until the food thermometer was reading solid 180-190s across the entirety. Sure, it may have been just a tad dry, if you're some sort of chicken fanatic, but that's what the lemon juice is for. Much rather have a slightly-less-than succulent chicken than be doubled over in pain vomiting over a toilet for 36 hours. Preferences, eh. Used some ad-hoc blend of salt, lemon pepper seasoning, Italian dressing, generic all-purpose seasoning, and lemon juice for these beauties. I call it the "Outlander Marinade", patent pending. Pair with some instant mashed potatoes (not pictured) and you got yourself a fine meal for the evening. Nothing fancy sure, yet mighty wholesome - and plenty delicious. Probably should've sprinkled some herbs and whatnot for taste and the sake of being photogenic. Next time.
Reply to Outlander Chicken breasts from the air fryer sounds painfully dry. A food to enjoy on a humid day after swimming in the pool and then taking a bath and drinking a gallon of water in a glass made of ice, all to offset the desert on your plate.
I made vegetable soup with ground turkey. It turned out pretty well. No real secrets or tips. Other than seasoning the veg and meat all in the pot and letting it meld a bit before adding the broth and liquids.
javi2541997October 31, 2024 at 05:00#9432420 likes
Vegetable soup is always a good option! It is a classic dish of fall. Try to add a bit of soy sauce while it is boiling in the pot the next time. It gives a special taste.
By the way, how are the tomatoes going there? Do you still take them for breakfast? :smile:
I pan-fried some chicken breast the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how juicy it was. I usually opt for chicken thigh but my butcher doesn't sell those.
I don't usually go for the crispy edges but you must admit it's a legitimate style of fried egg. Also, they were not rubbery. I cover the pan to allow steam to cook the egg tops for a minute before serving; that might be the cause of any perceived rubberiness.
I pan-fried some chicken breast the other day and was pleasantly surprised by how juicy it was. I usually opt for chicken thigh but my butcher doesn't sell those.
Chicken breasts from the air fryer sounds painfully dry.
It's technically a countertop oven with air fryer capability, but seeing how that particular functionality seems to currently be of high social importance/desire, it's sold as "an air fryer". Ninja 8-in-1. Used the standard "Bake" function/setting for the above meal, which I assume is similar to having had baked it in the smaller, upper area of a standard household double oven.
Not a big oven guy. Haven't had anything from an oven in a few years actually, outside of consumer food service. Save for the occasional frozen pizza at a friend's or something. Anything a man needs to eat can be cooked on a griddle or in a microwave, IMHO. Not into sweets anymore, thankfully. Got that out of my system a very long time ago.
Looks like you've got some cleaning to do there, which I imagine is more of a hassle than a regular pan.
Non-viscous remnants (lemon juice, Italian dressing). Nothing thick that would be a pain. Ran it under some water and wiped with a paper towel (with a few moments of mild exertion and an exposed thumbnail for some areas) and was like new. Trick is to clean right after eating/when it becomes temperate enough to handle and not let it sit overnight. Once it's physically (visually) clean properly washing it later is like washing your hands.
Another thing, my Plum story was around 4200 words and the limit was 5000, but I seem to recall the limit went down to 3000 in a subsequent competition. My current story might or might not be more than 3000, but I find that limit a little too restrictive.
I usually opt for chicken thigh but my butcher doesn't sell those.
All my chicken comes prepackaged in styrofoam containers with plastic wrap and they say Perdue or Tyson on them. I've never actually seen a butcher handle chicken and always assumed the chickens put themselves in the packages for me. The packages are then seperated by body part, so you can get legs, thighs, wings, breasts, or even necks.
This butcher thing intrigues me. Your Walmarts must take forever to get meat from.
What about an Easy Bake oven that cooks with a light bulb? I was a boy, so I had trucks and guns, but I always did enjoy a homemade-ish chocolate cake when available.
My goal here at the Shoutbox is to make references to all things Americana to better inform our foreign friends of what 1970s and 80s America was all about.
Reply to Hanover
You'd be badly mistaken. The chickens are forced into the packages and torn apart using special contraptions. Butchers are based on a volunteer system where the chickens decide to be eaten.
5K is alright with me. I mentioned earlier, but no one took me up on it, I'd prefer qualitative rather than quantitative judgements on the stories. What say ye?
By the way, literary activity due in December, just over a month. Sharpen your quills.
I suggest no polls this time, but just a separate feedback thread where readers can mention their favourites and say why. The qualitative over the quantitative. I think this would also make it less intimidating to newcomers.
What about an Easy Bake oven that cooks with a light bulb?
Neat idea. Except for when it wasn't. Not part of my childhood, I'm afraid. Too strict a household. I remember having to play 007 on PS2 in the utmost of secrecy, on the ready to swap the disk out for Ratchet & Clank or Spongebob at a moment's notice. Taught me tact, if nothing else. Needless to say Halloween was not allowed, nor were Halloween-themed episodes of anything, or cable TV for that matter. Neither was Pokemon. Something about a teenage boy roaming around in the woods unsupervised with a bare-midriffed ginger summoning non-human creatures was a bit too Pagan for my folk's tastes, apparently.
So, that particular device I know little about. Too dangerous. Pretty sure my folks thought I was a bit off growing up. Smart people.
Reply to Outlander Mildly oppressive childhoods aren't nearly as good as truly traumatic childhoods in fostering financial success and relentless resolve. Hopefully you realized that so you could benefit your children (assuming you had any) and were able to make things more difficult on them so that they would care for you in your old age.
I thought I lost my dog once when I tied him to one of those vertical poles they place in front of stores to prevent drunk (or murderous) drivers from plowing into the place. "I was only going to be gone for 5 minutes", I thought. Oh was I distraught. Thankfully a few minutes later he came running up, leash dangling behind, face alight with adventure. I swear it did something to me that lingers to this day.
Another time I witnessed my older stepsister and her boyfriend steal money from my mom's purse. "I'm going to take $40" he said shamelessly. "Take $80" she insisted. I said not a word. What a monstrous son I was. Good golly what a ripe mess and sorry excuse for people I was exposed to since time immemorial. That has to count for something. :halo:
Hopefully you realized that so you could benefit your children (assuming you had any) and were able to make things more difficult on them so that they would care for you in your old age.
Eh. If I do - and if they're anything like me - they'll create their own hardship a-plenty I'd wager. I'll keep it in mind, though.
Although, given his recent poem, if @javi2541997 participates maybe I should bow out. By the way, Javi, now that you have shown your facility with longer form poems, you should submit one of those for the non-competitive competition.
you should submit one of those for the non-competitive competition.
Yes, I will submit one. I am already working on it. I don’t want to behave that bad and childish like I did the last contest, so I will take it very calmly this time.
Clarky, you are also a great writer with a pure imagination. You submitted a very good poem once. Why don’t you try to write something for this contest?
That's an empty quote. I took my advice and kept my response really short so I wouldn't make a mistake. But then I explained it and went on and on. God fucking damnit!
Fuck, now I made the mistake of cursing and hurt myself.
It is my understanding there won't be any voting this time, just comments. Is that correct?
Exactly. Baden proposed a system of feedback and comments rather than voting. I think it is a good idea. The voting system is always controversial and leads to confrontation.
Exactly. Baden proposed a system of feedback and comments rather than voting. I think it is a good idea. The voting system is always controversial and leads to confrontation.
I shall mark down your vote as you do not wish to vote.
I just wanted to see if the picture feature now worked since the upgrade. I can confirm that it does, using a standard photo of that sassy diner waitress Flo of the award winning hit TV series "Alice."
"Kiss my grits!," the signature line of any true missplaced southerner in Phoenix.
I have for you today a whole wheat bagel infused with American cheese product delicately pan fried in fresh butter plated playfully on a hummingbird plate, accompanied by a hearty bowl of Texas BBQ Chunky Soup, a new addition from the Campbell family that eats like a meal.
Delight in its presence.
Noble DustNovember 01, 2024 at 01:21#9434720 likes
By the way, how are the tomatoes going there? Do you still take them for breakfast?
Sadly I don't; theoretically you can still get them before frost I think, so they may still be around. They're really expensive though. What you might think of as normal produce comes at a premium in Amurica.
I add salt at the table, and only on the top, not the undersides. Who seasons egg bottoms?
I thought they were over easy, and you might have seasoned them on the top side, then flipped. Any reason you salt at the table? And no ground pepper???
I still like having a competition. I guess I'm just a vicious bloodthirsty Amurican. But I shall defer. We certainly must be sure to hold the event if @Jamal is gracing us with one of his grand epics.
L'éléphantNovember 01, 2024 at 04:12#9434840 likes
Reply to Hanover
That looks like a hummingbird sandwich.
It looks good -- the soup and bagel. Thanks for sharing.
javi2541997November 01, 2024 at 05:48#9435000 likes
"That which was seen, can now never be unseen." :monkey:
Haven't seen you around in a while, glad you're "back". I enjoy our interactions, few as they are. Perhaps that has something to do with it. :grin:
In other news, I discovered the existence of two new diseases today. Prosopagnosia, also known as "face blindness", and the so-far uncoined phenomena of "mirror self misidentification". What an unusual existence one must experience having one or the other, let alone both. I imagine if one has the former, the latter would be a given. Or would it? Legitimately fascinating, really.
Noble DustNovember 01, 2024 at 15:26#9435730 likes
I went this morning to the graveyard to leave some flowers on the graves of my relatives. They are buried in El Toboso (Toledo), which is a small village. My grandparents were with me. They are 90 years old, and basically half of their lives were lived under Franco’s regime. As usual, when someone is surrounded by old folks, my grandparents started to discuss about Franco and randomly they brought the death insurance to the discussion. My grandfather claimed that these things existed with Franco, but my grandmother argued that not.
They have dementia, and they think we are still in 1978—when the Constitution was approved by the Congress—and not in 2024, so it is difficult to understand what they consider ‘recent’ or ‘modern’ because they even calculate things using pesetas and not euros.
Well, when we arrived at home, they showed me old papers and bills. There were bills from an old butane/gas insurance company and some appointments for the doctor. The aged mind of my grandfather confused both. After explaining it to them, they asked where the donkey* was and a bottle of wine like good Spaniards.
*A donkey was the common transport for most of us until the 1970s.
Cold is great and more suitable than heat waves. Unless you maybe live in zones with an average of -25? Celsius degrees like Molina de Aragón. Do you live in La Mancha Jafar and I haven't noticed it yet?
I will always choose a cold northern or eastern European city like Bergen or Helsinki rather than Gran Canaria or La Habana, honestly.
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
I made this lamb stir fry. I put a haberno in it and I breathed the fumes and it burned my lungs to the tune of an industrial revolution era iron smelter.
But I like heat of all sorts, be it from the sun or a chemical burn.
Metaphysician UndercoverNovember 05, 2024 at 01:16#9448180 likes
Liquid nitrogen burns on contact, at -320 degrees F.
I hope the election day goes quietly. I feel nervous with these kinds of days too, and I am not even American, and neither Kamala's nor Trump's victory will change my life at all.
Next time you could drop a big load of cumin seeds in that and you'll get Xinjiang cumin lamb, which is great.
I feel there is prediliction here for the curry/cumin family of flavorhoods, likely arising from the British adoption of Indian food as their national dish.
Lamb is a novelty here and you can't always find it at the grocery store, but Sam's Club carries it consistently. I find it far better than beef, which tends to be bland.
But next time I will suffocate my lamb in Cumin so I can dine as the Xinjiagese do. And then I will plate it on that same tired 1990s dinnerware at the seat where I have eaten thousands upon thousands of meals before it, and it too will photographed and shared among the tens of thousands of us here in the Shoutbox.
I feel there is prediliction here for the curry/cumin family of flavorhoods, likely arising from the British adoption of Indian food as their national dish.
Actually, Uighur food is extremely hard to find in Britain. Only the dishes that have become popular throughout China have any chance of making it to Chinese restaurants in Britain. Most often it's just Cantonese though.
On the other hand, the cuisine of Xinjiang is influenced by West and South Asia so there's a kernel of insight in your ramblings.
But next time I will suffocate my lamb in Cumin so I can dine as the Xinjiagese do. And then I will plate it on that same tired 1990s dinnerware at the seat where I have eaten thousands upon thousands of meals before it, and it too will photographed and shared among the tens of thousands of us here in the Shoutbox.
The philosopher/fiction writer has a pretty interesting short story/essay on neural implants that let you control your own mood and emotions, "Crashspace."
I will warn that it is somewhat graphic (although not compared to his other work I suppose, it was tame enough to get published in a philosophy journal at least)).
C.S. Lewis' short essay The Abolition of Man covers some related ground from another angle, as does Huxley's essay on his own A Brave New World (Revisited). But Lewis is more applicable and gets some points Bakker misses, looking more to the social and not the individual scale.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
Reply to Count Timothy von Icarus I know that's a kind of fearful use of this technology -- but it strikes me as something like Jurassic Park: Very interesting extrapolation of the science that we're so far away from there's no way of knowing if it'd be possible :D
I could see some possible therapies for neural degeneration if we could figure out ways of "patching" the neural networks, insofar that the neural networks deterioration even is a culprit in a disease. But even that seems far out since all we have is what amounts to a custom splint for neurons that can only be formed on a plate rather than manipulated in vivo. (it'd be supercool if you could somehow replicate cellular proteins on the wall, too... not just for neurons there)
Even a blind pig will root up an acorn every now and then I always say.
I used to wonder why people didn't eat acorns, cos they look like they should be tasty. Turns out sometimes they did in the olden days, but it takes a lot of preparation.
I had candied pine cones in Russia. Pretty good. Piny. I mention this because someone I know refers to pine cones as "acorns" and I've never corrected him.
Ah ha! That's where the phrase comes from. George Stewart wrote a great sci fi novel in 1949, Earth Abides, about a virus that kills 99.999% of the population. It is a somewhat hopeful apocalyptic story, and quite good.
Always good to read a bit of Ecclesiastes every now and then.
I mention this because someone I know refers to pine cones as "acorns" and I've never corrected him.
My father used to say A-curns. He had grown up in a more rural area and had shed most of his backwood words, but that was one that stuck. I call them A-curns around my brother as an inside joke. Now you're part of that joke as well and you can knowingly laugh should the conversation arise.
He'd also not pronounce Ls sometimes, so he'd say bolt like boat and million like meeyon. I always corrected him, but he just couldn't get it right.
So the hebrew word for vanity is hevel (???). I tell you this because you're probably wondering why all would be a vanity.
Vanity is defined as "a bathroom unit consisting of a washbasin typically set into a counter with a cabinet beneath." That just doesn't seem right, but wherever those people in days of old lived, they must have been overwhelmed with bathroom space.
Now that you've had a moment to recover from your laughter, "vanity" is defined as "excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements." That makes more sense.
But, hevel actually literally means vapor, smoke, or breath, and it is used metaphorically to mean impermanance as it is perhaps used in Ecclesiastes. You can read more about it here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/all-is-vanity-how-to-understand-kohelets-famous-lament/
Let me bore you some more on this book.
The first line states: "1. The words of Qohelet, the son of David, king in Jerusalem."
Qohelet means "the assembler" or something close. But who, pray tell, is the son of David, king in Jerusalem, you ask. That would be Solomon, meaning this book is attributed to Solomon, which means one of two things: Solomon wrote it, or it's being attributed to Solomon because Solomon was known as the wisest of them all because he had the wisdom of Solomon and so this writing is being designated as being particularly wise. That's a thing. They say Solomon said it so you'll listen and know it's smart. Some do the opposite when they say "Hanover said." I self-deprecate to endear myself. Working?
You might ask why "vanity" is used instead of "vapor.". You'll need to ask son of Henry Stuart, king in Edinburgh. That would be King James. Did you know that King James' bloody mother was Mary, Queen of Scots?
Reply to Hanover
Come and listen to my story about Hanover’s dad, a Jewish mountaineer, barely kept his family fed. And then one day he was shooting at some acurns…
Did you know that King James' bloody mother was Mary, Queen of Scots?
I did know that, and a fine cocktail a Bloody Mary is. Her boy Jimmy had some odd habits; a history prof stated that, when he had killed a stag in the forest, he liked to cut open the belly and soak his feet in the hot entrails.
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem... Was Solomon the wisest man or the wisest king? The latter would be more easily attained than the former. Less competition.
Besides bathroom furniture, one might replace "vanity" with "futility". So, why didn't they use my recommended word instead of going on about toilet accoutrement? The KJV was published in 1611. The first known use of the word "futility" was around 1623. I'm pretty sure "futility" was plentiful before 1623. They used the word "shit" for futility, I suppose, as some people still do. "Futility" sounded better. The KJV was strongly influenced by Tyndale's translation. I don't think Tyndale translated Ecclesiastes -- the pope's bloodhounds were on his trail for suspected Lutheran sympathies. He was eventually apprehended, strangled, and once dead, burned at the stake. It seems to me he was later dug up and further harassed.
BTW, I've watched several synagogue services on YouTube. They were worshipful and well done.
Dinner (or lunch for me being only the second meal today):
Snapper filet (frozen, thawed in 20 minutes under cold water since I forgot how groceries work) seasoned with salt, lemon pepper seasoning, generic all-purpose seasoning, and lemon juice with a side of shredded coleslaw. Supermarket brand. Hey, times are tough.
[hide="Reveal"](Don't mind the bite, I was going to eat the heavily seasoned one on the right saving the other for tomorrow but wanted to taste the product itself unseasoned so as to gauge whether or not it's worthy of repurchasing on its own merit...then it struck me, this would be a perfect opportunity to post needless mundane acts of life online for the entertainment of complete strangers.)[/hide]
Reply to Moliere A great relief to find that it's merely some sort of residue from oil production. I was afraid it would it turn out to be the feces of an alien life form from somewhere else in the galaxy.
Reply to BC Indeed. As long as capitalism continues to ruin the world I feel a certain comfort in the familiarity -- at least it's not aliens or their poop.
Reply to Moliere I don't think I've read a sci fi story that dealt with alien excreta. It might be horrible; or delightful; or very dangerous; or amusing; or...
One thing we can count on is that capitalism fouls it up.
A great relief to find that it's merely some sort of residue from oil production. I was afraid it would it turn out to be the feces of an alien life form from somewhere else in the galaxy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr08xnxw8o
Australian scientists have solved a mystery which has gripped Sydney: what were the sticky dark blobs which washed up on some of the city's famed beaches last month?
Initially believed to be tar balls, they were in fact a "disgusting" combination of human faeces, cooking oil, chemicals and illicit drugs, researchers say.
Eight beaches including Bondi were closed for several days and a massive clean-up ordered after thousands of the black deposits started appearing from 16 October.
You probably have read of "fatbergs" forming in the sewers of London and New York, et al composed of feces, fat, non-dissolving wipes, and more. Unfortunate workers have to descend into the big sewers and hack their way through the blockage. I hope that they receive a large pay bonus for doing this.
I don't think I've read a sci fi story that dealt with alien excreta. It might be horrible; or delightful; or very dangerous; or amusing; or...
— BC
It's nice to find a niche in which I could flourish; I'll tell Mom I'm a fertilizer.
For what it's worth, I remember an episode of "Mork and MIndy," a show about a goofy alien who comes to Earth from the 1970s. The alien was played by Robin Williams. In it, Mork, for some reason, was regressing in age to childhood. He told Mindy "I have to go poddy... number 3."
Reply to T Clark I confused Mark & Mindy with the Coneheads. YouTube to the rescue. Both stupid shows, but the very young Robin Williams displays actual talent. I don't recollect seeing either of the shows back then. I suppose I was busy watching PBS and hanging out at the bars and baths. I didn't find Mary Hartman Mary Hartman of much interest either, though a character drowning in a bowl of soup is a good comedy premise.
The Coneheads were a skit on Saturday Night Live. It's where the phrase "parental units," meaning parents, came from. There was also a movie. Looking back on "Mork and Mindy," it was typical situation comedy crap, but I admit I was a fan.
Mork actually got his start on Happy Days as I recall. He would later go on to teach poetry at a boarding school.
After I wrote my last post I was thinking. I hadn't thought of that episode for probably 45 years, but it was right there in my memory and popped up when it was needed. Brains/minds are wonderful things.
Old man Peanut, chillin on the beige blanket, in his youthful mind still skipping the light fandango, doing cartwheels across the floor, all the while still dressed in his coat of a deeper shade of beige.
Something I find myself using a lot - If you have paper text you want to quote, you can take a picture of it, upload it to Google Drive, and then open it in Google Docs. It will translate the photo to text which you can copy and post. You can also do this with a scanner, but with my phone camera I can do it without ever getting off my ass. Maybe you can do this with other word processing programs too.
You can also do this with the snip function if you have text on your computer screen you want to use but you can't copy it.
Tonight's "catch" (fresh from the cavernous depths of the bottom drawer of my refrigerator):
Wild-caught grouper paired with more coleslaw (I like the stuff, alright.). Oddly similar to my last fish-themed posting while being eerily reminiscent of baked chicken. Feed the body, feed the mind.
Reply to Outlander Pan fry it to at least get it blackened, and try a bed of rice with a green vegetable. If you're going to go for the plastic ware and coleslaw, you should go deep fried, like fish and chips. Grouper is a bad choice for that. Cod or haddock is good. If you live down south, I'd suggest catfish.
It looks so sad on a paper plate with a plastic fork. You must have one metal fork and a china or plastic plate around somewhere.
I try to live minimally. For reasons both personal and vocational. It's part of my occupation's "way". Can't preach one thing then practice another. The plastic fork should be a no-no, however. Don't tell my customers. The paper plate is a bit wasteful, but at least it degrades into nothing rather quickly, minus the dyes. Did you know plastic has a lifespan of 750 years or more? A single plastic bottle will outlive you, your kids, your kid's kid- sorry - work habit. Besides, I'm only entertaining for one these days. A live-in partner would be selfish in my line of work right now. Not to mention I wouldn't get very much done.
I'd have to replace my stove first. I could, but, meh. Wide electric griddle + Ninja countertop oven cooks everything from eggs and hash to burgers and fries. It's all good. I suppose I could cook it partway then transfer it to the griddle for the remainder. Nah. It's quality, nourishing food and on top of that it tastes good. Anything else is meticulousness and superfluousness. Time is of the essence these days.
If you're going to go for the plastic ware and coleslaw, you should go deep fried, like fish and chips. Grouper is a bad choice for that. Cod or haddock is good. If you live down south, I'd suggest catfish.
When I get what I have in front of me done, I plan to indulge a bit. Now is not the time. I'll keep those tips in mind, though. I do love me some catfish. Shame it gets such a bad rap.
These are big, literally cosmic questions, and astronomers continue to struggle to nail down the answers. Different techniques for measuring what is called the Hubble Constant — the rate at which the universe is expanding — keep coming up with different estimates.
The cosmologists have given a name to this conundrum: the Hubble Tension."
Those intensely engaged in the debate over which is the correct method of resolving this dispute are said to be 'in a bubble', such is their indifference to any questions not connected to this fundamental issue in cosmology. It is intensely difficult work, and is causing controversy within scientific circles.
Hence: Hubble Bubble, toil and trouble!
I tossed this to my silicon buddy, who helpfully chipped in:
[quote=ChatGPT]If they don’t manage to “brew” a solution to the Hubble Tension, the implications for our understanding of the cosmos could be profound, possibly suggesting new forms of dark energy, a revision of general relativity, or even the existence of extra dimensions. Who knows? They may yet conjure a revelation as transformative as Copernicus’ heliocentric universe—if only they can get the “cauldron” just right![/quote]
javi2541997November 12, 2024 at 14:09#9469250 likes
Irish mates are the most gentle, good-hearted, considerate, good-natured, and gracious souls of our continent.
I purchased a book—online services—at Kenny's bookshop, located in Galway (Ireland). Sorrowfully, there was a mistake, and the edition was not retired from the homepage when the last unit was sold. Instead of receiving a rude, bad-mannered email from the store, I received the following, which I transcript as it appears in my Gmail:
Kenny's: [i]Dear Javier,
Please accept our sincere apologies; we accepted this order in error. We have been unable to locate a copy of this book for your order. We have tried to locate a replacement copy from our suppliers, but were unsuccessful. I am very sorry for this disappointment. I have cancelled your order and issued a full refund for this item. Any refund should appear on your credit card statement within a few days.
Every effort is being made to ensure our stock is accurately listed online and easily located in our warehouses.[/i]
My reply–Trying to be as cute and gentle as them–: [i]Dear Shane Crotty,
No worries! Please don't take this unexpected situation that seriously.
These unfortunate things happen often. I don't feel disappointed. I have been buying books from your bookshop for years, and your professionalism has always been exceptionally good. I also appreciate your gentle gesture of addressing me by email.
I will keep checking your latest updates, and if Two Gallants doesn't appear again, I will purchase another by Joyce![/i]
Best wishes!
They are wonderful people, so they replied again in both Gaelic and English.
Kenny's again: [i]Go raibh maith agat as do ríomhphoist le déanaí chuig Siopa Leabhar Uí Chionnaith.
Beidh díoltóir leabhar i dteagmháil leat chomh luath is féidir.
Hi Javier,
Many thanks for your understanding, we really appreciate it!
Kindest regards,
hana.[/i]
If only there were more mates like our Irish men and Irish women. Jesus, this world would be excellent.
I made stuffed peppers. I cut off the tops of 7 peppers for good luck, and then I took the caps and chopped them up other than the stem. I browned some ground pork/beef combo ($7 for 2 lbs, a bargain I must say) and then I sauteed the pepper caps, mixed in some onions, Italian seasonings, hot peppers, salt, and maybe something else, and then I mixed that into the pig/cow grind with tomato sauce aplenty. I then filled my peppers that I had cooked to soften already and baked them some more with mozzeralla cheese on top with oregeno sprinkled on top.
I then ate two of them. The wife just one. Pudding for dessert for me. The wife forwent. I then pet the cat 7 times and went to sleep.
The meal has been named "7 Peppers and 7 Pats upon a Cat's Back."
Apparently, the color blue is known to psychologically/subconsciously suppress appetite, while orange does the opposite and induces hunger. I'm sure someone wittier than me could come up with a fun joke or pun about such. Not me. Not at this hour, I'm afraid.
Supposedly, it's because there are not many blue foods. Are there really that many orange foods, though? Fascinating stuff. If true, of course.
Reply to Outlander My guess is that any color will evoke hunger or even the filling of being satisfied with the proper shock therapy.
If we trained sufficient subjects to salivate to blue and scream in fear of orange, we could better herd our population. We'd paint off limits areas orange and paint broccoli blue, better achieving our societal goals.
You may object to this idea now, but if I make you vomit to orange enough times, you'll finally shut your blabber.
I like sushiNovember 15, 2024 at 05:11#9474690 likes
Reply to Outlander Some people have posed this is due to our days in the trees seeking out ripe fruit.
Also, blue light makes subjective time run more quickly and red more slowly. This also might be a spinoff from the above proposal of fruit seeking. We are attentive to food! Perhaps it could just be the case that we need to be more alert at sunset too, but I do not believe the light shift between dawn and dusk is significant enough.
Metaphysician UndercoverNovember 17, 2024 at 20:50#9480860 likes
Time moving at faster and slower speeds presents complex time-management problems in sex-servicing industries. What effect do the lightbulbs have on turn-around time? Are customers charged, and are workers paid, under different speeds of time's passage? If Madam borrowed money for her start-up business, is the bank charging interest under red light or blue light?
Brushing time aside if that's even possible, red light is the obvious preferred shade for sex-servicing businesses. Green light? Horrors! Blue light? Too cool for hotness. White light? No, no -- far too much detail revealed. Black light? Interesting. No light at all? That works too, and it's very economical, making for a higher ROI.
Apparently, the color blue is known to psychologically/subconsciously suppress appetite,
330,000,000 Americans live under clear blue skies, but about 2/3s are overweight or obese. Perhaps the color blue actually stimulates appetite to an unreasonable degree. I've never lost weight as a result of blue jeans, blue berries, or bluetooth,
330,000,000 Americans live under clear blue skies, but about 2/3s are overweight or obese.
I dunno, in this day and age it's likely some inmates in solitary confinement are outside longer than many folk. :chin:
As for the apparel and comestible, that I cannot explain. Perhaps sheer will or conditioning (accustomizing yourself to blue daily not only by observation but symbolic enshrouding in and consumption of) has something to do with. Just something I read online that caught my attention as certain times of the year I occasionally find myself thrust into the captivating world of advertising and digital marketing/design, etc.
Lately, I've been wondering about barrels. Fascinating things, aren't they? Makes you think, what drove a man to construct such a thing?
While I suspect bowls, cups, and other rounded containers predate boxes and crates (owing to the intrinsic inclination to cup one's hands as well as natural formations such as puddles and the like), it still begs the question: in a world previously dominated by crates and right-angled containers, what finally made one decide "Hey, I've got a better idea."
Did he perhaps take notice of the innovative wheel and one thing led to another? Perhaps recollecting a childhood memory of ball games? Witnessing of a tumbling boulder that simultaneously brought unexpected materials with it? One can only speculate. Nevertheless, shipping and supply industries were revolutionized practically over night, I bet.
Imagine, if you will, two empires. One painfully hauling, loading, and unloading crate by crate for hours on end, and another, simply rolling barrels as the course of these three actions with ease. The entire zeitgeist of the two must have been like day and night to one another. One, a soul-sucking and backbreaking torrent of despair, the other, a light and cheerful constant montage of glee and spontaneity. It's amazing how far innovation has come and how simple, now neglected examples of such changed the face of an emerging new world not that long ago.
in a world previously dominated by crates and right-angled containers, what finally made one decide "Hey, I've got a better idea."
Wooden barrels are made to resist pressure from the inside. They're made for storing liquids. The weight of the liquid pushes the wooden staves, which are beveled, outwards and against each other, sealing them. The wood also swells in the liquid, providing additional seal. Metal bands around the outside hold the whole thing together.
I think barrels probably came into use when people had large amounts of liquid to store.
javi2541997November 18, 2024 at 17:46#9483400 likes
Reply to T ClarkReply to Outlander Before the barrel there was the amphora, which in the ancient world were used to ship wine, olive oil, garum (fermented fish sauce), and the like. They manufactured these by the millions, On fancy retail amphoras one might find a splendid hand-painted image. Those end up in museums. The vast majority were just cheap crockery and ended up in ancient landfills.
Cupping one's hands to scoop up water to drink might have inspired crockery, but there are also eggs, coconut shells, empty skulls (with which some people live quite well), shells, and the like for inspiration. Boxes need nails or screws to hold them together. Glue was a very ancient discovery, and boxes can be joined together with dovetailing and the like. But that's a lot of craft for a shipping crate. Copper, bronze, or iron nails would have been pretty expensive back then, wouldn't they?
Better. Late night tilapia with potato salad (not pictured) and a can of V8. How's that for balanced?
Glad I rediscovered V8. 2 1/2 servings of vegetables. Major salt bomb at 920mg but to get 2 1/2 servings of vegetables (100% of the daily recommended amount) in 10 seconds, I'll gladly chug an extra water or two and still have saved a good 9 1/4 minutes over having prepared and consumed them in the traditional fashion.
(Apologies in advance for the potentially disheartening and/or emotionally-turbulent presence of disreputable [s]eatery[/s] cutlery/tableware. see what happens when you don't get enough veggies?)
Noble DustNovember 19, 2024 at 14:42#9486530 likes
Breakfast was a western omelette with American cheese on a roll. I don't know why I've never ordered this from a bodega. For context, bodegas are essentially corner stores here in NYC that have grills and serve up the food of the people. The "baconeggandcheese" is the classic breakfast sandwich to order at these establishments. I posit that the western omelette on a roll may in fact be superior.
javi2541997November 19, 2024 at 15:52#9486730 likes
I often put chards or shredded cucumber on the omelette. I never tried them with rolled cheese. I remember that I used bass once, and the result was surprisingly good.
bodegas are essentially corner stores here in NYC that have grills and serve up the food of the people.
Interesting. We call bodega the place where the wine is stored and sold wholesale. My dad is a wine enthusiast, and he has taken me to some bodegas in La Mancha. The smell of the jars is special.
Noble DustNovember 19, 2024 at 16:15#9486800 likes
I never tried them with rolled cheese. I remember that I used bass once, and the result was surprisingly good.
To clarify, a roll is a cheap bread item. I guess the word in reference to bread has different meanings in the US, but in NYC a sandwich is served on either a roll or a hero. A roll is smaller and round, while a hero is longer in shape and also known as a sub, hoagie, etc. Here's more about the roll.
Interesting. We call bodega the place where the wine is stored and sold wholesale. My dad is a wine enthusiast, and he has taken me to some bodegas in La Mancha. The smell of the jars is special.
I don't know the etymology of the NYC bodega, but historically these corner stores have mainly been run by two separate immigrant communities: Dominicans and Yemenis. The Spanish word bodega that's used to refer to Dominican corner stores inevitably ended up becoming a blanket term to refer to any corner store, including the Yemeni stores. It's actually a fascinating cultural and historical topic. I wonder if anyone's written a book about NYC bodegas.
Before the barrel there was the amphora, which in the ancient world were used to ship wine, olive oil, garum (fermented fish sauce), and the like.
One of the big jobs I worked on as an engineer involved excavating contaminated soil from a site in Cambridge MA near the Charles River. If you look at an old map you can see that the amount of landfilling that took place along the Charles is amazing. The area where the digging took place was where wharves were previously located and as the excavation deepened, it dug through their former locations. At the elevation of the former bottom of the river there were piles still embedded where they had been driven in the early 1800s.
The former users of the wharves had dumped garbage off into the river including glassware and pottery, much of which was intact. That included stoneware bottles which could hold 5 to 10 gallons, which I assume were used to ship oil or wine. They were similar to the amphora you showed, although they were shorter and rounder and had flat bottoms for stacking. I didn't get one of those bottles, but I did get some glassware and smaller pottery vessels. The picture below shows some of them. I put in the saltshaker for scale.
javi2541997November 19, 2024 at 18:08#9487070 likes
Ah! Gotcha. I had to search on Google because I hadn't the image in my mind. We say 'pan mollete' here. Exactly, they are cheap bread but tasty. I often use them with salmon and tzatziki. Mercadona sells nice roll bread, but I usually go to another shop called 'levadura madre', whose owners are bread experts. When I go to the doctor once a month, I visit that shop to eat a nice slice of bread with something in it.
The Spanish word bodega that's used to refer to Dominican corner stores inevitably ended up becoming a blanket term to refer to any corner store, including the Yemeni stores. It's actually a fascinating cultural and historical topic. I wonder if anyone's written a book about NYC bodegas.
It is very fascinating, indeed. Although there is an important group of Dominicans in Madrid, I have never seen stores like the ones in NYC that you are referring to. Our Dominican bros focus more on barbershops! :grin:
Wooden barrels are made to resist pressure from the inside. They're made for storing liquids. The weight of the liquid pushes the wooden staves, which are beveled, outwards and against each other, sealing them. The wood also swells in the liquid, providing additional seal. Metal bands around the outside hold the whole thing together.
And don't forget they existed before forklifts, so they were designed to roll.
Now that I know the Chinese technique of velveting, and the associated tenderization with baking soda, my attempts at cooking Chinese food have become semi-respectable.
Noble DustNovember 20, 2024 at 14:23#9489510 likes
It's the marinating technique that results in tender velvety meat, like you get in Chinese food. Cornstarch is the key ingredient, plus baking soda to tenderize it. Only takes 20 minutes or so.
Comments (61561)
California woman fed up with stolen mail sends Apple AirTag to herself to catch thief (— AP · Aug 22, 2024)
I appreciate you. You are like a fresh peanut in a mound of elephant dung.
They still asked me for a refund.
Stuck for another half year doesn't seem like an ideal vacation, but, hey, consider it an experiment for all mankind to learn from. :)
sad smile
I accept your gratitude on behalf of whom it may directly concern with humble graciousness and thinly disguised hubris.
Some further notion of what this gratitude pertains to would be appreciated. :up:
Hmm...
De de duu duu duu de de duu du du dee du du di di di dae!
I'm not very good at deciphering seemingly random strings of vowel sounds. Call me tone deaf. What is that?
Galway Girl. I was hoping it was seared into your prefrontal cortex.
"I'm Irish but I'm not a leprechaun"
House of Pain.
Written by an American. Here's a version sung by the City of Galway.
Nice!
Yes, although, whenever I watch it, I'm disappointed I can't see any girls or women whose hair is dark and eyes are blue.
Well what can you do about that.
What did you say?
I spake of a pre-litigious time, prior to the fabrication of inflated medical bills and what we might return to those childlike days.
You suggested government control of the healthcare industry?
So what happens in a jury trial in Georgia is that a Plaintiff can submit his medical bills for consideration to the jury. The medical bills submitted do not represent the amount that has ever been paid by an actual person, but they are represented as the fees the doctor is charging. The doctors inflate their bills to whatever they think they can get away with. The defense attorney can argue they are unreasonable, but ultimately the jury decides who to believe. This has created massive overbilling and has caused settlements and verdicts far beyond what should be provided based upon these inflated bills.
Other states have limited the amount a Plaintiff can present based upon a multiplier of the medical bill amounts paid by Medicare. The good Mr. DeSantis pushed through such a law, but the good Mr. Kemp could not get enough support for such dramatic change.
So, if your question is whether a jury should be regulated by a statute as to what it should consider as an award for medical bills, I think so based upon the abuse that currently exists. To the extent this sounds like a nod toward government control, the whole thing is a government creation, including the jury trial, the power afforded juries, the power afforded judges, and everything in between.
You are in healthcare, so if you've ever had a chance to look at the chargemaster bill from the hospital, you will see that it lists amounts charged that are paid in full by less than 5% of the population, with most paying either reduced private pay amounts, negotiated insurance rates, preset workers comp rates, or government controlled medicare or medicaid rates. That is, even when a Plaintiff submits a bill from a hospital to a jury to consider, the amount on the face of the bill is a pure fabrication created for whatever purpose, but the Plaintiff's use that bill because it's the highest available.
This is the problem known as "phantom billing," a riveting topic discussed before a group of insurance defense attorneys by the good Mr. Hanover. Mostly it consisted of a middle aged man ranting, occassionally going off the rails and talking about random events so as to fill the full hour alloted.
As I noted that less than 5% paid the full published billing rate, that number is actually 1.16%, which is quoted in the Supreme Court opinion:
"For the relevant years pre-dating this lawsuit, the percentage of TMC patients who paid less than the chargemaster rate was 98.84 percent, while only 1.16 percent paid the full rate."
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ga-supreme-court/2074647.html
Despite this finding, the Court found for the hospital and held that it was not fraudulent for the hospital to enforce a lien in the amount of the chargemaster rate against the patient.
Who is supporting the status quo? Don't insurance companies lobby?
Medicare pays hospitals by diagnosis. If 10 people are hospitalized for pneumonia, Medicare pays the same amount for each person (I think the payouts are set by region). If something goes wrong inside the hospital, like a hospital acquired infection, Medicare won't pay for the treatment, thus hospitals are super vigorous about avoiding them. I think all other health insurance providers use Medicare as a model, so their base payouts are controlled by Medicare.
Really good question. The auto insurers are largely footing this bill in personal injury cases. The GTLA (Georgia Trial Lawyers Assn) controls the legislature and laws. The reason the auto insurers don't spend money fighting them is that Georgia is largely deregulated, meaning insurers don't need governmental approval for rate increases. They therefore respond to increased benefit payouts by increasing premiums and they maintain their profits. The consumer ultimately pays for the higher verdicts and settlements.
If the insurers couldn't respond with higher premiums, due to regulators trying to protect consumers, the insurers would threaten to leave the market and force a compromise.
That's typically what happens in regulated states when insurers can't be profitable.
Oasis is back!
I deleted it for low quality. If you want to critique philosophy, do it intelligently rather than with a rant.
Note that there is a feedback category for complaints etc. The Shoutbox is not the best place.
Yes.
Dastardly.
As if reasons were needed, this demonstrates why one should avoid terminally boring work in soulless offices where dropping dead doesn't attract much attention.
@Hanover: Since she was at her desk--round the clock for several days--attempting to fulfill her duties, shouldn't she be eligible for overtime and weekend pay?
Will the next employee at least get a fresh chair?
Under federal law, she's entitled to time and a half for overtime, but these sorts of unapproved extra hours are strictly forbidden in the employee manual, not to mention sleeping on the job. So, sure, she got her overtime, but she's fired. She got them this time, but this isn't happening again.
Because the death occurred at work, she's also entitled to her workers comp benefits, which hopefully should pay her overtime parking fee.
The next employee will only get a new chair because another employee has already stolen her old one. Another has been using her fob to get into the supply cabinet and has been delighting his children with free notepads and pens each day when he rolls home from work.
The difficultly the company now has, and one I sympathize with, is they must find another Denise Prudhomme to hire in order to save on the cost of buying a new desk name plate for her desk.
This is why profitable companies only hire Bob Smiths and the like.
Life imitates art. This mirrors a fictional scenario in David Foster Wallace's (unfinished novel) "The Pale King" where a worker is found dead at his desk several days after passing away, colleagues remarking that they noticed nothing wrong and just thought he was hunkering down. The novel is largely about soulless jobs and boredom (the IRS is the setting).
The most enjoyable bit of that post is the giant parenthetical I didn't read.
Therein lay the secret of life, young Jedi.
Or a bunch of BS.
Unexpectedly pessimistic. But I agree. Praise be the parenthetical oblivion.
I wasn't sure entirely what you were writing (but having thought for several minutes about the contrast between your jocular tone and (albeit, with a knowing smirk about the irrelevance and irreverence of the presentation (cf the indifference with which the elaborative and elaborate circumlocution in this post, which, though a clear modification of the original style, mimics the frustration of any sense of narrative closure in the source material*), though I liked the self referential use of formatting errors.
[hide=*]until an incidental remark[/hide]
Thank, Bruv. My subconscious postmodernist feels validated. I am also kind of aping a David Foster Wallace style.
I figured. It reminded me of Infinite Jest. Maybe that's what David Foster Wallace sounded like saying old man stories.
:lol:
I wish dear sir that I could share its exquisite flavor with you, as it carries with it that elusive butterscotch taste only available above the firmament. So tender is the excrement that you'd swear it was bitch slapped by the angry hand of God's mama.
Better than your average post. I take credit for inspiring you to new literary heights.
If you want it, you can have the crown
“You can have the crown” by Sturgill Simpson - I love country music.
Please dear sir, you shouldn't take mere credit for inspiring, but you should take full credit for all that I am. I am but the dirt beneath the worm's belly compared to to you, and I even feel boasting to present myself this proudly next to you. With me, I spend hours spinning phrases still to sound like a screaming unteated babe when you can belch and still sound of the most eloquent statesman.
I know. I know. I should have adopted them from the pound, but the full breed are more predictable and just so damn cute.
"Keep your crazy shit in the garage"
Guess who might have said that. That's a bit less than an embracing welcome I daresay.
Such sucksink cryptography only to be found in the bs of the s/b of such a premier forum such as this and even then only to be found in the posts of few such sucksink cryptographers. Such a rare experience.
Ned Kelly smile
I appreciate your effort, Ned, but my advice for future compliments would be to avoid the word "suck" as it makes it almost seem like you're not really giving a compliment but saying that the person "sucks" and so on.
Don't think I've read that one but to me it sounds like a hazardous combo of vortices and vacuums, which I usually like to avoid.
So, this is the plot device that alerts the guy to the fact the vortex is deadly but leaves no evidence of its deadliness. This is important because the context is the guy is a "henpecked" husband who hates his wife.
So, yes, he calls her into the bathroom and you don't see the push but you see him come out with a satisfied smile on his face and you know...
So, there is some stuff with the police after that, but no evidence, no crime. And guess what, his wife isn't the only person he hates. His boss, too, who he has to kiss up to at work. So, he invites him round for dinner and, yes, into the vortex he goes.
All seems to be going well for our budding serial killer, who has other targets springing to mind. Except... Soon after he's got rid of his boss, we see him standing in the bathroom staring proudly at his vortex when suddenly someone comes flying through it, lands on the bathroom floor then stands up and looks at the man.
"Who are you? Who are you?' The new arrival shouts. And then "She pushed me!"'
The penny drops. The vortex doesn't kill, it just sends the "victim" to another vortex.
The protagonist's shocked face. The sound of sirens outside the window.
The End.
EDIT: There's kind of a plot hole where you wonder why the cops didn't find out straight away if the wife went to another vortex where presumably she'd call to get help immediately, but then there was some indication somewhere that the trip through the vortex was not immediate but took some time. Can't remember the details of that though.
I try desperately to save the planet, but all she sees is her cooler full of worms. Quoting frank The most difficult part of naming worms is that most prefer the last name Worms, but some use the German pronunciation of Vorms and others Worms. They get so pissy when I get it wrong. How am I to remember?
It might be. Have you seen the episode with William Shatner on a plane?
Later I heard reggae up on the moors. I was surprised, as you can imagine.
You were in Don Benito this morning! Juicy and tasty jamón de pata negra. :yum:
Cool. I guess it might have been an Iberian. Its hair was quite long though, so I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m quite hungry.
Seems like it'd get kinda boring after the first few thousand years or so...
Besides, respect, rather, social admiration, specifically the need for it, is just a crutch people who never developed purpose and identity use to detract from an inner, almost constantly reviving sense of worthlessness, often the result of degrading experiences, perhaps par for the course of life, perhaps incredibly worse from the result of, as they say, "being dealt a bad hand".
Evidence it means what you think it means.
:party: :up:
Texans deserve stinging worms. We are thankful that they cannot migrate northward on land.
Now that Lumbricinas have wormed their way into your heart, you will want to subscribe to Worm City News. I just read a fascinating story in the society section of WCN about the giant Gippsland earthworm in Australia which is 3+ feet long and lays egg cases about 2 inches in length. New hatchlings are around 7" long.
I too have read up on worms, and I learned the reason professional bass fishermen don't use live bait is because t's too easy to catch fish with and so it's cheating
To help folks better cheat, maybe I can dress up my worms in clown makeup so they can pass as artificial lures. I think the worms would enjoy the dress up, but the hook through their face, guts, and tail that followed might be a downer for the evening.
Hm, I can't recall that one. Looks like Kirk needs a toilet break. Can you remember what it was called?
I remember the one about the worm though. Somewhat reminiscent of current conversations concerning keeping them as pets.
So, this kid finds a worm in his garden and decides to keep him as a pet, putting him in an aquarium in his bedroom (a little bit of backstory is that his pet goldfish had died and the worm acts as a replacement), but his mom sees the worm pet and doesn't like it and orders the kid to get rid of it. The kid wants to keep the worm, so instead of setting it free, brings it down to his basement.
This is where the weirdness ensues. The worm starts getting bigger. At first the kid's just like "OK, so I found a baby worm and now it's grown up". And he starts to feed it spiders and beetles and stuff. But the worm just keeps growing. Soon, it's the size of a small snake (still looks exactly like a worm though) and the insects are not enough. When the boy comes down to the basement, it's like bashing itself against the sides of the aquarium demanding food, so the boy has to work pretty hard.
The next bit is the boy comes down there and the worm has grown too big for the aquarium and has just slithered out of it. At this point, its like the size of the boy's arm and immediately slithers straight to the boy and starts begging for food, but the boy doesn't have enough to satisfy it and it angrily bites his hand. The boy runs out of the basement.
The logical thing for him to do at this point would be to tell his parents, call the cops or the zoo or whatever, but there's over ten minutes left in the episode and we're in the Twilight Zone , so no, instead he, out of either desperation or spite, grabs one of the neighbour's virtually newborn kittens (this was earlier foreshadowed when his mom brought one into the house for him to stroke and then quickly took them away to the boy's chagrin), runs back down into the basement and throws it on the ground in front of the worm. The worm gobbles it up and looks damn appreciative insofar as you can make a worm look (coiling around the boy's leg in a friendly way and such).
Of course, things continue to escalate, and newborn kittens turn into full blown cats and then dogs etc with the kid getting into some scrapes along the way. Eventually the worm is bigger than the kid, and the kid can't find enough food to satisfy it. There are only so many stray dogs in the neighbourhood. The kid goes to the basement one day and shouts desperately at the worm, "I can't find any more, I'm sorry, I can't, I can't!".
His mom hears him shouting from upstairs and runs down to the basement from the kitchen. Typical entering basement shot where mom open the door and peers in. Then lights on. Then view from mom's perspective. All we see is an empty floor except for two small shoes, jimmy's shoes, in the centre.
"Jimmy?"
The End
Regarding worms, I don't know what to say. They are usually protracted from dirty food and non-kosher meat.
There are no kosher pigs.
The End
Yes, Shatner may have shat his pants. Then again it may be his awesomeness, yea?
If that's how he looks on the toilet, no wonder he got famous.
Anyhow, I'll tell you the plot of the TZ episode about the pigs later. I don't think there were any big names in that one. Except maybe amongst the porkies.
They have split hooves, but they don't chew their cud, so they are not to be eaten. Makes perfect sense when you don't think about it.
This reminds me of a movie I never saw, but it always is chosen as a contender for most disgusting movie of all time.
It's called the Human Centipede, revolving around a German scientist who kidnaps tourists and joins them mouth to anus to created a single elongated humanoid centipede out of several people.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Centipede_(First_Sequence)
Maybe you can watch it for us and give us a review.
True story though, my grandfather raised worms for fishing that he'd sell in his furniture/antique/junk store when I was a kid. My brother wanted one as a pet for real, but he was like 6 at the time. That's where all the worm pet stuff comes from on my end at least.
Compliment or comment....just a communicated observation. Appreciate your response though.
light smile
wry smile
Welcome to TPF. :smile:
I actually really enjoyed that one. Moral of the story: "Don't disobey your parents." As well as: "Disobedience and the hidden acts it brings about end up swallowing you whole." Very poignant and also passes my rigid, lengthy checklist of mandatory family values in media and entertainment. Bravo. :ok:
Hello all. Great forum, liking the level of intellectual engagement here. Whilst I love philosophy per se, my special focused topics are metaphysics, philosophy of mind, cognition, AI, phenomenology,evolutionary biology and philosophy of science. Where ever you find philosophy and the natural sciences in close contact, I will be keenly interested.
Hello and welcome to TPF!
Oh, cool, thanks. :smile:
Here's five bucks. Now shut your trap, please.
Welcome!
Welcome. Now I'll give you the T Clark metaphysics quiz - Have you read "An Essay on Metaphysics" by R.G. Collingwood. No one but Collingwood, I, and perhaps you truly understands metaphysics.
I currently have 21 notifications. It is highly unlikely I will respond to any of them.
I am finding myself in rather intense family conflict which is likely to take up any time I have outside of work and school. Apologies for those not getting replies.
If you really want a reply, you can email me at [email protected]. I assume not, but to be thorough, as I'm not going to be checking, there you go. Please wish me luck and send me strength. This is going to be a really tough six months or so.
:strong:
Stay strong.
What's going on with the forum?
Good luck!
I went to Sam's Club and got a a huge box of oatmeal and more strawberries than any man ever ate.
Barb, with her relentless plaid hair, drew me into the oatmeal, so sticky so sweet. What I'd do to return to the calm of the beige without the mocking fruit, but I am where I am.
Oatmeal and strawberries.
The second paragraph to this story does well with the nonsensical and abrupt shift and the final sentence wraps things up nicely. That's my critique at least, but I'm open to other thoughts.
Will you adopt a pig?
Only under the condition we never tell him he's adopted.
Tell him that he was and is the most loved animal on the animal farm...
The vegan Scottish food substitutes as a rule are very good, I think. Vegan haggis too.
https://www.wgal.com/article/apalachee-high-school-barrow-county-georgia/62055981
"..it's you!" must mean whom? Perhaps Hanover or just all of the yous ( however the plural of "you" is spelt) that has, is or will be? Has the look of privilege anyway.
looking back with a slight smile
Too close for comfort when it's in your home state. How far are you from Barrow County, approximately? Probably will prompt another round of the gun debate with no change resulting.
"hate being right" frown
You can make a low calorie strawberry ice cream. You blend up the strawberries and put them in the freezer. Or maybe you add yogurt. Or maybe it was bananas. When I go to the store I find my saying "organic bananas, org-a-nanic banana-nanas, orga-na-nanic banan-a-na-nanas. Or you could just get an ice cream maker and do it correctly.
You can make a low calorie strawberry ice cream. Mine will be full octane.
I'm not doing it. Try as you might to persaude me, I'm standing firm. This is a hill I'm willing to die on.
It's just ice cream. With the strawberries.
I'm really not softening on my stance. It is what it is.
If you don't make ice cream, there's a poor dairy farmer who won't be able to make shoes for his kids. They'll go to school barefoot and one of them will step on a nail and it will get infected and he'll lose his leg even though he could have been an Irish dancing artist.
Why would you even want to do that? Ice cream is not a low calorie food.
Julia Child's was making a butter-and-sugar-rich dessert with another chef, who objected to the extraordinary density of calories in the finished dish. Child's response was universally applicable: "It is high in calories, and it's extremely delicious, but you are only supposed to eat one piece."
So with a batch of ice cream made with cream, eggs, whole milk, sugar, and strawberries. You're not supposed to eat the whole batch at one time--no more than 1 (reasonably generous) serving per day. A serving should fit into a small cereal bowl.
Though in reality -- well, let's just say I've eaten my fair share of ice cream.
I stepped on a lot of rusty nails growing up and was never taken to a doctor's office. Dad cleaned out the puncture wound, put mercurochrome (bright pink, stings like hell) in the hole and wrapped up the foot. Don't know whether we were vaccinated for tetanus then or not.
1. A soft serve ice cream machine with 3 levers (vanilla, chocolate, or swirled)
2. A urinal in my bathroom.
3. A machine that'll pet my cat for me when I'm tired.
And no, I would not have relations with the naked supermodel genie. The offspring would be part human, part goddess, which would result in a rebellion in the underworld and thousands of cawing crows would break lose from holes in the ground causing a blackened mid-day sun. Otherwise adorable children's necks would spin backwards on their torso, making the only sound that could be heard above the caws the popping sounds of the spines and the screams of the otherwise adorable children.
But think about this: eating soft serve ice cream, pissing in you own urinal, and no longer being burdened by your cat' s needs.
This! Don't fuck the genie!
Oh, hello there. Long time no see. How are the pigs doing?
Great to see you. :cheer: :party:
I read somewhere that untreated tetanus can make you gay.
I read that lockjaw was just a lame excuse, much like "I have a headache."
Good to know.
That is probably true, but I didn't have tetanus treated or not, so... How did it happen? I did read (in the same tabloid you read) that tetanus vaccination makes you autistic. Fact! Well, obviously, if you inject germs pickled in arsenic into a baby's brain it's likely to have some sort of effect.
I think that might go for any germs pickled in arsenic injected into a baby's brain. My evidence is that my autdar says of Wittgenstein, "Whoa, that dude was definitely autistic." And that's based on Witt before the tetanus vaccine came out, so the tetanus vaccine can't be the explanation.
Also, wouldn't a (multipurpose) toilet be a better investment than a urinal in Hanover's bathroom?
Tetanus is a handy excuse for a 4 year old when asked to help with older siblings' house chores.
Source: I always thought English piglets were spotted and looking on Wikipedia I saw different breeds like this one: Gloucester Pigs.
Never bet. But maybe you're correct. So much crossbreeding in the commercial piggeries, it is hard to determine. Plus, a couple of scrunched-up snouts doesn't give much information on which to ascertain breed type. Shawn may know having greater providence,depending on whether Shawn pays note to breed. However, it could be said Shawn just likes pigs.
gentle smile
No, those are kunekun pigs. See:
https://www.google.com/search?q=kunekun+pigs
Thanks. Too hairy for durocs, even raised in outdoor cold weather area pens.
I can't say I have read it, but I can pick it up and read it in around a week if I apply myself. Although I must confess, I think in my own ideas I've moved quite a ways beyond any classical notion of metaphysics, as in the Aristotelian pursuit of Being qua Being, or the Quinean objective of writing a big laundry list of things that populate the universe.
It looks like it needs to shave.
Collingwood has a much different take on metaphysics than Aristotle and Quine. Be that as it may, there's no reason for you to read it if it's not up your alley.
Oh my lord, sick for a week is not pleasant (downright unpleasant in fact). I hope you're feeling better now.
Interesting characteristics bred/selected into/out of the porcine gene pool. Which the morality of selective breeding could lead or be led down a philosophic rabbithole.
inappropriately bright smile.
rodent capybaras?
I'll definitely read it. I had a quick look and it does look interesting. The fact he is different to Aristotle and Quine has my interest piqued already.
Those are beavers or some sort of rodents right?
For God's sake, it is very complex to identify animals. I remember skipping that class at kindergarten...
They are capybara and they are cute as fuck.
And I would bet that your at spent the whole morning muttering under his breath "Insufferable human, just what does he think I am"
Lao Tzu (Laozi) is not punk. He's cookies and milk sitting by the fire.
On the same origin of quantum physics and general relativity from Riemannian geometry and Planck scale formalism
[sup]— Chavis Srichan, Pobporn Danvirutai, Adrian David Cheok, Jun Cai, Ying Yan · Astroparticle Physics · Aug 30, 2024[/sup]
Magical equation unites quantum physics, Einstein’s general relativity in a first
[sup]— Rupendra Brahambhatt · Interesting Engineering · Sep 7, 2024[/sup]
Related:
Giant ring? Giant arc? These “structures” may not even be real
[sup]— Ethan Siegel · Big Think · Jan 23, 2024[/sup]
Official verdict: JWST’s early galaxies didn’t break cosmology
[sup]— Ethan Siegel · Big Think · Aug 28, 2024[/sup]
A New Theory of Everything Just Dropped!
[sup]— Sabine Hossenfelder · Sep 9, 2024 · 7m:5s[/sup]
1. moose
2. deer
3. elk
4. caribou
5. bison
6. bear
7. hunt
8. wolf
9. grizzly
10.reindeer
So, if you guessed "bear" it would have told you that was a 6 and you'd know you were really close. If you guessed "Ostrich," it would have told you 499, letting you know you were far away. "Mailman" would have been 6085, letting you know you were even farther away. The object is to keep guessing until you get it based upon the clues of how close you are getting with each guess.
This might bring home the concept of Wittgenstein's family resemblence theory as it relates to words. We think of words in terms of definitions that seek the essential elements of the word. A moose is defined as "a large deer with palmate antlers, a sloping back, and a growth of skin hanging from the neck. It is native to northern Eurasia and northern North America."
This game relies not on focusing on the essential elements of the word, but upon words that are typically used in conjunction with the target word, where the target word typically finds itself contextually with the other words. The definition of moose using the Contexto model is that which is similar to and used in context with deer, elk, caribou, bison, bear, hunt, wolf, grizzly, and reindeer in that order.
I do believe though that if I provided you the 10 closest words to "Moose," it would take you longer to guess I was referring to a moose than if I provided you the typical dictionary definition. I did think the idea that identifying word usage (and therefore meaning) based upon typical context was an interesting idea though.
Anyway, food for thought, and even if I'm wrong in seeing the family resemblence theory displayed through the game Contexto, I've given you a new game to play during work when you don't feel like working.
Thanks guys, the verdict is I've forgotten what good health is. That's when you feel, um, good and stuff, right?
Meh, just a cough left now, really. :up:
pettifogging - Argue over petty things
Now I just need a thread to use it in.
"You didn't understand what I said."
"Yes I did."
"You don't understand."
"I did understand; you don't, and furthermore, you don't express yourself clearly."
"You have no interest in serious philosophy, troll!"
Etc.
:rofl: Well we wont pettifog about that at least.
I disagree strongly. You clearly have no interest in serious philosophy. Then again, the Shoutbox is specifically intended for pettifogging.
No
You could use it as a verbal contortion of an American sitcom. "I see that you are staying at Pettifog Station."
It receives deeper meaning from being located next to Hooterville.
Biped Robot P1: Mastering Wilderness Navigation
[sup]— Interesting Engineering · Mar 28, 2024 · 2m:45s[/sup]
Mentions "multi-sensor technology to integrate [...]", "[...] topographic maps of the terrain", "perceptual", ...
Partial/crude bio-convergence?
For further enlightenment, I'll refer you to The Cyberiad.
Or maybe they just realized that so many people are too fucking lazy to say two words when one will work just as well. :rofl:
I think Ben is probably his great grandson who works in the catering business.
I thought it had something to do with disassociating from the whole 'Uncle Tom' vibe.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/9/23/uncle-bens-rice-gets-rebrand-after-racial-stereotyping-criticism
That's right, first we lost Aunt Jemima, now Uncle Ben. Who's the next member of the family to pass on?
General Mills' Betty Crocker might be next.
The de-uncled Ben's perverted rice company is owned by Mars, Inc., the candy and pet food conglomerate.
specious smile
We don't have Aunt Jemima nor Uncle Ben because we are orphans. Instead, our brands use two unknown women harvesting rice in the fields of the Mediterranean coast.
"Write a haiku about a woman who sells her child for a tennis racket and regrets the day she sold her soap for a hammer like piano that she left beneath the skates where her father once lived all alone but for the crowd of lonliness that visited him when the sun set in the darkness just below the ledge that housed all that was moistened by the lips of the departed."
And it arrived at this:
"A child for a game,
Regret echoes in twilight—
Loneliness persists."
Impressive.
You should be horsewhipped for conceiving such a thing.
Ahh, poor you. But I seem to remember seeing rice with some naked orphans on the bag some yeas ago.
Rhubarb pieces roasted in marmalade, lemon juice and brown sugar. Served with sweetened yoghurt. After chicken marinade in preserved lemon harissa, and roasted with sweet potato and King Edward spuds, served with peas.
Quoting Banno
You fancy people and your obscenely intricate masterful artworks of meals that's just gonna end up the same color, consistency, and in the same place as anything else you consume.
In an hour or so, after some arduous web dev and programming, I'm having me a day old refrigerated ham and cheese sub I got from the one-person deli operating out of the local mart and a bag of potato chips. Get on my level. :strong:
Those foods are not fancy.
This morning I had a bacon roll, or as they say here, a roll and bacon, which specifically implies a Scottish morning roll, which is the best roll.
Tomato chutney today.
Ingredients: onion, tomato, apple, spirit vinegar, sugar, stem ginger, cardamon, cumin, coriander, chilli, garlic.
Method: cook in a pot, put in jars. keep for a bit.
Slightly late for work with all the goings on, but well worth it. The pig now slowly cooks in the pit, as I anxiously await a much deserved lunch.
That's a cool name. King Edward Spuds.
It might have been more than that, don't remember.
Yes, it was a classic to put children on food brands. As I said, that was common some decades ago but is forbidden by law nowadays.
I am feeling a bit of nostalgia right now. When I was a kid, I used to frequent a bar that eventually closed because of a chronic illness of the owner. While my parents were drinking and eating their meal, I always enjoyed a bag of chips where the face of a boy with a cute sweater appeared. If I remember correctly, I think it was called something like "hijos de Antonio."
I haven't seen those chips for centuries. I guess they still sell chips, but the face of the kid had to be removed.
Yes, it must have been a long time ago because it was on a ship I was doing repairs on and I have not done that kind of work for at least 25 years. The English chief mate gave me some overalls and gloves, the captain gave be a couple of bottles of scotch, The chief engineer authorized the removal of all of the leftovers and scrap, and the Spanish cook gave me a box full of European foods that were hard to find here.
They did not want my report or that of the surveyor to show any incompetence on their part so they tried to keep me happy for the three days the work took. I obviously obliged and convinced the insurance surveyor that it was old age that caused the problem.
[hide="Reveal"]
Naturally, the dark forces that administrate this world would never allow such a thing. Hm. What ever to do? :chin:
Quoting T Clark
You spelled "your" wrong. Ha ha!
It can be useful to define subsidiary terms but it's unreasonable to define terms that are central to the debate, since their meaning is what the philosophy is about.
Quoting T Clark
Fair.
Quoting T Clark
Define "science" and "metaphysics".
Quoting T Clark
Fair. But one can try.
Quoting T Clark
I'm not entirely convinced.
Quoting T Clark
Agree.
Quoting T Clark
I can go along with that.
Quoting T Clark
As a rule of thumb this is fair.
Quoting T Clark
I'm not so sure. Unrealistic thought experiments might be enlightening precisely in their unrealisticness. That we're not sure what to do with the fat guy might suggest to us interesting thoughts such as that there can be no comprehensive ethical doctrine.
Quoting T Clark
Agree with the second sentence, but it doesn't entail the first. Identifying a logical fallacy can be communicatively useful.
Quoting T Clark
True, but they can be.
I am imagining, rather than the Two Minutes Hate, a daily Two Minutes and Twelve Seconds Dance, in which everyone must dance to Tequila by The Champs, thus instilling in the populace a feeling of happiness and camaraderie.
But surely there would be pockets of resentment?
Never saw that movie or read the book but frequently hear it being spoke highly of. I think the people would largely go for it. Imagine sitting in your cubicle or being stuck behind a fryer and suddenly by law your employer has to let you dance and sing and holler (non-profanely) randomly once or twice throughout the day. Every radio station, television, or streaming service will play the song simultaneously during the schedule time(s). It will be a new building code to have a speaker system throughout the structure where the song can be heard and must be played, no different than how a place must be structurally sound to avoid being placed under legal condemnation. Massive airships will fly throughout cities and parks blasting the song through powerful (yet tolerable) speakers during the designated times. There will be nowhere to escape from the masterpiece that is "Tequila". Kidding, of course. Somewhat.
Quoting Jamal
Resentment is not a crime. No non-action is.
Resentment bubbles up.
Yeah, well. Some people feel resentment at the fact they have to share a world with people who don't think, act, and for some, even look the same way they do. Late uncle told me "you can't make everybody happy". I believe it. But, if you can quantitatively alleviate greater discord, strife, and yes, resentment at the cost of a measurably smaller amount being created, it becomes a matter of reason meets compassion, if not outright common sense, does it not? Of course, there's no telling this hypothetical idea would in fact have such an effect, let alone a guarantee of such. So, like usual, I suppose you're right, that is to say, your concerns are quite well founded. Hm. No matter. It'll come to me. The grand idea for utopia that has eluded so many.
Keep on truckin' :up:
Would Companies Get Better CEOs if Employees Had a Vote? (archive)
[sup]— Rosabeth Moss Kanter · WSJ · Sep 14, 2024[/sup]
Many companies have sessions where leaders fill employees in, take questions, etc.
In practical terms, it might be hard for everyone to get a good impression of who to vote for.
Good/bad idea? (Seems worthwhile to me.)
A metarule - nothing goes on list unless I understand what it means.
Quoting Jamal
Another rule for the list - Don't focus on petty or irrelevant issues, e.g. spelling or punctuation. But I did fix the mistake.
Quoting Jamal
A significant percentage of philosophical arguments, especially here on the forum, break down into chaos because everybody has their own idea about what a term means. Major examples include "consciousness," "metaphysics," "free will." A discussion on what a term means can be interesting and valuable. I've started several of those myself, but usually I want to talk about, for example, metaphysics and not "metaphysics."
Quoting Jamal
It's my list.
Quoting Jamal
I've decided to remove that from the list and add - There is no discussion that can't be clarified with a quote from the Tao Te Ching.
Quoting Jamal
If you can't illustrate your point with an example that might realistically take place in the real world it isn't a real issue.
Quoting Jamal
But it rarely is.
Quoting Jamal
Insults are not arguments.
If I were to say "It's dumb to say that", I would be making an argument (albeit an unsupported and unstructured one) and insulting you at the same time.
I think it's only an insult if it's wrong. Like if I say you're a peckerhead shitface, that would be helpful feedback that would foster personal growth if true, but deeply insulting only if false.
I think that's right.
That's not an insult - it doesn't say anything about the person. It's also not an argument - it doesn't say anything about the discussion.
How about if he said "your dumb to say that because it's dumb, and dumb people say dumb things"?
Now he's insulted you and offered an argument.
And then you'd reply with, "it's you're, not your, " and you'd win the argument.
That I'm a "peckerhead shitface"? The last time someone called me that, it was a fellow kindergartner in a backwood kindergarten in the backwoods of backwood, Georgia. Yes, I used to be 'Murican too.
Well, what if I were to say "I would argue that in our discussion right now, you are still being a dummy, you dummy".
https://postimg.cc/mhH8SnLd
I did this from the comfort of my backwoods.
After a decade of knowing you, I learn you used to live in Georgia by sharing an insult. Seems iike it've come up before.
I'm more partial to "I know you are, but what am I?"
An insult but not an argument.
This really brightened up my day, thank you, you massive pissing cunt.
Sweet Jesus!
AI Gone MAD (— Jen Sorensen · Sep 11, 2024)
those are some weird cowthings
So, like humans in thought silos?
That would have been Uncle Ben I suppose. He sure gave it a damn good try when he "converted" long grain rice.
I assume the born again rice is now perfectly happy.
Being curiously bored, I googled and found the results of searching for "was finally able to get exactly one foot over the tree line sweet jesus" much more satisfying than without the "sweet jesus".
That would be a kind gesture.
I figure Brewer and Shiply are surely TPF lurkers, if not posters.
Do you know of any members who look like these guys?
Yes, that's me and my cat.
Ah, I see you hid your feet in that shot, so as not to reveal the secret until the time was right.
You're welcome.
And the cat's still thinking about the cad and his foot.
smile of hunger
Secret Life of a ‘Murican
The confession of a fake Irishman.
Ever since I can remember, I have always yearned to be Irish. Even in the Georgia backwoods I grew up in where foreign countries seem like made up places, settings for sci-fi movies, or Democratic party fairy tales to foster discontent, Ireland was very real and had a special salience.
It helped that my town was Dublin where the local St. Patrick’s parade was renowned statewide and that my family were Sawyers, relatives (albeit distant ones) of the Irishman who founded the place. And so, though local American culture dominated in scope, my Irishness dominated in depth and I resolved to cherish and pursue it.
At first, for all practical purposes, this came to hardly more than a hobby. I collected Irish records from the Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners, watched Irish TV over satellite, and made myself an expert on Irish history. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know about the plantations or the war of independence–I could even recite the 1916 proclamation by heart, and I made sure everyone around me knew it. :smile:
Still, it never seemed enough. I was like Ireland’s biggest fan, but I still wasn’t Irish. And so I moved, as soon as I could, not to Ireland–I had neither the financial means nor the visa to do so–but to Boston where I spent my time in Irish bars with new immigrants, illegals mostly, destined for construction work in Bean town.
I listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them. Before long, I had a whole back story of how I came to Boston from County Cork and how, having overstayed my visa here, I’d never go back. I had the accent down pat and proudly never slipped back into my Georgia twang even in my drunkest moments. Nor did I ever return there for fear I’d lose this new self I had created, and which I took everywhere with me, even, yes, I admit it, online to The Philosophy Forum.
But now that I’m almost as old as @Banno was fifty years ago, the lie is wearing on me, and I wish to come clean. I am ‘Murican, just like you, sprouted in the backwoods of Georgia. I can’t deny my blood. I eat cheesburgers and drink Coke, I watch the kind of football where they wear helmets and shoulder pads, I know all fifity flavours of ice cream at Dairy Queen, and I laugh at the type of comedy a true Irishman would rather be dipped in acid than watch.
I could never wash the ‘Murican out of me nor become truly Irish, so now I’ve come back with neither shame nor fear... to my true self.
It seemed like such a triumphant feat of self-creation that I'm disappointed you lapsed back into your Georgian backwoods identity. It's your life of course, but it has a pessimistic, somewhat conservative message.
OK, OK, here's the real truth.
Not Much ‘Murican
The confession of an Irishman pretending to be an American pretending to be an Irishman
*Ahem* OK, so I need to come clean and clear my conscience. Ever since I was a young lad growing up in the Kingdom of Kerry on the Emerald Isle in the shadow of the Gap of Dunloe, I aspired to be an American pretending to be an Irishman. It seems an odd dream for a young man to have, but I was an actor by nature. From a very young age, my heroes were Bob Hope and Jerry Lee Lewis. If any American could pull off the pretence of Irishness, these brilliant talents surely could had the jig not been up from the start. But for me, being a nobody, just a regular Irish kid with a hurley and a plate of crubeens, there was no jig to be up, and I decided to devote my life to do what even my heroes never could, to pretend to be an American pretending to be an Irishman.
First, I had to know what it was to be an American, and I immersed myself dutifully in the culture. I even took on the accent, allowing myself to become the target of mockery and contempt among my friends and even my family who resorted to psychiatric help to knock the yank out of me. Little did they realise, my eventual goal was to do just that to myself, but I’d do it my way or the highway. I wasn’t about to be usurped by no gawdang shrink and rather than suffer the humiliations and conflicts that seemed inevitable at home, I left the emerald isle and headed for the town of Dublin in backwoods Georgia, USA. Yes, I had to pass myself off as a yank first before I could ever pass myself off as an Irishman again. There was no turning back.
It was a painful time. I worked backbreaking days on the railway in the hot sun with nothing but grits and peaches to live on. But after a year among the true American backwoods men of Dublin, I was one of them, the Irish being knocked right out of me. Now, it was time to knock it back in.
I immersed myself in Irish culture. At first, for all practical purposes, this came to hardly more than a hobby. I collected Irish records from the Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners, watched Irish TV over satellite, and made myself an expert on Irish history. There wasn’t a thing I didn’t know about the plantations or the war of independence–I could even recite the 1916 proclamation by heart, and I made sure everyone around me knew it. :)
Still, it never seemed enough. I was like Ireland’s biggest fan, but I still wasn’t Irish. And so I moved, as soon as I could, not to Ireland, but to Boston where I spent my time in Irish bars with new immigrants, illegals mostly, destined for construction work in Bean town.
I listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them. Before long, I had a whole backstory of how I came to Boston from County Kerry and how, having overstayed my visa here, I’d never go back. I had the accent down pat and proudly never slipped back into my Georgia twang even in my drunkest moments. Nor did I ever return there for fear I’d lose this new self of an Irishman pretending to be an American pretending to be an Irishman I had created, and which I took everywhere with me, even, yes, I admit it, online to the philosophy forum.
But now that I’m almost as old as Banno was fifty years ago, the lie is wearing on me, and I wish to come clean, I am Irish, just like you aren’t, sprouted in the backwoods of Kerry. I can’t deny my blood. I eat crubeens and drink poteen. I watch the kind of football where they don’t wear helmets and shoulder pads, I have no clue what an ice cream is–it’s too fuckin’ cold to eat ice cream in Kerry, and I dip myself in acid every time the Late Show comes on TV.
That is my confession. Thank you for listening. May the road rise up to meet you and semi-automatic weapons never make you dead.
The true flaw in both your accounts is in suggesting you could have pulled one over on the Dubliners of Georgia, a wily and sophisticated bunch, always on the lookout of a foreigner trying to steal their heavenly lot. You'd have been caught within moments and they'd have extracted the Gaelic from your lips in a most unloving way.
So will the real Slim Baden please stand up? Just who are you and what are your intentions here?
Close. My next level of meta was going to be pretending to be a Swede pretending to be an Irishman pretending to be an American etc. But only because I expected @Jamal to try to one-up me again. I want him to know I will write an entire book of BS before I let that happen.
Quoting Hanover
Depends on who's askin', bruv.
Quoting Hanover
To one-up Jamal.
Here’s where your story falls apart. I’ve lived in the Boston area for 50 years, and I’ve never once heard a local person use the term “bean town,” except with a smirk.
But in the story, I say it and I'm not a local...
Quoting T Clark
If you happen to come from Swedish stock, let me know. I'm doing some research.
Sounds fishy.
I specifically said "local person" rather than "local" because I knew you'd pull out this weak-ass argument. If you were in Boston long enough so that you "listened and talked with them, drank Guinness and got drunk with them; then I worked with them. And then I became them," then you would know not to use that term. If in no other manner, you would have learned it the first time you said "bean town" in an Irish tavern and got kicked out on your ass. Sorry, arse.
A trip down Memory Lane for you then, or maybe Jackson Street for you then. :wink:
Quoting Baden
Sorry to hear about Ronnie, it must have been hard for you.
There seem to be a lot of orange vehicles in that parade. I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.
Or maybe it is some sort of symbolism we don't know about of The Order.
Or, more likely, that just happened to be the color of carts they had.
I think we should hold off on judgement until @Baden can throw some light on the topic.
Why use judgment when it is so much easier to speculate?
It's been resurrected though, just like one might expect, and it now has taken on a much more Christian flavor, most unlike what you might see in the original Dublin.
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/rebranded-version-summer-redneck-games-back/93-6a62788a-2b9c-4d09-b0c5-e9b6e6502335
Get a job on South Georgia Island cleaning up dead seals that have died of bird flu. Tell the s/box about it and that will still not convince your doubters that you're a merry can. They think merry cans only come from user. Probably 'cores of a lack of a u row peein' whirled veu or cradle to grave "educated" isolationism imbrued in nationalism. Like much of humanity's relationship to its nations of birth.
No "otherism" intended.
wink and smile
I concede. :clap:
My own history of early life as the scion of a venerable family of the nomenklatura in Nizhny Novgorod, yearning to be an Englishman pretending to be a Scotsman, which led me to study English at Moscow State University and train at the Academy of Foreign Intelligence, which was followed by a series of prestigious KGB and FSB posts that allowed me finally to infiltrate the Western World with TPF, will have to wait.
There are no seals anywhere near the Georgia coast. The waters are teeming with shrimp, but never a seal.
The seal of Georgia:
I stand corrected.
Yep, more fun too.
And such fascinating activities:
Car show
Bike show
Live music
Cook-off competition
[u][b]Cornhole competition
Watermelon seed spitting[/b][/u]
Especially the last ones. :wink:
But on the bright side they do have
Free hotdogs and hamburgers
Nice. :cool:
Quoting Jamal
Well, yes, I had worked that out with a chat GPT analysis of your posts. Everyone should do one of those on themselves actually. According to chat GPT, I am Swedish-Canadian, which is not far off really.
The addicted-to-drugs bit is probably where the respective cities come closest to brotherly harmony.
Well, one third of our flag is orange so...
I was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, son of a waterman - up at 5 every morning, blue crabs in warm weather, oysters in cold. I was runner-up in the county jousting competition during my senior year in high school. (Jousting is the state sport of Maryland.) Only an injury from a run-in with my horse during the finals kept me from going to the University of Maryland on a jousting scholarship. Instead, I ended up going to Eastern Shore State College majoring in agriculture with specialization in ovine husbandry.
From there I moved to Mull to raise sheep on the farm my father bought there. For some reason he had a fantasy of being a Scottish landowner and he wanted to live vicariously through me. I married a Scottish woman, we had three kids, all girls, and then we decided to move to the Falkland Islands in 1980. Bad timing brought me back to the US in 1982, where I settled on my father's farm in Kentucky. From there we moved to Florida to work on my father's fish farm. Then my wife left me, moved back to Scotland, and became a lesbian. It was all down hill from there.
:lol:
I guess I have to credit Indiana, for having a state seal depicting driving out the wildlife and chopping down all the trees for cornfields.
Some questions 1) What is the bison doing in the woods? 2) What is that weird branch just above the woodsman’s head? 3) Why is he wearing checkered pants? 4) why can’t they afford a better artist?
1. Seems pretty obvious to me that the bison is jumping over a fallen tree. (Possibly in order to get back to the prarie in northwestern Indiana.)
2. See the answer to 4.
3. I might be wrong about cutting down the tree for a cornfield. It might have been for a golf course.
4. It was decided to use an artist who painted weird trees, so that outsiders wouldn't object so much to all the trees being cut down.
That would make sense - it's not an axe, it's a 9 iron.
Little has changed since the founders of Indiana created that seal. Gary remains a sportsmen's paradise.
Gary is just the part of Chicago where guns are most readily available, so it should be considered part of Illinois.
Mine was a typical story of late 60s and early 70s childlife by the sea, but the government came in and bulldozed my memories, sending me off to the city where I would become a mopsweep and drainagefunnel, my bushy haired head forced through the pipes to clear the diapers and accumulated earwax.
What I'd do to be young again!
That story was motivated by the emotion of Gary that exudes from that shitholepicture.
1) It is a bore, not a bison. And I would imagine that it is running away so at not to become breakfast for the guy in the background.
2) Nothing weird about the branch, except that it is growing downwards, which is weird.
3) Someone already gave the answer. What I wonder is, what happened to his right foot?
4) Too many cheap bastards that don't pay taxes maybe.
The man has a shadow, which is normal for a man in sunshine. But where is the shadow of the beast? I conclude that Indiana was infested with were-bison and that they could only be killed by felling a tree at sunset so that their heart was pierced by a branch that was shaped to form a wooden stake.
Damn! That makes much more sense.
Yeah, the tree chopper looks like he was timing his blow. It does seem he is already too late if the bison can clear the fallen tree.
low artistic smile
lonely, well sort of, smile
Minnesota's old flag:
There is no record of pioneers wearing yellow T shirts, blue jeans, and red shoes at the same time they were using muskets with powder horns. The pioneer appears to be pushing the plow himself. Perhaps the Native person borrowed the white man's horse? Certainly, prairie sod was way to tough to plow without a team of horses, mules, or oxen -- or preferably, a large GPS guided John Deere tractor.
Minnesota's new flag:
Overheard during the discussion leading up to the new Minnesota flag:
Sandy: "Gophers, ya great git! Not golfers! The little brown furry rodents!"
Carl Spackler: "We can do that... we don't even have to have a reason."
Maybe we'll go super modern cutting edge and adopt a 1700s flag one day.
Quoting Jafar
This reminds me of an earlier conundrum I was wrangling with a week ago: Is there really such a thing as a "failed experiment"? Surely it succeeded in disproving a previously non discredited hypothesis, at least contributing to said discrediting in some notable way? Not quite the same but identical, surely. Oxymorons are aptly named and no laughing matter. A "small crowd" can indeed produce a "deafening silence".
Homogenous: The Political Affiliations of Elite Liberal Arts College Faculty (doi) (archive)
[sup]— Mitchell Langbert · National Association of Scholars · Apr 19, 2018[/sup]
That's what happens when sensible Anglo-Saxons decide to promiscuously pick up latinate prefixes derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans who invented everything from Spanish to Sanskrit. They invented Anglo Saxon too, of course, but they didn't spoil the language with highfalutin prefixes. They "pre-dicted" bad things happening, like pre cooked chicken that is still raw. I postdicted that they were right.
There is an apparently Roman dame watching the Latino ships patrol San Francisco Bay to keep the Japanese and the Russians from claiming it. The Roman madam is protected by her pet bear, her golden shield, and her pointy weapon.
California actually has many seals, but not a one appears in their official symbol.
Should all preowned clothes be free due to being not owned?
So is "pre" a prefix or a contraction of "previously"?
Maybe Proto-Indo-Europeans previously dicted bad things happening as BC postulatedly dicted?
smile post hoc ergo propter hoc
Except Basque language. Nobody knows where Basques come from, but most experts agree that they are not derived from Proto-Indo-Europeans. I don't know if they use prefixes at all. One of the main failures of our educational system is not teaching us Basque or Navarre. This language is only used and spoken by the natives of Guipuzkoa, Navarra, Alava, and Bizkaia. Yet I always been told that we unconsciously use Basque words or words whose roots come from Basque such as "Aquelarre" or "Izquierda". I remember that I met a girl from Irún and she only knew to speak Basque. That was crazy.
Well, you are also talking about flags, and I am talking about Basques. Thoughts on the Euskadi flag?
The flag of Basque country is called "ikurriña"
Wasn't it Madrid's policy to actively eradicate the Basque culture, language,identity etc started during Franco's rule. Hence, ETA and all that trouble.
That's what I have read about Basques too. The Indo-Europeans weren't the first people to occupy the land between Portugal and India. Pre-Indo-European occupants of Eurasia either died out (the populations were small, resources were fragile), were wiped out by their new neighbors who didn't especially like them, OR survived, culturally intact, into modern times. They would be the Basques.
Here's the link to the BBC web site where the short article is located: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34175224
There is a small population of Basques in the US, in places like Idaho or Northern California, where they were recruited to manage sheep grazing. By the way, an adjective referencing "Basque" in the western US is "Bosco".
The flag of the Volga Germans, ethnic Germans who lived along the Volga from the 18th century until they were forcibly deported to remote parts of the USSR in 1941, many of them to labour camps.
Being Germans in the 40s, they didn't get much sympathy. Before I sailed down the Volga and visited the towns and cities that retain traces of their German heritage, I didn't know about these people or the ethnic cleansing they suffered.
Those who went to North Dakota and became cowboys in the 19th century were generally more fortunate.
No doubt they are recruited to manage sheep grazing because they are amazing shepherds. It reminds me of a 1990s Basque film called 'Vacas' (cows), and the film showed the great skills of Basques in grazing.
What a gorgeous flag! I had never seen it before. Yellow and black are colours which are very compatible with each other and Germans (or Prussians, to be more specific) were smart for mixing them together.
That's not a plow, it's a snow scoop. See the white on the ground? Some of the pioneers were not too happy with the white stuff, and decided it had to be removed to get the crops in the ground on time.
Did you guys hum the Volga Boatman?
No, it wasn't compulsory.
I agree. It conforms to the standards of good flag design: no text, very simple image, if any; complementary blocks of color.
The thing about flags is that they are most often seen on flag poles where texts, complex imagery, and several colors are lost in folds or are in motion from the wind. What might work as an embossed seal doesn't work on waving cloth.
@Jamal: The Volga Germans were in Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great (well, that's what her friends called her) who admired German ingenuity, German cars, Angela Merkel, etc. Under slightly different circumstances, Stalin the Terrible found German ingenuity altogether too much of a good thing.
I think.
Where the hell did he find a slide rule, I lost mine years ago and have not seen one since.
In an engineering museum, on a table full of beers. This is what the boys used to do to pass their time, sit around the table with cases of beer, and see who could come up with the most impressive slide rule magic.
Git too drunk and the slide rule forgot how to follow you home?
No doubt, but she was German so it’s not surprising.
And now we have 11s and 12s! The dreamers speak of 21s and 22s, but I think we're close to our limit.
Nah, I think it got buried with a bunch of other stuff during an earthquake we had here about 15 years ago. Lost some of my drawing equipment and my darts set as well as a bunch of LP's and 45's.
Ribbet
Grasshopper
Parental unit
Not that there’s anything wrong with that
Surprised you didn't take bc to task for calling Stalin ' the terrible' and not claiming Stalin as originating from/ being born in that great state of G....a.
Agree though with you that teachers are/were dreamers. Considering that they had to believe that they could instill a year's worth of school curriculum into 30+ 'don't want to be theres' (dwtbt) in 39 five 5 hour working day weeks of instruction plus catch up the years of instruction that the dwtbt had already falling behind with/by by grade 6. Unless the teachers were just there to collect a subsistence wage, in which case they had lost their dreams soon after year one of their teaching experience. Well some anyway!
Shawn,
What breed of pig is a "Pig?"
T Clark,
"Ex.........unit"
Are you working on some reaction test and stress testing/case hardening it in the s/box? Some are just not as switched on as others.
concerned smile
Did the guy who you got super pissed with you, have a slide rule and pocket protector or did you use a slide rule and pocket protector to get him super pissed with you?
Come on, anyone can miss a comma, even legal secretaries, although not often if they want to keep their jobs.
arcane smile
The way you wrote those lines I thought you posted a haiku, Clarky.
Here goes one I wrote this morning:
September.
The child in the kindergarten
Forgot his mandarins.
Not intended as a poem. Here’s a new one for the list – Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Beating 1 Sievert: Optimal Radiation Shielding of Astronauts on a Mission to Mars
[sup]— M I Dobynde, Y Y Shprits, A Y Drozdov, J Hoffman, Ju Li · AGU Journals · Aug 7, 2021[/sup]
Safer on Earth (for the time being). Don't feel too safe, though. ;)
Could giant star Betelgeuse explode as a supernova any time soon? It depends who you ask
[sup]— Ezzy Pearson · BBC · Apr 3, 2024[/sup]
Gip
They used to put drugs in stuff like that.
Now, where do I get some? :starstruck:
"They", huh? :smirk:
Quoting Shawn
I'd try Chinatown. Apparently it's a "thing" in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Good for inflammation, if the World Wide Web is to be believed. And we know it is. Why else would we be here? :chin:
Hmm, sounds risky. Some of the stuff they send there are really hardcore drugs.
I couldn't help but observe how it's gait is reminiscent of that of a cat. Hard to unsee once you notice it.
Yes, as they say, in a pig's eye.
Yes, they are very fun animals. Too bad their meat is tasty. Look at these pigs, they're so pink and happy.
Aristotle demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction that just because a piglet is small, pink, and sleepy doesn't mean it is experiencing eudaimonia, which is better than pandaimonia, which is what happens when the truck comes by to collect the pink piglets destined for the spit and platter. .
@Shawn dreams of pigs’ joy,
Soft snouts and warm, wagging tails—
Why do they taste good?
2) Questions are not allowed in haikus. You can try to use a more ambiguous formula. That's what Japanese readers like about haiku.
Maybe you don't really care about how a haiku works, but I assumed that as a haiku enthusiast, I would spot the errors.
Thought @javi2541997 would so enjoy
God has forsaken
Regarding pigs, which you are referring to...
Maybe God created something he didn't like?
Can't be. Genesis 1::31
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."
I don’t understand
It doesn’t make sense to me
Why no questions here?
All was to have been made well—
Oh how life confounds
Yet, evil exists, and is persecuted by God. Thus, God, who allowed evil to manifest in the world - must have disliked evil for it to be persecuted by Him, a good being...
Their feet became a unit.
Some ways peter out.
So, I rest in the valley,
A battle rages nearby.
It was hungry
It got angry and left
[sup]— Sian Cain · Guardian · Apr 19, 2016[/sup]
Magnificent haiku. Good job. :up:
Autumn rain -
in the lucerne field
a pig. :wink:
Haikus about pigs: https://nueva.elrincondelhaiku.org/2018/09/15/septiembre-2018-2/
Cooling drooling pigs
Enters abattoir gates
I think it's so threads on TPF don't devolve into a copy-paste back and forth of topics or arguments where neither person really has any idea what they (or the other person) are saying and just want to "prove the other guy wrong" without actually arguing from their own beliefs, knowledge, ability, or understanding.
Far as I can tell, you can use ChatGPT (or any LLM) to gain insight and arguments all day long, provided you actually type out your reply or counter-argument in your own words. Especially general concepts and ideas in the form of a posed question ie. "what about so and so's XYZ theory/dilemma?"
Seems to me they want to ensure the "human" aspect remains central in every engagement, one of the reasons I enjoy this place, something that might be at risk if you have people replying to every post.that they can't immediately "disprove" (kind of the point of philosophical discourse, I'd say) with a copy-paste AI reply all willy nilly and such. Just my take anyway.
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
It's quite haiku-like don't you think?
Clarky seems to have asked ChatGPT (or similar LLM) something like "write a condemnation of The Philosophy Forum's banning of ChatGPT-generated posts"
In such a sense it can be helpful to provide a LLM feed on a misguided topic.
Beautiful. You grasped the balance between us and nature, which led to the sensitivity I was trying to explain.
Having crossed the sea,
winter winds can never return.
- Yamaguchi Seishi. :sparkle:
I confess: it was Ezra Pound who wrote it.
Quoting javi2541997
So true.
Or is it?
As Jamal noted, I was making, or rather ChatGPT was making, a wry, ironic statement.
Yes. it's to stop exchanges being like this forever.
Took 10 minutes, appears truthy, is wrong in lots of subtle and not so subtle ways. But you're not going to see that unless you already knew it.
But this was just Day 6, so maybe then there was no evil yet. Man had yet to fall on Day the Sixth, but took a few more moments it seems. I heard once that the time between being enticed by the serpent and the eating of the fruit was but a few minutes, meaning Adam had little resolve. It makes sense he was not a man of high character, considering one of his two kids turned out to be a murderer. His other kid turned out to be a murdered.
Narcissus was rapt.
Turns out he was a genius.
Empty subway car.
I'm certain that your deep offense is valid, but insofar that you're even questioning the seriousness of ChatGPT we'd recommend you read the EULA which states...
EULA? European Lime Association?
Once I saw him play left field in the old Atlanta Fulton County stadium. I had the cheap seats and was a few yards behind him. The guy a few seats over yelled "You can suck my dick Pete Rose" over and over at him. Rose didn't take him up on the offer.
I wish I had a better Pete Rose story, but that one sticks out in my mind.
One of the greatest players to ever play the game, with an unfortunate penchant for gambling .
Narcissus was dead.
He couldn't make heads or tails.
The crowd was too much.
Unless you correct me on it, then it's a whoopsie.
He ate the burger
with bovine intensity.
The pets are afraid.
Hannibal putts on the green.
Elephants traverse the Alps.
Slaver dripped from lips.
Eyes as large a dinner plates.
He curses the dogs.
Hannibal is cloistered now.
Romans at the postern gate.
Reminds me of one of my favorites:
I love thee Wilma
With hair like silk,
Lips like cherries,
Skin like milk,
Your shell like ears,
Your dainty hands,
And eyes so black
Like frying pans
--F. Flintstone circa 1964
I know it may have no relevance; just felt compelled by the eyes like kitchenware simile.
Egos Unleashed, Limitless Arguments
What's this got to do with the S/box,
What's this got to do, got to with it,
It's nothing but a secondhand illusion.
variety, not the scene painter
nor overdrive.
@ENOAH
How is relevance determined? Isn't relevance limited only by the final imaginings?
A haiku is
A bent knee dance.
phonic smile
I'm sure of it. Uncanny, how much
Agreed
It was circa 10,000 B.C.
1964 was the T.V adaptation.
My mistake!
Thank you for your poem about Dick Rose. It is a tragic tale that I will never forget. I hope the governor will give him a pardon. B-.
The only actual crime he ever committed was tax evasion, which landed him in the pokey a few years. The gambling just got him thrown out of baseball forever and ever. I think that extends past his death.
He would sign baseballs for fans, "Sorry I bet on baseball, Pete Rose." I think they thought he wasn't taking it seriously enough.
I still don't know why he didn't take that fan up on his offer though. He was so insistent.
People have been trying to talk to you through your dog.
Oh wait, I am getting a call from the other line.
My dog's name is Fred Barkowitz, not Sam Berkowitz.
It commeth!
The bad poet, Dionysus possessed, when drunk, is dizzied, wayward and dangerous.
If his speech does not follow from the Law, for what is good-order-truth,
His betters will speak out.
The masters say "Tut tut" in the name of the law.
The dog barks: "Hark! Hark!"
"It does not follow!"
and
"Stop right there!"
Then tomorrow comes, the poet goes hung-over, sober, and Dionysus slips the cell
To laugh from the policeman's mouth.
What a dick, this Dionysus! He says "Tut tut" too on the side of law and order as a sting operator for some sad Joe or Jane.
This kid chaos, a supernatural force to arrest the possessed, to cull them into and out of his whimsy cult, under influence and madness, for the sake of merriment.
What a double crossing ass clown!
But thank the gods and the dogs, we are not Greek.
What did it ask?
It asked: "If there were 5 people on a bus, each with a name that starts with a different letter, left to right with descending alphabetical order (alpha-numeric included) and each couldn't be seated to the left of the one who didn't share a letter in the name, one named Sally, each other not having middle names, next Lucy, and one is a shopkeeper with a linen shirt, but the other Ned who never saw his father, an anchovey purveyor, but Mike, what about Mike? and so if the first third and fifth couldn't been seen next to eachother, name the two who were next to the other without regard to where it started."
I think it was just curious.
If you plug this into ChatGPT it actually provides an answer.
Marcus Antonio- "Wherefore art thou, Cleo"
Answer- Mark, Mark.
Marcus Antonio- " Not you, ya stupid dachsund bitch with a hair lip"
Just a bit Greek
feral smile
Sounds like ChatGPT missed the bus being unable to read the timetable ( or times tables).
whatever smile
I hope it provides proper attribution to its source!
*ba dum tss*
(Please avert your eyes @Amity. This is just wicked.)
[I]Love at the Pet Cemetery[/i] by Pelvis
I met my love at the pet cemetery
Dug her up from her cold hard womb
We danced a jig on a white rat's grave
And rolled 'cross a gerbil's tomb
I brought her home on my bicycle
She rattled like a cookie in a tin
Hangin' loose she is, in my closet, now
Awaitin' my lovin' sin
Once she was but a Dachshund bitch
Now lord we're a marryin'
Lord, we're a marryin'
I met my love at the pet cemetery
Dug her out with a dirty grin
:love: Love that line.
Fascinating. :100:
Whenever I read different expressions of art from you, I can't help but think of Wolfgang. I know he has not been around for a long time, but I feel his presence in every line of yours. We all have our muse. :heart:
A quick revision. Lemme know whatcha think:
I met my love in the pet cemetery
Her anus dripping with dysentery
I tied her gland with a rubber band
And brought her home in my minivan
I laid her down on a wedding gown
And took my vow with a garden plow
I heaved it forth like giving birth
And slung her back into the earth
I swear I heard a dying word
But it was just her banded turd
As I looked at her crumpled mass with seeping sounds of wretched gas
I couldn't help but feel a pang for losing my sweet baby thang.
Cheers, mates. @javi2541997, I expect Wolfgang will return when we least expect him. :smile:
Quoting Hanover
I almost puked, so I would say you've come close to your goal there.
As only a real magic hamster can. :sparkle:
How come Hanover is allowed to use Chat GPT and the rest of us aren't.
:scream:
I met an attorney from Atlanta the other day. I thought you might know him - Bob Loblaw
Sounds like a junior partner of Benz, Lore, Fakash and associates.
No character malingement of aforementioned individuals or business intended, of course.
careful smile
First I need to work out where it's going to happen. I'm thinking of calculating the weighted geographical center as follows.
1. Convert geographical coordinates:
- Convert the latitude and longitude of each user from degrees to radians.
[math] \text{lat}_i (\text{in radians}) = \text{lat}_i (\text{in degrees}) \times \frac{\pi}{180} [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_i (\text{in radians}) = \text{lon}_i (\text{in degrees}) \times \frac{\pi}{180} [/math]
2. Convert the latitudes and longitudes into Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z):
- For each user, calculate their 3D Cartesian coordinates using the following formulas:
[math] x_i = \cos(\text{lat}_i) \times \cos(\text{lon}_i) [/math]
[math] y_i = \cos(\text{lat}_i) \times \sin(\text{lon}_i) [/math]
[math] z_i = \sin(\text{lat}_i) [/math]
3. Apply weighting based on the number of posts:
- Let [math]w_i[/math] represent the weight (i.e., the number of posts by user i).
- Multiply the x, y, and z coordinates by [math]w_i[/math] for each user:
[math] x_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times x_i [/math]
[math] y_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times y_i [/math]
[math] z_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times z_i [/math]
4. Normalize the weighted sum of coordinates:
- Find the weighted average by dividing by the total weight:
[math] x_{\text{center}} = \frac{x_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
[math] y_{\text{center}} = \frac{y_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
[math] z_{\text{center}} = \frac{z_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
5. Convert back to geographical coordinates:
- Convert the Cartesian coordinates back to latitude and longitude:
[math] \text{lat}_{\text{center}} = \arctan\left(\frac{z_{\text{center}}}{\sqrt{x_{\text{center}}^2 + y_{\text{center}}^2}}\right) [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_{\text{center}} = \arctan\left(\frac{y_{\text{center}}}{x_{\text{center}}}\right) [/math]
6. Convert the latitude and longitude back to degrees:
- Convert the resulting latitude and longitude from radians back to degrees:
[math] \text{lat}_{\text{center}} (\text{in degrees}) = \text{lat}_{\text{center}} (\text{in radians}) \times \frac{180}{\pi} [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_{\text{center}} (\text{in degrees}) = \text{lon}_{\text{center}} (\text{in radians}) \times \frac{180}{\pi} [/math]
The result will be the geographical center of the forum's members, weighted by their activity (number of posts).
Thoughts?
We're probs in the Atlantic.
Gonna need a boat.
Anyone who can actually read that post from start to finish without seeing gibberish is likely a candidate for being kidnapped by a shady transnational organization with the intent of chaining one to a floor and forcing said individual to perform mathematical equations all hours of the day in order to receive food. Thankfully, that means I'm safe. My ignorance saves the day yet again.
It was a god tier shitpost btw. Appreciate it. Ambrosia.
Drinking again? I like port with cheese. A few weeks ago I went to the party of an old friend of mine. He is a cheeseman to the bone, so I took him some blue cheeses from the cheesemonger and a bottle of port. He never did report to me his enjoyment of them. Now I feel like I should've kept the port for myself cos I haven't had any for years.
The mathematics itself is basic, as far as I can tell. Just need to integrate it into a data-chomping script.
Quoting fdrake
:nerd:
Plenty of time to work out the right algorithm.
Formula for the Weighted Geographical Center with Recent Activity Weighting:
1. Convert geographical coordinates:
- Convert the latitude and longitude of each user from degrees to radians.
[math] \text{lat}_i (\text{in radians}) = \text{lat}_i (\text{in degrees}) \times \frac{\pi}{180} [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_i (\text{in radians}) = \text{lon}_i (\text{in degrees}) \times \frac{\pi}{180} [/math]
2. Convert the latitudes and longitudes into Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z):
- For each user, calculate their 3D Cartesian coordinates using the following formulas:
[math] x_i = \cos(\text{lat}_i) \times \cos(\text{lon}_i) [/math]
[math] y_i = \cos(\text{lat}_i) \times \sin(\text{lon}_i) [/math]
[math] z_i = \sin(\text{lat}_i) [/math]
3. Define the time-based weight for recent activity:
- Let [math] t_i [/math] be the number of days since user [math] i [/math] was last online.
- Define the time-based weight using an exponential decay function:
[math] w_{\text{time}}(t_i) = e^{-kt_i} [/math]
- Here, [math] k [/math] is a constant that controls the decay rate. You can adjust [math] k [/math] depending on how much weight you want to place on recent activity.
4. Combine post count and time-based weights:
- Let [math] w_{\text{post}}(i) [/math] represent the number of posts by user [math] i [/math].
- The total weight for user [math] i [/math] is:
[math] w_i = w_{\text{post}}(i) \times w_{\text{time}}(t_i) [/math]
5. Apply the combined weight to the Cartesian coordinates:
- Multiply the [math] x [/math], [math] y [/math], and [math] z [/math] coordinates by [math] w_i [/math] for each user:
[math] x_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times x_i [/math]
[math] y_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times y_i [/math]
[math] z_{\text{total}} = \sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i \times z_i [/math]
6. Normalize the weighted sum of coordinates:
- Find the weighted average for [math] x_{\text{total}} [/math], [math] y_{\text{total}} [/math], and [math] z_{\text{total}} [/math] by dividing by the total weight:
[math] x_{\text{center}} = \frac{x_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
[math] y_{\text{center}} = \frac{y_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
[math] z_{\text{center}} = \frac{z_{\text{total}}}{\sum_{i=1}^{n} w_i} [/math]
7. Convert back to geographical coordinates:
- Convert the Cartesian coordinates [math] x_{\text{center}} [/math], [math] y_{\text{center}} [/math], and [math] z_{\text{center}} [/math] back to latitude and longitude:
[math] \text{lat}_{\text{center}} = \arctan\left(\frac{z_{\text{center}}}{\sqrt{x_{\text{center}}^2 + y_{\text{center}}^2}}\right) [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_{\text{center}} = \arctan\left(\frac{y_{\text{center}}}{x_{\text{center}}}\right) [/math]
8. Convert the latitude and longitude back to degrees:
- Convert the resulting latitude and longitude from radians back to degrees:
[math] \text{lat}_{\text{center}} (\text{in degrees}) = \text{lat}_{\text{center}} (\text{in radians}) \times \frac{180}{\pi} [/math]
[math] \text{lon}_{\text{center}} (\text{in degrees}) = \text{lon}_{\text{center}} (\text{in radians}) \times \frac{180}{\pi} [/math]
Final Geographical Center:
The result will be the geographical center of the forum's members, weighted by their activity (number of posts and recent activity).
Did I jump the shark?
Yeah that seems sane. I'm just trusting your coordinate transforms though, since I assume you will have copied them from a source.
Edit: you might want to normalise the time weights though once you've computed them. As in enforce sum 1 by dividing by the sum of the exponential weights.
edit: same with the post weights. Ensuring that the combination of both weights have sum 1 is also a good idea so the coordinates stay on the earth.
So Azores it is.
Definitely.
If I'm not in when you come by, you can sit on my stoop and shoot the shit until I come by.
Edit: Annivesary, not anniversery.
We're actually in practice together. It's the law firm of Hanover, Loblaw, and T Clark (no relation). As a result of our recent lawsuit, I have to put "no relation" in parantheses.
Edit: Parentheses, not parantheses.
Now it seems like I'm doing it on purpose.
Why is there an ocean in the central place Europe should be. Defective map.
The problem with cheesemen is their lack of communication skills that can often times appear as lack of appreciation, but it's not that at all. Your friend was deeply appreciative, but he just feels awkward expressing his emotion. I know this because I used to be in a cheese gang (a story for another day) in Wisconsin and had to deal with their stunted social development skills often. I tell you, that got me shot in the head on more than one occassion. Crazy times, but a story for another day.
Motherfucker lol.
My school sickbay had a clock like this.
Beautiful clock. My school didn't have a sickbay, but it was in front of a hospital, and maybe this was the reason for the lack of it.
Couple of proofreading issues there, bud. Let me help you out.
" ... As in enforce [s]sum 1[/s] someone by dividing by [s]the sum of[/s] some of the exponential weights.
... Ensuring that the combination of both [s]weights have sum 1[/s] wait for someone is also a good idea so the coordinates stay on the earth."
See, your main issue stems originally, through an etym-o-log-i-cal analysis--big words, don't worry about 'em, bud--from the confusion between "cum" and "come" see? Where one is an innocent everyday common or garden word (that's the second one for your reference there, bud) and the other is a dirty stinking porn term that has crept its ugly way into normal parlance and corrupted our language like a... a... Well, goddammit! It means "semen", bud!
Next thing you know, we transpose (just think "put", bud) that error into every one of its--eh, well, technically, we call them "linguistic symbionts", but you buddy can just think of them as "wordy friends", and so anyhow the point is before we know it, we're speaking trash level imbecile nonsense like "sum 1" instead of "someone" all because of Hollywood and its importing of porn into our community. The devils are... they're... Look, let me simplify: Tom Cruise gets naked and before you know it, you are functionally illiterate, buddy. Yes, that's right. Hard medicine but...
Now, I'm not blaming you per se personally an' all. Your brainrot is a common disease even among respectable and not-too-stupid members of the community, which you are not and I do not disrespect you for it as a result therein. Why I have seen even doctors and lawyers fall to such levels of mental carnage on watching Hollywood porn starring certain scientologists who will heretofore remain unmentioned, but the main point of this critique is I fear for your mind, bud, and I want you to take this to heart and just write better and be a better person and stop exposing yourself to such trash and mental oblivion.
Thank you,
Your friend and mentor,
Dr. Col. W. F. Gahng.
Translation - cheese store
By the way, ever since our discussion a couple of years ago, I found I am using the dash much more. Yes I know that’s not a dash it’s a hyphen, but my iPhone does not have a separate dash button. Of course, even if it did, I wouldn’t use it.
One word - Velveeta
Press and hold the hyphen key and you should get the dash options. Works on my iPad and Google pixel, assume it's on iPhones too.
If I cared, I would try it and see, but…
Sorry, I just... sometimes it just gets to me, y'know. :sad:
You seem conflicted, TC.
This' is a contraction of "this is" btw.
Velveeta and American Cheese are the same substance in different forms. One is a solid and the other a liquid. If you take the powder that comes with the mac and cheese and blow a hair dryer through it, you'll create a gaseous cloud of it.
What do I use on my Blackberry?
If you take that powder and reconstitute it with a little bit of motor oil, then you get Velveeta.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I might also suggest pouring it back into the engine and using it as an oil leak tracker. You could then lick it directly off the garage floor.
Just an idea.
kk 50 hit me with the skibidi tua lyk i be lowkey bratting
My kind of gang.
Cheez Whiz spreads nicely over the buttons on a blackberry.
Contains: [hide="Reveal"]Salad.
Just kidding.
[hide="Reveal"]Fresh Express bagged salad (Italian) and Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon (Original), bombarded with grape tomatoes, slathered in Italian dressing, and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. Funny story, the chopped egg, diced ham, and shredded cheese are actually from a sealed tray within a different Fresh Express salad (container version) which main contents didn't survive the few days in my fridge, yet said toppings were salvaged in order to create what you see before you now. Neat, eh?[/hide][/hide]
I don't find your story funny at all. The mixture of ingredients intended for other dishes speaks to a corrupting impure eclecticism intended for cultural genocide.
You see a salad. I see a nuclear warhead.
The plastic fork seems to have also survived the fridge internment, or maybe that's your preferred construction for kitchen utensils.
Looks good, but non-halved grape tomatoes is unhinged. One can learn a lot about a person from how they treat tomatoes.
To put things into context, the above picture is probably my favorite dish that's not an actual entree (steak, fish, hamburger, etc). I have probably ate said dish maybe half a dozen times in 6 years. I have a unique occupation which requires living carefully coupled with a near-religious dedication to maximization of productivity. Except when it's the opposite. You will pardon my occasional ravenous indulgence.
Also, the nearest actual grocery store is a good 90-minute round trip, not including shopping.
Agreed.
Don't know why Hanover's Velveeta reference/description brought to mind?
usual smile
Not sure what burnt axle grease looks like but I imagine it might look a bit like marmite, which I had on my toast a few minutes ago. But the toast wasn't pre-buttered: I buttered it myself.
-Outlander
How good?
honest smile
-Jamal
There may be a market for pre-buttered toast? Must consult our resident entrepreneur. Where does augustino hang out nowdays? Haven't seen him in the S/box of late?
wicked smile
Not enough wet sundays with nothing better to do for an educating laugh
sad smile
Probably micturating powerfully in a forest after having manfully mastered his desires for breakfast.
Or (ab)using the other side of his body, along with Hanover, extracting post facto political predictions from their lower bowels, or not. "Independently or conjointly" was not elaborated upon or referenced to by either. Well, not by end of the page below.
See mid to lower pge 622 Shoutbox if you're bored or having a masochistically nostalgic moment.
Got to go. Catch and kill for tea tonight. Best check the trap lines before getting up hopes.
Cheers
What's that?
A can of supper.
99% fat free...
The 1% fat is my sinful pleasure.
The guy is eroticising scruples. Respect.
But haggis is a basic staple food to have every night, whereas I imagine for Americans, chili mac is only for special occasions like romantic meals or dinner parties.
"Soup that eats like a meal"
But soup already is a meal.
This is no ordinary soup. This is thick, strong, meaty. American. It's like The Rock in a can. That's really the only way to describe it.
Lol. Now that's contradiction if I've ever seen it.
You are coming perilously close to cracking the code.
Italian stuff, I'd presume. Wishbone "Italian", standard version.
This is the "ate it anyway" song from my youth, sung by a woman who looks to have recently been run over.
None of this addresses the elephant on the plate (?). Whole grape tomatoes. I estimate a person with average knife skills could halve the 17 grape tomatoes on your plate in roughly 42.5 seconds.
But do you agree that how a man treats tomatoes can tell you a lot about that man's character? This is the important point.
Didn't he become a monk or something? Not joking.
The Aztec word for tomato is tomatl, which means the "swelling fruit." It is for this reason we men affectionately call our ladies "tomatoes."
Probably the most enterprising, self employed, distributive,orthodox abbot by now.
@Hanover,
Wasn't the lower classes Aztec word for mumps the plural form of tomatl and that is the reason......call..ladies "tomatoes? Cultural cross pollination since the Wall isn't working?
Once saw a man cutting tomatoes with an ax(e). Must have been an ax(e) murderer?
Does the treatment of pumpkins have character revealing tells? If so, Halloween must be the time for sculptors and cranial specialist surgeons.
See where this is heading? Other than small talk over a meal?
polite smile
Just to 'tangentalize' ( there's a modern Americanism as yet not often used in the S/box) the discussion (sarcastic wink), how were pork bellies trading at the close on Monday's (10/7/24) Chicago Commodities Market? Porcine the continuing rise of oil prices?
Sorry to drag you in, but your piggy photos are much missed already.
Yes, a pig video is in order.
This video characterizes the mama pig needing food herself. The kunekun piglets desire milk; but, the mama pig needs to eat first...
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/17/1252012825/florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-that-deletes-climate-change-from-state-law
Thank you,Shawn. That.'brick?' floor looks clean enough to eat off.
smile
Not surprised are you? Real estate prices and the number of wealthy retirees Florida bound may be 'adversely' affected.
a slightly cynical smile
I meant to mention to @Michael, he doesn't need that Huel stuff. Put soy milk, banana, + peanut butter in a blender and you're set. :yum:
This is a non-ironic non-absurd food comment. Treasure it. It will never happen again.
You severely overestimate my morning energy. Getting out of bed, walking to the fridge to get a bottle of Huel, and getting back into bed is too much already.
Fair point.
Here in the U.S., some of our most important learning involves a two by four up the side of the head.
It is not our best trait.
DeSantis’ karma is about to run over his dogma
Besides the destruction, Florida is already having an insurance crisis. Lots of companies leaving the state. It's about to get worse.
There's going to be a lot of them flying around, so watch out. Ever wonder where all that stuff that gets washed out to sea in these huge storms ends up?
It goes straight to the Bermuda triangle and from there it’s teleported directly to Australia.
The Australian National Broadband Network's too slow and geographically restricted to be blamed for all of that order of teleportation. But the gov owners ( soon to be forever) will be able to make a profit of at least 10% GST on anything that does get through, second hand or not.
Collaterally, that explains Hanover's recent revision reading of his state's insurance and risk liability statute's latest edition. Oh, the hand wringing that must be going on in the legal fraternity from Fl to NY.
Eye on the main chance smile
So here it is: so shoot me.
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024
There are several aspects of the Nobel award that dissuade me from rushing to Amazon,
a) Historical trauma; suffering!!! historical and current trauma is IN these days. Lots of people are dwelling on it -- the traumas of individual pasts and our collective past. There are too many fresh traumas for me to get too interested in digging up historical ones,
b) Exposes the fragility of human life; life is fragile, alright, and until one individually experiences that fragility for themselves through the death of others or close calls with their own death, it's a literary topic.
c) Awareness of the connections between body and soul; what soul?
d) The living and the dead; that's nice. What are the dead telling her?
e) Her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose; spare me. One of the things that most turns me off is experimental prose and poetry. This isn't an artifact of old age and senility. I didn't like experimental prose 60 years ago and I still don't. (Actually, I might be more open to it now than in the past, which might be a sign of senility.)
So, good for her, I'll stick with tried and proven prose styles.
And many thanks, Javi, for giving me the opportunity to bitch and carp where I should be happy. Your efforts here are worthy of a Nobel Prize in ever so many categories. What will you do with the cash after they award it to you?
By the way, I don't like "oeuvre" either. It seems like something pigs would wallow in. @Shawn
Quoting T Clark
Insurance, my favoritist topic!
The Insurance problem in Florida is long standing, with prior instances of insurers pulling up stakes or threatening to. Much of the problem relates to regulations and litigation costs (damn attorneys!).
https://www.insurance.com/home-and-renters-insurance/home-insurers-leaving-florida#:~:text=The%20Florida%20home%20insurance%20market,include%20Farmers%2C%20Progressive%20and%20AAA.
Let us not forget that flood insurance is federally funded and is not a risk assumed by private carriers.
Population increases result in property damage increases. Earthquakes in the South Pole get little press.
This isn't to deny climate change, but it's to pount out the problem would be here with 0 emmisions..
Yes. Haven't I seen your picture on billboards on I-75. "Accident? Injury? Hanover, Loblaw, and T Clark (no relation) stand up for the little guy."
This gives me a total vocal range of B1-Eb7 (five octaves, four semitones)
Usable range of C#2-D6 (four octaves, 1 semitone).
Consistent "I'll prove it to you" range of C#2-C6 (four octaves).
Very happy as this allows for me to sing bass, baritone, tenor and some less-demanding alto parts without falsetto, and some less-demanding coloratura parts, with falsetto and flageolet.
Looks like a "fair" living could be made, specialist litigating the difference between flood and storm(& tempest) blame apportionment?
You win some: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2022/08/25/681966.htm
You lose some:
https://www.npr.org/2010/12/22/132081455/an-attorneys-fall-from-billionaire-to-inmate
I honestly don't deserve anything, mate. I behave like I want to live, not expecting a prize or recognition. But, I want to congratulate the people who, after decades of effort, their work is gratified. It is emotional, at least to me...
I will never win a Nobel prize, but I can use an example regarding prizes if you allow me to do so; when I was a kid, I had to swim to heal an injury in my back. I didn't want to go to the pool because I was a lazy ass then. Yet my parents and trainer 'motivated' me with the chance of swimming in a regional championship if I had taken the training seriously. After months of swimming, I was there, at the championship, and they gave a medal (like to the rest of the kids). But I was happy for not quitting!
Well, I remember that September came, and I never went back to the swimming club...
Quoting BC
I would buy a plot of grapes or apples in Canovelles and make some cava or cider.
Vaguely remember his name in relation to a legal 'how the mighty fall" story. Had forgotten how long ago which is not surprising considering the speed and volume of turnover of media "news".
The insurancejournal is about fraud ( in the main) rather than defining/ determining the scope of "cause of damage" clauses. Or is that now all nutted out up to the Supreme Courts level?
Thanks though. Enlightening.
smile
Detect a Catalonian leaning.
Probably, a fellow traveler.
By the way, Catalonian small towns and villages inside Barcelona province are cool. If only they were not poisoned by politics... At least, the wave of separatists has been decreasing since 2020.
Oh,so you're not so much of a separatist , rather you just like the countryside.
Understand, people residents can detract from wanting to live somewhere else.
warm smile
Sorry, missed the haiku question.
Not intended
What is written,
A haiku may be
gentle smile
pen scratches out
Sweat stained paper.
Cheers
obscuring
haiku rules
Enough automatic writing!
I think being a separatist is a terrible idea. For the past 7 years, some learnt the lesson that splitting a territory into different parts like a cake only leads to chaos, but sadly, others didn't learn the lesson yet.
Time to eat.
Cheers
You mean you want to repeat the same thing over and over, endlessly?
Get used to it. You could make an interesting math problem, using some laws of statistics, to determine how many different ways you can say the exact same thing. As the statement gets larger, the number of different ways to say it, ought to increase exponentially.
For instance, if it is a one word statement and there is three synonyms involved, then you can say the exact same thing in three different ways. If it is a two word statement, and there is three synonyms involved with each word, the number of possible combinations increases accordingly. (I believe it is six, but I was never good at counting points in cribbage.) So you can see that the number of different ways to say the very same thing ought to increase rapidly as the statement gets bigger.
Interestingly, the reverse is actually true. Since the meaning of each word is context dependent, and the context gets more complicated as the statement gets bigger, the less ambiguity there is, as to the statement's meaning.
The moral of this long story is, make extremely long posts, and repeat the exact same thing over and over again, until everyone reading understands exactly what you are saying.
Yes. Doesn't everybody do that here?
My question is, in fact, more about which of the three is the accepted behavior here. I don't want people to see my same comment everywhere. It is also not polite to let people click for your answer, I am not even sure if you are allowed to post links to your own post. And posting too much OP is not allowed.
I think the rule here is to never say exactly the same thing twice. Always change at least one word.
Quoting frank
Hey, I repeat the same things over and over and it's helped me become one of the most respected and envied members of the forum.
:up:
Also, delete all personal blogs and websites. dispose of your passport, leave family and friends, go somewhere isolated but with an internet connecftion, spend all your time on here, and be fully under moderator control until it becomes sort of like second natue just to obey our unreasonable and arbitrary commands. Eventually, you will end up in TPF heaven and meet the archangel @Michael. He's fun. He eats weird shit.
I find referring to past posts and making me go looking elsewhere for the comment annoying. I'm more likely to copy some text from the other post. I'm even more likely to just restate my position briefly, especially if it is not the central point of the discussion. Starting a new OP every time is a bad idea.
*Ahem* It's time to STFU.
What humour?
Hi @Hanover
When I joined TPF the first time, the Shoutbox was not on the main page. It was hidden. To join such an honourable place, I had to pass a very difficult exam where @Miguel Hernández, @Michael Bay, and I were the applicants. I was chosen by the committee. Now, everything is easier. The paella is cooked in the microwave, and the Guinness is stored in a can. You know what I want to say to young people like you? Take a shovel and seek for diamonds!
:grin:
St. Francis University?
Could you draw me a picture of the St. Francis University Fighting Peckerhead mascot?
I want new members and voices, and I'll preserve what we already have.
Quoting Shawn
Indeed.
Bernie Ketchup is my name
I started out seeking fame
Dance couldn’t I, nor act nor sing
So philosophy became my thing
I saw a boson jump a quark
And thought me up quite the lark
Quantum magic could be so fine
If transformed it were to human mind
I scribbled up a book or two
Blogged and vlogged and Tweeted too
Realism's dead! Idealism’s true!
Cast ye off the materialist blues!
Philosophy is a tricky thing
But play it right, and it may bring
Seekers of Truth, the logically blind
And a few spare bob to keep you in pints!
Anyway, I actually think it is a beautiful message because it is not sarcastic. Maybe you didn't like the part when the sender pushed you to try drugs, right?
I deleted it. You're not the only person who's ever been insulted here. It's not such a big deal.
Yes, let's not mention it was @fishfry. Shhhh :zip:
It can go on ice cream, bagels, sunflower seeds, bottled water -- you name it!
The catsup must flow.
On the rare occasion where we went out to a nice restaurant, if I ordered a steak, my father would say "If you want ketchup, you can get a hamburger." Now I sometimes put ketchup on my nice, juicy, medium rare ribeye in his memory.
Still one of my favourite posts over the years.
The trick I use with ketchup when I'm stuck is to change the name, then it tastes better. You need some imagination and effort though. I make a label with "Essence des Tomates" or some such on it, put it on an old marmalade jar, put the ketchup in and then spoon it out onto whatever. One time I added dark red food colouring 'cos I only had the real crappy bright red almost glow-in-the-dark ketchup. It really tasted better after that. :up:
Quoting Moliere
We do not have such magical foods in the bogs of Kerry.
Quoting javi2541997
Sounds cool and mysterious. I just live in a bog. We're not short of potatoes, but not much mystery to life here.
Quoting T Clark
Don't foget the food colouring next time. :up:
Brilliant. :love: :clap:
The bright red crappiness is the most important part.
Honestly, I respect you being able to live with that. I require comfort and hope.
I wish I'd written that. Now, I wanna insult @fdrake too.
...No, it's not working... :death:
I don't know if you have the ability to take yourself seriously while being that highly strung.
It'll be another 80,000 years until it visits again.
Neanderthals might have seen it during its last visit.
The Sky has a tracker: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
@Baden I'm a little confused. You deleted my quote of someone else's post, but you let their own post stand? They're the exact same words. 'Splain me please.
ps -- May I infer that two people can post the exact same words, yet only one post gets censored? Meaning that censorship is based on handle identity and not on content?
Thems fightin words. I love it. Carry on please.
Just stop.
Man has an opinion. No biggie. Takes two to tango. In fact, I'd wager you may even take such as a complementary badge of honor, no?
It is true, for reasons that seem to defy logic, Carlo Roosen's newfound presence here has, again for reasons that defy explanation, been a polarizing and inflammatory one. So what? It's the internet. Where we meet to discuss philosophy, make friends (and perhaps enemies) and get on with our lives. I see no disruption. Save for those who make such for themselves.
Like I can put myself in the proverbial shoes of those who had a few less than supportive words of him. Imagine, if you will, a community. all is well, if not a bit quiet and lackluster. Then he shows up all "Hey guys I'm a genius software engineer, the likes of which you could never hope to understand, but anyway my questions and concerns are now paramount and they shall be made available ceaselessly as will my day-one scrutiny of moderatorship because, you know what, I'm a genius. And you know I'm right.". Naturally I don't think that's a fair or accurate assessment of the man nor his intentions, but... I see why it may come off as such. Can't you?
I believe, much like my self, T Clark holds the value of intellect to be in high regard. That's his "right and wrong'. Naturally, when we see what we believe to be right being "attacked" by what naturally has to be wrong, well, it leaves one a bit conflicted. Does it not? Long story short everyone just needs to take a quick nap or perhaps a cold shower and all will be well.
Cheers. And yes to dear Carlo, you've brought some excitement to this place and a bit of a shakeup I have not observed in a while my friend. I only wish you see the value others see in you enough to perhaps "let sleeping dogs lie" and learn to "just say Okay" in situations that regardless of your choice, really don't impact you or your work in any way. For other people's benefit. Fair enough, yes?
I know you feel hard done by. Your remark to carlo was an escalation in tone. I believe this was why it did not go under the radar whereas carlo's did. Please stop posting about this unless you want to make a feedback thread out of it, I'll treat continued talk about it in this thread as refusing moderation.
What if all corruption is a little like that? The funds are just being syphoned off from legislated corruption?
I'm ashamed of myself.
The idea being, it's all corruption, just a matter of degree?
@T Clark,
So ya should be! 'Li'l ol' sin eater, you! Are you doing [s]water[/s] wine tastings on Mondays or does that clash with Hanover's appointment with Lazarus' 'widow'?
All perceived psuedo-religious inferences permitted.
Walking out the door backwards smile
Can't accept ketchup, but nothing wrong with deep fried (in lard) doughnuts smothered in Colway tomato sauce with tumeric,black pepper and a dab of Frank's Red Hot Extra Hot pepper sauce. No sweet toppings need apply.
dabbing a tissue to the corner of the mouth smile
Right, so neurotechnological phenomenalism a la Thomas Metzinger then?
Another use for catsup ( being gracious about the term).
While blending 1/3 by volume Hommus with 2/3 Greek yoghurt add catsup slowly until a faint pink color or until it's pink red if your taste buds have been desensitized by over use of catsup. Use as a sauce or a dip. Drops of hot pepper sauce may be added during blending for added colour/piquancy.
Great with hot weiners, chreerios ,frankfurts or any bbq sausages or savoury late night snack.
You may like it with chocolate.
hungry smile
Knew you'd work it out. No fluffing the lines with you ,is there.
kind smile
:strong:
What happened and what was the reasoning?
2 hints: Jamal got one camel. And there is more than one answer.
Satisfaction of participation, the only reward.
just another smile
-zinger, indicating pepper heat, etc, etc, until one falls off the chair.And disappears only to be heard laughing in the distance.
off for tea smile
*Out to lunch smile*
That is @kazan's trademark, the reference to a non-existent emoji, like, for example, literally telling someone "you've made my face look sad, but just subtlety, as in the right side of my lip slightly arc down."
Please find you own trademark, like signing off as One Eye or whatever that was.
{{{{{Huggggssss}}}}}}
And ketchup isn't an innocuous condiment. It's a soup. Whether soup is also a meal is a hotly contested issue that was identified first by @Jamal.
And your position on Lucky Charms is... ?
*I'm waiting smile*
(I use asterisks. So, it's different.)
I find them bland, not sweet enough, so I use maple syrup instead of milk with them.
%% sarcastic half grin suggesting I have said something about a cereal being not sweet when it is %%
So, your critique of David Chalmer's panpsychism is that he doesn't go far enough? Justification, please?
*£&£&)@£*)£_£*$*)$@ Superior grin $(@&$($*)!$*)@$)$!
Nomological dualism, eh? (Wendy vs McWendy). Nice try at one-upmanship, but I'm going to press you on Lucky Chalmers.
)£&$(£&)&£@$*£)@$)£$*)£ Fart &£$(!£)$*)£*$)£!*$)£!*$)$*£_)
^^^ Expression suggestive you stumbled upon a pun ^^^
It is breakfast time here. I think I'll eat from the stack of maple flavored bacon I fried up the other day.
Mm, tricky one. Any idea, @Shawn?
I'm not sure.
(If) he actually went to Ireland, thank ye gods I wasn't there.
There's a Dublin in Ireland?
Disclaimer: Experiences may vary.
"bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk!"
Thank you, and please do not forget to join me for tomorrow's today's quote from Finnegan's Wake.
Where are you?
* Ahem* Well...
From a bog in Kerry, I ventured abroad,
In gay Paris, consumed I a frog,
A London alley found me drunk,
In a Roman piazza, I made me a bunk
Catalunya's climes treated me fine
And I stayed in Porto 'cos I liked the wine
Gibraltar was a fishy place
From that Limey rock was I chased
But never made it I to Africa's shores
My raft washed up on the Azores
It could be worse, there's sun and sand
And drink to be had, though the beer is canned
But sometimes I wish I'd bloody sank
I can't be doin' without me potatoes, Frank.
:sad:
Please don’t reopen the old US Department of Agriculture “ketchup is a vegetable” controversy circa 1981.
:up: :heart:
Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Arenys de Mar, Alt Urgell...
The Azores' main crops include:
Yes, well I see the animal, a pig, as treated really badly. It bothers me how people enjoy its presence but are willing to eat it. This ignorance of the good, of a pig, will cause me to become a vigilante, as I predict.
I will become 'Pigman'.
This is terrible Shawn because I've been eating pork. I feel so filthy. What animals do you allow yourself to eat?
Sometimes I eat fish, thinking it doesn't suffer, and to an extent, chicken. Kinda feel also sorry for cows.
But, lately I was such a ****ing hypocrite that I ate a BLT at Subway and a 4x4 at In-an-Out. Shit like this makes me really wonder if I can even abide by my own standards.
:rofl:
Pigs would definitely eat a BLT from Subway.
Pigs will eat anything. They're very voracious eaters.
I wish them well, that's all I can do. :fear:
I have been lied to. This is not the Azores, it is Atlantis. Cum Cruise has a lot to answer for.
Did that masseuse put ketchup on their backs? Buena esa! I'm sold, sir. Saddling my horse and riding to Spain!
No, I'm not going to help you beat me in the short story activity. :wink: Good luck though. :strong:
On a less jocular note, are you looking for editing or proofreading? Proofreading is fairly trivial and can be automated. As can correction of most grammar mistakes (at your level of English). Editing for style, tone, effect is a different kettle of fish.
I recently saw My Old Ass and was surprised that it was as well done as it was.
And yes, someone needs to tighten up my perfect story so that it will be perfectly told so I can finally win. We can do a Nicci French and secretly be two authors. Because conceptually I'll have everyone beat this time.
You know I would agree then simply deliberately fuck it up and write a better one without telling you, right?
Agree. Reading the wiki page was enough for me.
Why? Does it find that sweet spot between horror and porn?
Fine, I'll not share my victory then. Your loss.
Perhaps Hanover could help...
???;*%!@@%; Intense vicious psychopathic grin with nothing behind the eyes $@%%"%
--++ Confused smile, eyes darting around room, concealing something in right hand, tapping foot, weird giggle ++--
That's why the world is as it is. It starts with chicken grabbing and escalates on up.
Those are the raccoons of the world. Uncouth is an understatement.
Flying With Birds: Meet Christian Moullec
[sup]— Sim Wood · Bird Buddy · Dec 20, 2022[/sup]
Scientists taught this once-extinct bird how to migrate by guiding them across Europe
[sup]— Bobby Hardy, Stefanie Dazio · euronews + AP · Aug 26, 2024[/sup]
There is no exclusive 'right to use' attached to the Parthian [s]shot[/s] smile.Totally opensauce. So use it, abuse it, worship it, revile it, enjoy it or fear it in the hands of others.
Never know, it might nuance emojis out of lazy popularity
wishful smile
"...this once-extinct..." Oxymoron? Or has 'extinct' developed qualifications in its meaning as well as its attachable adjectives. Much to do about [s] fifo bin rats[/s] nothing.
Just joshin'. Some forms of dedication can stir admiration.
provocative smile
Got myself this seven-headed head-shaving beast, and thought it deserved a fictionalization.
[quote=ChatGPT]
It started simply enough. Every few days, Jamal would take out the Skull Shaver and run it over his head, enjoying the clean, crisp feel it gave him. But soon, he started looking forward to it more than he expected. The sound of the blades buzzing softly, the way the shaver fit perfectly in his hand—it was calming, almost meditative.
As winter tightened its grip on Moscow, Jamal’s love for the Skull Shaver grew. He found himself cleaning it more carefully, polishing it, and making sure it was always fully charged. His attachment to the routine was undeniable. He began to talk to it as he shaved, as if it were a confidant, the one constant in a city that still felt strange.
His wife would laugh at him, teasing him gently about his new obsession. But Jamal didn’t care. There was something about the simple act of shaving his head that made him feel connected, grounded in a place that often felt disconnected. Each morning, he’d shave his head, then step out onto the balcony to watch the starlings wheel through the sky.
He couldn’t explain it, but as the days passed, he realized that his love for the Skull Shaver had become more than just a practical tool. It was a companion, one that gave him a sense of control in a world that felt chaotic. The way it moved over his scalp, never missing a spot, felt like a kind of silent, mechanical intimacy.
Moscow might have been for his wife, but this—the hum of the shaver, the sight of the starlings—it was all his.[/quote]
It is very regular when you try to make it irregular.
As I've spoken with it more I've been writing more disordered prose. I run a horror roleplaying group.
Yep. It happens the same in Spanish, by the way. @Baden wrote a great thesis regarding this topic, indeed.
Is that yours or the bot's?
Lol mine. Trying to get it to write mad things is a cringe inducing exercise.
Did he? I should take a look; normally I ignore his gibberish. :wink:
Cringe is the perfect word.
It creates surface level impressions of good fiction prose and poetry. It's a very odd experience, it looks like good prose but the sentence construction and symbolism tends to lack insight and wit. The way it describes things reads combinatorially, it will put one idea beside another but rarely combine them.
What it thinks disordered prose is. I told it to write something with logorrhea and synesthesia.
It's like watching Bob Carolgees dancing to Stereolab.
That would at least be delightfully painful.
You should enter the short story competition.
But I'm always afraid of making a mistake and not being able to tell if something is made by a human or not, as if it would imply that I wasn't sufficiently sophisticated and literary, and also that the LLMs might in fact be as good as people. Hence my question as to who wrote it. It stemmed from fear, pathetic human that I am.
And now I can't trust my judgement, because I know who wrote what. Do I really like this one more?
Nope.
Quoting Jamal
Quoting Jamal
Yep. The AI prose is more self contained (mine was an excerpt), none of its imagery is confused; its synesthetic elements unambiguously predicate eg tactile properties to sight events; and its context drift doesn't exploit connotations.
I didn't prime it to write it from a first person-ish point of view, so the "see" and and "no" were inventions of its own. They're also thematically quite wrong, they're introducing confused elements as qualifications and clarifications, in distinct and hyphenated clauses. You can always tell when it's being literal and when it's being metaphorical, despite the combination of context drift and synesthesia eliding those things.
It's all very... demarcated.
I quite liked the "See," because it enlivened the tone, although you could be right that it doesn't fit. But maybe that's why I liked it, cos it leavened the flatness.
Yeah it has some good sides to it. The idea that some cunt is going reality bending nuts over a bird's nest they saw is honestly quite wonderful.
Thank bog someone around here has a bit of sense. :up:
"Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax! Ualu Ualu Ualu! Quaouauh!"
Thank you and please do not forget to tune in tomorrow for Tomorrow's Today's Tomorrow's Today's Quote from Finngan's Wake.
Thanks, javi. Honestly, just the fact you and others like my stories is reward enough to make me keep wanting to write more. :pray:
Quoting Carlo Roosen
I don't understand what you mean or why you put it here. Any comment should go in the relevant discussion. Unless I've misunderstood your point, this seems inappropriate.
If you think that's true, tell him. Unless someone is violating the rules, don't be a tattle tail. Even then, do it more subtly. Contact the moderators. This is annoying.
God's sake Carlo I told you not to come in the shoutbox bitching about other members. It doesn't do anything good for the site. As said, if you have an issue with someone's post report it. If you have an issue with another member's conduct DM a mod. You were told this before!
You seem most adept at talking about how you're not adept at talking.
I've been accused of self-promotion, which I never did. I did not insult people even while I got insulted. I followed all directions.
Where should I discuss these matters? If I put it in the Feedback or send it to the mods, it gets much too heavy load. Again, this was just a discussion that needed some guidance of more experienced members. I even said it could be me who was wrong.
It is you guys who are lightly explosive, not me. Big ego's, it seems.
Since when is that bitching?
Bringing up petty grievances in public counts as that. I'm castigating you for it not in terms of "you're gonna be banned immediately for doing it", but for what I think is the far worse sin of I've seen that undermine community before. Please don't do it.
Feedback, mods, or within the discussion in question. No more in the Shoutbox please.
A well timed insertion.
wink wink smile
It's the mind's capacity rather than the capability of the hands ( in most cases) that hold the world's future to ransom. (referring to your recent voting activities in Ga)
So, should the world be worried?
opening Pandora's Box smile
And now, your host, Barken Mod!
Welcome, welcome, everyone *intense smile* Wow, have we got a show for you tonight! We've got reels, spiels, feels, and deals! And it just goes on and on... *even intenser smile* But first a word from our sponsor...
*Voiceover* [i]
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STFU.[/i]
We're back! And our first guest tonight is...
Great post, but I want to know who the first guest is.
... T Clark.
Great to see you Clarky! I heard your friends call you that, but I may be setting myself up for a fall there haha *audience laughter*
So, I hear you've got a new book coming out, "The Tao of T"!
Available in good bookstores everywhere, people! *waves book* *manic grin*
Please. Tell us all about it... *intense interest*
I am deeply honored.
*Wild applause*
*Audience: Ooooooh :love: *
bearly literate smile
Thank you, thank you all and thank you, Barken. you are all too kind. I’m happy to be here tonight to tell you about my new book - “The Tao of T.” To give you an idea what the book is about, the original title was “The Tao Te Ka-ching - How to use the Wisdom of the Ancients to Find Peace and Wealth,” but the editors thought that would take away from the aura of Profound Tanquility® I’m hoping to convey.
* Applause*
Since I was a pigtailed lass living in the lea with my brother Tim and dog named Buckaloo, I wanted to start my own moldy pickle brand, packed with rounds of high powered ammo.
I had AI draw me a sketch of my product and want to know your thoughts. Please give me the truth because I have only 5 farthings to my name, a banana, and a single shoe named Buckaloo and I have no room to fail.
Feel free to use "visualate" as you see fit.
1) That’s clearly a jar of pickled turds.
2) A better name for the product would be “Buckaloo’s.”
3) Other than that, I can foresee no problems.
Consider the Puff Round Tin Quality conveyed.
'..2) a better name........be "Buckaloo's"'.
A dog and a shoe are more than enough buckaloos.
How about "Never Fails", after all, that's what Hanover wants?
How to viz-your-lies, Hanover style.
quick smile
Saw you on the show. Book sounds great. :strong:
I've got one coming out myself. It's called "The Calmer Sutra: Sex Life of Sloths". Kinda Zoology meets Zen meets porn. Maybe I'll get invited on too.
:up: Customers will probably need a bullet after eating your wieners.
:love: :rofl:
Thanks! I'm also the author of "The Joy of Rex: Dinos Dicking"
This weighty tome has been described as "groundbreaking" and "semenal" by major literary pamphlets. But due to my ongoing war with 17 mods, the entire admin team, owner and associated AI bots, I have deleted my website and destroyed all remaining manuscripts. Please feel free to PM me though and I'll tell you all about it. :up:
You sound like Chuck Tingle.
:starstruck:
That’s ridiculous. I think you just made that name up. People like you make it harder for true spiritual leaders like me.
I get the accusation of barbarism, since a barbarian is one who is an outsider, unfamiliar with the rules of the in-group. However, the accusation of cognitive impairment is way off. Saying "a celery" is a case of semantic reanalysis, turning an uncountable noun into a countable noun. This is evidence of normal cognitive functioning.
There's lots of escaped celeriacs these days.
As one builds Utopia,
One builds oneself too.
We normally turn an uncountable noun into a countable noun by adding a count marker. So, water, becomes "a glass of water", bread becomes "a slice of bread" and celery "a stalk of celery" etc. The question then is whether or not we can omit the count marker in certain circumstances. And that depends. For example, it might be OK to call a glass of water, "a water"--there's little room for confusion as if you ask for water, it should be in some kind of container. But seeing as an entire celery could more easily be confused with a stalk thereof, we could consider the situation less like the glass of water one and more like calling a slice of bread "a bread". If someone regularly called slices of bread, "breads", we probably wouldn't be inviting them to speak at the local Toastmasters. So, I think @Outlander has a point.
Hi, lover. :love:
Surely it's an excellent idea. You'd get to see the spectacle of a Toastmaster miming eating bread while saying "breads" for extra points.
I should have said "toasts" lol.
Breadmasters, italicised text is spoken word from the Breadmaster, ( ) text are speaker's nonverbals, { } is judge response.
"You know what I've done since the last time you saw me?" (cocks head to side and places single finger on chin) {Breadmaster judge takes note of use of gesture}
"No, of course not, you've never seen me before!" (briefly gestures toward their eye with the single finger on the chin, in a pause after the phrase) {Breadmaster judge takes note of continuation of gesture helping to set up a punch line)
"None of you possibly could have known that I, me..." {judge takes note of repetition to set up a rule of threes climax with an absurd connotation} . "have exclusively been eating breads" {judge takes note of poor use of English)
(the breadmaster reaches under their shirt and pulls out a crushed loaf of bread in a bag) {the judge takes a note of the use of a prop}
(the breadmaster stands in silence for some amount of time delicately picking crust chunks off the bread, before letting them fall to the floor, staring into the mid distance) {the judge marks this as hesitation}
(the breadmaster shreds the loaf of bread while staring into the mid distance)
"And it's true, I do like breads, I do like breads indeed..."
After all these years, this is the treatment I get.
:lol:
{The judge speaks "Thank you for sharing your first attempt at a Toastmasters speech with us fdrake. To be honest, you did better than we expected. Now, it's time for lunch". Judge gets down on his knees and starts gobbling up bread chunks from the floor}
"Leave some for me ya thievin' bawbag!"
Sorry about that ya whinin' bawbag!
Were you there!?
I follow where the breadcrumbs lead...
(Oh, look, a house made entirely of sweeties! That'll be fun to explore! :party: :death: )
You go in, the door's unlocked, an obese witch lays on the floor. The inside smells of caramel and sweet piss.
So, you're saying it's a win?
Free diabetic witch sauce!
Wouldn't that be the hard problem of the hard problem of consciousness?
Pass a sauce, please!
Many years ago I was told that the chewing of celery expends more calories than contained in the celery itself, meaning eating celery causes weight loss.
It's not true. 100 lbs of belly fat later, and i can tell you It's just part of the dishonest celery sub-culture.
Another example is the uncured bacon issue. You'll see that at your grocer. They use celery juice as a supposed natural substitute for sodium nitrate, but, truth be told, it's the high quantity of sodium nitrate in celery juice that cures the bacon. It's all a fraud.
I have tried to stay away from celery because of this but it continues to...
<
<
"stalk" me.
And the drumroll...
^^^^ satisfied half smirk grin ^^^^^
I get it. Like if you say "a scissor" if you're referring to half of it.
A lot of times I just need one scissor if I just have half a job to do.
That's what the inside of a witch smells like?
Funny enough, (full) "scissors" are always plural, so you kinda made you some goodspeak that time.
Edited to remove performative contradiction.
:lol:
Yeah, why don't we talk about Kundera's or Bioy Casares' books instead? :sad:
I'm going to head on down to the local sellery and buy myself a loaf of bread so I can become a master toaster and do right to all those pop tarts who seem to know dick about my hard problem.
No, that's the moderately difficult problem of Javi.
I know, right? It's like every night.
It's almost like a third of my life or something, so weird.
It's like my pant, which is half my pants, affixed with a zipper that travels ass crack around the bend to the belly button. I'm able to mix and match different half pants to each other, maybe having a clown pant on the right and formal wear pant on the left. People be like, is he serious or is he playing? That's what makes the divided pant all the rave.
Chillin in the house I go one pant only, leaving half the junk revealed, with my lady all enticed, wanting to see what lies on the other side. I'm like slow down,. You get the other side once you put a ring on it. Man got a reputation to protect.
Funnily of funny?
Funny--that you picked up on that instead of "made you some goodspeak".
It's time to drain the swamp that is the shout box, and let the pigs find somewhere else to wallow.
Have you noticed, the shout box has gone ...
[hide]weird.[/hide]
The pigs are all eaten already. There's nothing to worry about anymore.
By the way, I find it strange that you ate your pet pig. I never thought this would crop up, but yeah I consider your consternation edifying.
So it goes.
I didn't know if that was 1984 lingo or something, so funnily enough, I let it go.
To Pot!
Speaking of which, I voted today and there is an initiative petition on the ballot to allow the use of psychodelic drugs under the supervision of a professional therapist. You would also be allowed to grow your own.
Those kind of propositions for people to decide on really make me happy. Those increases in civil liberties after such an encroachment on them is relieving to see.
If a pig squeals in the forest and nobody hears him, that probably means he was using sign language.
Forget about it, as all the pigs were eaten. :death:
The next big trend had a better PR company working for it, and the chattering class started talking about "Art Moderne" even before there were examples to point to. So people quickly stopped thinking and talking about what would in future be called "Art Deco" and it promptly died.
The next big thing was "Postwar Organic Mid-Century Modern". Of course, that couldn't happen until the war was over. Which war? Pick a war. Any war. Once that was on the market, people dropped "Art Moderne" like it was a piece of red-hot terra cotta decor.
Art history is fascinating. Thank you for that.
It reminds me of the history of the big screen. VHS tapes came out long before the VHS player, leaving many wondering what to do with them until finally Walmart started selling the players. By pure coincidence someone learned they worked together, much like how a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup came to be.
That too is how I became pregnant.
Disposable razor?
Cartridge razor?
Safety razor?
Straight razor?
Electric razor?
Who knew that Reese's peanut had the power to get a guy pregnant?
For someone who likes Krishnamurti and the I Ching, count yourself closer to the boundary of the weird.
Now caste your yarrow sticks and be afraid of what it says about Pigs.
"Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent of all animals and therefore the most difficult to influence."
Hmmmm.... :chin:
I speak as an expert.
Like Samson, I have never shaved but once, but I use electric clippers to keep the mane out of the soup.
No way fishes are illiterate or something. Why did Jesus feed the multitude with such a stupid animal then? No logic here, like in most of the Gospels.
Funny, I've always found the opposite. Got to drop the meticulousness and just ask the guy for the cheapest bait available. The masses love their ideological slop. Tasteless, formless, with neither value nor substance, painted with a paper-thin veneer of whatever the flavor of the month is, while nevertheless possessing all the originality and nourishing quality of a droplet of water. And yet, they can't get enough. Got to know your audience.
Nonsense.
Anyone else sleep on the floor?
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
Clearly, they slept on the floor then.
123 million Japanese folks do it every time they can. I love my raw-food-eater friends, but it is impossible to understand each other when we try to buy bedroom stuff at IKEA.
Over the great Gromboolian plain,
Through the long, long wintry nights; —
When the angry breakers roar
As they beat on the rocky shore; —
When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights
Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: —
Then, through the vast and gloomy dark,
There moves what seems a fiery spark,
A lonely spark with silvery rays
Piercing the coal-black night, —
A Meteor strange and bright: —
Hither and thither the vision strays,
A single lurid light.
Slowly it wander, — pauses, — creeps, —
Anon it sparkles, — flashes and leaps;
And ever as onward it gleaming goes
A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws.
And those who watch at that midnight hour
From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,
Cry, as the wild light passes along, —
"The Dong! — the Dong!
"The wandering Dong through the forest goes!
"The Dong! the Dong!
"The Dong with a luminous Nose!"
Nessun Dorma.
Is The Dong, really a snark?
No, he is not at all of that ilk.
https://www.oatridge.co.uk/poems/e/edward-lear-the-dong-with-a-luminous-nose.php
Not a boojum, nor any other kind of snark, but rather 'love's labours lost' - a tragic tale of love across the boundaries of race.
Twas brillig.
How debased.
And the mome-wraths outgrabe.
Thank you. I’m telling myself that others didn’t get the reference, but I really think they just didn’t think it was worth commenting on.
It's more worth commenting on than most of the mental detritus strewn about this place.
Spoken like a veritable jumbliphobe. The denigration of such innocence can only be explained as projection.
Remember what the dormouse said. "Feed your head."
"At a fork in the road, near the vale of Va-Vode
Five foot-weary salesmen have laid down their load.
All day they've raced round in the heat at top speeds
Unsuccessfully trying to sell zizzer-zoof seeds
Which nobody wants because nobody needs.
Tomorrow will come, they'll go back to their chore
They'll start on the road zizzer-zoofing once more."
Dr Seuss's Sleep Book.
Yeah I just like seeing dongs in everything.
Nicely done. :smile:
Quoting unenlightened
:love:
Your mama.
anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream
stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain.
We brewed up some weird in the Tropic of Skor
Pricked a fat fish, its blood we did pour
And our mousey children did feast on that wine
Grew bigger, no liquor tastes more divine
But our raft then it shook and threatened to keel
If the rodents a-racing were not brought to heel
Stood I in the middle and said to the sun
These rats are a-dizzyin' and tizzyin', wise one
Our craft will not last, but tip in the sea
And to the wet bottom a-topplin' go we!
Poor saps, cried the sun, you're drunk on the weird
Sprinkle some nonsense quick in your beards
Drag in a Jumbly, sneak in Snark
And all will be well on your little ark
It didn't take long to do as she pleased
And the raft's fearsome shaking soon it did cease
And so on we go o'er the wild smoky seas
The Dongs puffing bongs and the rats dancing reels
There's a witch on the mast clicking her heels
A rhino, a wino, and ten grinning eels
So do we float through the tropic of Skor
'Cos upon the wide ocean, water's a bore
Your mama, sweet flowah, she had the powah!
You shoulda listened, but ya didn't, did ya?
I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole
No one could steer me right, but Mama tried
Mama tried to teach me better but her pleadings I denied
That leaves only me to blame cause Mama tried.
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, 'By gum, I've got the answer! '
'They want my bacon slice by slice
'To sell at a tremendous price!
'They want my tender juicy chops
'To put in all the butcher's shops!
'They want my pork to make a roast
'And that's the part'll cost the most!
'They want my sausages in strings!
'They even want my chitterlings!
'The butcher's shop! The carving knife!
'That is the reason for my life! '
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great peace of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grisly bit
So let's not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
'I had a fairly powerful hunch
'That he might have me for his lunch.
'And so, because I feared the worst,
'I thought I'd better eat him first.'
Roald Dahl. "The Pig."
Farmer Finished by Famished Pig
In a tragic turn of events in Devon yesterday, Farmer Bob Bland, head of the U. K. Vegan Society and pioneer in British soy bean production was eaten by his pet pig, Brainiac. The unfortunate farmer is thought to have slipped on the floor of Brainiac's pen, knocked himself unconscious, and been accidentally consumed as the hungry hog chomped up his swill.
"He loved Brainiac", Bland's wife, Matilda, said, "and Brainiac loved him too. But never get between a pig and his lunch."
No action will be taken against the porky killer over the accidental eating.
"You can see he regrets it", Mrs Bland emphasised. "He's hardly touched his food today. It's hard on him too".
Brainiac will be an honorary attendee at Farmer Bland's funeral.
"I want him to be able to say goodbye properly," Mrs Bland said.
Brainiac had no comment.
Dahl wrote My Uncle Oswald, a perverse sex comedy about the "greatest fornicator of all time".
Apparently "snozzberry" was used as a euphemism for penis in that book, which may make you reconsider the 1971 film scene where Veruca Salt is licking the snozzberry wallpaper.
Willy Wonka just sounds like Willy Wanker... :monkey:
This is really what happened, I just don't know how hard it was on the pig...
Just look at the video. I have been watching it for the past week analyzing it.
Quoting Shawn
As that poem and Nils Loc attest, Dahl was a strict moralist and educator, whose every work had aspirations to social message very much in the vein of George Orwell. That meat eaters and vegans alike will in turn be eaten by fire or worm or fungus is a truth that every schoolboy ought to know, so gather ye snozzberries while ye may.
"The Tao of heaven is ruthless, it treats the people as dummies." Lao Tzu.
Willy Wonka was written in 1964 and the Gene Wilder movie was made in 1971. The book you were describing was written in 1979. Calling a penis a snozzberry is no different from calling it a banana, although Dahl clearly was making a sly reference.
‘K
Off to sea in a sieve
The Captain said "What gives?"
The First Mate saw the blunder
“We’re all goin’ under!”
“Row this sieve ashore”
The Captain loudly roared
From the crew not a peep
As in the water seeped
“To the lifeboats then, First Mate!
There’s time now none to wait!”
But the Mate said not a word
“My God, this is absurd!”
(Was the Captain’s last lament)
As the sieve did what sieves do
And to the seabed he was sent!
By the way, literary activity due in December, just over a month. Sharpen your quills.
I suggest no polls this time, but just a separate feedback thread where readers can mention their favourites and say why. The qualitative over the quantitative. I think this would also make it less intimidating to newcomers.
Yes, was kind of shocked by Dahl's sex comedy about a guy who wants to steal superior semen to sell to the needy. Guess they won't be assigning that one in school.
cookies.
I know I am ungrateful.–
for not marrying her.
I now father the parliament
is quite right.
I should go to London and
marry Miss Nihilson.
But what it makes me happy.
Sir, what truly makes me happy.
It is painting the fallen leaves and ochred-coloured tones of the park.
What do you do for a living?
You said that right.
My father told me to listen to him.
And marry Miss Nihilson.
Nice. :smile:
Perhaps Miss Nihilson has no sons, or daughters
As it is sometimes God's trick to speak the power of names.
May a hopeful union bring a new Sun up over the horizon
While love directs a tea-colored dawn.
And with great regard, to the Owl and the Pussycat
Picnicking under their honey-colored moon.
The Shiva Linga is just as runcible
As the silver fork in a golden spoon,
No matter what the crackpots say.
Did you write it? Eso es bueno, senor!
:cool:
I'm also inspired:
Quietly Right
And what do you do now?
Quite right!
I should have listened to me Da
I might
Have made a rich man of his kind
Your Da was rich?
Quite right!
He knew naught of money
And never made a penny
And how do you survive?
Quite right!
I've died
And you're talkin' to a ghost
So be on your way, good sir
As a favour to us both!
:confused:
Provide the realistic motive.
But as the Great War gave us Death of a Hero,
So
Roald perhaps
Could claim his lapse
Of propiety
And embrace of variety
Was down to his war.
And e.e. cummings even more
So.
I wish I could drink a cup of tea with Miss Nihilson.
Enjoying the twilight together.
The rain in the window and the whisper
of the fallen leaves swept by the gardener. :sparkle:
Quoting Baden
Yes, I wrote it. Fall inspires me a lot. It is my favourite season. :heart:
Cannot find the poem at the end of that book but Google's AI gave a quoted snippet. Maybe that is it?
"Like ancient Troy, our trenches lie in dust, Where men once fought, now only shadows rust. A thousand Helens, beauty turned to pain, Their blood-soaked gowns, the battlefields domain."
Quoting javi2541997
:grin:
This is a very good poem. A real poem. I’m envious.
I thought you might have written this, but it doesn’t have “bawbag” in it so I know that couldn’t be right.
Anyway, as the poet has it "Let's fuck, not fight." Let's make "fight" the dirty f-word.
Or was it "Wank not war."?
I really like this part---Answering the unspoken implication [you need to work for money] directly rather than the literal question. And then the end leaves ambiguity as to irony in the reply. It also resonates with the previous "is quite right".
Definitely something special there. (I also thought that about your short story entry "Rip out the Grass!". You hit a certain emotional note that really resonated.)
:sad:
Of the dozens of poems I've put here, I write one (absurdly) bawdy one and that's all you remember...
Whence the confusion?
I was inspired by the idea of answering the unspoken implication of a question I saw in javi's poem.
You ought to put more poems up here @javi2541997 :pray:
Thanks, Clarky. Your words cheered me up. :heart:
I wrote it in English directly. Not in Spanish, and then I translated it.
Quoting Baden
I definitely will. :cool:
I often feel shy to post poems or some stuff here because I am very aware that my English is not fluent enough. I fear that you may feel a 'hiccup' while reading them. Well, this is why I like the literary activity; apart from working on imaginative skills, I can go deeper into English.
Hiccups can help sometimes because we get pulled out of our expectations. When we read we're not in one moment but in a kind of spread between past moments, the present, and future expectations. When this spread is too smooth and predictable there's not much to be got from a text. But Clarky's e.e. cumming's poem, some of un's "nonsense", and this too break that up in a good way. Discourse should be seen as a tool rather than an outfit. When it's always an outfit, you eventually get smothered in it.
Just don't know what to make of it, thus the confusion.
"I've died
And you're talkin' to a ghost
So be on your way, good sir
As a favour to us both!"
Why is he dead? Who is he talking to?
Muy bien mi amigo.
You're right and I'm ashamed. I searched. There are 28 uses of "bawbag" in the history of the forum, more than half by Universeness. @Jamal also had a few, but he was mostly responding to Universeness. You and @Hanover brought up the rear with only two or three each.
I'll try to be more careful with my sarcasm in the future... wait a minute. No I won't.
:heart:
Your cat in the profile picture always reminds me of Gloria Fuertes' poems.
No hay tejados en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay poetas en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay sardinas en la Luna,
y yo soy gato.
No hay ratones en la Luna,
y yo soy gato,
aquí no tengo nada que hacer,
este astrofio me extraña,
me vuelvo a España.
Fantastically concrete, it doesn't leave us scratching our heads. I might put myself in the cats paws and consider this place the moon.
Do you have a favorite Pablo Neruda poem?
No, I can't choose a favourite poem by Neruda because it's been years since the last time I read anything about him. I remember he wrote beautiful verses about the Spanish refugees in Chile. I always focused my readings on the Generation of '50 poets that are from my country, and Gloria Fuertes was part of them.
Edit: By the way, if you are interested in that generation of poets, they were called 'postismo.'
Quoting L'éléphant
Thank you for your kind words! :cheer:
Oh, he's not really dead. It's sarcasm and irony directed against an annoying interlocutor. But maybe it's all more obscure than I thought.
"Bawbag" is Scottish slang. Among Irish insults, I like "Gombeen" and "Gom/gome".
Not sure if overcoming obstacles and winning leads to well-being.
At least Holiday isn’t a Trump fan, though many of Holiday’s fans don’t understand why.
What does consciousness do? Consciousness masturbates, usually.
Reminds me of a joke - Yo mama is so fat, her memory weighs five pounds.
It will be back up at some point, or it won't. Life will go on. Or it won't.
One day all sites will go down and never come back up. Bad day for tech stocks.
Finally decided to pick up one of them air fryers everyone's been going on about the other week. More of a fancy pizza oven with extra buttons. Cooked a frozen pizza as good as they say, so decided to test its meddle with something a bit more arduous: chicken breast.
Gotta say I'm impressed with this thing. 15 minutes each side at 390 degrees, plus an extra 10 because I'm irrationally fearful of food-borne illness (perhaps in part owing to raw chicken's notorious relative-volatility compared to other meats such as beef) until the food thermometer was reading solid 180-190s across the entirety. Sure, it may have been just a tad dry, if you're some sort of chicken fanatic, but that's what the lemon juice is for. Much rather have a slightly-less-than succulent chicken than be doubled over in pain vomiting over a toilet for 36 hours. Preferences, eh. Used some ad-hoc blend of salt, lemon pepper seasoning, Italian dressing, generic all-purpose seasoning, and lemon juice for these beauties. I call it the "Outlander Marinade", patent pending. Pair with some instant mashed potatoes (not pictured) and you got yourself a fine meal for the evening. Nothing fancy sure, yet mighty wholesome - and plenty delicious. Probably should've sprinkled some herbs and whatnot for taste and the sake of being photogenic. Next time.
So. What will you cook today? :cheer:
I like the look of your golden glistening breasts.
I've never used an air fryer. Looks like you've got some cleaning to do there, which I imagine is more of a hassle than a regular pan.
Quoting Outlander
I had seafood stick and sriracha mayo sandwiches and a Tesco jalfrezi with couscous, and a few nibbles of Lockerbie cheddar.
Eggs look good. Seasoned on the other side?
I made vegetable soup with ground turkey. It turned out pretty well. No real secrets or tips. Other than seasoning the veg and meat all in the pot and letting it meld a bit before adding the broth and liquids.
Vegetable soup is always a good option! It is a classic dish of fall. Try to add a bit of soy sauce while it is boiling in the pot the next time. It gives a special taste.
By the way, how are the tomatoes going there? Do you still take them for breakfast? :smile:
Is there a short story competition this winter? I have something cooking.
I don't usually go for the crispy edges but you must admit it's a legitimate style of fried egg. Also, they were not rubbery. I cover the pan to allow steam to cook the egg tops for a minute before serving; that might be the cause of any perceived rubberiness.
Quoting Hanover
Oven roasted with a little oil. Perhaps you are commenting on the lack of ketchup? As I always say, the eggs provide all the sauce I need.
Quoting Noble Dust
I add salt at the table, and only on the top, not the undersides. Who seasons egg bottoms?
I think you need a new butcher.
It's technically a countertop oven with air fryer capability, but seeing how that particular functionality seems to currently be of high social importance/desire, it's sold as "an air fryer". Ninja 8-in-1. Used the standard "Bake" function/setting for the above meal, which I assume is similar to having had baked it in the smaller, upper area of a standard household double oven.
Not a big oven guy. Haven't had anything from an oven in a few years actually, outside of consumer food service. Save for the occasional frozen pizza at a friend's or something. Anything a man needs to eat can be cooked on a griddle or in a microwave, IMHO. Not into sweets anymore, thankfully. Got that out of my system a very long time ago.
Quoting Jamal
Non-viscous remnants (lemon juice, Italian dressing). Nothing thick that would be a pain. Ran it under some water and wiped with a paper towel (with a few moments of mild exertion and an exposed thumbnail for some areas) and was like new. Trick is to clean right after eating/when it becomes temperate enough to handle and not let it sit overnight. Once it's physically (visually) clean properly washing it later is like washing your hands.
Aye. :up:
Great! Let battle commence.
(I know I know, let's all hold hands and wish each other great success)
I would but I'm already too attached now.
Another thing, my Plum story was around 4200 words and the limit was 5000, but I seem to recall the limit went down to 3000 in a subsequent competition. My current story might or might not be more than 3000, but I find that limit a little too restrictive.
Ah yes, a butcher breakup can be painful.
This sounds like you're speaking in code for something I don't want to understand.
All my chicken comes prepackaged in styrofoam containers with plastic wrap and they say Perdue or Tyson on them. I've never actually seen a butcher handle chicken and always assumed the chickens put themselves in the packages for me. The packages are then seperated by body part, so you can get legs, thighs, wings, breasts, or even necks.
This butcher thing intrigues me. Your Walmarts must take forever to get meat from.
tl;dr
What about an Easy Bake oven that cooks with a light bulb? I was a boy, so I had trucks and guns, but I always did enjoy a homemade-ish chocolate cake when available.
My goal here at the Shoutbox is to make references to all things Americana to better inform our foreign friends of what 1970s and 80s America was all about.
You'd be badly mistaken. The chickens are forced into the packages and torn apart using special contraptions. Butchers are based on a volunteer system where the chickens decide to be eaten.
5K is alright with me. I mentioned earlier, but no one took me up on it, I'd prefer qualitative rather than quantitative judgements on the stories. What say ye?
Quoting Baden
:cool:
Neat idea. Except for when it wasn't. Not part of my childhood, I'm afraid. Too strict a household. I remember having to play 007 on PS2 in the utmost of secrecy, on the ready to swap the disk out for Ratchet & Clank or Spongebob at a moment's notice. Taught me tact, if nothing else. Needless to say Halloween was not allowed, nor were Halloween-themed episodes of anything, or cable TV for that matter. Neither was Pokemon. Something about a teenage boy roaming around in the woods unsupervised with a bare-midriffed ginger summoning non-human creatures was a bit too Pagan for my folk's tastes, apparently.
So, that particular device I know little about. Too dangerous. Pretty sure my folks thought I was a bit off growing up. Smart people.
I thought I lost my dog once when I tied him to one of those vertical poles they place in front of stores to prevent drunk (or murderous) drivers from plowing into the place. "I was only going to be gone for 5 minutes", I thought. Oh was I distraught. Thankfully a few minutes later he came running up, leash dangling behind, face alight with adventure. I swear it did something to me that lingers to this day.
Another time I witnessed my older stepsister and her boyfriend steal money from my mom's purse. "I'm going to take $40" he said shamelessly. "Take $80" she insisted. I said not a word. What a monstrous son I was. Good golly what a ripe mess and sorry excuse for people I was exposed to since time immemorial. That has to count for something. :halo:
Quoting Hanover
Eh. If I do - and if they're anything like me - they'll create their own hardship a-plenty I'd wager. I'll keep it in mind, though.
@Baden
Poetry too or just short stories?
Although, given his recent poem, if @javi2541997 participates maybe I should bow out. By the way, Javi, now that you have shown your facility with longer form poems, you should submit one of those for the non-competitive competition.
Sort of like talking.
Giving someone enough rope to hang themselves?
Yes, I will submit one. I am already working on it. I don’t want to behave that bad and childish like I did the last contest, so I will take it very calmly this time.
Clarky, you are also a great writer with a pure imagination. You submitted a very good poem once. Why don’t you try to write something for this contest?
It is my understanding there won't be any voting this time, just comments. Is that correct?
Quoting javi2541997
I intend to if I can come up with something I like.
I asked Jamal and Baden to verify that this is for both poems and stories, but they haven't responded yet.
" "
That's an empty quote. I took my advice and kept my response really short so I wouldn't make a mistake. But then I explained it and went on and on. God fucking damnit!
Fuck, now I made the mistake of cursing and hurt myself.
See what I'm saying?
I don't know. I don't usually manage it. I wouldn't submit a poem myself, but I'd be happy to see them in it.
Yes, but I say nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Exactly. Baden proposed a system of feedback and comments rather than voting. I think it is a good idea. The voting system is always controversial and leads to confrontation.
I shall mark down your vote as you do not wish to vote.
Thank you for voting.
Better to love and lose than to never have loved at all.
I can confirm that is your understanding, but I can't confirm your understanding is correct.
You're welcome.
I just wanted to see if the picture feature now worked since the upgrade. I can confirm that it does, using a standard photo of that sassy diner waitress Flo of the award winning hit TV series "Alice."
"Kiss my grits!," the signature line of any true missplaced southerner in Phoenix.
Fellow Chefs,
I have for you today a whole wheat bagel infused with American cheese product delicately pan fried in fresh butter plated playfully on a hummingbird plate, accompanied by a hearty bowl of Texas BBQ Chunky Soup, a new addition from the Campbell family that eats like a meal.
Delight in its presence.
Sadly I don't; theoretically you can still get them before frost I think, so they may still be around. They're really expensive though. What you might think of as normal produce comes at a premium in Amurica.
Quoting Jamal
I thought they were over easy, and you might have seasoned them on the top side, then flipped. Any reason you salt at the table? And no ground pepper???
I still like having a competition. I guess I'm just a vicious bloodthirsty Amurican. But I shall defer. We certainly must be sure to hold the event if @Jamal is gracing us with one of his grand epics.
That looks like a hummingbird sandwich.
It looks good -- the soup and bagel. Thanks for sharing.
I wouldn't mind sending you a big package of Barbastro tomatoes if it was possible.
"That which was seen, can now never be unseen." :monkey:
Haven't seen you around in a while, glad you're "back". I enjoy our interactions, few as they are. Perhaps that has something to do with it. :grin:
In other news, I discovered the existence of two new diseases today. Prosopagnosia, also known as "face blindness", and the so-far uncoined phenomena of "mirror self misidentification". What an unusual existence one must experience having one or the other, let alone both. I imagine if one has the former, the latter would be a given. Or would it? Legitimately fascinating, really.
And I wouldn't mind receiving a big package of real tomatoes if it were possible. Not at all.
I went this morning to the graveyard to leave some flowers on the graves of my relatives. They are buried in El Toboso (Toledo), which is a small village. My grandparents were with me. They are 90 years old, and basically half of their lives were lived under Franco’s regime. As usual, when someone is surrounded by old folks, my grandparents started to discuss about Franco and randomly they brought the death insurance to the discussion. My grandfather claimed that these things existed with Franco, but my grandmother argued that not.
They have dementia, and they think we are still in 1978—when the Constitution was approved by the Congress—and not in 2024, so it is difficult to understand what they consider ‘recent’ or ‘modern’ because they even calculate things using pesetas and not euros.
Well, when we arrived at home, they showed me old papers and bills. There were bills from an old butane/gas insurance company and some appointments for the doctor. The aged mind of my grandfather confused both. After explaining it to them, they asked where the donkey* was and a bottle of wine like good Spaniards.
*A donkey was the common transport for most of us until the 1970s.
I'm guessing that's where Dulcinea in Don Quixote was from. Dulcinea del Toboso, yes?
Yes, exactly. They were born in the same place as Dulcinea, as was my mother.
There is a small house with a sign that says: Dulcinea lived here! and it is a cute museum with random stuff and wooden chairs.
A deep tissue massage by Sophia then a long soak in a hot Roman bath with your favorite pig should be enough.
What the Animals Paid (by Robert Bly)
The Hampshire ewes standing in their wooden pens,
Their shiny black hooves close to each other,
Had to pay with their wool, with their wombs,
With their eating, with their fear of the dogs.
Every animal had to pay. Horses paid all day;
They pulled stone-boats and the ground pulled back.
And the pigs? They paid with their squealing
When the knife entered the throat and the blood
Followed it out. The blood, steaming and personal,
Paid it. Any debt left over the intestines paid.
“I am what I am.” The pig could not say that.
The women paid with their bowed heads, and the men,
My father among them, paid with their drinking.
Demons shouted: “Pay to the last drop!” I paid
The debt another way. Because I did not pay
In the farm way, I am writing this poem today.
Great poem. I'll have to read some Bly.
You are not authorized to “do something [we'll] regret.” Only @Hanover is allowed to do that.
Cold is great and more suitable than heat waves. Unless you maybe live in zones with an average of -25? Celsius degrees like Molina de Aragón. Do you live in La Mancha Jafar and I haven't noticed it yet?
I will always choose a cold northern or eastern European city like Bergen or Helsinki rather than Gran Canaria or La Habana, honestly.
Yes. I know extreme measures are not good in any part of our lives. But if I have to choose, I would go for Antartic rather than Écija.
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.”
My boy Bobby Frost
A guy from New England, for sure.
I made this lamb stir fry. I put a haberno in it and I breathed the fumes and it burned my lungs to the tune of an industrial revolution era iron smelter.
But I like heat of all sorts, be it from the sun or a chemical burn.
Although we are getting less ice these days.
Yes, my dermatologist uses it to burn pre-cancerous growths off my body.
I'm so off the chain chill, my lesions fall off on their own
Interesting.
Next time you could drop a big load of cumin seeds in that and you'll get Xinjiang cumin lamb, which is great.
I hope the election day goes quietly. I feel nervous with these kinds of days too, and I am not even American, and neither Kamala's nor Trump's victory will change my life at all.
Minnesota stay strong! (¡Minnesota sé fuerte!)
I feel there is prediliction here for the curry/cumin family of flavorhoods, likely arising from the British adoption of Indian food as their national dish.
Lamb is a novelty here and you can't always find it at the grocery store, but Sam's Club carries it consistently. I find it far better than beef, which tends to be bland.
But next time I will suffocate my lamb in Cumin so I can dine as the Xinjiagese do. And then I will plate it on that same tired 1990s dinnerware at the seat where I have eaten thousands upon thousands of meals before it, and it too will photographed and shared among the tens of thousands of us here in the Shoutbox.
Actually, Uighur food is extremely hard to find in Britain. Only the dishes that have become popular throughout China have any chance of making it to Chinese restaurants in Britain. Most often it's just Cantonese though.
On the other hand, the cuisine of Xinjiang is influenced by West and South Asia so there's a kernel of insight in your ramblings.
Quoting Hanover
:up:
Well that's neat.
The philosopher/fiction writer has a pretty interesting short story/essay on neural implants that let you control your own mood and emotions, "Crashspace."
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://rsbakker.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/crash-space-tpb.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjliKPUwMWJAxUV5ckDHbjQCCcQFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2wEXYBM_4YJd8IOREraE0p
I will warn that it is somewhat graphic (although not compared to his other work I suppose, it was tame enough to get published in a philosophy journal at least)).
C.S. Lewis' short essay The Abolition of Man covers some related ground from another angle, as does Huxley's essay on his own A Brave New World (Revisited). But Lewis is more applicable and gets some points Bakker misses, looking more to the social and not the individual scale.
Even a blind pig will root up an acorn every now and then I always say.
Yes, just imagine a pig eating a truffle. Drives them crazy.
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually,
and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
You have no idea what lust for life a pig has.
I could see some possible therapies for neural degeneration if we could figure out ways of "patching" the neural networks, insofar that the neural networks deterioration even is a culprit in a disease. But even that seems far out since all we have is what amounts to a custom splint for neurons that can only be formed on a plate rather than manipulated in vivo. (it'd be supercool if you could somehow replicate cellular proteins on the wall, too... not just for neurons there)
I used to wonder why people didn't eat acorns, cos they look like they should be tasty. Turns out sometimes they did in the olden days, but it takes a lot of preparation.
I had candied pine cones in Russia. Pretty good. Piny. I mention this because someone I know refers to pine cones as "acorns" and I've never corrected him.
Ah ha! That's where the phrase comes from. George Stewart wrote a great sci fi novel in 1949, Earth Abides, about a virus that kills 99.999% of the population. It is a somewhat hopeful apocalyptic story, and quite good.
Always good to read a bit of Ecclesiastes every now and then.
My father used to say A-curns. He had grown up in a more rural area and had shed most of his backwood words, but that was one that stuck. I call them A-curns around my brother as an inside joke. Now you're part of that joke as well and you can knowingly laugh should the conversation arise.
He'd also not pronounce Ls sometimes, so he'd say bolt like boat and million like meeyon. I always corrected him, but he just couldn't get it right.
You're wehcum.
Quoting frank
So the hebrew word for vanity is hevel (???). I tell you this because you're probably wondering why all would be a vanity.
Vanity is defined as "a bathroom unit consisting of a washbasin typically set into a counter with a cabinet beneath." That just doesn't seem right, but wherever those people in days of old lived, they must have been overwhelmed with bathroom space.
Now that you've had a moment to recover from your laughter, "vanity" is defined as "excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements." That makes more sense.
But, hevel actually literally means vapor, smoke, or breath, and it is used metaphorically to mean impermanance as it is perhaps used in Ecclesiastes. You can read more about it here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/all-is-vanity-how-to-understand-kohelets-famous-lament/
Let me bore you some more on this book.
The first line states: "1. The words of Qohelet, the son of David, king in Jerusalem."
Qohelet means "the assembler" or something close. But who, pray tell, is the son of David, king in Jerusalem, you ask. That would be Solomon, meaning this book is attributed to Solomon, which means one of two things: Solomon wrote it, or it's being attributed to Solomon because Solomon was known as the wisest of them all because he had the wisdom of Solomon and so this writing is being designated as being particularly wise. That's a thing. They say Solomon said it so you'll listen and know it's smart. Some do the opposite when they say "Hanover said." I self-deprecate to endear myself. Working?
You might ask why "vanity" is used instead of "vapor.". You'll need to ask son of Henry Stuart, king in Edinburgh. That would be King James. Did you know that King James' bloody mother was Mary, Queen of Scots?
Actually I have been a pig in mud for most of my life.
Come and listen to my story about Hanover’s dad, a Jewish mountaineer, barely kept his family fed. And then one day he was shooting at some acurns…
I did know that, and a fine cocktail a Bloody Mary is. Her boy Jimmy had some odd habits; a history prof stated that, when he had killed a stag in the forest, he liked to cut open the belly and soak his feet in the hot entrails.
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem... Was Solomon the wisest man or the wisest king? The latter would be more easily attained than the former. Less competition.
Besides bathroom furniture, one might replace "vanity" with "futility". So, why didn't they use my recommended word instead of going on about toilet accoutrement? The KJV was published in 1611. The first known use of the word "futility" was around 1623. I'm pretty sure "futility" was plentiful before 1623. They used the word "shit" for futility, I suppose, as some people still do. "Futility" sounded better. The KJV was strongly influenced by Tyndale's translation. I don't think Tyndale translated Ecclesiastes -- the pope's bloodhounds were on his trail for suspected Lutheran sympathies. He was eventually apprehended, strangled, and once dead, burned at the stake. It seems to me he was later dug up and further harassed.
BTW, I've watched several synagogue services on YouTube. They were worshipful and well done.
Snapper filet (frozen, thawed in 20 minutes under cold water since I forgot how groceries work) seasoned with salt, lemon pepper seasoning, generic all-purpose seasoning, and lemon juice with a side of shredded coleslaw. Supermarket brand. Hey, times are tough.
[hide="Reveal"](Don't mind the bite, I was going to eat the heavily seasoned one on the right saving the other for tomorrow but wanted to taste the product itself unseasoned so as to gauge whether or not it's worthy of repurchasing on its own merit...then it struck me, this would be a perfect opportunity to post needless mundane acts of life online for the entertainment of complete strangers.)[/hide]
Thank you for these kind words. For this. I knight you a Jew. Once circumcised, you may fully enter the brotherhood.
I do too.
Of all the vanities, that is the vanity of vanities
Yes, pigs after intense domestication, have accepted their fate. The animal allows itself to be eaten as a sign of defiance over its fate.
Lex Luthor
Thanks! Good to hear from you, too.
A gripping tale of a chemist performing tests on a blob to solve a mystery.
One thing we can count on is that capitalism fouls it up.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yr08xnxw8o
You probably have read of "fatbergs" forming in the sewers of London and New York, et al composed of feces, fat, non-dissolving wipes, and more. Unfortunate workers have to descend into the big sewers and hack their way through the blockage. I hope that they receive a large pay bonus for doing this.
It's nice to find a niche in which I could flourish; I'll tell Mom I'm a fertilizer.
(sorry Shawn. The ham. It has control over me.)
Quoting Moliere
For what it's worth, I remember an episode of "Mork and MIndy," a show about a goofy alien who comes to Earth from the 1970s. The alien was played by Robin Williams. In it, Mork, for some reason, was regressing in age to childhood. He told Mindy "I have to go poddy... number 3."
The Coneheads were a skit on Saturday Night Live. It's where the phrase "parental units," meaning parents, came from. There was also a movie. Looking back on "Mork and Mindy," it was typical situation comedy crap, but I admit I was a fan.
Nanu, Nanu. Today's lesson is on Dylan Thomas.
After I wrote my last post I was thinking. I hadn't thought of that episode for probably 45 years, but it was right there in my memory and popped up when it was needed. Brains/minds are wonderful things.
Reminds me of a song.
You can also do this with the snip function if you have text on your computer screen you want to use but you can't copy it.
Wild-caught grouper paired with more coleslaw (I like the stuff, alright.). Oddly similar to my last fish-themed posting while being eerily reminiscent of baked chicken. Feed the body, feed the mind.
It looks so sad on a paper plate with a plastic fork. You must have one metal fork and a china or plastic plate around somewhere.
You can't go wrong with heat either.
I try to live minimally. For reasons both personal and vocational. It's part of my occupation's "way". Can't preach one thing then practice another. The plastic fork should be a no-no, however. Don't tell my customers. The paper plate is a bit wasteful, but at least it degrades into nothing rather quickly, minus the dyes. Did you know plastic has a lifespan of 750 years or more? A single plastic bottle will outlive you, your kids, your kid's kid- sorry - work habit. Besides, I'm only entertaining for one these days. A live-in partner would be selfish in my line of work right now. Not to mention I wouldn't get very much done.
Quoting Hanover
I'd have to replace my stove first. I could, but, meh. Wide electric griddle + Ninja countertop oven cooks everything from eggs and hash to burgers and fries. It's all good. I suppose I could cook it partway then transfer it to the griddle for the remainder. Nah. It's quality, nourishing food and on top of that it tastes good. Anything else is meticulousness and superfluousness. Time is of the essence these days.
Quoting Hanover
You sound like my cousin. But yes, that does sound tasty. I shall. One of these days.
Quoting Hanover
When I get what I have in front of me done, I plan to indulge a bit. Now is not the time. I'll keep those tips in mind, though. I do love me some catfish. Shame it gets such a bad rap.
Quoting Hanover
Not what the packaging says. :eyes:
Farm raised, not wild.
Good advice, stay away from the feral catfish.
:grin:
This article that just hit the presses says hot food, minus the occasional fiery gut clearing, is an excellent part of a healthy diet.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/spicy-food-good-happens-body-180000331.html
I saw The Accountant with Ben Affleck. I get it.
Quoting Outlander
You could broil it towards the end to crisp it up a bit if you like.
Where do you even buy a serving set for 1? The Sad Store?
These are big, literally cosmic questions, and astronomers continue to struggle to nail down the answers. Different techniques for measuring what is called the Hubble Constant — the rate at which the universe is expanding — keep coming up with different estimates.
The cosmologists have given a name to this conundrum: the Hubble Tension."
Those intensely engaged in the debate over which is the correct method of resolving this dispute are said to be 'in a bubble', such is their indifference to any questions not connected to this fundamental issue in cosmology. It is intensely difficult work, and is causing controversy within scientific circles.
Hence: Hubble Bubble, toil and trouble!
I tossed this to my silicon buddy, who helpfully chipped in:
[quote=ChatGPT]If they don’t manage to “brew” a solution to the Hubble Tension, the implications for our understanding of the cosmos could be profound, possibly suggesting new forms of dark energy, a revision of general relativity, or even the existence of extra dimensions. Who knows? They may yet conjure a revelation as transformative as Copernicus’ heliocentric universe—if only they can get the “cauldron” just right![/quote]
I purchased a book—online services—at Kenny's bookshop, located in Galway (Ireland). Sorrowfully, there was a mistake, and the edition was not retired from the homepage when the last unit was sold. Instead of receiving a rude, bad-mannered email from the store, I received the following, which I transcript as it appears in my Gmail:
Kenny's: [i]Dear Javier,
Please accept our sincere apologies; we accepted this order in error. We have been unable to locate a copy of this book for your order. We have tried to locate a replacement copy from our suppliers, but were unsuccessful.
I am very sorry for this disappointment. I have cancelled your order and issued a full refund for this item. Any refund should appear on your credit card statement within a few days.
Every effort is being made to ensure our stock is accurately listed online and easily located in our warehouses.[/i]
My reply–Trying to be as cute and gentle as them–: [i]Dear Shane Crotty,
No worries! Please don't take this unexpected situation that seriously.
These unfortunate things happen often. I don't feel disappointed. I have been buying books from your bookshop for years, and your professionalism has always been exceptionally good. I also appreciate your gentle gesture of addressing me by email.
I will keep checking your latest updates, and if Two Gallants doesn't appear again, I will purchase another by Joyce![/i]
Best wishes!
They are wonderful people, so they replied again in both Gaelic and English.
Kenny's again: [i]Go raibh maith agat as do ríomhphoist le déanaí chuig Siopa Leabhar Uí Chionnaith.
Beidh díoltóir leabhar i dteagmháil leat chomh luath is féidir.
Hi Javier,
Many thanks for your understanding, we really appreciate it!
Kindest regards,
hana.[/i]
If only there were more mates like our Irish men and Irish women. Jesus, this world would be excellent.
I then ate two of them. The wife just one. Pudding for dessert for me. The wife forwent. I then pet the cat 7 times and went to sleep.
The meal has been named "7 Peppers and 7 Pats upon a Cat's Back."
Supposedly, it's because there are not many blue foods. Are there really that many orange foods, though? Fascinating stuff. If true, of course.
If we trained sufficient subjects to salivate to blue and scream in fear of orange, we could better herd our population. We'd paint off limits areas orange and paint broccoli blue, better achieving our societal goals.
You may object to this idea now, but if I make you vomit to orange enough times, you'll finally shut your blabber.
Also, blue light makes subjective time run more quickly and red more slowly. This also might be a spinoff from the above proposal of fruit seeking. We are attentive to food! Perhaps it could just be the case that we need to be more alert at sunset too, but I do not believe the light shift between dawn and dusk is significant enough.
That's why the red-light district is red, and the blues are blue.
I'm not sure about this. Blueberries are great eaten fresh or in pies.
Purple yams are also great in itself or made into dessert.
Time moving at faster and slower speeds presents complex time-management problems in sex-servicing industries. What effect do the lightbulbs have on turn-around time? Are customers charged, and are workers paid, under different speeds of time's passage? If Madam borrowed money for her start-up business, is the bank charging interest under red light or blue light?
Brushing time aside if that's even possible, red light is the obvious preferred shade for sex-servicing businesses. Green light? Horrors! Blue light? Too cool for hotness. White light? No, no -- far too much detail revealed. Black light? Interesting. No light at all? That works too, and it's very economical, making for a higher ROI.
330,000,000 Americans live under clear blue skies, but about 2/3s are overweight or obese. Perhaps the color blue actually stimulates appetite to an unreasonable degree. I've never lost weight as a result of blue jeans, blue berries, or bluetooth,
I dunno, in this day and age it's likely some inmates in solitary confinement are outside longer than many folk. :chin:
As for the apparel and comestible, that I cannot explain. Perhaps sheer will or conditioning (accustomizing yourself to blue daily not only by observation but symbolic enshrouding in and consumption of) has something to do with. Just something I read online that caught my attention as certain times of the year I occasionally find myself thrust into the captivating world of advertising and digital marketing/design, etc.
While I suspect bowls, cups, and other rounded containers predate boxes and crates (owing to the intrinsic inclination to cup one's hands as well as natural formations such as puddles and the like), it still begs the question: in a world previously dominated by crates and right-angled containers, what finally made one decide "Hey, I've got a better idea."
Did he perhaps take notice of the innovative wheel and one thing led to another? Perhaps recollecting a childhood memory of ball games? Witnessing of a tumbling boulder that simultaneously brought unexpected materials with it? One can only speculate. Nevertheless, shipping and supply industries were revolutionized practically over night, I bet.
Imagine, if you will, two empires. One painfully hauling, loading, and unloading crate by crate for hours on end, and another, simply rolling barrels as the course of these three actions with ease. The entire zeitgeist of the two must have been like day and night to one another. One, a soul-sucking and backbreaking torrent of despair, the other, a light and cheerful constant montage of glee and spontaneity. It's amazing how far innovation has come and how simple, now neglected examples of such changed the face of an emerging new world not that long ago.
Wooden barrels are made to resist pressure from the inside. They're made for storing liquids. The weight of the liquid pushes the wooden staves, which are beveled, outwards and against each other, sealing them. The wood also swells in the liquid, providing additional seal. Metal bands around the outside hold the whole thing together.
I think barrels probably came into use when people had large amounts of liquid to store.
Beer and whisky were the stored liquids in most cases. :yum:
Cupping one's hands to scoop up water to drink might have inspired crockery, but there are also eggs, coconut shells, empty skulls (with which some people live quite well), shells, and the like for inspiration. Boxes need nails or screws to hold them together. Glue was a very ancient discovery, and boxes can be joined together with dovetailing and the like. But that's a lot of craft for a shipping crate. Copper, bronze, or iron nails would have been pretty expensive back then, wouldn't they?
Better. Late night tilapia with potato salad (not pictured) and a can of V8. How's that for balanced?
Glad I rediscovered V8. 2 1/2 servings of vegetables. Major salt bomb at 920mg but to get 2 1/2 servings of vegetables (100% of the daily recommended amount) in 10 seconds, I'll gladly chug an extra water or two and still have saved a good 9 1/4 minutes over having prepared and consumed them in the traditional fashion.
(Apologies in advance for the potentially disheartening and/or emotionally-turbulent presence of disreputable [s]eatery[/s] cutlery/tableware. see what happens when you don't get enough veggies?)
Omelette. :yum:
I often put chards or shredded cucumber on the omelette. I never tried them with rolled cheese. I remember that I used bass once, and the result was surprisingly good.
Quoting Noble Dust
Interesting. We call bodega the place where the wine is stored and sold wholesale. My dad is a wine enthusiast, and he has taken me to some bodegas in La Mancha. The smell of the jars is special.
To clarify, a roll is a cheap bread item. I guess the word in reference to bread has different meanings in the US, but in NYC a sandwich is served on either a roll or a hero. A roll is smaller and round, while a hero is longer in shape and also known as a sub, hoagie, etc. Here's more about the roll.
Quoting javi2541997
Bass as in the fish? In an omelette? :chin:
Quoting javi2541997
I don't know the etymology of the NYC bodega, but historically these corner stores have mainly been run by two separate immigrant communities: Dominicans and Yemenis. The Spanish word bodega that's used to refer to Dominican corner stores inevitably ended up becoming a blanket term to refer to any corner store, including the Yemeni stores. It's actually a fascinating cultural and historical topic. I wonder if anyone's written a book about NYC bodegas.
One of the big jobs I worked on as an engineer involved excavating contaminated soil from a site in Cambridge MA near the Charles River. If you look at an old map you can see that the amount of landfilling that took place along the Charles is amazing. The area where the digging took place was where wharves were previously located and as the excavation deepened, it dug through their former locations. At the elevation of the former bottom of the river there were piles still embedded where they had been driven in the early 1800s.
The former users of the wharves had dumped garbage off into the river including glassware and pottery, much of which was intact. That included stoneware bottles which could hold 5 to 10 gallons, which I assume were used to ship oil or wine. They were similar to the amphora you showed, although they were shorter and rounder and had flat bottoms for stacking. I didn't get one of those bottles, but I did get some glassware and smaller pottery vessels. The picture below shows some of them. I put in the saltshaker for scale.
Yeah, exactly. :grin:
Quoting Noble Dust
Ah! Gotcha. I had to search on Google because I hadn't the image in my mind. We say 'pan mollete' here. Exactly, they are cheap bread but tasty. I often use them with salmon and tzatziki. Mercadona sells nice roll bread, but I usually go to another shop called 'levadura madre', whose owners are bread experts. When I go to the doctor once a month, I visit that shop to eat a nice slice of bread with something in it.
Quoting Noble Dust
It is very fascinating, indeed. Although there is an important group of Dominicans in Madrid, I have never seen stores like the ones in NYC that you are referring to. Our Dominican bros focus more on barbershops! :grin:
And don't forget they existed before forklifts, so they were designed to roll.
I must get your recipe. Do you use a 1/2 cup or a whole cup of bland?
The full history of this is that after you guys packed your rivers with garbage, you migrated down here.
Now that I know the Chinese technique of velveting, and the associated tenderization with baking soda, my attempts at cooking Chinese food have become semi-respectable.
Looks good. What is "velveting"? I could google it but I'm trying to be more social, and less dependent on instant gratification.
It's the marinating technique that results in tender velvety meat, like you get in Chinese food. Cornstarch is the key ingredient, plus baking soda to tenderize it. Only takes 20 minutes or so.