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The local Goth prototype has become a run-of-the-mill example of the apocalypse.

02:02 / 11.07.03

This was posted before. But I miss it the other time.

May I know what are the things you will never say. But you can tell me. Just give me your best shot. I won't dis courage you from saying it. I might even tell it to another person and tell you what's their response/expression are.

I've heard about I was made by God to love you and I have never treated you as a fuck toy from Barbelith. When I SMS these to jane, she show them to her hubby and her hubby called me not to SMS such things to her again.

So have anyone entertain yourselves during the school holidays in my country last month? Please do share it with me.

By the way, are these copyrighted? If yes, I might end up the only person posting in Barbelith.

Also has anyone play with the japanese or taiwanese toy that allow you to squeeze out a firing ball from its tummy?

07:58 / 11.07.03

RE: Flying ants.

Question. What causes flying ant day?

Answer.
1.) Overpopulation in colony.
2.) Change in barometric pressure.

Result. Colony send Vasgo de Gama ants to find new premises.
Conclusion. Ants know how to read barometers

*

12:02 / 11.07.03

Use this thread to ask any old question you fancy an answer to, but *can't be bothered to research* in the proper manner like any normal, self-motivated, self-respecting person with a bit of get-up-and-go would. abstract, asterisks mine

Thanks for the help, Rothkoid. It was much more fun to muse out loud than to know the answer, in this particular case, however.

unheimlich manoeuvre

15:59 / 11.07.03

posted by The local Goth prototype (who) has become a run-of-the-mill example of the apocalypse.

May I know what are the things you will never say.But you can tell me. Just give me your best shot. I won't dis courage you from saying it.

i will never say "your posts are unambiguous."

17:09 / 11.07.03

now, i wouldn't describe myself as a pigeon hater per se. i know some people are, but i don't hate on them cos usually they stay out of my way, and i theirs, sorta.
BUT i just moved to a new place, and it's on the 3rd and top floor of the building, ok, and the pigeons are all up in my face. they sit on all the windowsills and our porch and leave their shit everywhere and i have to listen to their sort of...bleating. egggh. they fly up all of a sudden just outside the shower when i'm in it, damn near giving me a heart attack. what can i do to get rid of them, can i hang those fake owls or anything? help!

OK, first off, research ALL your options, and IMMEDIATELY go to the most severe one you can stomach. Don't let them get habituated to a gradually rising level of discomfort. When you hit, hit hard.

Second, see what Uncle Cecil can recommend (or not).

Third, be very discouraged by some recent European research, which I will quote here:
The ten most commonly used types of pigeon deterring systems were tested on free ranging feral pigeons. The results demonstrated that feral pigeons are able to surmount every deterring system, even when facing massive impairment (pain, injury), if their motivation is high enough. No deterring effect on the pigeons was observed under the chosen test conditions, while using the ultrasonic- and odor-repellent-systems. All other deterring systems were somewhat effective in protecting the chosen structures from the pigeons. Systems that purposely inflict pain and injury to the pigeons show no better protective effect than the harmless systems. In the future, one should eliminate such cruel systems. These studies should furnish the houseowner, architect, and pigeon-deterrence-specialists with the scientific knowledge that would allow them to correctly choose the deterring system according to their needs and to prevent the use of senseless systems having no effect on the pigeons.

If you browse around that site, you'll find more information about pigeon populations and what they need to flourish.

Then, you'll be psychologically and educationally ready to choose your weapon.

18:00 / 11.07.03

*bows down to grant* (a DEEP bow)

14:42 / 12.07.03

Cholister:

Re: un-ignorable. While many are using the somewhat clumsy, 'non-ignorable', have you considered any of the following (with the correct context): compelling, captivating, beguiling, spell-binding (ick) or irresistable? While not precisely synonymous any could be used with due consideration of the connotations. Why not simply use un-ignorable - it should be a word?

15:09 / 12.07.03

*rubs hands together* Okay.

If a brigantine were able to fly, what weapons from the Golden age of piracy would be used to attack an opponent ahead of them and on the ground? Say for instance a running person or a car or a train? I understand that most cannons were broadside weaponry exclusively. But what forward weapons could aim ahead and down for prey like that?

16:09 / 12.07.03

NEW QUESTION:
Why is Popeye called Popeye? As far as I can ascertain his eyes are buried deep within his skull somewhere beneath his scrunched up face. It's hard to think of any cartoon character who's eyes are less likely to pop..

18:30 / 12.07.03

Question: Can anyone direct me to links about/artists' sites who've created music against the Patriot Act? I'm dramaturging a play and it's one of the director's requests.

20:42 / 12.07.03

This is a somewhat belated reply to waxy dan's question about laser eye surgery. I hope you're not reading it through freshly operated-upon eyes, dan - if so, look away now, it'll all be fine, I'm sure.

I know several people who've had it done and all except one are really happy with it. The one who's not happy was very short sighted, and that seems to be the key - the more they have to change your eyes, the more risk of it not quite working.

I looked into it several years ago - maybe six years? - and so things may have changed since then. But after talking to a range of opticians (I just walked round town and went in and demanded someone talk to me at each optician I found) I decided I wasn't keen. I'm pretty short sighted (-4.5 each eye) and the very up-beat promotional video I saw said I had an 80 percent chance of ending up with 20/20 vision post-op. Which just isn't high enough for me. The girl I know who regrets it had -8.0 vision, and wasn't told the chances were low, low, low. And unless things have changed since then, you can't wear lenses afterwards, so if it doesn't work, you're back to glasses.

I was also told by one optician that he expects to see a lot of collapsed corneas in 20 years time as people's eyes get older and weaker. That was enough - it's glasses and contacts for me, thanks.

20:54 / 12.07.03

Distillable: harpoons, maybe? Not strictly associated with piracy, but I bet yer average pirate would not have been above using them.

Or early flintlock pistols or similar handguns, though you'd have to check the exact dates on those.

22:18 / 12.07.03

Thanks, KKC. I didn't even think about harpoons.

22:31 / 12.07.03

Riz>

I'm fairly certain that the one arched eyebrow was always intended to be visual shorthand for one eye open, one eye closed.

The Return Of Rothkoid

00:57 / 13.07.03

Ahhh... but did you know that Popeye used to eat garlic? (Well, his Greek ancestors did.)

I'm under the impression that it does refer to his eyes - one jammed shut, the other "popping out" when he gets angry. Seriously.

09:27 / 13.07.03

Well that'll teach me to actually look at a picture of Popeye before jumping to such wild assumptions..

13:17 / 14.07.03

If a brigantine were able to fly, what weapons from the Golden age of piracy would be used to attack an opponent ahead of them and on the ground?

I like the harpoon idea -- that was a whale-hunting tool. The old ones were thrown by hand (I think into the 1800s -- think of Capt. Ahab). But there's an even older siege machine called an ballista (or arbalest) that could easily be adapted to a ship. It's basically a huge crossbow. Stick a harpoon in that, and you're set. (Note: I don't think a catapult or onager would work because it'd start out by forcing the ship down, which would end up stealing the missile's forward momentum.)

As far as small arms go, I have a strong feeling pirates would know how to use slings, and some of the East Indies pirates would come from cultures where blowguns were widely used.

But there's something really satisfying about the idea of a flying pirate ship having to come about and then slide ballast to one side to fire cannon on a target ahead and on the ground.

13:37 / 14.07.03

Dude - put "brigantine" and "forward guns" into Google... you'll be really pleased at what comes up.

14:24 / 14.07.03

Ooo - I found a great site on pirate ships and weapons. (You'll want to highlight the text on the guns page - it's yellow on white.)

It mentions that most of the guns on a pirate brig would be swivel guns, lighter than cannon.
And it mentions this:
By ricochet firing ranges could be increased considerably:-At 1deg elevation the 800 yds for a 32lb long gun could be increased to 2900 yds after 15 grazes. Contemporary notes add:- Ricochet firing requires a perfectly smooth sea. The closer the gun is placed to the water, the farther it ranges the shot. It might be advisable to heel the ship over by running in the opposite guns. Ricochet firing is not used for shells because the fuzes are always extinguished when so used.

Which makes me think that the ship's guns could be aimed below the ship.

and a bit of looking shows that swivel guns were used to shoot harpoons as early as the 1700s.
And dig this bit of history:
As the name implies, the swivel gun was a small cannon mounted on a swivel or pivot, usually on a ship’s rail, allowing a wide arc of fire. Swivel guns could fire a small ball or lead shot into boats attempting to board a vessel.
In close engagements, swivel guns could be mounted in a ship’s rigging in order to fire down onto the enemy’s decks.

HMS Endeavour carried 12 swivel guns.

Whisky Priestess

16:58 / 14.07.03

Chol, I think that unignorable *is* actually a word. Go on, use it anyway ...

.

20:34 / 14.07.03

Anyone here know Rammstein, as in the German industrial-rockers? If so, can you point me in the direction of a good picture of their flaming guitars? *

* Come on, melodramatic teutonic industrial rock where the lead guitarist's instrument has an integrated flame thower attachment- that's got to be one of the good things in life, innit?

21:00 / 14.07.03

Hmm... if it was an exam, I might well use it out of sheer frustration. But its an ugly, ugly word for prose and its status is too unclear... thanks though, folks.

21:56 / 14.07.03

Cholister -- is it imperative that you find this word?

22:01 / 14.07.03

Insistent?

22:14 / 14.07.03

Inescapable?

23:35 / 14.07.03

Is unquashable a word? If so what about that... just as clunky I'm afraid.

02:54 / 15.07.03

The song goes...
Everybody's looking for that something
Some find it in the faces of their children
Some find it in their lovers eyes
If you find that special thing
You're flying without wings

May I know when is flight possible without wings?

The Return Of Rothkoid

03:08 / 15.07.03

When you're in a helicopter. Or a hot-air balloon. Obviously.

04:11 / 15.07.03

Man, I love you guys. You have no idea how much this saves me from a major writing block. Thanks grant.

07:27 / 15.07.03

Another slash-inspired question: Does anyone know anything about the legalities of chan (i.e. underage)?
I'd research this one on my own, because its important for my future academic stuff, except I'm not sure how/where to start. I can think of one published author who writes boarding school-based erotica (Chris Kent - author of 'Boys of Swithin's Hall' amongst other things), which presumably has underage sex (Does anyone know? I've not read the books, and will not do so. Is there teacher/student interaction?). Does the problem (legally) arise with depictions of intergenerational sex? In other words - what is the legal take on textual representations of sex between minors/sex with minors?

08:32 / 15.07.03

Maygan. "May I know when is flight possible without wings?"

Flight without wings has been possible ever since Frank Whittle invented the Jet Engine, which uses thrust to provide upward lift (technically so does a wing but that also requires forward momentum to give upward thrust beneath the wing). With a jet, or indeed rocket, downward thrust is provide with a jet of hot(but it doesn't have to be hot)air. Newtons first law states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction therefore and thrust from that jet will push whatever is creating the jet in the opposie direction if not fixed.

A good example is the Harrier Jump jet, using vectored thrust it can take off vertically without using it's wings, it then assumes a more normal role once airbourne.

Check out A man can fly like superman for that quintessential big boys (James Bond) toy.

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:06 / 15.07.03

.: can't look through them at the moment, but the galleries over at Herzeleid should have what you need. Look for photos of Richard - the best shots should come from the solo during "Adios" during which everything from the ninth fret down is on fire.

15:27 / 15.07.03

Chol - no idea, but if you are 'literary' you can probably get away with a good deal, c.f. Philip Larkin's schoolgirl smutfest, recently published in full hardcover edition with many reviews in broadsheet literary sections - lots of spanking with hairbrushes etc., though I'm not sure about teacher/pupil interaction.

I don't even know if there is a legal problem - witness harrowing memoirs all over the place. I suspect you're more likely to get into trouble if you present it as porn, but even then I expect there's some very dodgy stuff out there.

15:35 / 15.07.03

Thanks, KCC - that's v. useful.

I'm not worried about myself - I don't write chan and I avoid it like the proverbial plague - but it's clear that there's a lot of it about, and I think its important that as well as dealing with the social/moral etc. implications, I look into the legal ones. I was vaguely prompted by Nick saying on another thread that Harry/Snape is probably highly illegal. For the good of my fledgling reseach, I'm just trying to discover where chanslashers stand legally.

Whisky Priestess

15:41 / 15.07.03

The larkin book's called Tropuble at Willow gables and there's some more on it below - it's not supposed to very good though.

Gymslips and hockey sticks

Also I presume that you have ages ago read and re-read Nabokov's Lolita?

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