Re: [silk] QotD

[Shenoy N]

That was a terrific read, Udhay! And rather clever, that, technology
recapitulates mythology.

On 14 October 2014 11:52, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> "Technology recapitulates mythology."
>
> (Source:
> http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/10/not-a-manifesto.html)
>
> Discuss.
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
>


-- 
Narendra Shenoy
http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"Technology recapitulates mythology."

(Source: 
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/10/not-a-manifesto.html)

Discuss.

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QoTD

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 11:26 AM, Thaths  wrote:

> "It's like Dunning-Kruger syndrome had a baby with pathological prolixity"

In my experience, Dunning-Kruger Syndrome itself is strongly
correlated with pathological prolixity. :)

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QoTD

[Thaths]

"It's like Dunning-Kruger syndrome had a baby with pathological prolixity"

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

On 27-Sep-11 1:27 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan wrote:

> You mean "criticism induced Agoraphobia"?
> 
> Cheeni
> P.S. See what I did there? ;-)

'ouroboros' is the term that comes to mind. :)

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Srini RamaKrishnan]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 7:35 AM, Biju Chacko  wrote:
> "those afraid to enter the public space for fear of criticism" would
> be more concise.

You mean "criticism induced Agoraphobia"?

Cheeni
P.S. See what I did there? ;-)

Re: [silk] QotD

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

"For fear of criticism" kind of gets obviated because of the multiplicity
of public spaces, where it is very easy to find a circle of like minded
people and vegetate there, recycling the same sort of ideas again and again

Biju Chacko [27/09/11 11:05 +0530]:

"those afraid to enter the public space for fear of criticism" would
be more concise.

-- b

PS: May the pageantry of pedantry now begin
PPS: Yes, this is a troll.

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Deepa Mohan  wrote:



On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:


From Danny O'Brien, in the forlorn hope that it will  get him to post
sometime:

"...my biggest encouragement to those who are scared of criticism to
enter the public space is that if you don’t, the public space will be
filled with people who have no fear of their failings whatsoever. And we
all know what fools they are."


Yes, we know what fools they are...do we wish to join their ranks, and turn
"them"  into "us"? No wonder your hope is forlorn.
That first sentence is so awkwardly constructed. Surely, "those who are
scared to enter the public space due to fear of criticism" would be better.
Now, will the criticism make him post?

Re: [silk] QotD

[Biju Chacko]

"those afraid to enter the public space for fear of criticism" would
be more concise.

-- b

PS: May the pageantry of pedantry now begin
PPS: Yes, this is a troll.

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Deepa Mohan  wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
>>
>> From Danny O'Brien, in the forlorn hope that it will  get him to post
>> sometime:
>>
>> "...my biggest encouragement to those who are scared of criticism to
>> enter the public space is that if you don’t, the public space will be
>> filled with people who have no fear of their failings whatsoever. And we
>> all know what fools they are."
>
> Yes, we know what fools they are...do we wish to join their ranks, and turn
> "them"  into "us"? No wonder your hope is forlorn.
> That first sentence is so awkwardly constructed. Surely, "those who are
> scared to enter the public space due to fear of criticism" would be better.
> Now, will the criticism make him post?
>

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> From Danny O'Brien, in the forlorn hope that it will  get him to post
> sometime:
>
> "...my biggest encouragement to those who are scared of criticism to
> enter the public space is that if you don’t, the public space will be
> filled with people who have no fear of their failings whatsoever. And we
> all know what fools they are."


Yes, we know what fools they are...do we wish to join their ranks, and turn
"them"  into "us"? No wonder your hope is forlorn.

That first sentence is so awkwardly constructed. Surely, "those who are
scared to enter the public space due to fear of criticism" would be better.

Now, will the criticism make him post?

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

>From Danny O'Brien, in the forlorn hope that it will  get him to post
sometime:

"...my biggest encouragement to those who are scared of criticism to
enter the public space is that if you don’t, the public space will be
filled with people who have no fear of their failings whatsoever. And we
all know what fools they are."

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

>From James Howard Kunstler, whose rants (whether you agree or not) are
things of spittle-flecked beauty.

" Is it indelicate to say that the USA as an enterprise has its head
so deeply and firmly up its ass that the all the proctologists alive
on planet Earth could not extract the collective cranium from the
collective cloacal chamber even with the aid of a Bucyrus-Erie 1060-WX
bucket-wheel excavator? Like, where were we the past ten years? Surely
not everybody in the nation was doing bong hits while playing Grand
Theft Auto, or watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey, or downing
tequila shots and Percocets in the parking lot of the Talladega
Superspeedway, or cooking meth in the family room, or whacking it to
Internet porn, or searching for "excitement" in one of America's 450
commercial gambling casinos. "

Source: http://kunstler.com/blog/2010/10/bank-shot.html

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Presented free of context, as I think it may have even more
food-for-thought impact that way:

"The sky turns deep blue, the world freezes, and a progress bar marches
slowly across it from horizon to horizon. Ethereal runes written in
aurorae six hundred kilometres high scrawl across the heavens, updating
reality, and for a moment your skin crawls with superstitious dread.

SOMEDAY WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET BRAIN IMPLANTS AND EXPERIENCE THIS
DIRECTLY. SOMEDAY *EVERYONE* IS GOING TO LIVE THEIR LIVES OUT IN PLACES
LIKE THIS, VACANT BODIES TENDED BY MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE WHILE THEIR
MINDS GO ON BEFORE US INTO STRANGE PLACES WHERE THE MEAT CANNOT FOLLOW.

You can see it coming, slamming towards you out of the future, like the
empty white static that is all anyone has ever heard from beyond the
stars: a Final Solution to the human condition, and answer to the Fermi
paradox, lights on at home and all the windows tightly shuttered.
Because it's a thing of beauty, the ability to spin the cloth of
reality, and you're a sucker for it: isn't story-telling what being
human is all *about*? "

-Charles Stross, _Halting State_

-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Supriya Nair]

I believe that irony and sarcasm have little constructive value in the long
run of a dialogue, and moreover that nine times out of ten the ironic or
sarcastic comment is never as germane to an issue as the commenter thinks it
is. But I love it when it's well-done, nonetheless. And in two particular
fields I feel like blistering scorn are more than warranted. One is bad
literary fiction, in which pretension deserves to be fought with righteous
and emotional anger.

The other is football writing, where it never seems to make the slightest
difference to the prime movers, any way.

Supriya.

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> Charles Haynes wrote, [on 8/7/2009 12:47 AM]:
>
>  http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/
>
> > It's a bad review for a simple reason. Is the reviewer praising it or
> > panning it? I can't even tell if they liked the damn book.
>
> It appears that the reviewer isn't very sure, but on balance, seems to
> like it (extra irony points for the "too long" complaint):
>
> 
>
> Imperial inevitably raises the big question surrounding much of
> Vollmann’s work: Is it too long? It probably is. About halfway through,
> I felt my patience begin to flag. I’d been carrying the book around for
> a couple of weeks, wrestling it onto trains and out of bed, and my wrist
> and lower back had mysteriously started burning. I grew suddenly hostile
> toward WTV’s formerly lovable quirks: the clumsy sentences, the
> digressive digressions, the gratuitously creepy metaphors (“the alfalfa
> fields, fresh-shorn like a tropical girl’s cunt-stubble”), the
> never-ending sarcastic exclamation marks. I found myself wishing that he
> would redirect some of the massive energy he puts into legwork and
> note-taking and poetic haunting to the less obviously heroic, more
> social challenges of writing: synthesizing, pruning, polishing. But
> that’d be like asking Keats not to get so carried away with the music of
> vowels, or Dickens to stop writing about orphans. Excess, for Vollmann,
> is exactly the point. I can’t help but read Imperial’s epigraph, from
> the 1909 yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as a sly little
> meta-statement, a confession and a boast: “As long as a farmer has an
> abundance of water, he almost invariably yields to the temptation to use
> it freely, even though he gets no increased returns as a result.” That’s
> the problem of Imperial, and the problem of Imperial: to get arid land
> to bear fruit, you’re going to have to waste some water. “I write my
> heart out on everything I do,” Vollmann has written. It’s a very rare
> quality, and it should be subsidized, whatever waste might come along
> with it.
>
> 
>
> BTW, did you actually read the entire review, or are you reacting only
> to the excerpt I posted with the URL linking to the entire thing?
>
> Udhay
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
>


-- 
roswitha.tumblr.com

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Charles Haynes wrote, [on 8/7/2009 12:47 AM]:

 http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/

> It's a bad review for a simple reason. Is the reviewer praising it or
> panning it? I can't even tell if they liked the damn book.

It appears that the reviewer isn't very sure, but on balance, seems to
like it (extra irony points for the "too long" complaint):



Imperial inevitably raises the big question surrounding much of
Vollmann’s work: Is it too long? It probably is. About halfway through,
I felt my patience begin to flag. I’d been carrying the book around for
a couple of weeks, wrestling it onto trains and out of bed, and my wrist
and lower back had mysteriously started burning. I grew suddenly hostile
toward WTV’s formerly lovable quirks: the clumsy sentences, the
digressive digressions, the gratuitously creepy metaphors (“the alfalfa
fields, fresh-shorn like a tropical girl’s cunt-stubble”), the
never-ending sarcastic exclamation marks. I found myself wishing that he
would redirect some of the massive energy he puts into legwork and
note-taking and poetic haunting to the less obviously heroic, more
social challenges of writing: synthesizing, pruning, polishing. But
that’d be like asking Keats not to get so carried away with the music of
vowels, or Dickens to stop writing about orphans. Excess, for Vollmann,
is exactly the point. I can’t help but read Imperial’s epigraph, from
the 1909 yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as a sly little
meta-statement, a confession and a boast: “As long as a farmer has an
abundance of water, he almost invariably yields to the temptation to use
it freely, even though he gets no increased returns as a result.” That’s
the problem of Imperial, and the problem of Imperial: to get arid land
to bear fruit, you’re going to have to waste some water. “I write my
heart out on everything I do,” Vollmann has written. It’s a very rare
quality, and it should be subsidized, whatever waste might come along
with it.



BTW, did you actually read the entire review, or are you reacting only
to the excerpt I posted with the URL linking to the entire thing?

Udhay
-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 12:47 AM, Charles Haynes wrote:
>
>
> It's a bad review for a simple reason. Is the reviewer praising it or
> panning it? I can't even tell if they liked the damn book.
>
> -- Charles
>
>
Those were reviews of the review, now waiting for our reviews to be
reviewed

Agree with Charles!

Deepa.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Charles Haynes]

On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Abhishek Hazra wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:40 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
>>
>>> Now *this* is a book review:
>>>
>>> http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/
>>>
>>> "Imperial is like Robert Caro’s The Power Broker with the attitude of
>>> Mike Davis’s City of Quartz, if Robert Caro had been raised in an
...
>> Is it, really, Udhay? I actually detest these kind of super-witty "reviews"
...
>> in my opinion, not great reviews.

> Although it is difficult to generalize, but sometimes the reference to
> other books can be interesting also. I had enjoyed reading Mike Davis'
...
> Perhaps this is a different genre of review all together? a hybrid of
> a blurb and a 'proper' review?

It's a bad review for a simple reason. Is the reviewer praising it or
panning it? I can't even tell if they liked the damn book.

-- Charles

Re: [silk] QotD

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Aug 06, 2009 at 11:24:49PM +0530, Abhishek Hazra wrote:
> but Deepa, if on a winter's night a reviewer...

Stab! Stab! Stab! Stabstabstabstab! Twist!

Die, top-poster. Die!
 
> Although it is difficult to generalize, but sometimes the reference to
> other books can be interesting also. I had enjoyed reading Mike Davis'
> book, so the reference to it in the review got me interested.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl http://leitl.org";>leitl http://leitl.org
__
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

Re: [silk] QotD

[Abhishek Hazra]

but Deepa, if on a winter's night a reviewer...

Although it is difficult to generalize, but sometimes the reference to
other books can be interesting also. I had enjoyed reading Mike Davis'
book, so the reference to it in the review got me interested.

Perhaps this is a different genre of review all together? a hybrid of
a blurb and a 'proper' review?
Also, in trying to postulate a supposed 'hybrid' author, the review
here seems to hint at the bibliophile's obsession of thinking about
books not written.
George Steiner, for example, has written an entire book on the book
projects he had abandoned
http://www.amazon.com/My-Unwritten-Books-George-Steiner/dp/0811217035

abhishek

On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Deepa Mohan wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:40 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:
>
>> Now *this* is a book review:
>>
>> http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/
>>
>> "Imperial is like Robert Caro’s The Power Broker with the attitude of
>> Mike Davis’s City of Quartz, if Robert Caro had been raised in an
>> abandoned grain silo by a band of feral raccoons, and if Mike Davis were
>> the communications director of a heavily armed libertarian survivalist
>> cult, and if the two of them had somehow managed to stitch John McPhee’s
>> cortex onto the brain of a Gila monster, which they then sent to the
>> Mexican border to conduct ten years of immersive research, and also if
>> they wrote the entire manuscript on dried banana leaves with a toucan
>> beak dipped in hobo blood, and then the book was line-edited during a
>> 36-hour peyote séance by the ghosts of John Steinbeck, Jack London, and
>> Sinclair Lewis, with 200 pages of endnotes faxed over by Henry David
>> Thoreau’s great-great-great-great grandson from a concrete bunker under
>> a toxic pond behind a maquiladora, and if at the last minute Herman
>> Melville threw up all over the manuscript, rendering it illegible, so it
>> had to be re-created from memory by a community-theater actor doing his
>> best impression of Jack Kerouac."
>>
>
>
> Is it, really, Udhay? I actually detest these kind of super-witty "reviews"
> which seem to be written more to display the reviewer's intellect, richness
> of information, and facility for words (most of them rather sarcastic), than
> be an actual review of the book. Such reviews are great entertainment...but,
> in my opinion, not great reviews.
>
> Oh goodness, how mean I sound. ...but...I'll let that stand.
>
> Deepa.
>



-- 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
does the frog know it has a latin name?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 10:40 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> Now *this* is a book review:
>
> http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/
>
> "Imperial is like Robert Caro’s The Power Broker with the attitude of
> Mike Davis’s City of Quartz, if Robert Caro had been raised in an
> abandoned grain silo by a band of feral raccoons, and if Mike Davis were
> the communications director of a heavily armed libertarian survivalist
> cult, and if the two of them had somehow managed to stitch John McPhee’s
> cortex onto the brain of a Gila monster, which they then sent to the
> Mexican border to conduct ten years of immersive research, and also if
> they wrote the entire manuscript on dried banana leaves with a toucan
> beak dipped in hobo blood, and then the book was line-edited during a
> 36-hour peyote séance by the ghosts of John Steinbeck, Jack London, and
> Sinclair Lewis, with 200 pages of endnotes faxed over by Henry David
> Thoreau’s great-great-great-great grandson from a concrete bunker under
> a toxic pond behind a maquiladora, and if at the last minute Herman
> Melville threw up all over the manuscript, rendering it illegible, so it
> had to be re-created from memory by a community-theater actor doing his
> best impression of Jack Kerouac."
>


Is it, really, Udhay? I actually detest these kind of super-witty "reviews"
which seem to be written more to display the reviewer's intellect, richness
of information, and facility for words (most of them rather sarcastic), than
be an actual review of the book. Such reviews are great entertainment...but,
in my opinion, not great reviews.

Oh goodness, how mean I sound. ...but...I'll let that stand.

Deepa.

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Now *this* is a book review:

http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/58062/

"Imperial is like Robert Caro’s The Power Broker with the attitude of
Mike Davis’s City of Quartz, if Robert Caro had been raised in an
abandoned grain silo by a band of feral raccoons, and if Mike Davis were
the communications director of a heavily armed libertarian survivalist
cult, and if the two of them had somehow managed to stitch John McPhee’s
cortex onto the brain of a Gila monster, which they then sent to the
Mexican border to conduct ten years of immersive research, and also if
they wrote the entire manuscript on dried banana leaves with a toucan
beak dipped in hobo blood, and then the book was line-edited during a
36-hour peyote séance by the ghosts of John Steinbeck, Jack London, and
Sinclair Lewis, with 200 pages of endnotes faxed over by Henry David
Thoreau’s great-great-great-great grandson from a concrete bunker under
a toxic pond behind a maquiladora, and if at the last minute Herman
Melville threw up all over the manuscript, rendering it illegible, so it
had to be re-created from memory by a community-theater actor doing his
best impression of Jack Kerouac."


-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Nikhil Mehra]

On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Udhay Shankar N  wrote:

> [The Prime Minister believes that he gave a clear, simple,
> straightforward and honest answer.]
>
> Sir Humphrey: Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear,
> simple, and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably
> assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement,
> inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you
> communicated and the facts, insofar as they can be determined and
> demonstrated, is such as to cause epistemological problems, of
> sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources
> of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be
> expected to bear.
>
>Hacker: Epistemological — what are you talking about?
>
>Sir Humphrey: You told a lie.
>
>Hacker: A lie?
>
>Sir Humphrey: A lie.
>
>Hacker: What do you mean, a lie?
>
>Sir Humphrey: I mean you…lied. Yes, I know this is a difficult
> concept to get across to a politician. You…ah yes, you did not tell the
> truth.


Err... lawyers would probably face a similar difficulty in understanding
what the deuce Sir Humphrey is on about. Probably why so many lawyers become
politicians all over the world. Some lies are necessary to avoid a lot of
future pain. And nothing is easily ascribed the status of a "lie" - there's
always a grain of truth to it. So I think Sir Humphrey needs to understand
that most lies are white, unless proven to be otherwise. Mere insistence
that one has stated a lie will get you nowhere with either a politician or a
lawyer. Other professionals should feel free to send their thoughts. I'd
love to hear a scientist's perspective on this.

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

[The Prime Minister believes that he gave a clear, simple,
straightforward and honest answer.]

Sir Humphrey: Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear,
simple, and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably
assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement,
inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you
communicated and the facts, insofar as they can be determined and
demonstrated, is such as to cause epistemological problems, of
sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources
of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be
expected to bear.

Hacker: Epistemological — what are you talking about?

Sir Humphrey: You told a lie.

Hacker: A lie?

Sir Humphrey: A lie.

Hacker: What do you mean, a lie?

Sir Humphrey: I mean you…lied. Yes, I know this is a difficult
concept to get across to a politician. You…ah yes, you did not tell the
truth.


-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

I'm just listening to this, and found this phrase evocative - so
making use of Bangalore's endless traffic jam to send it out. :-)

"I saw your act, it came and went
As flaccid as an ex-president."
--Anthrax, 'Packaged Rebellion'

-- 
Sent from my mobile device

((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QOTD: God hasn't voted yet!

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 01:00:48AM +0530, Venkat Mangudi wrote:

> And I am going to Hell because I am a Linux User.

Only *BSD users go to hell. Don't you know anything?
 
> What's with Hybrid cars being a wrong choice?

...because the right choice is a used diesel.
 
> Don't know about all y'all, but this site, I believe, is a nice parody. ;)

You have too much faith in humanity.

Re: [silk] QOTD: God hasn't voted yet!

[Venkat Mangudi]

Sumant Srivathsan wrote:
> It also turns out that *The Chronicles Of Narnia* is on books that should
> burn in hell. Wasn't it supposed to be heavily allegorical and a
> glorification of Christianity?
>
>   
And I am going to Hell because I am a Linux User.

What's with Hybrid cars being a wrong choice?

Don't know about all y'all, but this site, I believe, is a nice parody. ;)

Re: [silk] QOTD: God hasn’t voted yet!

[Sumant Srivathsan]

It also turns out that *The Chronicles Of Narnia* is on books that should
burn in hell. Wasn't it supposed to be heavily allegorical and a
glorification of Christianity?

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 7:28 PM, Danese Cooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Wow, Cory Doctorow is explicitly blacklisted on this site, and he's listed
> number three on the list (Obama is number one).  Best bit is that there's a
> live link to the Craphound blog...
>
> D
>
> http://shelleytherepublican.com/blacklist
>
> On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 2:24 AM, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
> > I can't tell if this is truly a disgruntled Republican or a wacky
> > joker, but this takes the cake:
> >
> > "I just want to urge you all to not give up hope yet. God hasn't voted
> > yet. All votes in the world are nothing against a flicker of will of
> > the Almighty."
> >
> >
> >
> http://ShelleyTheRepublican.com/2008/11/05/america-in-crisis-darky-stole-the-election.aspx
> >
> > The rest of the website has provided me much amusement over the days,
> > but be warned it can drain a lot of your time.
> >
> > Cheeni
> >
> >
>



-- 
Sumant Srivathsan
http://sumants.blogspot.com

Re: [silk] QOTD: God hasn’t voted yet!

[Danese Cooper]

Wow, Cory Doctorow is explicitly blacklisted on this site, and he's listed
number three on the list (Obama is number one).  Best bit is that there's a
live link to the Craphound blog...

D

http://shelleytherepublican.com/blacklist

On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 2:24 AM, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> I can't tell if this is truly a disgruntled Republican or a wacky
> joker, but this takes the cake:
>
> "I just want to urge you all to not give up hope yet. God hasn't voted
> yet. All votes in the world are nothing against a flicker of will of
> the Almighty."
>
>
> http://ShelleyTheRepublican.com/2008/11/05/america-in-crisis-darky-stole-the-election.aspx
>
> The rest of the website has provided me much amusement over the days,
> but be warned it can drain a lot of your time.
>
> Cheeni
>
>

[silk] QOTD: God hasn’t voted yet!

[Srini Ramakrishnan]

I can't tell if this is truly a disgruntled Republican or a wacky
joker, but this takes the cake:

"I just want to urge you all to not give up hope yet. God hasn't voted
yet. All votes in the world are nothing against a flicker of will of
the Almighty."

http://ShelleyTheRepublican.com/2008/11/05/america-in-crisis-darky-stole-the-election.aspx

The rest of the website has provided me much amusement over the days,
but be warned it can drain a lot of your time.

Cheeni

Re: [silk] QotD

[Vinayak Hegde]

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "The secret of long-term investment success is benign neglect. Don't try too
> hard. Much success can be attributed to inactivity." - Warren Buffett

Nassim Taleb says something similar in his book "Fooled by
Randomness". [1] (but with regards to information)


The problem with information is not that it is diverting and generally
useless, but that it is toxic. If there is anything better than noise
in the mass of "urgent" news pounding us, it would be like a needle in
a haystack.


-- Vinayak
[1] Complete list of quotes: http://www.co-ment.net/text/457/

Photoblog @ http://lens.vinayakhegde.com

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

“The secret of long-term investment success is benign neglect. Don’t try 
too hard. Much success can be attributed to inactivity.” - Warren Buffett


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

ashok _ wrote, [on 7/21/2008 12:29 PM]:


anyhow one would not want to criticise hulk movies too much, you don't
want to make
him  ang-lee do you ?


We wouldn't like him when he was ang-lee, but we didn't like him when he 
was Leterrier, either.


Another fine mess you got us into, Stan Lee...

Udhay

--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[ashok _]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 8:17 AM, Sumant Srivathsan  wrote:
> To me, what made the comics
> work is how various characters interact with Banner and with the Hulk to
> help them merge intelligence with power, and the fact that collateral damage
> is sometimes rather inevitable. Hulk smash, even when he doesn't really mean
> to.
>

the big green shrek analogy is fitting. maybe some superhero
characters will simply
not work when taken out of the comic context ... ?

anyhow one would not want to criticise hulk movies too much, you don't
want to make
him  ang-lee do you ?

Re: [silk] QotD

[Sumant Srivathsan]

Mostly true. One thing that the filmmakers seem to have ignored about The
Hulk is why exactly the character makes for such interesting comics. It's
not because the creature looks big, mean and green, or that Bruce Banner is
tortured by his beast; these are all well and good, but not crucial to its
appeal.

At the core of the Hulk comics is the relationship that The Hulk, not
Banner, has with the people he meets. The Hulk's intellect is suppressed,
making him an animal not unlike a large dog, which strikes back when
attacked, and is rather mellow when left alone. To me, what made the comics
work is how various characters interact with Banner and with the Hulk to
help them merge intelligence with power, and the fact that collateral damage
is sometimes rather inevitable. Hulk smash, even when he doesn't really mean
to.

-- 
Sumant Srivathsan
sumants.blogspot.com

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Critic remember Ang Lee version. Ang Lee version slagged off. Yet 
rubbish new Hulk film make that look like Citizen Kane. Critic exit 
cinema miffed. Film take away two hours of critic's life. Critic not get 
time back. Ever. Rar.

from a review of the new Hulk movie,

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,2285042,00.html

--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"This is like trying to convince someone to use a pen instead of opening 
a vein with a razor so that they can write with their own blood. Clearly 
this guy enjoys the pain of using Internet Explorer."


- from a discussion of the new version of Firefox on slashdot.org
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Supriya Nair]

[I find her sense of the "superiority" and
"inferiority" of certain classes has a lovely echo in the Indian
society of todayand that whole females.and- fate-worse-than-death
hypocritical morality, which I see all around me now]

Don't you find this is true of all her novels?  Every time I read her work I
find the romance/the happy ending more and more incidental*. The way she
writes women and their relationships with their families, especially with
other women, has an almost alarming resonance for me. :)

It's a pity Gurinder Chadha had the same ideas.

Supriya.

* - Never understood the fuss about Darcy, especially the Colin Firth
character in the TV series. The sort of character who, were the book a Yash
Chopra film, would be played by Saif Ali Khan. Blech. [My favourite Austen
hero has to be Frederick Wentworth, though, possibly because there's less of
a fatherly vibe to him than there is with Mr Knightley and Colonel Brandon.]



On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 6:36 PM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
> I see what you mean about snark
>
>
> SNARK!!! The very word I was looking for.
>
>
> > *beam* It's great to meet you too. I've long been a lurking admirer of
> your
> >  posts to this list.
>
> * head swells up visibly*
>
>
> What have
> >  you been re-reading? I just got back home from a  three-month stint in
> >  Calcutta and the first thing I did was to crack open Persuasion, which
> is
> >  full of hideous characters, and still manages to tolerate and
> accommodate
> >  them. It's a marvel. A marvel!
>
> I yam reading Yemma. I find her sense of the "superiority" and
> "inferiority" of certain classes has a lovely echo in the Indian
> society of todayand that whole females.and- fate-worse-than-death
> hypocritical morality, which I see all around me now...I have a
> 25-year old friend whose father is in the US, and is telling her
> mother not to leave her alone for 4 days and go to Chennai, as she
> will "go out of control"! My other Austen favourites are P&P and S&S.
>
> And if you want to get to the original scent-se of this thread... this
> is what a drift smells like!
>
> Deepa.
>
>


-- 
Doo-bop.

Re: [silk] QotD

[ss]

On Friday 02 May 2008 7:03:32 pm va wrote:
> hmm... would he say the same if (let's say) she were married and her
> husband was to leave her alone to proceed to the USA on official work
> ??

Once a girl is married - she is "thrown away" - she belongs to the husband's 
family. Pop washes his hands off. All this concern is to keep he virgo 
intacto and save family honor. Are women allowed to think? You've got to be 
joking.

shiv

Re: [silk] QotD

[ss]

On Friday 02 May 2008 6:36:21 pm Deepa Mohan wrote:
> My other Austen favourites are P&P

While I hated P&P as a textbook ages ago (Didn't bother reading it). I 
absolutely loved it as a movie (the new version) which I first saw on a long 
flight 2 years ago.

I have since downloaded the movie and have seen it again on my cellphone. Do 
you want a CD?

shiv

Re: [silk] QotD

[va]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 2:06 PM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>  I have a 25-year old friend whose father is in the US, and is telling her
>  mother not to leave her alone for 4 days and go to Chennai, as she
>  will "go out of control"!

hmm... would he say the same if (let's say) she were married and her
husband was to leave her alone to proceed to the USA on official work
??

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Deepa Mohan wrote, [on 5/2/2008 6:36 PM]:

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I see what you mean about snark


SNARK!!! The very word I was looking for.


This isn't even close to Turin's personal best as far as snark is 
concerned. Here's a better example:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silk-list/message/13467

Udhay
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I see what you mean about snark


SNARK!!! The very word I was looking for.


> *beam* It's great to meet you too. I've long been a lurking admirer of your
>  posts to this list.

* head swells up visibly*


What have
>  you been re-reading? I just got back home from a  three-month stint in
>  Calcutta and the first thing I did was to crack open Persuasion, which is
>  full of hideous characters, and still manages to tolerate and accommodate
>  them. It's a marvel. A marvel!

I yam reading Yemma. I find her sense of the "superiority" and
"inferiority" of certain classes has a lovely echo in the Indian
society of todayand that whole females.and- fate-worse-than-death
hypocritical morality, which I see all around me now...I have a
25-year old friend whose father is in the US, and is telling her
mother not to leave her alone for 4 days and go to Chennai, as she
will "go out of control"! My other Austen favourites are P&P and S&S.

And if you want to get to the original scent-se of this thread... this
is what a drift smells like!

Deepa.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Supriya Nair]

*beam* It's great to meet you too. I've long been a lurking admirer of your
posts to this list.

I see what you mean about snark, when you said in your first post that it
was destructive. It's too unilateral, and that's always a danger in written
media. I was reading this old
rantby BR Myers
on modern literary fiction last night, and I was enjoying myself
thoroughly at how rude and dismissive it was, but a third of the way in it
got thoroughly monotonous, and I kept saying "Yes, and?" to it.

Austen's humour is amazing, to me, because of how she manages to work it
into her writing in such a non-cynical way [for the most part]. What have
you been re-reading? I just got back home from a  three-month stint in
Calcutta and the first thing I did was to crack open Persuasion, which is
full of hideous characters, and still manages to tolerate and accommodate
them. It's a marvel. A marvel!

Supriya.

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 11:14 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> > I share some of your distaste for the critical venting of spleen, Deepa,
> but
> >  I think in this case the fault lies with me, for quoting the most
> >  eye-catching part of a free-wheeling and catholic review of a
> well-judged
> >  book, and not with Turin and Sanchez.
> >
> >  I don't think they dismiss scents on a popularity basis. *Slate*
> carried a
> >  review last week which carries a couple of nice things they say about
> famous
> >  perfumes: http://www.slate.com/id/2190277/
> >
> >  Their snappy reviewing style is interesting to me for the reasons Udhay
> >  mentions above. To my blunted sense of smell, the simile-laden strings
> of
> >  press-release perfume descriptions mean zilch - the emotional and
> >  intellectual consideration attached to [some of] these reviews keeps me
> more
> >  interested.
> >
> >  Supriya.
>
> Hey Supriya! First of all, nice to e-meet you...and I do agree, what's
> biting is MUCH more interesting than what is polite! (I have just been
> re-reading some Jane Austen, and this is so true even in the more
> gentle form of her wit! "The visit (by relatives)  was ideal in being
> far too short."
>
> And while I hold some opinions on how opinions should be expressed, I
> don't think that everyone should, or would, do things the way I want
> them to be done, unless of course I become Supreme Potentate of the
> Universe. I *am* working on that...
>
> Cheers, Deepa.
> >
> >
> >
> >  On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:02 AM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> >
> >  > On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:32 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >  > wrote:
> >  > > Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I
> have
> >  > >  wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
> >  > >  book<
> >  >
> http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/03/10/080310crbo_books_lanchester?printable=true
> >  > >
> >  > >  .
> >  > >
> >  > >  That, it turns out, is relatively mild, as their criticisms go.
> >  > Consider
> >  > >  212, from Carolina Herrera: "Like getting lemon juice in a paper
> cut."
> >  > >  Amarige, from Givenchy? "If you are reading this because it is
> your
> >  > darling
> >  > >  fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the
> windows
> >  > shut."
> >  > >  Heiress? "Hilariously vile 50/50 mix of cheap shampoo and canned
> >  > peaches."
> >  > >  Princess? "Stupid name, pink perfume, heart shaped bottle, little
> crown
> >  > on
> >  > >  top. I half expected it to be really great just to spite me. But
> no,
> >  > it's
> >  > >  probably the most repulsively cloying thing on the market today."
> Hugo,
> >  > the
> >  > >  men's cologne from Hugo Boss? "Dull but competent lavender-oakmoss
> >  > thing,
> >  > >  suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings." Love in White?
> "A
> >  > >  chemical white floral so disastrously vile words nearly desert me.
> If
> >  > this
> >  > >  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough
> for
> >  > two
> >  > >  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice." Lanvin's Rumeur
> gets
> >  > a
> >  > >  one-word review: "Baseless."
> >  > >
> >  > >  Admire and appreciate that Turin is apparently a biochemist
> >  > "specialising in
> >  > >  the creation of new smells."
> >  >
> >  >
> >  > I suppose these are maestros of scent who know exactly what they are
> >  > talking about...but such destructive criticism, while it sounds very
> >  > witty, makes me, personally, very uncomfortable, because it posits a
> >  > stance of "only my viewpoint is valid and the people who use these
> >  > scents are idiots". Scents are so subjective that I cannot understand
> >  > how any one opinion can be the only valid one. And I am  with the
> >  > snobbery of "I am so expert that I can slate every perfume which is
> >  > popular."
> >  >
> >  > "If this
> >  > >  were a shampoo 

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 11:14 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I share some of your distaste for the critical venting of spleen, Deepa, but
>  I think in this case the fault lies with me, for quoting the most
>  eye-catching part of a free-wheeling and catholic review of a well-judged
>  book, and not with Turin and Sanchez.
>
>  I don't think they dismiss scents on a popularity basis. *Slate* carried a
>  review last week which carries a couple of nice things they say about famous
>  perfumes: http://www.slate.com/id/2190277/
>
>  Their snappy reviewing style is interesting to me for the reasons Udhay
>  mentions above. To my blunted sense of smell, the simile-laden strings of
>  press-release perfume descriptions mean zilch - the emotional and
>  intellectual consideration attached to [some of] these reviews keeps me more
>  interested.
>
>  Supriya.

Hey Supriya! First of all, nice to e-meet you...and I do agree, what's
biting is MUCH more interesting than what is polite! (I have just been
re-reading some Jane Austen, and this is so true even in the more
gentle form of her wit! "The visit (by relatives)  was ideal in being
far too short."

And while I hold some opinions on how opinions should be expressed, I
don't think that everyone should, or would, do things the way I want
them to be done, unless of course I become Supreme Potentate of the
Universe. I *am* working on that...

Cheers, Deepa.
>
>
>
>  On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:02 AM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>  > On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:32 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>  > wrote:
>  > > Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I have
>  > >  wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
>  > >  book<
>  > 
> http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/03/10/080310crbo_books_lanchester?printable=true
>  > >
>  > >  .
>  > >
>  > >  That, it turns out, is relatively mild, as their criticisms go.
>  > Consider
>  > >  212, from Carolina Herrera: "Like getting lemon juice in a paper cut."
>  > >  Amarige, from Givenchy? "If you are reading this because it is your
>  > darling
>  > >  fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows
>  > shut."
>  > >  Heiress? "Hilariously vile 50/50 mix of cheap shampoo and canned
>  > peaches."
>  > >  Princess? "Stupid name, pink perfume, heart shaped bottle, little crown
>  > on
>  > >  top. I half expected it to be really great just to spite me. But no,
>  > it's
>  > >  probably the most repulsively cloying thing on the market today." Hugo,
>  > the
>  > >  men's cologne from Hugo Boss? "Dull but competent lavender-oakmoss
>  > thing,
>  > >  suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings." Love in White? "A
>  > >  chemical white floral so disastrously vile words nearly desert me. If
>  > this
>  > >  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for
>  > two
>  > >  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice." Lanvin's Rumeur gets
>  > a
>  > >  one-word review: "Baseless."
>  > >
>  > >  Admire and appreciate that Turin is apparently a biochemist
>  > "specialising in
>  > >  the creation of new smells."
>  >
>  >
>  > I suppose these are maestros of scent who know exactly what they are
>  > talking about...but such destructive criticism, while it sounds very
>  > witty, makes me, personally, very uncomfortable, because it posits a
>  > stance of "only my viewpoint is valid and the people who use these
>  > scents are idiots". Scents are so subjective that I cannot understand
>  > how any one opinion can be the only valid one. And I am  with the
>  > snobbery of "I am so expert that I can slate every perfume which is
>  > popular."
>  >
>  > "If this
>  > >  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for
>  > two
>  > >  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice."
>  >
>  >
>  > Oh, come ON! This sounds so clever and mordant...but Mr. Scent Expert,
>  > I would NOT opt to keep the lice after two months in Nouakchott,
>  > wherever that may be.
>  >
>  >
>  > Does expertise only mean looking down (looking down one's nose is an
>  > apt image here!) on others? I understand that some of us have much
>  > more highly educated noses than others..but surely every scent under
>  > the sun has its place somewhere in the Universe! "I don't like it" is
>  > acceptable to me, "No one should like it" is not.
>  >
>  > In fact, the same fragrance may affect one differently depending on
>  > the context. When I was walking through the State Forest at
>  > Devarayanadurga, the scent of the wild jasmine was everywhere. It is a
>  > strong and heady aroma, and I loved it; my memories of the day are
>  > completely tinged with that scent. But I would never buy such a strong
>  > scent as a perfume-in-a-bottle.
>  >
>  > My earliest memories are of  "Tata Eau de Cologne" (applied to my
>  > forehead in a folded hanky, whenever I was running a high
>  > temperature), and I always

Re: [silk] QotD

[Supriya Nair]

I share some of your distaste for the critical venting of spleen, Deepa, but
I think in this case the fault lies with me, for quoting the most
eye-catching part of a free-wheeling and catholic review of a well-judged
book, and not with Turin and Sanchez.

I don't think they dismiss scents on a popularity basis. *Slate* carried a
review last week which carries a couple of nice things they say about famous
perfumes: http://www.slate.com/id/2190277/

Their snappy reviewing style is interesting to me for the reasons Udhay
mentions above. To my blunted sense of smell, the simile-laden strings of
press-release perfume descriptions mean zilch - the emotional and
intellectual consideration attached to [some of] these reviews keeps me more
interested.

Supriya.

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 1:02 AM, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:32 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> > Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I have
> >  wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
> >  book<
> http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/03/10/080310crbo_books_lanchester?printable=true
> >
> >  .
> >
> >  That, it turns out, is relatively mild, as their criticisms go.
> Consider
> >  212, from Carolina Herrera: "Like getting lemon juice in a paper cut."
> >  Amarige, from Givenchy? "If you are reading this because it is your
> darling
> >  fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows
> shut."
> >  Heiress? "Hilariously vile 50/50 mix of cheap shampoo and canned
> peaches."
> >  Princess? "Stupid name, pink perfume, heart shaped bottle, little crown
> on
> >  top. I half expected it to be really great just to spite me. But no,
> it's
> >  probably the most repulsively cloying thing on the market today." Hugo,
> the
> >  men's cologne from Hugo Boss? "Dull but competent lavender-oakmoss
> thing,
> >  suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings." Love in White? "A
> >  chemical white floral so disastrously vile words nearly desert me. If
> this
> >  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for
> two
> >  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice." Lanvin's Rumeur gets
> a
> >  one-word review: "Baseless."
> >
> >  Admire and appreciate that Turin is apparently a biochemist
> "specialising in
> >  the creation of new smells."
>
>
> I suppose these are maestros of scent who know exactly what they are
> talking about...but such destructive criticism, while it sounds very
> witty, makes me, personally, very uncomfortable, because it posits a
> stance of "only my viewpoint is valid and the people who use these
> scents are idiots". Scents are so subjective that I cannot understand
> how any one opinion can be the only valid one. And I am  with the
> snobbery of "I am so expert that I can slate every perfume which is
> popular."
>
> "If this
> >  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for
> two
> >  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice."
>
>
> Oh, come ON! This sounds so clever and mordant...but Mr. Scent Expert,
> I would NOT opt to keep the lice after two months in Nouakchott,
> wherever that may be.
>
>
> Does expertise only mean looking down (looking down one's nose is an
> apt image here!) on others? I understand that some of us have much
> more highly educated noses than others..but surely every scent under
> the sun has its place somewhere in the Universe! "I don't like it" is
> acceptable to me, "No one should like it" is not.
>
> In fact, the same fragrance may affect one differently depending on
> the context. When I was walking through the State Forest at
> Devarayanadurga, the scent of the wild jasmine was everywhere. It is a
> strong and heady aroma, and I loved it; my memories of the day are
> completely tinged with that scent. But I would never buy such a strong
> scent as a perfume-in-a-bottle.
>
> My earliest memories are of  "Tata Eau de Cologne" (applied to my
> forehead in a folded hanky, whenever I was running a high
> temperature), and I always associated the smell of "Tata Shampoo"
> (remember that annular bottle
> those-who-were-brought-up-at-that-time-in-India?) with clean hair.
> They were, probably, very hoi polloi scents; but I cannot change my
> "Tata Aroma" memories.
>
> Hmm...this smells like a rant...
>
> Deepa.
>
>


-- 
Doo-bop.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Deepa Mohan wrote, [on 5/2/2008 1:02 AM]:


I suppose these are maestros of scent who know exactly what they are
talking about...but such destructive criticism, while it sounds very
witty, makes me, personally, very uncomfortable, because it posits a
stance of "only my viewpoint is valid and the people who use these
scents are idiots". Scents are so subjective that I cannot understand
how any one opinion can be the only valid one. And I am  with the
snobbery of "I am so expert that I can slate every perfume which is
popular."


Three points in response:

1. Smells do evoke strong emotional responses in people.

2. The opinions expressed by reviewers, whether Turin/Sanchez, or 
Michael Edwards, or whoever, are *supposed* to be subjective. Think of 
it as being similar to a wine review: the idea is that if you perceive 
similarities between the reviewer's palate and yours, you will trust a 
review by her for something you don't have experience of.


3. The book being reviewed is an update of one which was first released 
(in French) over a decade ago. The language (both the tone and the 
vocabulary - by which I mean the words Turing uses to describe the 
feelings evoked by each composition) was touted as a breath of fresh air 
in a field of stilted and politically correct alternatives.


The Q&A URL I posted might have some more interesting insights.

Udhay
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Supriya Nair wrote, [on 5/2/2008 12:32 AM]:


Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I have
wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
book


You may also enjoy this /.-style interview with Turin and Sanchez:

http://nowsmellthis.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/4/14/3636692.html

Udhay (who's been trying to get Luca on silk for a while now)
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:32 AM, Supriya Nair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I have
>  wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
>  
> book
>  .
>
>  That, it turns out, is relatively mild, as their criticisms go. Consider
>  212, from Carolina Herrera: "Like getting lemon juice in a paper cut."
>  Amarige, from Givenchy? "If you are reading this because it is your darling
>  fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows shut."
>  Heiress? "Hilariously vile 50/50 mix of cheap shampoo and canned peaches."
>  Princess? "Stupid name, pink perfume, heart shaped bottle, little crown on
>  top. I half expected it to be really great just to spite me. But no, it's
>  probably the most repulsively cloying thing on the market today." Hugo, the
>  men's cologne from Hugo Boss? "Dull but competent lavender-oakmoss thing,
>  suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings." Love in White? "A
>  chemical white floral so disastrously vile words nearly desert me. If this
>  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for two
>  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice." Lanvin's Rumeur gets a
>  one-word review: "Baseless."
>
>  Admire and appreciate that Turin is apparently a biochemist "specialising in
>  the creation of new smells."


I suppose these are maestros of scent who know exactly what they are
talking about...but such destructive criticism, while it sounds very
witty, makes me, personally, very uncomfortable, because it posits a
stance of "only my viewpoint is valid and the people who use these
scents are idiots". Scents are so subjective that I cannot understand
how any one opinion can be the only valid one. And I am  with the
snobbery of "I am so expert that I can slate every perfume which is
popular."

"If this
>  were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for two
>  months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice."


Oh, come ON! This sounds so clever and mordant...but Mr. Scent Expert,
I would NOT opt to keep the lice after two months in Nouakchott,
wherever that may be.


Does expertise only mean looking down (looking down one's nose is an
apt image here!) on others? I understand that some of us have much
more highly educated noses than others..but surely every scent under
the sun has its place somewhere in the Universe! "I don't like it" is
acceptable to me, "No one should like it" is not.

In fact, the same fragrance may affect one differently depending on
the context. When I was walking through the State Forest at
Devarayanadurga, the scent of the wild jasmine was everywhere. It is a
strong and heady aroma, and I loved it; my memories of the day are
completely tinged with that scent. But I would never buy such a strong
scent as a perfume-in-a-bottle.

My earliest memories are of  "Tata Eau de Cologne" (applied to my
forehead in a folded hanky, whenever I was running a high
temperature), and I always associated the smell of "Tata Shampoo"
(remember that annular bottle
those-who-were-brought-up-at-that-time-in-India?) with clean hair.
They were, probably, very hoi polloi scents; but I cannot change my
"Tata Aroma" memories.

Hmm...this smells like a rant...

Deepa.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Supriya Nair]

Turin and Tania Sanchez' book of perfume criticism is something I have
wanted to read since the minute I read this review of the
book
.

That, it turns out, is relatively mild, as their criticisms go. Consider
212, from Carolina Herrera: "Like getting lemon juice in a paper cut."
Amarige, from Givenchy? "If you are reading this because it is your darling
fragrance, please wear it at home exclusively, and tape the windows shut."
Heiress? "Hilariously vile 50/50 mix of cheap shampoo and canned peaches."
Princess? "Stupid name, pink perfume, heart shaped bottle, little crown on
top. I half expected it to be really great just to spite me. But no, it's
probably the most repulsively cloying thing on the market today." Hugo, the
men's cologne from Hugo Boss? "Dull but competent lavender-oakmoss thing,
suggestive of a day filled with strategy meetings." Love in White? "A
chemical white floral so disastrously vile words nearly desert me. If this
were a shampoo offered with your first shower after sleeping rough for two
months in Nouakchott, you'd opt to keep the lice." Lanvin's Rumeur gets a
one-word review: "Baseless."

Admire and appreciate that Turin is apparently a biochemist "specialising in
the creation of new smells."

Supriya.
On Thu, May 1, 2008 at 11:10 AM, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Good judgment is often little more than the wise exercise of prejudice.
>-Luca Turin
>
> --
> ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
>
>


-- 
Doo-bop.

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Good judgment is often little more than the wise exercise of prejudice.
-Luca Turin

--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Someone who tells be that they believe P=NP, despite lacking a proof
of this, gets no respect from me. That doesn't change, if it later
turns out they were right. Given any binary proposition, one of the
coins in my pocket will predict it correctly.
-Russell Turpin

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On 12/7/07, Ramakrishnan Sundaram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
> Hash: SHA256
>
> Raul Siddhartha said the following on 07/12/2007 10:56:
>
> > Jay Leno yesterday :-)
>
> Is the writers' strike over then? Or was it a repeat?

'twas a repeat...

Deepa.
>
> Ram
> -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)
>
> iD8DBQFHWPyrRQoToz9njMgRCFfdAJ0ZCdISU1qCsc3KXriSsCx5kMrjZQCcDL3R
> dsXj3uYY7L3KLMqx9pGr4lI=
> =2HFe
> -END PGP SIGNATURE-
>
>

Re: [silk] QotD

[Ramakrishnan Sundaram]

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA256

Raul Siddhartha said the following on 07/12/2007 10:56:

> Jay Leno yesterday :-)

Is the writers' strike over then? Or was it a repeat?

Ram
-BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFHWPyrRQoToz9njMgRCFfdAJ0ZCdISU1qCsc3KXriSsCx5kMrjZQCcDL3R
dsXj3uYY7L3KLMqx9pGr4lI=
=2HFe
-END PGP SIGNATURE-

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Raul Siddhartha wrote [at 12:26 PM 12/7/2007] :


http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?AssumeGoodFaith

It was also the "Rule Zero: Assume Goodwill" that really caught my
attention about silklist. Well, that was the first time I came across
it, at least. :-D

Fairly interesting statement. I've always been curious: What exactly
prompted it? :-)


Well - the URL you cite does a good job of explaining why. Short 
version: 99% of flamewars go away if one assumes goodwill or good 
faith) on the part of any interlocutor, unless given reason to 
believe otherwise.


Udhay
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Raul Siddhartha]

> And it is a sufficiently pat coinage that several people (including
> yours truly) have independently come up with it. Though I, for one,
> was referring to the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has quit the Republican Party
and has become an Independent. Bloomberg says he has no plans to be
president. Now don't confuse that with President Bush, who has no
plans as president."

Jay Leno yesterday :-)

http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?AssumeGoodFaith

It was also the "Rule Zero: Assume Goodwill" that really caught my
attention about silklist. Well, that was the first time I came across
it, at least. :-D

Fairly interesting statement. I've always been curious: What exactly
prompted it? :-)

Raul

Re: [silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Madhu M. Kurup wrote [at 11:48 AM 12/7/2007] :


"At some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable
from malice."

From: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001011.html


A variant of Hanlon's Razor?


I thought it was a portmaneau-ish (!) combination of Hanlon's Razor 
with Clarke's third law


Yes.

And it is a sufficiently pat coinage that several people (including 
yours truly) have independently come up with it. Though I, for one, 
was referring to the current inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.


Udhay

--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Madhu M. Kurup]

Hmm:

Ingrid wrote:

On 06/12/2007, Madhu Menon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

"At some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable
from malice."

From: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001011.html



A variant of Hanlon's Razor?



I thought it was a portmaneau-ish (!) combination of Hanlon's Razor with 
Clarke's third law, see:


http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clarke%27s_three_laws&oldid=175840436

Cheerio,
M
--
Madhu M Kurup /* Nemo Me Impune Lacessit */ mmk222 at cornell dt edu

Re: [silk] QotD

[Ingrid]

On 06/12/2007, Madhu Menon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> "At some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable
> from malice."
>
> From: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001011.html


A variant of Hanlon's Razor?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

*Hanlon's razor* is an adage  which
reads:
 " *Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity.* "

Also worded as:
" *Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice.* "




-- 
"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On Dec 6, 2007 11:35 PM, Madhu Menon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "At some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable
> from malice."

Also, Madhu, as you must have experienced with some of your staff...at
some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable
from smartness. I have come across many people who do some tasks but
profess incompetence at others. Most ofen, it is less of a hassle to
do that task and let them get on with the rest, than change the
employee. This results in their steadily doing less, and me doing
moreI think I am being had, but I am not sure!


Deepa.

>
> From: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001011.html
>
>
> --
> <<<   *   >>>
> Madhu Menon
> Shiok Far-eastern Cuisine
> Indiranagar, Bangalore
> Visit us @ http://www.shiokfood.com
> Phone: (080) 4116 1800
> My food photos: http://flickr.com/photos/themadman
>
>

[silk] QotD

[Madhu Menon]

"At some level, sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable 
from malice."


From: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001011.html


--
<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
Shiok Far-eastern Cuisine
Indiranagar, Bangalore
Visit us @ http://www.shiokfood.com
Phone: (080) 4116 1800
My food photos: http://flickr.com/photos/themadman

[silk] QoTD

[Ramakrishnan Sundaram]

Found this in a /. comment, attributed to 'fortune-o':

"Working computer hardware is a lot like an erect penis. It stays up as
long as you don't fuck with it."

Ram

Re: [silk] QotD

[Amit Varma]

Related:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/08/so-you-think-yo.html

Excerpt:

> Our system for choosing presidents doesn't work very well.  Voters are
> woefully uninformed on the most basic of issues and many end up voting on
> whim .  I
> don't think restricting the franchise is a good solution, however.  A better
> idea is to create procedures that encourage voters to become better
> informed.  Our current institutions for providing information are lousy.
> Debates, for example, are boring, the politicians don't answer the questions
> and most importantly *the voters don't know what a good answer is*.
>
> [...]
>
> Thus what we need is a way of conveying information to uninformed,
> unsophisticated voters in a way that is entertaining yet produces
> information about politicians that is correlated with real skills.
>
> I suggest a game show, *So You Think You Can Be President?*  SYTYCBP would
> have at least three segments.
>
> *Coase  it Out*:
> Presidential candidates have 12 hours to get a bitterly divorcing couple to
> divide their assets in a mutually agreeable manner.  (Bonus points are
> awarded if the candidate convinces the couple to stay together.)
>
> *Game Theory*: Candidates compete in a game of 
> Diplomacy.
>  I would also include several ringers - say Robin Hanson, Bryan Caplan and
> Salma Hayek.  Why these three?  Robin is cold, calculating and merciless -
> make a logical mistake and he will make you pay.  Bryan is crafty and
> experienced.   And Salma?  I couldn't refuse her anything but presidents
> should be made of stronger stuff so we need a test.
>
> *Spot the Fraud*:  Presidential candidates are provided with an economic
> scenario (mortgage defaults are up, hedge funds are crashing, liquidity is
> tight).  Three experts propose plans.  The candidate must choose one of the
> plans.  After the candidate chooses, the true identities of the "experts"
> are revealed. One is a trucker, another a scuba diver instructor and the
> last a distinguished economist.  Which did the candidate choose?
>
> Entertaining?  Check.  Correlated with important skills for governing?
> Check.  Can the voters tell who the winner is?  Check.
>


-- 
Amit Varma
http://www.indiauncut.com

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"As president, I would solve all the world's problems by creating a 
reality TV show where think tanks compete for the best solutions to 
everything from health care to energy policy to immigration. The 
judges would be experts who help viewers sort the squirrel shit from 
the caviar, but the final decisions would be made by viewers, just 
like on American Idol.


I think you can see many problems with this plan. But you have to 
compare it to the current political process where idiots elect liars 
to transfer wealth to crooks. How's that working out for you?"


--The always-quotable Scott Adams, in 
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/10/so-you-think-yo.html

--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

Is those things arms, or is they legs?


That reminds me of a piece of verse that I read in Arnold Silcock's
Verse and Worse:

Long before I was Solomon and you were the Queen of Sheba
We lived life togther..as one amoeba.
..
Anon came division, fission, and divorce...
A lonely pseudopodium, I wandered on my course.

(The first two lines are not verbatim, but I have never forgotten the last two.)

That book is one of my favourites...

Deepa.



On 6/28/07, Raul Siddhartha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Ah This reminds me of an Ogden Nash poem from school

Personally, I think "The Octopus" is unmatched :-)

--
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I'd call me Us.

 - The Octopus, Ogden Nash
--

Raul

Re: [silk] QotD

[Vinayak Hegde]

On 6/28/07, Deepa Mohan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Thank you, Vinayak, for that lovely revisit of one of my favourites!
And though "month" is supposed to be one of the words in the English
language without a rhyme, Nash did his best with both the singular and
the his version of the plural of the word.

Which school did you go to, which taught Ogden Nash? Can't imagine
CBSE putting it into their syllabus...


I did my schooling in Mumbai so it was Maharashtra Board syllabus.

I remember the poem because of the lines:

Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.

Serendipitously I had been to the dentist just the day before I was taught
that in school. So this poem just "stuck" in my brain. Is there a word
for such memories due to contextual association ?

-- Vinayak

Re: [silk] QotD

[Raul Siddhartha]

Ah This reminds me of an Ogden Nash poem from school


Personally, I think "The Octopus" is unmatched :-)

--
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I'd call me Us.

- The Octopus, Ogden Nash
--

Raul

Re: [silk] QotD

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Deepa Mohan wrote:

> Which school did you go to, which taught Ogden Nash? Can't imagine
> CBSE putting it into their syllabus...

If you were in the ICSE curriculum at any point during your school (at
least back in the 80s) they had a poetry book called Panorama - one
helluva anthology of poems

Only selected poems in the syllabus but that certainly didnt stop me
reading through the whole lot

Sigh, I wish the minstrels list was alive ..the last post there seems to
be 1/22/07.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minstrels/ for those who are
not on it.

-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9
email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

On 6/28/07, Vinayak Hegde <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

On 6/28/07, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?
> - Frank Zappa, in response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music
> incites people towards
> deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general.

Ah This reminds me of an Ogden Nash poem from school

This Is Going To Hurt Just A Little Bit
-

One thing I like less than most things is sitting in a dentist chair
with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against
hope hopen.

Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self-possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest.

So hard to retain your calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line
or love line or some other important line in your palm;

So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life most
lacking in dignity.

And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.
And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and
drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve in your head thatyou
aren't being irked on.

Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.

And the circumstance that adds most to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only
they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one
hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you do
when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget
that left is right and vice versa?

And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn't because he
then coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a
horse's hoof.

And you totter to your feet and think. Well it's all over now and
afterall it was only this once.
And he says come back in three monce.

And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest,
That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in
good condition
when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.

-- Vinayak


Thank you, Vinayak, for that lovely revisit of one of my favourites!
And though "month" is supposed to be one of the words in the English
language without a rhyme, Nash did his best with both the singular and
the his version of the plural of the word.

Which school did you go to, which taught Ogden Nash? Can't imagine
CBSE putting it into their syllabus...


Deepa.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Vinayak Hegde]

On 6/28/07, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?
- Frank Zappa, in response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music
incites people towards
deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general.


Ah This reminds me of an Ogden Nash poem from school

This Is Going To Hurt Just A Little Bit
-

One thing I like less than most things is sitting in a dentist chair
with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against
hope hopen.

Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self-possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest.

So hard to retain your calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line
or love line or some other important line in your palm;

So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life most
lacking in dignity.

And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.
And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and
drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve in your head thatyou
aren't being irked on.

Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.

And the circumstance that adds most to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only
they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one
hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you do
when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget
that left is right and vice versa?

And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn't because he
then coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a
horse's hoof.

And you totter to your feet and think. Well it's all over now and
afterall it was only this once.
And he says come back in three monce.

And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest,
That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in
good condition
when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.

-- Vinayak

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?
- Frank Zappa, in response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music 
incites people towards

deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general.

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"My baby's left my lily pad
My legs were both deep-fried
I eat flies all day and when I'm gone
They'll stick me in formaldehyde
oh, I got the greens
I got the greens real bad..."
Gary Larson, _The Far Side_, July 5, 1990


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"According to this, he's smart, savvy, and very very disgruntled. 
RUMINIT says he felt that he was passed over for promotion because of 
his religious beliefs."


"What, he's a Scientologist?"

It was Sergei's turn to laugh. "No, agnostic. Rather militantly so. 
As in 'I don't know, and you don't either.'"

--Laura Anne Gilman, _Staying Dead_


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

He famously also passed a law banning jokes about his name..


And was he then known as Can'taan  Ban ana?

Deepa.

Re: [silk] QotD

[ashok _]

On 4/2/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

> or... president Rev.Canaan Banana of Zimbabwe

Him of the "man raped by banana" fame?



He famously also passed a law banning jokes about his name..

Re: [silk] QotD

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

ashok _ wrote:
> or... president Rev.Canaan Banana of Zimbabwe

Him of the "man raped by banana" fame?

srs (he got tried for homosexual rape of one of his guards..)

-- 
Suresh Ramasubramanian | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | gpg EDEDEFB9
email sturmbahnfuehrer | lower middle class unix sysadmin

Re: [silk] QotD

[Binand Sethumadhavan]

On 02/04/07, ashok _ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Reminds me of Major Major Major Major  the guy from Catch 22 - who
gets promoted to Major upon joining the army, but can never get
promoted thereafter because he is the world's only Major Major.


Which in turn reminds me of the two brothers from one of PG
Wodehouse's books, with the surname Major... the elder (the character
in the story) was a South African gold prospector and the younger
(mentioned in passing) was in the Army. So the story had the Miner
Major, while the Minor Major was a Major in the army (or some such).

Binand

Re: [silk] QotD

[ashok _]

or... president Rev.Canaan Banana of Zimbabwe

On 4/2/07, Ramakrishnan Sundaram wrote:

Like Cardinal Sin from the Philippines?

Ram

Re: [silk] QotD

[Ramakrishnan Sundaram]

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ashok _ said the following on 02/04/2007 17:10:
> Reminds me of Major Major Major Major  the guy from Catch 22 - who
> gets promoted to Major upon joining the army, but can never get
> promoted thereafter because he is the world's only Major Major.

Like Cardinal Sin from the Philippines?

Ram
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Re: [silk] QotD

[ashok _]

Reminds me of Major Major Major Major  the guy from Catch 22 - who
gets promoted to Major upon joining the army, but can never get
promoted thereafter because he is the world's only Major Major.

On 4/2/07, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Indeed, for any n [greater than or equal to] 1, the sentence buffalon
is grammatically correct.
  
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo.


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] QotD

[Deepa Mohan]

That Wiki  on the Buffalo sentence reminds me of the many incredible
meaning-interpretations that exist in de-crypting the works of
Shakespeare to prove they were written by Bacon. Wodehouse has a
particularly ludicrous excerpt in one of his short stories, a Mulliner
one, I think.

Deepa.

On 4/2/07, Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Indeed, for any n [greater than or equal to] 1, the sentence buffalon
is grammatically correct.
  
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo.


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

Indeed, for any n [greater than or equal to] 1, the sentence buffalon 
is grammatically correct.

 
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo.


--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

[silk] QotD

[Udhay Shankar N]

"What do you think of Quantum Computers, Erwin?"
"I'm simultaneously for and against them."
-http://www.userfriendly.org/cartoons/archives/07feb/uf010023.gif

Re: [silk] QotD

[Biju Chacko]

On 25/08/06, sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Ergo terrorism can be fought by tackling the economic and social problems that
cause young people to lust after ipods, mobile phones and other consumerist
junk. You need to agree with Osammy for terrorism to stop. From his viewpoint
this is simple.


Osama would be impotent without people to do his bidding. Where does
he recruit from? Primarily, dissaffected youth from places like Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, England and Pakistan -- most of whom are outraged by
what is happening to their brethren in places like Palestine, Lebanon
and Iraq.

Ergo, the solution (which is easier said than done) is:

* Help potential recruits find something more productive to do.

* Sort out the long standing problems in the middle east.
Unfortunately, the current strategy for that  (kill 'em all and let
Allah sort 'em out) doesn't seem to be working.

To point out the obvious using a cliche -- violence just breeds more
violence. Shooting back is easy (and is occasionally the right
response), showing restraint and attempting to solve things is
difficult. The current US administration isn't showing any appetite
for the difficult bits.

-- b

Re: [silk] QotD

[sastry]

On Fri August 25 2006 9:45 am, Biju Chacko wrote:
> the only way to prevent terrorism is extremely difficult:
> tackle the economic and social problems that distract potential
> terrorists from lusting after ipods, mobile phones and other
> consumerist junk the rest of us want.
:)

This may be off topic, but I believe you have hit upon the very excuse that 
Osammy uses to justify terrorism. All it requires is a little rewording.

It is because impressionable young people are forced to leave the path of (a 
particular?) God and lust after ipods and mobile phones and other consumerist 
junk that the forces of the great Satan that are causing these problems need 
to be fought.

Ergo terrorism can be fought by tackling the economic and social problems that 
cause young people to lust after ipods, mobile phones and other consumerist 
junk. You need to agree with Osammy for terrorism to stop. From his viewpoint 
this is simple.


shiv

Re: [silk] QotD

[Biju Chacko]

On 24/08/06, sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

On Thu August 24 2006 6:16 pm, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> that's how terrorists should be treated. being strict against evil killers
> is what makes the US a safe place to live in.
> -rishab

Sorry - the assumption is flawed because you have cause and effect mixed up.

The US is a safe place to live because the US takes all the necessary steps to
pre-empt or thwart terrorism. If some terrorists slip through the net - they
are treated as described. The state of "being a safe place to live" is earned
by *preventing* terrorism  and not by reactively punishing "strictly" or
otherwise.


The US would be a "safe place to live" if they had better gun control
laws. Terrorism is a problem, yes, but let's keep it context.

IAC, IMO the only way to prevent terrorism is extremely difficult:
tackle the economic and social problems that distract potential
terrorists from lusting after ipods, mobile phones and other
consumerist junk the rest of us want.

Politics and fundamentalism are the only outlet for those without the
opportunities to join the rat race.

-- b

Re: [silk] QotD

[sastry]

On Thu August 24 2006 6:16 pm, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> that's how terrorists should be treated. being strict against evil killers
> is what makes the US a safe place to live in.
> -rishab

Sorry - the assumption is flawed because you have cause and effect mixed up.

The US is a safe place to live because the US takes all the necessary steps to 
pre-empt or thwart terrorism. If some terrorists slip through the net - they 
are treated as described. The state of "being a safe place to live" is earned 
by *preventing* terrorism  and not by reactively punishing "strictly" or 
otherwise.

shiv

Re: [silk] QotD

[Rishab Aiyer Ghosh]

that's how terrorists should be treated. being strict against evil killers 
is what makes the US a safe place to live in.

-rishab

At 03:35 24/08/2006, sastry wrote:

"There they were shackled and put on a U.S. military plane for transport to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During the flight their lips were sealed, eyes covered,
hands and feet and backs were chained. They were each given nothing but an
apple and a piece of bread during the 24 hour flight."

Re: [silk] QotD

[sastry]

On Wed August 23 2006 10:50 pm, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> i thought the cargo containers were used by dostum's forces to transport
> people within afghanistan - haven't heard credible rumours about them being
> used with the knowledge of americans, let alone flown _by_ americans to
> guantanamo.


My bad. I Googled for info on this and found that the Americans were much more 
humane - but they certainly knew hw to keep the aircraft safe from dangerous 
passengers  :)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR401A.html

"There they were shackled and put on a U.S. military plane for transport to 
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During the flight their lips were sealed, eyes covered, 
hands and feet and backs were chained. They were each given nothing but an 
apple and a piece of bread during the 24 hour flight."

Re: [silk] QotD

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Thaths wrote:
> On 8/23/06, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan" says they use cargo planes with pallet
>> beds fitted in them.
> 
> Forsyth still writes un-ghostwritten books? You still read them?

What else do you do on a plane ride, I ask you? :)

If it is a lufthansa ride, well there's wireless there at $29.95 for the
trip (though as connexion by boeing shut down recently dont know how
long that'll last)

Re: [silk] QotD

[Thaths]

On 8/23/06, Suresh Ramasubramanian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan" says they use cargo planes with pallet
beds fitted in them.


Forsyth still writes un-ghostwritten books? You still read them?

S.
--
  "Marge, anyone could miss Canada, all tucked away down there."
   -- Homer J. Simpson
Sudhakar ChandraSlacker Without Borders

Re: [silk] QotD

[Vardhini Shankar]

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: there's an atmosphere with ventilation there. dostum's transport containers were airtight.At 19:32 23/08/2006, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:>Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan" says they use cargo planes with pallet>beds fitted in them.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Rishab Aiyer Ghosh]

there's an atmosphere with ventilation there. dostum's transport containers 
were airtight.


At 19:32 23/08/2006, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan" says they use cargo planes with pallet
beds fitted in them.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh wrote:
> 
> i thought the cargo containers were used by dostum's forces to transport
> people within afghanistan - haven't heard credible rumours about them
> being used with the knowledge of americans, let alone flown _by_
> americans to guantanamo.
> 

Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan" says they use cargo planes with pallet
beds fitted in them.

Re: [silk] QotD

[Rishab Aiyer Ghosh]

At 11:23 23/08/2006, sastry wrote:

How about putting passengers into Dostum containers such as those allegedly
used to transport Talibunnies to an island off the US coast? Think of all the
savings in space - no seats, no toilets - just freedom.


i thought the cargo containers were used by dostum's forces to transport 
people within afghanistan - haven't heard credible rumours about them being 
used with the knowledge of americans, let alone flown _by_ americans to 
guantanamo.


-rishab 

Re: [silk] QotD

[sastry]

On Wed August 23 2006 1:37 pm, Srini Ramakrishnan wrote:
> What we really need is an unmanned cryogenic aircraft where all the
> passengers are frozen dead before the journey and are resuscitated
> (hopefully) on arrival. Think of all the saved airline food. Heck, we
> can even load them into data center style 1 U racks all the way to the
> top.

How about putting passengers into Dostum containers such as those allegedly 
used to transport Talibunnies to an island off the US coast? Think of all the 
savings in space - no seats, no toilets - just freedom.

Just sell all your airline shares first.

shiv

Re: [silk] QotD

[Madhu Menon]

Srini Ramakrishnan wrote:


What we really need is an unmanned cryogenic aircraft where all the
passengers are frozen dead before the journey 


There goes the Frequent Flyer Programme. ;)



--
<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
Shiok Far-eastern Cuisine
Indiranagar, Bangalore
Visit us @ http://www.shiokfood.com
Phone: (080) 4116 1800

Re: [silk] QotD

[Srini Ramakrishnan]

On 8/23/06, Abhijit Menon-Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

At 2006-08-23 11:11:27 +0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> I've a six year old to inflict on others. Revenge is mine!

Inflict... revenge... hey, wait, aren't you somewhere in Arabia? ;-)


What we really need is an unmanned cryogenic aircraft where all the
passengers are frozen dead before the journey and are resuscitated
(hopefully) on arrival. Think of all the saved airline food. Heck, we
can even load them into data center style 1 U racks all the way to the
top.

Cheeni

Re: [silk] QotD

[Abhijit Menon-Sen]

At 2006-08-23 11:11:27 +0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> I've a six year old to inflict on others. Revenge is mine!

Inflict... revenge... hey, wait, aren't you somewhere in Arabia? ;-)

-- ams

Re: [silk] QotD

[Ramakrishnan Sundaram]

On 8/23/06, Abhijit Menon-Sen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


I'm glad more and more people are coming round to my way of thinking.
Ban the little monsters!


Umm, can't say I've come around to your way of thinking. I've suffered
mewling and puking brats enough, but now I've a six year old to
inflict on others. Revenge is mine!

rAM

Re: [silk] QotD

[Madhu Menon]

Ramakrishnan Sundaram wrote:

On 8/23/06, A. M. Merritt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Then we must ban babies on flights too, because they can crap liquid!
They puke, too, especially when shaken.


And produce high-frequency sounds that drive other passengers to violence.



Yes, ban the darn babies from flights. Too much noise pollution!

I wish they would understand if I turned to them and screamed, "shut the 
fuck up!"


--
<<<   *   >>>
Madhu Menon
Shiok Far-eastern Cuisine
Indiranagar, Bangalore
Visit us @ http://www.shiokfood.com
Phone: (080) 4116 1800

Re: [silk] QotD

[Abhijit Menon-Sen]

At 2006-08-23 10:31:39 +0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > Then we must ban babies on flights too, because they can crap
> > liquid! They puke, too, especially when shaken.
> 
> And produce high-frequency sounds that drive other passengers to
> violence.

I'm glad more and more people are coming round to my way of thinking.
Ban the little monsters!

-- ams

(As an aside: I find it extremely annoying that mutt's support for
format=flowed text is so defective.)