Self examination... better late than never.

Post #26,961 by marlowe 2/2/02 8:54:26 AM Reply	Self examination... better late than never. Now someone like Christopher Hitchens I can respect. He didn't have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the cold light of day. And the New Republic at least knows how to be a loyal opposition. But some people... sheesh. But just what has changed since 911? Why a change of heart now? Somehow I suspect the reality the author is trying to come to terms with is not the reality he's writing about. I think he's only admitting we might be in the right because we're winning. That's the only thing that's happened in the past few months that could possibly influence the Left to reconsider. They've believed in historical inevitability since Marx. Maybe now our victory looks inevitable to them? Subconsciously, of course. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #27,003 by Ashton 2/2/02 4:28:49 PM Reply	Within your digital Left/Right world no light can penetrate - only infrared. Only counter to a Slogan is: another Slogan. Annihilation. And you still think that sprinkling the word reality around - makes this fuzzy world 'real'? WTF is this 'Left' - are 'they' like The Murican Peepul, sorta? WTF is 'being in the right'? - same as 'being in the Right' or just - winning (whatever that means)? Nothing there to engage. Transmission in neutral. Drop a Slogan / Go to Jail
Post #27,216 by marlowe 2/4/02 1:00:10 PM Reply	I can see your underwear. My infrared sensors detect your Maidenform bra. And the fact that you stuff. Whine as much as you like about my binary technology. It works. Sorry you must grope your way through such a blurry world, but you could buy glasses or something. That is, if you're willing to use such rapacious arrogant Western technology. Reality is messy, but blurry vision only makes it harder to deal with. Better to adjust the focus than to curse the blurriness. But better to curse the blurriness than to cast aspersions on those of us who can see better. Got a problem with binary? You won't go far in a high tech world with that attitude. There's only so many jobs for engineers who'll only work with analog circuitry, and fewer still for those who also get all defensive about reality and other negative feedback loops. And rightly so. Digital just works better, and binary is the foundation of digital. Yes, those old vacuum tubes and vinyl records have a "warm" sound, but it's just low order distortion. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #27,088 by CRConrad 2/3/02 3:20:13 PM Reply	But what is it you are "winning", exactly? Sam Spade goes: I think he's only admitting we might be in the right because we're winning. That's the only thing that's happened in the past few months that could possibly influence the Left to reconsider. Oh yeah?!? WHAT the fuck is it "you" are "winning"? Not the Great And Noble Cause that was declared immediately after 9/11, AFAICS -- not the "going to the root of it all" struggle against "terrorism anywhere". Wasn't THAT what it was supposed to be about now? Wasn't there a whole lotta fancy words about how this was "a whole new ball game" and "we're all in this together" and this time -- "never mind that we've said so uncounted times before, because THIS time we really mean it!" -- it was supposed to be something different from all the petty bush wars America has inflicted on various third-world hell-holes? All you're "winning" is, you've kicked the shit out of the Taliban -- the back-to-the-Bronze-Age fundamentalist rulers of Afghanistan, who incidentally were only more or less peripherally related to the bombings of the WTC. Well, whoop-dee-fucking-do! So you've kicked the shit out of yet another third-world hell-hole... And maybe caught a few of the current terrorists, behind that single incident -- while almost certainly creating yet another legion of future terrorists; just like always happens when you kick the shit out of some third-world hell-hole. So what the fuck, exactly, is it that you "are winning"? The War Against Afghanistan -- the poorest country in the world, armed with (besides some twenty-year-old American surplus Stingers and captured Soviet-era armour) sticks and rocks -- perhaps, yes, you might be "winning" that. (Really, does that deserve any better than "whoop-dee-fucking-do"? Like it was ever expected to be a contest???) But the "War Against Terrorism"?!? I don't think so. If you do, then kindly explain why and how -- this time, without getting the petty bush war you're winning mixed up with the "war" you declared in September. Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #27,170 by marlowe 2/4/02 10:23:52 AM Reply	Touchy, touchy. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #27,291 by CRConrad 2/4/02 7:01:17 PM Reply	"You ruminated for two days, and came up with this?"
Post #27,366 by marlowe 2/5/02 10:42:58 AM Reply	Less than a day, actually. Worth the wait, wasn't it? I got more where that came from. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #27,381 by CRConrad 2/5/02 11:39:04 AM Reply	It was a quote, nitwit! (Recognize it, by any chance?) And no, it wasn't. It was just... _Wrong_. Why should I be "touchy", about a critique of the American "Left"?!? I'm neither Left nor American! But if glib bullshit like that is all you've got in reply to a question not about the original "American Left" story, but your own assertion that you are "winning" something, well... Then that would tend to indicate your thesis isn't all that well grounded, now wouldn't it? So that certainly wasn't worth even a "mere" 19 hours wait -- though I can see why it would take you that long... Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #27,396 by marlowe 2/5/02 12:46:48 PM Reply	Ohhh, you're lots of fun! I bet I can string you out like this for weeks if I want to! Nah, that would annoy the rest of the board. By the way, a simple "I'M NOT ANGRY, DAMMIT!!!" would have sufficed. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
Post #27,428 by ben_tilly 2/5/02 5:53:14 PM Reply	Why worry now? Honestly you hit my shit list of people who aren't worth wasting the time of day on quite a while ago. If this board had killfiling capabilities, you would have hit it a long time ago. Certainly if it were added, you would be the first person I would add. I don't even know why I am bothering to write this. Reply if you wish, I won't waste time responding to that. Regards, Ben
Post #27,659 by marlowe 2/7/02 12:24:45 PM 2/7/02 12:37:22 PM Reply	What an intolerant thing to say. Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong with that. But there's few things more petty than using a killfile for the reasons you would want one. And no, I don't know how to make money fa$$$t. P.S. I think I know why you bothered to respond. But let's not go into that. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things. Edited by marlowe Feb. 7, 2002, 12:37:22 PM EST Expand All History
Post #27,430 by CRConrad 2/5/02 5:54:18 PM Reply	A simple "I don't have any answer" would have sufficed for U If you don't have any serious reply, then either shut the fuck up, or piss off to "Oh Pun" and try to be "funny". (FYI: You aren't.) You don't really think your silly attempts at covering up the fact that you don't -- don't have any serious reply, that is -- are working, do you? Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #27,431 by pwhysall 2/5/02 6:06:05 PM Reply	Boooooooooooooooooooooring Don't shoot the messenger. Peter Shill For Hire [link\|http://www.kuro5hin.org\|There is no K5 Cabal]
Post #27,461 by Ric Locke 2/5/02 10:48:51 PM Reply	Yeah, you're right. Sorry. Christian, can I have a skeg under the rear ski, or would that be cheating? Regards, Ric
Post #27,485 by CRConrad 2/6/02 9:02:02 AM Reply	Ehh... Dunno. What's a skeg? :-)
Post #27,596 by Ric Locke 2/6/02 10:38:03 PM Reply	Sorry. Your English is so good that I forget it isn't your first language, and you may not know some of the slang. A "skeg" is a small fin. The canonical article is made of either white metal or plastic, about 75 mm long and 50 mm high, screwed near as dammit to the center of a slalom ski -- the fat water skis that are used one at a time. It provides the few millidynes [!] of side force necessary to convert the system from "unstable" to "not quite stable". Regards, Ric
Post #27,598 by Meerkat 2/6/02 10:42:05 PM Reply	It's news to me! When I was at school, a Skeg was one who hung around at the beach all the time and surfed a lot. As opposed to the Westies, who wore flannelette shirts and did their best to act tough. Makes about as much sense now as it did then. ie: not much. "Then of course there is SCEGGS - the Sydney Church of England Girl's Grammar School," he said, geting wildly off track... On and on and on and on, and on and on and on goes John.
Post #27,601 by Ric Locke 2/6/02 10:57:18 PM Reply	I think the West Coast U.S. usage and possibly Oz, refers to the fin at the back of a surfboard as a "skeg" as well. The way I know the word, it's properly used only for something that's near the middle of whatever it's attached to. Applying the word as a group-name for a bunch of surfers sounds like a perfectly valid usage for British and [more recently] British-derived English speakers to me. Regards, Ric
Post #27,603 by Meerkat 2/6/02 11:04:42 PM Reply	Cool! Easy to tell I've never surfed :) On and on and on and on, and on and on and on goes John.
Post #27,629 by CRConrad 2/7/02 7:34:14 AM Reply	Ah, that's what I thought it might be. And the Finnish-english dictionary program -- which my employer has kindly provided me with, but I'd forgot I had; that's why I didn't use it yesterday -- concurs. Well, it doesn't have 'skeg' as a stand-alone word, but as part of the term "skeg of a keel", which it translates as "kölin kanta t. takimmainen osa". Unfortunately, Finnish isn't my first language either, so I'm not quite sure... But our dept secretary, Annika, confirms my hunch that this means "the base or rear end of a keel"; so the makers of this dictionary don't seem to agree with your "orthodox definition" that it has to be under the center. Oh well, this thing sucks anyway: It doesn't have a translation for "wolverine" at all! (Trying to find that was how I remembered I had it in the first place. But Annika -- I ask her about language stuff at work, because like Linus T. she's a Finland-Swede and thus perfectly bilingual -- tells me it's "ahma".) Uuhh... Sorry, I sem to have digressed a bit there... But anyway, to get back to the point: Why, sure you can have a skeg! I planned on that myself, I think. And that's one more reason to go, at least at first, with the El Cheapo design alternative of using an off-the-shelf outboard engine in stead of futzing around with water jets and stuff: If you mount the ski the easiest way, making a hole in it and letting it slide up and down the vertical drive shaft, you get your skeg "for free"! It'll be there already; outboard engines usually have a protruding fin below the propeller (presumably to protect the prop from hitting rocks or the bottom), don't they? Christian R. Conrad The Man Who Knows Fucking Everything
Post #27,714 by boxley 2/7/02 6:58:38 PM Reply	skeg: skank at a kegger "If you're half-evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil." Norman Mailer
Post #27,758 by Silverlock 2/8/02 12:00:35 AM Reply	ROFL With this much manure around, there must be a pony somewhere.

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