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billyweeds
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:46 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Earl--I can't tell you how sorry I am that you went through that. But as Lorne said, you probably have a good settlement coming, so Marry Christmas!
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Earl
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:15 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 2621 Location: Houston
billyweeds wrote:
Earl--I can't tell you how sorry I am that you went through that. But as Lorne said, you probably have a good settlement coming, so Marry Christmas!


If you of all people, Billyweeds, wrote "Marry Christmas" just to cheer me up, then it worked. Thank you. Very Happy

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billyweeds
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:17 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Earl wrote:
billyweeds wrote:
Earl--I can't tell you how sorry I am that you went through that. But as Lorne said, you probably have a good settlement coming, so Marry Christmas!


If you of all people, Billyweeds, wrote "Marry Christmas" just to cheer me up, then it worked. Thank you. Very Happy


If you like Christmas so much then why don't you merry it?

Your ordeal made me so upset I started committing typos. That's how much I care!
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Befade
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 9:54 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 3784 Location: AZ
Typos.........the new sign of affection.....

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Earl......and secure dead bolt locks on your door.

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jeremy
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:15 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
From the front page of today's NYT:
Quote:
Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has granted special licenses allowing American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.


Leaving aside the strange doublethink that allows the editor of the NYT can be a respected member of the establishment, but brands Julian Assange a terrorist. Maybe American politics has always been this ugly. It could be just that modern technology has penetrated the smokey backrooms, listened in on the hushed deal-making in the corridors of power, torn away the veil of secrecy or is it that those in power have been wallowing in the mire for so long, they no longer realise it stinks.

America seems determined to undermine those who still regard it as a force for good in the world. Much more than its military or economic might, even more than its manifest success, it was American virtue (seriously) that made it a beacon for the world's oppressed. Whatever you think about American foreign policy in general and the neocon project in particular, much of it is predicated on American exceptionalism, on the idea that all the world aspires to certain American values. It is manna to those countries who'd rather shield their peoples from the winds of change, when they can point out that American values are less exceptional than they claim. Nothing is nore damaging to those who sieze the moral high ground than the taint of hypocrisy.

it's about time the money-lenders were cleared from the temple, or perhaps the job calls for a Hercules with a hero-sized shit-shovel.

_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.
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jeremy
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:21 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
Quote:
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!


A merry Christmas to all of us and every one.

_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.
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Earl
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:47 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 2621 Location: Houston
Thanks, everyone, for the reassuring words. Although I must say, Gromit, that this:

gromit wrote:
Sure, they're usually looking to rob, not assault. Though sometimes they are up for raping. And there are home invasions where they tie up family members, hold hostages, Dick&Perry-style like the sad case in Connecticut recently.


was slightly alarming, although I'm sure you didn't intend it that way.

Lorne - I have renter's insurance and will be getting on that after the holiday weekend. I'm not sure the value of the laptop will even meet the deductible, but I'll do it anyway just to get it on record.

_________________
"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship."
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Earl
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 12:00 am Reply with quote
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 2621 Location: Houston
One good thing I learned from this is that the apartment complex where I live has a Houston Police Department officer as a resident. The apartments employ her as a "Courtesy Officer" and it's her job to help residents deal with HPD in situations like this. She happens to be on vacation in Fort Worth right now, but she called me several times to help liase between me and HPD.

Also, the HPD officer who came to take the report was the perfect combination of pleasant and professional in her attitude.

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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship."
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inlareviewer
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:19 am Reply with quote
Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS
OMG Dept. Earl, what everyone else said. Candles lit for Internet access and computer restoral and HPD nabbing the nabbers.

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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim
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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 3:16 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
jeremy wrote:
... special licenses allowing American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.

Whatever you think about American foreign policy in general and the neocon project in particular, much of it is predicated on American exceptionalism, on the idea that all the world aspires to certain American values.


The neo-cons made a big thing about spreading democracy but really the political was a means to the economic. They wanted to spread democratic capitalism, and get friendly ME gov'ts in order to have geopolitical stability allowing American companies to rush in and make money and boom the US economy. A real neo-colonial enterprise. Use military adventures to obtain puppet gov't supporters, in order to exploit foreign countries for profit.

Don't forget Wolfowitz talking about how the Iraq War would pay for it self in oil and contracts. The attempts to limit Iraq reconstruction contracts to American companies, and keep France and other non-participants out of the action. No bid contracts awarded to GOP connected companies such as Halliburton, Blackwater, Bechtel. The vast privatization of security and other phases of both war and reconstruction to politically connected private enterprises. The way democracy was cast aside once parties and persons perceived as unfriendly to the US won in Lebanon, Palestine, and did well in Egypt. (Basically, a replay of the wonderful Algeria model from the 90's -- since that worked so well).

It's been a pretty nasty, grubby endeavor, willing to cast off the pretense of ideals the moment that US power, influence and profit were threatened.


Last edited by gromit on Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:42 am; edited 2 times in total

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gromit
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 7:10 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Here's my Christmas present to all you non-believers:

Good way to waste your holiday time (and beyond) -- Lexulous, a Scrabble knock-off. It has a free sign up, no ads, and they never spam you with emails.

Actually, they got sued by Scrabble a couple years back and this was the compromise. They use basically the same board and color-codes, but you get 8 tiles instead of 7 and the numeric values for the letters are often slightly higher. Cosmetic changes, but because of the extra tile, it's easier to make words and to make long words. Makes the game go faster as well, since it's easy to make longer words. Most games are only about 10 turns long per person, with maybe 2 mop up turns using stray tiles at the end.

Some info/advice:
- Making a word by placing 7-letters gets you +40 on your score, while a full 8 tile throwdown equals +50. They also get you applause.
And 8-letters means that it is possible to string a word from one triple word to the next, pumping up one turn into the 150 range.
- Right click on the board to Recall Tiles to your tray, a necessary feature I couldn't find for a while.
- Default setting is for 10 minute games, but I upped the time limit to 15 minutes since I almost always play against the computer who moves quickly, meaning that almost all of your thinking time is on your clock (and almost none on the opponents). A 10 minute game, a minute average per turn, is generally more than enough, but seems no reason to have to beat the clock and the computer (and I think they have a thing going on anyway).

I've only tried the Computer Opponents on the right hand side -- 3 levels of difficulty and plenty of robot players in each -- but you can also play against other players in there, when they are available.
If anyone tries any of the other games or features, let me know.
Edit: it seems most of the left side are rooms full of people to play against.

Some cool features that took me a little while to discover:
- when it's the opponent's turn, you can place your tiles on the board (only you can see them) and can see how many points a move is worth. No time for this when playing the computer, but good for human opponents.
- You can click (right or left) on any person or robot who is playing a game and you can choose to OBSERVE their game. You see the board and their tile tray and their moves, and you can move letters around in your copy of their tray and put letters on the board.
Very cool. You're like a ghost. I've only done this once so far, but need to spectrally spectate again.
- When you have friendly letters or an "s" or blank, always try to make a bingo (7 or 8 letter word). You'll be surprised how often you can. It's not Scrabble, but Lexulous, a faster, higher scoring version.

Games only take about 7 minutes or so, I find, so you can play a handful and not waste too much time. It's addictive, and now I want to get my score up to 2000 (I'm under 1950 right now) and average one Bingo per game (I'm at 60%).

Enjoy!


Last edited by gromit on Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:36 am; edited 2 times in total

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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.
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whiskeypriest
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:51 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 6916 Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
Hope all my Third Eye friends and their loved ones have the Hap Hap Happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny Fucking Kaye!

Sorry. As I may have noted before, it's not Christmas in the Whiskeypriest household until Chevy Chase asks for the Tylenol. And Holiday Inn joins Jesus of Nazareth on the list of movies I cannot think of without inappropriately vulgar thoughts.

Seriously, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all!

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billyweeds
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:25 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
Thanks, Whiskey and everybody else, and thanks, gromit, for the game! (I've already signed up.)
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carrobin
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:01 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
Jeremy and Gromit, your views explain why many of us really loathed and despised the Bush/Cheney regime. And why we wish Obama were more determined to reverse the trend.

But for now, a happy Christmas to all. (My favorite Christmas movie is "Scrooged." The Carol Kane spirit almost spoils it, but not quite.)
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billyweeds
Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:24 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
My favorite Christmas movie has always been, and remains, the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street, with the 1951 Alastair Sim A Christmas Carol and the more recent 1980s classic A Christmas Story tied for a very close second. Have never dug It's a Wonderful Life at all.
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