FYI: If I wanted to talk about other people and other places

This is very far from the point being made here, but I think maybe worth saying.

Studies by evolutionary psychologists suggest that language was basically invented so that people could gossip.

In other words, talking about other people was the original function of language.

The extreme alternative to this theory is the "Einstein-Newton School" -- the concept that language came about to allow advances in technology.

But most of our technology is about 100,000 years younger than language...

I think Jared Diamond was closer to the truth about language, most notably in The Third Chimpanzee.

*sigh*

Matt R.: Go to WalMart. They have Sense of Humor on sale, and the price just dropped. You can afford it. If not, go to eBay and download one on the ultra cheap.

Ian and Oswaldo: Well written, nicely expressed.

The issue deserved airing and prolonged discussion and input. And that's what this type of place does well. But two things have happened:

First, much of the issue immediately got submerged in personality sniping and...I'm sorry, but sitting here and talking about what other people are talking about, complete with either defending or ridiculing them from a distance, smacks of elementary school lunchroom snipiness. It's tacky, folks.

Second, there comes a time when everyone has pretty much sufficiently made their views known---sometimes thuddingly so---and now they are just talking to hear themselves talk, or engaging in scuffles so they can either aggrandize themselves in their misconceived reflection admiration society, or just because they like to argue (I've been told at times I know how to do this, so I should know how to recognize it, eh?).

Combine first and second, and you have a situation where you're all hamsters spinning collectively on wheels. You have only the illusion that you're actually going anywhere. If you've weighed in, and said your say, no need to say it ten times over.

Besides, those people that are the subject of conversation are boooooooooooring.

This is very far from the point being made here, but I think maybe worth saying.

Studies by evolutionary psychologists suggest that language was basically invented so that people could gossip.

In other words, talking about other people was the original function of language.

The extreme alternative to this theory is the "Einstein-Newton School" -- the concept that language came about to allow advances in technology.

But most of our technology is about 100,000 years younger than language...

I think Jared Diamond was closer to the truth about language, most notably in The Third Chimpanzee.

And an interesting corollary is that Diamond wrote an excellent treatise on how societies impode. How timely that would be here. Or actually, There.

Matt R.: Go to WalMart. They have Sense of Humor on sale, and the price just dropped. You can afford it. If not, go to eBay and download one on the ultra cheap.

Wow. Pot, meet kettle.

Good job keeping the conversation civil and not personal, though.

Really, must have caught Hoke in a bad point..... Normally, I'm sure he wouldn't be such a.........

Matt R.: Go to WalMart. They have Sense of Humor on sale, and the price just dropped. You can afford it. If not, go to eBay and download one on the ultra cheap.

Wow. Pot, meet kettle.

Good job keeping the conversation civil and not personal, though.

C'mon, Matt, you can do better than that. Not very original. You went to Goodwill, didn't you? I applaud your wanting to save money, and it's good for the environment to recycle, but a Sense of Humor is really best when it's fresh. Although, I'll be the first to admit I am a fan of some of the really old styles.

While you were shopping you should've looked around for a good skin thickener too. There are some new ones out on the market, and they work very well. There's even one that handles extra lividity---it's especially for Irish folk, but it doubles as a good sun screen too.

Really, must have caught Hoke in a bad point..... Normally, I'm sure he wouldn't be such a.........

Or tight underwear. That can do it too. Especially on days that are hot and really, really humid.

But you probably didn't want to know that, did you?

Alas, one of the few things even less edifying than hammering each other over dissing another forum is hammering each other over not wanting to diss' another forum...

Air conditioning can do wonders for one's disposition on really hot humid days.

[David M. Bueker]

If there's one thing I have learned (yes, it is possible), it's that the entire episode which we are not discussing has made tempers short across the internet.

If there's one thing I have learned (yes, it is possible), it's that the entire episode which we are not discussing has made tempers short across the internet.

It's a medical condition called ''inflamed wine nodes". Treatable, I understand, but it involves abstaining from wine boards and copious applications of wine. I've been told Riesling is best. The acid, y'know. There are some proponents in California for applying a thick, syrupy, highly alcohol and physiologically ripe (the brown seeds are the giveaway) Lodi Zinfandel, but it's still pretty controversial and may make your complexion blotchy and your driving erratc.

If there's one thing I have learned (yes, it is possible), it's that the entire episode which we are not discussing has made tempers short across the internet.

It's a medical condition called ''inflamed wine nodes". Treatable, I understand, but it involves abstaining from wine boards and copious applications of wine. I've been told Riesling is best. The acid, y'know. There are some proponents in California for applying a thick, syrupy, highly alcohol and physiologically ripe (the brown seeds are the giveaway) Lodi Zinfandel, but it's still pretty controversial and may make your complexion blotchy and your driving erratc.

Hoke it would be better if you explain to the multitudes from elswhere that it may get a liitle warm at times in Napa & Sonoma but we dont have to suffer humidity. As we will have dinner tonight we will be able to discuss the problems of others who are not as forunate as ourselves. One must be tolerant, we are all of the same family.

One must be tolerant, we are all of the same family.

Let us not forget Friedrich Nietzche's dictum to the effect that: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

I would use a smilie here but I swore off those for the next five days.

Best
Rogov

One must be tolerant, we are all of the same family.

Let us not forget Friedrich Nietzche's dictum to the effect that: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

I would use a smilie here but I swore off those for the next five days.

That's okay, a simile works just as well.

One must be tolerant, we are all of the same family.

Let us not forget Friedrich Nietzche's dictum to the effect that: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

I would use a smilie here but I swore off those for the next five days.

Best
Rogov

Hmmm. Do you think there would be a market for Friedrich Nietzche's Designer Bad Wallpaper TM? It could feature an annoying repetitive pattern, and could come pre-clinging with a messy paste backing.

....Do you think there would be a market for Friedrich Nietzche's Designer Bad Wallpaper TM? It could feature an annoying repetitive pattern, and could come pre-clinging with a messy paste backing.

Something akin perhaps to Andy Warhol's "Marilyn", once described by Isabella Geist as "an icon of an icon created by an icon"?

One must be tolerant, we are all of the same family.

Let us not forget Friedrich Nietzche's dictum to the effect that: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”

I would use a smilie here but I swore off those for the next five days.

Best
Rogov

Last fall when the economy of the world went into a tailspin I ran into a friend who holds a top executive position at one of the financial houses. I inquired with my usual inquiry and he responded "that which does not kill me makes me stronger" and at that moment I knew we were in deep shit!

Let us not forget Friedrich Nietzche's dictum to the effect that: "Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.” ...

Then there's Irish Alzheimers - where you forget everything except the grudge.

Three comments about the original post, Hoke:

1) If it was meant to be funny, my sense of humor may need adjustment. It sounded to me like whining about what was being posted here. Maybe in a wry manner with a curmudgeonly attempt at humor, but funny wasn't the first thing that came to mind.

2) Talking about it over there on Squires' board isn't/wasn't possible, because posts/threads on the subject were/are being censored/deleted.

3) It's pretty easy to avoid the threads here about the problems over at Squires/eBob if you wish. They only take up a couple of lines on the front page... unless you open them. Clearly, the whole issue has generated some passionate interest. If your goal was for it to go away, starting this thread was counterproductive.

Having said all that, I do agree with you that we seem to be going in circles here repeating the same stuff over and over. I guess the passion just takes a while to dissipate.

1. Fair enough, David. I don't always expect everyone to get my own peculiar brand of humor. Yes, it was whiny: it was meant to be whiny, consciously, by intent, to put up the absurdity of certain elements the situation ahd gotten to. I thought I was broad enough for people to realize that; apparently I wasn't (especially when people can take some things dead seriously, unable to take their own vehemence out of the equation, and not realize they seem to be rather silly).

2. So you can't talk about it on someone else's board because they are heavy handed and mean---and you come over here to talk about it, and complain? That, to me, is whining. I'm not quite sure why anyone would wish to participate in a place where they are treated like that---then come over here to bitch about it. Seems more than tacky to me to use this board, which is Robin's place primarily and a society he lets us participate in, to kvetch about how nasty someone else is being to you somewhere else. That's what I was trying to point out. Guess I shoulda used broader strokes. *shrug*

3. I have no problems avoiding threads I don't wish to participate in. I do that all the time. We all have the capability to avoid, or participate, in whatever we wish around here. Not the point. I was (I thought obviously) making a statement about how silly and repetitive and boring and tedious and circular and meaningless the whole discussion had become. And is.

I know that telling people they have gotten to a point where they are just looking/sounding ridiculous is not the best way to make friends, David. But that's what happened. A perfectly good and worthwhile original topic, one worth talking about, just got run up to the point of being patently ridiculous. And I wanted to comment on that. So I did. If someone mis-interpreted, I didn't do it very well, or umbrage was taken----so what?

Of course, when you have to sit down and explain that----like trying to explain why a joke should be funny---then it's pointless anyway.

Of course, when you have to sit down and explain that----like trying to explain why a joke should be funny---then it's pointless anyway.

Come join me on the island of lost boys. (Er...make that lost old farts).

The tight underwear comment was funny.......

The tight underwear comment was funny.......

Well, you throw enough of 'em up against the wall, something's bound to stick sooner or later.