[IrishEyes]

Quote

...."Shocked! Shocked, I say!"

Ok, that's twice... what gives? Is that supposed to be cute, or pop-culture, or what? Why does it seem ridiculous that everyone seems to be quoting a line from a 50 year old movie NOW??? Sorry, not enough caffeine today, and way too much psych stuff, I guess my humor toggle is turned to off or something. Please feel free to explain...

[Buffy]

IrishEyes said:

Ok, that's twice... what gives? Is that supposed to be cute, or pop-culture, or what? Why does it seem ridiculous that everyone seems to be quoting a line from a 50 year old movie NOW???

What's amazing to me, and why I think its coming up more often, is that its gone from being used in its original ironic Casablanca-sense, to being taken as a serious conservative position! More than half of the 36 instances of "indecency on television" reported to the FCC by the Parents Resource Council were merely references to the pejorative "dick" which is not one of the Seven Deadly Words, although people named Dick (do we know any of those?), probably aren't too thrilled.

Its definitely gotten too much airplay recently, so I'll avoid using it anymore.

Cheers,
Buffy

[IrishEyes]

Quote

the Seven Deadly Words

is there a list? must have missed that one too... or do you mean the Carlin thing???

Quote

Its definitely gotten too much airplay recently, so I'll avoid using it anymore.

Not a problem, use it at will (or harry, or dick, for that matter)... i just felt like i was missing a joke, since it was prominently used twice, and i guess i think it's rather silly; well, that and the 'no idea' thing. c'mon, gimme a break.
however, taken in its original context, it was one of the better lines in a movie... ever.

[Buffy]

Yah, its the "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" on George Carlin's "Operation: Foole" album, from waaay back in 1972....

Trendsetters can't use even pre-neo-cliches. You're not shutting me up. I am! No need to be sorry!

Cheers,
Buffy

[Buffy]

Okay, back on topic:

They (or their co/ghost-authors), can't write like Naomi Wolf but these two are much more interesting than "Promiscuities":

Jenna Jameson's "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale" and
"Traci Lords: Underneath It All"

Down boys, not much sex here that isn't depressing. You will only like these books if you like Naomi....

Cheers,
Buffy

[pgrmdave]

I'm reading:
Ringworld, by Larry Niven
Six Easy Pieces - lectures by Feynman
Dialogues of Plato

[TeleMad]

zadojla said:

The three top books in my reading queue are:

Birth of the Chess Queen, a History, by Marilyn Yalom. A feminist view of European chess history.
The Unending Mystery, a Journey through Labyriths and Mazes, by David Willis McCullogh. A Christmas present from Beccareb
Turned Chessmen, for collectors, players and woodworkers, by Mike Darlow

1. e4

[Tormod]

TeleMad said:

1. e4

Good idea. Do we need a chess thread now?

[TeleMad]

Tormod said:

Good idea. Do we need a chess thread now?

The problem with playing chess in a non OTB setting is that the other player could use a chess-playing program. The one I have is about 5 years old and cost only about $20, but it is rated ~2500. I was really good when I was playing in chess tournaments, but I was never that good. And by now I imagine they're probably much stronger. So even at my best, I couldn't beat someone who had no problem with getting a little help from a program, and I doubt anyone else - other than maybe Kasparov (is he still world champion) - could either. Computers ruined the game of chess in a sense.

But despite all of that, I'd still play a game if someone else wanted to.

[zadojla]

TeleMad said:

1. e4

Sorry, Telemad! This is not the venue for a chess game! (Although 1. e4 implies you're my kind of guy.)

I rarely play regular chess. I am most interested in chess variants. Check out www.chessvariants.org to see the kind of thing I'm talking about.

One advantage of chess variants is that there are not terribly strong programs to play them. The best general program is probably Zillions of Games, http://www.zillions-of-games.com/

[little cloud]

I don't have more than 200 books and I've read each at least twice, including a Time magazine entirely dedicated to astronauts and images of Earth from space and a 1-inch thick book of outer space pictures and tons of information about each. I love it!

Robinson Crusoe is great, too, if you can survive the first two chapters ( ).
And, yes, I read my textbooks. I'm desperate because I've read most of the books in our local library!!

[TeleMad]

zadojla said:

I rarely play regular chess. I am most interested in chess variants. Check out www.chessvariants.org to see the kind of thing I'm talking about..

I've played a couple variations of chess, though I don't know their names and didn't care for them as much as I did the real game. The variation I liked best was just like normal chess, with 2 games being played between 4 players: the difference is that when a player captures an oponent's piece on one board, instead of its simply being out of play, s/he hands it to his partner on the other board, who can place it anywhere on his own board he wants when it's his move.

But like I said, I was more of a regular chess player. I made it to candidate master in correspondence chess - before computers could compete with humans - and also was in the top 10% of US chess players in OTB play. But that was years ago. Had to give chess up for an education: no on can serve two masters :-)

[zadojla]

TeleMad said:

snip...the difference is that when a player captures an oponent's piece on one board, instead of its simply being out of play, s/he hands it to his partner on the other board, who can place it anywhere on his own board he wants when it's his move.

That's usually called Bughouse.

TeleMad said:

But like I said, I was more of a regular chess player. I made it to candidate master in correspondence chess - before computers could compete with humans - and also was in the top 10% of US chess players in OTB play. But that was years ago. Had to give chess up for an education: no on can serve two masters :-)

I never achieved anything significant chess-wise. The cynic might say I like variants because I wasn't good at FIDE chess. I just never had the patience and drive to acquire the book learning.

[Amidala]

I'm reading a lovely book about/on the Irish: "The truth about the Irish" by Terry Eagleton. Beautifully written. And in the meantime re-re-re-reading "Dune" (including the prequels: "House Atreides" and "House Harkonnen", though i couldn't get hold of "House Corrino"). Frank Herbert's books are an inexhaustible source of "food for thought". Or is it the Sci-Fi fan in me talking?

[Queso]

i'm currently reading Your Mind. this book seems to never end! and i love how unpredictable it is.