SOCL

Great photos, Jahled! Unfortunate and disturbing about the dead babies, but it's good to hear that it's at least natural to eat the dead young...

I'm just plain lazy. I have late classes during the semester and end classes early. No job at the moment, so... Yeah, I sometimes spend 10 hours in the sack. Granted, when I get up I feel like I've wasted half the day, which is mostly true, but oh well.

Never seen Minority Report, even though it is a Spielberg film. I also liked War of the Worlds, which was film number two of the Spielberg-Cruise duo. Apparently they're planning a third. Hopefully it'll be another sci-fi thriller!

Wow, I can't believe this thread is open. Oh, wait, it's not.

Is that part of our job? I must have missed the memo.

Aw, poor Tofu. Still, it was hilarious.

You can only have 4 digits in your post count, so Mad will have to start all over again And you get to change your insignia again. Somewhere in that he has to incorporate a "gold star" to show he has 10,000+ posts. The digit count was what I was thinking...

Holy hell! I never thought I'd see it. I wonder what happens at 10,000...

Better late than never: Happy Birthday, Jahled! For all the good it does you now.

Glad to hear it works!

Although that is a good idea, one must be aware of all the facts. The local news here did a story on people who "re-used" their water bottles for their "tap", "fountain" or "home filtered" water to drink. The problem was that after a couple of uses, the bottles had more bacteria on them than a toilet! Bottom line: wash and clean your bottles between uses (hot and soapy water at a minimum)! And once again, Tex teaches me something new. Somehow I didn't--I mean, that's not to say I don't wash my water bottles! I do! Just somehow I hadn't thought any further...

OOC: Good logic, Tofu. I'll just let it go....

Something related, many major U.S. cities are following the example of San Francisco (in California) in that they have stopped using government dollars to purchase plastic-bottled water, returning that "new" thing: indoor plumbing. Mayor Fenty (our mayor in DC) is pushing for the same sort of legislation, and I see this as a very good thing! Sadly, not many people seem inclined to purchase a single, multi-use water bottle and simply refill it with refreshing water from the tap...even when they are aware that Coca-Cola (who make Dasani) and Pepsi (who make Aquafina) merely bottle tap water and resell it for ungodly amounts. I somehow never thought to do this until I heard about it a few months back (though I certainly recycled every single bottle!), and one might be amazed by the sheer amount of money one saves! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Perrier; it's not really something available from a tap. I agree with Jahled: it's quite unfortunate that U.S. politics have become polarized on something as truly innocent and reasonable as recycling and environmental protection. But then, I know some people who say that if God wanted us to worry about the environment, he would tell us himself or come down and clean everything...which is just another example why American politics resemble a certain level of lunacy. In general, it's getting better, though, but "getting better" is a long way from "reasonable", much less "good".

Our Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense are in the Middle East now trying to convince Egypt not to sell the Sunni in Iraq weapons. They are willing to make weapons deals with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Sunni, however; better our weapons than theirs...? I'm reminded of a Presidency from the 1980s. It started with an R... Reag--something or other... Well, anyway, they sold weapons and such to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and the Iraqi's to the fight the Iranians... I suppose it was quite unfortunate that the Mujahideen formed the Taliban, and some fellow named Saddam Hussein happened to cause some trouble. I suppose it's going to be quite unfortunate when we look back and again wonder how we could have been so stupid as to make the same mistake again. Bloody wonderful. [/lots and lots of pessimistic sarcasm]

OOC: Granted, Tofu. But here's my questioning: are you implying that the act of purging the body of solid waste material, for instance in the case of a Bull Rancor, is commonly used as slang for stalling or making something up? It's a purely real-world phrase in that sense, and more specifically English; I'm not really concerned about the animal itself. How do you explain a Mandalorian knowing a purely English-language slang phrase? I really think it's something worth exploring in a quick form of dialogue, even in throw-away conversation for the sake of having some believable, realistic dialogue like most people do. It's not plot important, but it would be Allston-esk humor: a quick, concise, throw-away joke.

Nice work, Tofu. The dialogue without marker is cool--a page out of Ernest Hemmingway's book, or less metaphorically, literally open any of his books and one actually has a hard time keeping up with speakers because he goes to a certain extreme. You strike a clean balance, Tofu. What's the bad? Well, I seem to remember a younger Tofu complaining about Timothy Zahn's use of "Delta Source" because of the word delta, and its origins in real-world Greek. So what about "bullshitting"? Did I manage to forget Mandalorians keep bulls, and understand the real-world concept of "bullshitting"? Of course, that would make a neat and somewhat humorous bit for a scene--as a way of explanation. Mandalorian: "I was bullshitting." Other: "You were what?" inspects ground for feces Mandalorian: "It's a saying for stalling, or making stuff up." Other (probably Runt): "Okay, so what's a bull?" Mandalorian: "Think of a bantha, except..." You get the idea. I really need to post...

We usually get a choice, but sometimes we don't and end up with one or the other; most recently brown paper bags. I hate to get either and try to use those reusable cloth "tote" bags, but tend to forget them nearly every time I go for groceries. I do have a need for plastic bags, however; my dog has a great need to poo, and I have a great desire to keep my backyard poo-free.

But that would be the challenge. Tofu and Mad would have to start a random conversation engaging enough to keep others interested. Perhaps an online poker game then, or something to that effect. Ooh! That gives me an idea... Watch it, Rob. There's a perfectly good reason I voted for you as the ultimate spammer...

7 out of 10. Fortunately, I usually read everything on the site before doing anything, and if I receive something that just seems plain odd or get asked for certain information I'm even a little unsure about, I call the customer service people (via the official page in my favorites or something else I know is legit) and ask about it. Of course, if I get the wrong info there, then I'm screwed.

No. The creation of a thread for the sake of spamming on purpose isn't something the moderators can allow.

My review of Aaron Allston's Betrayal, which is the only novel, much less Star Wars novel, to creep me out. Minimal SPOILERS follow: The genius of Allston's Betrayal is not so much its status as the start of a new series, but its conclusion of others. The New Jedi Order era of novels prior to this one proved that the authors of the Star Wars universe have grown increasingly adept and talented at manipulating a galaxy and all inherent matters of that galaxy far, far away which is not their own original creation. We glimpse here not only a new beginning, but the true conclusion of many things before in the character of Jacen Solo, son of famed Han and Leia Solo. His struggle at the start of the Yuuzhan Vong War of the New Jedi Order was that of an idealist unsure of the line between defense and attack, an idealist so concerned with doing the right thing he incapacitates himself from doing anything at all. The agony and pain of war, perfectly played out in the novel Traitor, make Jacen into the cynic war makes all idealists, one so pessimistic he struggles to hold on to the ideals once so valued, now somewhat quaint. That struggle breeds the arrogance of one who claims to have been from one side to the other and back, claims to have the all-knowing knowledge of good and evil, a trait which tainted the otherwise successful ending of the Swarm War detailed in Troy Denning's Dark Nest trilogy, the series immediately prior to this. Legacy of the Force is, in fact, the realization of that rooting established in the New Jedi Order and the manifestations of the apparent, though no blatant arrogance of understanding the true nature of right and wrong--where the line is to be drawn between the good of the individual against the common good of the whole. This novel pushes Jacen to make a final and definite decision of where he will judge that line to lie, a point which in many before has corrupted, and yet the corruption here is not the simple good-and-evil, black-and-white of previous stories; Betrayal brings into question everything that has been set down as the known truths.

I thought of The Simpsons Movie as essentially an episode three-times the length as usual. Fun and enjoyable, but not the all-out hilarity I think most people expect. But the audience is warned about this very same thing at the very beginning by Homer himself, so no one is really allowed to complain.

How about you two buy me a drink...or two...?

No, Tofu, we will not have two spammer kings! You must both fight to death in the arena for our amusement. The fellow who wins, and by win I mean lives, will be crowned our spamming king. That's how we do run-offs.

Wow, Jahled. Wow.