Tell Me Something I Don't Know

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:33 pm

Madagascaran lemurs use poison from millipedes to create a drug-induced high.

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:35 pm

Napoleon Ier wrote:Fair trade is a scam orchestrated by corporations manipulating or directly run by pathetic neo-marxists with less understanding of basic market economics than my pet goldfish, which died six years ago.

Damn right nappy. Go on and buy the most exploitatively produced coffee you can, i saye. That'll show em! the one made by child slaves who work 20 hour days for 3p a year. f*ck corporations and f*ck pathetic neo-marxists! yeah!

btownmeggy · Post by **btownmeggy** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:06 pm

richardgarr wrote:-a normally proportioned person can NOT lick their own elbows

Heaven help me, not for lack of trying.

Hologram · Post by **Hologram** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:11 pm

The main difference between Shakespearean tragedies and comedies is that n the tragedies, everyone dies by the end, and in the comedies, everyone gets married.

0ojakeo0 · Post by **0ojakeo0** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:17 pm

Hologram wrote:The main difference between Shakespearean tragedies and comedies is that n the tragedies, everyone dies by the end, and in the comedies, everyone gets married.

i knew that. you lose.

fireedud · Post by **fireedud** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:23 pm

ambidextrous is the longest word in the English language without repeating any letters.

Guiscard · Post by **Guiscard** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:29 pm

fireedud wrote:ambidextrous is the longest word in the English language without repeating any letters.

ambidextrously

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:15 am

Guiscard wrote:
fireedud wrote:ambidextrous is the longest word in the English language without repeating any letters.
ambidextrously

They don't call him Egghead McBrains for nothing.

Possibly the coolest thing I know:

The funky organ & bass sample in Eminem's breakout hit 'My name is' was taken from 'I Got The', by Labi Siffre, who recorded it in London using a couple of session musicians to play the piano & bass..

...who were none other than chirpy cockney knees-up merchants Chas and Dave.

Symmetry · Post by **Symmetry** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:19 am

The French word for "walkie-talkie" is "talkie-walkie".

This makes me smile, and I'm sure that it makes French speakers smile just as much the other way round. That's internationalization.

Also- Japanese words in English that you may not know are Japanese- a business "Tycoon", the head "honcho", and "typhoon".

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:55 am

Symmetry wrote:The French word for "walkie-talkie" is "talkie-walkie".

This makes me smile, and I'm sure that it makes French speakers smile just as much the other way round. That's internationalization.

Also- Japanese words in English that you may not know are Japanese- a business "Tycoon", the head "honcho", and "typhoon".

The game Chinese Whispers is called Arab Telephone in France. I think.

Dariune · Post by **Dariune** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:30 am

The light insult Charlie as in "he is a right old charlie" comes from cockney rhyming slang for Charlie hunt. I will let you figure out what it means.

The same goes for Berk, which is cockney rhyming slang for Berkshire hunt. Once again, you can work out what that means.

The word Typhoon probably comes from Typhon. Typhon was a large dragon that fought Zeus in greek mythology.

Im sure there are plenty of other things that you arent aware of but that will do for now

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:50 am

interestingly, dariune and symmetry have both posited conflicting origins of the word 'typhoon' two posts apart. Is it Japanese, or Greek?

let's have a FACT OFF

Dariune · Post by **Dariune** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:11 am

My belief is that it was greek.

The fact that the ancient Greeks inspired many of our words due to the relatively close proximity to us. There are many words taken from the ancient Greeks including the word Dragon which comes from the latin word Draco which in turn comes from the Greek word Drakontis or Dracontis or Drakon.

The legend about Typhon is a fact and Typhon symbolised storms, chaotic wrath and strength in size.

If you want to know more you can click my banner.
Im afraid i have little doubt as to my sources or my opinion.
Having said that, we all take our turns in being wrong.

suggs · Post by **suggs** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:23 pm

The Queen of England could dissolve Parliament today, and rule by absolute decree.
You probably knew that, but i love how absurd England is.

Frigidus · Post by **Frigidus** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:25 pm

suggs wrote:The Queen of England could dissolve Parliament today, and rule by absolute decree.
You probably knew that, but i love how absurd England is.

Really? You guys need to do something about that, seriously.

suggs · Post by **suggs** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:27 pm

Frigidus wrote:
suggs wrote:The Queen of England could dissolve Parliament today, and rule by absolute decree.
You probably knew that, but i love how absurd England is.
Really? You guys need to do something about that, seriously.

I'm with you, 100%. But you'd be surprised- i mentioned in a seminar that we should finally get rid of the Monarchy, and i was almost laughed out of the room

Napoleon Ier · Post by **Napoleon Ier** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:39 pm

unriggable wrote:Slavery is a scam orchestrated by gangsters manipulating or directly run by pathetic neo-conservatives with less understanding of basic human rights than my pet midget, which died during labor yesterday.

Hahaha...of course, you seem so confirmed and confident in your beliefs that I'm sure you'd find me where neo-conservatives are responsible for slavery.

heavycola · Post by **heavycola** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:41 pm

Napoleon Ier wrote:
unriggable wrote:Slavery is a scam orchestrated by gangsters manipulating or directly run by pathetic neo-conservatives with less understanding of basic human rights than my pet midget, which died during labor yesterday.
Hahaha...of course, you seem so confirmed and confident in your beliefs that I'm sure you'd find me where neo-conservatives are responsible for slavery.

the ball was in your court, my little french trouserferret.

Napoleon Ier · Post by **Napoleon Ier** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:55 pm

heavycola wrote:
Napoleon Ier wrote:
unriyggable wrote:Slavery is a scam orchestrated by gangsters manipulating or directly run by pathetic neo-conservatives with less understanding of basic human rights than my pet midget, which died during labor yesterday.
Hahaha...of course, you seem so confirmed and confident in your beliefs that I'm sure you'd find me where neo-conservatives are responsible for slavery.
the ball was in your court, my little french trouserferret.

Au contraire, my cactus-smoking hippie, it bounced and hit unriggable's gormless acme covered bespectacled face, knocking him flat on his oversized buttocks.

Fair Trade...what next, progressive tax?

got tonkaed · Post by **got tonkaed** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:40 pm

let me put it this way....on a simple scale of probability....you arent talented enough of a person napoleon to in any way benefit from free trade or the fair tax in acting in your own self interest.

Napoleon Ier · Post by **Napoleon Ier** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:42 pm

got tonkaed wrote:let me put it this way....on a simple scale of probability....you arent talented enough of a person napoleon to in any way benefit from free trade or the fair tax in acting in your own self interest.

I'm sorry Dr., what do you know of my talents?

You're also an economist, are you? Then you presumably can tell me how your neo-autarkic socialo-protectionnist worldview would function on a global scale, and cite me the names of professional market analysts, economists and studies performed based on macro-economic models that back up your view?

Or not? Did you just feel like you wanted to make some patronizing comment to get a bizarre self-gratifying intellectual high?

got tonkaed · Post by **got tonkaed** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:45 pm

its not knowing anything about you in particular....

its the rather simple and growing with evidence fact, that any individula person does not stand to succeed in the modern representations of those ideals.

Yes you could lower your goals for a standard of living that you could probably reach, and thats what most of us do. Im not here to say this is an evil, but is worth noting.

I know your a man of principle, napoleon. You perhaps more than most take heart with ideals and try to live by them. Certainly some of the ideals of a freer market can be among the most seductive of any. In a world where community is a little more fragmented, ideas about self determination become a lot more popular.

the simple reality is though, these particular ideological stances, do not actually turn out in practice in the self interest of the overwhelming portion of the world, especially given that you live in an economic structure that teaches one not to be satisified.

got tonkaed · Post by **got tonkaed** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:46 pm

also you cheated by editing your post.

i suppose ill edit to as well....

its a bit silly to think that because i point out some of the flaws that i become all of those things you say i am. The biggest difference between you and i, is i can be critical of something, without having to change my entire world view.

In many ways some of your retreat to ideology, shows a desire, when face with criticism, to retreat to the farthest points of abstraction that you can comprehend in order to protect yourself from some of the critical criticism of stances that might actually reflect your self interest.

Napoleon Ier · Post by **Napoleon Ier** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:51 pm

To the contrary, capitalism allows free individuals to make decisions and be accountable for them. The poeple who are drowned out by the vast ocean of society are hose who live in your socialist utopias, from whom things are stolen in the name of the majority, who must conform to what the central authority, representing the uniformity of the "majority", dictates, and learn to be lobotimized servants of a totalitarian superstructure they dpn't know or understand.

got tonkaed · Post by **got tonkaed** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:01 pm

Napoleon Ier wrote:To the contrary, capitalism allows free individuals to make decisions and be accountable for them. The poeple who are drowned out by the vast ocean of society are hose who live in your socialist utopias, from whom things are stolen in the name of the majority, who must conform to what the central authority, representing the uniformity of the "majority", dictates, and learn to be lobotimized servants of a totalitarian superstructure they dpn't know or understand.

do you really think that in a captialist system you are free? Certainly your not a slave in the traditional sense of the word, but can you really act in your own self interest for very long as a free person. I think its pretty fair to argue that you cannot, given the system we have at the moment.

Where again you fail to see the picture, is that im much more of an idealist capitalist, than an actual socialist napoleon. Yes there are a lot of elements of socialism that are pretty good ideas, and i thought they would rectify a lot of the ills of the system as is. Your blinded ideology of socialism however, has restricted you from seeing some of those flaws behind that convient little curtain of self interest, which is not nearly what you hold it out to be.

What will be stolen from you in socialism on a practical level? You think you really can get the full value for your work in a capitalist system? Theorectically is this even possible given the profit motive...not unless you change how you concieve of people to think of them as less than the amount of the daily labor they perform.

Alas there are problems that would make a transition from capitalism to socialism by and large very difficult if not impossible, what would we do with our consumption models, and consumerism?

Yet i know you think the communitarian ethic is slavery and the like so all of the idea must be bad. How much say do you think you really have over your own life right now? Much of a say in the politics of your country? Much control over where in the world you can live? maybe you or i have more because we live in wealthy countries, but we dont have nearly as much as you think. Not because there are overlord lizards who are holding us down, but because there are structural elements that really do erode the agency of the self that would seem rather necessary for this self interest you tout.

Also everything in the last sentence you say holds just as true for capitalist systems...its more of a product of being a member of a large society than any particular one. How much do you understand about the societal norms that affect macro scale issues? Probably not much, because its too big of a thing in large societies to understand. Sure you might take elements of it and adopt it to yourself in order to get by, but thats not understanding.