From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V3 #248 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Friday, September 18 1998 Volume 03 : Number 248 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Alloy: Whew! Cioppino, parrots, geeks, & etc. [RThurF@aol.com] Alloy: Re: Ou se niche le machisme... [Paul Baily ] Re: Alloy: Subscribers - Ms Sakamoto [IT Admin - Govt Office North West <] Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists [IT Admin - Govt Office North West ] Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists [Eclipse ] Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists [John Schofield ] Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists [MacSuirtain ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 07:30:32 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Whew! Cioppino, parrots, geeks, & etc. In a message dated 9/16/98 8:57:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jbolton@ooze.nwfsc.noaa.gov writes: << Maybe later I can tell you about my trip, I know you'll especially want to hear the parts about getting knocked down by a California sea lion, and jumping on an elephant seal (and NOT jumping on a harbor porpoise!).>> I BEG you to tell us these stories!! :) <> LOL! I can just picture this. I don't think I ever mentioned to anyone here about the crow I blew kisses at in the street last spring & he said "Hello!" to me, clear as day, in this little tinny voice... twice in a row! I thought I'd gone mad until someone told me that certain wild crows can learn to say things, if for instance they live near someone's home & hear certain words again & again. Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 23:02:29 +1000 From: Paul Baily Subject: Alloy: Re: Ou se niche le machisme... >Melissa, >Oh please, do not discourage John from our French lessons. Mmm I'd humbly beg to differ. Biggotted though this may sound, wouldn't it be better if everyone could understand (if not read ;-) John's prose? >One option is to visit Alta-Vista's translator service: >http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate Just had a hilarious experience with this. I don't know French (a Russian dialect is top of my list of 'want to learn one day' languages) so I thought I'd try to act suave by getting altavista to do some translation: My original text was something like: Long live the difference, but why use a romantic language for such mundane things as our babble? (don't worry, I was going to put a smilie!) Altavista translated it to French as: Vivent-elles longtemps la difference, mais pourquoi utilisation un langage romantique pour des choses mondaines telles que notre rumeur? Just out of curiosity, I got Altavista to translate that back to English. This is what I got: Vivien-Elle for a long short time of difference may, for coy utilisation of language, use romantic techniques [in] the choice [of] mondegrenes. Tell you a crooked rumour? Nah, just kidding! This is what it really came out with: Do they live a long time the difference, but why use a romantic language for fashionable things such as our rumour? Hmm, methinks a babelfish it is not. That was just a machine doing translation and as you saw, admirable though the concept is, the true meaning was almost hopelessly, if not eloquently lost. With human translation the loss is less, mas meu ponto e feito, no?* * trans. 'but my point is made, no?' stay well, Paul. ['Speak to me in piddlegeese from HELL!!?'] This message powered at ear-ringing volume by Yo Micro Babe off Full Circle/Icehouse. ________________________________________________________________________ Paul Baily http://www.thehub.com.au/~paulb Brisbane, Australia There once was a time, I should have known better. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 00:27:07 +0100 (BST) From: IT Admin - Govt Office North West Subject: Re: Alloy: Subscribers - Ms Sakamoto At 22:25 13/09/98 EDT, you wrote: > >Her account was no longer accepting e-mail or Alloy posts, so I have to assume >she closed it. I hope the disconnection is only temporary. I know she's going >through some major changes in her life (relocating, getting a new job etc) but >when she is able to post to us again, she'll still be able to get through to >me via non-member submissions. I've been wondering about her too. I'll let you >know if I hear anything more. > >Robin T > > FOR INFO: I mailed her myself and just got the following reply >I lost my AOL for about a month, and the email probably kept bouncing. I'm >still here, though, and plan to resubscribe sometime soon. > Nice to know she hasn't dropped into oblivion. Slarv ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 00:27:05 +0100 (BST) From: IT Admin - Govt Office North West Subject: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists I've been mulling over life, the universe and everything, as I am wont to do from time to time, and particularly this week as it's the second week of the third of my two week breaks in rapid succession so I have a little time on my hands. [In case this is confusing you, what I mean is I was owed six weeks' leave, and I've taken it in three blocks of two weeks each, between June and Spetember. OK? ] Painting the living room THREE TIMES in as many days in order to get the right colour gave me time to reflect on things, and I wondered what other mailing lists my fellow Alloy subscribers subscribe to, or have subscribed to, and how they compare to Alloy. Myself, I used to subscribe to the Jethro Tull list (aka The St Cleve Chronicle), the Fairport Convention list and the Blue Nile list. One at a time then ....... Jethro Tull was a hotbed of stuff. In fact it was only available as a digest, but was so busy that a new issue came out almost daily and took ages to plough through. There were a number of common threads/arguments, e.g. how crap Tull were compared to their early work, how Ian Anderson's voice had deteriorated of late, what were the 'best' and 'worst' albums they'd ever released and what were the best tours they'd ever done. There was quite a lot of flaming, from time to time, in a most ungentlemanly fashion. In the end I had to unsubscribe as I just didn't have time to read it all. Strangely, I made contact with a couple who were Brand X fans on this list, and they kindly sent me a rare tape of a live performance. I recently tried to check if it was still running but it seems to have disappeared, or moved to a destination unknown. Fairport Convetion was much more civilised, and also usually a digest. FC play all over the place on a regular basis, and subscibers would review performances they'd attended. As FC have had so many members over the years, and most are still performing in other outfits, subscibers would also pass on information about descendant bands' performances and releases. They also planned their pilgrimages to Cropredy, as village in the Warwickshire countryside where there is a 'reunion' concert/festival each year, when many ex-members of FC get together again to play. My subscription lapsed when I moved mail addresses and I haven't resubscibed. The Blue Nile was the least active list. There seemed to be a relatively small numnber of subscribers, and as BN had only released three albums in twleve years, and rarely perform live, there was not a lot to talk about. Neverthelss it was a friendly list and I was sorry it was not very active. It didn't seem worth resubscribing when I changed addresses. OK mateys, over to you. Slarvibarglhee ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 19:56:01 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists In a message dated 9/17/98 7:28:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, help.gonw.st@gtnet.gov.uk writes: << Painting the living room THREE TIMES in as many days in order to get the right colour gave me time to reflect on things, and I wondered what other mailing lists my fellow Alloy subscribers subscribe to, or have subscribed to, and how they compare to Alloy. >> Alloy is the only list I've ever subscribed to... but I regularly visit a certain newsgroup which discusses sewing alternative styles of clothing, using gorgeous fabrics, vintage patterns, etc. I'm learning a lot, and the people I've met there are very sweet, creative, passionate and weird :) Just my type! You are obviously very dedicated to getting things just right, Slarv! May I ask, what color is your living room? (and what were the other two colors?) You are a VERY patient man! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 19:56:58 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Subscribers - Ms Sakamoto In a message dated 9/17/98 7:28:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time, help.gonw.st@gtnet.gov.uk writes: << Nice to know she hasn't dropped into oblivion. >> Yes it is! If she has the same e-mail address as before I'll resubscribe her right now! Robin T ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 22:08:18 -0400 From: Jeff Wasilko Subject: Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists On Fri, Sep 18, 1998 at 12:27:05AM +0100, IT Admin - Govt Office North West wrote: > > weeks' leave, and I've taken it in three blocks of two weeks each, between > June and Spetember. OK? ] Painting the living room THREE TIMES in as many > days in order to get the right colour gave me time to reflect on things, Could I interest you in a trip to Boston to help me paint mine? It's still 'new construction white'... > and I wondered what other mailing lists my fellow Alloy subscribers > subscribe to, or have subscribed to, and how they compare to Alloy. Oy! I'm on over 35 lists (music and work related). Most of the music lists I'm on are lists we host at smoe.org... If you want to see what kind of company TMDR keeps, the list of our lists is at http://www.smoe.org/lists/ - -jeff ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 17:23:23 -0700 From: Eclipse Subject: Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists Slarvi wondered.. > << Painting the living room THREE TIMES in as many > days in order to get the right colour gave me time to reflect on things, > and I wondered what other mailing lists my fellow Alloy subscribers > subscribe to, or have subscribed to, and how they compare to Alloy. >> I think Alloy was the first list I ever subscribed to. And of course one of the best! Although right now my favorite list (Alloy comes a very close second, I swear!) is the not-back-to-school-camp unschooler's list. I just got back from camp two weeks ago, and I miss them all.. I've met a lot of the people on the list in real life, and it's great to hear about their lives. Of late there's also been a lot of poetry, jokes, stories, conversations, and occasionally there are the most fantastic, thought-provoking open-minded debates. (About philosophy and religion--no mudslinging at all! It was amazing--technology, society, gender roles, etc) I'm also on a very, very, very inactive hawaiian language learner's list. I was trying to kick up some activity right back before my major computer problems this year, and I think I'll start up on it again, since there hasn't been a post since. About thirty people on the list, but they must all be very busy or very shy or both. It'd be a great thing if they started talking though. And I'm on a moderated, scientifically oriented marine mammal list, that I get in digest form. Not a lot of traffic, almost no discussion, but plenty of updates on happenings in the cetalogy world...new papers published, used books for sale, conferences, job positions, recent strandings... recently the unfortunate passings of some excellent biologists :( I've briefly been on a dinosaur list, a conlang list (for people who enjoy making up languages as a form of art), and a somewhat politically oriented list for native Hawaiians and allies. All for a few weeks while I was studying the respective topics. All of them were really fascinating, but there were vast amounts of discussion, some of it very technical, and I don't have time to keep up with that much reading, so after my curiosity'd been satisfied I left. > You are obviously very dedicated to getting things just right, Slarv! May I > ask, what color is your living room? (and what were the other two colors?) You > are a VERY patient man! > > Robin T I second! What colors were they? And are you usually a perfectionist, or is this one of those autumn instinctual preparation for winter/nesting sort of moods, or...? ;) -- E(lipse ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 12:59:55 +-1000 From: John Schofield Subject: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists This is my first and only (so far) although the Fairport Convention list that Slarvi has mentioned sounds interesting. John (john@police.tas.gov.au) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 00:02:04 -0400 From: MacSuirtain Subject: Re: Alloy: Curiosity/Mail lists IT Admin - Govt Office North West wrote: >...Painting the living room THREE TIMES in as many > days in order to get the right colour gave me time to reflect on things, Wow! Perfection? Anal retention? Boredom? Zen? Inquiring minds want to know! (That's the old advertising tag line from one of our more reprehensible tabloid newspapers -- great line, though, and it's stuck in the American pop conscience.) > and I wondered what other mailing lists my fellow Alloy subscribers > subscribe to, or have subscribed to, and how they compare to Alloy. I read/occasionally participate in the Law & Order and Homicide mailing lists. (So you see a theme here?) Both are really damn good network television shows dealing with crime, punishment, and urban angst in, respectively, New York City and Baltimore. Homicide has a special place in my heart as it's filmed a scant 30 minutes from here, and I've met some of the cast members. Next month, I'm trekking up with a couple of friends to get a tour of the set. The mailing lists are quite interesting, the L&O list in particular, because there are a good number of lawyers and gold shields (aka police detectives) who actively participate and give us the real skinny on how things that we see on tv are handled in the real world. I also subscribe to a sewing list and a wearable art list. The wearable art list can be very informative and useful (but typically VERY dry), but the sewing list, while usually not very useful, occasionally offers more amusement than it should -- there are some fundamentalist Christians who participate, along with a handful of Wiccan witches. I've seen the list disintegrate into a perverse religious catfight from time to time. That's when I nuke a bag o' popcorn and sit down for a good read. (On a side note, one of the sewing newsgroups I read is periodically strafed by some wicked person who posts a message with a title like "Free Samples for Crafters." When you open one of these, it's invariably a really whacked graphic image that probably gives most of the readers a near coronary. Last week's entry from our "friend": an aroused naked man, a rapturous naked woman, an excited Doberman, and a velvet painting of the Last Supper -- y'all are very creative folks... I'll let you put this baby together in your own heads...) ANYWAY... Alloy is the only group where I see there is a genuine sense of community. There is an ebb and flow to the conversation, and there are different opinions, but it's friendly and pleasant, and I feel like this is the closest I'll ever have to a corner pub. (Especially since the nearest bar to me is this creepy little place called "Hank Deetles' Cold Beer" and the only people I've ever seen going in or coming out all look like they've just appeared on "America's Most Wanted.") Oy. On a non sequitor note... Had an AWFUL job interview today -- so bad I almost started laughing during the blasted thing. My interviewer actually stopped me 15 minutes into the interview (which she initiated 20 minutes late)to make dinner reservations and arrange a haircut!!! She then announced, "Well, I really didn't have a chance to review your resume, but I think someone here did. Do you have any skills that we could use?" That's when I started closing up my Franklin planner and headed for the door. Next one will be better! Cheers, Melissa ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V3 #248 ***************************