From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #243 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, June 15 2001 Volume 10 : Number 243 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Political compass [Michael R Godwin ] Re: Oh, politics again! ["SIMPSON,HAMISH (A-Scotland,ex1)" ] Re: Oh, politics again! [GSS ] Re: Oh, politics again! [Viv Lyon ] who're you calling forty?? [dmw ] Re: Oh, politics again! [Michael R Godwin ] Re: Seize him, Fang! [Michael R Godwin ] Re: Political compass [Miles Goosens ] RE: who're you calling forty?? ["Larry Tucker" ] RE: who're you calling forty?? [Stephen Mahoney ] Re: need to unsubscribe bcasue of trip ["Stewart C. Russell" ] a brief note on Hungary [Christopher Gross ] England's Guitar Gov't [Tom Clark ] Warning! RH/SB content below ["Poole, R. Edward" ] Re: new mp3 format released [Capuchin ] Teach your children well [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] sports roundup [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 16:28:35 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Political compass On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Miles Goosens wrote: > Russia *did* collapse. Desertions in the Italian and Austro-Hungarian > armies were enormous, and by 1917 both nations needed units from their > more committed allies just to keep their fronts stable. At war's end, > Germany had its moment of social chaos, and several other European > states (Romania) had socialist governments.* Even stolid Britain > eventually elevated Labour's Ramsay MacDonald to PM (though he wasn't > any more a socialist than Bill Clinton is a Democrat). While I'd say > that war-weariness had a lot more to do with all this than an > overarching "workers/soldiers of the world unite" consciousness, the > latter quality *was* present and shouldn't be discounted. Very interesting stuff, Miles, but OTOH once Russia had collapsed, one of the big debates amongst the Bolsheviks was whether to expand the revolution across the world or to limit it to one country. Trotsky advocated world revolution, but he was ousted by Stalin who realised that the workers in most countries were more nationalist than socialist. There was an Austrian bloke who cottoned on to the same thing too. - - Mike Godwin n.p. Dan and Spooner "Dark end of the street" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 17:28:56 +0200 From: "SIMPSON,HAMISH (A-Scotland,ex1)" Subject: Re: Oh, politics again! >> > - -Astrology can explain many more things than most people >> > presently realise. >> > >> > - -Wars and social chaos may well be ended by a catastrophic >> > flood or earthquake. >> >> Er, I don't see why. I answered the two of them differently and both with >> the "strongly" tag. > So are you saying that one person's invisible friend is better than some > other person's invisible friend? Woah! I didn't say that at all. The whole point in believing in one of the "invisible friends" is that you usually can't believe in them all! If you don't believe in any of them then it's a pointless conversation! > I don't mean to sound rude but Moses, horoscopes, Abel, East of the garden, the giants, > palmistry, burning bushes, destiny, Isis, Apollo, moon node's, naming comets after some > super invisible friend's half brother, the ark, the trinity, passover, your personal > astrologer, as well as all other religious ideals, defined objects of worship etc..., is > all the same to me. You may not have meant to but you did anyway :^) I didn't put my opinions up for discussion, only to resolve an apparent lack of difference between 2 of the test questions. Tell you what, if I promise never to tell you what to believe (which I didn't) you won't tell me ;^) (H) Quantum Ille Canis Est En Fenestra n.p. Bloodhound Gang - Hooray for Boobies ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 11:47:41 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: Re: Political compass On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Miles Goosens wrote: > >"Class background determines peoples' consciousness more than their > >membership of a particular nation." ... > I didn't think this was one of the bad questions, even if it was a > sort of standard "commie/economic determinist" detector. I just got > done taking the methodology to task, but it's determining *your* > tendencies. In your case, sounds like you'd answer "disagree" or > "strongly disagree" and you'd be accurately pegged, at least on this > one issue. Maybe it accurately pegs you on this one issue, but what does this issue have to do with how left or right you how on economic policy? Do people actually think "Well, class rather than nation determines consciousness, therefore the estate tax should be X percent" or "Nationality is more important than class, therefore the railroads should be privatized"? ... I guess the question *does* determine if you're a hard-core Marxist, since their faith holds that class determines consciousness; and Marxists are of course leftists. However, the opposite does *not* hold: non-Marxists are not necessarily right-wingers (Marxists' claims to the contrary notwithstanding). Therefore, the question isn't too useful in placing one on the left-right spectrum. As far as WWI and its aftermath go, you list cases in which nationalism lost its appeal and mention a few cases of class conflict or accession of leftist governments. All this might be true, but doesn't really address the point of whether people's *consciousness* is formed more by class or by nationality. And if you've found evidence of a socialist (in name or policy) government in Romania after WWI, you should publicize it immediately -- that's quite a discovery! ;) > *The U.S. did its usual part in trying to suppress them, as the Herbert > Hoover-led American relief efforts withheld their medical and food aid > until "acceptable" governments were in place. Well, in the biggest case, Soviet Russia during the famine of 1921-22, Hoover's relief commission distributed vast quanitities of food and saved millions of lives, and they did so *in cooperation* with the Bolshevik government. They did not demand that Lenin and Trotsky step down and install a US puppet regime. In fact, the only conditions they made were that the Bolsheviks release any US citizens they had imprisoned and let the commission itself handle the food distribution. Hoover took a lot of flak for this, from right-wing Americans who thought his saving lives only helped preserve the Bolshevik regime. (They were probably right, in fact, but to his credit Hoover went ahead and fed the starving anyway.) - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 11:15:53 -0500 (CDT) From: GSS Subject: Re: Oh, politics again! > >> > - -Astrology can explain many more things than most people > >> > presently realise. > >> > > >> > - -Wars and social chaos may well be ended by a catastrophic > >> > flood or earthquake. > The whole point in believing in one of the > "invisible friends" is that you usually can't believe in them all! If you > don't believe in any of them then it's a pointless conversation! > But god(s) control the above, below and in between as dictated in at least some way by nearly all religions that inlude a supreme being(s) so shouldn't the answers be identical? I am as equally convinced that these things are just folk lore and were originally created to control civil disobedience and disorder etc.., as I am that they are not, kinda. > > I don't mean to sound rude but Moses, horoscopes, Abel, East of the > garden, the giants, > > palmistry, burning bushes, destiny, Isis, Apollo, moon node's, naming > comets after some > > super invisible friend's half brother, the ark, the trinity, passover, > your personal > > astrologer, as well as all other religious ideals, defined objects of > worship etc..., is > > all the same to me. > You may not have meant to but you did anyway :^) I didn't put my opinions > up for discussion, only to resolve an apparent lack of difference between 2 > of the test questions. Tell you what, if I promise never to tell you what > to believe (which I didn't) you won't tell me ;^) Sorry, I didn't mean to sound as though I was preaching or explaining some absolute truth which you should also accept. > Quantum Ille Canis Est En Fenestra does this mean that you are really appreciative of viewing a transgendered dog through a window or that the dog has a realy nice ass? please translate, my Latin sucks, as it should. gSs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 09:55:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Viv Lyon Subject: Re: Oh, politics again! On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, GSS wrote: > > Quantum Ille Canis Est En Fenestra > > does this mean that you are really appreciative of viewing a transgendered > dog through a window or that the dog has a realy nice ass? > please translate, my Latin sucks, as it should. I believe it would be loosely translated as "How much is that doggie in the window?" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 13:15:43 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: who're you calling forty?? On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Tigger Lily wrote: > putting in the 3rd axis then Im a Kaos Kristian(scuse me--my shoe is > ringing.) > (bet no one undr 40 gets -that- one;-) Eh, sorry about that, Chief. Agent 99 was the first woman for whom I had "the hots." (does that count as on-topic?) - -- d. np first of june _creepy crawly live_ (Eb, you would **HATE** this, i bet) = i do what i am told. i am not opinionated. i accept without | dmw@ = questioning. i do not make a fuss. i am a good consumer. |radix.net = pathetic-caverns.com * fecklessbeast.com * shoddyworkmanship.net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 18:29:31 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Oh, politics again! (H) wrote: > > > Quantum Ille Canis Est En Fenestra > On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, GSS wrote: > > does this mean that you are really appreciative of viewing a transgendered > > dog through a window or that the dog has a realy nice ass? > > please translate, my Latin sucks, as it should. On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Viv Lyon wrote: > I believe it would be loosely translated as "How much is that doggie in > the window?" My Lat. doesn't stretch far enough to translate "The one with the waggly tail". Any offers? - - Mike Godwin PS for the mystified: It's a song title. Lita Rosa, possibly? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 18:45:11 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Seize him, Fang! On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, dmw wrote: > Eh, sorry about that, Chief. > Agent 99 was the first woman for whom I had "the hots." (does that count > as on-topic?) Barbara Feldon - mmm! - - Mike "Please, Max, not the cone of silence" Godwin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 13:15:39 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Political compass Chris, as usual we're agreeing more than you might think. :-) >Maybe it accurately pegs you on this one issue, but what does this issue >have to do with how left or right you how on economic policy? Do people >actually think "Well, class rather than nation determines consciousness, >therefore the estate tax should be X percent" or "Nationality is more >important than class, therefore the railroads should be privatized"? ... I >guess the question *does* determine if you're a hard-core Marxist, since >their faith holds that class determines consciousness; and Marxists are of >course leftists. However, the opposite does *not* hold: non-Marxists are >not necessarily right-wingers (Marxists' claims to the contrary >notwithstanding). Therefore, the question isn't too useful in placing >one on the left-right spectrum. After reflecting on your statement, I concur. In my defense, my original comment was more of a riposte to Jeff, who seemed to be arguing with the statement itself ("Class background determines peoples' consciousness more than their membership of a particular nation") rather than the usefulness of one's "agree/disagree" response in left-right placement. And in that sense, I'll stick by what I said, but your more thorough analysis seems persuasive enough to me. Ugh, I hate that last sentence! But I'm too tired to wrangle it into shape! Anyway... >As far as WWI and its aftermath go, you list cases in which nationalism >lost its appeal and mention a few cases of class conflict or accession of >leftist governments. All this might be true, but doesn't really address >the point of whether people's *consciousness* is formed more by class or >by nationality. And I didn't mean for it to. I think if you take my post as a whole, I'm saying that this whole question ("what factors are most important in determining consciousness?"_ *is* a complex question that isn't easily answered. I'm not trying to be evasive. I just think "consciousness," whatever that is and however it's formed, doesn't easily submit to an either/or formula. Heck, the younger, intellectually supple Marx of "Theses on Feurbach" would have agreed with me! (Too bad that by DAS KAPITAL he'd become such a rigid, dogmatic, inflexible bore.) People are motivated by dozens of things, including many ideas that contradict each other. I wasn't too keen on seeing nationalism being tagged as the sole or primary factor in the historical instance (WWI) Jeff cited. Even in the din of the trumpets of August 1914, consciousness and motivation were complex issues; by 1917, events brought the very real limits of monolithic "nationalism" into sharp relief. The secondary concern of my argument was to point out that "class" had an important role in this more fractured picture, along with war weariness, ethnicity, religion, pacifism, and dozens of other factors. >And if you've found evidence of a socialist (in name or >policy) government in Romania after WWI, you should publicize it >immediately -- that's quite a discovery! ;) You're right; it was Hungary that had the short-lived socialist government. My brain has been Balkanized too, thinking one country and typing another. >> *The U.S. did its usual part in trying to suppress them, as the Herbert >> Hoover-led American relief efforts withheld their medical and food aid >> until "acceptable" governments were in place. > >Well, in the biggest case, Soviet Russia during the famine of 1921-22, >Hoover's relief commission distributed vast quanitities of food and saved >millions of lives, and they did so *in cooperation* with the Bolshevik >government. What you say about 1921-23 is true, but I should have been more clear about delineating timelines. During 1918-20, Hoover's distribution of foodstuffs was very much tied to political concerns. Hungary was the most notable case, as the foodstuffs were withheld from Hungary to topple Bela Kun. You're entirely correct when speaking of Hoover's 1921-23 efforts, which are laudable and much to Hoover's credit. (I'm actually a pretty big Hoover fan; his life story is an amazing one, and he was perhaps the brainiest and most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office.) later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 14:16:16 -0400 From: "Larry Tucker" Subject: RE: who're you calling forty?? |-----Original Message----- |From: dmw [mailto:dmw@radix.net] |Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 1:16 PM |To: Engulfed in Living Slime |Subject: who're you calling forty?? | | |On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Tigger Lily wrote: | |> putting in the 3rd axis then Im a Kaos Kristian(scuse me--my shoe is |> ringing.) |> (bet no one undr 40 gets -that- one;-) | |Eh, sorry about that, Chief. | |Agent 99 was the first woman for whom I had "the hots." (does |that count |as on-topic?) For me, most definitely Emma Peel from the Avengers. - -Larry ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 11:53:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: Re: who're you calling forty?? chief, shouldnt we use the cone of silence on this? - -86( 35 yrs old and I watched that 3 times a day when it was on syndication in so.calif. as a tyke) On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, dmw wrote: > On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Tigger Lily wrote: > > > putting in the 3rd axis then Im a Kaos Kristian(scuse me--my shoe is > > ringing.) > > (bet no one undr 40 gets -that- one;-) > > Eh, sorry about that, Chief. > > Agent 99 was the first woman for whom I had "the hots." (does that count > as on-topic?) > > -- d. > > np first of june _creepy crawly live_ > (Eb, you would **HATE** this, i bet) > > = i do what i am told. i am not opinionated. i accept without | dmw@ > = questioning. i do not make a fuss. i am a good consumer. |radix.net > = pathetic-caverns.com * fecklessbeast.com * shoddyworkmanship.net > anagram: MacDonalds = Clam and Sod Stephen Mahoney Multnomah County Library at Rockwood branch clerk stephenm@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us 503-988-5396 fax 503-988-5178 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 12:04:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: RE: who're you calling forty?? > For me, most definitely Emma Peel from the Avengers. > > -Larry definately hot- but I identify more with number 6 from "the prisoner" god that is one of my all time faves!!! anagram: MacDonalds = Clam and Sod Stephen Mahoney Multnomah County Library at Rockwood branch clerk stephenm@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us 503-988-5396 fax 503-988-5178 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 20:35:31 +0100 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: need to unsubscribe bcasue of trip Eleanore Adams wrote: > > I'll be seeing Scotland and Oxford, England, for the next month and a > half, studying comparative criminal law and civil liberties ahem -- we have a completely different legal system in Scotland than England... I've been sat in the middle of it for more than the last week. They still haven't washed their wigs. Stewart - -- Stewart C. Russell, Kirkintilloch, Scotland - scruss@enterprise.net "Hang on... This is the real thing... The truth, my friend, and nothing but the truth" - Mervyn Peake http://homepages.enterprise.net/scruss/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 20:54:45 +0100 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: aye carumba! Viv Lyon wrote: > > Still, it's pretty fucking cool that > there's going to be a Homerism in the Oxford English Dictionary. the one great thing about posting from this account is that I can speak my mind about them and not get fired. This is good. All that toss about new words in the dictionaries in the "news" this last week stems from the fact that Collins just managed to rush out there new edition of the Concise dictionary a few weeks ahead of Oxford. Oxford had to respond in order not to get forgotten -- so they had to seed the "d'oh" story to keep them in the news. This -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/entertainment/showbiz/newsid_1383000/1383710.stm - -- is the sort of crap that Marketing have forced us to put into our dictionaries. Yup, even the late Britney Spears got in -- no Robert Johnson, no John Lee Hooker, oh no. We even had an astroturf campaign to get the Thunderbirds "F A B" callsign in our dictionaries. Needless to say, it was a thinly disguise dpuff for Gerry Anderson, by Mr A's promo people. One of our senior lexicographers was approached by an annoying manager, who piped, "When will David Beckham ever be in the dictionary?" Our lexicographer turned slowly, and replied, "When he's done something." Stewart - -- Stewart C. Russell, Kirkintilloch, Scotland - scruss@enterprise.net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 16:11:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Christopher Gross Subject: a brief note on Hungary On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Miles Goosens, with whom it turns out that I actually agree quite a lot, wrote: > >And if you've found evidence of a socialist (in name or > >policy) government in Romania after WWI, you should publicize it > >immediately -- that's quite a discovery! ;) > > You're right; it was Hungary that had the short-lived socialist > government. My brain has been Balkanized too, thinking one country and > typing another. Hey, it happens to us all.... Now that you mention it, Hungary under Bela Kun's communist regime is an interesting case study of the power of nationalism. (IMO Kun's regime should be called communist rather than socialist; while the ruling party was a merger of the Socialists and Communists, their policies mostly came from the Communist side.) Kun's party came to power by exploiting nationalist feelings. Hungarian territory was being carved off and given to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, and Hungarians of all classes were outraged. Kun won them over by arguing that a communist government would be strong and decisive enough to stop this, especially in alliance with Soviet Russia. Once in power the communists quickly alienated all classes with their policies (nationalizing everything in sight while failing to give land to the peasants). However, when the communists sent the army to retake land given to Czechoslovakia, they just as quickly regained massive support, peasants and aristocrats alike flocked to the colors, etc. Then, when the army had to retreat from Czechoslovakia in the face of French threats, the communists' groundswell of support quickly vanished, and within a few weeks the regime was overthrown. In short the communist regime rose and fell based on its appeal to nationalist sentiment, regardless of its class or economic policy. I'm not saying that this proves nationalism is the most powerful force in the universe or anything; but it is an interesting story (at least to a history geek like me) and goes to show how important nationalism *can* be. - --Chris ______________________________________________________________________ Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog. chrisg@gwu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 13:16:37 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: England's Guitar Gov't No Jeff Beck? http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010615/re/ouken_leisure_guitarist_dc_1.htm l - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 17:35:37 -0400 From: "Poole, R. Edward" Subject: Warning! RH/SB content below Sayeth UM.com: Something surprising will be happening in October. Also something predictable to those who followed the tour diary . Gee, wonder what that means? (no details to be found at matador.com -- anyone know if they'll even be releasing the "october surprise?" heh. couldn't resist.) ============================================================================This e-mail message and any attached files are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the addressee(s) named above. This communication may contain material protected by attorney-client, work product, or other privileges. If you are not the intended recipient or person responsible for delivering this confidential communication to the intended recipient, you have received this communication in error, and any review, use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, copying, or other distribution of this e-mail message and any attached files is strictly prohibited. If you have received this confidential communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail message and permanently delete the original message. To reply to our email administrator directly, send an email to postmaster@dsmo.com Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP http://www.legalinnovators.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 16:32:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: new mp3 format released On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, bayard wrote: > http://formen.ign.com/news/35808.html I don't see anything really compelling or interesting here. Perhaps it's my cynicism, but I can't help but think something's up... especially when RCA is involved. I'm quite tempted to move to OGG for my audio, but MP3 is pretty heavily indoctrinated (I can't think or choose words right now). J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 11:33:09 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Teach your children well >> At that level, I think that if there's a choice, I'd rather see a >> teacher who enjoys teaching kids than a teacher who's a >> nearly-brilliant mathematician but didn't get that cushy collegiate >> job. > >How about a teacher who can answer students' questions on a subject? >How about a teacher who understands the underlying principles well enough >to give a second or (heaven forfend!) third and different explanation to >help those students failing to grasp a topic the first time around? > >I'm not talking about "brilliant" or even "nearly-brilliant". I'm talking >about competent. > >Here are three answers to "What is the decimal system?" I received in >Mathematics for Elementary Educators: > >"The decimal system is when we put dots in numbers like 1.5" >"The decimal system allows us to have numbers less than ten." >"The decimal system is a system of putting a point between whole numbers >and parts of whole numbers." speaking as someone who has taught at first-year university level, the school system as it stands is shit. There are university students who only have the barest rudiments of what I would expect to be common knowledge, and whose language skills are near zero. Blaming the teachers is missing a large part of the problem though. The way schools are set up (and I'm sure the same is true in the US and UK) means that most kids don't want to learn. They don't see any point in it or any reason for it, and they sure as hell don't enjoy it. Yet if you try to teach outside the standard mould, you're pushed back into place and are forced to teach in a way that the system caters for, rather than one that does any good. Having said that, the teachers are people who have largely come up through this system. It's a vicious cycle, and leads to some very poor teachers teaching future teachers very poorly. And if you don't believe me about education standards of university first years... over the last five years, I've been one of a team of markers for year one finals exams in psychology. I've been scribbling down some of the more hilarious answers, and my supervisor has put them on a webpage: Thoe ones marked "other howlers" are from the finals exams. Some of the answers may not make sense unless you know what the real answers should be, but some of them are just... odd. James ("A person with dementia may think that he is Napoleon or the Prince of Wales, who has no basis in reality") James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 12:01:13 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: sports roundup >Isnt Hurley the one on ice with brooms? And everyone hopes a player will >fall over so their kilt will flip up. But with it being played on ice theres >shrinkage so its not -quite- as exciting as it sounds. Oh and instead of a >ball they use this thing which looks like a small metal vacumn cleaner. nah - that's curling. Played by strange human penguins in Scotland, Canada, and inland from here. Oh, and by the Beatles in the movie "Help!" >BTW--if you can make -any- American understand cricket, I'll eat my 76ers >flag(which it looks like Im going to have to do anyway. Sob.) but it's easy! There are two teams. One of them goes in. The other team sends their players out, and two of the players from the team that is in go out until one of them goes out, when he is replaced by another player of the team that is in, who goes out to join the player who is still in. This continues until ten of the team who are in are out and have gone in. Then the other player who is in comes in and the team is all out. Now there is a changeover and the team that was in goes out and the other team goes in. Once the second team to go in is all out, ten of their eleven players having gone out and come back in, one innings is completed. Some kinds of cricket have one innings per side, some have two. The players who are in, the batsmen, stand at each end of the wicket. At each end of the wicket is a wicket. The batsmen stand in front of the wicket on the wicket. The wicket is in the midlle of the pitch. The ball is bowled by a bowler, and usually pitches on the wicket before it is hit. Fielders, who are members of the team that are not in, stand around the cricket pitch everywhere but on the wicket. They stand at orthodox positions, and silly positions. Silly positions are ones where they are most likely to get hit. A special fielding position is wicketkeeper. His job is to put the wicket down if the batsman is part way down the wicket. He does this by breaking it. Sometimes you will see several fielders in slips. Fielding captains often like to make sure they have a square leg and an extra cover. One fielder is often to be found in the gully. Cricket pitches must be perfectly flat. One of the fielding side is called upon at any one time to bowl. The bowler may be a fast bowler or a slow bowler. It takes longer for a fast bowler to bowl than a slow bowler. An umpire controls play from each end of the wicket. He calls over at the end of an over, but not when the play is over. Then he calls time. He signals when a player who is in has gone out, and also signals leg byes (when, say runs are scored when the batsman is hit on the head), wides, byes, and no-balls. In some forms of the game, not everyone who is in has to go out before the end of an innings. There are limited-over games which last for a set number of deliveries, which are the most popular form of the game, and are unlike first-class games where innings are usually completed unless a side declares, in which case they signal they've had enough and goes in because they want the oher side to go in. See? Easy! James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #243 ********************************