"taboo" thoughts (Beware: explicit content and hum

[so lacklustre]

Was it Oscar Wilde who responded to the claim that Sarcasm was the lowest form of wit with the riposte "..Ah yes, but the highest form of intellect..."

So where do you come in?

I think I'm probably above the combined wit of Australia . My rhymmes are similar in some form to those of Milligan, although my intellect and wit are probably a fraction of his now that he is dead.

[miss buenos aires]

I have a taboo thought: I realized the other night that 9/11 has almost no emotional effect on me anymore. I just get annoyed when people bring it up. I was talking to this guy, and he told me he did online fundraising for nonprofits, which I thought was cool, until he told me that his current project was raising funds for the WTC memorial center, and that their goal was $100 million. That was when I started thinking about all the ways in which $100m could be spent to benefit humanity. He said it would make history to raise that much money online, that no one had ever done it exept for the tsunami, and those people had the benefit of nonstop news coverage. I said, "A hundred thousand people died in the tsunami," and he said, "Well, three thousand people died at the WTC," and I said, "That's only one thirty-third and a third as many people!" So I guess some people think that's an excellent way to spend $100m, but I don't. And when I told my friends I was over 9/11, they all said that they had been over it some time ago, so it makes me wonder if the people who still go on about it are just faking. (I'm talking about the people who weren't personally affected, obviously.)

[selfmademug]

Well, I have to say it still freaks me out, and the pictures still make me cry. It hit me particularly hard, despite having suffered no direct personal loss.

However, I completely agree about the money!

[bambooneedle]

MBA - he sounds like a first class wanker if you ask me. Intellectually, he might have done the math(s*) and seen that he could use some justification with the 'significance-over-the-numbers' angle, but, to do just what, is the question... (to "make history"... ha!) It could be that he is being a great deal less honest than your friends.

* Americans (US) always say "I did my math"... Over here, we say "I did my maths". I prefer to hear the latter usually.

NB: When United Statesians and Europeans say, "I don't know what it's like on 'the other side of the pond'...", it bugs me. They probably often mean the rest of the world and don't realize it sounds like just US & Europe... but it tends to exclude everyone else.

"Other side of the pond"..... what a stupid saying...

[Mr. Average]

"ouch...owwww...OUCH!!!"

"Dr. Marvin, you can help me. You...can HELP ME" You and your assistants BWAP and SLL:

"Now:
...Baby-Step to the end of this post...
...now Baby-Step to the edge of this Thread...
...I'm Baby-Stepping, Dr. Leo Marvin...to the end of the Annex...



... and Baby-Stepping away from a forum that is held together by John and Martin and Dr. and SpookyGirlFriend and BlueChair and a few others who have genuinely enriched my life (invisible Pole, Cosmos, SweetPear, NoiseRadio, Goody, to name a few). At some point, you call it like you see it, know that it will be forever unpopular, and that the recriminations will be immense. That's when Baby-Stepping works the best.

Hell of a lot better than "Death Therapy"

And on that note, I hope that ARopeLeash finds Total Consciousness, so he has that going for him...

Now I am trying to find Dr. Marvin. "C'mon Gill"

"Dr. Maaaaaarrrrvin....Dr. Leo Maaaaaaarrrrrviiiiinnnn"

[bobster]

I understand where Ms. BA is coming from re: 9/11 (of course, I have the added protection of having lived 3000 miles from the actual events -- though L.A. is, I'm still, guessing, #3 on the terrorists hit list).

My personal beef is that we Americans have a tendency to act like we invent something the moment it happens to us. While 9/11 was, indeed, the worst single act of terrorism ever (unless you count war time acts) and it was our first real terrorist attack from afar, sometimes you felt as if people thought that no one had ever experienced such a horror itself throughout human history. Sadly, it was just one among many.

Another pet peeve. If I ever hear about America "losing it's innocence" again, I think I'll meltdown. You can't loose what you never really had. No nation I can think of is "innocent" (well, maybe Luxembourg or Costa Rica) is "innocent."

Commenators have told me that , we lost our putative innocence when: 1. JFK was assassinated. 2. MLK was assassinated. 3. RFK was assassinated. 4. We declared victory on Vietnam. 5. Pres. Nixon resigned.

I don't know if anyone had to gall to suggest we lost our innocence when Pres. Clinton received the hummer heard 'round the world or when he lied about it, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Of course, America lost it's "innocense" the moment the first settlers arrived here and realized that there was already an indigenous population who would have to be dealt with, one way or another.

The whole thing sort of reminds of a very old Hollywood joke. "Yeah, I've been around this town so long, I knew Doris Day BEFORE she was a virgin."

[Otis Westinghouse]

The Irish say 'math' too. That's no doubt where the US got it from, like lots of linguistic things. 'Other side of the pond' = transatlantic. Why should it bug you, tabooboy? We can say 'other end of the world' for you! OK, 'pond' is a bit tedious, but has a symbolic value in terms of stressing a transatlantic connection, perhaps.

[Tim(e)]

"United Statesians" - shouldn't that be "United Statisticians"?

And on expressions that bug me... I really dislike the term "down under" and dislike the Men at Work song even more.

[bambooneedle]

Why should it bug you, tabooboy?

Yo Otis (wasn't even tempted to use your new prefix)... So someone was dumb enough to call the Atlantic a pond? Hm. Australians then erroneously use that expression a lot when referring to England, Ireland, the US... I've sometimes sensed it here to be a kind of colonial thing.

Tim(e) - 'down under' is easy to dislike, so is most Men At Work. Nowhere near as good as The Little River Band with Glenn Shorrock...

[bambooneedle]

I don't have to say this.

When the general platform for humour is directly at someone else's expense, it is cowardly and trivial. Those that celebrate it are shallow, and instead of standing up to mean-spirited comments, they capitulate in the hopes of gaining some sort of wierd acceptance of the board regulars.

Mr. Average - why do you bang on about stuff like that, and then act all chummy towards me

And Bamboo, can I borrow that word: "Ordinariness". I love it. I would probably use "Ordinariesque" in its place, but never "Ordinarioid". Seriously, I love words and I love the colloguillisms that develop because of these types of variations on a word.

,when I would appear to be one of the persons you seem to be banging on about? I didn't invent the use of the word 'ordinariness', btw. You don't need my permission.

And why do you incessantly try to draw attention to yourself and your self-righteous, condescending ramblings when you bang on like that, when you would by your own references be and would have been a guilty culprit?

and since I am well-qualified to respond as I have been the target of some of the best verbal/written flamings to grace these digital pages

Now before someone goes back approaximately 18 months ago and researches an angry post that I made, don't waste your time. I apologized for the transgression and took full accountability. Which is much more than I can say for the really 'witty" one's who enjoy a laugh at the expense of anothers pain.

It seems pretty hypocritical. No wonder you often come off as a wishy washy buffoon.

There is only one Master of Life and Death.

Opinion not fact.

Be careful when you judge someone to the degree that you wish them a fate to burn in hell. Especially honorable, brilliant people who dedicate their lives to goodness. Be careful what you wish for. What goes around...

Well, stop judging everyone, then!

The elvis costello fans forum has taken a strange turn in the last few months. It was predicated long ago. There will be a self-proclaimed board elite (sounds really silly, doesn't it?) that would edge those of dissenting opinions about ANYTHING away fromcontributing by a number of devices:

1. Ridicule and Scorn, and/or;
2. Humourous retorts with double entendres that attempt to strip the original post of its intent, and/or:
3. Refusing to contribute to, or recognize a thoughtful post or milestone because the poster is not part of the board elite.

No proud, intelligent individual would know what board elite you're talking about and so wouldn't suffer from your chronic envy.

But the spiteful crap is really so juvenile.

Well don't make it your business, especially on a thread called 'taboo thoughts'...

Btw, a note about No.3: If something isn't "recognized", it might just be the person in question's bad luck; you needn't need so much approval from your imaginary 'board elite'...

[bambooneedle]

...

[bambooneedle]

Too close to the bone? Too close a glimpse into the Deep Dark Truthful Mirror? The mind boggles....