Idle Friday lunchtime musing

Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Phil Betts]

At the end of a hard week, my mind started wandering...

TITTTL - almost an apt acronym by association with "tittle-tattle"

Unfortunately, tittle without tattle is "a tiny or scarcely detectable
amount" according to http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tittle

This is hardly a fitting description of the resident hippos and is
liable to cause offence.  A more PC acronym is therefore in order.

Perhaps "Post Replies At The Talk List" would yield a more fitting 
acronym: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=prattle

  * (n) idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
  * (v) speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly

Looks ideal to me, and nothing for the hippos to find offensive.


Phil

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Dave Korn]

On 10 August 2007 14:23, Phil Betts wrote:

> At the end of a hard week, my mind started wandering...
> 
> TITTTL - almost an apt acronym by association with "tittle-tattle"
> 
> Unfortunately, tittle without tattle is "a tiny or scarcely detectable
> amount" according to http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tittle

  Actually, tittle all by itself is exactly one jot less than that.

> This is hardly a fitting description of the resident hippos and is
> liable to cause offence.  

  Yeh, but they're more liable to blame whoever sneaked that 'E' in at the
end, since it wasn't there originally.  In otherwords,

    tittle = iota - jot + E.

> A more PC acronym is therefore in order.

  Can't we have a more senior acronym?  A DC or DSI, at the very least?

> Perhaps "Post Replies At The Talk List" would yield a more fitting
> acronym: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=prattle

  What is it with you and Es spontaneously appearing all over the place?
You'd be pretty popular at most raves!

>   * (n) idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
>   * (v) speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
> 
> Looks ideal to me, and nothing for the hippos to find offensive.

  I wouldn't call a hippo "idle or foolish" if I were you!  Otherwise you
might find them "rapidly" charging you and "incessantly" stomping you into the
ground!


    cheers,
      DaveK
-- 
Can't think of a witty .sigline today....

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Phil Betts]

Dave Korn wrote on Friday, August 10, 2007 3:38 PM::

>   I wouldn't call a hippo "idle or foolish" if I were you!

Hippos, being intelligent creatures can, I'm sure, discern the 
difference between _talking_ foolishly and _being_ foolish - 
unlike most spouses (from what I hear at the pub).


Phil

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Dave Korn]

On 10 August 2007 16:32, Phil Betts wrote:

> Dave Korn wrote on Friday, August 10, 2007 3:38 PM::
> 
>>   I wouldn't call a hippo "idle or foolish" if I were you!
> 
> Hippos, being intelligent creatures can, I'm sure, discern the
> difference between _talking_ foolishly and _being_ foolish -
> unlike most spouses (from what I hear at the pub).
> 
> 
> Phil

  Hippos, being intelligent creatures most certainly can, I'm sure you're
right, discern these subtle differences.  However, being, as they are also,
bad-tempered and irritable creatures, with a dangerous turn of speed and the
tendency to bite crocodiles in half with a single SNAP of their powerful jaws,
I'm sure they're quite capable of not caring about such subtle distinctions
and just going for you anyway, in much the same way as humans are intelligent
creatures who can discern perfectly well that you didn't spill their pint, but
are capable of overlooking that minor issue in favour of taking a swing at
you.

  Anyway, where on earth did you manage to find a pub that has lots of hippos
for customers?  Most I know won't let them in even if you bring your own!
(Might be different if the hippo was buying, I suppose, but normally when it
gets to their round they just look at you and go "No pockets, no wallet" and
you know you're going to have to get them in again ...)


    cheers,
      DaveK
-- 
Can't think of a witty .sigline today....

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Igor Peshansky]

On Fri, 10 Aug 2007, Dave Korn wrote:

> ...in much the same way as humans are intelligent creatures...

Now, that point is debatable...

> (Might be different if the hippo was buying, I suppose, but normally
> when it gets to their round they just look at you and go "No pockets, no
> wallet" and you know you're going to have to get them in again ...)

That reminds me of an old joke: a guy runs into a bar, and shouts at the
bartender: "Quick, hit me with a shot, before it starts again!".  The
bartender pours a shot, and the guy downs it, and yells: "Quick, another
one, before it starts!", and the whole thing repeats a few times.  Then
the bartender asks: "Wait, are you going to pay for these?" and the guy
says with a long face: "There, I knew it was going to start again!"...
	Igor
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_	    pechtcha@cs.nyu.edu | igor@watson.ibm.com
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		Igor Peshansky, Ph.D. (name changed!)
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		old name: Igor Pechtchanski
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

Belief can be manipulated.  Only knowledge is dangerous.  -- Frank Herbert

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Igor Peshansky]

On Fri, 10 Aug 2007, Dave Korn wrote:

> On 10 August 2007 14:23, Phil Betts wrote:
>
> > At the end of a hard week, my mind started wandering...
> >
> > TITTTL - almost an apt acronym by association with "tittle-tattle"
> >
> > Unfortunately, tittle without tattle is "a tiny or scarcely detectable
> > amount" according to http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tittle
>
>   Actually, tittle all by itself is exactly one jot less than that.
>
> > This is hardly a fitting description of the resident hippos and is
> > liable to cause offence.
>
>   Yeh, but they're more liable to blame whoever sneaked that 'E' in at the
> end, since it wasn't there originally.  In otherwords,
>
>     tittle = iota - jot + E.

TI is the chief spirit of the universe[*].  TTL is the lifetime of that
spirit.  And E is the energy it'll spend in that lifetime (equal to mc^2).

> > A more PC acronym is therefore in order.
>
>   Can't we have a more senior acronym?  A DC or DSI, at the very least?
>
> > Perhaps "Post Replies At The Talk List" would yield a more fitting
> > acronym: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=prattle
>
>   What is it with you and Es spontaneously appearing all over the place?
> You'd be pretty popular at most raves!

It's Ye Olde Cygwine Acronyme game...

> >   * (n) idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
> >   * (v) speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly
> >
> > Looks ideal to me, and nothing for the hippos to find offensive.
>
>   I wouldn't call a hippo "idle or foolish" if I were you!  Otherwise
> you might find them "rapidly" charging you and "incessantly" stomping
> you into the ground!

The talk is idle and foolish (and irrelevant).  The hippos are busy and
wise...  (whew, I think I've got all the bases covered here).
	Igor
[*] <http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/tho-tre.htm> (no anchors)
-- 
				http://cs.nyu.edu/~pechtcha/
      |\      _,,,---,,_	    pechtcha@cs.nyu.edu | igor@watson.ibm.com
ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_		Igor Peshansky, Ph.D. (name changed!)
     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		old name: Igor Pechtchanski
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

Belief can be manipulated.  Only knowledge is dangerous.  -- Frank Herbert

RE: Idle Friday lunchtime musing

[Dave Korn]

On 10 August 2007 16:55, Igor Peshansky wrote:


> TI is the chief spirit of the universe[*].  

> [*] <http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/tho-tre.htm> (no anchors)

"  Ti (Chinese) In the I Ching, the name for the beneficent sustaining power
or chief spirit of the universe. One of the minor deities is described there
as engaging in rebellion against his superior, in which he maintains that he
himself is ti. In consequence of this the rebellious spirit with seven choirs
of celestial spirits were exiled upon earth: this "brought a change in all
nature, heaven itself bending down and uniting with earth" (SD 2:486) -- a
Chinese version of the Fallen Angels. Back of this tale itself lies the
fundamental concept that all things originate in the divine, emanate from it,
and ultimately return to it, so that at any stage of this spiritual
procession, any minor entity can claim that its inmost selfhood is identical
with the highest, the originating source  "


  WTF?  This isn't the Reich translation of the I Ching that I'm familiar
with...

"  Copyright C 1999 by Theosophical University Press.  "

  Ah.  It's the New Age Yoghurt-Weavers' Edition.  Wonder what that reference
to "SD 2:486" is?

"  SD - The Secret Doctrine, by H. P. Blavatsky  "

  Figures.  What a bunch of ... grr!

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd2-2-04.htm

"  It is not alone Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia or Mexico, that had their
Typhon, Python, Loki and its "falling" Demon, but China, also. The Celestials
have a whole literature upon the subject. In King, it is said that in
consequence of a rebellion against Ti of a proud Spirit who said he was Ti
himself, seven choirs of celestial spirits were exiled upon earth, which
"brought a change in all nature, heaven itself bending down and uniting with
earth."

And in the "Y-King," one reads: "The flying Dragon, superb and rebellious,
suffers now, and his pride is punished; he thought he would reign in heaven,
he reigns only on the earth."   "


  Y'know, that bullshitter Blavatsky never actually so much as opened the I
Ching, let alone read it, did she?  Sounds like a crude mangling of the
Gnostic myth relating to the Demiurge's separation from / denial of /
rebellion against the Pleroma ...

    cheers,
      DaveK
-- 
Can't think of a witty .sigline today....