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10 Aug 2017 04:31 PM
#6501
Oliphaunt
Yeah, I climbed the tower, and unloaded some into a nasty, bearded hag's quizlet. I fyelt zo setisfyet.
TNP can name one famous person (celebrity well-known through their work in a popular field, like music, politics, etc) who has a hilarious Central-European accent.
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10 Aug 2017 08:54 PM
#6502
Member
Hmm. Dr. Ruth Westheimer is the first to spring to mind.
TNP has a close personal friend from Central Europe.
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11 Aug 2017 02:23 AM
#6503
Oliphaunt
Good one -- forgot about Dr. Ruth. Not at the moment -- fairly close with some Romanians for a few years (separately: they didn't come in a pack), but haven't kept in touch.
TNP thinks it's remarkable that valuations of the aesthetic work of art are, for some people, not as fixed and stable as appreciations of other objects, like principles or maybe habitually encountered objects like foods or some environmental noises or smells.
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11 Aug 2017 01:27 PM
#6504
Member
Eh, not really. Some people's tastes as to everything can change very frequently.
TNP has been hit by raindrops today (as I was, while swimming).
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11 Aug 2017 11:14 PM
#6505
Oliphaunt
Yeah, if by raindrops you include strange particulates containing probably quite a bit of moisture, that has been falling; for example, cow-town smog and smoke from those hippies up North,who for all I know got baked and set a bunch of shit on fire. Unless I've hallucinated a a basic fact from organic chemistry, I think small amounts of water are a product from burning carbon, but I don't want to drag out my textbook to find out some nerd little fact, although I probably should do some chemical balancing equations for fun, since I need an excuse to do some easy real-world linear algebra simultaneous equations so I don't get too airy-fairy in the theory of abstract algebra and category theory.
TNP found some hidden talents about a famous person recently. Here's an example: until last year or so, I really knew musician András Schiff as primarily a Bach specialist, but he has a remarkable gift for a variety of early-Romantic composers, like Chopin, Beethoven, and Schumann, and classical composers like Mozart and Haydn. He always seems to have something interesting to say, and his recordings of these other composers are very interesting. I mean, sure, Argerich and the Russians like Ashkenazy and Richter always had a deep bench, but most Bach specialists seem to go the route of another favorite of mine, Angela Hewitt, who, while having many diverse records, is to me still primarily one of my hidden references for Bach and Debussy (which is not nuts -- I happen to think if one became an expert in those two alone, one has covered about 70% of the conceptual history of late Baroque-->Modernist music).
Clearly that was a bit verbose, but just intended as an example in a field which may or may not be of great interest to everyone.
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12 Aug 2017 12:47 AM
#6506
Mi parolas esperanton malbone
No.
TNP is wondering what's going on re: N Korea and Venezuela.
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12 Aug 2017 04:58 PM
#6507
Oliphaunt
I didn't know they were buddies. No, I'm not very interested in or curious about North Korea -- that's old news. Venezuela is interesting, and since the cesspool of the Eastern med is without surprises, except for the Arab Spring a few years ago (which, in US news, was nearly overshadowed by that idiot Japanese nuclear crap), it's where attention is given. I think Colombia should annex them, and create one really neat country.
TNP is absolutely unwilling to cheat at card games, but doesn't really know why.
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12 Aug 2017 07:37 PM
#6508
Member
Correct. I always strive to play honestly.
TNP is very pleased to see Jizz's new avatar!
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12 Aug 2017 10:25 PM
#6509
Mi parolas esperanton malbone
True. He certainly reminds me of cough syrup!
TNP does not enjoy gang$ta rap.
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13 Aug 2017 10:28 PM
#6510
Oliphaunt
I don't know how to answer that. I enjoy any cultural phenomenon that calls for execution of civilian professional cocksuckers, aka police, and think putting women and anyone in general who is uppity in their place is fine. I think the actual music productions are idiotic garbage fit for retard toddlers. So, while I enjoy the message, the medium sips shit.
TNP should learn some conversational street Spanish or Russian, in case a desire to flee white cracker pantywaist USA is overwhelming. Nothing fancy, just a few thousand words, and a good accent.
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13 Aug 2017 10:53 PM
#6511
Member
I took four years of high school Spanish and retain just enough of it so that, if you parachuted me into Madrid, I could maybe find my way to the U.S. Embassy.
TNP wants to visit Madrid, with or without Spanish fluency.
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13 Aug 2017 11:26 PM
#6512
Oliphaunt
Sounds a little bright, cheerful, expensive, and European for me. If must go to a Spanish land, more like the settings of *Only Angels Have Wings*, *Sorcerer*, *The Wages of Fear*, *Nostromo*, *Under the Volcano*, *Out of the Past*. Dark corners in sun-baked hellish lands. Hence emphasis on street Spanish -- nothing fancy, just rotten sewer language spit out like a desperado. Plus, those Basque people are fucking crazy. Are they French? Are they Spanish? Who cares, they're fucking nuts. Not going anywhere near them. I'd visit Portugal, though, without having any of the language nor any desire to learn it. Every Portuguese person I've met has been a bottom-dwelling pompous ass or cunt, so that's amusing, and I've heard the countryside is pretty neat.
TNP. when hearing the terms "red and black" thinks of (i) the book/movie(s) (ii) something about computers (iii) something else, and will explain,
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15 Aug 2017 12:25 AM
#6513
Member
Uh... (iii) something else. Red and black were the colors of the Dover, Ohio high school athletic teams when we lived near there. They were very popular and the colors were omnipresent, so that's the first thing I think of.
TNP will tell us his or her most significant or personally-valued school colors.
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15 Aug 2017 12:25 AM
#6514
Member
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17 Aug 2017 01:48 PM
#6515
Oliphaunt
Yeah, I guess. I recall purple and forest green, and some other stuff. I think there was some red in there later on, but my only connection to the football team was complaining about various deans to like-minded students and academics.
TNP can and will admit to not liking certain European nationalities very much, in general, as a prejudice.
ETA: DEEP Purple! Yeah, baby. I always considered it violet, but apparently it's purple. Great band, RIP Jon Lord, good tune, rocking color.
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17 Aug 2017 11:07 PM
#6516
Member
Nope. "I hate only two things: unreasoning prejudice based on nationality, and the Dutch!" - Nigel Powers
TNP has seen all the Austin Powers movies.
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18 Aug 2017 07:00 AM
#6517
Oliphaunt
Somehow haven't seen any.
TNP has been to Atlanta.
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18 Aug 2017 02:29 PM
#6518
Member
Yes, just a few years ago for a long weekend with my family. We had a great time, including visits to the Carter Presidential Library, state capitol, Centennial Park, MLK house, church and historic center, Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta History Center, Swan House (beautiful old mansion featured in a Hunger Games film), SkyView ferris wheel, High Museum, Battle of Atlanta cyclorama, touring the CNN studios and taking our first-ever Segway tour (including seeing the POV of this vista: http://ll-c.ooyala.com/e1/8xMDUxYzE6...promo324957740).
TNP has been to Cleveland, Ohio.
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18 Aug 2017 04:13 PM
#6519
Oliphaunt
Yeah, I can't remember if it's the I-90 or the I-95, that skirts just south of the lakes through to Chicago, but I've been "through" there. I guess I'm a bad man, but I was on a mission and really didn't feel like going stag to stop at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for the implied reason above, and also because I probably would have hated it on principle. ETA OK I90,east, then take a right at I95 to get to the PA turnpike. That must be my confusion.
TNP prefers the US side to the Canada side of Niagara Falls, and/or has spent time at either.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 18 Aug 2017 at 04:29 PM.
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19 Aug 2017 12:42 AM
#6520
Member
No preference, really, but yes, I've been on both sides.
TNP refused to wear the goofy disposable raincoat when sailing on The Maid of the Mist.
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19 Aug 2017 12:52 AM
#6521
Oliphaunt
No, peer pressure ruled the days I went to be a good sport with out-of-towners. So,yeah, I wore the poncho/whatever, I don't know, just because. Truth be told, I think once is enough for Maid of the Mist. If that. But there is some neat stuff on the US side to walk around on, see the river up close before it goes over. The Niagara is one rough old boy of a river, all the way from Buffalo up to the falls -- sort of an awesome little river. I could be misremembering the frequency, but it seems like jackasses were always crashing their car into it, never to be found again.
TNP has noticed that woman who work at animal shelters tend to be total babes, and are probably pretty nice, even if they likely have menageries of foul beasts in their efficiency studio apartments.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 19 Aug 2017 at 12:56 AM.
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19 Aug 2017 11:10 AM
#6522
Member
I've been to several animal shelters over the years, including getting our current cat a few years ago, and never noticed that.
TNP has heard a church bell ring in the past 48 hours.
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19 Aug 2017 03:51 PM
#6523
Oliphaunt
No. There aren't any churches in my neighborhood, that I'm aware of.
TNP is very intimate with somebody who has chickens (and, perhaps, some roosters, which, I've heard, is a problem).
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20 Aug 2017 11:37 AM
#6524
Member
My niece has some chickens, and she and I have kissed and hugged in a friendly way many times over the years, but "very intimate" would be overstating things.
TNP has a favorite breed of chicken.
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20 Aug 2017 11:55 AM
#6525
Oliphaunt
Maybe, I just can't remember all the names and they all seem the same to me. Apparently my diction wasn't that great, re uerbo "very intimate" -- my sister and her family has chickens, but I'm not that kind of uncle brother.
TNP is shocked to learn that many, if not most Catholics, receive communion without having confessed any masses and holy days of obligation they have missed. Cheaters.
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20 Aug 2017 11:36 PM
#6526
Member
No, in this day and age, I suppose I'm not too surprised. Some priests are more stringent than others, I've heard.
TNP has met an archbishop.
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21 Aug 2017 04:01 PM
#6527
Oliphaunt
Hmm. No, but I used to walk regularly nearby as part of my path to walk up to the highest point (mountain/butte/crest/whatever it's called) within city limits, by where the old Archbishop used to live, I've heard. Pretty nice house, in a pretty old and respectable residential part of town. Apparently back in the late 1960s he used to throw some pretty swell parties. I don't know for what purpose, but that's just what the old timers say. I don't believe I've ever even seen the current Archbishop live and in stereo.
TNP is annoyed when he or she can't put his or her feet up when sitting at a desk (for whatever reasons, too messy, a guest at somebody else's office, too improprer in public, dogshit on the shoes, whatever).
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21 Aug 2017 11:22 PM
#6528
Member
I don't often do it, but yes, it's nice to have it as an option.
TNP is barefoot as he or she reads this.
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21 Aug 2017 11:30 PM
#6529
Oliphaunt
Yep.
TNP thinks barefootedness is a little bit cleaner in general than bothering with shoes.
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22 Aug 2017 12:19 PM
#6530
Member
It can be, yes, and in the summertime my feet are just happier that way around the house.
TNP owns his or her own house.
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23 Aug 2017 12:55 AM
#6531
Oliphaunt
I don't live in a house, and if I did, the first thing I'd do is poison all of the decorative plants and cover the lawn with shards of pointy shale, and have roaming attack dogs fenced in. As it is, I have an underground bunker with outside privileges and a real annoying bunch of stupid neighbor jackasses. And I'm a part-owner with my sister, so I can't sell it for cash without going through a bunch of paperwork, which is a hassle because no one in my family thought it would be necessary to cultivate familiar relations with attorneys specializing in contract law. Dumb idiots. I'm enacting a subtle plan to "psychologically drive" one of my nephews into being the family lawyer, and another one to go to West Point and be the muscle, and....I don't know, the other one can be an artist or something.
TNP despises being interrupted under any circumstances while trying to concentrate on a task, but is pretty good at muttering a few obscenities to him or herself and letting the annoyance drift over them like the cherry blossoms floating on the pond.
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23 Aug 2017 11:31 AM
#6532
Member
Yes, when I'm focused, I prefer to remain focused. But life doesn't always allow that.
TNP thinks he or she just might live a hundred years.
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23 Aug 2017 04:22 PM
#6533
Oliphaunt
Yeah, sure, I guess anything's possible. Not sure life would be worth a damned without being reasonably physically hard and mentally sharp. Probably George Saunders was not correctly assessing his fitness at age....65 I think, but perhaps he wasn't wrong in principle.
TNP thinks focus is easier to achieve if one detaches oneself from pesky emotions as much as possible.
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24 Aug 2017 12:13 PM
#6534
Member
Yes, they can be distractions when one is trying to focus, but life without them otherwise would be barren.
TNP owns at least three staplers.
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25 Aug 2017 10:54 PM
#6535
Oliphaunt
No, I have one stapler. It works great.
TNP is easily enraged by inferior office supplies.
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25 Aug 2017 11:30 PM
#6536
Member
Annoyed, perhaps; never enraged.
Without Googling, TNP knows who said, "The Mafia cleared an estimated $2 billion last year, which is particularly impressive when you realize they spend very little on office supplies."
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25 Aug 2017 11:53 PM
#6537
Oliphaunt
I don't know. Cohn or Kefauver maybe. It sounds like a Woody Allen line. Don't worry, I'll be googling presently.
TNP is easily enraged by puzzles.
ETA goddammit son of a bitch! Change that to is very pleased at WINNING! Son of a bitch. Woody Allen. Thank you, Eric Lax, for the biography that made me the man I am today, even though I sold your book years ago to a used bookstore. EETA and that's bing, not google, thank you very much.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 25 Aug 2017 at 11:59 PM.
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27 Aug 2017 09:04 PM
#6538
Oliphaunt
Yeah, so it appears both yes and no. BTW I won fair and square.
TNP thinks saying, unaccompanied by any menacing gestures, saying "I'm going to cut your asshole open and show it to your whole fucking family" should be protected speech in the USA.
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27 Aug 2017 11:21 PM
#6539
Member
Yes, I agree that's protected speech, depending on the context (if it was said at the end of an argument with a knife actually at hand, a court might not be quite so forgiving).
And you were right about Woody Allen. Good job.
TNP has seen at least three Woody Allen movies made since 2000.
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01 Sep 2017 12:22 AM
#6540
Oliphaunt
I don't think so. I liked *Scoop* a lot, and pretty sure that was after 2000. I may have seen some others, but I wouldn't know.
TNP is very aggravated by being stuck with people who don't do car-camping correctly -- as in bringing a lot of junk they don't need, mostly, including unwise foodstuffs. Not knowing how to use a topo map and compass can be forgiven, but is still sub-optimal.
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01 Sep 2017 10:40 AM
#6541
Member
I'd have to disagree. Car-camping is pretty much all about bringing junk you don't need.
TNP has been for at least an hour-long hike in the past month.
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01 Sep 2017 12:32 PM
#6542
Oliphaunt
Sure, I walked for a few hours around Lost Lake near Mt. Hood in Oregon the other day. I didn't even start a forest fire with my pipe either.
TNP thinks a day without walking is like a fistfight without blood.
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01 Sep 2017 10:35 PM
#6543
Member
I do like to walk a lot, but can't say I do it every day at any length.
TNP has to mow a lawn in the next few days.
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02 Sep 2017 12:23 PM
#6544
Oliphaunt
Fuck that shit. Some pack of roving nineteen-year-olds probably did to the neighboring apartment complex's invisible, yet highly adjacent lawn or whatever they have over there. Labor Day weekend, so I'm expecting a high level of man-dog interaction from those hicks. I hope coyotes kill every single one of those beasts, leaving their carcasses to rot. Bands of rats and vultures would be preferable.
TNP thinks highway billboard space would be wisely rented by a public-health advocacy NGO, in order that it might feature graphic, horrific displays of automobile "accidents." As a warning to others, and possibly with the side effect of causing some defective drivers to perish or to maim their passengers thanks to their inattention, aka "rubbernecking." Or else just get rid of every billboard visible from any portion of the US interstate system. But my first idea is far more equitable and reasonable.
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02 Sep 2017 07:54 PM
#6545
Member
I'd be cool with either of those.
TNP has talked to an Australian recently.
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02 Sep 2017 10:34 PM
#6546
Oliphaunt
No, but as a matter of fact I have had an important question that seems especially suited for a Commonwealth sort, about language.
TNP can say if, as a male, it is better to be called (i) a twat or (ii) a cunt.
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03 Sep 2017 10:10 PM
#6547
Member
Slightly better to be called a twat, I think. But only slightly.
TNP has been called either of those in the past week.
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03 Sep 2017 10:44 PM
#6548
Oliphaunt
No. It's been years since a stranger insulted me in person with a mild vulgarity, that I can recall. But I was very interested yesterday in adding "twat" to my active vocabulary. Always be prepared -- it's the Boy Scout way.
TNP can name a technique that requires extraordinary focus, and is surprisingly difficult, when practiced extremely slowly -- far, far more slowly than even a beginner would attempt to learn the technique.
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05 Sep 2017 01:46 PM
#6549
Member
Hmmm. No, I don't think I can.
TNP has read Frank Herbert's Dune.
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05 Sep 2017 04:58 PM
#6550
Oliphaunt
Sure. I was just now thinking, it must have been 1985-1987 or so. I recall the impression they made on me, and sort of the experience of reading some of them. Pretty spicy, I guess.
TNP needs to organize his or her desk at home -- papers and stuff.
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