Ramblings, and utter non-sense....but nonetheless interesting by TauSetiPrime

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TauSetiPrime

Ramblings, and utter non-sense....but nonetheless interesting
Thursday, December 30, 2004

I came across several interesting (to me, at least) pieces of information from varying sources, and I thought I would bring them all together here.

First, I was gazing ever-so passively at the NATO headquarters homepage, and I saw something that immediately made me think of fireflyfans.net.

This is an entry in the FAQ for the site:

Quote:

Q: Why do you spell ‘organisation’ with an ‘s’and not a ‘z’?

A: By tradition, NATO uses European English spellings in all public information documents. Common examples where differences occur between European and North American usage are the words “defence” and “defense”, and “Organisation” and “Organization”.

Now, I don’t know if everyone has seen it, but there is a great thread started by Ebonezer entitled "I'm not usually a nit-picker but this is bugging the hell out of me." that discusses this very issue (take the time to read through it, its incredibly informative, and more than a little funny). Now, I was expecting a lot of bloated diplomacy and over-worded responses when I clicked the link to the FAQ's, but I smiled like an 8 year old when I read both the question and the answer. This is the NATO freakin' website! I know there are a lot of school children that have reports due on the subject of NATO, and therefore I can understand the seeming infantile nature of both the question and answer. But, nonetheless it sticks out in my mind like chrome rims on an 83 Datsun pickup. The only people in the world that would EVER ask that question are either children who don’t know any better, or adults who really need to read more (by the way, both of those categories are 100% American too!).

Another interesting tidbit that I picked up from that site was this little gem:

Quote:

On 12 September 2001, less than 24 hours after the terrorist attacks against the United States, NATO declared the attacks to be an attack against all the 19 NATO member countries within the terms of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

I didn’t know about this. I’m not sure how I missed it, but that is beside the point. I like the sentiment, and I hope this is the kind of solidarity we can see more of in the future.

After gleaning those gems from the NATO site, I popped over to ESPN's page 2, where there is an excellent Q&A with Bill Simmons. The whole article is very well done, but there are a couple fun entries:

Quote:

Q: Do you have a top five list of the actors that you would love to see die in a movie? I was thrilled when Paul Reiser was ravaged in "Aliens." I think Jimmy Fallon might be up there now after he ran onto the field at the end of the World Series.
-- Bob Brassil, Boston

SG: That's a great question. I never liked John Lithgow, so his demise at the end of "Cliffhanger" never gets old for me. Same for Glenn Close in "The World According to Garp" and Diane Keaton in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (although that was a truly disturbing ending). But you're right -- very fun game. My list includes Robert Wuhl, Renee Zellweger, Eric Stoltz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Spike Lee, Michael Rapaport, Gretchen Mol, Talia Shire (as Adrian), Jim Carrey, Kirstie Alley, Meg Ryan, Adam Sandler, the entire cast of "American Pie," and, of course, Jimmy Fallon.

(By the way, just coming up with that list was strangely cathartic.)

I would love to see this discussed more often (especially considering the role that actors have in commenting in today's political arena). I have my own entries I would like to add to this list:

Pauly Shore, if for no other reason than "Jury Duty" is currently being aired on TSO, and I cant understand how he was allowed to make movies and Firefly wasn’t deemed worthy.

Ben Affleck. He obviously has lost all sense of reality, and Matt Damon needs to take him into career decision receivership. I like most of his movies, and I think he can be a capable actor. "Chasing Amy" and "Mallrats" are great movies IMHO, but lately he has given his name to bombs the likes Iraq and Afghanistan will never see.

I’m sure there are others, but like Bill Simmons, writing this has been cathartic. I don’t need to turn this into a rant.

The other entry I found funny was this:

Quote:

Q: Recently, a female friend of mine set me up with one of her friends. I asked her if the girl was "cute" and she responded "yes." I trusted her judgment and didn't even ask to see a picture. When we met at a restaurant, I was horrified to see that she was not even in the vicinity of cute. Close proximity to brutal, terrible, atrocious, yet light years away from cute. Aside from the annihilation of any pride I once had, I had to endure a dinner which I ultimately got stuck paying for. (Side note: Blind date etiquette should require a 50/50 split of the check, discretionary based on the guy's overall enjoyment of the date.)

Anyway, the question is this: How do you think the "Girl Description of another Girl" Decoding Scale should work? This is my decoding scheme for what a girl really looks like based on another girl's one-word description:

"Gorgeous" = Beautiful
"Beautiful" = Hot
"Hot" = Cute
"Pretty" = Alright
"Nice Face" = Bad Body
"Cute" = Brutal
"Alright" = Train Wreck
"Good Personality" = Morbidly obese/drug addict
-- Marc G, Stamford, CT

SG: You forgot two good ones between "Alright" and "Good personality" ...

1. "One of the Nicest People I've Ever Met" = Probably disfigured.
2. "Very, Very Cool" = Missing a limb.

I’ve been burned by this before as well, and if ANYONE can give me an accurate decoding scheme for this subject, I would greatly appreciate it!

Those are my interesting pieces of information for the day. I hope you all have a good day and a safe new year's!

COMMENTS

Friday, December 31, 2004 6:40 PM

TAUSETIPRIME

Thank you for that!

I was a bit rambling at the moment, but I do appreciate the "Datsun" quote as much as the next man.

May you and your's walk among the tree-tops clothed in red. (an ancienct Navajo blessing from what I've been told)

Be well

Friday, December 31, 2004 2:35 PM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW

Well, as a bit of an English nit-picker myself, I really like the similie about the '83 Datsun pickup! :)

-Taylor

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