Allamorph

Also, the shift to the new structure may have altered the way the Edit Signature page functions. Now, instead of having the same post-box options I do in the rest of the board, I have no switch to turn the BBCode Mode on and off, and instead see only straight HTML coding. Thank goodness I can make up stuff very quickly based on what I'm seeing, so I managed to make the change mostly painlessly, but I imagine it's going to be very confusing for anyone else trying to alter their own.

Part of the reason I joined the Navy was to travel places. Aside from a brief trip to Delaware, I've never been north of the Mason-Dixon, never lived longer than a week north of Tennessee, and never been west of Memphis. Thus, I have a very limited view on culture even in my own country. I'm stationed up near Saratoga Springs, NY right now. Just moved into my apartment last week. This is now the farthest north I've ever been, and I'm really enjoying the weatherâ??although I'm discovering that lots of people from the South or California (myself not included) have no idea how to drive in snowy or icy road conditions. It's frightening. I'll be here for about another eight months, and then I'll be transferring again, hopefully to either Bangor or Bremerton, WA. Those and San Diego are the only three submarine bases on the West coast, and as much as I like it up in New England, I really don't fancy being in Groton, CN or Norfolk, VA all that much. (Everyone says Norfolk is a horrible place anyway, only surpassed in crappiness by Newport News.) That, and I really want to see Washington state, plus I figure if I can get a tour in over there, I can get my detailer to swing me San Diego for my next sea tour that much easier. As of now I plan on staying in the Navy for at least the 20 needed for retirement, so that should net me a lot of traveling right there. I'm really looking forward to it.

  I'd be willing to go thread-tagging in there in any down time I have. I would like to know what compelled you to name it Noosphere, though. I think it looks rather bizarre. Sort of like a noose. Very morbid. If it's a twist of 'new', why not Nu-sphere?

  This is actually an advertisement thread.   Look at the phrases the poster uses, especially in the third paragraph.

But LeafGreen has Vulpix.

He didn't alter my quote, hon. =P

  . . . OH NO      That's really funny.

Maybe we could shift some of that underneath the forums? Like maybe the Recent Topics block, and shift the birthdays to under the statuses?

[FONT=Calibri]Suddenly OB fists on my tablet screen.[/FONT]

So many old familiar faces @A@

I'm north of Albany, around the Saratoga area.

Am now settled in upstate New York.  Got the weekend to get everything situated and prepped, and then reporting in for work on Monday.   It was -9 F this morning.  My sodas froze.  My suits froze.  My two-gallon jug of laundry detergent froze.   It's a little cold.

It is normal. Pets go through this when they get new owners or shift to new environments. Especially when both happen at the same time. I guarantee you he'll be over it soon.

Oh, he's a handsome one. Very happy for you.

James has a fair point about the type of tool used. I don't think it speaks to the whole of the matter, since I feel that if the man had instead come in and, say, set up an explosive device our media stations would be talking about domestic terrorism instead, and how to better improve schoolground security. But that's not what happened here, so spending our time talking about what-ifs and might-have-beens would almost seem to be counter-productive. The issue with firearms is that, not only are they fairly simple to acquire, they're also easy to transport, conceal, and use, and also require very little in the way of preparation. Sure, a person can make a bomb with general household plumbing equipment and cleaning agents, but doing so requires a fair bit of chemical knowledgeâ??or at least a bit of research to find the instructionsâ??and a good bit of time devoted to simply assembling the materials properly. Doesn't lend itself well to crimes of passion. The same way with lighter fluid or another accelerant liquid. Sure, you can just go out to Lowe's and grab a can, but to be able to cause the same amount of destruction, one would have to walk through the school spraying it basically everywhere, which is bound to get noticed. Guns, though, are immediate. Point, aim, pull, and instant results. You don't have to set up elaborate plans for it, and you don't even need to be all that close to someone. And you can cause a lot of damage fairly quickly before you have to start worrying about law enforcement reprisal. It's that simplicity that makes guns attractive for venting frustrations.

Petie's observations are very much on target.   Which is typically what we do with internet trolls as well.

I honestly don't think they believe what they claim to believe anymore.  In fact, I don't even think their protests are about protesting.  At this point, I'm fairly certain they're just in the game for the publicity. I mean, think about it.  All they have to do is wait for some tragedy to occur, drop a few religious-sounding insults, and claim they'll be picketing a related event.  End result: their name gets back on most major news sites, they get talked about in loads of forums, they can drive by the event they said they were targetting and see who all turned out against them, so on and so forth.  They only seem to want recognition and a reaction.   On the internet we call that a troll.

[FONT=Calibri]I wonder what the laws are regardeing public disturbance of the peace.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]...who on earth are you talking about?[/FONT]

[quote name='chibi-master']He was a mess and of course there was pretty much nothing that we could say to him. [/quote] [FONT=Calibri]I have found that, when a person is hurting that much, the best thing one can say to them is nothing. Simply your presence is enough. And often a shoulder.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri][url="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57559261/connecticut-elementary-school-massacre-20-children-among-27-dead/"]CBS News[/url] Kids. He shot [I]kids[/I]. Twenty children just ... gone. I don't know what else can be said.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]Yep. Totally prejudiced.[/FONT]

[FONT=Calibri]That is a truckload of Grade A Baloney. The only 'reason' everyone 'knows' Poe is because "The Raven" is beat into their heads from second grade by people who generally haven't got a clue how to approach it in the first place and are only going over it because it's in the curriculum, and "The Telltale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado", and occasionally (blessedly) "The Masque of the Red Death" are the only things anyone can think of for 'variety' around Halloweenâ??and because some of the more aged English teachers get a little bit sappy over "Annabel Lee". No one ever reads "Fall of the House of Usher" because they think it takes way too long and are afraid of losing people's interest. (Ray Bradbury riffed off of "Usher" in his short "Usher II" in [U]The Martian Chronicles[/U]. That short is one of my favorites of his.) No one reads "The Maelström" because I'm pretty sure nobody understands it, nobody reads "The Oval Portrait" or "The Eight Chained Ourangoutangs", and No One even remotely [I]knows[/I] about "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", which is Poe writing comedy (of all things; he satirises the Transcendentalists beautifully) and is quite possibly my favorite next to "Usher". Ooooh. That burns me up a little. I want you to march right back to your teacher and ask her very indignantly what her reaction would have been if you had chosen Emerson, Thoreau, Frost, or Eliot. I am willing to bet dollars to donuts she wouldn't have said one word against it. That is poetary discrimination and I am VERY OFFENDED. =P (But really, I am.) [CENTER]- - - - - - - - -[/CENTER] Oof, Pablo Neruda. Good man, but that's gonna be a bit of a difficult project, there. Foreign poets are typically a little tougher to get at because they write in their own language, and although their work might be masterful, it will invariably lose something in the translation. Meter doesn't always work right, some flow is going to be lost, and ... well, think of it like an Asian coming up to you and insulting you by calling you a vegetable. Unless you know the culture, you're not going to understand the meaning very well. Still, if you do your work right, you should be okay. It's not a backbreaking project, just a bit thicker to get through than, say, Carroll.[/FONT]