Inappropriate Discussions

One of them got so bad that I can no longer check it at work because the company filter started blocking it! A lot of people seem to be feeling frustrated, angry, depressed, powerless... the whole litany of negative emotions. Must have something to do with the times during which we're living.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got from an attorney was free. It's obviously a bit dated but it can be easily re-tailored to the internet era.

If you feel that you just have to write a nasty letter to someone, do it. Proof it, edit it, get it perfect. Read it over a couple of times and revel in your eloquence. Print it out. Put it in an envelope. Address it. Stamp it. Didn't that feel good? Now tear it up and throw it in the trash.

You say: "I chimed in only to clear the name, so to speak, of Americans, in general, who were being blamed for it, and which obviously wasn't the case. Moreover, I noticed the continuance of the name-calling and flame posting in that thread, just because someone felt compelled to jump in and voice a dislike for it."

What thread are you referring to?
What name calling and flaming are you referring to?
I haven't seen either in a few weeks. Perhaps it is a sensitivity level or maybe I missed the topic all together?

Moderators: while your at it how about removing ALL off topic discussions? Isn't this a technical forum? Generally speaking I have found this forum to be one of the worst when it comes to people posting completely irrelevant topics and devoting massive amounts of time to them.

Max you and the others here post great topics and points. To me, whether something is offensive or not it will tick someone off. Why? Because people are just a cog in the big machine and they hate it. They hate that they are powerless in this world and the only power that they have to feel like someone is to grandstand that this or that is so offensive. Just like walking into a business and treating the help like slaves, because your dollar is supreme and they need to acknowledge your superiosity. It's called politically correctness that gives everyone a license to inflict their morality upon others that the issue was so insulting that they will lose sleep, needing a shrink to combat the stress of witnessing the incident, sueing, and or being responsible for a moral decay that send us into the darkages.

This empowerment is getting out of hand. Life is a choice pure and simple, choose to tune in, participate, or choose not to be apart. What is everyone so afraid of? Can people not distinguish fact from fiction, humor from seriousness regardless of age? Excuses that this or that is not professional or appropriate is a reduclous waste of time. Lighten up people, enjoy things for the fun that they represent or choose to stay away, tend to your own garden. If you are a good parent and you raise them right to think for themselves then they are nothing to fear no is there? I got a great idea lets go back to the Victorian Era and get so prudish that we cant even have a furniture leg bare where it needs to be covered cause someone will be offended.

The topic that you are complaining about was not in any possible way an attack on the USA or their countrymen but in actual fact an attack on the spam mail that is constantly clogging our in boxes and the stupid claims made.

The fact that most of it is about American Pharmicuatials is beside the point but if you would like "The fastest way to learn a new language, Get money from the USA government, Make you're teeth white again, Don't leave romance to chance, Get New computer Financing, 50 Million kids with high Cloistral, get out of debt fast or enlarge parts of the female anatomy" you are welcome to them as they are just in the last lot of downloaded e-mails that are coming through my Spam filter.

I really do like the way that the topics are changed for these items to defeat filters but unfortunately every one no matter where it comes from has a USA address for billing purposes and

I really do find it offensive to see any form of CENSORSHIP if you don't want to see something no one is holding a gun to you're head forcing you to look. So just ignore these things and leave the others alone who are at least having a good laugh.

The first entry that you put on that discussion was nothing more than a case of sour grapes and the worst thing is that by you're responses you are reinforcing the idea that every American is like those that you see in the STUPID USA SOAPS and not the real people that are the inhabitants of the USA.

Just think before you jump in with both guns blazing next time as you're very actions are only making the way others see Americans in general look far worse than they ever where.

Col

"independant European country " should read 'independant European COMPANY" sorry.

But lets not forget, Colin lives on the other side of the world. In a land of Cardinals, Kangaroos, Koala Bears and perpetual sunshine.
Who knows what ancient acceptances they had?!?

I just like the concept too much to argue it.:-)

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You asked, "Without going to far into it, can I ask just WHY you are so overprotective that way?"

If you have to ask the question in the first place, there's no way you could fully understand the answer. And considering the fact that we've gone down that road before, on many occasions, one could certainly assume that we'd only meet the same end - a dead end.

This has got to be a marketing issue. TR is supported entirely by advertising. Advertisers usually pay for each hit that the website displaying the ad brings to the advertiser's website. (It's possible that they may simply pay a flat rate based on the displaying website's popularity, but from what I have read I believe that is extremely rare.) Therefore it is in TR's best interests to attract the maximum number of hits each day, hoping that a steady percentage of an increasingly larger readership hits the advertisers' websites. One of the proven ways to do that is by diversifying content. Sure, probably nobody hits TR just to read the non-technical discussions. (They'd be poor prospects for the advertisers anyway.) But I bet a lot of readers hit it MORE OFTEN because of them. It is, in my opinion (and we're now free to express such non-technical judgments here ^_^), a sad fact that the advertising industry rules our civilization. Talk about a pertubation of Adam Smith's free market. Every study I've seen seriously questions the value provided by advertising to its clients. The best it can do, reportedly, is to change fickle consumer preferences between brands of nearly identical products such as soft drinks. It's doubtful that anybody ever bought a Mac instead of a PC or vice versa because of an ad they saw. And who's going to buy a new IT book after seeing an ad, rather than waiting to read the review? Ads can raise consumer awareness of an entirely new type of product, but that can do more harm than good. Physicians are absolutely beleaguered by patients demanding new drugs they see marketed directy to them in Sunday supplements, and end up wasting a lot of their valuable time explaining to the dunderheads why it isn't what they need. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The ONLY product that advertising successfully markets, the ONLY industry whose revenues have been significantly increased by advertising is... advertising. Anybody wanna perk this thread up and debate that?

Folks, I must tell you I was more shocked to see that the discussion thread with the "spam message geared toward males" was removed than I was to see the offending six-letter word in the list of discussions. I remember some TR editors railing at TR managers in '99 and '00, begging them to remove certain threads from discussions or certain posts about content, and they held fast. The notion of an un-moderated forum was something TR felt/feels is very important, and it wasn't just to generate extra clicks for the page-view mongers. It was to be cool, to be one of the few sites on the Web willing to take a chance and trust their, uh, clientele. The only times I can remember a post being yanked due to inappropriate content was when it contained some or all of George Carlin's 7 Dirty Words You Can't Say On [American] Television. [Heh! Heh! I said post being yanked!]

So I don't know who among you got through to the TR/CNET folks and persuaded them to nuke that offending discussion, but it's quite a coup. I recall reading only some of the original posts in that thread. Personally I didn't see anything that offensive in it, but I assume someone (or several someones) crossed the line somewhere.

And considering some of the SPIRITED conversations that have taken place on this site, that's some line indeed!

All in all, I think the people who come here have helped TR fulfill its original mission--to become one of the leading destinations for IT pros on the Web--by creating such a diverse and discussion forum.

What's really cool is that so many people like DC Guy, MaxEd, OzMentalCase, and Colonel Luck self-police the thing. We don't need no stinkin' moderators with members like these!

It is IN MY FACE NOW MAXWELL!!

Can we no longer have a discussion regarding ANY topic unless it passes the US prejudice test? If so, can you send me the guidelines.

I am not disagreeing with your opinions here, just the way you stayed out until you misundetstood a post and raised hell from that point forward. I must ask why, it is not normal.
If you perhaps made a mistake, as we all do all the time, then simply say you misunderstood a post a perhaps reacted hastiliy. You just wont do that though will you?!

Instead you drag everything through the mud until it turns dirty and then complain about people's attitudes.

If you were offended, I understand, some are more easily offended than others, you have no obligation to participate further and no body holds it against you.

When you take offense to an innocent post and make such a big deal about it, then yes, it IS my concern as I was happy to join the discussion that you have now squelched even though everyone was enjoying the lighthearted approach.

You seem to feel everyone was having fun at your expense, which they were not. You act as if you have been ridiculed and have taken offense, but you have not been ridiculed.

I can understand your point, many discussions and yes I am as guilty as anyone have pointed out weakness or doubt in the American system, I can tell you why people see it fit to do this but won't. That is not the case here though.

No it isn't my country, but YES I do take offense to you misunderstandig something, complaining about it, and even after being corrected, you still haven't apologized for your misunderstanding (that's beyond you it seems)and why would you even step in anyway? The topic offended you and was inappropriate, it's almost as bad as IT_mom who jumped in for a simple bitch session and left. Why did she continue to read the thread if she was offended?

Sorry Max, I know that we need to understand each other better, but this was uncalled for and wrong to begin with.

I suppose if you've had your say, we are expected to simply roll over and accept your judgements from now on, even if wrong?

The discussion wasn't ABOUT America, you just made it that way. Oh well, enough said then, bad form Maxwell, BAD form.

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...it seems that it is you who is trying to drag this through the mud. All I did was respectfully decline to answer your question, and for the reason I previously stated. My answer is still valid. I just don't want to go there with you. Can't you just accept the fact that I want to agree to disagree?

However, if you want me to say that I misunderstood the intent behind that person's post, I'll say it. I misunderstood the intent behind that person's post. Nevertheless, I didn't "raise hell", as you suggested, all I did was point out that very few Americans contributed to that thread, and I only said that because I obviously misunderstood the intent behind that person's post. Moreover, I even added a disclaimer to that message saying that I had no opinion on the subject matter one way or the other, nor was I judging any of the people posting. But I only did that because I must have misunderstood the person's intent behind his post. Moreover, I was quite respectful in what I said and how I said it. All I did was misunderstand the intent behind that person's post.

I hope we finally cleared that up.

By the way, I'll still respectfully decline to answer your question, and for the reason I previously stated. The fact that I obviously misunderstand the intent behind that person's post is immaterial.

Ok Max, I'll let it fall there. I appreciate your ankowledging your misunderstanding, I was under the impression you saw the explanation as wrong and that the post was targeting American's. Your feelings toward the lack of professionalism in the post are fine and yes it was off topic although based on a relevant argument.

Fair enough. Have a good afternoon/evening.
OM

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I have to wonder why you insist on the constant badgering. It wasn't even your post (the one in the "removed" thread) that I replied to, nor was it your message that I apparently misunderstood. Moreover, in the emails we exchanged, as I suggested above, I explained my thought process to you the same exact way I explained it here. And you even acknowledged that you understood when you replied in a return email, "Fair enough Max, I thought that was what you were referring to. I think the poster just got two thoughts crossed into one comment."

So what's the problem? No, don't answer that. It's obvious to me that you just can't refrain from your typical badgering. Be advised, however, I'm not going to let you suck me in like you have done in the past. Like I said in the message that started this thread, I'm not going to contribute to it anymore. So go find another target.

While it is true that the peasants who where not considered as people did dress from head to foot those in the court where a totally different thing.

It was unacceptable to see a womans ankle but perfectly acceptable to see most of her breasts as at the time they where not considered as a sexual item but the ankle was. Try to figure that out because I can't.

But it is different cultures which have different ideals of what is considered as either beautiful or sexual so there are many different ideals around this world and all proport to be the same thing. Currently we in the west seem to be following the current American example which in all probilaty is the reason for the high incidence of eating disorders amoungs young females.

After spending many years working around the "Rag Trade" you rapidly become aware of what is required by that industry and currently a prepubescent female is the considered the ideal as they require less fabric to make a garment out of and what is even worse require far less knolledge in how to make womans garments. Most of the current crop of top fashon designers would be unable to design clothing for the current Greek ideal of beauty. As they are unaware on what exactly a dart is and how to use one and where as well as how to cut a garment on the grain of the material that is used.

Col

I consider that the posting which started that discussion was a totally valid and interesting comment on spam.

However, as the postings became more and more risque, at some point the postings crossed the line from humour to vulgarity.

I, of course, was one of the worst offenders in this case. [What proportion of "clean" jokes are actually very, very funny?]

So I would say: yes, TR should publish every discussion, and it is mainly up to the regular contributors to post, in any discussion: "Enough !"

If a median point is reached and the discussion continues to plummet downwards in the sense of good taste, then it is up to us all to self-moderate discussions which have passed this point.

An interesting real life analogy occurred in New South Wales a few decades ago. The then Premier, Neville Wran, tossed out some outdated legislation and introduced the Summary Offences Act.

Each judge and magistrate was then left to decide if an action or words were truly offensive. The guidline was (is) "Anything that would be offensive to a reasonable person."

Certain individuals tested this law by doing things like bareing their buttocks on a busy sidewalk. A balance seemed to be reached for a while, but quite recently a young man who had used vulgar language in addressing a policeman, had the charge dismissed by the magistrate because he had not spoken to the policeman in an aggressive manner.

Oh dear! What is the world coming to?

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...to censor content that is, as you put it, "utterly stupid"?

Who gets to decide what is "utterly stupid"?

How about the proprietor of the Web site?

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As a reminder, we are talking about private party censorship, not government censorship.

Whether or not Julian might post that message, or any message, for that matter, on his Web site was not really the point of the question. Whether or not he had a right to censor said message was. And you didn't answer the question.

A simple question.

Do you think it's a private party's right (individual or company) to censor any written material that might appear on his or her Web site?

Do you think that it could be (emphasis on could be) an obligation to his or her target audience to censor some material?

(Okay, that was two questions.)

Well I guess I've been called worse, but my counterculture roots back to the civil disobedience of the 1960s are trembling with indignation. ^_^ I just try to make people wonder whether something they are about to say will do more harm than good, and if so, whether that is their intention. In other words, will the harm to themselves or the people they respect outweigh that done to the enemies they have identified. But we're losing the battle on self-censorship. As a result of the Superbowl tempest in a B-cup it is rapidly becoming a VHF/UHF TV standard to implement a delay in "live" programs, giving to one person the power to edit all "live" material to one single standard: government regulations. If that isn't scary!

Well Max, perhaps I misunderstod your post also, apparently it's easily done. You last message was much more to the point and blatant as compared to cryptic.

Secondly, don't flatter yourself, nobody's sucking up to you and no I haven't done it before.

I've TRIED to be civil, I've tried to agree when I actually DO agree, but nobody is sucking up to you. I don't think I've EVER sucked up to anyone and have never had a reason to. Sucking up is admitting guilt, I have no guilt to admit, off the pedestal, it wasn't made for you.

What I don't like is you will make a statement and even when corrected or called on it, you simply do not address the issue you just slip away. For people to respect you I would think that standing up and admitting you made a mistake is a little more accepted than silence.

I don't target just you, it's just that you seem to be offering the conflicting opinion lately, therefore, just as I was badjered for my veiws on American politics; when you stand alone you will be questioned.

I think the word for it is 'discussion' though, not 'badger'.

Colin, isn't that just the biggest waste of engineering skill you've ever seen? Oval racing, what a snore! They may as well just have a DRL the Dyno Racing League. Have all the cars in a shop running on a dyno and wait for one to blow up, see if the crew can get it built in less than 19 seconds and if not, they're out. There would be less driver deaths and more crew being hit by fluing crankcases.

Ovel racing, what a farce! At least they still have the Molson Indy street race in Vancouver...for now anyway.

I like that idea. I'll get started on the bar menu right away. Do we want true single malts or blends? Do we want local Stout or Guinness, OR BOTH!!! DAMN, a TR Pub, now THERE's a place "where everybody knows your alias (ok that didn't work, 'name')!"

Cheers,
OM

Obviously it is my right to decide what is "utterly stupid."

I consider your response to my post to be utterly stupid, as it only stated the obvious.

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Thanks for the laugh.

We would naturally stock a wide and varied range of non-alcoholic beverages for those who chose not to imbibe, or who have been asked to refrain from the 'hard stuff' for medical reasons.

The Tech Republic forums have been scoured mercilessly for any and all references to music and the juke-box will be stocked accordingly.

I propose several other rules for the TR Pub:

1. Portable phones are not welcome. We do not want wives, husbands or managers interrupting the serious business of enjoying ourselves. Anybody allowing a mobile phone to ring during pub 'opening time' will be fined and the money donated to charity.

2. There will be a 'Ladies Night' at least once a week where our fairer contingent have the choice to tune to a non-sports channel on the TV or turn the TV off altogether.

3. Strictly no credit. We are looking at a way of converting TechPoints into 'beer tokens' but no promises! As a truly 'International' watering hole, all major currencies are acceptable for purchases of food and drinks.

4. Members are respectfully requested not to stand up while the bar is in motion as this can lead to nasty accidents.

5. Strictly no weeners!! There will be a creche for children located in a nearby building, supervised by representatives of a local National Guard Unit and monitored via web-cam. Children are welcome on 'Family Days' where suitable entertainment and activities will be laid on.

6. The pub notice board will be available for members notices. Sales and Wants, Situations Vacant and the like are perfectly welcome, but we respectfully ask that no livestock (including wives and children) ads are posted by members.

Apart from that...anything goes!!!

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While the topic may have been inspired by Spam, the content of the thread was certainly not about Spam. Surely you have to admit that. Moreover, I would imagine that it was the title of the discussion that drew the ire of TechRepublic, especially considering the fact that it was parked on the top of the active discussions list.

It's been made very clear that TR doesn't mind the non-technical discussions. I'm sure they realize that they are popular, and some positive fallout that results is that these technical people visit the virtual water cooler, and while here we also get involved in the technical aspects of the site. So it wasn't the off-topic nature of the discussion that they objected to, but probably the off-color nature of the course it took, especially the title. Of course, as I don't sit in their board room, this is pure conjuncture on my part.

I know that you don't consider me "lowly", and I thought you'd like that little bit of "yank" humor. And no, I don't consider myself or my country inferior to anyone. In fact, if you were to believe others who post in these threads, we all consider ourselves superior. But I agree with you, we're no better, no worse, but, perhaps, different in many ways. And I think the tolerance towards sexual innuendoes type subjects is one such area. What your country (or others) might accept on your television shows (and I'm talking about the airways, not cable) and newspapers, our country might frown upon.

What I find interesting, however, is the lack of tolerance towards our differences. How many people have said something like, "Look at my country; look at the rest of the world. They have no problem with it, so get with the program, America."

Where's the tolerance for our preference to keep it toned down a bit? And what started this whole dialogue to begin with is TechRepublic's right to censor any material that they would rather not have on their private site. I don't think they should be criticized or questioned for it, but rather we should try to practice a bit of tolerance towards our differences and try to understand it. What's wrong with that?

Is that they do not pull threads, they don't censor material, UNLESS it is brought to thier attention.

If someone complains, they act quickly and get both sides of the story they evaluate them and then form a decision based on the material before them. I don't think TR in this case had made any attamepts to remove the post until someone complained. Now that could be a very quiet person who never participates but always reads. It could be an active peer, it could have been someone that disagreed with the entire post.

Either way, I don't think TR decides to remove these posts themselves, unless prompted to, in which case they act accordingly.

OM

I found mine while camping one day, brand new keyring size, very handy to say the least.

I still have my big ass blade I made when learning machining, but that's more for splitting wood, choppng small trees etc.

As for Euro-brews, how about a Stella or Becks?

This is an Inappropriate Discussions for this forum isn't it?

After there is absolutely no Technical connection in this discussion and it is only soliciting various peoples points of view isn't it?

Col

As regards my earlier posting suggesting that members indicate when a paticular discussion had crossed the line of good taste, I recall that when I asked my friend Kay Rouse how she found no conflict between her Christian beliefs and her Libertarian political stance, she sent me a long article indicating the compatibility of these two belief systems.

After studying the article, I told Kay that I inferred from the article that it recommended: "Freedom, tempered with responsibility and common sense."

"Right on," was her reply.

And now to my next (and primary) point. Having read I think all or most of the postings here, it would appear that the comments on censorship relate only to adults.

But what about children? I consider that censorship is most definitely required with material accessible to children and teenagers.

I strongly and absolutely believe that children under the age of, say, 15 years should NOT be exposed to material depicting graphic sexual acts.
The lack of censorship in this area would encourage very young teenagers to experiment with sex, and make them more vulnerable to improper advances by adults.

While there have been a number of postings in previous discussions, suggesting that it is up to parents to raise their children properly, this would not eliminate the possibility or likelihood of children viewing, say X-rated videos or DVDs when their parents were not at home.

Whilst "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" often covers this area, I would like to see a TV series which depicted, without making reference to the specific sexual acts involved, actual real life cases of how victims of child sex abuse were affected later in their lives.

Yes I know kids are often lumbered with the responsibilities of adults but that wasn't quite the depth I inteded to suggest.

I mean that kids DO think they are adults, if you don't think so, try asking a 14 year old if he's an adult, of COURSE he is, in his own kind of course.

Treating kids like immature or naive idiots is exactly why they rebel against authority. They aren't treated that way by friends, so they listen to friends and ignore the 'adults'.

When I was 13 it was all pretty innocent with exception to those seemingly parentless kids who always got me in trouble. A 13 year old these days is MUCh different. They ARE sexually active, smoke dope, drink booze etc. (not MY kids, YES YOUR kids to)perhaps not to the extreme as some but they are still aware and exposed to everything at a much younger age than we were.

Teaching your kids about safe sex and openly discussing girlfriends and boyfriends with them is going to make YOU the know all person they come to as opposed to Sandy who was pregnant in grade 8.

I think people need to wake up and realize that the world isn't the innocent world of the 60's anymore. Just looking at MTV should teach you that.

Kids are kids and need to be allowed to be kids, unfortunately, they don't THINK they are kids and don't want to act like kids. I'm not saying run out and buy your 10 year old daughter a dildo and a Playgirl but education removes question and the need for exploration.
I remember seeing the sex ed films in grade 6, we all laughed at how stupid they were and how aged the film looked. We already knew all that stuff and just wanted a free period in the school auditorium. My parents, being strict British parents, ran screaming when sex was the topic, I'm surprised they had three kids. I knew NOTHING other than the schoolyard Bs from the 'experienced' guys in the next grade above me. I had a pregnant girlfriend by age 16 and now have a fully grown son who thinks I'm the coolest dad, he talks to me about girls, guy things, drugs, parties etc. I don't condone it, but we discuss it and he COMES TO ME for answers not some dork he hangs out with. He has a long time girfriend, treats her like an angel and respects her enough to lay off having little ones while they get thier lives together and she finishes college. His friends, the rich ones, have no communication with their parents, feel repressed by them, can't talk to them and always tell me I'm the coolest dad. I don't let them pary at my house, I don't buy them booze or get them laid, but they know I understand kids want to grow up gracefully and not be told how young and naive they are. In a nutshell, I understand them and listen to them, talk to them etc.

I think the singke most important thing you can do for your child is have an EAR, not a mouth. As they say, that's why God gave us two ears but only one mouth. Kids ned to know they ca talk to you and mostly, that you'll listen without condemning them as children.

My youngest neice is 19 this year, she knew ALL about sex as her mother was open with her at an early age, yet she is still a proud virgin and is in no rush to stop being a kid.

Now if she was treated like a child, she would be pushing to grow up and be accepted, probably learning the wrong things from the wrong people and getting herself into trouble.

I understand your methods, they are just too archaic to be a viable solution in modern times. We would ALL love our children to be sweet well behaved 'children' until they are old enough to find a career and move out. The problem is, I don't live in Disneyland and neither do children, preparing them for life as an adult will help create a more educated and prepared yuoth for tomorrow. Hell, the schools aren't doing it, somebody has too.

...but I still like to ask, what is this all about? Can somebody point me to that discussion?
Oops..it was removed right? But my curiousity has been aroused. I have not read all the posts, but the few ones I read indicate the discussion is about sex...

Well I must have been one of the millions who search the Internet like crazy after missing the NFL-Janet Jackson 'Show'. I wanted to see the picture, but saw many articles. I was kinda disapointed, until my wife showed me some still pictures in the BBC website.

How dashed civilised! Of course, we could have afternoon tea and coffee (served in fine bone China for those with time to spare, and large unbreakable mugs for those who only have time to 'splash and dash'). An excellent suggestion. Perhaps even some 'teatime' treats...

Cornish cream teas, with scones and jam. Danish pastries and petit fourres, doughnuts and bear-claws. Perchance even some cucumber sandwiches with the crusts trimmed off....?

Well, when Oz has finally finished writing up the bar snacks menus and the 'Specials Board', I shall send him out with a shopping list. Now let me see...

Lapsang Souchong, Earl Grey, Darjeeling, some Ceylon. Perhaps some Mango Indica would go down well - what do you think? For those unaccustomed to the niceties of the finer teas and tisanes who just demand a robust and refreshing 'cuppa', may I recommend a rather 'cheeky' little number from Taylors of Harrogate, Yorkshire Tea. Milk or lemon...the choice is yours!

With all the undue stresses and strains that we IT folk are subjected to, I think also that a selection of choice herbal teas may be the order of the day. Peppermint for aiding the digestion, camomile for a generally 'mellowing' infusion and a selection of fruit teas to add some 'pizzaz'.

Not forgetting the coffee drinkers, a selection of blends from around the world, served in all the usual styles; espresso, cappucino, latte, etc. Decaffinated for those with a short fuse or nervous disposition.

For the early shift, who may call in on the way to the office, or for those who have been up all night dealing with emergencies and need a little 'pick-me-up', may I heartily recommend the OzMedia House Special 'Mental Case' Java Lava Brew Number One - fourteen ounces of the strongest coffee beens, triple ground and double brewed (into a liquid the consistency and colour of used engine oil) and served in a half-ounce thimble with a cocktail umbrella, olive and pickled onion. Guaranteed to shift the most sleep deprived or hung-over tech into maximum overdrive!!!

Just chuck me a cuppa Tetley and a crumpet, I'm good to go.

Actually, I used to be quite a ceffeine pig, as of last February I had developed an allergic reaction to caffeine. Now it's juice, DAD's rootbeer (decaf) or milk, mmmmmm (yes I am getting old, MILK for god's sake!!).

My friend who owns the coffe bar was stunned to not pour my daily four-shot mocha, now it's a daily four-shot DECAF mocha. I found that unlike the old days when decaf meant Sanka (the orange handled pot) and it was horrid. These days decaf is actually quite good.

Funny enough, I'll still drink tea, which in my case (dark Tetley)is OK, even though it has a higher caffeine level than coffee. the doctor hasn't figured that one out, but when they did a caffeine scratch test on my arm, it got red and swollen pretty quick. I guess a Brit could never be harmed by tea?!

Tea and arrows, man what a concept! That's what they should name that new room, Tea and Arrows, but I guess that's no better than protesting that 'water cooler' is a North American term.

Oh well, one day soon.

Man you should see it here!! These idiots are just shooting eash other as easily as you would punch someone in the face. They have lost the ability to fight, to have a little one on one in the schoolyard, they just shoot the dude, it's really wierd.

Just like you may have seen on TV, it actually happens now, I remember a time where if you even pulled a knife and the other guy didn't have one, win or lose you were a wimp for not fighting fair.

To hear there are simple problems with knife fights still is almost refreshing, especially when the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket.

Whilst I have no children of my own, the practical commonsense of your three-stage relationship with your children is excellent.

I have a "friendship" relationship with my sister's eldest son, now aged 30. In fact I don't think that he has ever thought of me as "Uncle Julian" -- it has always been just "Julian.

I have long held the view that any parent/s who can raise children who are slightly less screwed up than the parents, have made an enormous contribution to the upwards evolution of the human race.

In the most adverse circumstances, my sister (Fflur) has raised two fine young men. They are polite, quietly spoken and have never got into drugs, alcohol or sexual experimentation.

However, as she suffers endogenous depression and has always had a negative attitude towards life, she is unable to acknowledge the miracle she has accomplished.

Her two sons were raised in a censor-free environment, and were allowed to grow up without interference to develop their own unique personalities. For example, the elder son was a natural vegetarian, and no pressure was put on him to conform to a standard diet.

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Go to my room or do extra chores? Those are both bad outcomes for me. You have to give me a preferred outcome to choose versus an undesirable one (and hopefully I will choose the right one), you know, a little nudge helping me decide which one I should take.

So they should be, for example, to either stop fighting and you will continue to read my messages, or I continue to fight and you won't read my messages anymore. I certainly want the former outcome, and that little nudge might help me make the right choice. But you would have to be willing to let me fail if I make that wrong choice by following through on what you said. (And pretty soon the kids say, "I know, it's my choice. I'm sick of choices." To which I usually reply.............nothing.)

But you're right. I've got a choice to make myself. I either have to stop replying to utter nonsense or stop reading the utter nonsense to begin with. I think I'll choose..............

..so if that is added to the shopping list I will be happy. Scones, Jam, Danish Pastries...well that sounds so delicious.
I like strong Tea with a little bit of hot milk.

Oh!, by the way, a decent white cup and saucer would do for the Tea. Nothing fancy.

Luxury, I used to DREEEEAM of having a cup.

I used to suck on a damp rag....if I was LUCKY!!

Right, well you didn't miss anything there believe me.

Well, how about I clean up my room (yeah right, only in cyberspace) and kill two birds with one stone.

As for the 'fighting' get used to it, I am unale to post without it so I have become used to it as repercussion for having ideas.

"But you're right. I've got a choice to make myself. I either have to stop replying to utter nonsense or stop reading the utter nonsense to begin with. I think I'll choose.............. "

If I agree, it is utter nonsense, if I disagree, it is utter nonsense.

In this case, Max's contradiction of his earlier statement and my seeing it is utter nonsense.

Oh well, there's always one.

There was a young fellow called Reg
Who fell asleep under a hedge
Along came his wife
With a large Bowie knife
And cut off his meat and two veg.

But enough of this 'inappropriate discussion'...

I was flying to Paris on a day trip for business. We had shipped some equipment out for an exhibition and I had to pop over and set it up. From Southampton, Paris is only 35 minutes and so it hardly warranted an overnight stay. I took no luggage, other than a few tools that I needed for the job, which I carried in my jacket pocket. This was a long time before September 11th, so it was still okay to carry 'sharp implements' about the person on European flights. Apart, that is, for the 4" lock knife I had taken to cut the packaging away from the kit. The security chap at Heathrow decided that I'd best not carry the knife and it ought to go checked baggage. Did I have a suitcase I could put it in?

Well, as my answer was in the negative, he then produced a large bag measuring about three feet by two feet and made of flourescent pink vinyl. He duly dropped the knife in the bag and sealed it up and put it in the hold. He handed me a reciept and a set of instructions on how to reclaim it at the other end from the Paris security desk.

When I landed in Paris, I went to the airline baggage handling office and reclaimed the knife from the security staff...with the explicit instructions to carry it sealed all the way through Customs and Immigration and not to open it until I was out of the airport. To say I attracted a few strange looks from other travellers is putting it mildly!!!

Despite his young age he is probably going to hear similar comments throughout school, I don't know how many times I realized I was not the only one to be told, "He is very gifted but plays the class clown and would be much more successful if he applied himself more."

These people are usually the ones with a super dynamic thought process and will be artistic or musical with a future of creating, discovering and buiding. We need technicians as well as designers, when will they learn?!

I had an unplanned child at a VERY young age. As I was gainfully employed at 16 and earning almost more than I do today, I left school and decided to stay with my girlfriend and raise a child.

We both returned to college and university since then to achieve our goals yet we were unable to stay together as a couple since we grew apart as a result of being too young when we met.

My son is now old enough to know for himself that it was odd to be half his dads age and yes we have discussed it. I basically explained that even though he was unexpected, he was never unwanted. He loves both his mother and I and despite the normal problems teenagers go through, he has been accepting of our situation. If anything I think it has opened his eyes and educated HIM on responsibility and safe sex.

He has always been treasured, he's always been loved and spoiled rotten, if there is such a thing for your OWN children.

In my case it has turned out well, I wouldn't condone others following my lead but i think given the circumstances I definitely WON. I have a great son, a fantastic ex wife that I am still veryt friendly with and nobosy is hurt, but much wiser. I was lucky in that I could afford it, had time for it and welcomed it, many aren't so fortunate.

As long as the child understands how he/she was conceived, there should be no confusion. A person is born and lives..how they got there really doesn't matter once they are born, all that matters after that is that they are treasured, taught and made to feel secure. I think guilt and anger and shame are something that was forced upon us and we turn around and shove it down our kids throats. If the child knows he is loved, what difference does it make if he were a bit of a 'mistake' in the first place?

..of the sperm cells to be the lucky one and celebrate with the lone egg. Ok, I might be exaggerating here...maybe one in thousands of those cells :-))

The point is each person (and life) is precious and is no way less than others. The child was in no way the cause for the mating, it was the other way around.

The parents should own the responsibility and let know the child that they are the parties to be blamed for the initial action.

I don't see why the child should feel guilty?

you will see that my reference to "confusion, anger and guilt" applies to children that were NOT told by their parents the circumstances of their birth, but find out at some later stage in life.
So I am asking you to address this aspect of the posting, and not whether or not the parents should tell the child.

Was in some way related to a Technical one and this one isn't I am wondering exactly what is going on at TR.

But out of interest I have just received 33 of those spam mails in a 6 hour period and not one of them used the "P" word in any of the subject lines or came from a "Known" address so they naturally got past my spam filter without incident. There seem to be 2 distinct types of this spam as they are just 2 different e-mails which come from all over the place and every one has a different subject line. Granted I've just reloaded my computer and have only started to reestablish my Spam FIlter but this amount seems a little bit excessive even for my liking.

But every one Guaranties a 3" lengthen and a 20% increase in girth and the subject lines range from "what she wants for Christmas" to "the only real place for this pill." So it makes it a bit hard to establish any form of Spam filtering when this is happening.

But I have noticed a dramatic decrease in the female products that are supposed to guarantee a increase in cup size. Perhaps the Advertisers have had a dramatic shift in their current marketing and are now targeting males for their suspect products as they have exhausted the female target population.

Any thoughts on this one?

Col

I was not every parent's dream at 16. And no, he isn't in to sports at all. He's a computer geek. He played football for a season, but he suffers from chronic migraines and getting tackled pretty much ensured that he would get a headache. As far as the little one goes, I don't think he'll suffer long lasting damage. It is affection teasing (but sometimes goes to far). I guess my fear is that this child, (the big boy) has never been a happy-go-lucky person. I just want to find a way to help him realize that life doesn't always have to be serious and to lighten up a bit. I have convinced him to start lifting weights with me 3 days a week. (My sneaky way of re-connecting with him.)