C3PX

Yep, I think that is the one.

TV's Frink said:

EyeShotFirst said:

TV's Frink said:

EyeShotFirst said:

All in all, it raped Avatar.

*

I will stand by that statement until I die.

*

I really want to see Predators. Wasn't expecting much, but was holding onto a slight bit of optimism. It is really nice to hear plenty of good things being said about it (not that the reviews are bursting with praise, but they have been positive enough to make me want to see it in the theater). And I am still dying to play the new AvP video game, looks pretty brilliant... maybe after I finish Bioshock 2 I can justify picking it up.

Avatar totally sucked and was ridiculousy over hyped, if it wasn't for the whole 3D thing, it would have just been another silly mainstream action flick... I'll stand by that statement until I die... or am raped... or whatever...

bkev said:

I don't particularly want to divulge as to why they absolutely needed laptops... It's a unique school, to say the least (mind you it was private)... 

Okay, fine, be that way, you don't have to tell us... but now you know we will just have to assume the worst and most sinister reason we can possibly think up...

I am thinking along the lines of training academy for young cyber prostitutes, and you all needed your own laptops (with built in webcams) in order to preform live webshows...

OR

Maybe your school was training you guys to be expert hackers in some elitist secret society conspiracy...

;)

Before or after the whole HP merge thing? I had a Compaq that was made after HP bought them out and it was a pretty good laptop, I had one before that, and it was awful. I had an HP, and up until I got my Macbook, I would have said it was the best laptop I ever owned. I had a Dell, and, well, I don't want to talk about it, bad memories... ;)  I know a few people who have had severe overheating issues with their Dell laptops, fortunately I never had that problem, but plenty of others to make up for it.

The only laptop I ever had over heating issues with was actually my HP, but I had already owned it for about two years (which has typically been about what I get out my laptops) and was under extended warranty, so they replaced it for me and surprisingly even let me keep it. I would overheat so fast I had to use ice in a ziplock bag to keep it cool enough to get my data backed up. I finally found a nifty little external fan that plugged into the PCMCIA slot, it sucked in air, filtered it so not to suck tons of dust into your computer, and shot it in through the PCMCIA slot. Only cost me seven pounds and the thing actually worked, kept the computer from overheating.

Gaffer Tape said:

 And it overheats so often that I actually have it perched precariously on the edge of a table right now just to type this.  It's bobbing up in down with my fingers, but at least it can adequately ventilate and not die.

You wouldn't happen to have a Dell laptop, would you?

In the old PC flight sim, X-Wing, you could eject from your ship and be treated to a cut scene of a Rebel ships coming and rescuing your pilot who is free floating in space (appearantly with some sort of sealed oxygen mask). I think in one of the Thrawn books I seem to remember Luke's X-Wing breaking down somewhere out in space, and he had to exit the ship to work in it, which required him putting on some kind of helmet that attached to his suit. Perhaps pilots are, ridiculously, just expected to quickly swap their fighter helmets out with this other mask when they see impending peril imminent* and press the ejector button.

* So much fun using those three words together!

Whoa! Wait? What am I doing outside of the Off Topic section? Weird. I must have taken a wrong turn...

first unread post

Be a great name!

With the added plus of some potential confusion along the way...

TV's Frink said:

Just so you know, there's a small part of me that would like nothing more.  But I've been there/done that on a smaller scale, and it's just too damn addicting.

Yeah, I can kind of see you being the type who easily becomes addicted to things.

And of course you have to come on here and brag about it. :/

Yeah, that is sad you let yourself fall so far out of the loop, gamer chicks are awesome.

Warbler said:

C3PX said:

Kev has a good point, but he could certainly say it without being a cock.

so I should get out of this thread just because I don't like futbol?  I remember that the next I create a thread about football and you come in and complain about the game(which you did do in the past).  

Sorry, Warb, I shouldn't have said I agreed with Kev at all, since he was being such as an ass. When he asked, (in much harsher words) why are you posting in here if you don't even like the sport, I thought he made a good point.

I noticed that you posted a whole lot in here, and every post is essentially a slam on the sport. But you are right, I have given American football a hard time here in the past. I'd like to think I was content after a few posts in those particular threads and quit right away to leave the fans of the sport to their conversation, but I don't really remember, I may very well have been a complete ass about it. So I definately shouldn't be picking on you (or agreeing with people who are picking on you) for doing less than the same thing I used to do.

Kev has a good point, but he could certainly say it without being a cock.

Where do you ever get them 50% off?

Oh yeah, it is this Wednesday isn't it? I am trying to see if I can justify spending $10 on a game I have already beaten multiple times, or if I need to force myself to wait until I see it for 50% off. Noticed Amazon has the $20 1600 MS points cards for $15. Those are some pretty cheap MS points. Order two of them and have a little patience and that'll put you in the free shipping range too.

Holy shit! Look what Bingowings just said in another thread!

Bingowings said:

I'm niggled.

 I have never heard this word before, have no idea what it means, and have no intention of looking it up, but being as it begins with n-i-g-g and all, I feel extremely safe in assuming it has something to do with the natorious n-word and condemning Bingowings for using it!

Am I over stepping my boundaries, pounding this thing into the ground too far and not dropping something that needs to be dropped, and being an ass by posting this last comment? Very likely. It was just too fun of an opportunity to let pass by. (By the way, I am now very fond of the word "niggled" and intend to use it at every opportunity I get.)

I noticed the dictionary on my Mac (Oxford American Dictionary) actually has an "offensive" label on "niggardly" and a warning against use because it can cause unintentional offense (what do you bet that was added in the 2000 edition, shortly after the Howard incident took place?). So Gaff, looks like your fear has already come true, the word is dead and can no longer be used legitimately. Even the Oxford dictionary condemns it and considers it "often offensive".

Warbler said:

while it is important to note that he wasn't fired, he resigned,   I agree with you Gaffer.   My point was that the initial reaction was understandable, and that David Howard could have saved himself alot of trouble if he had used his head.

But you do realize it was a forced resignation, right? He couldn't have kept his job if he wanted to. "Resignation" is a fancy synonym for "fired", allowing the person being fired an opportunity to "save face". Had he not opted to take the dignified way out and resign, he would have been fired. That is how it works with things like this.

Also, according to Wikipedia:  "Bond also said, 'Seems to me the mayor has been niggardly in his judgment on the issue' and as a nation we have a 'hair-trigger sensibility' on race that can be tripped by both real and false grievances."

if that is what Bond thinks,  that's good enough for me. 

Is it perhaps okay for Bond to use this word, without suspicion of racism, based on the fact that he is black?

C3PX said:

Yet all those same people you mentioned, both the people at the NAACP meeting and the fine folks of Camden, NJ, would happily use the word themselves, or at the very least listen/watch media that uses it frequently and not mind it a bit.

that is true for some of them, but not all them.   I've heard many black people complain about the rappers using the n-word.  Please read the reasoning that I gave gaffer as to why SOME of them think its ok for black people to use the word, but not white people.   Again, I don't agree with the reasoning, but that is what some of them think.

I know not all of them agree with its usage as slang. I read every bit of your posts, so I have read your explanation to Gaffer, there is nothing there I didn't already know. I know why SOME of them think it is okay, and I frankly could care less. That has NOTHING to do with my point. My point is, you have products and you are selling them to impressionable audiences of varying ethnicities, then you act shocked when they use catch phrases and slang that come from those products.

The fact that SOME African Americans feel it is okay to use that word in those contexts, just so long as you are the right shade of brown, and feel comfortable with having the entertainment media bursting at the seems with it, is a problem for ALL African Americans. Maybe instead of going wide eyed when a young teenager, who doesn't know any better and who is head over heels in love with his favorite rapper, uses the "N-word"; maybe they ought to turn their focus over to the cause and point finger where they belong. Instead of screaming "racist" at the poor kid who uses the word mimicking people he admires or thinks are cool and clearly has no racist intent; perhaps the focus needs to be turned to their own community and the effect they are having on people of other shades of brown need to be more carefully considered by all.

You mentioned slave owners using the word to refer to their slaves, well, the word has taken a huge shift in meaning since then. It has gone from derogatory slur to friendly slang. The old slave owners and the fifteen year old white O.D.B. fan have two entirely different meanings and intents behind that word, so why should the fifteen year old be treated like a slave owner for using it?

Maybe the world needs to except the fact that the meaning of this word has changed (not to say the old usage is invalid, but much like the word "gay", it simply doesn't always mean "happy" anymore) and not be so sensitive about it when used in a non-racist context (coming full circle, Darth Solo's post and the reaction it received being a perfect example of the above mentioned sensitivity as well the non-racist context). Or maybe they need to simply stop their people from selling that sort of stuff to white fifteen year olds.

I reacted as any average American would react.  

I am afraid you are probably right, hence my annoyance at Americans and their inherent lack in ability to understand anyone who doesn't also happen to be an Americans.

You complained about me being harsh on Americans, but I guess that is my own personal N-word. I am an American, so I have the right to complain about them all I like.

You realize that alot of other forums would have banned him for using that word.   Just go to another forum and use that word and see what happens, and then come back here tell me my reaction was over the top.  

That is pretty sad. I guess when it comes to the internets where we are all faceless there are two basic assumptions about you, 1). You are an American, and 2). You are white.

 

C3PX said:

I'm not really in the mood to read an entire sermon of yours, Warb, so forgive me if I forgo our traditional paragraph-by-paragraph response on this one.

 

not sure how to take that.  btw, I'm in a bad mood too.   I feel that everyone is picking on me and I've had it.    I responded to Darth Solo in what I thought was calm, rational way.   In the past, my react would have been alot worse, and yet still people jump all over me.   I've about had it with this s**t. 

Suit yourself. You were not the only one that reacted that way to Darth Solo, yet you singled yourself out as being the victim. My original "jump all over" was not addressed directly or solely at you. React as you like. It is obviously something you feel strongly about, so I'd encourage you to do what you feel is right. I also feel strongly about the subject, so I too felt the need to pipe up and say something.

 

I have heard that word used with relative frequency all of my life. 

I hadn't and I'm sure most Americans hadn't until that incident happened.

How in hell can you possibly assume ANYTHING about what MOST Americans did or did not know? You paint a picture of an America that is extremely ignorant and illiterate. It is kind of depressing, but in all reality, you are beginning to convince me that it might be true, at the very least, in the part of the country you are from.

C3PX said:

Hard to believe David Howard, the poor bastard who seemingly has a half way decent vocabulary about him, is the one being accused of being "real stupid".

well I don't know what else to call someone who doesn't stop think about using such and unusual and unknown word that is so easily confusable with the n-word.

Maybe he, like myself, never felt it was an unusual word. I'd never have stopped and thought twice before using it before I heard about this incident. I guess I am "real stupid" as well. Fair enough, everything else seems to have been turned ass upward with this whole thing, why not just go with the flow.

because it sounds so much like the n-word?   I would think any reasonably intelligent person would have been able to figure out that trouble was going to happen. 

Fine, I'll give you this one. Some people are pretty unintelligent to any reasonable degree, apparently, and they know what words mean and don't give a second thought to intelligent people who may be clueless to said word, and who might, very academically I might add, automatically assume it means the same thing as a word that sounds like it.

In the war against ignorance, enlightenment and education have taken a devastating loss here.

Most of America does [C3PX's note: I assume "not" is suppose to be here] use that word, I'll bet my life savings that not much of American knew of the existence of that word until David Howard used it. 

I find it really odd that you are so certain that so few people knew that word, based on the fact that you yourself didn't know it.

I'd have to argue that it is a word that shows up fairly often in works that most high school educated Americans ought to have read, such as many of the works of Shakespeare, for example. To me, it stands to reason that, having been exposed to the word there, had they not known what it meant upon first reading it, they would have looked it up like most sensible people do upon encountering an unknown word. I refuse to believe that "Not much of America knew of the existence" of a word that appears multiple times in books such as Hamlet, The Canterbury Tales, and Paradise Lost, two of which are in most high schools in the US still required reading.

I have a hard time believing this discussion is taking place. You are pretty presumptuous, assuming everyone to fit in line with your view of things.

I could say the same thing to you.

What have I been presumptuous about? Did I make the claim that MOST Americans do or don't know something simply based on the fact that I myself don't know something. I honestly can't say how many Americans are educated enough to know what that word means, I'd hope for the sake of my own faith in the American education system that it is higher than what you claim, and I honestly think it is. It would be quite a presumptuous claim for me to say that MOST Americans know exactly what it means. I simply don't think it is as uncommon as you seem to believe it is.

You really think that if you took a time machine back to before the incident happened and did a national survey and asked people to define the word niggardly,  that a large majority would be to do it correctly and would confuse it with n-word?

I never heard of this incident before reading Gaffer's link yesterday. I have heard that word in use since childhood, and had I not known of its existence then, I was exposed to it numerous times in high school and again in university. 

I have no idea what the results of a national survey would have revealed. Perhaps you are right, and it would have revealed that we are a dumbfoundingly stupid nation that doesn't even bother to try to learn its own language.

C3PX said:

I have known that word and heard it in use since I was in grade school. I think most people with a tendancy to read would likely be familiar with this word, or at least have seen it in print before.

you must have been one smart grade schooler and I and much of America must be pretty stupid.  

Another unfair presumption.

I was not trying to claim to be an ubermensch by saying I knew that word as a kid, I was trying to demonstrate that I don't think it is as uncommon and as unknown as you seemed convinced that it is. But you seem to have made up your mind that it was an incredibly uncommon and obscure word that no mere mortal would have known about prior to this incident, despite the fact that it is used in some of the most popular and best selling works in all of English literature.

It is used many times in the King James Version of the Bible, which has been the most popular and widely used English translation of the Bible for a very long time.

Now that I think about it, I am pretty sure it is used several times in The Lord of the Rings, and maybe even in The Hobbit. J.R.R. Tolkien even named the titular character of one of his stories a derivative of the word "Niggard" (Leaf By Niggle).

I simply don't think, and have a hard time being convinced, that the word is as uncommon or as unknown as you think it is.

Warbler said:

A B C said:

C3PX said:

I'm not really in the mood to read an entire sermon of yours, Warb, so forgive me if I forgo our traditional paragraph-by-paragraph response on this one.

... It's a sport actually. It's called "Post Breaking"...

^

Warb (black belt)

whatever,  if you look just above your post, you'll see C3PX did the same thing that I do.  Why don't you attack him for it?  Its my posting style and I'm not going to change it.  I'm sick of people attacking me for it.   The quote button was invented for a reason.

Warb, you are not being attacked here, buddy. It is a joke, and a pretty funny one too. Laugh at it, it will make you feel good. Yeah, I do the same thing in our long debates, it is the most expediant way to cover a post point-by-point. The reason why ABC doesn't attack me for it is because he is not attacking you for it.

When you say you are sick of people attacking you for it, who else are you talking about? Have people complained to you about it?

A B C said:

I concur. 

To notice, there's an African country called ******* !

... And I always surmised it may have the same roots than the other "bothering" word.

...

Holy shit ABC! How could you! Don't worry, I fixed it for you.

Warbler said:

C3PX, go to a meeting of the NAACP and use the n-word and see what kind of reaction you get there and then come back here tell me that our reaction was over the top.   If you come to Camden, NJ(a largely black city) and use that word, there is a good chance you'll get beat up or worse.

Yet all those same people you mentioned, both the people at the NAACP meeting and the fine folks of Camden, NJ, would happily use the word themselves, or at the very least listen/watch media that uses it frequently and not mind it a bit. It is people of their race who stuff their music and movies full of casual usages of that word, and they market it to everyone, regardless of skin color. And yet expect that some dumb white 12 year old who is big time into 50 cent or Tupac, or people from other countries who we export these things to, aren't going to pick up those words and want to use them.

It is a dumb cultural standard we currently have in America.

C3PX, you being an American know how offensive that word is perceived here, so I can't understand this calling our reaction over the top.   All I did was say that I didn't like the use of the racial slurs and asked that we refrain from using them.   Its not like I cursed him out and called him names or went to Jay and asked for him to be banned.

You guys jumped on a guy who used it in an obvious non-racist context, without even knowing what his skin color was to start with, or without even realizing that the word has much less offensive meanings in most of the world. Sorry if I feel that was over the top.

I'm not really in the mood to read an entire sermon of yours, Warb, so forgive me if I forgo our traditional paragraph-by-paragraph response on this one.

Warbler said:

to be honest,  until that incident with David Howard, I hadn't ever heard of the word niggardly.    To use such an unusual word, knowing how similar it sounds and is spelled to the n-word,   and not immediately explain the difference between the two words is asking for trouble.   David Howard(unless he is real stupid) had to know that what he said was going to be misinterpreted.   What does it say about him that he didn't make himself more clear or choose another word?

I have heard that word used with relative frequency all of my life.

Hard to believe David Howard, the poor bastard who seemingly has a half way decent vocabulary about him, is the one being accused of being "real stupid".

Why had he to have known that what he said was going to be misinterpreted? I use that word from time to time, and never once have I ever considered the potential of such an asinine misunderstanding taking place.

Warbler said:

 We are not talking about a word that anyone with a highschool education would have known.  It is a very unusual word.

I have a hard time believing this discussion is taking place. You are pretty presumptuous, assuming everyone to fit in line with your view of things. What gives you the impression that it is such an uncommon word that no one with anything less than a college education would have known? Is this simply based on the fact that you yourself didn't know the word?

I have known that word and heard it in use since I was in grade school. I think most people with a tendancy to read would likely be familiar with this word, or at least have seen it in print before.

Darth Solo said:

/:-(

FFS im not mad at you really...

Was that addressed at me? Not sure if you understood or not, but I was on your side on this one and was defending you. Just making sure we are clear.

Reason: You on your period CPX)

Haha! That really made me laugh, thanks for cheering me up. Yeah, something like that. :)

That whole niggardly thing is so ridiculous, that I actually find it offensive that my species can be that stupid. I am honestly surprised the Spanish language isn't banned in public schools, or at least forbidden from teaching students the word for the color black.

From that, Darth Solo, you can see how hopelessly pathetic my country is when it comes to political correctness, and it should no longer surprise you that my fellow countrymen had such an over the top reaction to your comments.

Just so I don't offend anyone, I am going to bleep out this wikipedia quote from the link Gaffer posted,

"******" derives from the Spanish/Portuguese word *****, meaning "black", and probably also the French ****, which likewise has become a racist insult in American culture. Both ***** and noir (and therefore also ***** and ******) ultimately come from ***rum, the accusative case of the Latin word ****, meaning "black".

So, while it clearly states above that it is a racist insult in American culture, it is our internets, so your culture doesn't mean fuck all to us! We are going to force our cultural standards down your throat and you are going to like it! And if you don't comply, we are going to get offended and indignant and do our damnedest to make you feel like shit and completely unwelcomed! Then we are going to sit back with a glowing feeling of righteousness at having set some poor asshole straight and making the world a slightly better, loving, and understanding place to live in.

Sorry if anyone feels I am being an ass or like I am picking on them, I don't mean anything personally toward anyone. I am just in a bad mood, and stuff like this annoys me.

Even more ridiculous than people with enough time on their hands to watch that entire 300 thing, is the person who had enough time on their hands to make it.

*Popcorn*

*Grates cheese*

*Popcorn and grated cheese*

*Microwave*

*Melted cheese on popcorn*

Wait... is it already over? Damn! Just as I was getting comfortable...

cutnshut said:

Hey cool thread and TV's Frink hasnt derailed it yet......oops! ill probably edit that bit out.

I think Fink knows pretty well when he is over stepping his boundaries. He knows that derailing a thread like this would be a rather rude thing to do to Gaff.

ChainsawAsh said:

Tried watching Lost in Translation.  Got bored and stopped watching about 45 minutes in.  I'll probably finish it eventually, but I wasn't impressed with what I saw.

I actually didn't think much of the story in Lost in Translation, but I thought that visually the film was incredibly beautiful. So much so, that by the end of the movie I had conflicted feelings, I really enjoyed it but also really disliked it both at once.