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Post by Little Jack Horner on Apr 30, 2018 23:05:47 GMT
The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.
—Edwin Way Teale, North with the Spring, 1951
Edwin Way Teale (1889–1990) was a celebrated naturalist, prolific author and Pulitzer Prize winner who wrote “North with the Spring”, an account of his travels with his wife following the arrival of spring northwards from Florida to Maine.
If all things are possible, I wonder if we might see a resurgence in the number of postings on this forum? I would especially welcome the return of some of the interesting discussions that used to go on for days with former contributors.
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Post by Verbivore on Apr 30, 2018 23:55:40 GMT
[...] If all things are possible, I wonder if we might see a resurgence in the number of postings on this forum? I would especially welcome the return of some of the interesting discussions that used to go on for days with former contributors. That would be excellent, LJH, yet just last evening I was wondering how much longer NtAPS might survive, given the drop in contributions. The guest count seems to be healthy, with 275 logged over the past 24 hours. Do they learn anything useful, I wonder? One lives in hope. And Down Under, on May Day, we're more than halfway through autumn; the nights are starting to get cool enough for good sleeping.
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Post by Twoddle on May 1, 2018 8:47:26 GMT
May Day. Spring at full throttle? Hardly: we've had 80 mm of rain in 36 hours, and the temperature yesterday reached a stunning 6°C and sank to 2°C overnight! Better weather should return today.
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Post by Verbivore on May 1, 2018 9:01:18 GMT
On the topic of weather:
Today at work I was confronted with bellweather for bellwether (in the context of elections and bellwether seats – those that are trend indicators).
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Post by Dave Miller on May 1, 2018 11:17:28 GMT
On the topic of weather: Today at work I was confronted with bellweather for bellwether (in the context of elections and bellwether seats – those that are trend indicators). I’ll admit that I would have got that one wrong. I’d always assumed that the word derived from something that was used, long ago, to predict the weather!
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Post by Verbivore on May 1, 2018 12:33:31 GMT
I wonder whether the wether will weather the storm.
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Post by Verbivore on May 2, 2018 5:42:31 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on May 2, 2018 8:04:54 GMT
Lost in translationMacron describes Oz PM's wife as "delicious". Who was eating whom under the table?
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Post by Verbivore on May 2, 2018 8:30:19 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on May 7, 2018 5:38:10 GMT
I’m glad that I don’t believe in astrology!
At work when proofreading this week’s astrology column I learned that “Uranus is opening up new paths this week”. Perhaps an anal fistula? Bit of a worry!
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Post by Verbivore on May 8, 2018 5:39:43 GMT
The following exchange (perhaps hypothetical), related by someone (Phil Jupitus?) on an old QI I watched last night, goes to show that there IS an important difference between the verbs can and may.
Waiter to a lady diner: "Can I smell your pussy?"
Lady: "No!"
Waiter: "Oh, then it must be your feet".
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Post by Twoddle on May 9, 2018 9:17:45 GMT
Stephen Hawking is to receive a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey, organised by his daughter amongst others. Isn't there something inherently disrespectful to Hawking about a religious service in a top Anglican church for a man who declared himself to be an atheist? Shouldn't his atheism have been respected?
I'd be bloody furious if I thought such a travesty were going to be imposed on me, but I suppose it's a little unlikely that anyone would actually want to scatter my ashes next to Isaac Newton's.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on May 9, 2018 15:36:54 GMT
I see nothing disrespectful about this, although it may be a touch ironic. If people want to thank their God for Stephen Hawking’s life and achievements, surely that is their privelege as I, an “almost atheist”, choose to spell the Christian deity with a capital ‘G’. If people of any other religion or none choose to celebrate Hawking’s achievemonts in their own way, I recognise their sincerity and applaud their willingness. If atheists wish to celebrate his achievements in their own way, they are free to do so.
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Post by Twoddle on May 9, 2018 17:30:07 GMT
Well, I agree with you on one point, LJH: "God" should have a capital "G". It is, after all, a proper noun.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on May 9, 2018 21:35:25 GMT
I don’t think it is a proper noun in that sentence, Twoddle. Delete “their” and it becomes a proper noun but I was careful to include it.
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