Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[Dingdell]

You do know you get reduced marks for cutting and pasting your homework off the internet don't you? 

Look forward to pics of yours please.

[RED-DOG]

You do know you get reduced marks for cutting and pasting your homework off the internet don't you? 

Look forward to pics of yours please.

Oops, thoght it was obvious cut and paste job. (will add a note)

Pics of mine to follow over the next couple of years.

[RED-DOG]

Anyway! How dare you question my knowledge of gazebos?

[RED-DOG]

From what I can make out, a lot of people seem to have sex in gazebos. (According to google that is)

[RED-DOG]

I'll probably just have flowers and a patio set in mine.

[RED-DOG]

I found this too, it made me LOOOOOL.



The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo
by Richard Aronson

...In the early seventies, Ed Whitchurch ran "his game," and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson. Eric plays something like a computer. When he games he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimal solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise, in all respects, a superior gamer.

Eric was playing a Neutral Paladin in Ed's game. He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred:


ED: You see a well groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you
see a gazebo.
ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it?
ED: (Pause) It's white, Eric.
ERIC: How far away is it?
ED: About 50 yards.
ERIC: How big is it?
ED: (Pause) It's about 30 ft across, 15 ft high, with a pointed top.
ERIC: I use my sword to detect good on it.
ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: (Pause) I call out to it.
ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo.
ERIC: (Pause) I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it
respond in any way?
ED: No, Eric, it's a gazebo!
ERIC: I shoot it with my bow (roll to hit). What happened?
ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it.
ERIC: (Pause) Wasn't it wounded?
ED: OF COURSE NOT, ERIC! IT'S A GAZEBO!
ERIC: (Whimper) But that was a +3 arrow!
ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a GAZEBO! If you really want to try to
destroy it, you could try to chop it with an axe, I suppose, or you
could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try.
It's a @#$%!! gazebo!
ERIC: (Long pause. He has no axe or fire spells.) I run away.
ED: (Thoroughly frustrated) It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo.
It catches you and eats you.
ERIC: (Reaching for his dice) Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so
I can avenge my Paladin.

At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining to Eric what a gazebo is. Thus ends the tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo. It could have been worse; at least the gazebo wasn't on a grassy gnoll.

[Rod Paradise]

Here's something for those many folk on her that know much more about birds (feathered) than I do.

I went up to Wollaton park to hit some golf balls on the practice ground today and saw something which I have never seen in nearly twenty years in that location. I saw a heron flying across the practice ground persued and then picked on by at first one crow and then two, and then a couple more. They seemed to have forced it to ground and I was about to go over the 200 yards or so to investigate when the crows seemed to have lost interest so I resumed hitting golf balls.

So are herons and crows territorial ? That area does sort of "belong" to the crows as sometimes they get mischievious and start to steal golf balls there, but although there is a lake on the far side of the course I've never ever seen a heron in Wollaton park.

Q: Why did the crows attack a buzzard?



A: This behaviour is known as mobbing. It is a defence response to a perceived threat from a predatory bird.

Crows have few predators in the UK but are aggressive birds that are fiercely territorial. The buzzard is seen as a potential threat to the crow, its young and territory and they can often be seen interacting in this way.

Mobbing usually involves more than one bird in pursuit and the targets are usually birds of prey, buzzards in particular but also owls. Even herons can be on the receiving end of hostile attention.

From a crow info site.

From an old (2005  ) thread:

And the best one, my Dad suggested we go for a walk down the Vennel (a steep gully near us), into Kirkconnel, have a couple of beers then get Mum to come get us. We used to do this walk a lot when I was living at home, it's one of our favorites. We came over the brow of the hill & were walking along the top of the gully when I saw jackdaws, crows, rooks, ravens, a couple of kestrels & a buzzard, all swooping down at something downhill from us that we couldn't see.

I thought we'd find a couped sheep (when they've not been sheared, but it's getting near shearing time they can roll onto their backs trying to scratch & the weight of the fleece can trap them, then the birds attack their eyes & start eating them while they're alive). So we were heading towards whatever they were swooping at when, about 100 feet below us, up flew a golden eagle. My dad says he'd not seen a look like I had on my face since I was a little kid. I'm not religious, in fact I'm anti-religious, but moments like that I certainly do feel a religious awe. We watched it fly off, right across the valley.

My dad told me later that he'd heard there was a juvenille eagle that had wandered over to our area from Galloway. I'd seen one from a distance in the Highlands, but never that close & on 'my own turf'. He hadn't told me because he wanted it to be a surprise. I bought the drinks that day.

Is that really True Rod? Not just an old wives tale? It's giving me bloody nightmares!

Sorry Tikay, it's true. The birds go for the sheep's eyes first.

[Rod Paradise]

I remember coming across a 'couped sheep' (the phrase is new to me)

It's a Scots word from to coup, or tip over.

Similarly a rubbish tip is called a coup (in certain parts of Scotland).

[kinboshi]

Rod will be couping this weekend.

[Rod Paradise]

Rod will be couping this weekend.

Scots don't tip

[kinboshi]

Rod will be couping this weekend.

Scots don't tip

[RED-DOG]

Rod will be couping this weekend.

Scots don't tip

 

[Wardonkey]

I remember coming across a 'couped sheep' (the phrase is new to me)

It's a Scots word from to coup, or tip over.

Similarly a rubbish tip is called a coup (in certain parts of Scotland).

I have just learned, thanks to the power of the internet, that a couped sheep is also known as a 'riggwelter'.

The word rang a little bell in my head and further research revealed that Riggwelter is the name of an ale produced by the Black Sheep Brewery in North Yorkshire, whose ales are very popular in these parts.

[RED-DOG]

Suzi Quatro - Can the can.

What does "Can the can" mean anyway? It's been puzzling me since 1973.

[TightEnd]

It's about her pursuit of her guitarist, len Tuckey. They later married, so she did indeed "can the can" but divorced 8 years later

"Make a stand for your man, honey, try to can the can"
"Put your man in the can, honey, get him while you can"
"Can the can, can the can, if you can, well can the can"