Jamie123
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Posts posted by Jamie123
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17 minutes ago, zil2 said:
Welsh sounds like strangling on your own tongue.
Actually I can describe it better than that: Say an L, but just before engaging your vocal chords let the air hiss between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. At least that's how I think it's pronounced. A Welshman would probably hit me over the head with his Davy lamp*.
*The implication being that all Welshmen are coal miners. I'm a racial stereotyping-type person I know. Shame on me!
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1 hour ago, zil2 said:
LL = Y. J = H. I'm confused. Yay-EE-mee? (ETA: No, I guess YAY-mee. It's been a long time.)
I have a cousin who, for a long time, dated a Spaniard called Jesus. It was written "Jesus" but it was pronounced something like HEY-ZOOSS.
Not that this is relevant, but in Welsh, LL at the beginning of a word is pronounced something like "CHL" - where "CH" is a gentler version of the noise made by an angry cat. For example Lloyd, sounds something like "Chloyd".
- zil2 and Carborendum
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3 minutes ago, mirkwood said:
Meet his father-in-law...
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25 minutes ago, zil2 said:
Since that's a Spanish name, I always read it the Spanish way: HI-may.
In order to come close to sounding like Jamie, we need another vowel at the end...
3 minutes ago, Vort said:I don't know Jaime Summers, but I remember very well Jaime Sommers, the Bionic Woman. She was only ever a knock-off of the incomparable Six-Million-Dollar (such a vast sum of money!) Man, but hey, she was pretty, and I was like, what, thirteen or fourteen? When it came to TV, I was never a picky eater, so I was happy to spend evenings watching her exploits and amazing feats of strength and hearing. (I always thought the bionic hearing thing was a little lame compared with Steve Austin's super-eyesight, but hey, you work with what you got.)
Well OK I misspelt her surname so sue me
At about the same time The Bionic Woman was on, we had a Polaroid "Super Swinger" camera - which produced passably good instant photographs (albeit only in black and white). The thing I remember most vividly was that the girl in the instruction manual...
...looked exactly like Jaime the Bionic Woman...
By the way, "LAND camera" has nothing to do with it only being usable on land. It's the name of the bloke who invented it.
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9 hours ago, zil2 said:
The 123 in your user name is now forcing me to imagine you as a keyboard, rotary phone, calculator. Or perhaps you're prisoner #123, or the 123rd Jamie at the "People Named Jamie Convention"...
Sorry to disappoint you but the 123 doesn't mean anything at all. When I made the account, I quickly found that "Jamie" was already taken, so I just added 123 to make it unique.
As for Jamie, it's the diminutive form of James, which is my middle name. It is also an androgynous name, and when I started posting on forums (and later IRC) back in the mid/late 1990s, I wanted a nick which didn't give anything away, including my gender. I don't care anymore: everyone knows I'm Jamie as in "Vardy" and "Oliver" not "Lee Curtis" or "Summers"*. but the name has stuck.
*Although she was spelled "Jaime".
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9 hours ago, Vort said:
There was a time when this was a very important concern for me, so important that I ended up consulting with my bishop. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had this concern. The bishop's counsel to me was along the lines of "earnest effort". If I'm unrepentant and/or currently engaged in covenant-breaking activity, then no, I should not partake. But if I'm sincerely striving and giving honest, earnest effort, I should not let my own weaknesses and imperfections prevent me from accepting the gift Christ offers. Since that event, I believe that I have not skipped partaking of the sacrament when the opportunity has arisen. (No promises about that, though.)
That wasn't quite the advice I got, but similar. The gist of what the curate told me was that no, I couldn't trust myself not to sin anymore, but if at the moment I took communion I had a genuine desire and intention not to sin, then it was OK for me to take it*. Communion - taking in the body and blood of Christ (whether you believe this literally or symbolically) - strengthens our resistance to sin and makes us more like Christ. Coming the altar rail to receive (or sitting waiting for it to come to you, if it's that sort of church) you're not saying...
"OK God! I haven't committed any sins! I'm worthy! Now giz'!"**
...but (to quote the liturgy itself)...
"Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."
It's also worth quoting this hymn by Charlotte Elliot:
QuoteJust as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.*Yes, I know: "Good intentions". Someone will probably have a pointed retort about "road to hell...blah blah blah", but firstly that phrase is not even from the Bible, and secondly I wouldn't read it as "mind you don't have any good intentions". It's more "good intentions aren't enough unless you act on them". And I think that having taken holy communion, you're more likely to act on your intentions than if you hadn't.
**Midland for "give us"/"give me". My Leicestonian showing through there!
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Speaking for myself I've always been very conscious of 1 Corinthians 11:29, and when I'm in a certain mindset I don't dare touch the sacraments. (My curate tells me this is not the right attitude to take.)
- zil2, Vort and mordorbund
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25 minutes ago, Vort said:
I did not realize the Church of England accepted the doctrine of transubstantiation.
It depends very much who you talk to. Different traditions within Anglicanism are almost like different churches. The "highest" Anglicans, though technically Protestants, are almost indistinguishable from Roman Catholics. We sometimes call them Anglo-Catholics. However I don't think nowadays many people (even Catholics) take transubstantiation quite literally.
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6 minutes ago, Vort said:
Even more irritating to me than playing everything at funeral dirge tempo is that Organists. Can't. Count. I mean, how hard is "ONE-two-three-four-ONE-two-three-four"? Seems simple enough, right? Yet wherever I go, whatever ward I visit, almost every time the organist cuts off the sustained notes a half-beat too early. Every freaking time. Is it really so hard to hold the note out for the entire count? Did the note do something to offend you? Kick your dog, maybe? I mean, counting the beat is pretty much the most basic possible part of music, more even than hitting the correct tone. How can this be so universally badly done? Seriously, I don't get it.
We don't even have an organist anymore. Our last one (who was also head of Physics at Imperial College) retired and moved away. Luckily we have the sweetest, loveliest Chinese girl who plays the piano, but she cannot play an organ, and she's not even there every week. So now much of our music comes off CDs.
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43 minutes ago, zil2 said:
Alien concept to life-long Latter-day Saints.
Ok sorry I need to explain better than that. When the elements are blessed - and thus become the body and blood of Christ - a bell is traditionally rung in the steeple so people all around will know what has happened. Sometimes also one of the servers will also ring a bell - or a lot of jingly bells - at the altar at the same time. Sometimes it sounds a bit like someone shaking a tambourine. But the bell I miss most is the one ringing high up in the Tower. They had that in the church where I took my confirmation classes long ago. Our vicar was called Father Michael. He went over to the Catholics after they allowed women to become priests. He didn't like that one little bit!
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29 minutes ago, zil2 said:
Alien concept to life-long Latter-day Saints
It's an alien concept to all but Catholics and High-Church Protestants.
31 minutes ago, zil2 said:Kicking yourself in the back of the leg?
Not quite - jabbing the bone in my upper leg with my knuckle to simulate the clapper of the bell. (I'm a strange person I know!)
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2 hours ago, zil2 said:
I don't like it, but until I can do better, I'm not going to do more than express my dislike here on the interwebs.
Yup! Not every hill is worth dying on.
One of my dislikes is that in our church we have no consecration bell. Whenever the priest gets to...
"This is my body, which is given for you. Do this whenever you eat it in remembrance of me.”
I always whisper "bong bong bong" under my breath, while dead-legging myself three times.
And when we get to...
"This is my blood of the new covenant. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
I whisper "bong bong bong" again with further dead-legging. After years of not having a consecration bell it still doesn't seem right not having one. I even considered bringing my own, but I don't think certain people in the congregation would be very pleased.
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1 hour ago, zil2 said:
(And doing this search reveals that we used to have a lot more fun around here. What in the world is wrong with us?)
Hmmmm... we'll have to try to think what might liven things up again. What about....(and I'm just tossing this up in the air here)....a competition to draw what we think each other look like? And the best drawing of each has to become their avatar?
(It's probably been thought of already!)
- mordorbund and zil2
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On 10/16/2023 at 8:01 PM, zil2 said: When I was in my 20s and working my first real job and "rich", I thought it would be cool (or sophisticated or something) to get a fountain pen. (I was in Moscow at the time and got the fountain pen in Vienna - a Waterman.) I enjoyed it, but something went wrong with it, and this being the stone age, I put it in the box and forgot about it until around October of 2015 when YouTube began, for reasons I could not imagine1, "suggesting" that I watch fountain pen review videos. They showed up over and over and over. And one day I said, "How does one yammer on for 20 minutes about a fountain pen?" So I watched the video. When it was over, I watched about a billion others, investigated pen and ink prices, looked for paper, and in January of 2016 ordered a fountain pen and a bunch of ink. The pen arrived in early February and I don't think I had written more than two sentences with it before I ordered a second, identical one (so I could fill it with a different color of ink).
It's possible I went a little crazy after that. Eventually the pen phase calmed down and I entered my ink and paper phase. The paper phase is mostly settled (though they are still making new papers now and then), but I don't think the ink phase will ever end - love me some variety!
And yes, eventually, I figured out what was wrong with my first pen, fixed it, and still have it today.
1Seriously, I didn't use the internet for investigating writing implements - I'd long since settled on the UNIBall Deluxe Micro (rollerball) and wasn't about to be swayed...
I always thought your picture was something to do with the pen being "mightier than the sword" - though I wondered why the pen should be holding the sword - and I thought maybe it was the pen and the sword united.
I like fountain pens too - though I don't like the way in cheaper ones the ink oozes up from the nib and gets all over your fingers. Once a pen starts doing that there's no stopping it - even if you soak it in water to get all the ink out, the moment you refill it it starts doing the same nonsense.
It's funny to think how new the fountain pen is, considering we hardly ever use it now. When I went to school*, all the desks had ink-well holes in them. Ink wells were never actually put into them, but the desks must have been made in the pre-fountain-pen era.
*Maybe this isn't so much about how new fountain pens are as how old I am. *Sigh*
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49 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:
Quite batty! Battier than Batman, Batgirl and Batty Bat (from Captain Beaky and his Men) combined!
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I was just watching a YouTube video of a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting, and I noticed something weird which I did think weird back in the day.
No one stands up to sing!
How do you expand your lungs properly sitting down? I know I couldn't belt out He Who Would Valiant Be! loud enough to annoy everyone in the row in front, if I was sitting down!
And you can't tell me this is a specifically LDS thing: the
Mor..er Tabernacle Choir don't sit down to sing! They stand up same as we do!At least they look to me like they're standing up! So what gives?
You've gotta love the Tabernacle Choir. And Onward Christian Soldiers. Never mind all this wishy-washy "Onward Christian Pilgrims" malarcky.
It's "soldiers" - OK? Sol-diers! Soldiers going out into the World to fight against the Devil!
The Church of England is plagued with so much of this nonsense these days. If things carry on like this, I'll be tempted to join GAFCON*.
*GAFCON - "Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans" (more-or-less). Anglicans who don't recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury. I suppose somewhat like the Latter-day Saint splinter groups except none of them (as far as I know) have multiple wives**.
**I've just spent most of the afternoon having a long, bitter and exhausting texting-argument with the woman who is technically my wife. Imagine wanting to have more than one!
- NeuroTypical and zil2
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I said I'd write something about this, so here it is...
And in case you don't know what I'm talking about...
I first saw this movie when I was about 7 and loved it. These were my impressions of it as a kid (though I wouldn't have used quite these words then) and having seen it again recently:
- "Point" of course has a double meaning: point meaning "purpose", and a physical point. The main conceit of the story is people who lack the latter are assumed to lack the former too. (Most young kids would get that quite quickly, and it's nice that they get the chance to work it out for themselves - without having the joke ruined by "explanation".)
- The pointed people are an easy-going lot. They have no malice against Oblio, despite his having "no point". But they are passive and easily swayed by the Count's arguments. (How like reality!) Even when he is being banished, they give him a cheerful sending off.
- Although he is sad to begin with, Oblio soon becomes excited about what might lay ahead. It's always good to have an eye to the future, rather than to dwell endlessly on what you have lost. (Or think you have lost.)
- To be honest, the middle of the story - Oblio's adventures in the forest - didn't do anything for as a kid, and don't do a lot for me now. It is enjoyable enough - nice accompaniment for Harry Nilsson's music - but none of these sequences stayed in my mind particularly after my first viewing. Certainly lot of the references went over my head - for example much of what the "tree-man" says would be meaningless to a child.
- Oblio comes full-circle and returns to the pointed village. Why this happens is never explained, but as a kid it seemed natural. It's the classic heroic cycle - the hero leaves and returns - stronger than before because of his experiences. It's what we are pre-programmed to expect. (Maybe Jung would make something of that!)
- The people come out in cheering crowds to greet him, but again their change of heart is barely hinted at. Oblio is now (for some reason) a hero. If I'd written the story I'd have added some justification for this, but perhaps it has an intentional point (har! har!) which I'm missing.
- The Count is angry, but no one listens to him now, and the king tells him to be quiet. Oblio explains that everything in the forest had a point, so therefore he must have one too. (Does this logic hold up?)
- The Count snatches Oblio's cap and discovers he now does have a point on his head. (As a kid, I'd assumed that he had worn the pointed cap so long that his head had worn itself into that shape. Watching it now, I don't think that's the case. Either way, it's a metaphor for the fact that Oblio now knows he has a purpose.)
- Everyone else loses their point, but none of them care anymore. They understand now that everyone has a purpose, whether they have a "point" or not.
- Oblio puts his cap back on. I puzzled much as a kid why he did this. Why did he not want to show everyone that he does now have a point? I suppose the cap is just a part of who he is, and it's the way we've grown used to seeing him. We want to leave him that way.
Just a couple of other "points": Ringo Starr does the narration, but originally it was Dustin Hoffman. I found a version with Dustin Hoffman's narration here:
Much as I like Dustin Hoffman, Ringo is WAY better, don't you think? Hoffman doesn't get the emphasis right. I read somewhere that the reason Ringo's version was recorded at all is because Hoffman stipulated that his recording could only be used for ONE SHOWING ONLY.
I mean, what is the "point" of that??
Now before some comedian asks me what the "point" of this post is, let me tell you. As a 7-year old, I couldn't believe the kid in the frame story had a TV in his bedroom!!!
Lucky swine!!!
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8 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:
That in turn makes me think of Meat Loaf Heaven can Wait (He's found love in mortality, and doesn't need heaven. It can wait!
I'd like to be able to invite you here too, but my living conditions at the moment are...well let's just say it's not a worthy home to invite guests to. But maybe some day...
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13 minutes ago, Jamie123 said:
And Linda Lewis singing "The Moon and I"...
QuoteI wonder why the poets try
To liken love to heaven
When love on earth has so much worth
For those to whom is givenThat in turn makes me think of Meat Loaf Heaven can Wait (He's found love in mortality, and doesn't need heaven. It can wait!
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2 minutes ago, zil2 said:
Hmm. @Jamie123, given the opening graphic, doesn't The Sound of Music or at least Julie Andrews (or her singing) need to go on your list?
(Sure, I can't say what she was like in real life, but from an interview of her that I watched, she's possibly the most gracious person I've ever observed - which may say more about the people I hang out with, but still, I was impressed. It made me think "finishing school" should still be a thing.)
Ah - these are only "a few" of my favourite things. I think Julie Andrews makes the cut as well!
And Linda Lewis singing "The Moon and I"...
...from the movie Dick Deadeye. (Yes, yes...I know it's originally based on The Mikado...but I find Linda Lewis' lyrics much more uplifting than W.S. Gilbert's. Except the words "I do not want a saint" are a bit troubling: I think what she's really saying is she's not looking for perfection, but to be loved.)
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The Stickman Thread
in General Discussion
Posted
Just in case any of our Cymric friends are offended, here's the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr to show I'm really on your side, guys!