Let's Lighten Up, People

dryflower

I see my last post got removed, presumably for ad hominem attacks on Ted. FWIW, I have never taken any of this seriously. Sometimes I think I am funny, and others may not.

If Ted were here with me, I would give him some of my home roasted coffee, cook him a nice vegan meal, challenge him to a game or two of Scrabble, and ask him for a large loan. I have generally agreed with opinions he has offered on investing, and I feel confident we would get along swimmingly.

Anna, I sure didn't intend to ruin your day. I'm sorry.

Ted, even though you did send Nurse Rached to medicate me, I apologize for trying to locate you in the DSM-IV

And if you say something mean now, I will know it's just your special way of showing affection.

VintageFreak

One more time, in English please.

dryflower

One more time, in English please.

I don't get it. What are you talking about?

catch22

@dryflower

So..........someone "flagged" your post, I am presuming ?????

You presume the reason; but I will also presume you did not receive any communication from whomever removed the post as to what your "violation" may have been, eh???

dryflower

Nope, nobody told me nothin'.

MikeM

Well, if you are going to 'ad hominem' poor old Ted, well, I'm not sure what other dastardly deeds you are capable of... and I don't even know what ad hominem means. My spell check doesn't even know what ad hominem means and it's much smarter then me.

Just kidding... Some times I think I'm funny too. But my wife is always there to set me straight.

jlev

My spell check didn't like it either so I ended up finding a synonym

David_Snowball

Hi, guys.

Two notes by way of explanation.

First, we received a number of flags last night. We reviewed the thread in question and removed two posts which we judged to be somewhere near the edge and somewhat over the edge. I wrote to one of the posters, explaining my reasoning. Chip responded on our behalf to the folks who flagged the posts, thanking them for the help and explaining what course we followed. A note to dryflower is/was on this morning's to-do.

Second, pulling off online humor is incredibly difficult. No one knows your whimsical nature, sees your wry smile, hears the tone of the words as they manifest in your head or is aware of the edits you made before posting. Those contextual cues are critical to our ability to interpret discourse and we have few of them; folks in my field refer to boards like this as operating in a "reduced cues environment" (yes, we are dull and obvious) and publish endless studies of miscommunication on the web.

That does mean we need to be humorless but it does suggest that we're probably safer

• complimenting folks, or at least chatting amiably with them, before offering negative assessments
  
• poking fun at ourselves rather than at others
  
• poking fun at billionaires named Bill before poking locally and
  
• using the private message function to exchange personal recommendations ("Dry up Dursley, you great prune" would be a decent example).

As a side note, I am ("we are," since Chip and Charles are helping to moderate now) really grateful for your good spirits and consistent efforts to step up your engagement as we navigate hotter weather and the adventures that come with it.

As ever,

David

jlev

I've actually wondered David if this forum ends up being used as study material for any of your work.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Old_Joe

Stubbs! Real beef!! YES!!!

David_Snowball

A now retired friend of mine used to observe, "it's all grist for the mill." I never quite stop thinking about your folks, my students or my discipline. David

dryflower

Like all processed food, those veggie burgers are not the best, especially if what you really wanted was a hamburger. But, you know, eat what you want.

Here's a great easy recipe my carnivorous daughter said was so good she would eat it on purpose:

http://www.vegkitchen.com/recipes/thai-chickpea-almond-curry/

Crash

Holy cow, that looks delicious. My wife seldom makes the Filipino version of eggrolls ("lumpia,") but when she does, they are fabulous. The filling includes some ground pork and beef, but it could be simply omitted. The extra goop she made which didn't get rolled into wrappers we formed into burgers. Exceptional. Spinach, carrots, onion, black pepper, garlic. Probably some more spices, but getting the info. from her is like pulling teeth.

David_Snowball

Chickpeas. Sigh. I could be such a good (okay, "halfway adequate") vegetarian if it weren't for the need to eat legumes. Emma, who voices the Observer's audio profiles, is vegan and we actually had a series of very tasty meals out in NYC. As it is, I've phased out mammals and manage about 60% vegetarian meals.

I think I'll go suck on some quinoa now.

David

JohnChisum

Reading some of these comments is making me crave for a prime angus rib-eye. Med rare.

scott

For the non-vegans in the thread, this week's "Epic Meal Time".

slick

When Im in NY, nothing less than a really good pastrami on rye, yes with the fat (thats why it tastes so good) will satisfy me. This transplanted New Yorker finds it hard to get NY pastrami in New Mexico

Crash

If a good veterinarian could save it. That's how I like my steaks.

heezsafe

Of course, you know if this lovely banter and recipe-sharing continue long enough, sooner or later someone will unintentionally use a TRIGGER word, someone will take great umbrage and bring the blow torch, and this inter-office e-mail discussion board thread will go from kumbaya to a vegetarian food fight in a NY minute.
hahahahaha......humans-- such silly creatures we be.

Old_Joe

You're kinda new here, so you don't realize that after 'lebenty-seven years of tussle Maurice and I finally agree on something. He must be an OK guy after all.

Now sit back down and behave.

Crash

LAUGH. ...heezsafe, you're totally correct. nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk.

dryflower

and this inter-office e-mail discussion board thread will go from kumbaya to a vegetarian food fight in a NY minute.:)

My son told me there is a mathematical law: as a discussion on the internet continues in time, the probability of the Nazis being mentioned approaches 1. I haven't seen the Nazis mentioned here, so we probably aren't too far along.

Crash

Ork!