The Off Topic Topic

[Tonitrus]

Wasn't Gandalf already supposed to be a Christ-figure, what with the resurrection and all?

Otherwise, we could endlessly argue the meaning of the holy Trinity, and have our own Languish schism. 

[CountDeMoney]

Christ and the Holy Spirit are two different characters...that's like confusing Gandalf and Radagast. 

Ugh, I try to serve up an obtuse Exorcist reference, and the fucking College of Cardinals calls me on a trinitarian/christological double fault.

I caught it. 

Didn't you mean obscure instead of obtuse? 

No, I thought it was rather obvious. 

[Eddie Teach]

Wasn't Gandalf already supposed to be a Christ-figure, what with the resurrection and all?

Otherwise, we could endlessly argue the meaning of the holy Trinity, and have our own Languish schism. 

Is there some revisionist theory about how Gandalf and Radagast are the same or something?

[Jaron]

Wasn't Gandalf already supposed to be a Christ-figure, what with the resurrection and all?

Otherwise, we could endlessly argue the meaning of the holy Trinity, and have our own Languish schism. 

Is there some revisionist theory about how Gandalf and Radagast are the same or something?

It's not a theory.

[katmai]

It is a hypothesis?

[Jaron]

[Lettow77]

 The incompetent but well-meaning rubes of martin foil me at every turn. I wasn't sure how to convey to a Japanese school that the there was only one person in my provincial backwater qualified to do international transfers, and that she was a doddering woman of twilight years in whom only the bare minimum of faith could be placed.

It looks like I have some bowing and scraping to do, as well as incompetents to address tomorrow. It's always unfortunate to bring unpleasant news to someone.

[Camerus]

I've got the week off. It's Monday at 6 PM and I am bored already.   

[Sheilbh]

Watching Lord Mandelson at the Leveson Inquiry.  He's in magnificent form

[Neil]

If he doesn't have armies to enforce his will, what can he do?

Deceive and manipulate.  Men are vulnerable to his dark influence.

[Ed Anger]

I was driving around today and I saw another Vagina Wall. It was full of stars......

[CountDeMoney]

Banned Md. vanity plates include HEROIN; SUX2BU allowed
State releases 'Objectionable Plate List'

Want to express yourself on a license plate? Go ahead. The state will gladly take your $50 per year. You can't say any old thing, though. The Motor Vehicle Administration has cataloged more than 4,000 words, phrases and letter-number combinations it won't put on a tag.

The agency's Objectionable Plate List, as it's called, is a compendium of vulgarities, obscenities and other no-no's aimed at keeping tags out of the gutter. The Baltimore Sun requested the information last week, hoping to share what the MVA doesn't want you to see on the road.

And we'd love to, except the vast majority of objectionables aren't remotely fit for a family publication.

The list began decades ago, starting with "common sense" entries from staff, says MVA official Philip Dacey. It has grown as rejects have been added. Now when someone applies for a vanity tag online, a computer checks to see if there is a block, though some slip through.

State law allows the MVA to deny tags that have a scatological or sexual meaning; use curse words, epithets or obscenities; carry a "fraudulent or deceptive purpose" (FBI and CIA are banned); refer to illegal acts (sorry, no HEROIN or KILLALL) or convey messages about a group's race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

Just being offensive to someone isn't enough, Dacey says. That's why SUX2BU joined the ranks of Maryland's 88,000 approved vanity tags. "It seems like it's more of a statement, just a personal view of the world," he says, adding that employees use judgment in "gray areas."

The MVA occasionally gets input from an unlikely source: the prison inmates who make the plates at Maryland Correctional Enterprises. "Sometimes they'll be quality control," Dacey says. "They'll call us and say, 'Hey, this combination is a drug reference or a sex reference.'"

The truth is, the apparent meaning of many entries that are already on the objectionable list does not exactly jump out at you. At first blush, 6ULDV8 looks like a random jumble of characters. (Upon closer inspection, perhaps it is an abbreviation for "sexual deviant.")

Members of the public sometimes complain about vanity plates. Dacey says someone reported MIERDA, a scatological word in Spanish. The agency reviewed it with the attorney general's office and decided to yank it. But the vehicle owner fought back; his appeal is pending.

Another complaint concerned a tag that contained WTF, on the ground that it's a commonly abbreviated profanity. The MVA sided with the owners, who got the tag years ago and said it was a nod to their WaTerFront property. Besides, AHHWTF was approved. LOLWTF, too, even though it's banned.

The agency's nuh-uh list should soon shrink by at least one. ALLAH shouldn't be on it, Dacey says. He chalked up its inclusion to an "over-cautious" employee. In any case, that tag has been issued.

The list could certainly grow. Although it already covers more than 50 permutations of a familiar word beginning with "a," the agency did green-light PHATAZZ and BAD AZZ, among others. Dacey said those could be ruled off-limits — if someone complained. Or maybe not. "We'd have to look at the context," he said.

Of course, car owners will always have an outlet safely beyond the reach of the MVA: bumper stickers.

[mongers]

Everything is very green and growing in the countryside of Wessex, the oaks are out and the leaves are that delicate light green that can't be captured in a photo.

I was further up the valley this evening and some meadows were a field of buttercups. 

[Jaron]

What does one do when one gets bored and apathetic to work? Suck it up? Seek new employment? Seek new opportunities?

My job was interesting, but I'm beginning to feel I've learned just about everything I can in my current position.

[CountDeMoney]

What does one do when one gets bored and apathetic to work? Suck it up? Seek new employment? Seek new opportunities?

My job was interesting, but I'm beginning to feel I've learned just about everything I can in my current position.

Do what other people do in your position:  figure out ways to endlessly fuck with coworkers, and make their lives as miserable as yours.

I mean, yeah, you can look for another job...but where's the satisfaction in that?