Have fun everybody. Be sure not to be a sucker tomorrow. Or today, depending upon your timezone.
I'm going to help wrap a car in cellophane. And possibly TP a yard.
Accursed day.
Fuck April Fools Day.
Don't get Confickered.
Quote from: Ed Anger on March 31, 2009, 06:40:16 PM
Have fun everybody. Be sure not to be a sucker tomorrow. Or today, depending upon your timezone.
I'm going to help wrap a car in cellophane. And possibly TP a yard.
I look fwd to yr Fool's day socks.
There's been a long debate in Germany about the payments of doctors. Many of them are worried about getting their cash on time or maybe getting less than now and are scared they might not be able to afford their second Porsche.
German morning TV ran an info that starting from today patients would have to pay their treatments cash to the doctors, then get refunded by social security after 6 months. It seemed very realistic (and not very unlikely in the current climate) till they explained that the doctors would also accept services as payment (painting their house), or that people who couldn't afford to go to doctors could go to veterinaries.
This story is a transparent fabrication :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7975851.stm
It informs us that the world's leaders are converging on London to meet with Gordon Brown and have tea with the Queen. Nobody is going to fall for that one :huh:
Yeah, who wants to meet with Gordon Brown?
Other German hoax news:
YouTube has blocked all music videos for Germany, because they failed to reach an agreement with GEMA (the group responsible for collecting copyright fees on, well, anything really) - very realistic, I'm afraid.
After the premium for old cars ("Trash Premium") of 1500 EUR if you buy a new car, the government plans introducing the same in the health sector, esp. for people needing new teeth.
its a bit naff it ends at midday. No one is awake before then so I can't really do any trickery.
The local paper ran a story on green cars having traffic lights switch to green faster in 2010.
One of the national papers had a story on a vip season ticket on the underground giving access to privileged seats.
I sent this email around work this morning:
Combat Team Baghdad: Counter-Insurgency WargamingThe [my company], in association with the Dupuy Institute, are proud to present Combat Team Baghdad, the first definitive wargame model of post-2003 operations in Iraq.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmalcolmjohnson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2Fcombatteam.jpg&hash=0007d4de0327f95b57b9da64b4c408bfc29a5750)
Asymmetric warfare and its many facets are extensively modelled in a carefully developed, highly detailed (yet simple to play) rule-set. The simulation will appeal to both the reflective practitioner and casual wargamer alike: while no more than a handful of normal, six-sided dice are required, a whole host of combat variables are integrated into the system. And for the first time in a battalion-level wargame, the political ramifications of each player's actions count towards victory or defeat.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmalcolmjohnson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2F1.jpg&hash=28798305f70ba7f23c1d13053365b2b03e4dd79c)
Ambush! A US Stryker Patrol is hit by IEDs on the main road(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmalcolmjohnson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2F2.JPG&hash=2ac67709c74175b4fef1f31a65fa0c8f1d12581b)
IED detonations, if successful, lead to morale penalties(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmalcolmjohnson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2F3.JPG&hash=92d4bcc23321516baa3d604a291c12ab1d1da0f9)
As the US Army, call upon air assets of awesome power(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmalcolmjohnson.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2F4.JPG&hash=e2abe266104aebb31ad880d608a169e31bded840)
Insurgent or innocent? Make the tough callsThe box set includes:
- A 3 ft x 4 ft game board depicting Baqubah and surrounding areas, Diyala province, Iraq
- Over 100 plastic counters, including US Army 2nd Infantry Division, Mahdi Army and Sunni Militia formations, as well as supplementary indictors for IED hits, air strikes, suicide bombings and more
- A detailed rulebook – with novel rules for 'hearts and minds', non-combatants, and embedded journalists
- Quick reference sheets
- A scenario book providing a compelling series of challenging missions set in the Surge of 2007.
xxxxx and the Dupuy Institute consulted widely in creating this simulation – key actors in the Iraq campaign including General Petreaus, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Nagl and Iraqi militants themselves. The result is the most authentic simulation of America's counter-insurgency to date.
Combat Team Baghdad is available direct from xxxxx. The boxed set is priced £29.99.
I got several replies saying "good joke", "haha", etc. But then at around 11am, one of my colleagues bursts into my office:
"Do you have a box set yet?"
Thinking he surely knows it was a joke, I played along.
"No, sorry, they are not here from the publisher yet, but you can order."
"Damn, I have General Richards downstairs, I told him about this and he wants to see a copy."
:frusty:
Nice one War.
Blizzards jokes aren't out yet. :(
Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on March 31, 2009, 09:52:24 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on March 31, 2009, 06:40:16 PM
Have fun everybody. Be sure not to be a sucker tomorrow. Or today, depending upon your timezone.
I'm going to help wrap a car in cellophane. And possibly TP a yard.
I look fwd to yr Fool's day socks.
Okay, here is the one sock.
Google's joke is up:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/cadie/index.html (http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/cadie/index.html)
http://cheeptalk.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/levitt-and-mankiw-join-the-obama-administration/
Obama gets Levitt, Mankiw to join his administration.
Quote from: Warspite on April 01, 2009, 06:31:20 AM
...
I got several replies saying "good joke", "haha", etc. But then at around 11am, one of my colleagues bursts into my office:
"Do you have a box set yet?"
Thinking he surely knows it was a joke, I played along.
"No, sorry, they are not here from the publisher yet, but you can order."
"Damn, I have General Richards downstairs, I told him about this and he wants to see a copy."
:frusty:
:lol:
You'd better get busy writing the rule-book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyUvNnmFtgI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--nRQHAMcco&feature=player_embedded
Quote from: Warspite on April 01, 2009, 06:31:20 AM
I sent this email around work this morning:
Combat Team Baghdad: Counter-Insurgency Wargaming
I'd buy this. :)
According to one paper Sweden's parliament legalized gay marriage. :lmfao:
Quote from: Syt on April 01, 2009, 11:39:36 AM
Quote from: Warspite on April 01, 2009, 06:31:20 AM
I sent this email around work this morning:
Combat Team Baghdad: Counter-Insurgency Wargaming
I'd buy this. :)
I'd like to play it. does it have interrogation rules?
Quote from: Malthus on April 01, 2009, 11:14:20 AM
:lol:
You'd better get busy writing the rule-book.
Well I already made a fake portion of map and fake counters :D
The problem is that when I sent out the email, I wished the product was real because it looked so cool.
Quote from: Warspite on April 01, 2009, 12:09:48 PM
Quote from: Malthus on April 01, 2009, 11:14:20 AM
:lol:
You'd better get busy writing the rule-book.
Well I already made a fake portion of map and fake counters :D
The problem is that when I sent out the email, I wished the product was real because it looked so cool.
Indeed, I'd buy it. It is a cool concept and of course timely.
Hell, why not actually do it? There is evidently a market for it. :D
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on April 01, 2009, 02:22:20 AM
This story is a transparent fabrication :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7975851.stm
It informs us that the world's leaders are converging on London to meet with Gordon Brown and have tea with the Queen. Nobody is going to fall for that one :huh:
Is Obama gonna give the Queen some DVDs that won't play in the UK? I know it's been done already, but jokes that clever tend to be reusable :)
Quote from: Malthus on April 01, 2009, 12:40:39 PMIndeed, I'd buy it. It is a cool concept and of course timely.
Hell, why not actually do it? There is evidently a market for it. :D
I'm actually surprised there aren't more Iraq War consims out yet.
April Fools' Day is retarded. Having said that, I'm glad I'm no longer working in IT where my friend Liz used to make my life a living hell every April 1st. :D
Quote from: Malthus on April 01, 2009, 12:40:39 PMIt is a cool concept and of course timely.
Hell, why not actually do it? There is evidently a market for it. :D
:yes:
We have enough people on this board to give actual advice on the realities of this conflict and who could help playtest this.
Quote from: Warspite on April 01, 2009, 06:31:20 AM
"Damn, I have General Richards downstairs, I told him about this and he wants to see a copy."
:frusty:
:lol: Awesome.
Today was the day people took tests to qualify for AP history courses. Last night they had a reading package about the Morales administration in Brazil, and they were all wound up with anxiety about how they were going to need to write about Morales. I made up the real test and then created a second one, identical, except the question:
"In what ways is the Evo Morales administration in Brazil like, and unlike, the reign of Clovis I, King of the Franks."
This was the version I handed out first.
The look on their face was priceless, as none of them, of course, had ever heard of Clovis I. The most popular response after I said "April Fools" and handed out the real test was something about how I deserved death for that trick. :lol:
Apparently none of them knew that Evo Morales has never been in charge of anything in Brazil, either?
Quote from: grumbler on April 01, 2009, 05:11:12 PM
Today was the day people took tests to qualify for AP history courses. Last night they had a reading package about the Morales administration in Brazil, and they were all wound up with anxiety about how they were going to need to write about Morales. I made up the real test and then created a second one, identical, except the question:
"In what ways is the Evo Morales administration in Brazil like, and unlike, the reign of Clovis I, King of the Franks."
This was the version I handed out first.
The look on their face was priceless, as none of them, of course, had ever heard of Clovis I. The most popular response after I said "April Fools" and handed out the real test was something about how I deserved death for that trick. :lol:
AP History people never having heard of Clovis I? They fail nerdom. Anyway I presume you mean Bolivia and not Brazil.
Quote from: Habbaku on April 01, 2009, 05:18:46 PM
Apparently none of them knew that Evo Morales has never been in charge of anything in Brazil, either?
Eh, all those B countries in South America are interchangable. :blush: (I wrote Bolivia on the test).
All two of them. :lol:
Bolivia, Brazil and Benezuela :smarty:
Quote from: Valmy on April 01, 2009, 05:21:14 PM
AP History people never having heard of Clovis I? They fail nerdom. Anyway I presume you mean Bolivia and not Brazil.
Seriously. What level are you teaching again? My freshman world history class went over Clovis and Charlemagne. :huh:
And don't forget Beru and Baraguay.
My father told me that he got a job from a friend and was moving to Southampton. I was so relieved that he was finally going to do something with his life that I actually began to believe it wasn't an April Fool's joke, after about the third time that he denied it was a joke. The joke was on me. :(
Quote from: DontSayBanana on April 01, 2009, 09:44:04 PM
Seriously. What level are you teaching again? My freshman world history class went over Clovis and Charlemagne. :huh:
And don't forget Beru and Baraguay.
It really is amazing that with all the great things that you know and can do, you always seem to be doing fuck all with your life. :unsure:
The problem with people not knowing about Clovis or Charlemagne is that about 99% of them don't read any history outside the curriculum that is served up to them. In the UK this is leading to a generation of people that know nothing about history apart from Nazi Germany and some other major topics. The don't know the difference between a Hanoverian and a Hohenzollern, mention the partitions of Poland in passing and they look blank........
Though, on the other hand, a helicopter view of world history is such a superficial view that is it worth doing? Probably not.
I would think the best thing that a teacher of history could do, at the junior levels, is to instil a love for the subject in his students; so that they will study it on their own behalf in later years. I agree with Plutarch on this, " ...the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled".
I honestly don't know how I came to like history. In school, they always seemed to be trying their hardest to suck all joy out of it.
Quote from: Valmy on April 01, 2009, 05:21:14 PM
AP History people never having heard of Clovis I?
Nope. There is no AP course for pre-modern Europe. Besides, these were students who were applying to take AP history courses.
Quote from: grumbler on April 01, 2009, 05:11:12 PM
Today was the day people took tests to qualify for AP history courses. Last night they had a reading package about the Morales administration in Brazil, and they were all wound up with anxiety about how they were going to need to write about Morales. I made up the real test and then created a second one, identical, except the question:
"In what ways is the Evo Morales administration in Brazil like, and unlike, the reign of Clovis I, King of the Franks."
This was the version I handed out first.
The look on their face was priceless, as none of them, of course, had ever heard of Clovis I. The most popular response after I said "April Fools" and handed out the real test was something about how I deserved death for that trick. :lol:
I remember one Geography test that consisted of two words: "Why Nunavut?"
I must have been staring at the girl who sat in front of me more than usual that week - off the top, I couldn't remember a thing about Nunavut, so this was a real poser.
I was however able to fake something up - reasoning that "Nunavut" was a native word, so it must have something to do with natives, and thus a screed on the pros and cons of native self-government would be better than nothing ...
I got an "A". :lol:
Melanie (5 year old daughter) called me at work yesterday.
Merlanie: "Hi daddy!"
Berkut: "Hi sweetie, how are you doing!"
Melanie: "Good! Me and mommy went to the store after school and we bought a puppy!"
Berkut: "Oh, r...."
Mealnie: "April Fools!"
She needs to work on her delivery a little bit.
Quote from: grumbler on April 02, 2009, 05:13:09 AMNope. There is no AP course for pre-modern Europe. Besides, these were students who were applying to take AP history courses.
:huh:
My AP European History class in high school spent quite a bit of time on pre-modern Europe, including on the Franks.
Quote from: Caliga on April 02, 2009, 08:55:44 AM
:huh:
My AP European History class in high school spent quite a bit of time on pre-modern Europe, including on the Franks.
Mine did to. But maybe that course is not offered in grumblers school.
Quote from: Berkut on April 02, 2009, 08:40:25 AM
Melanie (5 year old daughter) called me at work yesterday.
Merlanie: "Hi daddy!"
Berkut: "Hi sweetie, how are you doing!"
Melanie: "Good! Me and mommy went to the store after school and we bought a puppy!"
Berkut: "Oh, r...."
Mealnie: "April Fools!"
She needs to work on her delivery a little bit.
:lol:
Awww she just couldn't wait to deliver the punch line.
Quote from: Valmy on April 02, 2009, 08:59:48 AMMine did to. But maybe that course is not offered in grumblers school.
Either that or the dudes who run AP stopped offering that course.
Quote from: grumbler on April 01, 2009, 05:11:12 PM
Today was the day people took tests to qualify for AP history courses. Last night they had a reading package about the Morales administration in Brazil, and they were all wound up with anxiety about how they were going to need to write about Morales. I made up the real test and then created a second one, identical, except the question:
"In what ways is the Evo Morales administration in Brazil like, and unlike, the reign of Clovis I, King of the Franks."
This was the version I handed out first.
The look on their face was priceless, as none of them, of course, had ever heard of Clovis I. The most popular response after I said "April Fools" and handed out the real test was something about how I deserved death for that trick. :lol:
Lol! Good one. :lmfao:
Quote from: Caliga on April 02, 2009, 08:55:44 AM
:huh:
My AP European History class in high school spent quite a bit of time on pre-modern Europe, including on the Franks.
There is nothing on the current AP European history test that covers anything prior to 1450. I cover Charlemagne purely as a lead-in to the whole Germans versus Slavs tradition, and never mention Clovis at all. In fact, i cover nothing before Charlemagne, nor anything between Charlemagne and the Hundred Years War (and even the latter we only cover as a prelude to the rise of nationalism and the New Monarchies).
The course has to be taught that way, as there is so much detail that must be covered from 1450 to 2006, plus all the study and writing skills.