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Orin

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  1. Applause
    + Orin reacted to RadioRob in RIP Guy Fawkes/daddy   
    It’s been three years and Daddy’s legacy continues and remains strong.  It is a testament to doing something right when others remember you after you’re long gone. 
    Here’s to keeping the memories alive!
  2. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + Pensant in Were you in a college fraternity?   
    Delta Sigma Phi, at Florida Institute of Technology, in the early 70s. It being a technical school, pledge tasks were biased towards rewarding imaginative ways of satisfying the challenge.
    For example, one of the brothers set two pledges the task of 'separating a pile of punch-card chad'. One pledge laboriously sorted them by the numbers printed on them, but then ran into trouble differentiating between the ones with a 6 from those with a 9. The other pledge immediately hatcheted the pile with his hand, and split the one big pile into two smaller ones.
    During the Greek Week competitions, there was a kite-flying event. My frat decided to make the biggest kite, and worry about flying it later. Materials included 4 tarps, a bunch of wooden quarter-round moldings, u-bolts, and duct tape. When it was completed, and brothers were holding it for launch, one of the crew realized that in a 5-mph breeze at a 10° angle, the force would far exceed the strength of the cord we were using. But that didn't matter, because the people holding the rear didn't hear the signal to release the thing, and it folded up in a glorious mess.
  3. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + FreshFluff in Were you in a college fraternity?   
    Delta Sigma Phi, at Florida Institute of Technology, in the early 70s. It being a technical school, pledge tasks were biased towards rewarding imaginative ways of satisfying the challenge.
    For example, one of the brothers set two pledges the task of 'separating a pile of punch-card chad'. One pledge laboriously sorted them by the numbers printed on them, but then ran into trouble differentiating between the ones with a 6 from those with a 9. The other pledge immediately hatcheted the pile with his hand, and split the one big pile into two smaller ones.
    During the Greek Week competitions, there was a kite-flying event. My frat decided to make the biggest kite, and worry about flying it later. Materials included 4 tarps, a bunch of wooden quarter-round moldings, u-bolts, and duct tape. When it was completed, and brothers were holding it for launch, one of the crew realized that in a 5-mph breeze at a 10° angle, the force would far exceed the strength of the cord we were using. But that didn't matter, because the people holding the rear didn't hear the signal to release the thing, and it folded up in a glorious mess.
  4. Surprised
    + Orin got a reaction from + FrankR in Movies you walked out of because they were so awful   
    Well, I had a different reason for walking out of one. I don’t recall which city it was, but the cinema played Fantasia with the reels out of order. 
  5. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + Charlie in Political Issues Forum Retired   
    Mixed among the vitriol in the Politics forum were some posts that didn't center around politics, per se. The problem, though, was that nearly anything that even tangentially impinged on the realms poisoned by partisan rhetoric got sucked into the tornado. So I'm curious whether there's a way to craft a sub-venue here to host those sorts of discussion.
    In an earlier age, 'salons' served that purpose. So I pose a question: are there aspects of that forum worth transplanting? What sorts of topics of interest to members, which are not political, don't have a place here now?
  6. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from pubic_assistance in Political Issues Forum Retired   
    Mixed among the vitriol in the Politics forum were some posts that didn't center around politics, per se. The problem, though, was that nearly anything that even tangentially impinged on the realms poisoned by partisan rhetoric got sucked into the tornado. So I'm curious whether there's a way to craft a sub-venue here to host those sorts of discussion.
    In an earlier age, 'salons' served that purpose. So I pose a question: are there aspects of that forum worth transplanting? What sorts of topics of interest to members, which are not political, don't have a place here now?
  7. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + augustus in Political Issues Forum Retired   
    Mixed among the vitriol in the Politics forum were some posts that didn't center around politics, per se. The problem, though, was that nearly anything that even tangentially impinged on the realms poisoned by partisan rhetoric got sucked into the tornado. So I'm curious whether there's a way to craft a sub-venue here to host those sorts of discussion.
    In an earlier age, 'salons' served that purpose. So I pose a question: are there aspects of that forum worth transplanting? What sorts of topics of interest to members, which are not political, don't have a place here now?
  8. Thanks
    + Orin reacted to RadioRob in Scheduled Maintenance: Tuesday October 25, 2022 12:01 - 9:00 AM ET   
    As recently announced (in this topic), I will be migrating the site from our current servers which are currently maintained by me over to being hosted by the company that makes the software we use to power the website (Invision Power Board).  
    In order to prevent a loss of data during the migration, I'll need to turn the website off while the work is in progress. 
    This means the website will be offline next Tuesday October 25, 2022 starting at 12:01 AM ET until approximately 9:00 AM ET.  During this time, you'll see a message saying the site is under maintenance.  (It may be back sooner, but I want to give myself extra time just to be safe.) 
    The website address is still going to be the same, and no data is expected to be lost.  You should still be logged into the site once the migration is complete.  After everything is complete, you'll automatically see the maintenance message removed.  So don't panic on Tuesday morning! 
    Again, the reason for this migration is to reduce the risk of something happening to the site should something happen to me.  I did not want the site to require someone who understood how to run things like Apache, PHP, mySQL, and have to be a tech nerd.  By having Invision host the site, they'll manage all of the "under the hood" things.  This means the site would be able to continue operating going forward even if I was not around.  
    (Don't worry...  I'm not going anywhere. This is simply one of the tasks I gave to myself to help ensure the site survives should the same thing happen to it that happened when we lost Daddy.)
     
  9. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + Charlie in Were you in a college fraternity?   
    Delta Sigma Phi, at Florida Institute of Technology, in the early 70s. It being a technical school, pledge tasks were biased towards rewarding imaginative ways of satisfying the challenge.
    For example, one of the brothers set two pledges the task of 'separating a pile of punch-card chad'. One pledge laboriously sorted them by the numbers printed on them, but then ran into trouble differentiating between the ones with a 6 from those with a 9. The other pledge immediately hatcheted the pile with his hand, and split the one big pile into two smaller ones.
    During the Greek Week competitions, there was a kite-flying event. My frat decided to make the biggest kite, and worry about flying it later. Materials included 4 tarps, a bunch of wooden quarter-round moldings, u-bolts, and duct tape. When it was completed, and brothers were holding it for launch, one of the crew realized that in a 5-mph breeze at a 10° angle, the force would far exceed the strength of the cord we were using. But that didn't matter, because the people holding the rear didn't hear the signal to release the thing, and it folded up in a glorious mess.
  10. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from Antonio1981 in Were you in a college fraternity?   
    Delta Sigma Phi, at Florida Institute of Technology, in the early 70s. It being a technical school, pledge tasks were biased towards rewarding imaginative ways of satisfying the challenge.
    For example, one of the brothers set two pledges the task of 'separating a pile of punch-card chad'. One pledge laboriously sorted them by the numbers printed on them, but then ran into trouble differentiating between the ones with a 6 from those with a 9. The other pledge immediately hatcheted the pile with his hand, and split the one big pile into two smaller ones.
    During the Greek Week competitions, there was a kite-flying event. My frat decided to make the biggest kite, and worry about flying it later. Materials included 4 tarps, a bunch of wooden quarter-round moldings, u-bolts, and duct tape. When it was completed, and brothers were holding it for launch, one of the crew realized that in a 5-mph breeze at a 10° angle, the force would far exceed the strength of the cord we were using. But that didn't matter, because the people holding the rear didn't hear the signal to release the thing, and it folded up in a glorious mess.
  11. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + harey in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  12. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + mature_guy in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  13. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + FreshFluff in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  14. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from thomas in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  15. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + azdr0710 in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  16. Love
    + Orin got a reaction from marylander1940 in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  17. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from Luv2play in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  18. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from MikeBiDude in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  19. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from + WilliamM in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  20. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from Cooper in To A Lost Friend   
    How do you remember someone who has affected so many people in so many ways over so many years? Is it by seeing the ways in which his guidance and support of people he knew through this site's predecessor reflected that influence to others? Is it from a feeling of kinship among people who were once strangers and who have become members of a community?
    For me, he was, at one time or another, a friend, a fellow programmer, a business partner, a housemate, an adversary, and a fellow traveller on a spiritual journey. He made no secret of who he really was to those he trusted. His flamboyance was epic, just ask anyone who saw him traipsing around Microsoft. But that was just the public version of him. He turned it up to 11 when in character as his clown or drag personnae. You should have seen him in that custom robe with flames.

  21. Love
    + Orin reacted to longtime lurker in What Makes Disney Villains So Gay?   
    As Matt Baume mentions in his videos, Ursula was a rather specific case with the gay writer/lyricist being a fan of Divine.
    Going back into history through the darker days of yesteryear, there are a lot of interesting tidbits worth discussion here.
    Perhaps the most "straightened out" Disney feature is BAMBI, since the only villain is the off-camera "Man" and practically every forest critter except Friend Owl is blatantly matched up with a member of the opposite gender. Note that Flower the Skunk is the first of the trio of bro-buddies, before Thumper and Bambi, to get "twitterpated", just so we don't have to question his orientation any further! On the other hand, Flower is a good role model for social acceptance since he tells Thumper earlier in the film that Bambi "can call me Flower if he wants to... I don't mind." Therefore, I would suspect that, if there was some Pride March in the forest, Flower would be a supporter on the sidelines despite being happily married with a son named after our staring deer.
    Some of the 1930s Silly Symphonies like KING NEPTUNE (1932) have what we would now define as gay stereotypes. In this one example, a "flamboyant" pirate with blue ribbons in his hair gets the mug tossed over his face when he isn't singing masculine enough by his shipmates.
    This brings me to the pirate ship featured in PETER PAN two decades later. Captain Hook and his boyfriend-of-sorts Smee have so much to offer that I am surprised nobody has made a YouTube homage to the very gay jokes between them. I think one reason that film got passed during a very anti-gay, communist-phobic period without any questioning was due to the novel casting of Hans Conrad as the voice to both Hook and Mister Darling, the heteronormal father of the juvenile stars. Thus, two characters are related to each other on a subliminal level.
    Whether or not Peter himself is questioning his own orientation, we certainly have Wendy, the constantly jealous Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily and even the mermaids all displaying affection for him. Like Tommy Kirk in his later live-action films, he may have just not found The Right Girl yet... ahem.
    Much has been discussed of THE RELUCTANT DRAGON, the mostly live-action feature tour-of-the-studio with its extended animated "fairy" tale involving a rather flamboyant dragon and the very refined knight who deals with him. The upside down cake poem is a delight.
    Also FERDINAND THE BULL, although that follows the original book word for word.
    In many ways, Jock and Trusty in LADY AND THE TRAMP represent a perfect gay "marriage" of sorts. Although both offer to accept Lady as a possible partner when she is depressed after coming back from the pound and not feeling the love of Tramp who ran out on her, they are far more committed to each other. When Trusty potentially dies, Jock howls in mourning. Later, we see he survived and is wearing crutches. Jock says, in typical husband fashion as if he deals with Trusty daily, "there is no stopping him now" in telling his My Ol' Reliable speech.
    What makes PINOCCHIO particularly interesting is that there is only one female character who appears on screen during its entire duration: the Blue Fairy. Maybe Cleo the fish is female too, I guess, but it is hard to determine. Thus, you can stay focused on all of the male/male relationships. Fox and cat are definitely a couple, like Laurel and Hardy. Also Pleasure Island has no girls.
    I am sure there are plenty of other examples.
  22. Like
    + Orin got a reaction from longtime lurker in What Makes Disney Villains So Gay?   
    There's an article in Seattle's 'Stranger' right now by Matt Baume about how Disney's villains got coded as gay.
    But the interesting thing is how it got this way.
    So, what were the unanticipated results of what Disney did?
  23. Like
    + Orin reacted to jjkrkwood in Swimming and speedos   
    I am 70 and sunbathe in a THONG !    Livin la Vida Loca.......🤣
  24. Applause
    + Orin got a reaction from + Lucky in PNW Heatwave - stay hydrated folks!   
    That's an important observation @Charlie, but we need to generalize it.
    The hot spell we just went through here was about 30F warmer than normal temperatures for a large area. So, yeah, anyone expecting the weather to be consistent with the climate they've come to know wouldn't be prepared for it. But there have been hints. We moved to WA in early '91, just after the floating bridge sank And since that time we've noticed changes in the 'normal' weather patterns for the area, just not this drastic.
    But there are other changes happening as well. Sea level has only risen a relatively small amount so far, but it's enough to threaten some islands, and the cities, airports, seaports, and military bases along many coastlines are already seeing high water problems even when there isn't a storm. If weather patterns shift, the areas affected by hurricanes and tornadoes could move, a prospect that people living where such things hadn't happened before won't be prepared for, either.
    Replicate that around the world. Advance planning is usually done for expected events, so cities and nations won't be prepared to deal with all kinds of events that 'nobody could foresee', except those who did and were ignored. Denial won't help.
  25. Applause
    + Orin got a reaction from + Charlie in PNW Heatwave - stay hydrated folks!   
    That's an important observation @Charlie, but we need to generalize it.
    The hot spell we just went through here was about 30F warmer than normal temperatures for a large area. So, yeah, anyone expecting the weather to be consistent with the climate they've come to know wouldn't be prepared for it. But there have been hints. We moved to WA in early '91, just after the floating bridge sank And since that time we've noticed changes in the 'normal' weather patterns for the area, just not this drastic.
    But there are other changes happening as well. Sea level has only risen a relatively small amount so far, but it's enough to threaten some islands, and the cities, airports, seaports, and military bases along many coastlines are already seeing high water problems even when there isn't a storm. If weather patterns shift, the areas affected by hurricanes and tornadoes could move, a prospect that people living where such things hadn't happened before won't be prepared for, either.
    Replicate that around the world. Advance planning is usually done for expected events, so cities and nations won't be prepared to deal with all kinds of events that 'nobody could foresee', except those who did and were ignored. Denial won't help.
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