• Retronym?

    From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 18 20:11:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    I have heard the term "retroynm" used for this. But more often that
    term is used to specify something that used to be the default. For
    instance silent movie, sailing ship, reel lawnmower, accoustic guitar,
    hot coffee.

    So which is the correct term for which? Thanks.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From ram@ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 18 20:36:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote or quoted:
    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    An "ex post facto law" is a law that retrospectively changes the
    legal consequences or status of actions that were committed. From
    this, sometimes, "ex post facto name" is also used, but rarely.
    However, educated readers might get what it is intended to mean
    - a name that retrospectively changes the naming of something.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 18 18:49:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/18/26 16:11, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    I have heard the term "retroynm" used for this. But more often that
    term is used to specify something that used to be the default. For
    instance silent movie, sailing ship, reel lawnmower, accoustic guitar,
    hot coffee.

    So which is the correct term for which? Thanks.

    So far as I can tell, the consensus is that all your examples in the
    first two paragraphs are retronyms.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it
    turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -rCoAnne Lamott
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 18 16:00:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/18/2026 1:11 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    I have heard the term "retroynm" used for this. But more often that
    term is used to specify something that used to be the default. For
    instance silent movie, sailing ship, reel lawnmower, accoustic guitar,
    hot coffee.

    So which is the correct term for which? Thanks.

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I,
    or, maybe The First World War.

    I, unfortunately, don't know the word you're looking for other than anachronism.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 02:18:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 06:10:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), "Keith F. Lynch"
    <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    Also Byzantine Empire, Middle Ages, Antiquity.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 04:58:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    ... the Jurassic Period, etc., none of which were used at the
    relevant time.

    How do we know what term the dinosaurs used? Did anyone ask them?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ross Clark@benlizro@ihug.co.nz to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 18:37:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 19/07/2026 11:00 a.m., Tim Merrigan wrote:
    On 7/18/2026 1:11 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time?-a For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    I have heard the term "retroynm" used for this.-a But more often that
    term is used to specify something that used to be the default.-a For
    instance silent movie, sailing ship, reel lawnmower, accoustic guitar,
    hot coffee.

    So which is the correct term for which?-a Thanks.

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I,
    or, maybe The First World War.

    I have a copy of "The First World War: A photographic history", by
    Laurence Stallings (Simon & Schuster, 1933), which I have heard
    mentioned as one of the earliest to use that name. But by 1933, with the
    Nazis coming to power, the Second must have been truly looming on the
    horizon.



    I, unfortunately, don't know the word you're looking for other than anachronism.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 08:11:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    ... Middle Ages, Antiquity.

    When did the term rCLDark AgesrCY start to be used?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Phil@phil@anonymous.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 10:16:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.
    --
    Phil B

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 09:47:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113h0ia$3tq7c$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I,
    or, maybe The First World War.

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920.

    https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 12:06:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    On 7/18/2026 1:11 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    Similarly, nobody knew how long the Hundred Years War, the Thirty
    Years War, or the Seven Years War would be until they were over.
    Indeed, the Seven Years War is still known as the French and Indian
    War in the US.

    I have heard the term "retroynm" used for this. But more often that
    term is used to specify something that used to be the default. For instance silent movie, sailing ship, reel lawnmower, accoustic guitar,
    hot coffee.

    So which is the correct term for which? Thanks.

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I,
    or, maybe The First World War.

    Calling it 'the first world' war doesn't necessary imply
    that there will or must be a second, [1]

    Jan

    [1] BTW, the Seven Years War, 1756-1763,
    with all other wars related to it like the French and Indian War,
    has also been called 'the first world war, by some historians.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 12:06:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Eh, Julius Caesar spoke Greek too,
    when among friends.

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 07:03:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/26 04:11, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    ... Middle Ages, Antiquity.

    When did the term rCLDark AgesrCY start to be used?

    Seems to be by Petrach in the 1330s.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it
    turns out that God hates all the same people you do. -rCoAnne Lamott
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 07:50:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Someone who is skeptical about the War to End All Wars actually ending
    any wars.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 07:51:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Eh, Julius Caesar spoke Greek too,
    when among friends.

    If Shakespeare was correct, he spoke it when among enemies too.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From occam@occam@nowhere.nix to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 14:01:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 19/07/2026 11:16, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Though that may sound logical, the consensus is that the designation
    "World War I" was officially adopted /after/ World War II, as historians
    needed to distinguish it from the subsequent global conflict. (I have
    read this somewhere, but you local AI search will confirm it.)

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 08:05:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/26 08:01, occam wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 11:16, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Though that may sound logical, the consensus is that the designation
    "World War I" was officially adopted /after/ World War II, as historians needed to distinguish it from the subsequent global conflict. (I have
    read this somewhere, but you local AI search will confirm it.)


    Well, it was apparently unofficially adopted well before that.

    And my local AI search will confirm all sorts of things that just aren't
    true.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Phil@phil@anonymous.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 13:50:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 19/07/2026 13:01, occam wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 11:16, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Though that may sound logical, the consensus is that the designation
    "World War I" was officially adopted /after/ World War II, as historians needed to distinguish it from the subsequent global conflict. (I have
    read this somewhere, but you local AI search will confirm it.)


    Fair point, but I think that 'First World War' and 'World War I' are
    different in that respect.

    Somewhat related: 'World War III' is already a well-recognised concept
    even though it hasn't happened (yet). Makes me wonder when the term
    'World War II' first started to be used. Did FDR ever accuse anyone of "gambling with World War II"?
    --
    Phil B

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 13:50:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 19/07/2026 |a 10:16, Phil a |-crit :
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Having had one world war, it was perhaps possible to foresee others.

    I feel an Ngram coming onrCa

    <https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Great+War%2CFirst+World+War%2CSecond+World+War%2CThird+World+War&year_start=1900&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3>

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.comNOSPAM to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 08:55:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Verily, in article <113hc56$k7f$1@reader1.panix.com>, did
    kfl@KeithLynch.net deliver unto us this message:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?


    They did, actually. There had never been a world war before, at least
    not in memory, and there is writing from the time referring to it as the
    first world war. I've even seen it written as "first World War," for
    those who pay attention to capitalization.
    --
    The meek shall inherit, we're told,
    But I'm not so easily sold.
    For supposing they should,
    It would do them no good --
    They'd lose it at once to the bold.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The True Melissa@thetruemelissa@gmail.comNOSPAM to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 08:59:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Verily, in article <113ih62$bqod$1@dont-email.me>, did
    phil@anonymous.invalid deliver unto us this message:
    Somewhat related: 'World War III' is already a well-recognised concept
    even though it hasn't happened (yet). Makes me wonder when the term
    'World War II' first started to be used. Did FDR ever accuse anyone of "gambling with World War II"?

    During what is now called the First Gulf War, my mother referred to it
    as World War III. My brother burst out laughing. Technically she had a
    point, but it didn't seem to occur to anyone to call it that in general.
    It wasn't a large enough or long enough conflict.

    I take "World War III" to mean an ultimately destructive war. If it ever applied, few to none would be left alive to call it anything.
    --
    The meek shall inherit, we're told,
    But I'm not so easily sold.
    For supposing they should,
    It would do them no good --
    They'd lose it at once to the bold.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 15:09:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 19.07.2026 kl. 14.50 skrev Phil:

    Somewhat related: 'World War III' is already a well-recognised concept
    even though it hasn't happened (yet). Makes me wonder when the term
    'World War II' first started to be used. Did FDR ever accuse anyone of "gambling with World War II"?

    Try an Ngram with "WW II,WWII". They take off from 1940.

    Then add ",World War". It begins in 1910.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 15:47:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:16:24 +0100, Phil <phil@anonymous.invalid>
    wrote:

    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.

    I suspect that it was known simply as "the Great War" or "the War"
    until the second one came along, after which it began to be called the
    first.

    Does anyone know when the "Second World War" was first called that?
    Presumably when enough local conflicts had amalgamated to give a
    single name to the whole shebang.

    I assume it began in Asia when Japan invaded China, in Africa when
    Italy invaded Ethiopia, in Europe when Germany invaded Poland, and in
    America when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.

    People have been talking about the third one by anticipation, so I
    suspect that it will be called that from the start.





    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 13:50:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Phil <phil@anonymous.invalid> wrote:
    Somewhat related: 'World War III' is already a well-recognised
    concept even though it hasn't happened (yet).

    Tom Lehrer created a nostalgia song for World War III, pointing out
    that waiting until *after* that war before writing it might not work
    out well.

    A third world war after there have been two seems more plausible than
    a second world war after there had just been one. Especially since
    that one was (supposedly) the war to end all wars.

    Similarly, after Japan was nuked, Japan was certain that the US
    couldn't possibly have a *second* nuclear bomb. After they were
    proven wrong, they had little doubt that the US had a third nuke,
    and a fourth, etc.

    It's noteworthy that the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan were of
    completely different design. And that the Little Boy design had never
    been tested. But worked perfectly anyway. Impressive.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 15:56:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:11:26 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Exactly. Even when the Roman Empire still included the Italian city of
    Rome, large parts of it mainly spoke Greek.


    ... Middle Ages, Antiquity.

    When did the term rCLDark AgesrCY start to be used?

    I suspect when historians who had invented the Middle Ages discovered
    that some parts of their favourite period had fewer written sources
    than others -- roughly 500-800.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Phil@phil@anonymous.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 16:47:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 19/07/2026 14:47, Steve Hayes wrote:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:16:24 +0100, Phil <phil@anonymous.invalid>
    wrote:

    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.

    I suspect that it was known simply as "the Great War" or "the War"
    until the second one came along, after which it began to be called the
    first.

    Indeed, you remind me that for me (and doubtless many in this forum),
    WWII was for many years just 'The War', because that's how my parents
    talked about it. They had, after all, been immersed in it for six years
    not so very long before I was born.



    Does anyone know when the "Second World War" was first called that? Presumably when enough local conflicts had amalgamated to give a
    single name to the whole shebang.

    I assume it began in Asia when Japan invaded China, in Africa when
    Italy invaded Ethiopia, in Europe when Germany invaded Poland, and in
    America when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.

    People have been talking about the third one by anticipation, so I
    suspect that it will be called that from the start.





    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.

    --
    Phil B

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:36:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 19.07.2026 kl. 15.50 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    It's noteworthy that the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan were of completely different design. And that the Little Boy design had never
    been tested. But worked perfectly anyway. Impressive.

    If you see a video with the Hiroshima bomb[1], it's a fake. There was
    only taken one still photo of that event. The Nagasaki bomb on the other
    hand is on video.

    [1] I see it fairly often whenever that event is referenced.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:39:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 19.07.2026 kl. 17.47 skrev Phil:

    I suspect that it was known simply as "the Great War" or "the War"
    until the second one came along, after which it began to be called the
    first.

    Indeed, you remind me that for me (and doubtless many in this forum),
    WWII was for many years just 'The War', because that's how my parents
    talked about it. They had, after all, been immersed in it for six years
    not so very long before I was born.

    My parents always called it "anden verdenkrig" (second World War). They
    were born 1919 and 1924.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 11:52:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/18/2026 7:18 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.

    That was why it was worthy of note. He referred to it as World War I
    before anyone else did.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 12:04:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/2026 2:47 AM, Richard Tobin wrote:
    In article <113h0ia$3tq7c$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I,
    or, maybe The First World War.

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920.

    https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    -- Richard

    Thank you for the citation. I'd only heard of of it, never seen or read it.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam Funk@a24061@ducksburg.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 20:41:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 2026-07-19, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:16:24 +0100, Phil <phil@anonymous.invalid>
    wrote:

    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the >>First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.

    I suspect that it was known simply as "the Great War" or "the War"
    until the second one came along, after which it began to be called the
    first.

    Does anyone know when the "Second World War" was first called that? Presumably when enough local conflicts had amalgamated to give a
    single name to the whole shebang.

    I assume it began in Asia when Japan invaded China, in Africa when
    Italy invaded Ethiopia, in Europe when Germany invaded Poland, and in
    America when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour.

    People have been talking about the third one by anticipation, so I
    suspect that it will be called that from the start.


    2026--2053 according to Star Trek canon.

    https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/World_War_III



    "World War III has been happening for years now. EveryonerCOs just too
    busy watching the commercials to notice."

    (Jerry Cornelius --- from _The Final Programme_, I think.)
    --
    the purple piper plays his tune
    the choir softly sing
    three lullabies in an ancient tongue
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From rcpj@rcpj@panix.com (Pierre Jelenc) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:47:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113i6g7$1gq35$1@artemis.inf.ed.ac.uk>,
    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
    In article <113h0ia$3tq7c$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of
    "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I, >>or, maybe The First World War.

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920. >https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    But that's not fair because title capitalization confuses "the first World War" (perfectly sensible) with "The First World War" (nonsense at that
    time).

    Similarly, according to DDG, the "first truly national bank in the United States was the Bank of North America, which was chartered in 1781" yet
    "the First Bank of the United States" was not established until 1791.

    Pierre
    --
    Pierre Jelenc
    The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
    The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From rcpj@rcpj@panix.com (Pierre Jelenc) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:49:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113hlig$3n2n$3@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    ... the Jurassic Period, etc., none of which were used at the
    relevant time.

    How do we know what term the dinosaurs used? Did anyone ask them?

    No need to ask, it's set in stone!

    Pierre
    --
    Pierre Jelenc
    The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
    The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Snidely@snidely.too@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 12:52:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes wrote on 7/19/2026 :

    [...]
    Does anyone know when the "Second World War" was first called that?
    [...]

    People have been talking about the third one by anticipation, so I
    suspect that it will be called that from the start.


    The trick is to recognize the start as it happens. The Brinksmanship
    Scenario suggests that there will be about 15 minutes to recognize that
    it has started, where as the Snowball Scenario suggests that we'll have
    been fighting in several hotspots and they'll eventually be recognized
    as all part of the same conflict.

    WWI seems to be a third variation ... the Dry Tinder Scenario, and WWII
    began as what was supposed to be a masterclass in chess.

    /dps
    --
    "It wasn't just a splash in the pan"
    -- lectricbikes.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 21:54:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:11:26 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke >Greek.

    Exactly. Even when the Roman Empire still included the Italian city of
    Rome, large parts of it mainly spoke Greek.


    ... Middle Ages, Antiquity.

    When did the term "Dark Ages" start to be used?

    I suspect when historians who had invented the Middle Ages discovered
    that some parts of their favourite period had fewer written sources
    than others -- roughly 500-800.

    The humanists who invented the Renaissance did it.
    (Petrarca, ~ 1350)
    You can hardly have a renaissance
    without having a dark age to precede it,

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 21:54:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 06:10:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Eh, Julius Caesar spoke Greek too,
    when among friends.

    If Shakespeare was correct, he spoke it when among enemies too.

    Depended which enemy no doubt,
    but certainly not with his own centurions,

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:59:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <MPG.44c6933d8b80a17f98a1a0@news.eternal-september.org>,
    The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.comNOSPAM> wrote:
    Verily, in article <113hc56$k7f$1@reader1.panix.com>, did
    kfl@KeithLynch.net deliver unto us this message:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?


    They did, actually. There had never been a world war before, at least
    not in memory, and there is writing from the time referring to it as the >first world war. I've even seen it written as "first World War," for
    those who pay attention to capitalization.

    [Hal Heydt]
    My maternal grandfather, during the 1930s, refused to trade in
    old cars on the grounds that they'd be sold, in turn, as scrap
    metal to the Japanese who would shoot them back at us.

    He was right... But how many people thought about it that way?

    (He was, by the way, born in Denmark in 1879 and came to the US
    in 1906. So he had a more European outlook on the world than many--most?--Americans.)
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 20:34:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    Steve Hayes wrote:
    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Eh, Julius Caesar spoke Greek too,
    when among friends.

    Most of the charred scrolls in Herculaneum that are now being read by
    high-tech means are written in Greek, not Latin, which is surprising
    to me.

    Most historians say the empire fell in 476. Some say 1453. But as
    late as the 19th century, millions of people believed it still existed
    and that they were in it. (I am of course speaking of the Holy Roman
    Empire -- which Voltaire famously claimed was none of those three things.)

    That raises the question of when future historians will claim the USA
    ceased to exist. And whether that date has already passed.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 23:07:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Pierre Jelenc <rcpj@panix.com> wrote:

    In article <113hlig$3n2n$3@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    ... the Jurassic Period, etc., none of which were used at the
    relevant time.

    How do we know what term the dinosaurs used? Did anyone ask them?

    No need to ask, it's set in stone!

    Unless there is A Sound of Thunder,

    Jan



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 23:32:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    Steve Hayes wrote:
    Also Byzantine Empire ...

    You know, they thought of themselves as Romans, even though they spoke
    Greek.

    Eh, Julius Caesar spoke Greek too,
    when among friends.

    Most of the charred scrolls in Herculaneum that are now being read by high-tech means are written in Greek, not Latin, which is surprising
    to me.

    Not surprising at all. This was Magna Graecia.
    All of Southern Italy spoke Greek natively.
    The Roman conquest of the South didn't change that.
    Neapolis, originally Paleopolis, is an early Greek colony.
    As a city it may well be older than Rome.

    Apart from that, most educated Romans spoke Latin and Greek.
    The hired (or bought!) Greek house tutors for their children.
    Julius also had no problems chatting up Cleopatra.
    (or the other way round)
    They both spoke Greek.

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Gary McGath@garym@mcgath.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:44:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/26 5:32 PM, J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Most of the charred scrolls in Herculaneum that are now being read by
    high-tech means are written in Greek, not Latin, which is surprising
    to me.

    Not surprising at all. This was Magna Graecia.
    All of Southern Italy spoke Greek natively.
    The Roman conquest of the South didn't change that.
    Neapolis, originally Paleopolis, is an early Greek colony.
    As a city it may well be older than Rome.

    Apart from that, most educated Romans spoke Latin and Greek.
    The hired (or bought!) Greek house tutors for their children.
    Julius also had no problems chatting up Cleopatra.
    (or the other way round)
    They both spoke Greek.

    Archimedes lived in Sicily.
    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Gary McGath@garym@mcgath.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:46:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/26 3:54 PM, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    The humanists who invented the Renaissance did it.
    (Petrarca, ~ 1350)
    You can hardly have a renaissance
    without having a dark age to precede it,

    1350 was a good century before the earliest dates ascribed to the
    Renaissance.
    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 23:47:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:32:36 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Apart from that, most educated Romans spoke Latin and Greek. The
    hired (or bought!) Greek house tutors for their children.

    That part is not surprising to me. The Romans had a great deal of
    respect for the Greeks and their tradition of learning.

    But for the entire Roman empire to run mostly on Greek ... no.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 23:49:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:49:39 -0000 (UTC), Pierre Jelenc wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 04:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    ... the Jurassic Period, etc., none of which were used at the
    relevant time.

    How do we know what term the dinosaurs used? Did anyone ask them?

    No need to ask, it's set in stone!

    Cheeky.

    Everybody knows that, in Dinosaurese, it was the Age of Rowrr.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 23:58:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 11:52:24 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    He referred to it as World War I before anyone else did.

    I think the signs of a potential future conflict were likely not that
    hard to spot, by those not blinkered by blind loyalty to their
    respective empires.

    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict. It
    was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying to
    ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their own
    empires in competition. Each one called up loyal citizens from all
    over home and colonies to fight, and they came, without questioning
    what the fight was about -- rCLMy country, right or wrongrCY was the
    standard mindset back then.

    The ANZAC countries (of which I live in one) are fond of commemorating
    the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. This is where they attacked a
    country (the Ottoman Empire at the time) which had never shown any
    hostility towards them, and who gave them a severe thrashing. To this
    day, the Turks tolerate their turning up every year, and mostly I
    think tactfully refrain from reminding them who won that battle.

    The end of that world war left a mess, and the following world war was
    an attempt to clean up that mess. How successful was it? You be the
    judge.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 00:00:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:59:13 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    My maternal grandfather, during the 1930s, refused to trade in old
    cars on the grounds that they'd be sold, in turn, as scrap metal to
    the Japanese who would shoot them back at us.

    The Japanese were pretty militaristic right through the 1930s, if not
    before. Remember, they had given the Russians a thrashing in 1905,
    severely discomfiting many crowned heads throughout Europe, that some
    upstart non-whites could possibly manage such a thing.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 00:48:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:44:41 -0400, Gary McGath wrote:

    Archimedes lived in Sicily.

    There were Greek colonies around the Mediterranean, from long before
    the rise of the Roman Empire.

    Each Greek city-state had its own collection of colonies, with their
    own particular cultural ties to the mother state.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 00:53:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:59:45 -0400, The True Melissa wrote:

    I take "World War III" to mean an ultimately destructive war. If it
    ever applied, few to none would be left alive to call it anything.

    Was it Einstein who said, he didnrCOt know how World War III would be
    fought, but it was easy to predict how World War IV would be fought --
    with bows and arrows.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 00:55:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 20:41:35 +0100, Adam Funk wrote:

    "World War III has been happening for years now. EveryonerCOs just too
    busy watching the commercials to notice."

    (Jerry Cornelius --- from _The Final Programme_, I think.)

    Watch that just for Sterling HaydenrCOs brief scene. ;)
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kfl@kfl@panix.com (Keith F. Lynch) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 01:56:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.
    It was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying
    to ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their
    own empires in competition.

    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren. The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    Maybe we should be thankful that she didn't have lots more
    grandchildren.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Snidely@snidely.too@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 19 19:23:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Just this Sunday, Keith F. Lynch puzzled about:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.
    It was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying
    to ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their
    own empires in competition.

    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren. The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    Maybe we should be thankful that she didn't have lots more
    grandchildren.

    There's a book called _The Cousin War_ somewhere in my stacks.

    -d
    --
    https://xkcd.com/2704
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 13:29:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 20/07/26 05:59, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    [Hal Heydt] My maternal grandfather, during the 1930s, refused to
    trade in old cars on the grounds that they'd be sold, in turn, as
    scrap metal to the Japanese who would shoot them back at us.

    He was right... But how many people thought about it that way?

    (He was, by the way, born in Denmark in 1879 and came to the US in
    1906. So he had a more European outlook on the world than many--most?--Americans.)

    In 1938, Australian dock workers refused to load pig iron onto a ship
    bound for Japan, claiming that it would be used for the Japanese war
    effort. The Attorney General, who later because Prime Minister,
    threatened to send in the army to break the strike. This earned him the
    name "Pig Iron Bob".
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 10:13:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:32:36 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Apart from that, most educated Romans spoke Latin and Greek. The
    hired (or bought!) Greek house tutors for their children.

    That part is not surprising to me. The Romans had a great deal of
    respect for the Greeks and their tradition of learning.

    But for the entire Roman empire to run mostly on Greek ... no.

    Merely half of it,

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 10:13:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:59:13 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    My maternal grandfather, during the 1930s, refused to trade in old
    cars on the grounds that they'd be sold, in turn, as scrap metal to
    the Japanese who would shoot them back at us.

    The Japanese were pretty militaristic right through the 1930s, if not
    before. Remember, they had given the Russians a thrashing in 1905,
    severely discomfiting many crowned heads throughout Europe, that some
    upstart non-whites could possibly manage such a thing.

    The Japanese could not understand why they couldn't become member
    of the club of colonising imperialist industrial powers.
    When they did just what the older colonial powers had been routinely
    doing for a long time there were outcries about their heinous crimes,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 10:13:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

    Just this Sunday, Keith F. Lynch puzzled about:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.
    It was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying
    to ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their
    own empires in competition.

    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren. The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    Maybe we should be thankful that she didn't have lots more
    grandchildren.

    There's a book called _The Cousin War_ somewhere in my stacks.

    You are sure it isn't about the Wars of the Roses?

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 09:27:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113j9kl$q7v$1@reader1.panix.com>,
    Pierre Jelenc <rcpj@panix.com> wrote:

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920. >>https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    But that's not fair because title capitalization confuses "the first World >War" (perfectly sensible) with "The First World War" (nonsense at that >time).

    Page 1:

    ... I cannot better preface this account of my personal experiences
    in the First World War than by ...

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 06:38:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 04:13, J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:32:36 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Apart from that, most educated Romans spoke Latin and Greek. The
    hired (or bought!) Greek house tutors for their children.

    That part is not surprising to me. The Romans had a great deal of
    respect for the Greeks and their tradition of learning.

    But for the entire Roman empire to run mostly on Greek ... no.

    Merely half of it,

    And the half that survived a thousand years longer.

    If one somehow calculated the "product" of area and time, I wonder which
    half would be the larger.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 11:07:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    But for the entire Roman empire to run mostly on Greek ... no.

    Merely half of it,

    And the half that survived a thousand years longer.

    If one somehow calculated the "product" of area and time, I wonder
    which half would be the larger.

    Good question. But I've read that, due to several plagues and
    famines, by 1453 Constanople had shrunk into a small town. If so,
    the wonder is that the Turks took so long to take over.

    I'm reminded of the fact that I once sorted my history books by when
    they were set. One was a book on America history. When exactly was
    American history? Surpringingly, I worked out that on average, it
    was during the Reagan administration. In other words, the median English-speaking person in what became the United states lived in
    the 1980s. This is true whether or not I include colonial times.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 07:20:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 07:07, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    But for the entire Roman empire to run mostly on Greek ... no.

    Merely half of it,

    And the half that survived a thousand years longer.

    If one somehow calculated the "product" of area and time, I wonder
    which half would be the larger.

    Good question. But I've read that, due to several plagues and
    famines, by 1453 Constanople had shrunk into a small town. If so,
    the wonder is that the Turks took so long to take over.

    Theodosian Walls. The Ottomans had to wait for cannon before they could
    take it.

    I'm reminded of the fact that I once sorted my history books by when
    they were set. One was a book on America history. When exactly was
    American history? Surpringingly, I worked out that on average, it
    was during the Reagan administration. In other words, the median English-speaking person in what became the United states lived in
    the 1980s. This is true whether or not I include colonial times.

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do it?
    (Well, I sort geographically, then chronologically.) I put the overviews
    at the start of the period they cover.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Snidely@snidely.too@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 06:37:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    J. J. Lodder speculated:
    Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

    Just this Sunday, Keith F. Lynch puzzled about:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.
    It was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying
    to ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their
    own empires in competition.

    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren. The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    Maybe we should be thankful that she didn't have lots more
    grandchildren.

    There's a book called _The Cousin War_ somewhere in my stacks.

    You are sure it isn't about the Wars of the Roses?

    Jan

    Pretty sure.

    -d
    --
    potstickers, Japanese gyoza, Chinese dumplings, let's do it
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 09:58:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 09:37, Snidely wrote:
    J. J. Lodder speculated:
    Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

    Just this Sunday, Keith F. Lynch puzzled about:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.
    It was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying
    to ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their
    own empires in competition.

    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren.-a The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    Maybe we should be thankful that she didn't have lots more
    grandchildren.

    There's a book called _The Cousin War_ somewhere in my stacks.

    You are sure it isn't about the Wars of the Roses?

    Jan

    Pretty sure.

    -d


    The "Cousins' War" series by Philippa Gregory is about the War of the Roses.

    THE COUSINS' WARS by Kevin P. Philips is about the English Civil War,
    the American Revolution, and the American Civil War.

    GEORGE, NICHOLAS AND WILHELM: THREE ROYAL COUSINS AND THE ROAD TO WORLD
    WAR I (a.k.a. THE THREE EMPERORS: THREE COUSINS, THREE EMPIRES AND THE
    ROAD TO WORLD WAR ONE) by Miranda Carter is about World War I (duh!),
    and may be what you are thinking of.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 14:18:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    The "Cousins' War" series by Philippa Gregory is about the War of the Roses.

    I had to double check whether this was the same Philippa who was
    responsible for discovering the remains of Richard III. She wasn't.
    That's Philippa Langley. Interesting coincidence, though.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 14:33:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Good question. But I've read that, due to several plagues and
    famines, by 1453 Constantinople had shrunk into a small town.
    If so, the wonder is that the Turks took so long to take over.

    Theodosian Walls. The Ottomans had to wait for cannon before they
    could take it.

    Then how did the Fourth Crusade successfully sack that city in 1204?

    I'd think that trebuchets could easily deal with those walls.

    I'm reminded of the fact that I once sorted my history books by
    when they were set. One was a book on America history. When
    exactly was American history? Surprisingly, I worked out that on
    average, it was during the Reagan administration. In other words,
    the median English-speaking person in what became the United states
    lived in the 1980s. This is true whether or not I include colonial
    times.

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do
    it? (Well, I sort geographically, then chronologically.) I put the
    overviews at the start of the period they cover.

    So when did the median Roman subject live? We may not have enough
    information to answer that. And of course it depends on whether or
    not you include people whose native language wasn't Latin.

    A more interesting question is when did the median American live, if
    you include Native Americans. The continent has been inhabited for
    a rather long time. And for much of that time it may have been more
    heavily inhabited than it was in the 17th century, since by then the
    natives had already been ravaged by Old World plagues to which they
    had little resistance. But, again, we have little information.

    Similarly, we know there was a major volcanic eruption in 536, which
    greatly harmed Constantinople among other places, but we have no idea
    where it was. Possibly somewhere in North America, but nobody there
    was keeping track at the time. Or possibly in Iceland, but no human
    being had yet set foot on that island.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:06:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 11:52:24 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    On 7/18/2026 7:18 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.

    That was why it was worthy of note. He referred to it as World War I
    before anyone else did.

    But did he really?

    Did he say "World War I"?

    Or did he say "First World War"?

    Or did he say "first world war"?

    Today is the 56th anniversary of the first moon landing.

    Putting it like that says nothing about a second or third moon
    landing. It merely indicates that there hasn't been one like it
    before.

    "Moon Landing 1", however, expresses order in a series.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:10:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:47:33 -0000 (UTC), rcpj@panix.com (Pierre
    Jelenc) wrote:

    In article <113i6g7$1gq35$1@artemis.inf.ed.ac.uk>,
    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
    In article <113h0ia$3tq7c$1@dont-email.me>,
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:

    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history of >>>"The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World War I, >>>or, maybe The First World War.

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920. >>https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    But that's not fair because title capitalization confuses "the first World >War" (perfectly sensible) with "The First World War" (nonsense at that >time).

    Similarly, according to DDG, the "first truly national bank in the United >States was the Bank of North America, which was chartered in 1781" yet
    "the First Bank of the United States" was not established until 1791.

    My thought too. A case where it makes a difference whether numbers are
    cardinal or ordinal.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:15:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 21:54:29 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    I suspect when historians who had invented the Middle Ages discovered
    that some parts of their favourite period had fewer written sources
    than others -- roughly 500-800.

    The humanists who invented the Renaissance did it.
    (Petrarca, ~ 1350)
    You can hardly have a renaissance
    without having a dark age to precede it,

    Can you give the context in which he used it?
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 11:20:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 11:06, Steve Hayes wrote:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 11:52:24 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    On 7/18/2026 7:18 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World
    War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II. How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    ObSF: _Last and First Men_, published in 1931, mentioned "The Great
    War," but nothing like World War II.

    Similarly, Queen Elizabeth I, who died in 1603, didn't get her regnal
    number until 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II came along. Before that,
    she was just Queen Elizabeth.

    That was why it was worthy of note. He referred to it as World War I
    before anyone else did.

    But did he really?

    Did he say "World War I"?

    Or did he say "First World War"?

    Or did he say "first world war"?

    Today is the 56th anniversary of the first moon landing.

    Putting it like that says nothing about a second or third moon
    landing. It merely indicates that there hasn't been one like it
    before.

    "Moon Landing 1", however, expresses order in a series.



    It was Apollo 1 before there was an Apollo 2. (in fact, there was never
    an Apollo 2.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From prd@prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul Dormer) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 16:31:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113jv8c$172$1@reader1.panix.com>, kfl@panix.com (Keith F.
    Lynch) wrote:


    It was a fight between Queen Victoria's grandchildren. The Russian
    Tsar, the German Kaiser, and Britain's King George V were among her
    many grandchildren.

    In the film The King's Man, Tom Hollander plays all three characters,
    George, Wilhelm and Nicholas.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Gary McGath@garym@mcgath.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 11:31:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 10:33 AM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Similarly, we know there was a major volcanic eruption in 536, which
    greatly harmed Constantinople among other places, but we have no idea
    where it was. Possibly somewhere in North America, but nobody there
    was keeping track at the time. Or possibly in Iceland, but no human
    being had yet set foot on that island.

    It's now believed there were two big eruptions within four or five years
    of each other. I don't know if it could have been the same volcano going
    off twice.
    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:16:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
    Today is the 56th anniversary of the first moon landing.

    57th.

    Putting it like that says nothing about a second or third moon
    landing. It merely indicates that there hasn't been one like it
    before.

    That's the sort of thing people might want to keep doing.

    World wars are not the sort of thing people might want to keep doing.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:19:30 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    In the film The King's Man, Tom Hollander plays all three
    characters, George, Wilhelm and Nicholas.

    George and Nicholas did look so much alike that they sometimes
    defliberately confused their aides by swapping clothes.

    So it's strange that George refused to rescue Nicholas from the
    Bolsheviks.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rich Ulrich@rich.ulrich@comcast.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 14:46:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:58:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D-|Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 11:52:24 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    He referred to it as World War I before anyone else did.

    I think the signs of a potential future conflict were likely not that
    hard to spot, by those not blinkered by blind loyalty to their
    respective empires.

    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.

    Studies after the fact concluded that the start of WW I was
    largely an accident -- countries had plans like, "We mobilize if
    we see THIS", but none had plans for calling off a mobilization.
    And. Everyone was guessing at the motives of their rivals.

    (That's not to say that no war would have happened, given
    the rivalries, etc.; but the start could have been different.)

    The studies led to the creation of the Hot Line, a connection
    (teletype) between Moscow and DC, to allow communication.
    The Hot Line probably prevented the escalation of hostillities,
    after the US got upset at Russian missiles going nto Cuba and
    began a naval blockade.

    Discussion on the Hot Line revealed --
    The US had not noticed how 'offensive' the Soviet Union had
    considered it to be, when the US had put Jupiter missiles in Turkey,
    shortly before (a very short distance from the USSR). The deal:
    the US agreed to remove those weapons and the USSR would not
    leave missiles in Cuba.


    It
    was mainly about established empires (Britain and France) trying to
    ensure that upstart countries (Germany) could not create their own
    empires in competition. Each one called up loyal citizens from all
    over home and colonies to fight, and they came, without questioning
    what the fight was about -- rCLMy country, right or wrongrCY was the
    standard mindset back then.

    The ANZAC countries (of which I live in one) are fond of commemorating
    the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. This is where they attacked a
    country (the Ottoman Empire at the time) which had never shown any
    hostility towards them, and who gave them a severe thrashing. To this
    day, the Turks tolerate their turning up every year, and mostly I
    think tactfully refrain from reminding them who won that battle.

    The end of that world war left a mess, and the following world war was
    an attempt to clean up that mess. How successful was it? You be the
    judge.

    I think that very few people at the end of WW I were concerned
    about how it set the stage for fighting for access to oil -- both
    Germany and Japan were cut off from fuel before the end of WW II.
    --
    Rich Ulrich
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 15:22:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    The Japanese could not understand why they couldn't become member
    of the club of colonising imperialist industrial powers.
    When they did just what the older colonial powers had been routinely
    doing for a long time there were outcries about their heinous crimes,

    Indeed. The same was true of many newly-freed African nations in the seventies.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From rcpj@rcpj@panix.com (Pierre Jelenc) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 19:38:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <113kpl9$1i7b1$1@artemis.inf.ed.ac.uk>,
    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
    In article <113j9kl$q7v$1@reader1.panix.com>,
    Pierre Jelenc <rcpj@panix.com> wrote:

    "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles a Court Repington, 1920. >>>https://archive.org/details/firstworldwar01repi/page/n7/mode/2up

    But that's not fair because title capitalization confuses "the first World >>War" (perfectly sensible) with "The First World War" (nonsense at that >>time).

    Page 1:

    ... I cannot better preface this account of my personal experiences
    in the First World War than by ...

    OK, but that's still weird.

    Pierre
    --
    Pierre Jelenc
    The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
    The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 12:50:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/2026 7:33 AM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Good question. But I've read that, due to several plagues and
    famines, by 1453 Constantinople had shrunk into a small town.
    If so, the wonder is that the Turks took so long to take over.

    Theodosian Walls. The Ottomans had to wait for cannon before they
    could take it.

    Then how did the Fourth Crusade successfully sack that city in 1204?

    I'd think that trebuchets could easily deal with those walls.


    They also thought they were on the same side as the Crusaders.

    I'm reminded of the fact that I once sorted my history books by
    when they were set. One was a book on America history. When
    exactly was American history? Surprisingly, I worked out that on
    average, it was during the Reagan administration. In other words,
    the median English-speaking person in what became the United states
    lived in the 1980s. This is true whether or not I include colonial
    times.

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do
    it? (Well, I sort geographically, then chronologically.) I put the
    overviews at the start of the period they cover.

    So when did the median Roman subject live? We may not have enough information to answer that. And of course it depends on whether or
    not you include people whose native language wasn't Latin.

    A more interesting question is when did the median American live, if
    you include Native Americans. The continent has been inhabited for
    a rather long time. And for much of that time it may have been more
    heavily inhabited than it was in the 17th century, since by then the
    natives had already been ravaged by Old World plagues to which they
    had little resistance. But, again, we have little information.

    Similarly, we know there was a major volcanic eruption in 536, which
    greatly harmed Constantinople among other places, but we have no idea
    where it was. Possibly somewhere in North America, but nobody there
    was keeping track at the time. Or possibly in Iceland, but no human
    being had yet set foot on that island.

    IMHO: The median of a historical period can only be calculated after
    the fact. In fact, often, the end of a historical period can only be calculated after the fact. For instance we may be living through the
    end of "The American Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot
    of people in 1863 thought that, too.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 22:53:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 11:20:39 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    It was Apollo 1 before there was an Apollo 2. (in fact, there was
    never an Apollo 2.)

    So how can you be sure it was rCLbeforerCY this nonexistent rCLApollo 2rCY, then? It could just as validly have been rCLafterrCY.

    ObUsageGrumble: rCLCount-downsrCY are actually rCLcount-upsrCY.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 22:56:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:19:30 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    George and Nicholas did look so much alike that they sometimes
    defliberately confused their aides by swapping clothes.

    I think there is a currently-living British royal, Prince Michael of
    Kent, who is the spitting image of Tsar Nicholas.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 22:58:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:18:06 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

    The "Cousins' War" series by Philippa Gregory is about the War of
    the Roses.

    I had to double check whether this was the same Philippa who was
    responsible for discovering the remains of Richard III. She wasn't.
    That's Philippa Langley. Interesting coincidence, though.

    rCLPhiliprCY ... rCLPhilipparCY ... rCLhorse-loverrCY.

    ObSciFiConnection: Philip K Dick named one of his characters
    rCLHorselover FatrCY, being a direct translation of his own name.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 23:01:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:20:41 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do it?

    .

    .

    .

    .

    .

    ... you sort your history books ... ?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 23:02:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in 1863
    thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 09:19:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 21/07/26 09:01, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:20:41 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do
    it?

    ... you sort your history books ... ?

    I have three bookcases of fiction, and one bookcase for non-fiction. The fiction is easy to keep sorted; it's alphabetical by author. My
    non-fiction is a mess, though. I try to keep it sorted by subject/field,
    but there are too many ambiguous cases.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 19:33:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/20/26 19:19, Peter Moylan wrote:
    On 21/07/26 09:01, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:20:41 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    I pretty much sort my history books that way--how else would one do
    it?

    ... you sort your history books ... ?

    I have three bookcases of fiction, and one bookcase for non-fiction. The fiction is easy to keep sorted; it's alphabetical by author. My
    non-fiction is a mess, though. I try to keep it sorted by subject/field,
    but there are too many ambiguous cases.

    We had one bookcase (and a bin) for just history, and the bookcase was double-shelved. Since Mark passed away, I have trimmed it down. Now
    there's one bookcase, single-shelved, which also includes the
    archaeology and theology. It's still sorted.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Snidely@snidely.too@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 20 17:37:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Remember Monday, when Rich Ulrich asked plaintively:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:58:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:


    The end of that world war left a mess, and the following world war was
    an attempt to clean up that mess. How successful was it? You be the
    judge.

    I think that very few people at the end of WW I were concerned
    about how it set the stage for fighting for access to oil -- both
    Germany and Japan were cut off from fuel before the end of WW II.

    Peter Frankopan, in _The Silk Roads_, noted that it was well into WWI
    before Churchill (Admiralty then) understood that MidEast oil was
    important to his fleet.

    Before the war, there was much concern over Russia threatening an
    encroachment (or more) of the Imperial Jewel, India.

    /dps
    --
    "I tried to be open-minded once. It interfered with my sense of
    humor."
    -- Bucky, _Get Fuzzy_ by Darby Conley
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 08:48:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:46:31 -0400, Rich Ulrich
    <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:58:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D-|Oliveiro ><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 11:52:24 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    He referred to it as World War I before anyone else did.

    I think the signs of a potential future conflict were likely not that
    hard to spot, by those not blinkered by blind loyalty to their
    respective empires.

    The First World War seems to me to have been a pointless conflict.

    Studies after the fact concluded that the start of WW I was
    largely an accident -- countries had plans like, "We mobilize if
    we see THIS", but none had plans for calling off a mobilization.
    And. Everyone was guessing at the motives of their rivals.

    (That's not to say that no war would have happened, given
    the rivalries, etc.; but the start could have been different.)

    The studies led to the creation of the Hot Line, a connection
    (teletype) between Moscow and DC, to allow communication.
    The Hot Line probably prevented the escalation of hostillities,
    after the US got upset at Russian missiles going nto Cuba and
    began a naval blockade.

    Discussion on the Hot Line revealed --
    The US had not noticed how 'offensive' the Soviet Union had
    considered it to be, when the US had put Jupiter missiles in Turkey,
    shortly before (a very short distance from the USSR). The deal:
    the US agreed to remove those weapons and the USSR would not
    leave missiles in Cuba.

    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian
    Federation would consider it to be if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine, and demand
    that the fighting continue until the Russian Federation agrees to have
    Nato troops in Ukraine, offensive or not.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 09:07:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:37:34 -0700, Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com>
    wrote:

    Remember Monday, when Rich Ulrich asked plaintively:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:58:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D-|Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:


    The end of that world war left a mess, and the following world war was
    an attempt to clean up that mess. How successful was it? You be the
    judge.

    I think that very few people at the end of WW I were concerned
    about how it set the stage for fighting for access to oil -- both
    Germany and Japan were cut off from fuel before the end of WW II.

    Peter Frankopan, in _The Silk Roads_, noted that it was well into WWI
    before Churchill (Admiralty then) understood that MidEast oil was
    important to his fleet.

    Before the war, there was much concern over Russia threatening an >encroachment (or more) of the Imperial Jewel, India.


    Theme of Rudyard Kiplings spy novel, "Kim" first published October
    1901.

    <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210834.Kim>
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 07:43:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in 1863
    thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas nowadays
    the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 07:56:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 19:46:36 -0400, Gary McGath wrote:

    On 7/19/26 3:54 PM, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    The humanists who invented the Renaissance did it.
    (Petrarca, ~ 1350)
    You can hardly have a renaissance without having a dark age to precede
    it,

    1350 was a good century before the earliest dates ascribed to the Renaissance.

    Coincidentally I've been reading "The End of Kings" by William
    Everdell. In the chapter on Florence he says:

    "Finally in the 1390s, Florentines looked around them and began
    to see their consititution...a deliberate and unique creation, the
    cradle of progress, the palladium of Italian liberty, and an
    education to Europe. The Rennaissance had begun."

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 11:28:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:

    On 7/20/26 10:33 AM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Similarly, we know there was a major volcanic eruption in 536, which greatly harmed Constantinople among other places, but we have no idea
    where it was. Possibly somewhere in North America, but nobody there
    was keeping track at the time. Or possibly in Iceland, but no human
    being had yet set foot on that island.

    It's now believed there were two big eruptions within four or five years
    of each other. I don't know if it could have been the same volcano going
    off twice.

    Believed?
    Apart from written evidence there is hard physical evidence
    in tree rings and ice cores,

    Jan
    --
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter_of_536>
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 11:28:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 21:54:29 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    I suspect when historians who had invented the Middle Ages discovered
    that some parts of their favourite period had fewer written sources
    than others -- roughly 500-800.

    The humanists who invented the Renaissance did it.
    (Petrarca, ~ 1350)
    You can hardly have a renaissance
    without having a dark age to precede it,

    Can you give the context in which he used it?

    There is a lot on it in Wikip <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_(historiography)>

    Petrarca inverted the up to then usual imagery:
    Classical antiquity as 'dark' because lacking the light of christianity
    into light, because of knowledge and reson that got lost,
    and was being rediscovered in his times,

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Anders D. Nygaard@news2012adn@google.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 11:59:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/21/2026 8:48 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    [...]
    Discussion on the Hot Line revealed --
    The US had not noticed how 'offensive' the Soviet Union had
    considered it to be, when the US had put Jupiter missiles in Turkey,
    shortly before (a very short distance from the USSR). The deal:
    the US agreed to remove those weapons and the USSR would not
    leave missiles in Cuba.

    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian Federation would consider it to be if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,

    IIRC, Russia invaded before NATO began selling missiles to Ukraine.

    But you do have a point in regard to NATO expanding to include most
    of the old Warsaw pact in Eastern Europe plus the Baltics.
    But (again IIRC), in that time frame there was actually serious talk
    about Russia herself joining NATO (shades of Pournelle's Co-diminion).

    and demand
    that the fighting continue until the Russian Federation agrees to have
    Nato troops in Ukraine, offensive or not.

    I think you'll find that the demands are that Russia stops the agression
    and withdraws from the country it has invaded. Nato troops in Ukraine
    are but one possible way to dissuade Russia from trying again.

    /Anders, Denmark (NATO)
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 12:24:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    In the film The King's Man, Tom Hollander plays all three
    characters, George, Wilhelm and Nicholas.

    George and Nicholas did look so much alike that they sometimes
    defliberately confused their aides by swapping clothes.

    So it's strange that George refused to rescue Nicholas from the
    Bolsheviks.

    How should he have done that?
    Send the royal navy to the other side of Jutland?

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 12:24:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

    Remember Monday, when Rich Ulrich asked plaintively:
    On Sun, 19 Jul 2026 23:58:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:


    The end of that world war left a mess, and the following world war was
    an attempt to clean up that mess. How successful was it? You be the
    judge.

    I think that very few people at the end of WW I were concerned
    about how it set the stage for fighting for access to oil -- both
    Germany and Japan were cut off from fuel before the end of WW II.

    Peter Frankopan, in _The Silk Roads_, noted that it was well into WWI
    before Churchill (Admiralty then) understood that MidEast oil was
    important to his fleet.

    That was hardly a discovery.
    Churchill himself had a hand in making it that way
    by changing over the royal navy from coal to oil as fuel.
    (a much discussed decision before and during WWI,
    precisely because the UK had no oil of its own)

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 11:54:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) posted:

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    In the film The King's Man, Tom Hollander plays all three
    characters, George, Wilhelm and Nicholas.

    George and Nicholas did look so much alike that they sometimes defliberately confused their aides by swapping clothes.

    So it's strange that George refused to rescue Nicholas from the
    Bolsheviks.

    How should he have done that?
    Send the royal navy to the other side of Jutland?

    Also, King George wasn't an absolute monarch, and didn't have the power to order the army and navy about.
    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 12:01:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    So it's strange that George refused to rescue Nicholas from the
    Bolsheviks.

    How should he have done that?
    Send the royal navy to the other side of Jutland?

    Given him and his family permission to move to the UK. The Bolsheviks
    were perfectly willing to let them go.

    He may not have realized that the Communists were murderous thugs,
    unwilling to let them continue living in Russia.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam Funk@a24061@ducksburg.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 13:28:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 2026-07-21, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    So it's strange that George refused to rescue Nicholas from the
    Bolsheviks.

    How should he have done that?
    Send the royal navy to the other side of Jutland?

    Given him and his family permission to move to the UK. The Bolsheviks
    were perfectly willing to let them go.

    There was an offer of asylum in the UK but

    News of the offer provoked uproar from the Labour Party and many
    Liberals, and the British ambassador, George Buchanan, advised the
    government that the extreme left would use the ex-tsar's presence
    "as an excuse for rousing public opinion against us".[138] The
    Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, preferred that the
    family went to a neutral country, and wanted the offer to be
    announced as at the request of the Russian government.[139] The
    offer of asylum was withdrawn in April following objections by King
    George V, who, acting on the advice of his secretary, Lord
    Stamfordham, was worried that Nicholas's presence might provoke an
    uprising like the previous year's Easter Rising in Ireland.

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II#Possibility_of_exile>


    He may not have realized that the Communists were murderous thugs,
    unwilling to let them continue living in Russia.

    Nicholas II approved of anti-semitic pogroms, Russification of
    Finland, and shooting peaceful protesters; and he said "I want
    everyone to know that I will devote all my strength to maintain, for
    the good of the whole nation, the principle of absolute autocracy, as
    firmly and as strongly as did my late lamented father."
    --
    Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable.
    --Buckminster Fuller
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 01:30:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 08:48:27 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    ... thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine ...

    But Putin insisted that all the rumours of a pending Russian invasion
    were complete nonsense.

    Then after he invaded, he insisted on calling it a rCLspecial military operationrCY, and people in Russia who referred to it as a rCLwarrCY were
    put in jail.

    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY now?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 01:31:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in
    1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 01:33:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:28:41 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Petrarca inverted the up to then usual imagery: Classical antiquity
    as 'dark' because lacking the light of christianity into light,
    because of knowledge and reson that got lost, and was being
    rediscovered in his times,

    Ironic, isnrCOt it, since we now use the term rCLDark AgesrCY to refer
    to precisely those times when the Christian world had forgotten
    the learning of pagan antiquity ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 21:50:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in
    1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think we are all trying to figure that out right now. Horace Greeley
    would have been amused.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 21 21:49:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY >now?

    You mean like the 'Police Action' in Vietnam? Most probably.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 09:21:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:59:17 +0200, "Anders D. Nygaard" <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:

    On 7/21/2026 8:48 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    [...]
    Discussion on the Hot Line revealed --
    The US had not noticed how 'offensive' the Soviet Union had
    considered it to be, when the US had put Jupiter missiles in Turkey,
    shortly before (a very short distance from the USSR). The deal:
    the US agreed to remove those weapons and the USSR would not
    leave missiles in Cuba.

    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian
    Federation would consider it to be if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,

    IIRC, Russia invaded before NATO began selling missiles to Ukraine.

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    But you do have a point in regard to NATO expanding to include most
    of the old Warsaw pact in Eastern Europe plus the Baltics.
    But (again IIRC), in that time frame there was actually serious talk
    about Russia herself joining NATO (shades of Pournelle's Co-diminion).

    Perhaps if Russia had joined Nato it would have avoided a lot of
    grief, or if Nato had done like the Warsaw Pact and dissolved itself.

    But my point wasn't a "what if", but rather the response of the rulers
    of a country to the prospect of hostile missiles based on or near its
    borders.

    and demand
    that the fighting continue until the Russian Federation agrees to have
    Nato troops in Ukraine, offensive or not.

    I think you'll find that the demands are that Russia stops the agression
    and withdraws from the country it has invaded. Nato troops in Ukraine
    are but one possible way to dissuade Russia from trying again.

    Given a few thousand years of military history, Nato troops in Ukraine
    would have precisely the opposite effect, since it was the prospect of
    that very thing that made Russia invade Ukraine in the first place.
    "Hair of the dog that bit" you remedies rarely work.

    It might, however be a good idea to have preacekeeping troops from the
    Third World there, from countries that don't have a dog in this fight.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 07:55:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in 1863
    thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of "government by journalism."

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam Funk@a24061@ducksburg.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 12:21:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 2026-07-21, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:46:31 -0400, Rich Ulrich
    <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> wrote:

    Discussion on the Hot Line revealed --
    The US had not noticed how 'offensive' the Soviet Union had
    considered it to be, when the US had put Jupiter missiles in Turkey, >>shortly before (a very short distance from the USSR). The deal:
    the US agreed to remove those weapons and the USSR would not
    leave missiles in Cuba.

    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian Federation would consider it to be if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine, and demand
    that the fighting continue until the Russian Federation agrees to have
    Nato troops in Ukraine, offensive or not.


    Putin's aggression has been an excellent "advertisement" for NATO
    membership and certainly motivated the recently joining countries.
    --
    You're 100 percent correct -- it's been scientifically proven that
    microwaving changes the molecular structure of food. THIS IS CALLED
    COOKING, YOU NITWIT. ---Cecil Adams
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 23:12:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:28:41 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Petrarca inverted the up to then usual imagery: Classical antiquity
    as 'dark' because lacking the light of christianity into light,
    because of knowledge and reson that got lost, and was being
    rediscovered in his times,

    Ironic, isn't it, since we now use the term "Dark Ages" to refer
    to precisely those times when the Christian world had forgotten
    the learning of pagan antiquity ...

    Ironic indeed.
    And again, the Enlightenment again used the light versus dark imagery
    against the unreason of christian fanatism and fundamentalism
    that led to all those wars of religion of the 17th century,

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Anders D. Nygaard@news2012adn@google.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 00:36:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/22/2026 9:21 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian
    Federation would consider it to be

    [Line break inserted to highlight the claim I reacted to]
    if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,

    IIRC, Russia invaded before NATO began selling missiles to Ukraine.

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    Please do not move the goalposts.

    /Anders, Denmark.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 22:58:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 23:01:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:21:52 +0100, Adam Funk wrote:

    Putin's aggression has been an excellent "advertisement" for NATO
    membership and certainly motivated the recently joining countries.

    Sweden, for example, giving up its prized centuries-long tradition of neutrality.

    In other words, nothing that happened in all that prior time has made
    it feel as unsafe as RussiarCOs actions now.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 23:02:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:55:40 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in
    1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of "government
    by journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 22 23:04:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:12:12 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    And again, the Enlightenment again used the light versus dark
    imagery against the unreason of christian fanatism and
    fundamentalism that led to all those wars of religion of the 17th
    century,

    ItrCOs been a long, slow spread of secularism throughout the world in
    the time since then. And some still want to roll it back.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 00:36:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D\377Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    Adam Funk wrote:
    Putin's aggression has been an excellent "advertisement" for NATO
    membership and certainly motivated the recently joining countries.

    Sweden, for example, giving up its prized centuries-long tradition of neutrality.

    In other words, nothing that happened in all that prior time has
    made it feel as unsafe as Russia\342\200\231s actions now.

    Correct. They sat out the whole of the Cold War. They skipped WWII.
    They avoided WWI. They were neutral in 1871. They didn't take
    sides in 1848. The last time they were involved in any war was
    in Napoleon's time.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 06:52:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:36:28 +0200, "Anders D. Nygaard" <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:

    On 7/22/2026 9:21 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian
    Federation would consider it to be

    [Line break inserted to highlight the claim I reacted to]
    if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,

    IIRC, Russia invaded before NATO began selling missiles to Ukraine.

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    Please do not move the goalposts.

    Please clarify where you put them.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 06:55:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.

    If you are the party doing the provoking.

    Otherwise it is an attack or an invasion.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 05:47:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:55:15 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.

    If you are the party doing the provoking.

    Otherwise it is an attack or an invasion.

    But Putin insisted that all the rumours of a pending Russian invasion
    were complete nonsense.

    Then after he invaded, he insisted on calling it a rCLspecial military operationrCY, and people in Russia who referred to it as a rCLwarrCY were
    put in jail.

    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY now?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 00:19:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/22/2026 10:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:55:15 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.

    If you are the party doing the provoking.

    Otherwise it is an attack or an invasion.

    But Putin insisted that all the rumours of a pending Russian invasion
    were complete nonsense.

    Then after he invaded, he insisted on calling it a rCLspecial military operationrCY, and people in Russia who referred to it as a rCLwarrCY were
    put in jail.

    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY now?

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 07:29:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:02:05 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:55:40 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote: >>>>
    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in 1863 >>>>>> thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of "government by
    journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    He was an advocate of an activist press.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 10:56:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:12:12 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    And again, the Enlightenment again used the light versus dark
    imagery against the unreason of christian fanatism and
    fundamentalism that led to all those wars of religion of the 17th
    century,

    It's been a long, slow spread of secularism throughout the world in
    the time since then. And some still want to roll it back.

    Spread? Really?
    The present looks more like the start of a new dark age to me
    than to a further spread of enlightenment,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 13:52:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:47:41 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:55:15 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.

    If you are the party doing the provoking.

    Otherwise it is an attack or an invasion.

    But Putin insisted that all the rumours of a pending Russian invasion
    were complete nonsense.

    Then after he invaded, he insisted on calling it a rCLspecial military >operationrCY, and people in Russia who referred to it as a rCLwarrCY were
    put in jail.

    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY >now?

    In MyE a war is made up of a series of military operations, so one
    could argue that one military operation does not make a war, but this
    one has extended over several years and comprises several military
    operations. In MyE, that's a war.

    I'm not sure what's special about them. For that you'll have to ask Mr
    Putin.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 05:21:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/23/2026 1:56 AM, J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:12:12 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    And again, the Enlightenment again used the light versus dark
    imagery against the unreason of christian fanatism and
    fundamentalism that led to all those wars of religion of the 17th
    century,

    It's been a long, slow spread of secularism throughout the world in
    the time since then. And some still want to roll it back.

    Spread? Really?
    The present looks more like the start of a new dark age to me
    than to a further spread of enlightenment,

    Jan



    I agree with that assessment, though not for any reason to do with
    religion, but because most of the documents that future historians would
    rely on to study this time are on volatile media, and will be lost,
    and/or inaccessible to them.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 08:25:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/23/26 07:52, Steve Hayes wrote:
    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:47:41 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 06:55:15 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 22:58:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:21:53 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    rCLPreemptive strikerCY is what you call it when the party doing the
    striking is on your side.

    Otherwise itrCOs an rCLunprovoked act of aggressionrCY.

    If you are the party doing the provoking.

    Otherwise it is an attack or an invasion.

    But Putin insisted that all the rumours of a pending Russian invasion
    were complete nonsense.

    Then after he invaded, he insisted on calling it a rCLspecial military
    operationrCY, and people in Russia who referred to it as a rCLwarrCY were
    put in jail.

    Is it still a rCLspecial military operationrCY? Or has it become a rCLwarrCY >> now?

    In MyE a war is made up of a series of military operations, so one
    could argue that one military operation does not make a war, but this
    one has extended over several years and comprises several military operations. In MyE, that's a war.

    I'm not sure what's special about them. For that you'll have to ask Mr
    Putin.


    Mid-Year Exam? Methodist Youth Executive? Meyers Industries stock ticker?
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 23:16:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 23/07/26 22:25, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/23/26 07:52, Steve Hayes wrote:

    In MyE a war is made up of a series of military operations, so one
    could argue that one military operation does not make a war, but
    this one has extended over several years and comprises several
    military operations. In MyE, that's a war.

    I'm not sure what's special about them. For that you'll have to ask
    Mr Putin.

    Mid-Year Exam? Methodist Youth Executive? Meyers Industries stock
    ticker?

    This is why cross-posting is a bad idea. As long as the thread stayed in
    AUE, everyone understood that MyE meant "my English". Probably somebody
    should have set followups many posts ago, but I don't have the patience
    to figure out who inflicted the cross-posting on us.

    I've lost track of why special military operations are of interest to SF
    fans, so (a little reluctantly) I've left the two groups in.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 14:20:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/23/26 09:16, Peter Moylan wrote:
    On 23/07/26 22:25, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/23/26 07:52, Steve Hayes wrote:

    In MyE a war is made up of a series of military operations, so one
    could argue that one military operation does not make a war, but
    this one has extended over several years and comprises several
    military operations. In MyE, that's a war.

    I'm not sure what's special about them. For that you'll have to ask
    Mr Putin.

    Mid-Year Exam? Methodist Youth Executive? Meyers Industries stock
    ticker?

    This is why cross-posting is a bad idea. As long as the thread stayed in
    AUE, everyone understood that MyE meant "my English". Probably somebody should have set followups many posts ago, but I don't have the patience
    to figure out who inflicted the cross-posting on us.

    I've lost track of why special military operations are of interest to SF fans, so (a little reluctantly) I've left the two groups in.


    It started with a longtime rec.art.sf.fandom poster asking, "Is there a
    term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time," and
    cross-posting to alt.usage.english.

    Whether he should have done this is left as an exercise to the reader.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 19:19:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Peter Moylan wrote:
    This is why cross-posting is a bad idea. As long as the thread
    stayed in AUE, everyone understood that MyE meant "my English".
    Probably somebody should have set followups many posts ago, but
    I don't have the patience to figure out who inflicted the
    cross-posting on us.

    It started with a longtime rec.art.sf.fandom poster asking, "Is
    there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time," and cross-posting to alt.usage.english.

    Okay, I confess. I did it. I'm guilty.

    Whether he should have done this is left as an exercise to the reader.

    But I'm not remorseful. I think I breathed new life into both
    newsgroups. And the thread continues in both newsgroups. So anyone
    who finds it interesting should read both, since many followups are
    *not* being crossposted.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 23:20:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:19:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.

    Something about the past history of the Azov Battalion -- something
    which they disown nowadays.

    There is the fact that Ukrainian people largely welcomed the German
    invasion into their territory during World War II, figuring that
    *anything* had to be better than being starved to death by Stalin.

    The Germany Army were OK, but then the SS and Gestapo came in after
    them. And the Ukrainians discovered, the hard way, that Nazis were not something they should welcome into their midst ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 23:23:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:29:00 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:02:05 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:55:40 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote: >>>>>
    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American
    Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in
    1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of
    "government by journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    He was an advocate of an activist press.

    Should a press be free to be rCLactivistrCY? Or should that be controlled?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 01:19:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:56:05 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    It's been a long, slow spread of secularism throughout the world in
    the time since then. And some still want to roll it back.

    Spread? Really?
    The present looks more like the start of a new dark age to me
    than to a further spread of enlightenment,

    Hungary and Poland both chucked out their right-wing blocs.
    And Brazil, too.

    South Korea demonstrated a robust democracy in action, by deposing a would-be-dictatorial President before he could tighten his hold on
    power.

    India is still nominally a democracy, so thererCOs a chance the Hindutva
    crowd can be chucked out. Watch the current progress of the rCLCockroach JanatarCY movement.

    China and Vietnam both somehow manage to retain their Communist
    parties in power, even as they grow economically more successful and
    powerful. But I wonder how far that can be taken ...

    The current regime in the USA may be trying to lead the charge back to
    the Dark Ages, that is true. But the more they try to use their power
    over the rest of the world to get them to follow, the weaker they
    become.

    So you see, plenty of signs of hopeful lights in among the gloom.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 22:09:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/2026 8:05 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/19/26 08:01, occam wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 11:16, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World >>>>> War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Though that may sound logical, the consensus is that the designation
    "World War I" was officially adopted /after/ World War II, as historians
    needed to distinguish it from the subsequent global conflict. (I have
    read this somewhere, but you local AI search will confirm it.)


    Well, it was apparently unofficially adopted well before that.

    And my local AI search will confirm all sorts of things that just aren't true.


    Google Ngram show a steep rise in the use of both "World War I" and
    "World War II" starting in 1931.

    Ngram is not an AI service

    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22world+war+I%22%2C+%22world+war+ii%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&case_insensitive=true&corpus=en&smoothing=3

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 23 22:10:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/19/2026 8:50 AM, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 13:01, occam wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 11:16, Phil wrote:
    On 19/07/2026 03:18, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    I don't know the specifics but I've heard that there was a history
    of "The Great War" written in the 1920s that referred to it as World >>>>> War I, or, maybe The First World War.

    I wouldn't think anyone would call it that before World War II.-a How
    would anyone know there would be a *second* world war?

    Once was accepted that the 1914-1918 war was a *world* war, in contrast
    to all previous wars, then it seems reasonable to start calling it the
    First World War. The stress, though, would properly be on 'World'.
    Later, when the Second World War arrives, stress shifts to 'First'.


    Though that may sound logical, the consensus is that the designation
    "World War I" was officially adopted /after/ World War II, as historians
    needed to distinguish it from the subsequent global conflict. (I have
    read this somewhere, but you local AI search will confirm it.)


    Fair point, but I think that 'First World War' and 'World War I' are different in that respect.

    Somewhat related: 'World War III' is already a well-recognised concept
    even though it hasn't happened (yet). Makes me wonder when the term
    'World War II' first started to be used. Did FDR ever accuse anyone of "gambling with World War II"?

    The term 'World War II' really took off in 1931, according to Google
    Ngram.

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 06:44:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:19:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.

    Did he?

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian society,
    which certainly exist, and have had considerable infgluence in
    Ukraine, especially since 2014.

    When the Ukrainin government recently honoured a Nazi hero, the Polish government also objected, and they weren't calling all Ukrainian
    Nazis. But the fact remains that there are influential Nazis in
    Ukraine, and the Ukrainian government recently honoured one of their
    heroes.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 07:13:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:19:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.

    Did he?

    So, Ukrainians are not Nazis.

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    But Ukrainians are not Nazis, even though they live in a Nazi nation?
    Got it.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 07:41:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 22:09:37 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:


    Google Ngram show a steep rise in the use of both "World War I" and
    "World War II" starting in 1931.

    Ngram is not an AI service

    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22world+war+I%22%2C+
    %22world+war+ii%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&case_insensitive=true&corpus=en&smoothing=3

    pt

    Interesting result because you used quotes, which aren't necessary.
    This is more typical usage:

    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph? content=World+War+I%2CWorld+War+II&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 07:51:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:19:36 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Peter Moylan wrote:
    This is why cross-posting is a bad idea. As long as the thread stayed
    in AUE, everyone understood that MyE meant "my English".
    Probably somebody should have set followups many posts ago, but I
    don't have the patience to figure out who inflicted the cross-posting
    on us.

    It started with a longtime rec.art.sf.fandom poster asking, "Is there a
    term for a name that was not in use at the time? For instance World
    War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic Period, etc., none
    of which were used at the relevant time," and cross-posting to
    alt.usage.english.

    Okay, I confess. I did it. I'm guilty.

    Whether he should have done this is left as an exercise to the reader.

    But I'm not remorseful. I think I breathed new life into both
    newsgroups. And the thread continues in both newsgroups. So anyone who finds it interesting should read both, since many followups are *not*
    being crossposted.

    Indeed, I've enjoyed this thread. Cross-posting has been fruitful
    for getting to know another human outpost on the internet.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 07:56:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:23:34 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:29:00 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:02:05 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:55:40 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote: >>>>
    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro
    wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The American >>>>>>>> Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people in >>>>>>>> 1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then, whereas
    nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of "government
    by journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    He was an advocate of an activist press.

    Should a press be free to be rCLactivistrCY? Or should that be controlled?

    I think an activist press will end up being controlled. In fact, this is totalitarianism American-style: strictly a non-government affair.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 15:54:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:13:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:19:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.

    Did he?

    So, Ukrainians are not Nazis.

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    Yes.


    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    No.

    But Ukrainians are not Nazis, even though they live in a Nazi nation?
    Got it.

    I don't think so.

    Consider your logic applied to a different situation:

    Some UK citizens are Zionists.
    The Zionist Israeli government have considerable influence over the UK government.

    So the UK is a Zionist nation.

    Question: Is the US MAGA nation?
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 18:03:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    China and Vietnam both somehow manage to retain their Communist
    parties in power, even as they grow economically more successful and >powerful. But I wonder how far that can be taken ...

    It can go pretty far in the case of Vietnam, since the Vietnamese
    communist party really started out as an agricultural reform movement
    and they still basically retain those roots. The country is small
    enough that soviets actually work.

    In the case of China it's anyone's guess.

    The current regime in the USA may be trying to lead the charge back to
    the Dark Ages, that is true. But the more they try to use their power
    over the rest of the world to get them to follow, the weaker they
    become.

    As an American, I find this kind of depressing.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 02:15:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:54:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:13:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    Yes.

    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    No.

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 02:17:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:51:33 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    Cross-posting has been fruitful for getting to know another human
    outpost on the internet.

    In most normal Usenet software, other groups are just a click away, a
    little further along in a list somewhere. You donrCOt need fare for a
    crosstown bus or anything.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 02:20:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:56:44 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:23:34 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:29:00 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:02:05 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro
    wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:55:40 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:31:37 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro
    wrote:

    On Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:43:53 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 23:02:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro
    wrote:

    On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:50:46 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    For instance we may be living through the end of "The
    American Experiment", but I'd be willing to bet that a lot
    of people in 1863 thought that, too.

    Probably it was more the people in the South back then,
    whereas nowadays the feeling would be a bit more widespread
    ...

    Thanks to American journalism...

    Is that in spite of, or because of, American notions of a rCLfree
    pressrCY?

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of
    "government by journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    He was an advocate of an activist press.

    Should a press be free to be rCLactivistrCY? Or should that be
    controlled?

    I think an activist press will end up being controlled.

    Controlled by whom -- somebody opposed to the activism, or in favour
    of it? Why should that happen particularly to rCLactivistrCY press, as
    opposed to rCLnon-activistrCY press?

    In fact, this is totalitarianism American-style: strictly a
    non-government affair.

    The lack of press freedom in the USA may partly be blamed on the
    corporates that own the press, but the current Government is trying
    quite hard to make a contribution too.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 24 19:31:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/23/2026 9:44 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:19:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com>
    wrote:

    Not to mention that he insisted on calling the Ukrainians Nazis.

    Did he?

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian society,
    which certainly exist, and have had considerable infgluence in
    Ukraine, especially since 2014.

    When the Ukrainin government recently honoured a Nazi hero, the Polish government also objected, and they weren't calling all Ukrainian
    Nazis. But the fact remains that there are influential Nazis in
    Ukraine, and the Ukrainian government recently honoured one of their
    heroes.



    I heard interviews with Russian soldiers shortly after the initial
    invasion who wondered where all the Nazis they were supposed to be
    fighting were.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 07:38:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:20:20 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:56:44 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    I think the shadow of W.T. Stead lurks and his ideas of "government >>>>>> by journalism."

    Was he an advocate of a rCLfree pressrCY?

    He was an advocate of an activist press.

    Should a press be free to be rCLactivistrCY? Or should that be controlled? >>
    I think an activist press will end up being controlled.

    Controlled by whom -- somebody opposed to the activism, or in favour of
    it? Why should that happen particularly to rCLactivistrCY press, as opposed to rCLnon-activistrCY press?

    In fact, this is totalitarianism American-style: strictly a
    non-government affair.

    The lack of press freedom in the USA may partly be blamed on the
    corporates that own the press, but the current Government is trying
    quite hard to make a contribution too.

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by
    ignoring five of them.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 17:26:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:54:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:13:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    Yes.

    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    No.

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    Commenting on English usage doesn't require a qualification in
    mindreading, especially tring to read the minds of politicians who
    don't think in English.

    But I've seen not evidence that he thinks all Ukrainians are Nazis,
    only that he thinks that the Nazi influence on the Ukrainian
    government is a problem. But if you want to know *why* he thinks it is
    a problem, you'd have to ask him.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 13:28:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D Oliveiro ><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:54:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:13:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    Yes.

    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    No.

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    Commenting on English usage doesn't require a qualification in
    mindreading, especially tring to read the minds of politicians who
    don't think in English.

    But I've seen not evidence that he thinks all Ukrainians are Nazis,
    only that he thinks that the Nazi influence on the Ukrainian
    government is a problem.

    Is he even concerned about that? I think his interest in the Ukraine
    is only about territorial possession and returning the Ukraine to the
    Russian "Empire" and stopping them from joining NATO.

    But if you want to know *why* he thinks it is
    a problem, you'd have to ask him.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 13:32:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    The same problem that Trump has with communists in California.
    Just because they hardly exist doesn't mean they don't make for
    good publicity.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 22:41:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    We did get an answer, further back in the thread, but you seemed to
    cast doubt on that, for some reason. This in spite of the fact that
    you have now admitted you donrCOt know any better.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 22:45:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:28:18 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    But I've seen not evidence that he thinks all Ukrainians are Nazis,
    only that he thinks that the Nazi influence on the Ukrainian
    government is a problem.

    Is he even concerned about that?

    You wonder why herCOs bothered about other countriesrCO internal affairs, donrCOt you?

    I think his interest in the Ukraine is only about territorial
    possession and returning the Ukraine to the Russian "Empire" and
    stopping them from joining NATO.

    ItrCOs just an excuse to draw attention away from his own countryrCOs deteriorating internal economy. Only now the war is actually
    contributing to that deterioration. If he had got the quick victory
    he had been expecting, things could have turned out fine for him.

    But now, theyrCOre not.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 22:47:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 20:59:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe
    candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 21:21:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/25/2026 6:41 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    We did get an answer, further back in the thread, but you seemed to
    cast doubt on that, for some reason. This in spite of the fact that
    you have now admitted you donrCOt know any better.

    I've been following the war pretty closely, including some Russian
    media.

    There was a certain amount of pro-Nazi sentiment in a number of
    Eastern European countries during WW2, seeing Germany potentially
    as a better partner than the Soviets. When you're trapped between
    a wolf and a bear, decisions get difficult.

    Ukraine, in particular, remembers the Holodomor, when Stalin
    deliberately starved literally millions of Ukrainians to death.

    So, a lot of Ukrainians associate the Nazis at least in part with
    resistance to Russia. Some of the military unit symbolism in the
    current war has been quite concerning.

    Are there Ukrainian neo-Nazis? Probably; they seem to exist
    pretty much everywhere, including in the US.

    Are they running the government or military? Not even faintly.
    Its worth pointing out the Zelensky is Jewish.

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken
    this history and run with it, describing the Kiev government
    as 'Nazi', 'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.


    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 21:34:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 20:59:58 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DAOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    What "press" ignored them. Not the Washington Post:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2026/06/03/where-dc-mayoral-council-candidates-stand-key-issues/


    Surely thereAs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the ofactso that you feel the other channels are
    ignoring.

    IsnAt that what ofreedom of the presso is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe
    candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    Actually, the first things most candidates do is create a website. Of
    course, their website is going to contain only good things about them
    and state promises they probably won't be able to effect.

    Newpaper subscriptions are way down. Very few people actually get a
    newspaper delivered to them. Some newspapers have gone online only
    because of low interest in home delivery. Most people (in the US),
    if they do read a newspaper, read an online edition.

    So they are going to go to their computer to read anything. What they
    read is based on what their fingers tap out on the keyboard.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 11:54:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 26/07/26 10:59, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven
    candidates were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply
    by ignoring five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels
    are ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most
    people aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    Web sites are easy to set up, but they don't reach enough people. Few
    minority candidates have friends rich enough to own a newspaper or a TV station. Thus, the minor candidates get little coverage.

    In Australia, the non-Murdoch newspapers generally run a big multi-page article, when an election is coming up, describing all their candidates
    and their policies. (Maybe the Murdoch papers do this too, but it's been
    a long time since I last read a Murdoch paper.) That used to be good information for voters, covering both major and minor candidates. Now,
    though, few people read newspapers. TV is the best way to get policy information out, but only the rich parties can afford a lot of TV
    advertising.

    The internet has lots of information, but it's usually biased.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 21:58:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/25/2026 9:21 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    On 7/25/2026 6:41 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    We did get an answer, further back in the thread, but you seemed to
    cast doubt on that, for some reason. This in spite of the fact that
    you have now admitted you donrCOt know any better.

    I've been following the war pretty closely, including some Russian
    media.

    There was a certain amount of pro-Nazi sentiment in a number of
    Eastern European countries during WW2, seeing Germany potentially
    as a better partner than the Soviets. When you're trapped between
    a wolf and a bear, decisions get difficult.

    Ukraine, in particular, remembers the Holodomor, when Stalin
    deliberately starved literally millions of Ukrainians to death.

    So, a lot of Ukrainians associate the Nazis at least in part with
    resistance to Russia. Some of the military unit symbolism in the
    current war has been quite concerning.

    Are there Ukrainian neo-Nazis? Probably; they seem to exist
    pretty much everywhere, including in the US.

    Are they running the government or military? Not even faintly.
    Its worth pointing out the Zelensky is Jewish.

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken
    this history and run with it, describing the Kiev government
    as 'Nazi', 'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.


    pt

    I'll add that the Nazi's actual plan for Ukraine involved
    genocide and forced expulsion on a scale that would have
    made the Holodomor look like a picnic. Hitler didn't like
    Slavs.

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Jul 25 21:59:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/25/2026 9:34 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 20:59:58 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    What "press" ignored them. Not the Washington Post:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2026/06/03/where-dc-mayoral-council-candidates-stand-key-issues/


    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are >>> ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe
    candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    Actually, the first things most candidates do is create a website. Of course, their website is going to contain only good things about them
    and state promises they probably won't be able to effect.

    Newpaper subscriptions are way down. Very few people actually get a newspaper delivered to them. Some newspapers have gone online only
    because of low interest in home delivery. Most people (in the US),
    if they do read a newspaper, read an online edition.

    So they are going to go to their computer to read anything. What they
    read is based on what their fingers tap out on the keyboard.

    Read? I expect most people get their news from TV.

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 02:37:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:21:11 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    There was a certain amount of pro-Nazi sentiment in a number of
    Eastern European countries during WW2, seeing Germany potentially as
    a better partner than the Soviets. When you're trapped between a
    wolf and a bear, decisions get difficult.

    Not just among them. Remember why the WWI Allies turned a blind eye as
    Hitler began to re-arm Germany, contrary to the agreements from the
    end of that War? It was because he was anti-Communist, and they saw
    Communism as a greater threat than Fascism.

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken
    this history and run with it, describing the Kiev government
    as 'Nazi', 'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.

    The Communists were Atheists. Hitler was not.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 02:38:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:58:03 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    I'll add that the Nazi's actual plan for Ukraine involved genocide
    and forced expulsion on a scale that would have made the Holodomor
    look like a picnic. Hitler didn't like Slavs.

    Yes, the Ukrainians discovered that ... soon after welcoming the
    German invaders with open arms.

    What could be worse than Stalin? they thought. Well, they soon
    discovered what ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 00:00:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:59:19 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 9:34 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 20:59:58 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DAOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    What "press" ignored them. Not the Washington Post:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2026/06/03/where-dc-mayoral-council-candidates-stand-key-issues/


    Surely thereAs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the ofactso that you feel the other channels are
    ignoring.

    IsnAt that what ofreedom of the presso is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe
    candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    Actually, the first things most candidates do is create a website. Of
    course, their website is going to contain only good things about them
    and state promises they probably won't be able to effect.

    Newpaper subscriptions are way down. Very few people actually get a
    newspaper delivered to them. Some newspapers have gone online only
    because of low interest in home delivery. Most people (in the US),
    if they do read a newspaper, read an online edition.

    So they are going to go to their computer to read anything. What they
    read is based on what their fingers tap out on the keyboard.

    Read? I expect most people get their news from TV.

    I agree, but you said that " The press exerted its power simply by
    ignoring five of them." and I responded to that.

    The people who rely only television reports are relying on the
    political position of the television broadcast they select. "The
    press" generally refers to newspaper reporters. You could of included televison reporters if you use "media" instead of "the press", but
    it's the political commentators on television that provide opinion.

    Rating candidates is "opinion", and not rating some candidates is a
    form of opinion by omission. Reporting on what the candidate actually
    says or does is news.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 05:43:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:40 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:59:19 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 9:34 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 20:59:58 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates >>>>>> were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media >>>>> channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are >>>>> ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about? >>>>
    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe
    candidate - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    Newpaper subscriptions are way down. Very few people actually get
    a newspaper delivered to them. Some newspapers have gone online
    only because of low interest in home delivery. Most people (in the
    US), if they do read a newspaper, read an online edition.

    So they are going to go to their computer to read anything. What
    they read is based on what their fingers tap out on the keyboard.

    Read? I expect most people get their news from TV.

    I agree, but you said that " The press exerted its power simply by
    ignoring five of them." and I responded to that.

    It wasnrCOt Cryptoengineer who said that.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 07:55:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 11:54:47 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:

    On 26/07/26 10:59, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    On 7/25/2026 6:47 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are >>> ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?

    I have no doubt that all the candidates had websites, but most people
    aren't going to actively seek out information on every fringe candidate
    - they rely on their usual media outlets.

    How much do you know about your local Green Party or Libertarian
    candidates?

    Web sites are easy to set up, but they don't reach enough people. Few minority candidates have friends rich enough to own a newspaper or a TV station. Thus, the minor candidates get little coverage.

    In Australia, the non-Murdoch newspapers generally run a big multi-page article, when an election is coming up, describing all their candidates
    and their policies. (Maybe the Murdoch papers do this too, but it's been
    a long time since I last read a Murdoch paper.) That used to be good information for voters, covering both major and minor candidates. Now, though, few people read newspapers. TV is the best way to get policy information out, but only the rich parties can afford a lot of TV advertising.

    The internet has lots of information, but it's usually biased.


    Technically the Washington Post didn't literally ignore the
    five candidates but it mentioned them only in passing in articles
    devoted to the two candidates that it called "leading candidates"
    without ever having explained why they were "leading."
    I wish I had saved links to all of the Post's coverage to be able
    to demonstrate its sly manipulation. I was able to guess the
    outcome with the Post's first article featuring the eventual
    winner months before the election.



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 08:17:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely thererCOs nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the rCLfactsrCY that you feel the other channels are >ignoring.

    IsnrCOt that what rCLfreedom of the pressrCY is supposed to be about?

    That's kind of how it worked out in the days when newspapers were the only
    game in town. It didn't take much to start up a newspaper and so there were
    a lot of small partisan papers by the late 19th century. In large cities readers had a choice, but in small towns they may not have.

    I remember seeing three different articles from Chicago papers describing
    some organized crime incident in the 1930s. One paper talked about how
    poorly the government was controlling crime. Another paper talked about how
    Al Capone was a great hero for bringing people the alcohol they wanted. The Chicago Defender article talked mostly about innocent Black people caught in the crossfire.

    Things changed with papers with the coming of the wire services, but radio
    got even more interesting. Radio started out much the same way, but the
    coming of the radio networks caused a need to cater to wider populations.

    I think with the internet services the even lower cost of starting one up
    leads to a lot of partisanship.... you can make a lot of money with a small audience so there's little interest in expanding your audience out of
    your own partisan group.
    --scott

    And this morning I was reading an article in an old issue of the Virginia Gazette about a Jewish doctor here in Williamsburg who was growing these "tomato" plants discovered in South America that were known to be toxic but may have medicinal use.
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 08:55:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/26 08:17, Scott Dorsey wrote:


    And this morning I was reading an article in an old issue of the Virginia Gazette about a Jewish doctor here in Williamsburg who was growing these "tomato" plants discovered in South America that were known to be toxic but may have medicinal use.



    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 15:30:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:28:18 -0400, Tony Cooper
    <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 17:26:43 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:15:44 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro >><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 15:54:38 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 07:13:24 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:44:49 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    Or was he merely referring to the Nazi elements in Ukrainian
    society, which certainly exist ...

    So, *some* Ukrainians are Nazis.

    Yes.

    ... and have had considerable infgluence in Ukraine, especially
    since 2014.

    So, Ukraine is a Nazi nation.

    No.

    Not at all? So what problem does Putin have with Nazis in Ukraine,
    then?

    That is something you'd have to ask him if you wanted an accurate
    answer.

    Commenting on English usage doesn't require a qualification in
    mindreading, especially tring to read the minds of politicians who
    don't think in English.

    But I've seen not evidence that he thinks all Ukrainians are Nazis,
    only that he thinks that the Nazi influence on the Ukrainian
    government is a problem.

    Is he even concerned about that? I think his interest in the Ukraine
    is only about territorial possession and returning the Ukraine to the
    Russian "Empire" and stopping them from joining NATO.

    Well your mind-reading capabilities must be well in advance of mine.

    I agree with the last one, because he has said so. So that doesn't
    require mind reading, but of course people don't always say what they
    mean or mean what they say.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From ram@ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 14:02:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:
    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.

    Ditching that stem nub and green core keeps you safe because
    those dense zones harbor sneaky toxins like solanine that can
    wreck your stomach. Plus, the rough stem crevice easily traps
    dirty bacteria and chemicals that don't wash off completely.
    Slicing that section out completely ensures you don't drag
    nasties into the clean fruit with your knife.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 10:35:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 08:17, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    And this morning I was reading an article in an old issue of the Virginia
    Gazette about a Jewish doctor here in Williamsburg who was growing these
    "tomato" plants discovered in South America that were known to be toxic but >> may have medicinal use.

    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.

    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 10:55:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 08:17, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    And this morning I was reading an article in an old issue of the Virginia >>> Gazette about a Jewish doctor here in Williamsburg who was growing these >>> "tomato" plants discovered in South America that were known to be toxic but >>> may have medicinal use.

    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.

    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.
    --scott

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Both are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco. For the first four,
    the fruits/tubers are edible, but not the leaves. (To be more precise, potatoes are edible unless they are green or sprouting.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 11:01:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    Both are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which includes >tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco. For the first four,
    the fruits/tubers are edible, but not the leaves. (To be more precise, >potatoes are edible unless they are green or sprouting.)

    I don't know if they can be cross-grafted, but it is definitely possible
    to graft tomatoes onto jimsonweed roots, producing hallucinogenic tomatoes. --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 11:36:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did live to
    100, though.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 12:34:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/25/2026 10:37 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:21:11 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    There was a certain amount of pro-Nazi sentiment in a number of
    Eastern European countries during WW2, seeing Germany potentially as
    a better partner than the Soviets. When you're trapped between a
    wolf and a bear, decisions get difficult.

    Not just among them. Remember why the WWI Allies turned a blind eye as
    Hitler began to re-arm Germany, contrary to the agreements from the
    end of that War? It was because he was anti-Communist, and they saw
    Communism as a greater threat than Fascism.

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken
    this history and run with it, describing the Kiev government
    as 'Nazi', 'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.

    The Communists were Atheists. Hitler was not.

    The current Russian line is to promote the Orthodox Church,
    with Russia as the last bastion of true Christian values, and
    a mission to correct Western decadence. The term to search is
    'Russkiy Mir' (Russian World)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_world

    Its proposals are very parallel to MAGA's.

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 12:43:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/2026 11:01 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    Both are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which includes
    tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco. For the first four,
    the fruits/tubers are edible, but not the leaves. (To be more precise,
    potatoes are edible unless they are green or sprouting.)

    I don't know if they can be cross-grafted, but it is definitely possible
    to graft tomatoes onto jimsonweed roots, producing hallucinogenic tomatoes. --scott


    ObSimpsons: Tomacco!

    https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Tomacco

    Tomatoes have been grafted to tobacco plats as well,

    https://web.archive.org/web/20080331011156/http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2003/11/61091

    pt


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 16:46:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> posted:

    On 7/26/26 08:17, Scott Dorsey wrote:


    And this morning I was reading an article in an old issue of the Virginia Gazette about a Jewish doctor here in Williamsburg who was growing these "tomato" plants discovered in South America that were known to be toxic but may have medicinal use.



    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.

    Yes. They were grown as ornamental plants in Europe for a long time (my
    memory says 200 years, but that may be an exaggeration) before anyone dared
    to eat one.
    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 16:47:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) posted:

    "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote or quoted:
    Tomato plants *are* toxic. The tomatoes are not.

    Ditching that stem nub and green core keeps you safe because
    those dense zones harbor sneaky toxins like solanine that can
    wreck your stomach. Plus, the rough stem crevice easily traps
    dirty bacteria and chemicals that don't wash off completely.
    Slicing that section out completely ensures you don't drag
    nasties into the clean fruit with your knife.

    Same with potatoes: don't eat the green bits.
    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 12:59:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/2026 8:01 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    If George Burns were alive today, he'd be 130 years old.

    Both are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which includes
    tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tobacco. For the first four,
    the fruits/tubers are edible, but not the leaves. (To be more precise,
    potatoes are edible unless they are green or sprouting.)

    I don't know if they can be cross-grafted, but it is definitely possible
    to graft tomatoes onto jimsonweed roots, producing hallucinogenic tomatoes. --scott

    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 23:14:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:34:07 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 10:37 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:21:11 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken this
    history and run with it, describing the Kiev government as 'Nazi',
    'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.

    The Communists were Atheists. Hitler was not.

    The current Russian line is to promote the Orthodox Church, with
    Russia as the last bastion of true Christian values, and a mission
    to correct Western decadence. The term to search is 'Russkiy Mir'
    (Russian World)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_world

    Its proposals are very parallel to MAGA's.

    Religion and Fascism do often tend to go together, donrCOt they?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 23:17:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:55:40 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    (To be more precise, potatoes are edible unless they are green or
    sprouting.)

    From what I gather, potatoes can turn toxic even without visible
    evidence of green colour or sprouting.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 23:18:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 07:55:41 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    Technically the Washington Post didn't literally ignore the five
    candidates but it mentioned them only in passing in articles devoted
    to the two candidates that it called "leading candidates" without
    ever having explained why they were "leading." I wish I had saved
    links to all of the Post's coverage to be able to demonstrate its
    sly manipulation.

    Was the Post able to prevent other rival papers from covering the
    information it was not?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 19:31:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did live to >100, though.)

    How do you know? He's probably sharing a fine Cohiba in Wyoming right now with Fidel Castro and Huey Long. Even the man's name promotes cigar
    smoking.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 19:39:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 07:55:41 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    Technically the Washington Post didn't literally ignore the five
    candidates but it mentioned them only in passing in articles devoted
    to the two candidates that it called "leading candidates" without
    ever having explained why they were "leading." I wish I had saved
    links to all of the Post's coverage to be able to demonstrate its
    sly manipulation.

    Was the Post able to prevent other rival papers from covering the
    information it was not?

    Well, that's the problem at this point, that there are so few papers
    that there aren't many rivals to compete with. And as Mr. Reagan was
    so fond of saying, competition builds better businesses.

    The Washington Star is gone. The Washington Times is very much a
    mouthpiece of the current administration and no real competition.
    There is the City Paper weekly which is probably the best source
    for local city election coverage. I would not be surprised if they
    at least mentioned all the candidates.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From danny burstein@dannyb@panix.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 23:44:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In <11465s9$r55$1@panix2.panix.com> kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) writes: [snip]
    The Washington Star is gone. The Washington Times is very much a
    mouthpiece of the current administration and no real competition.
    There is the City Paper weekly which is probably the best source
    for local city election coverage. I would not be surprised if they
    at least mentioned all the candidates.

    how about dcist.com?

    Oh, right... sniff
    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 01:13:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    The entire rCLBCrCY era. Plus rCLADrCY up to about the 7th century.

    The next time somebody tries to be a smartarse about claiming that the
    21st century began in 2001, not 2000, point out to them that there was
    no rCLyear 1rCY; the Gregorian Calendar didnrCOt actually start until 1582.
    And in some places, not even then.

    The rCLpre-RaphaelitesrCY, on the other hand ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Jul 26 21:30:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/26/26 21:13, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:11:52 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Is there a term for a name that was not in use at the time? For
    instance World War I, the Angevin Empire, Old English, the Jurassic
    Period, etc., none of which were used at the relevant time.

    The entire rCLBCrCY era. Plus rCLADrCY up to about the 7th century.

    The next time somebody tries to be a smartarse about claiming that the
    21st century began in 2001, not 2000, point out to them that there was
    no rCLyear 1rCY; the Gregorian Calendar didnrCOt actually start until 1582. And in some places, not even then.

    The rCLpre-RaphaelitesrCY, on the other hand ...

    I assume you meant that there was no "year 0", unless you meant there
    wasn't a "year 1" or a "year 2" or ...
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 02:20:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    The next time somebody tries to be a smartarse about claiming that
    the 21st century began in 2001, not 2000, point out to them that
    there was no rCLyear 1rCY; the Gregorian Calendar didnrCOt actually start
    until 1582. And in some places, not even then.

    I assume you meant that there was no "year 0", unless you meant
    there wasn't a "year 1" or a "year 2" or ...

    I'm not sure what he meant. There certainly was a year 1, of the
    proleptic Gregorian Calendar. Meaning that nobody called it that at
    the time. But yes, it immediately followed the year 1 BC, which was
    also proleptic. But perfectly well defined.

    Just as there certainly was a World War I, even though nobody called
    it that at the time. And some people certainly did speak Old English,
    even though nobody called it that at the time.

    And Germany definitely exists, even though people in Germany don't
    call it Germany.

    There was indeed no year 0. 2000 years before the year 1000 was not
    1000 BC, but 1001 BC. 2000 years after the year 1000 BC was not 1000
    AD, but 1001 AD. That's not how I would have designed it, but nobody
    consulted me.

    Similarly with the Julian calendar.

    "Proleptic" just means that if anyone tries to sell you a coin marked
    something like AD 79 or 44 BC, you'll instantly know it's fake -- even
    if the numbers are given as roman numerals.

    The 21st century began in 2001, the 20th century began in 1901, ...
    the 1st century began in the year 1. The fact that nobody at the time
    called it the year 1 is irrelevant.

    The 1st century BC, which should really be called the *last* century
    BC, comprised the years 100 BC through 1 BC.

    So if Lawrence thinks the 21st century didn't begin in 2001, he must
    either think some centuries were longer or shorter than 100 years, or
    that the 1st century AD included some dates from 1 BC, or that the
    last century BC included some dates from 1 AD. Or that there was a
    year 0. Or maybe 2 years 0, with 0 BC followed by 0 AD.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom,alt.philosophy on Mon Jul 27 05:01:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:34:07 -0400, Cryptoengineer
    <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/25/2026 10:37 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:21:11 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    There was a certain amount of pro-Nazi sentiment in a number of
    Eastern European countries during WW2, seeing Germany potentially as
    a better partner than the Soviets. When you're trapped between a
    wolf and a bear, decisions get difficult.

    Not just among them. Remember why the WWI Allies turned a blind eye as
    Hitler began to re-arm Germany, contrary to the agreements from the
    end of that War? It was because he was anti-Communist, and they saw
    Communism as a greater threat than Fascism.

    However, Russian media for internal consumption has taken
    this history and run with it, describing the Kiev government
    as 'Nazi', 'Satanic', 'Atheist', etc.

    The Communists were Atheists. Hitler was not.

    The current Russian line is to promote the Orthodox Church,
    with Russia as the last bastion of true Christian values, and
    a mission to correct Western decadence. The term to search is
    'Russkiy Mir' (Russian World)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_world

    Its proposals are very parallel to MAGA's.

    Its proponents are influential in Russia as Nazis are influential in
    Ukraine.

    If you want to know more about the thinking behind it, have a look at
    the philosophy of Traditionalism, in Russia represented primarily by
    Alexandr Dugin.

    ...while the overwhelming bulk of attention devoted to Dugin
    remains strictly political in interest (and most frequently in
    character), a steadily growing body of literature has endeavored
    to consider Dugin's actual intellectual profile and corpus. In
    particular, light has been shed on Dugin's affiliation and
    engagement with the current of Traditionalism, originally
    expounded by the French intellectual Ren|- Gu|-non (1886-1951) and
    popularly associated with such a range of authors as Ananda
    Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998), Julius
    Evola (1898-1974), Hossein Nasr (1933-) as well as, to disputed
    extents, Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) and others (Arnold 2020).
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 05:24:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), "Keith F. Lynch"
    <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    The next time somebody tries to be a smartarse about claiming that
    the 21st century began in 2001, not 2000, point out to them that
    there was no rCLyear 1rCY; the Gregorian Calendar didnrCOt actually start >>> until 1582. And in some places, not even then.

    I assume you meant that there was no "year 0", unless you meant
    there wasn't a "year 1" or a "year 2" or ...

    I'm not sure what he meant. There certainly was a year 1, of the
    proleptic Gregorian Calendar. Meaning that nobody called it that at
    the time. But yes, it immediately followed the year 1 BC, which was
    also proleptic. But perfectly well defined.

    In both the Julian and Gregorian Calendars, before they began to
    diverge in AD 1582, the year 1 BC was followed by the year 1 AD, from
    the the time that Dionysius Exiguus decided to renumber the current
    Julian Calendar from the date he calculated as the birth of Christ (25
    December 1 BC) instead of 25 December 753 AUC. I don't know if the
    ancient Romans ever numbered years as BUC.

    <snip>

    The 21st century began in 2001, the 20th century began in 1901, ...
    the 1st century began in the year 1. The fact that nobody at the time
    called it the year 1 is irrelevant.

    Indeed they did, if you are using the Gregorian or Julian calendars,
    and it makes no difference whether you call it AD & BC or CE and BCE,
    the calculation is the same.

    The 1st century BC, which should really be called the *last* century
    BC, comprised the years 100 BC through 1 BC.

    So if Lawrence thinks the 21st century didn't begin in 2001, he must
    either think some centuries were longer or shorter than 100 years, or
    that the 1st century AD included some dates from 1 BC, or that the
    last century BC included some dates from 1 AD. Or that there was a
    year 0. Or maybe 2 years 0, with 0 BC followed by 0 AD.

    Exactly.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 05:38:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    DoesnrCOt mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after that
    as rCLyear 1rCY doesnrCOt mean there actually was a rCLyear 1rCY.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 06:24:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <11465bm$g5m$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which
    killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the
    most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did live to >>100, though.)

    How do you know? He's probably sharing a fine Cohiba in Wyoming right now >with Fidel Castro and Huey Long. Even the man's name promotes cigar
    smoking.

    [Hal Heydt]
    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days). It was a woman in
    France.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 11:33:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely there's nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the "facts" that you feel the other channels are ignoring.

    Isn't that what "freedom of the press" is supposed to be about?

    'Freedom of the press' is that long ago that most Americans have
    forgotten what it was like.
    There is a World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) that keeps track of how bad
    it is, really.
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index>

    The USA is down somewhere in the middle, barely ahead of the really
    nasty counties. (and going down over the years)

    Jan



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 11:33:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    The next time somebody tries to be a smartarse about claiming that
    the 21st century began in 2001, not 2000, point out to them that
    there was no |orCo-cyear 1|orCo-c; the Gregorian Calendar didn|orCo-Ot actually start
    until 1582. And in some places, not even then.

    I assume you meant that there was no "year 0", unless you meant
    there wasn't a "year 1" or a "year 2" or ...

    I'm not sure what he meant. There certainly was a year 1, of the
    proleptic Gregorian Calendar. Meaning that nobody called it that at
    the time. But yes, it immediately followed the year 1 BC, which was
    also proleptic. But perfectly well defined.

    Just as there certainly was a World War I, even though nobody called
    it that at the time. And some people certainly did speak Old English,
    even though nobody called it that at the time.

    And Germany definitely exists, even though people in Germany don't
    call it Germany.

    There was indeed no year 0. 2000 years before the year 1000 was not
    1000 BC, but 1001 BC. 2000 years after the year 1000 BC was not 1000
    AD, but 1001 AD. That's not how I would have designed it, but nobody consulted me.

    Similarly with the Julian calendar.

    "Proleptic" just means that if anyone tries to sell you a coin marked something like AD 79 or 44 BC, you'll instantly know it's fake -- even
    if the numbers are given as roman numerals.

    But how about that letter from Marc Antony to Julius Caesar,
    warning him about the upcoming year zero crisis?

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 11:33:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    Doesn't mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after that
    as "year 1" doesn't mean there actually was a "year 1".

    They way it is usually done is to add a - sign
    and to leave off the BC or BCE.

    Thus, the historians year 44 B.C. is the astronomers year -43,
    (and it wasn't a leap year)

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 10:57:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:55:40 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    (To be more precise, potatoes are edible unless they are green or sprouting.)

    From what I gather, potatoes can turn toxic even without visible
    evidence of green colour or sprouting.


    From what I have experienced, this is true. I was lucky to survive.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 10:35:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) posted:

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely there's nothing stopping you from setting up your own media
    channel to publicize the "facts" that you feel the other channels are ignoring.

    Isn't that what "freedom of the press" is supposed to be about?

    'Freedom of the press' is that long ago that most Americans have
    forgotten what it was like.
    There is a World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) that keeps track of how bad
    it is, really.
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index>

    The USA is down somewhere in the middle, barely ahead of the really
    nasty counties. (and going down over the years)

    If Trump gets his way that great chunk of dark blue at the top of the map will disappear.



    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 20:36:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 27/07/26 19:33, J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    "Proleptic" just means that if anyone tries to sell you a coin
    marked something like AD 79 or 44 BC, you'll instantly know it's
    fake -- even if the numbers are given as roman numerals.

    But how about that letter from Marc Antony to Julius Caesar, warning
    him about the upcoming year zero crisis?

    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that was
    the crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 10:37:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <1rywl5o.ndllc41xllbciN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Thus, the historians year 44 B.C. is the astronomers year -43,
    (and it wasn't a leap year)

    Numerous events were held in 2010 to mark the 2,500th anniversary
    of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The Greek government even
    minted a 2-euro coin with those dates on it.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 12:52:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:38:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    DoesnrCOt mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after that
    as rCLyear 1rCY doesnrCOt mean there actually was a rCLyear 1rCY.

    But there was a year that is numbered 1.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 12:56:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:33:49 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    "Proleptic" just means that if anyone tries to sell you a coin marked
    something like AD 79 or 44 BC, you'll instantly know it's fake -- even
    if the numbers are given as roman numerals.

    But how about that letter from Marc Antony to Julius Caesar,
    warning him about the upcoming year zero crisis?

    A year in which time would be frozen and nothing would happen.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 08:11:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/27/26 02:24, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <11465bm$g5m$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which >>>> killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the >>>> most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know,
    given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did live to >>> 100, though.)

    How do you know? He's probably sharing a fine Cohiba in Wyoming right now >> with Fidel Castro and Huey Long. Even the man's name promotes cigar
    smoking.

    [Hal Heydt]
    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days). It was a woman in
    France.

    Jeanne Calment.

    Not only was she the world's oldest person, but her financial
    arrangements turned out fairly amazing; from Wikipedia:

    "In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary Andr|--Fran|oois Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs (re4380) until her death. Raffray died on 25
    December 1995, by which time Calment had received more than double the apartment's value from him, and his family had to continue making
    payments. She commented on the situation by saying, "in life, one
    sometimes makes bad deals". In 1985, she moved into a nursing home,
    having lived on her own until the age of 110."

    But nonetheless, Raffray's family still had to continue paying the 2,500 francs each month for another ten years.

    As Calment said of Raffray, "In life, one sometimes makes bad deals."
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 09:33:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    [Hal Heydt]
    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days). It was a woman in
    France.

    This just goes to show you that chain-smoking Gauloises is not as healthy
    for you as cigars.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 09:34:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's birth >certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    It was probably too late. Has ICE deported him yet?
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 14:02:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> posted:

    On 7/27/26 02:24, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <11465bm$g5m$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which >>>> killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the >>>> most healthful thing you could put in your body. And he should know, >>>> given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did live to >>> 100, though.)

    How do you know? He's probably sharing a fine Cohiba in Wyoming right now >> with Fidel Castro and Huey Long. Even the man's name promotes cigar
    smoking.

    [Hal Heydt]
    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days). It was a woman in
    France.

    Jeanne Calment.

    Not only was she the world's oldest person, but her financial
    arrangements turned out fairly amazing; from Wikipedia:

    "In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary Andr|--Fran|oois Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs (re4380) until her death. Raffray died on 25 December 1995, by which time Calment had received more than double the apartment's value from him, and his family had to continue making
    payments. She commented on the situation by saying, "in life, one
    sometimes makes bad deals". In 1985, she moved into a nursing home,
    having lived on her own until the age of 110."

    But nonetheless, Raffray's family still had to continue paying the 2,500 francs each month for another ten years.

    As Calment said of Raffray, "In life, one sometimes makes bad deals."

    The film Le Viager, starring Michel Serrault and made long before anyone outside Arles had heard of Jeanne Calment, deals with that sort of story.
    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From athel.cb@gmail.com@user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 14:05:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) posted:

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's birth >certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    It was probably too late. Has ICE deported him yet?

    A joke, OK, but unfortunately ICE is no joke.
    --
    athel

    Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
    with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 13:06:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/27/2026 8:11 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/27/26 02:24, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <11465bm$g5m$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 11:01, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7/26/26 10:35, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It's true, you should never smoke tomato leaf cigars.

    Or for that matter, tobacco leaf cigars.

    Jesse Helms said on C-Span that tobacco produced carbon monoxide which >>>>> killed bacteria and prevented lung infections, and how tobacco was the >>>>> most healthful thing you could put in your body.-a And he should know, >>>>> given how close he was with the tobacco companies.

    If cigars were bad for you, George Burns would not be alive today.

    For those who don't get it, Burns died thirty years ago. (He did
    live to
    100, though.)

    How do you know?-a He's probably sharing a fine Cohiba in Wyoming
    right now
    with Fidel Castro and Huey Long.-a Even the man's name promotes cigar
    smoking.

    [Hal Heydt]
    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days).-a It was a woman in
    France.

    Jeanne Calment.

    Not only was she the world's oldest person, but her financial
    arrangements turned out fairly amazing; from Wikipedia:

    "In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary Andr|--Fran|oois Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs (re4380) until her death. Raffray died on 25 December 1995, by which time Calment had received more than double the apartment's value from him, and his family had to continue making
    payments. She commented on the situation by saying, "in life, one
    sometimes makes bad deals". In 1985, she moved into a nursing home,
    having lived on her own until the age of 110."

    But nonetheless, Raffray's family still had to continue paying the 2,500 francs each month for another ten years.

    As Calment said of Raffray, "In life, one sometimes makes bad deals."


    Back in the 90s, there was a similar situation in NYC, in which HIV
    sufferers 'sold' their condos to investors, with the stipulations
    that they had free occupancy until they died.

    In a lot of cases, HIV treatments were developed that greatly
    extended the occupant's lives, to the consternation of the investors.

    pt

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 19:10:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 27/07/2026 |a 13:11, Evelyn C. Leeper a |-crit :
    On 7/27/26 02:24, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    Oldest well documented age at death was 122 and about 4 months (I
    could look up the exact number of days).-a It was a woman in
    France.

    Jeanne Calment.

    Not only was she the world's oldest person, but her financial
    arrangements turned out fairly amazing; from Wikipedia:

    "In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary Andr|--Fran|oois Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs (re4380) until her death. Raffray died on 25 December 1995, by which time Calment had received more than double the apartment's value from him, and his family had to continue making
    payments. She commented on the situation by saying, "in life, one
    sometimes makes bad deals". In 1985, she moved into a nursing home,
    having lived on her own until the age of 110."

    But nonetheless, Raffray's family still had to continue paying the 2,500 francs each month for another ten years. [...]


    How sporting of them not to bump the old girl off!

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 23:21:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:57:02 +0100, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:17:15 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:55:40 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    (To be more precise, potatoes are edible unless they are green or
    sprouting.)

    From what I gather, potatoes can turn toxic even without visible
    evidence of green colour or sprouting.

    From what I have experienced, this is true. I was lucky to survive.

    Were the potatoes that poisoned you exposed to sunlight for very long?
    (Not sure how long is too long -- days? weeks?) I gather that is what
    brings on the toxicity. It might be accompanied by greening/sprouting
    -- or it might not.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 23:25:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:06:41 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    Back in the 90s, there was a similar situation in NYC, in which HIV
    sufferers 'sold' their condos to investors, with the stipulations
    that they had free occupancy until they died.

    In a lot of cases, HIV treatments were developed that greatly
    extended the occupant's lives, to the consternation of the
    investors.

    Only in the USA, it seems, could you set up successful businesses that
    profit off sickness.

    Something similar happened when COVID-19 broke out -- a whole bunch of
    Efc|Efc+ medical personnel found themselves laid off, without a job. And this at a time when, you would think, they would be needed more than ever.

    How come? Because the businesses they were working for were set up on
    the basis of making lots of money from elective surgeries. And much of
    the market for that disappeared in the face of more urgent priorities.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 23:28:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:36:35 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Not only that, the Roman Census that his parents went back to
    Bethlehem for didnrCOt happen until 7 AD.

    That just proves how rCLmiraculousrCY religion is, doesnrCOt it ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 23:29:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:52:59 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:38:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    DoesnrCOt mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after
    that as rCLyear 1rCY doesnrCOt mean there actually was a rCLyear 1rCY.

    But there was a year that is numbered 1.

    Nobody at the time said rCLthis is year 1rCY.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 20:13:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:25:27 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 13:06:41 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    Back in the 90s, there was a similar situation in NYC, in which HIV
    sufferers 'sold' their condos to investors, with the stipulations
    that they had free occupancy until they died.

    In a lot of cases, HIV treatments were developed that greatly
    extended the occupant's lives, to the consternation of the
    investors.

    Only in the USA, it seems, could you set up successful businesses that
    profit off sickness.

    What? Is the US the only country where a business manufactures and
    sells pharmaceuticals? For that matter, the only country where there
    are businesses that sell the products that pharmaceutical company
    makes?

    "The biggest pharmaceutical manufacturers in New Zealand are Baxter
    Healthcare Ltd, Douglas Manufacturing Ltd, Biomed Ltd, and API
    Consumer Brands."

    How about life and health insurance companies? The only reason that
    they exist is that sickness occurs and sometimes results in death.



    Something similar happened when COVID-19 broke out -- a whole bunch of
    ?? medical personnel found themselves laid off, without a job. And this
    at a time when, you would think, they would be needed more than ever.

    How come? Because the businesses they were working for were set up on
    the basis of making lots of money from elective surgeries. And much of
    the market for that disappeared in the face of more urgent priorities.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 10:55:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 28/07/26 09:28, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:36:35 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Not only that, the Roman Census that his parents went back to
    Bethlehem for didnrCOt happen until 7 AD.

    That just proves how rCLmiraculousrCY religion is, doesnrCOt it ...

    It's entirely possible that there were two different prophets, whose
    stories were merged in the oral tradition. Cross-contamination of
    stories has been common enough in the past.

    One of the two might even have been called Brian.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Someone Else@SueDominus@example.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Jul 27 21:39:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In Message-ID:<1148plg$3jt5q$7@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:52:59 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:
    <snip>
    But there was a year that is numbered 1.

    Nobody at the time said othis is year 1o.

    You are correct, but I think you missed the nuance of the tenses:
    But there *was* a year that *is* numbered 1.

    And I'm likely to regret getting pulled into this, but it's better
    for someone else to stand up for Steve than for him to have to for
    himself.
    --
    Sue Dominus
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 03:12:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Exhibit A: a certain murder trial going on in the US, where there is
    remarkably widespread sympathy among the general public for a man who
    has pretty much admitted killing a health-insurance company executive
    in cold blood.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 00:21:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 03:12:27 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Exhibit A: a certain murder trial going on in the US, where there is >remarkably widespread sympathy among the general public for a man who
    has pretty much admitted killing a health-insurance company executive
    in cold blood.

    "Exhibit A" in what case? You wrote: "Only in the USA, it seems,
    could you set up successful businesses that profit off sickness."

    The "sympathy" in the Mangione case is that many Americans feel
    healthcare insurance companies "delay", "deny", and "depose" (words
    Mangione inscrimbed on the cartridge cases), and the victim - CEO of UnitedHealthcare - was representitive of a system that profits more
    because they delay, deny, and depose.

    But how is that an example of "Only in the USA"?

    In any country in the world that has a business or organization that
    authorizes benefits, and - on occasion - denies or delays those
    benefits, there is going to be some resentment by some.

    Successful businesses that profit off sickness are found in just about
    every country. Look no further than your own pharmacist (or, as you
    may call them, "chemist") who profits if you are sick and fill your prescription with them.





    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 07:32:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 28.07.2026 kl. 01.25 skrev Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    Only in the USA, it seems, could you set up successful businesses that
    profit off sickness.

    Evelyn C. Leeper told us about a French woman and a businessman.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 10:29:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:52:59 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:38:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    Doesn't mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after
    that as "year 1" doesn't mean there actually was a "year 1".

    But there was a year that is numbered 1.

    Nobody at the time said "this is year 1".

    But they said so, at some other time, in France.
    IIRC they didn't know it until it was over,
    but they lived while year II was decreed to have started,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 06:44:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/28/26 04:29, J. J. Lodder wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:52:59 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:38:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:55 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was indeed no year 0.

    Astronomers number the years to include a year 0.

    Doesn't mean there was a year 0. Just as numbering the year after
    that as "year 1" doesn't mean there actually was a "year 1".

    But there was a year that is numbered 1.

    Nobody at the time said "this is year 1".

    But they said so, at some other time, in France.
    IIRC they didn't know it until it was over,
    but they lived while year II was decreed to have started,

    For that matter, countries in which the years are numbered based on who
    is the ruler will have several "Year 1"s.

    For example, in Japan the Heisei Era year 1 is Gregorian year 1989.

    (And how do I know this? Because Japanese kaiju films are often
    described by the era in which they were made.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 13:59:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    On 28/07/26 09:28, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:36:35 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Not only that, the Roman Census that his parents went back to
    Bethlehem for didn't happen until 7 AD.

    That just proves how "miraculous" religion is, doesn't it ...

    It's entirely possible that there were two different prophets, whose
    stories were merged in the oral tradition. Cross-contamination of
    stories has been common enough in the past.

    One of the two might even have been called Brian.

    It is also quite possible that there were none,

    Jan
    -- <https://www.amazon.com/Obsolete-Paradigm-Historical-Jesus-ebook/dp/B0FXJ1KYDN>

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 08:10:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Health insurance desn't really exist in most of the world in the sense that
    it does in the US. There are some for-profit insurance companies elsewhere that basically insure against high-risk, low-probability events, or which provide coverage to travellers going to a country where they may not be able to use the local healthcare. But profit margins are nothing like they are
    in the US.

    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 08:46:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:10:07 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Health insurance desn't really exist in most of the world in the sense that >it does in the US. There are some for-profit insurance companies elsewhere >that basically insure against high-risk, low-probability events, or which >provide coverage to travellers going to a country where they may not be able >to use the local healthcare. But profit margins are nothing like they are
    in the US.

    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.
    --scott


    I agree with the "most of the world", but they do exist in some major
    countries like the UK, Japan, and Germany.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Aidan Kehoe@kehoea@parhasard.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 14:49:30 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    Ar an t-ocht|| l|i is fiche de m|! I||il, scr|!obh Scott Dorsey:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Health insurance desn't really exist in most of the world in the sense that it does in the US.

    The Dutch, German and Swiss model of -+gesetzliche Krankenkassen-2 is similar, but, at least in Germany, it has the important characteristic that a third party (not the insurance companies themselves) determines what should be covered. Less of the pre-authorisations and very specific formularies of the drugs covered by a given insurance company that are the bane of doctorsrCO working lives in the US.

    The model is under strain in Germany currently given the ageing population, meaning the proportion of younger, generally-healthy insured has reduced compared to the proportion of older, less-likely-to-be-generally-healthy insured. The weakness of a health insurance model is that most of us will get sick as we get older and it would be difficult to price the premium at a level that is both realistic and affordable for the average 85 year old.

    There are some for-profit insurance companies elsewhere that basically insure against high-risk, low-probability events, or which provide coverage to travellers going to a country where they may not be able to use the local healthcare. But profit margins are nothing like they are in the US.

    The other malign incentive in the US is that everyone is entitled to Medicare once they hit the age threshold for that, so if an intervention is only likely to give benefit after Medicare kicks in, it is not in the financial interest of the insurance company to offer it.

    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --
    rCyAs I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
    How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stoutrCO
    (C. Moore)
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 18:05:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <1ryycz7.10il1dmuprvg9N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Nobody at the time said "this is year 1".

    But they said so, at some other time, in France.

    And year 0 in Cambodia. Though Wikipedia both affirms and denies
    that this happened.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 18:12:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <1148pih$3jt5q$6@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    Not only that, the Roman Census that his parents went back to
    Bethlehem for didn't happen until 7 AD.

    And no Roman census required people to travel to their ancestors'
    home.

    Both that story and the one in Matthew are most naturally interpreted
    as explanations of how Jesus could be born in Bethlehem (as required
    by scripture) when he was already known as Jesus of Nazareth.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 20:33:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:10:07 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    On Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:13:23 -0400, Tony Cooper wrote:

    How about life and health insurance companies?

    Health insurance desn't really exist in most of the world in the sense that >it does in the US. There are some for-profit insurance companies elsewhere >that basically insure against high-risk, low-probability events, or which >provide coverage to travellers going to a country where they may not be able >to use the local healthcare. But profit margins are nothing like they are
    in the US.

    Before the Reagan/Thatcher years we had "Medical Aids" which were
    cooperative mutial societies run by their members, though often set up
    and subsidised by employers.

    After the mid-90s there were a lot of "Medical Schemes" run on the US
    model, with external shareholders making private profit out of public
    misery.

    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.

    Not so very different. There were mutual insurance societies,
    cooperatives run by their members, but now there are more companies,
    with external shareholders. Many of the mutual ones changed in the
    1980s, again under the influence of the Reagan-Thatcher neoliberalism.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 20:35:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:44:10 -0400, "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

    For that matter, countries in which the years are numbered based on who
    is the ruler will have several "Year 1"s.

    For example, in Japan the Heisei Era year 1 is Gregorian year 1989.

    (And how do I know this? Because Japanese kaiju films are often
    described by the era in which they were made.)

    And in the UK regnal years were used at least until the 19th century.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 21:42:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    <athel.cb@gmail.com> wrote:

    nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) posted:

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Sat, 25 Jul 2026 07:38:18 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    That the press could control the government, or at least the
    electoral process, as per Stead, is not implausible. Here in
    Washington we just had a Democratic primary where seven candidates
    were up for mayor. The press exerted its power simply by ignoring
    five of them.

    Surely there's nothing stopping you from setting up your own media channel to publicize the "facts" that you feel the other channels are ignoring.

    Isn't that what "freedom of the press" is supposed to be about?

    'Freedom of the press' is that long ago that most Americans have
    forgotten what it was like.
    There is a World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) that keeps track of how bad
    it is, really.
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index>

    The USA is down somewhere in the middle, barely ahead of the really
    nasty counties. (and going down over the years)

    If Trump gets his way that great chunk of dark blue at the top of the map will
    disappear.

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Jan



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 19:57:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 16:27:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/28/26 15:57, Richard Tobin wrote:
    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    Although he has discovered that that route is fraught with danger...

    Or, in other words, "Danger, thy name is "Discovery."
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 17:08:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:10:07 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:
    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.

    Not so very different. There were mutual insurance societies,
    cooperatives run by their members, but now there are more companies,
    with external shareholders. Many of the mutual ones changed in the
    1980s, again under the influence of the Reagan-Thatcher neoliberalism.

    Life insurance is different in that everybody is going to get one and only
    one payout, but everyone gets a payout. So the bet is only on how long a person is going to live.

    Because of this a lot of life insurance companies have started making derivative securities and things like annuities because the customer
    base for their primary product is limited.

    US Health insurance started out life as just that... insurance against
    sickness or injury, but it expanded into preventative care which turns
    it into something very different. It's no longer insurance in the sense
    that fire or burglary insurance is.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 23:34:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    He would need to go through British or Belgian courts for that,
    I guess. [1]
    They wouldn't go along, I guess again,

    Jan

    [1] Most Dutch newspapers and magazines are owned nowadays
    by Belgians

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 22:44:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:59:43 +0200, J. J. Lodder wrote:

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    It's entirely possible that there were two different prophets,
    whose stories were merged in the oral tradition.
    Cross-contamination of stories has been common enough in the past.

    One of the two might even have been called Brian.

    It is also quite possible that there were none,

    Oh, there were lots of prophets, all right. Some of them were likely
    even named rCLJoshuarCY.

    Remember, the followers are only going to remember the successful
    ones.

    Religious argument = circular argument, again.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 22:46:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:12:24 -0000 (UTC), Richard Tobin wrote:

    Both that story and the one in Matthew are most naturally
    interpreted as explanations of how Jesus could be born in Bethlehem
    (as required by scripture) when he was already known as Jesus of
    Nazareth.

    Or just random historical references stuck in (incompetently) to try
    to make the mythology seem more like fact rather than fiction.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 19:12:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Oh, there were lots of prophets, all right. Some of them were likely
    even named rCLJoshuarCY.

    Anybody can prophecy. I do it it all the time.

    Remember, the followers are only going to remember the successful
    ones.

    Oh, sometimes they remember the unsuccessful ones very very distinctly,
    and not in a good way.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 19:28:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:34:03 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    He would need to go through British or Belgian courts for that,
    I guess. [1]
    They wouldn't go along, I guess again,


    But Trump did sue the BBC. The case was filed in Florida.

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-bbc-lawsuit-defamation-a9fd196c4f242decd8f28e8d0ce74442

    The suit was withdrawn with plans to re-submit in a different form.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/donald-trump-backtracks-10b-bbc-142000502.html

    Trump also sued the Guardian, filing in Florida, but

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/13/trump-media-guardian-lawsuit but that case was dropped.


    According to "Search Assist", Trump also sued the NRC Handelsblad
    newspaper for defamation, but I can't find a corraborating article:

    Search Assist

    commons.wikimedia.org
    Daniel Torok / Public domain


    Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch newspaper NRC
    Handelsblad, claiming defamation over an article that he alleges
    misrepresented his actions and statements. The lawsuit seeks damages
    for harming his reputation and is part of his broader pattern of legal
    actions against media outlets.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 19:39:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/28/26 19:12, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Oh, there were lots of prophets, all right. Some of them were likely
    even named rCLJoshuarCY.

    Anybody can prophecy. I do it it all the time.

    It's like the exchange from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act III,
    Scene 1:

    Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
    Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man,
    But will they come when you do call for them?
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Jul 28 19:47:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:08:46 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 08:10:07 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
    Dorsey) wrote:
    Life insurance is a different matter, altogether.

    Not so very different. There were mutual insurance societies,
    cooperatives run by their members, but now there are more companies,
    with external shareholders. Many of the mutual ones changed in the
    1980s, again under the influence of the Reagan-Thatcher neoliberalism.

    Life insurance is different in that everybody is going to get one and only >one payout, but everyone gets a payout. So the bet is only on how long a >person is going to live.

    That's not always the case. My wife and have 20-year whole life
    policies for $5,000 each with Metropolitan Insurance company that we
    purchased in 1964. We no longer pay premiums and haven't since 1984.
    The death benefits are now about $25,000 each, and we receive
    quarterly dividends. The amount has changed over the years, but it's
    currently about $31.00 each.



    Because of this a lot of life insurance companies have started making >derivative securities and things like annuities because the customer
    base for their primary product is limited.

    US Health insurance started out life as just that... insurance against >sickness or injury,

    Well, they don't insure against sickness or injury, but do insure
    against the costs if sickness or injury.

    but it expanded into preventative care which turns
    it into something very different. It's no longer insurance in the sense
    that fire or burglary insurance is.

    ?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 11:15:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 29/07/26 09:28, Tony Cooper wrote:

    Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch newspaper NRC
    Handelsblad, claiming defamation over an article that he alleges misrepresented his actions and statements. The lawsuit seeks damages
    for harming his reputation and is part of his broader pattern of legal actions against media outlets.

    If "harming his reputation" is the basis of his suits, he should be
    suing himself.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 02:19:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <otei6lt3g4is8ocls3sm9uqfi3aet5hvgb@4ax.com>,
    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    That's not always the case. My wife and have 20-year whole life
    policies for $5,000 each with Metropolitan Insurance company that we >purchased in 1964. We no longer pay premiums and haven't since 1984.
    The death benefits are now about $25,000 each, and we receive
    quarterly dividends. The amount has changed over the years, but it's >currently about $31.00 each.

    [Hal Heydt]
    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 17:55:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 29/07/26 12:19, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    [Hal Heydt]
    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She*died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...

    Accept their offer, pay one month's premium, and then send them the
    death certificate.

    If they claim that her death was a pre-existing condition, it's bad
    publicity for them.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 11:35:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:34:03 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    He would need to go through British or Belgian courts for that,
    I guess. [1]
    They wouldn't go along, I guess again,


    But Trump did sue the BBC. The case was filed in Florida.

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-bbc-lawsuit-defamation-a9fd196c4f242decd8f28e
    8d0ce74442

    The suit was withdrawn with plans to re-submit in a different form.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/donald-trump-backtracks-10b-bbc-1
    42000502.html

    Trump also sued the Guardian, filing in Florida, but

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/13/trump-media-guardian-lawsuit but that case was dropped.


    According to "Search Assist", Trump also sued the NRC Handelsblad
    newspaper for defamation, but I can't find a corraborating article:

    Search Assist

    commons.wikimedia.org
    Daniel Torok / Public domain


    Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch newspaper NRC
    Handelsblad, claiming defamation over an article that he alleges misrepresented his actions and statements. The lawsuit seeks damages
    for harming his reputation and is part of his broader pattern of legal actions against media outlets.

    The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad no longer exists,
    it is just NRC nowadays. [1]
    They have informal collaborations with English-language newspapers,
    such as the New York Times and the Guardian.
    They also republish selected pieces from the Economist.

    So it is not surprising that they irked him.
    If I am not mistaken damages assigned by an American court
    are not collectible in the Netherlands,

    Jan

    [1] Both the Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant
    and Het Algemeen Handelsblad (Amsterdam)
    were 'liberal' in the Dutch sense.

    That is, 'liberal' in cultural contexts,
    and 'conservative' in the economic sense.
    Their views generally aligned with those
    of the progressive 'harbour barons'.



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 09:49:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:35:49 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:34:03 +0200, nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
    Lodder) wrote:

    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

    In article <1ryz6pb.k895kv1luko14N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl>,
    J. J. Lodder <nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> wrote:

    Fortunately, some European newspapers
    (such as the British Guardian, or the Dutch NRC)
    are protected with redactional statutes
    that make it nearly impossible for owners
    to interfere with the independence of the editors.

    There is no way that Trump or his cronies can do anything about that,

    Unless he contrives to sue them out of existence.

    He would need to go through British or Belgian courts for that,
    I guess. [1]
    They wouldn't go along, I guess again,


    But Trump did sue the BBC. The case was filed in Florida.

    https://apnews.com/article/trump-bbc-lawsuit-defamation-a9fd196c4f242decd8f28e
    8d0ce74442

    The suit was withdrawn with plans to re-submit in a different form.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/donald-trump-backtracks-10b-bbc-1
    42000502.html

    Trump also sued the Guardian, filing in Florida, but

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/13/trump-media-guardian-lawsuit >> but that case was dropped.


    According to "Search Assist", Trump also sued the NRC Handelsblad
    newspaper for defamation, but I can't find a corraborating article:

    Search Assist

    commons.wikimedia.org
    Daniel Torok / Public domain


    Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Dutch newspaper NRC
    Handelsblad, claiming defamation over an article that he alleges
    misrepresented his actions and statements. The lawsuit seeks damages
    for harming his reputation and is part of his broader pattern of legal
    actions against media outlets.

    The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad no longer exists,
    it is just NRC nowadays. [1]
    They have informal collaborations with English-language newspapers,
    such as the New York Times and the Guardian.
    They also republish selected pieces from the Economist.

    So it is not surprising that they irked him.
    If I am not mistaken damages assigned by an American court
    are not collectible in the Netherlands,

    Ross Clark, in another post, wrote:

    "The recent Chinese "test" firing of a missile deep into the south
    Pacific was described by our Prime Minister as "performative".
    Having been accustomed only to the linguistic/philosophical use of
    this
    term (where it applies to verbs or utterances), I was puzzled; but
    there
    does seem to be another actual usage, which is "done very publicly to
    make a point"."

    That's Trump's motivation in filing many of these lawsuits. He has no expectation of winning them or receiving settlements.

    If he simply denies something, it's a one-day story. (Of course, he
    can and does repeat the denial, but it's buried in a slew of other
    repeated "injustices".)

    By filing an unwinnable lawsuit for an outrageous amount, the denial
    gets more attention and the progress of the suit is covered. The
    other party incurs expenses responding to the suit. The cost of
    filing or legal fees is not borne by Trump, US taxpayers pay that.




    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Coltrin@spcoltri@omcl.org to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 08:52:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    begin fnord
    djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:

    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...

    The AARP seems to finally have stopped trying to get my mother to join.
    I don't see why, she's only been dead for ten years.
    --
    Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org
    "A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
    to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
    - Associated Press
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 11:11:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/29/26 10:52, Steve Coltrin wrote:
    begin fnord
    djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:

    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...

    The AARP seems to finally have stopped trying to get my mother to join.
    I don't see why, she's only been dead for ten years.


    A year ago Mark got a call to jury duty. He had been dead for six months.

    I think I answered it in the manner he would. I said he wasn't a
    resident of Middlesex County and gave his address as Mount Sinai
    Cemetery in Marlboro (Monmouth County). I said he wasn't a citizen,
    could not read or understand English, and could not mentally and
    physically perform the functions of a juror. Oh, and he was also more
    than 75 years old (which I guess was accurate), and that would have been excuse enough.

    I think he'd be proud of me.

    P.S. He got excused.

    P.P.S. Oh, and apparently to fill in the questionnaire on-line (though
    there was a phone number), the person had to have a cell phone and an
    email address.

    (At least it was the right county. In the past, Monmouth County has sent
    us jury duty notices because our mailing address is in the Matawan ZIP
    code.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 11:06:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/29/2026 7:52 AM, Steve Coltrin wrote:
    begin fnord
    djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:

    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...

    The AARP seems to finally have stopped trying to get my mother to join.
    I don't see why, she's only been dead for ten years.


    That fits, as I recall, they started trying to recruit me in my mid
    30s(for those who don't know, the minimum age for membership is 50).
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 17:22:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    In article <otei6lt3g4is8ocls3sm9uqfi3aet5hvgb@4ax.com>,
    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    That's not always the case. My wife and have 20-year whole life
    policies for $5,000 each with Metropolitan Insurance company that we >>purchased in 1964. We no longer pay premiums and haven't since 1984.
    The death benefits are now about $25,000 each, and we receive
    quarterly dividends. The amount has changed over the years, but it's >>currently about $31.00 each.

    Yes, this is what I mean by branching out into other investments. This is
    not traditional life insurance but it's a good thing.

    [Hal Heydt]
    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal
    due diligence...

    You should definitely apply immediately.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 21:36:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    That's not always the case. My wife and have 20-year whole life
    policies for $5,000 each with Metropolitan Insurance company that
    we purchased in 1964. We no longer pay premiums and haven't since
    1984. The death benefits are now about $25,000 each, and we
    receive quarterly dividends. The amount has changed over the
    years, but it's currently about $31.00 each.

    Yes, this is what I mean by branching out into other investments.
    This is not traditional life insurance but it's a good thing.

    No, Tony is describing a typical Whole Life policy. It never expires.
    The customer may or may not keep paying a fixed amount for life, or
    only until age 65 or whenever, depending on the policy. Some of them eventually pay dividends, especially if the payments are invested into
    a stock portfolio that does well.

    As contrasted with a Term Life policy, which expires, leaving you with
    nothing, at the end of the term. But the payments tend to be a lot
    less. It's most useful for people with minor children, to fund their
    education until they're self-supporting if the parents die young.

    [Hal Heydt]
    On another take... I received a letter today from an insurance
    company offering life insurance to my wife. Problem? She *died*
    exactly 49 months ago. You'd think they'd do at least minimal due
    diligence...

    You should definitely apply immediately.

    Only if he wants to go to prison.

    Anyhow, the fine print of most life insurance policies, whether whole
    or term, automatically exclude anyone who is dead within six months of
    when the contract is signed. And some also require a physical exam.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 19:59:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    No, Tony is describing a typical Whole Life policy. It never expires.
    The customer may or may not keep paying a fixed amount for life, or
    only until age 65 or whenever, depending on the policy. Some of them >eventually pay dividends, especially if the payments are invested into
    a stock portfolio that does well.

    Yes, this is a new thing. This didn't happen in the 18th century. The
    notion of paying dividends on life insurance didn't happen until almost
    the 20th century, I don't think.

    Anyhow, the fine print of most life insurance policies, whether whole
    or term, automatically exclude anyone who is dead within six months of
    when the contract is signed. And some also require a physical exam.

    He's not really dead, he's just pining for the fjords.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 20:17:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:36:25 -0000 (UTC), "Keith F. Lynch"
    <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    That's not always the case. My wife and have 20-year whole life
    policies for $5,000 each with Metropolitan Insurance company that
    we purchased in 1964. We no longer pay premiums and haven't since
    1984. The death benefits are now about $25,000 each, and we
    receive quarterly dividends. The amount has changed over the
    years, but it's currently about $31.00 each.

    Yes, this is what I mean by branching out into other investments.
    This is not traditional life insurance but it's a good thing.

    No, Tony is describing a typical Whole Life policy. It never expires.
    The customer may or may not keep paying a fixed amount for life, or
    only until age 65 or whenever, depending on the policy. Some of them >eventually pay dividends, especially if the payments are invested into
    a stock portfolio that does well.

    As contrasted with a Term Life policy, which expires, leaving you with >nothing, at the end of the term. But the payments tend to be a lot
    less. It's most useful for people with minor children, to fund their >education until they're self-supporting if the parents die young.


    The above does not describe the type of policy I have, and it is not
    correct about Term.

    Ours are 20-year Pay Life Policies that we took out in 1964. In that
    type of policy, the premium is set at the time of purchase based on
    the age of the insured, the premium is a fixed rate for 20 years, and
    the policy is completely paid up after 20 years and no more premiums
    are paid. The face amount is payable at death whenever that is. The
    age of 65 has nothing to do with it. Ours were paid-up when were in
    our 40s.

    The face amount remains the same, but the actual payable amount is
    larger. The payable amount has increased based on how the insurance
    company has funded the face amount.

    Some Term policies expire after a designated number of years, but
    there are also Term policies that remain in effect as long as the
    premiums are paid. If the premiums are kept up, the policy never
    expires. The premium is set based on the insured's age and remains
    fixed at that amount.

    We have that kind of Term policies with Prudential. We got them when
    we had kids (1967 and 1969), but have kept them up and continue to pay
    premiums and they are still in effect.

    Like many Americans, I never sought out life insurance coverage. The
    agents seek us out. Often - as in our case - it's a college or
    social friend went into insurance sales and "networked"* his friends
    to make a sale. They always push Whole Life (which really are
    better), but Term has cheaper premiums so the buyer may opt for Term.


    *"networked" was not a phrase used in this context then.

    Anyhow, the fine print of most life insurance policies, whether whole
    or term, automatically exclude anyone who is dead within six months of
    when the contract is signed. And some also require a physical exam.


    I dunno about the six month clause, but many exclude payment if the
    death is a suicide, or exclude payment for death by suicide for a
    determined amount of time.

    It's not unknown for sometime to deliberately crash a car to commit
    suicide that appears to be an accident.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 00:37:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114drop$ftl$1@reader1.panix.com>,
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Anyhow, the fine print of most life insurance policies, whether whole
    or term, automatically exclude anyone who is dead within six months of
    when the contract is signed. And some also require a physical exam.

    [Hal Heydt]
    The problem would be the signing. Death within six months of
    start date wouldn't, since she died over 4 years ago.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 20:48:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/29/26 20:37, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
    In article <114drop$ftl$1@reader1.panix.com>,
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Anyhow, the fine print of most life insurance policies, whether whole
    or term, automatically exclude anyone who is dead within six months of
    when the contract is signed. And some also require a physical exam.

    [Hal Heydt]
    The problem would be the signing. Death within six months of
    start date wouldn't, since she died over 4 years ago.

    It depends if the policy says that the date of death is within six
    months of signing, or that the person is dead within six months of signing.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 00:54:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    The problem would be the signing. Death within six months of start
    date wouldn't, since she died over 4 years ago.

    I assume it's phrased so that if she's dead at that time, it's not
    valid. Insurance companies can afford the best lawyers. And if there
    are any ambiguities in the contracts, some previous client has almost
    certinly already found them, causing it to have long since been
    corrected.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Jul 29 21:49:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    The problem would be the signing. Death within six months of start
    date wouldn't, since she died over 4 years ago.

    I assume it's phrased so that if she's dead at that time, it's not
    valid. Insurance companies can afford the best lawyers. And if there
    are any ambiguities in the contracts, some previous client has almost >certinly already found them, causing it to have long since been
    corrected.

    This is clearly a case of a biased jury, your honor. There is no way my
    client can receive a fair trial. My client, you must understand, is dead
    and every single one of the jury members selected is still living.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 03:57:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    This is clearly a case of a biased jury, your honor. There is
    no way my client can receive a fair trial. My client, you must
    understand, is dead and every single one of the jury members
    selected is still living.

    "Indeed, he should have had a jury of his peers. And where could the
    court have dug up a dozen dead people? Oh, right."

    Of course these days trials are always of the living, since this
    isn't the age of the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. Or of Oliver
    Cromwell. (Cromwell's corpse was beheaded, and hiw victim Charles I's
    corpse had its head sewn back on. Cromwell's head was displayed in
    various places, and was reburied more than three centuries later.)
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 04:39:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 03:57:03 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Of course these days trials are always of the living, since this
    isn't the age of the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus.

    There was one story in Stanislaw LemrCOs collection rCLThe CyberiadrCY about
    a character who was so villainous, he was regularly recreated only to
    be tortured to death again -- one death sentence wasnrCOt deemed enough
    for him.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Someone Else@SueDominus@example.com.invalid to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 00:48:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In Message-ID:<114d566$qkpc$1@dont-email.me>,
    "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

    I think he'd be proud of me.

    P.S. He got excused.

    I'm a random Internet person, and I'm definitely proud of you. Well
    done!
    --
    Sue Dominus
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 06:49:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 30/07/2026 |a 05:39, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro a |-crit :
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 03:57:03 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was one story in Stanislaw LemrCOs collection rCLThe CyberiadrCY about a character who was so villainous, he was regularly recreated only to
    be tortured to death again -- one death sentence wasnrCOt deemed enough
    for him.


    I recall a documentary by Michael Portillo (he of the jazzy jackets)
    about the death penalty. He tried to find the most humane way of killing someone and (this from memory) found that breathing an inert gas led to unconsciousness and death without distress. He advanced this as an
    alternative to the flawed methods in use in the USA (electrocution,
    lethal injectionrCa), but found no takers. It seemed the public wanted its criminals to suffer.

    Found it: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/tx/executions/> :

    "To do so he examines the key methods of execution available today: he discovers why convicts can catch on fire in the electric chair, learns
    how easy it is to botch a hanging and inhales a noxious gas to
    experience first hand the terror of the gas chamber."

    'How a Michael Portillo BBC film inspired a US push for nitrogen-gas executions' - <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/06/nitrogen-gas-executions-michael-portillo>

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 07:37:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/30/26 00:39, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 03:57:03 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Of course these days trials are always of the living, since this
    isn't the age of the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus.

    There was one story in Stanislaw LemrCOs collection rCLThe CyberiadrCY about a character who was so villainous, he was regularly recreated only to
    be tortured to death again -- one death sentence wasnrCOt deemed enough
    for him.

    I would have sworn that I read a story like that in Asimov's many years
    ago, where they were resurrecting Hitler (I think) so they could execute
    him again, once for each victim.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 08:33:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/29/26 23:57, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    This is clearly a case of a biased jury, your honor. There is
    no way my client can receive a fair trial. My client, you must
    understand, is dead and every single one of the jury members
    selected is still living.

    "Indeed, he should have had a jury of his peers. And where could the
    court have dug up a dozen dead people? Oh, right."

    And the jury scene in THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (a.k.a. ALL THAT
    MONEY CAN BUY) came to mind.

    Of course these days trials are always of the living, since this
    isn't the age of the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. Or of Oliver Cromwell. (Cromwell's corpse was beheaded, and hiw victim Charles I's
    corpse had its head sewn back on. Cromwell's head was displayed in
    various places, and was reburied more than three centuries later.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 13:16:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Of course these days trials are always of the living, since this
    isn't the age of the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus.

    There was one story in Stanislaw LemrCOs collection rCLThe CyberiadrCY
    about a character who was so villainous, he was regularly recreated
    only to be tortured to death again -- one death sentence wasnrCOt
    deemed enough for him.

    I would have sworn that I read a story like that in Asimov's many
    years ago, where they were resurrecting Hitler (I think) so they
    could execute him again, once for each victim.

    There was an episde of Itchy and Scratchy -- a cat and mouse cartoon
    within The Simpsons -- in which the mouse kept resurrecting the cat
    in order to repeatedly kill it in new, cruel, and creative ways.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 19:20:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <nd06v8F2e5lU4@mid.individual.net>,
    Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> wrote:
    Le 30/07/2026 |a 05:39, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro a |-crit :
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 03:57:03 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There was one story in Stanislaw LemrCOs collection rCLThe CyberiadrCY about >> a character who was so villainous, he was regularly recreated only to
    be tortured to death again -- one death sentence wasnrCOt deemed enough
    for him.


    I recall a documentary by Michael Portillo (he of the jazzy jackets)
    about the death penalty. He tried to find the most humane way of killing >someone and (this from memory) found that breathing an inert gas led to >unconsciousness and death without distress. He advanced this as an >alternative to the flawed methods in use in the USA (electrocution,
    lethal injectionrCa), but found no takers. It seemed the public wanted its >criminals to suffer.

    [Hal Heydt]
    I think capital puhishment is a bad idea. However...

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason
    for doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing
    the same crime, then the execution should be public and painful.
    If the intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever
    having a chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then
    the execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If
    the reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be
    private, painful, and messy.

    I think that pretty much covers the reasons for capital
    punishment.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 22:04:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:20:12 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason for
    doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing the same
    crime, then the execution should be public and painful. If the
    intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever having a
    chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then the
    execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If the
    reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be private,
    painful, and messy.

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 22:15:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    [Hal Heydt]
    I think capital puhishment is a bad idea. However...
    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason for
    doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing the same
    crime, then the execution should be public and painful.

    If public and painful punishments deterred crime, the past would have
    been much more crime-free than it actually was. Guy Fawkes wasn't
    deterred from attempting to blow up parliament and the king by knowing
    he would be drawn and quartered if he was caught. Which he was.

    If the intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever
    having a chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then
    the execution should be private and as pain free as possible.
    If the reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should
    be private, painful, and messy.

    The current justice system in the US is profoundly broken. I have
    no faith that a conviction means the convict was actually guilty of
    anything. It happened to me, and since I'm out of the closet as a
    wrongfully convicted felon, lots of people have confided in me that
    similar or worse things have happened to them.

    I lost two rounds of "prisoner's dilemma," a game that was already
    ancient when it was used to convict people in the Salem witch trials.
    The only thing special about those trials is that we know for a fact
    that everyone was innocent, since witchcraft is not a thing.

    I think that pretty much covers the reasons for capital punishment.

    The number one reason for capital punishment in the US is to coerce
    people into pleading guilty in return for a life sentence. In most
    cases, prosecutors don't actually want to execute anyone. They just
    want them to plead guilty, to avoid the risk that the prosecutors will
    lose at trial.

    Similarly with lesser punishments. North Carolina's Bob Kelly was
    told that if he pled guilty to a misdemeanor, to which he could be
    sentenced to not more than one year in jail, all other charges would
    be dropped. He refused. And was convicted at trial and sentenced to
    twelve consecutive life sentences. Even though he wasn't accused of
    killing anyone, or of attempting to do so. He too wasn't actually
    guilty of anything.

    Every defendant has a right to a trial. But a right with an attached
    penalty isn't much of a right. It's as if on voting day, there was
    a scowling cop right outside the voting booth. He warns you that he
    won't stop you from voting, but as soon as you exit the voting booth
    the handcuffs will go on.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Someone Else@SueDominus@example.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 19:17:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In Message-ID:<tJ05po.sIq@kithrup.com>,
    djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:

    [Hal Heydt]
    I think capital puhishment is a bad idea. However...

    From Neil Gaiman's American Gods:
    I believe [...] that while all human life is sacred thereAs nothing
    wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system
    implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal
    system.
    --
    Sue Dominus
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 23:31:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114ghp4$24ndu$12@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:20:12 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason for
    doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing the same
    crime, then the execution should be public and painful. If the
    intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever having a
    chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then the
    execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If the
    reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be private,
    painful, and messy.

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    [Hal Heydt]
    I'm aware of the stories that pickpockets eagerly worked crowds
    gathered to watch pickpockets being hanged.

    Note that I made no claims that deterrence *works*,
    and--indeed--the evidence I'm aware of is that it doesn't.
    Further, in present day US, the time from conviction (let along
    the time since the crime) is so long that it is hard to connect
    the execution with the criminal act.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?

    Deterrence is only one (of three) potential reason that I cited.
    As I noted, those are the reasons I can think of for imposing
    capital punishment...not that I agree with any of them.

    I long since decided that, in the unlikely case that I were on a
    jury deciding a capital case, (1) I would want to know *why* the
    state should execute the guilty party, and (2) I would only vote
    for the death penalty if I am *personnaly* convinced enough that
    I'd be willing carry it out in person. If you can't convince me
    to that exetent as a juror, I won't vote for the state to act for
    me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 19:02:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/30/2026 3:04 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:20:12 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason for
    doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing the same
    crime, then the execution should be public and painful. If the
    intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever having a
    chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then the
    execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If the
    reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be private,
    painful, and messy.

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.


    Famously, pickpockets working the crowd at the public hanging of one or
    more pickpockets.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Jul 30 22:03:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person from reoffending. It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the original offender.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 06:01:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 22:04:21 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D|+Oliveiro
    <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:20:12 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason for
    doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing the same
    crime, then the execution should be public and painful. If the
    intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever having a
    chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then the
    execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If the
    reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be private,
    painful, and messy.

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?

    Prevents recidivism, so they say.
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 04:44:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114gvoq$sd0$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person from >reoffending. It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the original >offender.

    [Hal Heydt]
    That's what I refer to as the "mad dog" reason.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 16:46:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 31/07/26 12:03, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person
    from reoffending. It may not deter others, but it definitely stops
    the original offender.

    It also stops the courts being clogged up with appeals, when new
    evidence shows that the convicted person was innocent.

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 08:09:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 31/07/2026 |a 07:46, Peter Moylan a |-crit :
    On 31/07/26 12:03, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person
    from reoffending.-a It may not deter others, but it definitely stops
    the original offender.

    It also stops the courts being clogged up with appeals, when new
    evidence shows that the convicted person was innocent.

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.


    Arsonists too, perhaps, especially if they're also firemen. Scammers, certainly. As I recall, the Lilliputians considered fraud a worse crime
    than theft, because it exploited the trust that is needed for society to function.

    SearchesrCa

    "They look upon fraud as a greater crime than theft, and therefore
    seldom fail to punish it with death; for they allege, that care and
    vigilance, with a very common understanding, may preserve a man's goods
    from thieves, but honesty has no fence against superior cunning; and,
    since it is necessary that there should be a perpetual intercourse of
    buying and selling, and dealing upon credit, where fraud is permitted
    and connived at, or hath no law to punish it, the honest dealer is
    always undone, and the knave gets the advantage."

    AnywayrCa. Oubliettes are, I think, an idea that we have neglected. They,
    too, prevent knaves reoffending.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 09:23:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 30.07.2026 kl. 21.20 skrev Dorothy J Heydt:

    If it is going to be used, the method should reflect the reason
    for doing so. If the intent is to deter others from committing
    the same crime, then the execution should be public and painful.
    If the intent is to avoid any chance of the criminal from ever
    having a chance to do more crimes (the "mad dog" situation), then
    the execution should be private and as pain free as possible. If
    the reason is to exact revenge, then the execution should be
    private, painful, and messy.

    I think that pretty much covers the reasons for capital
    punishment.

    You've forgotten the Darwin reason: prevent the perpetrator fropm having children.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 09:23:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 00.04 skrev Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    Of course not. The public hanging gave them the perfect opportunity to
    empty people's pockets.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 07:27:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 09:23:03 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:

    You've forgotten the Darwin reason: prevent the perpetrator fropm
    having children.

    Again, is that much of a deterrent against crime?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 09:27:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 08.46 skrev Peter Moylan:

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on the
    stock market every microsecond.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 07:29:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 22:15:45 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    The number one reason for capital punishment in the US is to coerce
    people into pleading guilty in return for a life sentence. In most
    cases, prosecutors don't actually want to execute anyone. They just
    want them to plead guilty, to avoid the risk that the prosecutors
    will lose at trial.

    Plea bargaining is commonly seen as something that corrupts the
    justice system.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 09:57:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@kithrup.com> wrote:
    The problem would be the signing. Death within six months of start
    date wouldn't, since she died over 4 years ago.

    I assume it's phrased so that if she's dead at that time, it's not
    valid. Insurance companies can afford the best lawyers. And if there
    are any ambiguities in the contracts, some previous client has almost >certinly already found them, causing it to have long since been
    corrected.

    This is clearly a case of a biased jury, your honor. There is no way my client can receive a fair trial. My client, you must understand, is dead
    and every single one of the jury members selected is still living.

    No problem, for a Snark,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 13:03:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/30/2026 10:03 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    At one time, they used to hang pickpockets. It didnrCOt seem to be much
    of a deterrent to others committing the same crime.

    If a legal penalty doesnrCOt have a deterrent effect, then what point
    does it have?

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person from reoffending. It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the original offender.
    --scott


    So does a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    ...and that's often cheaper than the massive legal machinery that a
    death sentence activates in the US.

    ...and allows the possibility of partial restitution if a false
    conviction is later proved.

    pt

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 13:04:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/2026 3:09 AM, Hibou wrote:
    Le 31/07/2026 |a 07:46, Peter Moylan a |-crit :
    On 31/07/26 12:03, Scott Dorsey wrote:

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person
    from reoffending.-a It may not deter others, but it definitely stops
    the original offender.

    It also stops the courts being clogged up with appeals, when new
    evidence shows that the convicted person was innocent.

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now
    abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.


    Arsonists too, perhaps, especially if they're also firemen. Scammers, certainly. As I recall, the Lilliputians considered fraud a worse crime
    than theft, because it exploited the trust that is needed for society to function.


    "I have a little list..."

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 19:31:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 19.03 skrev Cryptoengineer:

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person from
    reoffending.-a It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the
    original
    offender.
    --scott


    So does a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    ...and that's often cheaper than the massive legal machinery that a
    death sentence activates in the US.

    https://latestcost.com/cost-keeping-prisoner-u-s-facilities/

    The average is $40'000. If a muderer is jailed at the age of 25 and
    lives to be 75 the total will be $2'000'000. What's the going rate on
    the street for killing a person?
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 18:59:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114hisk$2g9un$3@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Thu, 30 Jul 2026 22:15:45 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    The number one reason for capital punishment in the US is to coerce
    people into pleading guilty in return for a life sentence. In most
    cases, prosecutors don't actually want to execute anyone. They just
    want them to plead guilty, to avoid the risk that the prosecutors
    will lose at trial.

    Plea bargaining is commonly seen as something that corrupts the
    justice system.

    [Hal Heydt]
    I would like to see laws in place that forbid pleading away DUI
    charges. Far to many horrible cases come up where the offender
    has "no prior convictions for DUI". That's because, by pleading
    guilty to other offenses, the DUI charge was dropped. That needs
    to be banned.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 15:38:30 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/2026 1:31 PM, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 19.03 skrev Cryptoengineer:

    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person
    from
    reoffending.-a It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the
    original
    offender.
    --scott


    So does a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    ...and that's often cheaper than the massive legal machinery that a
    death sentence activates in the US.

    https://latestcost.com/cost-keeping-prisoner-u-s-facilities/

    The average is $40'000. If a muderer is jailed at the age of 25 and
    lives to be 75 the total will be $2'000'000. What's the going rate on
    the street for killing a person?


    Your source gives no info on the cost of litigating a death penalty.

    Fortunately, The Cato Institute (hardly a bleeding-heart institution)
    has done the math:

    The Financial Implications of the Death Penalty https://www.cato.org/blog/financial-implications-death-penalty
    (2023 article)

    First, remember that the average death penalty case remains on
    death row for 19 years, at 60k-70k a year (death row inmates are
    not in the general population, and have special accommodations.
    They are much more expensive, day-to-day, than a lifer).

    Second, the excess legal costs of a death penalty trial are
    between 1.1 million and 1.5 million higher than a life sentence.

    So, accommodating a lifer in the general population for 50 years
    is about $2M, as you say.

    A death row inmate:
    19 years @ 65k/year = 1.2M
    Add 1.3 M extra litigation cost, and the total comes to 2.5M

    So, life without parole still comes out cheaper.

    ...and on top of that, you haven't killed an innocent if
    later evidence (such as DNA) turns up exculpating them.

    pt


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Anders D. Nygaard@news2012adn@google.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 22:29:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/2026 9:27 AM, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 08.46 skrev Peter Moylan:

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now
    abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.
    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    /Anders, Denmark
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 19:26:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:38:38 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 22.29 skrev Anders D. Nygaard:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day has
    more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money do
    anything useful.

    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Good idea. Now we're at it we could also forbid trading with quota.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living (or
    try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have on
    anyone else?

    What benefit, or what loss would be prevented, if the trades were
    slotted into half-hour segments?

    There is a benefit. Fees are charged for trades. The firm that
    charges the fees surely feels the fees received are useful. The
    traders who make money on the transaction, surely feel it's useful.
    They also risk losing money.

    Day-traders sometimes use computer programs that automatically trigger
    buy or sell orders based on price points they set. (I suppose some
    now use AI to set the proints.) If the individual wants to incur the
    cost of equipment and software to do this, why is it a problem to
    anyone else, let alone society in general?

    Based on what I know, a trading quota is a good thing, not something
    that should be stopped. A trading quota halts trades when they get to
    the point the excessive price fluctuation.

    https://trader.academy/public/blog/quota-definition-understanding-the-importance-of-quotas-in-finance-and-stock-market
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 09:27:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 01/08/26 06:29, Anders D. Nygaard wrote:
    On 7/31/2026 9:27 AM, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 08.46 skrev Peter Moylan:

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries
    have now abolished the death penalty. However, I have some
    sympathy for reintroducing it for internet scammers,
    telemarketers, and people who deal in cryptocurrency.

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.
    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    The rule here used to be that share prices over the internet were always
    twenty minutes out of date. This was to prevent unstable feedback. I
    don't know whether they still do it.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 23:48:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day
    has more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money
    do anything useful.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living
    (or try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have
    on anyone else?

    I too don't understand the objection.

    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67 milliseconds
    just to get a signal from one side of the planet to the other. For
    instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa -- those two cities
    being almost directly opposite each other.

    If someone manages to invent a neutrino telegraph, it could reduce
    that delay to 43 milliseconds, since neutrinos can go right
    through the Earth, rather than around the outside. Similarly
    with gravitational waves.

    And even if there were something objectionable about rapid stock
    trading, I certainly don't think it warrants the death penalty.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 23:53:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that was
    the crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century. (And to think that some people claim that India discovered
    nothing!)

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Never mind the date; who was listed as his father?

    And who was listed as his godfather?
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 20:05:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/26 19:53, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that was
    the crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century. (And to think that some people claim that India discovered nothing!)

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Never mind the date; who was listed as his father?

    And who was listed as his godfather?

    I always found it peculiar that the gospels of Matthew and Luke spent so
    much time listing Joseph's lineage, when he supposedly wasn't related to
    Jesus at all.

    And that they disagreed on it.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 20:22:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/2026 7:26 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:38:38 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 22.29 skrev Anders D. Nygaard:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day has
    more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money do
    anything useful.

    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Good idea. Now we're at it we could also forbid trading with quota.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living (or
    try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have on
    anyone else?

    What benefit, or what loss would be prevented, if the trades were
    slotted into half-hour segments?

    There is a benefit. Fees are charged for trades. The firm that
    charges the fees surely feels the fees received are useful. The
    traders who make money on the transaction, surely feel it's useful.
    They also risk losing money.

    Day-traders sometimes use computer programs that automatically trigger
    buy or sell orders based on price points they set. (I suppose some
    now use AI to set the proints.) If the individual wants to incur the
    cost of equipment and software to do this, why is it a problem to
    anyone else, let alone society in general?

    Based on what I know, a trading quota is a good thing, not something
    that should be stopped. A trading quota halts trades when they get to
    the point the excessive price fluctuation.

    https://trader.academy/public/blog/quota-definition-understanding-the-importance-of-quotas-in-finance-and-stock-market

    The term you're looking for is 'high speed trading'.

    There's a related game in arbitrage - taking advantage of mementary
    differences of commodity prices in different markets to profit
    from trading contracts - buy in the low market while selling in
    the high one.

    One example is the Chicago Board of Trade and the NT commodity
    markets.

    A fiber link has a round-trip latency of about 14.1 ms. One
    company installed a microwave relay, with a latency of only
    8.2 ms, and put the trading computers at the halfway point.

    They make steady profits.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_Networks

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Fri Jul 31 20:52:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/2026 8:22 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    On 7/31/2026 7:26 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:38:38 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen
    <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 22.29 skrev Anders D. Nygaard:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day has
    more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money do
    anything useful.

    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Good idea. Now we're at it we could also forbid trading with quota.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living (or
    try to) by stock trades.-a What detrimental effect does that have on
    anyone else?

    What benefit, or what loss would be prevented, if the trades were
    slotted into half-hour segments?

    There is a benefit.-a Fees are charged for trades.-a The firm that
    charges the fees surely feels the fees received are useful.-a The
    traders who make money on the transaction, surely feel it's useful.
    They also risk losing money.

    Day-traders sometimes use computer programs that automatically trigger
    buy or sell orders based on price points they set.-a (I suppose some
    now use AI to set the proints.)-a If the individual wants to incur the
    cost of equipment and software to do this, why is it a problem to
    anyone else, let alone society in general?

    Based on what I know, a trading quota is a good thing, not something
    that should be stopped.-a A trading quota halts trades when they get to
    the point the excessive price fluctuation.

    https://trader.academy/public/blog/quota-definition-understanding-the-
    importance-of-quotas-in-finance-and-stock-market

    The term you're looking for is 'high speed trading'.

    There's a related game in arbitrage - taking advantage of mementary differences of commodity prices in different markets to profit
    from trading contracts - buy in the low market while selling in
    the high one.

    One example is the Chicago Board of Trade and the NT commodity
    markets.

    A fiber link has a round-trip latency of about 14.1 ms. One
    company installed a microwave relay, with a latency of only
    8.2 ms, and put the trading computers at the halfway point.

    They make steady profits.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_Networks

    pt



    ^NY commodity markets, of course.

    pt
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 11:13:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 01/08/26 10:05, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/31/26 19:53, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that
    was the crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the
    7th century. (And to think that some people claim that India
    discovered nothing!)

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found
    Jesus's birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Never mind the date; who was listed as his father?

    And who was listed as his godfather?

    I always found it peculiar that the gospels of Matthew and Luke spent
    so much time listing Joseph's lineage, when he supposedly wasn't
    related to Jesus at all.

    "Genetic father" wasn't a thing back then. "Legal father" was probably sufficient to satisfy the prophecies.

    And that they disagreed on it.

    Descent through two distinct lines isn't so unusual. And David probably
    had so many descendants that most of the country was related to him.

    Assuming that David existed. What's the current state of evidence?
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Someone Else@SueDominus@example.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 00:56:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In Message-ID:<114ikga$2tq6o$1@dont-email.me>,
    Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 7/30/2026 10:03 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    <snip>
    In the case of the death penalty, it definitely prevents that person from
    reoffending. It may not deter others, but it definitely stops the original >> offender.
    --scott


    So does a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

    Because, as we all know, no crimes are committed by prisoners.

    <snip>
    ...and allows the possibility of partial restitution if a false
    conviction is later proved.

    But I definitely agree with this point.
    --
    Sue Dominus
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rich Ulrich@rich.ulrich@comcast.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 01:00:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 22:29:02 +0200, "Anders D. Nygaard" <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:

    On 7/31/2026 9:27 AM, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Den 31.07.2026 kl. 08.46 skrev Peter Moylan:

    Overall, I think it's a good thing that all civilised countries have now >>> abolished the death penalty. However, I have some sympathy for
    reintroducing it for internet scammers, telemarketers, and people who
    deal in cryptocurrency.

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on the
    stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.
    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    /Anders, Denmark\


    "THis Thing of Darkness" by Harry Bingham is a Fiona Griffiths
    mystery story that includes sabotage of an undersea cable,
    intended to give the villains a fraction of a second advantage
    in the markets.

    The book includes arguments about high-speed trading, which
    I can't say I remmeber.

    What I recall from elsewhere is that the one thing that might
    put a big dent in the practice would be a tiny TAX laid on
    every BID made in every market, because (IIRC) the high-speed
    traders make an enormous number of bids, compared to the
    number of actual bids-won.
    --
    Rich Ulrich
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 08:08:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 01.26 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day has
    more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money do
    anything useful.

    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Good idea. Now we're at it we could also forbid trading with quota.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living (or
    try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have on
    anyone else?

    Lack of money for those who lose in the deal. But my main point is that
    the money do not work. They just circle around - except of course as you
    point out that some people earn their living through servicing the market.

    If you buy shares in a new company, your money will help the company
    grow and be more efficient. If you buy 'old' shares, it won't help the
    company in the production.

    What benefit, or what loss would be prevented, if the trades were
    slotted into half-hour segments?

    The problem with the microdeals is that such algorithms register if a
    buy order has been placed on some shares and then the computer buys such shares driving the price up. Next they sell the shares to the buyer at
    the increased price. The only 'work' they do is increase the price for
    anyone else.

    There is a benefit. Fees are charged for trades. The firm that
    charges the fees surely feels the fees received are useful. The
    traders who make money on the transaction, surely feel it's useful.
    They also risk losing money.

    True. The same is true of financial crime. The only difference is that
    one set is legal and the other is not.

    Day-traders sometimes use computer programs that automatically trigger
    buy or sell orders based on price points they set. (I suppose some
    now use AI to set the proints.) If the individual wants to incur the
    cost of equipment and software to do this, why is it a problem to
    anyone else, let alone society in general?

    Because it drives prices without any beneficial effect except those
    derived from the otherwise useless operation.

    Based on what I know, a trading quota is a good thing,

    I should have explained better. The quotas I have in mind, are CO2
    quotas and fishing quotas. Instead of helping regulate emission of CO2
    and the fishing the quotas have become a new kind of shares that can be
    bought and sold without serving the intended purpose.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 08:10:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 01.48 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67 milliseconds
    just to get a signal from one side of the planet to the other. For
    instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa -- those two cities
    being almost directly opposite each other.

    That's why people try to set up their computers as close as possible to
    the stock exchange. It's actually a race towards getting the shortest
    possible line.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 08:14:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 01.27 skrev Peter Moylan:

    The rule here used to be that share prices over the internet were always twenty minutes out of date. This was to prevent unstable feedback. I
    don't know whether they still do it.

    Traders will drop that exchange and find one with no restriction.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 08:17:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 06.56 skrev Someone Else:

    <snip>
    ...and allows the possibility of partial restitution if a false
    conviction is later proved.

    But I definitely agree with this point.

    So do I. I was not defending having death penalty. I was merely
    interested in the financial argument.

    I've read the 50% of the death row prisoners in USA who had their case
    retried based on DNA testing were found to be innocent.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 07:25:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that was the
    crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century. (And to think that some people claim that India discovered nothing!)

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Never mind the date; who was listed as his father?

    According to Allen Ginsberg, "the cat who really laid it on us"


    And who was listed as his godfather?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Packer@mailbox@cpacker.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 07:31:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 1 Aug 2026 07:25:41 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer wrote:

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
    Back then they didn't have the concept of zero. But maybe that was
    the crisis: hey, year zero has gone missing.

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century. (And to think that some people claim that India discovered
    nothing!)

    The thing that really shocked everyone was when they found Jesus's
    birth certificate, and the date said 4 BC.

    Never mind the date; who was listed as his father?

    According to Allen Ginsberg, "the cat who really laid it on us"

    Correction: It was Lawrence Ferlinghetti who wrote that.

    And who was listed as his godfather?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 06:47:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 7/31/26 21:13, Peter Moylan wrote:
    I always found it peculiar that the gospels of Matthew and Luke spent
    so much time listing Joseph's lineage, when he supposedly wasn't
    related to Jesus at all.

    "Genetic father" wasn't a thing back then. "Legal father" was probably sufficient to satisfy the prophecies.

    And that they disagreed on it.

    Descent through two distinct lines isn't so unusual. And David probably
    had so many descendants that most of the country was related to him.

    Assuming that David existed. What's the current state of evidence?


    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew says
    that JosephrCOs father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says Joseph's
    father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    (There are other contradictions, but that is the most obvious one.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 06:52:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/1/26 02:17, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 06.56 skrev Someone Else:

    -a <snip>
    ...and allows the possibility of partial restitution if a false
    conviction is later proved.

    But I definitely agree with this point.

    So do I. I was not defending having death penalty. I was merely
    interested in the financial argument.

    I've read the 50% of the death row prisoners in USA who had their case retried based on DNA testing were found to be innocent.

    But the set of death row prisoners in USA who had their case retried
    based on DNA testing is not a representative sample of the set of death
    row prisoners in USA. It would be heavily weighted towards those who
    were in fact innocent and who therefore thought that retrying the case
    with DNA evidence would should prove that.

    That 50% were still found guilty is what I find surprising.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 21:08:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 01/08/26 20:47, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 7/31/26 21:13, Peter Moylan wrote:
    I always found it peculiar that the gospels of Matthew and Luke spent
    so much time listing Joseph's lineage, when he supposedly wasn't
    related to Jesus at all.

    "Genetic father" wasn't a thing back then. "Legal father" was probably
    sufficient to satisfy the prophecies.

    And that they disagreed on it.

    Descent through two distinct lines isn't so unusual. And David probably
    had so many descendants that most of the country was related to him.

    Assuming that David existed. What's the current state of evidence?

    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew says
    that JosephrCOs father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    Ah, yes, I'd forgotten that. At least one of them got his results from
    an untrustworthy web site.

    (There are other contradictions, but that is the most obvious one.)
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From prd@prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul Dormer) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 12:35:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114kis8$3gtbe$1@dont-email.me>,
    evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) wrote:

    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew
    says that Joseph_s father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says
    Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    Maybe he was in trouble with the law and was using an alias.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 11:43:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    I've read the 50% of the death row prisoners in USA who had their
    case retried based on DNA testing were found to be innocent.

    I think that claim is slightly garbled. For one thing, if DNA testing definitely proves their innocence, in some US states that's an
    automatic exoneration with no new trial. And in other US states,
    factual innocence is legally irrelevant. For instance in Texas Robert
    Roberson was proven innocent, but they're going to execute him anyway.
    (In Texas, unlike most US states, the governor does not have the power
    to pardon a prisoner.)

    Anyhow, the presence of one's DNA is not always incriminating, and its
    absence is not always exonerating. It depends on the circumstances of
    the case. And on whether there is any other evidence.

    Especially puzzling are some of the cold cases in which trace amounts
    of DNA were proven to be from someone with a clean record. Sure, if
    it matched someone with a record of similar crimes, I'm okay with
    convicting them. But if it matched someone with no record at all,
    before or since, I don't think that alone should be enough to convict
    them, given that all it takes is a single molecule of DNA, in there
    are lots of innocent ways DNA can move around. For instance look up
    the Phantom of Heilbronn.

    Anyhow, in the great majority of felony cases, especially ones that
    don't involve rape or murder, there either never was any DNA evidence,
    or they didn't bother to check for it. And there's no reason to think
    the error rate is any lower in those cases. If the narrow beam of
    your flashlight reveals several cockroaches in your kitchen, that's
    not proof that that's all the cockroaches that are in your kitchen.

    But the set of death row prisoners in USA who had their case retried
    based on DNA testing is not a representative sample of the set of
    death row prisoners in USA. It would be heavily weighted towards
    those who were in fact innocent and who therefore thought that
    retrying the case with DNA evidence would should prove that.

    If a death row prisoner is simply trying to delay their execution,
    they may try anything and everything, whether they're guilty or not.

    What I find most concerning is how much completely bogus forensic
    "science" is used to convict people. And how "prisoner's dilemma"
    continues to be used, in which people are rewarded for testifying the
    way prosecutors want them to, and threatened with perjury charges if
    they testify for the defense.

    In my case, for instance, I was told that all charges against me would
    be dropped if I agreed to truthfully testify that my cellmate, Michael
    G. Simoneau, had confessed to murder. I attempted to get him to
    confess, but he didn't, so I didn't testify. He was convicted anyway,
    I don't know on what evidence, nor do I know if he was guilty. (At
    least he didn't get the death penalty.)

    I don't understand how any jury can believe such evidence, but they
    often do.

    Also concerning is the continued use of the Reid Technique of
    interrogation, which can get about 1/3 of guilty people and about
    2/3 of innocent people to confess.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 13:08:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114jh8f$37eg6$1@dont-email.me>,
    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    Assuming that David existed. What's the current state of evidence?

    The Tel Dan stele appear to refer to a "house of David":

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Dan_stele

    Some have argued that the Mesha stele also refers to David, but that
    is much less clear:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 10:43:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sat, 1 Aug 2026 08:08:11 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 01.26 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on
    the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day has
    more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money do
    anything useful.

    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Good idea. Now we're at it we could also forbid trading with quota.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living (or
    try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have on
    anyone else?

    Lack of money for those who lose in the deal.

    That hardly convinces me that the system should be changed. You only
    win or lose because you play, and the players choose to play.

    But my main point is that
    the money do not work. They just circle around - except of course as you >point out that some people earn their living through servicing the market.

    That's not any different from any other form of business. Some make a
    profit on the trades and spend that money on some other business,
    which, in turn, spends money on some other business. Rinse and
    repeat.

    If you buy shares in a new company, your money will help the company
    grow and be more efficient. If you buy 'old' shares, it won't help the >company in the production.

    So what? If you buy a used car you are not helping the company that manufacturered the car. If you buy a previously-owned house you are
    not helping the company that built the house. Purchasing anything
    that has previously been purchased from the manufacturer doesn't
    benefit the manufacturers or the companies that sold them the material
    to make the product.

    You could make the case that the manufactuer does gain because their
    reputation is enhanced because their product retains value. Toyota,
    for example, sells some vehicles because their product has strong
    value retention and resale price.

    But, if you use that logic, then the company whose stock is re-sold at
    a higher price gains because the shares they retain increase in value
    and future offerings will sell at a higher price. Tesla's value
    increases or decreases based on the market for their shares much more
    than from the profit they make on selling a Tesla.

    What benefit, or what loss would be prevented, if the trades were
    slotted into half-hour segments?

    The problem with the microdeals is that such algorithms register if a
    buy order has been placed on some shares and then the computer buys such >shares driving the price up. Next they sell the shares to the buyer at
    the increased price. The only 'work' they do is increase the price for >anyone else.

    But also the value of the shares already owned. I own some stock. If
    that stock becomes "hot" and shoots up in price-per-share, my
    portfolio increases in value.

    I'm not saying your theory is right or wrong. I'm saying you have not
    shown - in my opinion - why it is right.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 10:47:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Anders D. Nygaard <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:
    On 7/31/2026 9:27 AM, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on the
    stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.
    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Because stock markets make money per-transaction. High speed trading means more transactions per day and more money for the people running the market. --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 10:50:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67 milliseconds
    just to get a signal from one side of the planet to the other. For
    instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa -- those two cities
    being almost directly opposite each other.

    Yes, this is why the high volume traders have their data centers as close
    as possible to the market as they can... often within the same block,
    because the propagation delay is critical. 67 milliseconds is enough to
    get hundreds of trades through.

    Some folks have been talking about HF radio links for high volume trading because the latency is lower than a satellite link or a non-direct leased
    line, and they have got funding and frequency allocations but they don't
    seem to be doing all that well.

    And even if there were something objectionable about rapid stock
    trading, I certainly don't think it warrants the death penalty.

    I would not support the death penalty for high speed trading. Now, email
    spam, I might support the death penalty for that.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 10:54:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Rich Ulrich <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> wrote:

    "THis Thing of Darkness" by Harry Bingham is a Fiona Griffiths
    mystery story that includes sabotage of an undersea cable,
    intended to give the villains a fraction of a second advantage
    in the markets.

    The book includes arguments about high-speed trading, which
    I can't say I remmeber.

    The absolute best discussion about this comes from the days when stock information arrived much more slowly in the late 19th century. I highly recommend Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Lefevre. It is fascinating
    and amusing and it describes the craziness of the first Gilded Age, at
    how technology was rapidly changing finance, and how scammers took great advantage of the changes.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 10:56:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <memo.20260801123400.29904B@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,
    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    In article <114kis8$3gtbe$1@dont-email.me>,
    evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) wrote:

    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew
    says that Joseph_s father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says
    Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    Maybe he was in trouble with the law and was using an alias.

    You mean like Saul?
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 16:07:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) wrote:
    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew
    says that Joseph_s father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says
    Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    Maybe he was in trouble with the law and was using an alias.

    You mean like Saul?

    Or like nearly every pope?
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 12:26:26 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/1/26 12:07, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) wrote:
    The number of descendants of David doesn't enter into it: Matthew
    says that Joseph_s father was Jacob (Matthew 1:16), but Luke says
    Joseph's father was Heli (Luke 3:23).

    Maybe he was in trouble with the law and was using an alias.

    You mean like Saul?

    Or like nearly every pope?

    Or Edward VII and George VI?

    (Admittedly, they had those as middle names before being crowned, and
    "Albert" was considered "too German" for the times.)
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 20:57:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Evelyn C. Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Paul Dormer <prd@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
    Maybe he was in trouble with the law and was using an alias.

    You mean like Saul?

    Or like nearly every pope?

    Or Edward VII and George VI?

    Don't forget Queen Victoria, whose real first name was Alexandrina.

    (Admittedly, they had those as middle names before being crowned,
    ....)

    As did Victoria.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 21:15:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67
    milliseconds just to get a signal from one side of the planet to
    the other. For instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa --
    those two cities being almost directly opposite each other.

    Yes, this is why the high volume traders have their data centers as
    close as possible to the market as they can... often within the same
    block, because the propagation delay is critical. 67 milliseconds
    is enough to get hundreds of trades through.

    Being closer to one market means you're further from another.

    Granted, 67 milliseconds is short by most standards. We've come
    a long way since the Battle of New Orleans was fought because the
    combatants didn't realize that the peace treaty had been signed 15
    days earlier.

    Some folks have been talking about HF radio links for high volume
    trading because the latency is lower than a satellite link or a
    non-direct leased line, and they have got funding and frequency
    allocations but they don't seem to be doing all that well.

    One problem with HF is the relatively low bandwidth. Another is that
    it's intermittent, depending on what the sun is doing. Yet another is
    that modern digital electronics tends to make lots of radio noise that
    jams faint signals.

    One advantage of HF is that fewer people are using it than used to.

    But neutrinos and gravitational waves have the advantage that they go
    right through the planet, rather than having to go around its outside.
    They have the disadvantage that they're difficult to generate and very difficult to detect.

    I would not support the death penalty for high speed trading.
    Now, email spam, I might support the death penalty for that.

    The punishment should match the crime. If there is absolutely no
    doubt that someone is guilty of persistent spamming or persistent
    telemarketing to people on the do-not-call list, I would advocate
    having their brain's language center surgically removed. If they
    are keeping honest people from communicating with each other, they
    should be made permanently unable to communicate with anyone.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 10:05:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 02/08/26 00:43, Tony Cooper wrote:
    On Sat, 1 Aug 2026 08:08:11 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:
    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 01.26 skrev Tony Cooper:

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their
    living (or try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does
    that have on anyone else?

    Lack of money for those who lose in the deal.

    That hardly convinces me that the system should be changed. You
    only win or lose because you play, and the players choose to play.

    Not always. In this country, superannuation companies have large
    holdings in shares. These are the companies that manage your retirement savings. So a lot of people are shareholders by proxy. They don't choose
    to play, but they need to have their retirement funds managed somehow.

    (They can't just stick it in a bank. The tax system treats
    superannuation differently from other kinds of savings.)

    But my main point is that the money do not work. They just circle
    around - except of course as you point out that some people earn
    their living through servicing the market.

    That's not any different from any other form of business. Some make
    a profit on the trades and spend that money on some other business,
    which, in turn, spends money on some other business. Rinse and
    repeat.

    That's true for ordinary businesses, and it's important for the national economy that the money circulates that way. But share trading is not an ordinary business. There, the money circulates in the little
    micro-economy that is the money market. It is effectively withdrawn from
    the main economy, and does not circulate in a way that would be
    beneficial for the national economy.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 10:23:27 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 01/08/26 21:43, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    I don't understand how any jury can believe such evidence, but they
    often do.

    My experience as a juror left my with no trust at all in the jury
    system. What justice can you get from a bunch of people who ignore the
    evidence and vote based on their gut feeling?

    I've heard it said that if you're guilty you should try to get a jury
    trial, but if innocent you should fight for a judge-only trial. That's
    based on an assumption that a jury will get it wrong.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 20:40:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67
    milliseconds just to get a signal from one side of the planet to
    the other. For instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa --
    those two cities being almost directly opposite each other.

    Yes, this is why the high volume traders have their data centers as
    close as possible to the market as they can... often within the same
    block, because the propagation delay is critical. 67 milliseconds
    is enough to get hundreds of trades through.

    Being closer to one market means you're further from another.

    Yes, you don't use the datacenter that is trading on commodities in
    Chicago for trading on the NYSE.

    Some folks have been talking about HF radio links for high volume
    trading because the latency is lower than a satellite link or a
    non-direct leased line, and they have got funding and frequency
    allocations but they don't seem to be doing all that well.

    One problem with HF is the relatively low bandwidth. Another is that
    it's intermittent, depending on what the sun is doing. Yet another is
    that modern digital electronics tends to make lots of radio noise that
    jams faint signals.

    The intermittent problem is the big one.... most of the licenses that
    have been granted are in the 20-26 MHz range which is often nice during
    the trading day but often not so. The low bandwidth isn't a big deal
    since you're just sending go/no-go messages.

    But yeah, the ticker tape at 45 baud is not sufficient to keep up
    with the trading rates if you're wanting a full market feed, so the
    key is to either get higher data rates or to get reports only on a
    limited number of stocks.

    But neutrinos and gravitational waves have the advantage that they go
    right through the planet, rather than having to go around its outside.
    They have the disadvantage that they're difficult to generate and very >difficult to detect.

    Neutrinos are easy to generate! They're getting generated all around us.
    Which is part of the problem.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From wollman@wollman@hergotha.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 00:57:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114j0id$32797$1@dont-email.me>,
    Anders D. Nygaard <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.
    Why not impose a series of (say) half-hour slots, where each trader
    is only permitted to act at most once per slot?

    Because the stock markets make their money on transaction fees. More transactions = more income for the markets, which are themselves
    listed companies whose incentive is to operate the most liquid market
    possible (to encourage listings and thus listing fees) and execute the
    most transactions possible (from which they directly earn income).

    Historically the stock markets were effectively cooperatives owned by
    their members (the people who actually executed trades on the floor),
    and also regulators of the securities industry through their
    imposition of rules on those same members and on the companies seeking
    listing. After a wave of financial deregulation across the globe in
    the 1990s, essentially all of them hived off their regulatory
    functions,[1] demutualized, and were floated on the markets -- many of
    them later merging with other exchanges, across types of securities,
    borders, and even oceans. (The Nasdaq was not a stock market, but
    rather, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated
    Quotation system, but it too was demutualized and spun off from the
    NASD as a for-profit business that later acquired markets in Europe.)

    -GAWollman

    [1] Finra is the union of the former regulatory arms of the New York
    Stock Exchange and the NASD.
    --
    Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can, wollman@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
    my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015) --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Cryptoengineer@petertrei@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sat Aug 1 22:52:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/1/2026 5:15 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67
    milliseconds just to get a signal from one side of the planet to
    the other. For instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa --
    those two cities being almost directly opposite each other.

    Yes, this is why the high volume traders have their data centers as
    close as possible to the market as they can... often within the same
    block, because the propagation delay is critical. 67 milliseconds
    is enough to get hundreds of trades through.

    Being closer to one market means you're further from another.

    Granted, 67 milliseconds is short by most standards. We've come
    a long way since the Battle of New Orleans was fought because the
    combatants didn't realize that the peace treaty had been signed 15
    days earlier.

    Some folks have been talking about HF radio links for high volume
    trading because the latency is lower than a satellite link or a
    non-direct leased line, and they have got funding and frequency
    allocations but they don't seem to be doing all that well.

    One problem with HF is the relatively low bandwidth. Another is that
    it's intermittent, depending on what the sun is doing. Yet another is
    that modern digital electronics tends to make lots of radio noise that
    jams faint signals.

    One advantage of HF is that fewer people are using it than used to.

    There are already at least a couple of arbitrage houses that have
    built microwave relay chains in as close to a Great Circle route
    between Chicago and NYC as possible. The trading computer sits half way
    along, and knows the prices in both markets before either end
    can hear from the other.

    They make bank, trading commodity futures contracts.

    pt

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Steve Hayes@hayesstw@telkomsa.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 05:50:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 10:23:27 +1000, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
    wrote:

    On 01/08/26 21:43, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    I don't understand how any jury can believe such evidence, but they
    often do.

    My experience as a juror left my with no trust at all in the jury
    system. What justice can you get from a bunch of people who ignore the >evidence and vote based on their gut feeling?

    I've heard it said that if you're guilty you should try to get a jury
    trial, but if innocent you should fight for a judge-only trial. That's
    based on an assumption that a jury will get it wrong.

    The book to read is:

    Paton, Alan. 1973 [1948] Cry, the beloved country. Harmondsworth:
    Penguin.
    ISBN: 0-14-001274-5
    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 09:40:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 16.43 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Lack of money for those who lose in the deal.

    That hardly convinces me that the system should be changed. You only
    win or lose because you play, and the players choose to play.

    Maybe they don't. When I bought my house, I took a loan in a financial institute. Technically they sell me some bonds which I then pay for each quarter. If a microdealer bought those bonds microseconds before my part
    was bought, they landed me with a higher debt for thirty years, and they
    drove up house prices everywhere making it more difficult for young
    people to get a house.

    You can argue that my buying a house is a gamble where I have to risk suffering a loss, but I see it as a normal way of getting a house to
    live in.

    Furthermore once in a while there will be a global, financial crisis
    which drains money from 'small' people for no reason at all except
    nervousness in investors. There was the it bubble and the housing bubble
    and there will be more to come.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 08:30:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt have
    the concept?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 08:31:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 20:05:22 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    I always found it peculiar that the gospels of Matthew and Luke
    spent so much time listing Joseph's lineage, when he supposedly
    wasn't related to Jesus at all.

    And that they disagreed on it.

    That happens with made-up stories all the time.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 11:41:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 10.30 skrev Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt have
    the concept?

    How could Einstein notice the theory of relativism if nobody knew about it?
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark
    Who is General Failure and why is he reading my drive?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 11:45:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didn't have
    the concept?

    By introspection?

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 12:28:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 10.30 skrev Lawrence D'Oliveiro:

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didn't have
    the concept?

    How could Einstein notice the theory of relativism if nobody knew about it?

    By trying very hard to run along with a light wave,
    and finding he couldn't, so it had to be an absolute,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 10:24:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 09:40:55 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 01.08.2026 kl. 16.43 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Lack of money for those who lose in the deal.

    That hardly convinces me that the system should be changed. You only
    win or lose because you play, and the players choose to play.

    Maybe they don't. When I bought my house, I took a loan in a financial >institute. Technically they sell me some bonds which I then pay for each >quarter. If a microdealer bought those bonds microseconds before my part
    was bought, they landed me with a higher debt for thirty years, and they >drove up house prices everywhere making it more difficult for young
    people to get a house.

    Never heard of that type of mortgage, but I'd hardly be familiar with
    how things might be done in other countries.

    In the US, one applies for a mortgage, receives an offer with
    specified terms, and - if the offer is accepted - those terms are held
    to. The only "surprise" is when the borrower has not read and
    understood the terms.

    I haven't applied for a mortgage in years, but when I did there were
    fixed rate and variable rate mortgages. With a fixed rate mortgage,
    the initial interest percent is never changed. With a variable rate,
    the interest percent can go up or down.

    When one applies here, the transaction is between the buyer and a
    financial institution. That financial institution can sell that
    mortgage to another financial institution, but the terms and interest
    do not change. On my last mortgage, I think at least five different
    firms owned the mortgage over the years.

    In the US, it's common to have the real estate taxes paid by the
    mortgage holder. The mortgage holder's monthly payment includes an
    amount added to escrow that pays the taxes. The real estate tax may
    vary over the years which means the mortgage payment changes.

    Some also have homeowner's insurance costs added to the mortgage
    payment, and that - too - can change and affect the monthly payment.

    Interest rate does not change, though, with a fixed mortgage.

    All above pertains only to standard mortgages with reputable financial institutions. It doesn't apply to situations where the borrower does
    not qualify for a standard mortgage, and may have to go to some firm
    or source that dictates non-standard terms.

    The general rule is that the more you need it, and the less qualified
    you are, the worse the terms will be.


    You can argue that my buying a house is a gamble where I have to risk >suffering a loss, but I see it as a normal way of getting a house to
    live in.

    Furthermore once in a while there will be a global, financial crisis
    which drains money from 'small' people for no reason at all except >nervousness in investors. There was the it bubble and the housing bubble
    and there will be more to come.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 18:23:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 16.24 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Maybe they don't. When I bought my house, I took a loan in a financial
    institute. Technically they sell me some bonds which I then pay for each
    quarter. If a microdealer bought those bonds microseconds before my part
    was bought, they landed me with a higher debt for thirty years, and they
    drove up house prices everywhere making it more difficult for young
    people to get a house.

    Never heard of that type of mortgage, but I'd hardly be familiar with
    how things might be done in other countries.

    In the US, one applies for a mortgage, receives an offer with
    specified terms, and - if the offer is accepted - those terms are held
    to. The only "surprise" is when the borrower has not read and
    understood the terms.

    I can negotiate the mortgage with my bank (who represents the real
    estate financial company) but it's the price on the day that decides
    what it will cost. I chose a fixed interest of 1.5% which was possible
    at the time - a lucky time for me.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark
    Who is General Failure and why is he reading my drive?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 13:29:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 18:23:50 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 16.24 skrev Tony Cooper:

    Maybe they don't. When I bought my house, I took a loan in a financial
    institute. Technically they sell me some bonds which I then pay for each >>> quarter. If a microdealer bought those bonds microseconds before my part >>> was bought, they landed me with a higher debt for thirty years, and they >>> drove up house prices everywhere making it more difficult for young
    people to get a house.

    Never heard of that type of mortgage, but I'd hardly be familiar with
    how things might be done in other countries.

    In the US, one applies for a mortgage, receives an offer with
    specified terms, and - if the offer is accepted - those terms are held
    to. The only "surprise" is when the borrower has not read and
    understood the terms.

    I can negotiate the mortgage with my bank (who represents the real
    estate financial company) but it's the price on the day that decides
    what it will cost. I chose a fixed interest of 1.5% which was possible
    at the time - a lucky time for me.


    I'm not sure on what "the day" means in that. In the US, you apply
    for a mortage, receive an offer with the interest rate stated, and -
    if you accept that - the mortgage goes through at that rate.

    You may actually close several days later, and it's at closing that
    the money transfers. If the prevailing interest rate changes between
    the offer/acceptance, what was in the offer is the interest rate, not
    the current rate.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 12:41:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/2/2026 1:30 AM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th
    century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt have
    the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting
    one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Keith F. Lynch@kfl@KeithLynch.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 19:49:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt
    have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting
    one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 21:57:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 19.29 skrev Tony Cooper:

    I can negotiate the mortgage with my bank (who represents the real
    estate financial company) but it's the price on the day that decides
    what it will cost. I chose a fixed interest of 1.5% which was possible
    at the time - a lucky time for me.


    I'm not sure on what "the day" means in that. In the US, you apply
    for a mortage, receive an offer with the interest rate stated, and -
    if you accept that - the mortgage goes through at that rate.

    You may actually close several days later, and it's at closing that
    the money transfers. If the prevailing interest rate changes between
    the offer/acceptance, what was in the offer is the interest rate, not
    the current rate.

    The primary point is that it's stock exchange activities that decide
    which price we pay for our houses no matter when the price is set.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark
    Who is General Failure and why is he reading my drive?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 21:59:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 21.49 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting
    one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They looked at their bank statements?
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark
    Who is General Failure and why is he reading my drive?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 22:03:30 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 21.49 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    Serious answer:

    https://nrich.maths.org/articles/history-negative-numbers

    Although the first set of rules for dealing with negative
    numbers was stated in the 7th century by the Indian
    mathematician Brahmagupta

    Smart guy, that Brahmagupta. He probably kept on subtracting units from
    a set of 0 members and realised that such situations also needed to have numbers.

    If he knew algebra, he might have wondered how to solve:

    7 + x = 3
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark
    Who is General Failure and why is he reading my drive?

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tony Cooper@tonycooper214@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 16:33:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 21:57:59 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 19.29 skrev Tony Cooper:

    I can negotiate the mortgage with my bank (who represents the real
    estate financial company) but it's the price on the day that decides
    what it will cost. I chose a fixed interest of 1.5% which was possible
    at the time - a lucky time for me.


    I'm not sure on what "the day" means in that. In the US, you apply
    for a mortage, receive an offer with the interest rate stated, and -
    if you accept that - the mortgage goes through at that rate.

    You may actually close several days later, and it's at closing that
    the money transfers. If the prevailing interest rate changes between
    the offer/acceptance, what was in the offer is the interest rate, not
    the current rate.

    The primary point is that it's stock exchange activities that decide
    which price we pay for our houses no matter when the price is set.

    I think that's a rather broad statement. Some effect, maybe.

    Home prices in the US are more affected by the direct costs of
    building a home. Trump's tariffs raise the price on building
    material, and Trump's policies on removing immigrants reduces the
    labor market. While building a house requires skilled labor, it also
    requires non-skilled labor support labor.

    Increased costs to build new homes increases the price of the re-sale
    market of existing homes.

    Mortgage rates have an effect, and the stock market may have some
    effect on that. Mostly, though, mortgage interest rates in the US
    follow the yield on US 10-year Treasury notes. The higher the yield,
    the higher interest rates go because the institutions can obtain
    better return and lower risk by investing in T-notes. Less funds
    available.

    What is done where you are may differ.



    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 16:40:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt
    have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting
    one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They never did. They had to invent them out of whole cloth.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kerr-Mudd, John@admin@127.0.0.1 to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 22:07:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 21:59:00 +0200
    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 21.49 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting >> one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They looked at their bank statements?

    I don't wish to be negative, but I have zero interest in this.
    --
    Bah, and indeed Humbug.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kerr-Mudd, John@admin@127.0.0.1 to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Sun Aug 2 22:09:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 16:40:59 -0400 (EDT)
    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didn|ore4raot >>> have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting >> one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing
    one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They never did. They had to invent them out of whole cloth.

    The Emperor's clothes are negative!
    --
    Bah, and indeed Humbug.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 05:45:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 11:41:03 +0200, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:

    How could Einstein notice the theory of relativism if nobody knew
    about it?

    Not clear what this rCLtheory of relativismrCY is of which you speak.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 05:47:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 12:41:12 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/2/2026 1:30 AM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have the
    concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the
    7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didnrCOt
    have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects,
    subtracting one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one,
    then removing one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to
    record what was left.

    But above it was said rCLthey couldnrCOt notice that it was missing if
    they didnrCOt have the conceptrCY.

    So clearly, rCLtheyrCY could indeed notice such a thing, so the claim was wrong.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 16:04:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 03/08/26 15:47, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 12:41:12 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/2/2026 1:30 AM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:53:42 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    They couldn't notice that it was missing if they didn't have
    the concept.

    And indeed they did not. Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in
    the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they
    didnrCOt have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects,
    subtracting one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to
    one, then removing one more, and realizing there needed to be a way
    to record what was left.

    But above it was said rCLthey couldnrCOt notice that it was missing if
    they didnrCOt have the conceptrCY.

    So clearly, rCLtheyrCY could indeed notice such a thing, so the claim
    was wrong.

    Which "they" do you mean? The set of people as smart as Brahmagupta, or
    the wider population?

    People with the abiility to come up with a new concept don't appear all
    that often.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 10:41:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Kerr-Mudd, John <admin@127.0.0.1> wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 21:59:00 +0200
    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 02.08.2026 kl. 21.49 skrev Keith F. Lynch:

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting >> one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing >> one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They looked at their bank statements?

    I don't wish to be negative, but I have zero interest in this.

    Now that is unnatural,

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 10:41:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    On Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:36:28 +0200, "Anders D. Nygaard" <news2012adn@google.com> wrote:

    On 7/22/2026 9:21 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    But that generation passed, and the next generation either did not
    notice, or if it noticved, did not care how 'offensive' the Russian
    Federation would consider it to be

    [Line break inserted to highlight the claim I reacted to]
    if Nato put missiles in Ukraine,
    thereby provoking the Russian Federation to invade Ukraine,

    IIRC, Russia invaded before NATO began selling missiles to Ukraine.

    It was what those in the trade like to refer to as a "preemptive
    strike".

    Please do not move the goalposts.

    Please clarify where you put them.

    Please Steve, we know by now that you are an unstoppable source
    of second-hand Russian propaganda,
    but AUE really isn't the right place for dumping it,

    Jan


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 10:41:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Kerr-Mudd, John <admin@127.0.0.1> wrote:

    On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 16:40:59 -0400 (EDT)
    kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Zero was invented by Brahmagupta in the 7th century.

    So how did this Brahmagupta notice it was missing, if they didn|ore4raot
    have the concept?

    Speculation: By looking at, and counting, physical objects, subtracting >> one (removing an object) repeatedly until he got to one, then removing >> one more, and realizing there needed to be a way to record what was left.

    Plausible. But then how did anyone discover negative numbers?

    They never did. They had to invent them out of whole cloth.

    The Emperor's clothes are negative!

    If they weigh enough he might float away!

    Jan
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bertel Lund Hansen@rundtosset@lundhansen.dk to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 15:30:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Den 03.08.2026 kl. 07.45 skrev Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    How could Einstein notice the theory of relativism if nobody knew
    about it?

    Not clear what this rCLtheory of relativismrCY is of which you speak.

    Maybe "relativity" is the right word.
    --
    Bertel, Kolt, Danmark


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Radey Shouman@shouman@comcast.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 13:05:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> writes:

    Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> wrote:
    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Add the people who have scores of computers set up to make deals on >>>>> the stock market every microsecond.

    I do not understand why stock markets permit this kind of trading.

    Neither do I. According to Preben Wilhjelm the Saxo Bank every day
    has more money passing through than our BNP, and none of the money
    do anything useful.

    I don't understand the objection.

    The people making the trades are individuals who make their living
    (or try to) by stock trades. What detrimental effect does that have
    on anyone else?

    I too don't understand the objection.

    "Microsecond" is a great exaggeration. It takes about 67 milliseconds
    just to get a signal from one side of the planet to the other. For
    instance from Madrid to Wellington or vice versa -- those two cities
    being almost directly opposite each other.

    Not an exaggeration at all. Algorithmic trading servers are placed as
    close as possible to exchange servers to minimize the time it takes to
    register a trade. Meters, not kilometers. Search for stock trading "co-location".
    --

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From nospam@nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 21:21:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:

    Den 03.08.2026 kl. 07.45 skrev Lawrence D'Oliveiro:

    How could Einstein notice the theory of relativism if nobody knew
    about it?

    Not clear what this "theory of relativism" is of which you speak.

    Maybe "relativity" is the right word.

    You don't 'notice' a physical theory,

    Jan

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Aidan Kehoe@kehoea@parhasard.net to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Mon Aug 3 20:58:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom


    Ar an s|-|| l|i is fiche de m|! I||il, scr|!obh Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:34:07 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:

    The current Russian line is to promote the Orthodox Church, with
    Russia as the last bastion of true Christian values, and a mission
    to correct Western decadence. The term to search is 'Russkiy Mir'
    (Russian World)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_world

    Its proposals are very parallel to MAGA's.

    Religion and Fascism do often tend to go together, donrCOt they?

    And what we learned from the Spanish civil war (and the Russian revolution, and other examples) is that atheism and communism also tend to go together. Do you believe in God? If not (and even if so), would you happy for your beliefs to be judged to be communist for that reason?
    --
    rCyAs I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
    How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stoutrCO
    (C. Moore)
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 02:58:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all other
    gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right on
    the second.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 14:34:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 04/08/26 05:58, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    And what we learned from the Spanish civil war (and the Russian
    revolution, and other examples) is that atheism and communism also
    tend to go together.

    Since those times communism has decllined markedly. Meanwhile, the
    census figures I've seen suggest that in the Western democracies all
    religions except Islam are losing followers. (The numbers for Islam are
    being propped up by migration, I think.) Religion still prospers in the
    poorer countries, but they tend to be socialist rather than communist.

    So, with the number of atheists increasing and the number of communists falling, I suggest that it's becoming harder to claim a correlation
    between the two.

    Do you believe in God?

    Which one? Well, it doesn't matter, because I disbelieve in all of them.

    If not (and even if so), would you happy for your beliefs to be
    judged to be communist for that reason?

    As a person with left-wing leanings, I'm used to being insulted by the
    right.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From djheydt@djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 05:01:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    In article <114rkhh$1qqv0$2@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:
    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all other
    gods are false.

    [Hal Heydt]
    So... You are restricting the field of discourse to monotheist
    religions. Any reason for doing that?

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right on
    the second.

    Agreed.

    All of this overlooks the initial problem of defining the
    characteristics of the god or gods.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 06:45:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 05:01:41 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    In article <114rkhh$1qqv0$2@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D|+Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all
    other gods are false.

    So... You are restricting the field of discourse to monotheist
    religions.

    You really think that, on Usenet, I (or anyone else) can rCLrestrictrCY
    anybody from talking about whatever the hell they like?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Peter Moylan@peter@pmoylan.org to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 16:53:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 04/08/26 15:01, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    All of this overlooks the initial problem of defining the
    characteristics of the god or gods.

    One thing that's clear is that the older gods were more powerful than
    modern gods. For example, Joshua's god was able to stop the sun in its
    path. That was only possible because the earth was the centre of the
    universe. Any such attempt would be catastrophic after the heliocentric universe was invented.

    But miracles were very common back then. Now, a miracle can happen only
    if no trained observers are present.
    --
    Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
    Newcastle, NSW
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 09:22:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 03/08/2026 |a 20:58, Aidan Kehoe a |-crit :
    Ar an s|-|| l|i is fiche de m|! I||il, scr|!obh Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:
    > On Sun, 26 Jul 2026 12:34:07 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
    >
    > > The current Russian line is to promote the Orthodox Church, with
    > > Russia as the last bastion of true Christian values, and a mission
    > > to correct Western decadence. The term to search is 'Russkiy Mir'
    > > (Russian World)
    > >
    > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_world
    > >
    > > Its proposals are very parallel to MAGA's.
    >
    > Religion and Fascism do often tend to go together, donrCOt they?

    And what we learned from the Spanish civil war (and the Russian revolution, and
    other examples) is that atheism and communism also tend to go together. Do you
    believe in God? If not (and even if so), would you happy for your beliefs to be
    judged to be communist for that reason?


    Man invented God, not just to explain the Universe, but also as an
    instrument of power, to control other men. Some regimes use God in this
    way, and some don't. In France, for example, God was toppled along with
    the monarchy and the aristocracy, and the State now gets along without Him.

    If an omnipotent and omnipresent God really existed, and took an
    interest in humanity (which seems unlikely, given how mind-bogglingly
    tiny we are in His Universe), I don't think He'd put up with all the intermediaries we have at present. All the bishops and imams and rabbis preaching different things - ridiculous! No, such a God would take over
    Truth Social and be contactable directly.

    And such a God would be politically useless.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 08:35:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 16:53:43 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:

    One thing that's clear is that the older gods were more powerful
    than modern gods. For example, Joshua's god was able to stop the sun
    in its path. That was only possible because the earth was the centre
    of the universe. Any such attempt would be catastrophic after the heliocentric universe was invented.

    But miracles were very common back then. Now, a miracle can happen
    only if no trained observers are present.

    Of course I immediately thought of this rCLRussellrCOs TeapotrCY strip: <https://imgur.com/PHTl6>.

    The whole collection
    <https://imgur.com/a/russells-teapot-comics-FWkCB#0> has some very
    pointed observations on religion in general, and Christianity in
    particular.

    I was thinking about what the definition of rCLmiraclerCY must be: an
    obvious one would be rCLsome phenomenon that is contrary to the laws of sciencerCY. But I feel thatrCOs not strong enough. Because scientists are
    quite wily folk, and are quite capable of coming up with some theory
    in future that shows that some past rCLmiraclerCY wasnrCOt a miracle at all, just some hitherto-unknown natural phenomenon.

    To guard against this, the definition of rCLmiraclerCY must rule out any potential future invalidation of the miraculousness of the miracle. So
    it needs to be more like rCLsome phenomenon that is contrary to the laws
    of science, not just as they are known now, but also in any way that
    they could be possibly be discovered to be in the futurerCY.

    Of course, this rCLstrongrCY definition of a miracle leads to some
    interesting logical conclusions ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 08:40:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 09:22:14 +0100, Hibou wrote:

    If an omnipotent and omnipresent God really existed, and took an
    interest in humanity (which seems unlikely, given how
    mind-bogglingly tiny we are in His Universe), I don't think He'd put
    up with all the intermediaries we have at present. All the bishops
    and imams and rabbis preaching different things - ridiculous! No,
    such a God would take over Truth Social and be contactable directly.

    The usual excuse for rejecting such an argument is the hoary old rCLbut
    itrCOs all part of GodrCOs mysterious plan, donrCOt you knowrCY. Overlooking the fact that an omnipotent being doesnrCOt *need* to have a plan ...
    for anything.

    And such a God would be politically useless.

    There was this SF story I read once, where rCLGodrCY was actually a
    component of all matter, that could be isolated in a chemically-pure
    form. This led to some happenings (miracles etc) which many people in
    authority (religious and otherwise) found highly disturbing.

    I canrCOt remember how it ended ... most likely with the banning of the manufacture of the substance ...
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 10:43:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 04/08/2026 |a 09:40, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro a |-crit :
    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 09:22:14 +0100, Hibou wrote:

    If an omnipotent and omnipresent God really existed, and took an
    interest in humanity (which seems unlikely, given how
    mind-bogglingly tiny we are in His Universe), I don't think He'd put
    up with all the intermediaries we have at present. All the bishops
    and imams and rabbis preaching different things - ridiculous! No,
    such a God would take over Truth Social and be contactable directly.

    The usual excuse for rejecting such an argument is the hoary old rCLbut itrCOs all part of GodrCOs mysterious plan, donrCOt you knowrCY.


    When an animated speck of dust asserts that the Infinite has a
    mysterious plan, the appropriate response is a sympathetic smile and, as
    soon as the speck has looked away, a finger tapped on the side of the head.

    Overlooking
    the fact that an omnipotent being doesnrCOt *need* to have a plan ...
    for anything. [...]

    An immutable God is effectively frozen, cannot think and cannot act -
    so, yes indeed, He has no need of a plan.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Hibou@vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 11:09:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Le 04/08/2026 |a 10:43, Hibou a |-crit :

    An immutable God is effectively frozen, cannot think and cannot act -
    so, yes indeed, He has no need of a plan.


    Not for Himself, anyway. For us, perhaps. Shame it's a secret.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 10:45:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/3/2026 7:58 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all other
    gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right on
    the second.

    You're only talking about monotheists.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 10:49:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/3/2026 11:53 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
    On 04/08/26 15:01, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

    All of this overlooks the initial problem of defining the
    characteristics of the god or gods.

    One thing that's clear is that the older gods were more powerful than
    modern gods. For example, Joshua's god was able to stop the sun in its
    path. That was only possible because the earth was the centre of the universe. Any such attempt would be catastrophic after the heliocentric universe was invented.

    But miracles were very common back then. Now, a miracle can happen only
    if no trained observers are present.


    I will point out that most, if not all, of those stories were told
    generations after the alleged events described.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 20:27:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    It doesn't really matter. It only matters whether God believes in you.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Tue Aug 4 20:29:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:

    But miracles were very common back then. Now, a miracle can happen only
    if no trained observers are present.

    Miracles happen every day. It's tomato season.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Aug 5 00:41:17 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 10:49:22 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/3/2026 11:53 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:

    But miracles were very common back then. Now, a miracle can happen
    only if no trained observers are present.

    I will point out that most, if not all, of those stories were told generations after the alleged events described.

    Yes, but the validity of the stories in the holy books is considered
    beyond question, for some reason. rCLCenturies of misguided believers
    canrCOt be wrongrCY ...?
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Aug 5 00:43:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 10:45:38 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/3/2026 7:58 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all
    other gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right
    on the second.

    You're only talking about monotheists.

    You would hope so. But IrCOm sorry to say, I see some elements of rCLmy religious belief is morally superior to yoursrCY start to infect even
    adherents of Hinduism and Buddhism, in certain parts of the world.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Evelyn C. Leeper@evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Aug 5 07:01:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/4/26 20:43, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 10:45:38 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/3/2026 7:58 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all
    other gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right
    on the second.

    You're only talking about monotheists.

    You would hope so. But IrCOm sorry to say, I see some elements of rCLmy religious belief is morally superior to yoursrCY start to infect even adherents of Hinduism and Buddhism, in certain parts of the world.

    There is a difference between what Tim said and what you seem to be
    responding to.

    Tim said that when each goddist religion says their god is the only true
    god, they canrCOt all be right, but when they say all other gods are
    false, they *can* all be right.

    You are making some statement about beliefs in moral superiority of
    religions, not in beliefs in a god or gods.
    --
    Evelyn C. Leeper, http://leepers.us/evelyn
    Call me crazy but maybe two men who fathered 17 children with
    6 different women between them shouldn't be lecturing us about
    family values. --@rajazohaibmehtab
    86 47 II/4 25
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Tim Merrigan@tppm@ca.rr.com to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Aug 5 11:42:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On 8/5/2026 4:01 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
    On 8/4/26 20:43, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 10:45:38 -0700, Tim Merrigan wrote:

    On 8/3/2026 7:58 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    On Mon, 03 Aug 2026 20:58:59 +0100, Aidan Kehoe wrote:

    Do you believe in God?

    Do Goddists themselves believe in god?

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all
    other gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right
    on the second.

    You're only talking about monotheists.

    You would hope so. But IrCOm sorry to say, I see some elements of rCLmy
    religious belief is morally superior to yoursrCY start to infect even
    adherents of Hinduism and Buddhism, in certain parts of the world.

    There is a difference between what Tim said and what you seem to be responding to.

    Tim said that when each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, they canrCOt all be right, but when they say all other gods are
    false, they *can* all be right.

    You are making some statement about beliefs in moral superiority of religions, not in beliefs in a god or gods.


    Actually that wasn't me. I said they were only talking about monotheists.

    Not that there aren't "one true way" poli and pan theists (Narendra Modi
    and the BJP come to mind), but the OP WAS only talking about monotheists.
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
    www.avg.com
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Wed Aug 5 22:13:58 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Tue, 4 Aug 2026 08:40:01 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

    There was this SF story I read once, where rCLGodrCY was actually a
    component of all matter, that could be isolated in a chemically-pure
    form. This led to some happenings (miracles etc) which many people
    in authority (religious and otherwise) found highly disturbing.

    rCLThe Absolute At LargerCY by Karel -iapek (yes, the same guy behind rCLRossumrCOs Universal RobotsrCY, which popularized the term rCLRobotrCY) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absolute_at_Large>.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.fandom on Thu Aug 6 06:50:14 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

    On Wed, 5 Aug 2026 07:01:37 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

    On 8/3/2026 7:58 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Each goddist religion says their god is the only true god, all
    other gods are false.

    They canrCOt all be right on the first point, they can all be right
    on the second.

    Tim said that when each goddist religion says their god is the only
    true god, they canrCOt all be right, but when they say all other gods
    are false, they *can* all be right.

    No, thatrCOs what I said.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2