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The Banter Page
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If you're wanting to get something off your chest, make general comments about the server, or post lonely hearts ads, then this is the place for you.
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MC who ?
I'm afraid you are simply MC 5 on my shortcuts - having taken over the slot originally available for Huxley's late lamented site.
None
MC5 is kinda cool! Like the site, honest and understated. Gets my vote.
RabMC!
Actually, it'd probably be MC 8 by that standard, assuming you include Delphi, YAMCS, and Beer-Powered.

It's been RabMC in my bookmarks since the original announcement.
Five alive
MC5, or perhaps MC5 for that element of millenial chic, might do the job.
Up the arts
And one could also go up that poncey TeX route and insist that the official pronunciation is "mukf" or something... Sorry if that means nothing to most people
None
Yup. Lost on me. MC5 Is good!

Is York! down? I can't get it at the moment...
Whizzy whizzy whizzy
My first post from my new whizzy laptop. Hurrah. Should make maintenance of this site much more easier...

[BtD] Can't get to !York, and I'm on an .ac.uk domain so it's either a server problem, or it's bitten the dust (though if the latter, I reckon jim would've told us.

MC5
As E=mc2 then perhaps Ec3 would be enigmatically fitting.
Empsey Five
Yeah, I like MC5, too. Sounds like a mobile phone network. Not that my opinion counts as I'm hardly ever here.
millennialism
Actually you could make it even more modish, by going lowercase... mc5
yay!
Yay for whizzy laptops!
Right
Looks like mc5 it is then. Hmmm... hadn't catered for the possibility of markup in page titles, so I've got a bit of tinkering to do. But laptop+weekend might make this a possibility.
Ec3
Of course EC3 is an area of London - unfortunately not the one that includes M.C. itself. It is in fact the the area around The Tower.
MC5
MC5 is a great name, but there are 4 musicians from the sixties who might hold claim to ownership of that name. Not that any of them are probably in any state to understand any more. Yay! Kick Out The Jams!
Alperton Einstein
Blob] I’m no mathmagician, but does this mean that mc= √e?
er..
Only if e=(mc)2 - which I don't believe it does.
m5, see?
Finally got round to dropping back in! Going good still - yay!
mc(hup)5 has a ring to it alright... [snorgle] you asked a while back about while phrases come out as colours - I recall a conversation in depth about it elsewhere - can't remmber the server but I read Orange, !York and Outer Space regularly so a search of the full text of their chat games might illuminate (or at least colour-in)
What I remember as the reason is that the first six letters are converted to hex and used as the colour code... not sure if there's more to it than that...
Colours
I think it was MCiOS, but I can't be sure.
Hello!
Has anyone else caught on to 'Celebdaq', the fantasy celebrity stock exchange hosted by BBCi? I'm checking my portfolio every 20 minutes and have already had to ditch all my Jude Law shares this morning. Catherine Zeta-Jones is performing well though - dhe made me about £50 overnight.
Well, Hello!
[pen] No, but sounds a lot more lucrative than the real thing.

Just thought I'd share the latest bit of highly targetted advertising to land in my mailbox, which will make sense to those of you who've met me:

Be Beautiful - Get everything you need for fabulous curly hair. Treat your hair to Curl Friends and get everything you need to achieve bouncy, super soft curls with incredible definition and flawlessly fine shine. Curl Friends caters to your curls concerns with specially formulated hair cures that work great in any combination without weighing hair down. Need more shine, less frizz, something to fend off the fly always? Curl Friends has got you covered with products designed especially for the particular needs of curly hair.
continues in this vein for about half an hour....
Hair
[rab] I just got that one too...
Sell, sell, sell
[pen]Thanks for the tip, I bought some celebs earlier today, I'm down £133 already, but I hope to stop this with Anthony Hopkins.
celebdaq
Yay! I've moved from 71,000th-ish on the leaderboard when I started a week ago to 22,238th today! I've made £7,500 in a week. Now I'm just waiting for my Tony Blackburn shares to go up...
share & enjoy
[pen] looks like great fun - shame the site runs soooo slow (or is that just me?).
Celebs
Here's a link to it.
maintenace
Everytime I've tried to sell this morning, a message appears about the market being suspended for regular maintenace, I want to sell Christina Hamilton and buy Daniel Day Lewis. I'm stumbling around placing 83300.
celeb no go
I can't even log in at the moment. The title page appears so quickly but anything after that times out.
Ditto
I'm having the same problem.
Working now
. . . and my Nicole Kidman shares are doing very nicely. Daniel Day Lewis up 1p and judging by the current news, I'm glad I bought some Victoria Beckham.
celebrities
I guess that after the weekend's TV exposure, the site is experiencing more traffic than usual. I can't even get the log-in page right now. Try late at night when all the bored dweebs have left the office!
celabrities (sp)
Wish I'd bought Beckham and Fergie at the weekend when I saw Man U were going down the pan. Should have guessed that the mad old Scotsman would have a news-making strop. Of course, to do so would have required me to remember my password...
Password
I had trouble with my password - until I found both your password and username are case sensitive.
Buy! Buy! Buy!
BTW chaps, remember that you have to have been in possession of your shares for at least two and a half days (I think that's right) to qualify for the dividends, paid out on the basis of column inches at the end of every week. So don't expect to get paid dividends on anything bought after this lunchtime (Weds). On the other hand, if you can sell something that's in great demand at a profit and find another escalating share to invest in this week, then you're doing very well. I don't even know who half these people are...
ranked 45768
So far a gain in the last week of 7.91% I have various shares in Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta Jones, David Beckham, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Imbruglia and Daniel Day Lewis, most of them as a result of buying the first name on the ticker tape. The first two days I had Sadie Frost but sold her as soon as her name disappeared, there seem to be a lot of pop idol movement on Will Young and Ms Dynamite at the moment, but that probably has to do with the up and coming Brit Awards. pen]can you explain what kneecapping is?
ranked 59829
Disappointed in my Eminem shares - dropping rather badly. Reasonable gains in Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin (who gain some column inches due to breaking up). Glad I grabbed some Alex Ferguson shares though - up 11% since purchase. Even Charlotte Church has gone up 5%. [Kneecapping] Isn't that when you get over one million, they give you a boat icon and knock your cash back to 10000?
An economist writes....
An interesting thing about this market is that they have set up a (real, cash) reward for the person who gets the best weekly improvement in their portfolio. If people are motivated by this reward, rather than the fictional one of wanting to have a high-valued portfolio, then they will adopt very different trading strategies. For example, if you want a chance for the cash prize, you should be going for very high-risk investments, since you don't care about the downside if they go through the floor, but they give you the best chance of the (real, cash) upside.
Music Meastro?...
The Brit Awards have been going on tonight looking at the list of winners I am little suprised at the industry bemoaning poor record sales. I put this down to the companies here pandering to the short term pop idol market which does not create a large fan base or following. I do have faith that there are good performers and songwriters out there which is why I am pleased to see awards for Coldplay and Ms Dynamite. The award ceremony being notable from the list of major absentees
BRITISH MALE SOLO ARTIST Robbie Williams, BRITISH FEMALE SOLO ARTIST Ms Dynamite,BRITISH ALBUM Coldplay: Rush of Blood to the Head,BRITISH GROUP Coldplay Parlophone,BRITISH SINGLE Liberty X: Just A Little,BRITISH URBAN ACT Ms Dynamite,BRITISH DANCE ACT Sugababes,BRITISH BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST Will Young,POP ACT Blue, INTERNATIONAL MALE SOLO ARTIST Eminem,INTERNATIONAL FEMALE SOLO ARTIST P!nk,INTERNATIONAL ALBUM Eminem: The Eminem Show,INTERNATIONAL GROUP Red Hot Chili Peppers,INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST Norah Jones,OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC Tom Jones V2
Missy D?
Ms Dynamite - not convinced. Seems to be able to rap, but can't sing for toffee. The chorus for her song Miss Dynamite-ee-eeee or whatever is nabbed from somewhere else (forget where now), and the backing vocals are nicked from 'Pass the dutchie on the left hand side' (no joke). Robbie Williams was a surprise, especially considering the quality (or lack of) of his last album. Liked Swing when you're winning though. Eminem. Well, I'm just not going to go there. Tom Jones - yay. Norah Jones, well I fancy her, and her the bits of songs that I've heard are good as well. Will Young. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Coldplay - could be worse. Sugababes - well, would have gone for Jamiroqui myself, but I haven't a clue what Sugababes have done. Red Hot Chili Peppers - aren't they like years old? Or am I getting mixed up? Blue - who? Liberty X - don't care.

Thus spake the classically changed musician who knows nothing about popular culture :)
money, money, money
Graham III] There used to be Brit Awards for classical music, do you have nominees for this year? ie British album , International Album .. etc?

Divi payout on celebdaq absolutely thousands, time to buy some Jacko and Chris Martin. Ranked 10278 worth £36032 +260.32%.

classics from the attic
Last years Brit categories
  1. Contemporary music award
  2. Female artist of the year
  3. Male artist of the year
  4. Ensemble/orchestral album of the year
  5. Young British classical performer
  6. Rover album of the year
  7. Biggest selling classical album in the UK
    Critics award
  8. Outstanding contribution to music award 2002 - Andrea Bocelli.
Callousical Brits
Give me the Gramophone awards any day... I don't keep up with the reviews, so I don't really know.

Celebdaq - started at 5 o'clock, was listening to 5 live, and got the Brit award winners within minutes of them being announced, so quite cheap. Only Eminem hasn't performed... Currently lying 30000ish but early days.
Brits
Coldplay is possibly the most overrated band at the moment. Which makes a change from Oasis, I guess. Anyway, this kind of thing is always subjective. Meanwhile: The new Massive Attack album sounds like middle-period Cure. Discuss.
Brits
Hmm, well I'm officially outside the age span they market singles to by a long way, so I'm not surprised there are bands on there I've never heard of. As for the Chilli Peppers, the band has been going a long time, but they're now off drugs and producing more succesful albums again, so it's more of a comeback thing. Oh, and I had Ms Dynamite for the Celebdaq thing ages ago, as I was sure she was going to come out with comments on Dubyas planned party in the gulf sooner or later.
modishness
Ages ago we were talking about the "brand" for this site and settled, it seems, on mc5 - at the time I created an illustration of what I meant by that modishness, but couldn't upload it till now...
Cedition
Actually, it's just occured to me that you could be even more economical and just add a cedilla: mç
titles, hits and misses
[Projoy] very nice. The font reminds me of those Cherry Lips sweets you used to get that would cement your jaws together.
Another tale of woe from the dating front. Just been out on another first date... he drank seven pints and I had a single glass of wine. He sang along (badly) to my Elvis CD on the way home. He had a great time, wants to see me again and invited me to a rugby weekend in Amsterdam (among other things). I've stalled him for the moment, telling him to call me in the week when he's sober. In the meantime, your opinions please... is it bad manners to drink a considerable amount like that on a first date? I'm hoping he's lost my number already!
mc5
Rab] - thats fantastic:o)
Pen]He's obviously comfortable with himself - however, seven pints on a first date? Either he needed to steady his beating heart or he is just rude. Ditch him. Or go with him to Amsterdam and discover the truth...
Fantasm
[BtD] I suspect that comment may have been directed at Projoy. I may steal that image and incorporate it somehow, if that's ok.
Dinks
I think even I would hesitate to drink seven pints on a first date.
Uploads
Just done some uploads, but I'm not sure it's necessarily working properly as my auto-update tool isn't doing what it's told. Erse.
Nevertheless
It still seems to be working so I guess we're in business. For now, at least.
Dates
[Penelope] I think drinking politely in small groups requires no one party to get too far ahead of the other, so yes, I'd say he was being rude. If you don't like him, perhaps you should just say so. I went on a blind date about eighty years ago and I told the person that it would just be a waste of both our times if we were to meet again. It was the honest approach and of course I didn't have to go through that rigmarole of letting them down gently. Btw, my recommendation for future first dates is not to have them at all and start with the second! :)
Dates again
Just come back from a first date myself. One glass of wine each, and it seemed to go ok! I agree with Thos though, skip the first date and start with the third. Better still go out with someone you know quite well already...
MC5
Erm, yes, Projoy - very nice logo.
Any fellow music lovers may find the reviews on this page interesting. Apologies for cross-posting.
Date the Third
And what if I told you that my best hope of making a good impression was to go out with someone who had never met me before and knew nothing about me? ;o) Seriously, I think he's a bit of a tit and if he calls me I'll respond along the lines Thos suggested.
Mariella
[pen] Giving this some thought I found myself going into Mariella mode, namely that it's probably not the drinking that's the problem, but it's the person that's the problem. You seem to have reached this conclusion independently, so I'll just shut up and let you get on with your quest.
no logo
[rab] But of course! Hm. Looks like you might need a version with the same grey background, or perhaps a transparent gif version. Will see what I can do this week.
Um
The version above is supposed to be a transparent PNG, so it may be the case that your browser doesn't support them. (I know this to be the case for at least one version of Internet Explorer on Windows, for example).
png but no pong
My browser is IE 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp1.020828-1920 if it helps.
None
Or, indeed, if it matters, which it probably doesn't, on reflection.
None
[Projoy] Maybe not. I think I know how to fix it so it works everywhere... but really I think IE should display transparancies properly, for goodness sake!
Transparencies
[rab, Pjy] I've got IE6, Mozilla and Opera on this computer. Only Opera renders the transparency correctly, both IE6 and Mozilla putting the logo in a little white oblong.
Correction
Sorry - I was maligning Mozilla unfoundedly - it gets it right too. I could explain why I thought it didn't ut it's too boring.
Bum
Interestingly IE 5.2 on this Mac renders it fine,
IE6
IE6 PC - not working as a transparency.
Writ Large
Sir, my client, one Projoy, of no fixed abode, cyberspace, has advised me that whilst he is agreeable, in principle, to your usage of his patented MC5 motif for the purposary useage of enadvertisementation he must insistify on appropriate counter-enroyaltied remuneratory recompensite consideration. He has accordingly placed the matter in our ten hands. Messrs Thos, Thos, Thos and Salteron are otherwise businessingly engagemented so our Mr Thos is dealing with this matter personally. It is our contentioned argumentary position that the artistic loss suffered by our client by cause of repeated sight of the enmotifary logomark by divers cybertravellers and the subsequentary enboredomulation that transpirifies is worth a caramac in anyone's promisery note-based mechanism of exchangification of goods, chattels and servicements. Please provide the consequentarily invoiced confectionables forthwith or we'll send the lads round.
soppy rite
[Thos, Thos, Thos, Thos and Salterton] You're fired. But I still want that Caramac.
cooldom
I forget to mention that that's one classy logo.

That's one classy logo.
Defence
[Thos, Thos, Thos, Thos and Salterton] I intend to put credits on this site somewhere at some point. I shall also present you with a coconut next time our paths may cross.
A design pedant writes
But what about the said Caramac?
Writ Largesse
[Rab] Our services having been dispenserated with by our former client, one Projoy, we are now in the market for representing respected cyberdesigners who have unwittingly been envictimisatified by logomarketeers with one eye on the main chance who hoped to enbully innocent personages such as yourself in order to achieve the procuralment of caramacalised chocolate substitutements for personal and weight gain purposes by means of legalisationed enmissivement from a firm of solicitors. Would you therefore be enwilling to commissionalise us to serve counterclaimary documentation to this character of ungrateful malefactory bearing? p.p. Thos for Thos, Thos, Thos, Thos and Salterton.
Actionment
[T4&S, S] Yeah.
my feet are cold
"The Banter Page" and "Now its time to play Mornington Crescent" headlines are a bit difficult to read - they're so bold the spaces almost vanish..
headlice
[snorgle] Don't see any problem here (Mozilla, 100% text size)
Browsing
[snorgle] What browser are you using? It might just need some gentle tweakage of the html/css combination to get an acceptable look'n'feel across browsers.
dancing
IE 6.0.2800.1106 (if thats any help..)
Celebdaquiris all round!
Made it to 8,900th-ish in the rankings after today's divident payout!
Congratuladaqs
[pen] Nice one! - I'm 4000 behind you. Not enough divs! :o(
To be a Texan
Right, that's me off to Texas for a week. Try not cause too much havoc in my absence. I'll attempt to poke my head round the door if/when I can while away just in case. ttfn.
Awuga! Maths/physics joke alert!
[Boolbar] What about grads or curls?
Lead ballon
This week I decided to go for divi instead of ranking sticking with Kylie instead of Jessica Tayor, dropped overnight from 7962 todays ranking of 9965. Spent the divi on J-Lo and Jacko.
cold feet again. must get slippers.
[rab]It's even worse now! Have you done something?
celebdaquring
18000 - which could be worse, considering I hadn't done anything in the last 3 days.
movers and shakers
#5999... yippee! All down to buying MsDynamite and sticking with it all week. She's been the strongest climber and there was a pretty huge divi payout too. This week's strategy will be... I dunno actually. I think it'll start to get harder now, as all the music awards bashes are over and done.
Blameless
[Snorgle] No. Anyway, can't stop. Am writing this from Newark airport. God knows what the time is-- I'll find out when I post. Had my bags sniffed and shoes x-rayed and deemed suitable to enter the country. Anyway, only 40 seconds remaining so toodlepip.
"Welcome to Newark -- Now GETOUTAHEAH!"
[rab] Hope Newark is just a transfer point. :)
confused
eh? maybe my eyesight is going..
Long gone
!York has been dead a while. I wonder if it is terminal?
Long live !York
I'm in mourning.
!York
Perhaps it should be called !!York.
Newark
[DrQ] Now in Austin, Texas. Still struggling to find something I would consider to be a "town centre". Anyway, can't stay long, as there's a big queue for terminals and there's this cute polish girl I remember from a previous conference. Toodlepip.
bouncing back
After falling from 7134 last Monday to the dark depths of being ranked 11023 on Sunday, I have regained a couple with the help of J-Lo to be 6297.
Red Nose Day is coming up on the 14 March with Celebrity Fame Academy with Ulrika and Ferne, perhaps Ms D will run out of steam by then.
shhhhhh
It's a bit quiet today . . . .
shush
*whispers* Yes, it is.
None
Zip a dee do dah, zip a dee eh,
My oh my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine heading my way,
Zip a dee do dah, zip a dee eh.

Seems to be catching.

mmmmmmm?
Wha'.....oh! it's you.
None
Oh dear. I think it's, catching. Have I gonea funny colour?
Bang
Clatter
earth moving equipment
rab]so I take it you pulled then? ;-)
None
Inkspot] It must have beew that cute Polish girl :o)
Pulley
Sadly not. Mind you, the waitresses here are very tactile. Ho hum, set sail back to Mancatraz tomorrow...
Tractor Pull
You found an accomodating waitress in Austin? Wow.
Dollar Signs
ITV, Reborn in the USA, I'd love to watch a group of 1980's egos play to American audiences who've never heard of them, but that sock drawer needs tidying up again!
Don't mention the rugby!
Good win for Coulthard yesterday.
Making F1 interesting again
Ah yes, the cunning plan of ensuring that Barrichello spins off on a patch of oil and bits fall off the bottom of M Schumacher's car ensures that once again F1 is interesting. As long as you don't require them to overtake each other much.
lacking any techincal jargon
[rab] really like the site (don't think i've said that before, how rude am i!?) but was wondering if it would be possible to atler the fact that when you use the little icons in the bottom right corner of the screen to go to other pages you go via games which have already ended. i'd like it if we just went to the games in play. anyone else got any opinions?
Ooops
I just got this !

None
No I didn't get a little red x - I got this
Onalista
[Lib] On the list. Need a weekend!
None
[Blob] And what did you do to get that, exactly. Anything you shouldn't have done?
None
[Blob] Actually, thinking about it, it's not puzzling at all.
Enigma Variations
Almost as puzzling as their home page
Ibid]I have never considered Coulthard as having world champion material which makes me smile, all through the the the race they were going on about Räikkönen, Montoya and Schumacher and out of nowhere Coulthard pulls it off. I hope he can prove me wrong. The other thing is, should he win the will he bow out while at the top or ignominiously hang round like Damon Hill.
Awuga Awuga
[rab] As you may already have surmised, I got the error by inserting an illegal thread number. I was trying to increase the number of displayed lines - and put in 500 - not noticing that the number I was increasing was the thread (game page) number. I hadn't noticed the "Expose All" 8-)
BTW I like the little teddy.
Puzzled
Actually, I'm not sure you're supposed to get a 'puzzling' error in that context... (as you may have guessed, there are different types of errors, and I find using real English adjectives more useful than bland numeric identifiers).
Little Ted
[rab] I'm bothered : Is that little Teddy made from montelimar nougat ? He sure looks like he is. If so, is he in danger of being eaten ? I sincerely hope not.
Teddy
[Blob] I'm not sure. You see, I'm a callous barstool, and stole the teddy from some small infant somewhere. He was seasonable at the time, but is losing his relevance rapidly. I must remember to remove him from the serious pages when I get around to writing them.
Save the Teddy Campaign
[rab] I fail to se why he needs to be removed from the "serious" pages. Are you suggesting that he doesn't possess innate gravitas ?
Teducation
Perhaps if you give him a little placard he could become topical rather than seasonal?
Marriage of Figaro
Currently viewing this wonderful place in Opera, and the front page doesn't render correctly - the table of games is neatly placed on the left instead of in the middle...
Bizarre
[GIII] Well it should since there's a wopping great big <div align="center"> around the whole lot...
Mozart
It's strange, as in Author mode it renders incorrectly, but in user mode it renders correctly... weird weird weird.
Brahms and Liszt
(that being the result of a couple of sunny hours in a beergarden). Does that mean I don't have to do anything? I've not taken a look at Opera for a while, so I'm not sure as to the distinction between these modes of which you speak.
Gunga Din
(being invented rhyming slang). Opera has two modes - one is author mode, which is its standard thing, and it has user mode, in which exist various options like "Emulate text browser", "ignore frames", and "Accessibility layout". It's a rather nice browser actually, and more compatible than Mozilla has a habit of being with things like java.
Right
[GIII] The thing is, this is actually a bug in the browser, and therefore something I'd rather not work around. Perhaps you could email the Opera people pointing out this anomoly? This goes for IE users who don't see transparancies on the icons on the grey backgrounds.
Aaaaah
Oh right. Fair enough... It's not as if it makes a vast quantity of difference anyway! I'll do that though.
making conversation
Gosh, isn't it a lovely day today? It is in my neck of the woods. Never knew the largest council estate in Europe could actually look an attractive place to live in, but in this light it does! Miracles do happen.
Cherry Blossom
[Lib] Is that Bestwood or Clifton in Nottingham?
still sunny
[pen] Neither. Wythenshaw, Manchester (near the airport). local legend has it that it is the biggest in Europe, but no doubt other places will claim that prize too.
*whistles*
It is gorgeous isn't it? I'm off for a walk.
Nurse! The screens
Bloody sunshine . . . straight into my eyes . . .
There's always one, isn't there?
*places duct-tape across Boolbar's eyes* [Boolbar] There. That better? Mwahahahaah!!!
sunshine!
God Boolbar, I bet you're one of those tossers in the office who whimpers at the tiniest shaft of sunlight and insists we all live in a murky world lit only by VDU! GRR!!!
None
I'm one of those! Vitamin D? pah!
Lights Out.
[snorgle] Actually I'm one of those "enjoys sitting by the window basking in the sunshine, except when it delights in shines directly at me (only happens at this time of the year) and the blind in the window is so arranged that I would have to draw it across the entire window in order to shade my eyes so I usually just stick a piece of A4 paper on the window at the appropriate position" type of tosser.
oops
s/shines/shining
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Sunshine makes me so relaxed, and what with the soporific hum of the computer, the distant rumble of traffic passing by, the report I'm writing...
sunbathing
[boolbar] that's ok then! you;re not one of those annoying people who insist that any form of external light reflects off their screen, causing retinal damage, scabies and scrofula. speaking of which, i was walking home and saw a bunch of people, about 20 or 30 lying down, one of whom bore a sign saying "We are the war dead." this was rather ruined by someone who got off his bike and lay down with them in his shorts and t-shirt, placing his floppy hat over his eyes and turning on his portable radio. it was a lovely day, though..
Apropos nothing better to do
I'm going for a full house on the front page... watch me burn dudes!
something in the air
*wonders why there is a smell of burning dudes in the air*
Sunshine = evil
I'm with Boolbar on this one. The sun is designed merely to give me a headache. It has no other use (fact!).
sunny delight
[Thos] What about chasing ants with a magnifying glass?
sun and all thing sunny
I think you're all jsut suffering from SAD (seasonal affective disorder, *slaps herself on the wrist for being overtaken by medical abbrevations* as you haven't seen enough sun as it's cold and winter (for most of us). I find sun is addictive, wasn't too keen until I lived in a very sunny place for 2 months, and now i'm pining for it. I NEED SUNSHINE!
Sun
I find the sun is much like beer. While it is enjoyable, and promotes a pleasant feeling in small quantities, it is capable of bringing me great pain and indeed nausea, and doesn't mix well with my working environment (yes, if the sun is shining through my office window I can give myself such an apalling headache I become very nauseous).
Beer
Too much beer ? Sorry, fails to compute.
Sunshine
It's very sunny in Saarbrücken. *waves*. Keyboarding difficulties make MC difficult. That, and the fact I'm supposed to be listening to a talk about spin glasses, something I don't do willingly. On the other hand, the Abtei-Bräu was very good last night...
slightly durnk
[rab]What the hell are spin glasses? I have strange visions of rotating spectacles..
Spin glasses
Those are special corrective lenses worn by batsmen facing Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ian Salisbury, Harbhajan Singh, or JLE. :)
Spinnage
[snorgle] Would that it were that interesting. It's apparantly something to do with the old dilemma of separating a large group people into two rooms, both containing only people who mutually like each other. Or something.

Bit quite here the noo. Any particular reason?

spin glasses
Aren't spin glasses the musical instrument in which variously tuned glasses rotate on a sort of deck, and the musician, with appropriately resin-coated fingers, plays them by applying slight pressure to the edge?
in tune
[gil] That's a glass harmonica (as I'm sure you knew) - I always think "Playing the glass harmonica" sounds like a euphemism for something - not sure what though, perhaps it ought to be a Face Pyjama when !!York is reborn.
hmm..
yes it has been quiet..so did you find out how to spin glasses?
Mandy's specs
[snorgle] Yes.
huyt
[rab]Well, go on and show us then!
None
*Break in space-time continuum*
Goad
You're just goading me into writing a 'preview' function aren't you...?
None
[matt] It's too easy. I couldn't consider making a move unless it was all in verse. :)
for ease a jolly good fellow
[Projoy] Go on, lower yourself. The reverse game is already starting to look a bit wobbly with all of us waiting for you...
gah!
i fear bifurcations.
None
/me studiously avoids game.
Small change...
Big difference. <rolf>Can you tell what it is yet?</rolf>
None
I note the return of Christmas Ted!
Whoops
That wasn't supposed to happen. Grr...
None
Boo Hiss! rab the teddy killer!
*FLASH!*
OMG... Number 6 in the Celebdaq ratings. Now preparing myself for the fall...
Put your clothes back on
[pen] Do you get a material prize, or merely kudos for your endeavours?
Read all abaht it
I was hoping to gain kudos from you lot, but plainly it's not working :o( (There is a cash prize - £100 for the best performer of the week, but mainly it's for fun.)
None
*passes penelope one slice of lovingly buttered kudos*
breaks through the locks finally
So this is where everyone has been hiding since !York went into care.....
puts locks back together again
You'll be pleased to hear you've just missed a 'Quickfire Patience MC' opportunity.
a little pressie
pen]Astounding success, unable to help out on the kudos but I do have this unopened bottle of Kouros aftershave you can have. I'll even put a pink bow on it for you.
The Sweet Smell of Success
[rab, Inkspot] *reeking of aftershave and smothered in butter* Thank you! :o)
BTW, st d and I started a Celebdaq duel this afternoon by simulataneously opening second trading accounts. I'm now also Evil_Edna... will let you know how we get on! *cackles*
MC league table
As part of Celebdaq it is possible to have a bit of fun with our own Mini League, to be added, post your Player(ID) here :Inkspot (2841446). Name change suggestions to the league are welcomed. Hopefully newjustine would give the rest of us a chance occasionally.
Game on
[Inkspot] Your link didn't work... but you can add my alter-ego to your league... evil_edna is id# 3173041. (And ranked 108561 today.)
Try
In League with the BBC
Do you have to register to view things? I suppose I don't mind per se, but...
20000 leagues under the celebdaq
[Inkspot] It appears that you have to add us to your league. You can add my brand new trader as well FurryBoolbar (note capitals) id# 3174254.
Furry
[Inkspot] Thanks!
penelope? who's she?
[Inkspot] Thanks! *cackle*
I'll give it a go.
DRQUUXUM (id: 3174581) Apparently + is not in their alphabet. :)
League of Gentlemen
Chuck me in - WolWol (3174756).
Celebdaq Celebs?
Whaddya mean I can't buy 2000 shares of Rolf Harris? :)
socks and pears
Thanks all, you have been added, the league gets updated just after midnight, and I look forward to being on top.
DrQu+xum I see you like rare and exotic gems how about Leee John, not doing very much but neither is Reborn in the USA.
celebdaq
SNORGLE (User ID: 2818390) Can you put me on too? And some pointers would be good too.. I'm languishing..
*cackle*
Watch me sneak up from (a long way) behind.
(Offstage muttering)
... feel like poo ... never drinking again ... this time I mean it ... &c
rash promises
[rab] You realize we'll be holding you to that at the next pilg... :)
Celebdaq
SIGMUNDFREUD (User ID: 3176252). Not sure how good I'll be at this - so far, what with commission, I'm £121 down on my initial stake.
Celebpah
Second in the league and then they shut the site down for a while!
celebdoss
I'm waaaaay down in the rankings now... about 41,000. The highest I got was #4... and I still have no idea how I did it. Something to do with madonna, I think :o)
acelebdaq
yay! Evil_edna streaks into the lead, just as I threatened.... woo!!!!!
penniless
I've been kneecapped all my shares confiscated and funds reduced to £10,000, I need a new plan. I'm going to try the noseless one, but it looks like the boat has already left.
fat banker...
[Inkspot] But you have that lovely lolly in the bank and a little 'greenbacks' symbol next to your name. If you're so good, you can jolly well do it all over again!
This celebdaq ain't big enough for the both of us
I'll get you Evil_edna!!!
The Chase is on...
[FurryBB] *cackle*
Celebdaq
I would feel left out, but I think I still have a few shares left in my Foresight Exchange account...
Bah!
[Celebdaq] No Paul Merton? Star of stage, screen, and radio; BAFTA winner . . . and not available for trade? FEH!
my ankle hurts
feh, indeed!
The Man With The Celebdaq In His Eyes
[Celebdaq] No Kate Bush either, and she's always in the news, what with her constant output of new music and naughty late night partying. Ha!
Oof!
What a pallaver! After that rather nasty hacking effort I've managed to recover (thanks to the Google cache and gil) most of what was going on here. Three games suffer breaks in the space-time continuum: this one (we're missing the discussion of the Furcation Game, which needn't be a tragedy); two lines of a limerick are missing; and an unspecified number of lies have gone. (No they haven't). Also, the timestamps on recovered moves have all been set to the notional recovery time; but seeing as these are only fleetingly displayed on the front page, we can probably live without that. Next job: instigate rolling backups, I think.
Going... going... going Live!
*Yeah!*
normal service
[rab] Hurrah!!
Tumbleweed
Apologies for the tumbleweed. As I remarked at MCiOS, so sooner had I wielded my magic wand and managed to get roughly back how we were, did the new server develop a hardware fault. Losing, you guessed it, any moves in the brief period we were back online. Since these probably number about three, I think we can pretend these never happened without any space-time paradoxes setting in.
Phew!
Good that worked! Right, as to the future. When I return to the office tomorrow, I will install some stuff on the machines there that will not only back this thing up daily, but also allow me to restore from anywhere in the world, rather than rely on my laptop being (a) with me and (b) near a phone socket. This means that if there are any failures between now and, say, tomorrow morning, there's not much I can do. After that, this site always be able to stay alive as long as I do. If more problems occur, I shall consider moving to a more upscale hosting company that has downtime guarantees (or should that be uptime guarantees?). I'm hoping, however, that this is very much a one-off occurrence.
Oh
And I would say I had a nice weekend if it weren't for the fact I had all this shite to deal with, and I chundered for the first time in 6 years on Sunday. Nice. However, it was about 90% my fault.
Well done
Glad you are back.
getting your own back
[Rab] I trust that whatever celebrations caused you to chunder were well worth the consequences ;o)
Scratch that back
[pen] Well... only just. I think it was largely due to some friends of a friend having just got back from Spain and insisting that I drink something that came out of a plastic container of the type you might use to package creosote. Maybe it was creosote. It certainly wasn't very drinkable. Nevertheless, I drank it... and when popping into my parents for coffee the next day, decided to stay not just for an hour but two days to recover. Yum. So if you see me on Saturday, remind me to avoid the noxious end of the beverage spectrum.
Well done
We missed you
None
*blushes*. Now go forth and get the dates changed on the front page!
Hang it all

Right, probably safe to come back in, then, and make again my suggestion for a new game that was lost the other day. Is anyone on for a round of Collective Consciousness Hangman, in which one person sets a conventional hangman problem, but only other players are allowed to reveal the letters or add lines to the scaffold.

Other players take guesses in turn as to which letters are in the word. The players who arbitrate over what letters are in the word are not allowed to confer. The shape of the word can only emerge through tacit mutual consent - via, in other words, the collective consciousness. Ask Kevan to explain more about this.

Playing it in Dan's chatroom the other day we realised it was a sort of metaphor for the designoid nature of evolution, akin to the passage from Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker where he uses "blind selection" to arrive at the Shakespearian phrase "METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL". Possibly I had eaten too much chocolate cake at that point, however.
Hang on...
Well, the Great Bear is looking a little bare, so could be a candidate for slaughtering. Sorry this suggestion disappeared into the ether before; I'll back it up right now as I'm feeling paranoid at the moment!
Oh
I meant to say I thought this was a good suggestion!
come and take me on if you think you're hard enough... Grrrrrr!
Yay! Today's Celebdaq rating: #130.
Ooooo!
It's back! [rab] Nice work!
small things please small minds
I've recently discovered that I can access all my favourite MC pages via WAP on my moblie phone. And as i get free WAP 24/7 I can access whenever and wherever I want. But the slight drawback is I can't actually contribute from it and as the pages are so tiny it takes a very long time to rread anything, so yet again its another of those 'you can look but you can't touch' situations I find rather frustrating.
Wapping
I wondered about writing a WAP interface to these pages, but the documentation I looked at scared me... might not be beyond the realms of possibility though.
Just a tert
Seeing if Mr Cron is talking. Ignore.
None
*silent*
Terting, terting
Does that mean the tert worked?
Tert
Kinda. Today's backup kinda semi-worked, but I thought Mr Cron was supposed to contact me if there was a problem, and he didn't... must investigate.
Just a test - Γ γ
I'm seeing if Γ and γ actually produce gammas (gammae?)
Test successful, I think
I was seeing if this possible; the capital gamma (Γ, created by &Gamma;) might come in handy in Collective Consciousness Hangman
Except...
Probably not on all browsers. (Thinks 'links').
welcome back
Glad mc5 is returned - your hard work is much appreciated rab...
Celebdaq: I'm - 3154623 - currently ranked very low indeed :) - are we league forming?
Mini MC
blamelewis]Its great to see you with an id, there is a Celebdaq mini-league, the greatest challenge is to unseat evil_edna. Our hopes lie with snorgle and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Breaking My Duck
Not one, but two posts to the server in as many minutes! Lawks!

[rab] Nice place you have here. I'm sad I haven't really had time to visit before, but I'm sure I shall be back.

Wow!
For a second I thought we had an imposter in our midst, but if it looks like a Dunx, feels like a Dunx and tastes like a Dunx then I'm probably about to get arrested.
btw
[Dunx] You want to be careful with that duck.
unseated
I'll get you, Inkspot *cackle*
Divvy
Boo! Tiny divs again.
Big gains
evil_edna]make way ... make way
By luck more than judgement, early in the week I sold all my Theakston and Rooney for 13,000 shares in Catalina Guirado, handsome payout of £7,000 and promptly bought some more. My other id with four high moving celebs yielded hardly anything, these I've sold for Becks.
Oh! ... and did I say I was No 1 in the mini league
Out of the cellar!
And all the way into 5th place. Thank you, Dale Winton. :)
None
Whoah! Well done DrQ!
None
[Dunx] Hello, nice to see you here. I was wondering, it is possible to get a link from orange to here please? Cheers!
Link Frenzy
[Lib] Eminently possible, and even quite likely. Probably when I upload the Lock Cup pages, actually.
Longish
Just looking at the front page, shouldn't the "More Long Game" be the "Longer Game"?
daq to the future
Err... I'm sure I'm missing the obvious but how does one view leagues and suchlike - or are they an entirely informal affair - I had thought they were a section on the celbdaq site? Mystified of Moorgate
Pro Trader
blamelewis]At the bottom of the page Click here for a pro trader version of this page.
Hopefully just below the names of your celebs you now have Create / edit personal leagues
In Leagues You Are In, click on Celebrity Mornington Crescent DrQ is a bit of a dark horse and is coming up on the rails.
Got it
Found it this morning - thanks for adding me - must have been blind last night!
Now to get off the bottom rung of the ladder!
and a thought...
Don't dare try the furcation game - but what fun - the Sound Charade made me chuckle (as did the psychic dialogue later on) - could I put in a tentative request for a new game of Sound Charades, at such time as a slot becomes available? I miss them!
new knews
For those passing their newsagent, take a gander at the front page of The News of the World, under Becks:my fear for thin Posh. (I know train delays are the cause of much grief but...) "David Beckham has admitted for the first time he feared for Victoria as her wait plummeted"
hmm?
must spend money!
More comment
[Dunx, re More Long Game] It's because this site was originally called More Crescent before we settled on the mobile-phone-company-lookilikie mc5. Since the Morniverse is full of anachronisms, I can't see any reason to change the name.
blame
Anyone know the state of play with !!York/"Mordac"? I think we're waiting 'til it shows up, before we start Sound Charades anywhere else.
!!York
I've commented on this at MCiOS, but I think either jim or Simons are the ones who are most 'in-the-know' about the state of play there. Btw, nice furcation, but can you explain the rules of Oh yes it is!. I have a vague recollection of this on York, but as I can't get to the archives at the moment, I can't study the form.
Celebdaq
*wishes he bought more Wayne Rooney when he had the chance at £1.75*
Div-ision
[DrQ] But Wayne Rooney didn't bring that great a dividend (as I found out). You'd have been better with Britney Spears or the Beckhams.
Hurrggggggggggggh. *Cough* Hack-hack Hurgrhrrurgh.
Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.
Re: More comment
[rab] Merely an observation rather than a criticism; it's always nice to have these things explained. I would agree that revisionism in this case would achieve little but consistency, and that's hardly important is it?
None
Consistency?
Guide to intonation
(That last comment to be read with a'raised-eyebrow' tone-of-voice)
A bit like this one
Rules? ;:-)
None
(NB. !York looks fine to me (that should point to Game 829)
Mild attack of chronic boredom syndrome
Avioding revision by perusing everything!
[Martha Farquar] Nice table, thanks!
Comment about the weather
I wish it would stop raining. I've got to walk home, ok, so it isn't far, but I don't own any protective clothing for such a downpour and some git has stolen my umbrealla. But then again if it wasn't raining there's still a high chance that i'd be here, as the other option is to revise for finals. Anyone got any good motivational/revision tips?
Ouch
[MF] Are you angling for a pint too? [Lib] No motivational tips, but I know a welter of displacement activities. Prior to my finals, I arranged all my CDs according to spine colour. Bonus points if you can tell me how this is possible, bearing in mind that colours live in a 3-dimensional space. (Cue flerdle telling a different story).
sorting
[rab] Even if colour were a continuous 3D space, any finite collection of CD spines could still be sorted by colour because the space of CD colours wouldn't be continuous (indeed, because CDs themselves are discrete items, it seems to me that even an infinite collection of CD spines, coloured from a colour space of arbitrary dimension, would still be sortable by colour, but I must admit my grasp of such things is not what it used to be, if it ever was).
None
Yes, if you imagine a map of 3D colourspace, your CD spines are simply a series of points in that colourspace with close neighbours joined by a line of your devising. So your shelf represents a one-dimensional journey (as it were) in that 3D colourspace. If your CDs were reasonably well spaced out, then there are many many possible ways of doing this. I only know this because of my similar journeys through the three RGB dimensions when creating Acre Street moves. :)
League Table
[Martha Farquar] Very nice.
CD spinage
[matt, Projoy] Well yes, I suppose you could order colours by their hex rgb triplets, or Pantone number, or whatever. But that's not the way I chose to do it.
arrow_circle_down
Want to play? Online Crescenteering lives on at Discord