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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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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!
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