Formosus Viriustus

A very nice site. Great work, I think. I was in Istanbul for only a few days once. It's a beautiful city, but it is a sad thing that so little is left of the Roman Byzantine era. Of both the land walls and the sea walls, there's quite a bit left though, and they are really impressive. Formosus

It very much resembles the walk I make to the shops every other day. Really. F rmosus

I have to agree with you on this one, Aurelia. True, the newspaper article is pretty worthless. It mixes up battle casualties and descriptions of bloody battles with torture practises. And if that picture gallery really comes from the book, I do fear the worst. But maybe this is not the case. Maybe it's just a number of third rate pictures that were lying around somewhere at Der Spiegel's under the general heading 'torture'. Two pictures are scenes from the Middle Ages and one is just a photo of the Colosseum. Four of the six look like 19

Yes, well, we used to have a little side-bet on the highest spade. Table or hole card. That is pretty much like Chicago. Wild card games are fun because they make nonsense of the regular ranking of hands as the 'wild card poker paradox' explains. The way we played it, Seven Card Stud Dr Pepper with 12 or even 14 wild cards, your chances of making anything less than three of a kind are virtually zero. You're most likely to make at least four of a kind. It's not serious poker of course. I learned that game in the early 70s from an ex-GI. Until the arrival of internet poker and the hole cameras a few years ago card poker wasn't popular at all over here. But now we can see it every night for hours on tv, and it seems like about half of all under 25s play it on the internet nowadays. We have a dice game based on poker that is rather popular. I think you have that too in the States. So, I take it you just play around the kitchen table really ? Don't think you can play Chicago in a casino or on the net. Formosus F rmosus

Ha, ha Neil, you're doing very well. 'Ik ken jou !' But in this case it should be : 'Weet ik !' or 'Dat weet ik !' Formosus

I have to correct my own Dutch here somewhat : when spelled with a capital C, Cupido is the name of the god. Otherwise it is just a noun. So it is correct to write or say 'cupido's' and 'cupidootjes'. That last one is as said the most commonly used expression. Of course, if you want to pretend you're an intellectual and like to confuse people by using words they don't understand you never call them such, but always 'putti'. As I do. Formosus

Zweden, yez that iz where I come from! Great quote! Zweden. That iz actually the way we write it in Dutch ! Formozuz

And now for something completely different .... New York's best band or even the best rockband ever - although NY also has Blondie, who in the beginning very much followed in the tracks laid by VU. Certainly the most groundbreaking. Two of their less well known numbers. Both from the 1968 album White Light / White Heat. Not for the fainthearted. Go to full screen and enjoy. velvet underground - sister ray ( all 17 1/2 min of it ) No pictures here, but the story is really 'riveting'. And for those of you who really have no idea who they are. ( Can't imagine, but there. ) velvet underground - exploding plastic inevitable ( a bit of bio ) By the way, the Velvet's iconic Banana album was released 3 months before the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's in 1967. And the White Light / White Heat album only a few months after it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Underground_%26_Nico http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Light/White_Heat Rolling Stone of course has got it all wrong. It should be the Banana album in first place ( for being the first Velvet Underground album ) and Sergeant Pepper's in thirteenth or so. At best. F rmosus

Your more than welcome, doc. Omaha, alright, at least that's a bit of a game. That's a bit of a challenge. What do you need to win a pot in Texas Hold'em ? A pair ? Two pair at the most. Now in Omaha, you know you're nowhere unless you've got at least a straight or a full house, and even then. My favourite game however is Seven Card Stud, Doctor Pepper. Deuces, fours and tens are wild. Now, there, don't even think of putting any money in the pot unless you've got at least a straight flush. (Five of a kind, beats a royal flush.) You can make it even more interesting of course by playing high-lo-split if there's more than two of you. Who wins ? Who cares ? You're only playing for matches anyway. You thought that Poker was an American game, didn't you ? That you actually invented it ? In New Orleans or somewhere like that, around the middle of the 19

was that a clue? It is true, but also a clue Indeed, that made Latakia rather unlikely. But who knows where some people like to spend their holidays. And since there are no penalty points given in this game, I think, I thought : might as well give it a try. F rmosus

I am surprised to learn that you say 'Amor' in German to indicate the little 'putti' you see here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Paul_Rubens_117.jpg In Dutch we say 'Cupido' or 'Cupidootjes' in plural diminutive, to indicate them. Though you are supposed to call them 'putti' if there's more than one of them, but very few people do, I think. It's not like most people talk about the subject every day. When we say 'Amor' we're more thinking of this juvenile. It's the same fellow if I'm not mistaken, but at a later age. But that, of course is even less of an everyday subject. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...an_Dyck_001.jpg Anyway, I don't know if that information is any use to you. At least you have a chance to see some of the work of Antwerpen's two most famous sons. Formosus

Free ! All your Personal Defects Revealed ! It's a heavy burden that has been thrust upon my shoulders. I didn't ask for it, I'd just as soon watch Star Trek. It was thrust upon me by circumstances. Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some have greatness thrust upon them. (I belong in the first category, this thing here has nothing to do with greatness at all, it's just a burden.) Now doc, let's analyse that a bit more thoroughly. Brutally and honestly, as you like it. So you are brutal and you are honest at the same time ? Fine. But that's a dangerous combination at best. I know what I'm talking about. I've been there, I've bought the t-shirt. But TBTG I've never been gullible. You on the other hand are so gullible as to think that other people have as little manners as you ? That because you hurt their feelings day in and day out and constantly tell them those annoying truths about themselves that they'd really rather not hear, they would be so uncivilised as to do the same to you ? As if the kind of people you hang out with were even able to ever tell the truth, anyway. That you are a personality test addict reveals a lot of underlying existential 'angst' , of course. You are never certain about who you are exactly. You think you are one person one moment and another one the next. La Donna

So you are a gambler too ? A gullible gambler. It get's worse and worse ! F rmosus

Latakia ? Formosus

Well, Nephele, if you do have to quote, please be complete. Here's how I found it on the http://www.imdb.com/ site : [seducing Caesar] Cleopatra: My breasts are full of love and life. My hips are round and well apart. Such women, they say, have sons. There are quite a few other funny ones there. Such as : Julius Caesar: [speaking of the Grand Eunuch] ... a position not acquired without some, shall we say, sacrifices? (Always good for a laugh, those 'guys', aren't they ?) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/quotes Or just pick any historical movie you like and look for the quotes and goofs. Hours of fun. A few of my 'favourites' (Not !) 'El Cid' (1961, by Anthony Mann) Jimena: Why did you come? El Cid: I tried not to come. I tried, I told my love it had no right to live. But my love won't die... Jimena: Kill it. El Cid: You kill it! Tell me you don't love me. Jimena: [long pause] I cannot. Not yet. But I will make myself worthy of you Rodrigo, I will learn to hate you. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054847/quotes And of course : 'The Seventh Seal' (1957, by Ingmar Bergman) The whole movie is one funny quote really. Here's one : Jens: Do you have any brandy? I've had nothing but water. It's made me as thirsty as a camel in the desert. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/quotes F rmosus

Result : a. Well, the fact that you are interested enough to read this obviously proofs that you are a PTA. b. What's wrong with a ? c. Definitely.

5.You are more GULLIBLE than anything else. Your problem is that you believe that people really mean what they say, while in fact they are just humouring you or trying to get on your good side. Note also the conditional : people say you seem to care about others. Did anyone ever actually tell you that you do care about others ? F rmosus

Samandag (Seleucia) ? Formosus

Yes, and who created that image of the female-bashing caveman ? And now they want to give him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry ? I'm sorry, it's all the media's fault. Only the media's. Didn't you know ? And I'm still puzzled by that sugar cube ? Any explanation for that ? Was that a stone age invention too ? Well, it's they who say they only used stone age materials and technologies. F rmosus

Iskenderun ? Formosus

'The finding also suggests the intelligence of Stone Age humans was more akin to that of modern humans than previously thought, she added.' Previously thought by whom ? Not by me. I never thought they were more stupid than modern humans. Hardly possible, is it ? It's all in the wording, isn't it ? Typical NGC (and all the rest). They announce a Stone Age Superglue in big letters in the headline. But all it is is some pigment that might have made the glue those people used a bit more adhesive. Superglue ? It was, if even that, an accidental discovery of no importance whatsoever. Yet they : ' ... were adept chemists ... They knowingly tweaked the chemical and physical properties of an iron-containing pigment.' Yeah, right, yesterday you were a dumb monkey, today you are a scientific genius with a degree in advanced chemistry. And that picture that goes with the article ? Is that a sugar cube in a bit of red goo at the end of a stick ? What are we supposed to learn from that ? F rmosus

Well, I would most certainly recommend Peter Green's 'Alexander to Actium'. True, it's the only one I've ever read on the subject and that has been a few years now. But I still think it is by far the best history book by a present day author that I' ve ever read on any subject. It's a bit pricey probably, but I found it in the public library in the original edition here in Belgium, years ago, so ... And parts of it are on-line. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Green_(historian) http://books.google.com/books?id=1QOvJ14Jx...l#PRA2-PA306,M1 Formosus

Glad to meet some like-minded people here in the forum. I do have the body of an 18 year old. In the freezer. No, really. Formosus

This may help you out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_spellin...d_pronunciation or this http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A657272 Formosus

This of course goes totally against my principles, but well, I've said A, so I'll have to say B. I don't think it is running at the moment. It's the BBC style, you know, on and off for a few months intermittently. Since it is a succes ( it seems to be better than Doctor Who from what little I've seen anyway ) there'll no doubt be another series starting in the fall. I think it was scheduled on Saturday in the early evening om BBC 1 but don't take my word for it. They almost certainly have late nite repeats too (with sign language !). And it will probably find it's way onto other channels as well, pretty soon. You know how these alien life forms spread. If I see any sign of it I'll let you know. No, honest, I swear. That description I gave comes from a short review of a DVD box release. Well, what with all this sci-fi fanaticism over here and the anagram, how could I resist ? But really, I thought, no, that one is too easy for Nephele. F rmosus