It's a slow-motion car crash with FREE! NEW! advertising.

I *think* Douglas Adams desribed the planet as 'mostly harmless', though the qualifier 'mostly' seems to implicate the inhabitants as well.

Literature, if I may say so, seems an odd place to learn much about grammatical irregularities, as - until recently - publishers tended to proofread and edit books carefully.

I suppose dialogue could provide a workable dataset.

Incidentally, I don't have the foggiest notion what I've been nominated for, nor can I recall which categories I've won in the past.

But I don't envy <Wannabe>'s job, and I think the homepage advert brings trouble. What was needed was a clear explanation of the system, not a statuette.

BTW, I hope you know that in LOLspeak, 'nom' means food, edible, or at least biteable stuff... when used as a noun, and 'eat' (or 'bite') when used as a verb. Heh.

<Does a bridge have Caissons, btw? I thought Caissandra might know.>

The column bases of the ones going over water often do, akshly. :)

<Prophet S>

I <was> just lurking by the Bistro the other day... ;p

<Though writing like that is strangely soothing. Maybe I should try journalism sometime.>

Heh!

<<Annie> 24 hours later, and, Ghod, you were *soooo* right.>>

Um, you're still not used to it? ;p

<It's a slow-motion car crash with FREE! NEW! advertising.>

And SHINY!

<frogbert: <litterature>>

Can't tell if pun or just typo. ;)

My use of 'Nom' as a verb is deliberate. After all, it featured prominently in a Lolapuk Klu once.

<Um, you're still not used to it?>

I *knew* that Poly thing was a bad career move, especially combined with math.

I think it's a fun diversion but don't particularly care about it. When the voting is over, I will have an observation, since to comment on them almost implies campaigning.

<But I don't envy <Wannabe>'s job, and I think the homepage advert brings trouble. What was needed was a clear explanation of the system, not a statuette.>

We wanted more exposure. Let the buyer be aware.

<There will be many hanging chads. And voting hasn't even begun.>

Too true. Apart from other factors, it's far too late to be helpful, and so just adds to the noise.

Those of us who discussed Caissar plans in WannaBe's forum over a month ago were generally trying to come up with ways to broaden their appeal. I tried to help by 'advertising' them on a couple of popular pages as the time drew near. But CG's shiny homepage ad is many orders of magnitude brighter.

Which makes me think we should've put more effort into clarifying rules and procedures for those newcomers we wanted to attract.

I don't see much wrong in discussing the issue here ... just not in WannaBe's place, as he has enough to deal with.

One thing that needs sorting out (in future) is the difference between nominations and votes. Maybe the distinction is easier for Americans (or French people), who are used to two-stage elections, with primaries or runoffs.

WannaBe asks people not to combine nominations and votes, but some persist with "these are my nominations AND my votes" ... and may even get away with it.

We also have people determined to turn "a bit of fun" with a tradition behind it into ... a car crash, with maximal chaos.

The system needs to be troll-proofed.

True.

<The system needs to be troll-proofed. >

People in hell need ice water.

By the way, I voted this #5 best game of the year and thought about you a little. A French, Advance no less, that ended in a draw.....most the site would yawn and move on. But just a fantastic game with the tension not dissipating after central Pawn exchanges.

Too true. Apart from other factors, it's far too late to be helpful, and so just adds to the noise.>

i don't think the two of you (or anyone else) have much reason to be surprised that this comes now. and i find the comparison to election day to be quite off, honestly.

<Those of us who discussed Caissar plans in WannaBe's forum over a month ago were generally trying to come up with ways to broaden their appeal.>

since i assume i'm far from the only one who feels (and have felt) that the caissar awards aren't relevant to me in any way, i was neither one of those who discussed caissar plans in wannabe's forum. but most importantly i wasn't aware of anyone doing that, exactly for the reasons that you were having that discussion (about "broadening its appeal").

now that you have managed to get "our" attention to the caissar awards of 2011, i do not consider it a very good strategy to react by being "annoyed" that newcomers have opinions and suggestions now, no matter how "inconvenient" or "inappropriate" you might consider it to be.

i've got an amount of the recurring caissar nominees and receivers on ignore for their striking ability to treat other kibitzers in anything but "helpful", "informed" or friendly ways, so if you want to maintain "our" picture of the caissar awards as a small group's celebration of their own impeccable reputation (among themselves) as the exclusive group of positive contributors to the site, then your and ohio's concerns are very much in place. otherwise much less so.

I've played too many draws in that line myself. Often with the enjoyable extra feature of a master-strength player stopping at the board during the postmortem to tell me that I had a won game.

Thank you for bringing that one to my attention.

I can't (yet!) comment on the utility of ice water in hell (wouldn't it turn to steam? OK, maybe not *that* hot, then...).

I recall somebody calculating that Heaven was hotter than Hell, using biblical data. The temperature range in Hell was tied to the zone in which sulphur is molten, liquid, or burning, which maxes below 1000 degrees Kelvin. But Heaven has "the light of ten thousand suns" ... hold on, isn't that from the Bhagavad Gita?

It is. Nice try, but next time I'll try to anchor my physics in one holy book at a time.

Oh, I forgot to mention that your <When the voting is over, I will have an observation, since to comment on them almost implies campaigning> has a Washingtonian integrity, largely absent from US politics since the end of the 18th century. Old George showed the world that a person elected to high office could be dignified and honest, without turning into a despot or a monarch in civvies.

And the world is still trying to learn this, as shown by the Imperial Frogman, Putin I. And others.

Ireland, btw, now has a *male* president for the first time in 20 years. It feels all wrong.

Note worldwide trends. Observe success of Thatcher biopic and La Streep's inevitable Oscar. In another 20 years, the notion of politics as "women's work" will be firmly rooted in the developed world.

And bits of the exposed world.

This is not necessarily a good thing.

it depends. norway has an interesting history when it comes to the written word. i guess you might be aware of our two standards for writing norwegian, nynorsk and bokmål?

~~~

"People of Earth, your attention please," a voice said, and it was wonderful. Wonderful perfect quadrophonic sound with distortion levels so low as to make a brave man weep.

"This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council," the voice continued. "As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less that two of your Earth minutes. Thank you."

The PA died away.

Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds as if they were iron fillings on a sheet of board and a magnet was moving beneath them. Panic sprouted again, desperate fleeing panic, but there was nowhere to flee to.

Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said:

"There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department on Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now."

The PA fell silent again and its echo drifted off across the land. The huge ships turned slowly in the sky with easy power. On the underside of each a hatchway opened, an empty black space.

By this time somebody somewhere must have manned a radio transmitter, located a wavelength and broadcasted a message back to the Vogon ships, to plead on behalf of the planet. Nobody ever heard what they said, they only heard the reply. The PA slammed back into life again. The voice was annoyed. It said:

"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? For heaven's sake mankind, it's only four light years away you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own lookout.

"Energize the demolition beams."

Light poured out into the hatchways.

"I don't know," said the voice on the PA, "apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all."

It cut off.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

There was a terrible ghastly noise.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

Anyhoo, this is the temperature data I was trying to recall. It has featured in Frogspawn on two previous occasions, so it isn't exactly breaking thermospiritual news:

<The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days."

Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that ... The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E)^4 = 50, where E is the absolute temperature of the earth (~300K), gives H as 798K (525C).

The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed ... [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.>

I'm quite happy to suffer perpetual torment in the company of others who deny its reality ... but really, throwing in a load of ninnies and tremble monkeys is just too much.

i could argue your points in similar provocative style, ohio, but i don't consider that constructive and potentially fruitful.

take a moment to reflect over dom's wording here:

<we should've put more effort into clarifying rules and procedures for those newcomers we wanted to attract.>

i appreciate honesty, but the above creates a somewhat alarming ring in my years.

The obvious 'litterature' connection must be *litter*: waste paper left on the ground, or a group of mammalian siblings born together.

You think 'litterary' types form a secretly-related cabal, yet you know their much-vaunted scribblings are just rubbish in the larger Vogonian scheme of things.

There's also cat litter, but I ain't going there.

Imagine, however, that your greatest wish was to participate in a discussion about the fast-approaching Caissars. Hanging around WannaBe's forum in November (before the Clue Hunt, naturally) would be one idea. If lurking holds no appeal, then a simple message there, or here, or even in that ghastly proletarian cafe, would have had the desired effect.

Contrary to conspiricist impressions, the Interesting Times Gang is always open to new recruits.

<Dom: <There's a loyalty test, some hazing, and a degree of physical pain, of course.>>

A gom jabbar! :D