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Beck and Call

“Beck and call” or is it “Beckon call”?

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  1. I’m at my country’s Beck and call :)

  2. :mrgreen: My job is done for now I leave it with yowze hotforwords smarty cats to sort out the details, leaving it in your capable paws.

  3. :twisted: Hell, Al Capone was so popular that he was notoriously popular and that didn’t stop him from a life of crime.

  4. :cool: There’s more biatches *just joshing* on the name calling stuff. Oh, yes. Never forget that Andy Warhol is the true father of YouTube and Andy Warhol knew his POP CULTURE like Tony the Tiger and Frosty knew their corn flakes.
    ~Get your 15 minutes of fame here~

  5. POPULAR would be an interesting word request :wink:

  6. So, there’s popularity contest and that’s like dancing with the stars text message your vote in, then we have viewership which is made up of viewers and that’s audience which translates to theater ticket sales and box office net take in$, and of course television ratings, we know it’s all about ratings, who makes the cut who gets their reality tv show on prime time slot and who doesn’t. etc.

  7. :neutral: Where’s the voice of reason been hiding out? At least Tom Cruise made sense to me when he shouted out “Show me the money!” Talking entrepreneurship here.

  8. :smile: If most popular really won the vote Ron Paul would be the next President of the United States of America. In light of what has been going on in the Stock Market as of late would that really be such a horrible thing :?:

  9. :mrgreen: I’ve been thinking about this most viewed and most popular issue and how hotforworders should raise their voice on this, who agrees? Don’t answer all at once, you might excite mr. popular here. Anyway, let’s talk. Here’s an idea: hotforwords peeps meets with the top 10 most viewed vlogger sites on YT and they all get together to make some sense of this, at least open a discussion and figure what the hell is going on. I’ve got other ideas and will post those also :idea:

  10. fatbuffalo says: 112

    Seems fun to have people at your beck and call …. I would like to someday

  11. I recently read an article on how household pets tend to pick up way more carpet dust and ground thingies than humans because pets will roll around on the floor and pets are lower to the ground. I will look for that article and re-read it. Perhaps there’s an advice column.

  12. checmark says: 110

    Happy Early Birthday Teacher! You said this is what you wanted. Sorry, this was all I could afford – http://www.helloboquete.com/marina.html

  13. bobsully says: 109

    I think you are at Kobe’s beck and call. :razz:

    I always had that one wrong. I am generally at beck and call for my mother, but she doesn’t abuse it. :grin:

  14. jcr says: 108

    Yes, took forever to get in…don’t know what was wrong. As usual, great video!

  15. leonard says: 106

    This is new to me, Beck’s beer :lol: Yardbird’s Beck and that looser one. :lol: American Heritage: ode to the sodbusters and their children labor– :oops: –here kitty kitty :grin: ok, I beckon to reckon it snowed.

  16. thetigtig says: 105

    The guys at the senior center decide to get their friend a special treat for his 100th birthday.
    Just before lunch a beautiful,young,buxom blonde girl knocks on his door,enters and says: “I’ve come to bring you supersex for your birthday”
    The old man thinks for a few seconds and replies:
    “I better take the soup”

    • OK,ONE MORE
      An elderly man visits his doctor for a check-up.Upon entering the exam room the doctor gives the usual “how is everything?”
      The elderly man says”well doc,I’ll tell ya,I take a piss every morning about 6:30 and I take a shit every morning about 7:15″
      The doctor,without looking up from his clipboard says “OK,sounds like everything is working just fine”
      The elderly man replies “yeah,but I don’t get up till 7:30″

  17. Dezdkado says: 104

    An elderly couple, still very loving after all these years, is shocked when the woman’s doctor says she has a heart condition that could kill her at any time. She is to avoid stress, eat right, and never, EVER have sex again – the strain would be too much.

    The couple reluctantly tries to live by these rules. Both get really horny over time, however, and the husband decides he’d better sleep downstairs on the couch to guard against temptation. This works for a few weeks, until late one night when they meet each other on the stairs – she’s coming downstairs, he’s heading up.

    “Honey, I have a confession to make,” the woman says, her voice quavering. “I was about to commit suicide.”

    “I’m glad to hear it, sweetie,” the man says, “Because I was just coming upstairs to kill you!”

    • BillyB says: 104.1

      That was cute… this came in my email the other day…

      One night a fellow drove his secretary home after she had imbibed a little too much at an office reception. Although this was an innocent gesture, he decided not to mention it to his wife, who tended to get jealous easily.

      The next night the man and his wife were driving to a res- taurant. Suddenly he looked down and spotted a high-heel shoe half hidden under the passenger seat. Not wanting to be conspicuous, he waited until his wife was looking out her window before he scooped up the shoe and tossed it out of the car.

      With a sigh of relief, he pulled into the restaurant parking lot. That’s when he noticed his wife squirming around in her seat. “Honey,” she asked, “have you seen my other shoe?”

  18. Dear Teach – Sure glad your boy’s home! Hope he continues to recover fully. Always.

  19. mevinv says: 102

    I would like to Know where the word Quest/Adventure comes from. Thanks in advance.
    Mevinv

  20. jt1stcav says: 101

    Since Marina and I both share the same birthday (Dec. 10th), does this mean we’re both at eachother’s beck and call?

  21. Marina!!! I am a sapiosexual for you!!!
    Can you do that word in your next lesson please???

    sapiosexual!!! come on baby!!!! I came to your site to request it huahuahua!

    xoxox

  22. How about the word Carnival?

  23. So I have been banging my head agianst a wall over something :evil: and ahve become very frustrated. I live in the State of Oregon that is located within the USA. I recently went on a search for the origin of this name and found a lot of nothing :shock: No one seems to know where the name Oregon originated. Was wondering if you could come up with something :?:

  24. Tazman says: 93

    :idea: WHEN ARE THE CALENDARS going to be shipped out! :?:

    • Her post said they will be available on 10 December… I would imagine those lucky 100 would be the first to go, if they aren’t already on their way, since Marina has already documented part of the signing process… :grin:

  25. zygora69 says: 92

    hey marina!, i think you should find out about the word “Bong” please make a lesson!

  26. CaptainJack says: 91

    @ Dezdkado

    No no no! That theory is long since dead. :mrgreen: Also your formula is way to complex and can be simplified. Scientists have been wrestling with the feasibility of Santa’s job description since the 1850s. The latest thinking is that delivering one kilogram of presents to the world’s 2.1 billion children (regardless of religious denomination) is entirely realistic, with a little lateral thinking.

    Scientists at Nasa, reckon the man from Lapland relies on an antenna that picks up electromagnetic signals from children’s brains to know what presents they want. Assuming an average of 2.5 children per house Mr Claus must make 842 million stops tonight to fill his orders.

    By allowing a quarter of a mile between each stop, he must travel 218 million miles with about a thousandth of a second to squeeze down each chimney, unload a stocking, eat a mince pie, swig cooking sherry and get his sleigh airborne again. To achieve this he must travel at 1,280 miles per second. Traveling east to west, he can stretch Christmas Day to 31 hours.

    To have enough presents, Santa’s sleigh must carry 400,000 ton of gifts. With the average non-turbocharged reindeer capable of pulling only 150kg, Father Christmas would need 360,000 reindeer to heave his vehicle skyward.

    The cavalcade would have a mass of about 500,000 tons which, at the required speed, would cause each reindeer to vaporise in a sonic boom flattening every tree and building within 30 miles. Father Christmas would have a mass of two million kilograms, causing him to combust when his reindeer come to their sudden halt. Poof!!!! So even this theory is disproved.

    So what one has to attack the problem with theoretical physics. First, Einstein’s theory of relativity dictates that the faster an object travels, the slower time appears to pass. So at the speed he is traveling, .0001 of a second allows Santa to perform his tasks at leisure pace. Second, as an expert in quantum physics, Mr Claus knows wormholes in the fabric of universe allow him to move instantly from one dimension and place to another. His sleigh is a time-machine powered by an unknown limitless fuel which any economy on the world would have on its Christmas list. Problem solved in about 5 sentences. :mrgreen:

    • tryant says: 91.1

      Magic. Santa is a Mage of the highest order. Elves are also purported to have magic to lend to the endeavor.

      Neither You nor I Capt Jack,have yet explained the real magic tho,Do ya spose it is born of loving parents wishing to make the children happy? The sparkling wonder in a kid’s eye when they still believe in Santa is the magic returning to the parents.

      Remember when the Grinch’s heart grew and burst the box it was in? Proof positive.

      • tryant says: 91.1.2

        Well Sir,if ya wanna know,maybe go rent/buy the animated movie The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,,little Cindy Lou Who from Whoville teaches the mean old Grinch a thing or two about himself.

        I don’t think You are a grinch capt Jack! I just can’t believe You never saw that old show. I don’t pay much attention to any religious aspects,,just the fact that good nature can be found in the strangest of hearts/places.

    • pandion says: 91.3

      Russian, and many other children of former Soviet countries get their gifts on New Years Eve. That cuts down on the area immensely.
      This must be one of the reasons it is Marina’s favorite holiday.

      One Christmas Eve NORAD tracks Santa. So go to NoradSanta.org
      to watch for yourself how it is done. :smile:

      • tryant says: 91.3.1

        Yes,that would spread the calculations out quite a bit. I just wonder about the east to west theory,,wouldn’t that be going against the prevailing west wind and negate the time-change gains? Not to mention going with the wind might lessen the friction and subsequent vaporization of the reindeer,santa,and,the sled full of toys?

        Of course,if there was a failed trial run of a hyper-speed prototype santa it just might explain the Tunguska explosion.

      • pandion says: 91.3.2

        That could be the best explanation of the Tunguska explosion I have heard. The date of that would roughly fit when more metallic toys were being asked for. All that metal on his sled would have to have some effect on the magnetic fields.

        If you look at the Norad site on the 24th, you will see his course. He leave the North Pole, and goes west first. So the European kids get their gifts first.

      • tryant says: 91.3.3

        Hmmm,yeah,and around the turn of the century the population was growing rapidly so there may have been the need to develope a hyper-speed santa to get to all the homes in one night.

        Tunguska has been studied much,I wonder if they ever thought to look for traces of an experimental sleigh and industrial age toys. Since Santa Claus is a Germanic Saint I wonder if there might be traces of a Steif Bear under one of the flattened trees? :smile:

      • pandion says: 91.3.4

        Sadly, by the time anyone got out there to look there would not have been any remains to look for, and since this was Russia, and with the First World War was still a fresh scar any German found that far in the heart land of Russia would have been thought to be a spy.
        Also, Russia kids know the gift giver as Grandfather Winter, so any reference to Steif Bear would have just added to anti-German feeling.

      • tryant says: 91.3.5

        I’m sure You are right. I personally like to think that Father Winter and Santa Clause are one and the same,,much like The Great Spirit,God,and all The Gods of yore are one and the same.They took different meanings in the minds of Man so groups of men could have an excuse to control one another,or to fight about it. I’m sure the original concepts came from the hearts of good people looking to explain things they did not understand,then,some not-so-good people learned they could use it to exercise control,thus,the 1st Holy War was probably fought with rocks and clubs.I doubt either Santa or Father Winter would approve.

        Not to worry tho,this convo started out cool and is all in good spirit,and,let’s not forget,,,,magic.

    • Good job captain jack WELL DONE :lol:

    • Dezdkado says: 91.5

      LOL, nice Captain…

      From family relations (I’m half Keebler on my mother’s side) I attribute it all to magic. But the science is cool. Does Santa see red and/or blue shift while he works?

      • pandion says: 91.5.1

        Santa does not need to worry about the red and blue shifts while he is flying the reindeer are the only ones who need to see then, and like many animals deer are color blind.

      • That’s a good question! Yes he would… sort of. As you travel close to c (the physicist’s way of saying ‘the speed of light’) time for you slows down. If you shine a flashlight ahead of you still see the light because even though you are close to c and the light beam is right at c time for you is running so slow that the beam seems to shoot out ahead of you just like it normally does. If you were traveling through space, however, strange things begin to happen. As you pick up speed the stars behind you begin to darken to red and then disappear altogether as the Doppler effect causes their wavelength relative to you to fall well below the visible spectrum. However the stars ahead of you brighten into the blue end of the spectrum as the Doppler effect causes their relative frequency to go up past the visible spectrum into the region of X-rays. They too disappear. The only stars you see are to either side of you close to a right angle to your direction of travel. You’d see a rainbow effect as the stars slightly ahead of directly to the side and slightly behind directly to the side are shifted toward the upper and lower ends of the visible spectrum. Yeah I would venture to guess he would.

  27. MCLIJazz says: 90

    Lately, “Beck and call” makes me think of conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

  28. Capman911 says: 89

    Santa Yoda here. Marina would you like to sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas, :twisted: besides the pink car that’s for your birthday. Whaaahahahahahah :mrgreen:

    • Dezdkado says: 89.1

      Here’s a funny about Santa…

      Is There a Santa Claus?

      1) No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

      2) There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total – 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.

      3) Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc. This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second – a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

      4) The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload – not even counting the weight of the sleigh – to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison – this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

      5) 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance – this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy… per second… each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

      In conclusion – If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now.

  29. kweb says: 88

    Dear HotforWords,
    how about giving us the low down
    on “epistemology”?
    thanks, kweb

  30. Fianchetto says: 87

    @CaptainJack – $30k sounds pretty reasonable, I hope I can swing it when they go into production. I remember salivating over the newly retro-designed T-birds a couple of years back – til I saw they wanted $40k for them. Thanks for the info!

    Sorry to hear about your yacht deal falling through – times are tough all around. I am sure that the economy will turn and things will work out for you that you may have the yacht of your dreams soon!

    • Yeah, thats what I heard. It’s the same price that the Corbin Sparrow was going for. I also looked into a local company that is now producing a electric car called Tango http://www.commutercars.com/ It has some impressive performance figures. Then when I heard of the Telsa’s performance I was very impressed. But when I saw it I was disappointed. Im tired of the JELLY BEAN cars that are out there today. I want something that is different. That’s why the Aptera caught my attention. I fell in love with it the first time I seen it on the local news. The only thing that worries me is the battery technology is still in its infancy. I use Li-pos in my R/C helicopters and they work great. But the life span of them is crap. I bought 4 lipos for my little heli at $20 each and got about 8 flights out of them. I bought 2 lipos for my big bird which run about $60 a piece and Im at about 40 flight and still going. But not sure how long they will last. I hate paying for maintenance costs. I want to buy it once and have it last a 10 years at least.
      With all that said I would still buy one because you can just put in better batteries later on. If you buy one make sure you get the hybrid. On my electric scooter it was a challenge to find an outlet. You would be surprised where I found power. I should take photos of the places I pugged in to.

      I was lucky that there was a second buyer to take over the yacht. Boats aren’t selling right now. But I see tough times a great opportunities. :mrgreen: Things are going for cheap. We are kicking out the evil empire and we have some new leaders that are going to do some house cleaning. We are going to see some really great times in the future.

  31. well, since we’re all waitin’ on the next vid, and Mike has posted a couple of jokes, here’s my contribution…

    Warning: real juevenile humor follows (you know, the male-testosterone exudin’ kind) 99 Words

  32. zawmer says: 85

    There is a phrase I hear sometimes that I don’t really understand: “Four ways from Sunday”. When it’s used, I suppose I know what is being said, but it’s such a surreal expression that I would love to have its origin explained.

  33. Fianchetto says: 84

    @Capman LOL at the car pic – I’ve visited the site 4 times, and have yet to find that one – must be randomised or something, and I am rolling a string of sevens. Thanks for the faerie pics yesterday, too, BTW.

  34. Marina, back to your birthday. It is the 10th of which month?

  35. Hi Hot For Words!
    What is the meaning of the word
    highfalutin
    Thank you.
    Love the show!
    By for now………

  36. Capman911 says: 80

    A man went to church one day and afterward he stopped to shake the preacher’s hand. He said ‘Preacher, I’ll tell you, that was a damned fine sermon. Damned good!’

    The preacher said, ‘Thank you sir, but I’d rather you didn’t use
    profanity.’

    The man said, ‘I was so damned impressed with that sermon I put five thousand dollars in the offering plate!’

    The preacher said, ‘No shit?’

    • Dezdkado says: 80.1

      What’s the difference between a fairy tale from the North and one from the South?

      In the North a fairy tale begins: “Once upon a time…”

      In the South a fairy tale begins: “Y’all ain’t gonna believe this shit…” :mrgreen:

  37. Capman911 says: 79

    Marina I have a word request Scientology. As some people like Tom Cruise believe in this. I don’t know what it means or understand it’s origin or meaning. Is it a different form of religion or evolution. I know you try to stay away from religion, but does it have anything to do with religion?

  38. CaptainJack says: 78

    Im at my sisters cat Axel’s beck and call. Dog’s have masters – cat’s have servants. I have never had anyone at my B&C that I can remember. It would be nice to have someone at my B&C. But I would only allow it if I could return the favor. The guilt trip would drive me nuts. I believe life should be a two ways street. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours ( bit longer ).
    Oh wait.. I just remembered. Im at Marina’s Beck and Call. Yea that TA thing. Funny thing is I don’t get called on that much. M is very independent. I like that in a woman. Those are the kind of people I like to serve. The ones who don’t need it but deserve it. Well there’s not much one can do over the internet. I did find a way to buy her a cup of coffee. I even found a servant to make it and pour it for her. All M had to do is go out and get it. Yea I haven’t figured how to get it delivered to her door yet. So in a way Im at M’s B&C and so are the other TAs.

  39. I am most definitely at my fiance’s beck and call.

    Tharzool

  40. cufan71 says: 74

    Cloth Word Requests :cool:
    Satin
    Velvet
    :arrow: Spandex :mrgreen:
    Polyester

  41. I am at your beck and call Marina. God that was so corny wasn’t it?

  42. Capman911 says: 72

    DUCKS IN HEAVEN!!!
    Three women die together in an accident and go to heaven.
    When they get there, St. Peter says,
    ‘We only have one rule here in heaven: don’t step on the ducks!’
    So they enter heaven, and sure enough, there are ducks all over the place.
    It is almost impossible not to step on a duck, and although they try their best to avoid them, the first woman accidentally steps on one.
    Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw.
    St. Peter chains them together and says, ‘Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to spend eternity chained to this ugly man!’
    The next day, the second woman steps accidentally on a duck
    and along comes St. Peter, who doesn’t miss a thing.
    With him is another extremely ugly man.
    He chains them together with the same admonishment as for the first woman.
    The third woman has observed all this and, not wanting to be chained for all eternity to an ugly man, is very,
    VERY careful where she steps.
    She manages to go months without stepping on any ducks,
    but one day St. Peter comes up to her with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on …. very tall, long eyelashes, muscular.
    St. Peter chains them together without saying a word.
    The happy woman says, ‘I wonder what I did to deserve being
    chained to you for all of eternity?’
    The guy says, ‘I don’t know about you,

    but I stepped on a duck.

    • Dezdkado says: 72.6

      If ducks are in heaven, then Gilligan’s Island is in hell…

      The Seven Deadly Sins of Gilligan’s Island theory is quite simple. Each of the seven characters on the island represents each of the seven deadly sins. Now, this theory seems to fit upon initial inspection, there are technical difficulties when you get down to THE MAN himself, Gilligan.

      Run with me on this one…

      Most obvious is the Professor, who fits PRIDE to a T. Any man who can make a ham radio out of some wire and two coconuts has to be pretty cocky. (His character was later revised and given a series of his own, called MacGuyver”.)

      For the sin of ENVY we need look no further than Maryann, who may have worn those skimpy little tops, but could never achieve Ginger’s glamour. (As an interesting and completely irrelevant side note, a nationwide survey of college students a few years ago revealed that the professor and Maryann were voted the most likely couple to have ‘done it’ on the island.)

      And who could doubt for a moment that Ginger is LUST incarnate? Sure, the kids were supposed to think she was ACTING, but we all know what being deprived episode after episode was doing to her. You know and I know that glazed look wasn’t boredom, my friends.

      What kind of person takes a trunk full of money on a three-hour cruise? Mr. Howell gets my vote for GREED.
      We are now left with three characters and three Deadly Sins. We have Gilligan, the Skipper and Mrs. Howell to whom we must match GLUTTONY, SLOTH and ANGER. As you can see, there is a Gilligan problem here.

      Certainly we can further eliminate Mrs. Howell from this equation by connecting her with SLOTH. She did jack shit during her many years on the island and everybody knows it.

      This leaves ANGER and GLUTTONY, either of which the Skipper had no shortage. He was, after all, a big guy with the tendency to hit Gilligan with his hat at least once an episode. After much consideration, I have decided that he can easily do double-duty, covering the two remaining Deadly Sins.

      So here we have the Seven Deadly Sins trapped in an endlessly recurring Hell of hope followed by denial and despair, forced to live with each other in our TVs until the last re-run ends. And who is their captor? What keeps them trapped there?

      Gilligan.
      Gilligan is SATAN. Think about it.

      • Hmm… putting myself in Satan’s shoes, in order to acquire more souls in hell, would’t I wish to unleash these sins on the world, rather than have them safely contained on an inescapable island?

        Or, in God’s shoes, it’s exactly where I don’t want them either. I would want the seven unleashed on the world to tempt man, that salvation be worthy of attainment – or, rather even the attempt at attainment – else, why would man bother?

      • moreso, as God, would I want an untested man in heaven? to be sure, there are many prisoners behind bars right now who haven’t committed crimes in years… because they are behind bars!

  43. thetigtig says: 71

    I like todays quote of the day.Here is one I heard recently,”experience is what you will get when you don’t get what you want”,as stated in the “last lecture” speech by the late :sad: Randy Pausch.Check it out!!Maybe someone can post a link,truly inspirational!

  44. 2utoday says: 69

    :mrgreen: I think,in today’s society,people are saying “call me on the cell”,or “I’ll call you on the cell and we will meet somewhere”. It pretty much means the same as “beck and call” but updated to the electronic age of cell phones. And in the UK,people refer to the cell phone as “the mobile”, pronounced mo-bile. Have a great day!!!!

  45. Capman911 says: 68

    Well I am late for class again, but it’s nice to sleep in late. I don’t really have to beck and call any more as being like Bob and a few others on here retired and all. I do help my friends when they need it. So I guess that is a little B&C left in me.

    @Marina is Gorby feeling better today? I sure hope so. :smile:

  46. thetigtig says: 67

    Hey Bob,I think her birthday is December 10th.Am I right :smile: ??

  47. Fianchetto says: 64

    Homework (Part Two): “The two beasts leagued against me whose most imperious commands I must obey, and their names are Bread and Cheese.”

    Samuel Taylor Coleridge, commenting on a period of hard financial times in his life.

  48. thetigtig says: 63

    Marina,where did “igpay atinlay” speak come from?

  49. neuroway says: 62

    Methinks most people on earth are simply the beck and call of materialism. They’d do pretty much anything provided you put a short term gain on it. If they are more resilient, they’ll run for mid term gains. Long term? Forget about it. Prostitutes or Mercenaries? I’d say so, motivated solely by a desire of some material gain.

    “You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You have all the fears of mortals and the desires of immortals.”

    – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

    • orion_ss1 says: 62.1

      A rational approach to materialism is what gives you the luxury of considering other things. Cave men were busy hunting/gathering food and fighting off woolly mamoths to consider the importance of prime numbers. Once you have saved food for the winter you can devote some time to other pass times.

      I believe you should have a balance of living as if you will live for 100 years AND as if you might die tomorrow. 80 is not a great age to start sky-diving; but before a 25 year old with a family gives it a try he/she should know that their family will be provided for ( forgive me for ending my proposition with a preposition ).

      It isn’t ( shouldn’t be ) fear but rational acknowledgement of one’s responsibilities; both to yourself and to those who will have to take up the slack if you are killed or injured.

      If you have a family, but have an adequate insurance policy that will provide a living and an education for your children should you die, go sky-diving and enjoy it! The odds of getting killed are slight ( but not zero ) and a responsible adult should be able to have some fun, but responsibly.

      Some do take materialism overboard, but more do not take it seriously enough, and expect others to reshape their lives around their mostly self created tragedies. There is generally a lot of disappointment with this type of ‘plan’.

      • “A rational approach to materialism is what gives you the luxury of considering other things. Cave men were busy hunting/gathering food and fighting off woolly mamoths to consider the importance of prime numbers. Once you have saved food for the winter you can devote some time to other pass times.”

        Orion, I have some trouble agreeing with what you said. Think about the men who painted the Altamira and Lascaux caves, 17,000 years ago. They had time to observe and paint the skies, to see the taurus constellation in the form of the aurochs they hunted. So you can’t tell me they had no time left to think about their condition. They were perhaps much closer to the reality of things and to the essence of the universe than we are today. I think we are the ones that live in some kind of virtual, messed-up, fuzzy world, where black becomes white and white becomes black, where virtue becomes vice and vice becomes virtue. Hunting aurochs with obsidian knives was probably much more thrilling and fullfilling than typing on a computer keyboard or answering some comment on the net from someone you don’t know at all.

        Having said this, I respect your opinion, which is of course as valuable as mine, because none of us can be proved right or wrong.

      • For me materialism is a means and not the goal.

        I will go out on a limb and say that the care artists weren’t starving at the moments they drew their paintings and made man’s first astronomical observations; I’m darn near certain they weren’t drawing with one hand and fending off a sabre-tooth tiger with the other.

        Should you wish to go hunt deer ( or cattle ) with a knife instead of a gun I won’t give you any argument ( PETA will, but not me ).

        You probably have a job; you may or may not be happy with it. As you and I type on the keyboard we may or may not have other interests. I study Math in my retirement years; something I can afford to do because I prepared for my retirement, mostly material preparations.

        Cavemen PROBABLY didn’t live to be my age ( then again when Elvis was my age he’d been dead for 18 years ). I like my reality, however convoluted it is. For the most part I enjoyed my time in the Navy. I’m not much of a farmer ( if vegetable gardens are an indicator ) and less of a fisherman. I truly doubt I’d make it as a hunter. I used to be a fair mechanic, and I got true enjoyment working on my own car, but I couldn’t have made a living at it. But society’s 40 hour work week ( actually I usually put in more ) gave me the opportunity on my off time to explore these things and many others.

        BTW I also enjoy these conversations with folks face to face.

        I too respect your opinion; you have the liberty ( with few restrictions ) to live the life you choose, but I draw the line at ‘have-nots’ who got that way by being ‘work nots’ and now think that I should ’share’. I promise not to dissuade you from you sharing what you earned with others to whatever extent you feel appropriate.

      • Very well said Orion. Quite interesting post indeed. You sound like a philosophy teacher :-)

        I must admit I have nothing to add. Even if we have two different ways of seeing and feeling things, I can’t really say that yours is wrong.

        Best regards

      • I am an Engineer by education ( I never worked as an Engineer in the Navy or after but it makes a dandy hobby ). In the Navy I swore an oath to defend the Constitution; which pretty much covers defending YOUR right to seeking YOUR happiness. I have pretty much found mine ( which includes blathering to the point think I am a philosopher ).

        Good luck seeking what makes you happy. Sincerely.

      • Wow! This is a too-rarified atmosphere for me. {CK stuffs another forkfull of leftover Thanksgiving stuffing in his mouth and clicks the TV remote to skip over the commercial in the middle of America’s Most Filthy, Vile, Disgusting AND NUDE Shocking Videos XVII.}

      • Hey there, engineer… I’ve got a few engineering jokes for ya!

        Two engineering students on their way to class meet on the side walk.

        “Hey nice bike you have there! Where did get you it?”

        “A nice looking girl rode up to me on the way home yesterday, jumped off her bike and took off her clothes and said I could have anything I wanted.”

        “Good choice, the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit”.

        *****

        Three engineering students were gathered together discussing the possible designers of the human body. One said, “It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.” Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections.” The last said, “Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?”

        *****

        A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house.

        The Physicist concludes: “The measurement wasn’t accurate.”
        The Biologist concludes: “They have reproduced.”
        The Mathematician concludes: “If exactly 1 person enters the house, then it will be empty again.”

      • Dez: Just so you know, the EPA says sewage outside of a sewer is toxic waste; sewage inside a sewer is not. They have lotsa rules like that.

      • A priest, a lawyer, and an engineer are sentenced to die on the guillotine. The priest is brought up first, asked if he has any last words, and is laid on the plank. The rope is pulled but the blade doesn’t drop. The priest jumps up and yells ‘Its the will of God, you must set me free’. THe judges confer and agree; the priest is set free. The guillotine is inspected and found to be okay. THe lawyer is brought up, asked if he has any last words, and he is laid down. The rope is pulled, but again the blade fails to drop. The lawyer jumps up and yells ‘You’ve set a precedent; you must set me free too’. Again, the judges confer and agree and the lawyer is set free. One more time the guillotine is inspected and found to be okay. The engineer is brought up, asked if he has any last words. The engineer says ‘Oh, wait, I see the problem….’

  50. Che Volay says: 61

    Reason for no Google ads, there is a “dating” service named Beck and Call Girl

  51. can u do the word “skateboarding” maybe? :lol: thanks!:)

  52. Che Volay says: 58

    Marina’s quote from below, well there is always a little truth in kidding Marina.

    “Just realize that I am always right and everything will be fine! JUST KIDDING!!!” :-)

    Sounds like every women I ever met :razz: :razz:

  53. cufan71 says: 57

    Homework :cool:
    I’m always at your beckon call er.. beck and call Marina! :mrgreen:

  54. tryant says: 56

    I am at NOBODY’S beck and call,,,unless of course,,they PAY Me!! Alright,that’s not entirely true,I will get up and go help My Family or friends when I truly believe they need it,if I think they fu@#ed up after they were warned then they are pretty much on their own to learn their lessons the hard way,tough love like that is needed(sometimes)as a memory aid and it is how it went/goes for Me. Then there’s forgiveness,gotta toss that in the mix too,maybe I’m just an old softie after all.Dangitallanyway.

  55. bsomebody says: 55

    Woohoo! I got it! Thx, Fianchetto. Cookies did not help, but I deleted my history, and that fixed it. I did not know that was a peace symbol. I also have no idea what a mandala is. I thought Che was writing in Spanglish. {Somebody sneaks off to google mandala}

  56. Che Volay says: 54

    @bsomebody, that page snapshot is either an elaborate photoshop or maybe you are telling the truth.

    I see the new Gravatar of an orange mandala, it’s a geometric shape like a flower that I uploaded the day after T-Say

  57. no.

    bebe’s bedroomis kinda messy.

  58. bsomebody says: 52

    By the way, do you think I offended M yesterday? I hope I did not blab myself out of a Christmas card.

  59. bsomebody says: 51

    If anybody else is in here, when you look at Che, do you see a turkey or some kind of geometric peace thingy? Time for a census.

  60. bsomebody says: 50

    Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
    – Alexandre Dumas

  61. bsomebody says: 49

    @ Che: Your gravatar is still a turkey to me. Whassup?

  62. bsomebody says: 48

    I am usually at my wife’s beck and call. Of course, I always at my grandaughters’ beck and call (or would that be becks and calls?)

  63. Bob says: 47

    Marina, you haven’t told us which day in December is your birthday, so, as it’s the first day of December already in New Zealand, I’m going to be the first to wish you a Happy Birthmonth. :smile:

    • John says: 47.1

      John on November 20th, 2008 3:44 pm
      hotforwords , I’m 28 in 20 days.

      Happy Birtthday if i don’t remember to say it later.

      Bob its somewhere around the tenth, depending on which calendar she would use

  64. lostinhere says: 46

    I’m in the military, so I am a beck-and-callee. One day, I may become a beck-and-caller… :roll:

  65. James says: 45

    Marina, when you first saw yourself in widescreen, did you think “my god I look really stretched”

    I think I look stretched.

    Did you have to get used to it?