Let's pretend we're in Hile Troy's Think Tank

[TheFallen]

Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, where to start? I truly despair...

(Please picture me superciliously raising my eyebrows here in long-suffering and exquisitely patronising fashion. It'll help.)

First off, I note that in addition to your endemic racism, you clearly suffer from innate religionism too. "Jesus"??? How typical... why not Allah? Or Buddha? Shiva? Dagda? Gitche Manitou? Quetzalcoatl? How thoughtlessly theologically supremacist and culturally fascist of you.

And as for your desperate attempt to prove your claim not to be xenophobic by saying "But looky! I have lots of foreign friends!" and then listing out a series of drooling reprobates, all of whom are intellectually challenged to one degree or other and none of whom you'd even cross the road to urinate upon if they were on fire...

Sorry, but that just goes to prove my point conclusively. You are hopelessly riddled with xenophobia.

Caring explanatory note for Skyweir: Sky dear, "xenophobia" does not mean that StevieG has an innate fear of well-muscled and buxom females of any warrior princess persuasion... though frankly, given that he has clearly and repeatedly evidenced himself to be such a limp-spirited milquetoast, I would not be at all surprised if he did.

And as for your accusation that I have used the epithets "Zee" and "ass"... why, absolutely I have - and quite deliberately so.

You seem to have forgotten, Stevie, that I am a linguist. This bestows upon me the innate ability to converse with others in their own tongue, in order to be more clearly understood. As a linguist, I am entirely au fait with and fluent in those more retarded stepchildren of the Queen's English, namely American and Australian (or Strine, as I believe its official nomenclature is).

So those are the languages in which I helpfully choose to converse, when interacting with those from more benighted geographies. Doing so is a mark of my extremely charitable nature.

Turning down the brightness is only fair and caring, surely? To evidence this, I would refer you to my not infrequent Tank dialogues with Skyweir. You may have noted that with her, I am always careful not to use words with more than two syllables, for fear of overloading her capacity and causing her some sort of conniption fit. That's how caring and empathic I invariably am.

Though to be fair, Skyweir is a particularly difficult and fragile case with many concurrent issues. You may have wept at her recent, valiant and yet tragic efforts to participate in the "Political haiku" Tank thread. Given that she neither knows what a syllable is, nor can reliably count up to 5 - let alone 7 - means that she was doomed to inevitable failure from the very get-go.

On the subject of Sky, I find it rather mean-spirited of you to refer to so many of her disabilities so publicly. Yes, she was truly born under a cursed star... Scottish by birth and she then makes the baffling decision to emigrate to Australia? Australia, a nation even more benighted than most... where the only signs of any live culture are solely to be found in the yoghurt aisle of one's local supermarket.

So shame on you, Stevie, for deriding the unfortunate so perfunctorily and with such insouciance. To make matters worse (if such were even possible - and please note the elegant use of the subjunctive form there), did you not even know that Skyweir also suffers from the most debilitating condition of them all? Yes, she has let it slip before now that, in a piece of the bitterest cosmic irony, she's also a ginger.

We should actually be looking to set up some sort of #JustGiving support fundraising for her, rather than resorting to studied mocking of the afflicted, as you have lamentably done. Therefore the sole appropriate response for me here, having been confronted with your irredeemable callousness is to insert a "shocked face" emoji, so...



I will grudgingly admit to being mildly impressed by your reference to the river Wey, which runs no more than 200 yards from where I type. Although this is no doubt the result of some frenetic and frankly stalker-esque Google searching, rather than stemming from any inherent or instilled knowledge.

Oh and...

RACIST!

[sgt.null]

No one has time to read all that.

[TheFallen]

No? Okay just stick with the last three words... that's the only salient point that's ever made in the Tank anyways.

[sgt.null]

Facists like you ghink they can tell the rest of us what to do.

[TheFallen]

You're nothing but a classic example of inverted intellectual snobbery.

NAZI!

[sgt.null]

National Socialist? That would be a leftist like you

[TheFallen]

Well, we all know about your moment of revelation on the road to your personal Damascus...

[sgt.null]

TDS is rotting your brain.

[StevieG]

Thankyou for your patronising and glib post TF. I didn't want to do this, but you have forced me to employ a 'Zee' (your words, not mine) style of rebuttal to completely dissect your post in what is arguably the most exhausting Tank technique in use. It would be far easier to blurt out a Sgt style one-liner response, and arguably just as effective. However, how would my superiority shine without a response to all* your points. Incidentally, I only had to look up 4 or 5 of the $26 words you used (accounting for the exchange rate, just to keep you happy). Try harder.

First off, I note that in addition to your endemic racism, you clearly suffer from innate religionism too. "Jesus"??? How typical... why not Allah? Or Buddha? Shiva? Dagda? Gitche Manitou? Quetzalcoatl? How thoughtlessly theologically supremacist and culturally fascist of you.

No Hashem, Adonai, YHWH? That clearly marks you as a Nazi, intent on the final solution. Had you read my post on the previous page, you would have noted my renunciation of the word 'Jesus' and therefore all other religious references out of respect, in favour of 'FFS'. I am therefore as religionist as you are Jewist.

And as for your desperate attempt to prove your claim not to be xenophobic by saying "But looky! I have lots of foreign friends!" and then listing out a series of drooling reprobates, all of whom are intellectually challenged to one degree or other and none of whom you'd even cross the road to urinate upon if they were on fire...

And there we have it. You propound the idea of my desperation, when yours shines brightly for all to see. Since 'innate' seems to be one of your favourite words, I'll use it in the next sentence. You obviously have an innate fear of idiots, making you a prejudicial idiophobe.

And as for your accusation that I have used the epithets "Zee" and "ass"... why, absolutely I have - and quite deliberately so.

You seem to have forgotten, Stevie, that I am a linguist. This bestows upon me the innate ability to converse with others in their own tongue, in order to be more clearly understood. As a linguist, I am entirely au fait with and fluent in those more retarded stepchildren of the Queen's English, namely American and Australian (or Strine, as I believe its official nomenclature is).

RACIST! As an Australian, I find that particularly offensive. I pronounce my vowels the way I please, and no-one within 4000kms of me cares. In fact, they do just as I do. At least I'm not like those fucking Americans, who pronounce their vowels and consonants with a disturbing drawl, as well as removing letters from words to make it easier for them to spell them. In fact we may find some common ground here TF in our mutual disdain for Americans, one and all. Ok, so I own my racism, recognise yours.

Turning down the brightness is only fair and caring, surely? To evidence this, I would refer you to my not infrequent Tank dialogues with Skyweir. You may have noted that with her, I am always careful not to use words with more than two syllables, for fear of overloading her capacity and causing her some sort of conniption fit. That's how caring and empathic I invariably am.

Though to be fair, Skyweir is a particularly difficult and fragile case with many concurrent issues. You may have wept at her recent, valiant and yet tragic efforts to participate in the "Political haiku" Tank thread. Given that she neither knows what a syllable is, nor can reliably count up to 5 - let alone 7 - means that she was doomed to inevitable failure from the very get-go.

Skyist!! Rest assured I will be taking this matter to our lovable South African stoner administrator.

On the subject of Sky, I find it rather mean-spirited of you to refer to so many of her disabilities so publicly. Yes, she was truly born under a cursed star... Scottish by birth and she then makes the baffling decision to emigrate to Australia? Australia, a nation even more benighted than most... where the only signs of any live culture are solely to be found in the yoghurt aisle of one's local supermarket.

You need to relax that stiff upper lip of yours. Aussies don't give a shit and it works quite well for us. In contrast, the poor benighted English are perpetually hanging on in quiet desperation while the rest of us get on with things.

So shame on you, Stevie, for deriding the unfortunate so perfunctorily and with such insouciance. To make matters worse (if such were even possible - and please note the elegant use of the subjunctive form there), did you not even know that Skyweir also suffers from the most debilitating condition of them all? Yes, she has let it slip before now that, in a piece of the bitterest cosmic irony, she's also a ginger.

Gingerist! Don't you know that only a ginger can call another ginger 'ginger'. For shame.

I will grudgingly admit to being mildly impressed by your reference to the river Wey, which runs no more than 200 yards from where I type. Although this is no doubt the result of some frenetic and frankly stalker-esque Google searching, rather than stemming from any inherent or instilled knowledge.

Give me strength. Yards? FFS. Now it is time for me to despair. I can only imagine how depressingly futile it would be to be an employee of the Metrication Board in that fair country of yours.

(And with that, I hereby retire from this type of Tank rebuttal - it takes a ridiculous amount of time. How does 'Zee' do it so often?)


*'All', as in 'those comments I wish to quote that suit my narrative'. In short, 'selective'.

[sgt.null]

Stevie - are you trying to outpost Wos. I didn't read any of your Marxist drivel.

[StevieG]

Catholic activists applaud encyclical's stance against death penalty [In Depth: Opinionated]

Demonstrators are seen near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., showing their opposition to the death penalty July 13, 2020. (Credit: Bryan Woolston/Reuters via CNS.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Pope Francis tackled several issues in his new encyclical, but the section devoted to ending capital punishment was particularly cheered by U.S. Catholics who oppose the death penalty.

The pope reiterated how St. John Paul II had described the death penalty as "inadequate from a moral standpoint and no longer necessary from that of penal justice," but then went further by adding: "There can be no stepping back from this position."

"Today we state clearly that 'the death penalty is inadmissible,'" he wrote, quoting from the revised Catechism of the Catholic Church, and adding: "The church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide."

Sister Helen Prejean, a Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille and longtime anti-death penalty activist, said in a tweet Oct. 4, the day the encyclical was issued at the Vatican, that she was pleased with the pope's "ringing proclamation of the inviolable dignity of all human life, even the life of murderers."

She also said she was "heartened by the church's unequivocal opposition to governments' use of the death penalty in all instances."

Over the years, Prejean met with St. John Paul II and Pope Francis urging them to establish the Catholic Church's position as unequivocally opposed to capital punishment. In 2018, Pope Francis announced new language of the catechism that says the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, with no exceptions.

The activist tweeted Oct. 4 about her own experience ministering to those on death row, saying that she has "seen close-up the torture and suffering of human beings, rendered defenseless and killed by the state, their lives stripped of all dignity."

In the seven paragraphs examining capital punishment in the encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship, the pope examined this form of punishment through the lens of human dignity and said: "The firm rejection of the death penalty shows to what extent it is possible to recognize the inalienable dignity of every human being and to accept that he or she has a place in this universe."

The encyclical's section on the death penalty is placed between the injustice of war and the need for dialogue between members of different religions.

Prejean said the pope's words will "help end this unspeakable suffering and spark the Gospel of Jesus to be lived in its fullness: restoration of human life, not humiliation, torture and execution."

She tweeted Oct. 5 that the pope's encyclical says the death penalty is a "false answer" that does not resolve the problems it meant to solve and instead introduces "new elements of destruction in the fabric of national and global society."

Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network, which works to end use of the death penalty and promotes criminal justice reform and restorative justice, said in an Oct. 5 statement that by dedicating a section of his document to ending the death penalty, "Pope Francis has leveraged the full weight of the church's teaching behind its opposition to capital punishment."

She pointed out some of the pontiff's words she said have particular significance during the church's Respect Life Month and ahead of the annual commemoration of World Day Against the Death Penalty Oct. 10: "It is impossible to imagine that states today have no other means than capital punishment to protect the lives of other people from the unjust aggressor."

Vaillancourt Murphy also said the pope's "acknowledgment of modern society's capacity to avoid recourse to the death penalty strikes a blatant contrast to the U.S. federal government's recent resumption of executions after a 17-year hiatus." This summer, seven men on the federal death row were executed and an eighth execution is scheduled for Nov. 19.

She also noted that Pope Francis not only addressed "the proclivity toward vengeance that fuels the practice of capital punishment," but he warned against becoming "obsessed with taking revenge and destroying the other" and reminded the document's readers that "nothing is gained this way and, in the end, everything is lost."

Vaillancourt Murphy said the encyclical highlights a number of social concerns and the need to build a culture of encounter, which she said points to "a more restorative way of understanding harm and violence."

This approach, she added, centers on the people and relationships that were violated and seeks "justice that values human dignity, healing, accountability and the hope of redemption for all involved."

[sgt.null]

Touche

[TheFallen]

Stevie, having noted your latest reply, I am minded to ask a highly pertinent question... is there no start to your talents?

Regrettably, your post was unnecessarily long. And before you riposte with sadly typical kneejerkish buffoonery, my posts are often long - but never unnecessarily so.

The reason for the excessive prolixity of your post is merely down to a lack of vocabulary - and I am here to help (you will of course recall my long-evidenced charitable nature). There is a very simple verb to describe your cackhanded and quote-ridden attempted "Zee style" forensic post dissection ... it is "to fisk". It's a short and easy word, so clearly suitable to bolster your own tiny quiver in the future.

Do be careful of misspellings, though - knowing how helplessly ham-fisted and scarcely literate all Australian nationals inevitably are (and some would add "barely monolingual"), I would not wish to see you mindlessly mistaking that final "k" consonant for a "t" and thus announcing proudly to one and all that you had just publicly fisted Sarge, for example.

I will now briefly demonstrate the proper application of fisking, in a quite probably vain effort to enlighten and educate - but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Had you read my post on the previous page, you would have noted my renunciation of ... 'Jesus'

SATANIST! I can only hope that Wos never reads your diabolic outpourings, since such might finally tip him over the edge (okay, even further over the edge). In fact, I may have to pass him your personal email address, so that he may more easily and caringly regale you with helpful and inspirational copy 'n' paste articles in an attempt to save your very soul.

You obviously have an innate fear of idiots, making you a prejudicial idiophobe.

Again that lack of vocabulary leading you into error. As is eye-wateringly clear, I am not an idiophobe in the least, since fear doesn't even begin to enter into things. Le mot juste for which you unsuccessfully clutch is in fact "misidiotist".

As an Australian, I find that particularly offensive.

Oh so easily attainable objective achieved then. It's not like there wasn't an abundance of readily available source material...

I pronounce my vowels the way I please, and no-one within 4000kms of me cares. In fact, they do just as I do.

Like misery, ignorance demonstrably enjoys company...

...mutual disdain for Americans, one and all.

Expressions such as "fish in a barrel" and "low-hanging fruit" come to mind here for some strange reason...

Rest assured I will be taking this matter to our lovable South African stoner administrator.

Best of luck with trying to catch that apathetic hippy wannabe prior to first toke of the morning. Once he's slipped on his tie-dye kaftan, he's no use to man or beast. A "moderator" who is utterly incapable of moderating his own THC intake... oh, the irony.

(Though I suppose that, as an administrator, South Africa's answer to Cheech and Chong is clearly a dab hand at self-administration... of narcotics, but that's by the by).

Oh... I almost forgot to add the de rigueur emoji commemorating His Highness of Hash, so here goes:-

In contrast, the poor benighted English are perpetually hanging on in quiet desperation while the rest of us get on with things.

As you will have quite rightfully expected, I picked up on the reference. It hardly behooves me to reply (note the naturally correct declension of the slightly tricky verb "to behoove"... you're welcome). However, with a nod to the paucity of your own comprehension capabilities, I shall merely do so in easily understandable pictorial form. In so doing, I believe that, when it comes to making the oh so obvious point about comparative contributions to art and culture, the penny (NB "penny"... not "cent") may drop - even for the likes of you:-



I would further draw your attention to the design element within the Strine flag that occupies its entire top left quadrant... clearly a desperate attempt to bask in reflected glory. Enough said.

Yards? FFS. Now it is time for me to despair. I can only imagine how depressingly futile it would be to be an employee of the Metrication Board in that fair country of yours.

Just a few teeny point-ettes for you to consider...

1. As is our historic birthright, we use the imperial system of weights and measures here. I suggest you give some consideration to that word.

2. One of the ancillary reasons that we do so is because we as a nation are adept enough at maths (NB that correct final "s") to be able to calculate effortlessly with numbers less basic than mere multiples of 100. (I was going to say "powers of 10", but feared that you wouldn't understand).

3. We are certainly never going to adopt any system devised and promoted by that pitiable bunch of cheese-eating surrender monkeys subsisting on the other side of the English (NB "English") Channel.

Not that I should need to, but to support that more than appropriate description of our limp-wristed neighbours, I refer you to the following archived newspaper clipping, which speaks for itself:-

[StevieG]

Very helpful, thankyou TF. Time for another eye-roll...

Not my favourite, but it is time for another Tank technique to really drive home my disdain:

What. The. Fuck.

Yes, the old 'set of single words separated by a full stop' technique. Like Best. President. Ever., and so on. As I say, not my favourite but there you have it - it must be done.

I will now briefly demonstrate the proper application of fisking...

That is a statement fraught with danger, not only through your observation of an accidental replacement of 't' for 'k', but alternatively with an accidental added 'r' after 'f', although the latter would be less disastrous than the former to be sure.

SATANIST! I can only hope that Wos never reads your diabolic outpourings, since such might finally tip him over the edge (okay, even further over the edge). In fact, I may have to pass him your personal email address, so that he may more easily and caringly regale you with helpful and inspirational copy 'n' paste articles in an attempt to save your very soul.

Did you ever encounter a long departed poster named Rusmeister? His legendary rebuttals (mostly in the Close) were not only pages long, but also contained links to entire volumes from G.K. Chesterton. Wos pales in comparison, and in my opinion has a long way to go before he reaches those lofty heights of soul saving.

Expressions such as "fish in a barrel" and "low-hanging fruit" come to mind here for some strange reason...

One has to take these easy pickings from time to time.

As you will have quite rightfully expected, I picked up on the reference...

I will grudgingly admit to a small notch of increased respect. And with that modicum of respect, I will offer an alternative lifestyle / cultural reference:

...adept enough at maths (NB that correct final "s")

That is one statement that I wholeheartedly agree with.

Not that I should need to, but to support that more than appropriate description of our limp-wristed neighbours...

And yet, you borrow from their language - le mot juste, de rigueur in your last post alone.

Perhaps you should bring back the 'a bit like iron' reference that was present in your old signature, rather than all that self-righteous rubbish you now have plastered all over it.

Oh, I almost forgot:

[TheFallen]

Not my favourite, but it is time for another Tank technique to really drive home my disdain:

What. The. Fuck.

Yes, the old 'set of single words separated by a full stop' technique. Like Best. President. Ever., and so on. As I say, not my favourite but there you have it - it must be done.

Hmmm. Your tank fu is strong, grasshopper... maybe you are a worthy opponent after all. For added kudos though and to get to those higher Dan levels that currently elude you, I'd recommend the entirely unnecessary addition of the word "living" thus:-

What. The. Living. Fuck.

Did you ever encounter a long departed poster named Rusmeister? His legendary rebuttals (mostly in the Close) were not only pages long, but also contained links to entire volumes from G.K. Chesterton.

Oh God. Yes I do now remember Rus (thanks for that) - and my eyeballs have only recently stopped bleeding.

Expressions such as "fish in a barrel" and "low-hanging fruit" come to mind here for some strange reason...

One has to take these easy pickings from time to time.

Tsk tsk. An opportunity missed here. Surely it should have been:-

"You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed"

Nevertheless...

...adept enough at maths (NB that correct final "s")

That is one statement that I wholeheartedly agree with

Leaving to one side another brain-numbing faux pas, namely your abject failure to employ "with which I wholeheartedly agree", maybe there's hope for you yet.

Not that I should need to, but to support that more than appropriate description of our limp-wristed neighbours...

And yet, you borrow from their language - le mot juste, de rigueur in your last post alone.

I note your simplistic astonishment and the crushingly embarrassing error you have made here is perhaps understandable... but this is where the application of a little perspicacity is needed.

Unlike 99.99% of Tank frequenters, I personally do not believe that everything and everyone has to be either Utterly Wonderful™ or Inexorably Crap™, with literally no other possible options available in between. This failure to buy into a childlishly simplistic and utterly binary hyperpolarised Weltanschauung does make me nigh on unique (and let's face it, what doesn't?), but there it is.

(Obviously the above statement does not apply to my views on wayfriend, but then again there's always one single exception to prove any rule. Anyways...)

So, to the French. Not everything French is irredeemably shit (though plenty is). Apart from making the best white wines on the planet, their language is both pleasingly mellifluous and of course phrases therefrom are perfect to sprinkle into any post - just as a soupçon, mind... one shouldn't overdo these things - when one is so set on playing the smart arse card.

Similarly the Germans. Humourless and dour sausage munchers who are always ready to invade Poland at the drop of a hat, maybe... but they do make good cars.

And even you Aussies... I mean you've given the world loads! Like...

Er...

Perhaps the collected musical stylings of Kylie Minogue?

...

Or then there's the thespian Meisterwerke of Paul Hogan?

...

Well, how about Fosters, that self-alleged "amber nectar"?

...



Okay, never mind. There's bound to be something.

Perhaps you should bring back the 'a bit like iron' reference that was present in your old signature, rather than all that self-righteous rubbish you now have plastered all over it.

My! This is an unexpected trip down Memory Lane, isn't it? And you know what? I think you're right... and be sure to put that on your CV. The highest of praise indeed.

I always rather liked my erstwhile "irony" sig quote - and of course whenever attempting to converse with Americans, it's invariably useful to try to get them to realise that not everything is necessarily as it superficially seems (not that this penny ever drops for them, but still, the effort should be made). I shall thus resurrect it shortly.

However I am not losing the last lines of my current sig. I like their overly verbose pomposity - and of course from a Tank perspective, they're completely in keeping with similar usages from others who unbelievably but genuinely take themselves oh so very seriously. And "woke zealotry" - as you yourself have commented - does have a certain pleasing ring to it.

A bientôt

Oh and of course, as is required...

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

SATANIST! I can only hope that Wos never reads your diabolic outpourings, since such might finally tip him over the edge (okay, even further over the edge). In fact, I may have to pass him your personal email address, so that he may more easily and caringly regale you with helpful and inspirational copy 'n' paste articles in an attempt to save your very soul.

Did you ever encounter a long departed poster named Rusmeister? His legendary rebuttals (mostly in the Close) were not only pages long, but also contained links to entire volumes from G.K. Chesterton. Wos pales in comparison, and in my opinion has a long way to go before he reaches those lofty heights of soul saving.

[…]

Oh God. Yes I do now remember Rus (thanks for that) - and my eyeballs have only recently stopped bleeding.

[…]

OTOH, we do all look the same, ya know.

[StevieG]

Wos, in the interests of furthering your education, I have pulled out a typical discussion from the archives:

A typical day in the life of the Close (feat. Rusmeister)

If you really want to earn your title, you must aspire to these goals.

[StevieG]

Did you ever encounter a long departed poster named Rusmeister? His legendary rebuttals (mostly in the Close) were not only pages long, but also contained links to entire volumes from G.K. Chesterton.

Oh God. Yes I do now remember Rus (thanks for that) - and my eyeballs have only recently stopped bleeding.

For your viewing pleasure, I have linked a "discussion" from the past in my previous post.

One has to take these easy pickings from time to time.

Tsk tsk. An opportunity missed here. Surely it should have been:-

"You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed"

Dammit! I dropped the ball on that one. May I suggest you check out the StevieG/Sgt.Null Pink Floyd extravaganza starting here...

This failure to buy into a childishly simplistic and utterly binary hyperpolarised Weltanschauung does make me nigh on unique (and let's face it, what doesn't?), but there it is.

I know we are pretending we're in Hile Troy's Think Tank, and this sort of thing is unacceptable in here, but I really must bow down to your superior linguistic talents. I did enjoy reading that sentence (you will note however that I corrected your misspelling of the word "childishly". Yeah, that's right, go back and check your post.) BOOM! A linguist has misspelt a word! (Although now I'm second-guessing whether "misspelled" or "misspelt" is more correct...)

And even you Aussies... I mean you've given the world loads! Like...

Er...

Perhaps the collected musical stylings of Kylie Minogue?

...

Or then there's the thespian Meisterwerke of Paul Hogan?

...

Well, how about Fosters, that self-alleged "amber nectar"?

...



Okay, never mind. There's bound to be something.

Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Health Ledger (RIP), Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce...

I started listing bands off the top of my head, but had to stop... it didn't really help my argument.

No-one in Australia drinks Fosters - I have a feeling that that is why it is exported. This is my local.



Now I'm thirsty.

Anyway, I shouldn't be defending myself - that isn't a Tank tactic. The best form of defence is attack. So I will revert to my native vernacular in order to counter your argument: fuck you mate.

Perhaps you should bring back the 'a bit like iron' reference that was present in your old signature, rather than all that self-righteous rubbish you now have plastered all over it.

My! This is an unexpected trip down Memory Lane, isn't it? And you know what? I think you're right... and be sure to put that on your CV. The highest of praise indeed.

It has been added to my signature. There's no taking it back now

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Wos, in the interests of furthering your education, I have pulled out a typical discussion from the archives:

A typical day in the life of the Close (feat. Rusmeister)

If you really want to earn your title, you must aspire to these goals.

Actually, my title was a benison lavished upon me by Cail in his limitless munificence. Ya don't get much more street-cred than that.

But yeah, I've kinda gathered as much about Russ from his rep and from running across a couple of his posts from time to time. But thanks for the continuing edu. He was evidently a singular personage.

[StevieG]

Yes, for some reason I happened to be perusing the Tank on that occasion (I can only imagine I was drunk or in a particularly masochistic mood) and saw that post. I am glad you are wearing it with pride.

I have a whole catalogue of Cail pearls stored away, and I've only just scratched the surface. The pit certainly appears to be bottomless. If I really want to get this conversation fired up, I may consider bringing a few choice quotes out of the archive from time to time.