Reretaken Down

[alietr]

Just 'cause the Board wouldn't be the Board without it. Have at it, folks ...

[MinnesotaMyron]

I remember that before "Retaken Down" there was the original "Taken Down". You see, one day 7 years ago I was having myself a snit...

-M

[dhkendall]

So you're the instigator of our "misc rant thread" that defines the board? I always figured that was Eugene, he is inexorably tied to that thread that it's an honest mistake.

Speaking of which, we have to get Eugene here. (Heck, I wouldn't even mind having TRD here, but no one knows his true identity ... )

[TheRealTenPoundCigar]

Speaking of which, we have to get Eugene here. (Heck, I wouldn't even mind having TRD here, but no one knows his true identity ... )

Nonsense. I know his true identity, or at least I know it better than Oprah Winfrey's mother knew the true identity of the future talk-show-host-cum-high-priestess-of-the-supermarket-checkout-counter (and PLEASE don't try to tell me that Jen and Angelina are anything more than Gabriel and Lucifer to her Jehovah); Mama Winfrey thought she was choosing a biblical name but she merely mispelled "Orpah". Actually, I don't even know why anyone should *care* about Oprah Winfrey; it's not as if she ever appears in Jeopardy! clues or has had even one hit on the Billboard country charts. The only reason I even thought of her was because I heard recently that she is black, which I was not aware of. [lights normal Roman candle]

TRTPC

[MFalk]

I remember that before "Retaken Down" there was the original "Taken Down". You see, one day 7 years ago I was having myself a snit...

You're such a troublemaker, Myron.

[MinnesotaMyron]

So you're the instigator of our "misc rant thread" that defines the board? I always figured that was Eugene, he is inexorably tied to that thread that it's an honest mistake.

Yes, it was the summer of the election of 2004. I was spending a bunch of time on some other message boards and getting very tired of the acrimonious political talk. So when I got to the Jeopardy Board and found two or three threads dedicated to political whatever (in my memory it was negative, but it may have simply been regular old political debate viewed through the eyes of a guy who that particular day was just sick of it) I reported them, and they got deleted as off-topic. Not my proudest moment necessarily, but when the "Taken Down" thread and its "We're being supressed" rhetoric came up, I posted that hey, there's plenty of places on the internet for political talk, I come to the J! board to talk about Jeopardy. As a result, that thread became the de facto ghetto for such things, and when it was locked (and later deleted, for reasons I do not know) the Retaken Down thread sprang up in its place. It worked for me.

Over time I've mellowed, and I've spend so much time on the Millionaire "Bored" lately that off-topicness doesn't even faze me. And now, one of the goofy new smilies, just because:

And now you know... the rest of the story.

-M

[seaborgium]

So you're the instigator of our "misc rant thread" that defines the board? I always figured that was Eugene, he is inexorably tied to that thread that it's an honest mistake.

Speaking of which, we have to get Eugene here. (Heck, I wouldn't even mind having TRD here, but no one knows his true identity ... )

Eugene's got a web site. And I genuinely know TRD's identity, but I'm not exactly tearing apart my keyboard to turn up contact info.

[dhkendall]

Eugene's got a web site.

Ah yes, that's right, I sent him an email through the address there, as I said RRTD won't be the same without him. (We've corresponded off-list several times about non J! things we have in common, I could have even found out his address that way, but that was before I got my Mac in April, so I don't have his email address on this new computer.)

[TomKBaltimoreBoy]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to 'fess up and admit that it was apparently my posts that rankled Myron so much that day -- but, as to what, I have no idea, and prefer to let it drift off into the sargasso weeds of history.

But, as I had far too much time on my hands that day, I started a new thread called Taken Down -- first post, basically acknowledging Sony had a right to do what it did -- and asking that we have some place to engage in a more free-wheeling discussion, as long as we maintained basic rules of civility. This they graciously acceded to, and so on and so forth...

Eventually though, a rather nasty fight broke out between two folks who thankfully no longer visit much, over the topic of religion -- and Sony put the clamps on it. I returned to the board to find that Eugene had managed to restart it; and that it has indeed surpassed its predecessor, in the grand tradition of The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II. (Which of those it most resembles is a definite case of YMMV.)

So, thank you, alietr, for keeping the torch of enlightened snarkery blazing for our third generation!

[MarkBarrett]

I like to use the thread for sports also. 3-0 was a great result even though it should have been about 8-0 if not more for the soccer women against Colombia.

[EugeneF]

So this is a re-re-reincarnation.

And now for today's pedantics....

Then and Now

July 2, 1881: James Garfield’s Experience with American Healthcare

Shot twice by lunatic Charles Guiteau, President Garfield was rushed back to the White House and immediately attended by physicians. As night fell, the surgeons worked both by kerosene light and the glow of their cigars. The ashes falling into the president’s body were said to cauterize the wound. Given the long hours, dinner was provided to the medical staff. The scalpel served both the patient and the roast beef. Since the President was unconscious, it was not difficult to balance the food plates on him.

The President died of an inexplicable infection 90 days later.

July 2, 2010: If it happened today….

Shot twice by Fox News correspondent Charles Guiteau, President Garfield was rushed to the hospital and immediately interviewed by a registrar. First, Garfield had to provide proof of insurance. Upon learning that the President was a veteran, the registrar had to explain the difference in policies between this hospital and one administered by the Veterans’ Administration. She then asked if he would like to be transferred. Unfortunately, the President had lapsed into a coma. The registrar insisted the interview be continued with the executor of Garfield’s person. Mrs. Garfield volunteered for that role; however, she first had to provide proof of her identity and a marriage certificate. The registrar was willing to accept a fax of the document; it could be notarized in the hospital’s billing department. However, the notary fee was not covered by insurance and would have to be paid immediately.

Once Mrs. Garfield had verified her existence, she then had to answer 100 questions about the President’s health. She discovered that she somehow had agreed to have the President tested for allergens. The President would be examined for any unusual wounds in his body; should any be found– and covered by his insurance– X-Rays, CAT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds would be performed. Their findings, along with the test results from the allergist, would determine a suitable course of treatment.

Six hours later, the doctors saw that the President had two bullets in his body, an enlarged prostate but an excellent colon. He was also allergic to shrimp and had been dead for an hour. However, it wasn’t caused by infection.

[MinnesotaMyron]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to 'fess up and admit that it was apparently my posts that rankled Myron so much that day -- but, as to what, I have no idea, and prefer to let it drift off into the sargasso weeds of history.

I thought it was you. Good to have confirmation on that memory, and to find out what killed the original thread. It wasn't the posts that rankled so much as me just being rankled. I'm a moody fellow, and that day my mood just happened to be "grumpy".

[EugeneF]

Otto von Habsburg, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, dies at the age of 98.

That narrows down the people who can say that they have sat on Franz Josef's lap. (There still might be a 110 year old waitress from the Sacher Hotel--and please don't call her the Sacher Tart.)

Eugene

[Leah]

Greetings.

It seemed to me that I was one of the last or the last person to post on the official board when it vanished; I had just made some comment about whether it was reasonable to expect a contestant to know something or other, went back to edit it a minute or so after posting, and the message board was gone. What did I do now? I thought. (Guilt comes to me naturally).

Mr. Finerman informed me of the existence of this board, so hello to all. My technical ineptitude remains unchanged; I thought I'd try putting in an avatar (an image of someone I admire greatly and try to emulate) but couldn't manage it. The avatar has about a third too many pixels, and I was not successful in getting it to give any up. Tech support has graduated from college and is home for the summer, but one-third of it has a job, two-thirds of it is asleep, and all of it would ridicule me for not knowing how to add an avatar. Probably not worth it.

[earendel]

Greetings.

It seemed to me that I was one of the last or the last person to post on the official board when it vanished; I had just made some comment about whether it was reasonable to expect a contestant to know something or other, went back to edit it a minute or so after posting, and the message board was gone. What did I do now? I thought. (Guilt comes to me naturally).

Mr. Finerman informed me of the existence of this board, so hello to all. My technical ineptitude remains unchaged; I thought I'd try putting in an avatar (an image of someone I admire greatly and try to emulate) but couldn't manage it. The avatar has about a third too many pixels, and I was not successful in getting it to give any up. Tech support has graduated from college and is home for the summer, but one-third of it has a job, two-thirds of it is asleep, and all of it would ridicule me for not knowing how to add an avatar. Probably not worth it.

Leah, for you (and anyone else) having difficulty making an avatar fit, here's a link to a Web site that will shrink your picture down to an acceptable size. Unfortunately this board only permits avatars of 90 pixels (this is adjustable by the moderator - the BAM Bored allows 200x200 pixels), so you may not get what you want.

http://www.shrinkpictures.com

[alietr]

I changed it to 200x200.

[econgator]

Is there a way to raise the file size limit? Not sure if you can get a 200x200 file in under 6kb.

[alietr]

Raised to 20K.

[Leah]

Thanks for your help! I'm neither as old nor as elegant as my avatar (well, who is?) but I do like that air of authority.

[MDaunt]

So this is a re-re-reincarnation.

And now for today's pedantics....

Then and Now

July 2, 1881: James Garfield’s Experience with American Healthcare

Shot twice by lunatic Charles Guiteau, President Garfield was rushed back to the White House and immediately attended by physicians. As night fell, the surgeons worked both by kerosene light and the glow of their cigars. The ashes falling into the president’s body were said to cauterize the wound. Given the long hours, dinner was provided to the medical staff. The scalpel served both the patient and the roast beef. Since the President was unconscious, it was not difficult to balance the food plates on him.

The President died of an unexplicable infection 90 days later.

And if it had happened in 1681 he wouldn't have died of infection either. Rapid loss of blood and heavy metal poisoning, neither of them caused by the bullets.