It Has Been Brought to My Attention

[Pain_Man]

I'm sorry this is as long as it is. Brevity is not one of my strong suits. Nay-the-less, I ask that you read it.

 

A small avifaunal lifeform has brought it to my attention that certain people have taken umbrage at certain of my posts, replies, etc.

 

Sometimes I let my temper override my good sense.

 

Sometimes I let my enthusiasm for certain things (politics is one) override good manners.

 

Sometimes, like most of us, I can be an asshole.

 

It was never my intention to alienate anyone or offend anyone. But clearly, I've been, on occasion, too strident in expressing my beliefs..

 

I also realize that I'm going to torque some people no matter what I write or do. That's just life. And whether it's believed or not, I really haven't had the intention of giving offense.

 

I've thought of myself, since back in the Days We No Longer Mention (i.e. before the Sith struck), as one of the "firm"--I believe is the Brit expression. If not one of the inner circle, at least not a stranger. I lack the technical knowledge that many of that circle possess; I've tried to help the cause with donations.

 

Some have felt I've slighted their country or their favorite sport. (I'm sorry, but I just do NOT get soccer/football's attraction and I doubt I ever will; the irony is that soccer's the only organized sport I ever played. Not so ironic was the fact that our team sucked, we were 1-15.)

 

I'm a patriot and I have no problems with other people's patriotism. But I understand, or rather it has been brought to my attention, that I have injected things into my posts that, at least some people, feel aren't appropriate to either the spirit or the purpose of this board. I always thought the "Chat" section was precisely for that. I.e. things that didn't necessarily relate to IB or its interoperability with other software/hardware.

 

The only thing I can really say is that I shall try to be less vehement, try not to give offense. I realize that sometimes what I don't think is offensive obviously can be to eyes other than mine.

 

In short, if I've pissed you off or offended you, I do apologize for that.

 

Several of you I consider friends. Two of you close friends. I would like for that circle to expand. It's rare to find such a concentrated number of intellectuals and brilliant people. Even my wife's eyes glaze over when I start to talk computer. (Fair's fair, so in return, I am treated to Astrology.)

 

I need to take my father's advice, given me many, many years ago: When in doubt: SHUT THE FUCK UP.

 

Not the easiest advice for someone like me to follow; someone whose idea of the importance of his own ideas is, perhaps exaggerated. And, perhaps, there's no "perhaps" about that.

 

My sense of humor has probably also played apart in alienating some of the Members. It's hard to face, but it is the truth: other people don't find me nearly as funny as I find my self (I realize that's leaving a great big target, an opportunity that, no doubt, will not be missed. But I don't mind; in fact I welcome it. I enjoy a good zinger. I don't have a problem with fun made at my expense, as long as it's not intentionally cruel.)

 

This isn't exactly intended as a mea culpa, but rather an attempt to explain to those who I've pissed off that it wasn't my intention (a few times aside) to do so. Whether this matters or not, I don't know. I only hope that it's take in the manner intended.

[lfcrule1972]

Well I can say that personally if you have been a and made people or want to at you it hasn't bothered me.

 

There have been times when I have read posts that made me want to the author but I don't recall your's being any of them. That said someone will probably prove me wrong now and I will have to !!

 

[blutach]

@PM - it happens to all of us. Sometimes, we let our fingers go overboard, when the brain has no real intention of saying what the fingers type.

 

And some people can take offence.

 

Case in point - I said something the other day that could have offended corny. It was wrong and I apologised. We move on.

 

No-one across the Internet can see your expression or read your face or hear the tone of your voice. They can therefore not engage in a meaningful debate without some interpretation from their side. And sometimes, things go awry. We move on.

 

I have no idea what precise threads you are talking about here. Personally speaking, I recall differences of opinion we had regarding firearm laws and some other matters but that it all.

 

But what I recall more, is the fond way you are regarded here.

 

So, for God's sake, don't take it too seriously. Let's move on.

 

Happy thanksgiving to you and yours, and to all our US members, guests and friends.

 

Regards

[lfcrule1972]

Blutach - you are seriously in danger of failing to live up to your title in the forum mate - I can feel there is a lot of in the forum with you around.

 

[dontasciime]

You pissed me off !

 

 

 

 

 

As I ain't got a clue what your on about and thats killing me .

[Groundrush]

Hey Pain_Man, good to see you back, again....

[DasReich]

Hi PainMan, I think Blu hit the nail squarely and fairly right on the head, Ive seen this on soooo many forums, people getting irate with each other and me sometimes.....

 

Thing is, like a book, people will interperet the words in their own way, you cant see the facial expresions, the face is worth a thousand words expresion wise... My face on the other hand is worth just two...Fucking hell!!!

 

Weve had a few good chats via PMs, nice bloke I recon!

 

Dave.

[blutach]

My face on the other hand is worth just two...Fucking hell!!!

[Pain_Man]

 

 

Well I can say that personally if you have been a and made people or want to at you it hasn't bothered me.

 

There have been times when I have read posts that made me want to the author but I don't recall your's being any of them. That said someone will probably prove me wrong now and I will have to !!

 

[Pain_Man]

@blu:

You helped put things into perspective and I appreciate that. I've made the decision to more careful of what I'm saying and to try not to contribute to the impression--sometimes fair, sometimes not--that Americans are egotistical pricks with an inflated sense of their own personal importance. Just because I have an inflated sense of my own importance, , doesn't mean that all of us do.

 

And I've personally been embarassed when I was in France by "ugly Americans"; you know: wankers wearing cowboy hats, big belt buckles and talking as loudly as possible and "How cum I cain't find no one who speaks Amurrican?" ("Cause you're a fuckin' arsehole and these Frenchies don't want nothing to do with you!") I was sometimes grateful I spoke French well enough to pass for, if not French, at least not American. And that's a weird feeling. Something I'd forgotten over the years.

 

 

No-one across the Internet can see your expression or read your face or hear the tone of your voice. They can therefore not engage in a meaningful debate without some interpretation from their side. And sometimes, things go awry.

 

I've always felt that was the problem, esp with email. It's almost a one dimension medium of communcation. Things come across so flatly that they can easily be mistaken for meaning things they don't.

 

And I'm not unaware of my flaws. You put it perfectly: the fingers get ahead of the brain. And later, I think this has probably happened to all of us, we've read something, an email or a post, where we were cringe, "Why the hell did I write that?!"

 

I remembering reading an article--don't laugh I was in my dr's office--in American Latina magazine about a reporter who was severely depressed. She fired off one of those "To ALL" emails basically ranting and spewing a bunch of crap. It literally ruined her career. The email got passed around to newspaper staffs all over the US. She couldn't get hired as a weather girl. Her journalism career was finished. The irony is, she bounced back and became a highly paid speaker of the Lecture Circuit.

 

I've done the same. Just last yr, without going into details, I'd had rather a LOT too much to drink and fired off an email to a person who used to be close to me. It was the kind of thing one writes when drunk and pissed. Reading it later--'cause I hardly remembered writing it--was a painful experience.

 

Sometimes I wish all email clients had a "HOLD QUEUE" that keeps emails from going out for 12 hours so you can make sure you wanna send that. It could save a lot of grief.

 

Perhaps I am wrong here, but I got the impression that some Aussies (is that an offensive term? It's used so commonly here--in the US--that we tend to use it unconsciously) thought I was taking shots at their country. Which I wasn't.

 

I have strong beliefs about various things. I just forget sometimes that other people a.) disagree and/or b.) don't really give rodent colons what I think about things.

 

 

 

@PM - it happens to all of us. Sometimes, we let our fingers go overboard, when the brain has no real intention of saying what the fingers type.

 

But what I recall more, is the fond way you are regarded here.

 

So, for God's sake, don't take it too seriously. Let's move on.

 

Happy thanksgiving to you and yours, and to all our US members, guests and friends.

 

Regards

 

Thanks. And we did have a good one.

[Pain_Man]

Yeah, we have. & Thanks.

 

'Specially since we both share an interest in the history of WWII.

 

An aside: we were watching something on Discovery, one of those "science" channels, and they were doing a story on Darwin (which was actually about the problems they have with crocs). And I told my wife that the Japanese had bombed Darwin during the war. She was surprised. She had no idea, unfortunately, like most Americans, that Australia had been bombed. Nor, as I told her, of the absolute heroism and soldierly skill of both Australian and NZ troops and the roll they played in the Pacific War. The defense of Port Moresby is one of the outstanding examples of gallantry and bravery in the war.

 

Sadly too few of us also know--since history classes tend to conveniently to forget this--that we were late to the party in both World Wars. To the immense cost in lives and wealth for our (eventual) Allies. Had we not had our thumb in our collective ass, our former Enemies would have done a lot less damage.

 

 

 

 

Hi PainMan, I think Blu hit the nail squarely and fairly right on the head, Ive seen this on soooo many forums, people getting irate with each other and me sometimes.....

 

Thing is, like a book, people will interperet the words in their own way, you cant see the facial expresions, the face is worth a thousand words expresion wise... My face on the other hand is worth just two...Fucking hell!!!

 

Weve had a few good chats via PMs, nice bloke I recon!

 

Dave.

[Pain_Man]

Thanks!

 

Forgive my medication-addled brain, but have you moved to Virginia yet? (If that is you...)

 

They're already having their first Nor'easter on the Right Coast. Welcome to American Weather!

 

I'm sure you've heard the joke 500 times already, "If you don't like it, wait ten minutes, it'll change."

 

Snow flurries were spotted in Florida on Wednesday. Gonna be a nasty winter I'm afraid.

 

 

Hey Pain_Man, good to see you back, again....

[spinningwheel]

Good to see you here again PM...

[Pain_Man]

It's because I'm American. I piss people off by breathing.

 

Sometimes I get the feeling some people want the whole country . (Probably not the people literally climbing over walls to get in, tho.)

 

 

You pissed me off !

 

 

 

 

 

As I ain't got a clue what your on about and thats killing me .

[Pain_Man]

"Ripping" what's ripping?

 

Good to see you here again PM...

[dontasciime]

depeche mode (people are people)

 

 

People are people so why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

 

So we're different colours

And we're different creeds

And different people have different needs

It's obvious you hate me

Though I've done nothing wrong

I never even met you

So what could I have done

 

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

Help me understand

 

People are people so why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

 

Help me understand

 

Now you're punching and you're kicking

And you're shouting at me

I'm relying on your common decency

So far it hasn't surfaced

But I'm sure it exists

It just takes a while to travel

From your head to your fist

 

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

 

Help me understand

 

 

 

Hardly anyone pisses me off apart from every government officials.

 

 

You are entitled to the same courtesy as everyone else and your fellow countrymen, until they show they are not worthy of it.

Edited November 24, 2006 by dontasciime

[Pain_Man]

This is a test.

 

I'm getting 403 errors when I try to put up a new thread...

[Pain_Man]

Your own

Personal Jesus

 

Pick up the receiver

I'll make up a believer

 

Believe it or not, Johnny Cash covered PJ on his second to last album. Needless to say, it's an entirely different song in his hands (voice?). He's been quoted as saying that he thought he was too self-righteous with his religion in the 70s. Covering "Personal Jesus" can only be a kind of repudiation of the sort of televangelists he associated with back then.

 

 

depeche mode (people are people)

 

 

People are people so why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

 

So we're different colours

And we're different creeds

And different people have different needs

It's obvious you hate me

Though I've done nothing wrong

I never even met you

So what could I have done

 

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

Help me understand

 

People are people so why should it be

You and I should get along so awfully

 

Help me understand

 

Now you're punching and you're kicking

And you're shouting at me

I'm relying on your common decency

So far it hasn't surfaced

But I'm sure it exists

It just takes a while to travel

From your head to your fist

 

I can't understand

What makes a man

Hate another man

 

Help me understand

 

 

 

Hardly anyone pisses me off apart from every government officials.

 

 

You are entitled to the same courtesy as everyone else and your fellow countrymen, until they show they are not worthy of it.

[dbminter]

Everyone, it may not be my place to say it, but, I want to.

 

 

I was the one who started this. In private exchanges to Pain. I spoke out of turn for reasons he knows well enough now and understands. I think.

 

 

I just wanted to say I (Don't think I did.) did not mention any names, just a generality over things that I shouldn't have brought up, in context. I've been pressed pretty hard for a long time, too long, and, I'll leave it at that. And, I took it out on some people for some things that didn't deserve it.

 

 

For that and for it coming out here, and for my taking the box, so to speak, to come clean, again, so to speak, I'm sorry. To all parties involved.

[Pain_Man]

No apologies necessary. To me anyway.

 

I've always felt one of things real friends do is tell you when you're fucking up. Anyone can be there when things are good, when times are rolling along. It's when things get sticky, that's when you find out who's a friend and who was just hanging out.

 

 

Everyone, it may not be my place to say it, but, I want to.

 

 

I was the one who started this. In private exchanges to Pain. I spoke out of turn for reasons he knows well enough now and understands. I think.

 

 

I just wanted to say I (Don't think I did.) did not mention any names, just a generality over things that I shouldn't have brought up, in context. I've been pressed pretty hard for a long time, too long, and, I'll leave it at that. And, I took it out on some people for some things that didn't deserve it.

 

 

For that and for it coming out here, and for my taking the box, so to speak, to come clean, again, so to speak, I'm sorry. To all parties involved.

[blutach]

@PM

 

It is not offensive to call us Aussies.

Jesus, we do our own fair share of name calling - "Pommies", "Septic Tanks", the list goes on.

 

Don't fret.

 

Regards

[jack]

To be honest if anybody repeatedly offends me I just put them on my ignore list. Problem solved.

[blutach]

@jack

 

Can you read this?

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

Regards

[jack]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2006 by jack

[dbminter]

Your own

Personal Jesus

 

Pick up the receiver

I'll make up a believer

 

Believe it or not, Johnny Cash covered PJ on his second to last album. Needless to say, it's an entirely different song in his hands (voice?). He's been quoted as saying that he thought he was too self-righteous with his religion in the 70s. Covering "Personal Jesus" can only be a kind of repudiation of the sort of televangelists he associated with back then.

 

 

Oh, is that when Cash went berserk and started covering Nine Inch Nails songs and making weird music videos where he's pouring out goblets of wine over large piles of jewels? It's the only explanation I have of that odd Cash piece that plays over the opening credits of the remake of Dawn Of The Dead.