Humor Random Comments Thread

[TSPenguin]

"Die Verwaltung des Bundestags"

Wouldn't it have to be "Die Verwaltung des Bundestages"?

 

[ar81]

I need a job to have money to make a living to play Orbiter.
I need time for my wife, eat, sleep, play Orbiter, and attend presentations of the star show.
I need health to feel good.
I need people like you to exchange knowledge.

 

[Urwumpe]

Wouldn't it have to be "Die Verwaltung des Bundestages"?

To be more correct, yes. but in spoken everyday language, nobody ever got killed for omitting the e.

 

[TSPenguin]

To be more correct, yes. but in spoken everyday language, nobody ever got killed for omitting the e.

You obviously don't know my old german teacher. Dr. Dr.
Spoken nearly nobody would use e unless it is a pre planned speach, or you had this guy in school!

 

[Whatu]

Well, seeing it like that, it is indeed a good method to give meaning to things... You just "glue" the words together without prepositions or conjunctions...
Its just that it can lead, (and in fact it does lead) to unusually long words, longer than the average in most languages (that I know), and that can be.. "scaring" to people not knowing the language (like me ).

I need people like you to exchange knowledge.

This is the thing that I like most of this forum: People who actually know things, and share their knowledge with the community. (Just like that religions thread...)

 

[astrosammy]

Some more information about the
Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

In English:
Cattle marking and beef labeling supervision duties delegation law

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ngsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.ogg

When the law was proposed in the state parliament, the members reacted with laughter and the responsible minister Till Backhaus apologized for the “possibly excessive length.”

 

[simonpro]

You obviously don't know my old german teacher. Dr. Dr.
Spoken nearly nobody would use e unless it is a pre planned speach, or you had this guy in school!

While I'm here, what's with that German way of addressing people?

In Denmark my supervisor is "Jens", in Germany one of my friends has a supervisor, who has to be referred to as "Herr Professor Dr Zoeling" even though they've known each other 5 years, my Dad found the same thing when he lived there.

Is there actually a reason for the massive titles or is it some historical thing that everyone sees as a tradition?

 

[TSPenguin]

There are lots of people here who insist on beeing called by their official titles. As it is their right.
I bet there are people like that everywhere on the planet, they just tend to group here
As far as I know this simply is tradition and dick headedness.

 

[Urwumpe]

While I'm here, what's with that German way of addressing people?

In Denmark my supervisor is "Jens", in Germany one of my friends has a supervisor, who has to be referred to as "Herr Professor Dr Zoeling" even though they've known each other 5 years, my Dad found the same thing when he lived there.

Is there actually a reason for the massive titles or is it some historical thing that everyone sees as a tradition?

Well, a mix of both - the historical thing is maybe quickly imaginable, as these titles are pretty much a replacement of the aristocracy with the meritocracy. Instead of addressing noble people with Lord Extra and Earl Gray, people who have more or less earned their titles have the same right be called professor Einstein.

You have to differ in German manners again between addressing this person vocally and in written form. In written form, these people have the full right to be referred with their full academic, military or political titles. When speaking to them, this is officially reduced to the highest ranked title. So, instead of "Herr Professor Doktor Müller", you should address him with "Herr Professor Müller" - same with military ranks, which follow the same formal form like "Herr Oberstabsarzt" or "Herr Hauptmann". Some more cinematic people might remember "Herr Kaleun".

German manners are so complex, that there is even a special book about it (like all important German things) - the famous "Knigge" (Named after Freiherr Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Knigge). This book is so significant, that all other manner guides in German web (like the informal rules of a chatroom or forum) are called "Knigge".

 

[simonpro]

Erk. That sounds complicated. I'm now pondering how many times I've appeared rude by referring to a German by the wrong thing

 

[Urwumpe]

Erk. That sounds complicated. I'm now pondering how many times I've appeared rude by referring to a German by the wrong thing

Just as often as a polite German sounds rude to somebody from other countries? The latest edition of the Knigge has gone far away from the old set of social rules (it even included tips for how to date a woman with style), as it now even contains information about other countries. :lol:

 

[Kyle]

The real longest word in English is Titin; The full chemical name, containing 189,819 letters, is sometimes stated to be the longest word in the English language.

 

[astrosammy]

Here is the full name:
http://www.othyr.com/titin.html

 

[Andy44]

Well, English and German have a common history. Doesn't surprise me that someone came up with such a crazy long word.

As far as I know this simply is tradition and dick headedness.

I am always amazed at you guys in Europe are not only good at English, but even know American and English slang, and even the way in which casual new slang is constructed.

 

[TSPenguin]

TSPirate

I am always amazed at you guys in Europe are not only good at English, but even know American and English slang, and even the way in which casual new slang is constructed.

In 5th and 6th grade the school (or at least that particular, otherwise good, teacher) failed at teaching me english expect the ing form. Very late in the 6th grade I encountered Linux. With my previous knowledge of how computers worked (thanks dad, for teaching me how and why things work at every level) it was fairly easy to wrap my head around man pages, readmes and howtos. This enabled me to get my english mark from 6 (worst) to 1 (best) in a few weeks and let me progress on to the 7th grade. Yay!
While I was still not really learning something in english classes, this time because I had a feel for the language and a very decent vocabulary, the stuff the teacher needed to bring along was simply too low for me.
Then it all began!
It started off on BTX and soon* lead to me getting the latest Simpsons episode of the internet. [2001 Theme] In english [Pause] And I learned.
It didn't stop there.>
English lessons stayed the same, although I always was by far the most skilled writer and speaker in class, often correcting the teacher and arguing about how nobody would say that and explaining the fine lines between british and U.S. english, my marks where usaly around 2 or 3. I usaly saw the homework the class before english while helping others to make them. My oral mark (There is one vocabular missing. Someone care to fill it? And please no dirty jokes...) was always good as I could do everything on the fly.
>I became a huge fan of original audio and to this day I watch a multitude of TV shows. I'd rather pirate a copy of a movie than watch it synchronized in the cinema. That also enabled me to experience a lot of artistic films that never made it to german cinemas (even the small art houses) and develope my taste for films and let me appreciate the art behind it.
Then came VoIP. Long story short, it works
In my army years my unit was assigned several times to "Force Protection" and I experienced some first ear U.S. english, not acted, not compressed.
I usaly acted as liason so I got my fair share of practice. Serving in KFOR did also improve my english a lot. And thanks to me beeing put in a black hawk helicopter and seeing the lead helicopter flying in front of us, slightly moving, I remembered that I was too long off Orbiter! (It was one of those times...)

And that is how I learned english.

A short word about piracy and society:
I went to see more movies in the cinema than I would have without beeing able to get a sneak preview from a pirated copy. People don't go so much to the cinema any more because most movies are utter crap! What is beeing produced, or let's better say marketet, gets worse and worse.
Everybody has the right to culture. As it is written in our constitution (we have the "Grundgesetz", it is not the same thing, maybe Urwumpe or astrosammy can explain).
I could never effort to buy tons of CDs or go to the cinema on a regular basis. Does that mean I am not allowed to pick what parts of what culture I consume at what time? Does it mean I have to listen to what DJs pick out for me to hear on the radio? Does it mean I need to wait two years or more until a movie is beeing aired on free tv and I can not see it because I have to work and if I can see it, can not enjoy it because there are commercial breaks and even worse, it is a version which is synced, so I have to buy the DVD at ridiculus prices?
No it doesn not! We have evolved. We have created, over generations, the knowledge and technology to build machines to make impossible things possible, to do work humans can't or should not do. We have created a medium which enables every human to access every information at any time. These developments will go on.
That also means, our form of capitalism can only lead to a growing gap between rich and poor and will ultimately end in slavery.
History has shown, that you can not trust in ethics or morale of leaders. Simply because leaders are usaly ass-holes. Simply because ass-holes make it to the top. They use ass-hole methods most people are too nice to compete against that.
If I want to play with numbers and maximize my proftt at any cost, I play browser game, those ass-holes play with real money, real politics and real lifes of people.
There is so much understanding between the people of the world. Let's try and become one big society on this planet! Let the ass-holes have the dwarf planets. Except Pluto. Pluto is cool.

Watch this Video (sorry, only german): Arbeit?
And this movie: Steal This Film

If you'll excuse me now, Weeds.S04E02.HDTV.XviD-0TV.[VTV].avi has finished downloading 5 minutes ago.
To find this post again, search for TSPirate

 

[Tex]

I'd rather pirate a copy of a movie than watch it synchronized in the cinema. That also enabled me to experience a lot of artistic films that never made it to german cinemas (even the small art houses) and develope my taste for films and let me appreciate the art behind it.

I don't really know what all is available to people in other countries when it comes to movies and stuff, but to me when people pirate movies, tv shows, etc then it doesn't seem like the work is really appreciated. I'm not at all trying to single you out here, just giving my thoughts on the whole idea that stealing movies and things is ok. It's no different than walking into a store and stealing something without paying for it. On the other hand, I collect DVDs so I guess I've never wanted to really pirate any movies since I want the whole thing, box and all.

 

[TSPenguin]

I don't really know what all is available to people in other countries when it comes to movies and stuff, but to me when people pirate movies, tv shows, etc then it doesn't seem like the work is really appreciated. I'm not at all trying to single you out here, just giving my thoughts on the whole idea that stealing movies and things is ok. It's no different than walking into a store and stealing something without paying for it. On the other hand, I collect DVDs so I guess I've never wanted to really pirate any movies since I want the whole thing, box and all.

I get your point and I see where mine didn't carry.

Think of it this way: You have your own comic collection at home and walk to the store. Because the the owner reads all comics first you get your comics a year later than everybody else. So far so good, but the comic book guy is also an ass-hole and overwrites all the texts with what he thinks it should read. So you have to wait another 6 months until the store has the microfilm of the comics you like. So you can't really enjoy the comic as it was meant to be and if you are unlucky and like what all the others like who don't mind the comic book guy writing his own texts, you get spoiled... So while it is unethical in some sense, I have friends who make a absolutely flawless copy of the microfilm a year before comic book guy even bought the pen to write his own text.

It is practicaly impossible to see a decent movie in the original version here. I don't mind that even if I have the chance, there are german subtitles. I do mind, that the big cinemas on the rare occasions that they even show a movie original, show mostly crap (the big blockbuster movies which I consider to be mostly crap, mildly entertaining at most). Some small art houses show most movies they get also in original versions, but they don't show nearly as many movies as the big ones, and usaly they are really small cinemas.
So I have to wait for the DVD to come out at high prices in order to watch the movie at home.
Just imagine The Beatles beeing localized and resung by some german guy as the alternative to listening to them on a 1920s grammophon.
I admit, they have been cutting down on delays from the U.S. to the German cinemas, but that changes nothing in respect to what I am saying.
So much for the system.

Now let's consider this: You only have money for one CD/DVD/Cinema visit a month. All you can do is go out each month and decide on one thing to spend your money for. Chances are you pick something you didn't really like, but thats not the point. The point is you are beeing left out of the cultural development of your race.

I am absolutely for artists beeing paid. And I feel bad (I really do) when I am pirating music or german movies. When I have money left for cultural spening, I buy what I already have. And I know I buy something I really want to pay for. Especialy since I've tried many other things I would've bought if I had the money, which turned out to be not of my taste.

As for the point you didn't make: Pirating harms the artists.
That was also said for writers, when printing became a mass media.
That was also said for musicians when the tape recorder became popular.
That was also said for film makers, when the video recorder became popular.
Catch my drift?!

You make a valid argument and you are right. All I ask is that you consider my points. Especialy you as an artist should watch Steal This Film. I think you'll like it.

edit: I deliberately made my statements in this thread because I did not want to offend anyone (foremost you) by taking a too public stand for piracy in this forum. Feel free to edit/delete my posts if you do not want this forum associated with piracy at all. Feel also free to open a sub forum for it

 

[Tex]

^

All good points and you didn't offend me. I didn't mean to single you out, just posting my random comments on the whole piracy thing that seems to have grown into a big deal now. I haven't heard of "steal this film", but will check it out. I guess it was the way I was brought up to believe stealing is bad so I never do it, even if its pirating.

I actually had no idea it was that bad there for getting original films. Always interesting to hear how things work across the pond, but that certainly sounds like a crappy deal you guys are getting with the films. Sorry to hear that indeed and one could understand the need to pirate. At least you buy the ones you like later.

 

[jedidia]

It is practicaly impossible to see a decent movie in the original version here.

Come to switzerland!

Over here, lots of cinemas still show the original versions of movies.

And I was just wondering about the lot of new threads here since sunday... what's gotten into you guys?

 

[Tex]

And I was just wondering about the lot of new threads here since sunday... what's gotten into you guys?

Lots of coffee! :lol: