pecunium | (no subject)

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The more time I spend looking at other's LJs, the more of these I decide to inflict on the rest of you.

You're Catch-22!

by Joseph Heller

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you
see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense
of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an
ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You
could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of
people.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

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Whatever did we do???

*snerk* "You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits."

*snort*

Hey, thanks for the tips on mailing chocolate that you posted in Gin's comment section. I will give it a try on my next box. BTW, I took the book quiz--I'm Siddhartha.

Take care,
Diane in Austin

You're welcome.

I've been Siddartha too, it's an odd little quiz, but I like it. The most interesting aspect of it is how much is dependant on the initial conditions (i.e. the first two questions).

I think it works like a couple of "if/then" games a wrote back in High school, when I was trying to teach myself Pascal. Which makes it pretty easy for a lot of choices to be really constrained by how one starts.

TK

I was kinda wondering about the initial constraints; husband and I were having fun with it this weekend. He's 100 Years of Solitude.

BTW, hope you don't mind--I went back and read your Iraq journal entries. You write very well. I appreciate people like you and Ginmar sharing your experiences to give civilians some idea of what it's like. I read Gin's writing about how sitting silhouetted in the moonlight makes her the perfect target, and I realize that I simply have no clue about soldiers' lives. I'm really glad you made it back safely.

Also, I found this on one of my favorite blogs this morning. You might have already read about it. It won't make you very happy but I figured you'd want to know
http://www.intel-dump.com/archives/archive_2004_06_07.shtml

Take care,
Diane

It would seem silly to mind, as I not only put them in a public place, I point people to them.

I'm glad you liked them, and I'm not unhappy you don't really have a clue about soldiering.

If you want some clues, I can reccomend some books (Keegan's The Face of Battle" isn't a bad a start, nor is, The Sharp End, though the latter is a tad more graphic.

After that, well the list gets long, and I'd need to know what you were interested in finding out.

Thanks for the titles. I'll look for them this weekend.

I'd like to read memoirs or other works to help gain some insight on how people taking incoming fire can actually do their jobs (possibly saving their companions' lives), instead of panicking and becoming paralyzed with fear. I thought about that recently when reading about soldiers who have won medals for bravery during the Iraq war. I simply cannot imagine being able to function in such a terrifying situation.

BTW, I got a kick out of your username and the obscure "salary" reference.

Do you know that the name, and the salary reference go together to make a social comment?

If so, kudos, you are the first, if not, I'll explain it to you.

You are the first to comment on the salary reference, so kudos there, in any wise.

Hmm... well, "pecunium" means "wealth," so... um... Soldiers' pay is better than nothing? That's the only comment I can figure out.

Am I really the only person to have mentioned the "salarium" reference? That's surprising!

In English the root "pecun" relates to wealth, in Latin, as an adjective it meant wealth, as a noun it was the fund a slave kept to buy his freedom, so a pecunium would be better than a salary, no?

And yes, you are the first person to comment on it, though I know some of my friends understand it.

TK

You must have actually studied Latin instead of picking up a few terms here and there like me.

BTW, just in case you haven't checked, Ginmar updated her blog today.

Say, isn't it about time for another dumb quiz?

I have studied it, a bit. Enough that I can decipher it, the scary part is that the name, and the subhead, came to me in a brief moment. That's the thing (rapid concantation, of such disparate things... like the only russian pun I've ever made) which amazes me.

The mind is an amazing instrument.

What it's time for is a couple of posts about my life, as opposed to political rantings, or self induldgent praise by subterfuge.

Oh, yeah, how we do it... Needs must when the Devil drives.

Seriously... You do what you have to, and training takes over. We practice most of it to a fare thee well, in the expectation that under stress it will be automatic. Happily that's true more often than not.

Lord knows I have done things from trained reflex which seemed beyond the pale if analysed as reasonable/expected.

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Long-distance chocolate

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OK, I'm impressed...

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