Teflpedia:Student bar/Archive 2

On being pedantic
Ah the intricacies of being pedantic in English. It reminds me of the old Jonathon Miller sketch in "Beyond the Fringe".

'Bertrand Russell': ''One of the advantages of living in Great Court, Trinity, I seem to recall, was the fact that one could pop across at any time of the day or night and trap the then young G.E. Moore into a logical falsehood by means of a cunning semantic subterfuge. I recall one occasion with particular vividness. I had popped across and had knocked upon his door. ‘Come in’, he said. I decided to wait awhile in order to test the validity of his proposition. ‘Come in’, he said once again. ‘Very well’, I replied, ‘if that is in fact truly what you wish’. I opened the door accordingly and went in, and there was Moore seated by the fire with a basket upon his knees. ‘Moore’, I said, ‘do you have any apples in that basket?’ ‘No’, he replied, and smiled seraphically, as was his wont. I decided to try a different logical tack. ‘Moore’, I said, ‘do you then have some apples in that basket?’ ‘No’, he replied, leaving me in a logical cleft stick from which I had but one way out. ‘Moore’, I said, ‘do you then have apples in that basket?’ ‘Yes’, he replied. And from that day forth, we remained the very closest of friends.'''

Genghis Khant 23:00, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, my brain is fried, anyone want to explain the subtle pedantry in that one to me? Kthxbai... Human 03:59, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * At first I thought it was some trick on "some" and "any" but it doesn't work. Click here for the original soundtrack which makes it clear it's a gag.
 * Bob M 09:34, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think I've sort of figured it out, without the help of wikipedia's non-existent article on bare plurals. "Any apples" can mean "all apples" ("any apple grows on a tree"); "Some apples" is a bit tougher, but still has a meaning like "some apples are red", which may be the logical direction Moore was trying to avoid being skewered on.  Simply "apples" means what it says on the tin - more than one apple, and nothing else. Human 21:51, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * (Hey, this thread is almost on-topic for this wiki!) Human 21:52, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That's pretty much how I interepreted it. Genghis Khant 21:58, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

In honor of my birthday
Happy birthday! I have put some 15 year, cask-strength Macallan on tap here for all RationalWiki refugees! Drink up!Gooniepunk2005 23:23, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Oooooooh, that's goood stuff. Did you catch Nancy on Ron Reagan's show last hour? Human 01:12, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * For some reason, I am never around when Ron Reagan's show is on, so, no, I didn't hear his interview with Nancy. Was it good?Gooniepunk2005 22:19, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it was. They sounded like a son and his mother chatting about an old friend of their dad's (ok, not her dad, mangled sentence).  She was pretty lucid for her age, and very nice about Ted, and how close they all were.  The mother/son thing was kinda sweet, that they would let down their hair a bit and be a little personal on the air.  Might be at whiterosesociety or Ron's website if you want to hear it, it was roughly the last 20 minutes or so of the show.
 * Happy Birthday, Goonie, sláinte mhath, and thanks for the drink. RagTop 03:52, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Cheers mate! Many happy returns and all that. SuperJosh 17:33, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks all. I had a blast yesterday.Gooniepunk2005 22:19, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Me too, thanks! Human 00:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Hell...
...is giving 4 presentations in 1 day, in a language I've barely spoken for the last 12 months. Just wanted to get that off my chest. -- Psy Whut? 18:43, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Namespaces
I have noticed that there are Debate and Essay namespaces here, which don't seem to make much sense. I would suggest that you replace them with things like Lesson, and change Free stuff into a category, which is more fitting its purpose. Phantom Hoover 18:12, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I could do. To be honest they are not much used but there might be in the future.  The world of TEFL is by no means a done deal and is really rife with debate about methodology and such like. Essay will allow people to create opinion type pieces if they so wish. "Free stuff" doesn't really fit into the mainspace (or won't in theory) because one could give a lesson a name which would then look like an article.  As you will have guessed I stoled the ideas of those spaces who in turn (I think) stoled them from CP.--Bob M 19:06, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * But namespaces should separate different kinds of page, like articles from essays and material for lessons, meanwhile categories are for indicating shared attributes of pages; therefore "Free stuff" shouldn't be a namespace, because you can have two lessons, one of which is free and one of which isn't, but "Lesson" should, because, as you say, you should separate lessons from articles. Phantom Hoover 19:20, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Space "free stuff" is for class materials which teachers have developed and which they have donated to the community. Not everything that a teacher might develop is, in fact, a "lesson". It could be a game for example, or a particular activity which the teacher has found useful for explaining or clarifying a particular point.  We will never host paid lessons here - indeed it's not clear how we could.  We also do have a couple of categories for "free lessons" or resources which people can obtain from the web. --Bob M 19:38, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

New Logo
After much to-ing and fro-ing we have a new logo at Teflpedia. I would like to express my thanks to Toast who initially suggested the use of IPA text; to Phantom Hover and Nx who gave up their time and patience to actually create it; and to all those who contributed opinions. It should serve as a memory of the RW vacations in 09.--Bob M 14:20, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * "initially suggested the use of IPA text" and teh mortar board. Toast 14:30, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Then I stand corrected. And the mortar board.--Bob M 15:08, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Heh! I haz teh ideas and the peons do the work. That's management! Toast 15:26, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I prefer to see it as me and Nx helping the tech-unsavvy old people make pretty pictures. Phantom Hoover 15:45, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * This senior citizen has been making pretty pictures on computers probably since teh "tech savvy" people were in nappies. Toast 15:51, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'd already gathered that you had done computery stuff before. Phantom Hoover 16:09, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, now I look at it again - and look at some other logos - do you think we should but a line of sub text. "The wiki for English teachers" or something of that nature?--Bob M 15:34, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The only people who will ever see it are already here and presumably know why, so no. If you use it external to the site (on printed matter e.g.) then yes.
 * Wikpedia says: "The free encyclopaedia"; Conservapedia says "The Trus(t)worthy encyclopaedia; Ask says, well, nothing. But it might be nice for new users. Just thinking.--Bob M 17:34, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, it's good to see you got something positive out of letting us all crash here. Armondikov 15:48, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Also a memory of the visit. Perhaps it should become an annual tradition - invade another wiki every year for the last two weeks of August.--Bob M 17:34, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Text added here. Phantom Hoover 20:07, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * "The English teaching encyclopaedia" doesn't sound right to me. Does it mean an 'English encyclopaedia of teaching' or an 'English-teaching encyclopaedia'? Perhaps it should be 'The encyclopaedia of English-teaching' or 'The encyclopaedia of teaching English' or even 'The wiki for teachers of English'. Genghis Khant 22:03, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not actually an encyclopaedia is it? It's a resource. Toast 22:14, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll change it tomorrow. Phantom Hoover 22:15, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Well the mainpage says: ''Teflpedia is a wiki dedicated to everything associated with teaching English as a foreign language or  second language. Our objective is to become a user-generated resource for English teachers internationally. We opened our doors on 27th May 2008 and we've been slowly growing ever since.''

So - how to describe it? Resource? Wiki? Encyclopaedia? Meeting point? Perhaps simply calling it a "wiki" would be best? Opinions?--Bob M 09:41, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks PH. Now I see it I'm not so sure. Would "The English Teachers' wiki" look better?--Bob M 10:34, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I just want to second Bob's suggesting of a RW summer outing. No, not that sort of outing. Armondikov 09:46, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeh, but I bet we forget next year. Unless Trent "arranges" it again.--Bob M 10:34, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Hehe, yeah. And in your caption above, either "Teachers'" should be uncapped or "wiki" should be capped, right? Human 21:35, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, you're right. My bad. (Unless you were to regard "English teacher" as a proper noun or a title. But that's clutching at straws.)  Where is Tolerance when you need him - or was it her?--Bob M 22:13, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * English teacher = teacher (of any subject) who happens to be English.


 * Wiki for teachers of
 * English as a Foreign Language
 * Toast 22:25, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That's a bit unwieldy, isn't it? Also, while "English teacher" can be read that way, it also can clearly mean "teacher of English". In fact, I doubt the confusion will come up much, if at all.  If I said "my English teacher" I doubt anyone would think I meant "my math teacher from England".  See how it compares simply to "math teacher"?  Human 00:24, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If you were in Spain how about: my English wife; my English car; my English cup of tea; my English teacher? Toast 00:35, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

(UI)You forget I am in a foreign country, and, here, the first three phrases mean what you would expect, and "English teacher" means a teacher of English. Human 00:38, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Have it your way. Toast 00:39, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, it's Bob's decision, and I'm sure he will weigh our arguments in his fine balance. If he even bothers to read all of them ;) Human 00:47, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * As for me, I'll just wait until you've all come to something approaching an agreement, and then I'll update it. Phantom Hoover 07:18, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually the description "English teacher" is acknowledged to cause problems. See our article teacher.--Bob M 07:23, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, that article needs some work, but how about "Resources for teachers of English as a foreign language" on two lines? Human 07:26, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That doesn't fit on two lines at the font size I'm using, and I don't want to make it any smaller. Phantom Hoover 08:19, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * OK, how about "For teachers of English"? Or how about the older logo, no text except the IPA? Bob? Human 08:31, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * The thing is that while "English teacher" is potentially ambiguous. (Is the teacher English, or is English the subject being taught, and is that a TEFL teacher or a "normal" English teacher.) In reality such ambiguity never really causes problems. Anybody coming to a site called "TEFL something" will know full well what is going on.  And If they don't the first paragraph on the mainpage explains what we are.  So I don't think that we need to get too hung up over this or get into too long an explanation.  I also like PH's font and font size, and I like the idea of a bit of text.--Bob M 09:17, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Request
PH, can you roll me up a copy of the teflon logo in which the mortarboard is roughly 120 pixels wide tip to tip, with the text the same size as it is? You can email it to me or post it here. I need it for something I am working on. Thanks! Human 23:32, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Politicians
I thought the House of Commons was bad but I really don't know what to make of this. Can anyone explain it to me? Genghis Khant 22:21, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, they do this stuff all the time. Most "work" is done in committee, so the place is 3/4 empty and no one cares, but "speeches" like that end up in the Congressional Record.  Note that she was limited to 5 minutes.  In the good old days of filibustering the old farts would just stand there reading the bible or the phone book or whatever they had handy in order to keep talking.  We haven't had a good fist fight in ages, though. Human 22:42, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Apparently one of the record lowest turnouts for the UK Commons was during a discussion on truancy... But yes, all the real work is done in smaller committees (Select Committees in the UK, IIRC) leaving some weird shit to go down in the actual chambers. Armondikov 09:43, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Bandwidth
Bloody hell. Hosting RW is really chewing up my bandwidth. My previous maximum bandwith in a month was 900 meg and I've got 2000 contracted. At the moment I'm at about 1400 used - which means that I've got about 600 left. My maximum daily load with RW on board was 206, though 180 seems more like an average. With four and a half days of the month left that looks a bit ominous, especially as things are more likely to go up than down. A word with my provider is in order I feel.--Bob M 10:57, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Indeed. You may get some leverage if you say it's temporary.  If you need a few bucks to get an allowance increase to cover the usage, then I know I'm happy to contribute. Worm 11:10, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm just in live chat with them now. The bastards are playing hardball.--Bob M 11:16, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Now you know how Trent feels. Theemperor 12:06, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * And you're not really getting hit as hard as RW usually does. Good luck, I'll stop refreshing the page 10 times a second :p. But cheer up, it's really only a few days before Trent is back at home, chained to the server so he stays within kicking distance. Armondikov
 * 500 used in the last seven days, 600 to last youten days... not gonna make it. Is there a way for us to chip in if you go over? 188.220.32.68 15:16, 27 August 2009 (UTC)


 * The 600 only has to last out the month - 4 days or so. So he'll make it, it looks like. Human 21:59, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I wonder... How much of the bandwidth will have been taken up by me and Nx uploading more than ten different logo candidates? Phantom Hoover 17:02, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think that'll be very high. What will increase the load though is the number of people looking at those pages. I must admit that I refresh Rc loads of times & that's gotta be fairly high bytewise. Suggestion: remove all RW added Javascript/CSS from personal and common. (dunno if that'd help at all. How much does "Use enhanced Recent changes" contribute over a week? Toast 17:22, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I was wondering about what chews bandwith as well. I'm at 1469 now, but I can't remember the exact number from this morning, but we don't seem to be chewing up bandwith at quite the same rate.
 * Talking to their finance people was like negotiating with a brick wall, their only solution was to upgrade my packages. Their negotiating position was - "If you go over your limit we switch you off." But, in the middle of the conversation - weirdly just as I asked them to put a value on the upgrades -, they transferred me to their techo folk. They were a bit weird, but gave me an extra 100 mbg.
 * So we'll wait and see how close we get to the line. Perhaps people could hold off uploading stuff till the new month starts? Would that make much difference?--Bob M 17:30, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

The top bandwidth users are: Some of that will be regular traffic. The UK and Gb are usually near the top. For comparison last month was: --Bob M 18:01, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Great Britain 322.46 MB
 * United States 307.37 MB
 * Spain	204.32 MB
 * Hungary 106.85 MB
 * Australia 85.77 MB
 * Spain	296.40 MB
 * United States	48.01 MB
 * Great Britain	21.33 MB
 * Malaysia 8.07 MB
 * China 16.30 MB
 * *Hungary 106.85 MB
 * Hm. I guess I better lay off the refresh button Nx 18:26, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I find it vaguely weird that the UK beats the US. Phantom Hoover 18:32, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I thought that too.
 * Would archiving older parts of student bar make much difference?--Bob M 18:42, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Bob, it would be a good idea to archive a large chunk of this page (and any other long pages like WIGO ASK talk) as the bandwidth usage increases geometrically. Also I would suggest commenting out any images as well. You've made us all quite welcome here and it would be a pity if we trashed your wiki with our presence. Lily The Pink 19:00, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks Lily. You beat me to the archive.--Bob M 19:49, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Update
Update: 1530 used out of 2000.--Bob M 22:22, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Purple Scissors at wikisynergy had offered up a "room" where we could play if we wanted. We might want to try splitting the load or something? Offload the talk wigocp or the student bar to WS maybe? Human 23:55, 27 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Why don't we fire up an Amazon EC2 server to use and we chip in to the account holder? I have an account set up and so I can boot one up, but considering it would cost about $100 / month (including the bandwidth) I'd need some contributions to avoid being castrated by tehmizus. Crundy 07:53, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Either that or I can give you an account on my Linux reseller server with something like 10Gb of bandwith. Do you need root access to use MediaWiki or can you install it on shared hosting servers? Crundy 07:55, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * To be hones I don't know. Maybe Nx can comment. Thanks for the offer.--Bob M 09:34, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

WikiSynergy apparently has plenty of spare BW to share. If things get scary, Bob, why not make a banner link thing to a random page or subpage over there. I'm sure she won't mind. Human 08:50, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Update: Now on 1565 out of 2000 so things seem to be slowing down, or people are checking recent changes less often or, archiving some pages has had an effect. If we run right up to the edge I'll do what you suggest and put a banner on Student bar suggesting that people take it to a page on WikiSynergy. --Bob M 09:09, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If we can keep the pages here relatively small (mainly talk pages anyway) then that should do the trick. Moving to another site will only complicate merging everything back into RW. Also, if people could use a slightly smaller font then that might help as well. ;) Genghis Khant 10:24, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Update 1622 of 2000.--Bob M 19:15, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If someone can set up a temp wiki quick on a cPanel account then let me know and I'll drop you a username and password for a hosting account to use. Crundy 21:12, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Update:1709 of 2000. Thanks for the idea Crundy but I'm afraid that I don't know how to do that. Don't know if any of the more techy types here know.--Bob M 06:51, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think we should move either talk wigo CP (or the student bar, nah, keep that here, it's a cool pagename) to wikisynergy soon. We don't want to bump you over the line.  In html you can do a "redirect" that is automatic.  Can you copy talk wigo cp over to WS and insert such magic?  Or just leave a simple one line link? Or, will "300"-odd last for two more days?  I am trying to use small words as much as I can. Human 07:23, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think it might, actually, given that the count has only gone up by a little under 100 for the last two days. Phantom Hoover 08:03, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Looks like we may scrape through.--Bob M 10:03, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Update: 1772 of 2000. I should like to thank people for taking it easy. :-) I should especially like to thank the financial contributor from the other end of the world.--Bob M 16:51, 29 August 2009 (UTC) Update: 1834 of 2000. We should make plans for the worst. :-( --Bob M 06:58, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

I should stop hitting F5 every ten minutes on the recent changes page.. Web 07:31, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If you're a RC-junkie then at least turn off image downloads (check advanced settings for your browser if you don't know how) and in your personal settings reduce the number of entries to display to 10. Ⓖⓔⓝⓖⓗⓘⓢ 07:48, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Update: 1889 of 2000--Bob M 20:25, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Update: 1960 of 2000. She's going to blow captain!--Bob M 07:34, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Need to make redirects to http://www.wikisynergy.com/~wikisyne/w/index.php?title=wikisynergy:hotel and http://www.wikisynergy.com/~wikisyne/w/index.php?title=wikisynergy:WIGOCP ASAP? Human 09:18, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I assume Bob's host uses gmt... if that is so, there are only 7 hours left until september ... hopefully teflpedia won't be down for long if it does down. Nx 15:40, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I assume my host is giving me a little bit of rope. I have been getting automated messages telling me that I'm at 99% but so far the knife has not fallen. From previous dealings with them I have the impression they don't want to lose clients, although when I spoke to their accounts dept a few days ago they weren't that helpful. Should have spoken to sales. Yes, they are on GMT which is notably ahead of US time.
 * I'm reluctant to look at my statistics pages in case looking at them provokes some bot to action. I have the impression that some of my e-mails have followed immediately on from my looking at the stats.  Sorry about reducing chances to play for everybody. It's a bit like inviting everybody to a party and then finding out you don't have enough beer.--Bob M 16:51, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * There's no need to apologize - thank you for letting us make a mess of your wiki. Nx 16:48, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, August is over, but for future reference you should look into enabling output compression to reduce bandwith. MediaWiki actually does this by default, but you need to enable zlib support in PHP. --79.40.239.85 05:47, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Bob, I've uploaded a little memento, just in case you never see it again. 19:04, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

The Demon Insomnia and Holiday Hangover
One of those christing insomniac nights. Always happens to me seasonally, as I am moving into spring down here in this wayward hempishere my body reacts badly. Last night I was in the throes of some kind of alcholic sicknesses that bewitch those that spend the week drinking heavily whilst on holiday. Combined with some belly infection the struck me as soon as I was airbourne from Melbourne airport I was in a world of pain. Tonight though is straight insomnia. So I get back up and leave Ms McWicked to her own sleepless purgatory - on the boarder of waking hell and heavenly sleep - and pour myself a double triple  quad full glass of scotch and partake in a cigarette in my backyard. Under these beautiful NZ skys, clear stars wink at me as they complete their circus. I mull it all over, feel the wonderousness that can only come from imagining deep space. Then I get cold and come to see what you fuckers are up to. So wow me. Ace McWicked 12:11, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You scumbags are boring, I am going back to bed. Ace McWicked 13:03, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I laughed at a crying kid today. That was the high point of it. SuperJosh 18:07, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I put some dirty knickers in a Kiwi's airplane food on a flight from Melbourbe to Wellington a few days ago. I wonder if it made him sick as heck. Hi Ace! Nutty Roux 24.14.72.223 18:55, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Dreams of wiki
I was having a bit of a bad dream last night and wanted to get out of it. So I found a wiki-link in the dream, clicked on it and felt myself go to a different page, and a different dream. Am I spending too much time on-line?--Bob M 17:35, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No, but when you react to a joke by saying lol,you've reached the point of no return. -- Psy Whut? 17:54, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I thought the point of no return was when you end an ironic remark by saying ;) --79.45.237.109 20:41, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I have had similar dreams, where there's no link, I hit "edit", make one, click on it.... Human 23:49, 27 August 2009 (UTC)


 * No, you're too far gone when you say "bracket bracket Liberal bracket bracket"  Theemperor 05:08, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Did you type ~ before you woke up? Sterile 00:46, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Not in so many characters, no. It's spelled "left ring finger down, left middle finger tap tap tap tap, do not stop at three, and five shall be right out." Human 01:57, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Nother dream
I had a dream last night that I was on the London Underground (London train service) with a friend and the train got hijacked by a guy that took it to a secret house where he and a group of friends were pirating DVDs. It was an immensely cool dream, as I never usually remember them. SuperJosh 10:28, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Conservapedia create account
There's no create account button on Conservapedia - I know Phantom Hoover bought this up the other day, but it's still not there. I think they've finally done it and effectively ended free speech on Conservapedia. Other people's verdicts? SuperJosh 19:54, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Sometimes they forget to switch it back on. But just like night editing and range blocks, anything that serves to put off new editors can only be good news for the forces of reason. Genghis Khant 20:02, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Whenever we get RW back, we totally need an FAQ to answer the "Why is there no create account button?" question. --Jeeves 20:03, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think the fact that me and Josh are both in Britain may have altered our perception of things like night mode, because of the time difference. Do you get the Create Account button if you've been blocked? TK rangeblocked me a while ago after I made a slip, so that might explain it. Phantom Hoover 20:06, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I seem to recall this happened at least once before. I can't believe they'd do such a thing deliberately.--Bob M 20:09, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You should still be able to see the create account button even if you've been blocked from creating an account - it just won't complete. Genghis Khant 20:59, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not even that it matters any more - it's become impossible for the tiniest voice of dissent to be heard from a new user, and wandalism isn't worth the hassle most the time. SuperJosh 10:17, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

It's back
The button's back. Allow the sockpuppetry to begin! SuperJosh 12:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh wait, I'm IP blocked. Oops! SuperJosh 12:22, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * TOR is your friend. Web 19:42, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I still have three tabs open on RW
A template talk I've had for ages, an article talk page where the first ref is a dead link, and talk:C-decay where I was arguing poorly with h/2h over something that seems so... long ago... I go there when I need to eat brains. I hope my firefox doesn't crash before Septic VI, these tabs are my only link with our glorious past, my friends. Human 07:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No doubt that is what brought RW down! Human's open tabs!--Bob M 11:45, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I like this hypothesis, but I don't think Human is willing to test it. Sterile 02:53, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You mean if I close them, it will come back? Noooooooooooooooooo it's all I've got....... Well, ok, that and you guys here. And that synergy place. Human 03:29, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Abducted girl found after 18 yrs
I'm sure that most of you have heard about the 11-years old girl who was abducted 18 years ago and recently walked into a police station. I was not at all surprised to read this from the BBC article:

''Their identities were revealed after police spotted Mr Garrido as he handed out religious literature at the University of California Berkeley campus with the two young children. He raised suspicions because as a registered sex offender he was not allowed to be with young children. .... Some of those who had had contact with Mr Garrido over recent years said he had developed increasingly strong religious beliefs.''

Those evil amoral atheists, they're everywhere nowadays. Genghis Khant 11:36, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds like something from Jack Chick. Evil rapist kidnaps young girl but later finds God so that's all right then.--Bob M 11:46, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I bet that's something we're going to hear about on Conservapedia, the website which doesn't censor the truth. SuperJosh 12:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah, I didn't know this topic was here, I just added a link to this story at WIGO world. Imagine the relief and joy of the girl's mother, what a situation though, that nutter kept her confined in his back yard for 18 years. Refugee 22:22, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * At the time of her disappearance she was living with her mother and step-father (no mention of real father, perhaps he died earlier on), after she disappeared their marriage broke up and the step-father has been under suspicion of involvement. Finally he is exonerated. Genghis Khant 22:41, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No mention in the story who the father of the young girls is... (her daughters). Creepy. Human 01:57, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm sure it has been stated (somewhere) that Garrido is the father of the young girls (too lazy to check). Apparently the girls have never seen a doctor nor a school. I wonder if they have been homeschooled? Now the police are saying that they are also investigating a series of prostitute murders. Genghis Khant 06:49, 29 August 2009 (UTC) 06:48, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yup, I've found "vague" refs to that now. It's probably too early for hard and fast claims to be made.  Oh, and I'd forgotten to do the math... the abductee was 14 when she had her first daughter. Human 21:06, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

TGIF!
That's all I have to say, TGIF! About freakin time! 3 day weekend now for me! :D Refugee 22:23, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Our host is under some constraints with bandwidth so please refrain from too much page refreshing and archive stuff to prevent frequently-viewed pages getting too long. Genghis Khant 22:44, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
 * What? Refugee 00:32, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Just don't stick images on highly viewed pages (like I did) and we should be ok. Human 03:30, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Does it matter if I blocked all the images frum this site? Or does that still takeout wide rubber bands or whatever.. PENlS! Kektklik 11:11, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

user Republicans Reject Science; Scientists Reject Republicans
I can't remember if this was discussed before Teh GCOON, but only 6% of scientists are republicans. maybe there is hope for the world.  Psy Whut? 15:28, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Porn for the Blind
Ok, last one for today. porn for the Blind. I kid you not. -- Psy Whut? 15:34, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks.. I can use this when I'm too tired to keep my eyes open to look at my fiancée. &#42;downloads each one and loads it onto my mp3 player&#42; Kektklik 17:58, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds reasonable to me. We have guide dogs for the deaf and music for the deaf. Why not porn for the blind?--Bob M 18:55, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Hah, listened to a couple. They're hilarious. It'd be great to do a bait and switch audio for them. Maybe something that starts off innocuous but a dog comes in half way through. That'd give the blindies something to think about. --Jeeves 22:14, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

interesting observation
We are always yacking on about how many of us are active on RW, and we've tried to use various metrics to get a good idea of the numbers.

At Category:RationalWiki I count over 50 users - people who are into RW enough to have taken the trouble to join at this refuge. And people are still signing up.

Just an observation. Human 21:05, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * A surprising number actually. After this month ends It would be interesting to start: "How I found the student bar."  But not until the 1st of September please.--Bob M 21:43, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Screw it. I wasn't going to overload the bandwidth, but if we're going to use "who found da site?" as a metric, I'll sign up slavishly. SuspectedReplicant 22:24, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah, but you're a sockpuppet... Human 04:13, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Err... nope. SuspectedReplicant 07:37, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Archive binging
I'm currently going through Irregular Webcomic. I've been at it for nearly two days, and I'm still only at about 600. Phantom Hoover 21:57, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Ed Poor on Wikipedia
I realize he's a lame duck over there (one who won't leave, of course), compared to the license he has to drop his little 'quoticles' all over Conservapedia, but some of his recent WP edits have been a bit blatant in trying to slowly remove criticism of the Unification Church. This, on the other hand, is just amazing.

I vaguely remember something on RW about him actually being employed by the Unification Church. Is that for real? Mt 22:14, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know if he was "employed" - as in getting paid - but I think that he said that he had helped out with his local church's website and maybe with the UC's website as well. Ⓖⓔⓝⓖⓗⓘⓢ 22:30, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow, Ed is a master of writing policies that are bound to make tons of people lash out. The only question is: Does he do it on purpose or is he just hardwired to do so? Either way, if there is one thing we should thank Conservapedia for is that it keeps idiots like Ed from doing even more harm on Wikipedia. --Sid 20:40, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Spiny Norman!
Our own Spiny... I'm so proud! (I think.) Sterile 00:36, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think that's our hedgehog... Human 23:29, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

DO SOMETHING ALREADY
There hasn't been a single edit here or at Wikiindex for nearly two hours. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Phantom Hoover 20:11, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps people are trying to conserve bandwidth.--Bob M 20:24, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah. Phantom Hoover 20:26, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * (EC) We're holding our breath until September 1st. Ⓖⓔⓝⓖⓗⓘⓢ 20:27, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It's a bank holiday weekend. Sane people aren't in front of their computers, working. --Jeeves 20:50, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh, yes; I forgot that. It isn't in Scotland. Phantom Hoover 21:26, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Hah, Scottish people. Shouldn't you be out shooting wild haggis or something? --Jeeves 21:39, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Not in Edinburgh. Phantom Hoover 21:42, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It's my birthday, so I'm at home, with my wife, having a steak and an 'ace' bottle of wine :) Worm 21:50, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Happy birthday! Human 23:38, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Possibly the best site on the internet
I have just discovered Objective Ministries, whos website is possibly the funnist thing ever. Some choice highlights-

In their News section:

(apparently they were subjected to a spam attack from YTMND, bold mine)

"Memes were first proposed by infamous Evolutionist and militant Atheist Richard Dawkins in his anti-Creation polemic The Selfish Gene as a way to infect society with Evolutionism through commercial jingles and the like. Recently, memes have been used on the Internet to lure youths into mindlessly repeating key phrases such as "Oh Really?" and "All Your Bases Belong To Us" -- phrases designed to break down individual thought and condition the subject to accept faithlessness and Humanistic rule.

This disturbing connection between the attack on our prayerbook and the forces of Evolutionism leads us to suspect that one of Dawkins' followers could be manipulating YTMND -- which is mostly comprised of disaffected youths -- to put their "meme" theories into practice and target our site for intimidation. It may be that YTMND members have been turned into mindless Dawkinsian "robot vehicles", blindly following the meme-programming of the emerging Atheofascist movement."

There's also the bit where the plug Conservapedia, of course

"If you want a community-created encyclopedia that doesn't fall victim to the sins of pride and gossip -- and that hasn't been hijacked by anti-Christian and anti-American forces trying to pass Darwinism off as science and changing the proper American spelling of words -- please consult Conservapedia, the conservative Christian alternative to Wiki Encyclopedia:

Conservapedia is a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. On Wikipedia, many of the dates are provided in the anti-Christian "C.E." instead of "A.D.", which Conservapedia uses. Christianity receives no credit for the great advances and discoveries it inspired, such as those of the Renaissance. Read a list of many Examples of Bias in Wikipedia."

And to top it all off, check out their kids section

My favorite is the atheist Mr.Gruff.

That is all. Theemperor 21:46, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry about the image, but it was too much. We removed the GIFs from the header; that had to go too. Phantom Hoover 21:51, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

OMG 24.14.72.223 22:10, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * This has to be parody, the kids section is the giveaway. The creation science giraffe is especially over the top.PitchBlackMind 22:15, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * "Were Neanderthals the "monkey men" Evolutionists keep talking about?" "No! Neanderthals were humans with abnormal bone growth due to very advanced age and Flood-cloud-related rickets!" headdeskdeaddesk 24.14.72.223 22:16, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I think it's for real, sadly. Oh, and the images?  Just link to them, and save to your HD to upload at RW when it's back? Human 23:35, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Um, surely not... Isn't it done by the same people who brought us Landover Baptist? --Jeeves 23:50, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * You may be right... my Poe meter is in for repairs. Human 23:54, 30 August 2009 (UTC)
 * This is listed on our Poe's Law article on the test yourself list, it is one of the parodies. The members list is the give away. Dr. Richard Paley showed up during the Lenski debacle on Conservapedia, I think Lenski mentioned him in the letter.  Pi 00:44, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah, well, I hadn't memorized the article, and, well, couldn't check :( Richard Paley, isn't he rather "well known" for digging up dead people in Africa? Human 01:56, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Him possibly? Pi 02:44, 31 August 2009 (UTC) 02:41, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Hahaha, now this is funny. Pi 02:53, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

hello
Back on line. Toast 05:31, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * That wasn't me: it was Marghanita Laski on the phone. Toast 12:01, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I think we're alone now. TheoryOfPractice 05:41, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Hello. Pi 05:55, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Phew, I can breathe again, now. Ⓖⓔⓝⓖⓗⓘⓢ 06:06, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi. So normal service is back.--Bob M 06:12, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * The service might be normal - not sure about the users ;) Worm 07:57, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * That might be too much to hope for.--Bob M 08:02, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Of course, it's Sept 1st, RWians can raise hell here again! Huzzar!! Armondikov 10:10, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
 * One is the loneliest number other than the number two... or something like that. Human 11:04, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm using this conveniently titled section to say hello.

Hello! NightFlare 20:46, 1 September 2009 (UTC)