Jan #61
Languages are fascinating, aren't they? One fun little detail is that Russians even if they speak/write a very good English still leave the 'the' out occasionally because it's so alien to them.
Ingvar #65
I lived in Sweden for two years back in 1989-91, studying, and foisting the intricacies of German grammar on some poor, unsuspecting Swedes. It was a fun time.
PNH # 56 we've got our hands full just trying to make Tor.com work with (for instance) Firefox and IE6.
Well, it works fine for me under Exploder 6.0 now: comments, starting a conversation, photo upload ... I'm feeling right at home there. :)
Dutch isn't the only language with that sort of fun. Try German, we have three genders: der, die das.
And of course, it's der Mond (masc) in German and la lune (fem) in French, and die Sonne but le soleil; same with a lot of words. I'm sure the French do that on purpose. ;)
Hey, I just managed to post a comment on the TOR site.
Ginger #28
If the site acts like a spoiled brat, it can go to bed without supper. So there. :)
Ok, I know those are beta bugs and will hopefully be dealt with soon. I've been through that with blogger as well when they changed their software and I jumped on the train early.
#17
The conversations will pick up once everyone can comment, I'd say. I'm not the only one to have problems, there are others who can't comment on the blogs but can so on the Report Bugs thread. I can't do either, that's why I post here.
But I can upload photos. :)
I have registered (was really looking forward to the launch of the site) but so far I'm out of luck commenting on blogs and threads. I only get the Preview option but when I hit that, nothing happens. :(
I've made sure I'm logged in. I use Exploder 6.0 under XP Professional.
AJ Luxton #69
Well, what do you expect from a company that thinks GRR Martin is a terrorist.
Sus #397
Oh, the Trabbis were cute. I was always amazed how many people you could get inside; they kept spilling out families including grandma and auntie. And you could repair them with a bit of bandaid and an old stocking. :)
It was the most visible change for me. Imagine, I came back after living two years in Sweden, and there were all those cars I only knew from East-TV. We'd never been there because my father was on the Stasi black lists after he'd spirited not only his betrothed, but also his parents, her sister and a few neighbours into the West until someone betrayed him and he had to flee himself.
What I remember about the Berlin Wall is the Trabis. :) I'd been in Sweden when the wall fell and returned to Germany a few days later, to find those little cars all over the place. My parents lived near the frontier, and all the 'Ossis' came over for shopping trips. It was a fun time, still full of hope and with few ideas how difficult the reunion would prove to be.
Sus #325
A mixed blessing, I agree, but I can understand your parents esp. in case they watched west TV.
My father, born 1930, grew up in an anti-Hitler family and promptly declared that Hitler sucked in front of some teachers. My grandfather was lucky that one of the leading Nazi guys in town put his personal sympathies before his conviction and managed to sort the problem out.
Maybe your parents wanted to avoid that sort of trouble.
My parents fled the place in 1953, so I had the luck to grow up in West Germany. But we watched the Schwarzer Kanal for fun. :)
For me, it was the first landing on the moon. We didn't have a TV back then, but I was allowed to watch it at a friend's. We played Landing on the Moon for weeks afterwards. :)
The first major affair I remember seeing on our own TV was the sex and spy scandal surrounding Willy Brandt.
I have a very bad memory for faces, so maybe the synapses are too busy with that letter/colour thing. :(
I have full fledged snyaesthesia of the letters/numbers are in colour version. And not only for the Latin letters we use, but it works for Greek, Russian, Runes and Hebrew as well, which helps me a lot with languages. But the colours, and the aura of words shaped by the colours represented, are of so subtle shades that it's not easy to find words to describe some of them. What I hate is the question, 'what does my name look like to you.' ;)
Maybe some Martian words would help. :)
Earl #56
Germanski toilet paper, in my case. Friends of us did indeed take some with them and it was needed. But they kept that to themselves and used ball pens, lighters and some other stuff to bribe the local authorities. :)
John, at least in trains and other closed spaces where you can't just pee somewhere. I can get along without such luxury in the nature - which is a lot cleaner than some toilets I've seen. :)
It's a bit more of a problem for a woman, too.
John Stanning #33
The reason Siberia is low on my list is not so much problems with state authorities than my wish to have some basic amenities when I travel - like clean toilets with toilet paper. ;) It's the reason France tumbled down a bit on my list as well because I'd need more money to get what I want than fe. in Scandinavia or the UK.
Ok, that shoves the US below Siberia on my places to visit list - and so far Siberia had been on the bottom. ;) I wish I could say Bush-US, but I don't think the country will recover any time soon from that damage.
There are a lot of other places with scenic nature, like Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand etc where I doubt such a thing would happen.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 8 |
| 2007 | 50 |
| 2006 | 16 |
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