Thanks, @caractacus potts. Yes, I think that must've been it! A statutory holiday for the Law graduate! It seems I was lucky to have missed the infamous Craig Wars then. A few of my posts here from 2005 still exist but sadly the ones before that are long gone. After quite a quiet 2022 here in terms of literary Bond topics I'm hoping to start a few new ones in 2023.
Congratulations @Silhouette Man - should have been in the tribute thread too!!! Twenty years. Crikey. There are marriages that don't last as long - and film franchises too.
Wasn't there a time when you defected to CBN? I thought we used to communicate there. I rarely post on CBN now. I can't cope with the site layout - which is why I came back with a vengeance to AJB. SiCo has maintained a very clear and concise frame for the site which aids everyone - from newbies to oldsters such as yourself and the middle aged tribe such as me.
Long may the site prosper. Outages hopefully being sorted...
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,842MI6 Agent
Thanks @chrisno1. 20 years. Yes, you'd get less for murder nowadays. That's not to imply that I don't dearly love this place of course.
I actually started out my Bond forum membership on CBn back in May 2002 and was there for 10 and a half years. Sadly I was "permabanned" from there in November 2012 after some petty disagreements in a very low point in my life. I had returned to AJB in September 2012 so I was just in time for the forced exile and defection from CBn. I've been on AJB pretty much ever since and I also post on MI6 Community under a different username and recently celebrated 10 years as a member there. I find that two active Bond forum memberships are enough to be getting on with anyhow. CBn changed over to Quarterdeck back in 2017 but I agree that the site layout is rather poor and it's very hard to follow what are the latest discussions. It's a shame too as the old CBn was a great site in its heyday but sadly they seem to have either banned or otherwise driven away many of their best members. I don't include myself in that number of course. I had forgotten you were a member there too but I suppose it's been 10 years since I was posting there and my memory is fallible!
Yes, AJB has shown the way by revamping the site with new and improved forum software while at the same time retaining the classic AJB forum style which is both reassuringly familiar and easy to navigate.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Yes, The Bjørke telephone booth. What's special about that one you may ask? It looks normal for a Norwegian coastal village, if not even more vertical. Back in the 1990's the telephone company started disconnecting and removing telephone booths that were rarely used, and Bjørke was somehow one of them. Why? The area looks so densly populated! But mobile phone signals weren't strong in Bjørke (can you guess why? 😂). They still aren't, I can't be reached on my mobile when I'm there. The people of Bjørke thought (in Braveheart mode): "They may take our school, they may take our grocery store, but they'll .... never ..... take our ..... TELEPHONE ..... BOOTH!". They mobilized their tractors (they have lots of those) and placed some big boulders (they have many more of them) and placed them around the telephone booth. Then they chained the telephone box to the boulders! It looks like Lex Luthor finally trapped Superman. 😁
Well, that's welcome news. I never liked her, but given my politics that's not surprising I suppose. I will she say was often sharp and on the ball though, no doubt down to her legal training.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
I see that they’ve now cancelled the fizzy drink Lilt, due to “cultural misrepresentation” and it’s being rebranded. When I had my shop the fridge in the office was filled with cans of Lilt along with M&S sandwiches and bars of Crunchie, Toffee Crisp, Bounty, Mars etc etc (happy days)!!!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
It's strange how whenever I hear something like that my mind says "Oh, not Lilt!" (or whichever name from the past is now leaving us) even though I haven't had one in years!
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,842MI6 Agent
They've cancelled Lilt. What would Stewart Lee say? "I tell you, it's political correctness gone mad!" 😉
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
I'm assuming that it must be more of this "cultural appropriation" stuff that's very fashionable nowadays in the virtue signalling world we sadly inhabit. According to the BBC, Coca-Cola are going to rebrand it as Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit to better fit in with the marketing of their other Fanta products. That's the official version behind the decision to change the name, anyway. I've also read that Lilt hasn't been selling as well since the 1990s so the compulsion is probably financial as well. It reminds me a bit of the time that Heinz wanted to rename their Salad Cream as Sandwich Cream which they later had to scrap after uproar from consumers.
OK. So its just a rebranding exercise. I drank a can of Lilt last year. It was not as refreshing as I remembered it. I have developed a high aversion to grapefruit and sadly that was all I could taste.
Making the Son gender neutral would take some convincing, but one can argue that gender isn't the defining feature of God. I don't know. You'd be surprised by how rarely I hear this getting discussed around the lunch table at work. 😏
A friend of mine is trying to find out who or what Russians have posted photos of on the walls of their outhouses. As you do. So far he's using the internet. Traditionally many Norwegians have photos of the royal family on such hallowed walls, but nowadays most of us have indoor plumbing and have no need for outhouses to decorate. Many Russians still have outhouses. Maybe Putin should've invested Russia's money on better toilet infrastructure instead of guns and ammo, creating sh*t instead of getting rid of it. Do any AJBers have inside knowledge of Russian outhouses? 🤔
"Empires of different ages and natures shaped the world as we know it today. The history of expansion and domination also explains the adoption of particular languages, rules, social structures and cultural influences.
But how much do you know about the empire’s history in detail? William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, make sure you do after listening to this podcast. One story at a time, they talk about the personalities and events of empires throughout history."
I'm new to Anand, but Dalrymple is among the best historians working today. They're telling the stories of empires very well, and I imagine many of the Brits in AJB will fing the early episodes about India both informative and at times difficult. Keep in mind it isn't just about the British empire.
Comments
Congratulations, SM!
I think you can consider yourself an "old-timer" in AJB. I'm glad you're here.
Thanks, @caractacus potts. Yes, I think that must've been it! A statutory holiday for the Law graduate! It seems I was lucky to have missed the infamous Craig Wars then. A few of my posts here from 2005 still exist but sadly the ones before that are long gone. After quite a quiet 2022 here in terms of literary Bond topics I'm hoping to start a few new ones in 2023.
Thanks, @Number24. I'm glad you're here too, along with the rest of the gang. 🙂
Congratulations @Silhouette Man I look forward to reading, and hopefully contributing, to your new literary posts.
Thank you, @CoolHandBond. I always look forward to your threads too. Hopefully will get a new literary Bond thread started before too long.
Congratulations @Silhouette Man 2003 eh ? I must have been around 14 then 😉
Thanks, @Thunderpussy. Good to see you on here. Yes, back in 2003 the dinosaurs had just about stopped roaming the Earth. I remember it well! 😀
Hi all. Been a little while. I can't believe I joined here in December 2006. Time flies!
Check out my Instagram: @livingthebondlife
"I never joke about my work, 007."
Congratulations @Silhouette Man - should have been in the tribute thread too!!! Twenty years. Crikey. There are marriages that don't last as long - and film franchises too.
Wasn't there a time when you defected to CBN? I thought we used to communicate there. I rarely post on CBN now. I can't cope with the site layout - which is why I came back with a vengeance to AJB. SiCo has maintained a very clear and concise frame for the site which aids everyone - from newbies to oldsters such as yourself and the middle aged tribe such as me.
Long may the site prosper. Outages hopefully being sorted...
Thanks @chrisno1. 20 years. Yes, you'd get less for murder nowadays. That's not to imply that I don't dearly love this place of course.
I actually started out my Bond forum membership on CBn back in May 2002 and was there for 10 and a half years. Sadly I was "permabanned" from there in November 2012 after some petty disagreements in a very low point in my life. I had returned to AJB in September 2012 so I was just in time for the forced exile and defection from CBn. I've been on AJB pretty much ever since and I also post on MI6 Community under a different username and recently celebrated 10 years as a member there. I find that two active Bond forum memberships are enough to be getting on with anyhow. CBn changed over to Quarterdeck back in 2017 but I agree that the site layout is rather poor and it's very hard to follow what are the latest discussions. It's a shame too as the old CBn was a great site in its heyday but sadly they seem to have either banned or otherwise driven away many of their best members. I don't include myself in that number of course. I had forgotten you were a member there too but I suppose it's been 10 years since I was posting there and my memory is fallible!
Yes, AJB has shown the way by revamping the site with new and improved forum software while at the same time retaining the classic AJB forum style which is both reassuringly familiar and easy to navigate.
Nothing ever happens in the countryside. Here's an example of the nothing happening in rural areas. This is the village of Bjørke, not far from here:
R.6d5b22dba8f3025826f5bbe277f00dd1 (1280×640) (bing.com)
Let's zoom in a little bit:
R.7eb14f6c9d1ee86f82f4bfddca7530fe (675×1200) (bing.com)
No, no. That's a nice church and I hope someone is taking care of it, but the building I'm thinking of is one the other side of the river:
k9Bt5GviUVxsRbFZ3clRiQZirhWWzsAmTHsDC3IQsMgw.jpg (1200×677) (nrk.no)
Yes, The Bjørke telephone booth. What's special about that one you may ask? It looks normal for a Norwegian coastal village, if not even more vertical. Back in the 1990's the telephone company started disconnecting and removing telephone booths that were rarely used, and Bjørke was somehow one of them. Why? The area looks so densly populated! But mobile phone signals weren't strong in Bjørke (can you guess why? 😂). They still aren't, I can't be reached on my mobile when I'm there. The people of Bjørke thought (in Braveheart mode): "They may take our school, they may take our grocery store, but they'll .... never ..... take our ..... TELEPHONE ..... BOOTH!". They mobilized their tractors (they have lots of those) and placed some big boulders (they have many more of them) and placed them around the telephone booth. Then they chained the telephone box to the boulders! It looks like Lex Luthor finally trapped Superman. 😁
prillar-guri-b400.jpg (400×461) (wp.com)
The people in Bjørke got to keep their telephone box, but it was disconnected in 2006, but it's protected by the authorities as heritage site.
paa_film.jpg (1023×682) (hjorundfjord.no)
it's now a mini-library: (not the correct one pictured)
022wazEGZ3zv (480×640) (dimu.org)
Flicking through " Spare" By Prince Harry, I was encouraged to read that he always had a little mental anguish that he'd never
Be King. I too had to struggle with this all my life, ( thought it was just me ). I'd be a brilliant King
https://youtu.be/WH2szrvsCaY
Elton John with "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". He obviously thought so, too.
One can see why Harry wanted to be king. Jobs in the public sector are more stable after all.
I know. It's such a tough job being King. I don't think I could do it.
(621) The KING eats 2 LARGE DOMINOS PIZZAS! - YouTube
Superman: James Gunn discusses Henry Cavill exit and DCU future - BBC News
Does this remind Bond fans who were following events, oh, nearly twenty years ago, of anything?
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is resigning- press conference later today.
Well, that's welcome news. I never liked her, but given my politics that's not surprising I suppose. I will she say was often sharp and on the ball though, no doubt down to her legal training.
I see that they’ve now cancelled the fizzy drink Lilt, due to “cultural misrepresentation” and it’s being rebranded. When I had my shop the fridge in the office was filled with cans of Lilt along with M&S sandwiches and bars of Crunchie, Toffee Crisp, Bounty, Mars etc etc (happy days)!!!
It's strange how whenever I hear something like that my mind says "Oh, not Lilt!" (or whichever name from the past is now leaving us) even though I haven't had one in years!
They've cancelled Lilt. What would Stewart Lee say? "I tell you, it's political correctness gone mad!" 😉
What's wrong with Lilt??
I'm assuming that it must be more of this "cultural appropriation" stuff that's very fashionable nowadays in the virtue signalling world we sadly inhabit. According to the BBC, Coca-Cola are going to rebrand it as Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit to better fit in with the marketing of their other Fanta products. That's the official version behind the decision to change the name, anyway. I've also read that Lilt hasn't been selling as well since the 1990s so the compulsion is probably financial as well. It reminds me a bit of the time that Heinz wanted to rename their Salad Cream as Sandwich Cream which they later had to scrap after uproar from consumers.
Lilt drink brand to be scrapped and renamed Fanta - BBC News
(110) Lilt Advert the lilt man 1988 - YouTube
OK. So its just a rebranding exercise. I drank a can of Lilt last year. It was not as refreshing as I remembered it. I have developed a high aversion to grapefruit and sadly that was all I could taste.
Next to be cancelled is God. Well, God the Father and God the Son anyway, the Holy Ghost might be safe for now.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/08/church-of-england-might-give-god-gender-neutral-pronouns/
Making the Son gender neutral would take some convincing, but one can argue that gender isn't the defining feature of God. I don't know. You'd be surprised by how rarely I hear this getting discussed around the lunch table at work. 😏
A friend of mine is trying to find out who or what Russians have posted photos of on the walls of their outhouses. As you do. So far he's using the internet. Traditionally many Norwegians have photos of the royal family on such hallowed walls, but nowadays most of us have indoor plumbing and have no need for outhouses to decorate. Many Russians still have outhouses. Maybe Putin should've invested Russia's money on better toilet infrastructure instead of guns and ammo, creating sh*t instead of getting rid of it. Do any AJBers have inside knowledge of Russian outhouses? 🤔
I only ask the important questions.
In the last few days the northern lights could be seen unusually far south and very clearly.
Here are some photos from Stavanger. This town is about as far south as Scotland.
Recently I've started listening to the podcast Empire featuring William Dalrymple and Anita Anand: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921
"Empires of different ages and natures shaped the world as we know it today. The history of expansion and domination also explains the adoption of particular languages, rules, social structures and cultural influences.
But how much do you know about the empire’s history in detail? William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, make sure you do after listening to this podcast. One story at a time, they talk about the personalities and events of empires throughout history."
I'm new to Anand, but Dalrymple is among the best historians working today. They're telling the stories of empires very well, and I imagine many of the Brits in AJB will fing the early episodes about India both informative and at times difficult. Keep in mind it isn't just about the British empire.
Yes, apparently they've been seen here although I haven't spotted them myself.