Boonoo Boonoo River, New South Wales Superthread

[coolian2]

I often wonder how I fill in so much time with this shit because most of the places I hang out are not tremendously active any more - and the places that are active are so active as to be rather impersonal.

Even forums I visit that should be as active as the past are slower. Like you, the busy ones are almost anonymous.

 

[Kieran McConville]

As for the Russia talk on the other page, my rough impression was that Putin's claim to fame was the perception, right or wrong that he arrested the death spiral Russia was in precisely as a result of the 'market' reforms of the Yeltsin years. Now (waves hand) some of that is no doubt smoke and mirrors, and Putin is basically your classic strongman figure, more so than any kind of statesman or nation builder. But still and all. I'd say the shine went off him around the time the important people in the west realised Russia couldn't be dictated to anymore. Hence those early 2000s Time puff pieces petering out like so much dried up confetti.

Possibly there were also ructures after Bush declared his war without end on terra.

 

[Axver]

I don't use a phone either, for anything online, and the prevalence of autocorrect and the like makes a lot of people who are really smart come off as borderline illiterate at times. At least with me it's just typos, fuck them if I don't notice them before my grace period for editing is up.

What frustrates me the most about posting from other devices is the slow pace of posting. I sometimes deliberately don't read threads where I suspect I may need to write a long response until I'm at a computer, because I'm a much slower typist on my phone - and even if I weren't, editing your writing is less easy. In a multi-paragraph response I am likely to revise shit and move it around a bit, even in something I toss off pretty quickly.

I could turn autocorrect off, but mine is starting to get me. If I say fuck, it keeps fuck. If I mistype fuck, it changes it for me.

Better than my iPhone, which still thinks I want to say "duck" a lot.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I could turn autocorrect off, but mine is starting to get me. If I say fuck, it keeps fuck. If I mistype fuck, it changes it for me.

The problem isn't alas so much whether it gets fuck, but whether it gets weather.

 

[Axver]

Still all about handwritten notes.

Yep. My own personal experience aligns with the research that handwritten notes lead to better recall.

 

[Axver]

Even forums I visit that should be as active as the past are slower. Like you, the busy ones are almost anonymous.

Hop on somewhere like Reddit and you are basically invisible on the big forums, while smaller shit is a ghost town.

I miss the mid-sized forums where you'd make real connections.

(I also struggle with forums that don't have avatars or signatures because they are good ways to visually identify a poster.)

 

[coolian2]

Better than my iPhone, which still thinks I want to say "duck" a lot.

My phone finally stopped adding my previous exes name after I typed I love you just in time for the current girlfriend to end things.

It's good that it's fixed, just wish the bloody thing acted faster. Although the value of proofreading is high.

 

[Kieran McConville]

What frustrates me the most about posting from other devices is the slow pace of posting. I sometimes deliberately don't read threads where I suspect I may need to write a long response until I'm at a computer, because I'm a much slower typist on my phone - and even if I weren't, editing your writing is less easy. In a multi-paragraph response I am likely to revise shit and move it around a bit, even in something I toss off pretty quickly.



Better than my iPhone, which still thinks I want to say "duck" a lot.

I can't even imagine trying to type on a phone. And yeah, sometimes you want to edit things a bit, even after you've made the mistake of hitting submit.

 

[coolian2]

The problem isn't alas so much whether it gets fuck, but whether it gets weather.

Very true. Mind you, that's the kind of mistake I can make when tired or not paying attention

 

[Axver]

As for the Russia talk on the other page, my rough impression was that Putin's claim to fame was the perception, right or wrong that he arrested the death spiral Russia was in precisely as a result of the 'market' reforms of the Yeltsin years. Now (waves hand) some of that is no doubt smoke and mirrors, and Putin is basically your classic strongman figure, more so than any kind of statesman or nation builder. But still and all. I'd say the shine went off him around the time the important people in the west realised Russia couldn't be dictated to anymore. Hence those early 2000s Time puff pieces petering out like so much dried up confetti.

Possibly there were also ructures after Bush declared his war without end on terra.

Oh god, the "marketisation" of Russia, now there's a good neoliberal fuck-up for you.

And let's be honest, some in America never quite got over the loss of Russia as their main rival. Poor Tom Clancy, if only he had lived to today, his novel template would be relevant again! (Remember him trying to make China the new enemy?)

 

[Axver]

My phone finally stopped adding my previous exes name after I typed I love you just in time for the current girlfriend to end things.

It's good that it's fixed, just wish the bloody thing acted faster. Although the value of proofreading is high.

My iPhones have generally been good, but they are total prudes about swearing and never learn. Oddly, my old iPhone learnt rather quickly that I type "tram" a lot, and would even correct "team" to "tram" (90% of the case rightly so), while my iPhone 6 has never learnt this and keeps turning "tram" into "team".

 

[Kieran McConville]

I mainly use the "new posts" section to browse on here, so I see the threads coming up from sections of the forum where I am not a regular and I cannot even imagine clicking on them. But perhaps the proof that this forum is moribund is that outside of the interminable game threads, there is rarely anything showing up on "new posts" that puts me off any more - it's usually threads from FYM or LS and its subforums (B&C seems to be the most active part of Interference these days), plus the various editions of the SOE thread. I'm guessing PLEBA is completely dead, and a lot of those other subforums were pretty quiet even back in the forum's heyday.

And one of the recurring topics among my fellow historians is definitely whether or not today will overwhelm future historians with the volume of material produced, or if it will be a blank for whatever reason. I suspect much will be inadvertently lost, and that the mid-twentieth century will emerge as the time of the greatest, most voluminous records. (Personally, I prefer working with the nineteenth century - not too many records as to overwhelm, but enough to give a reasonable spectrum of opinion and insight.)

Oh for the eighteenth century, when every mover and shaker could be fit in one ballroom, and often did!

Yeah, those game threads and list threads still seem to be going gangbusters. Who are those people? Bang and Clatter is still fairly active, I don't know why I never post there; maybe I never get around to framing my thoughts. There's a thread all about Nick Cave but I have listened to his album basically once. There's a thread about Radiohead, but I've cooled markedly on their album too. It's just that kinda year. Oh yeah, there's Bowie, but it's his old music I listen to.

 

[Axver]

Oh for the eighteenth century, when every mover and shaker could be fit in one ballroom, and often did!

Yeah, those game threads and list threads still seem to be going gangbusters. Who are those people? Bang and Clatter is still fairly active, I don't know why I never post there; maybe I never get around to framing my thoughts. There's a thread all about Nick Cave but I have listened to his album basically once. There's a thread about Radiohead, but I've cooled markedly on their album too. It's just that kinda year. Oh yeah, there's Bowie, but it's his old music I listen to.

Nah the eighteenth century is ancient history mate.

I suspect they are the same people who annoy their younger relatives on Facebook by reposting literally everything they find even vaguely amusing. I don't get the game thread thing, and wish this thread weren't stuck in the same part of the forum.

As for B&C, I enjoy a lot of the company there even if I share very, very little in common with regards to taste in music. But then even over on Rate Your Music's forum I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Oh god, the "marketisation" of Russia, now there's a good neoliberal fuck-up for you.

And let's be honest, some in America never quite got over the loss of Russia as their main rival. Poor Tom Clancy, if only he had lived to today, his novel template would be relevant again! (Remember him trying to make China the new enemy?)

There was a moment maybe in 1991 or so when the US defence/industrial establishment might have actually had to deliver that 'peace dividend'. They got on that case right quick.

I'm not sure but I get the impression that some of the hot young guns of that time, Jeffrey Sachs-organ springs to mind, may have started to change their tune a bit. But a day late and a dollar short, as they say.

Pretty sure the US will succeed in making China the Big Bad if Russia doesn't work out. China is an actual superpower.

 

[coolian2]

Yep. My own personal experience aligns with the research that handwritten notes lead to better recall.

I do the same with my calendar and diary. I do electronically add it later on, but firstly it's in the paper planner.

 

[coolian2]

My iPhones have generally been good, but they are total prudes about swearing and never learn. Oddly, my old iPhone learnt rather quickly that I type "tram" a lot, and would even correct "team" to "tram" (90% of the case rightly so), while my iPhone 6 has never learnt this and keeps turning "tram" into "team".

I'm glad Android has an option to take your autocorrect preferences across devices. I got my phone well before my tablet, and my tablet feels like it's known me forever.

Side benefit to tablet: Kindle. Great on the train....or since I've moved, the bus.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Nah the eighteenth century is ancient history mate.

I suspect they are the same people who annoy their younger relatives on Facebook by reposting literally everything they find even vaguely amusing. I don't get the game thread thing, and wish this thread weren't stuck in the same part of the forum.

As for B&C, I enjoy a lot of the company there even if I share very, very little in common with regards to taste in music. But then even over on Rate Your Music's forum I don't feel like I have a whole lot to contribute.

Also, in fairness it's hard to contribute to tour chatter (which some portion of B&C is), as I don't really do the shows thing. I dunno, it's just not a thing. There I was raving about the PJ Harvey album, but i'm not lifting a finger to attend her Australian shows next year. It just doesn't matter that much to me. Examples of good live concerts are online and that's fine for me. Might be different if it was coming to my town.

 

[coolian2]

I've got too many preconceived notions about B&C that are probably 5-6 (if not more) years old.

I basically come for this thread and get my other conversation elsewhere/enjoy my own opinions/talk to people in the real world.

 

[Axver]

I do the same with my calendar and diary. I do electronically add it later on, but firstly it's in the paper planner.

I only use a paper diary.

It's actually quicker than using something electronic. No joke.

 

[coolian2]

Oddly, I've now switched to my laptop and the number of typos I have to correct is appalling.

 

[bono_212]

I'm flying to Chicago today for the first of 3 times in just over a month

 

[Axver]

There was a moment maybe in 1991 or so when the US defence/industrial establishment might have actually had to deliver that 'peace dividend'. They got on that case right quick.

I'm not sure but I get the impression that some of the hot young guns of that time, Jeffrey Sachs-organ springs to mind, may have started to change their tune a bit. But a day late and a dollar short, as they say.

Pretty sure the US will succeed in making China the Big Bad if Russia doesn't work out. China is an actual superpower.

Old mate Jeffrey Sachs! Gee wasn't he a little hero around here once upon a time when Bono could barely appear in public without him. I remember being most amused during my first year of a PolSci major to discover basically everybody who knew anything about topics related to areas in which he was involved thought him a great simpleton.

I do wonder if China's economic growth is actually sufficiently sustainable to maintain it as a superpower, but yes, it most certainly has the global influence and clout to hold its own on the world stage. And in terms of fermenting hate towards it in the US, well, that ground's already fertile thanks to widespread racism.

 

[coolian2]

I only use a paper diary.

It's actually quicker than using something electronic. No joke.

It definitely is! I add it electronically while I'm using public transport just so I get a reminder email in case I leave the diary at home (or when I developed the habit of duplication, at my girlfriends place on the other side of Auckland....).

I'll also put important dates on my wall calendar so I can look and see without opening anything.

 

[Axver]

Side benefit to tablet: Kindle. Great on the train....or since I've moved, the bus.

Nope. Still prefer my physical books.

 

[Axver]

Also, in fairness it's hard to contribute to tour chatter (which some portion of B&C is), as I don't really do the shows thing. I dunno, it's just not a thing. There I was raving about the PJ Harvey album, but i'm not lifting a finger to attend her Australian shows next year. It just doesn't matter that much to me. Examples of good live concerts are online and that's fine for me. Might be different if it was coming to my town.

I was well through typing "Yes, but you live in Toowom" when I got to your final sentence.

In fact the quoted part is what I had typed before I reached said sentence.

Speaking as somebody who goes to a show a week, usually more, I can't quite imagine how I'd cope in Toowoomba. I'm slightly worried what I'll do if I get a job in Wollongong I've been shortlisted for, but I've noticed more tours are going there lately and it's closer to Sydney than Toowoomba is to Brisbane.

 

[coolian2]

Nope. Still prefer my physical books.

When I can't find the physical book for love nor money, I compromise.

Also if I want to refer to or check something without always lugging a lot of books around, it's handy to have a digital copy.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I spend too much time at a screen, and so all books have to be paper books. They just have to.

 

[Axver]

I'm flying to Chicago today for the first of 3 times in just over a month

Any particular occasion, or work?

In a way it was kind of nice when I got to a point last year that some of the flight staff recognised me.

Suspect same may happen from late November. I think I'm looking at a lot of travel from that point onwards.

 

[Axver]

It definitely is! I add it electronically while I'm using public transport just so I get a reminder email in case I leave the diary at home (or when I developed the habit of duplication, at my girlfriends place on the other side of Auckland....).

I'll also put important dates on my wall calendar so I can look and see without opening anything.

I was once with two of Australia's most senior history professors having a race like little kids to see who could enter an appointment quicker, the one using a phone and the one with a paper diary. The one with a paper diary had it entered before the one using a phone had even opened the calendar to the appropriate date.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I was well through typing "Yes, but you live in Toowom" when I got to your final sentence.

In fact the quoted part is what I had typed before I reached said sentence.

Speaking as somebody who goes to a show a week, usually more, I can't quite imagine how I'd cope in Toowoomba. I'm slightly worried what I'll do if I get a job in Wollongong I've been shortlisted for, but I've noticed more tours are going there lately and it's closer to Sydney than Toowoomba is to Brisbane.

Well I could add to that that it might not be different if it was coming to my town, either. I'm a bit of a homebody, and being self-employed, not going anywhere saves a ton of money. I cope ok. I'd probably cope ok anywhere that had acceptable internet access and a good public library - which in fairness is probably Toowoomba-scale.