Gord Barentsen

Economies is a points economy app I've installed with a mind to creating a Referral  points system for Tutor Clients who refer people who become Tutor Clients either solely online or with in-person tutoring consultations.  I'm just too busy to configure it right now. 

But I am also thinking about developing another points system for top participants, where points can be used to win raffles for prizes and so forth.  More news on that as it comes!

14 hours ago, stimmung79 said:

@Graham Barnett did you find one?  What is it anyway?

It's a Pallas' Cat, endemic to Central Asia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas's_cat

Ok, at first I thought ohhh, here we go...another Internet cat video.

But this is one of the funniest I think I've ever seen 

On 6/11/2017 at 6:43 PM, stimmung79 said:

I leave for a while and all sorts of things happen!  What's this stuff about Economies, Domains, etc?  Geez....

That's what ya get for missing the staff meetings, boyo

I'll be posting some information on the recent site updates in the Site Information blog.  Basically, I've wanted to expand the site in several different directions, and the software I've installed on the site reflects that.

Hint: there will be something about the impending zombie apocalypse as well.

OK...at long last, following @Marjorie Pfennig's request I think I have opened up the Language Oddities blog!

Everyone who is a Member, Tutor Client, or VIP should be able to post in the blog.  If you are a registered Member or in one of these groups and can't post, let me know.

Let the English mutations flow! 

Unfortunately, right now you can't upload your own backgrounds - I configure 6 pictures from which you can choose the one you want.

I'm not sure if this will ever be a feature for this or Dashboard - but I'm looking into getting code that would allow for a few more choices.

Maybe I should create a forum where people can submit background requests, and the ones with the most votes get into rotation for a while?

Very soon (as in the next site software update) there will be an option to create groups, or Clubs, based on topics of interest.  I haven't yet thought through how it will be deployed, but everyone here will definitely have that option available to them when the time comes.

I followed this link off my wife's Facebook account: nametests.com.  It analyzes your FB account and tells you what job you're really suited for.

For anyone who knows me, view below and laugh!  (Did I mention this was Facebook?)

Dog fail:

I just wanted to take this opportunity to recognize International Women's Day 2017 as an important day for recognizing the inequality between men and women which still prevails in Western (and other) cultures:

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

I'm not too political (on this site...ahem), but I want to take this opportunity to voice my complete support for gender equality in the workforce (and elsewhere), as well as my utter disgust with the phenomenon of domestic violence against women which seems to have some sort of foothold in Australia and elsewhere.

Women have it tough in this world - they have an unruly physiology which is far more complex than the male body, they have to deal with a stigma of being weaker and more emotionally vulnerable than men, and they make less per year on average than men.

Bullshit.

hahahahaha!  It's dated 2000, but it's shocking how relevant it still is. 

I especially like the Mensa Troll, since I know several people in Mensa and love to make fun of them.

Apparently there are studies which suggest your name may have some impact on your criminal potential.  Click below and you can enter your name to view its criminal statistics in the Australia criminal database.

Apparently, "Gordon is 42nd most criminal name in our rankings, with 714 criminals per 100,000 people with that name."  The most common crime is assault.

Let that be a lesson to all of you! 

Click the image to open the full interactive version (via Gototcourt).

Just click the date below the latest poster information in the right-most column of the listing.  This works in either forums view or topic view.

What are you all doing enjoying summer weather instead of being stuck to your computers?

On 2017-01-04 at 0:43 PM, chacheng said:

hi everyone still kinda new here and haven't been around lately

But wanted to wish all of you a happy new year!  I hope you had fun (I didn't...I was sick to my stomach)...

Happy New Year to you as well, and once again to everyone here!

My wife and I had a very low-key New Year's (or, since we were watching Vikings, one might call it "Loki"?).  We don't go in much for the celebrations, so we contented ourselves with hearing some fireworks in the distance.

So sorry to hear that you were sick though, chacheng.  What happened?

Well, I originally had the site configured to do just that, but it created problems with the footnote functionality of the editor (every time you click a footnote it's a link, so a new browser window would open).  So I had to disable it. 

I find that once you get into the habit of right-clicking a link and selecting Open in new tab or whatever, you hardly notice it.

2 hours ago, Tegan Holmes said:

the words at the bottom of the first page are a bit ugly..the who is online info

Yeah, I don't currently have the expertise to change that - I think it would involve creating another CSS style, when all I'm really doing right now is changing colors around.

Please comment and/or vote here to let me know if you like the LiquidFractal_SkyBlue theme.  This poll will be open until the end of February 2017.

Yeah, what Kaitlyn said. For some strange reason, Status updates are not enable by default - if they're enabled for your member Group (which they are) you have to go into your Profile and turn it on.

Someone asked me about this bookshop so I thought I'd add this: the bookshop doesn't have a storefront on Swanston, so you have to go into the building and up the stairs.  Here's the entrance:

The stairs are right on the left, and the bookstore is on the first floor up.

I needed to include this here as this is one of the most spectacular use of fractals I have ever seen

http://www.creativeapplications.net/js/the-imaginary-kingdom-of-aurullia/

The Collected Works Bookshop was a surprising find, and perhaps one of the last bastions of intellectual bookshops left in the digital age.  I'd say it's well worth checking out for this reason alone, but I have to give respect to anyone who stocks a hardbound volume of Novalis' Notes for a Romantic Encyclopedia!

Support your local booksellers whenever possible!

The address is:

Level 1, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston Street, Melbourne

their Facebook page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/Collected-Works-Bookshop-175023895845165/

https://www.abebooks.com/books/weird/?cm_mmc=nl-_-nl-_-CPwel08-h00-wierdbAM-124424GN-_-01cta&abersp=1

'Nuff said.

LOL!  that's absolutely classic!  Where on earth did you find these?  I assume from a Christian periodical or something?  Like the Watchtower?

The likeness is astonishing.  And I guess the big guy in the second picture is Goliath.  He looks like that guy from Full Metal Jacket...can't remember his name right now.