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011-04-05-09

The VeggieChess SatChat


image of 011-04-05-09

This was an interesting chat with Breaca being the first to enter the room. Finding no one else there, she started to spin silently, whatever that means. She did this for more than 3 minutes, apparently without getting dizzy until Rachel showed up. Then I think she stopped spinning silently so she could talk to Rachel or perhaps she kept spinning, but not so silently for she spoke (no pun intended perhaps)!

Breaca and Rachel introduced themselves to each other because evidently they had forgotten that they had met earlier, but it didn't make any difference because who should appear other than Zoe, the leader of Charlie's Angels clan! Unfortunately, for the first little bit, Zoe didn't get to say much, other than the terrible problem she was having with the constant refreshing of her screen, so Breaca suggested that she ask me for help when I showed up, adding very slyly that I was always late. Fortunately, I was sufficiently late not to see that comment, which is what Breaca was counting on, but what she forgot of course was that I would see it later, which is why I am writing about it now, right?

By the time, I showed up, Ray was already there and Zoe had left (she was to come and go several times trying to fix her problem), but neither of them said anything to me. Why you ask? It was because I was greeted in this most unusual fashion by Rachel, "I still itch!!!!!!!! Prad help!"

Now that would flabbergast most individuals. However, I quickly gathered my senses and tried to evaluate the deeper meaning behind this particular outburst. I remembered from a distant past, that yesterday, Rachel thought she might have stepped on a fleas' nest and was itching very badly and so with total calmness I went to construct a series of remedies including calomine, aloe vera, tea tree oil, citrus. While engaged in this labour, Sangeeta appeared and suggested ice and between popping in and out, Zoe recommended witch hazel. Despite all this expert advice, it turned out that Rachel's mother had bought something at the drugstore which apparently did the job so we may have to wait for her to find some more fleas before we can test our theories.

Breaca had in the meantime conjured up Kyron to assist Zoe which he did by recommending she change to the FireFox browser, which she did with success, thus putting to an end this unhappy episode in her life. In fact, I think that Ray was so overcome by the euphoria of it all, that he said, "The sun is blazing and it is a lovely day and I simply must go outside. Have fun, everyone." And so he did.

Ranjana appeared though and tried to talk to everyone, but kept making so many typing errors that she wasn't able to actually say much more than apologize for all the typing errors. It proved to be too much for Breaca though, who promptly flew off on her Pegasus with a "byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" to everyone.

So at about this time Rachel left too, because Kirk wanted to join us, which he did after fighting with his mouse for a while. But then Sangeeta said that she had a call from Armenia, which of course had nothing to do with Kirk, and left for a while. What I found most remarkable about the next several minutes was that no one said anything. When I finally broke the silence with this historic observation, everyone started giving excuses as to why they were not saying anything. Zoe, for instance, claimed she was still fighting with her computer, Kirksey said he was fighting with his mouse, Ranjana said she was waiting for Sangeeta to stop talking on the phone to some person in Armenia, while Michael didn't say anything, because I don't think he was even in the chatroom. (Well, he might have been there but was so well hidden that I didn't see him)

Zoe told us that she lived half the year in Newcastle, England and the other half on a ship. This no doubt inspired Kirksey, who said he would like to live on another planet because the forums had become such a pain. At this, Kyron suggested that K-Pax was a pretty good planet, just as I echoed that it was a pretty good movie too. This cheered Kirksey up enough to tell us that he had received an offer on his house finally, so we were all glad to hear this.

I asked Zoe what sort of training she needed to be a navigator, which is what she is when she is on that ship. She said one has to be skilled in a variety of areas, such as ship construction, ship stability, spherical trigonometry, metereology, maritime law, chartwork to name only a few. Kirksey added that Zoe played a pretty good game of chess too! Zoe then went on to tell us about GPS (Global Positioning System) and sextants which I had a particular interest in since we once thought of buying one some years ago. She also told us about a gyro compass, which are far more accurate than magnetic compasses and can operate in situations, such as shielded submarines, where the magnetic field of the earth is 'blocked'. Here is a link briefly describing the principles of a gyro compass as well as some other nautical instruments:

http://www.thalassa.gr/2002/to/en/n06.asp

Zoe leaves on her ship in July and will unfortunately not be able to get internet access for RHP.

At some point during this most interesting discussion, Rachel apparently tried to remove her father so she could get into the chat, but Kirksey fended her off and I congratulated him, but she found out, so I had to fend her off.

Lori appeared and was introduced to Zoe. Sangeeta asked Lori how her animal rights club SOAR was going and was glad to hear of its success.

Rachel asked if a koala bear can swim and we found out that they probably can in an emergency, but not very well. They are also not bears, but marsupials as are kangaroos. Here is a link about them:

http://www.savethekoala.com/

Sangeeta discussed the inappropriateness of keeping exotic pets in unnatural environments. On the issue of 'hostile' animals, Zoe made the excellent point that animals are usually hostile only when threatened, a fact that some people do not wish to acknowledge thus propagating unfounded myths about certain creatures.

We were delighted to see Fjord after a long absence and found out from him that Orin was doing well too. Since Zoe is quite a traveller herself, she had an conversation with Fjord about geographies. Then while I told Fjord about the math and physics Kyron and I were doing, Zoe told Sangeeta about all the different courses she was going to be taking: I counted over 20!

Since Zoe is a navigator, Sangeeta told Zoe about her 'favorite' ship, the Sea Sheppard which is the Sea Sheppard, committed to protecting marine life though the efforts of Paul Watson, who was also a founder of Greenpeace. The mission statement of the Sea Sheppard Society tells us that it "is a non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) involved with the investigation and documentation of violations of international laws, regulations, and treaties protecting marine wildlife species" and here is a link to its website:

http://www.seashepherd.org/

Rachel meanwhile was having troubles with her computer and left. But she came back in time to hear Fjord tell us about Art Hobson's physics book that highlights ecologic principles:

http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/about/hobson.html

This got Sangeeta and Zoe talking about Stephen Hawking's work. Sangeeta and Kyron are learning about string theory so we look forward to some interesting discussions on that topic in the future.

Well, I had to leave and when I announced this, everyone seemed inspired to leave as well. For some reason, this pleased me very much so I left feeling very much pleased. However, then I found out that Fjord really hadn't left, but since I already had, it didn't bother me at all. Nor did the fact that Rachel poked her nose into the chatroom an hour later. It didn't even bother me to learn that Michael who had been lurking in the room since nearly the beginning of the chat, and had said hello 3 times and nothing else throughout the entire session actually lingered there for another two hours afterwards, before finally departing. I do not think he was painting the chatroom, since Fjord had already done this more than once. Perhaps he found the chat a good place to meditate, but since he is not here as I write this, I guess we shall not find out.