2011.04.08 01:00 - Bands, cars, oil and time

Wol Euler was guardian for this session.

Wol Euler: good evening, egg
eggsalad Ormstein: well, what should we talk about?
eggsalad Ormstein: hi wol!
Wol Euler: being full of vigour and decisiveness tonight? :)
eggsalad Ormstein: time is of the essence
Wol Euler: ah, but the sages tell us there is no time.
Wol Euler: it's just a perceptual illusion, they say
Wol Euler: mind you, these same sages usually have pensions ...
Wol Euler: so clearly they believe in "future events" even if they don't believe in time
eggsalad Ormstein: The Rolling Stones say Time Is On My Side
Wol Euler: interesting to use the present tense (they say) about a song that was written nearly fifty years ago
Wol Euler: continuous present of art?
eggsalad Ormstein: well, it appears they were correct, not many bands that old still play together, if the members are even alive at all
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: that is true, no deaths and only one drop-out IIRC
eggsalad Ormstein: those guys myst be approaching 70
Wol Euler: quite a surprising record
Wol Euler: why do bands break up, or die off, I wonder?
eggsalad Ormstein: Whereas a band called The Outsiders sang "Time Won't Let Me", and clearly it didn't - they only lasted a few years
Wol Euler nods.
eggsalad Ormstein: artists tend to be flaky, and have no business forming groups in the first place
Wol Euler grins.
Wol Euler: perhaps that's the catch, then: some think of their band as a business *together* whereas artists think of thier own success being diluted by the others?
eggsalad Ormstein: seems like a good theory

--BELL--

Wol Euler: or perhaps the bands that stay together started out by wanting to have fun, and those that break up wanted to be famous/rich/socially accepted
eggsalad Ormstein: now you may be overthinking this :)
Wol Euler smiles.
Wol Euler: good morning, obs
Wol Euler: our resident builder, Storm, plays guitar quite well (he tells us and I saw no reason to disbelieve)
Wol Euler: but knowing htat somehow didn't prepare me for seeing photos of him onstage in front of an audience :)
Wol Euler: a pick-up band, which is the connection :)
Wol Euler: not a permanent group
eggsalad Ormstein: that makes it a hobby, which is always more fun than a job
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: and a hobbyist can take his hobby every bit as seriously as a professional
Wol Euler: there was a word that I discovered recently for "deadly serious amateur", but I can't remember it
Wol Euler: not "obsessive" :)
eggsalad Ormstein: was in in German?
Wol Euler: I'm pretty sure it was English
Wol Euler: I think I read it in an online discussion of creativity
Wol Euler: but I have to admit, I often don'T know what language something I read was in :)
eggsalad Ormstein: well, the Germans have a habit of combining 2 or 3 word ideas into a single word
Wol Euler nods.
eggsalad Ormstein: Scheinwerfer, for one
Wol Euler: yep :)
Wol Euler: light-thrower
Wol Euler: quite a different concept to "spotlight"

--BELL--

eggsalad Ormstein: which in English, can also translate into headlight
Wol Euler: yes, also true
Wol Euler: the german language knows that light travels, english thinks that it simply exists :)
eggsalad Ormstein: most of my foreign language knowledge is about either automobile parts or food
Wol Euler grins.
Wol Euler: I guess you start with what's useful to you, at the time
Wol Euler: that habit of combining words makes it easier for beginners to communicate in German
Wol Euler: if you are lost for a word, you just take 2 or 3 concepts and glue them together. People will understand what you mean
Wol Euler: whereas english isn't set up that way. Scheinwerfer is a perfectly valid coinage, but light-thrower is not.
eggsalad Ormstein: I work with foreigners of many languages. they do it all the time
Wol Euler revises her concepts
eggsalad Ormstein: today I learned the French for "big flower, looks like sun"
Wol Euler: mmm?
eggsalad Ormstein: I've forgotten the French, but in English, it's "Sunflower"
Wol Euler: "tournesol" perhaps?
eggsalad Ormstein: so we can too do what Germans do!
eggsalad Ormstein: lol, yes, that's it
Wol Euler: yes, sure, in english one can use a phrase to describe what you mean.
Wol Euler: and thinking about it, that's probably more common in GErman too than trying to invent a new compound word
Wol Euler: perhaps that was my language-geekery coming out
eggsalad Ormstein: well, I am a slow learner of language
eggsalad Ormstein: In German, is the word for petroleum oil the same as food oils?
Wol Euler: the base "oil" is, yes: both are öl
Wol Euler: but that word is so extremely generic that it's actually seldom used
Wol Euler: öl usually means crude oil straight from the ground
eggsalad Ormstein: hm, I thought Oel
Wol Euler: yes, that's the same
Wol Euler: oe = ö
eggsalad Ormstein: ah
Wol Euler: oe is swissgerman
eggsalad Ormstein: oelfilter
Wol Euler: ae = ä
Wol Euler: ue = ü
Wol Euler: sz = ß
eggsalad Ormstein: oh, I'm not yet ready to be confused with swiss-german
Wol Euler: heheheh
Wol Euler: it's only confusing when spoken :) writtten is nearly identical
Wol Euler: the umlauts are a trouble in German
Wol Euler: especially now, because the internet doesn't know them
Wol Euler: it would have to be oelfilter.something.de
Wol Euler: not ölfilter...
Wol Euler: so the oe- spellings are becoming more common
eggsalad Ormstein: hm, checking my favorite catalog from wagner und gunther
eggsalad Ormstein: yes, they still use umlauts
Wol Euler nods.
Wol Euler: auto parts? :)
Wol Euler: or food?
eggsalad Ormstein: I once sent a friend all the way to Hamburg just to get parts from them
Wol Euler: ah :)
eggsalad Ormstein: auto parts, of course. Alles fur Volvo!
Wol Euler: you buy Swedish autoparts in Hamburg?

--BELL--

eggsalad Ormstein: it's cheaper than in Sweden!
Wol Euler grins.
Wol Euler: the modern world...
eggsalad Ormstein: certain parts were never sold in the US
Wol Euler: how can something be more expensive where it's made, than after shipping it 700km?
Wol Euler: you'd have to believe that shipping has negative value, in classical economic theory
eggsalad Ormstein: at that moment, the Euro was cheaper than the Kronor
eggsalad Ormstein: so in practical terms, the shipping *made* it cheaper
Wol Euler: mmhmm, and there is taxation too I guess ...
eggsalad Ormstein: also, my friend was visiting Hamburg from the US, and I had no friends visiting Sweden :)
Wol Euler chuckles.
Wol Euler: actually, that's funny, I thought you were a BMW fan
Wol Euler: perhaps I'm mixing conversations with two people
eggsalad Ormstein: must be, I prefer the Swede
eggsalad Ormstein: BMW= Bring Money in Wheelbarrows
Wol Euler: I remember a brilliant Volvo print ad, probably 20 years ago now
Wol Euler: yeah :)
Wol Euler: picture of a volvo station wagon, below it in huge print "Faster than a Porsche!"
eggsalad Ormstein: what was the ad? I'm a bit of a collector
Wol Euler: oh, in a magazine, perhaps GQ?
Wol Euler: it ran in England sometime in the early 90s I'm guessing
eggsalad Ormstein: hm. The 740 Turbo Estate ad compared it to a Lamborghini towing a cargo trailer
Wol Euler: anyway, "Faster than a Porsche!"
Wol Euler: below that, smaller: "100 to 0 in 2.2 seconds"
eggsalad Ormstein: aha!
Wol Euler: below that, smaller still: "And in a straight line, too"
Wol Euler: I thought that was brilliant
eggsalad Ormstein: they had a way of doing that, in the early years
eggsalad Ormstein: http://images.hemmings.com/wp-conten...oLambo_700.jpg

--BELL--

Wol Euler: ah, that's wonderful :)
Wol Euler: oh, but it's 11am and work is going to call soon :(
Wol Euler: it was nice chatting to you egg.
eggsalad Ormstein: oh crud. Well, you have a great day!
Wol Euler: and you a good night. sleep well
Wol Euler: bye egg, bye obs