> For my part, I'd rather people didn't use FoRK as a place in which to dump an
> expression of their political beliefs.
I'll second that, although with emphasis
upon /dump/, rather than on /political/.
clarification to the old bits of others'
>     ... being rude and disrespectful is not the way to influence
> politicians, but the standard way of using lobbyists and
The standard way has some extreme precedents:
> Q: When was the Roman empire sold, and who bought it?
> A: On March 28th, 193 AD, the Roman empire was auctioned off by the
> Praetorian guards to the wealthy senator Didius Julianus for the price
Now, an economist might argue that selling
offices is the most efficient way to fill
them (what would Coase say?), but wouldn't
that convince everyone (but the supporters
of plutocracy) that efficiency is not the

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Kragen Sitaker" <kragen@pobox.com>
> > It's an exclamation that may allude to a ship striking some rock or
> > other obstacle so hard that her timbers shiver, or shake, so implying a
> > calamity has occurred. It is first recorded as being used by Captain
> > Frederick Marryat in /Jacob Faithful/ in 1835: "I won't thrash you Tom.
> > Shiver my timbers if I do".
I think it went like this: "I won't thrash you Tom, if you shiver my
timber..."
Or maybe that was just the butt pirates...