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Sceptical Irony

Donn

Philosopher
Donn
Joined
Sep 17, 2003
Messages
7,758
Location
In my head.
Dunno if I should relate this in the Humour section or not, oh well here goes.

I was recently in Johannesburg and in a large mall that tries to imitate Italy and fails horribly. There is a shop that does electronic stuff like cell phones and little digitals doo-whops with buttons and bobs.

Well, inside this shop they have a kiosk with a computer connected to the net. I had never seen such a thing before coming from years of short-term dial-up and I thought it was pretty nifty.

So, naturally, I head on over to check it out. And since www.randi.org is one of my regular haunts I enter the address. I wanted to see the speed, how fast the page would load compared to my 56k.

Well, after a few seconds I get a large text message saying that this site has been blocked by the Admin for XYZ reasons.
I swallow, scratch my head, check the address.
Then, in a flash of insight, I type in www.skepdic.com and it's also blocked. I then head for something neutral like google and that works.

So, the irony you ask? Well, nearest I can figure someone in that shop has entered a list of keywords that, to them, are objectionable and our sceptical websites are: Randi = Randy = Horny and skepdic = no prizes.
So, how many other public terminals are blocked from these sites?

I didn't have enough time to complain or ask any questions, the gang moved-on and I was swept along.

I did change the home-page of the browser though :)
(edited to add: I recall now, that home-page change didn't work as I was not an administrator - oh the shame...)
 
My guess is, just like yours, if there isn't a $ or a Euro to be made, it's not too serious. That's why the savvy entrepeneur realized that he had no chance of a sale when you typed in your search string, and you walked on.

Honestly, do we really want a world where anybody can just sell anything on the public street-front? Where the buyer needs to be warned to beware? Oh.. yeah, never mind. That is the world I want.

That is what I want. The transaction above is my version of "Don't tread on me.' Neither party treads on the other, the potential buyer/skeptic walks on, and the next guy walks up and types in "psychic" and gets a long talk.

Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware; but also just barely tolerate the seller.
 
TheERK said:
Interesting story, but how is this ironic?
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Well, maybe I am wrong, but I thought that it was ironic because something like the JREF - an educational institution - is potentially being blocked from children (and others) because it's name is also a word that implies sex.

Would it be blocked if it was called www.jref.com, for example?
 
Whilst not doubting that what you say is indeed ironic, it would be far more ironic if a Net-Nanny application blocked its own site.

Irony is tough to do - See Alanis Morrisette :)
 
pjh said:
Whilst not doubting that what you say is indeed ironic, it would be far more ironic if a Net-Nanny application blocked its own site.

Irony is tough to do - See Alanis Morrisette :)
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I must be thick today (it happens), this has shot over my head with a wooshing sound!
 
Donn said:
I must be thick today (it happens), this has shot over my head with a wooshing sound!
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I think he's referring to the song which lists a whole bunch of things as ironic... which in fact are not.

(A guy who is afraid to fly getting killed in a plane crash isn't ironic. A guy who is afraid to fly and therefore takes a train which is then hit *by* a plane - that would be ironic. )
 
(A guy who is afraid to fly getting killed in a plane crash isn't ironic. A guy who is afraid to fly and therefore takes a train which is then hit *by* a plane - that would be ironic. ) [/B]
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"A guy who is afraid to fly getting killed in a plane crash which he took in order to try and get over his fear of flying" would also be ironic.

You know what's ironic? That the only irony in Alanis's song is the title itself, which describes a song that otherwise isn't. So in a very strange, subtle way, the song title is perfect. Now isn't that's ironic?
 
If you ever find yourself on a dull afternoon in the office, and there's no work pressing, you could try to construct ways in which the situations related in Alanis' song might become ironic.

For example, rain on your wedding day is not ironic. However, if one was marrying a weatherman, it might be.

I must stress, however, it must be a VERY dull afternoon.
 
Okay, Alanis aside (far, far to the side), it seems my initial story is only slightly ironic. What is the word for that? Siliconic?

I must say that I stumble over my tongue and turn a brighter shade whenever someone asks me what my favourite website is. "W W W Randi dot org" just shouts-out for a ribbing!

(Perhaps further irony is that Alanis has made so much money by not caring if her song is about irony or not! )
 
Moose said:
"A guy who is afraid to fly getting killed in a plane crash which he took in order to try and get over his fear of flying" would also be ironic.

You know what's ironic? That the only irony in Alanis's song is the title itself, which describes a song that otherwise isn't. So in a very strange, subtle way, the song title is perfect. Now isn't that's ironic?
Click to expand...

Ed Byrne did a whole comedy routine on that exact theme once. That was his punchline - "In fact, the only thing ironic about the song Ironic is that it's called Ironic and there's nothing ironic in it at all..."
 
Seismosaurus said:
Ed Byrne did a whole comedy routine on that exact theme once. That was his punchline - "In fact, the only thing ironic about the song Ironic is that it's called Ironic and there's nothing ironic in it at all..."
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I know. I saw his routine on Just for Laughs (Montreal comedy festival) a while back. I don't remember him spelling it out that much though (with the title), which is why I didn't cite. Maybe he added it later?

His weatherman jab was something like:

"Rain on your wedding day" isn't ironic. It's a bloody drag. It'd be ironic if you were marrying a weatherman and he set the date. It's not that hard, Alanis.
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Classic routine. :D
 
Donn said:
(Perhaps further irony is that Alanis has made so much money by not caring if her song is about irony or not! )
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Yeah, point. :)
 
Donn said:
Well, maybe I am wrong, but I thought that it was ironic because something like the JREF - an educational institution - is potentially being blocked from children (and others) because it's name is also a word that implies sex.

Would it be blocked if it was called www.jref.com, for example?
Click to expand...

Jref.com, "your guide to Japan in English?"
 
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