Archive for September 3rd, 2005

The Death of Michael Sheard a.k.a. Admiral Ozzel

September 03rd, 2005 | Category: News

Michael Sheard, better known as Admiral Ozzel from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and also as Adolf Hitler five times in various movies, died Wednesday, August 31, 2005, in his home on the Isle of Wight just off of the southern coast of England, Europe, his agent reported. He was 65 years old.

His agent, Liz Hobbs, reported that the actor had been suffering from cancer for a while and it seemed as if he was not going to recover from the dreaded disease.

Sheard had appeared in over forty to close to fifty featured films and had worked closely with some very well-known actors, such as Lawrence Olivier, David Niven, Roger Moore, and Sean Connery.

He is also best known in Britain for his role as Mr. Maurice Bronson, a teacher who terrorizes his pupils in the long-running teenage soap “Grange Hill”.

Mr. Sheard is survived by his wife, Ros, and three children. The details of his funeral were not immediately available.

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Reply Wars – Rewards and Controversy

September 03rd, 2005 | Category: News

Reply Wars, the giant ComNet posting competition offering a variety of rewards to those who participate. The rules are simple: the competition runs until two-thousand posts are made, no signature is allowed on that post, all posts must follow the other, and no editing. (Further explanation of these guidelines, as well as current statistics are available on the respective ComNet thread.)

To many, Reply Wars is a way to think creatively and cash in on some great prizes, but to others, it can be a nuisance. As with many ‘reply’ activities such as ‘Word Run-on’ or ‘Counting’, the object of the post is to continue on from the previous post and to do so infinitely. Although posts like Reply Wars have a purpose, (make the participants make good use of their imaginations and fully utilize their creativeness) others simply exist and in the opinion of many, waste the time of those who are involved.

This matter comes down to a basic principle: “Work before pleasure”, and it seems that some members don’t understand that concept. It makes perfect sense to complete your duties, (whatever those may be) before running around and contributing to something that definitely does not make good use of your time. Although, many activities that are done when not working have proven to be unproductive, they are there for those who have done what needs to be done.

Due to these reasons, one such activity ‘Counting’, has been eliminated from the Lounge thread. It simply involved posting one number after another, (consecutively of course) and literally could have no end. The number just kept growing, and for what? ‘1, 2, 3, 4…’, fun, right? This was evaluated and thought to be a problem, therefore, it was removed. Unfortunately, this needed to be done because people insist on immersing themselves in things that have no purpose whatsoever.

It can be frustrating for anyone who observes this chain of events, especially with a lack of activity in many areas. Unfortunately, if this keeps happening, we might be seeing a lot more removal of down-time activities in the near future, and I don’t believe anyone wants that.

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