What is with the avatar change?

[uRock]

For those who have noticed, myself and a few other the staff have LOTR avatars.

September the 22nd was Bilbo Baggins' birthday and the beginning of the great adventure to destroy the one ring.


One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

J. R. R. Tolkien (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/J._R._R._Tolkien/), The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954, chapter 2
British scholar & fantasy novelist (1892 - 1973)

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

Cool. Thanks for sharing that. I would've never known.

It's been a long time since I read those books and the Silmarillion.

[s.fox]

Happy Birthday Bilbo :D

Oh and...


You cannot hide. I see you. There is no life in the void. Only death.

Mwhahaha ;)

[robsoles]

That is really cool.

I recognise Sauron's great all seeing eye (most apt for Silver Fox due regular avatar) but I do not recognise the fellow in uRock's avatar - I've read the books a few times over but only seen the movies once each or I'd be more embarrassed: I just can't be sure which character that fellow is meant to be.

[s.fox]

That is really cool.

I recognise Sauron's great all seeing eye (most apt for Silver Fox due regular avatar) but I do not recognise the fellow in uRock's avatar - I've read the books a few times over but only seen the movies once each or I'd be more embarrassed: I just can't be sure which character that fellow is meant to be.

I see Bilbo :)

[robsoles]

I see Bilbo :)

:rolleyes:

Had I checked the wikipedia page for Bilbo Baggins, as you suggested elsewhere, before posting above I would be less embarrassed now - Ian Holm playing Bilbo Baggins indeed!

Thanks for your kindness in the face of my hasty foolishness.

[giddyup306]

Look at these two whipping out their preciouses. lol

I only read the second book because I was waiting for a plane, and couldn't wait for the second movie to come out!

Here's a fun fact. A lot of the Norse Black Metallers are inspired by TLOTR. Gorgoroth is a plain of evil and Burzum means the darkness in Black Speak (but it can also mean the light).

[TNT1]

I found this funny :
"The Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects the generally small reach of their imagination." (http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27747.html)

from the Op's link...

That, and the fact that Tolkien is originally a south african, same as the founder of this Ubuntu OS. Nice.

[NightwishFan]

Gibbets and crows? Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where the brigands drink in the reek and their brats roll on the floor with the dogs!

Probably not exactly right (off the top of my head) but that is my favorite Lord Of The Rings quote. :)

[Tibuda]

hi

[ubunterooster]

@ S. fox: That is so creepy; I kinda like it.

[t0p]

I read The Two Towers and The Return of the King, but not The Fellowship of the Ring (I saw the film, and couldn't be bothered reading the story again... Tolkein had great ideas but was a dull writer). How do we know 22 September is Bilbo's birthday? Do the hobbits use our calendar? Or did Tolkein convert the date for lazy sods like me?

[CharlesA]

I don't believe it was converted (http://www.americantolkiensociety.org/hobbit_day_and_tolkien_week.htm), but who knows for sure. ;)

[Joeb454]

blah blah, something tree related, blah blah :)

[The Cog]

It wasn't just an ordinary birthday, it was his eleventy-first birthday. First sentence of the trilogy, I think.

[forrestcupp]

September the 22nd was Biblo Baggins' birthday and the beginning of the great adventure to destroy the one ring.

Biblo. :)

[s.fox]

biblo. :)
i see no typo

[Dragonbite]

i see no typo

thought it was Bilbo, not biblo. Bilbo Baggins, right?

[whiskeylover]

Nerds

[s.fox]

thought it was Bilbo, not biblo. Bilbo Baggins, right?

Check post #1 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9874335&postcount=1) :-\"

[uRock]

Nerds
Yup!

[forrestcupp]

i see no typo

My post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9875641&postcount=16) is the proof. ;)

[CharlesA]

Nerds

Indeed. \\:D/

[Dragonbite]

My post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9875641&postcount=16) is the proof. ;)

Quotes to the rescue! Although, they too can be modified to "put words into their mouth"... I wonder if Google cached it in time...

[uRock]

My post (http://ubuntu.com/) is the proof. ;)
Busted!:oops:

[NCLI]

Hello :)

[andrew.46]

Hi t0p,


I saw the film, and couldn't be bothered reading the story again... Tolkein had great ideas but was a dull writer).

Perhaps you would change your mind if you read the story of Beren and Luthien in the Silmarillion, it underpins much of the LOTR...

Andrew

[NCLI]

I read The Two Towers and The Return of the King, but not The Fellowship of the Ring (I saw the film, and couldn't be bothered reading the story again... Tolkein had great ideas but was a dull writer). How do we know 22 September is Bilbo's birthday? Do the hobbits use our calendar? Or did Tolkein convert the date for lazy sods like me?
A dull writer!? That's most certainly not the general consensus!:mad:

[Barrucadu]

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

LOTR is good, but Sauron can't compare with Melkor; Sauron was merely a lieutenant in his army of darkness.

[standingwave]

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.Reminds me of this old joke...

Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows on my PC, I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows CD. Too my astonishment and distress he threw it into my micro-wave oven and turned it on. I was upset because the CD had become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.'

After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold and it seemed to have become thicker and heavier than before. At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, in lines finer than anything I have ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:

4F6E65204F5320746F2072756C65207468656D20616C6C2C20 4F6E65204F5320746 F2066696E64207468656D2CDA4F6E65204F5320746F2062726 96E67207468656D20 616C6C20616E6420696E20746865206461726B6E6573732062 696E64207468656D

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' I said.

'No,' he said, 'but I can. The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:'
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

[NCLI]

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

LOTR is good, but Sauron can't compare with Melkor; Sauron was merely a lieutenant in his army of darkness.

Agreed, people who haven't read the Silmarillion don't know what a bad guy they're missing.

[standingwave]

Agreed, people who haven't read the Silmarillion don't know what a bad guy they're missing.Or what an asskicker Luthien was.

Luthien vs. Arwen - Who was the better babe?Posted by O. Sharp:

Let's start with Luthien... along with being the "fairest child of Elves or Men", the daughter of a Maia, and the most accomplished singer of all time, she also loved her man so much as to be willing to knock out her guards and leave home and face down Sauron and beat Sauron's sorry <butt> just to stand by him. She was willing to go with him straight to Thangorodrim itself, put one over on Morgoth(!), and even after all that still cared for him so much that she was willing to go to Mandos and talk the Valar into bringing Beren back to life. Let's face it: Luthien Tinuviel was one hot thoroughly accomplished scared-o-nothin' clever-as-hell broad.

Now, let's look at Arwen... According to Return of the King appendices A and B, Aragorn first met Arwen and fell in love with her in T.A. 2951 - but Arwen wouldn't even give him the time of day until twenty-nine years later. Her father, Elrond, made it clear that she wasn't gonna marry Aragorn unless he became the Ruler of Gondor and Arnor; and when Aragorn joined the Fellowship and went forth on the hopeless mission to overthrow Sauron, did Arwen help him, as Luthien helped Beren? No! She stayed at home and read magazines until the War was already down to the last gasp, and even then she refused to show up herself but just sent all of Aragorn's friends south to offer all the moral support instead! Oh, sure, once all the dirty work was already done, then she shows up - probably carried all the way there in a sedan chair by some sweating oafish admirers - to finally say, "Ohhhh, Aragorn! Now that you've become the king of several hundred thousand acres of prime real-estate and defeated all of our dire enemies, suddenly you look much more handsome", and in the blink of an eye she's all ready to say the hell with what Dad thinks and marry him. ...Put it all together and what have you got? A cheap, greedy, standoffish gold-digging trollop.

Luthien or Arwen? Come on! Stop kidding around. The "fairest child of Elves or Men" wins hands down.

http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/arag_arw.htm

[sdowney717]

the Mithril vest valuation and entire troll fight scene makes no sense.
one vest being worth more that the entire value of the Shire!
Mithril has value to the wearers as armor and they make it sound so rare that virtually no one can benefit from its use.
And that huge troll might not have penetrated his Mithril vest but would surely have crushed Bilbo.

I could understand the scene better if the vest somehow became super hard, stiff like and would keep the wearer safe from crushing. But the scene gives no indication of that.

[robsoles]

...

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' I said.

'No,' he said, 'but I can. The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:'
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.



Good one but I think it is meant to be 'find them', 'rule them', 'bring them' and 'in the darkness bind them' - wouldn't be the first time I am wrong though (not even for just today!)

[ticopelp]

the Mithril vest valuation and entire troll fight scene makes no sense.
one vest being worth more that the entire value of the Shire!
Mithril has value to the wearers as armor and they make it sound so rare that virtually no one can benefit from its use.
And that huge troll might not have penetrated his Mithril vest but would surely have crushed Bilbo.

I could understand the scene better if the vest somehow became super hard, stiff like and would keep the wearer safe from crushing. But the scene gives no indication of that.

I'm puzzled by this line of thinking. Yes, the magical armor in the magical world full of dragons and trolls isn't realistic. Did this really top the list of things that strain credibility?

Anyway, cheers to Tolkien.

[NightwishFan]

Dull? Tolkien's does language like Gary Numan does synth. Ok well that made no sense but yeah they both rock. :)

I shall see you all in the vanguard.

[TNT1]

Nerds

Yeah, but they're on a linux forum, so we knew they was geeks already:P

[Spice Weasel]

Reminds me of this old joke...

Recently one of my friends, a computer wizard, paid me a visit. As we were talking I mentioned that I had recently installed Windows on my PC, I told him how happy I was with this operating system and showed him the Windows CD. Too my astonishment and distress he threw it into my micro-wave oven and turned it on. I was upset because the CD had become precious to me, but he said: 'Do not worry, it is unharmed.'

After a few minutes he took the CD out, gave it to me and said: 'Take a close look at it.' To my surprise the CD was quite cold and it seemed to have become thicker and heavier than before. At first I could not see anything, but on the inner edge of the central hole I saw an inscription, in lines finer than anything I have ever seen before. The inscription shone piercingly bright, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth:

4F6E65204F5320746F2072756C65207468656D20616C6C2C20 4F6E65204F5320746 F2066696E64207468656D2CDA4F6E65204F5320746F2062726 96E67207468656D20 616C6C20616E6420696E20746865206461726B6E6573732062 696E64207468656D

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' I said.

'No,' he said, 'but I can. The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here. But in common English this is what it says:'
One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them,
One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.



You just won an internets.

[giddyup306]

This is a few years old, but still awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDxv5XBpn68

[robsoles]

that I am posting again I may as well start on the fact that I saw extreme likelihood, about a minute after posting, I was wrong regarding order proposed in my last post because rhyming is off by my proposal. I successfully resisted the urge to edit it.

Anyway, above video is cool. The video I am linking is funny but literally wrong! (I wonder if anybody else has thought of literaturively as a word before.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU&NR=1

[forrestcupp]

Busted!:oops:

Wait a minute! You changed the url in my quote to go to the Ubuntu web site.

Thanks for not changing the actual post. :)

[forrestcupp]

4F6E65204F5320746F2072756C65207468656D20616C6C2C20 4F6E65204F5320746 F2066696E64207468656D2CDA4F6E65204F5320746F2062726 96E67207468656D20 616C6C20616E6420696E20746865206461726B6E6573732062 696E64207468656D

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' I said.

Lame! You should have taken up 2 pages with binary. :)