Ur
Pronounced As: ûr , ancient city of Sumer, S Mesopotamia. The city is also known as Ur of the Chaldees. It was an important center of Sumerian culture (see Sumer) and is identified in the Bible as the home of Abraham. The site was discovered in the 19th cent., but it was not until the excavations of C. Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and 30s that a partial account of its history could be constructed. Remains found at the site seem to indicate that Ur existed as far back as the late Al Ubaid period (see Mesopotamia) and that the city was an important commercial center even before the first dynasty was established (c.2500 B.C.). Among the most important remains of the first dynasty, which has revealed a luxurious material culture, are the royal cemetery, where the standard of Ur was found, and the Temple of Ninhursag at Ubaid, bearing the inscriptions of the kings of the first dynasty. Ur was captured c.2340 by Sargon, and this era, called the Akkadian period, marks an important step in the blending of Sumerian and Semitic cultures. After this dynasty came a long period of which practically nothing is known except that a second dynasty rose and fell. The third dynasty was established c.2060 B.C. under King Ur-Nammu, who built the great ziggurat that has stood, although crumbled and covered with sand, throughout the centuries. An inscription in the Museum of the Ancient Orient in Istanbul was identified (1952) as a fragment of the code of Ur-Nammu. It predates the code of Hammurabi by 300 years and is the oldest known law code yet discovered. The third dynasty of Ur fell (c.1950 B.C.) to the Elamites and later to Babylon. The city was destroyed and rebuilt throughout the years by various kings and conquerors, including Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus in the 6th cent. About the middle of the 6th cent., Ur went into a decline from which it never recovered. A record dated 324 B.C. mentions it as being inhabited by Arabs, but by that time its existence as a great city was forgotten. The change in the course of the Euphrates, which had been the source of the city’s wealth, probably contributed to the final decline of Ur. Ur is mentioned often in the Bible (Gen. 11.28,31; 15.7; Neh. 9.7) and was at one period known to the Arabs as Tall al-Muqayyar [mound of pitch].
I had a few little kids IM me, not sure how they got my sn. that pissed me off because they thought i was a guy named jim. i had to block 7 of the little shits.
I used to get an occasional random IM while on AOL, all said they were young ladies in Northern Virginia looking for a friend. I haven’t received any of those since I put in my profile that I’m seeing someone. I’ve also received one unsolicited chat request via AIM; it turned out to be someone from a mailing list I’m on but he was using a different name. When I declined to chat, he came back with his usual SN.
nifty opal, i use trillian, too. used to use odigo, but it didn’t work very well.
my standard response is the usual “do i know you?” if no, then “i’m sorry, i have instant messengers to speak to people i already know. bye.”
you are definitely encouraging these people by talking to them. don’t expect curt answers to drive them away – especially since many people do multi-task online, and they may just assume that you are doing something else in addition to talking to them.
i know you don’t want to be rude, but most people will understand a simple, “sorry, i’m not interested.” and the more they persist after that, the easier it gets to say “fuck off.”
Recently, I’ve been getting a rash of IMs from people who think I’m some guy named Matt. I’ve gotten tired of responding politely to them since they’re usually quite rude, so I’ve just started messing with their minds. Here’s one of my favorites:
jellykakes: hey matt
Mojo530(me): Jesus?
Mojo530: Is this Jesus?
jellykakes: what???
jellykakes: no
Mojo530: I KNEW IT! IT IS YOU!
Mojo530: Only the true savior would deny his holiness!
jellykakes: huh??
Mojo530: Save me, Jesus! There are so many things I have to ask you!
jellykakes: what in the world?
Mojo530: Why is there air, Jesus? Why is there air?
Mojo530: Jesus?
Mojo530: Jesus, are you listening?
jellykakes: ummm
jellykakes: what are you doing
Mojo530: I knew that it was you who was talking to me, Jesus!
Mojo530: I just KNEW it!
Mojo530: I mean, sure, I questioned things when you told me to kill that vagrant, but now I know!
Mojo530: It was you all along, just working your divine magic!
jellykakes: matt
Mojo530: Huh?
Mojo530: Matt?
Mojo530: Who’s Matt?
Mojo530: This isn’t Matt, Jesus.
jellykakes: isn’t this matt haunsperger
Mojo530: Heh heh. That’s a silly name.
Mojo530: Hello?
Mojo530: Jesus?
Mojo530: Jeeeeeeeeeeeeee-suuuuuuus…
Mojo530: Hmph. Fine.
Mojo530: Be that way.
Course I wrote out my all-time favorite in this thread. I still laugh when I read it, but that may just be because I’m weird.
you people are so lucky you aren’t in the same time zone as algeria.
no, i’m being serious. i should never have put down “french” as one of my languages in icq. i have suffered. oh, i have suffered. i am pestered daily by algerian men ranging from 25 to 45, who are all very interested in knowing what finland is like, what i am like, what it costs to rent an apartment in helsinki, and could we maybe meet up some day, and maybe hook up for a couple of months or something…
usually the conversation goes something like this (translated from french):
algerian male looking for company: hello
me: –
amlfc: hellooo
m: –
amlfc: are you single?
m: …wtf?
amlfc: i like finland. if i move there you will marry me?
m: umm… no. i don’t think so.
amlfc: you marry me. we have beautiful children together.
i don’t know what it is about the beautiful children, but i keep getting that…
on the other hand… the guy was nice and civilized and we had been talking for quite some time before he suddenly asked “wait, are you 18?” after hearing my response, he was shocked. “oh, no! i’m 30! so we can’t marry then. bye.” and then he was gone.
So…am I the only one (besides Jester) who enjoys tormenting the people who send random IMs? You should all try it, it’s a lot of fun. Especially when they get to the point where they’re offering pictures and you insinuate that they have farm animals in the pictures
