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	dawnswalker 2003-11-03 01:09 am UTC (link)
	Hey! Don't you know that her railing against the forces of unpatriotism and evil by screaming for an imaginary poppy is just her way of fighting for her country?! Until she invents and fires up her time machine and goes to join in the battle at Vimy Ridge, this is her ultimate sacrifice! ...Or maybe she's just a drama queen. YMMV. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-03 02:49 am UTC (link)
	Oh, exactly! That's why my dad flunked out of college, got drafted, and lost two guys under his command in An Khe - so he could get a freaking poppy! Some people's children. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zannechaos 2003-11-03 10:17 am UTC (link)
	No kidding. If she really wanted to do something, she could, oh, I don't know, volunteer at a veteran's clinic or something of the sort. Side note: My own father was Navy, a sgt on a PBR up near Da Nang. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-03 03:07 pm UTC (link)
	For serious. There are a disgusting number of homeless vets - why doesn't she throw them a bone? (Mine was Army, an S2 in artillery.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dawnswalker 2003-11-04 06:14 am UTC (link)
	Not to mention that for all her bitching about virtual poppies, real poppies are being sold all over the country here for about a buck each. And that real dollar goes a lot further toward supporting veteran's associations than an imaginary one. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	bohicamouse 2003-11-03 01:27 am UTC (link)
	Man, I used to frequent those forums (after the first wank that was posted here, heh) but it takes so long for everything to load that I stopped going. All this just makes me want to go back . . . (Reply to this)

	ivyincubus 2003-11-03 02:33 am UTC (link)
	There's also an entertaining side wank about who has a Veteran's (Rememberance, Armistice, etc...) day and who doesn't, and who celebrates Thanksgiving and who doesn't, and cultural differences and lots of "You didn't read my post right!" Most amusing? The girl who keeps ending her sentances with "la". (Reply to this)(Thread)

	rowan 2003-11-03 03:13 am UTC (link)
	The 'la' girl is one of my best friends on there. I think it's funny, but cute. Of course, other people's mileage is quite welcome to vary. ;) (I thought IvyCurse's lalalallalalallalala mockery was hilarious, though. It bore such a resemblance to lalalalalalala! I'm not LISTENING!) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: ivyincubus 2003-11-03 03:40 am UTC (link)
	Its funny... but it must only be cute if you understand why she's saying it. (I liked the mockery part. Because when your friend responded, it sounded like if you put all the la's together you should actually be making words, and that IvyCurse wasn't making real words.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	deejay435 2003-11-03 04:42 am UTC (link)
	I was so tempted to go in and say "Well in the US, we have Veterans day to celebrate ALL Vetrans and Memorial day to celebrate all those who died for their country. Top that!" Just to start shit. And cause those avatars with the little thought bubbles? Fascinate me endlessly. I am odd. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

diamonde
2003-11-03 07:48 pm UTC (link)

I don't know about Canada/the UK, but in Australia we have Rememberance day, which is mostly in honour of the dead, while ANZAC day includes all veterans and is general war-sucks. Obviously it focusses mostly on the Australian/Kiwi vets, but there's a global aspect to it to. ANZAC day is a major, major deal here. No convenient symbol, though, usually the armed forces sell nice badges with little pictures of the light cavalry or something similarly attractive on them.

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deejay435
2003-11-04 04:03 am UTC (link)

We do poppies here. They sell them outside of my church, iirc. Memorial day is a bigger deal than Veteran's day. Though in my hometown Veteran's day parades are pretty big, and Memorial day had just a dinky neighborhood parade.

And I have to admit I signed up for Gaia online. I couldn't resist the pull of the avatars with little talk-bubbles. I'm not into anime, so I'll have nothing to talk about, I'm sure. But cute!

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	diamonde 2003-11-04 08:15 am UTC (link)
	We have the poppies for rememberance day, but it's not quite as big a deal as ANZAC day. Less political, though, which is kinda nice too. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-04 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	I saw Gallipoli as an undergrad for a class on WWI literature, and... yeek. We should all be celebrating ANZAC Day, is what I'm saying. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

diamonde
2003-11-04 05:25 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, the Australian/Kiwi military does take cannon fodder to a whole new level. And, oddly enough, never under the command of our own officers. We do, however, have one of the greatest reputations for killing our own commanders though 'friendly fire' and we're vindictively proud of it.

But some of the national obsession isn't just the horror of what happened at Gallipoli but how many people we lost in WWI. Not many compared to other countries, but to our population? The fact that there are war memorials in every town and more than I can guess in most cities is something which I didn't realise was different until I was an adult. I spent a lot of my time growing up outside a small town. Two main streets, population around 800. But it had a war memorial, and the statue of the soldier on top has never had less-than-fresh paint that I can remember. It never occurred to me that that was odd. Just that you could tell the town was poor and had a small population by the way that it was just a kind of grassy patch next to the post office, not a park taking up an entire block.

I do remember that I identified cemetaries by the white military-issue crosses, though. I knew there were other graves there, but those identical rows were what immediately said 'cemetary' to me.

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smo
2003-11-04 09:11 pm UTC (link)

But some of the national obsession isn't just the horror of what happened at Gallipoli but how many people we lost in WWI. Not many compared to other countries, but to our population.

God, how horrible. I read about the tactics, the deliberate use of soldiers as lambs to the slaughter, and I feel like throttling all those stupid generals who sent those kids off to die. Almost an entire generation lost. Inexcusable.

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	dejla 2003-11-04 08:03 pm UTC (link)
	To this day, hearing "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" makes me tear up and look for the nearest veterans' charity I can contribute to. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-04 09:08 pm UTC (link)
	I only listened to that song once. I love it, but I don't think I could handle it again. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kimera 2003-11-03 10:14 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks Giving is only Celebrated by the US and Canada!! This is when the pilgrams and the Indians got together and had a feast, it marks the day of when there was peace brought between the two. Gah. This IvyCurse person is Canadian and doesn't know the difference between the Canadian and American holidays? Gaaaah. weeps (Reply to this)(Thread)

	teratologist 2003-11-04 05:33 am UTC (link)
	I don't know about the Canadian Thanksgiving, but I think there are a couple of million dead people in the U.S. who would dispute her assessment of "when there was peace brought" between the Native Americans and the colonists. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-04 04:31 pm UTC (link)
	She probably thinks they ate turkey and cranberry sauce at the first Thanksgiving, too. Stupid bint. (Reply to this)(Parent)

virago
2003-11-04 09:23 pm UTC (link)

>>Thanks Giving is only Celebrated by the US and Canada!! This is when the pilgrams and the Indians got together and had a feast, it marks the day of when there was peace brought between the two.>>

Need to tell your neighbor that their ungodly ways will send them to eternal hellfire and damnation? Send a friendly PilGram! Available in black and slightly brownish black! Not available on Sundays!

/spellingwhore

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	heyoka 2003-11-06 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	You know, I'm noticing IvyCurse winds up being involved in a hell of a lot of wank in those forums. Yet another one tonight, oy. 9.9 (Reply to this)(Thread)

	smo 2003-11-06 04:15 pm UTC (link)
	Your "Arrrrr!"wen icon amuses me to no end. (Reply to this)(Parent)