A small sign saying "Please be quiet, I'm observing the two minute silence" which I could hang about my person at 11am on the 11th November.
Avoids the internal conflict when somebody asks you a question during the silence, and you neither wish to break your silence, nor to appear rude (or deaf).
Useful if, like me, there is no quiet place for you to go during that time.-- Fishrat, Nov 11 2003 Australian Memorial http://www.ananova....tory/sm_837489.htmlPosted for UnaBubba, and you. [Fishrat, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Hand Held Shhhing http://www.coudal.com/Shhh.pdfcould be modified for application here. [calum, Dec 13 2004] Sorry.-- sufc, Nov 11 2003 Sshh. Quite right though, [drcalculus].-- Fishrat, Nov 11 2003 <whispers> Oh my, you read my thoughts. I went one further and took the day off. At 11:11 am on 11/11/03 I will be sitting in bed with a cup of tea thinking how good life is... + </w>-- k_sra, Nov 11 2003 Owing to back-to-back meetings, I got to miss the moment of silence local time. (Half the floor here follows bank holidays, and is off today; the other half, mine, follows stock exchange holidays, and is in.)-- DrCurry, Nov 11 2003 Damn. I've been so busy today that I clean forgot. Seeing people getting their signs out might have prompted me to remember. Lest we forget. (+).-- st3f, Nov 11 2003 i was in a conference today. When the clock hit 11:11, the presenters alarm went and he asked us all to stand to observe the moment. Am pleased that we have the humility do this. Its just so important.-- jonthegeologist, Nov 11 2003 (Whispers quietly:) I think I missed something here...shhhh.-- stringstretcher, Nov 11 2003 Thats just what I was thinking. I tend to talk in my sleep. I hope I didn't say anything then-- Mistress Bling, Nov 11 2003 The First World War ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, hence Veterans' Day, Armistice Day and Remembrance Day. Also it looks neat on a digital watch.-- AO, Nov 11 2003 //Does it count if you're asleep?// When I first read this, [bliss], it made me wonder whether or not you snore loud enough to rattle the window panes? Then it led me to think that the actual time of remembrance is not as important as the act of remembrance itself. Trite but true.
Oh, and I've added a [link] for [UnaBubba].-- Fishrat, Nov 12 2003 It must be important to UnaBubba & Co. if they hold such remembrances twice a year. I thought that ANZAC Day was the big one. And I can't see trying to pronounce "Armistice biscuits" every year.-- darksasami, Nov 12 2003 [UB] We had an announcement over the tannoy yesterday too - I think in the UK these things are observed more strictly in goverment offfices.-- hippo, Nov 12 2003 -- thumbwax, Nov 12 2003 Hope this doesn't sound too irreverent, but I recall working in a large open-plan office once, when the time came for a minute's silence the whole place went absolutely quiet (we had been reminded by e-mail earlier) and we all sat there deep in thought. Suddenly a lady in the corner of the room farted loudly and ran crying from the room. Some of the people there treated her very unsympathetically which seemed cruel to me as I'm sure she didn't do it deliberately. I remember the moment fondly as I think its no bad thing to be reminded that we are all human and often laugh and cry at the same things as each other - remembering that our 'enemies' are not that different to us is probably a useful tool in avoiding further conflict and hopefully avoiding the need to add any extra similar days to our calendar in future.-- dobtabulous, Nov 12 2003 Poor woman.
[jutta] The carnival (Fasching) season begins on the 11th November but the time of day has no bearing. There were some sad people on telly doing a countdown to midnight (i.e. begin of Fasching) so they could put on Mr. Punch hats and blow party tooters and then stand there looking a bit embarrassed.
Also, carnival as it exists today dates back to the early middle ages and it's roots go much further back. The starting date has nothing whatsoever to do with being insensitive to rememberence day.
The germany have their rememberence day on the Sunday after the 11/11 I think. It's on the 16th this year.-- squeak, Nov 12 2003 In Lewes, 11 o'clock on 11th November is signalled by firing off a maroon from the top of the castle . Loud explosions are always the first option to be considered here. There ain't no chance of missing it.-- DrBob, Nov 12 2003 //In Lewes, 11 o'clock on 11th November is signalled by firing off a maroon from the top of the castle// <mini rant>The reason I came up with this idea was because of some maroon firing off during the 2 minute silence. Oh, hang on, I thought you wrote "moron"... </mini rant>-- Fishrat, Nov 12 2003 good idea Fishrat-- Twibble, Nov 13 2003 Could we couple this with a phone silencer-with-automated caller-holding message ("I'm afraid no-one is able to take your call right now, as we are observing a period of rememberance, you demanding, selfish scumbag, show some respect. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you in two minutes, if you can bring your shrivelled-souled self to wait that long") so that I don't have to spend the entire two minutes listening to phones phones phones, please?-- calum, Nov 13 2003 [calum] - Love it. Or you pick the phone up, but remain silent.-- Detly, Nov 13 2003 [calum] You forgot to end your message: <whisper> beep </whisper>-- Fishrat, Nov 13 2003 So a written paper isn't rude when a gesture is? Shhh....-- sidi, Jan 28 2004 Sidi - you missed the point here. If you spend 30 seconds explaining that you're observing the silence, you miss the moment of reflection. Having a written explaination for what you're doing will prevent that moment of connection and communal thought/grief/hope being lost to you.-- Fishrat, Mar 17 2004 Shhhh.-- Fishrat, Nov 11 2004 .-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 11 2004 I think that Russia suffered the highest casualties all around in both WWI and WWII [UnaBubba].-- harderthanjesus, Nov 11 2004 I think [UB] used the word percentage here, [harderthan], yes, other nations lost more lives, but few felt it so acutely.-- neilp, Nov 11 2004 [jtg] - I was in a conference too (technician). The speaker looked like he was going to bark his way through the two minutes talking about what a fantastic job his company could do, so I sent him a reminder on his confidence monitor. I like the fact that the silence puts into perspective all the stretch targets and corporate cr*p that so many people think is so important.-- wagster, Nov 11 2004 <speaking hushed in tone> Oh, look, we're back here again.</shit>-- k_sra, Nov 11 2004 random, halfbakery