People often ask, ``how are you able to keep such a highly complex
organization as the Stammtisch Beau Fleuve operating so smoothly,
efficiently, perspicaciously, and virtuously?'' And we always, every one
of us, answer: ``by consensus.'' Yes, this ideal of democracy, attempted
by King Arthur, by Pompeii
[ftnt. 2], by
the ancient Polish Sejm, and more recently with indifferent success by the
Supreme Praesidium of the Soviet Union, has been
perfected by us.
A Civics Lesson
This very Homepage is an example of our system of governance in action.
When I considered whether it
would be a good thing to discover to
a wider world the existence of our institution, once known only to an
elite few, I knew we ran the risk of tragically disappointing those who,
by geographical misadventure, or due to previous luncheon arrangements, would
be unable et cetera. Naturally, I recognized that I should only
proceed with the most full approval of all of our complete membership. Under
our system, I was assured that there would be a complete consensus. Moreover,
since I wasn't planning to change my mind, I knew that everyone would consense
with me. Thus, reassured by my fellow-members' generous granting of
unsolicited yet unanimous support, I proceeded in confidence.
People also often ask, ``how are you able to achieve such an agreeably
agreeable agreement in the Stammtisch Beau Fleuve, operating so
smoothly, without sinking into predictability, ennui,
boredom, and coma?''
``Ha-ha,'' we always answer. An illustration of how this works is the
reaction to my announcement that we had decided to create a Homepage. Although
unanimous approval was a foregone assumption, that approval was expressed in
a variety of interesting, supportive, constructive and informative ways. A
sampling of comments:
``Ha-ha!''
``What is a `home page'?'' [Yes, this comment was spoken using British
punctuation conventions.]
``Side chains are very harmful.'' [See minutes entry on
fatty acids.]
``Why is it that the lists in this section all have exactly
four items?''
(No, really I just made that up.)
Members were also amused to learn the name of our institution.
Take me home.
If you're looking for pages similar to the one that you have just read
(or perhaps just scrolled through) then you'll be interested to know that
Infoseek claims the following pages are ``similar'':