Free Republic

💡 I've been using a laptop almost exclusively for my writing for much of the prior 2 years. I've discovered that the touchpad is both a curse and a blessing, the latter so much so that I do not disable it. When I'm not using my auxiliary ergonomic keyboard, I regularly have things happen due to my palm hitting the keyboard. One such thing is a popup which, I regret to say, I never looked up until now. Given that the HTML Sandbox makes no mention of emoji whatsoever and the only thread by keyword on FR dates to 2004...

The Western institutionalization of sharia norms. A Swedish art professor has applauded Apple’s promise to diversify its emoticon options, including figures wearing religious headgear such as the hijab. “It’s great, we need people with different skin colours among the emojis, and people with different clothes, from the hijab to the kippa,” illustration professor Joanna Rubin Dranger at Stockholm’s Konstfack academy told the TT news wire on Thursday. The website DoSomething.org first let the battle cry sound, asking Apple to take a closer look at its 800 emojis. “The only two resembling people of colour are a guy who looks vaguely...

PORTSMOUTH, NH (AP) - Campaigning in New Hampshire one day before the first-in-the-nation primary, Senator Hillary Clinton got emotional and had tears in her eyes as she spoke with voters about how hard it is to balance a busy campaign life and her passion for the country's future. Clinton's handlers say her new Emoticon 7000 bio-implant computer chip has finally allowed the presidential candidate to flawlessly mimic actual human emotions.

Is there an emoticon or faux-HTML that represents the phrase ''tongue-in-cheek''? Certainly, one could express this with /tongueincheek , or something similar, but I'm looking for something more economical, or cleverer, or both. All ideas appreciated, and TIA! (P.S. this inquiry is my punishment for losing a bet)Oh, yes...how about ... -U- , as someone has suggested to me? Does that work well?