Starlord Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 FYI, the 'headlights at the speed of light' comment is an old Stephen Wright joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Starlord said: FYI, the 'headlights at the speed of light' comment is an old Stephen Wright joke. Nah, it was a young Stephen Wright joke. BoloOfEarth 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 "Yesterday I was playing poker with a tarot deck. I got a straight flush, and three people died." Lord Liaden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starlord Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 We could do an entire thread for Stephen Wright jokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Yes...but that would be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 If that's wrong, I don't want to be Wright. Sociotard and BoloOfEarth 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Why do I feel like these discussion boards should have someone with a drum set and cymbal to play a rimshot...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 21 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said: Why do I feel like these discussion boards should have someone with a drum set and cymbal to play a rimshot...? Like so? wcw43921, Ternaugh and BoloOfEarth 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Yep. And probably with the same tired expression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 we already have a jokes thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 16 hours ago, assault said: The Most Serene Republic of San Marino begs to differ. Fair point. I still found the general point that that our elderly republic might be a factor in our slow transition interesting though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Admit it, it's just plain old contrariness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 8 minutes ago, L. Marcus said: Admit it, it's just plain old contrariness. The oldest Contrariness in the Western Hemisphere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 With Reactionariness and Stubbornicity for all! Hermit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 9 hours ago, Starlord said: FYI, the 'headlights at the speed of light' comment is an old Stephen Wright joke. It was also a question in the "Ask Doctor Science National Science Quiz" TV special. And Doctor Science gave the answer: Your headlights come off the car and chase you down the road. Much better than one of the other suggested answers, "The universe ends." Ah, Doctor Science. I learned so much from him, including the thin line between intelligence and arrogance. Just remember: He's not a real doctor. He has a Master's degree... in Science! Dean Shomshak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Even the present Imperial system is just a fraction of the farrago of weights and measures that once existed. Isaac Asimove devoted an essay to this called, IIRC, "Forget it!" He'd obtained a Colonial-era math textbook. A large section in it was devoted to weights and measures. For instance, back then liquid measure went far beyond cup, pint, quart and gallon. There were also measurements such as gills, tuns, puncheons and firkins. Actually, three firkins: "A firkin of ale in London," "A firkin of beer in London," and "A firkin of ale or beer" -- presumably, Asimov speculated, for the less-discriminating provinces. Or, cloth wasn't measured in yards, it was measured in ells -- but you had to specify whether you meant an English ell, a Dutch ell, a Flemish ell... The joke about "getting the ell out of business" was obvious but irresistible. So just remember that things were once much worse. Dean Shomshak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Not really news, but I am not sure where else to put this. Female pioneers of electronic music. Seems to be a traveling concert/lecture? series in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 Almost certainly behind a subscriber wall, but there's a teaser article in Science giving a discussion of a paper in a different journal about the discovery of a probably rather recent (in the last 100,000 years) impact crater discovered under the ice sheet in Greenland. The crater size is 31 km in diameter ... not Chicxulub-class, but big enough to make you happy you were't nearby: Quote The impact would have been a spectacle for anyone within 500 kilometers. A white fireball four times larger and three times brighter than the sun would have streaked across the sky. If the object struck an ice sheet, it would have tunneled through to the bedrock, vaporizing water and stone alike in a flash. The resulting explosion packed the energy of 700 1-megaton nuclear bombs, and even an observer hundreds of kilometers away would have experienced a buffeting shock wave, a monstrous thunderclap, and hurricane-force winds. Later, rock debris might have rained down on North America and Europe, and the released steam, a greenhouse gas, could have locally warmed Greenland, melting even more ice. The time of the impact seems not to be well established yet, and so people are being rather cagey about that; there are some interesting suggestions of the strike happening about 13,000 years ago, which would tie in with the end of the last Ice Age, the invasions of humans into the Americas, and so on, which seems to be driving most of the publicity around this discovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 3 hours ago, Hermit said: Fair point. I still found the general point that that our elderly republic might be a factor in our slow transition interesting though I wish that argument would work for me every time I'm forced to update my computer OS. I mean, I'm elderly and contrary, dagnab it! I suppose if there was another three hundred million of me I'd have more leverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 8 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said: I wish that argument would work for me every time I'm forced to update my computer OS. I mean, I'm elderly and contrary, dagnab it! I suppose if there was another three hundred million of me I'd have more leverage. I direct you to the Political discussion thread for the fun three hundred million voices can create in an elderly republic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 A camel showed up in Pennsylvania during Thursday's snowstorm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted November 16, 2018 Report Share Posted November 16, 2018 he knew he should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque Lord Liaden 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted November 17, 2018 Report Share Posted November 17, 2018 12 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said: Why do I feel like these discussion boards should have someone with a drum set and cymbal to play a rimshot...? That already happens in my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted November 17, 2018 Report Share Posted November 17, 2018 9 hours ago, DShomshak said: Even the present Imperial system is just a fraction of the farrago of weights and measures that once existed. Isaac Asimove devoted an essay to this called, IIRC, "Forget it!" He'd obtained a Colonial-era math textbook. A large section in it was devoted to weights and measures. For instance, back then liquid measure went far beyond cup, pint, quart and gallon. There were also measurements such as gills, tuns, puncheons and firkins. Actually, three firkins: "A firkin of ale in London," "A firkin of beer in London," and "A firkin of ale or beer" -- presumably, Asimov speculated, for the less-discriminating provinces. Or, cloth wasn't measured in yards, it was measured in ells -- but you had to specify whether you meant an English ell, a Dutch ell, a Flemish ell... The joke about "getting the ell out of business" was obvious but irresistible. So just remember that things were once much worse. Dean Shomshak I thought firkin is what the kid from Christmas Story said instead of saying the F-dash-dash-dash word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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