Each musing must somehow morph from the previous musing into something new.
I'll begin:
Yes, although I may begin this, I would like mention something I didn't begin--the heatwave in the UK. Too humid by half.
(See what I did? Didya?)
edited to edit.
[This message has been edited by skadder (edited July 02, 2009).]
Posted by Jeff M (Member # 7828) on :
quote:(See what I did? Didya?)
F***ed up the italics tag?
ahem...
There are two drawers in my refrigerator, one with a dial set at low humidity and one with the dial set at high humidity. I can never remember which vegetables are supposed to go in which drawer, so I just throw them into either drawer depending on where there's room.
Edited to add, he fixed the italics tag.
[This message has been edited by Jeff M (edited July 02, 2009).]
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
There's room in Australia, I believe...
Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
My inlaws just got back from Austalia. They brought back something for everyone, except for me (not sure if that is a bad sign or just an oversight). However they got my seven year-old son three things: a t-shirt, a tiny volcano that foams, and a boomerang. Guess which one I commandeered (and no, I'm not walking around in a very tight t-shirt right now).
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
As someone living in Australia, I find a volcano gift somewhat ironic - we don't have volcanoes here.
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
I had to change my post because Ben M beat me too the punch. How ironic.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited July 02, 2009).]
Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
I am under doctor's orders to lose weight. So far, I've managed to lose 10 pounds in 15 weeks.
And I don't even eat fast food. The nearest I come is a sandwich from the Italian deli once in a while.
Posted by Jeff M (Member # 7828) on :
Best sandwich I ever had: the pulled pork at Fat Boys BBQ Ranch in Prattville, Alabama. Mmmmmmm... a side of baked beans, a big glass of sweet tea and peach cobbler for dessert. <Homer drool>
Let's see, if I hop in my car right now, I could be in Alabama in about 17 or 18 hours.
Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
That puts a new twist on the song, "Sweet Home Alabama".
Posted by Unwritten (Member # 7960) on :
quote:I had to change my post because Ben M beat me too the punch. How ironic.
That's just the kind of thing you've got to expect in a non-random thread.
Posted by Owasm (Member # 8501) on :
A non-random posting thread won't be interesting if it doesn't have ironic twists and turns.
Posted by Devnal (Member # 6724) on :
I twisted my 9 iron golfing yesterday; hows that for an ironic twist and turn?
Posted by Jeff M (Member # 7828) on :
If you take the word "ironic" and replace the "ic" with an "a", you get Irona, which was the name of Richie Rich's robot maid.
(just because it's non-random, doesn't mean it can't be random)
Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
Rosie was the Jetson's robot maid.
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
I read a Hienlien book where these kids do a survival course on a an alien planet via a stargate. The MC is warned before he goes by the Professor (of Survival...yeah, cool!) to watch out for the 'stobor'. He never actually meets any 'stobor' as the professor made them up, just to keep the boy on his toes.
Stobor is 'robots' backwards. Intentional or not, what do you think?
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Tunnel in the Sky is the Heinlein novel ("Heinlein" spelled that way) that Skadder mentions...and I never noticed that "stobor" was "robots" spelled backwards until somebody, probably Skadder, mentioned it somewhere on these boards.
Posted by Corky (Member # 2714) on :
I enjoy word scramble puzzles and can often see, just by looking at scrambled letters, what the original word was.
I think it was noticing that stobor was "robots" spelled backwards that led me to reversing letters of any weird word I come across (usually just in science fiction or fantasy--and even more usually in unpublished manuscripts--because in other literature, weird words are recognizably just words in another language). They don't always turn out to be something spelled backwards, but they do often enough to support the "habit" of looking for them.
Besides reading words backwards, I can also read text upside down.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I read once that the names of the villains in Heinlein's The Number of the Beast were all anagrams of his name, his wife's name, his pen names, and so on. I never read the whole thing cover-to-cover...I'd rate it as his least penetrable book, though a couple of other later ones come close.
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
For those that submitted to it, your stories will be released to you in the Heinlein contest, that had a deadline of over a year ago, on the 7th of July. So frustrating feeling your work went it a black hole, No reponse other than a 'we got it' long ago. Here's hoping someone gets the shock of there life on tuesday.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Speaking of black holes, the Large Hadron Collider still hasn't produced one to suck the world into. Do people just love finding an end of the world scenario for any situation or what?
Posted by JohnMac (Member # 8472) on :
Shouldn't we love finding end of the world scenarios? Aren't those some of the most exciting stories, novels, and movies- how to avoid/avert such cataclyms?
Now I'm not mongering for the end of the world, but gee if that's not drama....what is?
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
It never fails to amaze me that people will jump all over the most convient 'end of the world' hysteria to come along. Computer millenia disaster, collider, the planetary aliment thing a few years ago, coment tail, and every year is the year when the anti-christ is going to show up. The latest is the 2012 Mayan calendar. Some stone age culture that happened to have a knack for astrology ran out of room for their future predictions and now EVERYTHING is going to come to an end because of it. Please. So its the solar systems time to cross the plantary plane of the galaxy, so what? Doesn't mean we're going to be fried by cosmic rays from the galatic center. Cosmic rays don't travel in a specific line. Crossing the plane is going to have a lesser effect than a lunar eclipse. The only difference is it is a rarer event. Sorry, world isn't going to end. Get used to continuing your dismal lives.
Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :
quote:Sorry, world isn't going to end. Get used to continuing your dismal lives.
Gee. And I was hoping things would be looking up by then.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Truth be told, I think a lot of people turn to end of the world scenarios as an escape from their dismal lives (sad, though, that a disaster of that magnitude is something they almost look forward to).
I know quite a few people who believe in it to the point that they're stockpiling supplies and preparing a "bolt hole" for when it actually goes down. These are smart, well-rounded people who are active in their communities and go to church every Sunday. I think it's more of a hobby for them, because in between detailing some bizarre government plot related to global vaccinations that's due to happen any day now, they'll cheerfully talk about plans for a vacation next summer.
Hey, I suppose there are crazier hobbies.
Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :
Like writing?
Posted by Devnal (Member # 6724) on :
Actually I skimmed through some stuff on the Mayan calendar last week because i wanted to know why 2012. From my skimming its seems to be that either the end of the world is 2012, or, like, 32,000,000 ...
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
If the Mayans knew the world would end in 2012, how did they know? Might as well be a Stephen King novel for all the logic and reason in it.
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
They were picked up in Chariots of the Gods and were filled in on stuff like that by Ancient Astronauts while taking a gander at giant nonsensical pictures of spiders and scorpions from high above the plains of Nazca.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
I'm pretty sure peyote comes into the picture somewhere too.
Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
Since this thread doesn't seem to be morphing, here's my two cents:
quote:...the planetary ali[gn]ment thing a few years ago...
Snapper, if memory serves me right, that was 1982. Were you trapped in cryogenic freeze for "a few years"? - That was 27 years ago!
Anyone ever heard of Edgar Whisenant? For every 88 reasons why the world is going to end, there are 89 reasons why it won't.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I remember Doonesbury calling it "the Moronic Convergence." Of couse I don't read that strip anymore. ('Taint easy 'cause it's right above Mallard Fillmore in the paper.) Trudeau's arrogance in 2008 frosted my shorts...
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
You have me intrigued Robert. I don't get a regular paper anymore so I don't read the comics like I used to do. What was the arrogant thing that happened with Trudeau?
Speaking of Mallard Fillmore...
As a self-described Libertarian, I am more sympathetic to the conservative point of view but they really have a wooden sense of humor. A comic strip like Doonesbury runs circle's around MF. You can disagree with me but I have the irrational wrath reaction to back me. Politically inspired humor is most effective when they anger the opposing point of view. No one gets angry at Mallard Fillmore. The strip has never been able to strike a nerve, only groans.
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
quote:Snapper, if memory serves me right, that was 1982. Were you trapped in cryogenic freeze for "a few years"? - That was 27 years ago!
It was? I wonder what sort of ailment I was suffer from?
I believe 1982 is when the hysteria started. The great alignment I was talking about was at the beginning of this decade. All the outer planets that were lining up behind us were supposed start a chain of massive earthquakes because of us being in the center of a gravitational tug of war. The government even took a couple of precautions just in case. Nothing happened.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited July 07, 2009).]
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
Wow. The words "government" and "precautions" in the same sentence. Impressive...
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, strictly speaking, it's political, and we're not supposed to talk politics, but...back before the November 2008 election, it was reported that Trudeau prepared strips for post-election use that assumed Barack Obama would win the election. No alternates in case John McCain won, just that one scenario.
Now, up till the election nobody---nobody---could've known Obama would win. His margin of victory wasn't that large---a million votes or so in a couple of places and it wouldn't've happened. It might have been likely, but it wasn't certain.
(It's hardly the only example of Trudeau's arrogance. How many times has he bailed on covering things, often in the middle of events he should be covering, and let the strip run repeats? Then there's also his denial of using others to write and draw the strip---he's hardly unique in this way (remember Al Capp?) but it's just one more thing I don't like.)
Whatever I think of his politics---and my opinion of them is low---I've just had enough. I will read no more Doonesbury forever.
Posted by JohnMac (Member # 8472) on :
Oddly enough this does remind me of another wonderful incident where someone thought they knew the outcome and was proven wrong- anyone remember the old photo of the man holding up the newspaper announcing "Goldwater Wins?"
Posted by BenM (Member # 8329) on :
Speaking of newspaper, how much life do you think is left in that venerable institution?
When today's youth grow up getting their news from iphones or mobile internet or twitter I expect the world of journalism they'll be controlling in the future would be almost incomprehensible to us today.
Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :
We've never had the newspaper come to our house. I get all my news from the internet, though more and more I'm thinking I'd like to have the paper. I don't think the newspaper will last many more decades, but I think journalisma will last. It will just be in a different format.
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
The alignment was in the late 90's (or later). At least I remember reading about in the paper.
I think JohnMac is thinking of the picture of Harry Truman holding up a Chicago newspaper (I forget which one) that said "Dewey Defeats Truman." This is it, if the link works.
My relationship with the local newspapers has been kind of off-and-on. One time, I didn't read one regular for about four years when they dropped my favorite comic strip (this was in the days before I could find just about anything on the Internet).
Right now, I look through the stories, read what's interesting, then cut out the New York Times crossword puzzle and take it to work to do while on breaks. (This is the only use I have for the Times).
A long-term project of cutting out strips from the paper and pasting them in spiral notebooks came to an end this year. Some strips were dropped...another changed beyond recognition...and recent format changes in the paper itself keeps putting strips I like in different positions on different days of the week, sometimes on opposite sides of a single sheet, making it impossible to cut them out properly.
I still intend to paste strips in spiral notebooks, but from computer printouts. This is also hard, because I like to have matching notebooks, and it is very hard to find the same brands and colors from year to year. Nobody has the same ones. I like "Mead" notebooks, but can't find them around.
(Pasting in notebooks? Well, I like to reread strips from time to time, not everybody publishes their strips in books (and often years behind the current stuff when they do), and online access to archives is somewhat limited. Besides, I have little to interfere with my strange personal habits in my private life, like a wife and kids that would take up time and money...)
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Newspapers exist as a medium to provide comics for professors to put on their doors. True story.
Only thing I ever really had to do with newspapers for was Dave Barry's columns.
Posted by Corky (Member # 2714) on :
When I moved, I selected the newspaper we subscribed to because it had the Modesty Blaise comic in it, and the other didn't.
Neither of them has it now, of course, but when it stopped appearing, I didn't change papers.
Of the comics I read now, probably Sherman's Lagoon is the one I enjoy most often.
Posted by DWD (Member # 8649) on :
Pearls Before Swine is my current favorite comic.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
A guy named Mark Tatulli puts out two comics...I followed him from Heart of the City to Lio...but, though Lio is one of the "hot ones" right now, I prefer Heart.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Dilbert.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I have a lingering dislike for Get Fuzzy, if that's what it's called---adventures of a dog and cat and their "owner." I never really took to the characters or the art.
And, besides, right after the death of Charles Schulz the local paper replaced it with Get Fuzzy. Boy, that bit...Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the gang not cold in their graves, and here they were replacing it...
Posted by snapper (Member # 7299) on :
I enjoyed the clever strips that provided great commentary on todays society. Calvin and Hobbes was the master of that. The Far Side was a close second.
One of my favorite Farside strips, Gary Larson drew overnight and it made the editorial sections of newspapers nationwide. The Chicago river broke through a dike and flooded all the downtown highrises basements. The next day a single paneled strip showed a cow with a jackhammer chipping through the wall of an underground tunnel. The caption below read...
Mrs O'Leary's cow's descendant fulfills her destiny
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Anybody besides me think that Berke Breathed ("Bloom County," "Outland," "Opus") has retired from cartooning too many times now?
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
Considering my interest in those comics, maybe he should go ahead and stay retired next time.
Posted by Unwritten (Member # 7960) on :
My 10 year old son thinks in comic strips--specifically in Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. He takes everything he hears about to the next pane or 2. It can be very annoying, especially when you're trying to have a serious conversation with him, but I imagine he has a latent writer in him somewhere.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
I'm a big fan of latent talent.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Sometimes I think all my talent is latent.
Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :
Talent is latent...or certainly an anagram of it.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
A magnar anagram?
P.S. Wikipedia: Magnar is a somewhat common forename for men in Norway. The name is known in Norway from the late 19th century. The name may be derived from the Norse word magn meaning "Strength" or possibly from the from the Latin name Magnus. Many sources also claims that this is a Polish name due to its Nordic origins. Magnar was also a mythical half-dragon man, with violent good tendencies. He was also known to carry a magic shovel he stole from a Lich. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnar"
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
When I'm doing the Jumble out of the newspaper, sometimes I'm so stuck on a word I'll doodle a whole list of letter combinations trying to crack it...
Posted by Unwritten (Member # 7960) on :
I just finished a book with someone named Magnus in it...but I don't take the newspaper, so I can't think of anything non-random to say about it. I get most of my news from yahoo these days. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.
Posted by Natej11 (Member # 8547) on :
I still sometimes go to yahoo for the games. Word Racer and Text Twist make me happy.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
The Crypto-Quip never presented much of a problem for me.
Sudoku, now, that takes me forever to work through, and just doesn't give me the same thrill as the crosswords. I've got a pocket Sudoku that I stick in my lunchbox and take to work, but I run through it with the wrong-number blinkers turned on.
Posted by genevive42 (Member # 8714) on :
My grandma taught me to do crosswords. We would work them together on occasion and it's always fun to be able to call out to a room, I need a five letter word for 'moron', it ends in 't'. A couple of years ago there was a short-lived 'Crosswords' game show. I got on, won some money,an Xbox 360 and a trip to Puerto Vallarta. The trip had some fun stuff but the town looked just like the local Redondo Beach Pier except they changed the little stickers on the knick-knacks to say Puerto Vallarta instead of Redondo Beach. The ratio of Spanish to English spoken was the same.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
They tell me Tolkien used to work up crossword puzzles in the various Anglo-Saxon dialect that were his areas of scholarly expertise...and that he didn't do any in Gothic 'cause there's not enough of a vocabulary.
