BS: The Mother of all BS threads

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:20 PM

I think Rapaire does "befuddled middle age white knight" better than he does Spartacus at this point.


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:36 PM

Perhaps it's easier to spike the horse than the chariot?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:31 PM

You've gotta wonder about those spiked anklets that the steed is wearing. My guess, not having a set of studs for my steed, is that they would do more harm to the horse than to anyone else.

Bitchin' look though. ...as is that whole knight-in-armor-through-the-eyes-of-Thomas-Kinkade painting. Just bitchin'

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:12 PM

Here's a picture of me astride my fateful steed, accompanied by a standard-issue groupie.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:12 PM

Really short.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:55 PM

Electra Glide (not in Blue)


Electra Glide in Blue: A short Arizona motorcycle cop gets his wish and is promoted to Homicide following the mysterious murder of a hermit

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:11 PM

Elctro-Glide in Blue

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:01 PM

Elctro-Glide in Blue.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 12:28 PM

You are such a liar!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 May 07 - 12:15 PM

I have 1951 Vincent, myself. It keeps company with my 1932 Indian.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 09 May 07 - 12:04 PM

oh - that was *you*

I thought that was a mysterious and weatherbeaten stranger....

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 11:50 AM

As one who has followed many of our past fiction and Tavern threads, MM, you know perfectly well that my hog is a 1939 Indian. (Note that I said fiction threads).


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 09 May 07 - 11:13 AM

I never even knew that Amos hads a riding Hog!

The saddleback of course is your typical riding hog, but much has been made of the speed of a landrace, with various proponents favorouring the american, british, danish, finnish, german, Italian, Norwegian , swedish or belgian varieties

Of course some people prefer the smooth gait of a Glouchestershire Old Spot, and some the stamina of a Duroc.

Which do you have, Amos?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 07 - 11:05 AM

You've been out riding that hog without your helmet again, haven't you, Amos?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 10:25 AM

She might prefer to attend this event in Montana, if Rapaire is not too cheap and slippery to give her her prize:

"Rock Creek - Clinton, Montana - Testicle Festival
This year is the 25th anniversary of Rock Creek's annual Testicle Festival. Because the past few years it has been cold and wet, we have changed 2007's dates to August 1-5. We are only a 10 hour drive from Sturgis, SD and this year the Sturgis rally officially starts on August 6th. So stop on by and help us celebrate our 25th anniversary on your way to Sturgis! See ya there. [Nel-Lani, 05/07/2007]


Testicle Festival:
Rock Creek - Clinton, MT
[Show Map]
Directions: I-90 Exit 126 Clinton, 15 miles east of Missoula.
Admission: Admission $15. Adults only.
Hours: Aug 1-5.
Phone: [phone]

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:21 AM

Hey, the population in Atomic City is 26 swingin', get-it-on, foot-stompin', people. The population of Chesterfield is, well, ah...it's a ghost town, actually.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: JennyO
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:53 AM

They worked for me. First one just a picture, second one the article too.

Not sure if I could stand the pace there! I reckon it's another one for the aging thread.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:54 AM

Hmm...I dunno. Try

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/sights/sightstory.php?tip_AttrId=%3D11360

and if that doesn't work go to :

http://www.roadsideamerica.com

and put "Atomic City" in the search box.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:52 PM

You are not authorized to view this page

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:10 PM

I think what Rapaire meant to say was:

ATOMIC CITY!!!

A.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:00 PM

No, not Chesterfield. Stilly, deserve to go to someplace that really groovin', someplace movin', someplace with a population! Someplace like



ATOMIC CITY!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:46 PM

So, let me guess. I won another trip to Chesterfield, Idaho.

Maybe this trip should be supplied by John. Make it Carmel, IN. I have an IUPUI friend up there I haven't seen for a while. But don't take too long in deconstructing the prize, a thunderstorm is headed our way and I might not be able to see the bad news until later.

This is taxing my patience, all of these storms.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 06:37 PM

The following from a discussion on Usenet some time ago:

"I can trace the quotation to Blaise Pascal, and a similar quote to St.
Augustine: however, the quotation supposedly goes as far back as the
time of Cicero. Can anyone identify the source?

"Je N'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas eu le loisir
de la faire plus courte.--I have only made this letter rather long
because I have not had time to make it shorter." Pascal. Lettres
provinciales, 16, Dec.14,1656. Cassell's Book of Quotations,
London,1912. P.718.

Most people would say that Blaise Pascal coined the phrase; however, in
a 1991 post in the Humanist Archives, Jim Marchand says the quote goes
back at least to the time of Cicero:

Date: Mon, 11 Nov 91 19:44:02 CST
From: (James Marchand)
Subject: long letter

We had a posting in French some time back on the question of the
sentence: I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote a
long one. As is usual with such quotations, attribution is a problem,
because of what Merton called "the palimpsesting syndrome." In Der
grosse Duden, vol. 2 "Stilwoerterbuch," 1963, p. 14 one reads: "Der
junge Goethe schreibt ein- mal an seine Schwester: 'Da ich keine Zeit
habe, Dir einen kurzen Brief zu schreiben, schreibe ich Dir einen
langen,' ein Gedanke, den er uebri- gens bei Cicero aufgelesen hat." So
the saying goes back at least as far as Cicero, definitely earlier than
Pascal. Where Cicero got it nemo scit.......... Jim Marchand
.............................................

Using a German online dictionary, I was able to decipher that Goethe
wrote a letter to his sister that was similar to Pascal's letter. Der
grosse Duden, a German-English book of quotations published in the 1960s
(?), dates the quotation to the time of Cicero, but does it provide a
source for the quotation?

While I can't go back as far as Cicero, and don't have access to Der
grosse Duden, I can cite a similar quote from St. Augustine (A.D 400):

Letter LIV. to His Beloved Son, Januarius, Augustin Sends Greeting in
the Lord:

"In regard to the questions which you have asked me, I would like to
have known what your own answers would have been; for thus I might have
made my reply in fewer words, and might most easily confirm or correct
your opinions, by approving or amending the answers which you had given.
This I would have greatly preferred. But desiring to answer you at once,
I think it better to write a long letter than incur loss of time....."

http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF1-01/npnf1-01-23.htm

Until a scholar can identify the quote to the days of Cicero, I would
credit Pascal (love his Thoughts) with originating the quote. Although
St. Augustine's quote is similar, his excuse for the length of the
letter is based more on lack of information than on lack of time or
thought.

In researching this challenge, I came across an offshoot of Pascal's
quote that was also contained in Cassell's Book of Quotations (p.376):

"Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make
it short." Thoreau. Letter to a Friend.

Jerry Morris"


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 06:28 PM

Attoboy!!!

Researchers in Italy have created the shortest light pulse yet-a
single isolated burst of extreme-ultraviolet light that lasts for
only 130 attoseconds (billionths of a billionth of a second).
Shining this ultrashort light pulse on atoms and molecules can
reveal new details of their inner workings--providing benefits to
fundamental science as well as potential industrial applications
such as better controlling chemical reactions. Working at Italy's
National Laboratory for Ultrafast and Ultraintense Optical Science
in Milan (as well as laboratories in Padua and Naples), the
researchers believe that their current technique will allow them to
create even shorter pulses well below 100 attoseconds.
In previous experiments, longer pulses, in the higher hundreds of
attoseconds, have been created. The general process for this
experiment is the same. An intense infrared laser strikes a jet of
gas (usually argon or neon). The laser's powerful electric fields
rock the electrons back and forth, causing them to release a train
of attosecond pulses consisting of high-energy photons (extreme
ultraviolet in this experiment). Creating a single isolated
attosecond pulse, rather than a train of them, is more complex. To
do this, the researchers employ their previously developed technique
for delivering intense short (5 femtosecond) laser pulses to an
argon gas target. They use additional optical techniques (including
the frequency comb that was a subject of the 2005 Nobel Prize in
Physics) for creating and shaping a single attosecond pulse.

You Can Be a Lensman!!

A Princeton group led by Evgenii Narimanov will discuss a newly
emerging optical design known as a "far-field hyperlens." The
hyperlens aims to increase light's abilities to image and magnify
submicroscopic objects such as the components of biological cells.
The lens is built with metamaterials, composite objects usually made
from nanometer-scale arrays of rods and ring-shaped structures. It
can project an image relatively far away (therefore making it
"far-field"). The cylindrical shape of the hyperlens can collect
components of the light waves that in a conventional lens would be
lost. This helps the hyperlens capture details smaller than the
wavelength of the illuminating light. In addition to such
"subwavelength imaging," the hyperlens' cylindrical geometry enables
it to magnify an object's image.
The Princeton group theoretically proposed the hyperlens (Jacob,
Alekseyev, Narimanov, Optics Express, Vol. 14, Issue 18, pp.
8247-8256, September 2006), and six months later it was demonstrated
experimentally (see, for example, Science, 315, 1686, 23 March
2007). Nader Engheta's lab at the University of Pennsylvania has
also proposed a device, called a "metamaterial crystal lens,"
essentially equivalent to the hyperlens (Physical Review B 74,
075103, 2006). According to Princeton researcher Zubin Jacob, the
initial prospects for the hyperlens are very promising, for
applications ranging from imaging biological objects to making
nanometer-scale circuit patterns. (Paper QTuD3 at CLEO/QUELS)

MAGNIFYING SUPERLENS RESOLVES DETAILS AS SMALL AS 70 NM
The University of Maryland's Igor Smolyaninov has presented what his
group calls a "magnifying superlens." Initially inspired by John
Pendry's "perfect lens" idea, and drawing upon the Princeton
hyperlens and U-Penn crystal lens concepts as well as Maryland's
previous work, the magnifying superlens uses alternating layers of
negative- and positive-index-of-refraction metamaterials. In
negative-refraction metamaterials, light or other electromagnetic
radiation bends in the opposite direction than it would in ordinary
matter, making it potentially very useful for focusing images. The
new device succeeds in magnifying the object while resolving details
as tiny as 70 nanometers, much smaller than the wavelength of
visible light. (Paper JMA4, CLEO/QELS; also see Smolyaninov et al.,
Science, 315, 1699-1701, 23 March 2007).

---

Ya gotta love these ubergeeks.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 05:54 PM

It may mean two fathoms, but it is only one Mark.

Mark Twain was famous for his pithy statements but he spent a LOT of time getting them to be pithy. This is different here. In these parts we find almost no effort at all, and thomeone will start acting pithy with you.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 07 - 04:18 PM

You can't have one twain. You might have one pair, or one couple, but you can't have one twain. Even Mark Twain, by definition, is two fathoms.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:34 PM

Pascal.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:24 PM

Given that Boz could spend six pages saying "it was drafty" - I would go for Charles Dickens, myself. Twain was known for pithy statements - so it doesnt make sense for him to have used it.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:14 PM

Twain is the only one I find.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: John Hardly
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:08 PM

Those were the two I found as well.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:06 PM

citations seem to be pretty evenly split between mark Twain and charles dickens.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: John Hardly
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:04 PM

Since all the creativity, knowledge, manners, and most of the bullshit has circled the drain and ended up here in the MOAB, I will ask my question here:

Who should credit go to for the famous...

"I'm sorry for the long letter. I didn't have time to write a short one"

?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 07 - 01:22 PM

Yer bark is worse than yer byte, Amos.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 01:09 PM

If you guys are going to raise taxus, you can leaf me out. I am berry sure of this. Anyone trying to raise taxus on me will be torn limb from limb. They'd be better advised to just fork off.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:01 AM

"former fields where farmers formerly farmed, forcing alfalfa from the fertile fields. "

Shouldn't that be foliage, not alfalfa?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 10:57 AM

. . . she won't ever see the one cabin there that still has a more-or-less intact roof because it's the only cabin left. That she won't get to see the former fields where farmers formerly farmed, forcing alfalfa from the fertile fields. . . . Oh well, prizes are taxable. So you won't be taxed on the prize, thereby saving money so you can be taxed upon the money you saved.


What he neglected to mention is that this property is now used as a tree farm. They raise taxus.

Yes, I'm feeling better today, Mom. Thank yew for asking!

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 May 07 - 10:09 AM

Amos,

I'll bet you didn't spend trillions of dollars last year- are you sure you want to get Rapaire riled up? ( Present tax law gives informants a cut of the taxes they tell about) Wasn't he looking for funding for a geosat overhead?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 10:03 AM

Rapairte, have you ever thought of making your fortune as a Bush imitator? The Rich Little of Neo-Connery?


A

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: John Hardly
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:56 AM

All my axes live in taxes.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:38 AM

I didn't spend a few billion dollars this year ( because I did not have it), so do I owe taxes on the amount I did not spend?


This could really hurt!

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:37 AM

as if any legislature ever needed help thinking up new things to tax.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:34 AM

It's a new tax scheme:

You can save money on your taxes, so the money you save becomes taxable since it's a form of income. If you save money by buying things on sale or by using coupons or arguing a price down, the difference between the regular price and the price you paid is savings and hence taxable.

In fact, money that is not used to buy something is taxable since you saved money by not spending it. For example, let's say that this year you don't buy a US $35,000 motor vehicle. That was $35,000 you saved, so it's income and hence taxable, and it doesn't matter one bit if you only made $12,000 this year, you still owe on the $35,000 you saved by not buying that vehicle.

Of course, if you DO buy it you'll pay sales tax and property tax and licensing fees and, of course, tax on the income you made so you could afford the purchase.

Oh, this is beautiful! I really MUST tell my legislators about it!

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:25 AM

Since she won't be taxed, doesn't she owe non-taxes?

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:14 AM

Okay, Amos has decided that Stilly didn't win a trip to beautiful Chesterfield, Idaho. That she won't ever see the one cabin there that still has a more-or-less intact roof because it's the only cabin left. That she won't get to see the former fields where farmers formerly farmed, forcing alfalfa from the fertile fields.

But don't blame me, blame Amos. The prize was a destination, not a journey. It's all Amos's fault.

Oh well, prizes are taxable. So you won't be taxed on the prize, thereby saving money so you can be taxed upon the money you saved.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: MMario
Date: 08 May 07 - 08:33 AM

Hi Mom! I'm back! I got sunburned. But I got to meet King Henry and King Oberon and Puck and the Pucca and Queen Mab and Malificent and Queen Titania and lots of other people, including my cousin Katya's Tante Yaga (known to most people as Baba Yaga) -- she invited me to dinner. Not sure if that would be wise, given that she thinks "How to Serve Man' is a must have cookbook.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: JennyO
Date: 08 May 07 - 06:42 AM

QUIET AROUND HERE, INNIT.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 01:05 AM

;-D


.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: JennyO
Date: 08 May 07 - 12:28 AM

Hellacious - what a good word! I feel for you Stilly.


THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.


Well, it looks like they have done my bit of road now, and I can actually get out. I fear I'm going to encounter road crews and stoppages further up the road though.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 08 May 07 - 12:08 AM

Perhaps they should print the "This Page Intentionally Left Blank" message in white ink.

Subject: RE: BS: The Mother of all BS threads
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 12:00 AM

Of course, by telling us it is intentionally blank, it is no longer blank, and that is intentional. So if it is intentionally not blank, then they don't need to tell us anything about it. Where did you fit into this equation, Amos?

BWL, I've had the same thought about those cones. Tripping hazard if ever I saw one.

The noise has been hellacious, Jenny. Gawdawful chippers going until way after dark and seven days a week. The neighborhood is crawling with these trucks and crews. The only spot of malicious delight was this afternoon, when conferring at the curb with two neighbors, we were pleased to learn that the old fart up the street who murders dozens of squirrels each year because they dare steal his prized backyard pecans will have huge chunks of those pecans cut out tomorrow. They're in the power lines (and have put out the lights before). :)