I'll take malaprops for *5* Bob - Apropos of Nothing continues. . .

clark · 2005-07-12 09:38:21

A sensible libertarian?

You wear comfortable shoes when you complain about big government?

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-13 00:28:47

clark, interestingly enough, my dad was "driving." Actually, we had this really old car that had a pin that would come loose which allowed the gear shift to change the gear, and it just so happened to be under the car, right next to the transmission. So I would craw under the car, kink it back on, and we'd be off.

Just so happened this particular day we were on a hill, I lay down, quickly, slip it on, and my dad shifts into gear (this was like the 20+ time I did it, so it was just procedure; why we didn't stick a bit of coat hanger in there as a 'pin' I'll never know).

Car rolls over me (the front left wheel, to be exact). I'm laying there as my mom screams bloody murder. It left a huge purple bruise, in the pattern of a tiremark, on my chest and stomach. I thought I was dying, it took me several minutes to really catch my breath.

Not one broken bone, I was running and playing the next day.

clark · 2005-07-13 05:24:36

I was nearly trampled to death by horses.

I fell off the wagon. Literally, not figuratively. I think I tripped on the lip of the covered wagon (it was a 100 mile covered wagon trip recreating the exodus West in North Dakota) and fell to the ground.

There was a team of horses pulling another wagon behind ours, and if I hadn't instinctively rolled when I hit the ground, I would have been mangled.

It seems children are always on the verge of being squished. At least you are more or less intact.

Mad Grad Student · 2005-07-15 17:40:29

Things that I learned in Great Britain:

*The Underground may be fun, but use it cautiously. You could end up going to Wimbledon or Liverpool by accident if you're not careful.
*One CD with 16 songs may not last for the duration of a ten-day trip.
*Despite being grossly underpowered, European cars are a whole lot better looking than American cars.
*It actually doesn't take very long to get used to seeing cars driving on the left. Seeing "Way out" signs rather than "Exit" signs, however...
*Navigating one mile of downtown London on the Underground without getting lost does not make you an expert at the system, but it does give you a nice warm feeling inside.
*When flying over the North Atlantic, be prepared to see other planes pull up alongside yours once or twice (this one caught me completely off guard).
*Deep-fried Mars bars are really hard to find, even in Scotland.
*British fish n' chips are awesome!

It was strange hearing about the recent terrorist attacks on the Tubes in London, knowing that I'd actually been there. The deadliest of the bombings, on the Piccadilly line, went off on a stretch of track we must have covered about four times. There's a remote possibility that while in London, I was actually on the train that was destroyed in the attack. Kind of a weird feeling. My deepest condolances go out to all those affected by these attacks.

I remember at one point our group was on an Underground train when it suddenly stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. For about 20 seconds it was as though there was no universe outside the car; there were no sounds and with the florescant lamps inside the car you couldn't see anything outside of it. Then it just started up again as if nothing had happened. This whole time the native Londoners simply sat around reading newspapers and listening to their iPods, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I assumed that there was just a technical problem with the line, and I'm still certain that's what caused the delay. Nothing could have been farther from anyone's mind than bombs wired to our subway car. Which, of course, is perfectly fine, an attack like this will never occur again in London. We just have to accept that there's an infintesimal chance of terrorist attacks occuring at any given location, and get one with our lives.

I could go on about what else happened while I was romping through England and Scotland, but I'm not really in the mood for shameless self-promotion right now. Are there any rules for what exactly can be posted in the Aprops? If not, maybe we should make some up for fun.

clark · 2005-07-15 17:48:32

Rule number one: You are not allowed to shamelesslyself-promote.
Rule number one, sub-secton A: You may allow another to promote you.

All offenders are subject to ridicule.

Time for the punishment: Mad Grad, you are so smart. What do subway trains run on? Hint: Benji Franklin flew a kite and.... what?

Subway trains routinely stop in the middle of nowhere because they have to either wait for power to continue, of wait for the line to clear up ahead (usually the latter).

You are so West Coast. Without the multi-cultural ocean.

Glad you had a safe trip.

Grypd · 2005-07-15 17:56:09

Mad grad

Hope you had a good time and you enjoyed yourself.

What you didnae fins deep fried Mars bars.

Ach theyrse Sleekit you Ken.

Palomar · 2005-07-15 20:05:37

*Deep-fried Mars bars are really hard to find, even in Scotland.
*British fish n' chips are awesome!

*Nice to hear from you again, and glad you had an enjoyable time. Mars candybars aren't available for sale around here anymore, though of course they used to be. :hm: Will have to substitute Snickers Almond I guess. And yeah, I've been intending to do that the next time I make batter-fried fish.

Speaking of food and traveling, an hour ago there we were: Just out of the grocery store with all kinds of perishables (milk, cottage cheese, etc.) and our car's battery is dead. Temperature is 102 degrees F. :-\

As luck would have it, the neighboring car's owner arrived to stow away her groceries and leave less than a minute later. She gave us a boost. {{Relief}} So kind of her.

--Cindy

P.S.: Shaun B changed his sig:

In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

:laugh: So true...

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-16 13:36:26

Wonder if that's a Shaunism or if he heard that somewhere else? Cute quote.

Rxke · 2005-07-16 14:10:58

Cultural divide...

I read 'deep freezed Mars bars' and though nothing much of it...

Then I dawned on me you guys were talking about deep fried Mars bars, and I really went: Eeeeeeew!!!!

Yuck! Same ballpark like using Coke when preparing certain meats, I guess...

Gruesome gruesome...

Palomar · 2005-07-16 14:17:10

Cultural divide...
I read 'deep freezed Mars bars' and though nothing much of it...
Then I dawned on me you guys were talking about deep fried Mars bars, and I really went: Eeeeeeew!!!!
Yuck! Same ballpark like using Coke when preparing certain meats, I guess...
Gruesome gruesome...

*Yep. Deep fried -- dip it in batter and place it in the hot sizzling oil. I'm looking forward to trying it.

As for Coke and preparing certain meats: I often poke a billion holes into a pot roast, put it in a bowl, pour a can of soda over it...great way to tenderize.

And I'm glad you mentioned meat...because I nearly forgot about putting those pork chops in the slow cooker. Just returned from doing that...

--Cindy

clark · 2005-07-16 14:48:42

Today I am an uncle.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-16 16:20:07

Congrats clark.

Now just hope you stay one...

clark · 2005-07-16 17:37:37

Okay, now that is just weird, even for me.

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-16 17:40:31

Oh, I thought I told you about my brother. Guess I don't trust you that well, silly brainfarts.

clark · 2005-07-16 17:44:33

Now you've gone from weird to insulting. Thanks. :bars3:

Josh Cryer · 2005-07-16 17:58:11

Yeah right, you probably forgot what I told you. My feelings mean nothing to you.

clark · 2005-07-16 18:02:41

Of course I don't care about your feelings. I'm just after your body.

Now shake that money maker! :band:

Mad Grad Student · 2005-07-17 00:31:32

Rule number one: You are not allowed to shamelesslyself-promote.
Rule number one, sub-secton A: You may allow another to promote you.
All offenders are subject to ridicule.
Time for the punishment: Mad Grad, you are so smart. What do subway trains run on? Hint: Benji Franklin flew a kite and.... what?
Subway trains routinely stop in the middle of nowhere because they have to either wait for power to continue, of wait for the line to clear up ahead (usually the latter).
You are so West Coast. Without the multi-cultural ocean.
Glad you had a safe trip.

Oh, come on, you're the one who keeps bringing that "I'm so smart" line of pointless rambling up repeatedly. The only time I mention goofy factoids like my class rank is when irate members with attitude problems and/or atrocious grammar start calling me names. I make a point not to name-call other members, but sometimes they really do get on my nerves. The point here is: thanks for the kind words on my intellectual capability, but I honestly couldn't care less about how big my ego is. Hence I haven't inflated the thing in ages, I'm not even sure where it is anymore. Probably in one of those old piles full of Popular Sciences and chemistry notes I have in my room.

I know what makes the wheels on the train go round and round. When they stop going round it's almost assuredly for some prosaic reason such as power variations or to give the train ahead more space. Bomb threats where the last thing on my mind at the time I was in said Underground car. To tell you the truth, I was much more concerned with where we were going after dinner (house of Parliament and photo-op across the Thames incidentally). Likewise I find it a little comical when people worry about terrorism when they get on an airplane. I'd love to say to these poeple: "You do know that the odds of this plane being hijacked are about as good as you or me winning the lottery tomorrow, right? Stop complaining and drink you're coke." Really, most people don't know the first thing about handling risks.

West Coast? Multi-cultural ocean? Someone has some 'splainin' to do.

Something that I find perpetually fascinating about astronautics in general is the enormous breadth of the field. There is so much involved in space science, exploration, and commerce that the number of sub-fields is staggering. From manned suborbital spaceflight to interplanetary probes to telescopes that peer into the begining of time and take notes on what it looked like there's always something new to learn and explore. Unfortunately, a side-effect of this is that individuals who become deeply involved in one sub-field often lose most of their understanding of the rest of the picture.

On the final flight of the journey, from Philadelphia to Phoenix, I had the good fortune to run into a genuine real-life rocket scientist from Lockheed Martin. At least, he told me he was one, but then again he also told me that he worked for Martin Marietta, so I suppose you have to take it all with a teeny grain of salt (I later got him to clarify who he worked for). To his credit, he was extremely knowledgible in his field, sattelites, but knew virtually nothing outside of that. When I mentioned how well the Mars rovers were doing, he seemed perplexed that they were still functioning. It appeared that he had never heard of Spacex before, even though he told me he had just spent a good amount of time at Vandenburg, where they would have been right next door. I could tell he felt out of his element talking about these areas, so I steared the conversation back towards more comfortable terrain.

It's great to become very knowledgable about the minutae, but you have to keep it all in perspective. I try to keep the big picture in mind as much as possible, hopefully I'll still be able to do this later on as well.

clark · 2005-07-17 13:53:45

You make fun of mu splling? :laugh: You're not even trying!

Really, it's not my fault I type so poorly. When I was little, I was involved in a heavy industrial accident that sheared off my fingers. I have six good fingers between two hands. After the accident, I lay there unconscious, being exposed to toxic chemicals. As a result, my hand eye coordination was affected.

Just last week I learned how to grab the ball again.

Between the fingers and the brain damage, I'm lucky to be able to put a sentence together.

As for my comment on your intelligence, it was merely a fun poke in the eye. I was not serious in any way (lack of tone in the written word leads to these kinds of misunderstandings).

I made the comment about being west coast because you are from Arizona. Arizona isn't really well known for their trains or subways, just like the rest of the west coast. My comment was merely pointing out the cultural difference that was showing by your statements related to your experience on the subway

Anyway, I was just joking with ya, don't take it so seriously.

Like this: What did you think of all those british women?

Palomar · 2005-07-18 16:39:19

*Okay...so I was, like, at the mall the other day and this guy walks by with vampire teeth. Capped over his natural teeth, professional job. He was enjoying the attention this attracted; laughing widely, etc. He looked like a modern stereotypical vampire otherwise, too: Perhaps 30, tall, slender, long dark hair with a few blondish streaks within.

I considered offering my neck and saying, "Bite me, baby!" as he walked by...but then I figured he might take me up on the offer. :-\

Then I considered saying, "Um...aren't you supposed to be in your coffin?" (Sunny, mid-afternoon, triple-digit temps).

But I didn't say anything.

Then we saw a kid wearing sunglasses upside down. That was an interesting shopping day.

--Cindy

Mad Grad Student · 2005-07-18 23:28:43

You make fun of mu splling? :laugh: You're not even trying!
Really, it's not my fault I type so poorly. When I was little, I was involved in a heavy industrial accident that sheared off my fingers. I have six good fingers between two hands. After the accident, I lay there unconscious, being exposed to toxic chemicals. As a result, my hand eye coordination was affected.
Just last week I learned how to grab the ball again.
Between the fingers and the brain damage, I'm lucky to be able to put a sentence together.
As for my comment on your intelligence, it was merely a fun poke in the eye. I was not serious in any way (lack of tone in the written word leads to these kinds of misunderstandings).
I made the comment about being west coast because you are from Arizona. Arizona isn't really well known for their trains or subways, just like the rest of the west coast. My comment was merely pointing out the cultural difference that was showing by your statements related to your experience on the subway
Anyway, I was just joking with ya, don't take it so seriously.
Like this: What did you think of all those british women?

I know, I know. This is at least the second time here that I've actually gotten the joke, and made my response sarcastic enough so as to convince the other party that I took them seriously. Don't worry, I fully understood what you meant; internet communication limitations just got the best of me once more. I have got to stop doing that.

I seriously need to post something relevant around here some day.

clark · 2005-07-19 05:44:37

Better to get a joke than be one!

I would settle for you posting *anything* relevant someday. In the mean time, would you care for some more dating advice?

clark · 2005-07-20 11:53:58

Did you hear the one about ill fated CIA agent sent to Mars?

His code name was Agent Orange. He died of asphyxiation.

Rxke · 2005-07-20 12:26:29

Conclusive proof Clark is an A.I.!

lo and behold: everybody on the boards has either 'gender: male/female" or "unknown. under his/her name...

Clark hasn't got this, which means it is NOT unknown, but NONEXISTANT!

So it's an A.I.!!!

clark · 2005-07-20 13:01:28

Daisy, daisy...

I can feeeeel, Dave

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