From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V14 #251 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Thursday, October 27 2005 Volume 14 : Number 251 Today's Subjects: ----------------- attn: pedantic turbogeek in action [Jeff Norman ] Re: storefront LP [Eb ] Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action [Capuchin ] Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action [FSThomas ] RE: regional lyrical explication ["Bachman, Michael" ] long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote ["Hurricane Jesus" ] Re: long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote [Jeff Norman ] Re: long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote ["Stewart C. Russell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:42:03 -0500 From: Jeff Norman Subject: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action On 10/25/05, Capuchin wrote: > nd, uh, the minotaurs, um, they have a lot of duck tape and they swaddle > you in it (or Gaffer tape if you're watching in England). And you're > swaddled in duck tape Agh. No: even though there happens to be a brand of the stuff that's called "Duck Tape," the generic name for this oh-so-useful product is "duct tape" (in the US, as Robyn helpfully points out). Not "duck tape" - the tape is, so far as I know, of rather limited use to, for, or involving ducks in any way, manner, shape, form, or conceptual artwork. > and you're carried away by the two minotaurs down an > endless series of ducts. See? "Ducts"! Quact. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:10:04 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: storefront LP > Ah, yeah... when you extinguish the candle, then you have to pay > the penalty and the penalty is that you're taken... you're > transported from here by two minotaurs (which you know are human up > to the neck and then they have bull heads -- they have real bull > heads, they're not just wearing bull head masks, they actually > become bull from the neck up). A nd, uh, the minotaurs, um, they > have a lot of duck tape and they swaddle you in it (or Gaffer tape > if you're watching in England). And you're swaddled in duck tape > and you're carried away by the two minotaurs down an endless series > of ducts. And then you're, um, pinpointed just above about 2,723 > feet above sea level. And you're fired out over central London. > And then you come down -- it's the reverse of normal gravity, so > you actually get slower as you go down so that you run out of > momentum about 8 feet above Leicester Square. And everybody thinks > that you're a bomb, a thermonuclear device, 'cause we've always > been brought up in a folk stories in Britain that the bomb would > detonate above ground to achieve maximum devastation. So as they > see this thing (which is you swaddled in duck tape) coming down > over central London people begin to flee. And there's enormous > traffic congestion; especially on the A4, but also on some of the > other main routes and like the beginning of the A1 and, um, > whatever it's called, Highbury Corner. And all that stuff, it gets > more and more cluttered. And people are fleeing and they're > starting to tread on each other in their panic. And they're > spilling cups of honey. And they're knocking over theodolytes and, > uh, retort stands and, um, trivets and all those sort of things. > And a lot of people are blundering through ancient chemical > apparatus. And there's stuff... the people of have got hundreds > of... there are people with slides; slides of tissue with things > like corroded lungs. And they're spilling it in their panic and > they're saying, "Just one more cup of coffee, Ms. Patterson." And > then it's getting spilt as well. And they're getting more and more > disturbed. And rubber tires which have never seen teh outside of a > wheel (they're just cosmetic), they come smashing through the > venetian blinds and they knock over the paper cups and they hit the > files and... and the computers all go blank and the big... the > build... the buildings begin to shake. And they realize there's > something wrong Underground. So they have a strike Underground. > And hundreds of passengers are trapped Underground. As you get > closer and closer to the surface and then just eight feet above > Leicester Square, you stop. And it's the worst Hitchcock spiel I've ever personally heard. God...he is trying SO hard to be peculiar here. And the segue is so awkward that you can tell he's just HUNTING for some lame place to insert this. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 23:12:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Jeff Norman wrote: > Agh. No: even though there happens to be a brand of the stuff that's > called "Duck Tape," the generic name for this oh-so-useful product is > "duct tape" (in the US, as Robyn helpfully points out). Not "duck tape" > - the tape is, so far as I know, of rather limited use to, for, or > involving ducks in any way, manner, shape, form, or conceptual artwork. It's my understanding that the stuff was used by the military for wet/dry applications and was intended to be waterproof (as, I'm lead to understand, ducks are). The handiness of this hand-rippable adhesive wonder was brought back from WWII and a line of products from Johnson & Johnson featuring the same qualities as the military duck tape was marketed as duct tape. It is now, in fact, a violation of fire codes in every state in the USA to use duck tape on ducts. >> and you're carried away by the two minotaurs down an endless series of >> ducts. > > See? "Ducts"! > Quact. I submit the following: J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 08:09:49 -0400 From: FSThomas Subject: Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action Capuchin wrote: > It's my understanding that the stuff was used by the military for > wet/dry applications and was intended to be waterproof (as, I'm lead to > understand, ducks are). The handiness of this hand-rippable adhesive > wonder was brought back from WWII and a line of products from Johnson & > Johnson featuring the same qualities as the military duck tape was > marketed as duct tape. Damn it if the Oxford English Dictionary isn't free any longer. The Wikipedia entry for "duct tape" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_tape) re-directs from "duck tape," but has a link claiming the OED credits the original name as "duck." Can't get to it, though. Duct tape is a strong, fabric-based, multi-purpose adhesive tape, usually silver or black in color, although many other colors, including transparent, are also available, and is usually 1.88 inches wide. It was originally developed during World War II in 1942 as a waterproof sealing tape for ammunition casings. Permacel, then a division of Johnson & Johnson, used a rubber-based adhesive to help the tape resist water and a fabric backing to facilitate ripping. Because of these properties, it was also used to quickly repair military equipment, including jeeps, guns, and aircraft. After the war, the housing industry boomed and people started using duct tape for many other purposes. The name "duct tape" came from its use on heating and air conditioning ducts, a purpose for which it, ironically, has been deemed ineffective by the state of California and by building codes in most other places in the U.S. (which means professionals are restricted from using it in systems they install, but do-it-yourselfers are not). - -f. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 08:12:48 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: regional lyrical explication Jeff Norman wrote: >> >> Is the phrasing "a British Steel" meaningful, or is it just a Mark E. >> Smith-uh like moment-uh? Stewart: >I'd put it down as a near-Smith. >> I assume, also, that "Steel" should be capped, as a ref to the actual >> corporation of that name (not just generic "British steel")... Stewart: >Yup. British Steel was a huge nationalised employer back then, but it >was beginning to show signs of cracking. So "a future in British Steel" >would only have been seen by desperately out-of-touch parents. Weird. I was listening to NPR on the way home from work yesterday, and they were interviewing folks from Bethlehem, PA about a purposed casino for Bethlehem. Bethlehem has been devastated by the loss of so many jobs in the steel industry. NPR interviewed people both in favor and opposed to the casino being built. Michael B. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:42:02 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action Hi, - --On 26. Oktober 2005 08:09:49 -0400 FSThomas wrote: >> It's my understanding that the stuff was used by the military for >> wet/dry applications and was intended to be waterproof (as, I'm lead to >> understand, ducks are). The handiness of this hand-rippable adhesive >> wonder was brought back from WWII and a line of products from Johnson & >> Johnson featuring the same qualities as the military duck tape was >> marketed as duct tape. > > Damn it if the Oxford English Dictionary isn't free any longer. The > Wikipedia entry for "duct tape" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_tape) > re-directs from "duck tape," but has a link claiming the OED credits the > original name as "duck." Can't get to it, though. well, Cologne University has online access. The entry reads: "duct tape orig. N. Amer. [perh. an alteration of earlier *duck tape s.v. DUCK n.3], a strong cloth-backed waterproof adhesive tape, originally used for sealing joints in heating and ventilation ducts, and (later) for holding electrical cables securely in place, now in widespread general use esp. to repair, secure, or connect a range of appliances, fixtures, and equipment; cf. *gaffer tape s.v. GAFFER n." The entry for duck tape is: "duck tape, a strong adhesive tape made of waterproofed cotton fabric (a proprietary name in the United States); cf. *duct tape s.v. DUCT n." So it's not exactly clear ... - -- Sebastian Hagedorn http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 07:45:53 -0500 From: Jeff Norman Subject: Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action On 10/26/05, Capuchin wrote: > On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Jeff Norman wrote: > > Agh. No: even though there happens to be a brand of the stuff that's > > called "Duck Tape," the generic name for this oh-so-useful product is > > "duct tape" (in the US, as Robyn helpfully points out). Not "duck tape" > > - the tape is, so far as I know, of rather limited use to, for, or > > involving ducks in any way, manner, shape, form, or conceptual artwork. > > It's my understanding that the stuff was used by the military for wet/dry > applications and was intended to be waterproof (as, I'm lead to > understand, ducks are). The handiness of this hand-rippable adhesive > wonder was brought back from WWII and a line of products from Johnson & > Johnson featuring the same qualities as the military duck tape was > marketed as duct tape. > I submit the following: > Well. The things you learn online. At first I was dubious about this link, which linked directly to the company that makes Duck brand tape...but then again, both William Safire and the OED cite the same story. As penance, I will omit three serial commas and allow other geeks to chastise me about having done so. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:28:29 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: attn: pedantic turbogeek in action Capuchin wrote: > On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Jeff Norman wrote: > > http://lsnhs.leesummit.k12.mo.us/projects/0304projects/23a04/rdrew.html > Things you should know about Lee's Summit: * Pat Metheny's from Lee's Summit. * Catherine's grandmother lives in Lee's Summit. * Huge hemp plants grow in the hedgerows. One of the pages linked from there, , makes me think of Fertnel. A lot. Except this is for real. cheers, Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 15:46:30 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: fegmaniax-digest V14 #250 On Wed, 26 Oct 2005, fegmaniax-digest wrote: For what it's worth, British Steel is now part of Corus, an Anglo-Dutch(?) conglomerate. But weirdly, Tony Blair supports Mittal (a Romanian-Indian combine) against Corus in contract bids. Couldn't be because millionaire Lakshmi Mittal is a big contributor to New Labour party funds, could it? - - Mike Godwin n.p. Happy Together, The Turtles (incidentally, is this the best drumming on a hit record ever recorded? I think so, specially the cymbal build on the finale) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:54:28 -0700 From: "Hurricane Jesus" Subject: long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote is this gramatically correct? it seems to be: "couldn't get at my e-mail until now 'cause i was never at home during business hours to call drizzle support to learn how to reconfigure my e-mail client following their mailserver changeover." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 11:57:59 -0700 From: Tom Clark Subject: Re: Hitchcock@Dylan Tribute 26/09/05 On Oct 25, 2005, at 11:19 AM, Ashley Norris wrote: > Hi > > if you could mention this on your list I'd be very grateful > > It's a review of Trains on the new Great Lost Pop Album website > Popjunkie (www.popjunkie.tv) > > the link to the album is http://www.popjunkie.tv/2005/10/ > the_best_album__1.html > > thanks > > Ashley Anybody notice the "Sites We Like" links at the bottom of the page? I mean come on, Claudine Longet??? - -tc ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:17:36 -0500 From: Jeff Norman Subject: Re: long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote On 10/26/05, Hurricane Jesus wrote: > is this gramatically correct? it seems to be: > > "couldn't get at my e-mail until now 'cause i was never at home during > business hours to call drizzle support to learn how to reconfigure my > e-mail client following their mailserver changeover." I believe you're supposed to add "that Jack built" at the very end. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 13:36:33 -0700 From: Eb Subject: Re: Hitchcock@Dylan Tribute 26/09/05 >> It's a review of Trains on the new Great Lost Pop Album website >> Popjunkie (www.popjunkie.tv) >> >> the link to the album is http://www.popjunkie.tv/2005/10/ >> the_best_album__1.html >> >> thanks >> >> Ashley >> > > Anybody notice the "Sites We Like" links at the bottom of the > page? I mean come on, Claudine Longet??? Gosh! No, I *didn't* notice. Eb ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 18:12:29 -0400 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: long-assed, comma-free sentence i just wrote Jeff Norman wrote: > > I believe you're supposed to add "that Jack built" at the very end. or "went to join the parish", if you're Glaswegian. (look up "Three Men fae Carntyne", if you must) cheers, Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 23:13:21 -0500 From: Dolph Chaney Subject: Chicago: we may be the City of Big Shoulders... ...but our Sox are the best there is. Awwwwwwwwwwww yeah. - -- Dolph Chaney new album now available -- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:25:08 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Letters from Americans? On Tue, 14 Oct 2003, FSThomas wrote: > Colmes, I think it was, asked him point-blankly if they were ordered to > write (or, more accurately, *sign*) the letters or not. North denied > it, saying they were just given the option if they wanted to. You know the British Army gag (it must exist in all armies): "I want volunteers for this mission - you, you and YOU!" - - Mike Godwin PS Sorry it took 2 years to send this... ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V14 #251 ********************************