Showing posts with label PoK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PoK. Show all posts

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Where are the green mammals?

I was thinking about this a few months back and never figured it out. There are green reptiles, green fish, green birds, green insects, but I don't know of any species of mammal that naturally has any green pigment to its skin or fur. I'm not counting species that have algae living in their hair or something like that, I'm talking about actual green pigment being produced by mammals. For that matter, there's not much in the way of blue or purple for mammals, is there? A prize to anyone who can explain why that might be to my satisfaction.

I was reminded of this by the fact that Katy posted a very blue spider.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I love wikipedia: Hoist by his own Petard edition

I love wikipedia, for so many reasons. I have, in my Firefox browser, a direct Wikipedia search box, which sees frequent use. Such was the case when hemisphire recently accused me of being "Hoist by my own Petard." Not only had I never heard the phrase (except in passing in Hamlet, apparently), but I had no idea what was being talked about. Awesome. Never will I watch The Two Towers again without thinking about petards during the orc torchrunner part at Helm's Deep.

I didn't experience the full-on xkcd-wikipedia effect, but I did end up on the Fougasse page, where I learned there was a British Petroleum Warfare Department in WWII, and read an interesting account of early anti-personnel fougasse usage in the Crimean war.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

More Secret Language of Cars

Rob Donoghue has just posted about the Secret Language of Cars, too. (here's me on the same topic, in case you missed it)

Rob adds the following symbols to the lexicon:




Go Play
(roleplayers)
Diver Down
(Scuba)
Watch my Car
(Crime Prevention)


And poses questions about these two:






Anyone know what those mean?

Addendum: Davey figured out the one with the arrows.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Plane of Knowledge: Know your Antediluvian Patriarchs!

So, this came up in conversation today. I don't expect everyone to get all of these, they're pretty hard to remember. But I expect everyone to get a few of them. I'm giving you Adam and Noah, you fill in the rest as best you can. If you're really feeling like a cheater, this is Genesis 5, KJV.

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name (2)________:
4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten (2)________ were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:
5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
6 And (2)________ lived an hundred and five years, and begat (3)________:
7 And (2)________ lived after he begat (3)________ eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
8 And all the days of (2)________ were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.
9 And (3)________ lived ninety years, and begat (4)________:
10 And (3)________ lived after he begat (4)________ eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
11 And all the days of (3)________ were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
12 And (4)________ lived seventy years, and begat (5)________:
13 And (4)________ lived after he begat (5)________ eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
14 And all the days of (4)________ were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
15 And (5)________ lived sixty and five years, and begat (6)________:
16 And (5)________ lived after he begat (6)________ eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
17 And all the days of (5)________ were eight hundred and ninety and five years: and he died.
18 And (6)________ lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat (7)________:
19 And (6)________ lived after he begat (7)________ eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
20 And all the days of (6)________ were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
21 And (7)________ lived sixty and five years, and begat (8)________:
22 And (7)________ walked with God after he begat (8)________ three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
23 And all the days of (7)________ were three hundred sixty and five years:
24 And (7)________ walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
25 And (8)________ lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat (9)________:
26 And (8)________ lived after he begat (9)________ seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
27 And all the days of (8)________ were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
28 And (9)________ lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
30 And (9)________ lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
31 And all the days of (9)________ were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat (10)________, (11)________, and (12)________.

Best of luck.

Wherein you discover that I'm a chip off the old block...

My dad has posted two excellent decision trees: Moisture on the Earth and Moisture in the Air. Mystery remains where I get my logical nature...

Monday, August 27, 2007

What is this Fruit-Flavored Beverage?



* For statistics on whether you actually call this "soda" or not, plot your place of origin on this map:

The Bear Grylls Living Animal Tastiness Scale




--- As Good as I've Ever Had! (cooked python, Australia)
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--- Actually Quite Tasty (raw fish, the Alps)
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--- Not Half Bad
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--- Right Now Even This Tastes Good
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--- Sadly I Need the Protein
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--- Like cheese that's been left out for weeks (Scorpion, Mexico?)
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--- Like a Mouth Full of Puss (grubs from rotting sago palm, Equador)
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--- Maybe Even Worse than it Looks

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

What is this Lighter-than-air vehicle, part 2



Couldn't find a shot of it in the air I liked, but here's the ship from Stardust (which I haven't seen yet but probably will soon). But since we've just had a decision tree on this, I thought I'd invite you to tell me what terms you think are OK to use on the vessel in question.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Decision Tree: Lighter than Air Vehicles

First, a word about how my decision trees work. They reflect how I use these words, and that's not always the same as the way dictionaries define them. Often a dictionary will say two words mean the same thing - if I've made a distinction, I'm not disagreeing with the dictionary, I'm just saying that's how I've decided to use the words in question. Language being a living thing and all of that. I mention this because whenever I do one of these, someone (usually my very clever mother) will comment about how I'm incorrect. Please feel free to post about things I ought to've included or how your personal decision tree would be a little different, but understand I'm not trying to map English usage, I'm only mapping my own twisted subdialect of it. End Public Service Announcement.

On with the tree:


So, yes, I know every piece of available information says that a Dirigible is any steerable lighter-than-air vehicle and that it's identical with Airship, but I'll only ever apply the term to Zeppelins and Blimps, never to those damnable thermal airships.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Monday, May 21, 2007

Friday, May 18, 2007

by Request: Violent Civil Disobedience Decision Tree




Tricky.

Edit Added geographic qualifiers on juntas (see comments).

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Horse-Drawn Wheeled Vehicle Decision Tree




Just so we're clear, carts & wagons are for moving mainly goods (yes, even Conestoga wagons and gypsy wagons). Carts have 2 wheels, wagons have 4.

Updated: Now with Surreys! (Thanks, Maren)

Vehicle Venn

Part 1 of a series:

Friday, May 04, 2007

I'm headed off to Camp Nerdly this weekend, so that's my excuse for the slack PoKs this week. Here's another easy one, because I started watching Shogun last night:




1) What's the big sword called?

2) What's the small sword called?

3) What's the dagger called and what's it used for?

4) Who is the greatest swordsman that ever lived? (No, not Madmartigan from Willow)

Answers to PoK: Boy Scouts

Clearly this one was too easy.

1) Davey's right - Robert Baden-Powell

2-4 go to Eagle Scout Eddie, except for the addition of Tiger Cub from J-Wo.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

PoK: Boy Scouts


Who was the founder of the Boy Scouts?

What are the ranks of a cub scout? a boy scout?

Name four of the merit badges required for Eagle

State the Scout Law and Scout Oath, IF YE CAN!



Answers to PoK: Demonyms

1) Omaha - Omahans (wtg Maren)
2) Utah - Utahns is correct, Utards also accepted here
3) UAE - Emiratis, which is what I think both Kari & Maren were saying
4) Azerbijan - Azeris
5) Burkina Faso - Burkinabes
6) Gibraltar - Gibraltarians is correct (Maren, Shells)
7) Glasgow - Glaswegians
8) Phoenix - Phoenicians (yup, just like the civilization). Also Phoenixers, but that's totally lame.

I also discovered 'Syndneysiders' is the name for people from Sydney. Maren, Lady Fannie is a character in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Kari and I quote that movie to eachother because it rules. Put it at the top of your queue.

Monday, April 30, 2007

PoK: Demonymns

For each of the following places, what would you call a group of people from that place?

1) Omaha
2) Utah
3) UAE
4) Azerbijan
5) Burkina Faso
6) Gibraltar
7) Glasgow
8) Phoenix

Answers to 'Poorly Drawn Map of Australia'
A) Northern Territory
B) Alice Springs
C) Ayers Rock or Uluru
D) Western Australia
E) Perth!
F) South Australia
G) Adelaide
H) Victoria
I) Tasmania
J) Melbourne
K) Canberra
L) Sydney
M) New South Wales
N) Queensland
O) Great Barrier Reef
P) Cairn

Friday, April 27, 2007

PoK: Poorly drawn map of Australia


Label parts A-P.

Answers to 'Motorcycle Culture':

1) What is the origin of the word 'Hog'? What does it refer to now?

From Wikipedia: "Beginning in 1920 a team of farm boys down South that would become known as the 'hog boys' consistently won races. The group had a hog, or pig as their mascot. Following a win, they would put the pig (a real one) on the back of their Harley and take a victory lap. In 1983, an organization was formed, taking advantage of the long-standing nickname by turning "hog" into the acronym H.O.G., for Harley Owners Group. Many Harley-Davidson enthusiasts capitalize the word to make "Hog" and consider this term the sole property of H-D."

2) What does each of the following terms refer to:
*Squid - "Squirrely Kid"
*RUB - "Rich Urban Biker"
*Cager - Person in a car
*Bluehair - old person
*Road Gator - shredded truck tire on the roadway
*Backwarmer - (typically female) passenger

3)In the original Honda ad: "You could find ____ _________ _________ on a Honda"
The Nicest People

Props to Mark, who was the only one brave enough to try.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Guest PoK: Motorcycle Culture

Today's is by Dan Lackas.

1) What is the origin of the word 'Hog'? What does it refer to now?

2) What does each of the following terms refer to:
*Squid
*RUB
*Cager
*Bluehair
*Road Gator
*Backwarmer

3)In the original Honda ad: "You could find ____ _________ _________ on a Honda"

As for answers for yesterday's PoK, I got sucked into the amazing The Vinkhuijzen collection of military uniforms on the NY Public Library's site last night. I found amazing examples of each, but they're downloaded at home, so I'll compose the answer post sometime this weekend with them. But Davey was pretty close, except on Sapper, which is my favorite.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

PoK: Going all Napoleonic on you



For each of the following types of 18th/19th century soldiers, tell their role in combat, any distinct weaponry or distinct dress, and the origin of the word:

1)Hussars
2)Sappers
3)Dragoons
4)Cuirassier
5)Grenadier
6)Carabinier
7)Lancer


Answers to Fabrics of the World


Tona did best, although she cheated on the origin question:
Tweed: wool
Taffeta: Silk
Linen: flax
Cords have wale
Seersucker is woven with a pucker in one direction so it looks pre-wrinkled.
I googled it, so I didn't know before, but it's fascinating that it comes from a Persian phrase "milk and sugar" (sheer o shakar). I thought it came from India, because it's cooler & usually thinner than regular cotton so it's a good tropical fabric.
How about houndstooth? Where does that come from?

I'm pretty sure that just refers to the pattern itself, but it's usually wool, often worsted wool. Right?