Weird. Random. Interesting.

[Raithe]

[SonicMage117]

Interesting.... Saw this floting around the Obsidian forums.

[Guard Dog]

Farewell Kepler Space Telescope. Thanks for a job well done: https://www.space.com/42461-kepler-exoplanet-hunting-telescope-shuts-down.html

[Malcador]

 

Neat to see how much work was needed to print a newspaper.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Malcador

[Raithe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK6IjJkjkiI&

[Gorth]

Baseball for geeks I guess...

 

Relativistic Baseball

 

 

Poor disintegrating pitcher and unsuspecting batter.

 

"A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered "hit by pitch", and would be eligible to advance to first base."

[Raithe]

After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate i...mmediately.

Well—one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly.

Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.

Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, sho bit se-wee?

The minute she heard any words she knew—however poorly used—she stopped crying.

She thought our flight had been canceled entirely.

She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the following day. I said no, no, we’re fine, you’ll get there, just late,

Who is picking you up? Let’s call him and tell him. We called her son and I spoke with him in English.

I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and would ride next to her—Southwest.

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it.

Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends.

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours.

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering Questions.

She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies—little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts—out of her bag—and was offering them to all the women at the gate.

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California,

the lovely woman from Laredo—we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There are no better cookies.

And then the airline broke out the free beverages from huge coolers—non-alcoholic—and the two little girls for our flight, one African

American, one Mexican American—ran around serving us all apple juice and lemonade and they were covered with powdered sugar too.

And I noticed my new best friend—by now we were holding hands— had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, this is the world I want to live in. The shared world.

Not a single person in this gate—once the crying of confusion stopped—has seemed apprehensive about any other person.

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.

This can still happen anywhere.

Not everything is lost.

- Naomi Shihab Nye

Edited November 20, 2018 by Raithe

[Gfted1]

Serious question; can any federal judge block anything they want in the entire country, without limit or repercussions?

[ShadySands]

I think there has to be a lawsuit with (potentially) some merit but I could just be pulling that out of thin air and/or the area where my upper legs meet my lower back 

[rjshae]

God Don Butta my Bread!

[Malcador]

[LittleArmadillo0]

That was weird

But highly enjoyable

[rjshae]

Well, That Was Fast: Young German Speeder Earns, Loses License In 49 Minutes

 

D'oh!

[Raithe]

[Guard Dog]

If a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my house uninvited and I ran them off with archery equipment do you think people will be as understanding as they are when some other folks do it?

 

Just a random thought.

[ShadySands]

Is that in relation to this?

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/world/asia/andaman-missionary-john-chau.html

[Gfted1]

...and God Himself was shielding us...

 

Well there's your problem.

[Malcador]

If a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my house uninvited and I ran them off with archery equipment do you think people will be as understanding as they are when some other folks do it?

 

Just a random thought.

Castle Doctrine? Edited November 24, 2018 by Malcador

[Hurlshort]

As long as you got a good jury, GD, you'd be fine. People hate those door to door missionaries.

[Guard Dog]

  Yes that was a entirely not subtle reference to Mr. Chau's ill advised visit to the Andaman islands.

 

That guy was a fool in more ways than he knew. Suppose for a second it all went as he hoped. He befriended the Sentinelese and brought them to the light of God. And in the process passed on a mild strain of influenza he was immune to but they were not and killed every last one of them. Somehow i doubt God will call that a win. No high fives for him at the pearly gates. 

[ShadySands]

It's very sad that he lost his life but he also sounds like the worst combination of crazy and stupid sprinkled with a dash of arrogance and maybe a hint of nutmeg

Edited November 24, 2018 by ShadySands

[InsaneCommander]

  Yes that was a entirely not subtle reference to Mr. Chau's ill advised visit to the Andaman islands.

 

That guy was a fool in more ways than he knew. Suppose for a second it all went as he hoped. He befriended the Sentinelese and brought them to the light of God. And in the process passed on a mild strain of influenza he was immune to but they were not and killed every last one of them. Somehow i doubt God will call that a win. No high fives for him at the pearly gates. 

 

Meanwhile in one of their villages someone is claiming to have seen an Unidentified Floating Object and visitors from other islands. But nobody will believe them.

[ShadySands]

This made me smile for some reason* so I wanted to share it

*probably alcohol

[Raithe]

[LittleArmadillo0]

I like testing this, it feels like my mouth is playing a xylophone.

Edited November 25, 2018 by LittleAmadillo0