Archived comment by umrguy:
The ISBM formally inducts Matt "Beatrice" into its ranks as Confuser Extraordinaire...

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
2 hundered!
Lalalalala Ta da!

Archived comment by Matt:
umrguy, what's our group called? ISBM? Looks like we've got another member!

Archived comment by Cebu:
Ahhhhahahahahaha! That's hysterical!!

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
Once, in 9th grade, my choir was in the auditorium lobby of the school at 3am, waiting for the buses to arrive. There was a mix-up, and the bus people thought we needed then buses at 4Pm, not 4Am, so we were waiting for QUITE a while as they rounded up some drivers and such.

In the midst of this, a guy named Matt walked up to the group of people I was chatting with, stood on a chair, and said in a deep voice, "They call me Beatrice." He then walked away without another word.

Later we asked him what was up with that. He'd been trying to remember a specific quote, and that was all that came to mind at the time. The actual quote? "I am Spartecus."

I still giggle at that every time I hear the name Beatrice. Hee.

Archived comment by Jon:
If I were referring to the Beatrice who was Dante's true love, I might not have a problem naming a child that. You'd have to use the Italian pronunciation, though. ;-)

Archived comment by Apple:
Oooo, how Witness-y.

*grin*

Archived comment by daen:
A remove is a generational step, as ParU so deftly pointed out. I don't think there are any legal barriers to marriage regarding removes, but considering how small the gene pool can be in some families... well, face it, do you want your kids to have a double-dose of the more irritating family traits?
Pity the (almost) closed societies. The Amish are to the point now where first cousins are as genetically similar as most siblings. That's a little disturbing.

Archived comment by Apple:
Amusing to think of steff naming her daughter "Beatrice."

*grin*

Archived comment by ParU:
steff - If you have a first cousin named Alice and she has a daughter named Jennifer, then Jennifer and you are first cousins, once removed (means separate generations). Your daughter, Beatrice and Jennifer are 2nd cousins. Jennifer's son, Ethelred is a 2nd cousin once removed to Beatrice and a 2nd cousin TWICE removed to you.

Get it?

Archived comment by Matt:
I don't know for sure, but I think "removed" has to do with one's parents. So my mom's first cousins would be my first cousins, once removed, and their children would be my second cousins, once removed.

But I'm not sure. I kind of despise my family as a whole, so it's not exactly foremost on my mind to find out for sure.

Archived comment by steff:
daen, please enlighten us... what the heck does once removed MEAN? who removed them? what if they were removed against their will? do they have any legal rights?? are there laws regarding who they can and cannot marry?

Archived comment by Paul:
Careful, hypoxic, or daen will toss your caber, if ya know what I mean. Without you attached to it.

Archived comment by daen:
Sorry to disappoint, but I won't be doing any atomic wedgies. It's the highly-annoyed caber-tossing types you need to worry about. As I mentioned, I'm not Scots.

And yes, I was confusing Campbell and Black Watch, but according to the website I checked, Ancient Campbell is a lighter sett of Black Watch, so I was sort of close.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
boy daen's getting frisky. She's reaching between guy's legs and grabbing stuff. You sure you're not peeking? ;)

Archived comment by daen:
'poxic-- picture being wedgied with your kilt. It's more effective if you're not wearing anything underneath, but I won't bother checking.

ParU-- I thought there was a Black Campbell as well. Am I confusing Black Watch and Dress Campbell? I'm an outsider on the whole tartan thing, not being Scots. I'm more likely to be able to tell you who I'm related to, and in what degree. (As an example, the guy we just hired is my third cousin (fully matrilineally) once removed.)

Archived comment by ParU:
Umm daen - you mean 'Black Watch' don't you?

Archived comment by hypoxic:
how you going to do that if I'm in a kilt ;) Or are you saying you just want to see what I'm wearing underneath?

Archived comment by daen:
"Variation on atomic wedgie, in Black Campbell."

Archived comment by hypoxic:
which way daen?

Archived comment by A. F. S. P.:
I meant spend. Spend most of my time.

Archived comment by A. F. S. P.:
Hey, I read all that too... so... yeah, you're a geek.;-)

And on a vaguely related educational topic, my prom is tomorrow night. In two weeks my study leave begins, which means that I don't have to go back to school after that except to do my actual exams. Officially I won't have broken up from school yet and will be expected to spent most of my time studying for the exams, but... yeah, right.

Archived comment by Roy:
I must really be a geek after all ... I actually read that whole link of the history of zero ... I may have to save that in my favorites so I can go back and click on each of the links within to find out more.

And as far as test scores and education equating one's success in life, trust me on this ... it's all overrated. I "test well" but it hasn't done me any favors as far as "getting ahead" in the world.

So if you feel like you're "not up to par" in your grades and educational achievements, don't get discouraged. And if you think you're "all that" well ... just don't get too cocky!

Archived comment by umrguy:
"I've just invented the zero!"
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing."

*ba-dum-bum!*

Archived comment by daen:
'poxic-- You don't want to wear a clan tartan that way.

Archived comment by peegee:
Oh, and before I forget - eternal who invented what questions reminds me of

"Hey, you have no right to criticize the 20th century. We gave the world the lightbulb, the steamboat and the cotton gin."
"Those things are all from the 19th century."
"Yeah, well, they probably just copied us."

Archived comment by peegee:
Hmm, afaik the number zero was invented by Mayans and the Indians at the same time. The Arabs picked it up somewhat later. And the Middle-East guy your thinking of is probably Al-Khwarizmi, who both gave us the words for algorithm (from his name) and algebra (from a book he wrote on mathematics).

For a thorough treatment of the history of zero see this link.

Archived comment by ParU:
Matt - I think you're right in the 'Middle Eastern Dude' bit, but the Mayans did too, it just didn't get propagated into Western Civilization.

And Kris - see how your education and knowledge is broadened by In Passing?

*bows*

Archived comment by Kris the Girl:
Yeah? Well, I can trace the origins of the word "sheriff," thanks to my high school US History teacher. Thank you, Mr. Kat.
And this is, of course, relevant to nothing. I just wanted to add my odd knowledge in here, since I'm a music major and have never even heard of this throat singing. Although I have heard of some Russian choir that could sing really really low using a special technique, but somehow I doubt it's the same thing.

Archived comment by Matt:
Some Middle Eastern dude invented the number zero. I thought everyone knew that. Then again, according to Omar Sharif, they also had an entire city block lit with electric lights around the 1st Century. Cradle of Civilization and all that.

Archived comment by Hazel:
Speaking of Tuvan throat-singing, I just rediscovered (unrelated to this thread) Kongar-ol Ondar's "Back Tuva Future" CD.

Within the songs are clips of Feynman telling stories. There's even a 'secret track' where they have recordings of him telling the whole story so you can really appreciate the clips in the songs.

I recommend the CD without reservation. Great music, great stories, and the liner notes are packed with some interesting material.

Might I recommend the link to Amazon that's elsewhere on this VERY website? *grins*

More about Ondar can be found at the namelink.

Hazel

Archived comment by Jon:
Technically, ParU, you are both correct and incorrect: the original story about the stamp is in the book you mentioned. "Tuva or Bust!" covers Feynman's adventures in actually getting there. :)

Archived comment by hypoxic:
silly JN,

It took the Irish to introduce the fine art of WHISKEY making to the savage Scots. And the same for the bagpipes.

Sure distilling has been around but thats saying that rum and vodka are the same thing. Sure they are both ethanol but the their ingredients are completely different.

Also its fun to tease the scots about something their so proud of. And who knows I might end up actually being able to wear a clan tartan.

Archived comment by ParU:
Well Joe - I'd imagine that would be the Mayans.

But, it's well know that the Scots invented everything (namelink to: How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

Archived comment by Apple:
Ooo, Ooo, or maybe the Internet??

*grin*

Archived comment by Joe Napalm:
Yes, I'm familiar with Tuvan throat-singing...but I was referring to the monks daen mentioned. I have a recording of them around somewhere...but the CD could be in either of a couple of different states, at the moment.

And yeah, hypoxic, I'm disagreeing with you. Bagpipes are a very old instrument - the Romans, for instance, were rather fond of them...and had them in the 1st century AD. Heck, Roman coins depict Nero as playing a bag-pipe rather than a fiddle (which didn't exist at the time). The Irish didn't invent bagpipes...and neither did the Scots. It's earliest origins are probably Middle Eastern.

As for the fire water, are you discussing Irish Whiskey or Scotch Whisky? I think the origins are pretty well indicated by their nominclature. Handy that. It's likey that the Irish had aquired the ability to distill things sooner, but it's not like they invented that. They learned that abroad...most likely in the Middle East.

Hey, you're on a roll...would you like to go for a hat-trick and claim the Irish invented number zero?

-Jn-
Efreeti Sophist

Archived comment by ParU:
Ohh daen - Loonie pt to you! (Course I always heard him referred to as 'Bobbie Burns', but still).

So repeating myself (from many moons ago, so you haven't heard this probably): Many years ago my daughter had this Highland Dance teacher, Mary, who had this very strong accent (still does). So she's in the store buying food and gets stopped by a friend who asks her why she's buying all the party food. And Mary replies that they're having a celebration of Bobbie Burn's Birthday. Her friend replies: 'Oh and how is he doing, these days?" -- Mary looks shocked and replies 'he's fine' and then as the woman wanders off, she finishes "Course he's been dead for 300 years, but he's fine."

Archived comment by Apple:
"To a Louse," no?

Archived comment by daen:
Rabbie Burns?

Archived comment by ParU:
See Joe N. - we can disagree on other threads, but definitely agree here.

O fur the gift to gie us, to see ourselves as others see us 1 Loonie Pt.

Archived comment by ParU:
Jon - the book was Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman (buy it through the namelink and Eve gets a small cut).

I highly recommend it, perhaps the most entertaining non-fiction book I've ever read.

Archived comment by hypoxic:
Are you disagreeing with the facts that the Irish invented bagpipes and whiskey?

Archived comment by Jon:
I read about Tuvan throat singers in a book by Richard Feynman ("Tuva or Bust!"). His journey started after he found a strangely-shaped stamp, and he decided to find out about its origin country.

Namelink to the most known group of Tuvan throat singers.

Archived comment by daen:
I'm familiar with Innu throat-singers, haven't heard of Tuvan, and thought that Buddhist monks had the ability to somehow intone two notes simultaneously, and in such perfect tune that the resulting overtones create a three-note chord. I'd love to hear that. Better yet, I'd love to be able to do that.

Archived comment by Jon:
Don't you mean Tuvan throat-singers, Joe? Those are the only ones I'd heard about.

Archived comment by Joe Napalm:
...nine one-thousand...

...ten one-thousand...

Ah, Hypoxic...still intent on winning that Darwin Award, I see. *Grin*

-Jn-
EFVF

Archived comment by hypoxic:
when did the Irish take up caber tossing?

What? They invented bagpipes and the whiskey. And I'll ask you to step aside if'en you want to disagree with me. ;)

Archived comment by Joe Napalm:
Ach, all ya who bear such unwarranted dislike for the melodic droning of the bagpipes merely lack the properly refined ear for such things. I liken it to the celestial chants of buddhist throat-singers, in tune with the very harmonics of existance...*Grin*

And besides, most 'pipers tend to be of a variety that would discourage such an assault. I mean, you might make 'em right angry, pokin' em with a big pointy hayfork, like as not...and folk who consider tossing big logs end o'er end a pleasant lawn sport aren't usually the sort it's wise to antagonize.

-Jn-
Nemo nos impune lacessit

Archived comment by Paul:
That sound always makes me want to charge, too. Right at the bagpiper. With a pitchfork.

Then again, I also dislike Irish music that features a lot of pennywhistle. It's the shrill tones that go through me like a dentist's drill.

Archived comment by Joe Napalm:
"You know, that sound always makes me want to charge. I dunno who, I dunno why...just charge."

"Well...yeah."

-- Oni (of Clan Cameron) and I discussing bagpipes

-Jn-
Castle on the Rock Expatriate