Quotes of the Moment II

[Cain]

R.V. Jones, the man more or less in charge of British scientific intelligence during WWII, describes how acclimatization to small changes can be made to work for one's benefit, via the story of American physicist R.W. Wood:

Wood at one stage in his early career worked in Paris and lived in a block of flats. He observed that the lady in the flat below kept a small tortoise in a window box. He secured a supply of tortoises of various sizes and by means of a grappling device ... fished out the original tortoise and replaced it by one that was slightly larger. Over the course of a week or so, by successive small increases of size of tortoise, the lady was convinced that her pet was growing at an astonishing rate.... Wood ... suggested that the lady might write to a newspaper about it. This she did.... Wood reversed his nightly procedure, and to everyone's astonishment the tortoise gradually shrank to its original size.

This sounds like the plot of a Roald Dahl book.

Pretty much all of British scientific intelligence were avid pranksters of some kind or another.  Which worked out well, since while in theory they were meant to be developing defences against secret German superweapons, what they actually did for most of the war was troll Germans with disinformation about their own superweapons, use German tracking beams to launch precision strikes against Germany's own military installations, or invent simple yet highly annoying methods like Window (the first chaff system), which baffled German engineers to the point that Goering himself was making fun of the Lufwaffe's incompetence.

[Placid Dingo]

R.V. Jones, the man more or less in charge of British scientific intelligence during WWII, describes how acclimatization to small changes can be made to work for one's benefit, via the story of American physicist R.W. Wood:

Wood at one stage in his early career worked in Paris and lived in a block of flats. He observed that the lady in the flat below kept a small tortoise in a window box. He secured a supply of tortoises of various sizes and by means of a grappling device ... fished out the original tortoise and replaced it by one that was slightly larger. Over the course of a week or so, by successive small increases of size of tortoise, the lady was convinced that her pet was growing at an astonishing rate.... Wood ... suggested that the lady might write to a newspaper about it. This she did.... Wood reversed his nightly procedure, and to everyone's astonishment the tortoise gradually shrank to its original size.

This sounds like the plot of a Roald Dahl book.

I'm pretty certain that this story actually was the inspiration for Esio Trot, which has a near identical plot.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Me: "So it sounds like Jesus had a wife and a female disciple."
Mom: "I bet she gave great blowjobs."

[Cain]

"A man wears a mustache because there's something he wants to conceal, a spiritual defect."

- Ayn Rand

[Suu]

Me: "So it sounds like Jesus had a wife and a female disciple."
Mom: "I bet she gave great blowjobs."

Coolest. Mom. Ever.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

At work:

Manager: Are you staying late tonight? When are you leaving?
Female Employee: Uh, like 5:30. I'm getting my eyebrows threaded at 5:45.
Mgr: Okay I'll leave the -- wait, what? You get your eyebrows threaded?
F.E.: Yeah, is that OK?
Mgr: Yeah, I guess. So..
F.E.: What?
Mgr: So, those aren't your real eyebrows?
Everybody: <laugh>
F.E.: Yes, what are you...?
Mgr: I thought threading was when they sewed bushier eyebrows on.
F.E.: <steam>
Everybody: <AAAHAHAHAHAHA>

[Juana]

"A man wears a mustache because there's something he wants to conceal, a spiritual defect."

- Ayn Rand

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Incoming. Needs edits.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

"Something really cool and hilarious that I thought I should share."
- Fidel Castro

[Phox]

"Something really cool and hilarious that I thought I should share."
- Fidel Castro

Lulz emote and/or witty rejoinder.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

"Something really cool and hilarious that I thought I should share."
- Fidel Castro

Lulz emote and/or witty rejoinder.

Angry response and red baboon ass display.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Me and Phox, via gchat:

Twid:  I also unfortunately am at least part way convinced we are the most advanced technological species in this part of the galaxy, if not the whole thing.
Phox:  well, it's a damn shame but...
T:  Not the only intelligent species, just the most advanced.
P:  oh, sure.
speaking of which, thanks...
now I'm going to add Spore to the list of games I'm going to reinstall and play again. (joining two you will approve ove of, Rome: total War and Star Trek Online).
T:  Theoretically I approve. I try to avoid computer games. I haven't played that many.
It's like one of those heretics that shun TV. It's incomprehensible but they have their reasons, I'm sure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T_R40Zb--U
P:  hehe
T:  I remembered the song at work but not how it went, and I was like, shit. Gotta youtube it later.
P:  yeah.
T:  But seriously, seeing how I react to Civ, computer games, especially any that involve strategy, are really horrible ideas for me to play.
P:  haha, why's that?
T:  Unless I feel like being one of those dead Korean nerds who don't eat or piss.
P:  HA.
well, yeah, it's good to have self-control.
I think you would like RTW though.
T:  When I play Civ, I ignore all biological impetus.
Oh I would probably love it.
I would also probably love cocaine.
P:  this is true.
cost-benefit analysis, you know.
T:  Yep
That's gotta go in quotes of the moment
That whole thing
Sent at 10:45 PM on Friday

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well, if you find it boring, I can delete it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, if you find it boring, I can delete it.

What?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well, if you find it boring, I can delete it.

What?

Probably just misinterpreting. Nevermind.