The Off Topic Topic

[PDH]

Thing about volleyball players, the shape is nice but just on too large a scale.

See, I am 6 foot.  I don't mind the back court players, or even the average front court players.  I do think that some of the 6-4 blockers might be a bit intimidating, but one has to to take risks or there is no reward.

[Admiral Yi]

Indoor is sexier than beach.

[PDH]

Indoor is sexier than beach.

Agreed.  Sand can be a turn off when it is on the naughty bits.

[sbr]

I love me some volleyball shorts, but female soccer players are the hottest in general.

[The Brain]

Women's long jump is where it's at.

[Ideologue]

My cats really smell.  I wonder if it's my olfactory senses returning.

[Tonitrus]

Indoor is sexier than beach.

Agreed.  Something about beach volleyball makes it seem overly tanned and skanky.

[Grey Fox]

Can anyone explain why the prices quoted on amazon.co.uk are different from the ones when they're in my cart?  Is it that UK law requires that VAT be added to the list price, then when they realize I'm not a subject of David Cameron's Sliding Albion, they take it out?

Nope. For me VAT is calculated after shipping charges are added.

Also, it's a basket over there.

[Capetan Mihali]

Also, it's a basket over there.

Sweets.

[derspiess]

http://mentalfloss.com/article/54048/heres-how-crazy-long-german-words-are-made

Here's How Crazy-Long German Words are Made

German is known for its extra long compound words. When Mark Twain complained that some German words were "so long they have a perspective," he was thinking of words like Freundschaftsbezeigungen (demonstrations of friendship) and Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen (general states representatives meetings). Long German words were in the news this year when many sources reported that Germany had "lost its longest word" because the European Union removed a law from its books called (*ahem*): Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (the law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling).

But Germany had not in fact lost its longest word, because the process for forming these words is an active, productive part of the language, and the potential exists for creating words even longer, if so needed in the moment. How does that process work?

This lively animation takes you, step by step, through what's involved in creating Rhababerbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbarbärbel, a completely valid (and probably never before uttered) word.


The video is in German, but that shouldn't deter you. The artwork makes it pretty clear what's happening, meaningwise. Here are a few clues to help you follow the steps:

1. There's a girl named Barbara.

2. She is known for her rhubarb cake.

3. So they call her "Rhubarb Barbara."

4. To sell her cake, she opens a bar.

5. It is frequented by three barbarians.

6. They have beards.

7. When they want to get their beards groomed they go to the barber.

8. He goes to their bar to eat some cake, and then wants to drink a special beer.

9. You can only get his special beer at a special bar that sells it.

10. Where the bartender's name is Barbie.

11. She's the Barbie of the bar where the beer of the beard barber for the barbarians of Rhubarb's Barbara's bar is sold. But all in one word.

12. At the end, the barbarians, the barber, Barbie, and Barbara all go to the bar for a beer. You might need one too after this. Prost!



Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/54048/heres-how-crazy-long-german-words-are-made#ixzz2mtiRdxWZ
--brought to you by mental_floss!

Rhabarberbarbara

Hottentottenpotentatenpatentantentütentittenstottertrottelattentäterbeutelrattenlattenkatenretterrattertatterzitterknatterantischitterritispille

[11B4V]

 

CDC to Wisconsin: Please Avoid 'Cannibal Sandwiches'

(Newser) – "Cannibal sandwiches," an appetizer featuring raw, lean ground beef served on cocktail bread, may be a Wisconsin tradition, but they are not safe, health officials said, noting that more than a dozen people became ill after consuming them last holiday season. Health officials confirmed four cases tied to E. coli bacteria and 13 likely cases in people who ate the sandwiches at several gatherings late last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a report issued this week. The meat came from a Watertown market that later recalled more than 2,500 pounds of meat.

Cannibal sandwiches were tied to outbreaks in Wisconsin in 1972, 1978, and 1994. The appetizer, also called "tiger meat," "steak tartare," or simply "ground beef," is usually a simple dish of lean ground meat seasoned with salt and pepper on rye cocktail bread with sliced raw onion, says Milwaukee historian John Gurda, who served it at his 1977 wedding reception. Occasionally, a raw egg will be mixed with the meat. Says the owner of a butcher shop in Kenosha: "It's like eating a cold hamburger that's a little on the raw side."

http://www.newser.com/story/178742/cdc-to-wisconsin-please-avoid-cannibal-sandwiches.html

[Malthus]

This isn't my creation, but I thought it was funny. 

Dr. Seuss' Beowulf

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every Geat
Down in Geat-land
Liked Heorot a lot...


But Grendel,
Who lived north of Geat-land,
Did NOT!


Grendel hated Heorot! The whole Heorot Hall!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows it all.
It could be his arm wasn't screwed on just right.
It could be , perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But,
Whatever the reason,
His heart or his feet,
He stood there MidWinter's Eve, hating the Geats,
Staring down from his den with a sour, Grendel pall
At the warm lighted smokeholes below on the Hall.
For he knew every Geat down in Geat-land he spied
Was busy now, drink great goblets of mead.

"And they're eating their lutefisk!" he snarled with a sneer.
Tomorrow's Midwinter! It's practically here!"
Then he growled with his Grendel fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find some way to stop MidWinter from coming!"

For,
Tomorrow, he knew...

...All the Geat Men, Women, and pups
Would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their cups!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!

[DGuller]

CDC to Wisconsin: Please Avoid 'Cannibal Sandwiches'

(Newser) – "Cannibal sandwiches," an appetizer featuring raw, lean ground beef served on cocktail bread, may be a Wisconsin tradition, but they are not safe, health officials said, noting that more than a dozen people became ill after consuming them last holiday season. Health officials confirmed four cases tied to E. coli bacteria and 13 likely cases in people who ate the sandwiches at several gatherings late last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a report issued this week. The meat came from a Watertown market that later recalled more than 2,500 pounds of meat.

Cannibal sandwiches were tied to outbreaks in Wisconsin in 1972, 1978, and 1994. The appetizer, also called "tiger meat," "steak tartare," or simply "ground beef," is usually a simple dish of lean ground meat seasoned with salt and pepper on rye cocktail bread with sliced raw onion, says Milwaukee historian John Gurda, who served it at his 1977 wedding reception. Occasionally, a raw egg will be mixed with the meat. Says the owner of a butcher shop in Kenosha: "It's like eating a cold hamburger that's a little on the raw side."

http://www.newser.com/story/178742/cdc-to-wisconsin-please-avoid-cannibal-sandwiches.html

I used to eat chunks of raw ground beef back when I was little.  When my mom was making pelmeni, I was helping with the meat grinder, and I always took some small soft chunks.  It actually tastes surprisingly well.  Now that I look back on it, I'm surprised how I didn't give myself food poisoning.

[garbon]

[Grey Fox]

So, many Fords.

If I ever buy a Pick up, I'm buying a Tacoma/Tundra.