Comments on: LOL-November 9

By: ljdarten

ljdarten — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:45:58 +0000

ShireNomad: the fate of the statue victims never bothered me. But the way they moved was creepy. just the idea that they could cross a room and do “whatever” to you in a blink is kind of freaky.

especially when they go from a serene angel to a demonic whatever.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:02:40 +0000

Eeyore,

At least in Texas, and I assume most places, the bounce houses are collectively known as “moon walks.”

By: apricoco

apricoco — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:42:30 +0000

What comic is the robot strip from? I’m too dumb to figure it out apparently.

By: David N

David N — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:16:10 +0000

I don’t like to talk in the 3rd person, but occasionally it sucks to be David.

By: eeyore19

eeyore19 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:45:56 +0000

Those bounce houses sometimes have a moon theme to them to make kids feel like they’re bouncing around in the low gravity of the moon. Taking one to the actual moon would just be redundant.

By: mkilby

mkilby — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:54:19 +0000

@ Powers (8), Brent (14) -
My doubts about the “two of four” model had nothing to do with the theoretical physics, but rather with the practical engineering. Those toys never work as well as they are supposed to. Theoretically, in a perfect universe (composed entirely of frictionless, inextensible “unobtainium”), everything always works perfectly, but in my “real-world” experience, the central ball in the 5-ball model provides an important “dead weight” (or “shock absorber”) effect, which would be missing in the 4-ball model. The “3 of 5″ effect (as Brent mentioned) does work, but it decays more rapidly than the “1 or 2 of 5″ trick. The “1 of 4″ pictured in the cartoon would work OK, but I think “2 of 4″ would devolve into chaotic movement relatively quickly (even if spherical, perfectly elastic children are used).

By: ShireNomad

ShireNomad — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:02:26 +0000

“Blink” was a neat concept but never really scared me… the fate of those caught never seemed particularly bad to me.

By: paperboy

paperboy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:21:04 +0000

I like the “David” joke, plus the cartoon symbol for “artist”, the beret, on Michelangelo.

By: Cidu Bill

Cidu Bill — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:50 +0000

Kate C, the story is “Looking for David” and I’m 99% sure it’s in the collection “Enough Rope.”

By: Kate C

Kate C — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:41:58 +0000

Bill–

Do you by chance remember the Block story, or which collection it was in? I am a huge fan of Block’s novels, but have only read one book of short stories, which I found enjoyable in a nouveau-Roald Dahl kind of way.