Comments on: That Is All

By: Lousy Cheapskates

Lousy Cheapskates — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:35:38 +0000

[...] That Is AllIs John Hodgman the last observer of Gilded Age telephone etiquette? I WOULD NOT PUT IT PAST HIM. [...]

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:58:46 +0000

Ya, Sir J J was the bomb, proving cathode rays could be deflected by magnetic fields, measuring the charge/mass ratio, proposing atoms were divisible and proposing the “plum pudding” model [which dismissed the "poundcake" model, the "bundtcake" model, and the "all this stuff is voodoo" model].

Equally importantly, he taught Ernest Rutherford who built on J J’s work as Issac Newton contunued Johannes Kepler’s work who continued Tycho Brahe’s work. Rutherford slapped together the orbit theory [which was exciting for quantum mechanical guys who would follow like Bohr 'n' Schrodinger] and stumbled across half-lives w.r.t. isotope decay .

My 4th year supervisor had a huge poster of Rutherford in the lab which had an excellent quote, “All science is either physics or stamp collecting, ” which I’m very fond of, it speaks to me.

By: The Celestial Monochord

The Celestial Monochord — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:26:11 +0000

God help me, I love old phone books. So often, I would give anything to interview some long-dead musician or spend a night in some long-ago demolished dance hall, drinking bathtub gin and dancing to jazz. Of course, that’s impossible. But, right there in the city directory, there’s the phone number — Dale 4664 or whatever. A person could’ve just picked up the phone and said ahoy hoy! It can drive you to distraction if you let it … and I let it.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:07:38 +0000

Yes, indeed. The Simpsons writers are up on their telephone history, as they are on everything else under the sun. (Burns: “You there! Fill it up with petroleum distillate, and re-vulcanize my tires, post-haste.”)

Also, we welcome throwaway pop culture references from internet jerks.

(Everyone go visit Mr. Lowe’s retro-future site.)

By: Mr. O. W. Lowe, ESQ.

Mr. O. W. Lowe, ESQ. — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:01:43 +0000

Ahoy-hoy? Why, that’s how the Simpson’s Montgomery Burns answers his phone! I never knew why!
See? Everything boils down to some internet jerk like me making a throwaway pop culture reference!
Sorry.