Making Light :: What day is it? :: comments

What day is it?

I know I'm starting to sound like poor hapless Charlotte Sophia, but I came down with some kind of stomach...

What day is it? -- comment #1 from Chris Quinones

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:00:03 -0500

Dang. I need to get out of the house more.

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Posted November 4, 2003 12:00 PM by Chris Quinones

What day is it? -- comment #2 from catie murphy

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:03:11 -0500

Oooh, ooh, I saw him on tv too! Well, I saw the pumpkin-chucking piece, anyway. I don't specifically remember people who had to be bleeped. Still, that's really cool! Although, boy, humans are weird. Pumpkin tossing, who'da thunk.

Hope you feel better soon.

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Posted November 4, 2003 12:03 PM by catie murphy

What day is it? -- comment #3 from Stefan Jones

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:37:39 -0500

Last year I went to the annual North Plains (Oregon) pumpkin hurl. It was low tech: Catapults, slingshots, trebuchets.

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Posted November 4, 2003 12:37 PM by Stefan Jones

What day is it? -- comment #4 from Claude Muncey

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:43:08 -0500

Did Saddam Hussien know about these? ;)

I was once on a programmming team obsessed with spud guns but these completely outclass potato artillery. And I love the pictures on the Big 10 Inch site of blasting a SUV with high velocity produce -- fulfilling some commuter fantasies of mine.

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Posted November 4, 2003 12:43 PM by Claude Muncey

What day is it? -- comment #5 from Michelle

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 13:24:36 -0500

Every year West Virginia University has a Pumpkin Drop where pumpkins are dropped off the top of the engineering building, and the winner's pumpkin lands closest to the target without breaking the pumpkin. (Although this is also a parize for biggest splat) This years winners were 5th graders while the 2nd and 3rd place winners were high schoolers. Here are some pictures from last years drop.

Here's something from the year a group of third graders won (beating out college engineering students).

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Posted November 4, 2003 1:24 PM by Michelle

What day is it? -- comment #6 from Derryl Murphy

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 13:27:54 -0500

It has been a long-time goal of mine to go to the Punkin Chunkin competition. Every year the boys and I go to the website to view the latest winners, and I think they've pretty much decided they have to be there as well.

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Posted November 4, 2003 1:27 PM by Derryl Murphy

What day is it? -- comment #7 from Jeffrey Smith

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 14:25:29 -0500

Teresa--

You suffer a catastrophic computer crash, then a violently ill road trip...and you bounce back with an item as winning as this one.

Any time, this piece would be delightful. This week, it's awe-inspiring.

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Posted November 4, 2003 2:25 PM by Jeffrey Smith

What day is it? -- comment #8 from David Moles

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 15:05:40 -0500

Some year, someone needs to arrange for WFC and the Punkin Chunkin competition to be in the same city.

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Posted November 4, 2003 3:05 PM by David Moles

What day is it? -- comment #9 from Erik V. Olson

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 16:07:56 -0500

Well, can we put WFC downrange?

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Posted November 4, 2003 4:07 PM by Erik V. Olson

What day is it? -- comment #10 from Claude Muncey

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 16:26:56 -0500

Naah, Erik, how about luring some spammers in range?

Spam and pumpkins -- there must be a recipie for that . . .

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Posted November 4, 2003 4:26 PM by Claude Muncey

What day is it? -- comment #11 from Erik V. Olson

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 20:35:38 -0500

No, but you've given me the right answer. Chuck spammers at WFC.

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Posted November 4, 2003 8:35 PM by Erik V. Olson

What day is it? -- comment #12 from Erik V. Olson

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 20:37:34 -0500

No, but you've given me the right answer. Chuck spammers at WFC.

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Posted November 4, 2003 8:37 PM by Erik V. Olson

What day is it? -- comment #13 from Claude Muncey

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 20:59:10 -0500

I assume you then intend to use a torsion device such as a trebuchet for chucking spammers, as you should be able to get more than one in the bucket at a time, given a sufficiently large bucket. This does cut down the range a bit, though. The use of a bit of reconstructed medieval technology at a fantasy convention would seem appropriate, I must say.

Now that I think of it, it would be possible with the use of plastic sheeting, WD-40, and certain power tools, you could get a spammer into the Big 10 Inch. While you would certainly not get the full 4,000 foot range, even if you soaked the spammer in beer first as recommended, you would have a better standoff distance than with the trebuchet.

But That Would Be Wrong . . .

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Posted November 4, 2003 8:59 PM by Claude Muncey

What day is it? -- comment #14 from Xopher

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 23:36:08 -0500

Who's WFC?

I loved The Hapless Child,Teresa. I wanted to set it to music back in my 12-tone period...which now sounds oxymoronic. I may have actually started it, but I didn't get very far.

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Posted November 4, 2003 11:36 PM by Xopher

What day is it? -- comment #15 from Tom Whitmore

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:43:17 -0500

WFC = World Fantasy Convention, a convention which many people who believe fan-run conventions should have policies set by the fans who individually run them have problems with.

But that's another story entirely....

Cheers,
Tom

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Posted November 5, 2003 12:43 AM by Tom Whitmore

What day is it? -- comment #16 from Elise Matthesen

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:46:57 -0500

Did I tell you about the unexpected pumpkin chuckers around here? A number of years back, a mummers team I was on mummed a nice building on a residential street in the Twin Cities that turned out to be a Jesuit novitiate house. We were startled, but had a lovely time with the sociable Jesuits within; they enjoyed the play, and offered good hospitality. At the end of the conversation, we thanked them, and said that we had had no idea Jesuits could be so much fun. Oh, yah, they said, we have a whee of a time. Why, on Halloween, thet had some sort of decoration out, and Brother So-and-so sat inside waiting for somebody to come up and ring the doorbell, and when they did, he'd stick his hand out the mail slot and grab them. Made for a pretty scary time, though I think he said he didn't scare the already timid ones. Just the bold ones. Anyhow, one of the brothers added that they had held a flaming pumpkin lob out in the parking lot the next night.

"We used to use Lutherans," he said, and came as close as a Jesuit can maybe come to winking.

Them guys, they was fun, as the folks in my home town would say. I had no idea.

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Posted November 5, 2003 12:46 AM by Elise Matthesen

What day is it? -- comment #17 from Mary Kay

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 00:47:03 -0500

T: as much as I enjoy seeing you at cons around the country, it seems to me you might ought to re-evaluate your con attendance. If I'm remembering correctly, you've gotten sick at nearly every con you've been to lately... (And have you tried B Complex?)

MKK

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Posted November 5, 2003 12:47 AM by Mary Kay

What day is it? -- comment #18 from julia

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 04:01:36 -0500

I think I am going to say "pumpkin chuckers" repeatedly to my child today.

You guys have any interest in jumping in piles of leaves? It's millefoglie week out in the north forty...

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Posted November 5, 2003 4:01 AM by julia

What day is it? -- comment #19 from Elric

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:58:31 -0500

Way sorry to hear about all the hurling and chucking and chunkin and ralphing. The pumpkin-projection technology encounters, however, are seriously neat stuff. Thank you for letting us know about them! (And continue with the feeling-better thing! No repeat of last Thanksgiving's aftermath, okay?)

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Posted November 5, 2003 9:58 AM by Elric

What day is it? -- comment #20 from Ms. Jen

Thu, 06 Nov 2003 02:49:07 -0500

Life in SoCal is very dull, as the only Punkin Chunkin-ers are the individual amateurs who late on Halloween night toss pumpkins into the street. Organzied, professional, trailer toting Punkin Chunkin-ers? Amazing. Must be an East Coast thing. Out here we have large truck (PEVs*) trailer toting Off Road Racing fanatics....

*Penis Extension Vehicles

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Posted November 6, 2003 2:49 AM by Ms. Jen