First of all, I'd like to point out that phrase "concept toy," emphasizing "concept" as "not final." For another thing, an action figure will not have the same internal structure as a Transformer.

Well, maybe I did get dimensions wrong, but I stand by my original Persistant Niggling Question. To my eye it looks like additional solid mass was obtained during the transformation process.

Oh, and here's another PNQ (let's just save space, shall we): How many other people noticed the transformation from real car to the CG car right before transformation? I could. I was quite tickled by that. No matter how much these studios trump about the superiority of CG, when in fact it's not.

I watched the same transformation process you did, and my hyperactive sense of "That Violates The Laws Of Physics" didn't twig. Maybe I should watch it again with a more critical eye.

Hey, you should hear my rant about Pokemon technology. One of my cyberpenpals was quite tickled that I would watch an enjoyable cartoon and still go "that technology is totally bogus."

That is totally bogus.

Pokemon is not an enjoyable cartoon. :P

Oooooooooohhhhhhh.....

Anime is one of my "I'm getting angry, you won't like me when I'm angry" buttons. Especially the first two I ever saw, Pokemon and Digimon. They are sacred, you'd be best to move along.

Now some brand-new PNQ:

What's up with the edge lettering on the new Presidential Dollars? Won't those words get worn away in no time?

Even at only 0.25c, wouldn't full impulse create some nasty time dialation effects for starships? I'd imagine that they still function on some equivalent of Greenich Standard Time. For that matter, what about when the Enterprise goes to a planet where a day is the equivalent of 13 or 37 hours? Wouldn't matching itineraries become agonizing relatively quickly?

As an (Evil) Dutch Woman, I feel I should respond to this.

Women do, actually, still wear skirts sometimes. Even women like me.
More importantly, it's not necessary. Sure, it might be stronger, but it never breaks either way. At least, not until every other inch of the bike has broken down at least thrice. You're getting a new bike LONG before that ever comes close to looking like it's not in top condition.
Also, I happen to think women's bikes are easier to get on, but that might just be me being used to it.
Then there's the point that, if you borrow a bike from someone, and it's slightly too big for you, it's easier to bike on it if it's a women's bike. Less painful, too, if ever you need to stop suddenly.

^ With this, I very much agree. At the moment I can't dismount a mountain bike without half falling over at the same time.

I don't. If the Gulf Stream goes, where I live is going to get very cold very quickly.

How come the name "Mississippi" got attached to the northern branch instead of what we call the Missouri River? Surely convention would dictate that the same name be used for whichever path is the longest, right?

I imagine it's because, for it to be the Missouri River, it's making an awfully sharp turn at the point where it meets the not-Mississippi River, and anyone looking at a map would ask "Why isn't that part of the not-Mississippi River? That would be so much more natural."


Besides which, Missouri has several pro sports teams, the Arch, the Ozarks, the Missouri River . . . it even has me. Mississippi has the Mississippi River aaaaand . . . um, well. ;)

What's the international allure of the name Wii anyway? After all, the reference only works for the small minority of the world's population that's fluent in English.

Am I the last person to know that you can hold Control and scroll up and down with a mouse's scroll wheel to change the font size in certain web pages? (the handle from my mug was holding it down without me knowing about it)

It doesn't change the font size, it zooms in and out. It works in MS Word too, and a few other programs, which I can't remember.

No it doesn't. Look, I go to the Star Trek page on Wikipedia. The first paragraph starts with "Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek..."

As originally loaded (on my screen, 1028X768), the first line break is after the second "Star Trek." One click up holding Control puts it after "fictional", another puts it after "created by." One click down holding Control puts it after "series and," another puts it after "science fiction." The picture of Kirk and Spock always stays the same size, so only the size of the text is changing, changing the number of words in the lines in the process.

Fascinating.
I have repeated Nate's experiment using both Firefox and Internet Explorer. In IE, the page zooms in and out, but in Firefox, just the text size changes. (A few other things change size as well, but the point is that the pictures remain the same).
Also, with Internet Explorer, scrolling up zooms in and down scrolls out. It's the opposite with Firefox.

Thank you.

Oh, I suppose I forgot to mention that I'm using MSN Explorer for all of this. Perhaps that accounts for part of it.

You poor, poor thing. Opera has a similar feature for expanding images and text (whilst distorting the rest of the page about them), but I never use it intentionally, only accidentally when I'm trying to use the scroll wheel to cycle through the tabs.

Oh come on, what's so wrong with MSN Explorer (besides the occasional problem with the windows accidentally closing whenever an error occurs)? I'd use Internet Explorer, but A. all my favorites are on my MSN account and B. since I have to use MSN to sign on anyway, might as well use it for browsing.

Of course, you fall over no matter what bike you're trying to get on of off, but that's hardly the point, is it?

Am I the only person in the forums who knows what a juicy lucy is without looking it up?

*Looks up juicy lucy*

Why do people presume to tell me about the pyramids when they don't even know who Flinders Petrie is?

Has to be done. Who?

What's the silliest argument we've ever had in the forum? I tend to think it was the great clear vs. colorless debate.

I only post to the forums when there's an update vacuum, so I really can't say. That sounds good, though. I can support that.

I seem to have missed that. But scientifically, there's a great difference, so I wonder why it would be silly.

http://www.fiveminute.net/forums/sho...sparent&page=4

Yikes was that a loaded issue. I've changed my opinion somewhat, but still have a few problems with the definitions that the others came up with.

Damn straight! And, as it happens, one of my favourite TV quotes is "You win again, gravity!", just because it's applicable to so very many situations.

Who was the first person to wear their baseball cap backwards, and who was that second person that thought it actually looked good?

How aerodynamic are pie plates anyway?

Why are so many people anti-pulp in their juice?

I think Ken Griffey Jr. popularized the backwards cap thing to some extent.


Pulp is icky. When I have a glass of lemonade, I swirl it every so often so the pulp doesn't all collect at the bottom.

Pulp is icky?

Only if it's toad pulp. Or maybe squirrel pulp.

Okay, did not need THAT mental image...

If Douglas Adams had chosen a number other than 42, would the fans have been able to find nearly as much other stuff to "justify" it? It's an interesting question. One major facet of the whole 47 phenomenon is that, aside from the obvious placements by Trek creators, most so-called "sightings" are coicidence and extrapolation.

How could a mirror really end Ella of Frell's curse? After all, would the curse really be fooled that Ella's order really came from someone else? I'd imagine that an implied clause in the original curse would imply some form of "you can't remove it from yourself." Then again, would some form of the solution Elisa used in Gargoyles work for Ella? Remember that whoever held the page of the Grimorum Arcnorum that contained an obedience curse could order the victim of said curse to do anything. Elisa said, in essence, "for the rest of your life you will act as though you are not cursed." Couldn't Mandy just order Ella to act under her own free will at all times?

Yes, this is nitpicking of the most inane precision and obsession, but it IS a PNQ, so there.

Just how could you put the Sorceror's Stone INTO a mirror? It's a stinkin' mirror! Two-dimensional! Was the SS just put into some sort of transporter suspension by Dumbledore, activated by a semisentient spell put onto the mirror?

I've got a better question, If Douglas Adams picked a number besides 42 would I have hidden that number in my English Paper?

Really? That's ... different.

Here's one for you: Can you really have any such thing as Eggshell White, Antique White, etc. etc. Isn't White, like Black, sort of an absolute color? You really can't have any shades of an absolute, can you? Anything else would be very very light yellow or very very dark blue, etc.

You can if you are a pretentious paint-namer. And you have a hundred-and-one thousand tints of cream to label.

Why do I always forget something I meant to say/post?

Okay, so...

Why manufacture 1001 different kinds of cream paint?

What's your favorite paint color? We just sort of sequed there. My favorite is called Winter Solstice, and it's the color of my room. It's glorious. It's a very light blue, almost but not quite bordering on lavender. Imagine the shade of the background to this entry, but lighter and with just a hint of purple.

Project the three-dimensional Stone into the two-dimensional mirror.

If you don't want to bother with such trifling mathematical chicanery, I think Alice will be heading that way in a few minutes, so just give it to her to take along.

Which line should I ditch from my sig to include

Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own!

The two references to me from this forum are off-limits, but other opinions are welcome. I'm edging toward chucking Hanlon's Razor, but opinions are welcome.

"(Inspired by a quote by Jim Guigli) My motivation for writing fivers is to find a constructive outlet for my dementia."
This I would recommend for ditching.

EDIT: This one has been niggling at me persistently on and off for about five years now - what the can-you-afford-to-board is a lapazoo?

As in:
Help?