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Articles by French Dunadan
Don't call us "ladies"!
July 23, 2025, 3:22pm 1 Boston.com – 23 Jul 25 Vito Perrone sued when his job offer for superintendent was abruptly rescinded after he referred to a group of women hiring him as "ladies." Est. reading time: 3 minutes
Casablanca - what happens to Rick if he stays in Casablanca?
Rick was in Paris for a time doing not much, except trading on the black market and carrying on with Ilsa Lund. He was regarded as a cynic by then. The drinking was constant, and not even Sam, a guy who had come out of Spain with him, could keep him cheerful. The affair with Ilsa was hopeless; she had all these causes, perhaps Rick used her to remind himself of all he’d lost. He wanted it to fail, he was dependent now on self-pity. So when the Germans came in, Rick got out.
Have you heard of this word? (Second time)
April 24, 2025, 10:30am 1 So I’m still playing Wordle (UK dictionary) and up comes: sepal I got it - but only by luck. Do you know it? Honestly, I was paying attention at school (which was from 1957 - 1971 ) For reference, here’s my previous thread… Have you heard of this word? - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board
If red blood cells don't contain DNA, how can blood be used for DNA tests?
5 Neoteryx, a company that sells blood sampling equipment, says DNA can be extracted from various blood components, with white blood cells (WBCs) being the primary source due to their high nuclear DNA content. Unlike red blood cells, which lack nuclei, WBCs contain intact genetic material, making them ideal for DNA-based studies.
'Kingmakers' PC game - travel back in time to 1400AD with modern weapons to save the future...groovy!
January 11, 2025, 10:37pm 1
Were guns ever allowed on planes?
October 30, 2024, 9:17am 1 Wondering about the evolution of aircraft cabin security. For as long as I’ve been flying, passengers haven’t been allowed to carry guns on commercial flights. Was there ever a time when this was not the case? Say, back in the 1940s or 1950s, would I have been allowed to carry a gun onto a plane with me?
The spoken sound of gunshots in English and other languages
In the US kids say, “Bang, bang”. I saw a French comic book once and I’m pretty sure they said, “Flan, flan”. Modern kids say,“Pew, pew” for laser sounds. That would be “Pan ! Pan !”, I think. That’s what firearms are called in YouTube videos to avoid getting demonized.
Voting in several States
October 6, 2024, 7:09pm 1 Hello there, I am from Europe and kind of curious on the American way of elections. Suppose Joe Average is a resident in Georgia. He’s voting there in anticipated vote for candidate K in September .What prevent him of moving officially to Virginia, register there and then vote a second time for candidate K? And even more moving and voting in other States?
Did former president Bush manufacture a reason to invade Iraq or was he misled by bad intelligence he thought was correct?
September 7, 2024, 4:29pm 1 Continuing the discussion from Dick Cheney endorses Harris: That was an intelligence community failure, not deliberate W. lying. And yet Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to CIA director (at the time) George Tenet for a job well done? At the time, I believe, it was reasonable to presume the CIA had done their job correctly. Wasn’t it after W.'s term that everyone realized how much of the intelligence gathers was BS?
What if all firearms vanished?
July 29, 2024, 1:04pm 1 Today all firearms in the world smaller than 20mm in caliber magically vanish (pistols, shotguns, rifles etc.). It only happens once so firearms are able to be built and used afterwards as normal. What happens next and how does this change the world? How would militaries and law enforcement react to their primary weapons vanishing? Would crime increase or decrease as a result?
Things you think you know, but you do not
May 28, 2024, 1:35am 1 Many lies and half truths are spread around- Gibbons wrote that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Christians- Nope, it was the Romans, first under Julius Caesar. kiwihellenist.blogspot.com The library of Alexandria wasn't majorly different from other ancient libraries. And we have a good idea of what was in it. Cleopatra was Egyptian, not Greek- Well. Cleopatra was of Greek descent.
Advice for running D&D
May 23, 2024, 5:19pm 1 Hey, I’m running my first game of D&D. It’s a very standard 5e homebrew. I’ve played a fair amount of TTRPGs, though hardly any 5e. My one 5e game was Curse of Strahd, which was shut down by the pandemic. I’m just looking for generic advice and tips. The group is a bunch of awesome folks, and we had a good time rolling up characters and starting the story.
Newton impact depth and ballistic gel penetration. Why does it not work?
February 1, 2024, 5:37pm 1 In simple terms Newton’s impact depth approximation says that “For a cylindrical impactor, by the time it stops, it will have penetrated to a depth that is equal to its own length times its relative density with respect to the target material.” So this means that if a material and the penetrator are the same density, regardless of speed, the projectile will only penetrate into the material the length of the projectile. This makes sense.
Do you open both eyes on waking?
Question brought on by my reading this article: Tame toxic stress with '5 resets' in 2024 : Shots - Health News : NPR but it’s not about any of the main sense of the article. It’s about the following, from the second section in the article: Surveys also show that over 50% of people check their phones within five minutes of waking up, and some even before their second eye is open, she says. [ . . .
Want to buy part of Wyoming?
1 All you need is to raise at least 80 million dollars once it comes up for auction. Though the price will likely increase. ABC News Wyoming officials will decide whether to auction off a valuable and pristine piece of state land located within the boundaries of Grand Teton National Park
How is it possible that a drawbridge can be seriously unbalanced by painting it?
Earlier today I was running around Chicago taking advantage of Open House Chicago where many places were open to the public to tour for free (it is a really great thing and fun…also happening tomorrow (Sunday October 15, 2023) for those in Chicago…just be careful to note what places are open…not all are). One of the places I visited was the control tower to operate the Michigan Avenue drawbridge in Chicago (see picture below…the towers at each end of the bridge).
GH Power: sounds like a scam?
There was a recent Yahoo article about this company. They supposedly react scrap aluminum and water to produce hydrogen, alumina, and heat energy. I’m not posting any links because the board software doesn’t seem to like them, but it shows up immediately in a search. There’s no doubt that this reaction is ‘possible’, it doesn’t violate any laws of physics or chemistry.
Questions concerning disaster "missing" lists
I was reading about the people still missing following the Maui fires, and some questions came to me. This would apply to many large natural disasters, such as previous wildfires in California, hurricanes, etc. How do authorities compile lists of people who are missing? Do they consult census or taxpayer lists? Hotel registers? Just strikes me as quite a complicated process. As I read it, estimates vary from 700-1200 still missing. What do you think the best method would be?
Kangaroo vs human
how many kangaroos could you take in a boxing match to the death at once in a ring? Exactly…none. If it’s a big one, then not even one of 'em. The “boxing” is all fun and games until they grab you with their upper arms and kick your stomach and groin with their legs. Given their method of locomotion, their leg muscles are extremely powerful and their feet have massive claws.
When was a good time to live in Russia? Was there one?
Arguably the early Putin years were a time of great economic advancement for the middle / upper-middle class. As long as they didn’t fall foul of the authorities or the highly ambitious. Those of us who lived through the West’s real estate / stock market crash of 2008 recall the sudden miraculous gains in everything, including people’s attitudes once the corner turned. Russia had that, and a major reduction in general locked-downedness all going on at once.
Dangerous Playgrounds and Moveable Furniture
I was reading a book (about modern values) which was describing some newer playgrounds in Britain. It said some of them were designed in a non-traditional way, including metal containers where children could (more) safely light fires or areas where they could practice sawing twigs and nailing things with provided hand tools. Although both of these might seem like terrible ideas, no injuries or unfortunate events were supposedly reported.
Is BEAR! (With link)
Is BEAR! Bear is Great Symbol of Russia. Bear is hanging ten, in Florida. Bear is also Hodad & Big Kahuna. Therefore, since Bear is more likable than Putin, Putin throw Bear out window. LINK HERE–Bear On Florida Beach carrps June 12, 2023, 11:20pm 3 Man, I haven’t heard anyone called a hodaddy in a billion years. Was he looking for cocaïne?
Was "battle by champion representative" ever a thing in human history?
Wiki has an interesting article on Single Combat. One on one battles in which the loser’s army surrenders or goes home is exceptionally rare, except in fiction. Various flavors of single combat do appear in many times and many places and for many reasons. “Single” combat is often a misnomer; small group combat appears, often in the same cultures. Why isn’t it a thing? As the OP said: David beat Goliath. It’s taking a chance so stupid that it’s been archetypically stupid for thousands of years.
Caesar, the Canadian cocktail
Spoken like a gentleman of distinction and good taste! Just a very small nitpicky point of information: although Montreal Steak Spice does come in a semi-liquid form (basically a thick paste) it is classically a dry rub that comes in a jar.
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