The Wombat File Is Yours to Keep

Getting right to it, before I fall asleep at the keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...huh? Whuzza? Oh, right, sorry.

The first patent recorded for an innovation on one of these devices was given to the Reverend Samuel Henshall, an English clergyman, in 1795. His main contribution was "the Henshall button" which helped an increasingly popular device work better. The device itself had its origins in musketry -- though not part of a gun itself.

By what name do we know this device?

First correct answer posted to comments wins just one more read-through of There's a Monster at the End of this Book, but no promises about doing the Grover voice (I just wind up sounding like Yoda anyway). But that's the last one, and then it's time to eat some of your soup. No Googling or saying "Yucky!" really loud and laughing and laughing like it's hilarious and then overturning the damn bowl for god's sake. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like.

Posted by BT at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Sorry there was no quiz today, or at least no warning that there'd be one.

Although our National Festival of Thanksgiving for our Freedom (and the continued thwarting of the goals of the freedom-haters everywhere) has now passed, rest assured I give thanks for the patience extended by each and every one of you who continue to read this.

The answer to last week's quiz is ruby. Sorry I didn't get that out there sooner.

We'll be in better shape next week, I promise.

Posted by BT at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sitting here with imogen in my lap, trying to keep her from makiung this post nothing but

gkyuliulikchuhkihvljhvkjucjh ljc
ycoyuclc licy;iyc;ihykihtuesutgsx;pip;iop;
gciytck

So I only have one hand free and little time...let's get on with it:

Much of this substance once came from the Mogok valley, but now other sources are preferred by many. A compound of aluminum and chlorine (with a little chromium in the mix), and can be synthesized via the Czochralski process. In some cases, it displays the property of chatoyancy.

What is the common name of this substance?

First correct answer posted to comments gets a full-size wall map delineating the full extent of James K. Polk's imperial ambitions. No Googling or consulting the James K. Polk society. And stop Polking your sister. I said stop! You're heading for a time out, young lady. One guess per comment, but comment as often as you like.

Posted by BT at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)

I really wish I had a question about Pervez Musharraf and the definition of "dictator," but as you know, the Friday Quiz is far too torturously nonsensical to ever be useful in a discussion of serious international affairs.

(Still, you gotta love the brass with which the hoary old "Oh, it's for her own safety!" gets trotted out, yet again.)

What writer -- more well-known for other works -- began a volume entitled The History of England from the Reign of Henry the Fourth through the Death of Charles the First, with the following sentence: "Henry the 4th ascended the throne of England much to his own satisfaction in the year 1399 , after having prevailed upon his cousin & predecessor Richard the 2nd to resign it to him, & to retire for the rest of his life to Pomfret Castle, where he happened to be murdered."

First correct answer posted to comments wins a medium-speed Loris equipped with a special all-weather snackbox, gauranteed to keep your mementos mori as fresh as you can make them. No Googling or attempting to sync your Google Calendar with your Palm Desktop by using CompanionLink, unless you've got some stupid ".NET framework 2.0" installed on your machine. 'Cause you'll just wind up crying into your HotSync, let me assure you. One guess per comment but how many comments could a Quiz-player comment if a Quiz-player could, um....comment? (OK, I guess that one didn't work very well. Sorry.)

Posted by BT at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Continued sparse communication from the Burrow. Work has been frenetic, and all-consuming. (There have been furtive excursions in the company of a few hardy souls.)

But it's worth noting the pre-birthday gift Dr. Stukas recently sent via the sub-oceanic Wombat Pneumatic Post -- an audio "Wayback Machine" comprised of 40 songs from our wasted youth. It's like wandering into the WCWM lobby at any given moment during the latter half of the 1980s and hearing what the DJ might be playing, or (perhaps more accurately), hearing what's would have likely been on the record players --yes, actual LP record players -- of the folks down the hall.

Into the iPod it all went last night. What's even better is that I have no song titles to work with, so I'm either smiling with recognition on the subway (the droney jangle opening of The Feelies' "Slippin' (into Something)"; the harmonica of Lloyd Cole's "Undressed") or racking my brain to identify the indie rock of yesteryear (The Verlaines? My Dad is Dead? At least I knew the Chills cut right away). I didn't expect "Free Nelson Mandela" among the alterna-rock, but it's a perfect inclusion, a part of the musical texture of the moment -- and a better listen today than "Sun City", although I think that UB40s "Our Own Song" might hold up just as well.

The one that got me, though, funny to admit, is one that I've heard much more often in recent years than any of the others -- Tom Waits's "Cold Cold Ground." Everything about it -- the mournfully sprightly shuffle of the accordion, the growl in Waits voice not yet descended into the mannered snarl of his recent work, still very much the sound of a balladeer...and its unbearably unyielding insistence on the terminal condition of our existence.

Almost in tears when the doors opened at 14th St., I shambled up to the surface, blinking and feeling as if I'd emerged from a dream, wondering if it's a curse or a blessing that an upcoming birthday with a round number in it seems to be a perfect occaision for lots of mementos mori.

Anyway -- thanks, Art.

Posted by BT at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Contrary to promises, I never got a Friday Quiz up this week. I'm sorry, we've just been overtaken by events here...

Posted by BT at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Re: #2 of Last Week's Quiz: Didn't there used to be a band called Slow Loris?

Note: this week's quiz will be in a little late.

Posted by BT at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)