OMG Baggins111 please put warning signs in your subject lines when you say something like that. “Warning: do not drink dr pepper while reading this post.”
goes to clean his shirt
Well, this is new to me. I guess I am out of the loop with this “Death Ray” thing.
Too bad I came in too late to have much fun with it while it was still popular.
These trends are so fleeting.
Yeh, trends arond here are faster than a speeding death ray.
Okay, according to the original GQ thread, the 1920’s style “Death Ray” was invented by Nikola Tesla. After a long discussion with Jonathan Chance’s daughter and the MPSIMS thread about the yellow cat that showed up at somebody’s house, I’m starting to see a pattern here. What Dopers are planning to go to Key West this winter?
This phrase is so gay.
How exactly are 1920’s style “Death Rays” homosexual? Please explain!
We’re talking the 1920’s here, when “gay” meant “happy.” They are 1920’s style “Happy Death Rays.”
I believe 1920s-style “Death Ray” may be more gramatically correct.
BWDIK?
Hey, the constitution clearly protects our right to bear 1920’s style death rays! what if the British decide to invade?
Here’s a link showing that the French were doing Death Ray research as early as the 1890’s:
http://www.geocities.com/internet_web_surfer_dude/raydemort.htm
There is something inherently funny about the phrase. Today a coworker was bitching about something, and I told him he ought to take his 1920’s style “Death Ray” to it. He spewed soda all over his P.C.
And, as Letterman once said about his style of humor, “We take something and beat it to death. And then we beat it some more.”
Funniest thing about that thread, the guy who started it hasn’t posted since
Gee, I can’t imagine why not…
If someone would write a concise explanation of this, I’ll add it to the Inside Jokes page over at the TMHP, with credit given.
Oh, that’s easy, I think. The thread which started this asked about scalar weapons, which are supposed weapons that can do all kinds of crazy things: Cause earthquakes, turn the atmosphere into a shield to block incoming nukes, be over the horizon radar, and whatnot. AFAIK, no one’s come up with any hard science to prove this stuff, so like the weapons in early science fiction stories, it’s all vaguely defined.
So, Dogface says
And the board hiccups, causing a double post, which naturally inspires other Dopers to respond in kind, and with comments like
it begins to roll on with various posters creating references works which supposedly describe the things authored by folks like Dr. Calvin and Dr. Hobbes (a reference to the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, and it’s just gone on from there. I only hope it doesn’t get us slashdotted again.
It also created world wide panic.
[nitpick]
Tuckerfan It was a double hiccup causing a Tripple post.
[/nitpick]
I get some of the blame for this. The thread started on the 4th. and by the 6th had gone a page and a half. It was on page two and dropping. Then on the 13th Joel posts a poll about the Poll - Best unintentionally funny thread.
I posted a link and the rest as they say is history.
Jeez, I can’t believe this thread is still going on. Probably the longest running thread I ever started and it was just to ask a simple little question. I think it’s very interesting how these things get started by accident and just seem to take on a life of their own.
See, I’m still running one of those 1915-style “Death Rays”. I was going to upgrade to a 1920’s style “Death Ray”, but then I heard that “Death Ray XP” was coming out, and… y’know. I know it nees a whole heap of memory, but I figure the investment will pay off. My whole family will be able to have seperate accounts on the “Death Ray”, and it’s a DOS-based “Death Ray”… I just think it’ll run better.
“Death Ray XP: How Do You Want To Go Today?” ™
Hey, don’t be seduced by the Death Ray XP – it’s riddled with bugs. I hear the backfires are horrendous.