# Catastrophe of Historic Proportion? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 2, 2007, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105 "2007-08-02T09:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/81 "2007-08-02T20:14:38Z")
[QUOTE=andros] . **mswas** : Well, I certainly did not mean to suggest that that “yer an idiot” is the height of maturity. But still, c’mon. **Dudders’** response was just sad. . [/QUOTE] No doubt, **Miller** is far wittier. **Miller** would without a doubt pwn **Dudley** in the cafeteria, though Dudley might throw Miller’s tray in his face. ---
**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/82 "2007-08-02T20:17:30Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Where? [/QUOTE] Here: [QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] And the funny thing is, if you and I were face-to-face, you’d never say such things to me. I can guarantee that. [/QUOTE] This on the surface looks like a thinly veiled threat, I took it to mean that **Miller** would be more polite (as probably would you) in person. This is the pit however. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/83 "2007-08-02T20:21:17Z")
[QUOTE=guppy] I took it to mean that **Miller** would be more polite (as probably would you) in person. [/QUOTE] Good point, **guppy**. Yanno, if that’s indeed the case, I offer my heartfelt apologies. . ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/84 "2007-08-02T20:21:50Z")
There were no threats. I’m only saying that Miller certainly wouldn’t address me the same way in person that he does on here. He’s probably a typical nerd who doesn’t even look strangers in the eye, and feels the need to lob insults at perfect strangers to make himself feel better – all from his computer-based comfort zone. I don’t see how that’s interpreted as I’m threatening to beat him up. Can I be any clearer? ---
**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/85 "2007-08-02T20:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] There were no threats. I’m only saying that Miller certainly wouldn’t address me the same way in person that he does on here. He’s probably a typical nerd who doesn’t even look strangers in the eye, and feels the need to lob insults at perfect strangers to make himself feel better – all from his computer-based comfort zone. I don’t see how that’s interpreted as I’m threatening to beat him up. Can I be any clearer? [/QUOTE] Maybe I was wrong. :rolleyes: I gotta stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/86 "2007-08-02T20:30:53Z")
[QUOTE=guppy] Maybe I was wrong. :rolleyes: I gotta stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. [/QUOTE] Oh please. I was clear. Interpret what I write in the worst possible way if you want. It’s not my problem. Wait, is that a “thinly-veiled threat” too? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/87 "2007-08-02T20:37:14Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] It’s so funny. Maybe 50,000 went to the Minnesota Twins game last night. . .and I’d almost guarantee, NONE OF THEM WERE DOPERS! 100 people injured & dead in a bridge collapse. :rolleyes: Give me a friggin’ break. _Please, check in. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. There’s a .0001% chance that an acquaintance of someone I know by their user name might have been injured in the bridge collapse. I’m SOOOO CONCERNED!!!_ [/QUOTE] I believe Dio said he was driving over the bridge minutes before it collapsed. How do you “almost guarantee” something? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/88 "2007-08-02T20:38:20Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] There were no threats. I’m only saying that Miller certainly wouldn’t address me the same way in person that he does on here. He’s probably a typical nerd who doesn’t even look strangers in the eye, and feels the need to lob insults at perfect strangers to make himself feel better – all from his computer-based comfort zone. I don’t see how that’s interpreted as I’m threatening to beat him up. Can I be any clearer? [/QUOTE] Now this is amusing. Let’s go to the tape and take another look at exactly how this entire conversation started, shall we? > [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > Then wait for the liberal know-it-alls to chime in on bridge construction (when in fact the only thing they’ve ever done in their lives with bridges is, you know, drive over them, but they’ve taken College Algebra and maybe a physics course) whining about how the government didn’t protect these poor, innocent commuters. > > It’s going to be a bloodbath, man. It seems that what we have here is a person, on the internet, lobbing insults at perfect strangers. Wether he does this to make himself feel better is certainly debatable: I won’t pretend to know **Dudley** ’s interior emotional landscape, assuming he has one. I don’t know what sort of a person **Dudley** is in real life. Is he a nerd? Don’t know. Does he make eye contact? Don’t know. Is he a coward? Don’t know. What I do know is that, online, he’s a hypocrite who gets a kick out of baselessly insulting other people but cries like a little girl when other people treat him the same way. However, I will take you at your word that you intended no threat in that post. I find it entirely credible that you’re too dumb to understand what your own words mean, let alone anyone else’s. So no hard feelings on that score. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/89 "2007-08-02T20:40:00Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] … So no hard feelings … [/QUOTE] Good. ---
**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/90 "2007-08-02T20:40:38Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Oh please. I was clear. Interpret what I write in the worst possible way if you want. It’s not my problem. Wait, is that a “thinly-veiled threat” too? [/QUOTE] I bet you wouldn’t say that to me in person, nerd! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/91 "2007-08-02T20:44:41Z")
[QUOTE=guppy] I bet you wouldn’t say that to me in person, nerd! 😛 [/QUOTE] I’d say that and lots of other stuff. Then I’d slap the full-nelson on you and won’t let go until I hear “Uuunnnncle!” Just kidding, because you know, people sometimes misinterpret things on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/92 "2007-08-02T20:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Yes, but thousands of people with families die every day. [/QUOTE] I know they do, but they’re not the subject of a thread that is getting uglier by the minute. I shouldn’t have said anything. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/93 "2007-08-02T21:00:07Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Now this is amusing. Let’s go to the tape and take another look at exactly how this entire conversation started, shall we? [/QUOTE] Don’t you think if it was threat a mod would be saying something? ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/94 "2007-08-02T21:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] I know they do, but they’re not the subject of a thread that is getting uglier by the minute. I shouldn’t have said anything. [/QUOTE] Oh come now, just because a dork like me disagrees with your view doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post whatever you want on any topic 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/95 "2007-08-02T21:07:41Z")
Just to hijack the hijack back to the OP. The NYTimes is reporting that the Governor actually said it was a “catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/96 "2007-08-02T21:08:01Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] Don’t you think if it was threat a mod would be saying something? [/QUOTE] Mods aren’t available 24/7, therefore it’s improper to use their non-participation as evidence for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/97 "2007-08-02T21:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=Omegaman] Don’t you think if it was threat a mod would be saying something? [/QUOTE] Only if they saw it. It’s not like they read every single post in every single thread. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/98 "2007-08-02T21:19:55Z")
Well only time will tell, then. I know how \*\*Dudley \*\* feels. It’s hard to reconcile meatspace with this place sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/99 "2007-08-02T21:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Only if they saw it. It’s not like they read every single post in every single thread. [/QUOTE] Hey, it’s Miller with his cool-ass one-liners that he types on the Internets and gets people to spit milk onto their monitors because he’s so clever. He’s really grand and swell and stuff. Just ask him to break off a little quip for you, maybe an insult or two, he’ll make you laugh! Not only is he all funny and clever and stuff, but he knows what the mods read and what they don’t. It’s that superior intellectual capacity he has. You know how some say we have six senses? Miller’s got 7. It’s just called “Miller.” **Mill-er**. n. 1. a person who owns or operates a mill, esp. a mill that grinds grain into flour. 2. any moth, esp. of the family Noctuidae, having wings that appear powdery. 3. The ability to know everything all the time and convey it in succinct terms, Guess which one our smart-little buddy is? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105/100 "2007-08-02T21:28:41Z")
Just as a reality check, and to prove that Dopers are just people, I’ll note the following. I was listening to _Talk of the Nation_ on my way to a lunch meeting. They had a call from a guy who dragged his 8 year old kid to the site, because it was a historic event. There was another call from someone who was sure that people would be calling him to see if he was okay, though he didn’t usually drive over the bridge. Cell phones were jammed in the area as people called to say they were okay. I used to drive over the Bay twice a day. What would happen if an earthquake hit when I was in the middle has crossed my mind. Lots of people can put themselves on that bridge very easily. Stupid pitting, and it’s gone downhill from there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catastrophe-of-historic-proportion/414105.md?page=6)