# I used to be 1920s Style "Death Ray" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 7, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618 "2010-03-07T13:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/1 "2010-03-07T13:31:02Z")
As per [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=554822), I have changed user name from **1920s Style “Death Ray”** to **Richard Pearse**. > **[Richard Pearse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse)** > > Richard William Pearse (3 December 1877 – 29 July 1953) was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering aviation experiments. Witnesses interviewed many years afterwards describe observing Pearse flying and landing a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, nine months before the Wright brothers flew.: 21–30  Ambiguous statements made by Pearse himself make it difficult to date the aviation experiments with certainty. In a newspaper interview in 1909, with respect to ... > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Pearse supposedly successfully flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903[1], some nine months before the Wright brothers flew their craft. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/2 "2010-03-07T14:29:37Z")
Ah. I was looking at your username and thinking, “Hm, if he’s been around so long, how come I’ve never noticed him before?” Was the addition of custom titles a factor in the change? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/3 "2010-03-07T15:07:23Z")
If it were me, I’d have gone with Pearse’s nickname instead: Bamboo Dick. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/4 "2010-03-07T15:35:06Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > If it were me, I’d have gone with Pearse’s nickname instead: Bamboo Dick. Sounds like someone who wants a blow job from a panda. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/5 "2010-03-07T16:44:23Z")
Pandas have more teeth and general viciousness than their cute appearance would suggest. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/6 "2010-03-07T16:48:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Pandas have more teeth and general viciousness than their cute appearance would suggest. That’s why theiy’re known as bamboo dicks. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/7 "2010-03-08T01:35:51Z")
Panda Dentata and risotto, Hmmm fusion! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/8 "2010-03-08T01:47:23Z")
Oh boo-boo. I loved “1920s Style Death Ray,” though I must say your custom user title is nice. Incidentally, do you know who Matthew B. Sellers is? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/9 "2010-03-08T07:37:30Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Ah. I was looking at your username and thinking, “Hm, if he’s been around so long, how come I’ve never noticed him before?” I’m doing the same thing, I don’t identify the name with me yet, I keep thinking, “who’s Richard Pearce and why is he in all of the threads I’m subscribed to?” > [@](#): > > Was the addition of custom titles a factor in the change? The custom titles prompted me to become a member again, I’d let my Charter Member status lapse some time ago (so that’s a win for the SDMB, I’m now paying twice as much as I was.) The name change was just something I’d been thinking about for years but never got around to. **Xash** was changing my username while trouble shooting a database error problem I was having, so it seemed like a good time to change to something that I more closely identify with, i.e, aviation and New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/10 "2010-03-08T07:42:34Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Oh boo-boo. I loved “1920s Style Death Ray,” though I must say your custom user title is nice. I think it was well passed its prime. > [@](#): > > Incidentally, do you know who Matthew B. Sellers is? No, but I soon will… …ok, I’m going through links, looks interesting so far. (Isn’t the internet grand?) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/11 "2010-03-08T07:53:45Z")
**Ellen Cherry** , do you have a particular interest in Matthew B. Sellers? I’m thinking I might buy the biography. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/12 "2010-03-08T09:30:23Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > I’m doing the same thing, I don’t identify the name with me yet, I keep thinking, “who’s Richard Pearce and why is he in all of the threads I’m subscribed to?” > . And in time you’ll learn to spell your new name. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/13 "2010-03-08T09:48:05Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > And in time you’ll learn to spell your new name. 😃 :D, yes I need to work on that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/14 "2010-03-08T13:07:25Z")
I’ve been to the field where he made this “flight” where a statue has been out up to commemorate it. But it must be noted that Pearse himself didn’t consider his achievement as a real contender, and flight may have been very different if they had taken his craft design’s lead. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/15 "2010-03-08T13:27:40Z")
Don’t worry I’m not trying to start a Richard Pearse/Wright Brothers Pavlova war :D. I just think it’s an interesting piece of NZ history. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/16 "2010-03-08T21:50:52Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > **Ellen Cherry** , do you have a particular interest in Matthew B. Sellers? I’m thinking I might buy the biography. The public television network where I work is airing an independent documentary about him, and I just wrote a story about it for our program guide. The author of the book, Sellers’ granddaughter, is interviewed. The filmmaker is from the little Kentucky county where Sellers is from. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/17 "2010-03-08T23:03:01Z")
I knew you and now I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/18 "2010-03-09T04:49:26Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Don’t worry I’m not trying to start a Richard Pearse/Wright Brothers Pavlova war :D. I just think it’s an interesting piece of NZ history. Thanks for edumacating me. And by the way - what war? Everybody knows NZ invented the pavlova, and those durned aussies stole it. They are welcome to the Lamington though, but should give up on Phar Lap already… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/19 "2010-03-09T10:48:37Z")
They can have Russel Crowe too. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618/20 "2010-03-09T12:35:34Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > They can have Russel Crowe too. Yeah but we’re totally keeping the other cousins though. And by the way, while we’re at it - to all 'Mercans, just remember that the Millen brothers of Pike’s Peak fame hail from NZ… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-be-1920s-style-death-ray/531618.md?page=2)