The normally way to use the can opener is to open the knife to the can opener attachment. The opener kind of looks like a “J”, with the top of the J being the sharp end. Hold the knife with your thumb on the back of the J, which should not be sharp. Put the top of the J against the rim on the top of the can, following the edge of the can. Put the lip of the can in the crook of the “J” . Use the knife handle as the lever against the fulcrum of the crock of the J to push the tip of the blade into the can. If you can catch the rim of the can with the hook of the J, that works well too. After you have rotated the knife so that all of the sharp part (at the top of the J) is in the can, move the knife and blade around the can so that the tip of the blade is just in the can. Pull the knife back up, so that you make the hole a bit bigger. Continue this all the way around the can.
You can expect your first can to take a while to open; with practice, you can open a can like this in 20 seconds or so.
Once, I was on a camping trip where we brought soup for lunch. We realized that we had all neglected to bring a can opener, or a knife with a can opener. We ended up trying to open the soup with a hatchet, which resulted in a large mess; we probably spilled half the soup or more.
This has been one of the most enjoyable threads I’ve read anywhere in a long time. . .
I did know about Chick tracts before getting here, but I didn’t know about the website with all of them, so I missed out on a lot of hilarious running trends such as the “HAW HAW!” I did know about puppy teeth but hadn’t thought about it in a long time. I also had to dissect a squid in high school, but I almost passed out during the experience (my partner did all the work) and couldn’t tell you a thing about their anatomy.
This is the best story I could think of offhand; I’m sure I know MANY others, especially with my brother, but I can’t think of them. My brother, despite being a straight-A student is an idiot.
Every night both my parents and my brother and I are at my parents’ house, we play euchre. To determine who deals first, we deal cards one at a time to each person (face-up) until someone gets a jack; that person deals the first hand. One time it took a little longer than usual and my brother asked, “What if no one gets a jack?” . . . This is the same kid who will go alone when we only need one trick to win. :smack:
If I’d been involved earlier in this post, I would beg and plead Lobsang to use this quote in my signature. For some reason, I find it hilarious.
==============
I am constantly amazed at people who don’t know that when the light turns yellow, you are not supposed to mash the accelerator to the floor, especially when you’re the 8th car back in line.
Well, to be fair, on THIS issue, the military DOES treat Alaska as “overseas” and its members are required to get all the shots and go through all the same briefings etc that those going to europe etc have to get.
But I love TheFunkySpaceCowboy’s bringing up these things.
One other I’ve thought of is the Jay Leno “man on the streets” interviews where so many people think Alaska is located off the California coast. That’s where they show us on TV news weather maps, but it’s to save ROOM on their map (so it’s not so wide).
I absolutely guarantee you that most kids in California wouldn’t even know what you’re talking about, much less have seen one up close. Don’t assume that your local animals are everywhere, dude.
Many kids in southern California haven’t even been in snow. I taught 4th grade in neighborhoods that were so Hispanic that I had to make the point that California was not part of Mexico.
Unless you actually say “Wed-nes-day”, then just admit that some words in some regions are pronounced different from the way they are spelled, or even different from the “proper” pronunciation. And for the record, I’m one of the biggest grammar and pronunciation geeks I know.
I had never encountered Chick Tracts until another messageboard gave a link to a spoof of the old “Dark Dungeons” tract. At the time I was 23. I don’t know how I managed to escape knowledge of these things for that long, but that’s the way it turned out. I had even been using the internet for 5 years already and never encountered them.
The loops for print and cursive are done the same way. ‘p’ is done clockwise normally, as well as ‘b’ (which lacks a loop in cursive).
Hey, don’t pit The Simpsons!
Six weeks after Easter? So if Puxatawney Jesus hadn’t seen his shadow when he came out of the tomb, that would mean the Electoral College would have been just around the corner, eh?
Wow! You know how much pi is. That’s impressive! Considering as of december the current calculation is only out to 1.24 trillion decimal places…
While I don’t know how the Passover is calculated. Easter was set by Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. as being the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21st. However, I hadn’t heard that Orthodox churches use a different method. I’m not doubting you, I just haven’t heard it.
Regarding the mention of the Passover falling on the Sabbath in the gospel, Friday night is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath (I believe it starts at sundown), which continues through Saturday (and ends at sundown on that day, IIRC). The Christian denomination of 7th-day Adventists got their name because they celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, similar to Jews, whereas most other denominations use Sunday. Many European countries that had their founding based in Roman Catholicism (e.g. France) consider Monday the first day of the week, thereby making the seventh day of the week end up on Sunday.
**
When I read the post that mentioned the Civil War president, I had the same reaction you did. I would have said Jefferson Davis just to be a smartass as well.
I had a long argument with my manager at the country club where I work about whether or not “badder” is a word. I swore up and down its not, and even if it was, there would be no correct gramatical way to use it in a sentence. We made our bets (like we always do if we have differing opinions) and he came in the next day with a dictionary with the word badder in it. It said “slang” next to it, but still, i suppose if its in the dictionary, its a word huh? I lost the bet but come on, “badder”?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Hoopy Frood *
**
Wow! You know how much pi is. That’s impressive! Considering as of december the current calculation is only out to 1.24 trillion decimal places…
**
Where is the site for showing the current pi listing? (no not the whole number just hoow many places)
When I first read this post I thought Zen was a human. It would have been correct too – baby humans have canine teeth, and young canines have baby teeth! In either case, I had never heard of the practice.
You know what is the epitome of grammer stupidity? People who write “…for e.g…” My boss does it. Drives me crazy.
thanks to the ever-changing world of urban music, yes “badder” is a slang word.
An example for you, off the top of my head - This song is ancient, (ok, from the 1980’s) but I’m pretty sure it qualifies as “techno” of some sort. I believe the lyrics go like this:
I’m bigger and badder and rougher and tougher
In other words, sucka, there is no other
I’m the one and only dominator
I’m not saying badder is grammatically correct, but it is in use.
No doubt.
I actually did not know this, and for about a month was pouring a little bleach into the bottom of the bag in my son’s diaper pail after emptying and cleaning it. I was trying to disinfect and kill a bit of the smell, of course, but then read that they’re never supposed to mix. Urine contains ammonia, right?
I felt like SUCH an idiot.
:rolleyes:
Heh. Earlier today a coworker was telling a group of us about his wife’s pregnancy and how he was sure it was going to be a boy because of the way she was carring the child (I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something like if the woman carries the child low in her womb, it is a boy, but if she carries it high it is a girl).
I was rather skeptical about this, so as a joke I said with a straight face, “You can’t tell the sex of a child by the way the mother carries it – everybody knows the sex is determined by why way the husband was facing when the child was conceived.”
Amazingly, instead of a laugh, I got interested looks from my co-workers and comments of “Really?” and “I didn’t know that.”
If his way of having sex with her is closer to her ovulation date (2 days prior up to day of), it’s more likely they’ll have a boy, as boy sperm are faster swimmers.
If his way of having sex with her is further from her ovulation date (5-3 days prior) and abstaining the last few days before ovulation, it’s more likely they’ll get a girl, as girl sperm are hardier and live longer … plus they’re there “waiting” when eggie go down da hole.
Well, she might cross a river or two but not necessarily an ocean.
A few years ago, my cousin came home from 3rd grade with her list of “Things I Learned This Week” (written by her teacher). At the top of the list was “The Star Bangled Banner” (yes, the school was located within the United States. Okay, it WAS central Maine, but not like it was in Alaska or anything! )
I once spent a very painful hour trying to explain to an otherwise very intelligent friend that the “dark side of the moon” actually exists. I even used a grapefruit and a golf ball to demonstrate, but she just couldn’t/wouldn’t wrap her brain around the idea.
I still remember the day in grade school when we learned the difference between convex/concave and transparent/translucent/opaque. Such simple lessons that apparently were not learned by everyone.
Four years ago I moved to Chicago from Maine. All too often, when meeting people here and answering the inevitable getting-to-know-you questions, I am asked “So, what’s it like growing up in Maine?” My standard answer is “Oh, just like growing up in Illinois, except that I had a pet lobster under my bed and I rode a moose to school.” The disturbing part is how often people believe me.
(A little off-subject) There is a slightly embarrassing story that is now family legend about a very young jillzy watching mom frost a cake. As mom finished, I proudly told her that I was going to “lick the frosting off the bachelor.”
I think that one of the most stunning examples of everyday ignorance that I came across was at the deli counter at my local grocery. I asked the guy behind the counter for 1/3 of a pound of turkey. He turns away and starts slicing, and when he turns back to weigh the quantity he’d sliced so far, it comes up on the scale as 0.4 lbs. I was just about to tell him that it was OK if it was a little bit over when he turned back to the slicer and started cutting more. I said “Excuse me, but I only wanted 1/3 of a pound of that,” and he turned back around and positively snarled at me “Well, I don’t know what a THIRD is!”
:eep:
I was totally flummoxed. I said “Ummm…that would be 0.33 on the scale.”
)