PDA

View Full Version : Thought for the day...



elder999
25th June 2003, 00:11
I thoguht I'd just post this, and renew and old thread....

Does anyone kjnow the origin of the word "barbarian?"

It's from ancient Greek...

"Barbarian" came to us from Greek bárbaros, "the sound foreigners make", and the Romans got their form "barbaria" from the Greeks. A related word is the first word in the place name Barbary Coast, supposedly named because the inhabitants there spoke a foreign tongue, at least to European ears. The Sanskrit cognate is barbaras "stammering".

...and now wee say "It sounds like Greek to me, " to pretty much mean the same thing!

elder999
26th June 2003, 19:11
One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried
piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw. As every shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed, as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.

The Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.
Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!







****************************************************************************
************************************

O.K., that's enough of that BS ... The donkey later came back, caught
the farmer out in the field and kicked the $hitout of him. Then he went
over to each of his neighbors farms and kicked the $hit out of them too for helping.

The REAL Moral: When you try to cover your ass, it always comes back to
get you.

StanLee
27th June 2003, 08:16
Just one word...

Conan

Stan

Vapour
27th June 2003, 15:57
Let add something here. Greek thought foreinger were saying "brah brah" which in Greek was "Bar bar" hence barbarian. Brahbrahrian. Funny, isn't it.

Chiburi
27th June 2003, 16:20
Originally posted by Vapour
Let add something here. Greek thought foreinger were saying "brah brah" which in Greek was "Bar bar" hence barbarian. Brahbrahrian. Funny, isn't it.

That's what I was once told as well.

Cheers,

Charlie Kondek
27th June 2003, 17:38
Conan?

"Conan! What is best in life?"

"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

* * * *

Incidentally, me and my crowd thought this fact was funny, too. When we don't know what to say, we used to go: "Barbarbarbarbarbar..."

* * * * *

So... what is the Riddle of Steel?

elder999
2nd July 2003, 13:43
Ya ever wonder why they don't make pickup trucks with full time front wheel drive?

Soulend
2nd July 2003, 15:35
If you took the drive shaft and differential of a pick-up and moved it up front, the rear would be so light it have a tendency to fishtail, and would handle like crap. Also, they would be hard to drive with a loaded bed, since when you put heavy stuff in the back it will lift the front as the rear is pushed down. You'd lose traction.

elder999
2nd July 2003, 15:48
Originally posted by Soulend
If you took the drive shaft and differential of a pick-up and moved it up front, the rear would be so light it have a tendency to fishtail, and would handle like crap. Also, they would be hard to drive with a loaded bed, since when you put heavy stuff in the back it will lift the front as the rear is pushed down. You'd lose traction.

What about four wheel drive, though? And don't they already have a light-assed tendency to fishtail, especially when accelertating on dirt?(You know they do, we have the same Nissan Frontier...)
You could put drive to the rear wheels when loaded, or for extra traction, and front wheel drive, for everyday driving-unloaded, and highway drivig would last longer and be more economical. Also, a transaxle for rear wheel drive would be easier to maintain.....

Yeah, VW made a Rabbit into a pickup.......I don't know anything about them; they didn't last long in the US.

elder999
2nd July 2003, 16:37
Towing.

Pickups could not tow well with front-wheel drive.This is an essential component of the pickup job description.....

Kaiser made a Jeep pickup with front wheel drive in the 50's.

Dodge made one out of Mnis in the 80's....

Towing-doh!

Jack B
2nd July 2003, 18:28
Originally posted by elder999
Pickups could not tow well with front-wheel drive.This is an essential component of the pickup job description.....In Dallas, we always figured the "pickup" part meant you had to have big wheels to impress the chicks...

Soulend
2nd July 2003, 21:08
Haven't had too much trouble with fishtailing in the Frontier, and I have only driven pretty slow on dirt....but you're right, the rear is light. Grabs a little better with a couple of big deer carcasses and a case or two of beer in the back though :)
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/iy/3d/f8375c0088a94434500619e82bbb28.jpg

elder999
2nd July 2003, 21:18
Yes, the 4WD differential is in the rear. What I'm proposing (and hat might have been tried by Kaiser, I'm still researching) is 4WD with the normal drive up front, and a transfer case that drives the rear wheels on demand.

Let's face it, most of us use our pickups to drive around. I mean, I'm doing some home improvements, and use it to haul stuff back and forth from Home Depot, and to the dump, and it's great for shopping, but the bed is usually not loaded-and more often than not, it's loaded with bicycles, camping and hunting equipment...and beer.:p
oh, and fire wood, and tipi poles and elk carcasses...

....it just made sense to me to have the drive up front most of the time, mechanically speaking, until I thought of towing. It would certainly be economical, and last longer.......

gmanry
2nd July 2003, 22:08
Once there was a little bird who was late flying south for the winter. He got too cold and had to land in a snow storm. He was freezing to death and started to fall asleep.

A cow came along and took a sh*t which landed on the little bird. The poop was warm and steaming and slowly the little bird started to warm up and feel better, despite his pungent circumstance. The sun came out finally and warmed him further. He was happy and began to sing.

A cat nearby heard him singing and snuck up on the poor little bird and ate him.

The moral:

Not everyone who gets you into sh*t is your enemy.
Not everyone who gets you out of sh*t is your friend.
When you are in deep sh*t, shut the hell up.

I stole this from my wife...don't tell her.

elder999
3rd July 2003, 15:48
....you see lots of #2 pencils, but no #1 pencils?

Soulend
3rd July 2003, 17:02
This thread is taking on a decidedly George Carliny flavor...

I think a #1 is too soft (http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7942sci4.html) for general writing purposes...

elder999
9th March 2006, 00:04
Do penguins have knees?

Jamie Stokes
9th March 2006, 04:14
... and is wndering the supermarket aisles.
sees coffe powder:"my, thats convenient!" he thinks.
next aisle, he sees powdered milk: "wow, how convenient!"
Third aisle over, sees 'Baby powder' "Now what a country this is!!!"

So, Corn oil comes from corn.
Mineral oil comes from minerals.
Where does baby oil come from?


Jamie

kmorgan
9th March 2006, 15:52
Do penguins have knees?

Wexo, John Bonnett. Zoobooks: Penguins, 1998. Wildlife Education, Ltd. San Diego, CA. Clear illustration of the biophysics of being a penguin, as well as the only picture of a penguin skeleton I've seen to date. Penguins do too have knees.

Cady Goldfield
9th March 2006, 15:57
Dang. I thought it came from "barba," a beard. As in hairy, unwashed, unshorn savages. :)


I thoguht I'd just post this, and renew and old thread....

Does anyone kjnow the origin of the word "barbarian?"

It's from ancient Greek...

"Barbarian" came to us from Greek bárbaros, "the sound foreigners make", and the Romans got their form "barbaria" from the Greeks. A related word is the first word in the place name Barbary Coast, supposedly named because the inhabitants there spoke a foreign tongue, at least to European ears. The Sanskrit cognate is barbaras "stammering".

...and now wee say "It sounds like Greek to me, " to pretty much mean the same thing!

Inazuma
10th March 2006, 02:02
How about "Wales"?
It means Land of Romanized Foreigners... the Welsh have older titles of their land, and for a long while before Wales became accepted they actually fought to be called Brythoniaid (British), which is probably also a coined word by foreigners... There is also another word, Cymru, which stems from "Fellow Countrymen"
Words, words words, they never mean quite what you think they mean...

Prince Loeffler
10th March 2006, 05:31
I heard of New Jersey, what happened to the "old" Jersey ? :)

Joseph Svinth
10th March 2006, 08:10
Old Jersey is still there, off the coast of France in the English Channel, same as it's always been.
http://www.jersey.com/

As for how the name came about, during 1646 and 1649, Charles II avoided Cromwell's men by hiding on the island of Jersey. So, in 1663, King Charles gave George Carteret, the governor of Jersey during the 1640s, a large grant of land in the American colonies, which Carteret named New Jersey. http://www.jerseyheritagetrust.org/collections/fame/charles.html

For what it's worth, New Caesarea was the alternative name. See http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj03.htm

Andrew S
10th March 2006, 08:14
Early maps were drawn with East to the top, hence "orient" a map.

elder999
10th March 2006, 13:34
Let add something here. Greek thought foreinger were saying "brah brah" which in Greek was "Bar bar" hence barbarian. Brahbrahrian. Funny, isn't it.


I miss, Youjii, but he's wrong. I'm the one who had a classical education inflicted upon him, and had to take Greek.....

..speaking of Greek, a paradox:


Man learns from history that man learns nothing from his history.

Andrew S
10th March 2006, 22:10
When the day is bad and life's a curse,
Cheer up!
Tomorrow may be worse.

william northcote
13th March 2006, 00:04
My thought for the day is that in winter tons of snow falls from the sky. But you tell a drug dealer that and he gets annoyed. :p

elder999
12th April 2006, 18:24
Why is it that if you send something by truck it's called a "Shipment," but if you send it by ship it's "cargo?"

Andrew S
12th April 2006, 21:54
Does "impeccable" mean "bird proof?"

william northcote
12th April 2006, 22:55
Why is bird flu capable of being caught by humans as well?

mews
13th April 2006, 01:28
are we not upright, featherless bipeds?

mew

Tripitaka of AA
13th April 2006, 06:36
are we not upright, featherless bipeds?

mew

We are Devo.



or


Toys 'R' us.

Tripitaka of AA
13th April 2006, 06:42
I've said it before...

How come you can squeeze a toothpaste tube any which way, yet the stripes always come out the right way around?

william northcote
13th April 2006, 07:47
I've said it before...

How come you can squeeze a toothpaste tube any which way, yet the stripes always come out the right way around?

Ask the French, they invented it.

My new t hought for the day is....

Why is it I have to kidnap people just so I can get to know their names?

elder999
24th April 2006, 18:31
Why was it called "civil defense," when there's nothing civil about it?

...and whatever happened to it, anyway???? (hee-hee!ho-ho!ha-ha!)

william northcote
24th April 2006, 22:01
Why is it you can never find the Think Tank? Is it some form of galvanised sink or would that term make it a actual process instead of thinking if it was?

Jock Armstrong
24th April 2006, 22:53
My thought for the the day - for all of our soldiers in every shitty hole in the world they are in looking after our interests. Today is ANZAC day [Australian and New Zealand Army Corps]. Lest we forget...........

william northcote
29th April 2006, 22:33
I am scared. I just looked at my house on Google map. It looked sunny even though it is half ten at night and the sun has gone down.

Andrew S
30th April 2006, 21:08
The only rational explanation for all the things that go wrong in my life is: The Universe is plotting against me.