Ask Grandstander

[John F]

...in other words you have no memory past the last 30 seconds and couldn't remember all the inane, inconceivable, versatile, venerable, memorable, malignant, masterful, magnificient, mindful, moody and melloncholy boggles that have been boggled in the years and eons that the Ask Grandstandermania has lasted, huh?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Nighthawk

How can you sleep at night knowing the totally unnecessary technological advance of the GrahmCrammer has left thousands of workers having to make do with substandard wages and housing, all to focus exclusively on the interests of you and the rest of your upper class friends:

I find that the best sleep aids at Grand Manor are the moat, the guard towers, the minefield and the pitch pots on the roof.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by skrable

Does having randy moss lead to venereal disease?

The worst sports carrier since Rusty Kuntz.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by John F

...in other words you have no memory past the last 30 seconds and couldn't remember all the inane, inconceivable, versatile, venerable, memorable, malignant, masterful, magnificient, mindful, moody and melloncholy boggles that have been boggled in the years and eons that the Ask Grandstandermania has lasted, huh?

This is the most bizarre question ever asked in this thread.

[Matt]

Which flavor of chap-stick do you prefer, and why?

[Cochise22]

What is your favorite word, that really is not a word?

[jtur88]

Is there any sport in which the expression "break the plane" appears in the text of the official rulebook?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Matt

Which flavor of chap-stick do you prefer, and why?

I've tried them all and find that I am most happy with the unflavored kind. The lime flavored wasn't too bad, the cherry was too much, but the only one that was truly revolting was the coffee flavored type.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Cochise22

What is your favorite word, that really is not a word?

That would be "rabbenstrapper" which I coined as a periodic alternative to "widget."

However, if we are counting proper names as words, then there is no word I've gotten more mileage out of than "Soandso." When I was at FSU, my last semester I lived at a rooming house with five others and there were no apartment numbers, just the address of the house on Pensacola street. It struck me that without planning, I had happened upon a situation where I had an address, but not a specific one where I could be traced. With that in mind, I capitalized on all those join the record/magazine/book club offers where you got 10 rabbenstrappers for free as long as you agreed to buy one a month for a year or whatever the specific terms were. I'd join, get all the free stuff and then just ignore all the threatening mail when I failed to order or pay for any of the obligatory items. I was free to do this because it none of it was in my name, it was in the name of "Roger Soandso" who I decided also lived at my rooming house and whose mail I was handling. I got a real bang out of all the letters coming in with promises turn "you, Mr. Soandso" over to collection agencies and so forth.

The name became a standing joke among my friends and it became something of a game to try and top one another in using it. Restaurant reservations, name tags at work, cited as an authority on some class paper, registering Roger to vote...that sort of thing. When we created our fake eastern Guru, we called his theology "Soandsoism."

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Is there any sport in which the expression "break the plane" appears in the text of the official rulebook?

Sky diving.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

This is the most bizarre question ever asked in this thread.

I'm on a roll

[Zen653]

I've read that the people of Ancient Nubia were an enterprising lot who performed all sorts of technical marvels for their time period. Generally, when a society is intelligent, educated and innovative, it becomes a world power. Why did this not happen for Nubia, and why did Nubian civilization die out?

[bigheadache]

Is it true that the Vatican is in Rome for the spaghetti?

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by Zen653

I've read that the people of Ancient Nubia were an enterprising lot who performed all sorts of technical marvels for their time period. Generally, when a society is intelligent, educated and innovative, it becomes a world power. Why did this not happen for Nubia, and why did Nubian civilization die out?

We are speaking of times ancient to the degree that the evidence for their civilization is largely of the artifact nature rather than written accounts of their life, so an awful lot remains in the speculative realm. If I recall correctly (this isn't my field) historians are still arguing over whether the Nubians who were overrun by the northern Egyptians were the buliders of the Nubian culture or some group that had already overthrown them.

Cultures collapse, cultures get replaced by stronger groups, plagues arrive, climate changes, natural disasters occur, decentralization of empires after the death of a strong ruler take place...these are the traditional ways cultures have perished rather than thrived and sometimes we just don't know what happened. What happened to pre-Columbian Mayan society? Nobody knows. The evidence indicates that they had math and architecture and astronomy and calendars and advanced agricultural techniques and ruled a vast empire...and when the west happened upon them, they had somehow or other reverted to a primitive version of themselves in the space of a few hundred years. We can't account for what took place there a thousand years ago and it's even tougher to try and figure out what happened to the Nubians 2500 years ago.

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by bigheadache

Is it true that the Vatican is in Rome for the spaghetti?

It's the Roman auto dealers which keep them there, they offer the best deals in the world on Popemobiles.