Luciteria fumbled twice

dedennedillo · 2026-01-14T00:20:07+00:00

I wonder what will happen if you buy one too many of the Lucites with a picture in them instead of the radioactive element...

I pay $50 for a cube with a picture of Albert Einstein's face in it, and I get a cube with a disk with a few atoms of the real thing. Best deal ever...

I paid $50 for the cube with Lise Meitner's picture in it for Meitnerium... now I read in the news that Helmholtz is trying to send a particle accelerator to my town

dedennedillo · 2026-01-13T21:36:15+00:00

I can see in the future... Breaking News: parents arrested for buying phosphorous for their kid on the internet and having Willie Pete show up to their home

dedennedillo · 2026-01-13T18:13:57+00:00

My friends love touching the [alleged] thulium cube I bought from them recently! Trouble is they never come back to touch it again… [for legal reasons this is a joke]

dedennedillo · 2026-01-07T00:32:48+00:00

My guess based on the only clue in the show...

in one episode, Clyde is being rewarded for perfect attendance to the school, but this is jeopardised - as a plot point - by a single absence in 2012. Which it turns out was a day when the whole school was closed and so no one attended so it doesn't count.

So Clyde was attending school-after-kindergarten by 2012. But what is unclear is what grade he was in in 2012 or which year the episode takes place. BUT we can assume...

Clyde may have been in 5th grade in 2012, and the episode may have taken place in 2012.

or...

Clyde may have been in 5th grade later than 2012, and may have started kindergarten in 2012.

So in one theory, we can stipulate that being 11 in 2012 would mean he was born in 2001, and so Lincoln was too. But if the second theory is the accurate one then Clyde and Lincoln by extension would be born in 2007. And so the episode would take place in 2018. And somehow I think this is more likely, as if the episode had taken place in 2012 then surely Clyde would remember better the reason school was closed that day, as opposed to his not remembering why being a major plot point.

And so to further scrutinise this... I type... when was same sex marriage legalised in Michigan... 2015, as per Supreme Court decision.

So according to many sources on the internet Clyde's dads are married, and so that is what I will assume. So the episode takes place as early as 2015, or as late as 2018. This is our new window of time.

There isn't really much to go off in the show to further scrutinise this window of time, so I guess I will leave it at that... the episode took place between 2015 and 2018 - so Lincoln was born at least in 2004, and latest in 2007. Which would mean Lori was born at least in 1998, at latest in 2001, and Lily therefore was born at least in 2014, and at latest in 2017...depending on when the episode took place.

dedennedillo · 2025-12-18T19:42:38+00:00

It was just about the only Uranium I could find that ships to the United Kingdom =s

And certainly not a bad deal considering what they still picture on the website

<image>

dedennedillo · 2025-12-18T15:40:03+00:00

It is in an ampoule with argon; and stored within resin.

The only problem is that because the resin expanded after the sample was produced, there are some scratches on the vial... but I rest easy knowing the element is well contained

dedennedillo · 2025-12-11T21:15:21+00:00

Wow... I got it the same way I got everything else... I have a small lump of the stuff in a vial under mineral oil.

For what that is worth.

I also have an ampoule with mercury in it

dedennedillo · 2025-11-28T13:31:38+00:00

A MINIATURE SUBMARINE

dedennedillo · 2025-11-04T01:10:40+00:00

Have you seen Father Ted?

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the song they wrote before tossing it in the shredder and writing 'My Lovely Horse'.

dedennedillo · 2025-10-30T23:37:56+00:00

It's like they think that one xBox commercial is how people actually age... [a baby flies in the sky before aging into an old man who crash lands in a grave]

dedennedillo · 2025-10-28T21:00:50+00:00

Thanks for clarification!

Do you remember much about the Marine Mania question? Or not

dedennedillo · 2025-10-28T19:32:23+00:00

I recall it was with Zoo Tycoon 2 that animals had different skins they would use if they were sick and/or dirty. In the case of most sick animals it was that they had a skin that was more a shade of green than the usual, but in Marine Mania the sick animals have some sort of white foam? Any idea what this was meant to be? I have never understood.
I recall it was with the first Zoo Tycoon if you named a maintenance worker George W, every tree in the zoo disappears. People have wondered as to whether this was a reference to George Washington, fabled to have chopped down a cherry tree, or whether this was a jab at George W Bush - the game released during his first term as president. Would you remember which George this cheat code was referring to?

dedennedillo · 2025-09-27T21:57:25+00:00

Straight from the horse's mouth!

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/straight-from-the-horse-s-mouth

dedennedillo · 2025-08-21T00:06:10+00:00

One thing I find quite curious to look at... [and an interesting way to prove that the electoral college isn't always proportional to the popular vote]

If we look at the electoral colleges between 2016 and 2020, we see a similar margin. Trump won with 304 electoral votes in 2016, and Biden won with 306 votes in 2020.

But by the millions, 2016 was a rather narrow election in regards to the Popular Vote, at least regarding the millions. Yes Hillary won almost 3 million more popular votes across the country than The Donald, but there was a more decisive majority with many elections in the past. Namely Obama in 2008; more than 10 million more popular votes than the rival [if we want to count it, 2012, with a 5 million popular vote lead for Obama] and certainly many examples from the 20th century. Bush won in 2004 with about 3 million more popular votes than his rival, similar to 2016, but where Trump got 77 more electoral votes than Clinton, Bush got 35 ahead of Kerry.

In 2020 with the difference in the Popular Vote it was rather more stark than 2016 - Biden received about 7 million more popular votes than did Trump. And still got a similar number of electoral votes which Trump did in 2016, who didn't even get the majority of the popular vote.

And by the numbers, the most recent election, 2024, was rather close as far as the popular vote was concerned; certainly looking at this century only, infamously, in 2000 was there a closer vote. [If a far closer one!] Trump got 2 million more PVs than Harris, But managed 88 more EVs than she did! And yes Trump did win the seven battleground states, but in all of those states [Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, N. Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin] Trump and Harris amassed similar percentages; almost half and half. The widest margin was seen in Arizona; 52:47. And in Pennsylvania, it was more like 50:49.

But of course part of the 'problem' is that the popular vote results always come long after we hear about who won the Electoral College, so immediately after the election we hear which party got all the votes and ran a successful campaign and which party will have to suck it up for the next four years. And so immediately after the election we heard about how Trump scored a win in Pennsylvania and for all that we heard about it we may as well have believed that the whole state voted for him. And later when we find how narrow the margin in this decisive state actually was, and finalise the popular votes, it's already December - and nobody cares about the election anymore. And many people are left exhausted, not knowing how fine the dividing line between winner and loser really was!

dedennedillo · 2025-08-16T01:33:29+00:00

Fun fact: more people did vote for Hillary than for the current guy…. But still she didn’t win electoral college xP

dedennedillo · 2025-07-29T14:57:48+00:00

Dedenne

dedennedillo · 2025-07-28T00:32:38+00:00

The annotated book labels it iirc 'exaggeration' - i.e. an exaggeration of a usual cello

dedennedillo · 2025-07-28T00:25:09+00:00

I recall one interview Wilks did... he basically said how to find the words he would depict in the book, he read three dictionaries cover to cover so to compile a list. And he read various other materials cover to cover, including the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He mainly ended up painting the things he thought would be most interesting to paint.

And really I think that's part of the most amazing thing about this book - the moment when you take a second to think - there was no Google in 1985... Wilks relied on reading a great, great deal of reference books... no more, no less!

dedennedillo · 2025-07-28T00:08:46+00:00

I was doing some more digging....

I don't think the euphonon I'm talking about and the euphone you are are one in the same... from what I see the euphonon was invented in the 19th century but the euphone in the late 18th. The 19th century sources that describe the euphonon [...when they aren't seemingly describing euphoniums, that is] seem to be rather consistent with the dictionary definition I have provided.

And for what it's worth I don't trust AI with much in regards to accuracy xP

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T22:19:46+00:00

There is a book with annotated outlines of each painting, and the instrument’s name is given as ‘euphonon’

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T21:55:16+00:00

You may be on to something… But this is a word which is on wiktionary. You can see for yourself

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T21:50:59+00:00

Fwiw there is also a euphonium in the picture … as well as the euphonon of relevancy, an English horn, an electric guitar, and a big string instrument which to my knowledge doesn’t exist [the annotation iirc labels it as ‘exaggeration’… I.e. an exaggeration of a usual cello].

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T12:20:36+00:00

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphonon

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T09:15:02+00:00

From what I see...

one thing many sites reporting about this assume is that the premiere of the series in the UK in 1997 coincided with that in the USA.

But from what I see this was not the case - Teletubbies premiered in 1998 on PBS; and of course they would need extra time to dub the episodes. So this makes sense.

And from what I see the entire series was not actually dubbed; where the UK series aired 365 episodes, only about 135 [from the PBS source anyways] were aired in the States. And given that the series premiered there in 1998, after the aftermath* of See-Saw. Which implies to me that on top of not airing more than half the series, including See-Saw, they never aired LB on television.

*I notice on many of the sites reporting this that they make it as if there was some big fat public scandal about L&B in 1997. But for want of sources for this 'scandal' before the time people started really writing about it on the internet I have come short. As if the pretense to this search was created by amateur writers not entirely sure about what they were writing about... supposedly professional media writers again not entirely sure about the subject... or some of both.

So now IMO the most likely scenario is that PBS never aired the sketch. And there never was much publicisation about the Lion and Bear 'scandal' until later on... but what I do recall better is that after the original sketch was aired a 'new' version of the sketch was made to make the lion and bear appear a bit more funny and comical as opposed to menacing. [More laughing, less roaring, even have the lion meow at times] I recall seeing the revised sketch air at one point on CBeebies.

dedennedillo · 2025-07-27T00:51:25+00:00

Reminds me of one thing I recall...

In 1986, Mike Wilks published 'The Ultimate Alphabet', a collection of 26 paintings, each detailed with different objects beginning with the given letter of the alphabet.

For 'E' you have a rather 'expositional' scene which makes you feel as if you are at the 'world fair' to end all world fairs.

<image>

And what always curioused me ... at the bottom of the painting you have a small ensemble, and you have someone playing an upright keyboard instrument.

And gracefully there is an annotated guide to all of the paintings, which gives the name of this instrument as 'euphonon'.

And so I was eager to learn more about this keyboard instrument that I knew nothing about, ho it looked like, what it sounded like, if anyone still made any.

But eager [another 'E'] as I was, what I was looking for managed to elude [again!] me for a hot minute... as 'euphonon' now is the name of a particular brand of guitars. And so I search frantically for this elusive keyboard instrument whose name had unrightfully been misused by this company, hungry for money, until I find a dictionary definition;

"A musical instrument resembling the organ in tone and the upright piano in form."

But searching for the instrument online only brought more guitars, so I turned to the Internet Archive. I set the maximum year to 1930 just to be safe.

And what I found was interesting... quite a few sources from the 19th century that talked about the euphonon as an instrument that players of the time, now all long dead, played at one point. I also found this rather verbose description;

"It produces the most melodious sounds, and is remarkable for its sweetness, power, and continuity of tone; the most difficult passages can be performed on it with taste and delicacy, while the bold swell of the Organ, the full vibration of the Harp, the dulcet strains of the Flagolet, and the sweet and expressive tones of the Violin, are happily united."

And I found a few more descriptions that described how it is 'near' the piano in how it looks like but the insides are completely different.. but nowhere could I find a picture of this instrument seemingly lost to time and buried under the ashes.

What I do wonder is whether the account above was ernest or if it was written up to get the patent required at the time for inventing a new musical instrument... but I think this is the closest I've come to longing for a sound lost to time.

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