Butters sent me a link to the Wikiquotes page, which seems like it may be but isn't necessarily associated with Wikipedia. The Last Words page is fascinating! Some of my favorite last words:
- "I am about to -- or I am going to -- die: either expression is correct." - Dominique Bouhours, French Grammarian and unbelievable pedant.
- "LSD, 100 micrograms I.M." - Aldous Huxley, author and psychedelic pioneer.
- "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide." - Christine Chubbuck, local anchorwoman, who then blew her own brains out. (cf Budd Dwyer and his suicide video. EXTREMELY GRAPHIC.)
The last words page led me to check out a bunch of different personages, some fascinating, some boring. The last one I read through all the way was the entry on Billy the Kid, which was fascinating. I can't say that I wouldn't have ended up the same way as him, in his shoes. He started off being an outlaw at fourteen by shooting the smith who used to regularly beat him. I can't lie, I fantasized about a lot shooting people at fourteen, and I wasn't being regularly beaten by them. What I found most interesting, however, is that the story of Young Guns, actually seemed to conform on most salient points with what's really known of his life. His launch to true notoriety really came from being a part of the "Regulators", they really were trying to avenge the murder of their employer, and they really did end up getting burned out of a house after a five day siege. What isn't clear is whether they were ever "in the spirit world, you asshole", or whether they regularly shouted "Regulators, mount up!".
Boric acid
Who knew that something so ubiquitous could be so good for us, with so many uses? Boric Acid is found in almost all fruits, in saltwater, and volcanic fissures. The reason I decided to look it up is that a friend, who shall remain unnamed, told me it's good for treating yeast infections. Knocks em right out. Alright, I'll have to trust her on that. It's used for a ton of other applications, however; it's used medically in anti-fungal powders, to treat ear infections, and even in eye drops. It's also used as an incecticide, a preservative, and in nuclear power plants to regulate the rate of fission.
Interestingly, it's also listed by the Merck Index as toxic, although it's lethal dose is less than that of salt. I often wonder about the difference between poison and essential element for life. Even water, which we all know is vital to our well being, can be a poison, in extreme quantities.
Euler's disk
One of the guys who sits down the hall has an Euler's disc (pronounced "Oiler's disc"). Have you ever spun a coin on a table, and been fascinated by the period between when it stops spinning vertically on it's access, and before it finally settles on the table? Well, this is a disc that is specifically designed to maximize the amount of time that the disc oscillates like this on the table. It goes round and round and round forever! It's really fascinating to me. One of the cool things about working with a bunch of uber-geeks is that they have all sorts of uber geeky toys. One of the downsides is that because they're from all over the world, there's a good chance that your reference to the Three Amigos is going to fall flat in meetings. "Hefe, would you say I have a plethora of bugs?" Crickets.
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