The Rock Wad Collection
All Submitted Rock Wads - Past and Present (and future...)
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - November 23rd
Submitted by Nate
"Are Eastern Asians into 'Sword & Sandal' movies?"
Answer:
Assuming that eastern Asians — or at least some of them — have an interest or understanding of of westernized philosophies and are up to snuff with Greco-Roman and/or Biblical history, I would venture a guess to say that at least some of them are "into" these types of flicks. I must say, however, that as a relatively culturally green anglo I would presume "the common" eastern Asian has little to no understanding of such history, and therefore most them simply wouldn't understand the context or settings of such movies; hence, and general blanket statement can safely be made that "most eastern Asians are not into 'sword and sandal' movies."
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - August 3rd
Submitted by "DIELON"
"At what exit velocity does vomit become 'projectile'?"
Answer:
Infamous CAPS LOCK DIELON poses yet another interesting rockwod that I vow will not stump me.
Projectile vomit, not as often called its proper term "Pyloric stenosis", is a condition in which a vomiteur expels his/her spewth in a manner atypical with traditional porcelain-hugging hurl. There is actual scientific data to measure projectile vomit, as seen in the chart below:
Standardized path of projectile vomit.
Image courtesy of Uncyclopedia
In case you were wondering what actually defines projectile vomit, look no further:
"[Projectile vomit] is rejected food bollusks from the stomach and esophagus. Unlike normal vomit, projectile vomit must travel at least one metre and contain at least one sweetcorn within the vomit. The vomit must perform a perfect arc through the air when viewed from the side.
Diagnosis is usually performed by a trained doctor. Standing to the side of the suspect Projectile Vomiter the doctor arranges the patient next to a life size graph of an arch (usually 'y=-x^2'). The doctor tells the patient to angle their head at approximately 45 degrees, although usually a protractor is used by the doctor to accurately measure the angle. The patient is then asked to wait until they feel appropriately sick and the doctor stands back and compares the vomits apparent path through the air in comparison with the graph behind it.
A deviation of 20% from the graphs path results in a failed diagnosis of projectile vomitting."
Stump the Rock Wad king?! I said what what (in the butt)?!
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 17th
Submitted by "DIELON"
"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SINBAD THE COMEDIAN?"
Answer:
Oh DIELON OF CAPS LOCK FAME, I summon you to the "things that bug" page to self-submit your own grammatical violations in both the über caps lock depresssion and the whatever/what ever infraction.
That said, Sinbad the comedian was kind of a flash in the pan in my book. He was a quasi-popular comedian/entertainer in the early- to late-1990s, whose level of his popularity was remotely tangible at best. He starred in The Sinbad Show, a cleverly-titled sitcom on Fox that was canceled within its first season. I never got into the show, although I do remember it being "not too bad." I believe its popularity was largely attributable to its airing time, being the show following The Simpsons when it aired on Thursdays.
Sinbad's biggest contribution to the entertainment industry is undoubtedly his stand-up career. As a stand-up comedian, he has and still does fill arenas. I've heard a fair amount of him on XM Radio, and I'd say he's better than many, but not the best.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 9th
Submitted by "chester"
"Is it possible to swim in popped popcorn? To be specific, could someone be submerged in a pool of popped popcorn and breast stroke from one end to the other, i.e. move the length of the pool while under the surface of said popcorn?"
Answer:
I've pondered this situation many times. While one might think that you can swim in anything so long as it is not a solid, in the event of a tub filled with popped popcorn, a human would not be able to swim in it. It is quite likely that the human would be able to "stay afloat" on/in the popcorn, but as soon as you started to take strokes, you would not be propelled by said strokes; you would actually start to dig yourself deeper into the tub of popcorn.
If ever there was a good way to be trapped, I'd say this was it. The only way to get out of this mess would be to eat your way out.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - April 2nd
Submitted by "vin"
"What is the plural of 'Furious'? More specifically, what would one call the Fast & Furious movies without using the term 'movies'?"
Answer:
To answer the first part of this multi-part question: the word "furious" is an adjective. Adjectives cannot be pluralized; hence, there is no plural for the word "furious."
To specifically address what one would call the Fast and the Furious movies without actually referring to them as "movies," you have many options. At this point, you could call them "motion pictures," "titles," "flicks," or even the lesser-used "moving pictures." As of this posting, this is a three-part series, so you could refer to te collection as a "trilogy," which is not too uncommon. A fourth flick is in the works, however, so "trilogy" will soon be inaccurate.
Now back to the original questions; and if you're referring to the word and using it in the context of a term that is a noun — for example in the movie "The Fast and the Furious" — then one could probably go with something like "Fast and the Furii." If you wanted to be a goober and not challenge one's lexicon too greatly, you could just say "The Fast and the Furious series."
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - January 19th
Submitted by "nate"
"Is there a crime associated with threatening the President Elect's life before s/he is President?"
Answer:
What a timely question — what with a very historic presidential inaguration happening tomorrow and all.
It is technically only illegal to talk about killing the president if that is your intent and if there’s malice behind it. So in this, and many other contexts, you can actually talk about killing a president — whether s/he is the current or prospective commander in chief. I would advise against it, though, since you never know when Big Brother is watching/listening.
I'm actually sweating a bit right now as I type this. If I don't show up to work tomorrow, you know why... The Rock Wad has claimed its last victim!
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - December 20th
Submitted by DIELON (of caps lock fame)
"Jack Black appeared in The Jackal (1997) for a brief period and was in no way a significant role in that movie. This was before Black was considered a 'famous' actor. It could be said that his appearance was considered a cameo; however, my general understanding of a cameo is when a 'famous' actor/actress appears in a movie (or television show) for a bit part — but that it's only applicable to someone who is bona fide famous. Is Jack Black's role in The Jackal considered a cameo, officially?"
Answer:
This is a very technical question, and one which I'm not opposed to trying to answer. In typical converstaion and context, I use the term cameo to describe a bit part by an actor/actress who is already well established and is legitimately famous prior to said bit part.
Dictionary.com tends to side with me on this issue: "...a minor part played by a prominent performer in a single scene of a motion picture or a television play."
So there you have it. Only use the word cameo when talking about someone who is famous.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - July 9th
Submitted by Gregsauce
"Who is a more skilled street fighter, Ryu or Ken?"
Answer:
Finally, a Street Fighter question! Thank you, Mr. Sauce. As many of you know, I'm a big SFII fan. I've been on board with this game since it hit the arcades back in the early 1990's. When we found out that it would be coming out for SNES, it was basically like finding out that heaven would now be available in a cartridge. I'll pay $40 for a cartridge of heaven any day of the week! Lest we forget that $40 in SFII at the arcade would come about pretty quickly at 25¢ per game — that's only 160 games! But I digress...
I was always under the impression that Ken and Ryu were similar fighters both employing slightly different strengths and weaknesses with their various moves. With these differences, it was thought by me and my peers at the time that one or the other has an advantage or is more skilled than the other, which led to some pretty serious debates back in the day. I had always thought that Ken had stronger moves than Ryu but was a bit slower, while Ryu was the opposite — a little bit weaker but faster than Ken.
After doing some research (i.e. checking out Google for a few minutes), it has become clear that the Ken and Ryu of SFII (both in the SNES and arcade versions) were identical with the exception of the appearance of their sprites — Ken is the flashy blonde with the bright red ghi, while Ryu sports the more traditional white in addition to a red bandana. Ken has a throw that you perform in close range using the strong kick button in which he does several somersaults before tossing his opponent. The same move from Ryu's arsenal simply uses one (or one-half, depending on your definition) somersault before the throw is commenced. I seem to recall Ken's spinning kick being a little stronger and/or faster RPM than Ryu's, or maybe it went farther across the screen or something, but it's been a long time since those days and I think now that I look back on it, they're probably the same as each other.
I have learned that more advanced and newer versions of the Street Fighter series have actually changed the way Ken and Ryu fight, and that they actually are different now. Since I only count SFII as the Street Fighter, the new versions don't count in my final judgment. So after much arguing from back in the day, and with the current resource that is the interwebs, I have come to the conclusion that neither Ken nor Ryu is more skilled that the other. I was always pulling (and always used) Ken because he and I are blonde bombshells, but I'll have to put that thinking to bed now.
I use Guile anyway.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - July 3rd
Submitted by DIELON (still having trouble with the caps lock key)
"Where did the term 'Steal my thunder.' come from?"
Answer:
This is a pretty good question. I've always been curious about the origin of this term myself. From what I can find, this originally came to be due to a crappy 19th-century playwrite's lack of ability to produce successful plays, oddly enough. His name was John Dennis, and he is actually credited with invention of a device that creates a thunder sound. While his plays were generally pretty terrible, the sound that his thunder-making device made was quite accepted and later used in other productions by other playwrites. The original use of the "steal my thunder," according to this site is: "That is my thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder but not my play!" Keep in mind that this is "ye olde" style speak, so when broken down and tranlsated into modernized style, we now say "steal (one's) thunder."
Great Rock Wad!
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - June 30th
Submitted by Nate
"Why would a ninja use nun-chucks if they were invented by peasant farmers who were not allowed blades or arrows? Also, if a ninja and a samurai were pitted against each other in a no-weapons, bare-knuckle cage match, who would win?"
Answer:
To touch on your first question first: I suggest you not question the arsenal of the ninja. That's just a fair warning; don't say I didn't tell you so.
If a ninja and a samurai were pitted against each other in a no-weapons, bare-nuckle cage match, the ninja would win — duh. Ninjas are so fast and clever, they'd make the bonehead samurai seem like retards. The purpose of a ninja is to flip out and kill people. That inlcludes samurai, unless you're talking about a non-person samurai. In that scenario, the ninja might be challenged. It is quite likely that he would then adapt his flip-out-and-kill-people style to non-people; hence, the non-person would also quite soon be at the mercy of a merciless thrashing.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - June 29th
Submitted by Slauctough
"Which is a more skilled fighter; Ninja or Samurai?"
Answer:
This is actually one of those questions where there are a number of ways to go about answering it, depending on what you consider to be more skilled. It's sort of liking asking "who is more athletic; a baseball player or a basketball player?" It all depends on your definition of "athletic." So in this case, the term "skill" as applied to fighting is highly subjective.
Going off of what I know about ninjas and samurai, I would have to say a ninja is a more skilled fighter. Samurai were warriors who were entrusted — much in the same way a soldier is expected to serve his country — with protecting and serving the lord (not to be confused with God or Jesus; we're talking about "the lord" in Japanese lore terms). A samurai can be seen as more of a servant or someone who works with directives from a "higher up," such as possibly a lieutenant or similar. Intrinsically, he would not necessarily be fighting with the same vigor as a ninja due to the fact that he'd be fighting "for" someone else's cause.
Ninjas are assassins. They became ninjas because they enjoy killing. They hide amongst their surroundings stealthily and move with silence and deception. They will strike their target without being seen or heard; the only time you will ever see a ninja is just before you die (unless you're a ninja yourself, and are training with other ninjas). An attack by a ninja may include any or all of the following: throwing stars from afar, nun-chuck attack, or martial arts hand-to-hand combat. They kill without remorse. They fight to the death. A fight between a ninja and a samurai wouldn't really be a fight, because the samurai would be dead before he even knew what hit him.
Advantage: ninja.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - June 27th
Submitted by "Lenna"
"Why do all Popes have the same first and middle name: John Paul?"
Answer:
Contrary to popular belief, not all Popes have the same first and middle name. In fact, the only Popes to have the name "John Paul" have been the two Popes prior to the current serving Pope. The "John Paul" (I and II) reign lasted from August 28th, 1978 until April 2nd, 2005, so it is understandable why people might think that all Popes have the name "John Paul" — after all, that is nearly 30 years of "John Paul" papacy.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - June 26th
Submitted by "DIELON"
"Where did the term 'Gleek or Gleeking' come from?"
Answer:
I have spent many a-nights pondering this epic puzzle. It seems as though the origins of this mysterious occurrence when an accumulation of saliva in the submandibular gland is propelled out in a stream when the gland is compressed by the tongue is quite shrouded in mystery with regards to its nomenclature. Even the great wikipedia can't define the origin of the word.
Fortunately, we were able to find the perfect gleek.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 23rd
Submitted by "Town"
"Why is a driveway called a driveway when you park your car there and a parkway called a parkway when don't park your car there? One might conclude that this is completely backwards."
Answer:
You have stumped the almighty Brett-san. I would agree that this completely oxymoronic. Why do they call "hippies" hippies? They are not hip; they are outsiders and not in the norm of what one might consider "hip." Why do you "get down" when "raising the roof"? Why do they call it AIDS when it doesn't really aide you at all?
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 22nd
Submitted by "DIELON"
"In your opinion, what year will robots take over the earth? Furthermore, will they evolve with emotions?"
Answer:
Ahhh, a question where I get to apply my opinion! This is a question that I often ponder when I'm bored or when watching futuristic movies. There are many, many facets to this question, and the way one might answer it depends on a number of things. For example: one's definition of what constitutes a "robot." If your definition of robot is liberal and you count anything that has servos and moving parts, then I would say that the robot takeover has already taken place. Just have a look at any manufacturing plant; robots are running the show there. They make all our cars and most of our toys. But there's always a human there to push that off button to keep those damned robots in check.
If you're a little tighter on the definition and are specifically referring to bipedal/humanoid type robots, then I would say we're a good century away from that happening. Now, when I say "that happening," I mean we're going to be seeing robots doing our more mundane jobs like street cleaning, house cleaning (like Rosie from the Jetsons), possibly traffic controllers, cooks at fast food joints, etc. Moreover, regardless of when you actually see robots in that context walking about the streets and taking the place of humans for everything, I feel that robots will never truly "take over," as there will always be a human that can create a robot to overpower the overtaking robots. Humans will always rule the Earth. Always.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 8th
Submitted by "lenna"
"Who has bigger feet; Shaq or Yao Ming?"
Answer:
A quick Googling did me well to find the answer to this one. While Yao is listed at about 7'6" and Shaq at 7'1", Yao's feet are noticeably smaller than Shaq's. According to this official NBA site, Yao wears "only" wears a size 18, while Shaq wears a size 22.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - May 5th
Submitted by "DIELON"
"What is it exactly that Meatloaf won't do for love?"
Answer:
Well this is a tricky one. I mean, he expresses quite clearly what he would or would not do for love. We know that he would do "anything for love" but we also know that he "won't do 'that.' "
So the answer for now is, exactly, "that." He won't do that.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - April 20th
Submitted by "slauctough"
How fast is a commercial airline plane going at takeoff?
Answer:
I found an apprently great answer on Yahoo! Answers. It looks like a nice average speed is 160 mph. I was also able to find this link, which is looks like the source of the Yahoo! Answers response; however, it also lists takeoff speeds for specific airplanes by make and model. Pretty cool...
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - March 24th
Submitted by "DIELON"
ARE ALL NUTS SEEDS?
Answer:
First, "DIELON" — if that is your real name — undo the "CAPS LOCK" button on your keyboard. It's between the "tab" and "shift" buttons on the left-hand side of a traditional English keyboard. Thanks.
To answer your question, yes, all nuts are seeds. A common misnomer is that all nuts are legumes, but this is not true (hence the classification as misnomer). Peanuts — one of your more common nuts — are legumes. There is a great article that you might want to read here. It discusses nuts in great detail. Nuts just ain't my bag.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - March 17th
Submitted by "brokenFace"
a) How big is the largest edible jelly bean ever made?
b) Also, what is the largest edible jelly bean currently still in production?
Answer:
a) According to Quantum Jelly (for the record — no pun intended; OK maybe there was — I think this is the forte of Jelly Belly, not Quantum Jelly...but what do I know?), the world record for the largest jar of jelly beans was 6,050 pounds. That's kind of a horse $hit answer if you ask me. Who cares about the largest jar? I will be investigating this diligently; maybe even more than the body double question...
b) Apperently Farley's brand makes a large jelly bean; however, they do not specify the individual bean size.
Conclusion:
Jelly beans are a mysterious confection.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - March 15th
Submitted by "brokenFace"
Who is Shevonne Durkin's body double in Leprechaun 2?
Answer:
This one might be harder to find and more obscure than the monkey questions posed by G-money earlier. I've been able to locate several forums and discussions talking about the infamous (and obvious) body double swap in this movie for the chest shot, but no one seems to know who the double is.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - March 14th
Submitted by "brokenFace"
What is the record for most tortilla chips eaten in a minute?
Answer:
I need a little clarity on this one before I can continue. Are you talking about a world, North American, or other record? There are several records relating to consumption of tortilla chips; we can't just lump it into one vague question. FYI - I could probably win a tortilla chip-eating contest, assuming the tortilla chips used are one of a few flavors of Doritos.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - March 12th
Submitted by "DIELON"
Today we have a question based on the value of a particular item with regard to gold bullion:
"How much gold bullion (by weight) is an "It's It" worth?"
Answer:
While I can't promise the accuracy of the answer in gold bullion due to the fluctuation of the gold market, I can say that the going rate in US$ is approximately $.79 per It's It (before shipping) when purchased by the case directly from the online store. This of course is based off of their rate, and by the case; actual in-store price may vary (e.g. if you buy one at 7-11).
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - February 20th
Submitted by "G-money"
"Are there more apes/monkeys/gorillas on Earth than people in China? Further: Are there more or less than 2 billion apes/monkeys/gorillas (combined) on planet Earth?
Über bonus question: Is there any species of primate that does not enjoy/unable to digest bananas? This includes plantains and all species of banana-type fruits."
Answer:
These are both good ones. I'll be working hard on finding answers to them.
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - February 12th
Submitted by "Nate"
"Where did the term "on/off the wagon" come from? Further; why is it "off the wagon" when referring to being on a drinking binge?
Answer:
According to this site:"on the wagon" refers to a fixture of America's past, the water wagon. Before roads were routinely paved, municipalities would dispatch horse-drawn water wagons to spray the streets in order to prevent the clouds of dust that traffic would otherwise cause. Anyone who had sworn abstinence from alcohol (and would presumably be drinking largely water from then on) was said to have "climbed aboard the water wagon," later shortened to "on the wagon."
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - January 22nd
Submitted by "G-money"
"What constitutes a lagoon? That is, what is the difference between a lagoon and say, a pond or swamp?"
Answer:
Currently under investigation...
Random Office Question of the Week or Day - December 18th
Submitted by "DIELON"
"Who invented the ever so awesome keytar — pretty much the most awesome of the 80's instruments?"
Answer:
"Originally the creation of guitarist Steve Masakowski, the keytar was commercially introduced in 1980 as the Moog Liberation", or so says this site.
Personal story:
I saw Chicago play with Earth, Wind, & Fire in 2005, and Chicago lead singer played the keytar quite gayly and deftly. It was definitely the best keytarring I've ever witnessed live. By default, it was also the worst (it's the only keytarring I've seen live).
Check out Stu Simone and his rockin' keytar homepage: http://keytarmusic.com/. In Stu's own words: "KEYTAR's motto is "the Future of Rock... now"
Stu Simone is world-renowned as the Zamfir of keytar (not to be confused with pan flute).
Random Office Question of the Day - November 28th
Submitted by "DIELON"
What is the world record for an Aerobie toss?"
Answer:
1,257 feet by Scott Zimmerman in 1986, according to this site.
Wikipedia says the record is 1,333 by Erin Hemmings, set in 1993.
Obviously this is a pretty hot topic, and a record which is highly sought after.
An aside: why on Earth does Wikipedia show a yellow Aerobie? The classic Aerobie is pink (from my recollection anyway).
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