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A story contained in four parts.
Mostly known from the title of the boxset of Aliens-series films, "Alien Quadrilogy." An awkward mix of Greek and Latin, seen as incorrect by some linguists (despite the common word "television" being a similar combination of Greek and Latin). The Latin-rooted word "tetralogy" means the same thing and avoids the awkwardness.
The first two parts of the Alien Quadrilogy are considered masterpieces, while the last two parts are considered duds.
98π 39π
The name of a mythical super-collector, who always gets to flea markets/thrift stores/yard sales/boot sales/etc. and purchases all of the worthwhile merchandise you are personally seeking out. Also spelled as "Sum Guy."
Started in rec.games.video.classic, as the name of an individual always invoked by sellers who would tell inquiring collectors "yeah, we had a lot of <insert collectible here> until some guy came in and bought them all." That line, or variations, was so common, that it was determined that there was a single person wreaking all of this havok, and the sellers were actually stating his name- Sumguy.
Applicable to all frustrated collectors who shop in vain for their favored items.
I found a Vectrex overlay at this yard sale; I asked the guy running it if he had the Vectrex still, and he said that he had the system, a few dozen games, the 3D Imager, and light pen, but that Sumguy had just bought it all less than 5 minutes before I got there!
Used most often among laserdisc collectors, "laser rot" describes a progressive condition that causes the video and audio of a laserdisc to become distorted and/or unplayable. The deterioration of audio/video is usually attributable to manufacturing defects (though it has also been attributed to improper storage by users), and tends to appear most frequently in specific batches by specific manufacturers. Early MCA DiscoVision titles and mid/late Sony USA releases are most prone to laser rot. For the most part, no matter the reason for the "rot"- inclusion defects in the glue, exposure to the elements, impure substrates- the deterioration of the audio/video is due to corrosion of the aluminum reflective layer, and LD players using shorter-wavelength lasers can often read through "rot" that stymies other players.
Rot on laserdiscs usually manifests itself as multi-colored "snow"/speckles in the picture frame, and tends to be worse at the beginning and end of a LD side, corresponding to edges of the LD itself. Once laser rot sets in on a LD, it worsens over time, often rendering the LD unplayable or unwatchable. Typical wisdom holds that laser rot manifests itself within a couple of years of manufacture, though some cases of laser rot beginning after longer periods of time are known.
Similar conditions may affect other optical disc formats, and some people use "laser rot" as a catch-all term to describe failure-over-time of CDs and DVDs, even if the reasons for those failures may not be due to the same defects that caused rot in laserdiscs.
When I first watched my copy of Witchcraft VII, it was fine... and when I popped it in last week, I couldn't watch the sex scenes through all of the snow... damn laser rot.
12π 2π
A mnemonic device to remember the names of the Great Lakes.
Lake <H>uron
Lake <O>ntario
Lake <M>ichigan
Lake <E>rie
Lake <S>uperior
It does not include Lake St. Clair, which is not considered a "Great Lake" despite being part of the Great Lakes system.
I can never remember the Great Lakes without thinking of HOMES lining a lake's edge.
104π 116π
An adaptor that allows large-hole 45 RPM records to be played on record players with a normal spindle.
A cheap, plastic gadget that snapped into the large center holes of 7-inch 45 records; unlike adaptors that were placed on the record player itself, these were meant to be installed on records, and usually left on permanently. The gadget consisted of several plastic arms radiating from a center containing the hole; the multiple arms' resemblence to spider legs is the source of the nickname "spider."
I need to get some 45 spiders for these singles, because I lost the adaptor that came with my turn table.
28π 1π
A mnemonic device to aid in recalling the relationships of the main trigonometric functions.
<S>ine is <O>pposite the <H>ypotenuse
<C>osine is <A>djacent to the <H>ypotenuse
<T>angent is <O>pposite over <A>djacent.
Sometimes written as "soh cah toa."
When analyzing a right triangle, remember "sohcahtoa."
91π 24π
A nonsensical set of letters that would occasionally appear in newspapers, books, etc. (in the days of hard-set type in publishing). Often assumed to be gibberish Latin. A nonsensical phrase.
Linotype machines had these letters in two rows of 6, in their approximate order of frequency in the English language. Supposedly, lino operators would test their machines by running their fingers down the rows, or use the letters to indicate an error in the typesetting, and occasionally would forget to remove the "phrase" from the piece they were typesetting, and was not uncommon to see printed in newspapers of the day. It appeared often enough that it came to the notice of the general populace, and Walt Kelly even named a character in his comic strip "Pogo" Etaoin Shrdlu. It has also appeared- purposefully- in works of fiction and literature.
(as a "practice run") etaoin shrdlu Today the Queen of England....
(as an error demarcation) Today teh QUeen etaolin shrdlu
37π 5π