----- Original Message -----
From: "ancient-time-traveler"
To: "William Sommerwerck"
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:28 PM
Subject: Early rectangular 25 inch picture tube 25A, 25B ......... 23V
On Jun 19, 7:22 am, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

I verified its emission and it is exceptional.

The beam current goes all the way to 11000 uA!

Hey Richard head leave me alone ................................ I
love to meet you face to face you coward.

Mr. McWhorter was so upset with my posting that he called three times. (His
caller ID is shut off, so I didn't answer the first two calls, letting the
machine take them. A person who hides their caller ID is hardly in a
position to call someone else a coward.)

I monitored the third call, and as he then stated what his problem was (the
first two calls were general attacks), I decided to pick up and speak with
him.

He considers me a smart-ass (I probably am) who needlessly posted the above
remark (also possible), which will likely ruin the sale of this tube (not at
all likely). He considered the remark an attack intended to make him and the
tube look bad. It didn't matter to him that its intent wasn't malicious; he
perceived it as such, and that was all that mattered.

I asked him if he ever went to the movies. "I never go to the movies or
watch TV. I have better things to do." He repeatedly refused to let me
explain the joke, and finally suggested that if was such a good joke, I
should explain it so that everyone could appreciate it.

I don't apologize for the remark, because it was the sort of wise-crack that
commonly shows up in newsgroups. I assume most people got it. For those who
didn't, including Mr. McWhorter, I'll explain it.


The 1984 comedy "This is Spinal Tap" is about a fictional heavy-metal band.
It's presented as a documentary, with the film's producer (Rob Reiner)
interviewing the group's members and surveying the goings-on of a touring
rock group.

In one of the film's best-known scenes, Christopher Guest shows Reiner his
collection of guitar amplifiers. He's particularly fond of one, whose gain
control is labeled from 0 to 11, rather than the more-common 0 to 10. By his
"reasoning", this means the amp can play louder, particularly at those times
when 10 just isn't loud enough. "But this one goes to 11."

This joke has worked its way into popular culture. For example, in "Toy
Story 2", the power control on Emperor Zurg's back is labelled from 1 to 11,
with the 11 given emphasis.

Mr. McWhorter said the tube's emission was "exceptional", so I cracked "The
beam current goes all the way to 11000 uA!".

Bada BING!

No?


Again, I do not apologize for making a joke that most people should get and
is plainly innocuous. As to whether people in newsgroups _should_ post
wisecracks -- which, admittedly, have no "real" function and waste
bandwidth -- that's another matter. I say yes, that newsgroups serve a
social as well as a practical function, and a bit of humor is fine.
Reasonable people may differ.

I told Mr. McWhorter that if he ever wanted an ear to bend, about anything,
he should feel free to call and I would listen seriously. And I meant it.