by neufer » Sun Aug 08, 2010 7:32 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Btfsplk wrote:
<<
Joe Btfsplk was a character in the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner by cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979). He's well-meaning, but is the world's worst jinx, bringing disastrous misfortune to everyone around him. A small, dark rain cloud perpetually hovers over his head to symbolize his bad luck. According to Al Capp, btfsplk is a rude sound. During public lectures, Capp demonstrated this phatic sound by closing his lips, leaving his tongue sticking out, and then blowing out air, which is colloquially called a "raspberry" or Bronx cheer. Joe Btfsplk may have been the inspiration for the name of the impish character Mr. Mxyzptlk from the Superman comic books. Superman's fifth-dimensional nemesis, originally named "Mr. Mxyztplk", debuted in September 1944. Btfsplk had first appeared in June 1942.>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk wrote:
<<
Mr. Mxyzptlk, sometimes called Mxy, is a fictional impish supervillain in DC Comics' Superman comic books. Not being bound by our physical laws, he can do things that seem to be magical. Originally, Mxyzptlk has designs on conquering the planet for himself, but soon settles for tormenting Superman whenever he gets the opportunity. His only weaknesses are that he can not stand being ridiculed and if he says or spells his name backwards, Kltpzyxm (kil-tip-ZEE-zim), he is involuntarily sent back to his home dimension for a minimum of 90 days. Mxyzptlk often looks for ways to counter the latter weakness, but he always proves gullible enough for Superman to trick him time and time again. Saying "Klptzyxm" will not only bring Mxyzptlk back to the fifth dimension, but would bring anyone else saying it to the fifth dimension. To return back to his/her home dimension, one has to say his/her own name backward. However this specific limitation of the character has been eliminated since the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, upon which the character only leaves because he willingly agrees to do so after meeting some conditions he sets, such as having
Superman succeed in painting Mxy's face blue.>>
![Image](http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID5699/images/lil_abner_article%281%29.jpg)
Chris Peterson wrote:[color=#0000FF]myxlpyx[/color] wrote:
I'm sure I have once seen a rainbow forming a circle around the sun, rather than in the opposite direction to the sun as is common. The sun was high in the sky, there were clouds in the sky and I think it was raining very slightly. Has anyone else ever seen this before, or can I not trust my memory anymore?
It was certainly not a rainbow. There are a number of halo effects that can be seen around the Sun, and some have associated (rainbow-like) color, although usually less saturated than a rainbow. The optical mechanism for these halo effects is different from that of a true rainbow.
It was
almost certainly not a rainbow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow wrote:
<<
A third, or tertiary, rainbow can be seen on rare occasions, and a few observers have reported seeing quadruple rainbows in which a dim outermost arc had a rippling and pulsating appearance. These rainbows would appear on the same side of the sky as the Sun, making them hard to spot. One type of tertiary rainbow carries with it the appearance of a secondary rainbow immediately outside the primary bow. The closely spaced outer bow has been observed to form dynamically at the same time that the outermost (tertiary) rainbow disappears. During this change, the two remaining rainbows have been observed to merge into a band of white light with a blue inner and red outer band. This particular form of doubled rainbow is not like the classic double rainbow due to both spacing of the two bows and that the two bows share identical normal colour positioning before merging. With both bows, the inner colour is blue and the outer colour is red.
Higher-order rainbows were described by Felix Billet (1808–1882) who depicted angular positions up to the 19th-order rainbow, a pattern he called "rose". In the laboratory, it is possible to observe higher-order rainbows by using extremely bright and well collimated light produced by lasers. A sixth-order rainbow was first observed by K. Sassan in 1979 using a HeNe laser beam and a pendant water drop. Up to the 200th-order rainbow was reported by Ng et al. in 1998 using a similar method but an argon ion laser beam.>>
..............................................................................................................................................
<<It has been suggested that rainbows might exist on Saturn's moon Titan, as it has a wet surface and humid clouds.
The radius of a Titan rainbow would be about 49° instead of 42°, because the fluid in that cold environment is methane instead of water.
A visitor might need infrared goggles to see the rainbow, as Titan's atmosphere is more transparent for those wavelengths.>>
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Btfsplk"]
<<[color=#FF0000]Joe Btfsplk[/color] was a character in the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner by cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979). He's well-meaning, but is the world's worst jinx, bringing disastrous misfortune to everyone around him. A small, dark rain cloud perpetually hovers over his head to symbolize his bad luck. According to Al Capp, btfsplk is a rude sound. During public lectures, Capp demonstrated this phatic sound by closing his lips, leaving his tongue sticking out, and then blowing out air, which is colloquially called a "raspberry" or Bronx cheer. Joe Btfsplk may have been the inspiration for the name of the impish character Mr. Mxyzptlk from the Superman comic books. Superman's fifth-dimensional nemesis, originally named "Mr. Mxyztplk", debuted in September 1944. Btfsplk had first appeared in June 1942.>>[/quote]
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk"]
<<[color=#0000FF]Mr. Mxyzptlk, sometimes called Mxy[/color], is a fictional impish supervillain in DC Comics' Superman comic books. Not being bound by our physical laws, he can do things that seem to be magical. Originally, Mxyzptlk has designs on conquering the planet for himself, but soon settles for tormenting Superman whenever he gets the opportunity. His only weaknesses are that he can not stand being ridiculed and if he says or spells his name backwards, Kltpzyxm (kil-tip-ZEE-zim), he is involuntarily sent back to his home dimension for a minimum of 90 days. Mxyzptlk often looks for ways to counter the latter weakness, but he always proves gullible enough for Superman to trick him time and time again. Saying "Klptzyxm" will not only bring Mxyzptlk back to the fifth dimension, but would bring anyone else saying it to the fifth dimension. To return back to his/her home dimension, one has to say his/her own name backward. However this specific limitation of the character has been eliminated since the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, upon which the character only leaves because he willingly agrees to do so after meeting some conditions he sets, such as having [color=#0000FF][b]Superman succeed in painting Mxy's face blue[/b][/color].>>[/quote]
[img]http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID5699/images/lil_abner_article%281%29.jpg[/img][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Mxyzptlk.PNG[/img]
[quote="Chris Peterson"][quote="[color=#0000FF]myxlpyx[/color]"]
I'm sure I have once seen a rainbow forming a circle around the sun, rather than in the opposite direction to the sun as is common. The sun was high in the sky, [color=#FF0000]there were clouds in the sky and I think it was raining very slightly[/color]. Has anyone else ever seen this before, or can I not trust my memory anymore?[/quote]
It was certainly not a rainbow. There are a number of halo effects that can be seen around the Sun, and some have associated (rainbow-like) color, although usually less saturated than a rainbow. The optical mechanism for these halo effects is different from that of a true rainbow.[/quote]
It was [b][color=#FF00FF]almost[/color][/b] certainly not a rainbow.
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow"]
<<[b][color=#FF00FF]A third, or tertiary, rainbow can be seen on rare occasions, and a few observers have reported seeing quadruple rainbows in which a dim outermost arc had a rippling and pulsating appearance. These rainbows would appear on the same side of the sky as the Sun, making them hard to spot[/color][/b]. One type of tertiary rainbow carries with it the appearance of a secondary rainbow immediately outside the primary bow. The closely spaced outer bow has been observed to form dynamically at the same time that the outermost (tertiary) rainbow disappears. During this change, the two remaining rainbows have been observed to merge into a band of white light with a blue inner and red outer band. This particular form of doubled rainbow is not like the classic double rainbow due to both spacing of the two bows and that the two bows share identical normal colour positioning before merging. With both bows, the inner colour is blue and the outer colour is red.
Higher-order rainbows were described by Felix Billet (1808–1882) who depicted angular positions up to the 19th-order rainbow, a pattern he called "rose". In the laboratory, it is possible to observe higher-order rainbows by using extremely bright and well collimated light produced by lasers. A sixth-order rainbow was first observed by K. Sassan in 1979 using a HeNe laser beam and a pendant water drop. Up to the 200th-order rainbow was reported by Ng et al. in 1998 using a similar method but an argon ion laser beam.>>
[c]..............................................................................................................................................
<<It has been suggested that rainbows might exist on Saturn's moon Titan, as it has a wet surface and humid clouds.
The radius of a Titan rainbow would be about 49° instead of 42°, because the fluid in that cold environment is methane instead of water.
A visitor might need infrared goggles to see the rainbow, as Titan's atmosphere is more transparent for those wavelengths.>>[/c][/quote]