Starship Asterisk*

Harry               2842  / 1.81 ppd since Fri Nov 18, 2005  / G'day G'day G'day G'day
Neufer              2589  / 3.33 ppd since Mon Jan 21, 2008  / Quotidian Quotationist
bystander           2275  / 1.73 ppd since Mon Aug 28, 2006  / Inadvertant Bot Sire
Chris Peterson      2262  / 1.99 ppd since Tue Dec 07, 2004  / Expert Cloud Angler
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orin stepanek       1542  / 0.92 ppd since Wed Jul 27, 2005  / Resident Geezer
makc                1482  / 0.73 ppd since Tue Oct 12, 2004  / Best Title in the Universe
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aristarchusexile     976  / 2.30 ppd since Tue Jan 06, 2009  / Science Officer
geckzilla            869  / 0.95 ppd since Wed Sep 12, 2007  / Ocular Digitator
craterchains         806  / 0.48 ppd since Thu Jul 21, 2005  / Science Officer
Nereid               802  / 0.64 ppd since Thu Sep 28, 2006  / Science Officer
mark swain           696  / 1.89 ppd since Sat Mar 09, 2009  / Mucker Mate, JG
RJN                  643  / 0.30 ppd since Sat Jul 24, 2006  / Baffled Boffin
emc                  609  / 0.63 ppd since Tue Jul 17, 2007  / Equine Locutionist
Qev                  563  / 0.39 ppd since Wed Mar 08, 2006  / Ontological Cartographer
Dr. Skeptic          507  / 0.38 ppd since Thu Jul 27, 2006  / Science Officer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmac_%28planet%29 wrote:
<<Melmac is a fictional planet in the television series ALF.
The name is a joke reference to the Melmac brand of dinnerware made popular in the 1950s.


Melmac was discovered 23,000 years ago when Harold Twink accidentally took the wrong exit for Neptune. Although ALF described the planet's demise as having exploded in a freak boating accident one night while he was out in his Orbit Guard patrol ship, the real reason was a nuclear war. Other explanation given during the show on the reason why Melmac exploded was that all Melmacians turned on their hair-dryers at the same time, thus causing the explosion of the planet. Melmac was located six parsecs past the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. Melmac was very much like Earth but it had two moons, it was oddly shaped and made of Melmac, Melmac had green skies and blue grass, and has a purple sun.
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____ Melmacian culture

The Melmacian God was called Barry. The planet's motto was "Are you going to finish that sandwich?". Melmac's national anthem was "Dance till you drop", by Homer T. Swipe, and the national flower was Roger, the turnip. During the holiday season, Melmacians dress up as vegetables and dance with their neighbours. During Fappiano, they eat a feast that lasts from sunrise to sunset, and exchange gifts. Melmacians' favorite food is cats. Melmac's one and only military was named the Orbit Guard and it took the duties of protecting Melmac from space, sea, land, and air. Melmac technology was very advanced; they had flying/hover cars, cyborgs, and light-speed space travel. The Melmacian education system accepts students into college for the standard 63-year enrollment period. Alf attended high school for 122 years and was captain of a Bouillabaisseball team (which is played on ice using shellfish as a ball).

The commonly-used currency is a "Wernick", which is equal to ten Earth dollars, and the substance we call foam is as precious on Melmac as gold is on Earth. Most metal pipes in their spaceships are made of gold. Gravel and wax are also considered to be precious metals.

Every seventy-five years, Melmacians change their personality for a short period of time. They are aggressive for twelve hours and desire more than anything to eat a cat. To prevent them from destroying things a cage is built for them to pass the phase in. The final stage of the transformation is marked by quoting people, often incorrectly.

A hiccup from a Melmacian is very loud, very strong, and very disturbing. The hiccups can shatter glass and are hard to get rid of. The only cure for the hiccups is cat juice or raw spinach (Popeye is horror-creature of Melmac).

Death is a festival on Melmac. All Melmacians die at the age of 650 years, so they have enough time to withdraw their accounts and their possessions to give away.
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____ Melmacian time

A year on Melmac consists of 364 days, 386 days if you include Sundays. These days seem to be similar to the length of a day on Earth. The Melmac months are: Harble, Tarble, Gorruf, Kilmerl, Gagg, Orring, Barp, Twangle, Fanfan, Nathinganger, Anerva, and Fibble. It's not explained how a month is defined on a planet with two moons.
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____ Biology

Before the Melmacian race existed, huge creatures used to roam Melmac; they looked like a cross between a dinosaur and an insurance salesman. Melmacians have a lifespan of 650 years. By the inclusion of a plant called the Carl Shrub in their diet, Melmacians are immune to infectious disease. 90% of Melmacians are under the height of 3 feet (0.91 m), but are over the weight of 400 pounds, since their fur is very dense. A Melmacian's favorite dish is Cat, although they also eat a lot of seafood. Their blood is green-colored and they have ten major organs in their bodies a heart, liver and eight stomachs
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____ History

Following the destruction of the planet, Gordon Shumway, from the Lower East side of the planet, believed he was the last survivor of both his civilization and his species. Only four other surviving Melmacians are known: Skip and Rhonda, who invited Shumway to leave with them and colonize a new planet; ALF's cousin "Blinky" who was seen in a car traveling down the highway and Brian, a furniture salesman. On his first Day on Earth, Alf contacted his friends in the space: Skip, Larry, and Murphy.
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____ Fauna

On Melmac cats are considered a delicacy and they are a favorite dish of many Melmacians. It is unknown if the Earth and the Melmac cats belong to the same species.

Jaffees are blood-sucking, Leech-like parasites that are able to take the form of their host. They were native to planet Melmac, prior to its destruction. Not much is known about Jaffees, except that they overran the city of Detroit and renamed it Jaffeetown. It is also known that Jaffees are not vulnerable to boric acid, as Earth bugs are. Jaffees have never been actually seen, they were mentioned in one episode of ALF.[10]

The Melmacian Cockroach is a blue-eyed, non-sapient insectoid commonly found on planet Melmac. Although naturally tiny, they can grow to the size of a Human, or even bigger, when exposed to certain earthly chemicals, including insecticide. After Melmac was destroyed, a Melmacian Roach, named Rodney by ALF and Brian, escaped to Earth in ALF's spaceship and became huge and aggressive after the Tanners' attempts to kill it. Eventually, ALF discovers a substance that is lethal to the Cockroach: perfume.
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____ Notable Melmacians

In the early 1800s boxer Aldo 'The Twinky' Shumway became the first Melmacian to win titles in the middleweight, heavyweight, and the Parsnip Division. During a fourteen week fight in 1823, Aldo suffered three broken lips and lost all three titles to Rudy 'That Mean Dude' Frizbudster. In 1931, Elmo Shumway invented television and made the first broadcast, a fifteen-minute shot of Elmo flossing his teeth with a trout, on Tarble 14, 1932. Television didn't become popular until 1938, when Shubert W. Fletch invented electricity.>>

makc wrote:how the hell could that happen with his posts per day ratio below that of chris?

• 1) Bystander is really now up to 1.77 posts per day since Aug 28, 2006, and
  
  2) while Chris gets credit for a few ancient posts dating back in 2004
  his numbers really only reflect his posts since Jan 31, 2007.

bystander wrote:Even though I joined and made my first post on Aug 28, 2006, I didn't post again until Feb 12, 2007. Counting from that date, my effective posting rate is 2.03 ppd (posts per day). And since I accepted RJN's challenge as PIO in Feb, my ppd has been much higher.

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peruvian_Hairless_Dog wrote:
<<The Peruvian Hairless Dog is a breed of dog with its origins in Peruvian pre-Inca cultures. It is one of several breeds of hairless dog. It is not to be confused with the Xoloitzcuintli. Peruvian Hairless dogs are affectionate with family but wary of strangers. They are typically lively, alert and friendly with other dogs but can be protective as well. They are agile and fast. These dogs do not like to be alone, but when trained, can do well. These dogs are intolerant of extreme temperatures. They generally require an owner that understands dog language and are not recommended for beginners.>>

rstevenson wrote:How would the list look if banned posters were removed from it?
Who else would show up at the bottom? (Yes, I live in hope, but faint hope.
I'll have to go on a posting marathon.)

makc wrote:omg you beat harry!

rstevenson wrote:Let me rephrase without the parenthetical and distracting personal bit. I think the list should not include banned posters.

Rob (259)

bystander wrote:

makc wrote:omg you beat harry!

yes, neuf, congratulations, but don't rest on your laurels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei wrote:
<<The Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there. The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, then gave name to the rock itself. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the word "luren" (lurk) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

_Die Lore-Ley_, a famous poem by Heinrich Heine, tells of the titular female as a kind of siren luring shipmen to distraction with her singing, who then crash on the rocks in the riverbed. Heine's poem was labelled as "written by unknown writer" during the Third Reich because it was too popular to ban it completely for its Jewish authorship.>>

neufer wrote:I'll just rest on my Heine then.

bystander wrote:

neufer wrote:I'll just rest on my Heine then.

Maybe you ought to rest on your Hieneken

Neufer              2868  / 3.45 ppd since Mon Jan 21, 2008  / Quotidian Quotationist
Harry               2856  / 1.76 ppd since Fri Nov 18, 2005  / G'day G'day G'day G'day
bystander           2771  / 2.02 ppd since Mon Aug 28, 2006  / Inadvertant Bot Sire
Chris Peterson      2599  / 2.17 ppd since Tue Dec 07, 2004  / Expert Cloud Angler
BMAONE23            2109  / 1.09 ppd since Wed Feb 23, 2005  / Commentator Model 1.23
makc                1648  / 0.80 ppd since Tue Oct 12, 2004  / Best Title in the Universe
orin stepanek       1573  / 0.92 ppd since Wed Jul 27, 2005  / Resident Geezer
apodman             1173  / 1.26 ppd since Wed Aug 15, 2007  / Teapot Fancier (MIA)
geckzilla            901  / 0.95 ppd since Wed Sep 12, 2007  / Ocular Digitator
Nereid               802  / 0.64 ppd since Thu Sep 28, 2006  / Science Officer
mark swain           741  / 1.89 ppd since Sat Mar 09, 2009  / Mucker Mate, JG
RJN                  729  / 0.30 ppd since Sat Jul 24, 2006  / Baffled Boffin
emc                  621  / 0.63 ppd since Tue Jul 17, 2007  / Equine Locutionist
Qev                  563  / 0.39 ppd since Wed Mar 08, 2006  / Ontological Cartographer
Dr. Skeptic          507  / 0.38 ppd since Thu Jul 27, 2006  / Science Officer