open the pod bay doors

HAL 9000, the most advanced computer at the time, has the pivotal role in Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubrick's, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The last episode in the movie (1968) has a spaceship and its crew heading to Jupiter. HAL is the on board computer that interfaces with the crew. They eventually realize that HAL is capable of error, and privately (in a pod) discuss disconnecting it. Although I am assuming, Deep Thought is more advanced than the HAL (after all, coming up with the ultimate answer is no easy task); HAL appears to overcome its handicap. I'm referring to its (assuming computers have no gender) hearing problem; why else would he have to read lips.

HAL is an acronym for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer.

TE - Master of my domain

This catch phrase became well known after the airing of the Seinfeld television show. Rather than using an actual word or term, a euphemism is utilized.
In my opinion, the best euphemism regarding death is the parrot sketch by Monty Python.

TE - Tempus fugit

This Latin expression is generally attributed to to the ancient Roman, Publius Vergilius Maro (Anglicized form - Virgil). Usually inscribed on the face of sundials, this adage is to remind the individual that "time flies" and is irrecoverable.
Virgil is also well known for his twelve books of the Aeneid, the adventures of Aeneas from Trojan war to the landing in modern day Italy. Many years later the legend of Romulus and Remus evolved. According to the story, these two brothers fought and Romulus was victorious. The question I have is if Remus had won the fight, Would the city be called Reme.

TE - These go to 11

This is Spinal Tap is a cult movie of a heavy metal/rock band in which one of the characters, explaining his amplifiers, quotes "These go to 11".

This phrase has evolved to mean "taken to an extreme". In this case, the extreme is loudness of music which is the signature of the band. However Spinal Tap is no match for Disaster Area.

TE - For whom the bells toll

This is the title of an Ernest Hemingway novel (1940) that later became a popular movie. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an anti-fascist(Republicans)guerilla unit during the Spanish Civil War.

The Novel's title comes from a famous quotation of John Donne (1624); it goes like this:
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."


Tinnitus is usually described by sufferers as a perceived sound of a ringing noise. I just wonder if Quasimodo suffered from this malady.

TE - Titles explained - Kobayashi Maru

With each blog posting a title should help explain the subsequent text. However, readers of my blog indicate the title has nothing to do with the paragraph(s) that follow.
Within the Blog, links are placed in the text to, hopefully, clarify some of the more obscure references. This is more to appease myself as I don't want to appear too much in left field. On the other hand, the Blog titles utilize "lateral thinking" to get some pretty unique entries.

By the way, Kobayashi Maru means a "winning a no win situation". Just goes to show, "you win some, you lose a lot more".