Okay, so a little digging shows that 'oblong' also means elongated as well as rectangular. But that's not a usage I've ever come across before - perhaps it's less common over here.

Ah. Another example of us being divided by a common language. I'd never heard the word "oblong" used to describe anything other than something (roughly) rectangular. ;)

Must be a national thing - over here kids are usually taught the world 'oblong' long before they get taught 'rectangle'!

My Concise Oxford has the defn as

1) deviating from a square form by having one long axe esp rectangular with adjacent sides unequal
2) greater in breadth than in height

Of which the first defn is by far (to my knowledge) the more common over here. But obviously not over there! :-)

Hey, could I turn this into a comic? I'd give you credit, of course.

But I wouldn't have the idea if it weren't for you. How do you want me to credit you? "Antonia T."?

Heh. Sounds to me like we need to re-filk "When I Was a Boy"...

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets. Have to change it to My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Eight. Meaning they now must change the name of Neptune to Eptune.

A can of worms, I tell you.

I'm pleased to say I took that picture myself--it must be a decade ago, now, at Peach Mountain, Near Dexter, Michigan, west of Ann Arbor. The splotch on the left is the Pleiades. The comet on the right is Hale-Bopp. The dish is the University of Michigan's 85-foot radio telescope. I had to crop out the moon at the far left of the image to fit the square userpic format. I keep a framed print of the full image on my wall.

OK, here is a 150 dpi scan of the whole picture:

http://members.aol.com/petealway/Hale-Bopp-dish-big.jpg

and a smaller version:

http://members.aol.com/petealway/Hale-Bopp-dish-small.jpg

My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nothing.

I want my Pluto back!

Mother Very Eagerly Made A Jam Sandwich Under No Protest (Heinlein had 'Jelly' rather than 'Jam', and I believe E was different as well). A for Asteroids...

(But just like with the rainbow colours (and resistor colour code) I remembered the actual names a lot better than the mnemonic...)

That's disgusting but well to memorise! Thank you! :oD

Nutella is yummie! But not with jam... :oP
:o)
Different tastes - I don't like chocolate together with fruity. Jam is good. Nutella is great. I just wouldn't mix it...

But then I've heard of people eating cheese with Nutella...

What is wrong with the good old "Ein Anfänger Der Gitarre Hat Eifer"???
(In English that would need to be a B instead of a H, though ...)

"Every Good Boy Does Fine" for the lines of the treble clef. "FACE" for the spaces.

Ew...! :o)
I guess you mixed up "Eifer" (ambition) with "Eiter" which is "pus" - and pus is inside blisters...
Blister is "Blase".
;o)

D'oh - I took the long way around instead of getting to the easy explanation... figures. :o)
I kind of immediately thought "Eiter" when I read "blister"...

*giggle*

I teach astronomy, and should know better, but I really find that I feel it as a loss.