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Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

kleinbottle.com

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Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#101

Post by Uehreka »

What exactly is up with the name “ACME”?

I remember as a kid there was an ACME in my town which was one of a chain of grocery stores, but in Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons it was a mail-order company that would send Coyote all kinds of crazy devices (which the real world ACME did not tend to have on hand).

Now, as an adult, there’s a Theatre company in my city called ACME and it’s also the name of a standard for requesting SSL certs, and now this guy has a joke about his Klein bottles being made by ACME.

So what’s up?

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#102

Post by 082349872349872 »

Uehreka wrote: post #101

What exactly is up with the name “ACME”? I remember as a kid there was an ACME in my town which was one of a chain of grocery stores, but in Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons it was a mail-order company that would send Coyote all kinds of crazy devices (which the real world ACME did not tend to have on hand). Now, as an adult, there’s a Theatre company in my city called ACME and it’s also the name of a standard for requ…

ancient greek: ἀκμή

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#103

Post by djur »

Uehreka wrote: post #101

What exactly is up with the name “ACME”? I remember as a kid there was an ACME in my town which was one of a chain of grocery stores, but in Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons it was a mail-order company that would send Coyote all kinds of crazy devices (which the real world ACME did not tend to have on hand). Now, as an adult, there’s a Theatre company in my city called ACME and it’s also the name of a standard for requ…

It means "summit, zenith, peak, pinnacle" and has a history of being used as a business name that doesn't convey much more than "the best". It has the advantage of showing up early in alphabetical listings (like phone books) but seeming more sophisticated than, say, "A Plus" or "AAA". So in mid 20th century America, "Acme" would be an obvious choice for a generic company name. According to Chuck Jones, that's why it was used in Looney Tunes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_Corporation#Warner_Brothe...

Most recent uses of "Acme" are probably influenced by Looney Tunes.

ETA: In case it's not clear, it's not an acronym/initialism, although it's sometimes confused with one or given meaning as a bacronym.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#104

Post by GolDDranks »

djur wrote: post #103
Uehreka wrote: post #101

What exactly is up with the name “ACME”? I remember as a kid there was an ACME in my town which was one of a chain of grocery stores, but in Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons it was a mail-order company that would send Coyote all kinds of crazy devices (which the real world ACME did not tend to have on hand). Now, as an adult, there’s a Theatre company in my city called ACME and it’s also the name of a standard for requ…

It means "summit, zenith, peak, pinnacle" and has a history of being used as a business name that doesn't convey much more than "the best". It has the advantage of showing up early in alphabetical listings (like phone books) but seeming more sophisticated than, say, "A Plus" or "AAA". So in mid 20th century America, "Acme" would be an obvious choice for a generic company name. According to Chuck Jones, that's why it…

The initialism I've heard is "A Company that Makes Everything". The meaning of "summit, zenith, peak, pinnacle" was new to me. TIL.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#105

Post by 082349872349872 »

stefan_ wrote: post #29
areoform wrote: post #18

This man has just given me half an hour of pure delight. I haven't laughed this much with unadulterated joy since I was a little girl. His enthusiasm and happiness and weltanschauung are contagious!

He is no different in person. Don't miss his warehouse complete with forklift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k3mVnRlQLU

Many companies put a lot of effort into sales, because they are interested in a family of two-sided paths in the transaction space T, where one half-edge

    d : I -> T
is a continuous function d from the unit interval I = [0,1] to T, representing delivery, and the other half-edge

    p : I* -> T
is a continuous function p from the conjugate unit interval I* = [1,0] to T, representing payment.

Somehow it feels fitting that ACME instead puts a lot of effort into carrying inventory, where the single half-edge, o, representing on-premises inventory, is the identity on T.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#106

Post by Stratoscope »

CliffStoll wrote: post #78
areoform wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I say... buy a bottle from you would you autograph it for me? You’ve been elevated to the position of rockstar in my little corner of the world. It is only fitting for an autograph to follow. :)

I do sign those Kleinbots, although it kinda slows me down (it's hard to write with a sharpie on a compound curve). So order it a few days from now - when I have more free time - and tell me in the order comments. (at the moment, this Hacker News squib has resulted in a veritable tsunami of Klein bottle orders -- over a dozen -- and I'm getting kinda backlogged. Looks like I'll be working tonight & tomorrow. And it's…

Even better, order it a few days or weeks ago, before it hit HN! Then you will have a story you already told to your friends.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#107

Post by jacobush »

CliffStoll wrote: post #87
areoform wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oof! That sounds tiring. I’ll hold off on ordering. :) I have a ton of questions though, is there some way to reach you? (I’ll wait to ask these too!)

Sure - I'm Kleinbottle / a/ t' kleinbottle -dawt- com But again, I"m kinda buried in work right now. And I know way less than you think I do. (at least my wife tells me something like that...)

"One sided, at best"

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#108

Post by czzr »

Daub wrote: post #93
czzr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not a limerick, though. A limerick has 5 lines, for example: There once was a young lady called Bright Who travelled much faster than light She left one day, In a relative way, And returned on the previous night!

Yeh I know its not a limerick. I have seen a version of this as a true limerick in a book of 'science humor'. Looked for it but can't find. Every version online is this non-limerick version, presented as a limerick. I will update if I find the original.

It’s ok - I got to nit pick and sneak a physics joke into HN, so all good.

Thanks for the link to the book, that is fun.

Re: Conditions of ACME's Unconditional Guarantee

#110

Post by andi999 »

djur wrote: post #103
Uehreka wrote: post #101

What exactly is up with the name “ACME”? I remember as a kid there was an ACME in my town which was one of a chain of grocery stores, but in Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons it was a mail-order company that would send Coyote all kinds of crazy devices (which the real world ACME did not tend to have on hand). Now, as an adult, there’s a Theatre company in my city called ACME and it’s also the name of a standard for requ…

It means "summit, zenith, peak, pinnacle" and has a history of being used as a business name that doesn't convey much more than "the best". It has the advantage of showing up early in alphabetical listings (like phone books) but seeming more sophisticated than, say, "A Plus" or "AAA". So in mid 20th century America, "Acme" would be an obvious choice for a generic company name. According to Chuck Jones, that's why it…

Any of the new corps registering in Walla Walla (Washington)?
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