Ray mentioned "Twelve Angry Men", and Geoff mentioned "Calvinball".
Twelve Angry Men is an old movie about a jury trying to come to a verdict after a murder trial. The first vote is 11-1 and boy is everyone mad at Henry Fonda for being the lone hold out! He says that it is morally wrong (and illegal to, boot) to condemn a man to death while EVEN ONE juror has a "reasonable doubt". (The more recent remake, with George C. Scott, has the same plot.)
Calvinball is a game whose rules frequently and spontaneously change as Calvin and Hobbes (two cartoon characters) play it. No accusation of cheating can ever stick, because each act is judged according to the update rules - and either player can change any rule any time. It would be an understatement to describe the result as chaotic.
Oh, and Ray's mention of "cannon" was a typo; I guess he meant "canon", i.e., the body of accepted scripture. (The Wikipedia article discusses WHO does the accepting and WHY.)
Ed Poor
Poor, Edmund W wrote:
Ray mentioned "Twelve Angry Men", and Geoff mentioned "Calvinball".
Twelve Angry Men is an old movie about a jury trying to come to a verdict after a murder trial. The first vote is 11-1 and boy is everyone mad at Henry Fonda for being the lone hold out! He says that it is morally wrong (and illegal to, boot) to condemn a man to death while EVEN ONE juror has a "reasonable doubt". (The more recent remake, with George C. Scott, has the same plot.)
Calvinball is a game whose rules frequently and spontaneously change as Calvin and Hobbes (two cartoon characters) play it. No accusation of cheating can ever stick, because each act is judged according to the update rules - and either player can change any rule any time. It would be an understatement to describe the result as chaotic.
This only proves proves the the Wikipedia membership at large is a treasure trove of allusions. :-)
Oh, and Ray's mention of "cannon" was a typo; I guess he meant "canon", i.e., the body of accepted scripture. (The Wikipedia article discusses WHO does the accepting and WHY.)
Guilty! Despite taking pride in an extensive vocabulary I do have some items that I never remember correctly. If I'm working on an actual article I would look it up every time. Cannon law turns out to be quite a blast. :-)
Ec