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Leopolds Ghost

(12,875 posts)
Fri Jan 17, 2014, 06:37 AM Jan 2014

A Friend told me about this, sounds interesting in light of current events.

http://tinyurl.com/2xlfyj



PS -- sorry I haven't been around lately here or on DU2 (as in, the past six months /)9_6/)

I've been so tied up with those projects that weren't going anywhere back
in early 2012 and are doing a bit better now but just enough better to be
worth continuing, not to the point where anyone where I live has gotten
involved or offered to help out ;_;
10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A Friend told me about this, sounds interesting in light of current events. (Original Post) Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 OP
No idea why they're named after this: Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #1
A shmoo plot or diagram is an ee term. Warren Stupidity Jan 2014 #2
Named after the cartoon creature, no doubt. Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #3
yes in fact, the fat belly of a shmoo plot is the well defined behavior of the system. Warren Stupidity Jan 2014 #5
Sort of like this? Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #4
Do you think these could be Hackers who could work for Progressives? KoKo Jan 2014 #6
I think we might depend on Hackers to preserve a working democracy. nt NYC_SKP Jan 2014 #7
To paraphrase Woody Allen in Antz Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #9
Nice to see you too, KoKo! Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #8
I don't really know enough about the subject to judge. But... Leopolds Ghost Jan 2014 #10

Leopolds Ghost

(12,875 posts)
3. Named after the cartoon creature, no doubt.
Fri Jan 17, 2014, 08:08 AM
Jan 2014

Last edited Fri Jan 17, 2014, 08:41 AM - Edit history (1)

What is a Shmoo??



http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bios.shmoo

Al Capp's The Shmoo (or Schmoo):

The SHMOO first appeared in "Li'l Abner" in August 1948. They were a seeming miracle. The lovable creature laid eggs, gave milk and died of sheer ecstasy when looked at with hunger. The Shmoo loved to be eaten by humans and tasted like any food desired. Anything that delighted people delighted a Shmoo. Fry a Shmoo and it came out chicken. Broil it and it came out steak. Shmoo eyes made terrific suspender buttons. The hide of the Shmoo if cut thin made fine leather and if cut thick made the best lumber. Even the Shmoo's whiskers made splendid toothpicks. The Shmoo satisfied all the world's wants. You could never run out of Shmoon (plural of Shmoo) because they multiplied at such an incredible rate. The Shmoo believed that the only way to happiness was to bring happiness to others. Li'l Abner discovered Shmoos when he ventured into the forbidden Valley of the Shmoon, against the frantic protestations of Ol' Man Mose. "Shmoos," Mose warned, "is the greatest menace to hoomanity th' world has evah known." "Thass becuz they is so bad, huh?" asked Li'l Abner. "No, stupid," answered Mose, hurling one of life's profoundest paradoxes at Li'l Abner. "It's because they're so good!"

Ironically, the lovable and selfless Shmoos ultimately brought misery to humankind because people with a limitless supply of self-sacrificing Shmoos stopped working and society began to break down. Seen at first as a boon to humankind, they were ultimately hunted down and exterminated by the U.S. government to preserve the status quo. (Thought extinct after the 1948 adventure, one Shmoo always seemed to escape to Dogpatch's Valley of the Shmoon to form a new colony and the basis for a later plot revival by creator Al Capp). There was even a green-colored evil version of the Shmoo called a Nogoodnik.

Licensed Shmoo merchandise was a huge phenomenon in the late '40s and early '50s, spawning a wide variety of plush and plastic dolls, toys, drinking glasses, wallpaper, belts, books, jewelry, balloons, pendulum clocks, ashtrays, porcelain room deodorizers, canisters, salt & pepper shakers, dairy products, banks, games, masks, puzzles, comic books, baby rattles, 45 and 78 rpm records, ear muffs and more. Shmoos adorned Grape Nuts cereal boxes. There was even a Shmoo fishing lure! These are all highly collectible items today.

For more details see Shmoo Facts Sheet. See also Postcard No. 87 and Postcard No. 179 for a sense of the merchandise. The full 1948 Shmoo origin story, a preface on Shmoo merchandise and science fiction author Harlan Ellison's take on the phenomenon is in Li'l Abner Volume 14 (available on this web store in hard and softcover editions). A new Shmoo book is available from Overlook Press and a limited edition statue is available from Dark Horse Comics.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
6. Do you think these could be Hackers who could work for Progressives?
Sat Jan 18, 2014, 12:01 AM
Jan 2014

Schmoo's disguised? Couldn't quite understand what it was about in dealing with Progressive Media. But,could understand that maybe its ways for those who want to communicate without NSA intervention like Occupy Wall Street Spin Offs, Peace Groups and others who don't want to be under surveillance and infiltrated?



Nice to see you, btw.

Leopolds Ghost

(12,875 posts)
10. I don't really know enough about the subject to judge. But...
Sat Jan 18, 2014, 06:22 PM
Jan 2014

The problem is the people I know who are really good at computers are mostly not as political as I am, and the
people I know who are really political don't seem to know how to protect themselves from constant harassment.

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