I am confused.

According to http://www.onelook.com/ a GAR is either:

noun:   primitive predaceous North American fish covered with hard
scales and having long jaws with needle-like teeth

noun:   elongate European surface-dwelling predacious fishes with long
toothed jaws; abundant in coastal waters

I understand that there is a GAR in the Philippines; and a
fearsome-looking bearded variety in New York (presumably living in a
tank?) ...

I also understand that there are others living inland in places like
Tulsa (OK? or not OK?) and even Berlin (Ja!), Lebanon, Phoenix and the
UK ...

They seem to be EVERYWHERE. 

Or maybe the domesticated ones are all to be found in zoos or wild-life parks?

Or maybe the name is short for Garrulous?

I have this mental picture that they have green skin and domed heads,
and that they probably arrived on Earth from a distant planet,
possibly as passengers on a UFO.

Are they real or imaginary?

Now, can anyone deliver compelling proof of his/her assertions without
relying on secondary sources?

Please remember that this is a SCIENTIFIC question and that rigorous
proof will be required.

I do understand that any answers provided by GARs may not reflect the
views of G00000000gle, Inc. or its staff members.

Bryan
A Seeker After Wisdom

---

Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 19 Sep 2006 23:37 PDT

Dear Seeker After Wisdom...

I've restated your question in other terms. Please clarify as
to whether I've captured the essence of your query.


I'd love to know, the most, by far,
The nature of a  G A R.

A  G A R  that's not a fish,
to comprehend them is my wish.

To understand and validate
their domicile, their mental state.

To know if they are real or nay
(who knows if truth is what they say?)

Authentic PROOF is what I need,
so from this query I'll be freed.

I think that I shall never know,
but try, I must, before I go
the way of all things made of clay.
So answer soon, if not today!

---

Clarification of Question by probonopublico-ga on 20 Sep 2006 00:29 PDT

Subby

You are truly magnificent!

Please post an answer but please help me because ...

I am currently right out of US$ and I would like to reward you by
paying you with TEN gold Roubles issued by the Russian Imperial
Treasury in 1910. (The issue that shows Rasputin's head.)

As you must know, these are VERY valuable but my problem is how to
transfer them to you electronically ...

Knowing you, I am sure that you will find a way.

Please note that I do not use Western Union.

Many thanks!

Bryan

Bryan...

Thanks for accepting my humble efforts at clarifying your query
as an answer. I'll repeat it here:

I'd love to know, the most, by far,
The nature of a  G A R.

A  G A R  that's not a fish,
to comprehend them is my wish.

To understand and validate
their domicile, their mental state.

To know if they are real or nay
(who knows if truth is what they say?)

Authentic PROOF is what I need,
so from this query I'll be freed.

I think that I shall never know,
but try, I must, before I go
the way of all things made of clay.
So answer soon, if not today!


However, I feel I owe you more, by way of an answer.

By using the Google 'define' operator, at least one other
meaning comes to light:
://www.google.com/search?q=define%3AGAR

Which is:

"Governor's Authorized Representative (GAR) - (normally a
 senior member of the Office of Emergency Management staff)
 serves as the State's representative for the execution of
 all necessary documents for disaster assistance following
 a gubernatorial or Presidential declaration of an emergency
 or disaster."
http://www.dola.state.co.us/oem/Operations/plan/html-files/glossary.htm

Sounds like there should have been some GARs in New Orleans
at the time of the Katrina hurricane.


And I'm reasonably certain you already know about the GAR
interviews available at Philipp Lenssen's Google Blogoscoped:
http://blog.outer-court.com/interviews.html


And surely one as canny as yourself is aware of the newest
GAR hangout, the Web Owls blog, which contains a timely
entry about Talk Like A Pirate Day, and includes a poem
about the GAR pirates by our own prolific and multi-talented
pinkfreud-ga:
http://web-owls.com/

Surely this constitutes proof of their existence (since
everyone know that, if it's on the internet, it must be 
true), and their inclination to roam the seven seas and
plunder booty at our leisure.


As for your dilemma with regard to paying me in gold 
Roubles, be assured that this would tickle me pirate
fancy, but I'd prefer to bite the coins as pirates are
wont to do, to prove their authenticity.

I doubt that Paypal would authorize the transaction,
but perhaps I can arrange for a fellow GAR pirate to
make for port near your digs and pick them up for me.

Or would ye be pullin my wooden leg? Yarrr! Garrr!

sublime1-ga

Great, Subby, Many thanks!

Some great links, too.

Is it my imagination or ...

Has The Best just got Better?

Here's another question to keep you awake at nights:

Who said:

'It's not about having the right answers, but rather, the right questions?' 

All the Best

Bryan

Hi Bri,

It is too bad the OneLook Dictionary Search website has not updated their
search capabilities.

For myself, I have long thought that my mother was subjected to radiation
whilst pregnant with yours truly.  Whether this was done purposely by a
party or parties unknown still remains to be seen.

The full measure of that exposure has yet to be fully realized as well,
but it appears that GARness was at least one side effect.  Or is that
an aside infection?  Or a slight affectation?

Looking askew, denco-ga - G)oogle A)nswers R)esearcher

Here in Indiana, many lakes do have Gar swimming about within them. They bite!

The green skin certainly is incorrect for at least one GAR, a cat
lover.  From photos that include her extremities (lovely, she could be
a parts model), her skin is definitely NOT green but rather just that
color (sorry, colour) one would expect of a redhead, which in her case
would also seem to rule out the image of a domed head  - but in
consideration of all the information stored in it maybe it is  a bit
larger  - but certainly not swelled  - just swell!
The newest information about her suggests that she has human blood.  
We are still trying to discover if her Mensa-mega intelligence
resulted from a childhood blow on the head or a transfusion of blood
from a genius.

Myo  - PFC

PS: GAR is (or was) also the Grand Army of the Republic:
    http://www.suvcw.org/gar.htm

Aw shucks... Subbie's poem is priceless!  I guess a simple acronym
search is of no use, but it's funny nevertheless:

Acronym Lookup: GAR
http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=GAR&string=exact

Thanks, Cyndy

I do like the 'Girl amd Reservoir' that's listed.

I don't understand the need for it but ...

LOL -- I like "Get A Room" 

...but --I have been a bartender way too many times...

A Seeker After Wisdom wrote:

"Please remember that this is a SCIENTIFIC question and that rigorous
proof will be required."

[AGAR]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar

"Dissolved in hot water and cooled, agar becomes gelatinous. Its chief
use is as a culture medium for microbiological work. Other uses are as
a laxative, a vegetarian gelatin substitute, a thickener for soups, in
jellies, ice cream and Japanese desserts such as anmitsu, as a
clarifying agent in brewing, and for paper sizing fabrics."

[AGAR]
http://biology.clemson.edu/biolab/agar.html

"It is a polysaccharide found in the cell walls of some red algae and
is unusual in containing sulfated galactose monomers."

"The reason it is so useful in microbiology is that there are
practically no bacteria that can digest it. The early microbiologists
trying to make solid media started with gelatin, but a great many
bacteria love to digest that, and then you come back next morning to
find a dish of cloudy liquid instead of nice colonies."

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Wot's that Bryan?  Ye d'nay want t'nae what AGAR is?  Ye want t'nae what a GAR is?

Ne'er mind, and 'orrible sorrie for the deposition. 

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/hagar/about.htm

-- mt

Googlers Always Remember.....

Steph53

Bryan...

Thanks very much for the 5 stars and the generous tip!

As for who said, "It's not about having the right answers,
but rather, the right questions", of course, I did, but I
was paraphrasing something I'd read in one of the many
books I've read about spiritual growth and enlightenment.

I'm not sure exactly which book I read it in, though my
vague memory tells me it might have been in the extremely
unique and delightful, 'Mister God, This Is Anna', by Fynn:
http://www.amazon.com/Mister-God-This-Anna-Fynn/dp/0345327225

Ah yes, here's some of it:

"I had been taught the good old-fashioned method of question
 first, answer second. Now I was being taught by a halfpint,
 redheaded demon that almost every sentence, grunt, number or
 utterance was the answer to an unuttered question. [...] Very
 gently, but with great excitement, I was instructed in the
 method of walking backward. Keeping my eye firmly on the
 answer, I was encouraged to walk backward until at last I
 bumped into the question. [...] The more questions an answer
 led back to, the more useful that answer was. [...] The fewer
 questions an answer led back to, the more deeply important
 were those questions. When an answer led back to only one
 question, then you'd hit the jackpot."

Unforgettable and highly recommended book.


However, the concept is not exactly rare, as evidenced by this
page of quotes about questions and answers on ChemistryCoach(?):

"Reason can answer questions, but imagination has to ask them."
 Ralph N. Gerard

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers."
 Voltaire

"The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right
 questions."
 Claude Levi-Strauss

"The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential
 than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical
 or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities,
 to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative
 imagination and marks real advances in science."
 Albert Einstein

"The function of genius is not to give new answers, but to pose
 new questions -- which time and mediocrity can solve."
 Hugh Trevor-Roper, "Men and Events"
http://www.chemistrycoach.com/question.htm

Best regards...

sublime1-ga

Since Tuesday was 'Talk like a pirate ' day, it is obvious that GAR is
really GAAARRRGH, and can mean anything the pirate wants

Beautifully Sublime!

"Half-pint redhead demon", that's not about ...  No, of course not,
how could I even consider that!

Somehow, that backing up to find the question reminded me about the
question here: Why women always answer the unasked question:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=476274

What's happened to Silver777-ga?