🚀 go-pugleaf

>And then there's the more common but no less mysterious "B" setting,
>which I've always heard "translated" as "bulb", which holds the shutter
>open as long as you hold the shutter release button.  Is this intended
>for syncing to flash bulbs?  (I always used it for exposures longer than

   No, the "B" setting is on the shutter speed dial and is translated just
as you did - "bulb". It comes from the old kind of shutter releases which 
were made of a tube and an air bulb which, when squeezed, released the 
shutter. Most people use cable releases, now, but you can still get the
bulb releases. 
   In a way, "B" can be used as yet another sync method. You can open the
shutter on the "B" setting and lock it open, then go around and flash a
strobe where you want light to appear. (This must, obviously, be done in 
the dark or the film will quickly overexpose.)
-- 

--Brian M. Godfrey
  Sequent Computer Systems Inc.
  !tektronix!sequent!brian