Friday, April 20, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
What in the HELL is an IED?
I ask this because they are forever mentioning that soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan by IED's. I wondered to myself, what the hell is an IED? I read the term, IED, all the time when I read reports of our efforts over there in that country. Soldiers are killed in their tank because they hit an IED. So what the hell is it?
Dictionary.com defines IED as:
WordNet - Cite This Source
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Oh, so its a bomb.
So why in the HELL can't you just say BOMB!?!?!
When did it become inappropriate to call a bomb a bomb? It doesn't even take as many syllables to say bomb as it does to say I-E-D. So what the hell is the advantage of calling a bomb and IED!?!
The only possible explanation would be that you want to convey that its a crappy, homemade bomb. So just call it a homemade bomb. There's nothing gained by trying to say its an 'improvised explosive device'. That's just dressing up the obvious. Some guy wrapped up some nails and sharp rocks in a glass jar full of gas and fertilizer. Its not a good bomb, just some lethal junk put together and buried in the road. And all of that gets the fancy title of 'improvised explosive device'.
Its not an Improvised Explosive Device!!! Its a homemade bomb! Christ, just call it what it is. You make up a fancy description for something that's actually crude and ugly. Why polish a turd? A bomb is a bomb. A crappy bomb is a crappy bomb.
Just call it a bomb!!!
I ask this because they are forever mentioning that soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan by IED's. I wondered to myself, what the hell is an IED? I read the term, IED, all the time when I read reports of our efforts over there in that country. Soldiers are killed in their tank because they hit an IED. So what the hell is it?
Dictionary.com defines IED as:
WordNet - Cite This Source
| ied | |
noun | |
| an explosive device that is improvised [syn: improvised explosive device] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Oh, so its a bomb.
So why in the HELL can't you just say BOMB!?!?!
When did it become inappropriate to call a bomb a bomb? It doesn't even take as many syllables to say bomb as it does to say I-E-D. So what the hell is the advantage of calling a bomb and IED!?!
The only possible explanation would be that you want to convey that its a crappy, homemade bomb. So just call it a homemade bomb. There's nothing gained by trying to say its an 'improvised explosive device'. That's just dressing up the obvious. Some guy wrapped up some nails and sharp rocks in a glass jar full of gas and fertilizer. Its not a good bomb, just some lethal junk put together and buried in the road. And all of that gets the fancy title of 'improvised explosive device'.
Its not an Improvised Explosive Device!!! Its a homemade bomb! Christ, just call it what it is. You make up a fancy description for something that's actually crude and ugly. Why polish a turd? A bomb is a bomb. A crappy bomb is a crappy bomb.
Just call it a bomb!!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
I smell like ass.
Normally you wouldn't admit to that but this is something of a special case. The ass in question is not really ass at all. The smell of hot, fresh ass is actually the result of a pail of waste water from an oat processing plant. Turns out if you let it ferment for an week it turns into the smell we all know and don't love.
We were doing an experiment today. We had three samples of water from the previously mentioned oat processing plant that we wanted to filter, and then subsequently have the filtrate analyzed for water quality. We had a number of difficulties in achieving this purpose. The bulk of our problems revolved around pumps. As in, we couldn't find one that would pump water. That was exceedingly frustrating.
Back to the ass. . .
The last pail we wanted to filter was really rank. I mean, chase you from the room rank. And it was a big room. In fact, it chased several people from the room. Nonetheless, my partner Alain and I perservered. We had a mission. Lamentably, we were plagued by the previously mentioned pump problems. The problem being, the pump wouldn't move any water. After at least half an hour of fussing with it, in complete desperation, we took the discharge hose off the pump and tried to see if it would move water that way.
This, was a mistake.
The pump, without the discharge hose, would move water. Quite well actually. That might not be such a big deal except we were dealing with the previously mentioned ass-smelling water. A pump without a connected discharge hose will shoot water in an indiscriminant direction. In this case the direction was all over us. Thus we smelled like ass.
Which might not have been such a big deal except that, because of the nature of the water we were pumping, and the pump we had to use, this last sample took forever to filter enough water for our sampling purposes. While the first bottles took about an hour to fill our samples, this last, stinky, sample took SIX hours. We were at the office until midnight, filtering water with our little sample system. I like my job but I have my limits. Midnight on a long weekend is too long to stay at work.
Luckily a shower has washed the ass smell off me. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get the rest I've been craving since 5:00.
Normally you wouldn't admit to that but this is something of a special case. The ass in question is not really ass at all. The smell of hot, fresh ass is actually the result of a pail of waste water from an oat processing plant. Turns out if you let it ferment for an week it turns into the smell we all know and don't love.
We were doing an experiment today. We had three samples of water from the previously mentioned oat processing plant that we wanted to filter, and then subsequently have the filtrate analyzed for water quality. We had a number of difficulties in achieving this purpose. The bulk of our problems revolved around pumps. As in, we couldn't find one that would pump water. That was exceedingly frustrating.
Back to the ass. . .
The last pail we wanted to filter was really rank. I mean, chase you from the room rank. And it was a big room. In fact, it chased several people from the room. Nonetheless, my partner Alain and I perservered. We had a mission. Lamentably, we were plagued by the previously mentioned pump problems. The problem being, the pump wouldn't move any water. After at least half an hour of fussing with it, in complete desperation, we took the discharge hose off the pump and tried to see if it would move water that way.
This, was a mistake.
The pump, without the discharge hose, would move water. Quite well actually. That might not be such a big deal except we were dealing with the previously mentioned ass-smelling water. A pump without a connected discharge hose will shoot water in an indiscriminant direction. In this case the direction was all over us. Thus we smelled like ass.
Which might not have been such a big deal except that, because of the nature of the water we were pumping, and the pump we had to use, this last sample took forever to filter enough water for our sampling purposes. While the first bottles took about an hour to fill our samples, this last, stinky, sample took SIX hours. We were at the office until midnight, filtering water with our little sample system. I like my job but I have my limits. Midnight on a long weekend is too long to stay at work.
Luckily a shower has washed the ass smell off me. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get the rest I've been craving since 5:00.
Monday, April 02, 2007
by special request (and you know who you are)
Blog Quote Of The Day: (and its topical too!)
. . . from where I sit it appears that life can be absolutely, fucking, BRUTAL!!! I view life like a big desperate bear, loose in the campground. I try to avert its gaze, because if you lock eyes with it, it thinks you want to play, it doesn't know its own strength, and it just starts BEATING the living SHIT out of you! All in the name of good, clean kodiak fun.
Blog Quote Of The Day: (and its topical too!)
. . . from where I sit it appears that life can be absolutely, fucking, BRUTAL!!! I view life like a big desperate bear, loose in the campground. I try to avert its gaze, because if you lock eyes with it, it thinks you want to play, it doesn't know its own strength, and it just starts BEATING the living SHIT out of you! All in the name of good, clean kodiak fun.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Things That Piss Me Off:
It really gets on my nerves the way hotels charge you for internet access. You just know they are running a $24.95 broadband connection into the hotel, and then splitting it from there for each room. What is especially egregious is when they provide this in the form of wireless internet. They obviously didn't even go to the trouble of running cable to each room. They just put a DLink wireless access point somewhere central in the hotel and hope you can get enough signal in your room.
But what really galls me about this is the price they charge for the internet access. For the $24.95 they are PAYING to bring internet to the hotel, they are CHARGING me $12.94 per DAY! So, if I stay for two nights, and agree to their outrageous charges, then I personally have paid for their entire month of internet access. Everyone else could, and by rights should, get access for free. But they don't. Everyone else pays $12.95 too and the hotel rakes in a disgusting amount of money for doing absolutely nothing at all.
It really gets on my nerves the way hotels charge you for internet access. You just know they are running a $24.95 broadband connection into the hotel, and then splitting it from there for each room. What is especially egregious is when they provide this in the form of wireless internet. They obviously didn't even go to the trouble of running cable to each room. They just put a DLink wireless access point somewhere central in the hotel and hope you can get enough signal in your room.
But what really galls me about this is the price they charge for the internet access. For the $24.95 they are PAYING to bring internet to the hotel, they are CHARGING me $12.94 per DAY! So, if I stay for two nights, and agree to their outrageous charges, then I personally have paid for their entire month of internet access. Everyone else could, and by rights should, get access for free. But they don't. Everyone else pays $12.95 too and the hotel rakes in a disgusting amount of money for doing absolutely nothing at all.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
They have this new channel on Sirius now. Its called Lithium. Its supposed to be all 90's alternative and grunge rock. The stuff I grew up on. For my part they could throw in some Metallica too, but I guess that's not their mandate.
For some asinine reason they keep playing Cake. That crap wasn't good back in the 90's and it sure as hell isn't good now. They only had ONE song that got any radio airplay, and that one sucked ass anyway. Why they keep playing more crap from the same crappy band, I can no ascertain.
The point of this post is to make note of something that I think has been forgotten. Being a 90's alternative channel, they play a lot of Pearl Jam. A lot. Especially the first album, Ten. I've probably heard half the songs from that album now. And even though its 15 years later, they're still kick ass songs. As albums go, you can't really judge them by the collective anymore. An album seems to be, just a collection of singles in present day. But Ten was an album. And by my estimation, it has to be either the best, or one of the best, rock albums of my generation.
Take that for what its worth.
For some asinine reason they keep playing Cake. That crap wasn't good back in the 90's and it sure as hell isn't good now. They only had ONE song that got any radio airplay, and that one sucked ass anyway. Why they keep playing more crap from the same crappy band, I can no ascertain.
The point of this post is to make note of something that I think has been forgotten. Being a 90's alternative channel, they play a lot of Pearl Jam. A lot. Especially the first album, Ten. I've probably heard half the songs from that album now. And even though its 15 years later, they're still kick ass songs. As albums go, you can't really judge them by the collective anymore. An album seems to be, just a collection of singles in present day. But Ten was an album. And by my estimation, it has to be either the best, or one of the best, rock albums of my generation.
Take that for what its worth.