Username
D. A. Wood
Member Since
November 7, 2011
Total number of comments
260
Total number of votes received
109
Bio
Latest Comments
Pled versus pleaded
- August 9, 2012, 4:38pm
Oh, nobody ever spells it "labratory" - except perhaps some dolts. The word is "laboratory", Then the typical American pronunciation is more like "LAB-ruh-TOR-ee". We have collapsed just just one syllable.
I have been told that the British pronunciation of "Farnsborough" is more like "Fan-shaw". Then there is Middlesbrough, East Yorkshire, which only gets three syllables, but Middleborough, Massachusetts, and Middlesborough, Kentucky, get four.
Don't ever pay attention to the way that George W. Bush said anything because he as a well-known loser when it came to pronunciation.
The really funny one was the way that Jimmy Carter said "nuclear" with only two syllables, instead of three, but Carter had been an officer in nuclear engineering while he was in the U.S. Navy. Carter worked directly under Captain Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear navies of the U.S. and its allies, too. (Carter did not serve on nuclear submarines at sea, but rather he helped to design and build them.)
Then there came a time when the higher-ups in the navy wanted to get rid of Rickover for some odd reason. Then Congress passed a law that established a position for one rear admiral in the Navy who was a fully-qualified nuclear engineer for its ships.Rickover was the only captain in the Navy who remotely qualified for that position, so the Navy had to promote him to it. That was how he became Admiral Rickover.
Rickover had two problems with the higher-ups in the Navy - the ones who sat on the promotion boards and made the decisions.
1. Rickover was Jewish, and some of them didn't care for this at all.
2. Rickover was far smarter in nuclear engineering than any other admiral or captain in the navy, and he had the way of letting everyone know this even when it insulted them. Hence, Rickover rubbed some of his superiors raw! Drove them crazy!
D.A.W. .
Pled versus pleaded
- August 7, 2012, 3:58pm
The spell checker for Yahoo also does not know how to spell "gauge".
It wants to change this into "gage"???
I have known how to spell "gauge" since about 1965.
Back in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, we knew what these were: air gauge, barometric pressure gauge, gas gauge, pressure gauge, and a thickness gauge were.
What do they use now? Radioactivity?
D.A.W.
Pled versus pleaded
- August 7, 2012, 3:49pm
Well, Ethan, people are supposed to be using spell checkers, and not robots using spell checkers. People are supposed to use their own brains and get things RIGHT.
Today I wrote an e-mail on Yahoo and I mentioned former Senator Sarbanes of Maryland. The spell checker suggested to change this to Senator Sawbones of Mayland. Holy, cow I did not accept that!
It also wanted to change "Los Ageles" into "Laos Angele's"
To shift from Los Angeles to Laos is about 9,000 miles !
D.A.W.
Latest vs. Newest
- August 2, 2012, 11:50am
To me, it is unbelievable that someone does not know that "most" means "more than 50 percent". Where do you get your fantasies?
Today, I ate most of my breakfast, I went on a bus ride across most of town, I went shopping, and I spent most of my money.
I am not destitute because I spent about 55 percent of it, and not 85 or 95 percent of it.
Are there some British people who have the fantasy that "most" means 85 percent or more? That would be bad.
D.A.W.
Latest vs. Newest
- August 2, 2012, 11:41am
Like it or not, statutory law overrides common law in all cases.
The Parliament or the Congress can override common law at any point.
This is because statuatory law is the supreme law of the land.
Where did you get your law degree from that you wish to argue against this?
You also wish to argue against mathematical laws, scientific laws, and the laws of common sense. Be gone with you! There are Web sites where you can also argue in favor of a Flat Earth.
Statuatory law also specifies what acts are murder, which ones are manslaughter, and also what the proper punishments are -- the lengths of prison sentences, etc.
In the U,K,, statuatory law has also ruled out hanging, shooting, beheading, etc., as punishments.
What is the situation concerning public floggings in the U.K.? Against the law or not?
Personally, I am in favor of public floggings for argumentative people like you, and also bank robbers, wiretappers, etc.
D.A.W.
Latest vs. Newest
- August 2, 2012, 11:24am
The word "most" means "more than 50 percent".
So, what are you quibbling about?
D.A.W.
Latest vs. Newest
- August 1, 2012, 8:44am
Where is it that British people live besides in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland? Note that I mean ones living in the Northern Hemisphere and east of Iceland, too. (No Canadians.)
Note also that most the British people in Northern Ireland had ancestors who emigrated there from Scotland long ago, but they still have allegance to the British Crown. So, British they are.
D.A.W.
Latest vs. Newest
- August 1, 2012, 8:37am
"The term "the late" meaning "the recently deceased" can't be given the "-est" ending, so "the latest" can't possibly have any connotation of death."
1. How do you know ??
2. You were missing the whole point of the example, too, by simplemindedness.
3. The point was that there are much clearer ways of stating what they wanted to state. They should use clear and precise language.
4. You feel compelled to fly off on tangents, don't you? "Where is the logic in that?", as Dr. McCoy said to Mr. Spock in STAR TREK 3.
D.A.W.
Molotov Cocktails
- July 29, 2012, 8:24am
If the Soviets/Russians ever launched a bombing attack that threatened the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Greenland, etc., you can be sure that the Americans and the Canadians would jump to their defense in fighter planes.
When it comes to Greenland and Iceland, those are NATO allies (since Greenland belongs to Denmark), hence the NATO mutual-defense pact would come into effect. The U.S. Air Force used to keep a squadron, or two, of fighter planes based on Iceland, and if they were ever needed, they could be sent back in a matter of days. Also, Greenland is within flying range of the fighters of the Canadian Forces, so help would be immediate. The U.S. also has an Air Base at Thule, Greenland, but no planes based there now. The main mission of the Thule base is radar coverage extending over the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
Questions
“Much More Ready” | July 8, 2012 |
Molotov Cocktails | July 8, 2012 |
Latest vs. Newest | July 15, 2012 |
Pled versus pleaded
Nevertheless, Rickover had a lot of support in Congress, and he eventually got promoted to Vice Admiral, too. He also had a submarine named for him, the USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER, a member of the LOS ANGELES class.
Also, Jimmy Carter got along well with him. Carter only left the Navy when he did because his father died of cancer (too young), and Carter needed to go back to Georgia to take care of the family farm, his mother Lillian Carter, his younger brother Billy, and his three younger sisters.
Oddly, Billy and their three sisters all died of cancer of the pancreas, and I bet that there father did, too.
Jimmy Carter and his four chilren have been fortunate that none of them has inherited that dreaded disease. I didn't know much about the sisters, but I really miss Billy Carter. He had a way of not taking bullcrap from anyone.
D.A.W.