The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) February 12, 2003
GOOD MORNING LOWCOUNTRY
Compiled by The Post and Courier
PHOTO:An unidentified U.S. Navy plane captain walks on top of one of several FA/-18 Hornet jets on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Constellation in the Gulf region. The Constellation, CV64, is taking part in Operation Southern Watch.
Engineers can make art. The staircase inside the capitol building in Montgomery, Ala., was built in 1851 by Horace King, a slave who became a bridge builder. The Alabama Historical Commission and its Black Heritage Council paused to honor the legacy of King during a special tribute in the capitol auditorium this month. As part of Operation Southern Watch, which has been going on in the skies over southern Iraq since 1991, U.S. and other aircraft drop informational (read: propaganda) leaflets, most recently near An Numaniyah, Al Kut (only 95 miles from Baghdad), Al Amarah and Al Qurnah.
Some leaflets list radio frequencies where coalition forces are broadcasting information. Other leaflets state that coalition forces don't wish to harm the noble people of Iraq or destroy their landmarks and warn civilians to avoid military areas. Still others urge Iraqi soldiers to consider the consequences of engaging coalition forces.
To see the leaflets, go to http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq art-of-war.htm. That site is a "nonprofit, non-partisan think tank and Web site that focuses on defense, space and intelligence matters," said spokesman Patrick Garrett at its Alexandria, Va.-based operation. It gets much of its information from press releases issued by U.S. Central Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida (http://www/. centcom.mil/), he said.
NAME THAT WAR: As one of us here at GMLc who has military experience points out, Operation Pretext is drawing to a close and the Pentagon has not yet divulged a name for the war against Iraq. Garrett said he thinks operations in Iraq will be given names but that the entire campaign will come under the existing banner of Operation Enduring Freedom, the global war against terrorism.
GMLc likes "Gulf War II: The Vengeance," the name given by the satirical newspaper The Onion. From The Onion's interview with the Secretary of Defense:
" 'If you thought the first one was good, just wait until you see the sequel,' Rumsfeld said of Gulf War II, scheduled to hit Iraqi theaters of operation March 22. 'In the original, as you no doubt know, we defeat Saddam Hussein, only to let him slip away at the very end. This time, we're going back in to take out the trash.' "
Scripps Howard News Service writes that the choice of a name for the war won't be arbitrary, and it will have a large PR factor.
Operation Infinite Justice was a non-starter for the war on terrorism when Muslims pointed out that it was offensive to their belief that only God has the power to mete out justice. That resulted in a quick change to Enduring Freedom.
World War II ops used colors for a while until they ran out (thank goodness nobody had heard of "teal" back then).
Korean War battle names took on some testosterone... Thunderbolt, Audacious, Roundup... a practice that continued into Vietnam. Cities, historic figures, famous battles have provided names.
In recent years, Scripps Howard reports, war names were meaningless word pairings, chosen from the computerized Code Word, Nickname and Exercise Term System. Now, operations are named carefully to convey boldness, nobility, geography, purpose... whatever.
ENGINEERS: Next week is National Engineer's Week. The Citadel gets ahead of it with a engineering fair Saturday. Student teams from area middle schools will display model bridges they built for the competition using only craft sticks and carpenters' wood glue. Judging starts at 8:30 a.m.
Judging consists of loading the bridge with weights at mid-span until it collapses, thereby measuring the bridge's strength to weight ratio.
Engineers from the new Cooper River bridge project will also bring a model bridge for judging. It's in Grimsley Hall at The Price We Like.
THE SOUTH CAROLINA PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING EXAM: Speaking of engineers, this test came in the mail...
1. Calculate the smallest limb diameter on a trashberry tree that will support a 10-pound possum.
2. Which of the following cars will rust out the quickest when placed on blocks in your front yard? A. '66 Ford Fairlane: B. '69 Chevrolet Chevelle: C. '64 Pontiac GTO
3. A pulpwood cutter has a chain saw that operates at 2,700 rpm. The density of the pine trees in a plot to be harvested is 470 per acre. The plot is 2.3 acres in size. The average tree diameter is 14 inches. How many Budweiser Tallboys will it take to cut the trees?
4. If every old refrigerator in the state vented a charge of R-12 simultaneously, what would be the decrease in the ozone layer?
5. A front porch is constructed of 2x8 pine on 24-inch centers with a field rock foundation. The span is 8 feet and the porch length is 16 feet. The porch floor is 1-inch rough-sawn pine. When the porch collapses, how many hound dogs will be killed?
6. A man owns a house south of Pickens and 3.7 acres of land in a hollow with an average slope of 15 percent. The man has 5 children. Can each of the children place a mobile home on the man's land?
7. A coal mine operates an NFPA Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Area. The mine employs 120 miners per shift. A gas warning is issued at the beginning of 3rd shift. How many cartons of unfiltered Camels will be smoked during the shift?
8. At a reduction in gene pool variability rate of 7.5 percent per generation, how long will it take a town that has been bypassed by the interstate to breed a country and western singer?
Copyright © 2003, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
