FReeper Canteen ~ Pancakes on Wednesday ~ 21 January 2004

Pancakes on Wednesdays

Welcome to Pancakes on Wednesdays.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Here is an amalgamation of trivial facts and seemingly useless data.

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From the Radixionary

SFERICS

Atmospheric discharges.

We can’t hear it without special equipment, but the planet almost continually sings with the sound of low-frequency radio signals that derive from lightning strikes. Because the signals are mostly trapped below the ionosphere, a reflective layer 55 miles above the ground, a suitable receiver can pick them up from thousands of miles away. They sound like twigs snapping or bacon frying. This weird-looking term for them, sferics, is just a respelled version of the last part of atmospherics. The abbreviation appeared around 1940, though the strange noises had first been heard by a German physicist, Heinrich Barkhausen, during World War I. There’s a complete vocabulary of words to describe various types: tweeks come from lightning that is so far away that the high radio frequencies arrive before the low, resulting in a musical set of clicks and tweets; whistlers are slowly descending tones caused by a similar mechanism, but which acts on bursts of radio waves that travel from pole to pole along magnetic lines of force.

Happy Birthday

Stonewall Jackson 1824

Next to Robert E. Lee himself, Thomas J. Jackson is the most revered of all Confederate commanders. A graduate of West Point (1846), he had served in the artillery in the Mexican War, earning two brevets, before resigning to accept a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute.

Happy Birthday

J. Carrol Naish 1897

We are counting cards

Happy Birthday

Christian Dior 1905

Happy Birthday

Telly Savalas 1924

Happy Birthday

Benny Hill 1925

Happy Birthday

Steve Reeves 1926

$How about a nice game of Pancake Chess?$

Be Glad your nose is on your face

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you'd be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread
were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be
an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,
remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place--
be glad your nose is on your face!

Happy Birthday

Wolfman Jack 1939

Random Samples

In statistical terms a random sample is a set of items that have been drawn from a population in such a way that each time an item was selected, every item in the population had an equal opportunity to appear in the sample. In practical terms, it is not so easy to draw a random sample. First, the only factor operating when a given item is selected, must be chance.

If, for example, numbered pieces of cardboard are drawn from a hat, it is important that they be thoroughly mixed, that they be identical in every respect except for the number printed on them and that the person selecting them be well blindfolded.

Second in order to meet the equal opportunity requirement, it is important that the sampling be done with replacement. That is, each time an item is selected, the relevant measure is taken and recorded. Then the item must be replaced in the population and be thoroughly mixed with the other items before the next item is drawn. If the items are not replaced in the population, each time an item is withdrawn, the probability of being selected, for each of the remaining items, will have been increased.

For example, with the illustrated population, the initial probability that a given item will be selected is 1/9. If, however, an item is drawn and not returned before drawing a second item, the probability that a given item will be drawn will have been increased to 1/8. Of course, this kind of change in probability becomes trivial if our population is very large, but it is important to recognize the principle illustrated here, to fully understand the concept of a random sample.

It is also important to recognize that when sampling with replacement, it is possible for the same item to appear more than once in a sample and it is possible to draw a random sample that is larger than the population from which it came. Notice also, that it is possible to draw as many random samples as we like from a give population. The key idea here is that we either sample with replacement or we draw our samples from a population that is so large that the withdrawal of successive items changes probability by an amount that is too small to be of concern.

Happy Birthday

Jack Nicklaus 1940

I am an excellent driver.

A brunette and a blonde are walking along in a park one morning.

Suddenly, the brunette notices a dead bird. "Awww, look at the dead birdie," she says sadly.

The blonde stops, looks up into the sky, and says, "Where? Where?"

Happy Birthday

Richie Havens 1941

High Flying Bird

"There's a high flyin' bird, flying way up in the sky,
And I wonder if she looks down, as she goes on by?
Well, she's flying so freely in the sky.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down, can't cry
Oh Lord, gonna die blues.

Now the sun it comes up and lights up the day,
And when he gets tired, Lord, he goes on down his way,
To the east and to the west,
He meets God every day.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down, can't cry
Oh Lord, gonna die blues.

Now I had a woman
Lord, she lived down by the mine,
She ain't never seen the sun,
Oh Lord, never stopped crying.

Then one day my woman up and died,
Lord, she up and died now.
Oh Lord, she up and died now.
She wanted to die,
And the only way to fly is die, die, die.

There's a high flyin' bird, flying way up in the sky,
And I wonder if she looks down as she goes on by?
Well, she's flying so freely in the sky.

Lord, look at me here,
I'm rooted like a tree here,
Got those sit-down, can't cry,
Oh, Lord, gonna die blues."

Todays Wednesday field trip takes us to the Grave Yard.

Happy Birthday

Geena Davis 1957

Thelma and Louise ...

Happy Birthday

Hakeem Olajuwon 1963

Olajuwon, which translates into “always being on top,” began playing basketball at the late age of 15.

One of the original Two Towers.

After the Rockets won a coin flip with the Portland Trail Blazers for the first pick in the 1984 NBA Draft -- one year before the institution of the Draft Lottery -- Houston selected Olajuwon. Although the talented Jordan was also available (he would be picked third by the Chicago Bulls), almost all in the basketball world thought Olujawon was the correct selection at No.1.

One year earlier, the Rockets won a coin flip with the Indiana Pacers, allowing the franchise to select the University of Virginia's Ralph Sampson. Thus, the fickle flips of a coin created the “Twin Towers” of 7-0 Olajuwon and 7-4 Sampson -- two agile giants.

It was a dark, stormy, night. The Marine was on his first assignment, and it was guard duty.

A General stepped out taking his dog for a walk. The nervous young Private snapped to attention, made a perfect salute, and snapped out "Sir, Good Evening, Sir!"

The General, out for some relaxation, returned the salute and said "Good evening soldier, nice night, isn't it?"

Well it wasn't a nice night, but the Private wasn't going to disagree with the General, so the he saluted again and replied "Sir, Yes Sir!".

The General continued, "You know there's something about a stormy night that I find soothing, it's really relaxing. Don't you agree?"

The Private didn't agree, but them the private was just a private, and responded "Sir, Yes Sir!"

The General, pointing at the dog, "This is a Golden Retriever, the best type of dog to train."

The Private glanced at the dog, saluted yet again and said "Sir, Yes Sir!"

The General continued "I got this dog for my wife."

The Private simply said "Good trade Sir!"

Would you like a lesson in probability with your pancakes?

Don't forget the Maple Syrup

I am an excellent driver..

On this day:

1957 - Singer Patsy Cline appeared on Arthur Godfrey's nighttime TV show. She performed "Walking After Midnight."

I go out walkin after midnight
Out in the starlight
Just like we used to do
Im always walking after midnight
Searching for you

I walk for miles along the highway
Well thats just my way
Of sayin I love you
I'm always walkin after midnight
Searchin for you

I stop to see a weeping willow
Cryin on his pillow
Maybe hes cryin for me
And as the skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm lonesome as I can be

I go out walkin after midnight
Out in the moonlight
Just a-hopin you may be
Somewhere a-walkin after midnight
Searching for me

I go out walkin after midnight
Searchin for you

I go out walkin after midnight
Searchin for you

1987 - Aretha Franklin inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

On this day:

1789 - W.H. Brown's "Power of Sympathy" was published. It was the first American novel to be published.

The Power of Sympathy is a sentimental novel, as well as a tale of seduction, addressed to "The Young Ladies of United Columbia." It’s purpose is to "inspire the female mind with a principle of self-complacency and to promote the economy of human life." The novel, beyond the plot, addresses sentimental love while at the same time exhibiting opinions towards female education and marital affairs.

On this day:

1911 - The first Monte Carlo car rally was held. Seven days later by French it was won by Henri Rougier.

Henri Rougier

Rougier was a famous cyclist and a champion race car driver. He learned to pilot a Voisin aircraft in 1909. In September, 1909, he won the Grand Prix de Berlin at the first aviation tournament held in Germany. In fact it was a disappointment to the Germans that the French won all the prizes at this meet. The meet was held in response to tremendous public enthusiasm for Orville Wright's demonstration flights at Templehoff and Potsdam in August.

We are still counting cards....

On this day:

1915 - The first Kiwanis club was formed in Detroit, MI.

On this day:

1946 - "The Fat Man" debuted on ABC radio.

Pancakes make you free, like a Butterfly.

Atomic Sub...

1954 - The Nautilus was launched in Groton, CT. It was the first atomic-powered submarine.

"On the NAUTILUS men's hearts never fail them, no defects to be afraid of, for the double shell is as firm as iron, no rigging to attend to; no sails for the wind to carry away; no boilers to burst; no fire to fear , for the vessel is made of iron, not of wood; no coal to run short, for electricity is the only power; no collision to fear, for it alone swims in deep water; no tempest to brave, for when it dives below the water, it reaches absolute tranquility. That is perfect the perfection of vessels."

JULES VERNE

Sub Atomic...

On this day:

2002 - In London, a 17th century book by Capt. John Smith, founder of the English settlement at Jamestown, was sold at auction for $48,800. "The General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles" was published in 1632.

Pancakes and Art, a match made in heaven, and in the FReeper Canteen.

Pancakes Wednesdays

Definitely

Losing Track Of Time

Time Moves Differently When You’re In A Combat Zone

By Spc. John S. Wollaston
3BCT PAO

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – There’s a song by the music group Chicago that’s called “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is”. I was reminded of that song over the weekend when I was having a conversation with a friend of mine in the States. They asked me if “I had enjoyed my weekend?” to which I laughingly replied, “What weekend?” I then had to explain to him that when you’re deployed like I am, your sense of what day it is and sometimes what month it is becomes a blur unless you physically make yourself go look at a calendar. Your normal cues that tell you that it’s the weekend (i.e. I’m not getting out of bed for PT and the kids are willingly getting up early to watch cartoons) aren’t there.

Then I got to thinking about how much and how little time and its essence actually play in a soldiers mind on a deployment such as this. Some things regarding time remain constant no matter where you are. There will always be 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 365 days in a year. In today’s pop culture that analogy has been distilled down to the phrase “24/7”. As in one soldier asking the question “Hey man, when are you on the guard shift roster?” and another soldier replying to him “Man, I feel like I’m on there 24/7!” In that sense, time here in Iraq can seem to drag on forever.

Being deployed to Iraq has even broken several laws of physics where time is concerned. (Ok not really but it seems like it.) This fact was hammered home to me on my two-week leave back to the States. Where, as I found out, there wasn’t enough time to do everything I wanted to with my family but I made the most of the time (there’s that word again) that I did get to spend with them. Anyway, here in Iraq we tend to focus only on the world around us and judge how fast or slow the rest of the world is moving by what’s going on here. And as I found out, Iraq is moving slower in relation to the rest of the world than I actually realized until I stepped off the plane in Midland, Texas and was greeted by my family. Things I had talked with my family about that were going to happen before I flew over here last April that, in my mind’s eye had yet to happen, had actually happened weeks or even months prior. And I won’t even mention how much my children had grown in the time that I’d been gone.

In that sense of time, looking at everything that’s happened in the world outside of Baghdad, time has literally flown at the speed of sound since we’ve been deployed, moving like a sleek sports car in the fast lane. While Iraqi time has been moving like one of their taxis in the slow lane. I know I’m going feel like a distant relative of Rip Van Winkle awakening from my own 12-month nap when I get back to Ft. Riley. Life outside the bubble of Baghdad and Operation Iraqi Freedom will have passed me by, gone into the ether without a chance to recapture it.

Or has it really moved that slowly here? I often find myself thinking that the days are going by so fast that they are actually blurring together. Which most times they are and out here that is definitely a good thing. As I told my friend, the days are going by so fast here that you don’t know if it’s Sunday or Friday unless you look at a calendar because the days just whiz by. So in that frame of reference my time in Baghdad has, thankfully, flown by. I actually do find myself amazed sometimes that the deployment of the 3rd Brigade to Iraq is within shouting distance of its one-year anniversary. It seems like only yesterday that our boots were hitting the ground at the airport in Kuwait City to start our desert adventure. Now here we are beginning to make plans for returning home.

But sometimes time can be pretty cruel to us here as well. There’s the difficult task of steeling yourself for an extra six weeks of time that has been added to your deployment when, in your head, the time for you to go home had been this close. Or the soldiers who thought they were departing the military before their units returned home, who recently found out not only are they going home with us, their time in the Army has been extended 90 days after we return to Kansas thanks to a stop-loss order. Like a runner who mentally prepares himself to go all out in a race for a certain distance, only to find out as he rounds the corner for the finish line that the race is two miles farther than what he expected. Its frustrating yes, but you have to keep going to the finish. Then there’s the cruel aspect of not having enough time with someone before one of life’s cruel twists takes him/her either from this earth or mercifully, just off the battlefield. The common refrain is “If I’d only had a little more time to talk to them or to tell them ‘good job’ or ‘be careful’” or something like that. When it’s a person’s time to go, there is never enough time to tell them all the things you should have or wanted to. A fact that many of us, myself included, have found out too many times to mention since we’ve been here.

Ok, so you’re asking yourself “Which is it? Is time moving like the tortoise or the hare in Baghdad?” The answer is “both”. This deployment has truly proven that time is a relative thing. It all depends on how you look at it. Time is moving rapidly in that the year we’ve been here is almost over and we’ll soon leave for home. And it’s moving along like an arthritic snail in the sense that it feels like that departure date will never get here. And we haven’t even touched on how our internal clocks are going to be messed up from the 9-hour time difference between Baghdad and Ft. Riley and how at four in the morning we’re gonna be wide awake for a few days because our body is telling us it’s two in the afternoon! So spouses please take pity on us if we seem a little confused when we get home. It’s just going to take us a little time to figure out what time it really is after a year in which it seems like time stood still. Or did it?

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