I heard someone on the radio a few days ago that applauded President Bush's finally using the term "Islamo-Fascism," instead of "War on Terror." He pointed out that terror is a way of waging war, and that we didn't fight the War on Blitzkrieg in WWII, we fought the Germans. 

Please note the definition of fascism:

A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

We're not in danger of Muslims in general, but there is definitely a clear and present danger from those who practice Islam in very specific ways and demand that everyone do so, or die. 

So, Muslims are okay. But since we believe strongly in freedom — not only for Americans but for all people, Islamo-fascists must desist or be destroyed. 

And as a footnote, I just changed the category "War on Terror" to "War on Islamo-Fascism" here at Acme Anvil Co.

The winner for the Carnival of Comedy #69 — HollyRhea's post on her days in show-choir! Holly has a wonderful ability to not take herself seriously while involved in a "look-at-me" activity.

Good job, Holly! 

Today's story about the crashed airliner got me to wondering again how runways are numbered, and this time I had my computer with me.

Runways are identified by direction, using the degrees of a compass, with 360 degrees being toward magnetic North. The direction a plane is traveling on the runway is rounded to the nearest ten degrees, then divided by ten. A runway headed almost due East, with a compass heading of 86 degrees, would be Runway Nine, or sometimes Zero Nine. Multiple digits are always said separately — a runway with the numbers "26" on the end would be called "Runway Two Six." 

Also, since runways can be used in either direction, Runway Nine above would be known as Runway Two Seven if the plane was going the opposite direction.

Parallel runways are typically appended with "Left" or "Right;" parallel runways headed North would be "Three Six Left" and "Three Six Right."

For some airports, it's more complicated. A good article on the whole subject is here; Wikipedia is also a good source. 

Want to use the "official" phonetic alphabet when you spell a part number or serial number over the phone? Here is the current NATO phonetic alphabet:

Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whisky
X-Ray
Yankee
Zulu

Older phonetic alphabets used Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, etc. Amateur radio operators sometimes change the letters up to make them easier to remember or say; the letters M-M in a call sign, instead of "Mike-Mike" could be "Mickey Mouse."

Although your coolness factor goes up if you use the correct letters, you can use anything you want as long as it's easily understandable.

(Click to enlarge)

Scene: 2010. Iran's Bushehr nuclear facility

State of the art American warplanes fly over and drop… leaflets. Leaflets with smiley faces that read "Please stop."

New scene: The White House

Advisor: The deterrence mission failed, President Kerry.

President  Doofus  Nightmare  Carter II  Kerry: I just — I just don't get it.

Day by Day, by Chris Muir