Hijack This Thread

[AndyinPA]

I shopped at Costco this afternoon. It’s not even Labor Day and they have a Christmas tree up.

Went to my Costco today. Yep, Christmas stuff out.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.motortrend.com/news/submerg ... ks-canada/

Sunken Arctic Expedition Ford F-150 Recovered From Ocean
The Arctic Trucks AT44 Ford F-150 fell through the ice, and it took divers and a helicopter to get back on land.

In a first-ever expedition across continental shelf of Canada to the high Arctic, one of their AT44 trucks—based on the F-150—broke through the ice just after the drive was completed. While no one was inside, the Arctic Trucks team initially had to leave it—but they also have a policy of leaving nothing behind. That meant the team needed to recover it, no matter what it took.

It was an unfortunate end to the otherwise successful expedition. Starting from Yellowknife, Northern Territories, the Arctic Trucks team drove all the way to Resolute Bay on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut without incident the entire trek. According to Car and Driver, during their return to Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island, Nunavut, one of the AT44s broke through the ice due to high currents causing rapidly shifting ice conditions. Hoping to avoid damage to the fragile ecosystem of the Arctic, the Arctic Trucks team worked with Transglobal Car Expedition by GoodGear.org to recover the lost F-150.

It took four attempts, but the AT44 was successfully removed by the chopper and returned to land at Gjoa Haven in Nunavut. Shockingly, save for the driver's side rear wheel, the F-150 is otherwise intact. It's now waiting for the next sealift vessel to return to Montreal, and we wonder what its fate will be after that. Perhaps a perfect candidate for a new "Ford Tough" ad campaign?

[MN-Skeptic]

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

It's About the Sound

The deciding factor for which of these words should be used is the sound that begins the word which follows these indefinite articles, rather than the letter which does. And there are scads of words in English that begin with a vowel, but which are initially voiced with a consonant sound (and vice versa).

One, useless, unicorn all clearly begin with a vowel; yet one sounds as though one is saying W, and the other two are voiced with an initial Y sound, and so these would be preceded by a, rather than an (“A one hundred dollar bill”). On the flip side, we have plenty of words that begin with consonants, but which are voiced as though they begin with a vowel (especially for H-words, such as heir, honesty, hourly), and these words are preceded by an, even though they begin with a consonant (“He was an honest man”).

The same rule applies to acronyms and initialisms, which when viewed on the printed page may lead to a certain visual incongruity, especially if readers are not silently voicing the words in their head as they read. For instance, if one were to write about a memo sent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (in its initialized form) it would be “an FBI memo”; even though the word following an clearly begins with a consonant, it is voiced as a vowel (“eff-bee-eye”). Should one, however, write about a memo sent by the Central Intelligence Agency (again using the initialism for the name) it would be “a CIA memo.”

More at the link, but that's basically it. So... it's an hour until supper, it's an honor to receive this award, I'd like to buy a hat, etc.

[pipistrelle]

An "ar"WNJ.

[northland10]

So, if I understand correctly, FBI and MOU would be "an," but FISA would be "a" since that one is actually spoken like a word, not individual letters. English is an odd language.

[John Thomas8]

The other sportsfootball pick 'ems start on the 8th of September:

https://thefogbow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1618

[Phoenix520]

Dunno about you, but in all the years we’ve been following them I’ve never said RWNJ, even when I’m reading. It’s always the full phrase. I’m not sure why.

[Sam the Centipede]

Dunno about you, but in all the years we’ve been following them I’ve never said RWNJ, even when I’m reading. It’s always the full phrase. I’m not sure why.

Possible reasons (as one with the same habit): it's not an official or standard acronym like FBI; it's satisfying to articulate the "nut-job" part of the phrase; it's a mouthful spelled in letter namess as the points of articulation shop around the mouth.

If we used letter sounds rather than names I guess it might be "roonj" or similar (using w as a video target than a semivowel glide).

[bbflatt]

Dunno about you, but in all the years we’ve been following them I’ve never said RWNJ, even when I’m reading. It’s always the full phrase. I’m not sure why.

How would you even pronounce it as an acronym? Ruh-wen-ji?

[Phoenix520]

That’s close, if you go with the convention of the first two letters of each word.

RiWiNuJo
Ree-Wee-New-Jo.

Or

Rye-Wye-Nu-Jo

Or Rye-Wee-Nu-Joe

Or

Assholes. My personal favorite

[RVInit]

Gurdeep Pandher always brings a smile to my face whenever he posts.

[Flatpoint High]

Gurdeep Pandher always brings a smile to my face whenever he posts.

he is an angel.

[raison de arizona]

Trace your neighborhood through ancient times.
https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#0

[Maybenaut]

Hay, 370 million years ago Maybelot (which sits on the side of a mountain overlooking the beautiful Page Valley), was waterfront!

[AndyinPA]

We were also underwater then. I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. We didn't get out from underwater until 280 million years ago. We seem to have stayed high and dry since then. I think the Appalachian Mountains are supposed to have been the highest mountain range ever on the planet, but we're just in the foothills now.

[jez]

We were also underwater then. I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise. We didn't get out from underwater until 280 million years ago. We seem to have stayed high and dry since then. I think the Appalachian Mountains are supposed to have been the highest mountain range ever on the planet, but we're just in the foothills now.

If I remember my Geology right, the Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges. Just lots of erosion.

[Frater I*I]

If I remember my Geology right, the Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges. Just lots of erosion.

And hillbillies.....

[pipistrelle]

If I remember my Geology right, the Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges. Just lots of erosion.

And hillbillies.....

Watch it, pal.

[AndyinPA]

[RVInit]

[RTH10260]

Except that I don't like plate marks on my squashed food nor food sticking under my plate

Otherwise the performance was impressive.

now let's see him carry the dishes up a flight of stairs

[keith]

Except that I don't like plate marks on my squashed food nor food sticking under my plate

Otherwise the performance was impressive.

now let's see him carry the dishes up a flight of stairs

I also dont like all the other lazy ass coworkers that would rather just stand aside and maybe open a door than maybe carry a tray so one guy isn't stuck carrying them all.

Not impressed at all.

[sugar magnolia]

I also don't like all the other lazy ass coworkers that would rather just stand aside and maybe open a door than maybe carry a tray so one guy isn't stuck carrying them all.

That was my first thought also.

[neonzx]

I found that an impressive carry -- and I have carried/balanced many a trays with one arm back in the day. But, yeah, you don't smush plates ontop of each other. Still impressive.

[Azastan]

I went in for an x-ray today to see how far 'Kid Rock' had gotten down my ureter. Was kind of hoping that he'd left for good, because I haven't been experiencing any pain, and thought he might be gone.

Nope.

HE HASN'T MOVED AT ALL.

Still sitting where he was the day I went to the ER.

My urologist is going to give him another couple of weeks for him to figure his way out, do another x-ray to see if he's moved at all, and if not, we'll be discussing more proactive methods of booting him out.