Fire Whirl
A fire whirl, colloquially fire devil or fire tornado, is a phenomenon in which a fire, under certain conditions depending on air temperature and currents, acquires a vertical vorticity and forms a whirl, or a tornado-like effect of a vertically oriented rotating column of air. Fire whirls may be whirlwinds separated from the flames, either within the burn area or outside it, or a vortex of flame, itself.
Fire whirl – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dragons Breath
A Dragons Breath usually refers to a zirconium-based pyrotechnic shotgun round. When the round is fired, sparks shoot out for about 20 feet.
While it has few tactical uses, the visual effect it produces is impressive, similar to that of a short-ranged flamethrower. The pyrotechnic shell is expensive compared to other shells, costing around 6 US dollars per shell.
It cannot be used in a semi-automatic shotgun, because it is a very low-power round: it does not produce enough recoil energy to cycle the next shot, causing the weapon to jam. An additional reason for use only in a manually-operated weapon is the fact that the round shoots flame for 3-5 seconds: this would cause a hazard if a shell still emitting flame were to be ejected from an automatic shotgun.
Dragons Breath – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How to use GDB to fix segmentation faults
A segmentation fault is normally caused by an invalid memory access. It can be caused by dereferencing a NULL pointer, a double-free, accessing a stale pointer, or a myriad of other tricky causes. The runtime system is notoriously unhelpful, usually saying simply “Segfault” when things have gone horribly wrong.
How do you track down these tricky bugs? The best way is to go back through your code and audit the heck out of it. Make sure you know where all your memory is allocated, and all the ways it could be unallocated. Beyond that, you can also use the Gnu DeBugger (GDB).
Check out RMS’s gdb Tutorial. I’m not sure if it’s that RMS, but regardless, it’s a good guide.
P-38 Can Opener
The P-38 can opener is a small device issued in the canned field rations of the United States Armed Forces from World War II to the 1980s. Originally designed for and distributed in the K-ration, it was later included in the C-ration.
Nicknamed the “John Wayne” because he was shown in a training film opening a can of K-Rations, the can opener is keychain sized and consists of a short metal blade that serves as a handle (and also a screwdriver to the resourceful), with a small, hinged metal tooth that folds out to pierce the can lid. A notch just under the hinge point keeps the opener hooked around the rim of the can as the device is “walked” around to cut the lid out. A larger version called the P-51 is somewhat easier to operate.
Official military designations for the P-38 include ‘US ARMY POCKET CAN OPENER’ and ‘OPENER, CAN, HAND, FOLDING, TYPE I’. As with some other military terms (e.g. Origin of the term ‘jeep’), the reasons for the ‘P-38′ designation are not clear. One unsubstantiated claim is that, used properly, it requires exactly 38 punches of the blade to open a C-ration can. The can opener’s coincidentally shares a designation with the P-38 ‘Lightning’ fighter plane and could allude to its fast performance. However, the P-51 can opener, while larger and easier to use than the P-38 can opener, also has a fighter plane namesake, which is slower and smaller than the P-38 fighter. The most likely origin of the name is much more pedestrian; the P-38 is 38mm (1.5 in) long. This explanation also holds for the P-51, its length measuring 51 mm (2 in).
United States military chocolate
Military chocolate has been a part of standard U.S. armed forces rations since 1937, and is issued to troops as part of basic field rations and sundry packs. Chocolate rations served two purposes: as a morale boost, and as a high-energy, pocket-sized emergency ration. Military chocolate rations are often made in special lots to military specifications for weight, size, and endurance. A majority of chocolate issued to military personnel is produced by the Hershey Company.
When provided as a morale boost or care package, military chocolate is often no different from normal store bought bars in taste and composition. However, they are frequently packaged or molded differently. The World War II K-ration included a bar of Hershey’s sweet chocolate. But instead of being the typical flat thin bar, the K-ration chocolate was a thick rectangular bar that was square at each end.
When provided as an emergency field ration, military chocolate was very different from normal bars. Since it was provided as a quick emergency food source, officials initially outlined that it should not be a tempting treat that troops might eat before they needed it. But even as attempts to improve the flavor were made, the heat-resistant chocolate bars never received rave reviews. Emergency ration chocolate bars were made to be high in energy value, be easy to carry and to withstand high temperatures. Withstanding high temperatures was extremely important, since infantrymen would be outdoors, sometimes in tropical or desert conditions, with the bars in their pockets against their bodies. These conditions would make any normal chocolate bar melt within minutes.
It is estimated that between 1940 to 1945, over 3 billion of the Ration D Bars and Tropical Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world. In 1939, the Hershey plant was capable of producing 100,000 ration bars a day. By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week. For their service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued five Army-Navy ‘E’ Production Awards for exceeding expectations for quality and quantity in the production of the Ration D Bar and Tropical Bar.
United States military chocolate
Birth Control Glasses – Rape Prevention Glasses
GI glasses, refers to eyeglasses issued by the American military to its service members. Dysphemisms for them include the most common birth control glasses (alternatively birth control goggles) sometimes shortened as BC goggles/glasses, BCGs or simply BCs.
The glasses are relatively-thick frames made of brown translucent plastic, with a thin metal wire extending down the center of each of the earpieces. The shape of the corrective lenses is nearly rectangular, with rounded edges, and a slight diagonal angle adjacent to the integrated nose pieces. This design reflects a specification for durability at the lowest possible cost. There are two designs available for female and male soldiers that require prescription eye wear.
They are large enough to provide a wide field of vision, but can be so large as to interfere with the sights of a rifle under certain circumstances. Waterproof, they are also impact resistant and satisfy many eye protection requirements.
BCG’s are issued at government expense to new recruits at basic training, boot camp, or Officer Candidate Schools in the United States military, and are the mandatory eye wear for any recruit who requires corrective lenses. When entering recruit training, servicemembers may wear civilian glasses until government-issued ones are assigned. Contact lenses are never permissible for these exercises. After basic training, soldiers are permitted to wear civilian glasses provided they are conservative in design and color. The military offers annual replacements for those who qualify, and personnel may request the government issued glasses in addition to several varieties of more attractive eyeware, in clear and tinted lenses, as well as prescription gas mask inserts and inserts for government-funded ballistic eyeware.
BCGs is a nickname given to the glasses because service members believe that while wearing BCG’s, it is impossible to attract the opposite sex because of their unflattering appearance.
It is believed that this terminology originated in the form “BC’s” in the Navy in 1981. The reason for this moniker was that “it would be impossible to get a date while wearing these glasses.”
Apparently these are also known as Rape Prevention Glasses for the same reasons.
Chipped beef on toast
Chipped beef on toast (or creamed chipped beef on toast) is a foodstuff comprising a creamy sauce and re-hydrated slivers of dried beef, served on toasted bread. In military slang it is commonly referred to by the dysphemism “Shit On a Shingle” (SOS). Chipped beef is also often served on English muffins, biscuits, homefries, and in casseroles.
Minnesota Starvation Experiment
Holy crap, this is pretty crazy.
The Minnesota Starvation Experiment, also known as the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment, the Minnesota Starvation-Recovery Experiment and the Starvation Study, was a clinical study performed at the University of Minnesota between November 19, 1944 and December 20, 1945. The investigation was designed to determine the physiological and psychological effects of severe and prolonged dietary restriction and the effectiveness of dietary rehabilitation strategies.
The motivation of the study was twofold: First, to produce a definitive treatise on the subject of human starvation based on a laboratory simulation of severe famine and, second, to utilize the scientific results produced to guide the Allied relief assistance to famine victims in Europe and Asia at the end of World War II. It was recognized early in 1944 that millions of people were in grave danger of mass famine as a result of the conflict and information was needed regarding the effects of semi-starvation — and the impact of various rehabilitation strategies — if post-war relief efforts were to be effective.
The study was developed in coordination with the Civilian Public Service CPS and the Selective Service System and utilized thirty-six men selected from a pool of over 100 CPS volunteers. The study was divided into three phases: A twelve week control phase where physiological and psychological observations were collected to establish a baseline for each subject; a twenty-four week starvation phase, over which period the caloric diet of each subject was dramatically reduced causing each participants to lose approximately 25% of their pre-starvation body weight; and, finally, a recovery phase where various rehabilitative diets were used to renourish the volunteers. Two subjects were dismissed for failing to maintain the diet restrictions imposed during the starvation phase of the experiment, and the data for two others was not used in the analysis of the results.
In 1950, Ancel Keys and his colleagues published the results of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in a two-volume, 1,385 page text entitled The Biology of Human Starvation (University of Minnesota Press). While this definitive treatise came too late to substantially impact the post-war recovery efforts, preliminary pamphlets containing key results from the Minneapolis Starvation Experiment were produced and used extensively by aid workers in Europe and Asia in the months following the cessation of hostilities.
Minnesota Starvation Experiment – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Civilian Public Service
Civilian Public Service CPS was a form of alternative service providing conscientious objectors in the United States an alternative to military service during World War II. From 1941 to 1947, nearly 12,000 draftees, willing to serve their country in some capacity but unwilling to do any type of military service, performed work of national importance in 152 CPS camps throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Draftees from the historic peace churches and other faiths worked in areas such as soil conservation, forestry, fire fighting, agriculture, social services and mental health.
The CPS men served without wages and minimal support from the federal government. The cost of maintaining the CPS camps and providing for the needs of the men was the responsibility of their congregations and families. CPS men served longer than regular draftees, not being released until well past the end of the war. Initially skeptical of the program, government agencies learned to appreciate the mens service and requested more workers from the program. CPS made significant contributions to forest fire prevention, erosion and flood control, medical science and reform of the mental health system.