The Birds
Christopher C. KaufmanWhy are they doing this? Why are they doing this?
They said when you got here, the whole thing started.
Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from?
I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!
--a mother, The Birds (1963)
_________
So now we are to understand that pigeon excrement is a possible culprit in the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse which killed 13 and injured 100.
"Experts say the corrosive guano deposited all over the Interstate 35W span's framework helped the steel beams rust faster (Experts Tie Pigeon Dung, Bridge Collapse)." Add the preponderance of pigeon guano to missing bolts and cracking steel, and you have a problem.
What a coincidence, since it is chicken-shit chickenhawk leadership that is corroding the U.S. national identity.
Labels: bridge collapse, infrastructure failure, pigeon guano
posted by rangeragainstwar at 1:20 PM
10 Comments:
Wow, and here I thought "guano" meant batshit exclusively. Uh...no wait, batshit is actually the exact kind of crazy I am going from watching/reading stories that make sure we all know George is going to bonb hell out of Iran for the same batshit reasons he started in Iraq.
Someone, please, come take me to my padded room now?
That's one good thing about this war--ya learn something new every day. I myself am constantly astounded by my naivete.
Fortunately, there is Ranger to balance us out (during those times we let him out of his padded cell!)
"guano" is a catchall term for all congregated droppings from flying critters.
if you're into home made stuff it's also one of the best natural sources of nitre (saltpeter) an essential component to many improvised munitions. (i learned that stuff at little creek, va home to the famed "black ops" school of the navy where i also learned how to make a bomb outta froot loops)
MB, what amazes me is that we remember this stuff 37 years later. Lisa saw some SF blackbook stuff at a friends house and it intrigued her. Then i started spouting the formulas and this really set her off. The training never does go away. jim
remember? hahahahahah!
that was the funnest part. take a teenager, rip him across the ocean and tell him he can blow shit to smithereens?
don't even get me started on the wonderfullness of foogas. . . i turn all poetic.
The astronomical amounts of shit flying around DC these days must be corroding the entire American infrastructure. With this kind of administrative negligence, terrorists actually seem pretty benign.
kootenay,
I think we can only be destroyed from within, so the endemic corruption of the administration is the only thing to truly fear.
Just like with the guano: it was not the droppings per se, but the chemical process set up within those fissures in the already compromised structure which led to the bridge's collapse.
Events like 9-11 could never rend our country, but the infection set in by those who would exploit it could.
minstrel boy:
Of the event Jim mentions: I remember reading of explosive devices made with various household items like Jello and Fels Naptha soap.
There was a library of such books along one wall in the spare bedroom. In an incongruous gesture i thought, on the bedside table was "Random Acts of Kindness."
it's amazing what one can accomplish with a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry and physics. that's another frustrating thing when the administration rails about how the IED's simply must, must be being brought in from iran and outside sources. hell, one truck from KBR headed to a base exhange up north would set my little group up with beaucoup blastyblasty longtime GeeEye
minstrel boy,
It is the SHORT TIME that's hurting us.
I've always felt that these are not IED's, but rather improvised munitions which are composed of pre-existing stockpiles. Add these explosives to an 8-ft-electrical grounding rod, and you have a great penetrator. Sort of the John Holmes model.
The administration wants to blame Iran for our failures to secure the existing explosives within the country. That is all.
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