- Military advisers – U.S. Special Forces who were in Vietnam to direct South Vietnamese defenses.
- ARVN – Army of the Republic of Vietnam (it was still being spelled Viet Nam at that time.)
- birdfarm – aircraft carrier
- bombing pause – a temporary stop to the bombing to encourage the North Vietnamese to negotiate.
- click – slang for a kilometer.
- defoliate – Agent Orange the bitch.
- domino theory – our reason for fighting. If we let one country fall to communism, the theory was that the rest would follow like a row of dominoes being knocked over. Read about President Eisenhower’s Domino Theory Speech.
- escalation – Increased attacks ordered by President Lyndon Johnson after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. We went from 2,000 troops serving as advisors in 1961 to over 335,000 five years later, and over 540,000 at the beginning of 1969.
- fragging – it was first used to describe killing an officer with a fragmentation grenade but came to mean the killing of an officer (their own) in any manner.
- grunt – this word became popular in the late 1960s to refer to an infantryman.
- hack it – The phrase had been around since at least the early 1900s, but it gained popularity after President Richard Nixon used it in a news conference. He said the South Vietnamese could “hack it”, meaning they would not be harmed by U.S. withdrawal.
- kill ratio – the number of enemy deaths compared to the number of U.S. deaths. It’s important to keep score.
- napalm – (naphthene palmitate) had been used in firebombs and flame throwers for decades but became part of the antiwar conversation during the Vietnam War. Now you can buy your own flamethrower.
- pacification – first used by President Johnson to describe persuading local Vietnamese to support the South Vietnamese government. It later came to a euphemism for killing armed resistance in an area.
- search and destroy mission – any ground patrol mission that fought with enemy units in the jungle.
- tiger cage – torture cage used by the Việt Minh to hold prisoners.
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Ways to Identify Birds?
Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where the boidies is
The boid is on the wing,
But that’s absoid
From what I hoid
The wing is on the boid! – Anon.
There are two ways for the amateur birder to identify birds: by how they look and by how they sound. The best guides will walk you through identification by narrowing categories – shape, size, color – and then show you photos of possibilities.
– One of the most comprehensive online guides is All About Birds by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The guide will help you identify birds you see. There are also tips on how to attract birds to your yard.
If you get bored with your local birds, they have several bird cams you can watch.
– eNature.com has a regional finder so you can see what birds are in your area and how to attract them. You can find birds’ migration times and routes. There’s an audio section with recordings of the calls of over 550 North American Birds.
Don’t forget to check it out again in fall. It has a list of the 15 best places to see hawks during their fall migration.
– The Guide to North American Bird Songs and Sounds lets you try to identify birds by their songs. Look through the options to find descriptions that most closely match what you’re hearing. Is it one note or more? High or low pitched? Does it change? When you’ve narrowed it down, listed to the recordings and see if you can find a match.
Every year in February, people join together for The Great Backyard Bird Count . You can do it from anywhere in the world. All you need to do is record the numbers and kinds of birds you see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. Then enter the information online. The site provides instructions and tools to help you identify the birds.
It also recommends some phone apps to help you:
Merlin Bird ID, which is free for Android or iOS.
Audubon Bird Identification, which is $3.99 for Android, iOS, Nook, Kindle, and HP Touchpad.
TOP 10 WEB HOSTS?
I’m going to start off by saying that a discussion of web hosts can be almost as contentious as a discussion of politics. You will never get complete agreement and the web hosting company that’s best for you very much depends on the type of site you have, what services you need them to provide, and your skill level and experience in operating a website.
Along with links to their websites, I’ve also linked to their social media pages. I wouldn’t rule out a company just because it isn’t very active in social media, but I might give extra consideration to one when I can see that they take the extra step to be helpful to their customers.
I’ve also included information about where the servers are physically located. You may like doing business as close to home as possible. Or, you may have a preference of location due to that country’s laws – either something to avoid or something that attracts you to there. I don’t see the legal aspect as a huge consideration right now, but I can see the possibility of it becoming more important in the future.
When you begin your research to decide what kind of web hosting you need, you first need to decide if you want shared, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a dedicated server. Read this for a good summary of the differences.
10. Web Faction – Hosting for developers.
They have a turtle on the index page of their website! That’s not the only reason I picked them, but I do like turtles. (Who doesn’t?)
They have data centers in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Web Faction Facebook Page
Web Faction Twitter Page
9. Vidahost - UK web hosting and domain registration.
Data centre in Slough, Berkshire, UK.
Vidahost Facebook Page
Vidahost Twitter Page
8. Digital Ocean – American VPS based in New York City.
Leases data centers in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Digital Ocean Facebook Page
Digital Ocean Twitter Page
7. Stablehost – Shared and VPS hosting based in Arizona.
Data centers in the US and Europe.
Stablehost YouTube Channel
Stablehost Facebook Page
Stablehost Twitter Page
6. Nixihost – Shared and dedicated hosting. Caters to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses.
Headquartered in Houston, TX. The dedicated servers are in Orlando, Florida.
Nixihost Facebook Page
Nixihost Twitter Page
5. Namecheap – Popular domain registrar that also provides shared web hosting, VPS, and dedicated hosting.
Data centers in the US and UK.
Namecheap Facebook Page
Namecheap Twitter Page
4. Amazon Web Services – You already know Amazon as an online store and provider of streaming video and music. Guess what? They also provide web hosting with the same great attitude towards customer service.
Global data centers.
AWS Facebook Page
AWS Twitter Page
3. Rackspace –
Rackspace Facebook Page
Rackspace Twitter Page
2. Codero – Years of experience and a reputation for reliable up time.
Data centers in the US.
Codero Facebook Page
Codero Twitter Page
1. InMotion Hosting – Offers a variety of plans from basic to dedicated hosting. 24/7 live support.
Data centers in the US. (Washington DC and Los Angeles, CA)
In Motion Hosting Facebook Page
In Motion Hosting Twitter Page
In Motion Hosting Google + Page
In Motion Hosting YouTube Channel