Egyptian police seize one tonne of high explosives

1 ton / 13 bags = 154 lbs per garbage bag...

What brand of Garbage bag? 'Cause that doesn't seem to be possible... I can't even get 50 lbs into a Hefty garbage bag without it shredding open...

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

I had to laugh when I read the subtitle. 'Inner Spiritual Strugglers', indeed.

We cannot believe anything the msm is telling us or more precisely not telling us,
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005257.htm
Inner Spiritual Struggle, yeah right.

Well, there goes the tourist trade. I guess we'll have to send over some more aid to make up the shortfall.

"Egyptian police seize one tonne of high explosives."
-- the title of the article above

Just when one thought that the wordsworth of comment on "Taliban" and "Taleban" would be enough for the day, the "ton" and "tonne" problem lifts its heavy head.

A "tonne" is not a "ton." A "ton" is 2,000 pounds. A "tonne" or metric ton, is 2,204.6 pounds. Did the writer of the title above know that? Did he not give a thought before writing his title that he might confuse American readers, who will have silently assumed that it is merely a matter of spelling, and would have replaced the "tonne" as a matter of habit with the American "ton," in the spirit of those who on the late Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, that female parts be filled by males, and that satisfied everyone, including Master W. S.?

No doubt there are all kinds of excuses the writer could offer for sticking with "tonne" when "ton" might have done.

Here are some of the possibilities:

1. The word "tonne" is to be employed when the the article being weighed (in this case, "explosives") is, even in genderless English (niente sesso, siamo inglesi), impliedly more one thing than another. What, you might ask, would cause someone to think of "explosives" as female? Surely some men are known to explode, and surely some women quietly simmer. And so they do. But we think of The Taming of the Shrew, and the fiery fit of Anna Magnani spouting her romanaccio in a rice paddy or in the office of a Roman talent scout, or the flashing eyes of Katy Jurado, as she proceeds to give John Wayne a well-deserved whack, and he rubs his jaw in mock pain before grabbing his hellion by both arms until she simmers, pantingly, down.

2. This is merely a case of quaint Ye-Olde-Englande spelling, akin to Donne's "Busy old fool, unruly Sonne..." which he adopted for an obvious "sun." By the way, in America the name of that poet and preacher is spelled "John Don."

3. My dog ate my Webster's 2nd.

4. My not knowing that the difference between a "tonne" and a "ton" might not be obvious to all should not be held against me. A person capable of that kind of mistake deserves only pity.

5: I am aware of this "multiple intelligences" poppycock and like so many others will pretend to believe that there is not a single measurable "intelligence" but rather all kinds of mutually exclusive "intelligences"; therefore,while my multiplication"intelligence" may be found wanting, my "division" intelligence overflows; indeed, divisiveness is my specialty.

To which stern taskmasters will reply: Une femme est une femme, and not a feme as in the legal term "feme sole." Similarly, a "tonne" is a "tonne" and not a "ton." A "tonne" may in the end slim down to a "ton" as English English yields to American, but not quite yet. That transformation will require the wear and tear of time. Or the tare and tret of travel. Or something.

One begins to see Mr. and Mrs. Ton as a couple, with the latter, nee Tonne, looking and behaving much like the o'erweening Hyacinthe Bucket, in the BBC comedy "Keeping Up Appearances," hectoring her long-suffering and smaller, in every dimension, husband, Richard, whom she drags along in tow.

Perhaps, being a thoroughly modern couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ton will choose not to have her shed but rather to retain her maiden name (or her pounds in order to become not only in name but in fact "Mrs. Ton"), or still more rather, for both of them to assume the same hyphenated name, conjoined by a dash at the hip, so that henceforth they are to be known (and let no man put that new name asunder) -- as the Ton-Tonnes, or possibly the Tonne-Tons, or even possibly -- don't ask why, it just came to me -- as merely our good neighbors, the Macoutes.

The posting above (Ton-Tonnes) consists in part of recyclable material. This has been done in conformance with all relevant Federal and state statutes. The following provision of the relevant statute has been observed to the letter:

"the recyclable [the words that appear in the posting above] could have been a replacement or a substitute for a virgin material [the original posting from which some of the material above was taken and recycled], or the product to be made from the recyclable material could have been a replacement of or a substitute for a product made, in whole or in part, from a virgin material (§ 127 (c)(4))."

And there is a higher law than man-made law -- the law of the Conservation of Energy, which I refuse to break, especially around midnight, when the spirit flags, and one tries to conserve one's energy as much as possible for autres temps, autres coeurs. And besides, having made energy conservation a centerpiece of my platform, I thought it best to offer an example of how to recycle practically everything, including one's own weigh-ins or ways with words, so that, before turning in, I could say to myself, Say naught the struggle naught availeth.

Or is the first "naught" "not" but the second "naught" still not "not" or is it that possibly both are not "naught" but rather "not"?

O God. Aparte de mi este caliz.

Hugh, That was a fine rant...manic spontaneity and all... forget recycling, it's a classic. But you never explained why the abreviation for "pound" is "lb."

Hugh,

So, what you're attempting to articlate here is that somewhere in the third world countries, they have access to a technology that allows them to manufacture garbage bags that are for containment of sustained outward pressures from a mass weighing approximately 157 pounds - or 170 pounds, depending on the verbage of ton or tonnes???

I'm just asking, because I've been doing a lot of yard work lately...(grinning)

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

Xero G.

Now, don't get him started on the Roman word, "libra" which is only about 3/4 of a pound...LOL

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

Hugh

ton1  /tʌn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[tuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation,
–noun
1. a unit of weight, equivalent to 2000 pounds (0.907 metric ton) avoirdupois (short ton) in the U.S. and 2240 pounds (1.016 metric tons) avoirdupois (long ton) in Great Britain.
2. Also called freight ton. a unit of volume for freight that weighs one ton, varying with the type of freight measured, as 40 cubic feet of oak timber or 20 bushels of wheat.


tonne  /tʌn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[tuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation,
–noun
metric ton.
[Origin: 1900–05;
As you can see, an American ton is lighter than a metric ton (tonne) is lighter than a British ton.

Question to all Americans - what's wrong with metric?

Infidel Pride,

In response to your question,

"what's wrong with metric?"

Nothing is wrong with metric. We were all taught the metric system in grade school - after we were taught the American weights and measurements... So, I guess it is just a case of, "first come, first served..."

Besides, everyone knows that the metric system was created by the French in an effort to promote their bourgeois intellectual superiority. And, of course, everyone knows what we think about the French...LOL

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

It's the metric SYSTEM of measurements vs. the imperial/American COLLECTION of measurements.

loler,

It was a joke. Geez, get a sense of humor or something...

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

loler,

And, in fact, if you read the first paragraph of my statement about the metric system, I said, "Nothing is wrong with metric."

I use the metric system all the time.

http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com

So one tone less than over thosands tonns will arrive within days from Pakiland.

btw - everybody here is silent about the role of China selling arms to the nitwits all over the World. Why do we keep investing into teh source of terrorism?

"What's wrong with metric"?
-- from a posting above

Nothing -- in the laboratory, and for all kinds of purposes having to do with scientific measurement it has to be, it must be. But in the kitchen, in everyday life, in conversation, in our everyday usage and thoughts, I would prefer the old-time weights and measures, which is to say what still remains despite the inroads of the metric system.

It was a small victory against smug assumed world-wide homogenization when Americans refused to simply drop ounces and pounds, quarts and gallons, as the government once attempted. And in England the loss of the shilling and what remained of an as-yet incompletely decimalized system, would have been a good thing.

Anything that blocks homogenization of weights and measures and units of currency, that bollixes up the works, that makes it harder for everything to be reduced to the Big Market and interchangeability, everything that loves and preserves the local, even if the locus in question is as large as the United States.

When the American people just couldn't give up their inherited English system, even when those they inherited it from had agreed to largely do so, then -- some will say about this endless St. Crispin's Day, that This...Was Their Tinest Hour. I'm proud to say I always calculate my centimeters into inches, and my meters too. Just can't get the hang of the other. That's why, I suspect, my application for being an astronaut was rejected.

And by the way, do English scales still guess our weights in stones? I hope so.

It's too early to go on about why attempts to reform the English spelling are misguided, or why the Chinese should be discouraged from simplifying or in any way tampering with their impressive language. Force humans to plow a good deal of mental energy into learning whatever may be their native language, and above all do not consider it a triumph when English everywhere is reduced to pidgin English. Make the use of language a competitive field, one of those fields that might supplement, or even here and there replace, the eocnomic competition.

No Richards and Ogden Basic English. Basic English should be declared An Enemy of the People.

I was going to post a comment on the discovery of 13 bagfuls of explosives in the Sinai: that this is one of the "benefits" of the treaty whereby Israel gave the Sinai to Egypt in return for a cold peace. But, after reading the other postings, I decided not to.

The benefits of that "Peace Treaty" (i.e., Camp David Accords) between Egypt and Israel have been tangible and possibly permanent for Egypt, transitory or illusory, or sometimes both, for Israel. The same "peace" would have obtained without that disastrous treaty, for the same inhibiting factor -- the IDF -- would have kept Egypt observing the same cold peace that it does now.

But more on this, possibly, later.

Conservation of energy Hugh? I conserve all the energy I can...four people are employed full time, just to keep me propped up. Once I fall over it's really hard to get up again. Sometimes, if I really try, and have help, I can struggle into a sitting position. I need to conserve all the energy I can get, just to lift a spoon, or a glass is tough. Am I ill? No, just lazy. I could go on all day about the glories of energy conservation, but thinking hard enough to type this has tired me out, so I have to take a nap...

Gee Hugh,

I read you dissertation on Tonne vs. Tons and realized that you and Robert need to get a little sleep on a regular basis.

My guess has always been that the word "ton" has been over used. The word "tonne" was written as a fact as it was used in the measurement of the explosives.

I was at an energy confernce many years ago when a speaker advocated that we make the term barrel of oil 50 gal instead of 55 gal. Last time I checked some almost 30 years later his idea hadn't made much progress either.

The cramming of metric down America's throat will eventually happen but not the way the proponents wanted it. All of the units used in the military (always the most politically correct) as far as I know are metric.

Gradually we are seeing manufactured goods being made with metric fasteners and such. Actually metric threads do not make much sense except in their descriptions. The dawn of the industrial age brought with it many Yankee inventions. The commonality of threads being one. Many of these thread units are based on a mathmatical functionality of diameter of the object threaded.(Another very good Yankee idea)

Early land units of measure almost cannot be discarded because of the use of descriptions of property. (We are big into private property verses Europe)

I am a proponent of keeping the old system. If it makes the rest of the world conform to our ways of doing things,.....so be it. If it keeps us from becoming the "new world order" I'm really for it. I think individuality is what makes Americans free and that's good.

God willing, of course.