Comments on Dark Roasted Blend: Wild Solutions to Common Problems

Those were in fact bombs; the yellow stripe is sta...

2008-04-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

Those were in fact bombs; the yellow stripe is standard NATO colour coding for high explosives. Besides, external fuel tanks are made of much thinner metal and wouldn't last very long like that.

Those pictures of chains of transportation vehicle...

2008-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Those pictures of chains of transportation vehicles reminded me of my first summer as a camp counselor. The camp had received 30 or so new aluminum canoes to replace the remnants of the previous canoe flotilla. The problem was that there was no road into camp, and canoeing up three miles one at a time was an unacceptible solution. So they tied all of the canoes together, bow to stern, and tied them to the back of a power boat— with the waterfront director in the very last one as a rudder. It worked pretty well, actually.

And that reminds me of when we got the new fridge and freezer to replace the vintage 1950s ones, especially as they arrived on a Thursday afternoon and the entire staff, bar three of us, went across the lake to fetch them. Evening flags had the three of us doing the whole routine, and suddenly looking up to see the missing staff members, saluting— in the backs of tiny little power boats, with a large appliance barely balanced across the front. (They were all standing as far back as possible, so as not to lose the appliance off the front.)

Incidentally, the fridge and freezer wouldn't fit through the front doors. We had to move them into the kitchen through the side shed after removing the stairs.

Ah, memories. Pity I didn't have a camera on me either time.

I've seen that place with the bombs in Laos.I also...

2008-01-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

I've seen that place with the bombs in Laos.

I also met and sat with a Lao guy in hospital who had made a barbeque between TWO unexploded bombs using a casing from a third as the barbeque plate.
UNFORTUNATELY the bombs on the bottom were NOT cleared and one of them promptly blew up!
He survived but in much worse condition than he had previously been in.

Bombs are however used for loads of thing across Laos. Most of them ARE cleared of UXO before being given back to the villagers and the majority of villagers and children are aware that bombs are bad, but some sadly still aren't and get blown up.

Brought back memories seeing that though.

Yep it's a Camry

2008-01-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Yep it's a Camry

I think the car pulling the sleigh in "Best transp...

2007-12-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

I think the car pulling the sleigh in "Best transportation is the one you invent yourself" is a Toyota Camry, but I'm not sure.

Those "unexploded bombs" may have been harmless dr...

2007-12-27T02:51:00.000-08:00

Those "unexploded bombs" may have been harmless drop tanks (for fuel), discarded when empty.