Special Blog Post:
Missile Quiz
Enjoy.
Published 7/17/2006 10:56:00 PM
Monday, July 17, 2006
Special Blog Post:
Enjoy.
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I find it hard to believe I used to repair the missile guidance systems on four different rockets in the Army. In 1975 and 1976, but still.
20%. I really haven't been paying attention to this mess, I'm trying not to get into trouble for my position.
Good evening, Debra.
I hope you know that, as is the case in my classroom teaching, these quizzes are primarily not just for a little recreation, but also to provide readers with some additional knowledge about and context for the subject matter.
Getting in trouble for my position seems sometimes to be my lot in life. A couple of days ago, a comment I made on another blog (actually, my comment was a scathing criticism of Hamas, Hizballah, and Israel, all of it in the context of an interview with a shill from Conflict Forums) got me accused of "gross ignorance." I was told to "go educate" myself.
Now that hurt. I mean, really. I was almost unable to eat the rest of the Pepperidge Farms Milano cookie I'd just expropriated from the cupboard in the Faculty Lounge.
Oh well.
The Dark Wraith will continue to promote his gross ignorance.
40% and didn't even answer number 5, but I'll follow the directive and not go near anything that has a switch and fins.
The world will be a little bit safer for your career decision Trailer Trash.
Unfortunately, I must inform you that you might still qualify for the missile crew in the event that we have to re-institute the draft because we can't find enough qualified volunteers.
The Dark Wraith will be waving from behind the concrete barricade.
Good Evening Dark Wraith:
80%, i misidentified the first offering. . .i saw a CNN broadcast this afternoon that identified that same photo as the katyusha, i'll pass on the missle crew job, but thank you. i prefer closer, more personal combat. it seems somehow, more human. these missles, like the bombs from planes are about as reprehensible as weapons come. i tend to favor the ancient greek and roman ideal. they looked down on those who would use arrows, slings, and javelins as sissies. they wanted their stuff done close in with spear and sword. whether dropping from the sky, rising up out of the ocean or sneaking out of the shadows of the night, i am still grunt infantry in my heart and soul. boots on the ground baby, boots on the ground.
ooooooo-rah.
60%, but I'm still opposed to missiles.
I think I could recognize the Deltas and Atlases much better.
Cool quiz. You are a harsh taskmaster for one so uneducated?
WTF?!?!
Type softly, and carry a spare cookie.
You're giving evidence of your age, there, Progressive Traditionalist.
Sadly, I too fondly remember the days of rockets like the Atlas and its gorgeous child, the Atlas-Centaur. The Agena on top of an Atlas was a beauty, too. But nothing can compare to the majesty of the Saturn V, a monster built exclusively for carrying human payloads and all of the support vehicles and equipment.
I have a story about that. An old friend of mine was a photographer for a major magazine during the first launch of a Saturn V. NASA had set up a special situation room for reporters and photographers around the world so they could have a clear view of the rocket lifting off. This fellow said he was standing there with his Nikon firmly in his hands, surrounded as he was by other press photographers from every corner of the Earth. He said there were many Japanese journalists on hand, all of them with what at the time was the state-of-the-art equipment ready to get the very best photographs of the lift-off. Apparently, many of them had their cameras on tripods and had shutter firing mechanisms that were triggered by loud sound, the assumption being that the launch of the rocket would make it to the situation room at just about the time the vehicle was clearing the tower and then beyond.
What they didn't understand was how the Saturn V and its motors worked: the vehicle was so massive that the engines would literally start pounding away on the launch pad for several seconds before there would be anything remotely resembling discernible upward movement of the craft.
Sure enough, launch control said, "Ignition sequence starts... six... five..."
At about five, the Earth was shaking like the end of the world had arrived. Those engines were cooking, and they were going to push the planet away from that Saturn V if need be.
Yep. The cameras with the sound-triggered shutters started firing away madly, taking picture after picture of the rocket just sitting there nearly disappearing into the smoke billowing up around it from the engine exhaust.
"...two... one... LIFT-OFF! We have lift-off..."
Yes, we had lift-off, and no small number of cameras in that situation room had already snarfed up most or all of their film.
The fellow who told me that story had some absolutely incredible shots he showed me.
That's the same fellow, by the way, who told me a rather interesting story about what's in the handle of the golf club Alan Shepherd used and then left on the moon. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way that story could be verified—not in my lifetime, anyway. Eventually, someone will retrieve that club and be able to see if there's really something in it. The scandal value will be entirely absent, though, by that time.
The Dark Wraith should probably let by-gone scandals be by-gone scandals.
Good evening, Minstrel Boy.
Speaking from the artillery side of the festivities, it might not be such a bad idea for infantry to be left to its own devices: the occasional call for fire from an excited lieutenant who reads off his own coördinates instead where he wants the fire laid down convinces me of that.
The Dark Wraith should probably not bring this up too often.
60% here, but only by reading all the questions before answering any of them. Nice tip with question 5 giving real missle names, but even better test trickery using Qassam twice.
Good morning, Dark Wraith.
They still use the Atlas. The Atlas V is the largest rocket currently in use at Cape Canaveral. I did some work at some of the launch pads for the Deltas & Atlases.
That big plume you see on lift off is steam. The launch pad itself is a grill with water underneath. Huge pumps refill the thing as it burns off.
A big 465,000 gallon spherical tank of liquid oxygen out there. One tiny little "No Smoking" sign.
Lots of rail cars full of helium out there. Don't know what they're for. Asked the guy from Air Liquide, and he didn't know either. Said they had been there for years.
Sorry I forgot my manners earlier. The enclosed is for you to read later in the day. (Good afternoon, Dark Wraith.)
80%
I really shouldn't spend so much time reading blogs/the news.
Good morning, John.
Yes, 80% would tend to indicate a rather high level of focus, at least on the weaponry side of the conflict.
The rockets and missiles get a lot of play in the media, but less exotic stuff is on parade quite heavily over there, too. Artillery is always good for bringing down a few buildings and killing some people; and of course there's the small arms that are the bread and butter of the light infantry.
Geez, I could write quizzes like this one for all kinds of different classes of weaponry.
I should probably avoid doing that, though: I can just see this blog starting to be popular with a very fiesty kind of Internet crowd.
The Dark Wraith will get the blog's hit numbers up by rather less aggressive means.
Good morning, Progressive Traditionalist.
I was to some extent aware of the water pit, but I didn't know that it actually keeps water flooding in during a launch. I guess I should have known about the Atlas V still being an active design: I have a vague recollection of one being the launch vehicle for some monster payload not that long ago. I might be mistaken about that, though. I've been trying to keep an eye on the near-Earth orbital delivery vehicles of some of the other countries trying to get into the commercial space race. India just had a rather nasty setback with one of its rockets losing emotional control during staging. India was trying to put a big telecom bird into orbit and show that its capabilities were such that it could sell payload space to companies trying to get hardware into space. Call me a marketing amateur if you want, but it seems to me that having your rocket blow up isn't a good PR thing.
The Dark Wraith suspects that saying, "We meant for that to happen" just won't cut it for damage control.
Good morning, Mr. Goat.
Yes, there were some helpful, if unstated, suggestions among the questions. I have a feeling the "dead giveaway" hint wasn't all that helpful to some. The point was that the Qassam is a crude technology. As one observer described the thing, it's basically nothing but a giant stick of dynamite with fins and a nose cone. I'll tell you one thing: that launch rail is way too flimsy for my tastes: I have this vision of the thing keeling over during launch and having that stupid missile go twisting around right in the launch area.
I had that happen on more than one occasion during my days in model rocketry. Even a small rocket with nothing particularly dangerous in the payload is awfully scary when it falls over during launch and starts bouncing around and chasing people. I recall one ricocheting off a tree and coming back to visit my fellow rocketeers and me.
Never saw so many kids hit the dirt so fast.
The Dark Wraith started using better launch pad anchoring after that incident.
Oh, and by the way, Progressive Traditionalist (and anyone else who's interest), this is the post upon which my subsequent comment got my butt chewed out. I probably should have just let that interview with the fellow from Conflicts Forum slide by; but n-o-o-o, I had to open my yap and get slapped around.
Actually, I'm putting the link here in these comments so I'll have ready reference to it should I ever need to revisit it: it'll be a good reminder that sometimes it's a good idea to keep my pie hole shut.
The Dark Wraith never knows when there's an artillery shell with his name on it waiting for its chance.
Even a small rocket with nothing particularly dangerous in the payload is awfully scary when it falls over during launch and starts bouncing around and chasing people.
I never had that type of failure in my limited number of launches, although I can identify with the affect. Mine was the result of a Qassam like missle launcher and an engine - no rocket body involved. Laid the little motor on a propped up board and hit the ignition button (at night of course). That motor took off like a SOB, made one erractic circuit of the yard, and disappeared to who the hell knows. Never did it again.
That was around the time my grandparents brought the grocery sack full of firecrackers back fom Mexico. Buried in the middle was a small sack of bigger ones. These were probably about 2" to 2 1/2" by at least 1/4". The powder was not rolled tight in the paper; the body was actually hollow with a good dose of loose powder.
The fuse was very short, maybe 1/2", so you had to be quick. Those suckers were loud, very loud, but not quite as good as the M-80s. The flash though, was absolutely tremendous.
The neighbors must have loved us in our youth.
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
Whew! Some people's kids huh? I have been guilty of middle eastern heresy for quite a while. Most of the problems with the conflict that we have today are arising (it's very much the same in Africa too) from British Colonialism. That's right folks, we are paying the price for Britain's policies of a century ago. They still hadn't figured out that the main beneficiaries of colonial expansion were not the people of either the colony or the mother country, but a few chosen business entities (for equation purposes figure East India Tea then = Haliburton now) and the army. In my eight years of active duty service, every single place I went that there were people pissed off enough to be shooting at me was a former European colony (Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Angola, Central African Empire (it became republic right after I left), Lebanon, and Honduras were all, in one way or another, suborned and corrupted by colonialism. I recall reading the reaction of Ibn Saud when he was informed about the British intention to discharge the Palestinian mandate to the Zionists. He asked "Why not give them Germany?" That question was never given an adequate response. Regardless of anyone's position regarding the State of Isreal, there is no denying that it is one more European colony.
Yes, indeed sir, there were many nights where what little respite and sleep I was able to get came from the cover of the big guns. With only a few exceptions, every mistake I saw coming from the firebase continued from mistakes in the field. Pilots and Rocketeers get to make movies. . .grunts and gunners make history.
Good afternoon, Mr Wraith.
Thanks for the link.
I just read through that stuff, and I thought that was pretty weird. Your assessment seemed right on. I like to suspend judgment to see things from different angles, but I quickly get suspicious when someone sees only one thing. At this time, I would prefer to think that this person does not comprehend the magnitude of the term "civilian casualties."
I have been trying to understand the rigidity of the US position toward Israel for some time now, as I am not quite so familiar with the history of it. I haven't been able to find much dealing with the matter from an objective point of view; it's either whole-hearted support or raving conspiracy theories.
I really liked your series on PNAC, which was very informative to me. I had seen their website, and really couldn't make heads or tails out of it. If, one day, you would care to turn your attention to the power structure of the ME and how that structure came into place, I'm sure I would find that to be a very good read. If you have already, please provide a link.
btw, the launch site I described above was where the Atlas III and a couple of the Delta rockets were launched from. I worked on some of the equipment in the control huts (3 of them). A lot of this stuff was obsolete (not a criticism, a statement of fact). Apparently not all of that stuff is updated with equal consideration.
And it's strange how you recognize places once you know your way around. A lot of the time the TV crews are reporting from KSC they're standing right outside of the cafeteria. A really nice cafeteria, but I have to wonder what kind of news they picked up there. Seems they never mention the daily special.
I scored a 40%. I thought I remembered the names of the missiles, but I guess not.
"Please don't touch anything that has a switch and fins." Yes, I think people have told me that before...
This whole thing is just frightening and depressing. No heroes, just mean-spirited children (with big honkin' weapons, no less) and their victims.
Good Evening, Dark Wraith-
Sorry for the delay, there was an emergency I had to take care of.
I received and 80%...wow. This quiz was almsot as difficult as your class exams, heh.
Even though knowledge is power, one doesn't have to know much besides how and where to run if one of these babies are coming toward you!
I lived on Vandenberg AFB for many years starting in 1968 and the military did not notify anyone when they were going to fire a rocket. My first earthquake was just a curiosity after enduring so many launches.
I used to wander around the back of the base, aah, what an I.D. could do for you in those days.
The only percentages that matter are rocket-to-child mortality ratios.
Care to justify any other calculations? You could simply read the novel CITYCitycity by Jack Kerouac and see what you're not seeing. Yet.
Good evening, kablooie.
A number of commenters here at The Dark Wraith Forums have seen it first hand.
On another blog some months back, I provided a very technical commentary on the matter of an attack that was intended to kill an al-Qa'ida operative in Pakistan. The attack did, indeed, kill the target as well as others, including family members, among them women and children.
A very angry blogger addressing me modulated between sarcasm and anger. He damned me for not saying in my exposition that people were "blown to bits" (to use his exact words for what I should have said).
Kablooie, although I didn't say as much to him, that fellow's condemnation of me meant nothing because he had no idea what he was talking about.
He had no idea whatsoever.
But you know what? I am so glad he didn't. I am grateful for every person—be he or she a Right-wing war-monger or a Leftist peace-at-all-costs advocate—who doesn't have any clue as to what the horror of war really is.
No, people don't get it from looking at pictures, although they think they do.
No, people don't get it from reading the articles of war correspondents, although they think they do.
No, people don't get it from having friends and family tell them about it, although they think they do.
Yes, seeing pictures, reading stories, and hearing narratives brings people to awareness, provided they're willing to look, see, and read with their souls open; and yes, it is the people who don't entirely get it who will be the very most vocal on both sides of the issue, and so it will be they who commence, drive, and alter policy.
At the end of the day, though, the people who are the swiftest to condemn the warrior are the ones who've never had their souls taken away to Hell and then returned to them so they could live the rest of their lives trying to live with themselves.
Some do a better job than others, kablooie.
For my part, because of my life, I'll be glad when I can slip into the black well of eternity never to feel again.
Until then, I'll just try not to sleep very much: I really don't like what awaits me there.
The Dark Wraith has spoken.
I'm not at all ready for a missile crew, though I "scored" 80%. I wanted to actually see what EACH one looked like, so I Googled the hell outta the potential answers.
Damn, but these damned quizzes make me learn. I thought I was done with that. :)
80% on pure guess work. I'm kind of appalled by this high score, really. Interesting quiz, though! I never know what I'm going to find when I visit this site.
Good Morning Dark Wraith:
their souls taken away to Hell and then returned to them so they could live the rest of their lives trying to live with themselves.
I'll just try not to sleep very much: I really don't like what awaits me there.
word.
Only 60%, guess I'd better use adult supervision for awhile longer. I tried model rockets too when I was a kid, my major launch problem was a BIG standard poodle named Waldo. He just wanted to check out everything while we were trying to defeat commies. He must have been a KGB plant, but he was really a good 'ol dog. We would wait until he was satisfied and got out of the way. When we found out about sulfur, saltpieter and charcoal, things became interesting. All this in elementary school. I wouldn't even know how or if a pharmicist would sell a kid that now. That kid would have a ticket to Cuba.
All this in elementary school.
You lucky dog, I didn't get to really learn to make things until being a TA in the chem lab in HS (before that was was all tearing apart duds to stockpile the powder). Never was successful with the nitro, but the thermite sure was fun.
Good morning Dark Wraith,
60%. Better than I expected. But I relied on gut instinct rather than argumentative analysis with myself which typically results in abject failure.
Good evening, konagod.
What is it with all these people scoring above 0% on this quiz? I thought, when I was creating it, that people would be lucky to get one right answer, but folks are sort of surprising me.
I suppose it has to do with the fact that pretty much the only people who hang around here are well informed overall. If I were to give this to the average American, I'd be lucky not to see negative scores.
Not that knowing missile names is an indication of general knowledge, though. I could be quizzed on a lot of subjects and come up bupkis on the scoreboard. Having not watched television nor listened to music in at least several years, I wouldn't have a clue about who's who or what's what in the world of entertainment or even sports.
For some reason, that aspect of my general ignorance about popular culture doesn't bother me.
The Dark Wraith should probably find some quick summary to read so he'll look like he knows something about such subjects.
Good Afternoon Dark Wraith,
Hope you are well and happy.
Regardless of anyone's position regarding the State of Israel, there is no denying that it is one more European colony.
And I always thought it was the 51st state!
40% Wraith, and that was guessing all the way (I must have had some of it seep in subliminally - gosh, I love multiple choice tests)
...and I will gladly stay away from anything that explodes, thank you. heh
When I was a kid, my two older brothers had a six foot pit dug in the back field, unknown to me but discovered and taken care of in secret by my mom.
They exploded all manner of homemade ordinance in there.
...I have had reason in my life to wonder if chemistry is not a dangerous thing to teach teenaged boys