Etymolgy and Entomolgy, Part 1

So I'm thinking about termites, and a thought hits me - wow. "What if termite comes from French Terre meaning earth, plus the word 'mite'?" Like an earth mite - a little bug that lives in the ground?

No go. At all, apparently. According to all the dictionaries around, the name comes from termes, which is Latin for 'termite', and which itself derives from the older Latin tarmes, 'wood-eating worm'. Okay. I can deal with that.

And worse, though, turns out mites aren't even insects. They're arachnids. So I am not only wrong, but on very shaky ground.

But it's okay, because now I am wiser.

Also, I learned that termite queens, when egg-filled, increase their size by about a hundredfold, and so can't really move around on their own. So the queen's got to be pushed from place to place by workers. Afterwards, she will shoot a rewarding juice out of her ass for them.

And, termites have soldiers, which can squirt noxious liquids or toxic glue (!!) from their heads. Wow.

Wow.

Fancy Gitmo Underpants

Re: The Issue of Underwear (“Discovery of ‘Contraband Clothing’ in the Cases of Shaker Aamer (ISN 239) and Mohammed el-Gharani (ISN 269)”

So a Navy Commander at Gitmo has accused a lawyer of surreptitiously supplying underpants (and a Speedo!) to 2 detainees. Here is part of the response. For the original letter (and the full response), follow the link (above).

[edited a lot - no elipses, though, but you should go to the link to read the whole thing]

I will confess that I have never received such an extraordinary letter in my entire career. I take accusations that I may have committed a criminal act very seriously.

[Your] records prove that nobody associated with my office has seen Mr. Aamer for a full year. Thus, it is physically impossible for us to have delivered anything to him that recently surfaced on his person. Surely you do not suggest that in your maximum security prison, where Mr. Aamer has been held in solitary confinement almost continuously since September 24, 2005, and where he has been more closely monitored than virtually any prisoner on the Base, your staff have missed the fact that he has been wearing both Speedos and ‘Under Armor’ for 12 months?

Without bringing this up with me, it was therefore patently clear that my office had nothing to do with this question of lingerie. However, I am unwilling to allow the issue of underwear to drop there. Getting to the bottom of this would help. I have done a little research to help you in your investigations.

I had never heard of ‘Under Armor briefs’ until you mentioned them, and my internet research has advanced my knowledge in two ways – first, Under Armour apparently sports a ‘U’ in its name, which is significant only because it helps with the research.

There must be other clues as to the provenance of these underpants. Perhaps you might check the label to see whether these are ‘tactical’ underwear, as this is apparently something Under Armour has created specially for the military.

[T]he Tactical section of the Under Armour Web site features military models, not athletes. In one image, a soldier poised on one knee wears a LooseGear shirt, looking as if he’d just as soon take a hill as take off on a run. His muscular arms protrude from the tight, olive-colored fabric. He’s a picture of soldierliness. And he’s totally dry.

I understand that other people use Under Armour. One group I noticed on the web were the amateur weight lifters, who seem confused as to whether Under Armour gave them a competitive advantage.

On the issue of the Speedo swimming trunks, my research really does not help very much.

I should say that your letter brought to mind a sign in the changing room of a local swimming pool, which showed someone diving into a lavatory, with the caption, “We don’t swim in your toilet, so please don’t pee in our pool”.