"Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile"

Here is a late 20th century example of a group of bawdy young men lamenting about the wily ways of women:

Bell Biv DeVoe... now you know.

The Body Bag Industry

Not to make light of an egregious impending situation, but if you read this article from the BBC about military operations against Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka you will read this interesting phrase:

The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed a routine order of body bags...

A routine order of body bags? That is a detail of war that I've never thought of. This implies that there is a body bag industry from which it is possible to order. If there is a body bag industry then there could be competing body bag manufacturing companies offering a range of products in a range of qualities for a range of prices. Are there government standards that body bag manufacturers have to abide by? Who else uses body bags on such a regular basis that they require "routine" orders besides the ICRC? Off the top of my head I came up with: county coroners and forensic departments, the army, hospitals, and TV shows with an emphasis on crime and forensics.

According to my Google inquiries it seems that the industry name for body bag is "transport pouch" (there is even a transportpouch.com). There are different types of "transport pouches" for different situations such as "water recovery" or simply "disaster." You can order them individually or by the case. They have handles of various types. They come in several different colors (blue, orange, black, and an array of drab grays and greens), several different materials (mostly vinyl and nylon it seems), and they come in sizes from infant to adult (with a special "oversized" adult bag). Apparently there are transport pouches that are up to military specification.

And now I know about the body ba... I mean transport pouch industry.

Photo by Danny Hammontree

Ur Punks

The other day in class we had a lecture from Kandia Crazy Horse about Afro Punk where she mentioned the concept of the "ur punk." She says that the Ur Punk is Arthur Lee who influenced Jimi Hendrix and the Doors and who was influenced by James Brown and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.











This guy is Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

Primordial Punk? I don't know. But I get to learn about this stuff in school. ^_^

1750 I have discovered a new ephemera

Here is a poem I found in the OED:

Ephemera, n.

1. An insect that (in its imago or winged form) lives only for a day. In modern entomology the name of a genus of psudo-neuropterous insects belonging to the Ephemeridae (Day-flies, May-flies).

But I think it should read like this:

Ephemera, n.

1.

An insect that

(in its' imago or winged form)

lives only for a day.

In modern entomology

the name of a genus of psudo-neuropterous insects

belonging to

the Ephemeradae

(Day-flies, May-flies).