it's National Hot Dog day, so let's talk about these little guys

🧵 This is a hot dog

It’s a cooked sausage served in a slit bun and optionally topped with condiments

Let’s talk about these little guys

🧵 This is a license plate - a metal plate issued by a government and used to identify a motor vehicle or trailer

This one in particular is the "Panoramic Texas" design, issued from 2000 to 2009

it was the last general-issue license plate to be embossed, but we'll get to that later

i've met some of the guys it does keep up at night

years ago i was auditing BP's trading business

and no matter how late we stayed there was at least one guy on the trade floor

on the way out one night i went down and talked to him for a few minutes

he had nine screens in front of him a couple of them had live SCADA feeds from power plants, showing the RPM of their turbines

he obviously didn't want to talk to me but he was courteous

i asked what he was looking at that affected the market

today we make cantucci, aka biscotti

start by preheating your oven to 350°F

cream 1 ¼ cups of sugar with 1 ¼ sticks of softened butter add 3 eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each

add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tsp almond extract

Let’s talk about these little guys

🧵 This is a concrete masonry unit, a standardized block used in construction

It’s commonly called a cinder block or concrete block in the United States, or a breeze block, Besser block or grey block in the Commonwealth

We’ll talk about the names in a little bit

dammit, it's time for a mini thread

let's talk about these little guys

https://twitter.com/corner_kick/status/1919213834008465501

this is an atomic clock

a real atomic clock

Today we replenish the Strategic Gravy Reserve

first step - roast the tomatoes

5 pounds of San Marzanos, halved, drained, drizzled with olive oil

300F for a couple hours Next we salt the meat and let it come to room temp

pork butt, beef short ribs, sweet sausage

story time

when i was in 6th grade I went with my whole class to Camp Kappe for a week it was an "environmental education" camp, at that time run by Dominican sisters

nestled among the pine trees, an hour or so north of Houston

Let’s talk about these little guys

🧵 This is a AA (pronounced “double-A”) alkaline battery

It’s a tiny little can of electricity, commonly used to power small electronic devices

Upwards of two billion are sold annually across the Fruited Plain

In France it’s called the “mignon” (“cute” or “dainty”)

after a long hiatus, let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is a Jersey barrier

it's a specially-shaped block of reinforced concrete used as a highway-safety device to separate lanes of traffic

after 12 hours, this story has a single retweet and no likes

the Chronicle has more than 700,000 followers

this is an Octavia Johnson story

let's take a look

https://twitter.com/HoustonChron/status/1888974840779972863

"said Ashwin Nathan, H-E-B Group vice president of marketing, in a statement."

what did he actually say when you called him for comment?

you did that, right? because you're a reporter

let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is a mason jar, a glass jar used in home food preservation

Watching "Crimson Tide"

this is a great line

"there's trouble in Russia...so they called us. And we're going over there and bringing the most lethal killing machine ever devised"

and it really is shit, this is gonna turn into a "these little guys" post

whatever, let's go

let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is a Swiss Army Knife, a pocketknife made by Victorinox

this one in particular is the "Classic SD" model, the best-selling Swiss Army Knife in the world

i bet your daddy has this on his keys

just wrapped up fireworks at Castello Bramanti, so let's talk about these little guys

🧵 This is a Bic Classic cigarette lighter, a disposable fire-making device

it's also known as the Bic Maxi or J26

story time

(i'm watching Man in the High Castle, and the bowing reminded me of this)

I was once on a consulting engagement with a Japanese company

they were trying to figure out the accounting implications of a gas deal

my boss and I went to their offices (in Houston) to receive a presentation we had been warned that this was a Very Old Japanese company, and to brush up on customs and courtesies

we dressed up

GOOD MILITARY EQUIPMENT NAMING CONVENTION MEGA THREAD

1. Ethnohistorical weapons/fighters

they should be from your own nation or forebears, or an homage to your indigeneous people

for Americans, the Tomahawk (cruise missile) works

Scimitar or Atlatl just wouldn't fit

ideally the weapon/system has some physical resemblance or metaphorical relation to its namesake

the Switchblade drone's wings flick out

the Harpoon missile kills giant ships 2. Contextually relevant mythology

it has to be relevant both to your people and to the system itself

for Americans, this largely means Greek and Roman mythology

the Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile is a perfect example

the Aegis system is another great one - Zeus' shield

the E-6 Mercury aircraft zips around relaying messages

I think we do this particularly well, but other nations do too

the Japanese Soryu submarine is named for a mythical blue dragon that protects the east

Wotan was a German radar navigation system that used a single beam, named for a one-eyed Norse god

let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is duck (or duct) tape, a cloth-backed adhesive tape used for...

well, everything

let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is a pop-top aluminum beverage can, also known as a beer can

given today's events, let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is an order of McDonald's french fries, sold under the registered-trademark name World Famous Fries

let's talk about these little guys

🧵 this is a crayon - a small stick of colored wax used for drawing, typically by children, and as a tasty snack by United States Marines

they're sometimes called wax pastels when they're fancy and expensive