When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

10 July 2005

Front toward idiocy

The Claymore, a "directional" fragmentation mine (meaning that the explosion and shrapnel mostly go in one direction) first fielded by US forces in Vietnam, bears a famous label on its case:

Claymore
"Front toward enemy"
Follow these directions carefully

The warning is famous in infantry circles (of which I've never been a member) and in technical writing and training circles (of which I've been a member my entire adult life) for its pithiness and, to put it mildly, the importance of following its stated directions. (The mine is basically a plastic box holding over a pound of high explosive and a hell of a lot of ball-bearings. You definitely want the nasty side pointed away from you.)

I've often thought that some of the better bloggers deserve a similar label -- "Front toward idiocy," perhaps.

Why, just last night, I pointed Chapomatic at this op-ed piece in the New York Times.

And look what he came up with this afternoon.

I wonder where I can get him a T-shirt?

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