Comments for A Whatzis!

A Whatzis!

2009-07-09T12:44:36Z

Be careful what you wish for. Last week or so, the Great and Magnificent Og left a comment about jonesing for a Whatzis.

So, today - a Very Oggian Whatzis. Some common item, taken out of context. Oh, you'll figure out what it *is* easily enough. As for determining what it's *for* - and getting the right purpose for this multi-purpose item - will be the challenge. Of course, the better you know me, the easier it will be. But it won't be easy.

But knowing you guys, it ought to be funny.

Comment from AW1 Tim on 2009-07-10

2009-07-10T13:03:32Z

   3/4" by 6' length of braided sisal rope to be used with one end of an Army shelter tent.

    Each shelter half comes with a guy rope (shown) 4 pegs and a sectional pole. Two sets are needed to make one tent (each soldier carrying one set).

    Either that, or it's an accessory for his new jeep.

     respects,

Comment from BillT on 2009-07-10

2009-07-10T12:06:00Z

It may have been used by the Army as the helicopter snatch-rope for light observation helis when they were used for rescue work.

No need for rope. If the hole was big enough to see somebody, it was big enough to hover down into and pull the guy inside. *No* way to secure anything to the outside of a Loach, BTW -- trying that was just begging to have it fly into the rotor system -- and rather than go into the physics involved, we'll just say that attempting to pick up an offset external load without a counterbalance will lead to interesting (and instantaneous) forces at the rotor hub. The technical terminology is "a sudden and catastrophic loss of structural integrity"...

And we used 1+" rope for McGuire rig work with Huberts...

Comment from Old Fat Sailor on 2009-07-10

2009-07-10T11:31:14Z

Thats too easy, its a Master Chief Boatswain's Mate ticker-offer as in, "Which onea ya #&^#!*$ deck apes didn't (secure, stow, flake, coil) this ^*$ *#@! ^)*+&%# line?"

Comment from Argent on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T04:18:04Z

It's much too clean IMO.

You acquired the Rope of Saddam's Blessing? Wonder Woman's Cat Herder? AFSister's Pantasy? Carborundum's Bill Saver? My Mum's Stay and Eat Your Dinner? SWWBO's Instant Stall Customer Assistant?

Comment from Rivrdog on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T04:05:34Z

3/4" Sisal rope has a working strength suitable for towing/snatching light vehicles, but it's stiffness and inability to take knots easily put it out of the useful category for ALL of the uses mentioned up to here.

We used this size of sisal rope for a ground-egress escape rope for the pilot compartment and tail gunner compartment of the B-52D. Sisal has the advantage of being able to be gripped by the gloved hand better than nylon, and it's lack of flexibility is not an issue with escape ropes.

It may have been used by the Army as the helicopter snatch-rope for light observation helis when they were used for rescue work. It would have been stored on the outside of the machine, but near enough to the control cabin that the crew could unfasten it and dangle it down for a rescue, after which it would have been used to lash the rescued to the skid.

It might have been used on a Coinfidence Course also as a climbing rope.

Comment from Mike47 on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T03:47:50Z

Artillery firing lanyard.

Comment from og on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T03:43:48Z

Ah, that explains all. It's the rope up which Mcnamara will be pissing in hell, for ever.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T03:22:41Z

Actually, what looks like a digital camouflage is in fact a jpg artifact. The item sits on a piece of OD green canvas.

Comment from Grimmy on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T02:32:52Z

If it was a rope meant for use in the Hunter Option, wouldn't it be displayed with one of them curlicue doohickies that used to be attached to the top of street lamps as an attachment device?

Comment from William Powell on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T02:13:16Z

John, actually my comment about the Goat Rope was a pun about the fact that you DO have goats at the Castle now, and an old Navy term for a cluster ****. :-)

Actually, I would have guessed at about a 3/8" Diameter. I used to use a lot of that stuff for lashing down tarps. Does the digicam background have something to do with the use?

Comment from terrapod on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T01:03:49Z

Dang, Hunter beat me to it, so Ill punt, rope for drawing a pig through the barrel of a Sherman, or is it a camel through the barrel of an Abrams?

Comment from Jim on 2009-07-09

2009-07-10T00:42:39Z

Rope for lifting the generator up on a TOC track

Comment from Grumpy on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T23:54:00Z

John, This is a three quarter inch sisal rope, not much strength nor stretch, but holds knots well. I tend to believe it is used as a tent guideline. It could also be a lashing down a ripstop tarp on a load. It would be the same type of tarp in the picture.

Comment from RetRsvMike on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T23:01:39Z

in the background: a flattened clove, one each, digital pattern.
foreground: demonstration of how NOT to tie a clove hitch.

Comment from BillT on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T21:18:19Z

Looks *exactly* like the Hunk O' Rope™ I was issued with my shelter half, right down to the sloppy knot...

Comment from AFSister on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T21:05:30Z

JMH wins...

Comment from J.M. Heinrichs on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T21:01:17Z

1. "Attendance at the briefing was strictly voluntary, although, for some, encouragement was useful."
2. "The Armourer tied up his arguments in a neat bundle, using a rhetorical device not generally understood by gunners."

Cheers

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:52:03Z

And this thread careens drunkenly off course and smacks into an email thread, strewing post- and email- body parts all over.

Comment from Boquisucio on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:48:27Z

Was that done to Belmullet before or after the *Job*?

Comment from og on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:48:20Z

I did not stutter.

Comment from AFSister on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:30:58Z

Og-
Izzat a hoochie cord, or a hootchie-cootchie cord?

There's a difference, yanno.

Comment from Were-Kitten on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:27:26Z

Ahhh yes... the good ol' days.

Jon's right though- I prefer the fur-lined version these days. Rope is ROUGH.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:18:41Z

Hah! *She* tortured me! When I finally realized I could torture her, you wouldn't let me.

Comment from Kirk on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T20:12:32Z

Rope for a GP Medium Tent.

Comment from Dad on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:56:52Z

THE authorative answer.
It's a leftover from the days when John was regularly torturing his sister

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:50:08Z

Oh, and Master Bowramp - ya do know we *have* goats at Castle Argghhh! now, right? 7 of 'em, not counting me.

And it's just easier to grab 'em by a horn. You can control them that way. Lasso 'em and they just behave like bluefin tuna on the line, and it takes forever to tire 'em out.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:42:40Z

Frank - yeah, but those lanyards weren't 3/4 inch thick...

You guys are going to throw tomatoes tomorrow when I do the reveal...

Comment from Sigivald on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:37:47Z

3/4" sisal?

There's something sisal is good for?

(All I know is that's a rope, and you could use it for all sorts of stuff. Since it's sisal, for instance, you could rip it apart and make tinder...)

Comment from fdcol63 on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T19:36:54Z

Looks like a snarled up 50' lanyard like we'd use for one of those corseted Charge 8's when we practiced firing those "special weapons". LOL

Comment from BillT on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T18:46:23Z

The Lost Lasso of Argghhh -- which mysteriously vanished after the Great Chicken Roundup....

Comment from Kirk on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T18:41:02Z

Hawser cable salvaged from the wreck of the HMS Hood.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T18:05:01Z

It's 3/4 inch, Og. It is sisal. (I told you Og is good at this stuff)

It's not a uniform sleeve.

{snaps stopwatch} 12:14 PM

Frankly, it took you all somewhat longer for Hunter's option to show up than I expected. I figgered by 9AM, tops.

Comment from og on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T17:58:02Z

it looks as though it's sitting on a uniform sleeve but it's too coarse to be a fourragère. It's almost hanked like a piece of hoochie cord, but it's sisal, and I never saw hoochie cord made of anything but poly (though that may just be my age)

Comment from og on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T17:48:16Z

Can we get a diameter on the cord? or is that too revelatory?

Comment from Fishmugger on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T17:38:44Z

It looks like a tow rope for pulling How-wizzers out of the muck and mire after a rain. I think it goes along with the other pioneer stuff for the new/old Jeep (Commanders Vehicle)

Comment from Hunter on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T17:14:00Z

Step 1 of 4: Rope Step 2 of 4: Tree Step 3 of 4: Politician Step 4 of 4: Some assembly required

Comment from Spiff on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T16:49:04Z

Personally, I prefer velvet, rope is kinda rough...

Comment from Grimmy on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T16:37:37Z

This is an easy one.

That's a tie-down used to secure a tripod for a .50 to the hood of a jeep cause the floorboard is too worn to support a gun pedestal.

Comment from rikkochet on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T16:34:23Z

Frankly, I do knot have a clue.

Comment from Your Bud, Billy Jeff Clinton on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T16:33:56Z

Goodness. The former President is all over the blog today...

I snitched the key to the lock box while Her Extremeness is prepping for her India gig.

NSA says there's still a lot of ruffled feathers over there from all of Michelle's "Push Start" jokes...

Comment from Sean Maloney on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T15:51:31Z

Wait! I've seen this before.....

Remember that scene on the dock from the "Usual Suspects"?

Kaiser Soze!

Comment from Old Gaijiin on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T15:06:32Z

Poor example of the cinch knot used by ye olde Camel Corps to secure panniers of ammo for the 75mm pack howitzer.

Comment from jon spencer on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T14:56:01Z

Don't make me break out Ashley's Book of Knots to try to figure out what this will turn into.

Comment from William Powell on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T14:53:39Z

Must be john's "Goat Rope."

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T14:44:21Z

Heh. That's SWWBO, Tim. She Who WILL Be Obeyed. "Must" leaves wiggle room for disobedience. "WILL" does not...

My. The Echo is bad today.

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T14:25:23Z

Goodness. The former President is all over the blog today...

Comment from Tim on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T14:24:38Z

It's what happens when SWMBO, isn't.

Comment from Jon The Mechanic on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T13:49:52Z

No, Werekitten's stuff is either furry or has buckles on it.

Comment from Fishmugger on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T13:46:44Z

Well it's either a line or a rope based on the color of your uniform. It's used by John to repel out of his Lazy-Boy to get another beer from the fridge.

Comment from Your Bud, Billy Jeff Clinton on 2009-07-09

2009-07-09T13:44:12Z

I hope you realize WereKitty's been looking all over for that...