Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Nerd Notes & Fun With Words!

Just a little Nerd Note to tell you all that I schlepped down to Boulder tonight, took the test for the amateur radio technicians License and passed 33 for 35 questions. Thanks to a bizarre grandfathering provision in FCC rules, I get an automatic bump up to General Class. In a couple of weeks, I'll be allowed on the airwaves. Thankfully, I have nothing to say!

Also, from our Fun With Words department, I finally found the derivation of the word "SWAG," also spelled "schwag," a term encompassing the various and sundry freebies that accure to people in the media, like the hundreds of baseball hats actively multiplying on the top shelf of my office. According to our ace videographer and director Fernando Orozco, who first heard the term when he worked with CNN, it's an acronym for STUFF WE ALL GET.

So there...another mystery bites the dust!

I'm going to try and get to the range tomorrow and put the tuned up 225 though the paces before it goes back in service. I also just got back my .38 parts revolver, the N-Frame Smith, from Bob Cogan at Accurate Plating & Weaponry, and it's now a bonafide beauty. I'll do pixs tomorrow, along with the range report.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

SWAG - Interesting. From the Engineering/scientific side, I always heard it was

Scientific Wild A** Guess

but it does have some history of referring to booty or treasure as well, it would seem, from various writings.

Guy