Things that made me chuckle while reading

I just finished reading the "main" Honorverse books and I'm now beginning the spin-off books. For the most part, I have greatly enjoyed them, but, as a Navy veteran, there were a few things I read that made me chuckle and go "WTF?", or perhaps snicker is a better word.

* Non-Coms saluting middies and calling them "ma'am" or "sir"
* Second-class POs getting jumped to Senior-chief... and BUPERS swallowing it
* Senior Master Chiefs
* "Bomb-pumped" Lasers (this might just be my own ignorance of physics but don't lasers already travel at the speed of light? At any rate I could never read this without thinking of Doctor Evil saying "sharks with frikken LASERBEAMS!" )
* XOs who got rack time!

I spose any of these could be explained by the fact that the novels take place 2000 years from now but they may me giggle nonetheless.

What made you snicker or go WTF when you were reading?

I think the bomb-pumping referred to in the laser heads refers to the fact that the lasers are formed by channeling a nuclear explosion, and means nothing regarding the speed of the laser.

DarkEnigma wrote:...as a Navy veteran, ...

US Navy? The RMN traditions are more 18th century English Navy than any US Navy tradition.

DarkEnigma wrote:I just finished reading the "main" Honorverse books and I'm now beginning the spin-off books. For the most part, I have greatly enjoyed them, but, as a Navy veteran, there were a few things I read that made me chuckle and go "WTF?", or perhaps snicker is a better word.

* Non-Coms saluting middies and calling them "ma'am" or "sir"
* Second-class POs getting jumped to Senior-chief... and BUPERS swallowing it
* Senior Master Chiefs
* "Bomb-pumped" Lasers (this might just be my own ignorance of physics but don't lasers already travel at the speed of light? At any rate I could never read this without thinking of Doctor Evil saying "sharks with frikken LASERBEAMS!" )
* XOs who got rack time!

I spose any of these could be explained by the fact that the novels take place 2000 years from now but they may me giggle nonetheless.

What made you snicker or go WTF when you were reading?

All of the following is illustrated in the back of Storm From the Shadows with line art.

As Roguevictory mentioned, bomb-pumped lasers refer to lasers that are powered by a nuclear device. In the Honorverse, a laserhead contains a lasing medium (a rod of hafnium 0.06mm in diameter) surrounded by Wolter mirrors ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_mi ... ter_mirror ) to concentrate the x-ray burst from the nuclear device into the lasing rod.

Surrounding the mirrors is fuel, RCS thrusters, and other associated equipment for the laserhead to line up on the target. A Mk16 carries six laserheads per missile; a Mk23 carries ten. The laserheads are ejected from the main missile body just prior to the nuke detonating, moving outwards and forwards about 150 or so meters.

The nuke is contained in the missile, and is surrounded by a grav focusing array*, which concentrates even more of the x-rays produced by the detonation forward towards the laserheads.

More x-rays means a more powerful x-ray laser.

*The grav array is pretty much the only completely fictional part in the "science fiction" for the detonation sequence of the missiles. The bomb-pumped laser is a real idea, that was being developed by the US for the Strategic Defense Initiative - see Project Excalibur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Excalibur

Note that the wiki even mentions Weber (AKA: runsforcelery here on the board) and the Honorverse.

DarkEnigma wrote:I just finished reading the "main" Honorverse books and I'm now beginning the spin-off books. For the most part, I have greatly enjoyed them, but, as a Navy veteran, there were a few things I read that made me chuckle and go "WTF?", or perhaps snicker is a better word.

* Non-Coms saluting middies and calling them "ma'am" or "sir"
* Second-class POs getting jumped to Senior-chief... and BUPERS swallowing it
* Senior Master Chiefs
* "Bomb-pumped" Lasers (this might just be my own ignorance of physics but don't lasers already travel at the speed of light? At any rate I could never read this without thinking of Doctor Evil saying "sharks with frikken LASERBEAMS!" )
* XOs who got rack time!

I spose any of these could be explained by the fact that the novels take place 2000 years from now but they may me giggle nonetheless.

What made you snicker or go WTF when you were reading?

Dark,
If your XO didn't get "sufficient" rack time, then neither your senior Chief nor your captain was entirely doing his job.

Senior Master Chief. This is a title convention which varies from Service to Service. It happens to be what the RMN uses. I will submit that it is slightly less awkward than the equivalent rank U.S. Navy term Commander Master Chief Petty Officer, and perhaps slightly more awkward than the alternative same pay-grade term Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer. I find it is less ambiguous than either. (In point of fact, although the U.S. Navy does not use the "Senior Master" adjective combination in its rank structure, the U.S. Air Force does.)

In most cases, when a line troop or sailor or young officer encounters such an individual, they are wisest to simply not speak in any case. They couldn't possibly say anything that s/he doesn't already know. <grin>

dreamrider

The first time I saw the name Rob. S. Pierre.

I missed the references the first time I read it, but since then everytime I read it I chuckle a bit/

From Echos of Honor:

Citizen Lieutenant Commander Heathrow leaned back in his command chair and smiled as Lois, the sole inhabited planet of the Clarke System, fell away astern. He hadn't enjoyed dealing with Citizen Colonel White, the system's senior StateSec officer, but at least there were other people on Lois. More to the point, perhaps, Lois had some of the most glorious beaches in the entire People's Republic. He and his crew had been made welcome in traditional Navy style by Citizen Captain Olson, CO of the small PN patrol detachment, and his engineering staff had managed a little creative reporting to justify a full extra twenty-three-hour day of sun and sand.

Wonder if the moon is called Kal-El...

munroburton wrote:The first time I saw the name Rob. S. Pierre.

Yes this, as well as the tennis court meeting and declaration. Such a fun historical call-out. I think I laughed out loud when I read it and had to explain to my husband what I was laughing at. My husband had also read some of the early books and remembered that they helped him through at least European History exam.

DarkEnigma wrote:I just finished reading the "main" Honorverse books and I'm now beginning the spin-off books. For the most part, I have greatly enjoyed them, but, as a Navy veteran, there were a few things I read that made me chuckle and go "WTF?", or perhaps snicker is a better word.

* Non-Coms saluting middies and calling them "ma'am" or "sir"
* Second-class POs getting jumped to Senior-chief... and BUPERS swallowing it
* Senior Master Chiefs
* "Bomb-pumped" Lasers (this might just be my own ignorance of physics but don't lasers already travel at the speed of light? At any rate I could never read this without thinking of Doctor Evil saying "sharks with frikken LASERBEAMS!" )
* XOs who got rack time!

I spose any of these could be explained by the fact that the novels take place 2000 years from now but they may me giggle nonetheless.

What made you snicker or go WTF when you were reading?

The reason why middies are saluted and called sir or ma'am is because the middies in question have already graduated from the naval academy and temporarily carry an officers warrant and are considered warrant officer in the chain of command, they don't get a commission until they complete their middy cruse.

The fact that a treecat can throw a frisbee so hard that a well muscled Sphinxian can't handle it.

Nimitz' sense of humor. The prank with the stuffed treecat is hillarious! Can you imagine thinking you've just murdered a treecat?

Nimitz is sick. He's such a stinker!