Because I'm sure you all want to know
Oct. 24th, 2004 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI'm in Texas.
The big part of Texas.
The hot, swampy smelling (well, not all of, but parts of it, between the Killeen Airport and my hotel last night... and is it just me, or do all big sky prarie type motels smell the same. Sort of orangy, and sweet and obviously cleaned, so clean they make one think they aren't really?), green (I must confess the stepp-like greeness of the place was surprising), summer in Mass, or DC. or Eastern Tenn. sticky, pressing, hot.
With November a week away... what's with that?
So the weather sucks (and my going to Ft. Lewis from here means I am over, and under, packed. I have lots of snivel gear, by ratio, and not much in the way of summer clothes... ah well. Polo shirts are cheaper than sweaters if I have to buy more).
The school is disorganised, at least from the checking in standpoint. My orders say the class started today, the schoolhouse info screen in ATTRS (the Army's master system for managing schools) says tomorrow, with a report time of NLT 1400 hrs today.
Which is why I was at the airport last night, taking a cab to a motel, so I could take a cab back to get my car (the rental counters all close at 1800, and my flight got in at 2130). I could have just flown in today (when the rental counters stay open to 2300), because I don't have to report to anyone until 0730 tomorrow.
I love the Army. Really; I do, but the constant inability of the left hand to talk to the right on things like this (and the hassles I can see coming up from this travel voucher... ye gods and little fishes) drive one batty.
The greatest moment of amusement came when I was walking about, looking for Bldg 33010 (which was unmarked, and closed, I did find it, finally) and seeing a cop (civilian, MPs seem to no longer to on post law-enforcement anywhere, something about being in Iraq) and some guy with a badge dangling round his neck, and an open windbreaker (the way that undercover guys will try to hide their gun) across the parking lot, and the guy with the badge hailing me.
"I'm Agent Doe of CID, can you tell me where the guy doing the Bradley training is?" I had to laugh, confessing I had no clue where I was, exactly, and asking him if he knew where 33010 was. He didn't (which I expected, most posts don't have more than a couple of CID officers (and I'm no longer eligible to become one, which is a pity, I might have liked it... kind of like being a member of the CHP, they have a sufficiently limited jurisdictional power [as well as being small] that a lot of the poisonous thinking cops acquire, they don't).
The cop didn't either, nor the one who showed up as he was trying to find it.
I found it the old fashioned way; eliminational legwork. I just ran a square search of the area until I found a sign that told me it had to be this one, called the contact number for the duty NCO and found out I could have left today, not slept in an odd motel, shelled out 30 bucks for cabfares, but missed out on the sense of adventure.
So, on balance, I guess it's worth it.
But the weather sucks.
The big part of Texas.
The hot, swampy smelling (well, not all of, but parts of it, between the Killeen Airport and my hotel last night... and is it just me, or do all big sky prarie type motels smell the same. Sort of orangy, and sweet and obviously cleaned, so clean they make one think they aren't really?), green (I must confess the stepp-like greeness of the place was surprising), summer in Mass, or DC. or Eastern Tenn. sticky, pressing, hot.
With November a week away... what's with that?
So the weather sucks (and my going to Ft. Lewis from here means I am over, and under, packed. I have lots of snivel gear, by ratio, and not much in the way of summer clothes... ah well. Polo shirts are cheaper than sweaters if I have to buy more).
The school is disorganised, at least from the checking in standpoint. My orders say the class started today, the schoolhouse info screen in ATTRS (the Army's master system for managing schools) says tomorrow, with a report time of NLT 1400 hrs today.
Which is why I was at the airport last night, taking a cab to a motel, so I could take a cab back to get my car (the rental counters all close at 1800, and my flight got in at 2130). I could have just flown in today (when the rental counters stay open to 2300), because I don't have to report to anyone until 0730 tomorrow.
I love the Army. Really; I do, but the constant inability of the left hand to talk to the right on things like this (and the hassles I can see coming up from this travel voucher... ye gods and little fishes) drive one batty.
The greatest moment of amusement came when I was walking about, looking for Bldg 33010 (which was unmarked, and closed, I did find it, finally) and seeing a cop (civilian, MPs seem to no longer to on post law-enforcement anywhere, something about being in Iraq) and some guy with a badge dangling round his neck, and an open windbreaker (the way that undercover guys will try to hide their gun) across the parking lot, and the guy with the badge hailing me.
"I'm Agent Doe of CID, can you tell me where the guy doing the Bradley training is?" I had to laugh, confessing I had no clue where I was, exactly, and asking him if he knew where 33010 was. He didn't (which I expected, most posts don't have more than a couple of CID officers (and I'm no longer eligible to become one, which is a pity, I might have liked it... kind of like being a member of the CHP, they have a sufficiently limited jurisdictional power [as well as being small] that a lot of the poisonous thinking cops acquire, they don't).
The cop didn't either, nor the one who showed up as he was trying to find it.
I found it the old fashioned way; eliminational legwork. I just ran a square search of the area until I found a sign that told me it had to be this one, called the contact number for the duty NCO and found out I could have left today, not slept in an odd motel, shelled out 30 bucks for cabfares, but missed out on the sense of adventure.
So, on balance, I guess it's worth it.
But the weather sucks.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 04:36 pm (UTC)Thoughts?
no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 04:52 pm (UTC)The editorial board is the one which decides the opinion of the paper. How this is composed varies, but not a huge amount from paper to paper.
On smaller papers it is the section editors, the Managing Editor (sort of the XO) and the Editor in Chief. There may also be some editors without portfolio, who are only on the staff of the Ed Board to write and argue.
One of them will get assigned the editorial, with the opinion/conclusion to be reached. For some papers there is a dedicated satff (one or two writers) who do nothing but editorials, and they'll do it. They may not have a vote, but usually attend meetings, to get the general feel of the Ed Board on the subject.
At weeklies the editorial will usually be brought back to the board for approval/instructions for re-write (I recall an editorial I did which had seven rewrites, mostly for small shades of meaning. I can still quote the lead from memory)
For dailys the opinion editor will look at it, and the EIC may have a veto.
Some papers have completly (or almost) editorial sections (e.g. the WSJ which often has editorials at odds with its news coverage).
In theory the editorials are the opinion of the staff, as a whole, which is why they have no byline.
In theory the owner/publisher could mandate an opinion, but that wouldn't be well recieved, because of that assumed voice. Far better, and more common, to see the publisher with a signed column, "From the publisher" which prevents the staff from being assumed to agree with his, personal, opinion.
TK