gooberliberation's definitions

airbus

Airbus Industrie is a company that makes airliners and (mostly) civil cargo planes. Most notable for making the A380, the largest production airliner as of 2005. Airbus components are often made in seperate countries hundreds of miles apart and pieces must be flown in to an assembly plant. New airbuses are chock full of modern gadgets such as glass cockpits, joystick controls, and composite materials. Boeing is Airbus's primary competitor.

Airbus is purportedly an icon of international participation but is really a french company with subsidiaries around the european union. It's popular with bean counters, passengers and francophiles, but unpopular with many maintinance crews, pilots, "purists," and francophobes. The jury is still out on long-term engineering quality, but in any case, their airliners don't quite have the character of Boeings.

Airbus A330
A380
A400M(millitary freighter)

by gooberliberation January 1, 2006

b-52

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress(or BUF -Big Ugly Fucker)is an eight-engined heavy bomber used by the US Air Force. Initially designed in the late 1940s/early 1950s, the B-52 was the mainstay of America's nuclear deterrent bomber force since 1954. Although designed to nuke the crap out of soviets, the BUF has never been actually used in its intended combat role. The B-52 has since proven to be a great conventional bomber, even being used as a close-air-support plane(a role for fighter bombers). Although 50 years old, the BUF is simply the most efficient way to drop a shitload of bombs on someone and is expected to be in service past 2045, thanks to constant upgrades and tough-as-hell engineering. It can carry cruise missiles too.

Interesting trivia for ya: The band The B-52s are not named after the bomber, but rather the hairstyle... which looks like the B-52's nosecone

Pham Tuan, the first pilot to shoot down a stratofortress, later became vietnam's first cosmonaut.

The B-52 can carry around 70,000lbs of bombs. thats right, seventy-fucking-thousand.

The B-52 is so old, that its perfectly possible for a pilot out there to be flying the same BUF that his father and grandfather previously flew.

by gooberliberation January 1, 2006

midriff

Midriff is a coin termed by Douglass Rushkoff of PBS's "Frontline" on an episode entitled "Merchants of Cool." Midriffs are young girls and women(teens-early 20s) whos behavior is a curious mixture of "innocent" and "slutty." Midriff culture is fairly standardized and quite conformist. Their behaviour seems centered around sexuality, narcissism, and complete lack of brains. Rushkoff argued that mass-media replaces teenage individuality with a glorified archetype; midriffs, when referring to females. Hypersexuality and shallowness are often attributed to teenage girls(and something that parents of every generation complain about), so the behavior isn't necissarly new, nonetheless, the notion of Midriff culture being a standardized and conformist patten of behavior rather than youthful exhuberance is scary indeed.

Opposide of Midriffs are Mooks; boneheaded morons and drunken fratboys.

Britney Spears was given as an example of a Midriff icon.

by gooberliberation December 28, 2005

Fizzy Karen

A mixed drink consisting of Smirnoff twisted or similar mild malt beverage mixed with freshly cut watermelon juice. Named after a treehugger who suggested the mixture to remedy the nasty flavor of Black Cherry Smirnoff.

Serve on ice.

Fizzy Karens are not only perfect for lightweights because of the flavor and low alcohol content, but theyre also PIIIINK!!!!

by gooberliberation July 23, 2006

Trill

A fictional culture in Star Trek. True Trills consist of a humanoid host and a worm-like symbiote that lives inside the abdominal cavity. There are at least two traditional host species; other races such as Humans can only serve as a temporary hosts with medical assistance.

The host has the benefit of the symbiote's lifetime of wisdom and experiences through several previous hosts. Each symbiote has its own name, which becomes part of the host's identity. Joined trills have unique personalities blended from both beings.

Star Trek DS9 had two Trills among the main characters. Both Ezri and Jadzia were joined to Dax.

by gooberliberation December 28, 2005

sukhoi

Sukhoi OKB is a Russian aircraft design bureau-turned corporation based in Moscow. It was started in 1939 by Pavel Sukhoi, but didnt really make a mark until the cold war. Up until the 1970s, most sukhoi aircraft were ugly as hell and unremarkable performers that were also cheap, easy to maintain, and pretty rugged. Currently Sukhoi pretty much dominates the Russian Fighter craft industry, with their Su-27"Flanker" and all its countless derivatives. It also helps that Sukhoi corp has pretty heavy political connections. Theyre expected to produce a new fighter called the PAK-FA for Russia and India in the next few years.

Sukhoi aircraft include the
Su-7 Fitter
Su-22
Su-24 Fencer
Su-25 Frogfoot
Su-27 Flanker
Su-37 Terminator
Su-47 Berkut

by gooberliberation January 1, 2006

eurofighter

The Eurofighter Typhoon, also known as the EF-2000 and EFA, is a new(as of 2005) multirole jet fighter made by Eurofighter GmbH, a conglomeration of British, Spanish, German, and Italian aerospace companies. Like most modern fighters of the 1990s, the Eurofighter is the result of a painfully long development period dating back to the early 1970s and is just now entering service.

The Typhoon features a delta wing with canards(a rather trendy arrangment), a chin-mounted air intake, a funky looking bulbous canopy, and a fucking huge tailfin. Despite the fact that the Eurofighter currently lacks thrust vectoring, its pretty damn manouverable. Its also supercruise capable. Compared to new American and Russian fighters, it doesn't appear to be stealthy.

Sure, the Eurofighter is probably pretty kickass, but I'll bet an F-22 would still own it. Not that i like the Raptor too much either, long live the Tomcat!

by gooberliberation January 1, 2006