Laser weapons edge toward use in US military

mraikes said:
Named after a city in Puerto Rico and Ponce de Leon.

Does "ponce" mean something different in your parts of the world?
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Yup this is exactly what I was thinking since I was born not too far from there.

But the urban dictionary term is definitely something new lol
 
Slaters Kustum Machines said:
It would appear so: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ponce
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I've never heard it used as a synonym for 'pimp' but, in the UK at least, the latter definition is roughly correct. It's generally used in a jovial way (ie banter) between male friends. For example, "what the hell are you wearing, you bloody ponce!?", is something you might say to a friend who turns up for a night out wearing something pink or girly. :D

Judging by @Barcelona's reply, I'm guessing it means something similar in Australian English too!

In fact, it's roughly equivalent to the word 'poofter' (possibly of Aussie origin?), and it's often used interchangeably with it in the UK.

You'd think they'd check these things before naming boats, or maybe ask the public for suggestions ..... Can't imagine how anything could possibly go wrong with a democratic naming policy such as that. Still, I guess nobody's gonna call you a ponce to your face when you've got a frikin' big laser!

Edit: The 'effeminate' definition actually appears in most dictionaries, apparently, not just the Urban Dictionary:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ponce
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ponce
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ponce
 
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Mercenary Roadie said:
Completely Off Topic Joke!

In America, USS stands for United Stated Ship
I the UK, HMS stands for Her Majesty's Ship
What does Italy use for its ships?
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I don't know. But I do know that I worked in a shipyard for 2 years, and one of those years was in the machine shop. We would constantly get brand new parts brought into the machine shop that needed to be remachined, and they always had ITALY stamped on them. We also had 2 massive Italian Lansing lathes, they were huge but were awful. Would chatter on tiny cuts. Garbage. We had a Monarch engine lathe, I think it was just a 16" machine (remember in a shipyard a 16" swing over the ways is just a toy) and that thing was a complete monster. My favorite by far. The English Colchester lathe was a goody as well. Also had an Italian "do-all" type of vertical/horizontal mill that was such a ginourmous hunk of garbage we disconnected it and used it as a shelf. When turning knobs your knuckles would bang into each other or some sharp edge. Machine was a joke. Whenever I got ****** off or frustrated I would walk over to that POS and just start yelling at it, threatening to throw it into the ocean (remember, shipyard, a viable threat) or just kick it.

3 of my 4 grandparents were Italian. Excellent stone masons, the sausage is number 1 (sorry, germany, portugal... you lose) most of the food is amazing. The baked products are too sweet. The sports cars and bikes are amazing, styling too. The machines and machined components though... my god... it's crap.

If someone can tell me what my little tirade here has to do with the original post, that would be great, because I certainly have no idea.
 
This was in Bridgeport, CT. I'm sort of buddies with the family that owns it- Derecktor Shipyard. They have another yard in Florida, one in NY, and just bought a small yard in Maine. In the 80's they had a yard in Rhode Island but it has since closed down.

I did some project management, but then turned into the precision alignment guy for the marine gear, shafts, rudders, props, etc. Or, as I liked to call myself, the "shaft, shaft hole, and shaft hole lube" guy.
 
Ahh... Real motor yachts, amongst other things, if I remember correctly. Avondale was/is all commercial shipping as well as some military. I think the smallest they would do were large offshore workboats, 150'+. When times were tough they would pump out barges. I rarely made it out to the yard itself. We were up in the mold loft, most of which had been converted to office space with terminals for the NC stuff.
 
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