"Skipper," the sailor said to his captain as he saluted, "A special message just came in for you from the admiral. I have it right here."
"Read it to me," the captain ordered.
The sailor read, "You are without a doubt the most idiotic, lame-brained
officer ever to command a ship in the United States Navy."
The skipper responded, "Have that communication decoded at once!"
"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 5/22/89
The height and width of modern American battleships was originally determined by insuring they had to be able to go beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and through the Panama Canal.