Went to see the launch of a Delta rocket last evening (from VAFB). This was the fifth attempt at a one second window to put an Italian satellite over the Mediterranean. The horizon became very bright for about twenty seconds and then a very bright pinpoint of light took off into space. The picture on the left is a three and a half minute exposure.
Tonight we are going to dinner with friends at a cool restaurant to further celebrate our anniversary. It has been threatening rain all day but the prediction says perhaps late tonight. All of a sudden, it has became sunny and hot. It is very difficult to predict the weather lately, as one minute it is Fall and the next, Summer.
Manure... An interesting fact
It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet, but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process of fermentation began again, of which a by product is methane gas of course.
As the stuff was stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.
Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone came below at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!
Several ships were destroyed in this manner
before it was determined just what was happening.
After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction ' Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it high enough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold would not touch this volatile cargo and start the production of methane.
Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T. ' (Stow High In Transit) which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.
You probably did not know the true history of this word.
Neither did I.
I had always thought it was a golf term.
Sarah was reading a newspaper, while her husband was engrossed in a magazine. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "Listen to this," she said. "There's a classified ad here where a guy is offering to swap his wife for a season ticket to the stadium."
"Hmmm," her husband said, not looking up from his magazine.
Teasing him, Sarah said, "Would you swap me for a season ticket?"
"Absolutely not," he said.
"How sweet," Sarah said. "Tell me why not."
"Season's more than half over," he said.
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