Surely something must be terribly wrong with a man who seems to be far more concerned with a Jew building a house in Israel than with Muslims building a nuclear bomb in Iran."
Columnist Burt Prelutsky
Showing posts with label Quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quotes. Show all posts
Monday, April 26, 2010
Friday, December 4, 2009
Something a Little Lighter After that Last One
CANNON BALLS – BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW THIS?
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.
Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, folks thought that was just a vulgar expression?
And let me tell you - right now here in the valley, you could freeze those balls off that monkey.
It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.
Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, folks thought that was just a vulgar expression?
And let me tell you - right now here in the valley, you could freeze those balls off that monkey.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Thought for this Fine Day
"What the caterpillar calls tragedy, the Master calls a butterfly."
Richard Bach
Richard Bach
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Quote of the Day
A little late getting around to this but love a quote a day. Here is one to think about.
"No public man can be just a little crooked. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty."
Herbert Hoover
"No public man can be just a little crooked. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty."
Herbert Hoover
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