[Vhfcn-l] Monday musings

[Gary Thewlis]

You know what's interesting about Washington? It's the kind of place where
second-guessing has become second nature.

George W. Bush

 

Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must
have somebody to divide it with.

Mark Twain 

 

All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact,
barely presentable.

Fran Lebowitz

 

When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to
answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'

Theodore Roosevelt

 

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about
what's really going on to be scared.

P. J. Plauger

 

He knows all about art, but he doesn't know what he likes.

James Thurber

 

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10 Facts About the Titanic

 

The titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912 and
sank just over two-and-a-half hours later.

 

Canceled Lifeboat Drill

Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the
Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. However,
for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. Many believe that
had the drill taken place, more lives could have been saved.

 

Only Seconds

>From the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had
only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg. In that time,
First Officer Murdoch ordered "hard a-starboard" (which turned the ship to
port -- left). He also ordered the engine room to put the engines in
reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasn't quite enough.

 

The Titanic's Newspaper

The Titanic seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper.
The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the Titanic. The
newspaper included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results,
society gossip, and the day's menu.

 

Lifeboats Not Full

Not only were there not enough lifeboats to save everyone on board, most of
the lifeboats that were launched off the Titanic were not filled to
capacity. For instance, the first lifeboat to launch, Lifeboat 7 from the
starboard side) only carried 24 people, despite having a capacity of 65 (two
additional people later transferred to Lifeboat 7 from Lifeboat 5). However,
it was Lifeboat 1 that carried the fewest people - only seven crew and five
passengers (a total of 12 people) despite having a capacity for 40.

 

Only Two Bathtubs

Although most passengers had to share bathrooms (only the two promenade
suites in first class had private bathrooms), third class had it rough with
only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers.

 

Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue

When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather
than the Carpathia, was the closest ship; yet the Californian did not
respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912,
crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky (the
distress flares sent up from the Titanic) and woke up their captain to tell
him about it. Unfortunately, the captain issued no orders. Since the ship's
wireless operator had already gone to bed, the Californian was unaware of
any distress signals from the Titanic until the morning, but by then the
Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors. Many people believe that
if the Californian had responded to the Titanic's pleas for help, many more
lives could have been saved.

 

Two Dogs Rescued

With the order for women and children first into the lifeboats, plus the
knowledge that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the
Titanic to be saved, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the
lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued
were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese.

 

The Fourth Funnel

In what is now an iconic image, the side view of the Titanic clearly shows
four cream and black funnels. While three of these released the steam from
the boilers, the fourth was just for show. The designers thought the ship
would look more impressive with four funnels rather than three.

 

A Royal Mail Ship

The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship, a designation which meant the
Titanic was officially responsible for delivering mail for the British
postal service. On board the Titanic was a Sea Post Office with five mail
clerks (two British and three American). These mail clerks were responsible
for the 3,423 sacks of mail (seven million individual pieces of mail) on
board the Titanic. Interestingly, although no mail has yet been recovered
from the wreck of the Titanic, if it were, the U.S. Postal Service would
still try to deliver it (the USPS because most of the mail was being sent to
the U.S.).

 

Corpses Recovered

On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached
New York, the Mackay-Bennett was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to
search for bodies. On board the Mackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40
embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett found
306 bodies, 116 of these were too badly damaged to take all the way back to
shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found.  Additional ships
were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but
119 of these were badly damaged and thus were buried at sea.

 

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Chocolate is toxic to dogs.

 

Homosexuality exists in animals.

 

It is impossible to lick your elbow

 

A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.

 

A shrimp's heart is in its head.

 

People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart
stops for a milli-second.

 

In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a
single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.