Old Sailors' Almanac

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Week 27, 2016

Previous Week   July 04, 2016 - July 10, 2016   Next Week

Frank family takes refuge on July 06, 1942

Frank family takes refuge on July 06, 1942

Frank family takes refuge: In Nazi-occupied Holland, 13-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family are forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The day before, Anne’s older sister, Margot, had received a call-up notice to be deported to a Nazi “work camp”.

Born in Germany on June 12, 1929, Anne Frank fled to Amsterdam with her family in 1933 to escape Nazi persecution. In the summer of 1942, with the German occupation of Holland underway, 12-year-old Anne began a diary relating her everyday experiences, her relationship with her family and friends, and observations about the increasingly dangerous world around her. On July 6, fearing deportation to a Nazi concentration camp, the Frank family took shelter in a factory run by Christian friends. During the next two years, under the threat of murder by the Nazi officers patrolling just outside the warehouse, Anne kept a diary that is marked by poignancy, humor, and insight.

On August 4, 1944, just two months after the successful Allied landing at Normandy, the Nazi Gestapo discovered the Frank’s “Secret Annex”. The Franks were sent to the Nazi death camps along with two of the Christians who had helped shelter them, and another Jewish family and a single Jewish man with whom they had shared the hiding place. Anne and most of the others ended up at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Anne’s diary was left behind, undiscovered by the Nazis.

In early 1945, with the Soviet liberation of Poland underway, Anne was moved with her sister, Margot, to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. Suffering under the deplorable conditions of the camp, the two sisters caught typhus and died in early March. After the war, Anne’s diary was discovered undisturbed in the Amsterdam hiding place and in 1947 was translated into English and published. An instant best-seller and eventually translated into more than 30 languages, The Diary of Anne Frank has served as a literary testament to the six million Jews, including Anne herself, who were silenced in the Holocaust. History Channel / Wikipedia / Encyclopedia Britannica / Anne Frank.org / Biography / Anne Frank (The Whole Story) video


“Sailors Love”

The Old Salt’s Corner

“Sailors Love”

Though I have seen both storms and gales

The time that I have spent at see

The loving winds that fill my sails

Is the woman that waits home for me

these long dark nights I stand my watch.

While she is left home on shore alone

I hope she knows my heart is caught

I've left it there with her at home.

For every time our lines are heaved

Her heart is left to sit and wait

I can't imagine or believe

Her love for me can be so great.

The ships will sail for months on end

While she stares lonely from the shore

Across the waves the love she sends

Will see me safely home once more.

From foreign shores I send my love

At home for me she burns the fires

To woman shes the step above

My love my love my one desire.

And on that day when we return

Her beauty will be waiting still

The time apart of no concern

Her love for me is iron will.

The day this sailor leaves the sea

A dept of love I must repay

A thousand years will never be

A payment for a single day.

So gather around so you can hear

If you should doubt gods love in life

Its standing right there on the pier

My gift from god my navy wife.

~ Michael Felton


“I’m Just Sayin”

“I’m Just Sayin”

“A dissimilatory phonological process in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit which states that if an aspirated consonant is followed by another aspirated consonant in the next syllable, the first one loses the aspiration.”

~ Grassmann's law


“Thought for the Day”

“Thought for the Day”

“It makes me so mad that some people underestimate the wisdom and energy of young people. All because they don’t look the way older folks think they should look.”

~ Johnny Cash


“What I Have Learned”

“What I Have Learned”

“Live for something rather than die for nothing.”

~ George S. Patton


Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Don’t Place Fireworks In Your Butt (And Other July 4th Firework Fails)

Don’t Place Fireworks In Your Butt (And Other July 4th Firework Fails)

Fireworks are one of the greatest things about the 4th of July. - They are also the most dangerous.

Firework fails were responsible for 11 deaths in 2015, according to a new report by the Consumer Products and Safety Commission. Additionally, an estimated 11,900 people had to be taken to the hospital with fireworks-related injuries. Huffington Post (07/01/2016) video


How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

Fireworks have existed in one form or another for around 1000 years, and they show no signs of going away anytime soon. But how do they work? Most of us just know to light the fuse and stand back.

How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

ROCKETS: Rocket-type fireworks can produce all kinds of different effects when they go off, but the basic structure of an aerial firework stays more or less the same. Each rocket is made up of the following parts: a mortar, fuses, propellant powder, a shell, a bursting charge, and a collection of “stars”. The mortar is the outer container, and the fuse is, of course, the piece that you light. When the fuse burns down, the propellant ignites and shoots the firework into the air.

When it’s airborne, a second explosion is triggered inside the shell by a time delay fuse. The bursting charges set off the stars—small, explosive pellets made of fuel and metallic compounds that create the lights in the fireworks display. Different metals create different colors when they ignite: barium goes green, calcium salts go orange, magnesium goes white, copper is blue, lithium turns red, and sodium becomes gold. And the arrangement of the stars will determine the shape of the explosion—so if they’re packed in a heart shape, they should reproduce that heart shape in the sky.

Other effects can also be built in by adding various ingredients; different kinds of fuel can create sound effects, for example, like the whistling or screaming noises some rockets make as they shoot into the sky. Stars can be made up of layers of different metallic compounds, to create multicolored explosions. And in some more complex fireworks, there may be several stages of explosions; in that case, there are generally multiple fuses inside the shell, and as each burns down, a different explosive goes off.

How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

FOUNTAINS: Of course, not all fireworks are of the shoot-into-the-air-and-go-bang variety. Fountains don’t take off, and generally don’t go bang, either; instead, they stay where they’re placed and give off a cascade of sparks—like a fountain, but with pyrotechnics instead of water.

Usually conical in shape, fountains consist of a paper or plastic tube, with clay plugs at either end. Inside the tube are a couple of different kinds of fuel, plus the metal compounds that create the sparks. When the fuse is lit, the fuel ignites, and sparks are forced out of an aperture in the top of the fountain.

Again, different metals create different colors and effects. Multi-stage effects can be created by bundling multiple tubes together, so that as one finishes another starts, adding different colors or sound effects to the display.

How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

CATHERINE WHEELS: Catherine wheels are another common type of firework, and again the same kinds of ingredients are used to create a slightly different effect. Named for the unfortunate Saint Catherine, these fireworks are generally fixed to a pole or a mount, so that they can spin as they burn, creating a spiral of sparks.

Bigger Catherine wheels tend to have a plastic disk at their center, with “gerbs” attached around the edge. The gerbs are similar to fountains, in that they’re tubes filled with the mixture of ingredients that create the effects; when lit, the thrust from the explosives makes the wheel turn as they burn. And again, the effect can be made more elaborate with multi-stage effects and different colors; each gerb might be different, so that the wheel changes as each one ignites in turn.

Smaller Catherine wheels might, instead, be made up of a single long, thin tube coiled into shape around a smaller central disk. Again, the thrust of ignition makes the wheel spin.

How Do Fireworks Actually Work?

SPARKLERS: The only firework you should ever hold in your hand once it’s lit is a sparkler—a Fourth of July staple. Unlike most other fireworks, they don’t explode with a bang, but gently fizzle for around a minute, as a ball of sparks makes its way down a metal wire. And they’re pretty simple: basically, the metal wire is dipped into a pyrotechnic compound that’s made up of a metallic fuel, an oxidizer, and a binding material.

The metallic fuel is what creates the sparks; it’s usually aluminum or magnesium, which creates white sparks, but some sparklers may use iron or ferrotitanium for gold sparks instead. The oxidizer, which provides the oxygen to keep the spark going, is generally potassium nitrate. And then a binding material, a kind of flammable starch, keeps the mixture together, and burns away once the sparkler is lit.

Hopefully, none of that has taken away any of the magic of a good fireworks display. If nothing else, you’ll be able to impress your friends by quietly musing “oooh, barium” next time you see a green firework.

How Stuff Works - ScienceMental FlossThe VergeWikipedia video


Where Did That Saying Come From? “A house divided against itself cannot stand”

Where Did That Saying Come From?

A house divided against itself cannot stand:”  Meaning: Literal meaning (house meaning household).

Origin: From the Bible, Matthew 12:25 (King James Version)

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”

Phrases.org.UK


NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang - U.S. Navy America's Navy - A Global Force For Good

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang


Knee-deep navy: Epithet (usually friendly) for the Coast Guard or coastal patrol vessels . Also knee-deep sailor, or just knee-deep(s).

Knee-knockers: A passageway opening through a bulkhead. The lower lip of the opening sits at shin height.


Just for MARINES - U.S. Marines Marines - The Few. The Proud.

Just for you MARINE


Line Company: Lettered Marine companies or the aviation term for ground units, originally, an infantry company

Lipstick Lieutenant: Pejorative for warrant officer, so named from the appearance of the rank insignia: the addition of red to the gold and silver bars of a lieutenant.


Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

HSC-25 - Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWENTY FIVE: “Island Knights”
Andersen Air Force Base - Guam


Science & Technology

Science & Technology

Science & Technology

For sale: 70k hacked government and corporate servers—for as little as $6 apiece - Newly revealed bazaar is a hacker's dream and makes attacks cheaper and faster.DARPA program seeks to give subs and undersea drones an acoustic GPSCoffee no longer comes with cancer warning—it may actually prevent itReview: Hands-on mandatory, but Ars lets Volvo’s XC90 drive itself in trafficLAW & DISORDER: FBI says utility pole surveillance cam locations must be kept secret ARS Technica


The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Still Facebook friends with your ex? Here's why you should think about deleting them immediately

Still Facebook friends with your ex? Here's why you should think about deleting them immediately

One in three of us gives in to the temptation of a Facebook stalk - here's why we need to stop

Regardless of our best intentions, sometimes maintaining a friendship with an ex can take a lot of work, and often prove to be too difficult.

“Avoiding exposure to an ex-partner, both offline and online, may be the best remedy for healing a broken heart.”

Mirror UK (06/15/2016)


© CEASAR CHOPPY by cartoonist Marty Gavin - archives Ceasar Choppy's Navy! “© CEASAR CHOPPY” by Marty Gavin

SONG FACTS

“FRANKENSTEIN” - Edgar Winter

“FRANKENSTEIN” - Edgar Winter
Album: They Only Come Out at Night
Released 1973 video

This is one of the most famous instrumental rock songs. It got its title because of the intense editing that went into the song; it became a monster when it was pieced together in the studio. Says Winter: “When we were editing it in the studio, back in those days when you edited something, you physically had to cut the tape and splice it back together, so it was all over the control room, draped over the backs of chairs and the couch. We were making fun of it, trying to figure out how to put it back together, saying 'Here's the main body; the leg bone's connected to the thigh bone... ' Then Chuck Ruff, my drummer, says, 'Wow, man, it's like Frankenstein.' As soon as I heard that, I went, 'Wow, that's it!' The monster was born.”

This was edited down to a manageable single in a long, arduous process. Edgar had band members perform over and over in an attempt to get it right.

This wasn't supposed to be the single. It was originally released as the B-side of a song called “Hangin' Around.” The sides were flipped when disc jockeys realized this was the hit.

Winter's band used to be called White Trash. By the time this was released, they were known as The Edgar Winter Group.

Rick Derringer produced this and played guitar on the track along with Ronnie Montrose. A member of The McCoys in the 1960s, Derringer had a hit on his own with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koovideo in 1974.

The group They Might Be Giants frequently does a bizarre cover version as their encore.

This was the first hit song that used a synthesizer as the lead instrument.

The single sold over 1 million copies and became a classic rock staple.

The group originally called this “Double Drum Solo.”

Johnny Winter would use this on stage to introduce his brother Edgar, who played all the instruments in an exhibition of live musicianship.

Buick used this in a commercial featuring golfer Tiger Woods.

See a photo and learn about Frankenstein - the movie and the book - in Song Images.

Dan Hartman played the bass on this track. He had a solo hit with “I Can Dream About Youvideo.

Edgar Winter official site / Rolling Stone / Not in the Hall of Fame / Billboard / Song Facts / Wikipedia

Image: “They Only Come Out at Night (album)” by Edgar Winter


Trivia

Trivia

● Skunk Spray, which can project as far as 2 to 3 metres, and resembles rotten eggs, garlic and burnt rubber.

● More than 80% of the world's bananas are grown in South America. (Growers get about 12% of the revenue)

● In God We Trust first appeared on the 1864 U.S. two-cent coin.


Joke of the Day

Joke of the Day

What did the duck say when he bought lipstick?

“Put it on my bill.”


Pun of the Day

The skunk is an animal of distinktion.