Chewing the fat.

Slush fund? Gotta admit I just came across this one, and had no idea it had a nautical origin.

[CaptainK]

You gotta be kidding me Kai. Really? Nautical origin?

NO KIDDING

[CaptainK]

Well, I'll be damned.

I wouldn't be surprised, that if a quarter of our langange comes from natuical origins?

Our words, as ourselves shall rise from the sea, and when we return, our words will remain.

[Matt Hager]

Lets high Jack this one and take a new path and talk about 200 years of sailors sayings.

"Red skys at night sailors delight, Red skys in the mourning sailors take warning". is the way I heard it.

It makes since I think it has to do with the moister in the air around the sun, telling us there is rain in the air.

I don't have thin skin, so feel free to correct or add to this.

Fair Winds,
Matt
SV Vagans

[Alan Wheeler]

Actually that saying wasn't from Nautical backgrounhds, but from farming backgrounds in Europe many centuries ago. It tends to onlywork in the vast land masses of Europe and I suppose some area's of the US. But it was in relation to seeing fronts coming across continents. Red sky at night, shepards delight=== meant it was clear skies in the west which was where the bad weather would come across from. Red sky in the morning, Shepards warning===meant that the weather was clear to the east, but grey and threatening to the west.
Scince then, many different proffessions have been inserted into the saying to fit the purpose.
I don't know about for places like Australia, but that rule of thumb doesn't work down here in NZ. We can get the most beautiful sun rises and sun sets, but they make no warning to the weather ahead.

[Alan Wheeler]

Here IS one from the sailing background though, the difference between a "High Sunrise" and a "Low Sunrise" being an indicator of the weather for the day.

It probably just works backwards down there Wheels

[CaptainK]

Yeah Kai. Just like how our toilets swirl water clockwise. And down under, they swirl water counterclockwise.

Well, before it Gets completely lost in the mix, here goes. Courtesy of ratlines.com
When salt beef or pork was boiled down by the cook, a layer of lard, or slush, remained on the surface of the pot. This would be skimmed off and saved for greasing the mast hoops, and other uses. Any left upon return to port would be sold off to merchants ashore, to provide funds for crew goodies and such; the "Slush Fund". The term now applies to any unofficial monetary fund intended for non-accountable purchases.

[Alan Wheeler]

Hey, so what ya tryin to say. You saying our weather sucks or Blow's.?

I watched a programme on TV the other night. A guy was in some country right on the equator. He had a container of water and as he stood about 10ft or so one side of the line, the water would swirl one direction as it drained out the bottom. He then stood the same distance the other side and the water swirled the otherway. He then stood on the line and the water went straight down. Now motion at all. I was impressed. I didn't expect this to be so exacting. It thought you might notice some small difference many miles apart, but not that small a variance in distance.

[GordMay]

The Coriollis Force (angular momentum) exerted across a small distance, such as in a sink, toilet bowl, or dish pan, is much less than the gravitational force exerted on the water within. Hence, the direction of rotation when draining, will be mostly due to the conservation of angular momentum that has been initially imparted to the water. This initial momentum could be imparted by irregularities in the bowl, or the slight motion in moving from North to South.
You can see angular momentum being conserved or saved with an ice skater spinning on one foot. When the skater pulls in their arms close to the centre, or spin axis of their body, they speed up - and when they stretch out their arms, they slow down again.
It’s a good trick, though.

[Alan Wheeler]

Some big words there Gord. Sorry if I have misinterpreted what you are trying to say.
Sounds interesting Gord, but this was a square shaped sink. The water swirled very strongly one way and then very strongly the opposite and in the middle, Went straight down with absolutely no swirl at all. The programme was a NZ travel/destination documentary, with the host being a NZ presenter. He did the experiment just for fun and out of interest to himself, as he had always wondered about it. He had nothing to prove other than settle curiosity. The water was allowed to sit a while before the plug was pulled. I think if the movement was due to a force being imparted to the water before hand, we would see the possiblity of the swirl being in the same direction either side of the line and the posibility of a swirl still being present when on the line. The fact that it was three distinct differences would be like winning Lotto if it was due to random forces.

[BC Mike]

I believe that the water draining direction change has been debunked. I know I have told the story myself but it is not actually true. The reporter can report whatever he wants, he is not going to show the times the water went the other way. Has this sort of thing happened before with NZ reporters ??
What about the swarm of locusts comming from Australia. How about the message from Mars, and there are many more.
Michael