[Northkeep] Trivia

[Jason Cupps]

At 09:57 PM 3/6/02 -0800, you wrote:
thought you'd get a kick out of this :)
>--
>[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
>
>  This was sent to me, and I had to send it along,
>
>Wynfrith
>
>
> > In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried
> >
> > iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It was
> > necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon, but prevent them from
> > rolling about the deck. The best storage method devised was a square
> > based > pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine
>which
> > rested > on sixteen. Thus, a supply of thirty 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
> > called a, "Monkey," with sixteen round indentations. If this plate was
> > made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to
> > the > rusting problem was to make "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 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, you have had dirty thoughts, haven't
>you?}
>
>
>
>
>
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