FROM A BLOGGET

 

History lesson for the day:

 

 

The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to 

Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought the master, Captain John Phillips, the result. 

The Warrimoo’s position was latitude 0 degrees x 31 minutes north and longitude 179 degrees x 30 minutes west. 

The date was 31 December 1899. “Know what this means?” First Mate Payton broke in, “we’re only a few miles from the 

intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line”.

 

Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. 

He called his navigators to the bridge to check and double check the ships position. He changed course slightly so as to bear 

directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather and clear night worked in his favor. 

 

At midnight the “Warrimoo” lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! 

The consequences of this bizarre position were many. The forward part of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and 

the middle of summer. The stern was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter. The date in the aft part of the ship 

was 31 December 1899. Forward it was 1 January 1900.  

This ship was therefore not only in two different days, two different months, two different seasons and two different years 

but in two different centuries, all at the same time.

 

 

From Australia

CASE OF THE PREGNANT LADY

 

A lady about 8 months pregnant got on a bus.

She noticed the man opposite her was smiling at

her. She immediately moved to another seat.

This time the smile turned into a grin, so she moved

again.. The man seemed more amused.

When on the fourth move, the man burst out laughing, she

complained to the driver and he had the man arrested.

  

The case came up in court.

  

The judge asked the man (about 20 years old)

what he had to say for himself.

  

The man replied, 'Well your Honour, it was like this: when

the lady got on the bus, I couldn't help but notice her

condition. She sat down under a sign that said, 'The

Double Mint Twins are coming' and I grinned.

Then she moved and sat under a sign that said,

'Logan's Liniment will reduce the swelling,' and I had to

smile.

Then she placed herself under a deodorant sign that said,

'William's Big Stick Did the Trick,' and I could hardly contain myself.

But, Your Honour, when she moved the fourth time

and sat under a sign that said,

'Goodyear Rubber could have prevented this Accident!'

... I just lost it.'

Case was dismissed