Wakefield

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  “In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as truth, of a man—let us call him Wakefield—who absented himself for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly stated, is not very uncommon, nor, without a proper distinction of circumstances, to be condemned either as naughty or nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, is perhaps the strangest instance on record of marital delinquency, and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in London. The man, under pretense of going a journey, took lodgings in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard of by his wife or friends and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upward of twenty years. During that period he beheld his home every day, and frequently the forlorn Mrs. Wakefield. And after so great a gap in his matrimonial felicity—when his death was reckoned certain, his estate settled...

On: Heat

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“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sunlight on them, nor any heat.” (Revelation 7:16)

It had to go and get hot. This last week has been the hottest ever, and there’s not much to do when its hot and humid other than sit around in your bare bones trying to cool off. We’ve been well over 100 degrees the past few days, and that's not considering the heat index. It’s everything we can do to get the house temp down to at least 80 degrees BEFORE 6:00 a.m. in the next morning.

Here’s some hot trivia for ya:

The highest known temperature in the shade in Britain occurred on July 22, 1868, at Tonbridge in Kent when the heat reached 100.4°F. But the world record is held by Libya where a temperature of 136.4øF was recorded in 1922. According to U. S. Air Force experiments, the highest dry-air temperature that could be endured by naked men was found to be 400°F in 1960. For heavily-clothed men, the highest is 500øF. (Note that steaks require only 325øF).



The historian Herodotus tells of a people in Africa in the neighborhood of Mount Atlas whose daily custom was to curse the sun when it rises high in the heavens, because its excessive heat scorched and tormented them.

The Chicago Tribune told of the shortest sermon ever, preached by Rev. William Henry Wagner at St. Andrew’s Dune Church. He said, “If you think it’s hot here—just wait!”

Ok. One more:

An acquaintance was describing to Whistler a scene he had encountered in his travels. “There was a boatload of Egyptians,” he recounted, “floating down the Nile with the thermometer one hundred and twenty degrees in the shade, and no shade.”

“And no thermometer,” interrupted Whistler.

Have a nice day. Stay coolio.

*****

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