4th of june and independence day.
It's also the day I realized summer is here. Which means that i had to do something with the increasing height of grass (Alopecurus) on the lawn. So today is the day I fired up my petrol-powered lawn-and-whatever-is-in-there-mower, which I for obvious reason has named
Rammstein.
With a mighty roar the beast sprang into action. A few windows shattered in nearby houses, measurable spikes in regional seismographs, and a few dogs ran away into the woods and haven't been seen again. I took care to perform the operation in the evening, so there would be no children hiding in the grass (Alopecurus). All in all, minor environmental inconveniences.
This year summer came a bit unscheduled, which meant that some of the more eager grass instances had reached a considerable height. You think that might be a problem`? Hah! Not for my petrol-powered lawn-and-whatever-is-in-there-mower (which I've called Rammstein). They never knew what hit them!!!!
Other things that happened on this day.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their hot air balloon
1784 – Élisabeth Thible, the first woman to fly, spent 45 minutes in said type of hot air balloon
1855 – Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. Camel Corps? Huh?
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. I love trains!!!!
1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first petrol-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. According to wikipedia because of a malfunction in the control software—one of the most expensive computer bugs in history. Windows 95?
2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40. Apparently more successful than the above mentioned rather short space flight.
On a more seriolus note:
1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead.
pibbur who congratulates the kingdom of Tonga, celebrating 46 years of independence today.
PS. About petrol. There seems to be a problem with gasoline supply here in Norway these days. Last time we filled the tank (we don't drive much, so we seldom visit the filling station), I think we got kangaroo petrol (that's what the wife calls it). Whenever we start the car (a Toyota), and whenever we get the green light, it literally jumps into action. Happens also when slowing down, when changing gears and so on. Didn't happen before. Damn aussies! DS
PS2: The situation above may also have something to do with recently replacing the clutch thingy in said Toyota. Who knows? We'll see next time. DS2.
PS3. The petrol-powered lawn-and-whatever-is-in-there-mower (which I've called Rammstein) worked as usual. DS3