Next reunion 25-27 April 2003 |
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The Chit
I was having a beer with a good mate in Canberra recently (g’day Spacky), and we were discussing that little bit of paper that, apart from the D certificate, was the most sought after item in the RAAF-the “Chit”. My mate is ex-Army, and he reckons they had them too and if you knew how, you could get one for most things, no marching, no prolonged standing, and the most valuable of the lot “no parades”. It was the answer to everything:- “Why aren’t you on parade LAC?” “Got a chit Sir.” They had the power of God behind them and if only they were available in Civvy life, can you imagine the use of a Civvy Chit, “Why are driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.35 Sir” “Got a chit officer” “Ok Sir-off you go then”. or “Why did you shoot your mother-in-law Mr Bloggs” “Got a chit Your Honour” “Ok Mr Bloggs,-off you go” ...If only.......An asteroid about the size of a football field made one of the closest known approaches to Earth on June 14, zooming by just 119,229 kilometres away. This is less than a third of the distance to the Moon.
The object was not detected until June 17, by astronomers working on the LINEAR search program, near Socorro, New Mexico.
The space rock, now named 2002 MN, was travelling at more than 37,000 kph (10 km/s) when it passed Earth. The last time a known asteroid passed this close was back in December 1994, according to a statement issued by the Near Earth Object Information Centre (NEOIC) in the United Kingdom.
The asteroid is small compared to some but still capable of causing local devastation had it hit the planet. A similar sized rock is thought to have exploded above Tunguska, Siberia in 1908. Back then thousands of acres of forest were flattened. Other boulder sized objects and smaller rocks routinely crash through Earth's atmosphere but go largely unnoticed
Astronomers say several close passes -- though not this close -- probably occur yet are undetected each year. Every few months, typically, an asteroid passing within the Moon's orbit is noticed before or shortly after it makes its closest approach to Earth.
One day ...
Alfa Bravo Charlie
The ruckus that resulted from the recent competition on the introduction of the new phonetic alphabetic brought back memories of another alphabet we heard many, many years ago. We’ve since forgotten most of it, and can’t find anyone who knows it, or has even heard of it. It went like this:“A” for horses
"B” for mutton
“D” for ential
“F” for vessant
“I” for tower
“L” for leather
“Q” for tickets
“R” for mo
“T” for two
“X” for breakfast.
Can anyone fill in the gaps ...
Two old ex-WRAAFS were sitting on a bench having a quiet chat, when a flasher approached from across the park. He stood right in front of them and opened his trench coat, exposing himself. One of the girls immediately had a stroke. The other one, being older and more feeble, couldn't reach that far.
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