Fables By Teddy David Mills May 2002 ============================================================================= A1 === Meaning first rate, the very best. From Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping. Letters designated the quality of the ships hull, thus A was the best. The quality of the anchors, rigging, cabling etc was a number, thus 1 was the best. "A from a windmill" =================== Common in the late 19th century. Means one who is very dull or ignorant. Eureka! (I have found it) ========================= Archimedes was asked to verify if Hieros Crown was pure gold. I mean the gold could have been mixed with lots of different metals like tin or silver. You cant tell just by looking at it. And you didnt want to melt the Kings crown down to slag! This was very difficult. As Archimedes got into a bathtub, it overflowed. He exclaimed "Eureka!" Now he knew how to test the crown for the amount of gold. How ?? An object when immersed in water, must displace its exactly its own volume of water. Heavier objects like 1 pound of gold displaces less water than 1 pound of silver. Why? 1 pound of gold is more dense and be a smaller object than 1 pound of silver, thus displacing less water. 1 pound of silver would be a larger object than the 1 pound of gold and therefore displace more water, Archimedes had his measuring stick. All he had to to was weight the crown of gold, and get more gold to equal it. If the crown was truly 100% gold, the 2 objects would be exactly the same size, and therefore displace the same amount of water. When Archimedes did his experiment, he found that the Gold Crown was not 100% gold. That my friends is power! Abomidable Snowman ================== Shiptops Everest Expedition in the Himalayas in 1951 apparently was the first to see the Yeti. They proably jsut had frostbite on the brain, or that doppelganger syndrome. Ab ovo (Latin meaning "from the egg" ==================================== Leda and the Swan is the story of how Zeus transformed himself into a swan, and then had relations like a maiden called Leda. From Ledas egg, was born Helen of Troy. If the egg was not laid by Leda, Helen of Troy would not have been born, Paris would not have loved Helen, thus no 10 year Trojan War, no hundreds of thousands of deaths .etc .etc. "There is no leaping from Delilahs lap to Abrahams bosum" ======================================================= If you live in sin, dont expect to get to heaven. "The absent are always wrong" ============================= Is is very easy to blame those that are absent and cannot defend themselves. Absent flag =========== A blue flag is flown on yachts when the owner is not aboard. Not the wiset idea perhaps. Abundant Number (as opposed to deficent and perfect numbers) ============================================================= The divisors of 12 are 1,2,3,4,6. Added up=16. Thus all of 12s divisors added up (16) is greater than 12. Academy ======= A garden near Athens where Plato taught. Accesory after the fact ======================== assisting a felon. A reciever of stolen goods, or suspecting they are stolen is guilty of accessory after the fact, ex post facto. Accessory before the fact ========================= Knowing a crime is going to be committed, but absent from the crime scene. To be called to one last account ================================ To die. Ace === French word "as" for a pilot who shot down at least 10 enemy planes. Translated into its english form as ace. Acestes ======= Sicilian archer who shot his arrow with such force it caught fire... Hmm ease up on the wine dude. Achilles andf the Turtle ========================== Zenos paradox. Achilles can run 10 times as fast as the turtle (is that all??) So Achilles gives the turtle 100 yard start. While Achilles runs 100, the turtle runs 10 while Achille runs the 10, turtle run 1. While Achilles runs the 1, turtle runs 1/10 and so on and so on. Ad infinitum. Zenos says the turtle will always be ahead. Silly paradox. Acid Test ======== Gold is not bothered by most acids. However Aqua Fortis or Aqua Regia will. Slang for the definitive test. Gods Acre ======== A cemetary or churchyard. Acres of Diamonds ================== A baptist minister gave this same speech like 6000 times, saying it is Americans moral and spiritual duty to aquire wealth. Adams ale or Adams Wine ======================= Water, seeing as Adam had only water.. Pythagoras ========== Most famous for the c=sqtr(a^2+b^2) formula. But he also invented the multiplcaition tables. Something far more important to mathematics.