don't forget! this weeks useless poll [link] **its not like armed robbery**
journal turned news! [link] **BuBbLeS**
news article [link] **Thank You**
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for the first time in over a month there is rain predicted for our area. not the little blip on the radar kind, but a bit of rain that might last a minute or two!! we'll see how that works out. until then, here's some rain that we can live through vicariously



The umbrella was originally invented to protect people from the hot sun.

Not including wind-driven rain, raindrops fall between 7 and 18 miles per hour (3 and 8 meters per second) in still air. The range in speed depends on the the size of the raindrop. Air friction breaks up raindrops when they exceed 18 miles per hour.

Most people notice a distinctive smell in the air after it rains. But what causes it? It's not rain you're smelling; it's dirt. The piquant, musky odor that hangs in the air emanates from an odorous chemical buried in the soil called "geosmin" (literally, "earth smell").

Louisiana is the wettest state in the U.S, which received an annual rainfall of 56 inches.

Ancient Greeks measured rainfall as early as 500 B.C., and in 400 B.C., collection bowls were laid out by people in India to determine precipitation amounts.

A raindrop is round but appears to be oval, or tear-drop shaped, because gravitation pulls on the front of the raindrop as it is falling.

World's one minute rainfall record: July 4, 1956, 1.23 inches of rain fell in Unionville, MD.

How far away is lightning? During a storm, count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, then divide by two. The answer reveals how many miles away the lightning is.