It will come as no surprise to you that many of life's adventures, or mis-adventures, take place because the enormity of a situation is not known ahead of time, and that all we see is a small tableau of what quickly becomes the larger picture.
For your birthday, I give you The Tip of the Iceberg.
Because the density of pure ice is about 920 kg/m³, and that of sea water about 1025 kg/m³, typically only one-tenth of the volume of an iceberg is above water.
Icebergs can be very small, and are called 'growlers,' or they can be very big. The official name classification for the biggest of icebergs is "very big." (Science at it's best) The largest iceberg ever recorded 'calved,' or broke off, from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where 93% of the world's icebergs live. The name of this iceberg is B-15. When discovered in 2000, it was 183 miles long and 23 miles wide, weighing 3 billion metric tons, or 6,618,000,000,000 pounds (I'm not sure how to pronounce that.). It broke apart in 2005, but the part called B-15A was still the world's largest. A couple years ago, due to a water swell resulting from an Arctic storm, the rest of it broke into more than a dozen pieces. Each one is designated, by size, as B-15C, B-15D, etc.
This picture is an illustration of how nefarious the tip of the iceberg truly is. You can see the actual iceberg "above" the waterline, and the part "below" the water. The true shape and size of the part of an iceberg that is unseen cannot be determined from the shape of the exposed portion.
Life is a time of preparation. The portion of an iceberg that is visible - 10% - is just a warning of what lies beneath - the other 90%.
As my last party favor, I give you the Most Famous Iceberg of All Time. It lived near Greenland, part of the 7% of icebergs that don't live down under. It really crashed the party back in 1912.
Happy Birthday!
Love, Lewis
4 comments:
Happy Birthday Marti! What a cool present! I hope you guys are partying it up with Mom and Dad. Post pictures!
Happy Birthday! Hope the kids were thrilled with the day!
Hi Martissa, I hope you had a great Birthday and that you enjoy your very big ice cube. When you are finished with it I think you should break off a few cubes and send them to me.
Thanks for the iceberg, Lewis! Though I think I'd better have some of those scientist come ckeck for icebergs in my freezing cold house. I'm sure we have a few big ones here. I don't think Mom and Dad have taken their coats off yet.
I had a very fun day and then we kept partying tonight at CASA BONITA, the best atmosphere and worst food on the planet! When you come to Denver, we'll give you directions how to go there to eat.
I love you all. Thanks,
Martissa
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