"hailstone the size of coconuts" - good gads! as Amelia would say

[donsu]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng


Hailstones, some the size of coconuts, pounded some villages in Minj District in Western Highlands for almost four hours on Friday, damaging houses and crops. A few thousand people live in the area and it is not known how many were injured in the incident, which occurred at about 3pm. Among the villages affected were Taimul and Tombil. Mr Paul Tumbe, who visited one village on Saturday, said all the food crops had been wiped out. Kaukau veins, vegetables and other tree crops like pawpaw and coffee were smashed by the unusually-larged hailstones or stripped bare by the strong winds. Crops not destroyed in the hailstorm last Friday would die in a week or two, Mr Tumbe told The National. He said the villagers depended mostly on sweet potato, vegetables and coffee for income and would now struggle to survive the next few months. “They would also miss out on the rest of the coffee season,” he said. Many houses were flattened or had only a few pieces of timber left standing. Their occupants have had to seek shelter with relatives and friends. Mr Tumbe urged the local MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham and the Provincial Disaster Committee to visit the affected villages and arrange for some immediate assistance to the people.)
-------------------

more and more crops ruined by climate change

whatever will we eat?
Alanta is wondering, whatever will we drink?

[lovuian]

1. This is just like a page in Day after Tommorrow

at the very beginning of the movie large hail

[kestrel91316]

3. No, as we KNOW, that movie was TOTAL FICTION.

Nothing in it could EVER happen.

:sarcasm:

[angstlessk]

2. My husband told me about a dream he had years ago about large

hailstones and I thought at the time...no way! A hailstone that large could not possibly hang in the atmosphere the weight alone would not allow it to accumulate such a large size...

I am about to have a 'crow' lunch! HMMMM

[Ezlivin]

4. It could be carried by an African swallow!

There is nothing in this world that is not answered by some line(s) out of Monty Python's Holy Grail.

{opening music}
{wind}
{clop clop clop}

KING ARTHUR:

Whoa there!
{clop clop clop}

SOLDIER #1:

Halt! Who goes there?

ARTHUR:

It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!

SOLDIER #1:

Pull the other one!

ARTHUR:

I am,... and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.

SOLDIER #1:

What? Ridden on a horse?

ARTHUR:

Yes!

SOLDIER #1:

You're using coconuts!

ARTHUR:

What?

SOLDIER #1:

You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.

ARTHUR:

So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through--

SOLDIER #1:

Where'd you get the coconuts?

ARTHUR:

We found them.

SOLDIER #1:

Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!

ARTHUR:

What do you mean?

SOLDIER #1:

Well, this is a temperate zone.

ARTHUR:

The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?

SOLDIER #1:

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

ARTHUR:

Not at all. They could be carried.

SOLDIER #1:

What? A swallow carrying a coconut?

ARTHUR:

It could grip it by the husk!

SOLDIER #1:

It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.

ARTHUR:

Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?

SOLDIER #1:

Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?

ARTHUR:

Please!

SOLDIER #1:

Am I right?

ARTHUR:

I'm not interested!

SOLDIER #2:

It could be carried by an African swallow!

SOLDIER #1:

Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European swallow. That's my point.

SOLDIER #2:

Oh, yeah, I agree with that.

ARTHUR:

Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court at Camelot?!

SOLDIER #1:

But then of course a-- African swallows are non-migratory.

SOLDIER #2:

Oh, yeah.

SOLDIER #1:

So, they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway.

SOLDIER #2:

Wait a minute! Supposing two swallows carried it together?

SOLDIER #1:

No, they'd have to have it on a line.

SOLDIER #2:

Well, simple! They'd just use a strand of creeper!

SOLDIER #1:

What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?

SOLDIER #2:

Well, why not?