Hiya Skeleton Crew,

With September nearly bein over, we’re basically in Halloweentide. It’s easily my favorite of the tides – but I do gotta say, weird stuff always seems to happen ’round here this time of year. So keep yer orbits peeled for any funny business, I guess is all I’m sayin.

Trivia 1

Here’s a li’l survival tip next time ya find yerself driftin out at sea on a life raft with dwindlin supplies & gettin dehydrated: DO NOT DRINK SEA WATER!!!

That’s what ol’ Sammy Coleridge was gettin at when he wrote these famous lines in his Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

’Course, all that advice goes out the window if ya have some kinda desalinator with ya. Then ya just zap that seawater into tasty potable water, easy peasy!

Back in Coleridge’s time that’d’ve probably involved distillin the water somehow, but nowadays we’ve got fancier tech to do the same thing. What two-word term names the membrane process that’s the most widely used way to do big-scale water desalination these days?

Trivia 2

The big thing ya gotta know ’bout the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, of course, is the albatross thing. If ya dunno what that’s about, the executive summary is that the titular mariner gets his whole crew into real trouble after he kills an albatross – that’s a major no-no in terms of maritime superstitions.^[1]

Ya know what other group of folks has a fondness for albatrosses? Golfers! ’Cause “albatross” is whatcha call it if ya get three under par on a golf hole. There’s a whole avian theme goin on: one under par’s a birdie, two under’s an eagle, & three under’s an albatross. But what’s a four under par called?

The term’s appropriate, considerin it’s generally regarded as bein the largest bird of prey in the world. But it’s an unofficial term, on account of just how rare it is: ya’d hafta get a hole-in-one on a par 5 hole – a tall order! Plus, ya don’t really even see that many par 6 or par 7 holes in the first place, let alone anyone scorin four under par on ’em.