Stuff You Didn't Know

You're gonna say "I didn't know that!" ... at least 5 times. SCROLL  Alaska   More than half of the coastline of the  States is in Alaska. Amazon   The Amazon rain forest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States. Antarctica   Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert; the average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, ice.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.   Brazil    Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around. Canada Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ' BigVillage'. Chicago Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world. (Aha! I knew that!) Detroit  Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere. Damascus , Syria   Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence. Istanbul , Turkey   Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents. Los Angeles   The full name of Los Angeles is: l Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula--  and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A. New York City The term 'The Big Apple' was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City Is to play the big time - The Big Apple.   There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel .   Ohio       There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is man-made. Pitcairn Island   The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq.. miles/4,53 sq Km. Rome   The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy (in 133 B.C.) There is a city called Rome on every continent. Siberia   Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests. S.M.O.M  The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world Is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta S.M.O.M).  It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, and has an area of two tennis courts. And, as of 2001, has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican.  It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is. Sahara Desert In the Sahara Desert , there is a town named Tidikelt,Algeria, that did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically, though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years Spain Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'. St. Paul , Minnesota St. Paul , Minnesota , was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant who set up the first business there. Roads Chances that a road is unpaved: ... in the U.S.A = 1%; ... in Canada = 75% Russia The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia. It reached a depth of 12,261 meters (about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles.) It was drilled for scientific research and gave up some unexpected discoveries, one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen - so massive that the mud coming from the hole was boiling with it. United States The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. Waterfalls The water of Angel Falls (the world's highest) inVenezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters.) They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls . cuzzin ricky

Start a Fire with Sugar ("You look mahvelous?")

potassium permanganate from from eBay Your're Welcome

Damn!

The Truth Is Too Late Out There sigh!

Season 5?

justified

“ Dear TRKOF (& Sweden): Rodger: Or, more correctly, Your Royal Highness, Keeper of The Faith, Assistant Deputy Supervisor of the Realm: You said a while back (I'm pretty sure it was you, and if it wasn't, I can't come up with anyone sufficiently erudite to suggest that it wasn't you) that Justified was the best thing on TV, now or ever. "Ever" is a long time, but I'm more than willing to concede that Justified is a reasonable challenge to the "ever" hypothesis. For the past 3 evenings I've been binge watching season 5 of Justified, ever since I discovered it available on amazon prime video Sunday night. I am disturbed (not necessarily in a general sense, although there are some who might contest that assessment) that season 5 was only 13 episodes long. With minimal effort I think it could have gone to 16 or 18. That said, what has me in the depths of despair is the discovery that season 6 will be the final season of Justified. I realize that life cycles exist, and that all things must eventually end, and  perhaps Raylan and Boyd jousting from wheelchairs with Dewey's illegitimate offspring keeping score may not be the best finale (I do think, however, that Alicia Witt has much more to contribute, once her bruises heal....), I'm reluctant to give up on one of the few bright spots remaining in Western Civilization. (Not to mention I'll have to wait a whole year to see season 6 on amazon prime, since I don't have cable.) What I'm suggesting is this: We have an entire TV season to mobilize the Barn Army and forcibly demand more seasons of Justified. I'm willing to contribute as much as $20 to assist in storming the offices of FX to demand the series continue. And, if someone can tell me where those offices are, I'm willing to write several strongly worded missives containing random desperate pleas for Raylan and Boyd to continue their conflict, with or wtihout Ava. What say you, Rodger? Do we decline into ignominy, doomed to purchase DVD sets of Justified to savor in our bunkers, or do we demand everlasting life for Raylan and Boyd? Last Sergeant Nosmo, anxious (and dejected) member of the Famous Barn Army What?  There's a season 5?    ”

Why Christmas is ...

“ Why Christmas is on December 25th [...] In Egypt, less than 300 years after Christ’s death, some Christians celebrated his birth in the spring. As the Biblical Archeology Society has noted, the earliest references to Christmas come at about 200 A.D., at a time Christians were not incorporating other religious traditions into their own. By 300 A.D., many Christians were celebrating his birth around Dec. 25th. Within 100 years, Christmas was on the calendar record. Christians looked to December because the early church was far more interested in Jesus’s death. His death and resurrection is what matters to the Gospel, and that was the date the early church focused on. “Around 200 A.D., Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan in the year Jesus died was the equivalent to March 25 in the Roman calendar,” said Andrew McGowan last year at the Biblical Archaeology Society. That would be the day of Crucifixion. The math from there is rather simple. Nine months later would be Dec. 25. Early church history held as fact that the prophets and martyrs of the church were conceived on the day they died. So if Christ died on March 25, it was also the anniversary of his conception. Separately, and more directly from the Bible, Luke 1 tells us Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father, was in the priestly division of Abijah. Based on a calculation of this and the division of priest in the temple in 70 A.D. when the temple fell, a number of early Church historians presumed Zacharias would have been in the temple in early October. Later historians, however, speculate it would have been June. The Gospel of Luke tells us when Zacharias left the temple, his wife conceived. “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazaerth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David,” Luke 1:25-26 notes. Six months after Zacharias left the temple would be March as Mary’s time of conception. Fast forward nine months and again we find ourselves in December. With the very earliest Church fathers settling on March 25th as Christ’s death and believing fully that Christ’s death would occur on the anniversary of his conception, the early church reinforced its belief well before there is any written accusation or evidence of the church incorporating Saturnalia or Sol Invictus into its celebrations. It is important to note, however, that most scholars reject setting Christ’s birth to Zacharias’s temple service because of problems related to really knowing when he was there. [Full Article] ”