Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Fun with Geography!
Some very interesting factoids. I know for a certainty that many of these are factually correct, but a few of them sound suspicious to me (like the one that says there are more Italians in New York City than in Rome – I doubt that). Anyway, I found most of these pretty entertaining. - tj
INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY
Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply.
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.
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 "Big Village."
Chicago
Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.
Detroit
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, named so 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
Los Angeles's full name is El 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 1930's 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 manmade.
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.
Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which 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%
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) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.
Wasn't it fun to learn something new today!
INTERESTING GEOGRAPHY
Alaska
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% the world's oxygen supply.
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.
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 "Big Village."
Chicago
Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.
Detroit
Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, named so 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
Los Angeles's full name is El 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 1930's 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 manmade.
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.
Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which 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%
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) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.
Wasn't it fun to learn something new today!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Keith Oberman's commentary on the President and 9/11 - You MUST watch this
This is the best political commentary on President Bush and the aftermath of 9/11 that I have heard or seen in a long time. Done by Keith Oberman on MSNBC, it’s nearly 9 minutes long but it is incredibly powerful, articulate and compelling. Watch it. Share it with others. Get the word out. Thanks, Dale, for passing along this incredibly powerful piece of eloquent journalism. To view his commentary in its entirety, click on the link below. - tj
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This is really quite remarkable. The latest commentary that Keith Oberman has been doing on MSNBC on the Bush administration and 9/11. It's nearly 9 minutes, but it is really powerful.
If you aren't aware or seen any of the others. . take the time.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
War Room
Keith Olbermann on what Bush has wrought
Keith Olbermann began his commentary Monday night remembering what it was like to breathe air that "contained the remains" of thousands of strangers and four of his friends. He ended it with words and images from "The Twilight Zone."
Somewhere in between -- somewhere before he started quoting Rod Serling -- Olbermann delivered the sort of probing, reality-based post-9/11 assessment we got from neither ABC nor the president of the United States:
"The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the president in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
"Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that. Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that. Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
"History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
"Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
"The President -- and those around him -- did that.
"They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, 'bi-partisanship' meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the vice president's words yesterday, 'validate the strategy of the terrorists.'
"They promised protection, and then showed that to them 'protection' meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who, we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
"The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is 'lying by implication.'
"The impolite phrase is 'impeachable offense.'"
--------------------------------
This is really quite remarkable. The latest commentary that Keith Oberman has been doing on MSNBC on the Bush administration and 9/11. It's nearly 9 minutes, but it is really powerful.
If you aren't aware or seen any of the others. . take the time.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
War Room
Keith Olbermann on what Bush has wrought
Keith Olbermann began his commentary Monday night remembering what it was like to breathe air that "contained the remains" of thousands of strangers and four of his friends. He ended it with words and images from "The Twilight Zone."
Somewhere in between -- somewhere before he started quoting Rod Serling -- Olbermann delivered the sort of probing, reality-based post-9/11 assessment we got from neither ABC nor the president of the United States:
"The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the president in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
"Those who did not belong to his party -- tabled that. Those who doubted the mechanics of his election -- ignored that. Those who wondered of his qualifications -- forgot that.
"History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government by its critics. It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation's wounds, but to take political advantage.
"Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
"The President -- and those around him -- did that.
"They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, 'bi-partisanship' meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused, as appeasers, as those who, in the vice president's words yesterday, 'validate the strategy of the terrorists.'
"They promised protection, and then showed that to them 'protection' meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken, a despot who, we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated al-Qaida as much as we did.
"The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war on the false premise that it had 'something to do' with 9/11 is 'lying by implication.'
"The impolite phrase is 'impeachable offense.'"
Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19
This is kind of fun.
My pirate name is Cap'n Elmer Burntbeard. You can find out what your pirate name is by clicking on the link below and typing in your name.
Arrr! The pirate name website is: http://gangstaname.com/pirate_name.php
-- tj, er, I mean Cap'n Elmer Burntbeard. Arrrrh!
My pirate name is Cap'n Elmer Burntbeard. You can find out what your pirate name is by clicking on the link below and typing in your name.
Arrr! The pirate name website is: http://gangstaname.com/pirate_name.php
-- tj, er, I mean Cap'n Elmer Burntbeard. Arrrrh!
Friday, September 01, 2006
The world's best card trick
OK, I want to personally blame Pam for introducing me to a totally silly and time-wasting web site, You Tube (www.youtube.com) which has tons and tons of home-made videos ranging from silly to bizarre.
OK, check out this video of a card trick. Watch it at this link and tell me if YOU can figure out how the heck the guy does this trick. Amazing – particularly Part II of the trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KrdBUFeFtY
-- tj
OK, check out this video of a card trick. Watch it at this link and tell me if YOU can figure out how the heck the guy does this trick. Amazing – particularly Part II of the trick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KrdBUFeFtY
-- tj
