Birds in Flight

A Butt Is a Unit of Measurement

If we’re talking imperial measurements, a “butt” is a cask of liquid. And while this form of “butt” is obsolete for most people, it’s still used in wine and brewing contexts. In the wine world, a butt is around 108 imperial gallons (just under 500 liters, or around 126 U.S. gallons), so it turns out that a buttload is… a buttload.

Betsy Ross probably didn’t make the first American flag.

U.S. HISTORY

In 1777, Congress passed a resolution dictating that the official flag of the newly founded United States would consist of 13 white stars against a blue background, and 13 alternating red and white stripes. According to popular myth, the first American flag was subsequently created by Philadelphia resident Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross. There’s just one problem with this common narrative: There’s no evidencethat it’s actually true. 

The claim that Betsy Ross made the first American flag didn’t surface until 1870 — nearly a century after the nation’s founding — in a speech Ross’ grandson William Canby delivered to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Canby said that his grandmother would often recount a story of the time she received a visit from George Washington, who presented her with a proposed design of 13 stripes and 13 six-pointed stars, and asked if she could create a flag based on the sketch. According to Canby, Ross agreed, and even came up with the idea to give the stars five points instead of six, and to arrange them in a circle. 

Canby’s story was compelling, and the speech was widely circulated in popular newspapers. Before long, it became accepted as fact that Ross created the first American flag. However, although Canby produced affidavits from Ross’ daughter and granddaughter corroborating the tale, he never offered any concrete evidence — including, crucially, the flag itself. (In fact, there’s no evidence of any American flag that can be traced back to Ross.) Over the years, historians have called Canby’s account into question, and while it’s been established that Ross did sew flags for the Pennsylvania Navy, some historians suggest the original Stars and Stripes was actually created by Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress. They cite a bill that Hopkinson sent to the Congress in 1780, asking for payment for designing “the flag of the United States of America.” But this theory also remains unconfirmed, as the Congress refused to pay Hopkinson for his services, claiming he “was not the only one consulted.” To date, the true origin of the American flag remains a mystery.

Mount Everest Is Not the World’s Tallest Mountain

If someone asks you “What is the tallest mountain in the world?” you’d probably answer, “Why, Mount Everest, of course — everyone knows that.” Sadly, you would be wrong. Technically, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain above sea level, but it isn’t the tallest in the world. That honor goes to Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Mauna Kea rises up 13,796 feet above sea level (compared to Everest’s 29,035 feet), but it also extends down an additional 19,700 feet below sea level into the Pacific Ocean. That makes it the world’s tallest mountain as measured from base to peak.

The sky is never totally black, even at night.

Stargazers who live in major cities know all about light pollution, but this lack of complete darkness goes beyond geography. It turns out the sky is never totally black no matter where you live, even at night. We can mostly chalk this up to the luminous effects of moonlight and starlight, as well as to our atmosphere, which, in addition to making the planet’s air breathable, scatters all the light that passes through it. (This is what makes the sky appear blue during the day, as the atmosphere scatters blue light more than other colors.)

In highly populated areas, the effect of light pollution is known as skyglow, and it’s what gives the night sky its milky, sometimes yellowish complexion. But even if you find yourself in an extremely remote location, the sky would be closer to a navy blue than black. As previously mentioned, this is partially because of the moon, but it’s also because the atmosphere itself emits a faint light of its own (in addition to the light it scatters), known as both airglow and nightglow. Depending on where you are, that glow could be any combination of red, green, purple, and/or yellow. If you’d like to see a completely black sky, you’d have to go to the moon, which has no atmosphere and thus nothing to scatter or emit light.

(Posted this to remind everyone and myself that there is always light, may have to look harder for it, but there is always light ) Dwain Northey (Gen X)

One of the original ships of the U.S. Navy is still afloat.

Following congressional passage of an “Act to provide a Naval Armament” in March 1794, shipbuilder Joshua Humphreys set about designing six frigates that would form the backbone of the United States Navy fleet. Of those six, the USS Constitution has defied the odds to remain in service, making “America’s Ship of State” the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

Launched from Boston Harbor on October 21, 1797, the Constitution was soon deployed to the Caribbean to engage privateers during the Quasi War with France. A few years later, the 44-gun frigate was instrumental in a military campaign against the state-supported Barbary Pirates of North Africa, resulting in an 1805 treaty with Tripoli. But the Constitution truly proved its worth with an impressive showing against the mighty British navy in the War of 1812. One overwhelming victory over the HMS Guerriere, which seemed unable to dent the American frigate with its cannon fire, gave the ship its nickname: “Old Ironsides.” A few months later, the Constitution took down the HMS Java despite having its wheel blown off in battle, requiring crew members to manually move the tiller for steering. These heroic stands were still in the minds of the American public as the Constitution was reported to be nearing the end of its service life in 1830, resulting in a national campaign to keep the beloved warship in active duty.

After patrolling the African coast for slave vessels during the 1850s, Old Ironsides was primarily used as a training ship before being decommissioned in 1881. A grand centennial celebration in 1897 underscored its status as a national icon, and in 1931, the historic ship was recommissioned for Navy service. Now docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in its city of birth, the USS Constitution is temporarily grounded as it undergoes repairs to its masts, yet remains a venerable component of the powerful naval force it helped usher into existence more than 200 years ago.

All Humans Have Some Trace of Neanderthal DNA

DNA contains all the information that makes up all living things, but it also reveals interesting facts about our past. For one thing, all humans share 99.9% of the same genes, with the 0.1% caused by substitutions, deletions, and insertions in the genome (an important tool for understanding diseases). We also know, thanks to DNA, that humans are much less genetically diverse than other animal species. This means that all 8 billion humans today grew from a population of only 10,000 breeding pairs of Homo sapiens, and that our ancestors likely experienced genetic bottlenecks that caused serious population declines.

Amazingly, glimpses into our human lineage are also locked away in our DNA, because every human on the planet has some genetic material adopted from a completely different species of human — Neanderthals. Although Homo sapiens are the only human species on the planet today, the Earth has played host to upwards of 20 different human speciesthroughout millions of years. For a time, Homo sapiens shared the planet with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and even interbred with them. Remnants of those dalliances still live within our chromosomes, passed on from generation to generation. Although Europeans and Asians share the largest percentage of Neanderthal DNA (around 2%), Africans also share a small percentage (which wasn’t discovered until 2020).

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

People like to talk about conspiracy theories like Tim Walz being programmed by the Chinese all those years ago because they just knew he would be picked up for VP at some time. So now let us talk about a conspiracy that really took place. The ability to call an election in 6 hours after the polls close in the most important election in our lifetime. Should we open this can of worms and find out what kind of fixes were in place for this to happen?
The count was 272 and on that basis you just call it. How many total electoral votes are there and how did that many come together that quickly? All does not seem true, especially when we consider the liar that won. He has never gained anything honestly in his life so why should we believe this would be any different.
Told lies about people eating pets, told lies about an opponent’s email, and lied about assainanation attempts and crowd size and the size of his wealth and everything else so why should we believe this. There is every reason to believe that the little secret he and Johnson had was the fix they put in place to get what he wanted.
The lie he has not yet revealed is the one where he takes all the wealth from his rich backers because he wants to be the richest one of all. The desire to get as much money as he can is what drives the train and it is what will ultimately ruin our country. Scenic vistas, clean water, fields of grain, wild life, or even human life means nothing when there is a chance there is a dollar to be made if you destroy any or all of those things.
Since the race has been conceded and it appears that a no challenge transfer of power is going to occur one has to wonder which side has the lemmings. It seems we are all being guided to jump off the cliff to self destruction. Is George Carlin’s remark that there is no need in voting since the country is already bought and paid for and we are but the labor force that keeps the rich in power.
All the time, energy and money that was spent on the campaigns was for nothing if the fix was so well planned. Half the nation’s votes were never counted. Even with the number of votes Trump was given the rest of us deserve the right to see how this would have come out if all voting was completed. We know that it would not have ended so soon as there are a great many hours between the east coast and Hawaii. This is another example of a very small percentage of the nation getting to choose how the game will be played.
Now only a couple of days after the election and we are seeing the behavior that sickened most of us during his first term has returned with even more brazen obnoxiousness. People getting tex messages that they are to report for slave duty. Signs on campuses identifying women as property. A video of an altercation in a fast food place where the antagonist customer called people names and then reported the situation to the manager and got the employee fired. What a truly deplorable world we have entered.
This nation is a melting pot of people from all over and the differences are to be celebrated not denigrated. When someone decides that they have a right to berate someone else because of ethic values, ask them to show their DNA chart to prove they are so pure and that somehow they are allowed to insult others. Most will find that there are flaws in that chart that take them out of the “superior and put them in the ordinary” as most of us are.
As a society we have been polarized ever since Trump came on the scene in politics and now we are being subjected to even more hate speech because he was reelected. The damage that is being done today may never heal and it could produce even more violence and destruction in

future generations. Our world is a kaleidoscope of battles that have been raging in some cases for centuries. The Jewish people have been targets of hate and torture forever and today they are fighting over land that has changed hands numerous times and should be red because of all the blood that has been spilled into it.
Every group of people that are separated by ethnicity have value and honor and worth. Do not let the attitude of superiority, or the utterances of a tyrant, provide an excuse to berate someone else. People are not property no matter of gender or color or for any other reason that can be thought of just to make someone feel empowered to say stupid things. Every deed, every remark, every negative act has a consequence and many are not positive.
If the urge to berate others strikes, take a moment to put yourself in the picture as the one being berated. Hopefully that will deter creating a problem, if it does not then be prepared for whatever happens next, which may not be favorable to the one that started the fight. In other words “ If the foo shits, wear it”.