News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Ever see an ornate sleeper ray? Probably not. It’s considered the rarest fish in the world. It’s scientific name is Electrolux addisoni. Maybe they should call it a sweeper ray.
Yes Anthony, Alaska is a good place to grow oysters.
Pacemakers explode during cremations. Funeral directors have to remember to remove them. And joint replacements don’t melt. Those tasked with disposing the remains wait for them to cool down and ship them to the Netherlands for recycling.
Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States. We consume 1.27 billion pounds per year.
A medium shrimp weighs about a half-ounce. Using that as the average weight of a sold shrimp means we annually eat about 41 billion shrimp.
How many died building the Panama Canal? Hospital records show that 5609 died of diseases and accidents but a whole lot of deaths occurred outside the hospital. The best estimate is 22,000 and this doesn’t count the French attempt.
Thomas Becket’s shrine William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 1-22-20
No Miranda, you cannot retrace the trip taken in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, at least exactly. The pilgrims’ destination was the St. Thomas Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.
Becket was a pal of King Henry II who placed him in the important post of the Archbishop of Canterbury in a bit of convenient cronyism. Unfortunately for Henry, Becket started taking his job seriously which interfered with the King’s plans. The King expressed his annoyance to some of his knights who took matters in their own hands on Dec. 29, 1170 and killed the cleric in the Cathedral.
Canterbury Cathedral was destroyed by fire four years later. A magnificent replacement was built. Becket’s body was placed in a solid gold shrine, and became the destination for pilgrims as per “Canterbury Tales.”
In 1534, Henry VIII while performing his anti-Catholic pogrom summoned the dead saint to court to face charges of treason. When he didn’t appear, he was found guilty in abstentia. Henry VIII destroyed the shrine, took its gold and burned Becket’s body.
No Christopher, the biggest ship to ever sail through the Panama Canal was not an aircraft carrier but a cruise ship, the 168,028-ton Norwegian Bliss. The record breaking trip occurred in May 14, 2018. The vessel is 1,082 feet long, 20 decks high and can carry 4,004 passengers. The canal was expanded in 2016 to accommodate such massive things.
In the 1930s, 85 percent of domestic airline revenue came from airmail.
About 30,000 Germans in the American Revolution fought as allies of the British. A little over half returned home. About a quarter of them died either in battle or from disease. Most of the rest, 4,972, stayed here and became citizens.