Staving off a dull day
 

I'm booooorrrrred at work today. So I thought I'd ask if anyone has learned anything interesting -- of course, travelling information is preferred, but anything is welcome! -- that they'd like to share. <BR> <BR>For example, today I learned that larger helicopters only have a gas mileage of 3/4 of a mile per gallon of fuel! Makes me rethink that whole "Waterfalls of Hawai'i" junket...

I learned from another friend that the Bog Man is located at the British Museum.. I should have assumed... since we are going to be in London in April.. I happily added the British Museum to our itinerary, though I've been there twice before.. just so I can find the BOG MAN!!!

I learned that there is actually someone in the world who doesn't like Paris. Too bad.............

Thyra: You'll love the Bog Man -- he's awesome! And don't forget to check out the barrow treasure in the adjoining rooms. <BR> <BR>I learned about a little camera people can swallow like a pill -- wouldn't it be cool to have something like that in your sunglasses (etc.) when you travel? No more clunky camera bags, no more hideous videocameras...just what you see when and how you see it! You could even have a little remote you could hold in your pocket.

I was reminded what a polser is. Thank you Roger.

We were having a discussion on another board, about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, in doing some web research, I learned that the founder of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, advocated the creation of a Jewish state in either Palestine or, of all interesting places, Argentina.

Oh my Oh my <BR> <BR>Me and my school best mate, Nova, earned an A grade and a pink slip for our project on the Bog Man for history class when we were eleven... <BR> <BR>I didnt know he was on show... <BR> <BR>Oh my oh my oh my... <BR> <BR>Kavey <BR> <BR>PS Barbie got her first car in 1962. It was a coral colored Austin Healy manufactured by the Irwin Corporation for Mattel. <BR> <BR>PPS More than half of all New Zealanders don't live in New Zealand. <BR> <BR>PPPS The Aztec Indians in Central America used animal blood mixed with cement as a mortar for their buildings, many of which still remain standing today.

Don't keep me in suspense -- what is a polser? <BR> <BR>And why Argentina?

Why Argentina indeed? I have no idea why Herzl would've considered it.

I learned that the city of Tsingtao was a Japanese colony and many of the buildings are Japanese-styled. <BR> <BR>I learned that one of the major contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary was an American doctor who was incarcerated in Broadmoor, the asylum for the criminally insane. <BR> <BR>I learned that the British know the same trick we do (if you walk around with a clipboard and pen, you can look busy without really doing any work). <BR> <BR>

I remember reading that there were discussions about a Jewish state in South America at the time just before Israel was designated a Mandate... but I thought it was in Brazil... but my memory is not good. <BR> <BR>From what I was told (so this is mucho 2nd hand) the land was uninhabited and offered freely by the S.American govt involved (possibly hoped to boost their economy?) and as a possible way of avoiding the bloodshed that was bound to arise when the Western world decided to become involved in a struggle for land which was already inhabited.

xxx and Capo: <BR> <BR>This is what I found re Argentina: <BR> <BR>"...Herzl unsuccessfully tried to win over the renowned philanthropist and founder of the Jewish settlements in Argentina, Baron Moritz de Hirsch[,] to the plan that fired his imagination: the redemption of the Jews from their political and personal distress and their concentration in a sovereign Jewish territory." <BR> <BR>So it looks like there were already Jewish settlements in Argentina, which would make the idea of carving a homeland there make more sense. <BR> <BR>Certainly more sense than when Herzl was offered part of Uganda, in my opinion! <BR> <BR>Elvira: <BR> <BR>Have you read "The Professor and the Madman : A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary," by Simon Winchester? Winchester's written (very well) the whole story.

Elvira, you probably know this already but, in case anyone else is interested, that story is told in <I>The Professor and the Madman, the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary</I> by Simon Winchester. <BR> <BR>Here's a PBS website, where David Gergen interviews the author. <BR> http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/o...man_10-20.html

Great minds, Capo :-) (-:

Yup, finished the book today. And did anyone see the repeat of 60 Minutes II about the new editor of the OED? Hee Hee he's 'Merican.

WSJ today the tells story of a man who ran up a hospital bill at Duke of $5 million in a month before he died.

I learned that there is an online movement to draft John Cusack to run for President of the United States. Mmmmmm. And woo-hoo!!! <BR> <BR>Here's where I learned it: <BR> <BR>http://www.junction-city.com/billboard/cusack/index.asp <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Likewise, ALH! :~) Thanks for the additional info about Herzl and Argentina. It does make one wonder what would've happened had the Jewish state been located there instead of in Palestine. <BR>

No problem, Capo -- enquiring minds and all that... :-) (-: <BR> <BR>lisa2: mmmmmm indeedy! And as a former Chicagoan, an additional woo hoo! for one of my favorite Chicago sons!

Woo Hoooo Woo Hooooooooo <BR> <BR>(Just because it's one of my favourite "words") <BR> <BR>/&lt;avey <BR> <BR>And to entertain you all today, this works best in Arial so you might have to copy and paste or it might all go horrible wrong <BR> <BR>My very own zebra <BR> <BR>\_/ <BR> \/-//////\ <BR> || || <BR> <BR>