Alaska's flag

 

Alaska’s flag was created by a 13-year-old.

Every flag has a story, but few are as endearing as Alaska’s. One of the rare places to have a flag before it was actually a state, the Last Frontier held a contest to design its territorial standard in 1926-27 — and a 13-year-old won. (The contest was only open to Alaskan children in the 7th-12th grade, but still.) Benny Benson lived in an orphanage known as the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, Alaska, when he came up with the winning design, which included a description he wrote himself: “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.” His design also featured “1867” in commemoration of the year the United States bought Alaska from Russia, although the numbers didn’t make the final cut. In addition to being hailed as a local hero, Benson won a watch with his design on it and a $1,000 scholarship. He eventually used that money to attend Hemphill Diesel Engineering School after moving to Seattle in 1936. He was 45 when Alaska became a state in 1959, fulfilling the hopeful description of his design. Alaska kept its flag rather than adopt a new one, and Benson’s work lives on today.

The bat

 

                            The bat is the only mammal capable of true and sustained flight.

Lego Bridge

 

The Lego-Brücke is a concrete beam bridge which crosses over the Schwesterstraße in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Wuppertal, Germany. In 2011, graffiti and street artist Martin Heuwold repainted the bridge in the style of Lego bricks, receiving national and international media attention for his work

The Joshua tree

 

                  The Joshua tree is the only tree that grows in California's Mojave Desert

Today we enjoy this yucca for its grotesque appearance, a surprising sight in the landscape of biological interest. The Joshua tree’s life cycle begins with the rare germination of a seed, its survival dependent upon well-timed rains. Look for sprouts growing up from within the protective branches of a shrub. Young sprouts may grow quickly in the first five years, then slow down considerably thereafter. The tallest Joshua trees in the park loom a whopping forty-plus feet high, a grand presence in the desert. Judging the age of a Joshua tree is challenging: these “trees” do not have growth rings like you would find in an oak or pine. You can make a rough estimate based on height, as Joshua trees grow at rates of one-half inch to three inches per year. Some researchers think an average lifespan for a Joshua tree is about 150 years, but some of our largest trees may be much older than that.

Did you know?

                                 How funny I posted this on Flag Day of the United States

The Ohio Burgee is the official flag of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a triangular swallowtail flag, the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. Its red, white, and blue elements symbolize the state's natural features and order of admission into the Union.

Kosher

Did you know that the glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Not black

                                          Black boxes from a plane are actually orange. 

The world's shortest aqueduct

 

The Veluwemeer Aqueduct: Netherland's Unique Water Bridge

The Veluwemeer Aqueduct is a shallow 9.83 feet (3 m) deep water bridge that allows for small boats and other shallow-draft water vehicles to pass over the road safely and easily.

Globe

                                                                The globe for the blind.

Asparagus

 

Did you know that asparagus will grow as tall as a tree?

Yawning

 

One theory of why we yawn is that when we are bored or tired, we just don't breathe as deeply as we usually do. As this theory goes, our bodies take in less oxygen because our breathing has slowed. Therefore, yawning helps us bring more oxygen into the blood and move more carbon dioxide out of the blood.

A Lego bridge

 

The German town of Wupperttal is home to Lego-Brücke, also known as LEGO Bridge—a bridge that looks like it's made of candy-colored LEGO bricks, providing a foot- and bikeway for those looking to cross over the street below. Despite appearances, the bridge is not made of giant plastic bricks however, but concrete, and it was painted to look like the popular building toys by street artist Martin Heuwold.

The smallest country

Size is not a criterion in our definition of what constitutes a country. A country need only be an independent state, with distinct territorial boundaries, and its own government. The smallest country is the Vatican City.

Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It's home to the Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed “Laocoön and His Sons” as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.

Capital: Vatican City

Area: 109 acres

Founded: February 11, 1929

Population: 1,000 (2017)

Typhoid Mary

“Typhoid Mary” was a real historical person who became notorious in the early 1900s. She was an Irish woman named Mary Mallon who immigrated to the United States in the 1880s. Though she had no symptoms of typhoid fever, she carried the bacteria in her blood and could pass it on to other people. Because no doctor could convince her that this was true and she didn’t feel sick, she insisted on working as a cook. During her career, she infected at least 51 people, three of whom died, before she was isolated in enforced quarantine for the last decades of her life.

First McDonalds drive thru

 

The first McDonald's Drive Thru was installed in a restaurant based in Sierra Vista, Arizona, located near the Fort Huachuca military installation. Military rules forbade the soldiers from wearing their military uniforms in public, and they weren't about to change into civilian clothes just to grab a burger and run back to base, so restaurant manager David Rich came up with a solution: cut a hole into the wall and allow members of the military to pick up their orders without stepping out of their car. The convenience and simplicity of the idea quickly caught on.

Did you know?

 

Lady Liberty came to America in 350 pieces. To help pay for the statue's construction and assembly, the chunks, including her head and her torch, were put on display at venues like the World's Fair in Paris and the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

Did you know?

 

FILISTIMLYANIN/GETTY IMAGES

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose

You just tested it, didn’t you? Normally, when you hum, the air is able to escape through your nose to create the sound, and of course, it can’t do that when you’re holding it shut. This is one of the weird facts you can test out for yourself. Go ahead, try it.

Did you know?

 Baby Flamingo's are not born pink. 

The chicks are fed bright red milk, a sort of crop milk made from either parents’ upper digestive tracts. As the baby flamingos grow, they develop their signature pink feathers, as well as adult bills that can filter mud and silt from their food.

Flocks of ravens

 

Did you know a flock of ravens are called an "unkindness"

Did you know?

 

The first revolving door was invented in 1888 with the goal of preventing wind, snow, rain, dust, or noise from entering buildings. The original patent application was filed by Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia. (He was granted U.S. patent 387,571 for a three-wing “Storm-door structure” on August 7, 1888.