Africa 3

~~~ Provocative Quote

" Thrift is a wonderful virtue - in an ancestor. "
Genealogical taglines saved from defunct Nat’l Genealogical Echo

~~~Free Ramblings

I had another unusual experience while on Safari. At Honeyguide, a tent camp, Greg, our ranger, was cruising down the road. Either he or the tracker spotted a white Rhino. We had already been told that the white rhino will not be white, but grayish. Oh I how love linguistics. Turns out that there are five species of rhinos—two of which are the white rhino and the black rhino. One of their major differences is their mouths. One of the rhinos has a very wide mouth to help it eat and the other has much a smaller mouth to help it eat. One munches on taller grass, the other on shorter grass. When English speakers first saw Ceratotherium simum they noted its wide mouth. Over time, through mispronunciation, the wide mouth rhino became known as the white rhino. Wide/white is close. As people began calling it the White Rhino, they also discovered Diceros bicornis and since there was already a White Rhino, it made some kind of sense to call the new rhino the Black Rhino. The black rhino is also not black, but grayish.

So, back to the unusual experience. Our guides had told us that they each had a favorite of the Big 5. When I saw this first of several rhinos we would see over the next few weeks, I was transfixed on it. Everyone else in the jeep had grabbed their cameras and video recorders. I just sat there, staring at this huge animal. If I didn’t know better, I would still believe that the rhino was staring right into me—not the vehicle, not the other passengers, not the tracker…just at me. I stared so long that I almost didn’t get any pictures. This did not happen with any other of the Big 5. It didn’t happen with any other animals I had seen. We spotted other rhinos and each time, I felt a connection. I understood why the guides had a favorite. An amazing experience.

Another quick linguistic story. At another camp our tracker was a Zulu. He had intermediate English skills but was more than willing to practice them. We had just seen some elephants. I asked me for the Zulu word for elephant. It was several syllables long, and while I tried to repeat it, it was not to be. He did smile when I tried, and gave a little laugh. I’m sure I said something very dirty. My next question was “What does it mean?” He gave me a strange look and simply said ‘elephant’. Dumb tourist—asks me how to say elephant in my language, I say it, tourist says dirty word, and is so stupid he asks me what my word means. Luckily, our guide spoke fluent Zulu and told me it means ‘big animal.’ I told him I was expecting something more descriptive—long nose or something. He said nope, just ‘big animal’. I then asked him to explain our conversation to the tracker, he did and everyone got a good laugh. I did ask the guide what I had said, and his only comment was ‘you don’t want to know.’ It’s all about perception.

It is still hard for me to adjust to the winter temps we are having in Flagstaff. Last night we went down to about 18°, as we have every night since I got back. We rose to a sweltering 46° but the 13mph winds made it feel much colder. I also picked up my mail today. What a pile I had to go though. One might begin to think that Christmas is just around the corner.
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~~~Random Facts
No piece of normal-size paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

~~~Unusual News
PROCTOR, Minn. - Police in Minnesota said a motorized La-Z-Boy lounge chair involved in a drunken driving incident has garnered bids of $40,000 on eBay. Proctor, Minn., police said bids for chair, which was seized from Dennis Anderson after he allegedly crashed while intoxicated, reached $43,300 Monday, the Minneapolis City Pages reported Monday. An autographed photo of Anderson, which was put on eBay by his family to help pay his legal fees, reached bids of a comparatively cheap $305 Monday.

~~~Before They Were Famous
Before becoming an actress, Kim Novak was a fashion model, elevator operator, sales clerk, dental assistant and spokesperson for an appliance company.

Before becoming famous, Conan O'Brien graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a degree in U.S. History.

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~~~November Month Long Observances
Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month ~ American Diabetes Month ~ American Indian Heritage Month ~ Lung Cancer Awareness Month ~ Military Family Appreciation Month ~ National Adoption Month ~ National Homeless Youth Awareness Month ~ National Inspirational Role Models Month ~ National Novel Writing Month ~ Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month ~ Transgender Awareness Month ~ Vegan Month

~~~Week of 17 November
National Children’s Book Week

~~~17 NOV Observances
321 days so far this year…47 days remain in 2009
Homemade Bread Day
^International Students' Day: Commemorates the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague.
^Czech Republic and Slovakia – Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day: Commemorates the beginning of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
^Greece: Polytechneio (Πολυτεχνείο) – Commemorates the 1973 student protests against the junta of the colonels.
^Zaire: Army Day

~~~Births on this day
~ The ARTS)
1901 Lee Strasberg director/instructs actors
1919 Hershy Kay Philadelphia PA, composer/arranger (Olympic Hymn)
1925 - Rock Hudson (Roy Harold Scherer Jr.) actor
1938 Gordon Lightfoot Ontario Canada, folksinger
1942 Martin Scorsese Queens, director
1944 Danny De Vito Neptune NJ, actor
1944 - Lorne Michaels Emmy Award-winning write

~ATHLETICS
1930 Bob Mathias Tulare CA, decathalete
1944 - Tom ‘Terrific’ (George Thomas) Seaver Baseball Hall of Famer
1945 - Elvin Hayes Basketball Hall of Famer: ‘The Big E’

~POLITICS/BUSINESS/EDUCATION
1878 Grace Abbott Grand Island NB, social worker (US Children Bureau)
1887 - Field Marshal Bernard (Law) ‘Monty’ Montgomery British Army commander
1948 – Howard Dean, American politician

~SCIENCE/RELIGION
1790 August Ferdinand Mobius mathematician, inventor (Mobius strip)
1799 Titian Ramsey Peale US, artist/naturalist (American Ornithology)

~~~In Remembrance–
1720 John RAckman (Calico Jack), English pirate, hanged @39
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1917 Auguste Rodin sculptor @ 77
1986 Alan Hewitt actor (Det Brennan-My Favorite Martian), @ 71
1988 Sheilah Graham gossip columnist @ 84
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2006 Bo Schembechler, American football coach @ 77

~~~Historical Events on this day

1558 Elizabeth I ascends English throne upon death of Queen Mary
1869 Suez Canal opens (Egypt)
1894 Daily Racing Form founded
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1913 Panama Canal opens
1962 President Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport
1973: In a televised appearance President Richard Nixon told the nation today, “I am not a crook.”
1993 US Congress votes for NAFTA
2000 : Kmart Holdings corporation announced its intention to purchase Sears

~ Holy Mackerel
1853 Street signs authorized at San Francisco intersections

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Quiz
Place these countries in order by population—largest to smallest

Pakistan
Palau
Palestinian State
Panama
Papua New Guinea
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ANSWERS

Pakistan 176,242,949 (growth rate: 1.9%)
Papua New Guinea 6,057,263 (growth rate: 2.0%)
Palestinian State Total:4,018,332 [West Bank: 2,535,927, Gaza Strip: 1,482,405     (growth rate: West Bank: 3.0%, Gaza Strip: 3.7%)]
Panama 3,360,474 (growth rate: 1.5%)
Palau 20,796 (growth rate: 0.4%)