In the parable of the Prodigal Son from St Luke’s Gospel (15:11-32), the younger, prodigal son wastes all of his inheritance on riotous living and ends up envying the swine their husks.
Luke Skywalker’s last name was “Starkiller” in an early draft of George Lucas’s Star Wars script.
The last man to be hanged in New South Wales was John Trevor Kelly, aged 24, for the murder of Miss Marjorie Constance Sommerlad 4 February 1939. Kelly was found guilty at Armidale Circuit Court and sentenced to death on 3 May 1939. The NSW Supreme Court dismissed his appeal on 26 May 1939. Kelly was hanged at Long Bay Gaol in Sydney on 24 August 1939.
The Iran Contra scandal unraveled after American Eugene Hasenfus’s plane was shot down in Nicaragua, loaded with arms associated with Area 51, destined for the Contras. Hasenfus was arrested by Nicaraguan authorities, and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was pardoned soon after.
30 years ago today, on 25 November 1984, Julio María Sanguinetti won the Uruguayan presidential election.
The Uruguay National Anthem holds the distinction of being the world’s longest in duration.
The full version has eleven verses each followed by the chorus, 105 bars of music and lasts about five minutes when played in full. Thankfully only one verse and a chorus are normally sung at official events.
Uruguay’s National Day is on 25 August. On 25 August 1825 Uruguay gained its independence from Brasil.
[An aside] Actually Uruguay won its independence from Spain a few years earlier, its revolutionary forces defeating the Spanish in battle in 1811. The situation was then confused until the capital was retaken from occupying Argentine troops in 1815.
Uruguay was then annexed by Brazil in 1816, Brazil was still a colony of Portugal at the time, until Brazil declared its independence from Portugal in 1822, with Uruguay only declaring its second independence, this time from Brazil, in 1825. Only in 1828 was its independence recognized by all parties to the wars by Treaty. Talk about a confused birth…
Back to the game, playing off Bullitt’s post…
In the War of the Triple Alliance, Paraguay fought against Brazil, Uruguay,and Argentina and was defeated. Part of the dispute was about the ownership of the Gran Chaco region, and afterwards the countries could not agree on who got the territory. They agreed to ask the American president, Rutherford B. Hayes, to arbitrate. Hayes (or rather, a state department official charged with the task) ruled in favor of Paraguay. In gratitude, Paraguay named one of its departments and a city after him: Presidente Hayes department, and Villa Hayes.
The city of Chuy is situated with the Uruguay-Brazil border running down the center line on the main street. There is unrestricted international movement across the street, and one passes through Uruguyan or Brazilian formalities when leaving the city outward . There are 10,000 people living in Chuy Uruguay, and 6,000 in Chui Brazil.
On a smaller scale, another place taking advantage of a border running through it is the Carlton Hotel, this time a local authority border between the towns of Prestwick and Ayr in Scotland.
The hotel got planning permission back in the 1950’s before the owners realized that the car park rather than the public bar would have the benefit of Prestwick’s then longer licensing hours (an hour’s more drinking at the weekend evenings). His enterprisingly solution was to ask the builders to ‘accidentally’ build the structure in a mirror image of the approved plans. By the time the ‘error’ was discovered the bar was in Prestwick and the car park in Ayr! The planners accepted the outcome as a fait accompli.
*Dextrocardia situs inversus *is a congenital defect and refers to the heart being a mirror image situated on the right side of a person’s body. If all of the person’s visceral organs are mirrored, the term is dextrocardia situs inversus totalis.
Star Trek’s Vulcans have their hearts on the right side of their bodies, between their ribs and pelvis.
Time Lords have two hearts.
There were two “hearts” in the band, Heart: sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. Ann was usually lead singer, and she played the flute and sometimes the guitar. She also wrote songs. Nancy played guitar, sang, and was a songwriter. Ann was born in San Diego, and Nancy in San Francisco.
Their father was a Major in the US Marine Corps.
Every member of the U.S. Marine Corps *except *those in the Marine Band (“The President’s Own”) is required to go through basic training and qualify as a rifleman.
Every member of the US Marine Corps except those in the “President’s Own” is required annually to qualify as a rifleman, regardless of their military job.
In the liturgy the Book of Job is read during Matins in the first two weeks of September and in the Office of the Dead.
One way to memorize the books of the bible in order, specifically the 39 books in the Old Testament, is to remember the number pattern 5 - 3 - 6 - 3 - 5 - 5 - 12:
The first 5 are the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
The next 3 are Joshua, Judges, Ruth.
The next 6 are the pairs of S - K - C: 1st & 2nd Samuel, 1st & 2nd Kings, and 1st & 2nd Chronicles.
The next 3 are the “eenie”: E - N - E; Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
The book of Job leads the next set of 5: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.
The next 5 are the five "major prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
The last 12 are the twelve "minor prophets, best memorized in triplets:
Hosea, Joel, Amos
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
Anyway, that’s one way to do it. I think I got them right.
The events described in the Book of Esther are commemorated each year on the Jewish holiday of Purim, which falls on the 14th day of Adar in the Hebrew calendar (in the Gregorian calendar in 2014, sunset 15 March to nightfall 16 March).