Archaeologists often date old wood by counting annual rings and comparing patterns (due to climate variations) with known samples. Comparing dead specima of the long-lived bristlecone pine allows dating as early as 9000 BC, and has been used to calibrate C[Sup]14[/Sup] dates. Historical documents from Egypt have been used to validate tree-ring/radiocarbon dating.
The oldest known currently living tree is a Great Basin bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of California. It is 5,064 years old.
There have been seven warships named USS California which have served in the U.S. Navy. The current one is a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine commissioned in 2011.
The largest of the submarines are the Russian Typhoon class subs, large enough to accommodate decent living facilities for the crew when submerged for 4 months under normal conditions.
The Typhoons will be replaced by the Borei-class submarine.
The first Borei-class submarine was the Yuriy Dolgorukiy, named after the man who founded what is now the city of Moscow, in 1147. His name means “Yuri the long-armed”.
The Borei class of Russian submarines are named after Boreas, the North Wind. To date there are three Borei class subs in active service. The latest one entered active service last week. By dates entered active service, they are:
2013-01-10: K-535 Yury Dolgorukiy
2013-12-21: K-550 Aleksandr Nevskiy
2014-12-19: K-551 Vladimir Monomakh
*Alexander Nevsky *is a cantata for mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, reworked from his score for the 1938 Sergei Eisenstein film of the same name. It is sung in Russian and Latin.
Its first performance was on 17 May 1939 in Moscow.
In A Christmas Story (1983), when the character of Scut Farkas first appears, the “Wolf” music from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” plays in the background. The name “Farkas” is derived from the Hungarian word for “wolf”.
On Christmas Day, 800 A.D. in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans. (It is alleged that Charlemagne neither expected nor wanted this honor.) The auspiciousness of such a date helped speed the spread of Dionysian (Anno Domino) year numbering. In Hungarian legend, their King (and patron Saint) Istvan I was coronated with the very same crown exactly 200 years later.
St Peter’s Basilica is one of the four major basilicas; the other three are St John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St Paul Outside the Walls. As a major basilica the use of its high altar is restricted to the Pope or his delegate.
St Peter’s Basilica is not a cathedral. The basilica of St John Lateran is the cathedral for the diocese of Rome.
The name Peter is “Petrus” in Latin and “Petros” in Greek, deriving from “petra” which means “stone” or “rock” in Greek.
According to Jewish sources, the Foundation Stone was the first part of the Earth created:
[QUOTE=Kabbalah]
The world was not created until God took a stone called Even haShetiya and threw it into the depths where it was fixed from above till below, and from it the world expanded. It is the centre point of the world and on this spot stood the Holy of Holies.
[/QUOTE]
The Stone now lies beneath the Dome of the Rock (قبة الصخرة). Among historic events supposedly to occur at the Foundation Stone is the attempted filicide of Isaac by Abraham, though Robert A. Zimmerman places that event instead somewhere on Highway 61.
According to some Islamic scholars, the rock (the Foundation Stone) is the spot from which the Islamic prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad was taken here by Gabriel to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
The monotheism of Moses is sometimes linked with that of Akhenaten. The tomb of Akhenaten’s son Tutankhamun contained an Ark resembling the one supposedly built by Moses. The first person to actually enter the tomb was Lady Evelyn Herbert, daughter of Howard Carter’s patron and grandchild of Alfred de Rothschild. Since papyrus scrolls were rportedly discovered but never included in any official inventory, a conspiracy theory has developed that Rothschild suppressed a contemporary account of the Exodus.
A conspiracy theory has developed that cold breakfast cereals (like corn flakes and special-K) are good for for you. But one ounce of breakfast cereal contains more salt than one ounce of potato chips, and more sugar than one ounce of Coca Cola.
The Coca Cola Company (KO) had the 2nd largest market capitalization of any publicly traded company in 1996-1997. Recently (setting aside PetroChina) Apple, Inc. (AAPL) has set a record among American companies with market cap approaching $700 billion. However, after adjusting for inflation, Apple is nowhere near the all-time top: at its height The Dutch East India Company was worth over $7 trillion in 2014 dollars.
Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company was a villain of the second and third *Pirates of the Caribbean *movies.
Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was stabbed in the chest by a pimp shortly after moving to Paris in the 1930s, but dropped the charges when he and the pimp, whose street name was Prudent, became friends.
Slight correction:
Irish playwright Samuel Beckett was stabbed in the chest by a pimp shortly after moving to Paris in the 1930s, but attempted to drop the charges when he and the pimp, whose street name was Prudent, became friends.
Tom Paris was serving time in a Federation penal colony in New Zealand when Capt. Kathryn Janeway selected him for service as helmsman aboard the USS Voyager.