The ark that God commanded Noah to build was dimensioned in cubits, a unit of length equal to the distance from the tip of the middle finger of an outstretched hand to the elbow.
An early Bill Cosby standup comedy routine has Noah being ordered by God to build an ark, and saying dubiously, “Riiiiight… what’s an ark?”
Some comedy routines, including Bill Cosby’s, comment on the command that the ark was to be built of “gopher” or “gofer” wood; this obscure word appears in the Bible only in this one instance and there is no scholarly consensus as to its meaning, except that it has no connection with the animal gopher.
Mount Ararat is a dormant compound volcano in the extreme east of Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat, the highest peak in Turkey with an elevation of 16,854 ft; and Little Ararat, with an elevation of 12,782 ft.
Despite the scholarly consensus that the “mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4) do not specifically refer to Mt. Ararat, it has been widely accepted in Christianity as the landing place of Noah’s Ark.
The Ark is the 30-kilometer-long “seedship” (biological warfare starship) at the center of George R.R. Martin’s critically-acclaimed 1986 science fiction novel Tuf Voyaging. When the group of academics and adventurers who hired him to find the long-derelict warship violently fall out with each other, itinerant space trader Haviland Tuf is the last man standing and becomes the ship’s master, much to his own surprise. He decides to embark on a new career as an ecological engineer, visiting different planets and helping them - not always in ways they wish to be helped.
The WWII light bomber de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was one of few operational front-line aircraft of the era constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed The Wooden Wonder.
deHavilland Canada is still a significant player in commercial aircraft. It was formed in 1928 by the British parent company, to build training aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The operation passed through a name change, and now, known as Bombardiar, builds prop-driven craft for airlines that operate on short runways. I flew in one in Ethiopia and the Philippines.
The 5BX (Five Basic Exercises) Plan is an exercise program developed for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) by Bill Orban in the late 1950s, first published in 1961. The plan was developed for men; a corresponding program was developed for women under the name XBX (Ten Basic Exercises).
Throughout the charts and levels, the five exercises are the same, but more difficult variations are introduced:
Stretching
Sit-up
Back extension
Push-up
Running in place
A walk or run may be substituted for the final exercise; the distances to be covered and the time to be taken are also specified in the plan.
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The USMC PFT is the US Marine Corps’ annual Physical Fitness Test. When I served, from 1980-1993, the test consisted of a 3-mile run, pull-ups, and sit-ups for male Marines. Since then, modifications to the PFT are the choice of either pull-ups or push-ups, stomach crunches to replace sit-ups, and the addition of rowing.
The first organized Corp of marines was created in Venice by the Doge Enrico Dandolo when he created the first regiment of ten companies spread on several ships. That Corp participated to the conquest of Byzantium in AD1203-1204 as part of the Fourth Crusade.
Pope Urban II, who was Pope from 1088 to his death in 1099, was a native of France and a descendant of a noble family. He is best known for initiating the First Crusade (1096–99). He promised forgiveness and pardon for all of the sins of those who would fight to reclaim the holy land. One account of his rallying speech for the Crusade attributes this quote to him: ‘All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested.’
Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are the only two football coaches to have won NCAA national championships at two schools - Meyer at Florida and Ohio State, Saban at LSU and Alabama.
The Governor of Ohio is one of a relative handful of American state governors with a distinctive personal flag or standard: Flags of governors of the U.S. states - Wikipedia
The responsibilities of the Lieutenant Governor of California include acting as governor in the absence of the governor, and serving as the President of the California State Senate. S/he also either sits on or appoints representatives to regulatory commissions and executive agencies. The Lieutenant Governor of California sits on the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University Board of Trustees, the California Ocean Protection Council, the California Emergency Council, and the California State Lands Commission. The Lieutenant Governor of California chairs the commission for economic development and serves on the California Agricutlture-Water Transition Task Force.
The current Lieutenant Governor of California is Gavin Newsome.
Lieutenant general is a three-star military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general. In modern armies, lieutenant general normally ranks immediately below general and above major general; in the current US Army, they command an army corps, made up of typically three army divisions, and consisting of around 60,000–70,000 soldiers.
A 1-star general in many countries is a Brigadier General.
★ — Brigadier General
★★ — Major General
★★★ — Lieutenant General
★★★★ — General
The progression of B, M, L, and General is often remembered with, “Be My Little General.”
By a 1976 Act of Congress, signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford, George Washington was posthumously named the senior-most U.S. Army general in perpetuity. The highest specific rank he held in his lifetime was lieutenant general.
The only other “General of the Armies of the United States" besides George Washington is John J. Pershing.
General Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, was allowed to prescribe his own rank insignia. He never wore more than four stars, but they were gold and not the usual silver.
In the US there is one Pershing County, in Nevada, and two towns named Pershing, in Indiana and Wisconsin.