The Rastafari movement is a monotheistic new religious movement that was started from Christian culture in Jamaica back in the 1930s.  Its adherents worship Haile Selassi I of Ethiopia, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as a God incarnate.   

I know I’ve personally always worshiped this particular emperor of Ethiopia, so it’s cool to know I’m not alone.

“Arctic” comes from the Greek arktos (“bear”), due to the northern status of the the Big Dipper constellation (aka the Big Bear).

I wish science was still based on animism and astrology!  I could be such a good scientist.

I’ve been without a computer for a while.   Time to play catch up.

A demonym is the name of a person from a certain place. That sounded vague…

American is the demonym for a person from the United States of America.

This week’s posts will all be about demonyms.  It is going to be a horrible week.

I’ve been swimming at Walden Pond a lot recently.  It’s a pretty good sized body of water.  So I was wondering why it was still considered a “pond” instead of a “lake.”  Currently, there is no official definition that separates a pond and a lake.  Typically it just comes down to size, but as with Walden Pond, it really doesn’t matter (just like this information).

I like lakes more though.

Along with the Kodiak bear, the polar bear is the largest land predator.  As we’ve seen in documentaries and at Hollywood award shows, polar bears are not handling global warming so well.  Polar bears typically have up to 4 inches of blubber for insulation, so they start to overheat when temperatures rise above 50F (10C).  Their insulation is so intense that they are basically invisible under infrared photography.

This fact has taught me two things.

1. Global warming isn’t killing polar bears.  Polar bear obesity is killing polar bears.  If they lost some weight they wouldn’t be so hot all the time.

2. Polar bears join my growing list of animals that would make perfect criminals.

Finals week is almost over.  So I can stop learning about the same thing over and over again.  And quit writing miserable posts… But….

In the New Testament and Old Testament (I hesitate to say “Old Testament” because it’s only “old” for people who believe there’s a “new”), the word “Hell” has been translated from many words.  In Hebrew, sheol was translated to Hell (however, the same word was also translated to ‘grave’ and ‘pit’).  In Greek, the word Hades appears in translations of the Hebrew Bible.  The KJV used Hades as Hell, but modern translations have either kept “Hades” or substituted “place of the dead.”  In the New Testament, Tartarus was also translated to Hell.  The Hebrew word abaddon (destruction) was occasionally translated to Hell, also. To me, the most interesting is Gehenna, which has also been translated to mean “Hell.”  Gehenna comes from the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, which literally means “the Valley of Hinnom.”  The Qu’ran also describes Gehenna as a place of torment equivalent to Hell.  However, Gehenna was a real geographical location in Jerusalem, or more specifically, in the Valley of Hinnom.  It was a place where apostate Israelites supposedly sacrificed children in fires.  This fiery quality helped instill the image of a fiery Hell.  Thus, the location became connected with a damned place of destruction.

Hopefully, this post will boost tourism in the Valley of Hinnom.  Just don’t bring your children.  Because they will be set on fire.  And sacrificed.

San Marino (not to be confused with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino) is a tiny European country, completely surrounded by Italy.  San Marino claims to be the oldest recorded sovereign state and constitutional republic.  The country’s roots trace back to AD 301, with the founding of a monastic community.  In 1600, San Marino’s constitution was enacted, making it the world’s oldest constitution still in effect.  Like a lot of old things, San Marino pretty much goes without notice.

Generally, in the United States, a hill becomes a mountain once it reaches 2000 feet (~610 meters).  Ultimately, though, it depends on who you ask.  If you ask me, I will tell you 2000 feet is the cut-off between a hill and a mountain…. as I have already told you.

Sister cities…why?  The U.S. sister city program was originally proposed as a way to connect people internationally by President Eisenhower in 1956.  Eventually this led to the creation of Sister Cities International in 1967, whose goal is to “promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation…”  I am pretty sure that exact mission statment can be (and has been) used for every politically correct initiative ever.  Seriously, try to be a little more generic…  Anyway, critics of the program complain that the sister city program is simply a waste of money and nothing more than an excuse for a politician to get a free vacation to some foreign city.  I’m sure that’s what the mayor of Miami, Florida is doing…let’s see…yeah…he’s definitely mooching off a free trip to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti…

Antarctica is considered politically neutral, which really hurts my chances of claiming Antarctica as my own country.  In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was established, which designated Antarctica as a politically neutral place of scientific research.  Also, all military activity was banned.  No one could build a secret military ice station.  Well, I guess they could if it was secret…  Currently, there are 46 treaty recognizing nations.  Now that I know Antarctica is the world’s scientific playground, I can’t wait to go down there and study all the…ice?

Challenger Deep is the deepest recorded point in the Earth’s oceans at around 36,000 feet (or 11,000 meters) below sea level.  If you want to go visit it, you can find it at the southern end of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.  If you do happen to go down there and visit it, let me know how it went.  And how it felt when you imploded.

Chicama, a small port town in northwestern Peru, is home to the world’s longest wave.  A surfer can ride the same wave for several minutes and travel over a mile.  The only downside is that once the wave breaks,you have to walk fifteen minutes down the beach to get back.  According to some surf websites, Chicama was discovered by surfers in 1965.  Apparently, it didn’t exist before this.  The Peruvian fishermen who lived there for centuries were liars. 

Did you know that the percentage of people who felt religion was an important part of daily life in Mississippi (85%) is higher than the people of Iran (83%)? Based on information gathered in 2007, 2008, and 2009 Gallup polls, a list was compiled of the most and least religious countries.  The poll asked the question, “Is religion an important part of your daily life?”  A handful of the top 10 countries where religion was the least prevalent included Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Japan, and France.  The most religious countries included Egypt, Bangladesh, Congo, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Senegal, Djibouti, and the United Arab Emirates.  Hmm… I will just leave it at that.

I always hear about First World Countries and Third World Countries, but I never really hear about the Second World Countries.  I wanted to find out more about the Silver-medal countries.  The placement of countries into different “worlds” started after World War II when the world split into two large geopolitical blocs.  The first bloc refers to the First World, which includes developed, capitalist, industrial countries that aligned with the United States after the second World War.  They all generally share common political and economic interests.  The second main bloc is made up of the Second World Countries, formerly known as the Eastern Bloc, referring to the communist-socialist, industrial states that at the time aligned with the USSR.  It now includes Russia, Eastern Europe, as well as China according to OWNO (One World-Nations Online).  The Third World was composed of the countries that didn’t fit into the first main blocs and is now used to vaguely describe developing countries, including both capitalist and communist countries, and the rich (Saudi Arabia) as well as the poor (Mali).  Interestingly, where your country ranks in terms of First, Second, or Third World Countries is inversely related to how well your country finished in Olympic marathon race.

The prevalence of lactose intolerance is extremely interesting…not extremely…but notable, anyhow.  Lactose intolerance is way more common in people of African descent that in people of European descent.  As babies, we all have the enzyme lactase that breaks down the lactose in breast milk.  But once we reach the age when our moms’ boobs don’t look so appetizing, our bodies gradually stop producing lactase.  Northern European culture incorporates more dairy farming, thus the ability for the population to sustain lactase production is greater.  So, remember—if you happen to stumble upon some back-alley, gambling contest between a white guy and a black guy of who can drink the most breast milk before getting sick—bet on the white guy.  Actually just run away.  That’s not a game you want to be part of.