Markipedia 2010-004 (Beachipedia!!!!)

This is paradise: People sitting around on the beach reading and discussing fun facts. Below are some “beachypedia” fun facts

* How do they choose people’s faces for US currency? —   According to the Consitution, Congress has the power “to coin money”.  So the answer is congress gets to choose what is on coins and bills… Before the reserve system was founded (in the 1910s), coins had only pictures of greek/roman gods as well as generic Native Americans.  The first $1 bills were issued in 1862 and had a picture of Salmon P Chase, Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury. What a narcissist!

* curatorial —  that means you are a curator… it comes from the latin word ‘cura’ meaning ‘care’ … so when Richmond magazine says “we will take a more curatorial approach to listing events”… they really mean that they are going to list events that they think are interesting.

* baby powder  —  someone said that if you put baby power on your feet, then it is easier to get the sand off your feet. based on google research, I have certified this as true… but the more interesting fun fact is the various sites that came up when I googled this… thriftyfun.com …and wikihow.com … and the advice section of rd.com (readers digest)

* The Unit —  Andy thinks that I work for the Unit… I claim to not know about this TV show… apparently it is about the members of  an Army special forces unit who claim to be a part of the “303rd Logistical Studies Unit”

*Kitesurfing is the most dangerous sport — I spent way too long trying to find the statistics on “most dangerous sport” and I kept finding top ten lists and kitesurfing was never on them… cave diving was on ALL of them… so I am including a link to a list of the most dangerous cave diving sites in the world … the most dangerous cave diving site is a 2000-foot “Black Hole” in Andros, Bahamas

* Dismal Swamp Canal — It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805. When you are on the way to OBX you pass right by it.

* MarkOpedia — not to be confused with Markipedia, Markopedia is the spanish-english bilingual bible study that Aaron and I are starting. We will have “Factos Divertidos” about the Salmos y los Proverbios

* Faygo Redpop — It tastes sort of like Cheerwine… Many people in Michigan have heard of it.  Faygo corporation is headquartered in Detroit (the name is likely a derivative of the original company name, “Feigenson Brothers Bottling Works”)… Insane Clown Posse is a weird hip hop group from Detroit and they spray Faygo redpop on their audiences. Do they have a facebook page? yes, several

*  Huckester — what is a huckster? It is someone who sells cheap crap. (Wikipedia has an article on Huckster)

* negasaurus… Joseph thinks this should be a word for something that is super not-good. I think the affirmative version is “posi-dactyl”

* What makes a super WAL-MART so super?? — I was told it was that it has more than 135,000 square feet. Wikipedia says walmart supercenters can vary from 98,000 to 261,000 square feet. Also there are classifications I had not heard of, like the Neighborhood Market, as well as the “Supermercado de Wal-Mart”, which appeals to the spanish-speaking communities in the United States.

I can’t wait for the next beach trip, so we can collect more ideas for fun facts research!