mrsl wrote:
California is the land of fruits and nuts,
And some Californians are both!
mrsl wrote:
Chicago is full of gangsters who would as easily shoot you as shake your hand
actually, only half of them belong to gangs, the other half are lawyers
mrsl wrote:
Montana is the only state in the union that has a huge blue sky
True, but the
bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle (remember?)
mrsl wrote:
Texas is the best state because it's the biggest
Alaskans like to quip that if Texans don't quit whining, they'll cut Alaska in half and make them the
third
mrsl wrote:
Wisconsin makes the best cheese
Correction: Wisconsin makes the
most cheese- Vermont makes the
BEST
mrsl wrote:
And finally, now we all know that you can see Russia from certain parts of Alaska !!!
I've actually looked at "Russia" from Alaska, and I can tell you this: unless you're standing on the eastern shore of Little Diomede Island, the only "Russia" you're going to see from Alaska is a teeny-tiny pinhead-sized dot on the far corner of the horizon on a
very dry & clear Summer afternoon . . . and
that might involve trekking up above the treeline, or standing on your roof.
mrsl wrote:
I once commented on the American Indian being the only true Americans, but was corrected and rightly so, because during the Ice Age, all peoples traveled over the ice down from Europe and up from Mexico, thus even the American Indian is a foreigner, but because he was here for centuries before the white man, we do consider him the real American.
Cultural politics aside, the only "concrete" origin evidence that the whole
Land Bridge theory gives us for certain is that there was human traffic between Siberia & Alaska between the last two Ice Ages . . but
which way the bulk of that traffic was headed has become a hot point of conjecture in the past decade, especially as the whole groundwork of
Carbon 14 dating is now being re-examined & re-evaluated as a chrono-biological calendar.
Who knows, maybe our Native Aboriginals really always
were indigenous to North America, and actually marched eastward to populate Asia!
mrsl wrote:
The one thing I contest is the statement that America was settled by "outcasts from other countries". Sorry my friend, you have America mixed up with Australia. It's down under that was settled by prisoners from England and France. I may be wrong, and correct me if I am, but I'm pretty sure the Mayflower was filled with volunteers for the trip.
Technically speaking, Mrs. L, you've been right both times, because being volunteers & being outcasts are not always mutually exclusive, and certainly were both often the case with British emigres to the Americas . . especially with Puritans & Quakers, who were often social outcasts in England, eager to get beyond the domination, and sometimes severe oppression, of the early Anglican church . . but before you feel bad for those persecuted Puritans, bear in mind that soon afterward
they would become the persecutors, slaying & punishing hounded Catholics throughout England, Scotland & Ireland, under the unmerciful lash of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell!
Lends a whole new spin to those cozy old Thanksgiving images, don't it?
