FUN FACT….Pufferfish release a toxin when they puff out…..that is meant to impair the attacker…..so they can safely escape….ironically, this doesn’t work on dolphins in the same way….it actually gets them high….so they purposely inflate them….and pass them around to their dolphin friend…..for fun.
NUNIVAK ISLAND…..is a remote, windswept island located in the Bering Sea…..about 48 kilometers (30 miles) off the coast of Alaska…..and roughly 680 kilometers (423 miles) west of Anchorage…..it is the second-largest island in the Bering Sea and is known for its rugged tundra landscapes…..volcanic origins, and unique wildlife…..the island is part of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, providing a critical habitat for a variety of birds, marine mammals, and land animals…..one of Nunivak’s most distinctive features is its population of reintroduced muskoxen……which thrive in the island’s harsh climate…..these animals were reintroduced in the 1930s after being extirpated from Alaska….and the island now supports a healthy population….. Nunivak is also home to other wildlife, including caribou and seals, and is an important breeding ground for seabirds…..the island’s human population is small and primarily concentrated in the village of Mekoryuk…..which serves as the cultural and economic hub for the indigenous Cup’ik people…..the Cup’ik maintained a subsistence lifestyle, relying on fishing, hunting…..and gathering to sustain their way of life…..the island’s isolation and strong cultural heritage make it a unique blend of natural and human history…..offering a glimpse into the resilience of life in the Arctic.
IN JUNE 14th, 1854……Nat Love, who was born…..he was a Black Pullman Porter and Cowboy……born on his master’s plantation in Davidson County, Tennessee….Love was raised in a log cabin…..his master, Robert Love, an extensive planter and the owner of many slaves…..owned his father and mother……Love’s father was a foreman of the slaves on the plantation……and his mother worked the kitchen at the master’s big house…..waiting tables, milking the cows…..running the loom, and weaving clothing for the other slaves…..the other members of Love’s father’s family were a sister…..Sally, about eight years older…..and a brother, Jordan…….Sally looked after young Nat between her duties of helping his mother and chasing the flies from the Master’s table……Love received very little rearing from any of the family……at an early age, he looked after himself……his earliest recollections were of pushing a chair in front and toddling from one to the other of his Master’s family to get food like a pet dog…..as he became older, he raided the garden of the young onions, watermelons, turnips, sweet potatoes, and more……Love’s father died when he was about 15…..after which he gathered his belongings and headed to Dodge City, Kansas…..to work as a cowpuncher for $30 a month…..as a ranch hand, Love was excellent in everything…..after a few years, he left Kansas and headed north for a cowboy competition in Deadwood City, South Dakota……arriving near Deadwood on July 3, the cowboys delivered the herd and got ready for the Fourth of July celebration in 1876…..Deadwood was a new town that was booming because of the recent discovery of the Homestake mine…..the mining men and gamblers organized a roping contest and collected two hundred dollars for prize money…..six of the contestants were Black…..each cowboy was to quickly rope, throw, tie, bridle, and saddle a mustang…..Love roped, threw, tied, bridled, saddled, and mounted a Mustang exactly nine minutes from the crack of the gun…..the time of the next nearest competitor was twelve minutes and thirty seconds…..this record and the championship of the West were held up to the time he quit the business…..a shooting contest was arranged for the afternoon……a range was measured at 100 and 250 yards…..and the ranges for the Colts were set at 150 yards…..each contestant had fourteen shots with the rifle and twelve shots with his Colt……Love hit all his rifle shots in the bull’s eye and ten of his twelve pistol shots in the center….his nearest competitor hit only eight with the rifle and five with the forty-five…..the winner was Nat Love, the Black cowboy and former slave…..the crowd was so impressed they gave him the nickname that would have followed him for the rest of his life “Deadwood Dick.”……Love decided he needed to leave the cowboy life…..he married his wife Alice in 1889 and settled down…..initially in Denver……in 1890, he took a job as a Pullman porter, overseeing sleeping cars on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad…..while working for the railroad, he and his family resided in several western states before finally moving to southern California……Nat Love died in 1921.
DURING THE 19th CENTURY…..the charismatic Hungarian pianist…..Franz Liszt…..was know to induce states of “mystical ecstasy”……and “asphyxiating hysteria”…..in his fans…..many doctors believed he posed a significant public health threat.
IN 1714…..a Norwegian and English captain engaged in a 14-hour-long naval battle…..afterwards, the Norwegian captain was running low on ammunition….he sent and envoy to the English ship…..to ask if he could borrow some ammo….they said no.
A SELF-TAUGHT….mechanic with an 8th-grade education changed how the world eats…..in 1938…..Frederick Jones invented the first automatic truck refrigeration system….making fresh food delivery possible worldwide…..his Thermo King system helped the troops in World War II.
HUMANS…..can see frequencies from 430-790 THZ…..and perceive sound between 20 HZ-20 KHZ…..these ranges are just a tiny portion of the entire spectrum…..of light and sound….meaning much of what exists…..is entirely invisible to us.
A SINGLE…..man in China once booked every other seat in a cinema theatre…..to split up couples on Valentine’s Day.
VENICE….is built on millions of ancient tree trunks…..driven into a lagoon since 421 AD…..these wooden pillars…..mostly alder trees….turned hard as stone in the salty waters….St. Mark’s Campanile alone stands on 100,000 piles, while the majestic Basilica Della Salute required over a million trunks. The ancient builders beat these trees into the seabed, creating a veritable submerged forest…..this unique structure extends up to three meters deep, with piles spaced just half a meter apart. At 1.6 meters below the waterline, this extraordinary feat of medieval engineering continues, after 1,500 years, to support one of the most fascinating cities in the world.