A taste of things to come

After reading Gunny's post citing several historic and alternative political divisions of North America, I was reminded of one of my favorite childhood tomes, The People's Almanac, which includes at least two proposed revisions of US state boundaries (I believe one reduced the States to a mere 16, while the other was a bit more complex and only cut the number down to around 30). This small memory awakened a flood of trivial facts contained in the 1,400 page almanac that I now realize dominate my pre-wikipedia store of trivial knowledge. Inspired, I now hope to replace my escape-from-law-school practice of overdosing on A.L.F.* reruns with a return to this volume, my most celebrated bathroom reading. In the weeks to come, I hope to sift through the myriad articles for salient and entertaining facts and anecdotes, with the purpose of sharing these nuggets with you, our devoted fan base of fellow superpandimensional bloggers.

Perhaps the introduction from the People's Almanac can best convey the author's intent:

"We feel that adults, inundated and manipulated by special-interest propaganda and government doubletalk in the guise of facts, are desperately searching for the truth and honesty in the information given them. We feel that young people are eager to learn about things that are relevant to their lives. We feel that most people suspect that there is more to a fact than meets the eye, and when possible we want to turn each fact around and show the world its backside. ... This is a reference book to be read for pleasure. This is an informative book that is meant to provide entertainment. This is a book in which to look up facts and also have fun. ... We have thought it more important to know ten times more about ten artists or athletes than to know next to nothing about 100 of them. ... We have deliberately chosen depth over breadth. We have purposely omitted retail figures on business, population of states, corn yields, list of fraternities, common-stock dividends, hydroelectric plants, and similar data, in order to make room for a guide to existing Shangri-las where people live to the age of 100 or more, a revealing rundown of some last wills of celebrated personages, survival kits for those who live in the city or visit the wilderness, a gallery of fascinating footnote people who have been overlooked by history books."

Retrieved from "http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiSignifica"

That said, I will likely introduce the Almanac more formerly in a future post, but with an eye towards not letting this entry get too dry, here are some neat things...

- M.A.F.I.A.: Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela ("Death to the French Is Italy's Cry").

- The last will of T. M. ZINK, Iowa lawyer, died 1930
He left some $50,000 in trust for 75 yeas, at the end of which time he hoped the fund would have swelled to $3 million, enough to found the Zink Womanless Library. The words No Women Admitted were to mark each entrance. No books, works of art, or decorations by women were to be permitted in or about the premises. "My intense hatred of women," he explained in the will, "is not of recent origin or development nor based upon any personal differences I ever had with them but is the result of my experiences with women, observations of them, and study of all literatures and philosophical works." His family successfully challenged the will.

-And finally, perhaps you have noticed the city of Truth or Consequences, NM while traveling through or perusing a map of the Southwest?

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While I had always imagined that this city was named after some vigilante justice movment in the 1890s, or perhaps as some sort of homage to the Trinity test performed at the nearby White Sands Missle Range in the late 1940s, the true story is in fact a much heartier slice of Americana.

"Ralph Edwards's radio and TV program offered to hold its 10th anniversary show in any city that would change its name to Truth or Consequences. The people of Hot Springs, N.M., picked up on the offer. On Mar. 31, 1950, they voted 4 to 1 for the new name. Each year on Apr. 1, Truth or Consequences, N.M., holds a fiesta with Ralph Edwards and Bob Barker as guest stars [as of ~1975]."





*with reverence to my Melmacian friend, it is only because I have nearly exhausted your extensive body of work.