Guinness World Records "The Unbreakables"

Longest pole sit:
   St. Simeon the Stylite (C. AD 386-459) spent 39 years on a pillar on the Hill of Wonders, near Aleppo, Syria. (Unbroken for 1,550 years-the longest held record in GWR archives)
Largest pandemic:
   From 1347 to 1351, the pneumonic form of plague, aka the Black Death, killed around 75 million people. (Unbroken for 658 years)
Worst dance mania:
   In July 1374, an outbreak of tarantism (dancing mania) in Aachen, Germany, saw thousands quite literally dancing uncontrollably in the streets. (Unbroken for 635 years)
Most prolific female murderer:
   From c. 1585 to 1610, Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Hungary) allegedly killed 600 virgins. She was later locked in her castle, where she died in 1614. (Unbroken for 399 years)
Youngest doctorate:
   On April 13, 1814, Carl Witte of Austria was made a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by the University of Giessen, Germany, aged just 12. (Unbroken for 195 years)
Lightest person:
   Lucia Xarate, (or Zarate, aka "The Mexican Lilliputian," Mexico, 1863-89), an emaciated ateleiotic dwarf, weighed just 4.7 lbs (2.13 kg) at the age of 17. (Unbroken for 120 years)
Loudest noise:
   Have you heard that the eruption of the island-volcano Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, on August 27, 1883, was audible 3,100 miles (5,000 km) away? (Unbroken for 126 years)
Largest diamond:
   No diamond has ever been found larger than the 3,106-carat Cullinan unearthed on January 26, 1905, at the Premier Diamond Mine in South Africa. (Unbroken for 104 years)
Largest audience to attend a circus:
   Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause, please, for the largest circus crowd. A total of 52,385 people attended the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on September 14,1975. (Unbroken for 34 years)

  

In The Beginning lll

   276. Almost every ancient culture has some sort of flood or deluge myth that shares much in common with the Biblical flood. In most of them the gods send a catastrophic flood to destroy the world, but one good man is told of the coming disaster  and his family is saved to continue human existence. The one most like Noah's story comes from the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic. In this story, the hero, Utnapishtim, also survives the flood by building a boat, which comes to rest on Mount Nisir, which is in the same region as Noah's "mountains of Ararat."

   277. Noah made his ark of "gopher wood" (Gen. 6:14), which probably meant the cypress tree. This wood is extremely durable. The doors of Saint Peter's in Rome are made from it and after twelve hundred years they still show no signs of decay.

   278. The Bible does not list all of the animals that took refuge on the ark. However, those animals that survived the flood must have been the ones that were best known to the Hebrews and also those mentioned most often in the Bible through symbolism or otherwise.

   279. The first bird Noah released was a raven, a powerful flier able to slice through the air or soar with the ease of a hawk on wings that span up to four feet. Its habitat wilderness, and so it was just the bird to scout out any crags that might have emerged from the flooded earth. The raven is noted for its remarkable memory, so this scout would not forget the location of the ark.

   280. When the raven failed to give Noah any sign of land, Noah sent out a dove ("doves" and "pigeons," by the way, refer to the same birds.) The rock dove was one of the earliest of all animals to be domesticated. There are Egyptian records, dating back five thousand years, of people rearing them in captivity for food and probably also as carrier pigeons.

   281. Very fast fliers, the strong wings of doves make them capable of powerful flight in a straight line, despite storms and high winds. Almost at least five thousand years of using doves and pigeons to carry messages, we are still not certain how a pigeon "homes"-finds its way back to its roost-as the Biblical dove found its way back to the ark.

   282. The second time Noah sent out the dove, it returned before evening with an olive leaf. This was evidence that the waters had subsided enough to expose the valleys where olive trees grow. The olive was the most important tree cultivated in the Holy Land. It is native only to the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

   283. The story of Noah and the ark yields some interesting analysis as a type of Christ. The ark itself is a type of Christ! God gave Noah every detail of how it was to be built, from its dimensions to its purpose in protecting Noah and his family from the judgment that awaited the rest of the world. Likewise, God planned every minute detail of how Jesus would redeem God's people; not a single detail was left to man. As the big boat brought earthly salvation for Noah, so Christ brings eternal salvation for all who believe in Him. As the ark had but one door, so Christ is the door to God-He is the only way we can gain forgiveness for our sins and come to the Father.

   284. The families of Noah's sons "had one language and a common speech" (Gen. 11:1). Babel was the original name for Babylon, which in Hebrew means "gate of God." Situated on the southern part of the flood plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Babylon was the site where builders attempted to erect a tower "that reaches to the heavens" (Gen. 11:4). The builders never completed the tower because their language became confused and they could no longer understand one another.

   285. With the destruction of the tower of Babel, the Bible's story of the early history of humankind ends. Abraham, the great patriarch of the Hebrews, is a descendant of Noah's son Shem. Abraham was the man to whom God promised, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great" (Gen. 12:2

In The Beginning ll

   266. "Apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs appears to describe the apricot in this way (25:11). Not only is this a lovely poetic description of an apricot tree, it is also remarkably accurate. Its fruit is golden and the pale undersides of the leaves look silver when they turn  in the breeze.

   267. Adam and Eve. The story of creation is one of continuing wonder to believers and nonbelievers alike. Humankind had to come from somewhere, and the story in Genesis 1 and 2 reveals how a creative, organized God spoke the world into existence.

   268. The fall of man. Though Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world, they chose to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. Scripture is clear that such a choice led to our current situation-humankind is sinful and separated from God yet still desires peace with him.

   269. The fig tree is the second tree named in the Bible. After eating the forbidden apricot, Adam and Eve "sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves" (Gen. 3:7). The large, tough leaves of the fig tree would certainly have made adequate clothing. Fig leaves are still sewn together in the Near East to make baskets, dishes, and even umbrellas.

   270. Adam and Eve were banished from Eden into what the Bible describes as a land of thorn and thistles. Thorns and spines grow on many different kinds of plants, but they are especially common on plants of the desert and semiarid regions of the world. Many kinds of thistles grow abundantly in the Bible lands.

   271. Adam and Eve's firstborn son, Cain, is remembered as the first murderer for killing his brother, Abel. When God sentenced Cain to wander the earth, Cain begged for mercy and, in fear, thought that someone would kill him. So God marked him. Widely viewed as a sign of guilt, the so-called "mark of Cain" is actually a symbol of divine mercy. Opponents of the death penalty point to this first murder and God's merciful sentence on the murderer as a Biblical rejection of capital punishment. For his crime Cain received a life sentence of hard labor.

   272. Who were the Nephilim? Squeezed between the generation after Adam and the time of Noah is a curious story (Gen. 6:1-4) about the mysterious "Nephilim," briefly described as the offspring of the "sons of God." Echoing tales of Greek gods who mated with mortal women, the Biblical passage calls the offspring of the angelic-human marriages "heroes of old, men of renown." They are only mentioned once more in Hebrew Scriptures, where Nephilim literally translates as "fallen ones." Many believe they were giants possessing superhuman powers.

   273. Some early theologians thought the Nephilim were fallen angels who were responsible for sin in the world. Whoever these "sons of God" and their children were, God was not happy with the situation . He limited human life spans to 120 years. People became so wicked that God was sorry he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him. "So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.' But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. 6:5-8).

   274. Noah and the ark. Genesis chapters 6-9 tell the story of people becoming thoroughly evil and God's judgment against them by sending forty days and nights of continual rainfall. At the same time, He worked through one faithful man, Noah, to build an ark and preserve remnant so that humankind could continue. The story of judgment and mercy resonates through the ages.

   275. Famous Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was surprised to discover fossilized remains of sea creatures while walking in the Alps, and he asked how they got there. The conventional wisdom of his day simply said it was proof that a flood once covered the earth.

In The Beginning I

   257. God began it all. "In the beginning God..." is how the first verse of the first chapter of the first book of the Bible begins. The beginning of the history of the world is chronicled with those words!

   258. Elohim, which originates from the Hebrews word el, is translated as "God." The Hebrew word el actually is used for reference to all general gods. Another title of God, el elyon, is also a derivation of this and means "the most high God" (Gen. 14:18).

   259. Yahweh is the only name for God that is personal in nature. A Hebrew word, it is commonly translated into English versions as "Jehovah." or "the Lord" (Exod. 6:3).

   260. When creation began. Relying on Biblical sources such as the chronologies and genealogies in Genesis, numerous people have attempted to pinpoint a time and date for the precise moment of creation. Ancient Hebrew scholars placed the moment as 3761 B.C. Perhaps the most famous creation date was the one produced by Irish bishop James Ussher (1581-1656). Using Genesis, Ussher dated the moment of creation to the early morning of the twenty-third of October in 4004 B.C. (Ussher actually used the Julian calendar year of 710). Ussher's calculation was widely accepted by European Christians for centuries and was included in the margins of many editions of the King James Bible, giving it nearly divine "authority."

   261. Eden, which means "a place of delight," is believed by some scholars to have been located at the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent, near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet the Persian Gulf.

   262. The name "Adam" is a pun on the similar Hebrew words for "soil" and for "man." The word Adam is derived from the Hebrew word for "man" in the collective sense, as in humanity or humankind. It is also related to the Hebrew word adamah, which means "ground" or "earth." The author of Genesis used a word-play. Adam, man, came from adamah, the ground.

   263. Not an apple. Though legend has it that the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge that Eve was tempted by the serpent to taste was an apple, nowhere does the Bible identify it as one. In fact most scholars agree that the one fruit it definitely could not have been was the apple. Apples were not likely to have grown in the Bible ands in Old Testament times. However, apples were cultivated by the Egyptians, and the Romans at the time of Christ had more than twenty varieties.

   264. The legend that the apple was the fruit on the tree of knowledge arose in the Middle Ages when artists painted pictures of Eve tasting the apple. Another source of confusion was the medieval custom of calling many different kinds of fruit "apples." Lemons were known as "Persian apples," dates as "finger apples," and pomegranates as "apples of Carthage."

   265. Apples or apricots? The fruit meant by the Hebrew word commonly translated as "apple" was probably the apricot, which flourishes all over the Bible lands. A clue comes from Solomon, who used the same word to describe a tree: "I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste" (Songs of Sol. 2:3). Solomon seems to be describing the apricot, for even today nomads pitch their tents under its branches for shade, and it is the fruit with the sweetest taste in the Holy Land.


  

Ben Franklin's Legacy, Books for a Bell

   Benjamin Franklin was one of the most astute Americans of his time, and as such, he wasn't about to allow himself to be played like a violin. He was never known to yield to manipulation. At least that became the opinion of folks in Wrentham, Massachusetts, after he turned them down on their appeal for help in obtaining a church bell.
   The trouble began at the end of the War for Independence when a dispute arose that divided the citizens of Wrentham. The discord grew so intense that the dissidents departed, started their own town, and named it New Wrentham.
   The first building the citizens set out to erect was their own church. This was not surprising since New England tradition put that institution at the cultural, social, religious, and governmental center of every town. The founding fathers of the new community went right to work, but there was a problem. When they finished building the church, someone noted that there was no bell in the steeple. This meant that there was no way to summon the local citizens for services, or for emergencies such as fire. Therefore, the town leaders put their heads together and came up with a plan.
   Knowing of Franklin's interest in community buildings, the folks of New Wrentham figured they could count on him for their bell. All they needed was to gain the old patriot's attention. To accomplish this, they put a proverbial carrot at the end of the stick and announced that they had changed the name of their town to Franklin, in hopes that he would help them
   Next they wrote him a letter, informing him of their action and asking him to donate a bell for their church. Dr. Franklin, however, was not too impressed. He wrote back, suggesting that "sense is better than sound," and offered a better way for him to assist the fledgling community.
   Instead of a bell, Franklin sent the good citizens a crate of books, intimating that they should forget about the house of worship for awhile and start a library. For Franklin, books were much more important than the sound of a church bell.
   The people followed Franklin's advice and as a result, today, over 200 years later, they have the oldest public library in the United States-a continuing monument to Benjamin Franklin's refusal to allow any group of people to use him for their own purposes, not even when they were willing to change the name of their town.

A Patriotic Defense of British Redcoats: BOSTON MASSACRE

   The snowball fight of March 5, 1770, is a well known story. British soldiers guarding the Boston custom house fired into an unruly mob of dock workers, killing five of them. When Samuel Adams published an account of the shootings, the episode became known as the Boston Massacre. Little did the Patriot leader know the strange chain of events that would follow his expose.
   After Sam Adam's publication, the colonists were furious and demanded justice. So vociferous were they, that the British authorities decided to make scapegoats of the Redcoats.
   The first to be on trial was Captain Preston. He was found innocent. That left the eight soldiers, who now realized more than ever that they needed a good lawyer. Had their captain been found guilty, that would have rendered them guiltless; they had just been following orders. But with Preston having found innocent, the soldiers were now on their own-hung out to dry. At that point, the best lawyer in Boston stepped in to take their case and save their lives.
   When the trial opened, the defense attorney, who was himself a colonial, was held in almost as much ridicule as the soldiers. Cold stares surveyed him in court, and he met with outright hostility on the street. Nevertheless, he persevered.
   The defense counsel maintained that the mob into which the defendants had shot, was in reality an unlawful assembly. So brilliantly did he argue the case that, after two and a half, the jury came back with a not guilty verdict for six of the soldiers and manslaughter verdicts for the other two.
   None of the defendants in the Boston Massacre went to jail. even the two guilty ones, claiming a common law custom, escaped prison by being branded.
   Thus it was that eight British redcoats owed their lives and their freedom to a colonial lawyer who laid aside his own political feelings to do his duty. For you see, that Boston attorney who successfully defended the soldiers of the Boston Massacre was none other than John Adams, our second president, one of the most ardent anti-British patriots Massachusetts ever produced.

The Old Testament Books lV

   247. Amos prophesied at about the same time as Hosea and Joel. Amos was a sheepherder from a Judean village who left his flocks to denounce the sins of his people during the time of the northern King Jeroboam II (786-744 B.C.), a prosperous time in Israel. Though a herdsman, Amos used some of the purest and most classical Hebrew in the entire Old Testament. In a style of informal satire, Amos attacked the oppression of the poor by the rich, as well the latter's empty piety and immoral religious practices. If the people did not mend their corrupt ways, Amos warned, they would be destroyed.

   248. Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament-only one chapter. Like Joel, he emphasized the coming day of the Lord. He said that since all nations have a day of reckoning, it does not pay to gloat when another nation encounters misfortune. He also emphasized the often-used words of wisdom. "As you have done it, so it will be done to you."

   249. Jonah. This book marks a distinct change of pace. Jonah's story is told in narrative form about how he refused to deliver a message of warning to the great city of Nineveh, capital of Assyria. Israel's prophets often had words to deliver to surrounding nations, but Jonah had no desire to deliver a message of repentance to the enemies of his people. Jonah attempted to run away, booking passage on a ship going to Tarshish in southern Spain, the farthest known earthly point to which a man could then travel. In the end Jonah learned a great lesson in the depth of God's mercy.

   250. Micah returns to the normal poetic style of the prophets. His writings are structured in three stages: reproof, threat, and promise. Micah reminded the people of all that God had done for them in the past. He called them to obedience in the present and hopefulness for the future. He spoke to both the people of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.

   251. Nahum. Like Jonah, Nahum was concerned with the city of Nineveh. Here there is no narrative story, but where Jonah gave us just the overview, Nahum spells out the full indictment of the city's wrongdoings. Descriptive words are piled on one another, creating rapidly moving pictures. Nahum lived long after Jonah. Nineveh's embrace of morality had ended, and Nahum warned them of their final fall.

   252. Habakkuk foresaw the assault on Israel by Babylon. He admitted Israel's sin but asked why an unrighteous nation like Babylon was so worthy to conquer. There is no lengthy answer in this short book. God's response is only that the righteous will live by faith. That is, he or she will trust that all accounts are eventually settled. Once again the people were instructed to live righteously.

  
253. Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Zephaniah's prophecy came in the years immediately preceding the fall of Jerusalem. He talked of the coming day of the Lord, which for Jerusalem was right around the corner. Yet he, too, spoke of the glorious long-term future God had in mind for his people-that a remnant of God's people would survive the day of judgment.

   254. Haggai and the next two prophets did their work after the remnant of Israelites returned from exile in Babylon. Haggai is specifically mentioned in the Book of Ezra as being among the returning exiles. Haggai's style is compact, forceful, and at times stern. Yet he encouraged the leaders and the people not to grieve over the brokenness of the nation they were rebuilding.

   255. Zechariah was a coworker with Haggai. He, too, is mentioned in the Book of Ezra. His writing is considerably longer and more complex than Haggai's. This book can be divided into four sections (the first three are dated, but the last is not). He described visions, some of which are as complex as those found in Ezekiel and Daniel.

   256. Malachi. The twelfth and last of the minor prophets is more proselike than poetic, with a definite plan of argument. Malachi was concerned with the morality of the priesthood in his time. You would think that all the warning the prophets had given before the fall of Jerusalem and all the chastening Israel had experienced that the priests would be diligent about keeping up their duties. But they weren't. Malachi warned the priests who thought they would get a "free ride" that they were in for a rude awakening.