What Makes Flamingos Pink?

by Bill McLain

  The Iditarod race is not the only thing that commemorates the heroic serum run of 1925. There is also a statue of Balto, the dog that led the final dog team into Nome, in New York City’s Central Park. The statue is dedicated to the sled dogs and describes their heroic achievement. The last three words of the inscription aptly describe the brave sled dogs of the frozen North: “Endurance. Fidelity. Intelligence.”

  Who holds the record for walking the farthest? (He’s still walking.)

  Arthur Blissitt of North Fort Myers, Florida, has walked 33,151 miles. Not only has he walked farther than any other person in the world, he has carried a 12-foot, 40-pound wooden cross with him on the entire journey.

  Blissitt operated a coffee shop on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California. One day he decided to place a 12-foot-high cross on the wall. Many patrons were drawn to it and one evening he said that God told him to take the cross to the people.

  On Christmas Day, 1969, Blissitt started his pilgrimage from the Sunset Strip. He started walking, and he walked and walked. He has carried the cross through 277 countries, 49 of them at war, over all 7 continents, to the Dead Sea, to the top of Mount Fuji in Japan, and to the depths of Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. He carried the cross through frozen Antarctica, across the steaming Darien jungle from Panama to Colombia, and over the hot deserts of Turkey and Egypt. He even carried the cross across the Panama and Suez canals.

  Although Blissitt’s pilgrimage was to spread the word of Jesus, not everyone has been cordial to him. He has been arrested 24 times and once faced a firing squad.

  On Christmas Day, 1998, Arthur Blissitt returned to the place where he had started 29 years before. It had taken him almost 30 years to complete his incredible journey.

  Blissitt has not stopped walking, however. He now plans to walk through the states that he missed on his original journey.

  Keep on trucking, Arthur!

  FACTOIDS

  Blissett has walked with a crowd of 70,000 people across Poland.

  Pope John Paul II welcomed Blissett to Rome, Yassar Arafat welcomed him to Beirut, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel let him sleep at his house.

  The Roman emperor Hadrian toured his entire empire on foot. He marched 21 miles a day while wearing full armor.

  Because Blissett wears out a pair of shoes on an average of every 500 miles, he has gone through over 66,000 pairs of shoes.

  In 1809, Scottish Captain Robert Barclay walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. It is rumored that over 100,000 people bet on whether he could do it or not.

  Although he had to eat while on his journey through more than 250 countries, Blissett wasn’t particularly fond of some of the food he was given, including squid in ink, monkey leg, and rat soup.

  In 1861, Edward Payson Weston walked 1,326 miles from Portland, Maine, to Chicago, Illinois, in 25 days.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Although walking exercises your legs, so does bicycling. In 1884, Thomas Stevens of San Francisco, California, certainly got his exercise while bicycling. His bicycle had a front wheel that was 50 inches high and a back wheel that was 16 inches high. There was no chain and the pedals were attached to the front wheel. Stevens hopped on his bicycle and took off on a very long trip—around the world. It took him 2 years, 8 months, and 13 days. When he got back home, he had ridden his bicycle for 13,500 miles.

  The longest bicycle trip around the world was made by Fred Birchmore in 1935-1936. It took him just a year to complete his 25,000-mile journey. Birchmore left from New York, working his way on a freighter bound for Rotterdam, Holland. Some days later, he bought a bicycle in Gotha, Germany, and started his trip, which took him through 40 countries. He named his bicycle Bucephalus, the name of Alexander the Great’s white horse.

  Birchmore’s trip was far from a leisurely ride through the countryside. He was almost killed by an avalanche on Switzerland’s Matterhorn, was attacked by an Arab, and had to avoid crocodiles in the Nile. He was also chased by a pair of king cobras as well as stalked by a tiger in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Disease was also an enemy. Birchmore had an attack of malaria when he was alone in the jungle. Although burning with fever and half delirious, he kept fighting his way through the jungle until he found a hospital in Siam.

  Fred Birchmore was 24 when he started his bicycle trek across the world. That was only the start. Four years later he made a 12,000-mile trip around North America. When he was 62 years old, he bicycled across 10 European countries. When he was 70, he completed a 300-mile rock-climbing expedition, and when he was 74 he made a balloon trip to Switzerland. In 1996, at age 85, Birchmore carried the Olympic Torch in Atlanta.

  Both Thomas Stevens and Fred Birchmore wrote books about their adventures. Each used the same title, Around the World on a Bicycle. That’s fine. They both deserve to use that title for books about their astounding trips.

  Oh, yes, Bucephalus, Birchmore’s bicycle, is now resting comfortably in the Smithsonian Institution.

  More questions? Try these Web sites.

  IDITAROD

  http://www.dogsled.com/

  Everything you want to know about Alaska’s famous Iditarod dog sled race. It has the history of the race, race rules, a trail map, race trivia, and up-to-date news stories. It also has links to other mushing sites in case you’re interested in dog sled racing.

  TRAINS

  http://www.trainWeb.com/

  This site is definitely for the railroad enthusiast. Major sections include rail travel, rail industry, model railroading, live Webcams, photos, and a section for children.

  If you click on “Rail travel,” you’ll see a long list of related travel sites, including route guides, tourist railways, Amtrak schedule and stations, and rail excursions.

  BICYCLE HISTORY

  http://members.tripod.com/KatNJaz/index%2D5.html

  http://www.speedplay.com/whatshapping/pedhistory.html

  http://www.ctuc.asn.au/bicycle

  These three Web sites give you a varying view of bicycle history, including a sketch of a bicycle by Leonardo da Vinci, and the 1790 running machine, which was nothing more than two wheels connected by a beam. It was propelled by being pushed with the feet on the ground, like a scooter.

  ROAD CONSTRUCTION INFORMATION

  http://www.randmcnally.com/plan/road%5Fcontruction.ehtml

  Even if you’ve carefully planned your trip, unexpected roadway construction can cause frustration and delays. This site can solve that problem. Select a state, highway, and date and you’ll see a list of all active road construction, including the type of construction, when it started, and when it will be finished.

  CALCULATING DISTANCES BETWEEN CITIES

  http://www.indo.com/distance

  You can use this calculator to find the latitude and longitude of major cities around the world, as well as the distance between any two cities. If you enter the name of just one city, the latitude and longitude of that city is shown. If you enter the names of two cities, the site displays the distance between the two cities, as well as each city’s latitude, longitude, elevation, and population.

  You can click on one link to see a map showing both cities, and you can click on another link to obtain driving directions from one city to the other.

  14

  United States

  How many people died during the flu epidemic of 1918? (Deadlier than World War I.)

  In 1918 a soldier in Kansas was admitted to a military base hospital complaining of flu-like symptoms. Doctors discovered that he had a strain of flu known as Spanish influenza. The name came from an erroneous belief that the strain had originated in Spain.

  The flu took just seven days to blanket the United States, and by the end of the year, 675,000 people, or roughly 2.5 percent of the country’s population, had died from it. The number of people who died from flu in that one year exceeded the number of U.S. citizens who died in all the wars in the 20 century. In the month of October alone 200,000 people died.

  The fl
u epidemic was not confined to the United States. It spread worldwide in just three months, and between 25 and 40 million people died during the epidemic, more than quadruple all the casualties in World War I. The flu epidemic spread faster than any virus in history and killed more people in less time than all of the great plagues of the past.

  Some locations suffered more than others. In Alaska, 60 percent of the Inuit population died. In one village alone, 85 percent of the inhabitants died within a week.

  The Spanish flu was a deadly mutation of the flu strain. When an epidemic like this hits, no vaccine can help, because the disease spreads around the world faster than any laboratory can find an effective vaccine.

  Few people today have ever heard of the Spanish influenza epidemic. It is rarely mentioned, perhaps because people living at the time were preoccupied with World War I, or because people simply tend to forget tragic events.

  Still, it’s amazing that an epidemic that killed almost 40 million people in this century is basically forgotten.

  FACTOIDS

  “Influenza” is derived from the medieval Latin word influentia, meaning influence, from the belief that epidemics were due to the influence of the stars.

  It is estimated that since the 1700s, global flu epidemics have occurred every 10 to 30 years. The two most recent outbreaks occurred in 1957 and 1968, which means we might be overdue for another major flu epidemic.

  A person with the flu normally recovers within a week or two. However, sometimes the flu can cause life-threatening complications such as pneumonia. In an average year, the flu is responsible for approximately 20,000 deaths in this country.

  Scientists have taken flu virus samples from the frozen body of a man buried in 1918 in a remote Alaskan village. They hope the samples will help them learn how to prevent a similar outbreak in the future.

  In 1957-1958, 70,000 Americans died from Asian flu; 34,000 died in 1968-1969 from the Hong Kong flu.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  If you have nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea, you probably don’t have the flu. These symptoms are rare in the flu. The so-called stomach flu is usually due to a mild form of food poisoning or other gastrointestinal illness. In fact, many people don’t understand the differences among flu, colds, and food poisoning.

  In general, if you are nauseated and vomiting a lot, you probably have food poisoning rather than the flu.

  Here’s how to tell the difference between the flu and the common cold.

  Symptom Cold Flu

  Fever No High (102-104°F.

  May last for a few days

  or more.)

  Headache No Yes

  Aches and pains Slight Severe

  Fatigue Mild Lasts for weeks

  Exhaustion No Yes

  Stuffy nose Usually Sometimes

  Sneezing Usually Sometimes

  Sore Throat Common Sometimes

  Cough or chest Mild, hacking Common, often quite

  discomfort cough severe

  Other Sinus Bronchitis or

  congestion or pneumonia, possibly

  earache life threatening

  Although disease and death were prevalent during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, people did not lose their sense of humor. The following poem was recited throughout the country.

  I had a little bird,

  Its name was Enza.

  I opened the window,

  And in-flu-enza.

  Is it true that President Zachary Taylor was poisoned? (Arsenic-flavored cherries, perhaps.)

  Zachary Taylor, nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready,” had been president for only 16 months when he died. On July Fourth, 1850, he ate fresh cherries, raw vegetables, and buttermilk, then participated in ceremonies in the blistering heat. He died five days later, the second president to die in office (William Henry Harrison was the first). Some say he died of sunstroke, some say he died by eating contaminated food. No one knows for sure exactly what killed him or how he became ill.

  Some historians believe that President Taylor did not die of gastroenteritis or sunstroke, but was actually poisoned by supporters of Vice-President Millard Fillmore who wanted him to be president.

  To settle the matter once and for all, Zachary Taylor’s body was exhumed in 1991, 141 years after his death. After a thorough examination by the Kentucky state medical examiner, it was proven that he had not been poisoned.

  Zachary Taylor was not the first president to be exhumed. In 1900, Abraham Lincoln’s tomb had to be torn down and his coffin was placed in a temporary grave. Because Lincoln’s remains had been moved 17 times since the original burial, there were many rumors that the coffin did not contain the body of Lincoln. After much controversy, it was decided to open the coffin. All 23 witnesses agreed without doubt that it was the body of Abraham Lincoln. Today Abraham Lincoln lies buried 10 feet beneath the floor of the Lincoln Memorial, his coffin encased in a solid block of cement.

  Distant relatives of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, claim that Booth escaped after the assassination and lived for years under assumed names. They believe that someone else was buried in his grave and have wanted the body exhumed to prove their theory. The courts have refused to allow exhumation of the body.

  FACTOIDS

  In a meeting with southern leaders who threatened secession, President Taylor told them that he would personally lead the Union Army to enforce the laws of the land. Ironically, 11 years later his only son served as a general in the Confederate Army.

  Taylor was opposed to the expansion of slavery, yet he owned more than 100 slaves.

  The first presidential election held in all the states at the same time was in 1849, when Zachary Taylor was elected president.

  Although he won major victories as a soldier, he had short legs and needed help when mounting his horse.

  At Dolly Madison’s funeral in 1849, Zachary Taylor coined the term “first lady” when he gallantly said, “She will never be forgotten, because she was truly our first lady for a half century.”

  Taylor never registered to vote and didn’t even vote in his own election.

  Because President James Polk ended his term on Saturday, Zachary Taylor should have been sworn in on Sunday. However, he refused to take his oath of office on a Sunday and wasn’t sworn in until Monday. The United States didn’t have a president for one day in 1849.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  In 1849, a town in California was founded by miners from Wisconsin. In honor of General Zachary Taylor, they named the town Rough and Ready.

  A year later, the miners decided they didn’t like the laws made by outsiders in the nation’s capital, 3,000 miles away. They held a town meeting and decided to secede from the Union. They drew up articles of secession and established the Republic of Rough and Ready.

  The republic was short lived. When the miners started preparing for their July Fourth celebration, they realized that they were now an independent country. Since they were no longer part of the United States, they had no reason to celebrate. Something had to be done.

  In a hastily called election, the town overwhelmingly voted to rejoin the Union and become part of the United States once more. It’s been said that the celebration the town held that year was the most riotous July Fourth celebration ever held anywhere in the country.

  You can visit Rough and Ready today. It’s in Northern California in Nevada County, not far from the town of Grass Valley.

  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, today’s July Fourth celebrations are no longer the most rowdy and wild in the country.

  Which state has the most shoreline? (Water, water, everywhere.)

  A good guess might be California, because one side of the state borders the ocean for 840 miles. Another guess might be Hawaii, because it’s surrounded by water. Or it could be Florida, which has the ocean on three sides. However, none of these is the correct answer.

  Minnesota has more shoreline than California, Hawaii, and Florida combined. Although the
Minnesota license plate proudly proclaims, “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” there are actually 11,842 lakes. About 10,000 years ago the state was covered with glaciers, some up to a mile deep. As the glaciers moved and eventually melted, they gouged the land and created thousands of rivers, lakes, and ponds.

  Although Minnesota has almost 12,000 lakes, Wisconsin has 14,000 lakes, and Alaska is the champion with 3 million lakes.

  However, if all the rivers, lakes, and ponds are included, then the Minnesota shoreline is 93,000 miles, more than any other state. If Alaska ever measured the shoreline of all of its lakes, it would probably win. Alaska’s estimated ocean shoreline, including islands and inlets, is 47,300 miles. Until Alaska can pull together a shoreline estimate for its lakes, Minnesota remains the shoreline king.

  Part of Minnesota’s shoreline is on Lake Superior, the second largest lake in the world, covering some 31,700 miles. Only the Caspian Sea is larger at 144,000 square miles. However, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world.

  Rivers in Minnesota flow in three directions: north to Hudson Bay, east to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

  The name Minnesota comes from minisota, which means “sky-tinted waters.” The state is sometimes called the “land of sky-blue waters,” which is appropriate for the state with the most shoreline in the United States.

  FACTOIDS

  Yellowstone Park’s Yellowstone Lake is the highest lake in the country at 7,735 feet above sea level.

  The largest man-made lake in the world is at the Owen Falls dam in Uganda. Hoover Dam in the United States is number 27 on the list of largest man-made lakes.