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For people who hated the Percy Jackson flim (Everyone nearly then)?

July 26th, 2011 5 comments

It doesn’t matter if you have read the (awesome)books or not as I have a list here! Well the flim had left everything out that was any good, do you think if they had everything in from the books it would have been better? Here is the list

There are some huge differences and minor differences. Such as:

– The novel starts with Percy at boarding school, not with Zeus and Poseidon talking about the thief.

– Annabeth and Percy are 12 in the novel (the reason for the change is stated in an earlier question).

– Medusa is killed by looking into a crystal ball (once or twice Percy’s sword), not by looking on the back of an iPod.

– Hades does not want the bolt, though he is suspected throughout the novel, but it is revealed he just wants his missing helm back, which Luke stole along with the lightning bolt, and which Ares confiscated and hid in order to take advantage of a war between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon.

– There is a party on Olympus after the bolt is returned.

– The Hydra is not in this novel, neither is Nashville. Instead, the three go to St. Louis, and while in the Gateway Arch, the Chimera and Echidna attack Percy alone, leading to an explosion. However, the Hydra appeared at the second novel of the book series, The Sea of Monsters and instead of fire, the creature spits acid.

– The pearls are not a major part in the book. Percy falls from the St. Louis tower in the novel and falls into the Mississippi River, where he meets a water nymph who tells him of the pearls. He goes to Santa Monica to retrieve them.

– They go to Aunty Em’s in the novel due to an attracting aroma, not to find a pearl.

– Ares plays a major role against the trio in the novel, often trying to make their quest fail. In a scene cut from the film, much like the novel, Ares picks them up from the diner and takes them away, gives them supplies and clues on how to get where they want to go. He is tricking them, however, and Percy has to fight Ares in L.A.

– The book has the entrance to the Underworld in the fictional DOA Records building, not the Hollywood sign.

– In the book, they don’t drive to Las Vegas, they hide in an 18-wheeler, where they are with abused zoo animals. It’s there Percy learns he can talk to horses (Poseidon is the God of Horses).

– Percy is at camp a week before playing Capture the Flag, not a day.

– Camp Half Blood in the novel has separate cabins for each god, excluding the minor gods and Hades where it was largely elaborated and has different themes base on the what the god is known for. Percy has a very large Poseidon cabin all to himself for the first book.

– It’s not mentioned in the film, but Annabeth is never very trustworthy with Percy at the beginning, as Athena and Poseidon have a rivalry from centuries ago.

– Annabeth is blonde in the book.

– Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia, a daughter of Zeus (mentioned in a deleted scene), were friends from an early age, and lived on the streets and fought of monsters. They eventually arrive at Camp Half Blood, where they are being chased by multiple monsters. Thalia’s protector is Grover as well, and she decides to stay behind and fight so the rest can get to safety. She is injured to the point of likely death, and Zeus takes pity on her and transforms her into a Pine Tree, who now guards the the camp and provides a "shield" from monsters. Annabeth also harbors feelings for Luke for the entire series.

– Percy and Annabeth meet in the infirmary (this was originally in the film, though cut)

– The flying shoes Luke gives Percy are cursed in the book, and Percy never uses them. Zeus hates Percy, as he is the son of Poseidon, and so Percy can’t use them, because if he flies, Zeus can strike him down for going into his domain. He gives the shoes to Grover, and while in the underworld, the shoes try to drag him down to Tartarus.

– There are "Iris Messages" half bloods use, where through water and mist, they offer coins to Iris, the Goddess of rainbows, and with this they can communicate with anyone they need to, and they use this several times.

– Persephone is not in the novel, as it is summer, and in mythology, she would be with Demeter, her mother.

– Annabeth is on Percy’s team in capture the flag.

– Camp characters, such as Clarisse, daughter of Ares, Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, Selina Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, Connor and Travis Stoll, twin sons of Hermes, etc. are excluded in the film.
Zeus never says that the gods are forbidden to see their children in the novel because the gods become too "human," but only the big three can’t have children (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), because their children are too powerful. After WW II, this was proclaimed. Roosevelt was a child of Poseidon, Churchill a child of Zeus, Hitler and Stalin children of Hades. It is an ancient guideline that the gods are not allowed to be involved directly in the battles of their children. Also, they cannot play favorites with any of their children (though on his fifteenth birthday, Poseidon does tell Percy that he is his favorite child), which is why the gods and goddesses do not see their children often. There is also the fact that these children were brought up by their mortal parents, and some (like Mrs. Jackson) probably did not want to involved their children in the life expected for a hero.

– Luke claims in the movie he never met his father. In the book series Hermes is well aware of Luke and ev
Zeus never says that the gods are forbidden to see their children in the novel because the gods become too "human," but only the big three can’t have children (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), because their children are too powerful. After WW II, this was proclaimed. Roosevelt was a child of Poseidon, Churchill a child of Zeus, Hitler and Stalin children of Hades. It is an ancient guideline that the gods are not allowed to be involved directly in the battles of their children. Also, they cannot play favorites with any of their children (though on his fifteenth birthday, Poseidon does tell Percy that he is his favorite child), which is why the gods and goddesses do not see their children often. There is also the fact that these children were brought up by their mortal parents, and some (like Mrs. Jackson) probably did not want to involved their children in the life expected for a hero.

– Luke claims in the movie he never met his father. In the book series Hermes is well aware of Luke and ev
Poseidon has many more kids, some that Percy even meets and comes across in the series.

– The gods aren’t British in the novel. It can be assumed their accents change wherever they go to whatever they want.

– In the novel they don’t drive around the country. They find other ways around, using buses, walking, getting rides, or in one case, hopping in the back of an animal-smuggling truck (there Percy learns he can talk to horses).

– Capture the Flag isn’t nearly as brutal in the book. Chiron states "No killing or maiming allowed!" (to the displeasure of the Ares cabin), and while you could get injured, cut and bleed, Chiron, let alone the other campers, would not have tolerated nearly killing Percy for fun. It was Clarisse, not Annabeth, who inured him in the novel anyway.

– Over the series, Percy has to train to become a great sword fighter. It doesn’t come naturally.

– The entire layout of Camp Half-Blood is different. It is located in a field on Long Island, not in the middle of

You’re right. The movie really stinks. Although, i gotta admit – Logan Lerman was really hot. Among all other things they took out from the book, they even removed the Oracle! For crying out loud, people, where’s the Great Prophecy? What’s the point of the whole movie if that’s not included? I’m so sorry for Rick.

How would you feel if this happened in your city,county or state with illegal immigrants?

April 9th, 2010 4 comments

Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/03/20/ap/us/d971tl300.txt
By JIM SALTER
HANNIBAL, Mo. – A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.

Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain’s hometown aren’t just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don’t know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas’ sister. "My stepdad told police many times, ‘I don’t even think the guy’s a legal citizen.’"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn’t in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares’ boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares’ attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn’t been able to determine Cazares’ legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that’s unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims’ families, "but, in retrospect, there’s nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn’t have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following a

This kind of thing happens fairly often in California. In fact, I live in the Napa Valley where we have a very large population of illegals picking the grapes. My town alone has a population of 40% Mexican and many of them are here illegally. One winery out of over 300 here will hire only legal Mexicans. The rest hire whoever they can get. So, trust me, I know and see exactly what your talking about. BTW, your question is a little long and the last sentence should be removed since it is incomplete.

How would you feel if this happened in your city,county or state with illegal immigrants?

April 7th, 2010 5 comments

Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/03/20/ap/us/d971tl300.txt
By JIM SALTER
HANNIBAL, Mo. – A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.

Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain’s hometown aren’t just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don’t know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas’ sister. "My stepdad told police many times, ‘I don’t even think the guy’s a legal citizen.’"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn’t in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares’ boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares’ attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn’t been able to determine Cazares’ legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that’s unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims’ families, "but, in retrospect, there’s nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn’t have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following a

Personally, I think the police should have the right to shoot the illegal where he stands. Send his dead rear end back to Mexico and let them bury him.

Personally I think we should have US troops stationed on the border and anyone who wants to come here illegally should be shot on sight.

If I want to visit another country I get a passport and do it legally. I expect no less from others.

interesting facts?

February 7th, 2010 5 comments

An average ear of corn has 800 kernels, arranged in 16 rows.

An average human drinks about 16, 000 gallons of water in a lifetime.

An average human scalp has 100,00 hairs.

An average person drinks about 16,000 gallons of wate during his life time.

An average person laughs about 5 times a day.

An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.

An average pig squeals at a range from 100 to 115 decibels.

An average secretary’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

An ear of corn always has an even number of rows because of the genetic formula which divides the cells.

An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows.

An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 sent the Mississippi River backwards.

An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.

An elephant can smell water 3 miles away.

An elephant could carry up to 2 gallons of water in its trunk.

An elephant has 4 knees

An elephant may consume 500 pounds of hay and 60 gallons of water in a single day.

An elephant’s trunk contains more than 50,000 muscles.

An Estee Lauder perfume called "Country Mist" had disappointing sales in Germany where the word "Mist" was slang for manure!

An estimated $1 million is lost at race tracks each year by people who lose or carelessly throw away winning tickets.

An etiquette writer of the 1840’s advised, "Ladies may wipe their lips on the tablecloth, but not blow their noses on it."

An eyelash lives about 5 months.

An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body.

An insect exerts so much energy in one hour of flying that it may lose as much as a third of its total body weight.

An Octopus has 3 hearts!

An old law in Bellingham, Washington made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

An ordinance in Newcastle, Wyoming, specifically bans couples from having sex while standing inside a store’s walk-in-meat freezer!

An ostrich egg can make approx. eleven and a half omelets.

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

An ounce of gold can be beaten up into a sheet covering 9.3 sq. meters, or drawn into 80.5 kms(50 miles) of wire.

An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.

An owl cannot move it’s eyeballs in its eye sockets.

An oyster can change it’s sex a number of times during its life.

An oyster can change its sex once every seven days.

Anagrams amused the ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews, and were popular during the Middle Ages.

Ancient Chinese artists freely painted scenes of nakedness and sex. However, they would absolutely never depict a bare female foot.

Ancient Chinese artists would never paint pictures of women’s feet.

Ancient Egyptian priests would pluck every hair from their bodies.

Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth. They also believed that cats were sacred animals.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

Andrew Jackson spent most of his adult life with a bullet no more than two inches away from his heart as a result of a duel he fought before becoming President.

Andrew Johnson, was the only self-educated tailor. He is the only President to make his own clothes as well as his cabinet’s.

Andy Warhol based his 1964 series of silk portraits of Marilyn Monroe on a still photo from the 1952 movie Niagra.

Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone’s emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the ‘Sticky Fingers’ album.

Animal gestation periods: the shortest is the American opossum, which bears its young 12 to 13 days after conception; the longest is the Asiatic elephant, taking 608 days, or just over 20 months.

Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons.

Anne Boleyn had three breasts.

Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I’s mother, had six fingers on one hand.

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, had an extra finger on her left hand.

Annually, approximately 46 millions Cokes, five million pounds of French fries, and seven million hamburgers are consumed at Walt Disney World Resort.

Another law in Helena, Montana, mandates that a woman can’t dance on a table in a saloon or bar unless she has on at least three pounds, two ounces of clothing.

Another name for your pinky finger is Wanus

Antarctica has only one ATM machine.

Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles or snakes.

Antarctica is visited by over 10,000 tourists a year.

Anteaters prefer termites to ants.

Anthropologists use a standard height of 4 feet 11 inches to determine if a group of people are pygmies. The average adult male must be less than 59 inches in height.

Ants are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals.

Ants can live completely submerged underwater for up to 2 days.

Ants make up 1/10 of the total world animal tissue

Any free-moving liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere, because of it’s surface tension.

Any month that starts on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th in it.

Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson’s public parties at the White House. At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for weeks.

Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves.

Apparently 1/3 of people with alarm clocks hit the ‘snooze’ button every morning, and from 25-34 age group, it is over 1/2. (r u 1 of them?)

Apparently there’s a law stating that if a Kurtatchi woman of the Soloman Islands unintentionally reveals her genitals, it can be expected and will be understood if any nearby man sexually assaults her.

Apparently, according to Playtex, the best selling bra sizes these days are 34B and 36B.

Apparently, I misspelled it…it’s "Sinterklaas." Thanks to the unnamed person from Holland who corrected me.

Apple pie was brought to England from France sometime around 1066 by William the Conqueror. It made it to America when the Pilgrims arrived.

Apple pits contain cyanide.

Apples are more effecient than caffeine for waking you up in the morning.

Approximate number of facial expressions dogs can make: 100.

Approximately 125 people die in the United States from an anaphylaxis to foods each year.

Approximately 20% of Americans have a passport.

Approximately 200 pets are buried in a pet cemetery out of the thousands of pets that die each day.

Approximately 25,000 workers died during the building of the Panama Canal, and approximately 20,000 of them contracted malaria and yellow fever.

Approximately 40,000 tons of meteoric dust hits the Earth each year.

Approximately 850 peanuts make a 18 oz jar of peanut butter.

Approximately one out of four injuries by athletes involve the wrist and hand.

Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were invented in India.

Argentineans eat more meat than any other nation in the world an average of 10 ounces per person per day.

Aristedes won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875.

Armadillos along with humans are the other creatures that can contract leprosy.

Armadillos can be house broken.

Armadillos can have up to four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.

Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

Army doctor D.W. Bliss attended to two presidents after they were shot by assassins. In 1865 he was one of the 16 doctors who tried to save Abraham Lincoln. In 1881 he supervised the care of James Garfield.

Around 2,000 left-handed people die annually due to improper use of equipment designed only for right handed people.

Around 22% of Americans are teenagers.

Around the 16th century the Yo-Yo was used by Philipinos to stun prey from trees.

Arrowroot, an antidote for poisoned arrows, is used as a thickener in cooking.

As artists and traders in medieval cities began to form organizations, they instituted tough initiation ceremonies. For example, journeymen in Bergen, Norway, were shoved down a chimney, thrown three times into the sea, and soundly whipped.

As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.

As late as 1820, the universe was thought to be 6,000 years old. It is now thought to be between 15 and 20 billion years old.

As mentioned, the first Fords used Dodge engines. Many ford vehicles now use Nissan engines, especially in Mini-vans.

As much as 80% of microwaves from mobile phones are absorbed by YOUR HEAD! visit microshield

As of 14.10.2003, only 0.6% of people actually sign the guestbook. Its true. Over 120,000 visitors. Yes, the statistic did go down.

As of 1996, Hee Haw holds the record for the longest running weekly first-run syndicated show in the history of television. It spanned over 4 decades, from the late ’60s to the early ’90s, airing every Saturday night at 7:00.

As of 2004, there are two men for every woman in the United Arab Emirates.

As of Dec. 31, 2000, the number of climbers summiting Mt. Everest reached 1314, and the number of deaths on the mountain reached 167.

As specified by the Christian church, the canonical hours are matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline.

Aspirin was the first drug offered as a water-soluble tablet in 1900.

Aspirin went on sale as the first pharmaceutical drug in 1899, after Felix Hoffman, a German chemist at the drug company Bayer, successfully modified Salicylic Acid, a compound found in willow bark to produce Aspirin.

Assuming that all the offspring survived, 190,000,000,000,000,000,000 flies could be produced in four months by the offspring of a single pair of flies.

Astronaut John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962.

Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper was so relaxed on the morning of his launch into space in May 1963 that he fell asleep in his space capsule while waiting for blastoff.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon with his left foot.

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

Astronauts become between two and three inches taller when in space.

Astronauts brought back about 800 pounds of lunar rock to Earth. Most of it has not been analyzed.

Astronauts grow taller in space

At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal.

At 4,145 miles, the Nile River is the longest in the world.

At -40 degrees fahrenheit,a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour breathing.

At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is three times the size of Texas. By comparison, Iceland is only 39,800 square miles.

At age 47, the Rolling Stones’ bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother’s blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill’s 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy’s mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father’s father-in-law and his own grandpa.

At age seventy, 73% of men are still potent.

At Andrew Jackson’s funeral in 1845, his pet parrot had to be removed because it was swearing.

At Arkansas State University two people cannot hold hands while standing in a doorway unless they belong to a union.

At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

At birth, bear cubs weigh between 1/2 1 pound.

At its center, the sun has a density of over a hundred times that of water, and a temperature of 10-20 million degrees Celsius.

At Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, on June 26, 1985, organist Wilbur Snapp played "Three Blind Mice" following a call by umpire Keith O’Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr. Snapp was ejected from the game.

At one time in India, a fiance was required to deflower his future bride if she died before the wedding. The girl could not be cremated until this ritual was carried out in front of the village priest.

At one time the earth consisted of one land mass and a huge body of water. Geologists today call the land Pangaea (from the Greek words "all land"), while the water was called Panthalassa (from the Greek words "all sea"). Between 180 and 200 million years ago, Pangaea split into two parts: Laurasia, which consisted of North America, Europe and Asia; and Gondwanaland, which consisted of Africa, South America, India, Antarctica and Australia.

At one time, there was a law in India that forbade lower-caste people from casting their shadows on a member of the Brahman (the upper class).

Cool!
I have loads about peanuts:

# Other minor peanut producers are Alabama, Florida, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma and Virginia
# An 18oz jar of peanut butter needs 850 peanuts to be made
# The USA produce about 6% of the world’s crop of peanuts: by comparison India and China, together, produce about 70%
# About 65% of those peanuts are used worldwide for the production of peanut oil; another 20% is used for the production of candy
# Peanut oil accounts for 8% of the worldwide edible oil production
# The national peanut month is March: it started as the national week in 1941 and was later "promoted" to a full month in 1974
# Two presidents of the USA, Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson, were peanut farmers
etc etc..
(many more in the link, my post would be 3 pages long lol)

How would you feel if this happened in your city,county or state with illegal immigrants?

January 29th, 2010 11 comments

Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/03/20/ap/us/d971tl300.txt
By JIM SALTER
HANNIBAL, Mo. – A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.

Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain’s hometown aren’t just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from the Mexican state of Michoacan. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don’t know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas’ sister. "My stepdad told police many times, ‘I don’t even think the guy’s a legal citizen.’"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn’t in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares’ boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares’ attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn’t been able to determine Cazares’ legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that’s unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims’ families, "but, in retrospect, there’s nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn’t have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following a

And yet another soild reason to DEPORT ILLEGALS.

Had the government done thier job this ILELGAL INVADER would not have killed these pepoe.

If I was the victims family I would file suit against the US Government for failing to uphold the immigration laws.