The Bible does not contain the word bible.
Religion
High and Dry
This is a classified photo of Mount Ararat, Turkey’s tallest mountain, taken by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 1949.
That dark area is the “Ararat anomaly,” an unknown object perched on the edge of a precipice at about 15,500 feet. Biblical literalists think it’s the remains of Noah’s Ark. The U.S. government says it’s “linear facades in the glacial ice underlying more recently accumulated ice and snow.”
For now, it’s a stalemate — no one’s been able to reach it yet because the Turkish military controls the area.
She Ain’t Heavy
Kailashgiri Brahmachari is carrying his mother across India. They left the northern village of Piparia eight years ago and hope to reach Varanasi in 2013.
He says it’s the will of God.
“He is a nice son, but I am getting tired,” his mother told the BBC. “I sometimes feel like ending the journey and getting back home.”
“The Pillar Saint”
To show his devotion, St. Simeon Stylites the Elder (c. 388-459) climbed onto a column and stayed there for 36 years.
Julius Caesar wrote, “Men willingly believe what they wish.”
“Get Thee Behind Me”
Here’s one way to beat temptation: file a lawsuit. In 1971, Gerald Mayo sued “Satan and his staff” in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He alleged that “Satan has on numerous occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats, against the will of plaintiff, that Satan has placed deliberate obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff’s downfall” and had therefore “deprived him of his constitutional rights,” a violation of the U.S. Code.
The court noted that jurisdiction was uncertain; legally the devil might count as a foreign prince. Also, Mayo’s claim seemed appropriate for a class action suit, and it wasn’t clear that Mayo could represent all of humanity. Finally, no one was sure how the U.S. Marshal could serve process on Satan.
So the devil got away. Mayo’s case has been cited several times, and has never been overturned or contradicted.
Suspense
At Oxford, Oscar Wilde was required to translate a passage from the Greek version of the New Testament. Satisfied, the examiner stopped him.
“Oh, do let me go on,” said Wilde. “I want to see how it ends.”
Equivoque
An equivoque is a poem that can be read in two different ways. This one appeared in The Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome in 1679. Protestants were to read each line straight across, Catholics down each column:
The Jesuit’s Double-Faced Creed
| I hold for sound faith | What England’s church allows |
| What Rome’s faith saith | My conscience disavows |
| Where the king’s head | The flock can take no shame |
| The flock’s misled | Who hold the Pope supreme |
| Where th’altar’s dress’d | The worship’s scarce divine |
| The people’s bless’d | Whose table’s bread and wine |
| He’s but an ass | Who their communion flies |
| Who shuns the Mass | Is Catholic and wise. |
Shortest-Reigning Popes
Shortest-reigning popes:
- Urban VII (elected in 1590): 13 days
- Boniface VI (896): 16 days
- Celestine IV (1241): 17 days
- Sisinnius (708): 21 days
- Theodore II (897): 21 days
- Marcellus II (1555): 22 days
- Damasus II (1048): 24 days
- Pius III (1503): 27 days
- Leo XI (1605): 27 days
- Benedict V (964): 33 days
1978 is called the “year of three popes”: Pope Paul VI was succeeded by John Paul I, who lived only 33 days. John Paul II succeeded him.
Vatican City
Vatican City has the highest per capita crime rate of any nation on earth.
Truth in Advertising
In the UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, a hexagonal nut holds the main rotor to the mast. If it were to fail in flight, the helicopter’s body would separate from its rotor.
Engineers call it the “Jesus nut.”