90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Fallacies

Despite their reputation, there have been no deaths attributed to tarantula bites recorded in history.
There is no species of fish called the sardine. Usually small herring or pilchard are processed as sardines.
Americans use the word "macaroni" to mean a specific kind of pasta, but in Italy, maccherone (or "mixture of elements") refers to all types of pasta.
Klondike isn't in Alaska, it's in the Yukon Territory—in Canada.
"Nice" didn't always mean what it means today. Originally, it came from the Latin nescius (ignorant), and grew to mean "foolish" in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The American robin isn't a robin, it's a thrush.
Cleopatra was not an Egyptian queen. Actually, there were seven women who reigned under that name—the seventh is the one we are most familiar with. None of the women were Egyptians, they were Macedonians.
Mississippi Bay is nowhere near Mississippi. It's outside of Yokohama, Japan.
Yams and sweet potatoes are actually unrelated vegetables.
The Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea aren't seas. They're lakes.

Alaska is the most northern, western and eastern state.

Many are surprised to discover Alaska is the most eastern U.S. state. Alaska is the most northern, western and eastern state.
Black-eyed peas aren't peas. They're beans.
People in the time of Columbus did not believe the world was flat. Not since the days of Greece had anyone thought that.
Rabbits are more closely related to horses than they are to rodents or mice.
George Washington didn't have a middle name.
People weren't always said to "smoke tobacco." That phrase didn't become popular until the 1750s. Before that, the expression for smoking was to "drink tobacco."
The Romans did not use chariots in ancient wars. They used them for sport and transportation, not in war.
There is no one place known as the Kremlin. Moscow has one, but so do lots of Russian cities. In Russian, Kremlin means a citadel or fortress. Also, Moscow's Kremlin is not a specific building, but a complex within a large walled space.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Boehner Caves In Again... Blames The Right?

House Speaker John Boehner went off on outside conservative groups Wednesday morning for pushing against the new budget deal.

Several key conservative groups are against the sequester relief within the new budget deal.

"Though conservatives support more spending restraint, the discretionary spending limits defined in the Budget Control Act represent a promise to the American people to marginally slow the growth of government," reads a letter signed by the heads of Heritage Action, the Family Research Council, and the American Conservative Union. Heritage Action's Michael Needham penned an op-ed in USA Today on Tuesday calling the deal "a step backward." The Cato Institute called the deal a "huge Republican cave-in."

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/john-boehner-conservative-groups-reaction-to-budget-deal-is-ridiculous-20131211