Ten things I learned on vacation.
 

My niece just got married (no pictures, but yes, she's hot), and my wife and I went out to the East Coast to watch it. We took an extra week and did a driving tour around the Southeast, and visited a bunch of different attractions. Here are the ten facts that I learned during our travels:

You can make a cool dress that looks like a cloud, and Iris Van Herpen is a very creative person that I could hang out with. Source: High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

https://missbeep.files.wordpress.com...te-cou-014.jpg

During World War II, many of the most valued paintings from the National Gallery of Art were transported and stored in the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, North Carolina. The guy who built this 178,000 sq. foot house was the youngest of the Vanderbilt kids and thus got the smallest share of the family fortune. Source: Biltmore Mansion Tour.

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/03e5...biltmore-1.jpg

The National Whitewater Center near Charlotte would be a really cool place to hang out for a day. It had manmade rapids, really long zip lines, rope courses all over the place, and lots of trails. Source: New South Trail Half Marathon

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James Madison studied for months about the history of non-king governments to design the concept of the Constitution, and his proposal really drove the issue during the Constitutional Convention. The library where he studied (in his home) has been called "the most important room in America". He was the youngest delegate at the Constitutional Convention.

http://www.city-journal.org/sites/cj...140312-mm9.jpg

Thomas Jefferson had a device on his desk that mirrored his pen's motions, so he could automatically create a copy of any letter that he wrote. He was the first secretary of state, second vice president, and third president. He did not count being president as one of his top three accomplishments in life. Source: Monticello Tour.

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James Monroe's wife was a real hottie, and he had great taste in furnishings. He cut the Louisiana Purchase deal on his own because Napoleon offered it as a surprise when he was in France, and he couldn't communicate with America quickly. Source: Monroe Estate Tour.

http://www.firstladies.org/biographi...bethMonroe.jpg

Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, but it was not a building. Appomattox Court House was the name of a town, and the surrender was at a house owned by Wilmer McLean. Nearby, the battle of Chancellorsville took place not in a town, but in the vicinity of an inn that colloquially was called Chancellorsville. Source: Tours of Appomattox and Chancellorsville battle sites.

http://www.usa-civil-war.com/Chancel...hanc_ruins.jpg

Homo Erectus dominated the earth for about five times longer than Homo Sapiens has (to date). The average height for this species' males was about 5-10, which is much taller than the Neanderthals who came long after them (5-4). Source: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y3FhfwWvlLs/hqdefault.jpg

The last human species to go extinct is one that was found recently, called Homo Floresiensis. They lived on small islands in Indonesia, and adults were only about 3 to 3.5 feet tall. Their habitat overlapped with that of komodo dragons, so at one point in human history we had hobbits fighting dragons. Source: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

https://allyouneedisbiology.files.wo...oresiensis.jpg

Man that Vanderbilt kid really got screwed...only inherited enough for a 178,000 sq ft house? I bet he was pissed about that.

5-10 Homo Erectus

I'm looking at that contraption from Jefferson's desk, and still can't decide how it works.


And yeah, Lizzy Kortwright certainly should have been in the hottie tournament.

But you learned nothing about the history of Toast

Lol rainman is the goat poster.

Wilmer McLean originally lived in Manassas when the war started there (well, the first major battle between the two armies). To get away from the war he moved to Appomattox Court House, but the war followed him. It was said that the war began in his front yard and ended in his parlor.

You misspelled Kids in the second paragrapgh

You and the wife should have shot the rapids......

here's an example

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Cool stuff.

Hang on, I always thought Jefferson did the Louisiana purchase. I guess it just happened during his presidency but it sounds like it was a done deal when it got to his desk.

I've heard two slightly different versions, one at the Monroe Presidential Library when I visited a couple of years ago and one at the Monroe estate. But they're substantially the same.

Apparently, Monroe was sent over to replace the American contact with the French (either the ambassador or some special envoy, I don't recall). The Americans and French had had some initial discussions about an American purchase of New Orleans so the Americans could float stuff down the Mississippi. The price was on the order of $1 million.

So Monroe goes over there and meets with the French, and all of a sudden Napoleon makes a different offer. For $15 million he'll sell America the whole territory.

I don't know if this was a "24 hours - sale ends now!" kind of deal, but apparently Monroe had been given permission to make the New Orleans deal and to use his judgment. It would take months to get word back to Jefferson and get permission back, so Monroe and the guy he was supposed to replace hammered out a deal, got some financing from the Dutch, and paid for it. Voila - America just doubled.

It would be interesting to have been in the meeting when Monroe got back. "Hey, Tom, about that New Orleans thing. I have a surprise."

I imagine it went something like this. Harry is playing the part of Thomas Jefferson and Lloyd is James Monroe.

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I think one can learn a bit about a CP poster based on their poll answers.

My favorite was the thing about Homo Floresiensis. So freaking cool.