Contending Factoid of the year, brought to this commenter by author Robert Kaplan, paraphrased:

The United States has more miles of navigable river than the rest of the world combined. Per William Least-Heat Moon, if you're willing to walk seventy miles, you can take a boat from the New York City harbor to Portland, Oregon... The short way.

But the United States is lucky for things besides her ideas, for things that we can't take credit for. There's a reason that the Rio Grande was a border for the nation of Texas, as it is now for the United States.

Share your Factoid of the year in the space below! It's easy and it's fun!

Fun Saturday paradox: Follow the links in this tweet. Could China ever afford to go to war with the nations who build and finance this stuff for them?

Hell, Tokyo should build them some nukes.

African-American Gun Club Hopes To Help Curb Youth Violence

Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Lockerbie Bombing.

I dont know about your first link Crid.

The reason being is AZ considered its dried up rivers and streams to be navigable for the purposes of lawsuits

They have a commission whos sole purpose is to go over land sale deeds from the state to private hands dating back to when AZ was still a territory to figure out if the land was sold for less than it was worth so they can then sue the current land owners for the difference

It's great to be part of such a brilliant, loving, forward-thinking generation.

When They Came for Phil Robertson, I Was Not a Duck Commander, So . . .

Crid, you sure know how to pick the good tweets. That twitter convo was fun.

Much as I detest Cracked, Amy, you will like this article (if you haven't seen it already.)

http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-tsa-sucks-a-security-experts-perspective/

7 Reasons the TSA Sucks (A Security Expert's Perspective)

For a bunch of people in snappy uniforms patting down crotches, the TSA is remarkably unpopular. Nobody likes going through security at the airport, but you probably figured most of it had a point. All those hours spent in line with other shoeless travelers are a necessary precursor to safe flying. It's annoying, but at least it wards off terrorism.

That's all bullshit. The TSA couldn't protect you from a 6-year-old with a water balloon. What are my qualifications for saying that? My name is Rafi Sela, and I was the head of security for the world's safest airport. Here's what your country does wrong.

I want my personalized drugs.

"When They Came for Phil Robertson, I Was Not a Duck Commander, So . . . "

When they came for freakshow ex-junkie whacked-out ducknuts who casually discard the message of the Sermon on the Mount in favor of much-more-fun hatred, probably based on a self-loathing that ran deep enough to engender the original drug abuse problem in the first place, I did nothing.

Because fuck 'em.

Re: Ducks.

The whole idea of the show was to parade these nouveau riche Christian hillbillies around so that we could laugh at them. "Look at them," we were supposed to say. "Look how backward they are! Look what they believe! Can you believe they really live this way and believe this stuff? See how they don't fit in? HAHAHA"

When the producers saw the way the show was shaping up, different than they envisioned it, they tried to change course. They tried to get the Robertson's to tone down their Christianity, but to their eternal credit they refused. They tried to add fake cussin' to the show by inserting bleeps where no cussword was uttered.

I dunno, maybe.

PR exec for parent company of blackpeoplemeet.com tweets

"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get Aids. Just kidding. I'm white!"

G- Apparently it all went down while she was in the air.

I dunno, maybe. -- Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 21, 2013 6:38 PM

What I wonder is when and how Disney (owner of A&E) is going to react?

If they hang the Robertson's out to dry the flyover country is going to essentially say go screw off. If they don't capitulate the LGBT community is going to abandon A&E.

Either way an interesting decision.

The other thing to note: The upcoming season is in the can for next year. So the suspension isn't really an effective item.

And is the Mouse worth more than the beards?