Wisdom disconnect: Nov. 11, 2009

Relativity: One day on Venus is longer than its year. That is, it takes Venus longer to rotate once around its axis than it does for it to orbit once around the sun.

Finders/Keepers: The Kennewick Man is the name given to the skeletal remains found in Washington on July 28, 1996. The remains, through carbon dating, were found to be over 9,000 years old. What is particularly striking about this finding is that the Kennewick man is not First Nations, but is 100 per cent Caucasian.

Perspective: The reflection of your face in the mirror appears half the size it really is no matter how close or far you are from the mirror.

The 17 Commandments? There are likely more than 10 of the 10 Commandments. In fact, by many counts, there are as many as 14, 15 or 17. The confusion comes from the fact that the original commandments were not numbered or punctuated.

Grammar of Buffalo: “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo,” is a grammatically correct sentence. Essentially, it means, “Those New York bison whom New York bison bully, bully New York bison.”

Six: The number of the beast is 666. There are many theories as to why this is. One is that, according to the Bible, three is a powerful emphasizing number (hence repeating things in threes, for example: “holy holy holy”), and seven is the most perfect number. Since six is one less than seven, it is imperfect. In the number of the beast, six is repeated three times, making it as far from perfection as possible.

A wise person once said: “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” – Oscar Wilde