Oh Canada!

*Even though I am aware that I may be the only American not related to an Olympian who watches the Olympics, I feel the need to share Olympics themed facts with everyone anyway. As I began watching the coverage, I realized how little I know about the Canadian government. Ergo, my facts for this Opening Ceremony night are Canada themed:
**Canada is a Federation consisting of 10 Provinces and 3 territories. Let's name them:
The Providences are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (not a word according the Blogspot's spell check),
Newfoundland and Labrador (that's one province/ two dogs), and Prince Edward Island.
The three territories that make up Canada's Northern region are the Yukon, Northwest, and
Nunavut.
**Canada is a Parliamentary Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy.
**Canada has a ceremonial Head of State (a position which is largely ceremonial anyhow), Queen
Elizabeth II, and an acting Head of State known as the Governor General. The current
Governor General is Michaelle Jean.
**The Head of Government is the leader of the majority party in Parliament. Currently, that
person is Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party.
**As in the British Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition party is an official government
position. The current leader of the minority party, the Liberal Party, is Michael Ignatieff.
**The Canadian Parliament is composed of an Upper House, the Senate, and a Lower House, the
House of Commons.

*Those who follow the news may have heard that an Olympian died today during a training run.
Twenty-one-year-old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed while taking his practice
run on the Vancouver course, which is known to be extremely dangerous. The athlete is only the second Olympic hopeful to be killed while competing.

Zig Zag Wanderer

*When troops are deployed to the Middle East, they are first sent to bases in Europe. In one such case, a friend of mine's platoon went by ship to a base in Spain. It took nearly a month for the troops to arrive in the Mediterranean. The reason? U.S. naval ships cannot approach any European country in a straight path. They must zig zag their way across the Atlantic, otherwise, the arrival of the ships is assumed to be an act of war. A journey that should take less than one week, takes several because apparently Spain still cannot be 100% sure when the United States Marine Corps sends troops to NATO bases that it is not an act of aggression.

National Debt vs. Budget Deficit

Among the long list of facts that most Americans do not know about government is the difference between Debt and Deficit. The two words often seem to be used interchangeably, though they have distinct meanings and implications.

Every year the government forms a budget (funded from taxes and other forms of revenue) that goes to finance government programs like Medicare. Often times the government spends more than it brings in. This is deficit spending. The government borrows money (yes, sometimes from China and Russia) to cover the deficit. Then that money owed becomes part of the National Debt. So the deficit is the annual budget's shortfall, and the debt is carried over year-to-year.

Summation: Buying new curtains from Ikea on your credit card (Deficit spending). Money you owe to AmEx (Debt).

Implication: Cutting deficit spending will not help lower the national debt; however, continued deficit spending will add to the national debt.

2009 Deficit: $1.75 Trillion (estimated)

Total National Debt: $12.3 Trillion

Fun Facts Can Save You Money

* For all of you unfortunate souls out there who have to drive cars, let me clear up some myths about gas mileage for you. Although like all matters that are relatively trivial, there is some debate as to whether turning your heat on or kicking it to your favorite overplayed radio tunes affects gas mileage. But the debate is not very interesting, so I will will provide the short answer: No. Running the heat or air conditioning does not have any affect on gas consumption. Playing the radio has a negligible impact. What does have an impact, however, is rolling the windows down. "Playing convertible" weighs down the car and requires more fuel. Which is a shame because I really heart real air and really unheart fake air. Hope you can save some cash money, Loren!

* Today I came across the word "epicene" while reading. Epicene is a fun word that means partaking of the characteristics of both sexes. It has the connotation of being effeminate. It can be used as an adjective or a noun. A word can also be epicene, such as an "attendant", as opposed to a "stewardess".

Welcome to I Heart Fun Facts

Hey All! Do you heart fun facts? Because I do. And I'd like to share my facts with you. So from now on, when I come across a new word or wonder about the origins of something obscure, I will research the matter and post the answers on this blog for everyone to enjoy.

Here are some interesting factoids I recently learned.

*Ever hear of a nut graph? It sounds like a surgical procedure involving testicles, but it is in fact a term used in journalism. Unless you are a journalist- or an English teacher forced to teach journalism- you probably have not heard the term. But you have seen them. A nut graph is an isolated paragraph in an article that gives you the facts of the story. The who, what, where, and why. Or in other words, a nut graph tells you the article "in a nutshell". When one is creating a nut graph, they are said to be "nut graphing". That individual is properly called a "nut grapher". Perhaps by calling someone a nut grapher, you could make that person feel insulted and uneducated at the same time.

*Out of the 50 States in our Union, four of them are called commonwealths: Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. Why? When the constitutions for each of these states were written, the founders just simply chose for the territory to be called a commonwealth. It was a popular term at the time that referred to a government formed by the consent of the people. These states however, are not really commonwealths because the U.S. federal government recognizes them as states. The state of Rhode Island is actually called "the State of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations" in its constitution.

*Timmy (Joseph Mazzello) from Jurassic Park will be starring in the new/ umpteenth millionth World War II Drama on HBO.

*Umpteenth is a word. It means indefinitely numerous.