Saturday, May 3

Evacuation orders and tsunami warnings have been rescinded after a strong 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the tip of South America yesterday.

Fact of the Day (BBC): Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. While there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010, due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightning deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This happens to be 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams. (H. G. Wells)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Ziggurat (noun, ZIG-uh-rat) - A ziggurat is an ancient Mesopotamian temple consisting of a pyramidal structure built in successive stages with outside staircases and a shrine at the top. The word ziggurat is also sometimes used for a similarly shaped structure.

In a Sentence: Ancient ziggurats were always built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. They had no internal chambers and were usually square or rectangular.