Saturday, September 26, 2015
The cursed canal?
Listening to a 1938 episode of Ripley's show. Ripley always included some items that were only 'amazing' if you didn't pay close attention to words.
Did you know that peacocks don't lay eggs?
Peahens do! Ha ha ha! Gotcha!
Did you know that the US has only 44 states? Amazing!
What happened to the others?
The others are commonwealths! Ha ha ha! Gotcha!
This episode mentioned a "territory that is owned by the US but ruled by a foreign country." Turned out to be the Corn Islands and Swan Island near Nicaragua, which had been purchased as part of our plan to build a canal across Nicaragua. When we abandoned the project we basically let Nicaragua take the islands back, but never technically relinquished our claim.
Those islands are familiar to radio hams because they're still a separate nation-like entity, and they're easy to reach from USA STRONG. Hams often run DXpeditions to the islands, setting up a portable station and making lots of contacts in a short time so mainland hams can increase their country collection.
But wait! Isn't this canal finally getting built? Isn't China creating its own private alternative to Panama?
Turns out the Chinese project is technically under construction but in fact nothing is happening at all.
STRIKE TWO!
Come to think of it, 'The Cursed Canal' would be a PROPER non-trivial Ripley item.
¶ 2:23 AM 
