And now for a light-hearted change of pace

For those readers who may be tired of reading about the terrible Republicans and about marriage equality, here's a change of pace.

Some startling factoids about the time-line of our lives that may surprise you, as they did me.  Thanks to Todd Van Luling of The Huffington Post.

1.  Bettie White is older than sliced bread.  
      (White born in 1922;  sliced bread, 1928)

2.  Harvard University was founded before calculus was invented.
      (Harvard, 1636;  calculus, 1684)

3.  The last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, the Ottoman Empire still existed.     (1908/1922)

4.  The pyramids of Giza were built in the time of wooly mammals.
      (pyramids 4000 years old;  woolies died out around 1700 BCE)

5.  Tyffany & Co. was founded before Italy was a country.
      (Tyffany originated in 1837;  Italy became unified into one country in 1861).

6.  France was still using the guillotine when "Star Wars" came out.
      (SW released in 1977, a few months before the last execution by guillotine)

Interesting realizations about how easily our sense of time gets warped.  Still, the most impressive realization about time lines and the pace of progress was Ronald Reagen's observation that: 

"In the course of my lifetime, man has first flown in an airplane . . . and walked on the moon."

Ralph