Listen to the catchy song by Johnny Wakelin - In Zaire. In Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) lives The OKAPI (Okapia johnstoni), a CRYPTID giraffid artiodactyl mammal. See WWF maximum cards from then-Zaïre

"The Rumble in the Jungle was a historic boxing event that took place on October 30, 1974, in the Mai 20 Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). It pitted then world Heavyweight champion George Foreman against former world champion and challenger Muhammad Ali. Ali won by knocking out Foreman in the eighth round."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_in_the_jungle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali

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"The okapi (pronounced /oʊˈkɑːpiː/), Okapia johnstoni, is a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa. 

Although the okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of the zebra, it is most closely related to the giraffe.

The animal was brought to prominent European attention by speculation on its existence found in popular press reports covering Henry Morton Stanley's journeys in 1887. 

Remains of a carcass were later sent to London by the English adventurer and colonial administrator Harry Johnston and became a media event in 1901.^[2] Today there are approximately 10,000–20,000 in the wild and as of 2011, 42 different institutions display them worldwide"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okapi

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Please visit and join the ABC Wednesday meme!

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

THE LEGENDARY SIEGE OF MASADA (in present-day Israel) - a powerful, patriotic and motivational symbol. Truth or fiction? I don't know. You tell me (how do you know?). Superb maximum card from my traditionalist-maximaphilist friend "Tangorn" (Israel), with a very rare postmark from the Dead Sea Mobile Post Unit, during its daily stop of 5 minutes only, in the hot Judean Desert

View from above.

An official brochure/map of the Masada National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Masada (Hebrew מצדה, pronounced  Metzada (help·info), from מצודה, metzuda, "fortress") is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or horst, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. 

After the First Jewish-Roman War asiege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels. It is located about 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Arad."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada

[MY NOTE: no, not the Arad from Romania http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arad,_Romania ]

How about this?

"The Masada Myth

Scholar presents evidence that the heroes of the Jewish Great Revolt were not heroes at all."

"By Nachman Ben-Yehuda 

Department of Sociology and Anthropology Hebrew University, Jerusalem

    The expression "the Masada Myth ¹" has become quite common among Israelis, and yet, the exact meaning of that expression is not entirely clear. In this short paper I shall try to describe the nature of the Masada myth, when it was created and why. "

http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/masadamyth1.htm

In the above link, go to the other 8 pages, too, by clicking at the bottom.

I think every country, except maybe Burkina Faso, has some distorted legends, for propagandistic purposes.

[I picked Burkina Faso just because I like the way it sounds - supremely exotic :) ]

See the red clothes of the Roman soldiers, in the first image above?

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

CIA - The World Factbook. The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne). I show you WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards with The Sowerby's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens), The Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus), The North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and The Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)

What do YOU know about The Faroe Islands?
Yeah, me neither.
I am pretending, just to make YOU feel good. :)
Read about Faroe (or any other country or territory) at: CIA - The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fo.html
Disclaimer: all this info here about Faroe was NOT obtained thru Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, like waterboarding, Procustian bed stretching, Catherine's Wheel meat tenderizing, borderline impaling, purification by fire, etc. Don't make me go into all the gory and classified details of TORT law. :)
Only at Gitmo are terror suspects given a special kind of Room & Board...

UL (upper-left): The Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens), also known as

 the North Atlantic/North Sea beaked whale.

Originally called BIDENS (no, not Joe BIDEN) because of 2 teeth (BI-DENS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mesoplodon_bidens1.jpg

See the teeth, one on each side of the lower jaw?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowerby%27s_beaked_whale

UR: The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus).

" It is also known as Greenland right whale or Arctic whale. 

The bowhead is perhaps the longest-living mammal, and has the largest mouth of any animal."

[MY NOTE: and you thought that your girlfriend has the biggest mouth on Earth...when she bad-mouthes you...]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowhead_whale

LF: The North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis).

The Biggest Loser of fat/blubber? No, The Smallest (Littlest?) Loser of blubber.

"Forty percent of a right whale's body weight is blubber, which is of relatively low density. 

Consequently, unlike many other species of whale, dead right whales float."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Right_Whale

Fitness advice for ya': "Float like a butterfly...not like a North Atlantic Right Whale!"

LR: The Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_bottlenose_whale

The following is NOT from an incident report, written by an airport screener, describing a suspicious passenger:

"two large, fatty structures, the spermaceti organ and the junk. 

The junk is structurally the same as (homologous to) the melon."

Instead, the above text is from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melon_(whale)

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Expand your cultural horizon, from your neck-of-the-woods...to lands far, far, FAR(OE) away...

Føroyar Færøerne
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Tú alfagra land mítt Thou, my most beauteous land
Capital (and largest city)		Tórshavn 62°00′N 06°47′W
Official language(s)		Faroese, Danish[1]
Ethnic groups		91.7% Faroese 5.8% Danish 0.4% Icelandic 0.2% Norwegian 0.2% Poles
Demonym		Faroese
Government		Parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy
-	Queen	Margrethe II
-	High Commissioner	Dan M. Knudsen
-	Prime Minister	Kaj Leo Johannesen
Autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark
-	Unified with Norway[a]	1035
-	Ceded to Denmark[b]	14 January 1814
-	Home rule	1 April 1948
Area
-	Total	1,399 km2 (180th) 540 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.5
Population
-	July 2010 estimate	48,917 [2] (205th)
-	2007 census	48,760
-	Density	35/km2 91/sq m

"The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar, Danish: Færøerne) are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Great Britainand Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, along withDenmark proper and Greenland. The total area is approximately 1,400 square kilometers with a 2010 population of almost 50,000.

The Faroe Islands have been an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. Over the years, the Faroese have been granted control of some matters. Areas which remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, police, justice, currency and foreign affairs.

The Faroe Islands were politically associated with Norway in 1380, when Norway entered the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Sweden, which gradually evolved into Danish control of the islands. This association ceased in 1814, when Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden while Denmark retained control of Norwegian colonies including the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. The Faroe Islands have two representatives on the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe

The peninsula Tinganes in Tórshavn [the capital city] in the Faroes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tinganes.jpg

See images:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/