Learn About Life in the US of A.

December 17, 2016
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...but today let's talk about something less merry.

There is a page on the usa.gov site called Learn about Life in the United States for kids.  It's like a little civic lesson.  While browsing through the site, I that I am not sure most Americans (those of us born and raised here) know.  Here is DYK list compiled by this intrepid blogger.

 DYK that--

the United States has no official language?  While English is the most common language spoken, there are better than 300 different languages and dialects of languages heard from sea to shining sea. 

if you wish your language to be considered the official language of the US, you can contact your elected officials?  Don't get your hopes up, but it never hurts to ask, right?

the bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to the Irish?  If you follow the link fun facts link under STATE AND STATE CAPITALS, you can learn interesting facts about all 50 states along with the basics: when the state became a state, its nickname, and state capital.

there are 10 federal holidays?  Yep, that means that 7 days through out the year most of us will have to go to work while the government offices, banks, and post office shut down. Okay, so must us knew that one, it just seems a tad unfair IMO.

the continental United States spans 5 time zones?   Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska.  If you expand the borders to include Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands there are 9 time zones.

there are still $10,000 bills in circulation?  The government no longer prints denomination larger than $100, but you could (in theory) come across a $500, $1,000, $5,000, or a $10,000 bill, all of which are still considered legal tender.  Boogles the mind, doesn't it.  Trying to get change of a hundred is bad enough.

That's Samuel Chase, the 6th Supreme Court Justice, in case you didn't recognize him.

the Welcome to America packet available to new immigrants can be downloaded in 14 different languages?  Refer back to DYK #1.  Shouldn't that packet be available in 300+ languages if we aren't going to declare an official language?

As interesting as all these things are to a small clutch of people, there is some gossip brew on the streets of Miller.  This blogger needs to get off the internet and get busy sniff out all the juicy details.  More later.

Meanwhile, there are only 9 days until Christmas, so get your Christmas shopping down, ya hear?  Nuff said.