The largest single-flight passenger load was 1,122 passengers, including 3 babies born mid-flight!

This record-setting flight took place as part of Operation Solomon. Operation Solomon was an effort by the Israelis in 1991 to help rescue some Ethiopian Jews. The Ethiopian government under leader Mengistu Haile Mariam was about to fall to Eritrean and Tigrean. 

The goal of the operation was to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Israel was concerned about the Jews’ safety during the government transition, so they decided to take them out of the country. They also wanted to take advantage of the weakened government. 

The government had not allowed much emigration previously, but Israelis hoped that with the toppling of the government, they would be able to get the Jews out of Ethiopia. That’s how a plane ended up with so many people! It was a quick attempt at getting as many Jews as possible back to Israel. 

An EI AI 747 carried 1,122 passengers. Officially, it only registered 1,087, but some of the children hid in their mother’s skirts and got on that way. Planners only anticipated putting 760 people on the plane, but the Ethipian Jews were light, so they fit a lot more on. There were also 3 babies born on the way to Israel. 

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An ancient tomb in Ireland is older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza!

Newgrange tomb is what is called a passage tomb, which means that it contains a narrow passage made of stone and earth and containing several burial locations. Beyond simply being a passage tomb, it is a site of historical importance. 

It is a spiritual and ceremonial representation of the people who lived in Ireland over 5,000 years ago when it was constructed! Newgrange was carefully constructed, showing evidence of a society that understood concepts of construction and that was well-organized. 

It is a kidney-shaped mound and has an inner passage that is 19 meters long. It covers over an acre of land. In the passage is a cross-shaped chamber with a corbelled roof. It also has 97 curbstones decorated with art. It has been called a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 

Newgrange is one of several similar constructions that are built along the River Boyne. Together these structures are known as Brú na Bóinne. Knowthl is the largest of the mounds, but there are about 35 other smaller mounds. 

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The largest dog in the world is afraid of Chihuahuas!

A great Dane by the name of George is the tallest dog ever recorded. George started out his life as a puppy with oversize paws. Eventually, he would grow into those paws. At five months old George was already the size of a Labrador and he was growing more than a pound a day! 

Now George is a 7-ft long dog and weighs about 252 pounds. His Guinness record was for being 43 inches tall from paw to shoulder. Despite being so tall, the great Dane is seriously afraid of one of the world’s smallest dog: a Chihuahua. 

After George’s status was made Guinness-official, his owners, Christie and Dave Nasser, were invited to go on the Oprah show with their dog. They were given a nice room to stay in with all the luxuries such as a sitting room, dining room, and bar. 

The Nassers had a king-size bed to share for the evening. Of course, poor George was left trying to stretch out over two divans. 

Seeing the poor dog struggle to get comfortable, Dave and Christie Nasser gave up their king-size bed to the dog. They tried to get comfortable on the cushions. At home, George has his own queen-size mattress at the foot of his owners’ bed. 

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Plans to kill Hitler were cancelled because people were afraid his successor might be more rational and effective.

Strategically deciding to make the kill on a big player in a government, generally a government leader is a hard decision to make. One major assassination that ended badly was the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. 

He was the leader of the Third Reich as it existed in Czechoslovakia, and inspired quite a bit of terror. It was his assassination that led governments to be more careful about assassination in the future. 

Heydrich was killed by Two Czechoslovakian men who parachuted in. Records had it that they had been trained in how to best assassinate the man, and also planning to continue through with the assassination even if it meant their own deaths. 

The assassins made their attempt when Heydrich was in an open-top car, and the injuries that he received killed him. 

As a result of the assassination, Nazis responded with more terror: killing men, and putting women and children in concentration camps. Historians in general agree that his death caused more pain than it saved. 

Perhaps for this reason plans to take out Hitler were stopped. The biggest fear was that whoever replaced Hitler would be more effective and logical and better able to defeat Britain. Besides that, is it ethically acceptable to take out specific political enemies in a war? 

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A linguist and Star Trek fan tried to bring up his son with Klingon as his first language.

Star Trek has developed quite a following from when it came out to now. Fans continue to enjoy the Star Trek series and obsess over it in new ways. For a linguist, the best way to appreciate the Star Trek culture is to learn a little Klingon. 

Klingon (or tlhIngan Hol) is the language of the fictional Klingon species. Klingon was included in the books, but wasn’t used on screen until Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 

Marc Okrand developed Kligon to be used on screen, and would later develop it into a full-fledge language. It has lots of vocabulary for a language mainly used in spacecrafts, but can be difficult to use for everyday sort of things. 

Linguist d'Armond Speers spoke only Klingon to his son Alec, though his mother spoke English to him. Alec rarely responded to his father in Klingon, and by his fifth birthday it was clear he wasn’t interested in speaking it. 

D'Armond Speers switched back to speaking in English with his son. Klingon is believed to have somewhere between 20-30 fluent speakers.

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