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People send us the darndest things. Sitting in my office is a sack of ashes, the charred remnants of a once handsome set of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICs. The sender explained that he was so upset by an article that he hauled his 28-year collection of magazines to the driveway, doused them with gasoline, and set them ablaze. He even enclosed photos of the flames! Now theres an editorial comment. Once, a small package arrived in the mail. When it was opened, several tiny bugsvery much alivecrawled out. An accompanying letter asked, What kinds of bugs are these? And then there was the shoea large white sneaker. Taped to the laces was a job seekers plea: Now that Ive gotten my foot in the door, how about the rest of me?
Ashes, bugs, and shoes cant travel through cyberspace, but questions can. This weeks mail brought the following:
Did you guys really publish an article on the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa?
Robert James Waller created quite a stir with his novel about Robert Kincaid, the roving and romantic NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photographer. His creation made life interesting for us when people wrote or called to ask where they might find Kincaids workespecially those covered bridges in Iowa.
Unfortunately, we had to disappoint all those enthusiastic people, for The Bridges of Madison County was fiction. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC has never done an entire article on covered bridges, in Madison County or anywhere else.
Despite Wallers efforts, several details gave him away. Robert Kincaid shipped his film to New York for review, but our offices have been in Washington, D.C. since the Societys founding in 1888. The On Assignment page, which Kincaid supposedly graced in the early 1970s, did not actually appear until December 1981.
How many continents are there anyway?
A simple question. Most texts name seven: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North America, South America, and Antarctica. But a map reveals Europe as not much more than an appendage to that super landmass known as Eurasia. Certainly physical geographers have a case when they describe this as one huge continent. Political geographers argue, however, that cultural differences between the peoples of Asia and Europe and the distinct global significance of each group, along with geographical barriers such as the Ural Mountains, support the concept of two continents, Asia and Europe.
Incidentally, the Olympic flag portrays five rings for the five continents. The Olympians leave out Antarctica since no one lives there. And they combine North and South America into America.
Will sharks eat anything?
Mostly, sharks eat other fish, both dead and alive. But the stomachs of some sharks have revealed strange things. Among various reported items are canned goods, a ladys fur coat, a bottle opener, a brick, parts of ships, a full-grown spaniel with its collar, the head and forelegs of a bulldog, a porpoise skull, and the spines of a porcupine. The contents of one single shark contained three overcoats, a nylon raincoat and a license plate! This menu leaves one to wonder if sharks actually savor their meals.
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