Ok well the aviation thread went good. So here we go: strange TEXAS facts:

Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
El Paso is closer to California than Dallas.
The world's first rodeo was in Pecos, July 4th, 1883.
The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water.
The Heisman trophy was named after John William Heisman, the first full time coach at Rice University in Houston.
Brazoria county has more species of birds than any other area in North America.
Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only flock of whooping cranes.
Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.
The worst natural disaster in U.S. History was in 1900, caused by a hurricane that hit Galveston Island claiming 8000 lives.
The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston".
Tropical Storm Claudette brought a U.S. rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July 1979.
Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by treaty rather than annexation. This allows the Texas flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. flag, and Texas may break free from the Union or divide into four states at any time it chooses.
A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.
Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after Dr in Dr Pepper.
Texas has had six capitol cities.
The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only capitol building in the U.S. taller than the Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C. (by seven feet).
The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish for Texas, as commonly believed.
The state animal is the armadillo. Armadillos always have four babies: they have one egg that splits into four, and they either have four females or four males.
The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.
King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island.

Enjoy.

 

The Menger Hotel in San Antonio is where TR recruited the Rough Riders.

The longest verified rifle shot (3/4's of a mile) in the US occured at Adobe Walls.

 

Wow, that's a loooong shot! It must have required some serious swag.

 

No kidding. Did he hit a target?

 

You did not mention that Texas is the home of the world's fastest animal, the GTSAA (Great Texas Spotted-*** Ape). This GTSAA is so fast that it cannot be detected by the human eye, but many Texans have felt the whiff of air as one passes by. This is the source of an expression Texans use to describe a quick car or truck, "Faster than a spotted-*** ape".
Another thing that happens only in Texas is related to rattlesnakes and their natural enemy the king snake. When a rattlesnake and a king snake meet, they will begin to circle for combat until each grabs the other by the tail and begins to gobble up their opponent. Pretty soon nothing is left but two asssholes laying in the sand. The Indians dry these and make them into jewelry for visiting Yankees. A good assshole necklace will fetch around $20.

 

No it wasnt! It was invented right here in Virginia, but after testing, the recipe was sent to Texas to be made.

 

Virginia is a very pretty state. I will never forget the first time I saw it .... it was on display at the Texas State Fair.

 

Haha...you guys aint got nothin on us!

 

Haha...and we ain't got NOTHING on Dono.

 

Dono lives in his own little world

 

Nope. Invented in Waco.

http://www.houstonculture.org/tour/texas6a.html

 

I always wonder why he chooses to come visit.

Our antics must entertain him senselessly.

 

In the 1870's a group of Buffalo hunters were camped at Adobe Walls. Early one morning, the ridge pole snapped, and while the hunters were repairing it, one stepped outside.

He quickly stepped back in....the place was surronded by Comanche's.

The hunters, most of them armed with the Sharps Old Reliable, were able to hold off the Comanches. Around 4PM, a group of natives rode up on a bluff overlooking Adobe Walls.

Billy Dixon, one of the hunters, borrowed a Sharps Business rifle from another hunter. Dixon, as he later stated, fired one shot...just for the heck of it.

It hit one of the indians in the right arm, knocking him off his horse. The Comanches soon left the area. The hunters measured off the shot...three quarters of a mile!

The History Channel did a re-enactment of the shot...I believe last year...they came up with the same measurement. What is interesting is that Tom Selleck, besides being an actor, is also a gun collector. he modeled that long range shot that occured in the beginning of his film "Quigley Down Under" after Billy Dixon's famous shot.

I believe that the Panhandle-Plains Museum has some artifacts from Adobe Walls.

***

By the way...the USS Texas, moored near San Jacinto Battlefield, is the oldest Dreadnought Battleship afloat that served in two world wars.

The first Japanese Midget Submarine...captured on 7 December 1941, is at the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg..home also to the Admiral Chester Nimitz Museum.

 

You may want to re-check this one. If you listen to Apollo 11 voice transmissions you will hear Neil and Buzz running an after lunar touchdown checklist. They were on the moon and talking about securing engines, switches and so on. They were on VOX so everything they said was transmitted back to mission control.

So, the first NON operational word spoken from the Moon is Houston. Not the first words.

 

There should be a "Thread Killer" smiley available on our list. LOL