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:: MAX BLACK ::

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --C.S. Lewis

"The Swiss pocket knife of conservative thought on the web..." - Eli Kardrakian

"Bookmark Max and dump your subscription to the newspaper; if you don't have a birdcage you really don't need it anyway..." - Shirley St. James

:: Sunday, November 27, 2005 ::

Now Playing: Amazing time-elapsed video of giant cargo ships moving through the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal.

(via BoingBoing)

Related: Here are a few interesting statistics on the Panama Canal from www.ared.com:

"The opening of the waterway to world commerce on August 15, 1914, represented the realization of a heroic dream of over 400 years.The 50 miles across the isthmus were among the hardest ever won by human ingenuity. Some interesting facts: * A ship traveling from New York to San Francisco can save 7'872 miles using the Panama Canal instead of going around South America. * In the fiscal year 1994 there where 14'029 transits, which carried 170.8 million long tons of cargo and paid US $419.2 million in tolls. * The highest Canal toll was US $141,344.91 paid by the Crown Princess and the lowest toll ever paid was 36 cents by Richard Halliburton for swimming the Canal in 1928. * The average time spent in transit from port to port is approx. 8 - 10 hours. * Until Lake Mead was formed by the building of the Hoover Dam, Gatun Lake was the largest artificial body of water in the world."

:: Max 1:09 PM [+] ::
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