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? Slow to wrath ? James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

6 Surprising Facts You Didn't Know About Gandhi On January 30, 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement, was assassinated in New Delhi. Here are 6 surprising facts you didn't know about Gandhi... Mahatma Wasn’t His Name Many people incorrectly believe that Mahatma was Gandhi’s given name. However it is merely an honorific, said to have been bestowed upon him by the Bengali poet and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore. From the Sanskrit words maha (meaning “great”) and atma (meaning “soul”) it seems to have been a well-chosen title for the man. However, in his autobiography Gandhi notes that he never valued the title, and was often pained by it. Gandhi Never Won The Nobel Peace Prize The man perhaps more associated with peace than any other human being was never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Gandhi was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1939 and 1947, but never received the award. He also was nominated in 1948, the year he was assassinated, but the Nobel committee opted not to bestow him with the award posthumously. In fact, out of respect to the man, the award was not given to anyone in 1948. In 2006, the Nobel committee publicly expressed regret that Gandhi had never been given the prize. Gandhi Married at Age 13 In May of 1883, at the age of 13, Gandhi was married to 14-year-old Kasturba Makhanji in an arranged marriage, according to the custom of the region. Gandhi had been engaged to Kasturba since he was seven years old. The two were married for 62 years and had five sons, four of whom survived into adulthood. Gandhi Took The Vow of Brahmacharya At the age of 37, Gandhi took the vow of abstinence from sexual relations. He believed that by taking the Vow of Brahmacharya he would be able to completely stay focused on his mission as a public advocate. The vow also made him restrict his diet. He switched to food which was usually uncooked and bland. His diet mostly comprised of fruits, vegetables, and goat’s milk. He sometimes traveled with his goat to ensure that the milk was fresh and that he wasn’t given cow or buffalo milk. Gandhi Spoke English With an Irish Accent People who heard Gandhi speak in English could not fail to notice his Irish accent. His first English teacher was of Irish origin and this is where he got his accent. In fact, the same Irish teacher once gave him an exercise to improve his English, which involved copying the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount and Bhagavad Gita were two religious scriptures that Gandhi read daily during his morning and evening meditation sessions and there is no doubt that the philosophies advocated in these religious books had a major influence on his peaceful ways of fighting for justice. He Was Assassinated by a Hindu Fanatic Gandhi was assassinated in the presence of around 1,000 followers by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a Hindu, who shot the spiritual leader three times. The gunman blamed Gandhi for going along with the 1947 plan that partitioned British India along religious lines into two new independent states: Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Gandi was 78 years old at the time of the attack and was also frail from his many hunger strikes over the years. The fanatic who murdered Gandhi was executed by hanging the following year, along with a co-conspirator.

5 Things You Didn't Know About The State of Kansas On January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union as free state. It was the 34th state to join the Union. Here are five fascinating facts that you probably didn't know about the Sunflower State... The Windiest City in the Country Is in Kansas Chicago may be nicknamed the “Windy City,” but Dodge City, Kansas, is the town that should actually have that nickname. The wind speed in Dodge City averages about 14 miles per hour. Chicago’s wind speed is an average of 10.3 miles per hour, so the former frontier town of Dodge comes out ahead. As a state, however, Kansas is only the 10th windiest. A Town in Kansas Is Near the Exact Center of the Country Lebanon, Kansas, a small town with a population of around 200, holds the distinction of lying closest to the exact geographic center of America. In 1912, the National Geodetic Survey marked the occasion by posting a plaque and a stone monument, along with a picnic table and a tiny chapel for weddings. The location is about 1.74 miles from Lebanon’s town center. The State Has Some Interesting Laws Most states have some unusual laws on the books from the old days, and Kansas is no exception. In the state of Kansas, for example, you're not allowed to hunt whales, although they are probably hard to find since the state is landlocked. In the city of Topeka, you are not allowed to sing the alphabet song if you are out on the streets at night. Nor can you shoot rabbits if you happen to be in a motorboat. The American Pie Council has reported that in Kansas it has been against the law to provide ice cream on top of cherry pie when served. Several Popular Eateries Had Their Start in Kansas White Castle, with its famous tiny hamburger sliders, opened in 1921 in Wichita and is generally credited as the country's first fast-food chain. The company had its 90th birthday celebration in style by returning to Wichita to hold a fundraiser for the state food bank. In 1958, the first Pizza Hut opened in Wichita. It was owned by brothers Frank and Dan Carney, whose company’s name was selected because the sign would only hold nine letters and the building was shaped similarly to a hut. Kansas Is Flatter Than A Pancake Kansas Is Flatter Than A Pancake—No Really, It’s True. Scientific research has been done to prove that Kansas is in fact flatter than everyone’s favorite breakfast treat. Researchers from the geography departments of Texas State University and Arizona State University used a mathematical analysis to determine the flatness ratio of both Kansas and a pancake purchased from IHOP. So how flat is Kansas, compared to a pancake? Mathematically, a value of 1.000 would indicate “perfect, platonic flatness.” The pancake was scored as 0.957, which researchers said is “pretty flat, but far from perfectly flat.” The value for Kansas, meanwhile was ~0.9997, or “damn flat,” as they said. Simply put, the results show that Kansas is considerably flatter than a pancake”.

5 Shocking Facts About The Challenger Disaster On January 28, 1986, the NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded at 48,000 feet just 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven crew members and leaving a nation stunned and in mourning. Here are five shocking facts you didn't know about the Challenger disaster... The Astronauts Didn’t Die in the Explosion Although people were led to believe originally that those aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger died in the explosion, that wasn’t actually the case. After an independent investigation, the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine reported that the cabin did not depressurize instantly because several of the air packs for emergencies had been activated during the explosion. The study showed that those inside the cabin were alive as the compartment rose another three miles and then fell for 12 miles, landing in the Atlantic Ocean. An Engineer Predicted "It's Going To Blow Up" The Night Before The Launch That o-ring problem wasn't a surprise to NASA engineers, who had warned the rings could fail in very cold weather. January 28 was exceptionally cold in Florida, and the launch had already been delayed by several days. One engineer even refused to sign off on the launch because he was worried about how the below-freezing temperatures could affect the ring material. After his managers and NASA overruled their warnings, engineer Bob Eberling told his wife, "It's going to blow up." However, NASA managers gave the go-ahead for the flight despite knowing about the potential for failure. The Last Sound Recorded Was the Word “Uh-Oh” This spaceflight on Challenger was the first for pilot Mike Smith. Right before contact with the space shuttle was lost by NASA, his voice can be heard on the flight recording uttering “Uh-oh.” This transmission indicated that at least one person on board knew that something was wrong before the explosion occurred. Big Bird Was Nearly A Member Of The Challenger Crew NASA officials discussed including Big Bird on the Challenger, going so far as to contact Sesame Street and Caroll Spinney, the actor behind the giant yellow bird, about sending Spinney to space as a passenger. "I once got a letter from NASA, asking if I would be willing to join a mission to orbit the Earth as Big Bird, to encourage kids to get interested in space," Spinney said in an essay in The Guardian in 2015. "There wasn't enough room for the puppet in the end, and I was replaced by a teacher." Tragically, high school teacher Christa McAuliffe took his place, and died along with the six other crew members aboard the shuttle that day. A Soccer Ball Survived the Explosion Astronaut Ellison Onizuka carried along a soccer ball belonging to his daughter’s team on the mission, which he had stowed on board for his trip into space. Following the explosion, the ball was found by salvage crews floating on top of the ocean. After the ball spent many years in a display cabinet at the high school his daughter had attended, it was retrieved to head into space again, this time accompanied by Astronaut Shane Kimbrough on his trip to the International Space Station in 2017 - 31 years after the Challenger tragedy.