A Little Friday File Fun (08/21)

Well, here’s a couple of thousand…

What happens when the world’s crookedest street gets a sweet makeover.

MORE at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/08/19/BAEB19AQRI.DTL&o=1

And here's a few thousand more...

- - - somewhere in the South Pacific, cameraman Marco Queral, 42, who has dedicated the last 17 years of his life to ocean photography, took some amazing pictures alongside a 50-foot humpback whale. Here's one:

You can check out the rest at

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Divers_extraordinary_encounter_with_50ft_humpback_whale&in_article_id=722787&in_page_id=34

In Billings, Montana , Leo Cummings, 58, was driving a 1999 Ford pickup northbound on North 21st Street here - - - when he attempted to drive through a railroad underpass - - - the clearance of the underpass was 8 feet - - - the clearance needed for his camper - - - slightly more than that.

Still, you want to see it, don't you?

I thought you would. MORE at http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/billingsgazette.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/b/7b/fc8/b7bfc8d8-877f-11de-bca5-001cc4c002e0.preview-300.jpg?_dc=1250109370

OK, so it's not a picture - use your imagination!

- - - In , Vermont, officers arrested Joseph Quigley, 31, for driving under the influence about 1 a.m. - - - he drew their suspicion by his choice of vehicle - - -

a snowmobile!

TRIVIAL PURSUITS We all know about the original 13 colonies, and their transformation into states over time. And we all know about the secession of a number of states in the 1860s that led to the War Between the States.

However, in between those two events, there was another secession - a secession that resulted - for a period of several years - in a separate state.

What was the name of this state?

Franklin.

Following the end of the Revolutionary War, the state of North Carolina voted, in April 1784, "to give Congress the 29,000,000 acres lying between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi river" in settlement of its war obligations. The folks that lived there (on the very extreme of the frontier) felt they were ill-served by the state government, and worried that the newly ensconced federal government would only make matters worse. However, before the offer could be accepted, North Carolina renigged on the deal - leading residents of the area to decide they would be better off by striking out on their own.

On August 23, 1784, delegates from the North Carolina counties of Washington (that at the time included present day Carter County), Sullivan, Spencer (now Hawkins) and Greene - all counties in present-day Tennessee - convened in the town of Jonesborough and declared the lands independent of North Carolina. The next year a delegation from these counties submitted a petition for statehood to the Continental Congress, and seven states voted to admit the tiny state under the proposed name Frankland.

Leaders later changed the name to "Franklin" after Benjamin Franklin, and even initiated a correspondence with the patriot to sway him to support them (Franklin politely refused).

However, because it was not a state recognized by the federal government, nor was it fully part of North Carolina, Franklin was uncomfortably on its own. In late March 1788, the Cherokee, Chickamauga and Chickasaw nations collectively began to attack white American settlements in Franklin - attacks that led residents to settle its differences with North Carolina very quickly, so their militia might aid in driving out the Native American attackers.

As of 1790, the territory was back as part of North Carolina.