“Scientists have recently informed us that over the last 175 years, the Mississippi River has shortened by about 240 miles. They offer this as proof that the River shortens by about a mile and a third every year. Any reasonable person can see that when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Mississippi must have hung out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing pole. And that in just a few more centuries, the residents of Cairo, Ill, and New Orleans, LA will be casting ballots to elect a common mayor. This is indeed what I have always admired most about science. The way that it provides such a wholesome return on conjecture, on such a trifling investment of fact.” – Mark Twain