tHe wOrld'S hiGheSt wAteRfaLL

Angel Falls is the world's highest waterfall at 979 m (3,212 ft), with a clear drop of 807 m (2,647 ft). It is located in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima) , in the Gran Sabana region of Bolivar State, Venezuela. The height of the falls is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground, the water is atomized by the strong winds and turned into mist. The base of the falls feeds into the Kerep River (alternately known as the Rio Gauya) which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River. In the indigenous Pemon language Angel Falls is called Kerepakupai merú meaning "waterfall of the deepest place".

The falls are sometimes referred to as Churun-meru, an error, since that name corresponds to another waterfall in the Canaima National Park. Churun in the Pemon language means "thunder".

tHe oRigiN oF fiTneSs gYm iN 19th cEntUry

Cabinet Magazine posted a great feature on the secret history of Cybex-like exercise machines. Apparently, the first "gym" filled with mechanical fitness contraptions was built by Swedish physician Gustav Zander in the late 19th century.

Zander's mechanical horse was an early version of the Stairmaster, a contraption for cardiovascular fitness designed to imitate a "natural" activity. His stomach-punching apparatus evokes contemporary "ab-crunching" machines. What makes Zander so important, for anyone trying to trace the Cybex family tree, is what happened when his machines, created in a European cultural context, immigrated to the US in the early twentieth century. They are prototypes of the workout equipment now ubiquitous in American life.