The Maltese Falcon: Today's "Did You Know"

"After seven years of moving from place to place in Europe the Knights [Hospitaller] became established in 1530 when Charles V of Spain, as King of Sicily, gave them Malta, Gozo and the North African port of Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon, which they were to send on All Souls Day to the King's representative, the Viceroy of Sicily."

Who knew?
Not a fan of the Hammett book or the Bogart/Huston movie (neither of which apparently has anything to do with this falcon), but I still was amused to learn this.

"From our birthday, until we die...

...Is but the winking of an eye" - W.B. Yeats


"Age is a high price to pay for maturity." - Tom Stoppard

You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to a hundred. - Woody Allen


Here's to maturity.