Imagine a bird that couldn't fit in your living room because its wings were too big. That's exactly what would happen if you tried to bring the Pelagornis sandersi home -- assuming houses and humans existed back then. Scientists have identified the fossils of what could be the largest flying bird ever found. With an estimated 20- to 24-foot wingspan, the extinct P. sandersi was twice the size of today's biggest flying bird, the royal albatross, according to the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina.
The viola is hundreds of years old. In fact, some reports say that it is the oldest of the string family. The viola has been utilized as a harmonic (as opposed to melodic) instrument by composers for hundreds of years. This is the main reason that people are less familiar with it than the violin or cello.
Desmond and her supporters never again challenged the practice although Nova Scotia dismantled its segregation laws in 1954. Viola Desmond died in 1965 while on a visit to New York City. She was 50. Forty-five years later on April 15, 2010, the Honourable Mayann Elizabeth Francis, the Lieutenant Governor for Nova Scotia and the first Afro-Canadian to hold the post, invoked the Royal Prerogative and posthumously pardoned Desmond, declaring her innocent of wrong doing.