Author: Paul

The San Antonio Missions are a group of 5 Spanish frontier missions built in the early 1700s. The 5 missions are Mission Concepción, Mission Espada, Mission San José, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and San Antonio de Valero. The last one is better known as “The Alamo”.

Earlier this month (July, 2015), The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced additions to its World Heritage List. Among the additions was the grouping of the San Antonio Missions.

Misión Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de Acuña, known as Mission Concepción, was formed in 1716 at a location about 60 miles east of where it now sits, and was moved to its permanent home in 1731. Like the Alamo, the mission was the site of a battle in the fight for Texas independence.

The mission is open to the public and Catholic Mass is held there each Sunday.

We honestly did not expect this one to be as difficult as it apparently was. We aren’t quite sure what threw everyone off, but we had expected several quick answers based on it’s new UNESCO status and this contest’s long history with that illustrious list. There was only 1 correct answer before the hint. Congratulations to Phil Ower for finding it on his own.

After the hint, we had the following correct responses:

• Steve Willis
• Garfield
• Steve J
• Lighthouse
• mehmet durmus
• RicardPG

Part of a new UNESCO World Heritage Site.

1) it’s an “M”.
2) it stands for “Mining” — there is a large mining college there.
3) it is, although I have no idea how one might verify this fact, supposed to be the largest “M” in the world.

“Platte Mound M” by Thatoneguy89 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

“Platte Mound M Plaque” by Thatoneguy89 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Found without additional assistance:

• Lighthouse
• LawnBoy
• Garfield
• Jesus Rodriguez
• Phil Ower
• steve willis
• mehmet DURMUS
• lelie
• Steve J.
• Farceur
• Marisa Boraas
• Maureen
• steven simmons
• Sarah G

With the hint:

• Charley Seavey
• RichardPG

The “W” or “M” doesn’t stand for the town it’s in.

We thought about making a joke since this is contest #404 and say “File not found” (see here if you are confused). Anyway, on with the show:

Well, we went to prison and then took a trip down a water slide, now we gotta eat, right?

As of the date of this post, Bawabet Dimashq is the largest restaurant in the world (as recognized by the fine folks at the Guiness Book of World Records)

This place can seat over 6000 people at a time in the nearly 54,000 square meter dining area.

Those who made early reservations and got a 2-point table included:

• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermanns
• Phil Ower
• steve willis
• Farceur
• Garfield

And the last minute additions (1 point) were:

• JF
• lelie
• Steve J.
• Luis Filipe Miguel
• Mehmet DURMUS

With that many tables, getting a reservation shouldn’t be too much of an issue.