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In another game I kept telling they to be on the lookout for a particular foe. They kept thinking I was saying "White Dwarf", when it reality it was a "Wight Dwarf". They didn't see that one coming at all until it was too late.
That was not wight. Not wight at all.
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In the 2013 movie World War Z, Peter Capaldi played the character "W.H.O. Doctor."
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In the 2013 movie World War Z, Peter Capaldi played the character "W.H.O. Doctor."
And That's Terrible.
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The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, chronicling the Cambodian genocide. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". Tuol Sleng was one of at least 150 execution centers in the country, and about 20,000 prisoners were killed there.
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ABBA were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at The Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and are the most successful group to ever take part in the competition.
ABBA's record sales figure is uncertain and various estimates range from over 140 to over 500 million sold records. This makes them one of the best-selling music artists. ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and on a lesser scale, the US. They have a joint record eight consecutive number-one albums in the UK. The group also enjoyed significant success in Hispanic American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.
During the band's active years, Fältskog & Ulvaeus and Lyngstad & Andersson were married. At the height of their popularity, both relationships were suffering strain which ultimately resulted in the collapse of the Ulvaeus–Fältskog marriage in 1979 and the Andersson–Lyngstad marriage in 1981. These relationship changes were reflected in the group's music, with later compositions featuring more introspective and dark lyrics in contrast to their usual pure-pop sound.
After ABBA disbanded in December 1982, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage, while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued solo careers with mixed success. ABBA's music declined in popularity until the purchase of ABBAs catalogue and record company Polar by Polygram in 1989 enabled the groundwork to be laid for an international re-issue of all their original material and a new Greatest Hits (ABBA Gold) collection in September 1992 which became a worldwide smash. Several films, notably Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), further revived public interest in the group and the spawning of several tribute bands. In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide. A film of the same name, released in 2008, became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year.
ABBA were honoured at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, when their hit "Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015, their song "Dancing Queen" was inducted into the Recording Academy's Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 2016, the members of ABBA announced an upcoming project in 2017.
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While filming the whipping scene for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the crew played a practical joke on Harrison Ford. While he was chained to a large stone, Barbra Streisand appeared, dressed in a leather dominatrix outfit. She proceeded to whip him, saying "That's for Hanover Street (1979), the worst movie I ever saw." She continued whipping him for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), and making all of that money. Carrie Fisher then threw herself in front of Ford to protect him, and Irvin Kershner chided director Steven Spielberg. "Is this how you run your movies?" This entire sequence was filmed.
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American actor James Hubert Pierce (August 8, 1900 – December 11, 1983) was the fourth actor to portray Tarzan on film. He appeared in films from 1924 to 1951.
Pierce was born in Freedom, Indiana, and was an All-American center on the Indiana Hoosiers football team. Following his graduation in 1921, he coached high school football in Arizona, and began acting in his spare time. He later coached football at Glendale [California] High School, with one of his star players being a young Marion "John Wayne" Morrison.
Pierce's life changed when he attended a party given by Edgar Rice Burroughs and his daughter Joan. Burroughs, the creator and author of the Tarzan books, immediately wanted Pierce to star in the next Tarzan movie (1927's Tarzan And The Golden Lion). Pierce gave up a role in the film Wings to accept the Tarzan role, and his part in Wings was given to actor Gary Cooper in one of his first ever feature films.
Pierce wed Joan Burroughs on August 8, 1928, and from 1932 to 1936, James and Joan Pierce were the voices of Tarzan and Jane on national radio in Tarzan. They remained married until Joan's death in 1972. Both are buried in Shelbyville, Indiana, and their tombstones bear the inscriptions "Tarzan" and "Jane."
Pierce is also remembered for playing Prince Thun of the Lion Men in the 1936 movie serial Flash Gordon. He acted in small roles in several films, mostly westerns, through 1951, and worked in a lucrative real estate agency in the San Fernando Valley. He was an accomplished pilot, active during World War II with the National Airmen's Reserve, the forerunner of today's Air National Guard.
For many years, near the end of his life, Pierce attempted, to no avail, to find a print of Tarzan And The Golden Lion, which was thought lost. After his death, a copy was found in a foreign archive.
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The General of the Armies of the United States, more commonly referred to as General of the Armies (abbreviated as GAS), is the highest possible rank in the United States Armed Forces. The rank is informally equated to that of a six star general and is the highest possible operational rank of the United States Army. The rank of General of the Armies is senior to General of the Army, General of the Air Force, and Fleet Admiral.
General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing (1860-1948) is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies, the highest possible rank in the United States Army. After the creation of the five-star General of the Army* rank during World War II, Pershing's rank of General of the Armies could unofficially be considered that of a six-star general, but he died before the proposed insignia could be considered and acted on by Congress.
In 1976, and act was passed by Congress retroactively promoting U.S. President and Continental Army General George Washington (1732-1799) to General of the Armies, but with higher seniority, ensuring that Washington would always be considered the senior ranking officer in the United States Army.
*General of the Army (abbreviated as GA) is a five-star general officer and the second highest possible rank in the United States Army. A General of the Army ranks immediately above a general and is equivalent to a fleet admiral and a General of the Air Force. There is no established equivalent five-star rank in the other federal uniformed services. The rank of General of the Army has historically been reserved for wartime use and is not currently active in the U.S. military.
Only eight men have ever held the rank of General of the Army: Ulysses S. Grant (1866), William T. Sherman (1869), Philip Sheridan (1888), George Marshall (1944), Douglas MacArthur (1944), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944), Henry H. Arnold (1944), and Omar Bradley (1950).
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The song "It's All in the Game" was a 1958 hit for Tommy Edwards. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major," written by Charles G. Dawes, later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge and author of the Nobel Prize-winning Dawes Plan. "It's All in the Game" is the only No. 1 pop single to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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By beating Burnley 1-0, Lincoln City FC became the first non-league (i.e. playing below the top 4 tiers of English football) team to have reached the FA Cup quarter finals since the 1913/1914 season when Queen's Park Rangers, then playing in the Southern League, managed the same achievement. Ironically, the team winning the tournament that year was... Burnley.
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In 1973, approximately 2000 students auditioned for 20 places in the freshman class at The Juilliard School. Only two were selected for Juilliard's Advanced Program: Robin Williams (1951-2014; Good Will Hunting) and Christopher Reeve (1952-2004; Superman). Classmates of Williams and Reeve included Kelsey Grammer (1955-; Frasier), William Hurt (1950-; Kiss Of The Spider Woman), and Mandy Patinkin (1952-; The Princess Bride), as well as Williams' roommates: Franklyn Seales (1952-1990; The Onion Field) and Kevin Conroy (1955-; Batman: The Animated Series).
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Jeff Daniels has been married to his high school sweetheart, Kathleen Rosemary Treado, since 1979. They have three children: Benjamin (born 1984), Lucas (born 1987), and Nellie (born 1990). A baseball fan and an avid Detroit Tigers fan, he married his wife on Friday the 13th because he wore the number 13 on his baseball uniform.
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Mosquitoes are small, midge-like flies that constitute the family Culicidae. Females of most species are ectoparasites, whose tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) pierce the hosts' skin to consume blood. The word "mosquito" (formed by mosca and diminutive -ito) is Spanish for "little fly". Thousands of species feed on the blood of various kinds of hosts, mainly vertebrates, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even some kinds of fish. Some mosquitoes also attack invertebrates, mainly other arthropods. Though the loss of blood is seldom of any importance to the victim, the saliva of the mosquito often causes an irritating rash that is a serious nuisance. Much more serious though, are the roles of many species of mosquitoes as vectors of diseases. In passing from host to host, some transmit extremely harmful infections such as malaria, yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, dengue fever, filariasis, Zika virus and other arboviruses, rendering it the deadliest animal family in the world.
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Marika Rökk was a German actress (born in Cairo, to Hungarian parents) who shot to fame after the 1935 film Leichte Kavallerie and subsequently appeared in a number of propaganda films made by the Nazi party during World War II.
Following the war, her closeness to the Nazi regime (which included a rumoured affair with Joseph Goebbels and getting birthday flowers from Hitler) led to her being banned from working in film for two years, which didn't stop her from regaining stardom in West German films until her retirement from acting in 1951.
She was also a spy for the Soviet Union, having been recruited (along with her husband, film director Georg Jacoby) by her manager Heinz Hoffmeister, sometime around 1940.
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...
...
So!
My internet might not work, my smallest one may have vomited this morning (again), after days of not doing so (and shortly after his medicine finished), and I may be on my hypothetical way to get my son's leg X-rayed, but that's no reason to not have... wEiRd FaCtOiDs~!
Did you know that there are powerful Christian themes blended with a subtly hidden backstory to King Triton in Disney's The Little Mermaid?
It's kind of amazing!
Most people miss it, but it's pretty clear, he's into "self-help" stuff at the time, even from his first time he appears on screen! The proof is in his chariot: he's been reading The Porpoise Driven Life!
... g'night everybody~!
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And don't forget to tip your waitress!
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Charles is a masculine given name from the French form Charles of a Germanic name Karl. The original Anglo-Saxon was Ċearl or Ċeorl, as the name of King Cearl of Mercia, that disappeared after the Norman conquest of England.
The corresponding Old Norse form is Karl, with the German form also being Karl. The name was notably borne by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), and was at the time Latinized as Karolus (as in Vita Karoli Magni), later also as Carolus.
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Jethro Tull were a British rock group, formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, on December 20, 1967. Initially playing blues rock, the band soon developed its sound to incorporate elements of British folk music and hard rock to forge a progressive rock signature. The band was led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, and featured a revolving door of lineups through the years including significant members such as longtime guitarist Martin Barre, keyboardist John Evan, drummers Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and Doane Perry, and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, and Dave Pegg, among many others.
The group first achieved commercial success in 1969, with the folk-tinged blues album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK charts, and they toured regularly in the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973), and shifted again to hard rock mixed with folk rock with Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). Jethro Tull have sold over 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and five platinum albums among them. They have been described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands".
The last works released as a group were in 2003, though the band continued to tour until 2011. In April 2014, as he was concentrating on his solo career, Anderson said that Jethro Tull were finished.
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Jethro Tull were a British rock group, formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, on December 20, 1967. Initially playing blues rock, the band soon developed its sound to incorporate elements of British folk music and hard rock to forge a progressive rock signature. The band was led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson, and featured a revolving door of lineups through the years including significant members such as longtime guitarist Martin Barre, keyboardist John Evan, drummers Clive Bunker, Barriemore Barlow, and Doane Perry, and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, and Dave Pegg, among many others.
The group first achieved commercial success in 1969, with the folk-tinged blues album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK charts, and they toured regularly in the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972) and A Passion Play (1973), and shifted again to hard rock mixed with folk rock with Songs from the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978). Jethro Tull have sold over 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and five platinum albums among them. They have been described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands".
The last works released as a group were in 2003, though the band continued to tour until 2011. In April 2014, as he was concentrating on his solo career, Anderson said that Jethro Tull were finished.
The band was named after Viscount Jethro Tull (1674-1741), a British agriculturist. Tull perfected a horse-drawn seed drill and developed a horse-drawn hoe.
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I read an anecdote from Ian Anderson once saying that they were playing a pub under a different name once and were thrown out because the owner hated their music. They went back the next night under a different name and got to play the whole set and told to come back anytime.
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The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) is an American auto insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2015 provided coverage for more than 22 million motor vehicles owned by more than 14 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. GEICO sells its policies through local agents, called GEICO Field Representatives, and over the phone directly to the consumer, and through their website. Its mascot is a gold dust day gecko with a Cockney accent, voiced by English actor Jake Wood. GEICO is well known in popular culture for its advertising, having made a large number of commercials intended to entertain viewers.
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The first draft of the screenplay for David R. Ellis's 2006 action thriller film Snakes On A Plane was titled Venom, and involved only a single venomous snake loose inside an aircraft. After being inspired by James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens, screenwriter David Dalessandro revised the script to involve numerous snakes.
Originally, the film was going to be directed by Hong Kong action director Ronny Yu. Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who had previously worked with Yu on other films, learned about the announced project in the Hollywood trade newspapers and agreed to sign on without reading the script based on the director, story, and the title.
Initially, distributor New Line Cinema did not believe that Jackson had actually signed on to the project and had to call his agent to clarify. Jackson later defended his choice of starring in the movie by stating "[I]t was the kind of movie I would have gone to see when I was a kid [...] I feel sorry for all those people that are going through that whole trip of ‘Why would Samuel Jackson do something like this?’ and ‘It’s lowbrow.’ It’s a movie. People go to movies on Saturday to get away...and just go and have some fun, and I like doing movies that are fun.”
For the film's broadcast television release, the film's profanity-laden dialogue was re-dubbed, replacing all of the curse words with intentionally nonsensical language. For example, the film's iconic line, "I have had it with these motherf&!@ing snakes on this motherf++!ing plane," delivered by the famously profane Jackson, was re-dubbed as "I have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday to Friday plane."
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Samurai Jack is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky. The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, and follows Jack, a time-displaced samurai, in his singular quest to travel back in time and defeat the tyrannical demon Aku. The series premiered in 2001 with a TV movie, and ended in 2004, after airing 52 episodes, but before the show's story had a chance to be concluded. The show will air its fifth and final season starting in the spring of 2017, on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block, with Tartakovsky returning as executive producer.
The show was created by Tartakovsky as a follow-up to his successful series Dexter's Laboratory. Prior to Samurai Jack, Tartakovsky had complaints with action cartoons, which is why he decided to create his own series in the genre. He based his new project on the samurai character, one of his favorites, as well as the works of Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa and Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean. Cartoon Network executive Mike Lazzo recalled Tartakovsky pitching him the series: "He said, 'Hey, remember David Carradine in Kung Fu? Wasn't that cool?' and I was like, 'Yeah, that's really cool.' That was literally the pitch." Other influences in the show's creation included Frank Miller's comic book series Ronin, as well as the 1980-1982 Ruby-Spears cartoon series Thundarr the Barbarian.
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I have directly mentioned by name film producer and director George Lucas in 23 separate posts on this thread. This post makes it a full two dozen.
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On March 21, 2004, the 32-year-old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia was imploded in 62 seconds. Frank Bardonaro, President of Philadelphia-based AmQuip Crane Rental Company pressed the "charge" button and then Bardonaro and Nicholas T Peetros Sr., Project Manager for Driscoll/Hunt Construction Company combined to press the "fire" button to trigger the implosion while Greg Luzinski and the Phillie Phanatic, the Phillies' mascot, pressed a ceremonial plunger for the fans. A parking lot for the current sporting facilities was constructed in 2004 and 2005 at the site.
As an aside, although I've never found a confirmed number, I've heard something like 500 feral cats were caught and removed from the stadium before it was imploded.
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A dozen is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the moon or months in a cycle of the sun or year. Twelve is convenient because it has the most divisors of any number under 18.
Twelve dozen (144) are known as a gross, and twelve gross (1,728) are called a great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred, also known as a small gross, is 120 or ten dozen. Dozen may also be used to express a large number of items as in "several dozen."
The English word dozen comes from the old form douzaine, a French word meaning "a group of twelve." This French word is a derivation from the cardinal number douze ("twelve", from Latin duodĕcim) and the collective suffix -aine (from Latin -ēna),
A baker's dozen, devil's dozen, long dozen, or long measure is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen was insurance against the items being lower than the statutory weight, or of lower than usual quality, which could cause the baker to be fined.
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In the 2013 movie World War Z, Peter Capaldi played the character "W.H.O. Doctor."And That's Terrible.
He had a more central role in Torchwood: Children of Earth. As well as an appearance in the "Fires of Pompeii" epsisode of Dr. Who as a Roman noble who buys the TARDIS as an art piece.
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The Mistick Krewe of Comus, founded in 1856, is a New Orleans, Louisiana Carnival krewe. It is the oldest continuous organization of New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities.
Prior to the advent of Comus, Carnival celebrations in New Orleans were mostly confined to the Roman Catholic Creole community, and parades were irregular and often very informally organized. Comus was organized by (largely Protestant) Anglo-Americans.
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The Krewe of Endymion is one of only three Super Krewes (using floats and celebrity Grand Marshals), and is the largest of the parades participating in the New Orleans Mardi Gras. Many people begin saving their viewing spots for this parade several days before the parade actually rolls, although spot-saving is widely frowned upon and is discouraged. It was founded in 1966 and named after Endymion, from Greek mythology.
Its motto, "Throw Until it Hurts", defines a tradition of being extremely generous with its throws, tossing millions of beads, cups, doubloons and trinkets during its annual parade, held the Saturday before Mardi Gras.
The parade is immediately followed with a party called the Endymion Extravaganza. It was held from 1974 to 1980 at the now demolished Rivergate Convention Center. Since 1981, it has been held in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, except in 2006 when it was held at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center due to repairs to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina and also in 2011 due to its final renovations. The Krewe returned to the Superdome in 2012. During the 2010s, the krewe has had over 3000 members and over 20,000 guests at its Extravaganza.
The first Endymion parade rolled on February 4, 1967 in the Gentilly neighborhood near the New Orleans Fair Grounds horse racing facility. The parade remained on its original route until 1975, when it was shifted to its now traditional Mid-City route, rolling from Orleans Avenue to North Carrollton Avenue to Canal Street and into the Mercedes Benz Superdome.
The 1979 parade was moved to the Jefferson Parish suburb of Kenner due to a strike by the New Orleans Police Department which forced the cancellation of a large number of parades within the city, including fellow Bacchus and all of the old-line parades, led by Rex, King of Carnival.
The 2006 and 2007 parades were forced to the Uptown route along St. Charles Avenue due to a lack of manpower within the NOPD in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Endymion returned to Mid-City in 2008 and is the only remaining parade in the New Orleans city limits which does not use the Uptown route.
New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson was Grand Marshal of the 2010 parade only six days following his franchise's victory in Super Bowl XLIV over the Indianapolis Colts. Benson was the first celebrity Grand Marshal not from the entertainment industry.
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The Krewe of Proteus is the second oldest parade krewe in New Orleans Mardi Gras, founded in 1882. The parade of the krewe of Proteus traditionally travels an Uptown or St. Charles route ending on Canal Street. Parade floats still use original chassis from the early 1880s.
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The Krewe of Orpheus (1993) is a relatively recent New Orleans Mardi Gras super krewe, which puts on one of the largest parades in the famous Carnival celebrations of New Orleans, Louisiana. The krewe was founded in 1993 by Harry Connick Jr., Harry Connick Sr., and Sonny Borey.
As an aside, Harry Connick Sr., much like his son, is also a fairly talented musician.
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Robert Smalls was a slave in the American south who, in 1862, along with eight other slaves, liberated himself by stealing the steamer Planter from the Confederate forces in Charleston and sailing it to safety in Union-held waters.
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Rex (founded 1872) is a New Orleans Carnival Krewe which stages one of the city's most celebrated parades on Mardi Gras Day. Rex is Latin for "King", and Rex reigns as "The King of Carnival".
Rex was organized by New Orleans businessmen in part to put on a spectacle in honor of the New Orleans visit of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (remembered locally as "Grand Duke Alexis") during the 1872 Carnival season. Also in the minds of the founders of Rex was the desire to lure tourism and business to New Orleans in the years after the American Civil War.
The Rex parade is put on by an organization called The School of Design.
One member of the Rex Organization is each year chosen to be the monarch of the organization; he is often incorrectly referred to by the (technically redundant) phrase "King Rex". The correct title is simply "Rex". The identity of Rex is made public on Lundi Gras, the day before Mardi Gras. Rex is always a prominent person in the city, one who is usually involved in several philanthropic and civic causes. Being chosen Rex is one of the highest civic honors a person can receive in New Orleans. The Mayor of New Orleans traditionally hands over a symbolic Key to the City of New Orleans to Rex for Mardi Gras Day.
A consort is also chosen each year for Rex, and she is titled the "Queen of Carnival". The queen is always a debutante of the current season. Like Rex, the queen is chosen in the spring of the previous year, and must keep her identity secret until Lundi Gras.
Traditionally, the secretive membership was restricted to New Orleans residents of European ancestry for most of its history, including the first Rex, Louis Solomon a Jewish businessman. However, in 1991 the New Orleans city council passed an ordinance that required social organizations, including Mardi Gras Krewes, to certify publicly that they did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, in order to obtain parade permits and other public licensure. In effect, the ordinance required these, and other, private social groups to abandon their traditional code of secrecy and identify their members for the city's Human Relations Commission. The Comus organization (along with Momus and Proteus, other 19th century Krewes) withdrew from parading rather than identify its membership. Rex decided to comply with the new ordinance, rather than disappear from the main event of Mardi Gras Day. Two federal courts later declared that the ordinance was an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment rights of free association, and an unwarranted intrusion on the privacy of the groups subject to the ordinance. The decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals appears at volume 42, page 1483 of the Federal Reporter (3rd Series), or 42 F.3d 1483 (5th Cir. 1995). The Supreme Court refused to hear the city's appeal from this decision. Despite this, the other legendary krewes have not returned to the streets to parade. (Proteus later returned in 2000) The Rex organization and the Mistick Krewe of Comus still hold their annual balls together on Mardi Gras night.
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Oreo is a sandwich cookie consisting of two chocolate wafers with a sweet creme filling in between, and (as of 1974) are marketed as "Chocolate Sandwich Cookies" on the package in which they are held. The version currently sold in the United States is made by the Nabisco division of Mondelēz International. Oreo has become the best-selling cookie in the United States since its introduction in 1912.
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Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD, TMJD) is an umbrella term covering pain and dysfunction of the muscles of mastication (the muscles that move the jaw) and the temporomandibular joints (the joints which connect the mandible to the skull). The most important feature is pain, followed by restricted mandibular movement, and noises from the temporomandibular joints (TMJ) during jaw movement. Although TMD is not life-threatening, it can be detrimental to quality of life, because the symptoms can become chronic and difficult to manage.
TMD is a symptom complex rather than a single condition, and it is thought to be caused by multiple factors. However, these factors are poorly understood, and there is disagreement as to their relative importance. There are many treatments available, although there is a general lack of evidence for any treatment in TMD, and no widely accepted treatment protocol. Common treatments include provision of occlusal splints, psychosocial interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy, and pain medication or others. Most sources agree that no irreversible treatment should be carried out for TMD.
About 20% to 30% of the adult population are affected to some degree. Usually people affected by TMD are between 20 and 40 years of age, and it is more common in females than males. TMD is the second most frequent cause of orofacial pain after dental pain (i.e. toothache).
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A reporter questioned Patrick Stewart's casting in Star Trek: The Next Generation, asking Gene Roddenberry: "By the 24th century, wouldn't they have cured baldness?" Roddenberry replied: "In the 24th century, they wouldn't care."
Oscar the Grouch, the Muppet from Sesame Street, was inspired by a particularly unpleasant waiter at a restaurant that Jim Henson and Jon Stone went to frequently. (The name of the restaurant is given as either Oscar's Tavern or Oscar's Salt of the Sea.) The waiter was so ill-tempered, rude, grouchy, and abrasive that he surpassed annoying and became entertaining. Jim and Jon would end up frequenting the restaurant as masochistic lunchtime entertainment. Some of the Muppet designs were done by Jim Henson on Oscar's paper placemats, and are still stored in their archives.
Statler and Waldorf, the two heckling curmudgeons from the Muppet Show, are named after New York Hotels. The Statler Hotel, which was renamed Hotel Pennsylvania in 1992, and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. An episode of the Muppet Show featured Waldorf's wife, Astoria, completing the set.
Mr. Snuffleupagus, the wolly mammoth-like Muppet from Sesame Street, was originally made out to be Big Bird's 'imaginary friend,' where he'd either never appear in the same scene with other characters, or at times be out of their view, and so they didn't believe Big Bird when he talked about his friend. Parent groups voiced concern, however, that this may encourage children to not tell adults about bad things that happened to them, since 'they may not be believed.' And so Mr. Snuffleupagus was revealed to be real.
Mr. Snuffleupagus' first name is Aloysius.
Many modern day hygiene products, like tissue paper and paper towels, got their start with cellulose wadding, a product developed before World War 1 as a cotton substitute made from wood pulp. It was heavily used during World War 1 due to cotton shortages and rationing. Tissue paper was initially developed as a replaceable filter for gas masks.
The idea for menstrual pads came from Red Cross nurses during World War 1, who used cellulose surgical dressing during their periods, as it proved quicker and easier to clean than the other alternatives in use at the time.
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Doctor Fate (also known as Fate) is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character has appeared in various incarnations, with Doctor Fate being the name of several different individuals in the DC Universe who are a succession of sorcerers. The original version of the character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940).
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Oreo is a sandwich cookie consisting of two chocolate wafers with a sweet creme filling in between, and (as of 1974) are marketed as "Chocolate Sandwich Cookies" on the package in which they are held. The version currently sold in the United States is made by the Nabisco division of Mondelēz International. Oreo has become the best-selling cookie in the United States since its introduction in 1912.
Many of us grew up thinking of Hydrox cookies as "Oreo ripoffs," not realizing that the Oreo cookie itself (1912) was actually a copy of the 1908 Sunshine Hydrox. As an added bonus, the Hydrox was Kosher, unlike the original Oreo.
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Stargate is a 1994 American French science fiction adventure film released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Carolco Pictures. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise. Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, and Viveca Lindfors. The plot centers on the premise of a "Stargate", an ancient ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe. The film's central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization.
The film had a mixed initial critical reception, earning both praise and criticism for its atmosphere, story, characters, and graphic content. Nevertheless, Stargate became a commercial success worldwide. Devlin and Emmerich gave the rights to the franchise to MGM when they were working on their 1996 film Independence Day, and MGM retains the domestic television rights. The rights to the Stargate film are owned by StudioCanal, with Lions Gate Entertainment handling most distribution in international theatrical and worldwide home video releases, although Rialto Pictures handles domestic distribution under license from StudioCanal.
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Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name. In the story, a giant man-eating great white shark attacks beachgoers on Amity Island, a fictional New England summer resort town, prompting the local police chief to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. The film stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Richard Dreyfuss as oceanographer Matt Hooper, Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity Island, and Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife, Ellen. The screenplay is credited to both Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.
Shot mostly on location on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the film had a troubled production, going over budget and past schedule. As the art department's mechanical sharks suffered many malfunctions, Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the animal's presence, employing an ominous, minimalistic theme created by composer John Williams to indicate the shark's impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures gave the film what was then an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture, over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on television spots and tie-in merchandise.
Now considered one of the greatest films ever made, Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, with its release regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history. Jaws became the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars (1977). It won several awards for its soundtrack and editing. Along with Star Wars, Jaws was pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which revolves around high box-office returns from action and adventure pictures with simple "high-concept" premises that are released during the summer in thousands of theaters and supported by heavy advertising. It was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley, and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band the Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound, new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville sound recordings of the same era.
Haggard's childhood was troubled after the death of his father, and he was incarcerated several times in his youth. He managed to turn his life around and launch a successful country music career, gaining popularity with his songs about the working class that occasionally contained themes contrary to the prevailing anti-Vietnam War sentiment of much popular music of the time. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, he had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart. Haggard continued to release successful albums into the 2000s.
He received many honors and awards for his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010), a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006), a BMI Icon Award (2006), and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame (1997). He died on April 6, 2016 — his 79th birthday — at his ranch in Northern California, having recently suffered from double pneumonia.
Haggard's last recording, a song called "Kern River Blues," described his departure from Bakersfield in the late 1970s and his displeasure with politicians. The song was recorded February 9, 2016, and features his son Ben on guitar. This record was released on May 12, 2016, marking the end of Haggard's music career.
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Valentina Tereshkova, the first human woman in space, was born 80 years ago today.
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A po' boy (also po-boy, po boy) is a traditional sandwich from Louisiana. It almost always consists of meat, which is usually sloppy roast beef, known as meat curtains, or fried seafood which includes shrimp, crawfish, oysters and crab. The meat is served on baguette-like New Orleans French bread that is known for its crisp crust and fluffy center or in a basket.
There are countless stories as to the origin of the term "po' boy". A popular local theory claims that "po' boy", as specifically referring to a type of sandwich, was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benny and Clovis Martin (originally from Raceland, Louisiana), former streetcar conductors. In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, the Martin brothers served their former colleagues free sandwiches. The Martins' restaurant workers jokingly referred to the strikers as "poor boys", and soon the sandwiches themselves took on the name. In Louisiana dialect, this is naturally shortened to "po' boy."
One New Orleans historian finds the Martin claim
...suspicious for several reasons, starting with the fact that it wasn't described by the local press until 40 years after the strike, and that prior to 1969 the story from the Martin brothers themselves was that they had created the po-boy for farmers, dock workers and other "poor boys" who frequented their original location near the French Market. (The Martin brothers did write a letter, reprinted in local newspapers in 1929, promising to feed the streetcar workers, but it referenced "our meal" and made no mention of sandwiches.)
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Depeche Mode are an English electronic band that formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group consists of founders Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (guitar, keyboards, vocals, main songwriter since 1982), and Andy Fletcher (keyboards, bass guitar). Depeche Mode released their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Original member Vince Clarke (keyboards, guitar, main songwriter from 1980 to 1981), left the band after the release of the album, leaving the band as a trio to record A Broken Frame, released the following year. Gore took over the lead songwriting duties and, later in 1982, Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, bass guitar, occasional songwriter) officially joined the band to fill Clarke's spot, establishing a line up that would continue for the next 13 years. Depeche Mode have been a trio again since 1995, when Wilder left.
The band's last albums of the 1980s, Black Celebration and Music for the Masses, established them as a dominant force on the mainstream electronic music scene. A highlight of this era was the band's concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, where they drew a crowd in excess of 70,000 people. In the new decade, Depeche Mode released Violator, a mainstream success. The subsequent album, Songs of Faith and Devotion, and the supporting Devotional Tour exacerbated tensions within the band to the point where Alan Wilder quit in 1995, leading to intense media and fan speculation that the band would split. Now a trio once again, the band released Ultra in 1997, recorded at the height of Gahan's near-fatal drug abuse, Gore's alcoholism and seizures, and Fletcher's depression. The release of Exciter confirmed Depeche Mode's willingness to remain together, the subsequent, and very successful, Exciter Tour being their first tour in support of an original album in eight years since the Devotional Tour, although the band had toured in 1998 to support The Singles 86–98 compilation album.
Depeche Mode have had 50 songs in the UK Singles Chart and thirteen top 10 albums in the UK chart; they have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Q included the band in the list of the "50 Bands That Changed the World!". Depeche Mode also rank number 98 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
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Today on "Facts That Sound Made-Up But Are Actually True":
George Lucas attended high school alongside a fellow student named Gary Vader. Lucas has yet to comment on whether or not he intentionally borrowed the name "Vader" for use in Star Wars.
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While on location in Tunisia in 1977, the production crew of George Lucas' Star Wars found that the high mica content in the Tunisian sand caused nearby radio signals to interfere with the radio-controlled version of the "R2-D2" robot (another version was "piloted" by actor Kenny Baker). As a result, at one point, R2-D2 went out of control and began rolling away from where Star Wars was being filmed, eventually ending up on the nearby set of Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus Of Nazareth, where it was rescued by Lucasfilm crew members.
During the filming of Star Wars in 1976, the radio-controlled R2-D2 was operated by John Stears. In subsequent films, the robot was operated by special effects experts Brian Johnson, Kit West, Mick Garris, Don Bies, Jolyon Bambridge, and Grant Imahara (better known for his work on the television series MythBusters).
The sets used for Jesus Of Nazareth (1977) were re-used during filming for Terry Jones' 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian.
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Ambulance chasing, sometimes known as barratry, is a professional slur which refers to a lawyer soliciting for clients at a disaster site. The term "ambulance chasing" comes from the stereotype of lawyers that follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients.
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That Danica "Winnie Cooper" McKellar from the Wonder Years, not only graduated as mathmatics major she actually co-authored the Shays-McKeller-Wynn Theorem.