Wrigley’s pleasure planet was mentioned in a single episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, in the episode “The Man Trap.” There have been several other references to it in non-canonical works of Trek fiction.
Actress Jeanne Bal (1928-1996) was The Man Trap. Sadly, she died three days before her 68th birthday from metastasized breast cancer.
For many years, the largest hailstone officially verified in the United States was the “Potter Hailstone” which fell at Potter, Nebraska, on July 6, 1928. That hailstone was 17.0 inches in circumference, and it weighed 1.5 pounds.
This record stood until September 3, 1970, when a hailstorm ravaged Coffeyville, Kansas. An officially verified hailstone was measured at 17.5 inches in circumference and weighed 1.67 pounds.
A hailstone fell in Aurora, Nebraska, on June 22, 2003, which had a circumference of 18.75 inches. This hailstone, however, only weighed 1.3 pounds.
In the USA, NOAA keeps records of hail and other severe weather fatalities each year. Since 2000, only four people have been killed by hail.
In 2019, there were 570 deaths in the US attributed to weather events. Winter weather, with 144, was the leading cause of deaths, followed by flooding with 91 deaths, and heat with 83 deaths.
In February 2019 at the age of 85, Lee Radziwill died. She was Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s younger sister. Together in their youth, they were ‘the Bouvier girls’. She was born Caroline Lee Bouvier in 1933.
John Vernon “Black Jack” Bouvier III was the father of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill. He was a stockbroker and socialite, and was known for his flamboyant lifestyle and heavy drinking. When Jacqueline married John Kennedy in 1953, she was escorted down the aisle by her stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss Jr. – some reports were that Jacqueline’s mother, Janet, did not want to allow Black Jack to participate in the ceremony, while other reports were that he was too drunk to be able to escort his daughter.
As a young photojournalist, Jacqueline Bouvier interviewed both Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy.
On 31 December 1967, as a young photojournalist of just 25 years old, actress Linda Evans shot the classic footage frequently shown in slow motion, of Evel Knievel‘s failed attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas (here on YouTube, Evel Knievel at Caesar's Palace - YouTube).
Knievel first saw those fountains shortly before Thanksgiving, about 40 days before his attempt. When he saw them, he just had to have them. But the fountains said to Evel, “No fucking way. (okay, I exaggerate). ABC declined to televise the jump live on Wide World of Sports, but said that if Knievel had the jump filmed and it was as spectacular as he said it would be, they would consider using it later.
Just before his attempt, Knievel knocked down a shot of Wild Turkey. He also placed $100 on blackjack.
He lost the bet, lost the jump attempt, and he lost some bone integrity from the crash — including a crushed pelvis and femur, and a fractured hip, wrist, and both ankles.
Oh and a concussion too.
The crash was Knievel’s longest attempted motorcycle jump at 141 feet. After his crash and recovery, Knievel was more famous than ever. ABC-TV bought the rights to the film of the jump, paying far more than it originally would have had it televised the jump live.
Roy Rogers billed himself as “King of the Cowboys.” His wife, Dale Evans, was often billed as “Queen of the West.”
In the late 1960s, Marriott (which had recently acquired the Big Boy brand) acquired a small roast beef restaurant chain, RoBee’s, with plans to offer RoBee’s franchises to its Big Boy franchisees. However, Arby’s was in the process of suing RoBee’s for trademark infringement, and Marriott decided that they would need to rename RoBee’s. They reached an agreement with Western star Roy Rogers, to license his name for the restaurants.
The Roy Rogers Restaurants were eventually sold off by Marriott in 1990, to the parent company of Hardee’s, and sold again in 2002 to a private company, Plamodon Companies. There are still several dozen Roy Rogers Restaurants on the East Coast, many of them in turnpike or highway rest areas.
Pemmican is a high-energy food source made typically of tallow, dried meat and dried berries. When dried meat is used, and it is not always used, it is typically elk or bison or moose or deer, and usually not beef. Pemmican was invented by the indigenous peoples of North America. At room temperature, pemmican can generally last from one to five years, but there are anecdotal stories of pemmican stored in cool cellars being safely consumed after a decade or more. If vacuum sealed (e.g., in an MRE), it can still be edible after more than a century.
Honey may be safely consumed after many centuries, as it typically never spoils. Honey found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 was still edible.
Artificial honey is easy to make from water, sugar and citrus juice, and it tastes honey-like enough to fool most people. But it will dissolve quickly in room-temperature water. Genuine honey will remain as a globule when dropped into a glass of water.
In the late 19th century, artificial Christmas trees became popular in Germany, partially due to concerns about deforestation. These early artificial trees were made of goose feathers, dyed green, attached to wire branches. German immigrants introduced these “feather trees” to the U.S., where they were popular in the early 20th century, before being supplanted by artificial trees made from other materials, such as brush bristles.
I have my grandfather’s pocket magnifying glass. 'it is a precision ground glass lens, fitted in a horn rim, that swivels into a leather sleeve, stitched with cotton thread, turning on a brass rivet. An analogous instrument today would be made 100% from various kinds of plastics.
I don’t quite see the link between those two bits of trivia.
The cottonwood tree is a large shade tree that grows naturally throughout the United States. A member of the Poplar family, the cottonwood is the fastest-growing tree native to North America. A young tree can add six feet in height each year. This rapid growth leads to weak wood that is easily damaged.
A cottonwood can grow to a height of over 100 feet, with a trunk diameter of over six feet.
re: link between fake Xmas trees and plastic magnifiers … both made out of ersatz materials, perhaps?
-“BB”-
[quote=“Elendil_s_Heir, post:2079, topic:846950, full:true”]
I don’t quite see the link between those two bits of trivia.
[/quote] Artificial – made from other materials.