Pitcher Walter Johnson was born in Humboldt, Kansas, only 125 moles north of Spavinaw.
Both of Kansas’s U.S. senators and three out of four of its House members are Republicans. The GOP currently holds a 29-11 majority in the state senate, and an 84-41 majority in the state house. Gov. Laura Kelly, however, elected in 2018, is a Democrat.
Kansas has not elected a Democratic Senator since 1932. Longtime Senator Pat Roberts is retiring, and the battle for his seat is being waged between two doctors: Democratic State Senator Barbara Bollier, and current Republican Congressman Roger Marshall. The latest polls show Marshall with a slight lead.
There are currently three U.S. Senators who are also medical doctors:
- John Barrasso (R-WY) is an orthopedic surgeon
- Rand Paul (R-KY) is an ophthalmologist
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is a gastroenterologist
The first session of the US Senate took place in New York City, on 04 March 1789. The first session open to the public was back on 20 February 1794.
The longest speech in the senate since 1900 was by Strom Thurmond (D-SC) when he spoke for 24 hours 18 minutes filibustering for the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
In September of 1788 the state of Pennsylvania elected William Maclay and Robert Morris to serve in the newly created United States Senate, the first two senators elected under the new Constitution.
On 04 March 1789, 8 of the 22 new senators overcame difficult late winter travel conditions to reach the nation’s temporary capital in New York City, to open business for the new United States Senate.
SPQR , an abbreviation for Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, “The Roman Senate and People”, was used in Ancient Rome to refer to the government of the ancient Roman Republic.
In contemporary usage, SPQR is still seen in the municipal coat of arms of Rome and as an abbreviation for Rome in official documents. Italians give it a humorous interpretation, "Sono Pazzi Questi Romani " (literally: “They’re crazy, these Romans”)
The principle of All Roads lead to Rome" was still true of Mexico into the 1960s. At that time, all highways had Km posts imdicating the distance to Mexico City, and it was impossible to drive from northern to southern Mexico without passing through the capital.
With an altitude of 7,382 feet, Mexico City ranks 8th on the list of national capitals ordered by elevation. Number one on this list is La Paz, Bolivia, which has an altitude of 11,942 feet. Quito, Ecuador is second on the list, while Bogota, Colombia, ranks third.
At 7,199’, Santa Fe NM is the highest state capital in the US.
One of the most popular exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has long been the model train layout. The original layout, in O scale, was built in the 1940s, and funded by a grant from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. This layout was rebuilt and updated several times over the decades, before finally being closed and disassembled in 2002.
A new, even larger layout, in HO scale, debuted in late 2002. The new layout, titled The Great Train Story, was partially funded by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (successor to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe), and depicts train travel between Chicago and Seattle.
Atchison was planned by and named after David Atchison, who five years earlier was famously alleged to be the Presidemt for a day. Noe a city of 10,000, Atchison is the home town if aviatrix Amelia Earhart, and the only town in Kansas located in steep hills and bluffs.
In 1985, George HW Bush was acting president for about 8 hours while Reagan had surgery. During that time Bush fell during a tennis game and knocked himself unconscious.
George HW Bush’s eldest daughter Pauline (nicknamed Robin) died before her 4th birthday of leukemia. As a result, the Bushes founded the Bright Star Foundation.
“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” is the first line of a well-known sonnet by John Keats. It inspired the title of Bright Star, a 2009 biopic about Keats by award-winning filmmaker Jane Campion.
New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director Jane Campion is one of only five women to be awarded the Best Director Oscar. And the winners are, or have been:
1976 – (ITA) Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties
1993 – (NZL) Jane Campion for The Piano
2003 – (USA) Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation
2009 – (USA) Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
2017 – (USA) Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird
Never heard that about both Reagan and GHWB being unconscious at the same time. Yikes. Good thing the Russkies didn’t attack!
Against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
In play:
In 2016, New Zealand spent an estimated $25 million for a referendum as to whether or not to change the national flag. The voters decided, by a healthy margin, to leave the flag alone.
Oops. Thank you!
New Zealand’s flag is based on the British maritime “Blue Ensign”; it has a blue field, with the Union Jack in the canton (upper hoist corner, typically the upper left corner as displayed), and four stars signifying the Southern Cross constellation.
Arguments for changing the design in recent years include an interest in no longer having a flag which is based on the British Blue Ensign, as New Zealand is now an independent, sovereign nation, and the fact that the flag is extremely similar to Australia’s flag, leading to confusion.
The flag design:
Zeeland is a small rural province of Netherlands at the extreme southwest corner of the kingdom. It consists if islands and peninsulas and has no cities over 50,000. New Zealand was named after Zeeland by early Dutch cartographers.