“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” is a parlour game which was developed in the 1990s, which was inspired by the concept of “six degrees of separation.” In the game, players challenge one another to find the shortest “path” between an arbitrarily-chosen actor and Kevin Bacon, based on roles in films – the premise of the game is that any actor can be connected to Kevin Bacon through no more than six steps.
Thus, an actor’s “Bacon Number” is the number of degrees that said actor is removed from Kevin Bacon:
Kevin Bacon himself has a Bacon Number of 0
Actors who appeared in a film with Kevin Bacon have a Bacon Number of 1
Actors who appeared in a film with an actor who appeared in a film with Bacon have a Bacon Number of 2
Bacon is hugely popular in the US, particularly in the South, where 600 million pounds per year are consumed. The top ten cities for bacon consumption (from 10-1) are
Atlanta
Ft. Worth
Charleston
Houston
Philly
Chicago
Baltimore
San Antonio
Los Angeles
New York City
The Baltimore Chop was a baseball play where the batter would hit the ball hard onto the ground so it would bounce high enough for the batter to reach first base before a fielder could catch it. It was pioneered by the 19th century Baltimore Orioles, who had their groundskeeper doctor the field so the dirt in front of the plate was exceptionally hard packed, causing a high bounce.
There have been at least three separate professional football teams which have gone by the name “Baltimore Colts”:
A team in the All-America Football Conference from 1947-1949. It joined the NFL in 1950 when the AAFC merged with the NFL (along with the Browns and 49ers). However, that version of the Colts then folded after the 1950 season.
An expansion team in the NFL, beginning with the 1953 season. That version of the Colts relocated to Indianapolis in 1984.
The “Baltimore CFL Colts,” an expansion team in the Canadian Football League, when the CFL placed several expansion teams in the U.S. in 1994. However, the NFL successfully had an injunction implemented against the CFL Colts just hours before their first game, preventing them from using the name “Colts.” The team thus was known as the “Baltimore Football Club” in 1994, and then the “Baltimore Stallions” in 1995, before the CFL pulled out of the U.S. after the '95 season.
The winner of the Israeli Football League is determined every year in the Israel Bowl. The first to lift the Becker Trophy was the Jerusalem Lions in 2008.
One of the original members of the Israeli Football League is the team from Haifa, known as the Underdogs. In the inaugural season of 2005-2006, the Underdogs won the championship, but has not won it since.
Despite the name, the Jerusalem artichoke has no relationship to Jerusalem, and it is not a type of artichoke, though the two are distantly related as members of the daisy family.
Italian settlers in the United States called the plant girasole, the Italian word for sunflower, because of its familial relationship to the garden sunflower. Over time, the name girasole may have been changed to Jerusalem.
The artichoke part of the Jerusalem artichoke’s name comes from the taste of its edible tuber. Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, sent the first samples of the plant to France, noting its taste was similar to that of an artichoke.
Lake Champlain is a freshwater lake, which lies in the far eastern portion of New York State, and the far western portion of Vermont, as well as extending into the Canadian province of Quebec. It’s named for French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who encountered the lake in 1609.
For a brief time in March, 1998, Lake Champlain was classified as one of the Great Lakes. This occurred when President Clinton signed a bill which re-authorized the Sea Grant Program; the bill contained a line, inserted by Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, which declared Lake Champlain to be a Great Lake. When public sentiment regarding this proved to be negative, the status was revoked a few weeks later.
The Finger Lakes Region is a area in upstate New York. There are eleven lakes in all, although Onandaga Lake is sometimes referred to the “12th Finger Lake”:
Otisco Lake
Skaneateles Lake
Owasco Lake
Cayuga Lake
Seneca Lake
Keuka Lake
Canandaigua Lake
Honeoye Lake
Canadice Lake
Hemlock Lake
Conesus Lake
The Curtiss Aviation Museum is located in that area, as well, in Hammondsport, NY.
The village of Couderay, Wisconsin, is on the shore of Lake Courtes Orielles, pronounced the same. From the French, meaning “short ears”. One of the town’s former resident was Al Capone, who had a north-woods hide-out there.
“The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” a studio album by the English rock group the Kinks, did not chart when initially released (on the same day as The Beatles’ White Album) and the band’s lead singer and main songwriter Ray Davies has called it “the most successful ever flop.” The record was critically well regarded, developed a cult following, and remains popular today .
The Kinks’ 1964 single “You Really Got Me” was their breakthrough hit, reaching #1 on the British charts, and #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The song is considered to be the first rock hit which was built around power chords, and it’s seen as being an important early influence for the later waves of hard rock and heavy metal. The song’s signature distorted guitar sound came about from guitarist Dave Davies having sliced the speaker cone of his guitar amp with a razor blade.
Bob Davies was one of the founding roster players in the NBA, playing for the Rochwster Royals in 1948. He was considered the best back-court playrt of his time, even better than Bob Cousy. Davies and Cousy were both 6’1", considered normal for a NBA player in those days.
Davies is the second most common surname in Wales. As a patronymic meaning “son of David”, its extent is probably due to the fact that St. David (probably born between 462 - 512) is the patron saint of Wales.
The Colony of New South Wales was founded as a British penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised more than half of the Australian mainland, and also included the island territory of New Zealand.
Today, New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. Its capital, Sydney, is Australia’s most populous city.
Love, Sidney was a situation comedy, starring Tony Randall and Swoosie Kurtz, which aired on NBC for two seasons, from 1981 to 1983.
Love, Sidney was the first American television series with a gay character in the lead role. In the made-for-TV movie Sidney Shorr: A Girl’s Best Friend, which served as the series introduction, had the same lead actors, and aired just a few weeks before the series began, it was made clear that Sidney (Randall) was gay; however, in the series, Sidney’s sexual orientation was downplayed.
Love, American Style ran on ABC TV from 1969 to 1974. In the second season, the theme song was sung by the Ron Hicklin Singers (YouTube), the same voices behind another ABC show, The Partridge Family (YouTube-1, YouTube-2). C’mon get happy!
In The ABC Murders, Poirot is challenged to solve the case of an apparent madman who is killing individuals based on the initial letter of their last name, in towns that also begin with that letter.
The role of the Ghost of Hamlet’s father, who appears to order his son to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder”, was supposedly played by Shakespeare himself.