During their crime spree that began in 1932 and ended with their deaths in 1934, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow killed 13 people. Nine of these 13 victims were police officers.
American actor Yaphet Kotto, who died on March 15, played Parker, chief engineer of the commercial starship USCSS Nostromo in the movie Alien. Parker’s first name was never stated onscreen.
Mr Parker Pyne was an unusual detective invented by Agatha Christie. He specialised in curing unhappiness. Having worked for 35 years in a government office concerned with statistics, he maintains that there are five sources of unhappiness, which can be cured by appropriate, albeit unorthodox, techniques. He is assisted by a team of employees/contractees, including Miss Lemon, Ariadne Oliver, Claude Lutterell, and Madeline de Souza.
In Greek mythology, Ariadne was a princess of Crete, and daughter of King Minos. Ariadne was placed in charge of the Labyrinth by her father, but she betrayed her father and helped her lover Theseus to navigate the Labyrinth, and defeat the Minotaur, by providing him with a ball of thread and a sword.
There have been three warships named HMS Theseus to serve in the British Royal Navy, the last of which was a Colossus-class light fleet carrier scrapped in Scotland in 1962.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are:
The Great Pyramid of Giza,
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon,
The Temple of Artemis,
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia,
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus,
The Colossus of Rhodes, and
The Lighthouse of Alexandria.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and it is the only one to remain largely intact. It is in the Giza pyramid complex bordering present-day Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq. They may have been built around 600 BC. The Hanging Gardens are the only one of the Seven Wonders for which the location has not been definitively established. To date, no archaeological evidence has been found at Babylon for the Hanging Gardens.
The Temple of Artemis was located in Ephesus, near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey. It dates from the Bronze Age, approximately 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE. It was destroyed, probably in the 1st century AD.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was in the Temple of Zeus at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece. It was built around 435 BC and was about 40 feet tall. In 391 AD the temples were closed by Roman rule and they fell into disuse. It became damaged and eventually destroyed in the 5th century.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was in Halicarnassus, or present day Bodrum, Turkey and built around 350 BC. It was in ruins by 1402, and by 1494 it had been demolished.
The Colossus of Rhodes in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of Rhodes, was a statue of Helios the Greek sun god built in 280 BC. It collapsed in an earthquake in 226 BC.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria in Pharos, Alexandria, Egypt was built between 284 and 246 BC. It was 330 feet high and for many centuries it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world. It was damaged by several earthquakes and ultimately abandoned in 1323, and then by 1480 it was completely gone when it was built over by other structures.
The oldest existing lighthouse in the world is believed to be La Coruna in Spain that dates from about 20 B.C. A Roman lighthouse, located on the Cliffs of Dover in the UK, is thought to have been constructed in 40 A.D.
The oldest existing original lighthouse in the USA can be found at Sandy Hook, NJ. It was built in 1764 and is still in operation.
The current Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, built in 1870, was moved inland 2,900 feet, extremely slowly and carefully, in 1999 due to long-term erosion of nearby shoreline and the risk of losing the distinctively-striped, black-and-white structure in the next big Atlantic storm.
The barber’s pole dates back to the Middle Ages, as a symbol/sign of a professional barber. Such poles traditionally have a helix of colored stripes, usually red and white, and sometimes including blue. The traditional colors may be indicative of services which were offered by early barbers, including bloodletting (the red stripe), tooth pulling (the white stripe), and shaving (the blue stripe).
Some lighthouses, such as the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, have similar, helical paint in contrasting colors applied to their towers for visibility, and may be referred to as having a “barber pole” paint job.
The USS Hatteras was the sole US Navy warship sunk by the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama, commanded by Capt. Raphael Semmes, during her long cruise (although she captured, sank or burned many civilian ships). The Alabama was eventually caught and sunk by the steam sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge, commanded by Capt. John A. Winslow, after a naval duel off the coast of Cherbourg, France - the only naval battle fought outside American waters in the entire Civil War.
The film score for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg established composer Michel Legrand’s reputation in Hollywood. His later films and songs, including “The WIndmills of Your Mind”, Summer of '42 and Yentl won him three Oscars. Two of the songs from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg became hits: “I Will Wait for You” and “Watch What Happens”.
For centuries Europeans considered the umbrella to be a feminine accessory, until 1750 when English gentlemen Jonas Hanway popularized the umbrella by bringing it with him wherever he went. While enduring some laughter at first, Hanway eventually broke the taboo of men using umbrellas.
Personnel of the U.S. Marine Corps were forbidden, until a few years ago, to carry umbrellas while in uniform. They are now permitted to do so, but the umbrella must be black.
The US Marine Corps Band is the oldest musical organization in the US armed forces. It is known as “The President’s Own” because of its privilege of performing at all state functions at the White House.
Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, who served in the Banana Wars, World War II, and the Korean War, was the most-decorated member of the U.S. Marine Corps, having been awarded five Navy Crosses and one Distinguished Service Cross. Puller remains a celebrated figure among Marines, and a common Marine Corps slogan is, “Goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are!”
Yes, sir! Good night Chesty, wherever you are.
In play — The Banana Wars were skirmishes between the US and Central America and the Caribbean over 36 years between 1898 and 1934. Most of this fighting on behalf of the US was done by the Marine Corps, with some assistance from the Army and the Navy.
With the Treaty of Paris (1898), Spain ceded control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the US. Thereafter, the US conducted military interventions in Cuba, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The series of conflicts ended with the withdrawal of troops from Haiti in 1934 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The island of Hispaniola, which is located in the Caribbean, is the second-largest island (behind Cuba) of the region known as the West Indies. The countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic can be found there, with Haiti occupying the western 3/8 of the island. Haiti is the poorest country in North America, with a per-capita GDP of just $671. The Dominican Republic has a per-capita GDP of $7,223.
Bullitt, you might want to check out the latest issue of Naval History magazine - the cover article is on the Banana Wars.
In play:
The current blue-and-red flag of Haiti was first used by President Alexandre Pétion in 1806; it was readopted in 2012 under the current Constitution of Haiti. The country has had 23 different constitutions since winning its independence from France in 1804.
Thanks for that!
In play — Haiti is the most mountainous nation in the Caribbean. Its terrain consists of mountains interspersed with small coastal plains and river valleys. Its highest point is Pic la Selle, at just under 9,000 feet high.
That high point is higher than 37 US states. At 8,793’ high, that high point is higher than every US state except for:
AK – 20,310’
CA – 14,505’
CO – 14,440’
WA – 14,417’
WY – 13,809’
HI – 13,803’
UT – 13,534’
NM – 13,167’
NV – 13,147’
MT – 12,807’
ID – 12,668’
AZ – 12,637’
OR – 11,249’
Dick Cheney is the only former elected official (he served in the U.S. House) from Wyoming to ever be elected Vice President of the United States.