Respiratory cancers, of the trachea, larynx, bronchus, and lungs, is one of the most deadly diseases in the world. The main causes are smoking, secondhand smoke, and environmental toxins, but household pollutants such as fuels and mold also contribute.
Two infectious deadly diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox in humans was declared eradicated in 1980, and rinderpest in ruminants, in 2011.
There are four ongoing programs to eradicate deadly diseases: polio, yaws, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm), and malaria. Ali Maow Maalin of Somalia was the last person known to have contracted naturally occurring smallpox, in 1977. He became an advocate for vaccination and worked as a coordinator for immunization campaigns, including the successful poliomyelitis eradication campaign in Somalia. He died of malaria while carrying out polio vaccinations after the re-emergence of the poliovirus in 2013.
As Jan. 20, 2013, the constitutional date for his inauguration, was a Sunday, President Barack Obama was sworn in that day for his second term by John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States, in a small ceremony in the Blue Room of the White House, with his wife and two daughters and some staff present. There was a much larger public ceremony at the Capitol the next day.
On June 2, 1886, President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room of the White House. It remains the only wedding of a President and First Lady in the White House. Folsom was just 21 years old at the time, and became the youngest wife of a sitting President.
Cleveland died in 1908. Five years later, at the age of 48, Folsom married Thomas J. Preston, Jr. She thus became the first presidential widow to remarry.
Folsom Prison is best known from the song by Johnny Cash ("Folsom Prison Blues). However, since 1947, inmates at Folsom State Prison have manufactured California’s license plates for the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Originally, the factory was located in a surplus airplane hanger near the original granite quarry. In 1953, the entire operation was dismantled and reassembled in the new factory located in the Upper Yard.
It is expected that when 9ZZZ999 is reached in the current California license plate format (which began in 1980), the next serial format will be 123ABC1, maintaining the DMV’s practice since the 1960s of reversing serial formats at exhaustion.
Comment: my first car, bought in 1980, had the license plate 1ALW422.
I’ll state this a little better —
The current California license plate format of 1ABC123 began in 1980. This has increased sequentially since then. Currently in 2021, vehicles are in the 8s, as in 8ABC123. It is expected that when 9ZZZ999 is reached, the next serial format will be 123ABC1, maintaining the DMV’s practice since the 1960s of reversing serial formats at exhaustion.
Comment: my first car, bought in July 1980, had the license plate 1ALW422.
In the 1920s and 1930s, NBC operated two networks of radio stations, the “Red Network” and the “Blue Network.”
After a lengthy anti-trust investigation by the FCC, NBC divested itself of the Blue Network in 1943; the former Blue Network became the American Broadcasting Company, now known as ABC.
CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System, got its start in 1927 with the creation of the “United Independent Broadcasters” network. Shortly thereafter, the Columbia Phonographic Manufacturing Company (also owners of Columbia Records) became a majority investor and renamed the organization to the “Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System.” After yet another sale later the same year, the name was changed to the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Not in play … is the registration plate/number permanently attached with one specific vehicle throughout the vehicle’s lifetime in California? Or to put it another way, if you junk out a car, does the plate go with it or can the plate be removed and transferred to a different vehicle, as is the case in Wisconsin?
-“BB”-
It cannot be transferred. The plate goes with it. This, according to discussions I’ve had with the clerk at my local DMV.
In play — the canyon of the Columbia River Gorge, between Oregon and Washington, is about 80 miles long and at times up to 4,000 feet deep. The gorge extends from Biggs Junction OR and Maryhill WA in the east, to Troutdale OR and Camas WA in the west. These endpoints correspond with river confluences with the Columbia River: the Deschutes River (OR) in the east, and the Sandy River (OR) and Washougal River (WA) in the west. They also correspond with two islands on the Columbia River: Miller Island to the east, and Government Island to the west.
In 1980, about nine years after the DB Cooper incident, a bag of cash was found suggesting that Cooper’s parachute landing was along the Washougal River and near the Columbia River, near Camas WA.
The Columbia River Highway, built in the early 20th century, was the first major paved highway in the Pacific Northwest. Shipping on the Columbia was greatly simplified after Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam submerged the gorge’s major rapids such as Celilo Falls, which was a major salmon fishing site for local Native Americans until the site’s submergence in 1957. And in November 1986, Congress made the gorge the second U.S. National Scenic Area and established the Columbia River Gorge Commission as part of an interstate compact.
Comment: the Columbia River Gorge is my wife’s most favorite place in the world.
The Pontiac Bonneville was an automotive model, which was produced by General Motors from 1958 until 2005. Except for a few years during the 1980s (when the name was applied to a mid-size sedan), the Bonneville was a full-sized sedan, and was often also offered as a station wagon. The Bonneville was usually positioned as the top-end model in Pontiac’s lineup.
Lake Bonneville was an ancient lake that covered much of western Utah and, at times, covered parts of present-day Nevada and Idaho. Its size was comparable to that of Lake Michigan. Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, and Sevier Lake are the largest lakes in the Bonneville Basin.
While the word ‘Bonneville’ is French and translates to “good city”, the Bonneville Salt Flats were actually named after Benjamin Bonneville, a U.S. Army officer who explored the Intermountain West in the 1830s.
-“BB”-
According to the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin, son of King Mosiah the first, was the second Nephite king to rule over Zarahemla. An account of his life and teachings are recorded in both the Words of Mormon and the Book of Mosiah. He was considered a king and a prophet, and was the spiritual and governmental leader of his people. He is believed to have been born roughly 190 BC
Benjamin Franklin, the first Postmaster General, and George Washington, the first President, were pictured on the first two U.S. postage stamps, issued in New York City on July 1, 1847. Postal clerks used scissors to cut the stamps for customers from pregummed, nonperforated sheets.
Until the rise of self-adhesive stamps in the late 1990s and the 21st century, most US stamps were issued in sheets of 40 to 100 (number of stamps per sheet depended on the size of the stamps, naturally), with perforations to separate the individual stamps. Most American stamps were perforated 10.5 perfs (in a 2-cm segment) across the top, and 11 perfs along the sides.
Perforations, however, were not standardized. Many times the same image/design was reused, such as the above-mentioned Washington/Franklin issues, and the stamp was reissued with the only variance between the original and the reissued specimens being the perforation count. This is why literally one of the first tools a true philatelist acquires – after a good pair of tongs and a magnifying glass – is a perforation gauge, which allows the collector to quickly and easily determine the number of perforations along the edges of the stamp.
-“BB”-
The United States Postal Service’s policy on the subjects depicted on U.S. postage stamps is that living persons are not depicted on stamps. The Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee (which recommends subjects for stamps to the Postmaster General) will consider a deceased individual for a stamp, beginning three years after the person’s death.
It used to originally be ten years after a person’s death, later reduced to three.
The only current exception to this policy is that, upon their demise, a current or former US president may be honored as soon as feasible. This exception was created in 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and allowed for the issuance of a commemorative stamp the following year (Scott catalog #1246).
And it is acceptable to honor a living person’s accomplishment(s), such as was done for John Glenn’s historic orbital space flight … but since Glenn was still alive, his recognizable image could not be used and the stamp depicted only the Project Mercury capsule in space (Scott catalog #1193).
-“BB”-