According to Star Trek: First Contact, the first faster-than-light spacecraft built by human beings was the warp drive prototype Phoenix, designed, built and piloted by Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell).
In Star Trek: First Contact, when Zefram Cochrane makes his initial warp-speed flight in the Phoenix, he is listening to the classic rock song by Steppenwolf, “Magic Carpet Ride.”
Steppenwolf (originally Der Steppenwolf) is a novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929. The novel was titled after the German name for the steppe wolf. The story in large part reflects a profound crisis in Hesse’s spiritual world during the 1920s.
Teatro La Fenice (Italian for Phoenix), is a landmark opera house in Venice. It has seen the premieres of works of Verdi, Rossini and other major composers. Like its mythological namesake, it has been destroyed by fire and risen from the ashes several times, in 1774 with rebuilding completed in 1792, in 1836-37, and in 1996 with reopening in 2003.
Oops, ninja’d!
Hesse’s Steppenwolf has been adapted to opera but not staged at La Fenice. Steppenwolf Opera: A Musical Retelling
The French Revolution yielded no shortage of droll final words. In 1790, upon reading his own death warrant, Thomas de Mahy, the Marquis de Favras said, “I see that you have made three spelling mistakes.”
John Tyler was the 10th President of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845. He was William Henry Harrison‘s VP, but Harrison died after only 31 days. Harrison’s was the shortest presidency in US history, and he was the first president to die in office.
Tyler was married twice and had 15 children: 8 by his first wife and 7 by his second. His eldest child was 45 years older than his youngest. His first wife was the first First Lady to die while serving in that position.
Tyler was born in Virginia in 1790 and he also died in Virginia, in 1862.
John Tyler was elected as a Representative to the 1st Confederate State Congress but died before taking his seat. He was replaced by James Lyons.
Steve Lyons played for several different MLB teams in the 1980s and 1990s, including four separate stints with the Boston Red Sox.
Lyons was eccentric, and was nicknamed “Psycho” – he became best-known for an incident in 1990, when he was a member of the Chicago White Sox. After sliding head-first into first base (to beat out an infield hit), Lyons pulled down his pants to shake out the dirt, thus earning another nickname: “Moon Man.”
“Psycho” was the first mainstream film to show a toilet onscreen.
It’s the first movie to show a toilet flushing.
OK I’ll play —
The Flushing River flows through Queens NY and drains into Flushing Bay and the East River. In 1645, the town of Flushing was established on the eastern bank of Flushing River. In 1683 when Queens County was established, the “Town of Flushing” was one of the original five towns which comprised the county.
In various card games, a “flush” is a hand of cards in which all of the cards are of the same suit. A “straight flush” is a subtype of flush, in which the cards in the hand are also consecutive (e.g., the 3-4-5-6-7 of hearts), and a “royal flush” is a straight flush in which the cards are also the highest values available (e.g., the 10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace of hearts).
There are four royal flushes that can be created from a deck of cards. If five cards are dealt, the odds of getting one of them are 649,739 to 1.
The antihero of the British dark political satire House of Cards is Francis Urquhart, a Conservative Member of Parliament (Ian Richardson); the antihero of the even darker American remake is Francis “Frank” Underwood (Kevin Spacey), who is a Democratic Member of Congress from South Carolina at the beginning of the show.
In copyright law, parody is allowed as fair use as it is a commentary on the original work. However satire is not fair use if it uses a work to generate commentary on something else.
The Battle of the Book took place in about 560 AD in northwest Ireland. The battle is possibly one of the earliest conflicts over copyright in the world. The case involved the ownership of a copy of an original version of the Book of Psalms. The High King of Ireland gave the judgement, “To every cow belongs her calf, therefore to every book belongs its copy.” The owner of the copy took exception to the ruling and instigated a successful rebellion in which over 3,000 lives were lost in battle.
The Book of Kells is an illuminated (illustrated and decorated) manuscript of the four Gospels, plus additional texts. Its initial origin is not precisely known, but portions of the work were likely created in Columban monasteries in Ireland, Scotland, and England, as well as possibly in Continental Europe, during the 6th through 9th centuries.
The book takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, in the east of Ireland, where it was housed for centuries. It has been on display in the Old Library at Trinity College in Dublin since the 19th century.
The Book of Ballymote is a remarkable work from Ireland in the late 1300’s. It is filled with the legends of Finn McCool and Brian Boru, geography, rules of poetry, instructions for the king and even passages from the works of Homer. Magnus O’Duignan was the primary scribe and editor of the book and, more importantly, a distant ancestor of mine.
Cool!
Brian who is called Brian (Graham Chapman) was the title character of the mock-epic comedy movie Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), which was the subject of widespread protests at the time of its release due to its satire of religion generally and (its critics said) Christianity specifically. Costars John Cleese and Michael Palin appeared on a BBC2 program to defend the film. Terry Jones, another costar, said in 2011 that the film “isn’t blasphemous because it doesn’t touch on belief at all. It is heretical, because it touches on dogma and the interpretation of belief, rather than belief itself.”
Blasphemy, in a religious sense, refers to insulting or disrespectful words or actions directed towards a religion or towards something sacred. Heresy, on the other hand, refers to holding a belief or opinion which is at odds with a religion’s stated doctrine.