Although Interstate 70 is the fifth-longest interstate highway in the country, it does not run coast-to-coast. The eastern terminus is just east of I-695 in western Baltimore, and the highway ends at I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah. In Colorado, I-70 passes through the Eisenhower Tunnel, which is the highest point along the Interstate Highway System, with an elevation of 11,158 feet.
The Eisenhower Tunnel, which is about 60 miles west of Denver, Colorado, is prominently featured in a scene omitted from Steven King’s 1978 post-apocalyptic novel The Stand, but included in the 1990 unabridged edition.
Today in history, June 14, 1954: President Dwight David Eisenhower signed a bill into law that inserted “under God” after “one Nation” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Reginald Dwight is one of the UK’s most successful recording artist under the stage name of Elton John. he took the names from saxophonist Elton Dean and bluesman Long John Baldrey.
The Elton John song “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” is autobiographical, about John’s engagement in 1968 to his then-girlfriend, Linda Woodrow. After a half-hearted suicide attempt, John was found in his apartment by his lyricist, Bernie Taupin, and his friend, musician Long John Baldrey; Baldry then talked John out of going through with the wedding, as John had realized that he was not in love with her.
In recognition of Baldry’s role in helping John, Taupin incorporated him in the song: the “someone” in the song’s title refers to Baldry, as does the phrase “sugar bear.”
According to Wiki, Elton John has had 57 Top 40 hits in the US, second only to Elvis Presley. Of those 57, 27 reached the Top 10 and 9 reached Number One.
His 1997 release Candle In the Wind is the top-selling single of all time.
Elton John performed a new version of “Candle in the Wind” for the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, which also became a hit.
Princess Diana was active in drawing attention to the problem of unexploded landmines. Just days before her death, she visited Bosnia and Herzegovina with Jerry White and Ken Rutherford of the Landmine Survivors Network. Only a few months after her death in 1997, the ICBL, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Danger UXB was a British television series, which originally aired on ITV in 1979. Set during World War II, it depicted an officer in the Royal Engineers (played by Anthony Andrews), who was assigned to defuse unexploded German bombs (“UXBs”) which had fallen in London during the Blitz.
In the United States, Danger UXB ran on the PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theatre in 1981.
The Irish poet, playwright and writer George Bernard Shaw is said to have once joked, “German is not a language; it is a throat disease.”
German is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol.
English is the sole official language of Namibia, while German is also recognized as an official language of the country.
Republic of Namibia
Name in national languages
Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië
German: Republik Namibia
Khoekhoegowab: Namibiab Republiki dib
Otjiherero: Orepublika yaNamibia
Oshiwambo: Orepublika yaNamibia
RuKwangali: Republika zaNamibia
Setswana: Rephaboliki ya Namibia
siLozi: Namibia ye Lukuluhile
siLozi, also known as Lozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language, spoken by the Lozi people. The Lozi people live primarily in southern Zambia, as well as in neighboring regions of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
There are about 500 distinct Bantu languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central Africa to Southern Africa. The Bantu people formed in Western Africa in approximately 2,000 BC where the present-day Cameroon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Congo are located, and they migrated east and south to populate the southern half of the continent. The Bantu live in sub-Saharan Africa, spread over a vast area from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes to Southern Africa.
In one scene set on a train in the 1983 comedy Trading Places, Eddie Murphy pretended to be a cheery, outgoing, beef jerky-offering exchange student from Cameroon.
Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy played the wealthy Duke brothers in Trading Places, whose greed cost them their fortune at the end of the movie. The pair reappeared in the same roles in a brief appearance in the 1988 comedy Coming to America, which also starred Eddie Murphy.
Actor Don Ameche’s cousin, Alan Ameche, was a successful American football running back. Alan Ameche won the 1954 Heisman Trophy while playing at the University of Wisconsin, and then was selected to the Pro Bowl four times as a member of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts.
Ameche, who passed away in 1988, is likely best-remembered for scoring the game-winning overtime touchdown for the Colts in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, which is now referred to as “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” and is seen as being a pivotal moment in increasing the popularity of professional football.
John Heisman was born in Cleveland, Ohio and successfully coached the Oberlin College football team before going on to even greater coaching glory. He sternly said to his players at the beginning of each season, showing them a football, “What is this? It is a prolate spheroid, an elongated sphere in which the outer leather casing is drawn tightly over a somewhat smaller rubber tubing. Better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.”
Cool, good trivia! I always wondered if there was any connection between Alan and Don.
- Andre Ware (University of Houston, 1989) …
- Rashaan Salaam (Colorado, 1994)
- Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1996) …
- Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001)
- Pat Sullivan (Auburn, 1971) …
- Gino Torretta (University of Miami, 1992) …
- Gary Beban (UCLA, 1967) …
- Terry Baker (Oregon State, 1962)
These all won the Heisman Trophy. And they were all busts in the NFL.
Danny Wuerffel had a great career at Florida, Then, in the NFL, he played for the New Orleans Saints for only three seasons (and had 258 pass attempts). After the Saints he spent single seasons with the Green Bay Packers (0 pass attempts) and the Chicago Bears (0 pass attempts), then was acquired by the Houston Texans (no games played) and then was traded to the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders; 92 pass attempts).
He had:
- 2,123 total yards passing during his entire NFL career
- 2,230 yard passing in 1993, his freshman year at Florida
Wuerffel had more yards passing as a freshman than he did his entire NFL career. That’s the definition of a BUST.
But, at Florida, he did have a great career and surely enjoyed some glory years there, including winning the Heisman.