Green Bay has an elevation of just 581 feet above sea level. The nearest ‘sea’ to Wisconsin is actually Hudson Bay, located about 600 miles to the northeast. Hudson Bay is also the closest sea to Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Comment only — about Green Bay, wow that’s pretty cool. If I’m ever there I’ll have to remember that about the Niagara Escarpment.
(I grew up in Green Bay – the escarpment is clearly visible from the east side of town, as a “ledge” that runs from northeast to southwest, a few miles east of the city. As it’s the highest point in the area, it’s where all the TV stations built their transmission towers.)
In play: French trader and explorer Jean Nicolet is believed to have been the first European to explore Lake Michigan. Nicolet was also the first European to set foot in what is now the state of Wisconsin: in 1634, Nicolet traveled by boat down Green Bay (the body of water), and came ashore along the eastern shore of the bay, just to the northeast of the location which became the city of Green Bay.
Michael Keaton played ATF Agent Ray Nicolette (not Nicolet) in two movies, Jackie Brown and Out of Sight, which were both based on works by Elmore Leonard but otherwise unrelated.
Michael Keaton played Bill Blazejowski in a good comedy (IMHO), Night Shift (1982). It was his first major role in the movies.
It was also the first feature film for a young director named Ron Howard.
In play: Michael Keaton (whose real name is Michael Douglas) has co-starred with all 3 of Tom Cruise’s ex-wives.
Mimi Rogers in Gung Ho
Nicole Kidman in My Life
Katie Holmes in First Daughter
Larry Holmes held the WBC Heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983 and the IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. Known as the ‘Easton Assassin’, Holmes defeated Ken Norton for the crown in 1978. His career included victories over Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams, and Marvis Frazier. He lost the title in a 1985 upset to Michael Spinks. He fought in five more title bouts in the next 12 years but lost them all. He ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses, with all of his losses coming in world title fights.
On 28 January 1999, Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes fought a match in Atlantic City NJ for the WBA, WBC and IBF Heavyweight Championships. It wasn’t much of a fight. Iron Mike Tyson dominated and won by TKO in the 4th round, with Larry Holmes down on the canvas at the end of the round.
In his prime, Tyson was a beast.
The nickname of the armored, eleven-ton limousine of the President of the United States is “the Beast.”
The Marvel Comics X-Men comic book premiered in 1963. It originally featured five teenagers, who had superpowers as a result of genetic mutations, and who were trained to use their powers, and work together as a team, by a telepathic mutant, Charles Xavier (a.k.a. Professor X).
The original team members were:
- Cyclops (Scott Summers), who was able to fire energy blasts from his eyes
- Beast (Hank McCoy), who had a genius intellect, as well as oversized legs, arms, hands, and feet, and heightened athletic abiity
- Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), who was a telepath and telekinetic
- Iceman (Bobby Drake), who could manipulate ice and cold
- Angel (Warren Worthington), who had large feathered wings on his back, and could fly
Xavier Jubier posts information about solar eclipses on his site, Travel - Landcape - Solar & Lunar Eclipses - Transits - Xavier Jubier.
On 2023-10-14 there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse of 2023 Oct 14 crossing the USA.
On 2024-04-08 there will be a Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 April 8 in Mexico, the United States of America or Canada.
Francis Xavier was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, in his family’s Castle of Xavier in Navarre. As a Catholic saint, his bones were preserved; when they were examined, his wrist bones showed a deformity characteristic of avid pelota players in the days when the sport was played barehanded.
The Society of Jesus (commonly known as the Jesuits) is a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1534 by seven men, who sought to follow Christ; the seven of them took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; in 1540, their order was officially recognized by Pope Paul III.
The seven founding members were all Spanish; three of them (Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Peter Faber) were canonized as saints by the Catholic Church.
Not in play:
Most of the 7 were Spanish, but not Peter Faber: born in 1506 to a peasant family in the village of Villaret, in the Duchy of Savoy; as a boy, he was a shepherd in the high pastures of the French Alps.
And not Simão Rodrigues, born in Vouzela, Portugal to a Portuguese noble family.
(I stand corrected!)
Francis-Xavier de Laval was the first Bishop of Quebec and one of the first French bishops outside of France. Although not a Jesuit, he was the preferred candidate of the Jesuits in France.
He is commemorated in Quebec by Laval ( a suburb of Montreal) and the Université Laval in Quebec.
Xavier University, located in Cincinnati, is one of the 11 members of the Big East Conference. Xavier is also one of the nine private Catholic institutions which are in the conference. The others are Providence, Villanova, Creighton, Seton Hall, Marquette, St. John’s, DePaul, and Creighton. The other two conference members are Butler and UConn. UConn is a public university, and Butler is a private nonsectarian school.
The athletic teams for the University of Connecticut (commonly known as UConn) are nicknamed the “Huskies,” leading to an inadvertent play on words: the UConn (which is pronounced as “Yukon”) Huskies, and “huskies” are a breed of dog which lives in snowy northern climes, such as the Yukon.
It’s inadvertent because the Huskies nickname was adopted by the school in 1934, when it was named Connecticut State College. The school did not adopt the University of Connecticut name until 1939; the abbreviation of “U-Conn” or “UConn” appears to have originated at that same time.
UConn is in Storrs CT (“stores”). An odd sounding name, Storrs CT is named for Charles and Augustus Storrs, two brothers who founded the University of Connecticut (originally called the Storrs Agricultural College).
The Monkees’ Peter Tork is from Storrs. He went to high school there, and in 2005 he gave the commencement speech. Tork, born in Washington DC, grew up in Connecticut.
Noted American musicians John Philip Sousa and Duke Ellington were both also born in Washington, D.C. Ellington was featured on the District’s quarter-dollar coin in 2009.