Janis Joplin owned a 1964 Porsche 356C Cabriolet that she bought used in 1968.
It was originally colored Dolphin Grey,
but she had it repainted in a special psychedelic paint scheme.
The special Porsche was parked outside of the hotel in Hollywood when she sadly died of an overdose on 4 October 1970, at the age of 27.
Between 1969 and 1971, four well-known musicians died at the age of 27. They were Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones.
Jones is on this list because he was the founder and original leader of the Rolling Stones. His role and influence in the band waned over the next several years, and he was asked to leave in 1969, largely because of his problems with alcohol and drug abuse. Less than a month after his dismissal, he drowned in the swimming pool at his home.
A generation later, in 1994, Kurt Cobain, a founding member of Nirvana, took his own life at the age of 27.
Janis Joplin majored in Home Economics from the University of Texas.
Ellen Swallow Richards, the founder of the movement to teach Home Economics in schools, was the first woman to graduate from MIT.
There is a legend that the swallows always return to the Capistrano in southern California on March 19. They even wrote a song about it.
Actually, the swallows start arriving earlier and continue to arrive later.
Barn swallow nests can be found, in addition to barns, by playing fields and under nests.
Dysphagia, which is difficulty in swallowing or the inability to swallow, is usually caused by a condition that affects the nervous system, such as a stroke, head injury, or dementia.
Speaking of head injury…
CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, has been found in 345 of 376 deceased former NFL football players. “Iron” Mike Webster, former NFL offensive lineman, a center, and Junior Seau, former linebacker, both suffered from CTE. Mike Webster played for 17 seasons, 15 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and 2 with the Kansas City Chiefs. Junior Seau played for 20 seasons, 13 with the San Diego Chargers, 3 with the Miami Dolphins, and 4 with the New England Patriots.
Mike Webster was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Webster’s No. 52 jersey has not been reissued by the Steelers since he retired in deference to his legacy with the team. Junior Seau was elected posthumously to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Mike Webster died in 2002 of a heart attack at the age of only 50. CTE was initially discovered in his brain during his autopsy. Junior Seau died in 2012 from suicide at the age of only 43. Seau suspected he had CTE and donated his brain for study. His suicide was by a gun shot to his chest, presumably so as to not damage his brain. Seau’s death recalled the 2011 suicide of former NFL player Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest and left a suicide note requesting that his brain be studied for brain trauma.
NFL Hall of Famer Mike Webster grew up in the vicinity of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and played football at Rhinelander High School.
Rhinelander, a town of approximately 8,000 people, located in the Northwoods region of northern Wisconsin, is known as a hub for outdoor recreation, and is also known for the Hodag, a cryptid (mythical creature) which has been rumored to prowl the woods surrounding the town since the 1890s.
(The father of my best friend in college was a longtime football coach at Rhinelander High School, and he coached Webster in the late '60s.)
American actor David Morse played Mike Webster in the 2015 Will Smith movie Concussion. Morse’s first big TV role was in St. Elsewhere; he later earned an Emmy nomination for playing George Washington in the HBO miniseries John Adams.
David Morse was in the movie Contact (1997), where he played the father of Jodie Foster’s character, Ellie. The young Ellie, in the scenes with David Morse, was played by Jena Malone. Film locations for the movie included the VLA, the Very Large Array, about 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico.
8 years ago on a road trip with my mom, we stopped in briefly.
Vla is a Dutch dessert best thought of a cross between a custard and a pudding.
In Brit-speak, ‘pudding’ is a general term meaning any sweet course or dessert following a meal – although there are also traditional British puddings such as Christmas Pudding (a/k/a plum pudding), rice pudding, or Spotted Dick which are usually steamed, baked or boiled desserts.
-“BB”-
Spotted Cow is a brand of draft beer that is brewed and sold by the New Glarus Brewing Company. The company is located in New Glarus, Wisconsin, which is about 25 miles southwest of Madison. Spotted Cow, which is sometimes described as a ‘creamy ale’, accounts for 40% of the beer made by the brewery each year and is sold only in the state of Wisconsin.
Personal note: My brother lives in Wisconsin. Whenever I go visit him, I make it a point to enjoy Spotted Cow on every possible occasion. It’s damn good!
Barbie comes from the imaginary town of Willows, Wisconsin.
Pink Floyd named their first album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn after Chapter 7 of Kenneth Grahame’s book The Wind in the Willows.
Floyd Patterson was the first heavyweight champion to regain the championship after being deposed.
US Army Sergeant Charles Floyd (1782-1804) of Floyd’s Station, Kentucky was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Only 3 months into the expedition, he took ill and quickly died of what is believed to be a ruptured appendix. He is buried at the Sergeant Floyd Monument on the Missouri River at Floyd’s Bluff in Sioux City, Iowa, 1½ miles downstream from the mouth of the Floyd River, named after him.
Despite the many dangers encountered in the 8,000 miles traveled in reaching the Pacific Ocean and returning to St. Louis, Floyd was the only casualty in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The coordinates for the locations are:
➤ Sgt Floyd Monument ▲ 42.46257, -96.37733
➤ Mouth, Floyd River ▲ 42.48300, -96.39200
➤ Sgt Floyd Historical Marker ▲ 42.46251, -96.37784
“Floyd” is an anglicised version of the Welsh name “Llwyd”, meaning « grey » or « grey-haired ». It is related to the name « Lloyd ».
The double L in welsh « Ll » is particularly difficult for Anglo tongues to pronounce, so there are different spelling variants in English.
Susan Cooper’s novel, The Grey King, in which a character is called Brenin Llwyd or the Grey King, is set in Wales and includes a passage in which a character explains how to pronounce certain Welsh words. This book won the Newbery Medal in 1976.
