Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band, which originated in San Francisco in 1978, whose song lyrics were often political in nature. While their name is a clear reference to the assassinated brothers John and Robert Kennedy, according to the band’s guitarist, East Bay Ray, the name isn’t meant to be an insult, but a reference to the idea that the American Dream had died alongside the Kennedys.
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The opening sequence of the movie Watchmen includes many alternate versions of history, including one with The Comedian, holding a rifle and fleeing from the scene of the assassination of JFK in Dallas.
The USS Dallas (SSN-700) is a Los Angeles-class is the first to be named after the Texas city. But she is the second USS Dallas in the US Navy. The first USS Dallas was a 1920s destroyer named after Captain Alexander J. Dallas who served in the Navy from 1805 to 1844. Captain Dallas fought in the Second Barbary War in 1815. But it was in the First Barbary War, 1801-1805, that was the first time the US flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. That is memorialized in a line of the Marines’ Hymn — “to the shores of Tripoli”.
USS Dallas was the American sub hunting красный октябрь in the book & movie “The Hunt for Red October”.
The Red October Revolution of 1917, also called the Bolshevik Revolution, saw my grandfather be jailed in a Siberian prison.
My grandfather escaped from that Siberia prison, headed east on foot through Manchuria and China to Shanghai, and planned to catch a ship to the United States. The ship stopped in Manila and, after winters in Siberia, he stayed for some time in this newfound island paradise. He eventually married my grandmother there, and they had a daughter, my mother, in 1939.
My grandfather never made it to the US. He died in the Philippines in 1969.
Interesting story, @Bullitt. How did your parents meet?
My mom was a stewardess for PAL, Philippines Airlines. They were called stewardesses back then, in the early 1960s. They met on a DC-3 when my dad was on a business trip.
As a young teenager, coming of age, I came to the realization that, Hey! My dad hit on and picked up a stewardess! Pretty smooth operator, my dad. I wish he gave me some of his moves.
You want pictures? I got pictures… 
She was PAL’s ‘Miss Aviation’ for 1959.
Great pictures, and thanks!
Your father was indeed a smooth operator, and your mother was a beautiful young woman.
Thanks!
That was actually my play, about my grandfather.
With a population of almost 30 million, Shanghai, China is the 3rd-largest city in the world, trailing Tokyo, Japan, and Delhi, India.
China has four more cities on the top-20 list: Beijing at #8, Chongqing at #11, Guangzhou at #19, and Tianjin at #20.
Largest Cities by Population 2024 (worldpopulationreview.com)
This site gives projections of the most populous cities for 2025, 2050 and 2100. Based on these guesstimates, in 2050 four of the five largest cities will be in South Asia (India or Pakistan), Tokyo 7th, New York 9th barely ahead of Mexico City. Thirteen of the 100 most populous cities in 2050 may be in North America. Eighteen in India or Pakistan. Eleven in China (by my rough count).
On March 14, 2100 Polaris will be the closest it will get to the celestial north pole at a declination of 89.5474 degrees N.
In 2024, there will be a total of four planetary alignments. All of them, except for the April 4 alignment will be large alignments.
Playing off of @Saint_Cad’s declination, but this play still works off of @knoodler’s earth.
Right ascension and Declination (RA, DEC) are celestial coordinates similar to the earth’s latitude and longitude. Declination is the astronomical equivalent of latitude, and Right Ascension is the astronomical equivalent of longitude.
Declination, measured in degrees from -90° to +90°, is an angular distance of a point north or south of the Celestial Equator which is a projection of the Earth’s equator into space.
Right Ascension, measured in hours, minutes, and seconds with 24 hours being a full circle (24 hours = 360°; 1 hour = 15°), is the astronomical equivalent of longitude. Right ascension is the angular distance of an object measured eastward from the Vernal Equinox (or the First Point of Aries). While the earth rotates on its axis and, therefore, the prime meridian also rotates with respect to the fixed stars, the Vernal Equinox does not rotate and is fixed against the (relatively) fixed stars.
The Vernal Equinox, the First Point of Aries, occurs when the sun crosses the earth’s equator from south to north. As a result, the length of day and night are the same. “Equinox” = equal night and day. It is called the First Point of Aries because about 2,000 years ago the Vernal Equinox was at the beginning of that constellation.
The Vernal Equinox for 2024 will occur on March 19 at 11:06 p.m. ET. While many people (including me) think of March 21 as its regula date, we won’t see a March 21 equinox again until 2101.
Oh that’s kind of wild.
In play:
China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 crashed on March 21, 2022. It is suspected as a pilot suicide, however as of March 2024 the investigation’s final report has not been released.
132 people died, including 123 passengers and 9 crew. It is the third deadliest air crash in China after China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 (141 fatalities) and China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, the deadliest air accident in China Eastern Airlines’ history, and the deadliest plane crash in 2022.
Taiwan has never been allowed to join the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), even as an observer, due to the opposition of the People’s Republic of China, as recently as 2016. The U.S. supports Taiwan being given observer status.
In 2023, over 60 Interpol member states voiced their support for Taiwan’s bid to join the organization. Specifically, representatives from Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Eswatini, Palau, Paraguay, Belize, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Marshall Islands, and Saint Kitts and Nevis spoke up for Taiwan during the assembly.
“Saint Kitts” is short for Saint Christopher. “Nevis” is derived from Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, which means “Our Lady of the Snows” in Spanish.
Juan Nieves was an MLB pitcher, for the Milwaukee Brewers, from 1986 to 1988. On April 15th, 1987, Nieves (then 22 years old) threw a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles: he was the first Puerto Rican native to throw an MLB no-hitter, the second-youngest pitcher to ever throw a no-hitter, and the first Brewer to throw one.
Nieves’ pitching career was cut short by a rotator cuff injury he suffered during spring training in 1989; after being unsuccessful in his attempt return to pitching at the major league level, he became a pitching coach, and is currently an assistant pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers.
