Arthur C. Clarke wrote the novelization for 2001: A Space Odyssey during development of the script for the film. However, the novelization was based on early drafts of the film script; one of the major deviations between the novel and the film is the destination of the spaceship Discovery: in the film, the Discovery’s mission took it to Jupiter, while in the novel, it went to Iapetus, a moon of the planet Saturn.
The reason for this change in the final film script was that director Stanley Kubrick, and special effects coordinator Douglas Trumbull, were unable to develop a convincing model for VFX shots of Saturn’s rings.
From time to time Saturn’s rings disappear. This is due to the planet’s natural shift in its tilt, and the rings appear to vanish. The next time this occurs will be in March 2025.
All Quiet on the Western Front (originally titled, in German, Im Westen nichts Neues), is a novel, written by Erich Maria Remarque, a veteran of the Imperial German Army during World War I. The novel describes the physical and mental traumas that German soldiers faced during, and after, the war.
The novel has been adapted to film three times: an American-made movie in 1930, a British-American television film in 1979, and a German film in 2022. Both the 1930 and 2022 films won multiple Academy Awards, while the 1979 film won an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
The Heinkel He 111 German bomber, which flew in battles of the WWII Western Front, was first manufactured in 1935 as a civil airliner because of restrictions on Germany after WWI, but it was always intended to be a heavy bomber for the Luftwaffe. Throughout its development it was described as a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’.
A Labour Party foe of mild-mannered British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe once described being criticized by him in a House of Commons debate as “like being savaged by a dead sheep.”
Steve Howe is an English progressive-rock guitarist, who is best-known for his work with the band Yes, including on songs such as “Roundabout,” “Starship Trooper,” and “Close to the Edge.” Howe was also a member of the supergroups Asia and GTR, and the Yes spinoff Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe.
The guitarist Steve Howe is completely unrelated to another Steve Howe, an American baseball relief pitcher. That Steve Howe won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1980, but his promising baseball career was repeatedly disrupted by alcohol and drug abuse: he was suspended from Major League Baseball seven times for drug-policy violations, and was, for a time, under a lifetime ban from the sport (which he was able to successfully appeal). He died in an automobile crash in 2006; an autopsy revealed that he had methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death.
The Rookie of the Year Award was begun in 1947. Originally, there was one award for both major leagues, and the first winner was Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1948, Alvin Dark of the Boston Braves won the award. In 1949, the practice of giving an award to a deserving rookie in each league was begun. The 1949 winners were Roy Sievers of the St. Louis Browns in the American League and Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the National League. In 1950, both winners were from Boston teams: Walt Dropo of the Red Sox, and Sam Jethroe of the Braves. The same thing happened in 1951, when Gil McDougald of the Yankees and Willie Mays of the New York Giants won the awards.
Jackie Robinson appeared in one feature film: The Jackie Robinson Story (1950). He played himself, with Ruby Dee as his wife Rae and Minor Watson as Branch Rickey.
Years later, Harrison Ford also played Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey, in the 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic 42. The late Chadwick Boseman played Robinson.
Daniel Defoe, the author of the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe, was a prolific author, penning more than 300 works on various topics. He wrote books, pamphlets, and journals on topics such as politics, crime, religion, marriage, and the supernatural.
Actor Willem Dafoe spells his name differently than author Daniel Defoe. Willem Dafoe made his film debut in Heaven’s Gate (1980). He was 25 then. Today he is 69. (Play continues after photo)
Willem Dafoe’s brother was a transplant surgeon at Stanford University Hospital. When Dr. Donald Dafoe was at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center he was the Director of the Pancreas Transplantation, Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Center. At Stanford he was my wife’s surgeon. My wife, a T1D or type 1 diabetic (type 1 diabetes), received and “KP”, a kidney and pancreas transplant back in 1999 at Stanford. The transplanted pancreas then began producing insulin, after which my wife was no longer diabetic. The kidney was needed because hers were damaged by the T1D.
From 1930 to January 1972 Stanford sport teams were called “The Indians.” Afterwards they were known as the “Cardinal”, for the color and not for the bird or the church leader.
The Washington Redskins had that name from 1937 to 2019 when they were renamed to the Washington Football Team, with this history:
Washington Commanders (2022–present)
Washington Football Team (2020–2021)
Washington Redskins (1937–2019)
Boston Redskins (1933–1936)
Boston Braves (1932)
Former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who’s last name translates from Spanish as “The Guardian,” was an Italian-American who is considered the best mayor of a major metropolitan city.
From 1941 until he left office at the end of 1945, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia hosted “Talk to the People,” a radio program which aired every Sunday afternoon on WNYC, a station which, at that time, was owned by the city of New York.
During the program, La Guardia would discuss civic matters, the ongoing world war, and other topics of interest to New Yorkers. During the summer of 1945, newspaper deliverymen in New York went on strike, preventing most New Yorkers from getting their newspapers; for several weeks during the strike, La Guardia would read the Sunday comic strips over the air, ostenstibly to entertain the children on New York, but also to state his disapproval of the strike.
TF Green airport (PVD) is 170 miles east northeast of LaGuardia (LGA). TF Green airport is named for former Rhode Island governor and longtime senator Theodore Francis Green who served on the Foreign Relations Committee for 20 of his 24 years in the Senate. Green was a lifelong bachelor who devoted himself to the law, politics, and civic, business, and cultural activities.
According to Etymology Online, « bachelor » is a word of uncertain origin. Dating back to the 13th century, it variously has meant a squire in training, a knight with no followers, an unmarried man (originally with the connotation of a young man), and a university degree. It may be of Latin or possibly Celtic origin.
The Latin word « baccalaureate », which also refers to university and school activities, may be the source of the word, but it may be that baccalaureate is itself a back formation, referring to the laurels that a scholar at a university might earn.
Or it may be derived from « baculum », a wooden staff that a squire would use in training, before moving on to a sword or other weapon.
Or it might be referring to a Latin word for cow, that a young boy might be herding.
In medieval times a squire would be a youth, usually 14 years old, who is a knight-in-training. He would perform duties associated with the knight’s duty, such as cleaning his armor and bearing his shield. A boy becomes a squire after performing the duties of a page. In some instances a squire may bear the colors (or flag) of the knight into battle.
In modern day parlance, a squire is usually attributed to a justice of the peace, or other dignitary.
