Thomas Jefferson also grew peanuts and helped them gain popularity during his time in office.
In the police procedural TV series Bones, the title character, forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan, and her colleagues, worked at the Medico-Legal Lab of the Jeffersonian Institute, a fictionalized version of the Smithsonian Institution.
As a former president, wouldn’t he more likely spend his final hours in a major health care facility, such as Walter Reed Hospital? Or is it the custom to use their official place of residence, even if they were to pass away elsewhere – like in a plane crash while on vacation in Europe?
And even then, there is always inconsistency. Remember, even though JFK was residing in the White House (and had a residence in Massachusetts), pretty much every history book tells us he died in Dallas.
In play — The Smithsonian Institute was originally housed in a brick castle-like building which still stands on the National Mall in Washington DC. Since its founding, it has grown to 21 museums, multiple research centers, The National Zoo, 21 libraries, and historical and architectural landmarks distributed across the country.
-“BB”-
The National Zoo has more than 2,200 animals, representing almost 400 species.
Not in play:
Jimmy Carter is under hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. He will die there.
I hope you are writing this with tongue-in-cheek. JFK was assassinated in Dallas.
Carry on.
Indeed, and it was on this day in 1963. May he rest in peace.
Wow, I didn’t even realize that.
I used to always remember because it was my Dad’s birthday. But since he passed eight years ago, it’s lost a lot of significance for me.
In play:
In terms of the number of species, the Moscow Zoo is believed to be the world’s largest. That zoo contains over 24,500 animals, representing 1,226 species.
The Zoo Gang was a short-lived British tv show in 1974 about a group of resistance fighters from WWII who now used their skills against scammers and con artists, in the south of France.
The title came from their noms de guerre:
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The Tiger - a Canadian mechanic, played by Barry Morse;
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The Leopard - a French woman, who ran a small restaurant, played by Lilli Palmer;
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The Fox - an American antiques dealer, played by Brian Keith;
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The Elephant - an English jewellery shop owner in Nice, played by John Mills.
American actor Brian Keith was born Robert Alba Keith in Bayonne, N.J. Over the course of a long career he played both Theodore Roosevelt (The Wind and the Lion) and, 22 years later, his predecessor in office as President of the United States, William McKinley (Rough Riders).
McKinley left it up to the 1900 Republican National Convention to choose his Vice-President nominee. Power players used this as an opportunity to put the New York governor into a do-nothing position that would effectively end his political power. That nominee was of course Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt Franklin was a Muppet character in early seasons of the children’s educational TV series Sesame Street. The character, which was voiced by actor Matt Robinson (who also played the human character Gordon), often spoke in rhyme and scat, and was one of the show’s most prominent Muppet characters in its first few seasons. However, Roosevelt was phased out of the show due to complaints about him presenting a negative Black stereotype, and that his rowdiness was a poor example for the pre-school audience.
Both Theodore Roosevelt and his cousin Franklin served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy - TR for McKinley, whom he later also served as Vice President, and FDR for Wilson.
In the Navy was a Top 10 hit for the Village People.
After its release and popularity, the US Navy contacted the band and asked them if the USN could use the song for recruiting purposes.
The band said they could use it for free, provided the Navy would let them film a video on a USN ship. The Navy gave them access to an old frigate for the production of the video, but in the end decided not to use the song, sticking with “Anchor’s Aweigh”.
Not in play. Speaking of the Navy, can any sailor here explain what does it mean, in the song, “yo ho blow the man down”?
LOL
Remember that shipboard life in the days of sail was brutal, what with shanghaiing or pressing men onto ship and floggings and other physical punishments once one was on board, and most captains and mates ruled with an iron hand – so to ‘blow a man down’ meant to knock him to the ground (or deck) by striking him with your fist, a belaying pin, a capstan bar, or whatever else might have been handy.
The shanty/chantey with the refrain, “Give me some time to blow the man down”, is believed to have been derived from an African-American song titled “Knock The Man Down” – so there too is another possible proof link to the meaning. Asking for ‘time to blow the man down’ obviously means that the speaker anticipates that it’s going to take more than a single punch to get the job done.
-“BB”-
In 1937 a statue of Popeye the Sailorman was erected in Crystal City, TX, to honor the character’s endorsement of spinach. The produce became a cash cow for many agricultural towns because of Popeye’s taste for it.
Also many words were introduced into our language by the early Thimble Theater/Popeye cartoons: jeep, goon, dufus, and wimp.
“The Diary of Horace Wimp” is a 1979 song by the Electric Light Orchestra, from their album Discovery. It tells the story of a week in the life of a lonely man, who meets, courts, and – on Sunday – marries a pretty woman.
The song’s lyrics detail events in Horace’s life on each day of the week, starting with Monday, but skips Saturday; songwriter Jeff Lynne explained that he skipped Saturday because “football (soccer) matches are played on Saturday.”
An amateur music video of the Electric Light Orchestra’s song “The Diary of Horace Wimp” was filmed in 1979 by students at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel, Pa., near Pittsburgh. My sister played “the girl.” She was tall and not “small,” but she was “very pretty.”
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is an American children’s book series and media franchise created by author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. The series follows Greg Heffley, a middle-schooler (high-schooler from book 19 onwards) who illustrates his daily life in a diary (although he insists that it is a journal).
A Journal of the Plague Year was written by Daniel Defoe but based on his uncle Henry Foe’s journals written during the bubonic plague outbreak in 1665.