Trivia Dominoes II — Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia — continued! (Part 1)

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9548

On November 22, 1935 one of the largest airplanes of its time, the Martin M-130 four-engine flying boat built for Pan American Airways, provided the first commercial transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila. Known as the China Clipper, this was the first of three such Martin M-130s to take to the skies over the Pacific for Pan Am. It reached Manila on November 29 after flying via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Sumay, Guam, and it delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail.

9549

Midway Atoll (Island) is part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, which encompasses 583,000 square miles of ocean waters, including ten islands and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

9550

Military historian John Keegan called the US victory in the WWII Battle of Midway “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare”, while naval historian Craig Symonds called it “one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis, Trafalgar, and Tsushima Strait, as both tactically decisive and strategically influential.”

9551

Keegan-Michael Key revealed in an interview with Rich Eisen that the first name of substitute teacher Mr. Garvey is … Marcus.

9552

Richie Rich was Macauley Caulkin’s last film as a child actor.

9553

Today, Macaulay Culkin is 44 and has 2 kids! His aunt is actress Bonnie Bedelia, and his brothers are actors Kieran Culkin (42) and Rory Culkin (35). His father is former stage actor Christopher “Kit” Culkin who is the older brother of Bonnie Bedelia who was born Bonnie Culkin.

In the Macaulay Culkin movie, Home Alone (1990), for some of the outdoor snow scenes mashed potato flakes were used.

9554

The German Stielhandgranate (« stick hand grenade » ) was nicknamed the « potato masher » by British troops in WWI.

9555

The country that exported the highest dollar value worth of unprocessed raw potatoes during 2023 was surprisingly (to me, anyway) The Netherlands, with almost 20% of the total exports. The next five countries were France, Germany, Canada, Egypt, and the United States.

9556

The Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot ID is between Pocatello and Idaho Falls in the eastern part of the state. According to them the average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes per year while Germans eat about twice as much.

I’ve been to that museum and it is interesting.

9557

Four warships in the U.S. Navy have been named USS Idaho. The fifth will be a Virginia-class nuclear fast attack submarine, launched in August of this year and due to be commissioned into service next year.

9558

I’m glad this hasn’t been played on yet because I’ve been working on this a little while.

The USS Idaho (BB-42) battleship was one of three ships in the New Mexico-class that included the USS New Mexico (BB-40) and the USS Mississippi (BB-41). All three were launched in 1917. The New Mexico-class battleships succeeded the two Pennsylvania-class battleships before it and was comprised of the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) and the USS Arizona (BB-39) launched in 1915. The Pennsylvania-class battleships in turn succeeded the Nevada-class battleships comprised of the USS Nevada (BB-36) and the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) launched in 1914.

Succeeding the New Mexico-class was the Tennessee-class comprised of the USS Tennessee (BB-43) and the USS California (BB-44) launched in 1920; and then the Colorado-class comprised of the USS Colorado, USS Maryland, USS Washington (never completed), and USS West Virginia launched in 1920 and 1921.

So we have, with their launch years in chronological order:

1914 BB-36 Nevada-class, USS Nevada
1914 BB-37 Nevada-class, USS Oklahoma
1915 BB-38 Pennsylvania-class, USS Pennsylvania
1915 BB-39 Pennsylvania-class, USS Arizona
1917 BB-40 New Mexico-class, USS New Mexico
1917 BB-41 New Mexico-class, USS Mississippi
1917 BB-42 New Mexico-class, USS Idaho
1919 BB-43 Tennessee-class, USS Tennessee
1919 BB-44 Tennessee-class, USS California
1921 BB-45 Colorado-class, USS Colorado
1920 BB-46 Colorado-class, USS Maryland (interestingly, launched first in 1920; the others were launched 1921)
N / A BB-47 Colorado-class, USS Washington — she was never completed
1921 BB-48 Colorado-class, USS West Virginia

Of these 13 battleships, regarding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 07 Dec 1941,

➤ USS Nevada (BB-36) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and was the only ship to get underway during the attack
➤ USS Oklahoma (BB-37) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and was sunk with a loss of 429 men
➤ USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was in drydock and suffered relatively minor damage in the attack
➤ USS Arizona (BB-39) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and was sunk with a loss of 1,177 men; my grand uncle, Patrocinio Pablo, OS1c, survived the attack and lived out his final years into the 1980s in San Jose CA
➤ The three New Mexico-class battleships, USS New Mexico (BB-40), USS Mississippi (BB-41), and USS Idaho (BB-42), usually serving in the Pacific fleet, were in the Atlantic Ocean on that fateful day
➤ USS Tennessee (BB-43) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and was not seriously damaged
➤ USS California (BB-44) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and was moderately damaged by torpedoes and a bomb; she slowly filled with water and eventually sank in 3 days; her crew suffered 165 casualties; she was raised in April 1942, repaired and heavily rebuilt, and returned to service in January 1944
➤ USS Colorado (BB-45) was undergoing overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard and was not present for the attack on Pearl Harbor
➤ USS Maryland (BB-46) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and she was lightly damaged; she returned to duty in 1942 in support of the Battle of Midway
➤ USS West Virginia (BB-48) was one of the 7 battleships moored in Battleship Row and she sank in the shallow water but was later refloated and extensively rebuilt over the course of 1943 and into mid-1944; she returned to service in time for the Philippines Campaign, where she led the American line of battle at the Battle of Surigao Strait

9559

For decades it was the typical U.S. Navy practice to name battleships after states. Since the Navy no longer has battleships on active duty (indeed, no navy in the world does), state names are now being given to Virginia-class nuclear fast attack submarines such as the aforementioned USS Idaho. Some, however, are named after major cities instead. The last three such subs authorized by Act of Congress are the Miami, Baltimore and Atlanta.

9560

The person in charge of the USS Nevada during the attack on Pearl Harbor was Ensign Joe Taussig, the Officer of the Deck. The Nevada had through sheer fortune already lit two boilers AND was not alongside any other ship. Because the Japanese were trying to sink her in the channel, thereby blocking it, she received tremendous damage so Ensign Taussig ordered the Nevada aground so she would not sink in deep water making recovery more difficult. Rather than ending his career as running aground would normally do, he was commended for his thinking. He lost a leg and received a Navy Cross for his actions.

ETA: Ninja’d whle typing but it still works.

9561

Cardiologist Helen Taussig achieved several accomplishments for pediatric cardiology. She is also known for her work in banning thalidomide,

Thalidomide is now a known human teratogen and carries an extremely high risk of severe, life-threatening birth defects if administered or taken during pregnancy. Thalidomide causes skeletal deformities such as amelia (absence of legs and/or arms), absence of bones, and phocomelia (malformation of the limbs). A single dose of thalidomide, regardless of dosage, is enough to cause teratogenic effects.

9562

Helene Curtis was an American personal-care products company, headquartered in Chicago.

The company primarily focused on haircare products, and was best known for its Suave brand, but also marketed deodorants and skincare products; for many years, they were the market leader in permanent wave (“perm”) products for hair salons.

There was never actually a person named “Helene Curtis”: the company name was based on the first names of one of the company’s founder’s wife and son.

Helene Curtis remained an independent company until 1996, when it was purchased by Unilever.

(Not in play: my first full-time job was as a market researcher at Helene Curtis, working on brands such as Degree, Salon Selectives, and, yes, Suave. :slight_smile: )

9563

The incumbent President, Bill Clinton, a Democrat, defeated former Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican, in the 1996 U.S. election. Both were from small towns - Clinton from Hope, Ark., and Dole from Russell, Kans. The wives of both also ran for President. Hillary Clinton ran for the Democratic nomination in 2008 and 2016, and Elizabeth Dole for the Republican nomination in 2000.

9564

The Russell Resolutions, passed by the House of Commons at the urging of Lord John Russell, future PM, rejected requests by the Lower Csnada Assembly for greater self-government. The Russell Resolutions are considered a contributing factor to the outbreak of the Lower Canada Rebellion in November 1837.

9565

Approximately 500 US Marines fought in the Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901 in Beijing, Tianjin (Tientsin), and Yangstun in China under the commands of USMC Captain John T. Myers, USMC Captain Newt Hall, Lieutenant Smedley Butler, USMC Major Littleton W.T. Waller, USMC Colonel Robert L. Meade, USMC Major William P. Biddle, and US Army General Adna R. Chaffee.

33 Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor. USMC Private Dan Daly received his first of two Medals of Honor. In 1915 he would be awarded his second Medal of Honor for his actions in Haiti. In his military career Smedley Butler also was awarded two Medals of Honor, although those would come from his actions at Veracruz in 1914 and in Haiti in 1915.

Dan Daly and Smedley Butler are the only Marines to receive the Medal of Honor twice for separate actions.

9566

Not in play:

Former Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, who was born in Wichita, grew up in Russell and graduated from Russell High School in 1947, six years after Dole graduated. Two US Senators from the same small town–not bad for a municipality with a population of about 4,000.

In play:

John L. Sullivan is recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing and also is known as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckled boxing. Sullivan, who was born in Boston, enrolled in Boston College with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest, but soon left the school to play professional baseball before becoming a boxer. Sullivan, who died in 1918, won over 450 bouts in his career.

9567

The earliest visual evidence of any type of boxing comes from Egypt and Sumer, both from the third millennium BC. A relief sculpture from Egyptian Thebes (c. 1350 BC) shows both boxers and spectators. These early Middle-Eastern and Egyptian depictions showed contests where fighters were either bare-fisted or had a band supporting the wrist. The earliest evidence of use of gloves can be found in Minoan Crete (c. 1500–1400 BC).