Camp David, at the approximate DD coordinates ▲ 39.6474, -77.4656, is on Catoctin Mountain in northern Maryland and about 5 miles south of the Pennsylvania state line. Catoctin Mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains range which are so named because they appear blue from a distance. This is due to the isoprene emitted into the atmosphere from the mountains’ trees.
The Blue Sky Memo was a document authored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The premise of the memo was to describe actions the CIA should undertake if it did not have to operate under legal, financial, and political restrictions (that is to say, if the “sky were blue”).
The memorandum was inspired by the USS Cole bombing, and written in the final weeks of the Clinton administration. It was delivered to Richard A. Clarke on December 29, 2000.
Any Marine helicopter, yes. Several presidents including Nixon, however, flew in Army helicopters from time to time. There’s also been (briefly) a Coast Guard Two.
There were only Marine Ones in December 2000, however.
“Blue Skies”, written by Irving Berlin in December of 1926, was first performed in the Rodgers and Hart musical Betsy.
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were a songwriting partnership that worked together from 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943. Together they collaborated on over 500 songs and 28 stage musicals. A list of their popular song titles includes “Blue Moon”, “My Funny Valentine”, and “The Lady is a Tramp”.
Richard Rodgers, of course, went on to collaborate with Oscar Hammerstein to create a string of successful Broadway musicals.
Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney. The story, which was based the book Happy Dan, The Whistling Dog by Ward Greene, centers on a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family, and a male stray mutt called Tramp. In early script versions, Tramp was first called Homer, then Rags and Bozo. However in the finished film, Tramp never calls himself a proper name, although most of the film’s canine cast refer to him as “the Tramp”.
The dog breed cocker spaniel takes its name from its original purpose, in England, where it was bred to assist in bird hunting – specifically in hunting woodcocks.
Dachshund means “badger hound” in German as they were bred to hunt badgers, even into their dens.
The German language has several interesting and useful compound words. The word for “a face in need of punching” is Backpfeifengesicht, which literally translates to “slap face” or “punchable face.”
Comedian and satirist John Oliver once described Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party (formerly known as the Brexit Party), as a “three-time cover model for ‘Punchable Face’ magazine.”
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr retired at age 90; he holds the record for oldest judge to sit on the bench.
Bloom County is a comic strip created by Berkeley Breathed. Its characters include Oliver Wendell Jones, Opus, Cutter John, Michael Binkley, Milo Bloom, and Bobbi Harlow, among others.
Prior to Bloom County, Berkeley Breathed drew The Academia Waltz for his college newspaper. Two of the characters, Steve Dallas and Cutter John (called “Saigon John”) would carry over to Bloom County.
The USS Dallas, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, is one of the settings of the first Tom Clancy novel, The Hunt for Red October.
In the 1990 film, The Hunt for Red October, the captain role of the USS Dallas was played by the actor Scott Glenn. Before becoming an actor, Scott Glenn served for three years in the United States Marine Corps. He went to boot camp at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina. During his time in the Marine Corps he served in Force Recon. When he was in the 1979 film, Apocalypse Now, speaking of himself and another man working on the film, Scott Glenn said, “We both were, still are and will be, past our deaths, United States Marines.”
➤ Cite, Apocalypse Now ➜ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/26/scott-glenn-used-marine-training-to-help-save-apoc ■
➤ Cite, Eugene the Marine ➜ Scott Glenn's Eugene the Marine: 85-Year-Old Kicks Ass in Thriller ■
➤ Cite, Force Recon ➜ Biography ■
➤ Cite, The Tim Ferriss Show ➜ The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Legendary Actor Scott Glenn — How to Be Super Fit at 85, Lessons from Marlon Brando, How to Pursue Your Purpose, The Art of Serendipity, Stories of Gunslingers, and More (#729) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss ■
Scott Glenn may have been referring to these lyrics from the Marines’ Hymn:
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
The author of these lyrics is unknown.
That’s the final verse of the Marine Corps Hymn. When sung by Marines, that verse always comes with a crescendo!
The insignia of the U.S. Marine Corps during the Civil War was not the now-familiar Eagle, Globe and Anchor, but a hunting horn with a script initial “M.”
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Boromir is a warrior from the kingdom of Gondor, and eldest son of the Steward of Gondor, Denethor. Boromir bore the Horn of Gondor, a hunting horn which was an heirloom of the Stewards, and a symbol of his status.
Soon after attempting to take the One Ring from its bearer, Frodo Baggins, Boromir died in combat, while defending Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took against an orc warband; during the combat, the Horn of Gondor was cut in two.
The Lord High Steward of England is first in precedence of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom. The office is almost always vacant except when a monarch is being coronated.