Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was noted for his remarkable skills as a general and for reforming the French government, but he also tried to reintroduce slavery in France’s overseas possessions, which, as in Haiti, did not go well.
The Caribbean island of Hispaniola is home to two independent countries: Haiti (which occupies the western portion of the island) and the Dominican Republic (which occupies the eastern portion of the island).
Hispaniola is one of only two islands in the Caribbean which is shared by two goverments; the other is the island of Saint Martin, which is split between French (Saint Martin) and Dutch (Sint Maartin) territories.
New Guinea and Borneo are the two largest islands shared by two countries. New Guinea is shared by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and Borneo is shared by Indonesia and Malaysia.
Borneo is shared by three countries, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Brunei, while occupying only 1% of the island’s land area, is one of the top 10 richest nations in the world, based on its petroleum and natural gas fields.The sultan of Brunei has been ranked among the wealthiest individuals in the world.
A sultana is a white (actually, pale green) seedless variety of grape; in the United States, the variety is more typically referred to as a Thompson Seedless grape.
The name “sultana” is also used to refer to a golden raisin.
‘Babe’, of course, is the most famous nickname of baseball great George Herman Ruth. Fanbuzz lists 20 other nicknames for him, including the Sultan of Swat, the King of Swing, the Wizard of Whack, and The Behemoth of Bust.
Swat was a princely state of India. Its various leaders had a variety of titles, but “Sultan” wasn’t one of them.
“Swat” was an early baseball term, meaning to hit the ball hard. In 1905, the Kansas department of Health first applied it to swatting an unusual plague of flies that were spreading disease. Although the fly swatter is obviously one of man’s most ancient forms of technology, the modern machine was patented in 1900.
“Swatting” is the illegal practice of making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address as a form of harassment or embarrassment. It comes from the acronym S.W.A.T. (meaning “Special Weapons And Tactics”) and refers to a law enforcement unit which uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. First created in the 1960s to handle riot control or violent confrontations with criminals, the number and usage of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and 1990s during the ‘War on Drugs’ and later in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
-“BB”-
S.W.A.T. was a television crime drama, which ran on ABC from 1975-76, and was a spinoff from another ABC crime drama, The Rookies.
A version of S.W.A.T.'s theme song, performed by the disco/funk group Rhythm Heritage, reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February of '76.
Actor Steve Forrest (1925-2013) of S.W.A.T. (1975) — he played “Hondo” Harrelson — served in the US Army during WWII. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He had three sons, and one was named Forrest.
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Comment: Really? Did the guy really name his son Forrest Forrest? Apparently so — Steve Forrest (actor) - Wikipedia
Yes sir, thank you!
The Battle of the Bulge was Germany’s last major offensive campaign on the Western Front during WWII. It began on December 16, 1944 and lasted for over 5 weeks. It proved to be the bloodiest battle for the American forces, as the USA suffered casualties of 19,000 killed, 47,500 wounded and 23,000 missing.
The USA’s second most bloody battle of WWII was the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Its US casualties were about half of that from the Battle of the Bulge.
The USA’s third most bloody battle of WWII was D-Day. Its US casualties were about 10% less than that from the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Magpies are large conspicuous black and white birds of the crow family. The two species that occur in the new world are virtually identical, except for bill color. The yelllow-billed species is the only bird whose global range is restricted to one US state – the central valley of California.
A piebald animal is one whose body has a pattern of unpigmented (white) spots on a pigmented background of its hair, feathers, or scales.
In England, a piebald horse is one that is specifically black and white; the English refer to a horse whose coat is white with any other color as a skewbald; in North America, horses with either such coat coloration are referred to as pintos.
Piebaldism is found in nearly every species of mammal. It is very common in mice, rabbits, dogs, sheep, deer, cattle and horses—where selective breeding has increased the incidence of the mutation—but occurs among chimpanzees and other primates only as rarely as among humans. Piebaldism is completely unrelated to conditions such as vitiligo or poliosis.
An old saying in England and Ireland states that “Dreams Come True and Wishes Never Fail, If Wished Upon a Piebald Horse Without Thinking of the Tail.”
The “Dream Team”, the 1992 Olympics US Men’s Basketball team, was the first American Olympic team to feature active professional players from the NBA. Eleven of its twelve players, and three of its four coaches were eventually inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The team has been described as the greatest sports team ever assembled.
Some random stats regarding the Dream Team:
The average margin of victory was 43.8 points.
The team averaged 117 points per game, while allowing 73 points per game.
The closest game was a 32 point win.
In 8 games at the Olympics, the team used zero timeouts.
Every team member played at a different college.