The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was formed in 1946 after the WWII Malaria Control in War Areas program. Atlanta was chosen as its location because malaria was endemic in the southern US.
In 2011, the CDC published a tongue-in-cheek “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” blog post. It went so viral that it crashed their servers, successfully teaching real emergency readiness to millions.
The first zombie movie came out in 1932. It was called “White Zombie” and starred Bela Lugosi.
The concept of the zombie originates from Haitian and West African voodoo traditions where a bokor (magician) reanimates a deceased person as a slave.
The Zombies were an English rock band, and were part of the “British Invasion” on the U.S. music charts in the 1960s.
The band had three Top 10 hits in the U.S.: “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No” (both in 1964), and “Time of the Season” (1968).
The so-called British Invasion left an indelible mark on the history of popular music, particularly in the US (since the British couldn’t actually invade themselves). A second British Invasion took place in the early-mid 1980s, and relied on gender-bending presentation, a sound heavily driven by the synthesizer, and perhpas most importantly, videos that were as much a work of art as the songs themselves. Big groups from that era include Duran Duran, Culture Club, and A Flock of Seagulls.
America struck back with what is sometimes called the “American invasion”, mostly with the Beach Boy, but also the Monkees, the Byrd, and of course Paul Revere and the Raiders.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were a folk-rock supergroup, with its four members all having been prominent in other bands: David Crosby had been in the Byrds, Graham Nash had been in the Hollies, and Stephen Stills and Neil Young had been in Buffalo Springfield.
The band Buffalo Springfield was named after a company that made construction heavy equipment.
According to Wiki, there are 93 populated areas in the United States called Springfield.
Only one of those, located in Illinois, is the capital of a US state.
The first Springfield in the Americas is Springfield, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. It was named for Springfield, Essex, in England, the home village of its founder William Pynchon.
Written records for the English Springfield go back to the Domesday book of 1086, but the archeological record shows that it dates from many centuries further back. Roman era bricks form part of the walls of the parish church, built around 1100.
The Springfield Armory in Springfield MA was established in 1777. It was America’s first federal armory, and it started as a storage site for Patriot munitions in 1777 by order of George Washington and Henry Knox. It closed in 1968 after producing key military firearms for nearly 200 years.
The Harpers Ferry Armory in (then) Virginia was established in 1799 as the second federal armory. It was destroyed during the Civil War and is now preserved as part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building adjacent to the Fort Knox Army Post. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury, and stores over half the country’s gold reserves. It is protected by the United States Mint Police. The USMP, founded in 1792, is charged with protecting facilities, assets, and personnel of the U.S. Mint. It is among the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the United States.
I hear they had reinforcements.
In play:
Fort Knox was named for Gen. Henry Knox, who was Gen. George Washington’s artillery chief during the American Revolution and later served as the first Secretary of War under the U.S. Constitution. It is prominently featured in the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger.
Rose Knox (née Markward) was an American businesswoman in the first half of the 20th Century.
Rose’s husband Charles founded the Charles B. Knox Gelatine Company in 1890, inspired by Rose’s cooking of gelatin; Charles treated Rose as his partner in the company, and she wrote recipe booklets to promote their product.
When Charles died in 1908, Rose took over management of the company, and built it into the #1 unflavored gelatin brand in the U.S. She pioneered placing recipes in magazine advertisements, and instituted progressive (for the time) management policies, including five-day work weeks and paid vacation time. She became the first female member of the board of the American Grocery Manufacturers Association, and received numerous accolades as one of the country’s leading female businesspersons.
At Ellis Island for some time after 1900 or so, immigrants were treated with a free bowl of Jell-o as a “Welcome to America” present. Of course that was great advertising also.
Outside of North America, the Anglosphere word “jelly” refers to gelatin-based foodstuffs, viz, what Americans would cal jell-o (which is itself a name brand that has become genericized). So when Europeans / Australians / Kiwis hear that Americans love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it confuses and distresses them. So they make reaction videos on YouTube and pedantically explain that what we’re actually putting on our sandwich is jam. Then they try it; about two in ten are appalled and disgusted, the rest pleasantly surprised.
LeRoy NY (or ‘Le Roy’) is named after one of the original land owners, Herman Le Roy.
Today in LeRoy NY there is a Jell-O Museum, at #23 E Main Street.
In 1897 in LeRoy NY, cough syrup maker Pearle Bixby Wait bought the patent to Jell-O, and then his wife, May Wait, came up with the name “Jell-O”.
Bill Bixby was an American actor, known for numerous roles on television. His starring roles included Tim O’Hara in My Favorite Martian, Tom Corbett in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Anthony Blake in The Magician, Dr. David Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, and as the host of the PBS anthology series Once Upon a Classic.
Actor Lou Ferrigno, who played Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (1977), had been an avid fan of the Hulk comic book series well before becoming involved in the TV series. Ferrigno has often credited the Hulk character in helping to inspire him to help overcome the difficulties he faced related to his hearing disability and other personal issues. Ferrigno was also the only cast member to appear in every episode, after Bill Bixby was forced to miss one episode due to having to appear in court.
American actor Ed Asner won multiple Emmy awards for playing grumpy journalist Lou Grant on both a sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and a drama, Lou Grant. Asner died in 2021.