Gateway Computers pioneered the concept of ordering personal computers by mail order. Founded in Iowa, they were noted for their shipping boxes with cow-like markings. They were a major success, but poor decisions led to their losing leadership in the field to Dell.
In 2025 Del Monte Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In April 2026 Del Monte closed two major processing plants, laying off several thousand employees; the Department of Agriculture approved up to $9 million in federal relief funding for California peach growers who are set to cut down over 400,000 peach trees after being left without buyers for tens of thousands of tons of fruit.
California Almond Growers use about 10-13% of the state’s developed or agricultural water supply, more than any other crop, although peach trees also use a significant amount, along with alfalfa. Residential use makes up roughly 7% of the state’s developed water supply. Although the numbers are hard to compare and are not exact- this has lead many experts to say California almonds use more water as all residential uses.
Per Wiki: “The California State Seal has included the word Eureka since its original design by Robert S. Garnett in 1850; the official text from that time describing the seal states that this word’s meaning applies ‘either to the principle involved in the admission of the State or the success of the miner at work.’ In 1957 the state legislature attempted to make ‘In God We Trust’ the state motto as part of the same post WWII anti-Communist movement that successfully added the term ‘under God’ to the American Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, but this attempt did not succeed and ‘Eureka’ was made the official motto in 1963.”
The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union army officer in the Civil War who later wrote a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools. In 1892, Rev. Francis Bellamy revised Balch’s verse as part of a magazine promotion, to which Congress formally adopted in 1942.
From 1892 until 1942 the customary salute presented by reciters (primarily, children) was based on the Ancient Roman salute: right arm extended and slightly raised towards the flag, with the palm of the hand facing down. After similarities between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute became apparent, the Bellamy salute was replaced by the reciter holding their right hand over their left breast (traditionally, “the heart”), while facing the flag.
The two words “under God” were added to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, during the Cold War, and the height of the 1950s “Red scare” and McCarthyism, as a way to clearly distinguish the U.S. from the officially-atheistic Communist nations.
In 1923 for the US Pledge of Allegiance, officials changed “my Flag” to “the flag of the United States” so new immigrants knew which flag they honored. Soon after, in 1924, Congress added “of America” to the end of the phrase. Later, in 1942, in addition to changing the Bellamy Salute to a hand-over-heart gesture (thank you, @knoodler!), Congress also officially added the pledge to the US Flag Code.
In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette) that schools cannot force students to recite the pledge.
In thus ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, a case from just three years earlier. There had been hundreds of reported attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses - who objected on religious grounds to being forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance - nationwide in the meantime.
In his 6-3 opinion for the court in Barnette, Justice Robert Jackson wrote, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”
I studied with some Jehovah’s Witnesses briefly back in the late 1980s, in Pacifica CA. During this study the teachers quoted a bible verse that essentially says (yes I’m paraphrasing), If you follow me then you will be persecuted. A similar quote comes from the New Testament, from 2 Timothy 3:12: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” While that may not be the exact verse shared by those teachers, it is consistent with the message they shared. I specifically and explicitly remember this.
The contrapositive of that verse is, essentially, this — If you are not persecuted then you are not desiring to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.
That is my play.
Comment — it was my thinking back then, with those teachers and with their message, that they specifically are seeking to be persecuted. It was almost like they pursued being persecuted because that was an indicator that they were on the right path, the right walk. Fair or not, and it’s been 40 years, but that’s a key takeaway from those sessions with them.
And I am definitely not saying that this applies to all Jehovah’s Witnesses. Only to those few that I studied with back then.
[Not in play]
When I looked up “The Pledge of Allegiance” on Wikipedia, the accompanying photo caught my eye: I did not know of the Bellamy salute, or ever imagined US schoolchildren making a Nazi salute. (I thought some clown had slipped in a scene from The Man in the High Tower.)
I remember saying the Pledge in every grade until 1973, when it stopped being said in classrooms (and everywhere else, except in certain social gatherings; e.g., the Boy Scouts). I do recall a few Jehovah’s Witnesses in my public school classes, and they were sent to stand outside of our classroom while we recited the Pledge.
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In November 1769, Gaspar de Portolá and his expedition climbed up to Sweeney Ridge from the Pacifica side and became the first Europeans to view San Francisco Bay. The Spanish and other voyagers had been sailing past the Golden Gate and the Bay since 1542, even Sir Francis Drake missed discovering that Bay in 1579, when he landed somewhere north of there and claimed that land for Queen Elizabeth (I, of course) as Nova Albion. The exact spot of his landing is hotly contested, but Federal and historical experts have settled on ]Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County. However, the first person to find San Francisco bay by sea- and also sail into it- was Captain George Vancouver in 1769.
On 18 August 1769, the Church of San Nazaro in Brescia, Italy, was struck by lightning. The resulting fire ignites 200,000 lb of gunpowder which was stored there. The resulting explosion destroyed a sixth of the city and killed 3,000 people.
Nazarius and Celsus (“Nazaro” and “Celso” in Italian) are a pair of Catholic saints, about whom very little is known, other than the discovery of their bodies by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, at the end of the 4th century CE.
A legend developed around the two, and their lives and martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Nero, but little, if any, of it is supported by historical documentation; nonetheless, their relics were enshrined by Ambrose, and they were canonized.
The Episcopal Bishop of Ohio is the Right Rev. Anne Jolly, consecrated in 2023. She is the first woman to serve in that role. The diocese is, essentially, the northern half of the state.
I was going to play off of Ambrose but was ninja’d by @Elendil_s_Heir , so I’m playing off of consecrated.
In play —
Saint Ambrose, or Ambrose of Milan, was Bishop of Milan from AD 374 to 397. He died in AD 397 and is buried at Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. In AD 374, all within a week, Ambrose was baptized, ordained and consecrated as the new bishop of Milan.
“When in Rome…” — Saint Ambrose is the source of the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Ambrose said to Augustine of Hippo, about following local liturgical custom, “When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the church where you are.”
This has since become the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
When In Rome was an English synth-pop group best remembered for their 1988 Top 40 hit, “The Promise.” Their popularity peaked again in 2004 when “The Promise” was included in the closing credits of indie flick Napoleon Dynamite.
Napoleon Dynamite producers Jared and Jerusha Hess chose the song “The Promise” by When In Rome for a variety of reasons. For one, the song is a metaphor for Pedro’s promise that, if he’s elected, all of his voters’ dreams will come true. The song played as Kip married Lafawnduh, Uncle Rico reuinted with his old girlfriend, and Napoleon and Deb reconciled – their dreams were coming true! Mainly, however, the rights to the song, being a minor hit by a one-hit-wonder band, were comparatively cheap.
Ancient Rome was a strange place- Romans used urine for whiten clothes, and sometimes as a mouthwash. Instead of soap, someone would get clean at the public baths by having olive oil rubbed in, then scraped off. Olive oil was so common that a artificial hill was made of discarded olive oil jars and amphora, Tunics were the day to day item of clothing, Togas were the equivalent of a nice suit.
Moises Alou was a professional baseball outfielder, and son of another MLB player and manager, Felipe Alou.
Moises played for seventeen seasons, in the 1990s and 2000s, and unlike nearly all of his contemporaries, did not wear gloves on his hands while batting; instead, he claimed that he urinated on his hands to help toughen them and build up calluses.