The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s annex at Dulles International Airport is named the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Udvar-Hazy is a Hungarian immigrant, who made his fortune in the aircraft lease business; in 1999, he donated $65 million to the Smithsonian, to fund the construction of the museum’s annex.
A Hazy Shade of Winter as sung by The Bangles was rare in that all four members sang lead at some point in the song.
A Hazy Shade of Winter was written in 1966 by Paul Simon and performed by Simon & Garfunkel that same year. The Bangles sang it 21 years later.
The only episode of The Muppet Show featuring music only written by the guest was the one guesting Paul Simon.
Paul Simon was an Illinois politician, who served as a state senator, and as lieutenant governor, before becoming a U.S. Representative, and later U.S. Senator. Simon, who was known for his horn-rimmed glasses and bow ties, was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988; during his run for the nomination, he appeared on Saturday Night Live, alongside the musician Paul Simon (to whom he was not related).
Earl Blumenauer served as US Representative for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district from 1996 to 2024. He is known for his distinctive bow ties and neon bicycle lapel pins.
The National Historical Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is at 22267 OR Hwy 86, Baker City, OR.
The End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is at 1726 Washington Street, Oregon City, OR.
Comment: I’m driving to Seattle in June for my niece’s graduation and plan to stop in at both.
Also in play: a few months back I stopped in at the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko NV. It is excellent. It’s right along I-80, visible from the interstate.
Map,
➜ https://maps.app.goo.gl/MaGT9tECkK1t5pps5 ■
► San Francisco (an old address) to
► National Historical Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, 22267 OR Hwy 86, Baker City, OR to
► End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, 1726 Washington Street, Oregon City, OR
Only three American soldiers have held the rank of General of the Armies, the highest rank in the U.S. Army: George Washington for American Revolution service, Ulysses S. Grant for Civil War service, and John J. Pershing for World War I service. Pershing was promoted to the rank in 1919; Washington and Grant were both awarded the rank posthumously, in 1976 and 2024, respectively.
There has never been an O-11 5 star General rank thus far in the Marine Corps, though such a rank could theoretically be created at any time by an act of Congress. Currently, no officer in any branch of the US military holds such a grade.
The last U.S. military officer to hold a five-star rank was General Omar Bradley of the U.S. Army, who was promoted to the rank in 1950. Upon Bradley’s death in 1981, no living officer in the U.S. armed services held the 5-star rank, and although the rank still exists, no officer has been promoted to it in the time since Bradley’s death.
In the US Navy, the O-10 rank is the 4 star Admiral, and the O-11 rank used to be the 5 star Fleet Admiral (FADM). The FADM rank was established in 1944 in order to give US military officers comparable ranks to five-star officers of allied nations. There have only ever been 4 FADMs, with 3 towards the end of World War II and 1 immediately after.
William Leahy, Ernest King, and Chester Nimitz were promoted to FADM in December 1944, on the 15th, 17th, and 19th, respectively. This timing was carefully planned, per wiki, in order to establish a clear order of seniority and a near-equivalence between the services for the Generals of the Army promoted at the same time. William Halsey picked up FADM on 11 December 1945.
Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief of the Pacific Ocean Areas, was the last of them when he died in 1966 in San Francisco. He rests near San Francisco, at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno.
(Hmmm, I was just there last month, my first time ever, visiting the grave of Marine Lance Corporal Travis J. Layfield, KIA on 06 April 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq’s Anbar province. I am friends with his mother, Dianne.)
On Treasure Island in San Francisco, Chester Nimitz lived there during the latter part of his life. He actually lived on YBI, Yerba Buena Island, and not on TI where I was stationed. The house is now called The Nimitz House and it sits directly underneath the new(-ish) eastern span of the Bay Bridge, at DD coordinates given by ▲ 37.8127, -122.3636. Its address is Naval Quarters 1 Nimitz House, 1 Whiting Way, San Francisco, CA 94130.
That eastern span of the Bay Bridge opened on Monday 02 Sep 2013, and my wife and I were among the very first to drive across it that day.
Treasure Island, the novel written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, was originally released in 1881 through 1882 as a serial in a magazine titled ‘Young Folks’, under the title Treasure Island or the Mutiny of the Hispaniola. A year later, it was released as a standalone novel, although the original title was The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys.
Original titles of famous books include First Impressions (Pride and Prejudice), The Year of the Rose (The House of Mirth), and Mistress Mary (The Secret Garden).
Keira Knightley as Lizzie Bennet can be seen reading a small, leather-bound copy of First Impressions at the start of the 2005 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and smiling. She is, in effect, reading her own story.
Keira Knightley’s first major film role was that of Sabé, the handmaiden and decoy/double for Princess Padmé Amidala of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Knightley was chosen for the role due to her strong resemblance to Natalie Portman, who played Princess Amidala.
The resemblance was so strong, that when visiting the set, Keira Knightley’s mother couldn’t tell them apart while the two were in makeup.
(Yes that is in play)
Keira Knightley’s mother is Scottish actress Sharman Macdonald. When Keira was born, she was to be given the name ‘Kiera’, the anglicized form of ‘Kira’, after the Soviet figure skater Kira Ivanova, whom her father admired. However, when Macdonald went to register her newborn daughter’s birth certificate, she misspelled the name, putting the ‘e’ before the ‘i’.
Kira Krivosh is one of the newest judges on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, having been elected in November 2024 and sworn in in January 2025. Cuyahoga County is the greater Cleveland, Ohio area, population 1.3 million. The county seat is Cleveland.
Cleveland Amory was a journalist, writer, television critic, and animal-rights activist. He was a commentator on NBC’s Today show in the 1950s, then wrote a weekly television review column for TV Guide in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1989, Amory wrote a non-fiction book, *The Cat Who Came for Christmas," about a stray cat which he had adopted, and named Polar Bear. The book spent twelve weeks in the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list, and spawned two successful sequels.
Sarah Vowell is an author and former contributor to This American Life, as well as voicing the teen superhero Violet Parr in The Incredibles franchise. She also made several appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a “Senior Historical Context Correspondent.”