The Hillside Strangler was one of many suspected serial killers who preyed on both men and women in California between the late 60s and early 80s. Among them are:
The Zodiac Killer (whose identity has never been established)
The Doodler (also unknown)
The Toolbox Killers (identified as Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker and Roy Lewis Norris)
The Freeway Killer (William Bonin)
The Golden State Killer (Joseph DeAngelo Jr, a former police officer)
The Grim Sleeper (Lonnie Franklin Jr)
The Trashbag Killer (Patrick Kearney)
The I-5 Strangler (Roger Kibbe)
The I-5 Killer (Randall Woodfield)
The Scorecard Killer (Randy Kraft)
The Machete Murderer (Juan Corona)
The Night Stalker (Richard Ramirez)
Others identified as serial killers: Chester Turner, Samuel Little, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, Charles Ray Hatcher, Dorothea Puente, and Ted Bundy.
Harris Turner was the Leader of the Opposition in the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly from 1924 to 1925. His position as Leader was unusual for two reasons: he was non-partisan, the only non-partisan Leader of the Opposition in the province’s history, and he was blind, which must have posed issues in debate, when the non-partisan Speaker gives parliamentary rulings based on factors such as a member standing up, silently, plus the absence of modern aids for non-sighted people to read the Order paper and the published debates.
Harris Teeter is a U.S. supermarket chain, which operates in the Southeastern United States (primarily in North Carolina). Its origins trace back to the 1930s, when two supermarkets were founded in the Charlotte area: Harris Super Market and Teeters Food Mart. The two chains merged in 1960, becoming Harris Teeter.
The chain was purchased by Kroger in 2014, but continues to operate under the Harris Teeter brand name.
Fred Meyer is the name of a hypermarket superstore chain based in Oregon, with stores in Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. It began as a grocery store in downtown Portland, OR, operated by Fred G. Meyer, in 1922. Meyer expanded his operations to become a one-stop shopping center, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, bank, clothing, jewelry, home decor, home improvement, garden, electronics, restaurant, shoes, sporting goods, and toys. In 1981 the chain was acquired by the equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), and then purchased by its current owner Kroger. The Fred Meyer name remains, and most stores now include a gas and convienience station on the premises.
Fred Vinson of Kentucky, a former Congressman and Federal judge, served less than a year as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury before his longtime friend President Harry S. Truman appointed him, in June 1946, as Chief Justice of the United States. The two remained close, and regularly played poker together. Vinson was the most recent Chief Justice appointed by a Democrat.
Carl Vinson (1883-1981) of Georgia served for over 50 years in the US House of Representatives from 1914 to 1965. He was known as “The Father of the Two-Ocean Navy” because he was instrumental in expanding the Navy before World War II. Vinson steered key legislation through Congress, including the Naval Act of 1938 and the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940, which authorized a massive naval shipbuilding program. This expansion was crucial for the US to effectively operate in both the Atlantic and Pacific during the war.
The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), the third Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is named after him.
The first nuclear aircraft carrier was the USS Enterprise CVN-65. Aircraft carrier use the hull designation CV and the addition of the N signifies it is nuclear-powered.
Currently (pun unintended) there are 94 commercial nuclear power plants operating in the US. The bulk of these are on the east coast, with just seven west of the Mississippi River.
NASA plans to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030 to provide power to a future US base there. Russia and China have similar plans. The NASA reactor would be smaller than a typical civilian power plant’s.
The USS Ranger, CV-61, was a non-nuclear powered aircraft carrier from 1954-2004. She was the first US aircraft carrier that was built from the beginning as an angled-deck ship. Up until then the other angled-deck carriers were converted from straight-decked ones.
She was the third of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the US Navy in the 1950s, and she was in the movies a couple of times. In 1985, she was used to film some interior scenes for the film Top Gun. And in the 1986 movie, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, USS Ranger, CV-61, was in that movie but she stood in it as the nuclear carrier USS Enterprise, CVN-65.
Many years before the movie Top Gun, and a few years before the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School got its nickname, Top Gun, the USS Ranger officially became Top Gun. Her CO, RADM William H. Livingston, recorded the fact with the Department of Records in Wyoming and USS Ranger, CV-61 was branded with the nickname, TOP GUN BAR NONE. This is described in the article The True Top Gun by Captain John G. Duncan, USN (Ret.) at ➜ The True Top Gun ■ .
In 1992, USS Ranger, CV-61 was the first US Navy ship ever to successfully transmit digital photos from sea.
The Texas Rangers compete in the American League West division. The franchise began in 1961 as the Washington Senators, an expansion team awarded to Washington DC after the previous Senators franchise moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins. The Rangers made their first of nine appearances in the postseason in 1996, and advanced to their first World Series in 2010. In 2023, the club qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team, and they won their first-ever championship by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games.
Washington, DC, has four teams that compete in the Big Four of Sports: MLB (baseball), NFL (American football), NBA (basketball), and NHL (hockey). Following the departure of the (second) Senators in 1971, the Nationals (formerly the Expos of Montreal, Canada) took their place in 2004. In 2020 the Washington Redskins of the NFL became the Washington Football Team, and in 2022 rebranded themselves as the Commanders. The Washington Bullets of the NBA were rebranded in 1997 as the Wizards. The Washington Capitals have been unchanged since 1974, when they entered into the NHL.
George Washington’s nephew Bushrod Washington served briefly in the Continental Army towards the end of the American Revolution, and was present at the British surrender at Yorktown, Va. in 1781. He went on to a distinguished political and legal career, including as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was appointed to the court by his uncle’s successor as President, John Adams.
George and Martha Washington did not produce children; speculation that George’s earlier bout with smallpox left him sterile may have been the cause. Martha had four children from a previous marriage to Daniel Parke Custis (who died in 1757), with two of them surviving childhood: John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis. Martha died at 17 from epileptic seizure, and John died in 1781 of “camp fever”, contracted while part of his step-father’s staff in the War of Independence. John was married to Eleanor Calvert; they had seven children, four of which survived infancy. After John’s death the two youngest (George Washington Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis) were raised by George and Martha at Mount Vernon, VA.
George and Martha Washington’s home on the banks of the Potomac River, Mount Vernon, is now undergoing a major restoration project, including upgrading its heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and strengthening the floors in areas accessible to visitors. If all goes well, the work should be complete in about a year.
George Washington suffered severe tooth decay, eventually losing all but one tooth. He had several sets of false teeth, but contrary to common lore none were made of wood; he had sets made of metal, bone, ivory, and both human and animal teeth. (It is likely the human teeth were from slaves.) His dental problems left him in constant pain and he treated it with laudanum.
Laudanum contains opium and ethanol and until about 100 years ago could be obtained without a prescription. It is addictive and is highly restricted and regulated.
Wyatt Earp sent his common law wife Mattie Blaylock from Tombstone, AZ to California. Rather than joining her there as expected, he started a relationship with Josephine Marcus. Six years after the abandonment, Mattie would commit suicide via laudanum overdose.
Members of the band Pearl Jam originally wanted to name the band “Mookie Blaylock” after the NBA basketball player of the same name, but were forced to change the name. They did end up naming their debut album Ten after his jersey number.
Although Pearl Jam has given several accounts behind the source of their name (“Pearl” being the name of Vedder’s great-grandmother; peyote jam; and Neil Young’s extended jams in concert), many fans of the band claim it is a euphemism for male ejaculate.