Dorothea Dix was an American woman who advocated for a variety of social reforms aimed at improving the lot of the poor and marginalized. She is perhaps most known for her advocacy for the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. At the time, they were held in filthy conditions, beaten into submission, etc. She spurred the founding of several humane (by the standards of the day) hospitals. Though not diagnosed at the time, she was almost certainly herself suffering from depression, and she spent her final years in an institution that she herself helped establish.
Geri Jewell is an American actress and stand up comedian who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a teen, and was the first actress with her condition to appear in a network TV series, The Facts of Life. She played Blair’s cousin, Geri Tyler, in 12 episodes. She would go on to appear in guest roles on 21 Jump Street and The Young and the Restless before landing a main role on HBO’s Deadwood. Geri was also featured in the Canadian documentary Wisecracks, a profile of women in comedy in the early 1980s, alongside Joy Behar, Phyllis Diller, Whoopi Goldberg and Ellen DeGeneres.
The Canadian, U.S. and Mexican flags all prominently include the color red.
(From wikipedia)
Military colors originally had a practical use in battle. As armies became trained and adopted set formations, each regiment’s ability to keep its formation was potentially critical to its success, and therefore its entire army’s success. In the chaos of battle, due to the amount of dust and smoke on a battlefield, soldiers needed to be able to determine where their regiment was.
Regiments tended to adopt “color guards”, composed of experienced or elite soldiers, to protect their colors. As a result, the capture of an enemy’s standard was considered as a great feat of arms.
Due to the advent of modern weapons, and subsequent changes in tactics, colours are no longer carried into battle, but continue to be used at events of formal character.
Not in play — This made me think of the children’s game, Capture the Flag. Per wiki, this game goes back to at least 1860. Yes there is a wiki page for Capture the Flag.
In play — The United States Marine Corps maintains the last remaining mounted color guard. They are based at Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California. They have been in every Rose Parade since 1990.
Article — Riding High: Meet the Military’s Last Remaining Mounted Color Guard
Again not in play — True story. In the late 1980s my unit did not have its own color guard. I approached my Sergeant Major and CO to ask if I could create it and I became its first Color Sergeant. I assembled and trained them. It was of course a largely ceremonial activity but we did some nice venues, like at Candlestick Park for Monday Night Football games. After I retired the Color Guard continued until the unit was decommissioned. Since then wherever I go, if I see the US Flag improperly displayed, I am compelled to correct it.
One of the most famous opening lines in modern (viz, post c. 1950) American literature comes from Hunter S. Thompson’s book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”
(Not in play)
What do you think of the US Olympic Hockey team posing with American flags draped over their shoulders, and dropping the flag on the ice?
That doesn’t really bother me. They are celebrating a glorious moment. What are your thoughts?
As an aside, I was recently on jury duty and the courtroom had the flags for the US and California in the wrong positions. I was dismissed from that jury selection but had that corrected before I left.
Added, in play — The Route 66 Motel in Barstow has been in operation since 1922.
I felt happy for the team, but I thought it disrespectful to let the flag fall to the floor, even on an ice rink. It’s not a hill I’m willing to die on, so to speak, but it gnaws at me. (And good for you, setting the courtroom display right.)
In play:
“(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” was composed in 1946 by Bobby Troup. Troup wrote it while driving from Pennsylvania to Hollywood. Initially he named it for US Hwy 40, the road they first traveled, but his wife Cynthia suggested Route 66 as a better fit.
Yeah, I hear ya.
In play — Hwy US-40 was created in 1926 and originally went from Atlantic City NJ to San Francisco CA, but now its western end has been replaced by I-80 and it now ends near Salt Lake City UT. It was built on top of much of the old Victory Highway of 1921 (NY NY to San Francisco). In Kansas, Hwy US-40 coincided with parts of the old Oregon Trail which connected Independence MO with Oregon City OR.
Independence, Missouri is deeply connected to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Supposedly Joseph Smith had a vision there, which compelled him to determine that a 63-acre lot in the town, now known as “Temple Lot,” would be the place where the Second Coming of Jesus Christ occurred. Or something. Today the spot is, well, not what the founders intended it to be, but it’s still an important part of the church’s history.
Former professional football quarterback Steve Young is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and is a great-great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, who was the second president of the LDS church, and Brigham Young University is named after him.
(Note: Brigham Young had over 50 wives, and 56 children, 46 of whom reached adulthood. In 2016, it was estimated that he had 30,000 direct descendants.)
A Terran Federation troopship in Robert A. Heinlein’s classic 1959 military sf novel Starship Troopers is named the Rodger Young, after a U.S. Army infantry sergeant killed in the Solomon Islands while showing great heroism during World War II. Sgt. Young was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
(I have seen his grave in Clyde, Ohio).
A bit of personal trivia: my paternal grandmother was a distant cousin of Spencer W. Kimball (her maiden name was Kimball), the 12th LDS President and grandson of Heber C. Kimball, counselor and close associate of Brigham Young.
In play:
“Starship Trooper” is a song from the 1971 album by prog-rock band Yes (titled, appropriately, “The Yes Album”). The song is composed of three parts: “Life Seeker”, “Disillusion” and “Würm”. Vocalist Anderson wrote the first part, “Life Seeker”; bassist Chris Squire composed the middle “Disillusion”; and lead guitarist Steve Howe contributed the final part (“Würm”), which he’d composed as an instrumental while part of a previous band. Anderson titled the song, well aware of the identical title of Heinlein’s book, but claimed to have nothing in common with it. This “starship trooper” is on a spiritual quest.
Carl Palmer is a drummer who played with ELP (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), and also with Asia. Asia formed in 1981 and released their self-titled debut album in 1982. Asia’s lead single from the album, “Heat of the Moment”, remains their best-known song, and it peaked at No. 4 in the US. Guitarist Steve Howe and keyboardist Geoff Downes both played with Yes, which formed way back in 1968. Yes is still performing and they’ll be playing in the UK next month (➜ Live - Yesworld 
).
Progressive (Prog) Rock was YUGE in the 1970s, with bands like Yes, ELO, Kansas, and multiple others, dominating the air waves and record stores. It kind of petered out in the 1980s, my personal theory being that Styx overplayed their hand with the “Mr. Roboto” album and tour, and it left a bad taste in the mouths of rock fans. Still, as Ozzy Osbourne said, you can’t kill Rock & Roll, and Prog Rock still exists in 2026. Depending on whom you ask, Coheed & Cambria are probably the biggest Prog Rock band today.
(Not in play)
You should listen to Porcupine Tree: “Sleep Together” and “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here” are bonafide prog songs.
Ozzy Osbourne’s favorite band is The Beatles. After hearing “She Loves You”, he decided he wanted to become a musician.
Ozzy Osbourne’s wife, Sharon, is the daughter of the late Don Arden, a once-powerful manager in the music industry, who represented musical acts such as Gene Vincent, Small Faces, Black Sabbath, The Move, and Electric Light Orchestra.
Arden became infamous for his corrupt business practices and violent tactics – for which he was nicknamed “The English Godfather” and “the Al Capone of Pop” – which led to the collapse of his business empire in the late 1980s.
Sharon, California, a tiny unincorporated community at DD coordinates ▲ 37.098, -120.13 in California’s Central Valley, has the zip code 93610 and is about 135 miles southeast of San Francisco. Sharon is situated along the route of the historic Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. As per Kiddle Encyclopedia, the community is named after San Francisco financier William Sharon.
Sharon, California does not have a wiki page.
➜ https://kids.kiddle.co/Sharon,\_California
➜ https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/1025964280/sharon-california