Mercury, the innermost planet of the Solar System, was for many years thought to be tidally locked, that is, always presenting the same face to the Sun. It was not until 1965 that astronomers confirmed that Mercury rotates slowly, but similarly to all the other planets.
Theia is a hypothetical planet that may have been instrumental in the creation of our moon. In theory, Theia was either created about the same time as other planetary bodies in our solar system, or was wandering through and, drawn by the gravity of a larger Venus was propelled into a smaller, proto-Earth, and the resulting collision broke up Theia, with up to two thirds being absorbed by Earth and the remainder became the moon. Moon rocks brought back to Earth share similarities in composition with our planet, suggesting the moon was formed from Earth.
In Greek mythology, Theia was a Titan who’s daughter, Selene, was goddess of the moon.
A NASA article theorizes that it is possible that when Theia collided with Earth, our Moon could have been formed within hours of that collision from the resultant debris.
➜ Collision May Have Formed the Moon in Mere Hours, Simulations Reveal - NASA ■
Moon Mullins was an American newspaper comic strip, created by Frank Willard, which ran from 1923 until 1991. The strip depicted the title character (“Moon” being short for “Moonshine”), a roughneck and would-be prizefighter, and a cast of lowbrow characters who live in a boarding house.
At one point in US history, roughly half of the population of some cities lived in boarding houses. For decades, they were the default way for people, particularly lower income people, to afford housing. However, changing social norms (including pearl-clutching from progressive social reformers who were appalled at people from different social classes living together), a growing NIMBY culture that led to zoning laws effectively forcing them out, and the post-war economic boom that enabled people to seek more private accomodations, spelled the end of the boarding house in the US. They are coming back, sort of, via Single Room Occupancy (SRO) properties and “co-living” spaces.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The fatal shot was fired from a building across the street—the Bessie Brewer’s Boarding House. The gunman, James Earl Ray, was alleged to have fired from a bathroom window in that rooming house.
Today, both the motel and the boarding house are part of the National Civil Rights Museum, which, among other exhibits, preserves the site and documents the events surrounding the assassination.
Note: I visited this museum in January of this year. Well worth the time.
(Per Wiki)
In 1994, Loyd Jowers, a restaurant owner, publicly began claiming that he had been part of a conspiracy to assassinate King and that Ray was a scapegoat. In a Memphis civil trial in 1999, a jury unanimously concluded that Jowers was liable for the assassination, that King was the victim of a conspiracy, and that various U.S. governmental agencies had conspired to murder King and frame Ray for the assassination. The King family has consistently said that they believe Ray was innocent, although this conclusion was disputed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2000. The King family has stated that they believe the true murderer was a Memphis Police Department officer, Lieutenant Earl Clark
The Michelin Guide has not bestowed any stars on any restaurants in Memphis, Tennessee, primarily because the august publication doesn’t cover that city (or, in fact, dozens of great food towns in the US that aren’t on the coast or in one of the few other regions the guide covers; this MIssouri Doper is quite salty that neither Saint Louis nor Kansas City are included). Lacking Michelin stars, the town is awash with Forbes Stars and AAA Diamonds. Four of the former and five of the latter can be found at Chez Philippe, unambiguously the toniest restaurant in the city. However, if you want to eat in Memphis and just have to have a Michelin recommendation (because you’re too boogie to do otherwise), across town is Hog & Hominy. Despite its name, it does not, in fact, serve Soul Food or Southern staples, but rather Italian-Southern fusion. It has earned a Bib Gourmand rating, Bib Gourmand being the “budget” award the Guide issues to restaurants that aren’t ever going to get stars but yet offer good value for the money.
Not in play: We had some excellent chicken and sides at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken!
Also: Memphis BBQ is okay, but not as good as that found in Kansas City.
Carry on.
Bibendum, also known as “Bib” or “the Michelin Man,” has been the mascot character of the Michelin tire company since 1894. Bibendum’s name comes from a line in a Latin poem by the poet Horace, “Nunc est bibendum” (i.e., “now is the time time to drink”).
The character, which is a humanoid figure made out of stacked white tires, was created by French cartoonist Marius Rossillion, a.k.a. O’Galup, and was adapted from a rejected character concept which Rossillon had created for a German brewery (which was also the origin of the name).
Bibendum has traditionally been comprised of a stack of white tires.as car tires were originally off-white or beige, the natural color of cured rubber, which was often enhanced with zinc oxide (a white compound) to improve durability and appearance, making them even whiter. As a side note, tbis means that the white tires on The Great Leslie’s ‘Leslie Special’ in The Great Race are in fact historically accurate rather than merely a plot device.
However. by 1917 manufacturers began adding carbon black to the rubber compound to improve durability, heat resistance, and lifespan, and from that point on tires have been predominantly black.
-“BB”-.
I love this line. But do you mean “bougie”, slang for bourgeoisie?
Yes, sorry I got the spelling wrong.
“Boogie” reminded me of Steve Harvey from The Kings of Comedy, where he confronts an audience member: [!]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBTB7zWr8o
(In play)
Rubber trees, or rubber plants, were indigenous to South American, in the Amazon rain forests. In the 1870s several attempts were made to cultivate these plants in India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Singapore. Most attempts failed, but some seedlings survived to compete with the South American monopoly.
One of the ugliest periods in history, and one that has been largely whitewashed from the history books, was from 1885-1908, during which King Leopold II of Belgium exploited the people of the Congo and its resources - mainly rubber and ivory. So eggregious were the human rights violations, which won’t be rehashed here, that the Belgian government took the unprecedented step of removing the region from the king’s “ownership” and into state control. Leopold II died in 1909, a bit after the Belgian government had fully taken over ownership and governance of the region.
(It’s been two days, anyone want to keep this thread going?)
Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner is a song from Warren Zevon’s album Excitable Boy. Like many of Zevon’s songs, the song is darkly humorous; it tells the fictional tale of Roland, a Norwegian mercenary who fights in Africa.
While Roland is fighting in the Congo, the CIA hires one of his comrades, Van Owen, to assassinate him, and Van Owen blows off Roland’s head. This, however, does not stop Roland, who continues to fight, despite not having a head – he hunts down and kills Van Owen, and continues to work as a mercenary around the world.
Congo Square is the former name of an area of Louis Armstrong Park, in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, LA. During Spanish and French control of the region, enslaved Africans were permitted to rest on Sundays, and would gather (congregate) in various places on the perimeter of New Orleans, gradually locating what would become Congo Square, where they could socialize, play music, dance, and barter goods and services, ostensibly to raise money to purchase their freedom.
Congo Square would be memorialized in song by Sonny Landreth in 1995; it was later covered by Teena Marie in 2009, just before her death in 2010.
Louis Armstrong, noted jazz and blues trumpeter and vocalist, was once asked about his religion. Armstrong said that he was raised a Baptist, wore a Star of David, and was friends with the Pope. Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnoffsky family who took him in as a child. He was baptized a Catholic in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans, and he met both Pope Pius XII and Pope Paul VI.