Wizards of the Coast is a game publishing company, headquartered in suburban Seattle. Initially a small-press publisher of role-playing games, Wizards grew rapidly beginning in 1993, when it introduced “Magic: the Gathering,” the first “collectible card game,” in which players build their decks from an assortment of cards, which are typically published in randomized packs.
In 1997, Wizards acquired the financially-troubled TSR (publisher of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game), and acquired the license to publish the Pokemon Trading Card Game in the U.S. Wizards of the Coast was purchased by the toy-and-game manufacturer Hasbro in 1999, and is still a subsidiary of Hasbro today.
The English words “donjon” and “dungeon,” are derived from an Anglo-Norman term for a fortified tower, in the inner court of a castle.
In fact, they were once variants of the same word. Today “donjon” refers to the tower, while “dungeon” means an underground prison in the tower or a similar place. The Anglo-Norman word (spelled donjun, dongon, dongoun, etc.) ultimately comes from the classical Latin domnus, a shortened form of dominus (lord), according to the OED.
Many of the supposed “Medieval torture devices” that one would find in a dungeon were hoaxes, fakes, and chicanery. For example, the Iron Maiden never existed; they were fabricated in the 1800s to shock and amuse tourists and/or castle owners’ visitors. Similarly, Medieval knights did not lock their wives up in chastity belts while they went off to war. Though such things were all over European museums in the 1800s, they were uniformly forgeries. A chastity belt, as they were purported to be used, would actually kill the user from sepsis or toxic shock within a few days.
However, Iron Maiden does exist as a bitchin’ heavy metal band, and mock chastity belts are used in the BDSM community (not saying how I know).
Bruce Dickinson is the original (and present) lead singer of Iron Maiden. Nicknamed “Air Raid” for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style, he left the band to pursue a solo career before returning in 1999. Dickinson is not related to the Bruce Dickinson character played by Christopher Walken in a memorable SNL skit, a music producer who demands “more cowbell” from a fictionalized version of heavy metal band Blue Öyster Cult.
In addition to being a rock singer, Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson is also a licensed commercial airline pilot. He piloted Iron Maiden’s charter jets during several of the band’s world tours, as well as working as a charter pilot and serving as an executive for several charter airlines.
The Carnegie Medal was established in 1936 as an annual British literary award for English-language books for children or young adults. Nominated books must be written in English and first published in the United Kingdom during the preceding school year. The first winner was Arthur Ransome for his novel Pigeon Post.
The Newbery Medal is the American version of the Carnegie medal, in that the requirements are English-language, intended for children, and published by an American publisher. Beloved Oregon author Beverly Cleary, whose books are praised for emotional realism and having the characters come from middle-class families, has won a handful of them. America’s other favorite children’s author, Judy Blume, who also injected realism in her books (often to a degree that upsets some social conservatives), has won none.
Ramona and Beezus is a 2010 film, based on author Beverly Cleary’s children’s books featuring sisters Ramona Quimby and Beatrice “Beezus” Quimby. The film starred Joey King and Selena Gomez in the title roles; both of them have continued to work as actors in adulthood, and have received acclaim for their work.
Beverly “Bev” Doolittle is an American artist best known for her paintings of the American West, which often are presented in a “camouflage” setting. Horses and Native Americans in full dress against a natural backdrop are the most common motifs in her work. Doolittle is a committed naturalist and conservationist, and portions of her profits are donated to causes that promote these attributes.
The Doolittle Raid of 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers from USS Hornet (CV-8) on 18 April 1942 was the last of six American carrier raids against Japan and Japanese-held territories during the first half of 1942.
The first raids were on 01 February and launched from USS Enterprise (CV-6) attacking Kwajalein, Maloelap, and Wotje atolls in the Marshall Islands; and from USS Yorktown (CV-5) attacking Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The next raids in February and March struck Rabaul on New Britain Island from USS Lexington (CV-2), Wake Island, Marcus Island, and the towns of Salamaua and Lae on New Guinea.
In My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle, the flower seller with such a thick Cockney accent that it causes Professor Henry Higgins to clutch his (metaphorical pearls), makes a breakthrough in mastering posh speech by repeating a simple rhyme. “The rain, in Spain, falls mainly on The Plain.” It’s catchy and pithy, but it’s also false: the Spanish plains actually get the least rainfall in the country. In fact, Spain is actually home to Europe’s largest desert: the Tabernas Desert, which looks so much like the American Southwest that European producers have filmed Westerns there.
Italian director Sergio Leone’s acclaimed trio of “spaghetti Westerns,” starring Clint Eastwood, are often referred to as the “Dollars Trilogy” or the “Man With No Name Trilogy,” though there is not a connecting story or continuity between the three films: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, T\the Bad, and the Ugly. All three were primarily filmed in Spain, in the Tabernas Desert.
The Gobi Desert is expanding at the rate of 1,390 sq miles of grassland being overtaken, mostly in the southern border in China. The Chinese government has been planting aspen and other fast-growing trees in efforts to slow or reverse the encroaching desert. Towards the northern border, in Mongolia, the desert perimeter waxes and wanes in accordance to seasonal weather patterns.
Mongolian People’s Republic was established in 1924. Its first hotel opened in 1961 — the Ulaanbaatar Hotel. The first public building to have running water, both cold and hot, was that same Ulaanbaatar Hotel.
Though they are far from the only culture that uses it, Mongolia is famous for its “throat singing,” a kind of overtone singing that takes on many forms. Perhaps most famous, at least to Western ears, is the deep, growling Kargyraa, but there is also a whistling form as well as many others. Overtone singing isn’t just limited to the Mysterious Orient; Canto e Tenore is a form of overtone singing from Sicily.
A stromboli is an Italian-American baked bread roll, typically filled with Italian cheeses, Italian cold cuts, and/or vegetables. It was developed in Philadelphia in the 1950s, and named after the Italian volcanic island, and/or for the 1950 movie of the same name.