Miami is a beachside suburb on the Gold Coast in south-east QLD, about 17 km north of the border with NSW.
Its postcode is 4220.
It’s estimated that 75% of Canadians live within 160 km (100 miles) of the border with the United States.
New South Wales has the longest land border of all the Australian States and Territories. It adjoins Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and the Jervis Bay Territory for a total length of 4,635 km.
At 26 mi² Jervis Bay is the smallest of Australia’s territories. At 1,033 mi² Rhode Island is the smallest of the USA’s 50 states.
Rhode Island really is an island, but the territory of the state also incorporates a part of the mainland, hence the official name of State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Rhode Island was the name of one of the offshore islands, which was mapped by Dutch explorers as Roodt Eylant, which means “Red Island”, and later English settlers might have associated that with the Greek island of Rhodes. That island is now known as Aquidneck.
The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was constructed in 280 BC and was destroyed in an earthquake in 226 BC. It thus remained standing for a relatively short period of only 54 years. However its remains lay on the ground for over 800 years.
Notable alumni from URI, the University of Rhode Island, include NBA player Lamar Odom, actor JT Walsh, CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour, and oceanographer and discoverer Bob Ballard.
Fort Denison in Sydney harbour is also known as ‘Pinchgut Island’. Opinions differ on the source of the name. One theory is that it was named by Governor Hunter from the old nautical term for the point where a stream channel narrows. Another theory is that is decribes the hunger experienced by convicts who were confined there on very short rations.
Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay was operational from 1942 to 1997. The 5,520’ X 3,410’ manmade island which was built in 1936-1937 is still owned today by the U.S. Navy. The movie theater that used to be at Building 401 on Avenue I at 9th Street was named after USMC Medal of Honor recipient Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone.
A road at the north end of Camp Pendleton, and a section of Interstate 5 near San Diego, are both also named after USMC Medal of Honor recipient Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone.
Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guadalcanal in October 1942.
Tony Bennett’s 1962 single “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” got up only as high as Number 19 on the hit parade, and he had 15 prior hits that went higher than that over a ten-year recording career, including three songs that reached Number One. So Bennett’s signature tune was one of the least successful of his recordings through his career.
During WWII Tony Bennett served as an Army rifleman in the 255th Infantry Regiment of the 63rd Infantry Division. In March, 1945 he was sent to the front lines. It was an experience he would describe as “a front row seat in hell.”
Chuck Connors, star of “The Rifleman”, is one of only 12 men to have played in both Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. He played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Chicago Cubs (catching the eye of Hollywood while with their minor-league affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels), and forward for the Rochester Royals and Boston Celtics. He was also drafted by the NFL’s Chicago Bears but did not play pro football. Connors broke the backboard at Boston Arena in warmups before the first-ever Celtics game.
Christopher Cerf, co-founder of the National Lampoon and frequent song composer for Sesame Street (e.g., “Put Down the Duckie”) is the son of Bennett Cerf, co-founder of Random House publishers.
Sesame Street has a program supporting military veterans and their families. Their program is called Talk, Listen and Connect.
http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/toolkits/tlc
Bravo, Sesame Street!
Gabby Street was a baseball catcher who was famous for catching a ball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument. After his career, he became a broadcaster, and was the first color commentator to work baseball games with Harry Caray. The terminal velocity of a falling baseball is 74 mph, and nearly every pitch Street caught as a catcher was traveling faster than that.
George “Gabby” Hayes was an actor who often played in westerns. He died in 1969. He was the nephew of a General Electric VP.
Former Detroit Pistons center Bill Laimbeer, who along with Rick Mahorn was called “McFilthy and McNasty” by Boston Celtics radio announcer Johnny Most, was the son of an Owens-Illinois vice president. He claimed to be the only player in the league who earned less than his father.
Alfonso XIII was King of Spain from the moment of his birth as he was born six months after the death of his father, Alfonso XII.
In the low-budget Cambodian cult film “The Snake King’s Child” no digital effects are used in the film, as they could not be afforded by the production. To achieve the effect of Soraya’s head full of writhing snakes, live snakes were glued to a cap worn by actress Pich Chanboramey.
In Greek mythology the Gorgons were three sisters whose hair was made of living, venomous snakes. Their names were Stheno, Euryale and Medusa.
Their faces were so hideously ugly that anyone who looked at them was turned to stone.