“Titanic Overture” is the first song on Alice Cooper’s first album Pretties for You,. released on Frank Zappa’s Strait Records label.
Astronaut Gordon Cooper’s real first name was Leroy, while his colleague Scott Carpenter’s real first name was Malcolm.
Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier, is an avid golfer.
“Vincent” was Don McLean’s only hit song other than “American Pie”.
[Not so…he had four other songs which made the US top 40, including a remake of Roy Orbison’s “Crying”, which went to #5 in 1980.]
Cyndi Lauper had a top 10 US & UK hit in 1989 with “I Drove All Night” which was a cover of a Roy Orbison song, however Orbison’s version wasn’t released as a single until 1992, four years after his death. A 2003 cover by Celine Dion was not a hit in the US or UK, but did reach #1 on the Canadian pop chart.
Roadkill is often hit at night. Precautions to take are checking both sides of the road, reducing speed in areas known for nocturnal animal activity and staying alert for glowing eyes (often seen before the animal is).
The Roadkill Cafe is located in Seligman, Arizona, between Flagstaff and Kingman.
The U.S. Flag is to be flown at half-staff for:
30 days after the death of a president (current or former)
10 days after the death of a current vice president, chief justice, or speaker of the House
“From the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a secretary of an executive or military department, a former vice president, or the governor of a state, territory, or possession”
"on the “day of death and following day for a current member of Congress”
Technically presidential proclamation is required for a flag to fly half-staff for any other officials though this is not always followed. When flown at half staff it is to be raised to the top of the flagstaff first and then lowered (otherwise it’s not lowering the flag in respect, it’s just raising it halfway).
The Emancipation Proclamation actually has two executive orders (or presidential proclamations). The first executive order is the “freeing slaves in the Confederacy” proclamation most people are familiar with (if the state didn’t return to the union before January 1st, their slaves would be freed in the eyes of the Union). The second was issued on January 1st, and listed the 10 states where this would apply.
*A Confederacy of Dunces *was published 11 years after John Kennedy Toole committed suicide. Toole won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981 for this work.
Though Confederacy of Dunces has never been filmed (though John Belushi was interested at the time of his death), J.K. Toole’s The Neon Bible (written when he was a teenager but not published after Confederacy) was made into a film in 1995 featuring Denis Leary, Diana Scarwid (bka adult Christine in Mommie Dearest) and Gena Rowlands. (Much was changed from the book.)
The Great Chicago Fire did indeed start in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, though the story that her cow started it is probably only hyperbole.
On April 13, 1992 a utility tunnel beneath the Chicago River opened into a breach, allowing an estimated 250 million gallons of water to flood basements and underground facilities throughout the Loop. The event has been called the Chicago Flood or the Great Chicago Flood.
On that same day, the White Sox beat the Mariners, 1-0.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem by Samuel B. Coleridge, warns of the perils of killing a bleedin’ seabird.
The Gossamer Albatross, designed by Paul MacCready, was the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel, in 1979.
The giant headless monster in Warner Brothers cartoon that often matches wits with Bugs Bunny is named “Gossamer.”
What flavor was it? Did it come with wafers?
The movie The Brown Bunny is perhaps best known for its unsimulated scene of fellatio on (who else?) the director.
G.K. Chesterton’s priest-detective Father Brown first appeared in a short story entitled “The Blue Cross.”
Blue Cross was originally an insurance plan covering hospitalization expenses for teachers at Baylor University. It was developed independently from Blue Shield (originally an insurance plan which covered physician expenses); Blue Cross and Blue Shield merged into one association in 1982.