Command of the starship USS Melbourne was offered to Cmdr. William T. Riker of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but he turned it down. A good thing, too, as the ship was later destroyed by a Borg cube in the Battle of Wolf 359.
A ship wrecked off the coast of Antikythera was discovered by sponge divers after lying 25 fathoms deep at the bottom of the sea for almost 2000 years. The wreck contained many great treasures, and is thought to have been of an overloaded galley on its way to Rome to stage a triumphal parade for Julius Caesar. Among the treasures was a clock of almost unbelievable complexity, that could predict eclipses. Little or no historical record has been found pertaining to this treasure; the mechanism has sometimes been attributed to Archimedes or Hipparchus. Here is a Lego reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism.
(ETA: Ninja’ed, but Elendil’s Heir does mention “ship.”)
Very cool!
The USS Huron and USS Monitor are two noteworthy American warships which were lost off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
A common Thai word for monitor lizard is also a very harsh obscenity. For this reason many Thais now refer to these often-seen creatures with the euphemism ‘silver body-gold body.’
As long as a person can breathe through his mouth and/or nose, he will not die of asphyxiation, no matter how much of his body is covered with paint (or any other substance) - unlike as was claimed by James Bond in Goldfinger (1964) when the character Jill Masterson died from asphyxiation after being painted in gold paint.
One of the more unusual murder methods featuring in Agatha Christie’s works is poisoning by hat paint in Murder is Easy. The bottle of hat paint was switched for a bottle of cough syrup and the victim, unthinkingly swigging some down, dies from oxalic acid poisoning.
Every human being has been born on Earth. All but three have died on it, the exceptions being the crew of Soyuz 11 who died in outer space. In case you are wondering, the Columbia space shuttle had already renentered the atmosphere when is accident occurred.
The first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, died in that Columbia disaster. He was the oldest member of that crew - he was 48. He was the first space flight participant to request kosher food in space.
The Israeli Army diet was a fad diet that was popular in the 1970s. It was promoted as being based on the diet used by the Israel Defense Forces for new recruits but had no connection whatsoever with the Israeli Army.
The diet lasted for eight days with the dieter only eating one type of food for two days each.
Days One - Two: Apples (black tea/coffee allowed)
Days Three - Four: Cheese (black tea/coffee allowed)
Days Five - Six: Chicken (black tea/coffee allowed)
Days Seven - Eight: Salad (black tea/coffee allowed)
The Israeli Defense Forces is one of the few in the world that requires mandatory conscription of women. In practice, though, Israeli women can be granted a religious exemption and about one-third of them do.
James Dean avoided being drafted because he was extremely near-sighted, a Quaker, and, allegedly, by claiming to be a homosexual.
James Dean is mentioned in the popular Taylor Swift song “Style”:
You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye
And I got that red-lip classic thing that you like
And when we go crashing down, we come back every time
We never go out of style
We never go out of style…
According to the White Pages directory, Taylor is the sixth most common surname in Sydney.
The husband of American author Sydney Taylor, Robert Taylor, established an award in her honor. The Sydney Taylor Book Award recognizes excellence in Jewish children’s literature.
Another Robert Taylor, the film actor who was once married to Barbara Stanwyck, succeeded Ronald Reagan as the host of “Death Valley Days”, sponsored by 20 Mule Team Borax.
The “classic” Duran Duran lineup, who recorded their first three albums Duran Duran, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger as well as their reunion album Astronaut, included three guys with the surname Taylor – Andy, John, and Roger. None of them are related.
Boxer Roberto Durán fought over a span of five decades and many experts rate him as a great fighter, but he is most infamous for quitting in his 1980 rematch against Sugar Ray Leonard. During the seventh round, being beaten and taunted by Leonard, Durán finally turned around to his corner and uttered the now-famous words to referee Octavio Meyran, “No más, no más.”
Dominican relief pitcher Octavio Dotel holds the major league record for teams played for, with 13, or almost half of the total of 30. His longest stint was 5 years with the Houston Astros. When converted from starting to relief by the Astros, he became the first pitcher with 15 starts and 15 saves in the same season. Only the Red Sox’ Tim Wakefield has also accomplished the feat.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, was the legitimate Heir of England and served terms as Regent, especially during the insanity (schizophrenia?) of King Henry VI, but, although eventually made Prince of Wales, he was never crowned King. He lost his life at the Battle of Wakefield, with his head placed on a pike by the victorious Lancastrian armies and displayed over Micklegate Bar at York, wearing a paper crown.
When the sailors of the doomed Franklin expedition tried to travel overland, they took along many items of questionable value for a desperate venture, including a copy of The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith.