The basement of the Lincoln Memorial has stalactites hanging from the ceiling, even though the structure is less than a century old.
In cricket, a batsman who scores 100 or more runs in a single innings is said to have scored a century.
The Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago in 1933 and '34 celebrated the city’s centennial. The World Fair’s opening night began with a nod to the heavens. Lights were automatically activated when the rays of the star Arcturus were detected. The star was chosen as its light had started its journey at about the time of the previous Chicago world’s fair—the World’s Columbian Exposition—in 1893.
For many years, General Electric used the slogan "Progress is our most important product.’
General Sir John Monash was a civil engineer who became an Australian military commander in the First World War. After commanding troops in Egypt, Gallipoli and France he was made commander of the Australian Corps, at the time the largest corps on the Western Front. He planned the successful Allied attack at the Battle of Amiens in 1918. Monash is considered to be one of the best Allied generals of the First World War and the most famous in Australian history.
On 12 August 1918 Monash was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the battlefield by King George V, the first time a British monarch had honoured a commander in such a way in 200 years.
The execution of Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock in Pretoria in 1902 marked the last time Australian soldiers were executed by order of a non-Australian court-martial board. A fictionalized version of the story may be seen in the award-winning Boer War drama Breaker Morant, starring Edward Woodward as Lt. Morant.
When Australian rugby teams in the southern hemisphere championship are required to play in Pretoria or Johannesburg, they generally arrive up to a week in advance, in order to acclimatise to the elevation.
The elevation of Pretoria is 4,400 feet. The elevation of Johannesburg is 5,750 feet. After last week’s earthquake in Nepal the elevation of Kathmandu rose by about 2-3 feet, and the elevation of Mt. Everest’s summit dropped by about 1 inch.
Sir George Everest, for whom the mountain is named, was the Surveyor-General of India. He died in London in 1866 and is buried in St Andrew’s Church, Hove, near Brighton.
His great-niece Ethel Lilian Boole was an Anglo-Irish novelist and musician. She married Wilfrid Michael Voynich, famous as the owner of the mysterious Voynich manuscript.
Sir George Everest pronounced his last name EEV-rest. It is not known how the mountain that bears his name got to be pronounced EVV-rest. Mt. Everest is also called Chomolungma in Tibet which means “mother goddess of the earth.” In Nepal it is called Sagarmatha which means “head of the sky.”
Mount Warning is a mountain in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, close to the border with Queensland. It has an elevation of 1,156 metres, and is the first place on the Australian mainland to receive the sun’s rays each day.
It was named in 1770 by Lieutenant James Cook to warn of the presence of dangerous reefs just off shore in the area.
George Vancouver and William Bligh sailed under James Cook’s command.
After the Rum Rebellion had removed William Bligh from his post as Governor of New South Wales, he sought the support of David Collins, the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) to regain control of New South Wales. Collins did not support him, and Bligh remained stranded for a year on board his ship the HMS Porpoise, moored at the mouth of the River Derwent south of Hobart.
In San Jose, California, both Tasman Drive and the Tasman Station for the light rail system are named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman,
The murder of Abel by his brother Cain is detailed in chapter 4 of the Book of Genesis.
According to the Qur’an and also the Bible, Cain and Abel were two sons of Adam and Eve. The oldest known copy of the biblical narrative of Cain slaying Abel is from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and dates to the first century CE. In the New Testament, Mathew 28:35, Jesus speaks of Abel as being righteous. According to Shi’a Muslim belief, Abel is buried in Syria, on the west mountains of Damascus, in the Mausoleum of Abel at the Nabi Habeel Mosque.
Since God creates a woman in Genesis 1:27, and then another woman from Adam’s rib in Genesis 2:22, in some Jewish traditions Eve was Adam’s 2nd wife. In Jewish folklore, the first wife is shown as Lilith the Demoness from ancient Mesopotamian myth, though occurring in the Bible, if at all, only as a hapax legomenon at Isaiah 34:14 (translated as “screech owl” in King James’ version).
Uptight psychiatrist Dr. Lilith Sternin, M.D., Ph.D., Ed.D., A.P.A., was Dr. Frasier Crane’s girlfriend, future wife and then ex-wife, and mother of his son Frederick. She was played in numerous appearances of *Cheers *and *Frasier *by Bebe Neuwirth, who won two Emmys for the role.
Charles “Bebe” Rebozo was the founder of Key Biscayne Bank & Trust, and a longtime fishing buddy and reputed bagman of Richard Nixon. Nixon was swimming in Rebozo’s pool when advised of the Watergate break-in, and was with him when he decided to resign the presidency. Nixon’s other close friend, often paired with Rebozo in news stories, was Robert Abplanalp, who became wealthy from his invention of the aerosol spray-can nozzle.
In 1952, the Nixon family was given a little black and white spotted cocker spaniel by one of their supporters. Tricia Nixon – then six years old – named it Checkers. Nixon announced on network TV that, no matter what corruption charges were made about it, the family intended to keep the dog.