An old Swedish myth suggested that dragonflies were used by the devil to weigh people’s souls. A dragonfly flying around a person’s head was considered a very bad omen because the insect was weighing their soul and placing it on a demonic “naughty or nice” list for Satan. Europeans in general considered dragonflies evil creatures who colluded with the devil.
*Dragonfly *is the name of the horse on which Basil secretly bets - against the wishes of his wife Sybil - in the ‘Mrs Richards’ episode of Fawlty Towers.
The twelve Triple Crown Winning horses are
1919: Sir Barron
1930: Gallant Fox
1935: Omaha
1937: War Admiral
1941: Whirlaway
1943: Count Fleet
1946: Assault
1948: Citation
1973: Secretariat
1977: Seattle Slew
1978: Affirmed
2015: American Pharoah
Triple Crown Near Misses are the 23 horses that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but did not win the belmont Stakes.
The red fox (vulpes vulpes) is classified as one of the most damaging invasive species in Australia, due to its rapid spread and ecological impact.
Eradication programs include combinations of poisonous baiting, and bounties for foxes killed by hunters.
When recruiting for the U.S. Army lagged in the latter days of the Civil War, bounties were offered for new recruits. Some con men repeatedly enlisted, collected their bounties, deserted at the first opportunity, and reenlisted elsewhere under other names. Some did this dozens of times before being caught and prosecuted.
*Opportunity *is a robotic rover that has been active on the planet Mars since 2004. It was launched on 7 July 2003 as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover program, and it landed in *Meridiani Planum *on 25 January 2004. *Opportunity *remains active as of 2015, having already exceeded its operating plan by more than 11 years.
In 1947, British vehicle designer Maurice Wilks began designing a 4-wheel drive vehicle that was said to be inspired by an American World War II Jeep that he used one summer at his holiday home in Wales. The first prototype was built on a Jeep chassis and axles, and the resulting vehicle was manufactured in 1948 as the first Land Rover.
Wilkes Land is a large district of land in eastern Antarctica, formally claimed by Australia as part of the Australian Antarctic Territory. It fronts onto the southern Indian Ocean between Queen Mary Coast and Adelie Land, extending from Cape Hordern at 100°31’ E to Pourquoi Pas Point at 136°11’ E. The region extends as a sector about 2600 km towards the South Pole, with an estimated land area of 2,600,000 km², mostly glaciated.
Wilkes Land is named for Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Charles Wilkes, the American explorer who commanded the 1838–42 United States Exploring Expedition.
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was named after John Wilkes and Isaac Barré, two British members of Parliament who supported colonial America. In chess, the Wilkes-Barre variation (or Traxler variation, as it is more commonly known) of the Two Knights’ Defense is named for the Wilkes-Barre chess club.
The symbol of the University of Central Florida is now the Knight of Pegasus (the winged horse is on the school’s seal), and its mascot is the armored Knightro (the female counterpart, Glycerin, no longer appears). The original mascot was the Citronaut, who looked like Gazoo from “The Flintstones” with an orange for a body and an astronaut’s helmet, but he was replaced by Vincent the Vulture before the Knight became official.
A knight of the Kingsguard of Westeros in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones books, and the HBO series based on it, wears a white cloak and is expected to be obedient, unmarried and to give up all rights of inheritance from his family.
Character actor Malachi Throne was a favorite of Irwin Allen, who cast him in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, and* Lost in Spac*e, often as several different characters in the same series. Throne played in two episodes of Mission: Impossible on CBS-TV, during seasons one and four, as two different characters. He provided the voice of The Keeper in the ST:TOS pilot “The Cage”, and was Commodore Mendez in “The Menagerie”. In Babylon 5, Malachi Throne played Prime Minister Malachi, a high official of the Centauri government in the “The Coming of Shadows.”
The book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament in the Protestant version of the Bible. It is commonly attributed to a prophet by the name of Malachi. Although the appellation Malachi has frequently been understood as a proper name, its Hebrew meaning is simply ‘My (i.e., God’s) messenger’ (or ‘His messenger’ in the Septuagint) and may not be the author’s name at all.
In the Vulgate text the book’s opening line is Onus verbi Domini ad Israel in manu Malachi (‘the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi’).
In criminal systems based on the English common law, the Crown (or prosecutor, however designated), bears the onus of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Ford Crown Victoria was produced from the 1992 to the 2012 model years over two generations. Assembled in Ontario, Canada, it was the final full-frame rear-wheel-drive passenger sedan produced in North America. The first “Crown Victoria” appeared in 1955 as a two-door six-seater coupe and part of the Ford Fairlane range.
Because of the size of its passenger compartment, the Crown Vic was one of the most popular choices for police services to use as squad cars.
Since 1998 the police motorcycle of the California Highway Patrol has been the BMW R1200RT-P with a top speed of 130 mph.
The NSW Police training college is located in the country town of Goulburn, about half-way between Sydney and Canberra. All drivers know to slow down on the freeways on the outskirts of Goulburn, since the trainee officers are often on duty, ‘learning how to issue speeding tickets’.
The Big Merino in Goulburn is the world’s largest concrete sheep. It is a merino ram. Nicknamed “Rambo” by locals, the Big Merino contains a gift shop on the ground floor and a wool display on the second floor. Visitors can climb to the top and look out through the Merino’s eyes to view the local area.
The Rambos were an American Southern gospel music group that was formed in the 1960s, and one of the most successful Gospel trios of the 20th century. The group consisted of Buck and Dottie Rambo, who were joined by their daughter, Reba, in 1965. They were inducted into the Gospel Music Association’s Hall of Fame in 2001.