Singer Reba McEntire holds the record for the most Academy of Country Music Top Female Vocalist Awards (seven), and American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (twelve).
Shady Side Academy, a selective prep school just outside of Pittsburgh, Penna., retains the name of the Pittsburgh neighborhood in which it was founded in 1883, even though it moved many years ago out into the suburb of Fox Chapel.
Of the seven NFL teams to win consecutive Super Bowls, only the Pittsburgh Steelers have done it twice. The Miami Dolphins are the only team to appear in three straight Super Bowls - they lost in the first one and then won the next two.
The Street Called Straight in Damascus, (Latin: Via Recta, Arabic: الشارع المستقيم Al-Shāri` al-Mustaqīm) is the Roman street that runs from east to west in the old city of Damascus, Syria. It was visited by Saint Paul as recorded in the book of Acts (Acts 9:11).
Not a play, but an augmentation of Cunctator’s play.
Acts 9:11
Comment:
The Buffalo Bills played in four straight, 1990-93, although they lost each time.
In play: Damascus is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, dating back possibly to 6300 BC. Damask fabrics, notable for having two “good” sides, take their name from the city, which was an important trading stop on the Silk Road.
Thanks for the correction, Elvis. One of the great teams in history, and they should have won Super Bowl XXV against the NY Giants, perhaps best known (infamously) for Scott Norwood’s last second 47-yard field goal that went wide right.
All kidding aside, if the 1990 Bills had won Super Bowl XXV, the first of the four straight they went on to lose, they might have established a dominant dynasty. Although nobody was going to beat the 1992 Dallas Cowboys. They beat Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII, 52-17.
Still in play:
In play:
Damascus is a city in northwest Oregon.
To its west is Happy Valley, Oregon.
To its east is Boring, Oregon.
Boring is named after William Boring. Its citizens embrace the town name, and the town’s slogan is “The most exciting place to live.”
More than 2000 years ago, a high-carbon steel method originating in South India led to Damascus steel. Swords produced from this steel far exceeded any other swords and allegedly could cut through a rifle barrel. The secret recipe for Damascus steel was eventually lost. Medieval smiths claimed that the blades had to be quenched in dragon’s blood, or quenched with the urine of redheaded boys or that from a ‘‘three-year-old goat fed only ferns for three days.’’
Modern scientists have determined that Damascus steel swords contained exotic carbon forms like nanotubes.
Often included in lists of ‘lost’ works of art is the Graham Sutherland portrait of Sir Winston Churchill, commissioned in 1954 to celebrate Churchill’s 80th birthday.
Sutherland had a reputation for capturing the “real” side of his subjects. Instead of depicting Churchill as stately, Sutherland painted him as he truly looked, and apparently neither Churchill nor his wife liked the painting.
After the public presentation of the portrait in 1954, it was taken to the Churchills’ country home at Chartwell but was never displayed. It wasn’t until Lady Churchill died in 1977 that the truth was discovered; she had destroyed the painting shortly after it was delivered.
When Winston Churchill proposed marriage to Clementine Hozier, she agreed on condition he keep it secret until she could tell her parents. However, he was so excited that he immediately blurted out the news within minutes to several friends when he saw them.
Saint Nicholas Owen, SJ was a Jesuit lay brother who was the principal builder of priest holes during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. The number of secret hiding places that he constructed will never be known. Due to the ingenuity of his craftsmanship, it is thought that some may still be undiscovered.
There are over 60 Jesuit colleges and universities in India.
Something like 186 (out of about 500) MPs of the current Indian Parliament have criminal convictions or charges pending.
Of the 226 MPs in the Australian Commonwealth parliament, 155 (69%) are men and 71 (31%) are women.
The numbers by chamber are:
House of Representatives: Male 110 (73%); Female 40 (27%)
Senate: Male 45 (59%); Female 31 (41%)
Each branch of the military of the United States maintains its own military police (MP) force, except for the U.S. Coast Guard, which is its own law enforcement agency; the coast guard uses its port security/shore patrol, Reserve Investigators, and members of the Coast Guard Investigative Service to regulate its own population.
It was the Roman poet Juvenal, in his work the Satires, who penned the famous line Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (“who will guard the guards themselves?”).
The pint guard for the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry, is this year’s NBA MVP. Hopefully by the end of the week he will also be an NBA Champion.
An imperial pint is equal to approximately 568 mL. A US pint is equal to approximately 473 mL.
The imperial pint consists of 20 imperial fluid ounces and the US liquid pint is 16 US fluid ounces, making the imperial fluid ounce about 4% smaller than the US fluid ounce.