Motorcycles typically have separate brake controls, one for the front brake, and one for the rear. The front brake, typically, is controlled by the right hand lever, and the rear brake, typically, by the right foot pedal.
The front brakes on motorcycles are the most important- they supply approximately 75% of a motorcycle’s stopping power.
Different states have different laws regarding motorcycle helmets, and Illinois and Iowa do not require them at all! (Ignorance fought, I always thought there was a federal law requiring all motorcycle riders to wear helmets).
The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the United States military from World War II until 1985, when it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet. For over forty years, the M1 was standard issue for the U.S. military. The M1 helmet has become an icon of the American military, with its design inspiring other militaries around the world. Over 22 million U.S. M-1 steel helmets were manufactured by the end of World War II.
In the Merrie Melodies classic “What’s Opera, Doc?”, Elmer Fudd sings Wagnerian arias while chasing Bugs Bunny with his spear and magic helmet. The short is also sometimes informally referred to as ‘‘Kill the Wabbit’’ after the line sung by Fudd to the tune of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”, the opening passage from Act Three of Die Walküre (which is also the leitmotif of the Valkyries).
Elmer Fudd was originally voiced by radio actor Arthur Q. Bryan, but twice in Bryan’s lifetime the voice was provided by the versatile Mel Blanc: once, in The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950), only a single line was needed, and bringing in Bryan was not cost effective; in What’s Opera, Doc?, Elmer’s furious scream “SMOG!” was dubbed by Mel Blanc, although Bryan had voiced the rest of the part.
The word Pumpernickel, in German, basically means “devil’s fart”. The bread made and sold in the USA called pumpernickel resembles the German bread only in terms of general appearance, and is basically American white bread the shape and color of German pumpernickel.
The American WWII pursuit plane, the P-38 Lockheed Lightning, was nicknamed by the Germans and by the Japanese. The Germans called it the “fork-tailed devil” (der Gabelschwanz-Teufel), and the Japanese called it “two planes, one pilot.”
Spuyten Duyvil is a neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is bounded on the north by Riverdale, on the east by Kingsbridge, on the south by the Harlem River, and on the west by the Hudson River, although some consider it to be the southernmost part of Riverdale. The area is named after Spuyten Duyvil Creek, where “Spuyten Duyvil” literally means “Spouting Devil” or Spuitende Duivel in Dutch; a reference to the strong and wild tidal currents found at that location. It may also be translated as “Spewing Devil” or “Spinning Devil”, or more loosely as “Devil’s Whirlpool” or “Devil’s Spate”.
“A Descent into the Maelström” is an 1841 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. The real maelstrom that inspired it, the Moskstraumen in Norway, while the world’s strongest, is nowhere near powerful enough to be more than an annoyance to small craft.
Stephen King’s Survivor Type, about a man who survives a shipwreck and ends up on a deserted island, is considered the grossest thing he ever wrote. Indeed, probably the grossest thing anyone ever wrote.
Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly became a celebrity in the 1920s for his feats of sitting atop a flagpole, his longest time being 49 days, one hour on a pole 225 ft high in Atlantic City.
In WWI, Alvin C. York (US Army Sgt. York) received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 20 German soldiers, and capturing 132 others.
The phrase “Put up your dukes!”, meaning “Let’s fight”, uses Cockney rhyming slang. A hand and fingers look something like a fork, which rhymes with Duke of York, which is shortened to Duke.
The 1962 number 1 song Duke of Earl was written about one of its contributing writers, Earl Edwards, but somewhat unknowingly so. It was originally a warm-up exercise for the Dukays, a group including Edwards, and the Dukays would harmonize Do-Do-Do-Do in different keys. Another singer spontaneously changed the syllables to include Du-Du-Du-Duke of Earl, and the vocal exercise eventually blossomed into the hit song.
When the Isley Brother’s toured England wit the Beatles in 1962, Rudolph Isley introduced John Lennon to a song they had just recorded called “Twist and Shout.” Rudy thought it would be perfect for Lennon’s voice.
On January 26, 1962, the spare probe Ranger 3 was launched by the United States with the mission to impact the surface of the moon while taking pictures/video of the surface prior to impact. It was to be the first landing by any craft of the United States on the Moon.
However, due to problems at liftoff and during the transit, Ranger 3 missed the Moon by over 22,000 miles. Contact was lost not long after and the probe is in a heliocentric orbit.
From its inception in 1933, George W. Trendle had legal ownership of The Lone Ranger and characters associated with The Lone Ranger through his company The Lone Ranger Inc. Trendle sold The Lone Ranger Inc. to oil man and film producer Jack Wrather in 1954 for $3 million. After Wrather died in 1984, his widow Bonita Granville sold the Wrather Productions properties to Southbrook International Television Co. in 1985. Broadway Video acquired the rights in 1994. Classic Media acquired the rights in 2000. DreamWorks Animation acquired Classic Media in 2012 and renamed the division DreamWorks Classics which presently has the rights to The Lone Ranger
While the President recuperated in the hospital after a failed assassination attempt in early 1981, First Lady Nancy Reagan slept in the White House with one of his shirts to be comforted by the scent.
