Approximately 16-18 million official U.S. military personnel records were lost in a catastrophic 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Mo.
The Willys Overland company of Toledo, Ohio, manufactured cars in the USA for 40 years, before winning the contract from the defense department to produce the WWII Jeep. Wyllis Overland made over 350,000 Jeeps for military use in WWII.
Eugene the Jeep is a character in the Popeye comic strip. A mysterious animal with magical abilities, the Jeep first appeared in the March 16, 1936, appearance of Thimble Theatre strip (now simply Popeye). He was also present in animated versions of Popeye’s adventures, including three appearances in the Fleischer Studios shorts of the late 1930s/early 1940s, with more extensive appearances in later Popeye cartoons produced for TV. The Jeep is a yellow creature about the size of a dog who walks on his hind legs. He has a bear-like head and ears but a large nose, long tail, and protruding belly. The Jeep’s diet consists only of orchids.
Orchids are the most diverse family of plants, comprising over 25,000 species in 880 genera, and over 100,000 hybrids and cultivars having been developed. Vanilla is one of them.
The surgical procedure by which testicles are removed is called orchidectomy. The three main types are called simple, subcapsular, and inguinal.
Trepanning is the surgical procedure by which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull. Although oft-misused in ancient medicine, it is still practiced (and now typically called a craniotomy) for epidural and subdural hematomas, and for surgical access for certain other neurosurgical procedures, such as intracranial pressure monitoring.
The sarcastic idiom “I need that like a hole in the head” has an unknown origin, but the Oxford English Dictionary compares the expression to a similar one in Yiddish, “Ich darf es vi a loch in kop”.
The title of the Andrews Sisters hit Bei Mir Bist Du Schein is Yiddish, the language in which it was originally written and recorded, though the Andrews Sisters version is in English and even though it was a hit during World War II the title is oft identified as German.
When I was a child, I though the Andrews Sister were singing “My Dear Mr. Shane”.
German would be indistinguishably the same: * Bei mir bist du schön.* By the time the Andrews Sisters recorded it, the sheet music was alredy being printed with the German spelling on the title.
Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, decided in 1989, was the first decision by the Supreme Court of Canada interpreting the equality clause of the new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Court held that a BC law which restricted membership in the legal profession to Canadians was discriminatory and contrary to the equality clause. Andrews, an American, was enabled to be called to the Bar of British Columbia.
Although it was decided close to 30 years ago, the analytical
framework of Andrews is still the basic approach to the equality clause.
Although both the Canadian and American legal practice is to italicize (or, in olden times, underline) the names of cases such as Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia or Marbury v. Madison, Americans, unlike Canadians, do not do so for significant legal documents such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Magna Carta, U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights.
Two American state capitals begin with the same six letters: Columbia and Columbus. Indianapolis and Annapolis, though, do not form the longest string of ending letters for two state capitals in common. The final eight letters are the same in Carson City and Jefferson City. Two state capitals rhyme – Austin and Boston.
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., who grew up in Carson City, Nevada, invented the Ferris Wheel. Legend has it that he was inspired to invent the Ferris Wheel after recalling the many afternoons he spent watching the large water wheels used by local mines and imagining what it would be like to ride in one of the buckets. However, Ferris and later historians have cast doubt upon this.
Although the US Mint in Carson City, Nevada, has not struck United States coins since 1893, Coin Press No. 1 (the original coin press from the mint) is still in the building and used to strike commemorative medallions with the “CC” mint mark. The most recent of these are medallions commemorating the Nevada Sesquicentennial.
The United States government began minting coins in 1792. The United States Mint currently operates the following facilities across the United States:
United States Mint Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
United States Mint at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States Mint at Denver, Colorado
United States Mint at San Francisco, California
United States Mint at West Point, New York
United States Bullion Depository, Fort Knox, Kentucky
Official Mints (Branches) were once also located in:
Carson City, Nevada
Charlotte, North Carolina
Dahlonega, Georgia
New Orleans, Louisiana
Washington, D.C.
Manila, Philippines.
There was little interest in the US in expelling the Cherokee Indians onto the Trail of Tears, until the discovery of gold in the vicinity of Dahlonega, Georgia. The likes of Andrew Jackson were indifferent to native Americans having the land in that territory, but there is no way they were going to let them have the gold. A US mint was established in Dahlonega, to produce coins from the locally mined gold, which were in common circulation as currency then.
A distinctive engraved portrait of Civil War hero Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, the “Rock of Chickamauga,” appeared on U.S. paper money in 1890 and 1891. The bills are called “Treasury notes” or “coin notes” and are widely collected today because of their fine, detailed engraving. The $5 Thomas “fancyback” note of 1890, with an estimated 450-600 in existence relative to the 7.2 million printed, ranks as number 90 in the list of “100 Greatest American Currency Notes” compiled by Bowers and Sundman (2006).
General George Henry Thomas died in San Francisco, at its Presidio (then-) Army base in 1870 at the age of 53. Although he was born in Virginia he was buried in Troy, NY’s Oakwood Cemetery, which is near to Latham, NY.
The border town of Presidio, Texas, has the world’s largest sodium-sulfur battery to provide power to over 5,000 residents when the city’s lone line to the United States power grid goes down
The Presidio in San Francisco appears as a Starfleet base or transit facility in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.