There was a class of minesweepers in the US Navy during World War 2 called the Albatross class.
On Jan 1, 1979, the US and The People’s Republic of China established full diplomatic relations.
Gahhh!
The Chief of Naval Operations for the US Navy is Gary Roughead. (“In the Navy!”)
Though the full name of the Chief was never mentioned during the run of Get Smart, it was established that his first name was Thaddeus.
General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross was the nemesis of the Incredible Hulk.
Thaddeus Stevens- “The Scourge of the South” who played a key role in the Andrew Johnson impeachment, had to be carried into Congress in a sedan chair because of a club foot that got worse as he aged; since MGM owned a U.S. capitol set an entire movie was written around Johnson’s impeachment in order to give a major role to Lionel Barrymore, who was under contract but had been left in a wheelchair by a hip injury and arthritis.
Aside:
:smack:
The motto of MGM studios is “Ars Gratia Artis,” meaning “art for arts sake.” This motto was devised by Howard Dietz, the studio’s chief publicist, in 1924.
Chief Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee nation, died a few days ago, this month.
(Mankiller ? Cherokee feminists don’t fuck around, do they ? :D)
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was the first woman in space.
The first female however was Laïka, the stray mutt bitch who flew aboard Sputnik 2. She was also the first living being in space at all, though she didn’t stay so for long as she died 5 hours after launch.
Russian names follow a very predictable pattern. What we would call the middle name is actually the father’s name with either -ovich (for a male) or -ovna (for a female) added. Women also add a -a to the end of the family name. Thus Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, is Valentina, daughter of Vladimir Tereshkov.
Czech female names follow a similar pattern, using an -ová suffix for women’s surnames; e.g. tennis star Martina Navrátilová’s stepfather is named Miroslav Navrátil.
Mystery author Rita Mae Brown has written about her relationships with Martina Navratilova, Fannie Flagg, and (first openly lesbian elected state rep) Elaine Nobles, but her longest relationship has been with Judy Nelson who, ironically, Martina Navratilova had cheated on Brown with many years earlier.
The word “lesbian” refers to the Greek island of Lesbos, home of the 6th century BC poet Sappho, whose works seemingly imply her leadership of a community of women who loved women. Lesbos was later the home of Huseyn Hilmi Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire and founder of the Turkish Red Crescent.
In Chinese culture, red symbolized happiness and good luck. Red envelopes containing money are given to children on The Chinese New Year (and other holidays). Among the Lakota Indians, red is considered the color of death.
Death omens are symbolized by many different things according to different cultures. In England by a black dog, classical Roman and Greek myth by Mercury/Hermes or even Charon the black hooded ferryman, or more traditionally by a Grim Reaper, and so on.
But the walrus is not and never was a symbol of death. And the walrus was John – in the video, it’s the hippopotamus (mud, mud, glorious mud) who’s playing the guitar left handed.
Phil Mickelson is not left handed. He plays golf as a lefty, but that’s it.
Both major party candidates in the 2008 election (Barack Obama & John McCain) are left handed.
(What’s the difference between Phil Mickelson and his wife? On her, the smile is real and the tits are fake)
Mickelson, Canada’s Mike Weir, and New Zealand’s Bob Charles are the only golfers to win majors playing lefthanded.
Besides the kiwi, New Zealand’s unique animals include the tuatara, a reptile which is capable of living over 100 years and possesses a parietal “third eye” whose function has not been determined.
Almost all of the outdoor scenes in The Lord of the Rings trilogy were filmed in New Zealand, homeland of its director, Peter Jackson.