When compared to other world rivers, the Mississippi-Missouri River combination ranks fourth in length (3,710 miles/5,970km) following the Nile (4,160 miles/6,693km), the Amazon (4,000 miles/6,436km), and the Yangtze Rivers (3,964 miles/6,378km).
The Iowa class of American battleships, including the USS Missouri, were designed to be just narrow enough to fit through the Panama Canal with inches to spare.
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The name Missouri is widely pronounced within the state as if it ended with -ah. This occurs among a majority of rural Missourians in the northwest quarter of the state, but not so much in Kansas City.
Similarly, Miami and Leoti, cities in Kansas, are always locally pronounced Miama and Leota. Cincinnati is also often pronounced that way by locals.
The ‘Show Me State’ expression may have began in 1899 when Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver stated, “I’m from Missouri and you’ve got to show me.”
Willard Scott, Jr. (1934- ) is an American weather presenter, author, television personality and occasional actor, best known for his TV work on the Today show and as the creator and original portrayer of Ronald McDonald.
People who once worked at McDonald’s include Rachel McAdams, Jay Leno, Fred Durst, Jeff Bezos, Sharon Stone, Macy Gray, P!nk, Seal, Andy Card, Carl Lewis, Joe Kernan, Star Jones, Keenan Wayans, Shania Twain, DL Hughly, James Franco, Tony Stewart, Paul Ryan, Andie McDowell, Greg Mathis, Debbye Turner, Daniel Johnston, James D’Arcy, Amy Van Dyken, Chris Sabo, Don Jazzy, and Andrew Dornenburg.
Oh, and me too.
Ranald (sic) McDonald was the first English speaker to teach English to the Japanese, after being shipwrecked in Japan five years before Commodore Perry opened access to Japan in 1853. A Japanese interpreter for the negotiations with Perry had been taught English by McDonald. McDonald’s burial site is a Washington State Park, located two mils from the Canadian border in remote northeast Washington.
The music group/band The Commodores originally met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968. They came together from two former groups, the Mystics and the Jays. A six-man band was created from which the notable individuals were Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, and William King from the Mystics, and Andre Callahan, Michael Gilbert, and Milan Williams were from the Jays.
To choose a new group name, William King opened a dictionary and randomly picked a word. “We lucked out”, he remarked with a laugh when telling this story to People magazine. “We almost became 'The Commodes!”
Though everyone knows ABBA’s name is an acronym of the four members first names–Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid, the stylised ᗅᗺᗷᗅ with the backwards “B” wasn’t used until their third album, Arrival. And it is trademarked.
ᗅᗺᗷᗅ has pledged not to reunite. “We will never appear on stage again. There is simply no motivation to re-group,” Björn Ulvaeus has said. “Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were—young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition.”
For a several peak years, ABBA ranked second only to automaker Volvo as Sweden’s biggest money-making export. ABBA has sold about 350-million records.
In Sweden, taxes are generally between 50 and 70% of your income. And that is after your employer has already paid the full amount of your salary to the government in taxes before you even get anything.
No Swede (that I have ever spoken to) has complained about their ability enjoy a very high standard of living on their after-tax income. Nor about their social benefits. Unlike the USA, which has plenty of whiners despite the lowest taxes of any western industrialized country.
American race car driver David Earl Savage, Jr. competed twice n the Indy 500. In 1972
he dropped out on lap six with mechanical problems. In the 1973 Indy 500 he crashed on lap 58 as he exited turn 4. His car, fully fueled, hit the infield wall with such force that it disintegrated, and fuel spill d everywhere. The cockpit careened onto the track, and Savage’s legs could be seen dangling onto the track. The cockpit was engulfed in massive flames. ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay expressed disbelief upon seeing that Savage was actually moving in the post crash wreckage while he was engulfed in intense flames. Savage later joked with medical personnel after the wreck, and was expected to live when taken to Methodist Hospital Medical Center and for some time thereafter. However, he died in the hospital 33 days after the accident.
His nickname was "Swede’, he was known as Swede Savage. Swede Savage was just 26 years old.
“Swede” is a British term for a rutabaga.
Rutabagas are Swedish turnips.
Most restaurants in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have discontinued putting rutabaga in their famous pasties,because too many customers, now raised on prepackaged supermarket food, complained about the unusual ingredient. The Swedish word is “rotabagge”, meaning ‘root bag’. Yoopers, being mostly Finns, have no sensitivity about things Swedish. But pasties are of Cornish origin.
Though there is still some debate, the Food Marketing Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution now recognize King Kullen as the first supermarket. Their slogan was, “Pile it high. Sell it low.”
Safeway grocery stores are common in California and other states. Safeway’s history can be traced to 1915 and early owner Marion Barton Skaggs. Its name, Safeway, stems from a very early policy to only sell its wares on a cash and carry basis. Credit, often offered by other stores, was not allowed. Therefore, families could not get into debt, and it was a way to shop the safe way.
Barton Fink was a 1991 American period comedy-drama film written, produced, directed and edited by the Coen Brothers. Set in 1941, it starred John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a film studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the odd and possible criminal insurance salesman who lives next door at the run-down Hotel Earle. The movie includes references to the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar, and Bathsheba.