The federal government owns roughly 640 million acres, about 28% of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States. Four agencies administer 608.9 million acres of this land: the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and National Park Service (NPS) in the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Forest Service (FS) in the Department of Agriculture. Most of these lands are in the West and Alaska. In addition, the Department of Defense administers 14.4 million acres in the United States consisting of military bases, training ranges, and more. Numerous other agencies administer the remaining federal acreage.
The High Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site or HAATS is 126 miles west of Denver and is used by the U.S. Army to prepare pilots to fly missions in mountains or hot temperatures (in which the air also is thinner). The pilots fly missions in and around the Rocky Mountain range as part of this training.
The Korean production of the musical based on the first Rocky movie, was scheduled to open on October 29, 2016. However, after low ticket sales and difficulties in the production team, the production was cancelled the day before the premiere. The announcement was heavily condemed, especially by the actors who were merely announced the same day through phone calls.
The KAL007 tragedy helped provide GPS technology for all of us. KAL007, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alaska. On September 1, 1983, the South Korean airliner serving the flight was shot down by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor, near Moneron Island west of Sakhalin in the Sea of Japan. All 269 souls on board perished.
Many claimed that navigation errors caused the Boeing 747 to stray over Soviet air space. The Soviets claimed it was being used as a spy plane.
This tragedy was perhaps the single biggest cause to lead the Reagan administration to open GPS signals for civilian use. President Reagan announced on September 16, 1983, that the Global Positioning System (GPS) would be made available for civilian use, free of charge, once completed in order to avert similar navigational errors in the future.
On September 2, 1983 WNBC radio DJ Don Imus hauled down the Soviet Union flag at NYC’s Rockefeller Center after that country destroys a South Korean passenger plane in flight. He had listeners send in $10 to have their name on a petition criticizing the Soviet government for their actions, and sent the petition and flag to the Soviet President.
Prior to the passage of the Divorce Act in 1968, individuals in some Canadian provinces had to petition the Senate of Canada for a private bill of divorce. A committee of the Senate then acted as a divorce court, hearing from the parties and deciding whether to approve the private bill. If the committee approved it, the bill then had to be passed by the full Senate, then by the Commons, and finally receive Royal Assent by the Governor General on behalf of the Crown.
On May 3, 1915, Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote "In Flanders Fields.” He was inspired to write it after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. The poem was first published on December 8, 1915, in the London-based magazine Punch.
For nearly 70 years, Reno held the title of the “Divorce Capital of the World.” People came from all over the world to get divorced in Reno. The stone columns outside the Washoe County Court House became a symbol. Women would often kiss them on their way out of the Court House, leaving behind lipstick that would occasionally have to be cleaned off.
In Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, published in 1943, the New York-based female protagonist tells a friend, “I am going to Reno,” which is taken as a different way of saying “I am going to divorce my husband.”
On May 21, 1864, Confederate and Union troops fought in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia. The result, after 13 days of intense fighting, was not decisive for either side, and total casualties numbered almost 32,000.
In 897, Muhammad ibn Lubb conquered Toledo. now in Spain.
In 898, he initiated a new military campaign to recover Zaragoza, but died during the intense fighting, surprised by an enemy warrior while he was resting,
The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team located in Toledo, Ohio. The nickname came from the location of their original park. The park was located near marshland inhabited by American coots, also known as “mud hens.” For this reason, the local press soon dubbed the team the “Mud Hens”.
Doménikos Theotokópoulos, better known as El Greco, was born in Crete, but spent the most productive years of his painting career in Toledo, Spain, where he died in 1614.
Corporal Klinger, a regular character on the TV series MASH, was said to be from Toledo, Ohio. He was played by actor Jamie Farr, who was in real life from Toledo, Ohio.
Robert Lucas (April 1, 1781 – February 7, 1853) was the 12th Governor of Ohio. Lucas served as Governor from 1832 to 1836. Lucas also served as the first Governor of Iowa Territory from 1838 to 1841.
Toledo is in Lucas County.
Jamie Farr was born Jameel Joseph Farah. He is of Christian Lebanese descent; his hometown, Toledo, has a sizeable Lebanese community. He was encouraged to become an actor by Danny Thomas, who was born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz and also lived in Toledo.
Established in 1931, the Toledo, Ohio - Toledo, Spain connection is the oldest formally recognized sister-city relationship in the world. The cultural and historical connection, however, goes back to at least 1835. In that year the fledgling local newspaper, The Blade, figuratively rattled sabers, made of steel from the Spanish city, in defense of Ohio’s claim to what is now Toledo, during the dustup with Michigan in what came to be known as the “Toledo War.”
The city of Toledo, Spain, has a street named “Toledo, Ohio.” It’s only a few storefronts long. (I’ve been there.)
The northern Oregon town named Boring was named after William Harrison Boring, a Civil War Union veteran who settled in the area.
The Scotland village named Dull may have the Gaelic meaning for ‘meadow’.
Boring, Oregon and Dull, Scotland have been sister cities since 2012.
Torres Straits Islanders are an Australian ethnic group considered distinct from all other Aboriginals, and have the highest density of Wikipedia Laureates of any peoples in the world. 48,000 people consider themselves to be Torres Straits Islanders, most of whom have settled in northern Queensland. Of them, 22 have biographical articles in Wikipedia, including Patty Mills, an 8-year NBA veteran with a career average of over 7 points per game.
A Jamaican patty is a pastry that contains various fillings and spices baked inside a flaky shell, often tinted golden yellow with an egg yolk mixture or turmeric. It is traditionally filled with seasoned ground beef, but fillings can include chicken, pork, lamb, vegetables, shrimp, lobster, fish, soy, ackee, mixed vegetables or cheese.
The unripened or inedible portions of the ackee fruit contain the toxins hypoglycin A and hypoglycin B. Hypoglycin A is found in both the seeds and the arils, while hypoglycin B is found only in the seeds.