In 1959, Billy Grammer’s million-selling hit “Gotta Travel On” achieved what in those days was an extremely rare distinction. It made it to #4 on the Pop charts, #5 on the Country chats, and #14 on the R&B charts. The song was later covered by artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly and the Kingston Trio.
The biggest selling hit record of all time is “White Christmas”, written by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby.
After the final defeat of Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the wizard Gandalf and the warrior Aragorn find a seedling of the White Tree of Gondor on the mountain slopes above the city of Minas Tirith. It is replanted within the city and becomes a symbol of a new era of peace and plenty in the reign of Aragorn, crowned as King Elessar.
White City was the popular name given the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, which was attended by 27-million people – one third of the then-population of the United States.
The 1893 Columbian Exposition led to more World Fairs in the US. One of these, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition took place in Seattle in 1909 at the University of Washington (which will beat Alabama in the Peach Bowl).
On October 12, 1892, the Pledge of Allegiance of the US was first used in public schools to coincide with the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public until May 1, 1893.
The inclusion of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance was first proposed in 1948 by Louis Albert Bowman, an attorney from Illinois. Several attempts were made to include the phrase, but it wasn’t until 1954 that recently-minted Presbyterian (and President) Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law.
Newly-minted coins bore the inscription “In God We Trust” beginning in 1957. The reason I am such a heinous savage is because I was in my teens before I was finally civilized by the inclusion of “Under God” in my daily school Pledge, and the fear of God put into me by my pennies.
In cases where a correctly oriented coin is flipped about its horizontal axis to show the other side correctly oriented, the coin is said to have coin orientation. In cases where a coin is flipped about its vertical axis to show the other side correctly oriented, it is said to have medallic orientation. While coins of the United States dollar display coin orientation, those of the Euro and pound sterling have medallic orientation.
On January 28, 2006, SamClem posted on a Straight Dope thread the following:
To the point of the OP, the phrase goes back to at least Shakespeare, according to the OED.
Quote:
1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 § 14 Silver and havynge the prente of the Coigne of this realme.
Whether it goes back farther is harder to determine.
//
My comment: He was referring to the origin of the phrase, “coin of the realm.”
On January 28, 2006, The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Chorzów/Katowice, Poland, collapsed due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.
Snow geese and blue geese are color forms of the same species, either nearly all white, or nearly all bluish-gray. They will interbreed, but usually don’t. A young goose will mate with one of the same color form as its parents – geese imprint on their parents color, but don’t know what color they themselves are. From a mixed breeding pair, each chick will be either fully Blue or fully Snow, with no intergrade of color.
The goose has been perfectly created to make for the ideal Christmas feast. Geese are ready to be
eaten twice a year. Once when they are young or “green” in the early summer and again when they are at their fattest and ripest toward the end of the year after having feasted on fallen corn. It also has the softest fat in its category of animal. The fat turns to liquid at 111 degrees Fahrenheit making it easier to cook and its fat easier to consume. They were thus used as the centerpiece at Michaelmas, a feast day celebrated during the Middle Ages, which fell on the winter solstice and honored the end of the harvest and the change in season. Earlier than that roast goose was an offering to Odin and Thor in thanks for the harvest. It was also ritually eaten in ancient Greek culture in order to insure the crops in the months to come. It was only natural for goose to become the roast of choice for the Christmas, which eventually took the place of other winter solstice festivities. For the American settlers, turkey took goose’s place because that’s what happened to be living on their new home soil and it too followed the same pattern of maturation.
During the American Revolution, U.S. diplomat Ben Franklin asked officers of the Continental Navy not to attack or hinder Royal Navy Capt. James Cook, so important were his scientific and exploratory efforts.
*Pâté de Foie Gras *is a 1956 science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov published by Astounding Science Fiction. In the story, a Department of Agriculture employee tells of the discovery on a farm in Texas of a goose that actually lays golden eggs and of the attempts to solve its mystery. Foie Gras is of course cooked goose liver.
The menu at the Beauty and the Beast -inspired Be Our Guest restaurant at Disney World includes “The Grey Stuff (It’s Delicious)”. It is actually a dessert item, unlike pâté.
Ed Meese, President Reagan’s attorney general, , said Ebenezer Scrooge was the victim of bad press, and actually, was quite a decent employer. Bob Cratchit could afford to live in a house with a kitchen garden, instead of a tenement, his wife didn’t need to have an outside job, they could afford goose and plum pudding for holidays, and Tiny Tim had a doctor who made house calls.
On January 2, 1920, under the leadership of US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against radical leftists and anarchists across 30 cities in 23 states.
Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa is the founding college of chiropractic. It was established in 1897 by Daniel David Palmer and is considered “The Fountainhead,” as it was the first school of chiropractic in the world.
William McKinley, Republican of Ohio, was first inaugurated President of the United States on March 4, 1897. Victor Herbert, perhaps best known for Babes in Toyland, wrote a march for the occasion: President McKinley Inauguration March - YouTube (don’t know why it shows Gen. Pershing).