Henry Ford is shown in a popular list as the 9th wealthiest human ever. He is one of four Americans among the top ten on that list. The top ten also include William the Conqueror and Muammar Gaddafi. Musa Keita of Mali, the 14th-century sultan famous for destabilizing the economies of Egypt and Arabia with his huge gifts of gold, is in the #1 spot.
Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico was the world’s second richest man in 2015, but his net worth declined by nearly $5 billion in just four days after the U.S. general election. Previously, shares of his Latin American mobile phone company, America Movil, fell sharply in 2015 and early 2016 due to new Mexican telecom regulations, a weaker Mexican peso and economic decline in Brazil. That drove a $27.1 billion drop in Slim’s net worth, making him the biggest dollar loser on the 2016 Forbes Billionaires List. Slim is the largest shareholder of The New York Times, with a nearly 17% stake. As of today, *Forbes *lists him as the 4th wealthiest person in the world with his net worth at $49.8 billion.
Root Boy Slim was the stage name assumed by American musician Foster MacKenzie III. With his band, his most famous recording was “Boogie 'Til You Puke” from the debut album Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes.
Foster’s, an Australian beer, was founded in Melbourne in 1888 by two American brothers, William and Ralph Foster of New York. They sold the brewery the following year and returned to the United States.
William Z. Foster’s mother, Elizabeth McLoughlin, was an English Catholic textile worker who had nine surviving children of 23 babies she bore. William was named William E. Foster at birth on February 21, 1888, but he changed his middle initial, unofficially, as a way to distinguish himself. He had become a powerful labor leader, and in 1945 the Communist Party USA made Foster, Eugene Dennis, and John Williamson its ruling triumvirate. Foster died on September 1, 1961 in Moscow. The Soviet Union gave him a state funeral in Red Square and Khrushchev headed the honor guards. His ashes were interred with John Reed and Bill Haywood.
Willard Z. Estey was a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Perhaps more significantly, he was one of the successor Trustees of the Stanley Cup, under the Deed of Trust made by the Earl of Stanley when he donated the Cup.
Huh! I didn’t know that. Good trivia.
In play:
The Estey Organ Co. was for many years the largest employer in Brattleboro, Vermont (my wife’s hometown). A local historical society still does yeoman service in answering questions from organ buffs around the world, as many small, portable Estey models went with missionaries to the far corners of the Earth.
The tuning of pianos and organs is a complex business. Just deciding what temperament to use was once very controversial. In the equal-temperament tuning in general use to today, major thirds are too wide and minor thirds too narrow.
The temperament problems are avoided on the Huygens-Fokker organ, which provides 31 keys per octave instead of just 12. This video shows 31-tone stringed instrtuments.
The ability of vocalists to sing competently in the first octave (from C1, or about 32.7 Hz, to C2, about 65.4 Hz) is rare, even for males. A singer who can reach notes in this range is known as a basso profondo, Italian for “deep bass”. A Russian bass can also sing in this range, and the fundamental pitches sung by Tibetan monks and the throat singers of Siberia and Mongolia are in this range.
Vocal ranges are usually associated with the modal voice register, but three other registers can be produced by human vocal chords: whistle, falsetto voice, and vocal fry. Falsetto voice is often used by male tenors in barbershop quartets; it was also used by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, occasionally by Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, and famously by Ray Orbison, especially in his hit song “Only the Lonely.”
Frank Valli of the Four Seasons also used a falsetto voice. And Jersey Boys, the Broadway musical abut the Four Seasons, won a Best Musical Tony.
In Thailand they teach that the year has three seasons, not four: Cold season, hot season, rainy season.
The length and coldness of the cold seasons in present-day Thailand should not be exaggerated. Last year we had about ten days where a second blanket would be more comfortable.
This year? Maybe one day. :eek: 
The Celtic pagan year has four major holidays, based on the four seasons:
Samhain: 31 October – 1 November, Celtic New Year, first day of winter
Imbolc: 1–2 February, Celtic first day of spring
Beltane: 30 April – 1 May, Celtic first day of summer
Lughnasadh 1–2 August, Celtic first day of autumn
HAPPY IMBOLC, EVERYONE!!
Opened in 1959, the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City is associated with a number of milestone firsts. It is credited with introducing the idea of seasonally-changing menus to America, was the first destination restaurant to print its menus in English, and the first in the U.S. to cook using fresh, wild mushrooms.
In January 2011, Donald Trump said he obtained an agreement from the union employees and that he would invest $20 million in New York’s historic Tavern on the Green restaurant, including rebuilding the Crystal Room if he were granted a 20-year lease. He said he would keep the Tavern on the Green name. “I don’t think every place needs to be called Trump,” he joked. Trump earlier had completed Wollman Rink after the city for several years had been unable to repair and reopen it. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Central Park Conservancy officials did not respond to Trump’s proposal.
In the English language, a tavern was once an establishment which served wine whilst an inn served beer and ale. Over time, the words “tavern” and “inn” became interchangeable and synonymous.
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the Inns of Court, to one of which any English or Welsh barrister must belong. The Society gets the “Temple” in its name from the Knights Templar — the site of the Inner Temple was once the headquarters and church in London for the Templars (the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon).
American law has not retained the English distinction between barristers and solicitors, and any American lawyer may appear and try a case in any court to which he or she is admitted.
On June 20, 1789, members of France’s National Assembly took the Tennis Court Oath, pledging not to separate until a new constitution was established. Their meeting was held in a tennis court near the Palace of Versailles. The Oath signified for the first time that French citizens formally stood in opposition to King Louis XVI, and their refusal to back down forced the King to make concessions.
Avenida Constituyentes is a major roadway in downtown Mexico City. Its name, which could be literally translated as “constituents”, commemorates the writers of the Mexican Constitution. In a city notorious for its terrible traffic, Constituyentes is one of the most congested roads.