Cyrano Jones, asteroid prospector and all-around dogsbody, was responsible for the infestation of the USS Enterprise by tribbles, He was sentenced to cleanup of the tribble infestation, which was supposed to take around 17 years, but he escaped.
The United Nations declared June 30 as International Asteroid Day to educate the public about asteroids. The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908.
The Jupiter Trojans asteroids are a large group of asteroids that share the orbit of the planet Jupiter around the Sun. The total number of Jupiter Trojans larger than 1 km in diameter is believed to be about 1 million, approximately equal to the number of asteroids larger than 1 km in the asteroid belt.
In legend, when the city of Troy fell at the end of the Trojan War, King Priam and his grandson Astyanax son of Hector were both killed by Neoptolomeus, son of Achilles.
“Hector the Hero” is a Scottish fiddle tune, also played on the pipes. It is a lament for General Hector MacDonald, a popular Scots general, who committed suicide in his hotel room in Paris during allegations of homosexual conduct.
There are few real distinctions between violins and fiddles, though more primitively constructed and smaller violins are more likely to be considered fiddles. Due to the style of the music played, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to allow multiple strings to be played simultaneously with more ease, such as the droning in bluegrass music or performing triple stops.
The reel as a dance form is indigenous to Scotland. The earliest reference was in a witchcraft trial of 1590, where the accused was reported to have "daunced this reill or short dance."After the reel was introduced to Ireland in the late eighteenth century it thrived. Later it was introduced to North America, and remains central in the traditions of Cape Breton fiddling and square dancing
The Virginia Reel, one of the best-known square dances, is believed to have Scots or English origins; it is closely related to an English country dance called “Sir Roger de Coverley.”
Sir Roger de Coverley was also the name of a character in The Spectator, an English paper from 1711. An English squire of Queen Anne’s reign, Sir Roger exemplified the values of an old country gentleman, and was portrayed as lovable but somewhat ridiculous. He was said to be the grandson of the man who invented the dance.
In the TV series “The Tudors”, Anne of Cleves has an affair with Henry VIII after their annulment, while he was married to Catherine Howard. There is no historical evidence that this happened.
Three of Henry VIII’s wives were named Catherine; two were named Anne; and one was named Jane.
Actress Jane Seymour was born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg. She chose the screen name Jane Seymour, after a wife of Henry VIII, because it seemed more salable. Despite the royal name, she has not portrayed many princesses or queens, except for Marie Antionette in La Révolution française.
Paris’s Place de la Concorde was originally named Place Louis XV. During the French Revolution the statue of Louis XV was torn down and the area renamed Place de la Révolution. The new revolutionary government erected the guillotine in the square, and it was here that King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed.
Nostradamus’s Century 9 quatrain 20 is interpreted to be about Louis & Marie:
De nuict viendra par la forest de Reines,
Deux pars Voltorte Herne, la pierre blanche,
Le moine noir en gris dedans Varennes,
Esleu cap. cause tempeste, feu, sang tranche.
By night they shall go through the Reims forest,
The two leaving by utilizing disguises, helped by members of the church (white stone),
Wearing ecclesiastical garb of monks, dressed in grey, (they were seen) entering Varennes,
Caught by a newly elected Captain (who caused) their going to trial (tempest) great harm (fire) their deaths on the guillotine. (blood running)
In 1529, after some years as an apothecary, Nostradamus entered the University of Montpellier to study for a doctorate in medicine. He was expelled shortly afterwards by the student procurator, Guillaume Rondelet, when it was discovered that he had been an apothecary, a “manual trade” expressly banned by the university statutes.
Robert Guillaume, a trained classical opera singer, replaced Michael Crawford in title role of the Los Angeles production of The Phantom of the Opera. Here is his “Music of the Night.”
Robert Guillaume replaced Cleavon Little as the title character in the Broadway hit Purlie, a musical version of Ossie Davis’s play and movie Purlie Victorious. Davis had licensed the rights for the musical and received a share of the royalties from the musical, but he hated it because he believed it trivialized his original material. He had originated the title role himself, and the movie version starred Alan Alda as a Forrest Gump like manchild son of an evil racist southern land baron played by Sorrel Booke, who later played the similar character of Boss Hogg. (Regardless of Davis’s opinions of the play, Guillaume did a great job- it’s available on YouTube if you’re interested.)
Despite urban legends to the contrary, Houston socialite Ima Hogg, daughter of Texas Governor Big Jim Hogg, did not have a sister named Ura.
The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island.
James Jesse Strang converted to Mormonism a few weeks before the death of Joseph Smith but claimed to be Smith’s handpicked successor. He led a small schism from the church that at its height had a few hundred members and was based on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, where Strang proclaimed himself King of the kingdom of God on Earth. His cult had already declined significantly in number by the time of his murder in 1856, with even several of his wives leaving him.