“Hey Jude”, a song by Paul McCartney, was originally titled “Hey Jules”, a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, during his parents’ divorce.
There have been three Roman Catholic Popes named Julius, the most recent of whom died in 1555. Although there was a Coptic Christian pontiff named Julian, no Roman Catholic Pope has ever borne the name.
The Caesar salad has no connection to Julius Caesar or Ancient Rome. Italian-American restaurateur Caesar Cardini invented the salad in 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico. Cardini owned a hotel and restaurant in the tourist destination to attract Americans frustrated by Prohibition. He called his version the “Aviator’s salad,” but as its popularity grew it came to be called “Caesar’s salad”.
After his death in 1956, his daughter Rosa Maria Cardini took charge of the family business, Caesar Cardini Foods Inc., based in Culver City, and patented the Caesar salad dressing.
Nachos are named for Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya, the maitre d of a restaurant in Piedras Negras, Mexico. When a group of American soldiers’ wives came over the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, to shop, in 1943, they arrived at Nacho’s restaurant, but the kitchen had closed, so Nacho made up a dish consisting of sliced fried tortillas, cheese, and sliced pickled jalapenos, and called them Nacho’s special.
In 1865, Walter Moberley, the Assistant Surveyor General of British Columbia, followed the flight of a group of eagles and discovered a pass in the Gold Range of the Monashee Mountains.
He carved a blaze into a tree and wrote on the flat wood “This is the path for the overland railway.” He named the pass Eagle Pass.
Twenty years later, his prediction came true when Donald Smith hammered in the Last Spike at Craigallechie in Eagle Pass.
There is a persistent rumour that Moberley also reported seeing two small figures with hairy feet being carried by the eagles, but this is generally attributed to the rotgut whisky Moberley drank that night when celebrating his discovery.
Bald eagles mate for life.
The cause of male-pattern hair loss leading to baldness is a combination of genetics and male hormones. Treatments may include minoxidil, finasteride, or hair transplant surgery.
Finasteride, also marketed as Propecia, was (and is) used to treat male prostate cancer. Many men who had been experiencing male pattern baldness (MPB) reported some hair regrowth. Merck, the manufacturer, entered into clinical studies to see if there was a statistically significant improvement for MPB. One study was conducted at UCSF in the early 1990s. In 1997 the FDA approved Finasteride for treatment of MPB, and they sold Finasteride as Propecia. MPB, male pattern baldness, is called alopecia, so, Propecia was Merck’s chosen name for Finasteride.
I participated in that double-blind UCSF study, and was paid quite well for my participation.
Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia, King of Italy, and Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles II). After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty of Verdun in acquiring the western third of the Carolingian Empire. He was a grandson of Charlemagne and the youngest son of Louis the Pious by his second wife, Judith.
Ferrari cars is headquartered in Maranello, Italy.
Maserati cars is headquartered in Modena, Italy.
Lamborghini cars is headquartered in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy.
All three of those towns are located in a 15-mile circle.
Modena’s contribution to the Italian pasta culture are tortellini and tortelloni which are squares of pasta shaped in the form of a ring and stuffed with meat or cheese.
Soprano Mirella Freni and tenor Luciano Pavarotti were born to working class families in Modena; their mothers worked together in a cigar factory.
Vice-President Thomas Marshall was a jokester. One day he was presiding over the Senate and one of the Senators was bloviating on: “What this country needs is X. As well, this country needs Y. And of course, this country needs Z.”
The Veep cracked: “What this country needs is a good five cent cigar.”
The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in 1917 following the demise of its predecessor league, the National Hockey Association (NHA). A majority of the NHA franchises (the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Quebec Bulldogs) suspended the NHA and formed the new NHL.
The Naval Helicopter Association (NHA) was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit organization to promote the development and use of naval helicopter resources in the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard.
Major League Baseball players who are also US Marines include Dusty Baker, Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente, Tom Seaver, and Ted Williams.
Tom Seaver is one of two players enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown with a New York Mets cap on his plaque, along with Mike Piazza.
The New York Metropolitans (or the Mets) was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887.
On 28 September 2008, NY Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, USMC, threw the ceremonial “last pitch” at Shea Stadium. The pitch was caught by Mike Piazza. Seaver and Piazza were also afforded the immense honor of officially “closing” Shea when they walked off together into the center field exit and closed the door on the park after waving goodbye to the capacity crowd. On 13 April 2009, Piazza received the first pitch in Citi Field history from Seaver before the Mets opening game against the Padres.
Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later becoming the First National City Bank of New York. It now has a total of 2,649 branches in 19 countries, including 723 branches in the United States and 1,494 branches in Mexico.