Wiki: Famous first as the United States’ primary arsenal during the American Revolutionary War, and then as the scene of a confrontation during Shays’ Rebellion, the Springfield Armory in the 19th and 20th centuries became the site of numerous technological innovations of global importance, including interchangeable parts, the assembly line style of mass production, and modern business practices, such as hourly wages. Numerous firearm models produced at the Springfield Armory from 1794 to 1968 were referred to as “Springfield rifles”.
On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz shot four would-be muggers on an express subway train on Manhattan Island. Nine days later he surrendered to police and was eventually charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses. A jury found him not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm, for which he served eight months of a one-year sentence. In 1996, one of the shot men, who had been left paraplegic and brain damaged as a result of his injuries, obtained a civil judgment of $43 million against Goetz. The incident sparked a nationwide debate on race and crime in major cities, the legal limits of self-defense, and the extent to which the citizenry could rely on the police to secure their safety. Goetz, dubbed the "Subway Vigilante,” was both praised and vilified in the media and public opinion. The incident has been cited as a contributing factor to the successful National Rifle Association campaigns for looser restrictions on carrying concealed firearms—with Kansas eliminating all such restrictions.
Thanks, ozzie.
The timing of Ronald Reagan’s first inauguration as Governor of California was suggested by his wife Nancy’s astrologist, who suggested it would be more auspicious than the usual schedule.
ETA: Reagan was President and had just been reelected at the time of Goetz’s shootings.
Ronald Reagan’s first screen role was in the lead of the film Love Is on the Air, in which he played a radio broadcaster who got in trouble for crusading against a corrupt politician.
Willard Scott, who at the time was a local radio personality in Washington, DC, performed using the moniker “Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown” in 1963 on three separate local television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character. Scott later went on to further fame as the long-time weatherman on NBC’s The Today Show.
NBC’s The Today Show is the US’s longest running morning TV show. It began in 1952 and has over 15,700 episodes.
NBC’s Tonight Show is the world’s longest running TV talk show. It began in 1954 and has over 11,800 episodes.
The song “Tonight” from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical West Side Story is performed on the original cast recording by Carol Lawrence, who played Maria, and Larry Kert, who played Tony. In the 1961 movie version, the song featured vocals by Marni Nixon (dubbing Natalie Wood) and Jimmy Bryant (dubbing Richard Beymer).
Civil War hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who saved the Union left at Little Round Top during the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, was later elected Governor of Maine. He opposed the abolition of capital punishment, in part, to deter inmates serving life sentences who might otherwise see no reason not to injure or kill prison guards.
Joshua Son of None is a science fiction novel in which one of the doctors present at the Dallas Hospital harvests some tissue from the dying President Kennedy, clones Kennedy, and then has a rich family adopt the baby, trying to recreate JFK’s life to culminate in the clone, Joshua, becoming President.
The title is a play on the description of Joshua in the Bible, as “son of Nun”.
In the Aramaic language, nun means fish.
Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players. The player whose turn it is to play asks another player for his or her cards of a particular face value. That player must hand over all cards of that rank if possible. If he has none, Bob tells Alice to “go fish”.
A recent study that incorporated analyses of radioactive isotopes emitted from the detonations of nuclear bombs reported to identify a Greenland shark that may be over 500 years old, making it not only the longest lived fish by far, but also the longest lived vertebrate.
The “Jesus fish”, or ichthys (ΙΧΘΥΣ), first appeared in Christian art and literature in the 2nd century AD. ΙΧΘΥΣ is a backronym or acrostic for “Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ”, or Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr, or Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. According to tradition, ancient Christians, during their persecution by the Roman Empire in the first few centuries after Christ, used the fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes.
Nitpicks: it was Parkland Hospital, and it is never actually said (although it is certainly strongly implied) that the assassinated President was JFK.
In play:
An early draft of the screenplay for the 2000 Oscar-winning sword-and-sandal epic Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, had a scene with captive Christians being fed to the lions of the Colosseum. The scene was cut and never filmed.
On March 4, 306 CE, a Roman Herculian guard converted to Christianity. His name was Adrian of Nicomedia and he had been torturing Christians. But he was then himself killed in brutal fashion because of his proscribed religion.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is the longest continuously produced military aircraft in history.
The self-bestowed middle name of British singer and pop star Elton John is Hercules. He was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight.
Hercules was the Roman name for the greatest hero of Greek mythology, Heracles. His name means “Glory of Hera,” but Heracles suffered from Hera’s enmity since he was the child of her husband Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene.
Zeus, a Great Dane living in Michigan, was proclaimed the World’s Tallest Dog by Guinness in 2012. Zeus stood 44" on four paws and 7’4" when standing on two legs. He passed away in 2014, age 5.
Zeus: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/09/12/1410485153765_wps_5_OTSEGO_MI_Zeus_the_Otsego.jpg
Barack Obama became, in 2012, the first Democratic President since Franklin D. Roosevelt to get a majority of the popular vote in two successive elections.