The “Emberverse” series of fantasy/science fiction books, by SM Stirling, is set in an alternative present/future in which the world’s civilization is destroyed. The stories are centered on the redevelopment of civilization in Oregon, in particular the Portland and Willamette Valley areas, Corvallis, and areas northwest of there.
Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is a seminal utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975.
The book is set in 1999 (25 years in the future from 1974) and consists of diary entries and reports of journalist William Weston, who is the first American mainstream media reporter to investigate Ecotopia, a small country that broke away from the United States in 1980. Prior to Weston’s reporting, most Americans had been barred from entering the new country, which is depicted as being on continual guard against revanchism. The new nation of Ecotopia consists of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington; it is hinted that Southern California is a lost cause
Ernest Edward “Ernie” Kovacs was an American comedian, actor, and writer. During one of his NBC shows, Kovacs was appearing as the inept magician Matzoh Heppelwhite. The sketch called for the magician to frequently hit a gong, which was the signal for a sexy female assistant to bring out a bottle and shot glass for a quick snort of alcohol. Stagehands substituted real liquor for the iced tea normally used for the skit. Kovacs realized that he would be called upon to drink a shot of liquor for each successive gong. He pressed on with the sketch and was quite inebriated by the end of the show.
Ernie Kovacs’ most memorable routine was the Nairobi Trio, always playing “Solfeggio”. In the middle sat the “head gorilla,” always played by Kovacs (with a cigar), conducting with a baton or (sometimes) a banana. To the viewer’s left another gorilla stood, holding two oversized timpani mallets which he would use on Kovacs’ head at key points in the tune. The identity of this ape varied, but among Kovacs’ celebrity friends both Jack Lemmon and Frank Sinatra are known to have performed in the skit. Seated at screen right at a piano was a female simian (variously played by Barbara Loden, Jolene Brand and Kovacs’ wife, Edie Adams), robotically thumping up and down on the keys.
Yes it’s possible to do a credible slow burn while wearing a gorilla mask.
A berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants and bananas, but exclude certain fruits commonly called berries, such as strawberries and raspberries.
Strawberry leaves are a heraldic symbol of English Dukes.
Strawberry, California is a small town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains county of El Dorado along the historic Lincoln Highway on US-50. Strawberry was a stop along the Pony Express route.
Lincoln Highway is Highway 40 through Roseville and Citrus Heights, California.
According to Google Maps it’s there at Strawberry – zoom in here: Google Maps
Also, according to the Lincoln Highway Association: Lincoln Highway in California
The western terminus is in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park, right next to the Muni bus station. Google Maps
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, a Republican of Illinois, has been played by actors as diverse as Walter Houston, Henry Fonda, Raymond Massey, Hans Conried, Dennis Weaver, Hal Holbrook, Joe Flaherty, Sam Waterston, Tom Kenny, Lance Henriksen, Brendan Fraser, Hulk Hogan, Will Forte and Daniel Day-Lewis, among others.
Arthur Miller, the playwright, hid the existence of a son with Down’s syndrome for decades, institutionalizing the child shortly after his birth in 1966 and never visiting him. The child, Daniel, is the son of Miller’s third wife, Inge Morath, a photographer whom Miller met on the set of The Misfits, when she was taking pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Miller’s second wife. Inge opposed Miller’s decision, tried to bring Daniel home (which Miller would not allow) and visited him every weekend.
Miller eventually acknowledged his son and left him a share of his estate in his will, reportedly on the urging of his son-in-law Daniel Day-Lewis, who is married to Miller’s daughter Rebecca. Part of Miller’s motivation for institutionalizing his son was supposedly so that Rebecca, who was beautiful and gifted, would not have to grow up with the burden of a “Mongoloid” brother, as Down Syndrome children were called at the time.
More on this tragic story in this article; according to the author, Miller’s creative talent dried up after he hid his son, all of his great works having been written before Daniel’s birth.
#16, Abraham Lincoln, was the 1st POTUS from Illinois.
#18, Ulysses Grant, was the 2nd POTUS from Illinois.
#44, Barack Obama, was the 3rd POTUS from Illinois.
Tennessee, California, and Texas are the only other states with only 3 POTUSes.
ETA: ninja’d; Monroe was from Virginia!
#44 was the uniform number worn by both Hank Aaron and Willie McCovey. In 1963, they each hit 44 home runs, tying for the league leadership. Both were born and raised in Mobile, Alabama.
When he was 44, Andrew Lloyd Webber was asked to compose a song for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The result was Amigos Para Siempre a duet recorded with his then wife Sarah Brightman and Spanish singer José Carreras
Barcelona is thought to have been founded by Hamilcar Barca, a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago.
The Columbus monument, built in 1888 for the World Exposition, honors Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas, and serves as a reminder that he reported to Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand V in Barcelona after his first trip to the new continent. While some tour guides may claim that Columbus is pointing towards America, he is actually pointing to somewhere near Constantine, Algeria, or most likely, simply out to sea.
Out to Sea is a 1997 romantic comedy film, set on a Holland America cruise ship, and starring Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon and Brent Spiner. It was the final film for Donald O’Connor, Gloria DeHaven and Edward Mulhare. Janet Maslin in The New York Times described the film as a “weak but genial romp.” She credits Brent Spiner as a funny “scene-stealer” and says that Ms DeHaven is “almost as pretty” in this film as she was in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936),
Gloria DeHaven was 11 when she filmed Modern Times. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Poe was one of the first detective stories. Set in Paris, the protagonist is Auguste Dupin, who set the mould for many subsequent fictional detectives.
Comedian Emo Phillips says “When I was born, they threw away the mould. But it grew back.”