The Danevirke is a system of Danish fortifications in what is now Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Building of the Danevirke was started by the Danish King Gudfred in 808 CE, and it’s last use by Denmark as a military fortification was in 1864 CE during the Second War of Schleswig.
The pig would beg to differ.
Top SS official Reinhard Heydrich, at the time Acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia with his headquarters in Prague, was the only Nazi purposefully assassinated by the British - using specially-trained and airdropped Czech partisans - during World War II.
Operation Valkyrie, an attempted assassination of Hitler at his Wolf’s Lair retreat in East Prussia, employed captured British-made bombs, intended for use by the French Resistance, with silent fuses using acid eating through a wire, out of concern for the noise of a clockwork time-delay system on a German bomb.
German protestors demonstrated against Tom Cruise during the 2008 filming of Valkyrie, about the July 1944 assassination attempt against Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, due to Cruise’s long affiliation with Scientology.
The second of the two North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie Mach 3+ bombers ever built crashed during a photo-op formation flight with examples of other General Electric-powered USAF aircraft (an F-4 Phantom, an F-5, a T-38 Talon, and an F-104 Starfighter). The F-104 drifted into contact with the XB-70’s right wing, flipped over and rolled inverted over the top of the Valkyrie, striking the vertical stabilizers and left wing of the bomber. The F-104 exploded, destroying the Valkyrie’s rudders and damaging its left wing. With the loss of both rudders and damage to the wings, the Valkyrie entered an uncontrollable spin and crashed into the ground north of Barstow, California. NASA Chief Test Pilot Joe Walker (F-104 pilot) and Carl Cross (XB-70 co-pilot) were killed. Al White (XB-70 pilot) ejected, sustaining serious injuries, including one arm crushed by the closing clamshell-like escape crew capsule moments prior to ejection.
Major General George Henry Thomas, who won the nicknames “the Rock of Chickamauga” and “the Sledge of Nashville” during the Civil War, was offered the post of commanding general of the U.S. Army by President Andrew Johnson. Johnson was perhaps seeking to lower Ulysses S. Grant’s public standing, but Thomas refused, seeing the beleaguered President’s offer for the likely political trap that it was.
“I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” (often referred to as the “Major-General’s Song” or “Modern Major-General’s Song”) is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. The character of Major-General Stanley was widely taken to be a caricature of the popular general Sir Garnet Wolseley. The biographer Michael Ainger, however, doubts that Gilbert intended a caricature of Wolseley, identifying instead General Henry Turner, uncle of Gilbert’s wife, as the pattern for the “modern Major-General”. Gilbert disliked Turner, who, unlike the progressive Wolseley, was of the old school of officers. Nevertheless, in the original London production, George Grossmith imitated Wolseley’s mannerisms and appearance, particularly his large moustache, and the audience recognised the allusion. Wolseley himself, according to his biographer, took no offence at the caricature and sometimes sang “I am the very model of a modern Major-General” for the private amusement of his family and friends.
The rank of Major General was derived from the older rank of Sergeant-Major General. The disappearance of the “sergeant” in the title explains the apparently confusing phenomenon whereby a Lieutenant General outranks a Major general. For while a major outranks a lieutenant, a lieutenant outranks a sergeant-major.
The sergeant major or píntano (Abudefduf saxatilis) is a species of damselfish. This fish is white with a yellow top. It has 5 vertical stripes which are black. A faint sixth stripe might be present on the caudal peduncle. Adult males have a more bluish coloration and its stripes are less visible. There is a dark spot around its pectoral fin.
Populations in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean are found from the north eastern coast of the United States south to the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, islands around the Caribbean Sea, the eastern coast of Central and South America all the way to Uruguay. In the eastern Atlantic Ocean, they are found from Portugal, Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and western Africa. Juveniles are common in tide pools while adults are found over coral reefs.
The Canary Islands are not named after the popular cage bird of the same name. In fact, the opposite is true – the birds are called canaries because they were first found in the Canary Islands, off west Africa. The islands were named from the Latin, for an association with dogs of the islands.
There have been seven warships in the British Royal Navy named HMS Africa, the first entering service in 1694 and the most recent being decommissioned in 1920.
MOVE is a Philadelphia-based black liberation group founded by John Africa (born Vincent Leaphart) in 1972. The group lives communally. Its members frequently engage in public demonstrations against racism, police brutality, and other issues. In 1978, a standoff resulted in the death of Officer James J. Ramp, injuries to several other people, and life sentences for nine members: Merle Africa, Phil Africa, Chuck Africa, Michael Africa, Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Delbert Africa, and Eddie Africa.
Actor Eddie Albert was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” for his actions during the invasion of Tarawa in November 1943, when, as the pilot of a Coast Guard landing craft, he rescued 47 Marines who were stranded offshore (and supervised the rescue of 30 others), while under heavy enemy machine-gun fire.
Frankie Albert is considered the greatest left-handed quarterback in football history. At 5’10" 160#, he led Stanford to an undedfeated season and a 1940 Rose Bowl victory, then four years of active duty in the Navy in WWII, and seven years as quarterback for the San Frahcisdco 49ers.
Prince Albert tobacco is not named for Albert, Price Consort, husband of Queen Victoria. It was personally named by R. J. Reynolds after Edward VII, Victoria and Albert’s eldest son, who was known as Prince Albert before being crowned King. The portrait of Prince Albert was based on one acquired by Reynolds at a tea party with Mark Twain.
Aluminum foil was popularized by Reynolds Metals, the leading manufacturer in North America. Annual production of aluminum foil was approximately 880,000 tons in Europe and 660,000 tons in the U.S. in 2003.
Charles Martin Hall, a graduate of Oberlin College, invented the first process to cost-effectively produce aluminum, and later went on to found the Aluminum Company of America, or Alcoa.
The only part of a soda can that is economically recyclable is the ring-pull loop, which is made of aluminum. The cost of refining bauxite ore into aluminum is so high, it is feasible to recover the metal. The rest of the can is made of various alloys of other metals, that are cheaper to refine from ore than to recycle. Earthlings consume over a billion cans of beverages a day, many made from tin-plated steel…
U.S. Navy slang for the off-duty opportunity to swim from the hull of a warship in calm waters is “steel beach.”
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures film that was released in 1965. It is the fifth, and also best-known, film in the ‘beach party’ film series. The film starred Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and also featured Paul Lynde, Don Rickles and Buster Keaton.