Mao and Chou (Zhou) came to power as a result of theLong March, a 1934-5 military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People’s Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army. They escaped in a circling retreat to the west and north, which reportedly traversed over 9,000 kilometers (5600 miles) over 370 days. The route passed through some of the most difficult terrain of western China by traveling west, then north, to Shaanxi, and was completed by only about one-tenth of the force that left Jiangxi. The shift of the Communist power base to the north led them to restore Beijing as China’s capital.
The spelling Beijing was adopted for use within China on February 11, 1958, during the Fifth Session of the 1st National People’s Congress. “Peking”, as the city was known in the West, is a spelling created by French missionaries of the 17th and 18th centuries. While no longer the name of the city, the word still occurs in terms such as “Pekingese”, “Peking duck”, and “Peking Man.”
Peking Duck is (was) a favorite of Henry Kissinger, Fidel Castro, and Helmut Kohl.
One of the characters in the musical Pippin is Otto the Duck. When he falls ill, Pippin sings the song Prayer for Duck: with the following lyrics:
His breath has ebbed, his pulse is low
His feet are webbed, but even so
You must know
That although our tears are poised to burst
We’ve kept our faith warm through the worst
We haven’t cursed our luck or run amuck
To prayer we’ve stuck
Please reward our pluck
And save this duck
Daffy Duck first appeared during the Great Depression, in Porky’s Duck Hunt, which was released on April 17, 1937.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his second term just under three months earlier, on Jan. 20, 1937. This was the first inauguration on the new date provided by the newly-ratified 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, shortening the lame-duck period between a President’s election and inauguration. Previous inaugurations were on March 4.
The Honorable Service Lapel Button, sometimes called the Honorable Service Lapel Pin, was awarded to United States military service members who were discharged under honorable conditions during World War II. The award is sometimes colloquially called the Ruptured Duck. The award served several purposes. It served as proof that the wearer was an honorably discharged veteran returning from duty, still wearing a uniform because he had no other clothes available. Unofficially, it was also used as an identifier to railroad, bus, and other transportation companies who offered free or subsidized transportation to returning veterans.
In WWII, Daffy Duck was the mascot of the USAF’s 600th Bombardment Squadron of the 398th Bomb Group.
Their B-17s had Daffy on their nose. The 600th was first activated during WWII. In 1945, they were deactivated.
The first Eighth Air Force bomber to complete 25 missions was actually not the famous B-17 “Memphis Belle”, but the B-24 “Hot Stuff” (with 30). Tragically, on its way back to the US for a war-bond tour with a different crew, the plane crashed landing in a fog in Iceland. The dead included Gen. Frank Andrews, commander of all US forces in the European Theater, for whom the Air Force Base near DC is named, as well as his top PR officers and chaplains, all of whom had bumped regular crew members for the flight. The “Memphis Belle” was feted instead as a coverup, incidentally helping the B-17 get much of the glory that the B-24 should have had.
In the 1958 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoon “Robin Hood Daffy,” Daffy was Robin Hood and Porky was Friar Tuck. It was the last Chuck Jones cartoon short featuring both Daffy and Porky. “Yoicks! And awa-aaay!”: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/warnerbroscartoons/images/2/2e/RobHooDfy-1-.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110318091307
ETA: Friar Tuck was the chaplain, of sorts, to Robin Hood and his Merry Men.
The Warner Brother’s cartoon Ali Baba Bunny was released in 1957. It starred Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, making a left turn at Albuquerque and ending up in a Tale of Arabian Nights. They encounter a burly guard with a sword who protects the treasures and yells “Hassan Chop” while he tries to behead or slash anyone with theft thought. In 1994, it was voted #35 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
China-based Alibaba is the world’s largest and most valuable retailer since April 2016, after it surpassed Walmart, with operations in over 200 countries, as well as one of the largest Internet companies. Its online sales and profits surpassed all US retailers (including Walmart, Amazon and eBay) combined since 2015.
The origin of “Open Sesame”, the magical phrase in the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, is debated. Some older theories include:
Sesame is a reduplication of the Hebrew “Shem”=‘name’ i.e. God or a kabbalistic word representing the Talmudic “shem-shamayim”, ‘name of heaven’.
Sesame is connected to Babylonian magic practices which used sesame oil.
Botanists note that sesame seed pods open suddenly with a sharp pop, like the springing open of a lock.
Great trivia, Elvis!
Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland, is where Air Force One is operated from. It was built in 1945 and named after Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews. The Air Force One that Ronald Reagan, President #40 (Forty), flew in is in his Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
As posted above by Elvis, Andrews died aboard the B-24 Hot Stuff, and the B-17 Memphis Belle then went on to capture the glort described in Elvis’s post #36804.
The B-24 Hot Stuff and the B-17 Memphis Belle actually flew together on the same mission on 22 Mar 1943. On that mission, Hot Stuff was on her 30th mission, and Memphis Belle was on her 10th.
Edwin Andrews Air Base, In Zamboanga, Philippines, was named after a Philippine general who was killed shortly after WWII. The base was originally built by the Japanese, and currently houses 250 US Air Force troops, who have been on loan since 2002 due to the Muslim rebellions nearby. The US personnel there are confined to base, due to the security risk to all Americans in southwest Mindanao.
2002: AAARGH!!! The Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants in 7 games in the World Series, 4 games to 3.
But entering Game 6, the Giants held a 3 games to 2 lead. Needing just one win to take the Series, Giants starting pitcher Russ Ortiz built a commanding 5-0 lead with one out in the 7th inning.
The Giants were just 8 outs away from the championship!
But then manager Dusty Baker pulled Ortiz, who’d just given up two consecutive singles. And as Ortiz was leaving the mound, Baker did something inexplicable that Giants fans believe spit directly in the face of the baseball gods: Baker handed Ortiz the “game ball”, when the game hadn’t yet been won!
:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
The wheels came off the Giants championship bus: the Angels scored 3 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th to win it, 6-5. And then Anaheim won game 7, 4-1.
Damn! :smack: It still hurts.
not in play: You want hurtin’? I’m a life-long Cleveland Indians fan. Piker.
In play: David Ortiz, nicknamed “Big Papi,” is a former professional baseball player who played 20 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons, primarily with the Boston Red Sox, but also with the Minnesota Twins. He was a ten-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion, and seven-time Silver Slugger winner. Ortiz also holds the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54, which he set during the 2006 season.
The Boston Red Sox notoriously traded lefty pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee, one of the best pitchers in the game but a free spirit, to the Montreal Expos for useless utility infielder Stan Papi. Straight up, too.
Faithful, a book co-written by Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan, chronicles exchanges between King and O’Nan about the Boston Red Sox’s 2004 season, beginning with an e-mail in summer 2003, and throughout the 2004 season, from Spring Training to the World Series. The book was dedicated to the memory of Victoria Snelgrove, an Emerson College student who was killed during the massive celebrations after the 2004 ALCS, when she was shot in the face with pepper pellets by police officers that had been improperly trained and had responded with excessive force.
The film* Fever Pitch*, a remake of the British original starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, had its key scenes shot at Fenway Park during the 2004 playoffs. The ending had to be quickly updated when the Red Sox won the World Series, for the first time since before the Armistice.