In 1647, the Puritan-led English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, because they viewed too many elements of the season to be pagan in origin, such as the Christmas tree. The ban was rescinded in 1660. Modern-day Christian groups which do not celebrate Christmas include the aforementioned Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and the United Church of God, An International Association.
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon was an Order founded in 1119, supposedly for the protection of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. In fact, the Templars were more interested in locating treasures from the Temple of Solomon, a quest which eventually took them to Ethiopia.
NM
Not far from Taos, NM, stands a trail marker with Templar symbols, possibly placed by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado during his search for a City of Gold.
The Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia and Kenya can be seen from space.
The size of the Grand Canyon, USA (image from space — https://goo.gl/images/ZEmhx2):
— 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over 1 mile deep
The size of the Great Rift Valley, ETH/KEN (image from space — https://goo.gl/images/yRqzfL):
— 3,700 miles long, up to 60 miles wide; its lakes are almost 1 mile deep
The Great Rift Valley is full of trails to hike.
In the late 1600s, the valley of the Düssel river was a place of natural beauty that inspired the sermons and hymns of minister Joachim Neander. His most famous hymn, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation” is still sung today. Neander also held gatherings and services in the valley. The Neandertal (originally Neanderthal, as in German thal for valley, later modernized to tal) was renamed in his honor in the early 19th century, and became famous in 1856 when the remains of the Neanderthal Man were found there.
The Neandertal was originally a limestone canyon widely known for its rugged scenery, waterfalls and caves. However, industrial quarrying during the 19th and 20th centuries removed most of the limestone and dramatically changed the shape of the valley. It was during such a quarrying operation that the bones of the original Neanderthal man were found in a cave. Neither the cave nor the cliff in which the bones were located still exists.
In Düsseldorf, the Düssel River forms a river delta by splitting into four streams (Nördliche Düssel, Südliche Düssel, Kittelbach, Brückerbach), which all join the Rhine after a few kilometers. Düsseldorf takes its name from the Düssel: Düsseldorf means “the village of Düssel”. The name Düssel itself probably dates back to the Germanic *thusila and means “roar”.
The name of Düsseldorf is often written as Dusseldorf in English-language media. Dusseldorf would mean ‘village of knuckleheads’ in German.
Knucklehead, panhead, and shovelhead all describe engine types, based on the shape of the head cover. They often describe Harley-Davidson engine types because their motorcycle engines are clearly visible.
Wikipedia pages, with images:
Harley-Davidson Knucklehead engine
Harley-Davidson Panhead engine
Harley-Davidson Shovelhead engine
“You knucklehead!” was an insult often used by Moe Howard of the Three Stooges, usually coupled with an eye-poke. In contrast to his roughneck public persona, Moe was, in private life, a quiet, dedicated family man, whose hobbies included reading, playing bridge and making hooked rugs.
Hold That Lion! was the Stooges’ 100th film for Columbia, the only one where Curly had hair, and the only one to include both Curly and Shemp. Curly, who had been forced to leave the troupe due a stroke, played a sleeping train passenger.
King’s College was established in 1754 in the City of New York by royal charter of George II of Great Britain. It was one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence. In 1784, it was renamed to Columbia College. In 1896 the campus was moved from Madison Avenue to its current location and it was once again renamed, this time to Columbia University.
Seven of the nine “colonial colleges” — the US colleges founded prior to 1776 — are part of the Ivy League athletic conference: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Dartmouth.
The two colonial colleges not in the Ivy League are now both public universities—the College of William & Mary in Virginia and Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The Crim Dell bridge, a wooden bridge on the College of William & Mary’s campus in Williamsburg, Virginia, is a location connected to several college traditions and superstitions. All students walk across the Crim Dell Bridge with their entire graduating class as part of the Commencement walk at William & Mary.
Supposedly, if two lovers cross the bridge together and kiss at the crest of it, they will be together forever. If that couple separates at any point thereafter, however, the female must throw her ex-lover off of the bridge and into the water to break the curse of being forever single.
Another superstition is that if someone crosses Crim Dell alone, he/she will always be alone.
(It’s one of the most picturesque spots on one of the most attractive college campuses in the US, picture link below)
The Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) in Venice, Italy connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace near the Piazza San Marco and the Colonne di San Marco e San Todaro.
The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge’s name, given by Lord Byron as a translation from the Italian “Ponte dei sospiri” in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.
In A Little Romance (1979), Diane Lane in her film debut (age 14) meets a young boy and they journey to Venice where they hope to seal their love forever with a kiss beneath the Bridge of Sighs at sunset.
Venice Beach, California, plays host to millions of visitors every year, featuring the “Ocean Front Walk” or just “the boardwalk”, Muscle Beach, the handball courts, the paddle tennis courts, Skate Dancing plaza, the numerous beach volleyball courts, the bike trail and the businesses on Ocean Front Walk. It is also planned that Venice Beach will host Skateboarding and 3x3 Basketball during the 2028 Summer Olympics
In 2028 Los Angeles will become the second city, after London, to have hosted the modern Summer Olympics three times. The Coliseum, originally built for the 1932 Games and used again in 1984, is planned to again host the opening and closing ceremonies and the marathon finish.
Michael Crawford, who originated the role of The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End, on Broadway and in Los Angeles, played Cornelius Hackel in the movie Hello Dolly. When he checked in his LA hotel to start filming on the movie, the clerk told him “Gene Kelly left a message for you.” Crawford asked him to repeat it twice because “I didn’t get it” and the third time the clerk shouted “GENE KELLY CALLED YOU.” Crawford admits he did it to impress all the people in the hotel lobby.
The LA Rams went back to blue and white uniforms this season — the first time since they last wore blue and white (as their regular colors) in the early 1970s.
In 1948, the LA Rams became the first professional football franchise to put a logo on the helmet. A Rams player and graphic artist by the name of Fred Gehrke had the idea to paint the helmet blue and design the horns on either side of the helmet.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a logo only on the right side of the helmet, since owner Art Rooney wanted to see how well it went over before making it permanent. The Cleveland Browns have no logo on their helmet sides.