Mike Dukakis is the cousin of Olympia Dukakis, who won an Oscar for Moonstruck, as Cher’s mother. She was a delegate for him from New Jersey at the 1988 Democratic convention. Dopers perhaps know her better as the voice of Zelda, Abe Simpson’s “hoochie, hoochie, hoochie!” in the episode “The Old Man and the Key”, set in “So You Settled For” Branson, MO.
Olympia Beer, originally brewed by the Olympia Brewing Company in Tumwater, Washington, used the slogan “It’s the Water”. Olympia Beer frequently appeared in Clint Eastwood films in the 1970s – Clyde the orangutan drinks Olympia in Any Which Way But Loose. The brand still exists, but has passed through several different owners, and is now owned by SABMiller.
In Poe’s short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, often credited with being the first detective story, C. Auguste Dupin deduces that the murders in Paris were committed by an “Ourang-Outang” that had escaped from its owner.
In the Planet of the Apes movies of the late 1960s/early 1970s the orangutans were seen as an elite caste whose members included priestlike officials such as Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans). Gorillas were the military caste and chimpanzees- including Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) and Zira (Kim Hunter) were pacifist class.
More than 550 extrasolar planets have been discovered so far, with new ones found every few weeks. Most are Jupiter-sized gas giants, many of which are much closer to their own stars than Jupiter is to our Sun, and much hotter.
Pluto was controversially “deplanetized” when the term “planet” was formally defined by the International Astronomical Union in 2006 in such a way as to exclude it. Pluto is now considered a “dwarf planet” or “planetoid” which is not just another way of saying “small planet” but a completely different classification than planet altogether; Pluto now has the same astronomical designation as Chiron, the slightly smaller companion to Pluto previously considered its satellite.
Union College in Schenectady NY was the first US college founded on a nondenominational basis. It was also the first college chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, in 1795.
Nashville, Tenn. was the first Confederate state capital captured by Union troops during the Civil War. It was then heavily fortified and remained in Federal hands until the end of the war: http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/cwar-pix/nashville.jpg
Although the home of The Grand Ole Opry since the mid-1920s, Nashville was relatively late to the game when it came to country musicians making recordings.
The first actual recordings of country music made in Nashville are generally acknowledged to be those made by Sheb Wooley (later of “Purple People Eater” fame) for the Bullet label in 1945.
The 100 Grand candy bar was first introduced by Nestles in 1966 as the “$100,000 bar.” The name was changed in the 1985.
President Ronald Reagan began his second term on Jan. 20, 1985. Since it was too cold for an outdoor inauguration ceremony, he was sworn in in the Capitol Rotunda, where 19 years later he would lie in state after his death.
WWE wrestler Mike Rotunda works under the name IRS, or Irwin R. Schyster. His character is a hateable tax collector, who enters the ring wearing a tie and glasses, while loudly demanding that all the audience pay their taxes.
“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization,” said U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who upon dying bequeathed his estate to the U.S. Treasury.
Eddie Albert played gentleman farmer Oliver Wendell Douglas on “Green Acres”, opposite Eva Gabor.
Oliver Wendell Jones was the pre-teen computer hacker in Berke Breathed’s comic strip Bloom County. Jones once hacked into the editorial computers of the New York Times, and helped Milo Bloom change the front page of the next day’s paper to read, “Reagan Calls Women America’s Little Dumplins”, leading to riots in the streets.
In Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Milo Minderbinder is the mess officer who turns into a trade entrepreneur. At one point he makes a deal with the Germans for the squadron to bomb its own base, although he fails epically with an attempt to sell chocolate-covered cotton.
Another memorable “MM” character in Catch-22 is Major Major Major Major.
His father, surnamed Major, gives his newborn son the first and middle names of Major and Major. The boy grows up, joins the Army, and due to a computer error is promoted to the rank of Major while still in recruit training.
Thus, he becomes Major Major Major Major.
Bob Newhart played Major Major in the movie of Catch-22.
The video game Army Men: Major Malfunction, for X Box and PlayStation 2 takes its name from a line spoken by former Marine Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket: “What is your major malfunction, numbnuts?”
During World War II? I don’t think so.
R. Lee Ermey also provided the voice of the sergeant of the little green Army toy soldiers in the Toy Story movies.