The Clan Crusader is a fiberglass British sports car built between 1971 and 1974. It was built with parts from the Hillman Imp, a small economy car of 1963-1976.
“The Imp of the Perverse” is a short story by Poe, exploring the idea that people are sometimes driven by a psychological impulse to do something that they know is against their own best interests. The narrator anthropomorphizes this impulse into the “imp of the perverse”, urging him to do something he shouldn’t. The story ends with the narrator confessing to a previously unsolved murder.
The term has passed into general use to describe this tendency.
“Poe’s law” is based on a comment written by Nathan Poe in 2005 on christianforums.com, an Internet forum about Christianity. The post was written in the context of a debate about creationism, where a previous poster had remarked to another user “Good thing you included the winky. Otherwise people might think you are serious”. Poe then replied, “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is utterly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won’t mistake for the genuine article”. The original statement of Poe’s law referred specifically to creationism, but it has since been generalized to apply to any kind of fundamentalism or extremism.
A Port of Entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has a staff of people who check passports and visas and inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. International airports are usually ports of entry, as are road and rail crossings on a land border. Seaports can be used as ports of entry only if a dedicated customs presence is posted there.
The ruling Stewards of Gondor swore to govern until the King returned. They did not sit on the throne nor wear any crown. Their emblems of office were a white staff and a white banner. They sat on a chair at the foot of the dais, below the throne.
Throne, AB CAN is a tiny municipality some 175 miles NE of Alberta AB CAN.
Throne, AB CAN is also some 8 miles SE of Coronation AB CAN (!). :eek:
People who hail from Coronation include former NHL players Dwayne Zinger and Travis Brigley, Olympic Bronze medalist Barbara Clark, and Olympic Gold medalist Melody Davidson. Film director Stuart Gillard also hails from Coronation. He directed TMNT III, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993).
On 17 September 2010, Coronation Street became the world’s longest-running television soap opera. Within six months of the show’s first broadcast, it had become the most-watched programme on British television. The show has been one of the most lucrative programmes on British commercial television, underpinning the success of Granada Television and ITV.
A glacier on Baffin Island, in Nunavut, Canada, is named Coronation Glacier. Coronation Glacier is the largest outlet glacier of the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island. The glacier has an area of ~660 square kilometers and extends 35 km from the edge of the ice cap terminating in Coronation Fjord. An Art Exhibit “Into the Arctic” by Cory Trepanier at the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC features some paintings of Coronation Glacier.
Cape Spear, near St John’s, N&L, is the easternmost point of Canada. Its name was originally “Cabo da Esperança” in Portuguese, which became “Cap d’Espoir” in French, and finally “Cape Spear” in English.
One can drive from San Francisco CA USA to Cape Spear NL CAN. The driving distance is 4,300 miles.
Cape Spear Lighthouse is a National Historic Site. It stands not only at the easternmost point of Canada, but at the easternmost point of all of North America. The lighthouse was built in 1836, the same year the Alamo fell in San Antonio TX USA.
ETA: the driving distance from the Alamo in San Antonio to Cape Spear is 3,250 miles.
St. Francis of Assisi (for whom the city of San Francisco was named) was baptized Giovanni; his father, Pietro di Bernardone, was in France on business when the child was born in 1182. When Pietro returned, he nicknamed his son Francesco, meaning “the Frenchman”.
In 1859, San Francisco street personality Joshua Abraham Norton declared himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States, and later Protector of Mexico. He had no formal political power; nevertheless, he was treated deferentially in San Francisco, and currency issued in his name was honored in the establishments he frequented. Though some considered him insane or eccentric, citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence and his proclamations, such as his order that the United States Congress be dissolved by force and his numerous decrees calling for a bridge connecting San Francisco to Oakland, and a corresponding tunnel to be built under San Francisco Bay.
The Transbay Tube is an underwater rail tunnel which carries the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART’s) four transbay lines under San Francisco Bay between the cities of San Francisco and Oakland in California. The tube is 3.6 miles long; if you include the approaches from the nearest stations or either side, it totals 6 miles in length. It has a maximum depth of 135 feet below sea level.
The tube was constructed on land, transported to the site, then submerged and fastened to the bottom (mostly by packing the sides with sand and gravel).
BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, which began operation on September 11, 1972, is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the US. NYC’s MTA subway is #1, Chicago’s L is #2, Washington DC’s Metro is #3, and Boston’s MBTA subway is #4.
The MTA song is based on a much older version called “The Ship That Never Returned” (or its railroad successor, “Wreck of the Old 97”). It was composed in 1949 as part of the election campaign of Walter A. O’Brien, a Progressive Party candidate for Boston mayor. O’Brien was unable to afford radio advertisements, so he enlisted local folk singers to write and sing songs from a touring truck with a loudspeaker. O’Brien was later fined $10 for “disturbing the peace”.
The Boston Red Sox have patented the shade “Fenway Green.”
Boston Common, located near the Financial District and Beacon Hill, is the oldest public park in the United States. Along with the adjacent Boston Public Garden, it is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to encircle the city. The Emerald Necklace includes Jamaica Pond, Boston’s largest body of freshwater, and Franklin Park, the city’s largest park and home of the Franklin Park Zoo.
The late Robert B. Parker’s detective character Spenser (his first name is never revealed) often jogs through Boston Common and the Public Garden, regardless of the weather.
Dave Van Ronk recorded a New York version of the Boston-based “Charlie on the MTA”, titled “Georgie on the IRT”, to the tune of “Engine 143”. In it, Georgie is decapitated by the closing door on a New York subway car, and for eternity his head shuttles between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Now when you ride the IRT and you approach Times Square
Incline your head a few degrees and say a silent prayer
For his body it lies between the ties, amidst the dust and dew
And his head it rides the IRT to Flatbush Avenue.
The hyphen in the masthead of The New-York Times was dropped on December 1, 1896. The New-York Historical Society retains it.