Yeah! That’s what I heard, too: https://vimeo.com/243968589
In play:
Members of the Ku Klux Klan are the villains of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1891 Sherlock Holmes story, “The Five Orange Pips.”
Route 66 Orange Soda is a thing — it is, that is, if you want to pay over $20 for a 12-pack of this soda: Route 66 Orange Soda 12oz Bottles.
It’s out of stock right now. Damn.
In play: According to ranker.com, the best orange soda is Orange Crush, followed by Orange Sunkist, and Orange Fanta. Wikipedia claims that the first orange soda brands were Miner’s and Lash’s. Neither of those appears on ranker’s list.
Kipling’s poem, “Gentlemen Rankers”, is about young English gentlemen who have been forced to sign on as “rankers” (I.e privates or corporals) in the British Army because of their scandalous behaviour back home, likely involving drinking, gambling and other low activities that dissipate one’s fortune and reputation. They are “poor little lambs who have gone astray”.
The poem was set to music and became popular in the early 20th century at Harvard and Yale. It’s the inspiration for the “Whiffenpoof song”.
Actor Ron Kipling (1936–2011) was known for The Twilight Zone (1959), Route 66 (1960) and Target: The Corruptors (1961).
Ronald Reagan, a lifeguard, radio announcer and actor before he entered politics and was elected Governor of California and President of the United States, was erroneously listed in his senior-year high school yearbook in Dixon, Illinois as “Donald Reagan.”
The seven stars brightest for us in the constellation Orion are
- Rigel (Beta Orionis) left foot – blue-white supergiant
- Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) right shoulder – red supergiant
- Bellatrix (Gamma Orionis) left shoulder – giant
- Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis) center belt – blue supergiant
- Alnitak (Zeta Orionis) right belt – blue supergiant
- Saiph (Kappa Orionis) right foot – supergiant
- Mintaka (Delta Orionis) left belt – multiple star
Although we see these stars in the same section of sky, they are distant from each other: it is three times as far from Betelgeuse to the blue supergiant Alnilam as it is from Earth to Betelgeuse. Mintaka, however, is only 55 light-years away from Alnitak.
All seven names except Bellatrix derive from the Arab names. Alnilam is sometimes erroneously rendered as Alnihan or Alnitam due to transcription mistakes.
Actor, jazz pianist, singer and songwriter Bobby Troup, who starred with his wife Julie London (pic) in the 1970s US TV series, Emergency! (pic), was a US Marine. In the Marines, Troup organized the first-ever African-American band of Marines.
Besides starring in Emergency!, Troup is also best known for writing the popular standard “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”.
The line in Dire Straight’s “Your money for nothing and your chicks for free” often gets mondegreenized into “Your money for nothing and your kicks for free.”
Nitpick: It’s Dire Straits.
Before the Civil War, American banks freely printed their own money. Reputable banks’ money was widely accepted; less-reputable or smaller banks’ cash might not be accepted everywhere.
In order to finance the Civil War, Congress authorized the U.S. Department of the Treasury to issue non-interest-bearing Demand Notes. These notes earned the nickname “greenbacks” because of their color. All U.S. currency issued since 1861 is valid and redeemable at full face value.
Federally-chartered banks in Canada were authorised to issue private bank-notes until the 1950s. Since then, the Bank of Canada has had a monopoly on bank notes.
The 2018 series of Canadian banknotes is the first series of Canadian banknotes to be issued in the vertical configuration.
In Oklahoma, Route 66 crosses the South Canadian River — the longest bridge on Route 66 is the Historic Canadian River Bridge. Built in 1933, it is the longest truss bridge in all of Oklahoma. It lies on the county line of Blaine and Caddo Counties. Its official name is “William H. Murray Bridge”, but locals know it as the “Pony” bridge.
William H. Murray (1869 – 1956) also known as “Alfalfa Bill”, was an educator and lawyer who became active in Oklahoma politics before statehood. Although not American Indian, he was appointed as the Chickasaw delegate to the Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah, and was later elected as a delegate to the 1906 constitutional convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma.
Murray was elected as the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood, as U.S. Representative, and as the ninth Governor of Oklahoma (1931–1935). His campaign was marked by racist appeal and he supported Jim Crow laws. During his tenure as governor, he established a record for the number of times he used the National Guard to perform duties in the state and for declaring martial law.
The Arcadia Round Barn is a landmark and tourist attraction on historic U.S. Route 66 in Arcadia OK. It was built in 1898. It is America’s only truly round (as opposed to hexagonal or octagonal) barn.
gImages of Round Barn, Arcadia OK: https://goo.gl/dzUc4Q
gMap, Round Barn, Arcadia OK; approx 180 miles from Quapaw: Google Maps
President Abraham Lincoln appointed William H. Seward of New York, a rival for the Republican nomination in 1860, as U.S. Secretary of State. Given broad powers early in the Civil War, including the authority to unilaterally order the detention of those whom he considered a threat to the nation, he once said to a visitor, “I have but to ring that bell on my desk and you will be taken to where you will never hear the dogs bark.” The remark caused some controversy when reported, but there is no record of Seward ever apologizing for or retracting it.
Along the “Mother Road”, America’s Historic Route 66, in Illinois are the tombs of Abraham Lincoln, Mary Ann Todd Lincoln, and 3 of their 4 sons Edward, William, and Thomas. They are buried in the Lincoln Tomb at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. The Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site was designated one of the first National Historic Landmarks in 1960, and thus became one of the first sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, when that designation was created.
gMap — Google Maps; about 30 miles southwest of Lincoln IL which is the only town in the USA that was named for and by Abraham Lincoln before he became president.
According to Wikipedia, there are 32 states that contain a city/town named Lincoln. For whatever reason, in Wisconsin there are 12 towns named Lincoln.
The Lincoln Highway, from New York to San Francisco, is now called US Route 30 for the majority of its distance. It intersects Route 66 west of Chicago, near the suburb of Aurora, Illinois, where Wayne and Garth starred in “Wayne’s World” on local cable TV.