Cool trivia! Some things, you don’t realize they have names
In play:
MarsDials are sundials devised for missions to Mars. MarsDials were placed on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, and were inscribed with the words “Two worlds, One sun” and the word “Mars” in 22 languages.
The first Mars landing in more than six years is scheduled to occur on the afternoon of November 26. The InSight lander will hopefully perform the first successful touchdown on Mars since Aug. 5, 2012.
Author Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote a long-running series of science fantasy novels set on Mars, which was known as “Barsoom” by the various intelligent races which inhabited the planet. The hero of the novels was John Carter, an Earthling from Virginia, who traveled to Barsoom via astral projection.
The series was seen as influential and inspirational to both science fiction writers and scientists – those who cited the novels as an inspiration included Carl Sagan, Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein.
Mars InSight will study the interior of the planet. It will deploy a seismometer and burrow a heat probe, and it will also perform a radio science experiment to study the internal structure of Mars. InSight is a backronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. A backronym is a constructed phrase that purports to be the source of a word that is an acronym.
Another backronym is Amber Alert, where AMBER is “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response,” but the term originally referred to Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996.
Florida, and perhaps other states, also have Silver Alerts, for Alzheimer’s patients who somehow got hold of the car keys. From personal experience, I can tell you Silver Alert messages on highway signs here greatly outnumber Amber Alert messages.
From 2001 to 2007 the price of silver increased from $4.39 to $13.45 per troy ounce, and then in early 2011 it went up to about $49. It has declined since then, to about $14.50 today.
In radio lore, the Lone Ranger’s original horse was a chestnut mare named Dusty, who was shot and killed by Butch Cavendish when he and Tonto were pursuing him. After Dusty’s death, the Ranger and Tonto proceeded to Wild Horse Canyon and happened upon Silver.
It is revealed in the radio episode, Radio: The Theft of Silver that Silver is shod with silver horseshoes marking him as the most famous horse in the West.
Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. At her peak she was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the UK Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989.
American actor Ron Silver, one of the most prominent Republicans in Hollywood, died of esophageal cancer in March 2009. Although he praised Sen. John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as running mate as “a brilliant political choice,” he told his brother Mitchell Silver that he ended up voting for Barack Obama for President in November 2008, according to his New York Times obituary.
ETA: Dusty Springfield did not perform at President Obama’s inauguration.
Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker Jr. is a former MLB manager and player for 39 years with the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and Washington Nationals. Of these teams, the Giants are the only ones he played for and managed. He spent more years with the Giants, 11, than with any other team.
Dusty Baker is also a US Marine.
There are three current Major League Baseball teams which have played in three different cities:
The Boston Red Sox are the first Major League Baseball team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.
The Boston Red Sox were the first Major League Baseball team to win three World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004, 2007, and 2013.
ETA:
… and… The Boston Red Sox were the first Major League Baseball team to win two World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004 and 2007.
There are seven current Major League baseball teams that have never won a World Series:
Colorado Rockies: Founded in 1993, they have appeared in one World Series (2007, lost to Boston).
Milwaukee Brewers: Founded in 1969 as the Seattle Pilots, they moved to Milwaukee in 1970. They have appeared in one World Series (1982, lost to St. Louis).
Seattle Mariners: Founded in 1977, they have no World Series appearances.
San Diego Padres: Founded in 1960, they have appeared in two World Series (1984, lost to Detroit; 1998, lost to the Yankees).
Tampa Bay Rays: Founded in 1998, they have appeared in one World Series (2008, lost to Philadelphia).
Texas Rangers: Founded in 1961 as the Washington Senators, they moved to Texas in 1972. They have appeared in two World Series (2010, lost to San Francisco; 2011, lost to St. Louis).
Washington Nationals: Founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos, they moved to Washington in 2005. They have no World Series appearances.
In CFL news, the two teams with the longest droughts since they last won the Grey Cup both had a chance to go back to the big game, but both lost their Division finals the past weekend
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (last drank champagne from the Cup in 1991) lost the West Division final to the Calgary Stampeders.
The Hamilton Ti-Cats (last Grey Cup in 1999) lost the East Division to the Ottawa RedBlacks.
So, another Stamps-RedBlacks match-up. The RedBlacks have racked up an impressive record since joining the league five years ago. I think this will be their third Grey Cup appearance.
24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, originally called Gorffwysfa, is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Canada. The mansion was built in 1866; the Canadian government acquired it in 1946. Since 1950 every prime minister—except for Kim Campbell (who resided at Harrington Lake, the Prime Minister’s official summer residence) and, to date, Justin Trudeau (who lived there as a child and has opted to reside at Rideau Cottage pending a review of work needed to repair the house)—has resided at 24 Sussex Drive.
Garretson Trudeau, born in New York City and raised in Saranac Lake NY, is the great-grandson of Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, who created Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium in Saranac Lake for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Garretson Trudeau is married to TV personality Jane Pauley. Garretson Trudeau is better known as Garry Trudeau and is the creator of the comic strip, Doonesbury.
The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in Westport, New York, in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903. Needing outdoor chairs for his summer home, he tested his early efforts on his family. After arriving at a final design for a “Westport plank chair”, he offered it to a carpenter friend in Westport in need of a winter income, Harry Bunnell. Bunnell saw the commercial potential of such an item being offered to Westport’s summer residents, and apparently without asking Lee’s permission filed for and received U.S. patent #794,777 in 1905.
The first patent issued by the United States was on July 31, 1790, to Samuel Hopkins, for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. The patent was signed by President George Washington.
The Province of Saskatchewan has some of the biggest potash reserves in the world. At current rate of consumption, the reserves are estimated to last 800 years.