The Athens, Georgia based alt-rock band REM based their song “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” on the Rather mugging. Michael Stipe explained, “I wrote that protagonist as a guy who’s desperately trying to understand what motivates the younger generation, who has gone to great lengths to try and figure them out, and at the end of the song it’s completely fucking bogus. He got nowhere.”
Atlanta, Georgia, has the nation’s third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. It is the global headquarters of these corporations, among others: The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, Chick-fil-A, and UPS. Atlanta is also known as a media center, as it is home to CNN, TBS, Cox Enterprises, and The Weather Channel.
In the early days of her performing career as a nightclub singer, Lillian Klot (born in London in 1933) adopted the professional name Georgia Brown, referring to two of her favorite repertoire items, “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Georgia on My Mind”.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman responded to an 1864 letter from the mayor and city council of Atlanta, Georgia, protesting his order that the city be evacuated. He wrote, in part, “You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers, that live by falsehood and excitement; and the quicker you seek for truth in other quarters, the better. I repeat then that by the original compact of government, the United States had certain rights in Georgia, which have never been relinquished and never will be; that the South began the war by seizing forts, arsenals, mints, custom-houses, etc., etc., long before Mr. Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or title of provocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry and with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and Mississippi, we fed thousands and thousands of the families of rebel soldiers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war comes to you, you feel very different. You deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent car-loads of soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shells and shot, to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, to desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people who only asked to live in peace at their old homes, and under the Government of their inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it can only be reached through union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect an early success. But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter…”
Brigadier Generals have one star. Major Generals have two stars. Lieutenant Generals have three, and Generals have four. B, M, L, and G with 1, 2, 3, and 4 stars – easily remembered with “Be My Little General”, and they are all general officers. The US Code explicitly limits the total number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The max number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army, 62 for the Marine Corps, and 198 for the Air Force.
Omar Bradley was the last United States military officer appointed to five-star rank - in his case General of the Army, in September 1950. There were proposals to promote either or both Norman Schwartzkopf and Colin Powell to the rank after Gulf War I, but that was not done.
Henry “Hap” Arnold is the only person (to date) who has held a five-star rank in two different branches of the U.S. military.
In 1944, when Arnold was the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, he received a promotion to General of the Army (i.e., a five-star general). In 1947, when the Army Air Forces became the United States Air Force (and, thus, a separate, independent military branch), Arnold’s commission and rank were carried over to the USAF, and he became the Air Force’s first (and, to date, only) five-star general.
Full General Jimmy Doolittle spent his youth growing up in Nome AK. The Prince William Sound Museum in Whittier AK has a tribute to Doolittle and his contributions to aviation and the WWII war effort.
Charles Prince of Wales has at least 40 military appointments, but none that Wikipedia lists as “General.” He has three 5-star ranks: Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal of the Army, and Marshal of the Royal Air Force. His other appointments include Colonel-in-Chief, Air Commodore-in-Chief, Royal Honorary Colonel, etc. of various regiments throughout the Commonwealth including the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
The oldest tree in Wales is the Llangernyw Yew in St Digain’s church yard, Llangernyw, near Conwy. It is believed to be either the second or third oldest living organism in the world. The tree is estimated to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old.
The Senator was the biggest and oldest bald cypress tree in the world, located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. At the time of its demise, it was 125 feet (38 m) tall, with a trunk diameter of 17.5 feet (5.3 m). The tree was thought to have been destroyed by a fire from a lightning strike in 2012, but it was later discovered that the fire was started by an arsonist. The Senator was named for Florida State Senator Moses Overstreet, who donated the tree and surrounding land to Seminole County for a park in 1927. Located 40 feet (12 m) from where The Senator stood is another old cypress in the same Big Tree Park named Lady Liberty that was named companion tree to The Senator. It is 89 feet (27 m) high 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter, and is estimated to be 2000 years old; another one of the oldest trees in the world.
The General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park is a giant sequoia. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth. General Sherman has a 102’ Circumference at ground level with a 36.5’ Maximum diameter at base and is nearly 275’ tall.
The Red Oak tree, a Teaneck, NJ historical site at least 250 years old, was cut down on Monday, June 10, 2013, having fallen victim to decay, termites, and damage from superstorm Sandy.
The origin and meaning of the name “Teaneck” is not known, but speculation is that it could come from various Dutch or English words, or it could be Native American in origin, meaning “the woods”. An alternative is from the Dutch “Tiene Neck” meaning “neck where there are willows” (from the Dutch “tene” meaning willow).
From 1967–68, the Teaneck Armory arena was the home of the New Jersey Americans of the American Basketball Association, the team that later became today’s Brooklyn Nets. In 1968, the Americans were forced to forfeit a playoff game against the Kentucky Colonels because a circus group had rented the armory that week and the alternate location selected for the game, Commack Arena on Long Island, had a floor in such poor condition that it was deemed unplayable.
Kentucky Colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the governor and the secretary of state to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The title was formalized in 1813, and over 85,000 individuals have received this award.
One of the more famous Kentucky colonels is Harland Sanders, who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain. This was the origination of his better known moniker ‘Colonel Sanders’.
On two occasions Tiger Woods has been the target of remarks regarding fried chicken. The first occurred in 1997 when golfer Fuzzy Zoeller said that Woods should avoid choosing fried chicken for the Masters champions’ dinner the following year; the second when golfer Sergio García was asked in a press conference in 2013 whether he would invite Woods to dinner during the U.S. Open to settle their ongoing feud. García, a Spaniard who was unaware of the existence of the “African-American eating fried chicken” stereotype in American society, committed a gaffe saying: “We will have him round every night . . . We will serve fried chicken”, which Woods said was “wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate”. Both Zoeller and García subsequently apologized to Woods
Italian film director Sergio Leone was the creator of the “Spaghetti Western” genre, starting with his 1964 film A Fistful of Dollars. The film, which was based on Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, pioneered a different take on the American Western genre, with morally-complex characters, rather than “white hats” and “black hats.”
It also served to establish Clint Eastwood as a movie star; he had previously been known mostly for his work on television.
Leone stole the story for A Fistful of Dollars from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, and had to surrender Asian rights to the film and 15% of the worldwide proceeds to Kurosawa to forestall a lawsuit. However, the first “spaghetti Western” is often thought to be Giacomo Puccini’s 1910 opera La fanciulla del West, or Girl of the Golden West.
Two of Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed films are adaptations of Shakespeare plays. Throne of Blood (1957) is based on Macbeth and Ran is derived from King Lear. In both films, the action is transposed to feudal Japan. Despite the changes in setting, language and some plot points, both Ran and Throne of Blood are considered to be among the best film adaptations of King Lear and Macbeth, respectively.