Douglas MacArthur once said, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army, with their dates of appointment:
• George Marshall: 16 December 1944
• Douglas MacArthur: 18 December 1944
• Dwight D. Eisenhower: 20 December 1944
• Henry H. Arnold: 21 December 1944
• Omar Bradley: 22 September 1950
December 1944 was a busy time for the US Army.
The word “penultimate” is from the Latin paene ‘almost’ + ultimus ‘last’, on the pattern of ultimate. A group of contestants on “Cash Cab”, the cool version with Ben Bailey, were asked the question, “if you had a six-pack of beer and were on the penultimate beer, what number beer would you be drinking?” After talking among themselves and mentioning that “penta”, as in “pentagon” means five, and associating that prefix with the “pen” from “penultimate”, they guessed the fifth. They were of course correct, even though their “reasoning” was way off base.
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. 
Brothers George and Harry Bailey were played by Jimmy Stewart and Todd Karns in It’s A Wonderful Life (1946).
In the TV movie “It Happened One Christmas (1977)” Marlo Thomas played Mary Baily in a gender switch version of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This actually has a 6.3 rating on IMDb.
A 1990 sequel to “It’s a Wonderful Life” was called “Clarence” and starred Robert Carradine as angel Clarence Odbody.
Wilson Phillips is an all-woman vocal group consisting of Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson, and Chynna Phillips, the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and of John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas. Their 1990 debut album sold over 10 million copies worldwide and placed three number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including the #1 song of the year, “Hold On.”
California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas is a song inspired by Michelle Phillips’ homesickness for California during a cold winter of 1962-63 in New York City, when Michelle was just 18. Michelle enjoyed visiting churches, and a few days before, she and John had visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which inspired the second verse (“Stopped into a church…”).
“Monday, Monday” by The Mamas & the Papas was the first Hot 100 chart-topper with a day in the week in the title, and the only one with “Monday.” “Manic Monday” by the Bangles and “Rainy Days And Mondays” by the Carpenters both stalled at #2.
The 100-meter sprint has been an Olympic event since 1896 for men, and since 1928 for women. In the 2010 track season, the IAAF (the International Association of Athletics Federations) changed the rules for false starts, to immediately disqualify any sprinter who false starts. The rule had a dramatic impact at the 2011 World Championships, when current world record holder Usain Bolt was disqualified.
In addition to a track event, a ‘false start’ can also occur in American and Canadian football, horse racing, ice hockey, motorsports, sailing, and swimming.
Super Bowl XXXV was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on January 28, 2001. The rock group Styx performed their hit song Come Sail Away while the Buccaneers entered the stadium on a pirate ship.
Youngstown, Ohio, native Bill Saluga is best known for his cigar-smoking, zoot-suit-wearing television character Raymond J. Johnson Jr., famous for his catchphrase “You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me…” The character then proceeds to list almost every conceivable permutation of his name before finishing with “…but you doesn’t has to call me Johnson!” The spiel received more widespread attention in the late 1970s after being used in a series of commercials for Miller Lite beer, and subsequently, in the early 1980s for Anheuser-Busch Natural Light beer. He was also a frequent guest on Chuck Barris’ “The Gong Show” during 1977 and 1978.
Andrew Johnson, illiterate into his adulthood, was taught to read by his wife. He is the only former President of the United States to be elected to the U.S. Senate; former President John Quincy Adams was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after leaving the White House.
John Quincy Adams, John Hancock, and Jim Calhoun, the former head coach of the University of Connecticut men’s basketball team, were all born in Braintree MA.
The John Hancock Center (formally re-named as 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018) is one of three 80+ story skyscrapers built in Chicago in the late 1960s and early 1970s – the other two are the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower) and the Standard Oil Building (now known as the Aon Center).
The tallest building in the state of South Dakota is the CenturyLink Tower in Sioux Falls, which stands 174 feet tall. This is the shortest building on the list of 'tallest building in each state."
At 20,237’, the highest point in Alaska is Denali. Denali is the highest point in all 50 states.
At 14,494’, the highest point in California is Mt. McKinley. Mt. McKinley is the highest point in the lower 48 states.
At 345’, the highest point in Florida is Britton Hill. Britton Hill is the lowest of the highest points in all 50 states. Britton Hill is actually on the state boundary between Florida and Alabama.
gMap, Britton Hill FL — Google Maps
In 1896, a gold prospector named it “Mount McKinley” in support of then-presidential candidate William McKinley; that was the official name recognized by the Federal government of the United States from 1917 until 2015. In August 2015, following the 1975 lead of the State of Alaska, the United States Department of the Interior announced the change of the official name of the mountain to “Denali.”