Ninja’d!
The Martin Islands of Nunavut, Canada are part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the western Gulf of Boothia near the Boothia Peninsula. They lie north of Hudson Bay, and west of Baffin Bay and Greenland. They lie at 70 degrees N latitude, at Lat-Long 70.207064, -91.491719.
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Tageo.com has a sparse page about the place, MARTIN ISLANDS Geography Population Map cities coordinates location - Tageo.com.
The Canadian territory of Nunavut was officially formed in 1999, when it was split off from the Northwest Territories.
Nunavut is the largest of Canada’s territories and provinces – with over 1.8 million square kilometers of land, it accounts for 20% of the entire land area of Canada. However, it’s also very sparsely populated, with fewer than 40,000 residents.
Prince Edward Island is by far the smallest of Canada’s provinces and territories; the next-smallest province, Nova Scotia, is 10 times as large. Its land area is 0.1% of Canada’s total land area. However, it produces 25% of Canada’s potatoes.
The Idaho Potato Museum (https://idahopotatomuseum.com/) opened in June 1988 and is located in Blackfoot ID. Joseph P. Marshall, who first came to Idaho from Ohio and Montana and North Dakota in 1902, is known as “Idaho Potato King” because of his untiring efforts in improving the industry. John (Jack) R. Simplot began building his potato empire in the 1930s as a fresh shipper. He has been in turn the largest fresh shipper of potatoes in the state, the largest grower of Idaho potatoes, and the largest processor.
Harve Presnell, the actor who played Jerry Lundegaard’s domineering father-in-law in Fargo, also played Gen. George C. Marshall in Saving Private Ryan.
Kate Mulgrew, who first came to prominence in the role of Mary Ryan Fenelli on the soap Ryan’s Hope, made history in the Star Trek franchise when she became the first female captain as a series regular in a leading role. Voyager was the first show broadcast on the new UPN channel, the only series renewed after the channel’s first programming season, and its only show to run for seven seasons, making it UPN’s longest running show. Mulgrew won the Saturn Award for “Best TV Actress” in 1998 for her performances as Janeway.
Fargo, North Dakota, with a population of 240,000, accounts for nearly 17% of the state population. The city was originally named “Centralia” in the mid- to late-1800s, but it was later renamed “Fargo” after Northern Pacific Railway director and Wells Fargo Express Company founder William Fargo. William Fargo (1818–1881), born in Onondaga County of New York’s Finger Lakes region as the eldest of 12 children was also was the Mayor of Buffalo NY in the mid-1800s. Buffalo NY, with a population of 250,000, is the 2nd-largest city of New York state. It is believed that the city of Buffalo received its name from the nearby Buffalo Creek, which is a tributary of the Buffalo River. The Buffalo River is about 8 miles long, drains into Lake Erie at Buffalo NY and is the western terminus for the 363 mile long Erie Canal. When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it was the second longest canal in the world and it connected NYC NY to the Great Lakes via the Hudson River.
There are several creeks in the USA named Buffalo Creek. There are at least five in Pennsylvania, four in Missouri, four in West Virginia, three in South Dakota, two in Minnesota, and one each in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
It is believed that all the creeks named Buffalo Creek are named after the animal.
The buffalo was given its common name by early French explorers who called them “les boeufs,” meaning oxen. Throughout the years, the name went through several changes from “buffle” to “buffelo” and finally to its present “buffalo.” Bison is the correct scientific and common name, but buffalo is widely used and also accepted. Bison were given many names by native peoples, including “tatanka,” “pezhekee,” and “iinii,” among many others.
In Iowa there are no wild herds of bison. There are some small captive herds. One such herd is in the Jester Park wildlife enclosure which is accessible year round. The park is about 220 miles from Dubuque IA on the Mississippi, where Kate Mulgrew was born.
In North Dakota, the are wild herds of buffalo and bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park near western edge of the state. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is some 325 miles away from Fargo on the eastern edge of the state.
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Fargo is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. The most populous city in the state, it accounts for nearly 17% of the state population.
The Electric Company was an educational television series for children, which ran on PBS from 1971 until 1977. It was created by Children’s Television Workshop, the same group which had created Sesame Street, and it was targeted towards elementary-school age children, who had “graduated” from Sesame Street, to teach them reading and grammar skills.
The show featured an ensemble cast, which included two established stars (Bill Cosby and Rita Moreno); one of the other cast members was a young Morgan Freeman. An animated segment in many episodes, “Letterman,” featured the voices of Joan Rivers, Gene Wilder, and Zero Mostel.
The show also featured numerous recurring characters, including Millie the Helper (played by Moreno), Easy Reader (played by Freeman), Fargo North, Decoder (a pun on “Fargo, North Dakota”, played by Skip Hinnant), and J. Arthur Crank (played by Jim Boyd).
There are nine counties named Cass in the USA. Eight of them are named for Lewis Cass of New Hampshire (1782 - 1866) who became a military officer, politician, and statesman. He represented Michigan in the US Senate and served in the Cabinets of two Presidents, Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. He was also the 1848 Democratic presidential nominee and a leading spokesman for the Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, which held that the white people in each territory should decide whether to permit slavery.
Cass County, North Dakota is named for railroad executive George Washington Cass (1810 - 1888).
Cass Elliot, also known as Mama Cass, was one of the members of The Mamas & The Papas. That singing group achieved fame in the late 60s and early 70s, releasing six albums during the years 1966-1971. Elliot achieved solo success as well; she released seven albums in the years 1968-1973.
Elliot died in her sleep in London on July 29. 1974. The autopsy report listed the cause of death as heart failure.
Contrary to popular belief, she did not choke on a ham sandwich.
Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen in 1941. In “Creeque Alley” the song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, it is said (sung) that she moved to New York City to further her acting career, and that she moved to the Washington, D.C. area to attend Swarthmore College:
… Take me to New York right away
and
… When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore
The former is true while the latter is not. Cass Elliot attended American University, not Swarthmore.
“Mama” Cass Elliot appears briefly in a party scene in the 2019 Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. She is played by American actress Rachel Redleaf.
The Mamas and the Papas were formed by members of two earlier folk groups: the Mugwumps (which featured Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty) and the New Journeymen (which featured John Phillips).
Phillips had recruited his wife, Michelle Phillips, for the new group, but was initially hesitant about inviting Elliot. The popular story at the time was that he felt that Cass’s voice was too low, and that, after suffering an accident in which she had been hit in the head by a copper pipe, Cass gained an additional three notes to her upper range; however, it appears more likely that Phillips’ hesitancy over Elliot was due to her weight, and that the pipe story was fabricated to cover this up.
The song “Creeque Alley”, which is the story of how the group formed, was titled after Creque Alley, a side street in St. Thomas, USVI, where John and Michelle Philips performed in a bar owned by a man named Hugh Duffy. Duffy’s name appears in the song, but Creque Alley does not.
*footnote: many is the night that I staggered down Creque Alley on the way from Joe’s
Bar on Back Street to Front Street to catch a ride.
The Mamas and the Papas hit song, California Dreamin’ is a rare pop song in that it has a flute solo. And it’s not just a flute, it’s an alto flute, which is larger than a regular flute and plays in a lower register.
Longtime ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman is known for a number of catchphrases, as well as the pun-based nicknames he gives to players. Among the many nicknames he’s bestowed on players are:
- Steve “Alto” Sax
- Eric “Sleeping With” Bienemy
- Darryl Strawberry “Shortcake”
- Rollie “Chicken” Fingers
- Mike “You’re In Good Hands With” Alstott
- Andre “Bad Moon” Rison
Chris Berman’s sportscasting career began at WVIT-TV of Hartford CT as a weekend sports anchor. He joined ESPN in 1979, a month after its founding, and has been with the network ever since. Along with Bob Ley, he is one of ESPN’s longest-tenured employees. Berman and Ley are the only remaining SportsCenter anchors from 1979.