“Buck” Rogers’s first name was given as Anthony in the novella “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” by Philip Francis Nowlan, published in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. This was the sf character’s first appearance.
The exact root of the word “buck” meaning a dollar is difficult to say with one hundred percent certainty. However, the leading theory is extremely plausible and backed up by a fair bit of documented evidence. Specifically, it is thought that a dollar is called a “buck” thanks to deer. One of the earliest references of this was in 1748, about 44 years before the first U.S. dollar was minted, where there is a reference to the exchange rate for a cask of whiskey traded to Native Americans being “5 bucks”, referring to deer skins.
The five room hillside cabin where Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gale grew up in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky still stands, and can be toured for $5. 400 miles away in Hurricane Mills, TN is the Loretta Lynn ranch, where for $17.50 visitors can tour The Coal Miner’s Daughter Museum, Butcher Holler Home Replica, Simulated Coal Mine #5, Doll Museum, Native American Artifact Museum, and Plantation Home.
Two of Loretta Lynn’s grandmothers and one grandfather are of Cherokee descent. She hosts a Native American Indian Association Pow Wow each summer at the ranch, with attendees wearing buckskin clothing.
There is a cute joke about a poetry contest that goes…
The first guy walks up to the microphone. He was a polished Yale graduate in linguistics. He is asked to use the word “Timbuktu” in his poem.
He speaks,
“Slowly across the desert sand
Trekked a lonely caravan.
Men on camels, two by two
Destination—Timbuktu.”
The second guy walks up to the microphone. He was a hick redneck with his big toes sticking out of his worn leather shoes. He speaks,
“Me and Tim a-huntin went,
Met three whores in a pop up tent.
They was three, and we was two,
So I bucked one, and Timbuktu.”
Still in play, by gkster –
(I’ll thank Annie for the poetry joke because her play on “buck” reminded me of it.)
The first electric microphone was invented by David Edward Hughes at some time in the mid 1870s. It was a carbon microphone, the kind commonly used in old school telephone handsets.
Acoustic basics for microphones include reverberation, which is the time it takes the sound to die after the sound source has stopped, and scatter, which is the spread of reflected sound.
Two escort carriers of the United States Navy have been named Breton, after the Breton Sound of the Louisiana coast.
Cape Breton Island is the main island of NS CAN, or Nova Scotia, Canada. It is on the northeast end of NS CAN, whereas the rest of NS CAN is not an island, but rather it is a peninsula
The southernmost point of Canada is Middle Island, a small island located in Lake Erie. Middle Island is slightly farther south than downtown Chicago, and 13 US states are entirely north of Middle Island.
Brothers Danny Masterson and Christopher Masterson both starred in long-running TV comedies – Danny played Steven Hyde on That 70s Show, while Christopher played the oldest brother, Francis, on Malcolm in the Middle.
The brothers have two half-siblings who are also successful actors: Jordan Masterson plays Ryan Vogelson on Last Man Standing, whie Alanna Masterson plays Tara Chandler on The Walking Dead.
On baseball-reference.com, with a Similarity Score of 972.0, MLB starting pitcher Justin Masterson rates the most similar in his career performance to MLB starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. Vogelsong began his career with the San Francisco Giants in 2000 and 2001, and then was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jason Schmidt. He eventually returned to the Giants and had two especially stellar seasons with them in 2012 and 2014, contributing significantly to two World Series Championships. Vogelsong finished his career back with the Pirates and the Twins, and then in 2017 retired as a San Francisco Giant.
The baritone voice of Bill Lee, a member of The Mellomen, was frequently heard on film and TV in the 1950s and 60s. He did commercials, TV series theme songs, including Bat Masterson, and was the singing voice of a lot of characters, including Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music and John Kerr, playing Lt. Cable in the movie version of “South Pacific.”
In play:
The Sound of Music was based on two German films about the von Trapp family as well as a memoir by Maria von Trapp. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote the music. Soon thereafter, Richard Rodgers died from stomach cancer.
The last song he wrote was “Edelweiss.”
You’re welcome. Remember: Any day you make someone laugh is not wasted.
In Play: In the early 1940s, the von Trapp family toured the United States as the Trapp Family Singers before eventually settling in Stowe, Vermont on an enchanted farm with sweeping mountain vistas reminiscent of their beloved Austria. In the summer of 1950, they began welcoming guests to a rustic, 27-room family home/lodge. After a devastating fire in 1980, the original structure was replaced by the new Trapp Family Lodge, a striking, 96-room alpine lodge situated on 2,500 acres offering magnificent indoor and outdoor resort amenities. The entire property is still owned and operated by the von Trapp family.
On a visit to Munich in the summer of 1938, the von Trapp family encountered Adolf Hitler at a restaurant. Later in the year, the family left Austria and traveled to Italy, England, and then the United States. The Nazis made use of their abandoned home as Heinrich Himmler’s headquarters.
The Von Trapp Family Lodge is featured in Sharon O’Connors Menu and Music series Vol. 3 - Holidays, but the only items on the menu are apple strudel and linzer torte. Doesn’t sound like much of a holiday menu to me.
I visited the the Von Trapp Family Lodge in the Eighties and there was a longer menu than that, as I recall. We just looked around and didn’t dine there, though.
In play:
Apple Computer’s business address is one of the cleverer I’ve seen: One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, Calif.
The idea for the Apple Spaceship, at One Infinite Loop, Cupertino CA, when Steve Jobs presented his proposal to the Cupertino City Council in 2011, was to create the best office building in the world.
- Jobs was very involved in the planning process and worked together with lead architect Norman Foster
- It was inspired partly by the idea of a London Square, where houses surround a park, and also the Main Quad on Stanford University’s campus.
- The building plans to house 13,000 workers.
- Its walls are composed of the biggest pieces of curved glass in the world.
- Its underground auditorium can seat 1,000.
Norman Foster also designed “The Gherkin” in London, and the Millau Viaduct in Southern France, the tallest bridge in the world.
Trump Tower’s floor numbering scheme was designed to make it seem taller than it is. Floors six through 13 do not exist. Nor do floors 27, 28 or 29.