Truman Capote and To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee were childhood friends in Alabama. She later helped him with research for his fictionalized crime book In Cold Blood.
Note: In her book, the character of Dill was modeled on Capote and that of Scout on herself.
Play: The Confederate flag was designed and first flown in Alabama, in 1861.
“The Alabama Song” by Kurt Weill was written for his opera “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” Despite the fact that the rest of the opera is in German, the lyrics for the song (written by Bertholt Brecht) were originally in English, and are sung that way even in German-language productions. It’s best known here in the US for a version performed by Jim Morrison on the Doors’ first album.
The state flag of Georgia (not Alabama), after several revisions in recent years as state politicos wrestled with the political controversy surrounding its Confederate symbolism, is now strongly patterned after the first Confederate national flag, commonly known as the “Stars and Bars.” It was adopted in 2003, and is (I believe) the only state flag to have its own pledge of allegiance.
More than 30 years before Alaska was to become a state, the Alaska Department of the American Legion sponsored a territorial contest for Alaska children in grades seven through twelve. A flag was needed to represent the future state of Alaska and somebody thought it would be a good idea to tap into the creativity of these kids.
The winner of the contest was a seventh grade Aleut student, thirteen year old John Bell (Benny) Benson from Chignik. He was living in an orphanage in Seward, the Jesse Lee Mission Home, at the time of the contest.
He designed the present Alaska State Flag with a blue background to represent the sky and the Forget-me-not flower. On that background were placed eight gold stars to represent the Big Dipper and the North Star. The Big Dipper forms part of the constellation Ursa Major or Great Bear; symbolizing strength. The North Star represents the future state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. Benny’s simple, elegant design was adopted by the Alaska Territorial Legislature in May, 1927.
Alaska is the state with the longest coastline.
Sarah Louise Palin, the ninth Governor of Alaska, was the youngest person and the first woman elected to the post.
The first woman governor of any state was Nellie T. Ross, elected Governor of Wyoming in 1924 (and took office Jan 5, 1925.) She narrowly beat out Miriam Ferguson, who was inaugurated as Governor of Texas fifteen days later.
At oe time both Texas and Florida were governrf by a Bush borther (George W & Jeb respectively), and they were the top two states for carryig out death penalties.
In Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, two US states were vying as the location for the cannon he used to shoot his travelers to the moon: Florida and Texas. Florida was chosen because there was a single site contending for the honor, whereas multiple counties in Texas wanted it. The idea was to keep the Texas counties from being jealous of the one who got the site.
Captain Nemo’s submarine in the Jules Verne tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was the Nautilus; many years later, the first nuclear-powered U.S. Navy submarine was given the same name. She is now a museum ship in Groton, Conn.
Construction of the Nautilus was supervised by Admiral Hyman Rickover. During its historic voyage under the North Pole the ship was commanded by Commander William Anderson.
One league = 3 nautical miles. The crew of the Nautilus had a celebration on February 4, 1957 when they logged their 60,001st nautical mile because it meant they had surpassed “20,000 leagues under the sea”. (The title of the Verne book is often mistaken to mean that the Nautilus was that deep under the water’s surface, which would of course be impossible as the sea is never more than a few miles deep.)
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world’s oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth’s crust. Humans have only succeeded in reaching the bottom of it three times. The first, in 1960, was for 15 minutes.
(Being a '99er pays off at last!)
The Kingston, Jamaica neighborhood of Trenchtown was the birthplace of reggae and rocksteady music Its modern form, with communal buildings and facilities (the “government yards” that resident Bob Marley sang of in “No Woman, No Cry”) dates to an urban renewal and social engineering effort in the Thirties.
The USS Enterprise commanded by Capt. James T. Kirk was built in Starfleet’s San Francisco Yards.
“Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron, who also cameo’d in the classic film Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land, has devoted his adulthood to films and books promoting creationism.
Oscar-winning and alltime-top-grossing director James Cameron dated Linda Hamilton, who starred in his Terminator movies.
Orion Pictures originally wanted OJ Simpson for the role of The Terminator, but James Cameron didn’t think he would be believable as a killer.
The Orion people in Star Trek are green, with notoriously sensuous women. They have been known to commit smuggling and piracy around the Coridan system.