The pediatric Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston is the recipient of the Jimmy Fund, the official charity of the Boston Red Sox, who took it over from the Braves when they left town. “Jimmy” was a pseudonym for little Einar Gustafson, who wanted a TV to watch his Braves while undergoing treatment, as explained in his radio appearance on “Truth or Consequences”.
Truth or Consequences New Mexico was orginally named Hot Springs. They changed the name of the town when Ralph Edwards announced that he would host his radio show of the same name from the first town that changed theirs. Locally, the town is referred to as “T or C”.
New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the USA, behind Alaska, Texas, California and Montana.
Baja California is both the northernmost and westernmost state in Mexico.
Gray whales migrate between Baja and Alaska. The mothers give birth in the lagoons near Guerrero Negro in Baja California, nurse their calves there for a few months during the winter while the males linger offshore, then migrate to the cold Alaska waters for better feeding during the summer months.
If you want a truly excellent whale watching experience, rent a ride in a small boat in those lagoons. The curious calves, with protective mothers nearby, come right up to your small boat. You can sometimes touch them. The Mexican guides say the whales like having their baleen rubbed. I came close to touching one, within one foot.
The town of Santa Rosalía in the state of Baja California Sur features a church reputedly designed by Gustave Eiffel and displayed alongside the Eiffel Tower at the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. However, no blueprint or other record confirming the provenance of the building is known to exist, and then-architectural student Angela Gardner concluded about twenty years ago that a firm called the House of Duclo was responsible for the structure’s design.
Gustave Eiffel contracted to design and build the locks for the Panama Canal when the French Panama Canal Company abandoned its planned sea-level route. When the company failed in a stock-issue scandal, Eiffel was nevertheless implicated and briefly imprisoned for financial fraud.
Gustave Eiffel designed a small apartment for himself at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Tower, intended to be a temporary structure, was retained after Parisians fell in love with it and the French military realized its usefulness as a radio transmitter.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair to be its entrance arch. It is the tallest structure in Paris, one of the most recognizable structures in the world, and is the most visited paid monument in the world. In 2011, 7.1 million people ascended the tower. That averages out to almost 20,000 a day (assuming it’s open for 365 days).
The Eiffel Tower was made completely by French construction firms with one exception. The elevators on the lower section were designed by Otis Elevator, an American firm. No one thought it possible to design to the specs, which required the elevator run along the curved legs of the structure. Otis designed an elevator before being asked, confident that no one else could solve the problem.
The story goes that the Eiffel Tower’s staff hid vital components to the elevators during World War II, so that Hitler during his visit to Paris, and his troops for the rest of the war, would not be able to ascend so easily. When the city was recaptured by the advancing Allies, the elevators were quickly restored to working condition.
Named after Mike Godwin, Godwin’s Law is formally stated as “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”
Hitler killed himself with, allegedly, a Walther PPK in .32 ACP.
In the Ian Fleming novels, James Bond first used a Walther PPK in Dr. No. He kept it in a Berns-Martin triple-draw shoulder holster, which the continuity nitpickers noted was made for a revolver, not an automatic. In Goldfinger, Bond instead used a hollowed-out copy of “The Bible to be Read as Literature.”
Since 2002, the Walther PPK is manufactured solely by Smith & Wesson in the USA under license from Walther.
The first firearm produced by Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson was the Volcanic pistol, and the partners’ firm thus became known for a time as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company.
Horace Walpole, son of Prime Minister Walpole, was more interested in literature and art than politics, although he served in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. He wrote The Castle of Otranto, considered the first Gothic horror novel, which features a mysterious giant black helmet which crushes one of the characters on his wedding day.
Motorcycle helmets are mandatory in 19 states for all riders regardless of age. In 29 states, helmets are required for riders under a certain age (18 & under for 20 states, 19 & under for one state [DE], and 21 & under for eight states). Two states, IL & IA, have no helmet restrictions whatsoever.
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Sen. Paul Simon, Democrat of Illinois, was an unsuccessful candidate for President in 1988. He was noted for almost always wearing bowties.
In the original version of “The Manchurian Candidate”, Sergeant Shaw was brainwashed by the Russians to attempt to kill a presidential nominee. In the remade version, Shaw was controlled by a nebulous “Manchurian Global” corporation.