Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s baby daughter Pebbles was usually seen in the company of Barney and Betty Rubble’s baby boy Bamm-Bamm, whom she eventually married.
Wilma Rudolph overcame polio to win the gold medal in the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party as its candidate for President of the United States in Los Angeles in 1960.
“Kennedy” was the on-screen name of Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, a VJ who hosted MTV’s “Alternative Nation” shows in the 1990’s. She is partly responsible for popularizing Seattle grunge bands Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. She also hosted GSN’s “Who Wants to Be Governor of California?”, a televised debate among some of the more colorful candidates in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, such as Gary Coleman and Mary Carey.
In 2005, Gary Coleman announced his intention to sue the producers of Avenue Q for their depiction of him as the superintendant of the building the musical takes place in, although the lawsuit never materialized. At the 2007 New York Comic Con, Coleman said, “I wish there was a lawyer on Earth that would sue them for me.”
The Coleman character lives on in the show, despite the death of its inspiration, after minor dialogue adjustments.
Desmond Llewellyn played techno-wizard Q in 16 James Bond movies. He died in an automobile accident shortly after appearing in The World Is Not Enough, in which he introduced John Cleese as his replacement.
Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace; Molly is a singer in the band.
Alabama-born Joseph Louis Barrow became one of the world’s most famous athletes when he dropped his last name and took up boxing (you may know him better as just plain Joe Louis).
Mobile, Alabama is named after the Mauvilla Indians.
Alabama Getaway was first released by the Grateful Dead in 1980 on the album, Go To Heaven. The album was released on CD in 1987 and then re-released on CD in 2000.
SFC Schwartz
Democratic running mates Al Gore and Joe Lieberman went to see the movie Men of Honor together in late 2000, during the agonizing Florida vote recount.
Florida is the only US state that has two rivers both with the same name. There is a Withlacoochee River in north-central Florida (Madison County) and a Withlacoochee River in central Florida. They have nothing in common except the name.
The Kissimmee River is the main source of water for Lake Okeechobee, which in turn feeds the wide, shallow, grassy river called the Everglades. It was straightened and channelized in the 1960’s as a flood control project, and even given the new name of “C-85 Canal”, but the resulting environmental damage has caused this work to be reversed.
Anthony Lake was one of President Bill Clinton’s National Security Advisors. He reportedly taught the President in private how to salute, for times when the President received a salute from military personnel.
Earl Anthony, he of the famous crew cut, won the Professional Bowler’s Association’s Player of the Year award six times in the 1970s. Since then, Walter Ray Williams Jr. has won surpassed him, being named Player of the Year seven times.
In the US military, when rendering a salute, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel must be “under cover” - wearing a hat or cover or helmet, for example. Army and Air Force personnel may render salutes either covered or uncovered.
All branches of the US military offer salutes palm down. The British Army and Royal Air Force salute palm out, but the Royal Navy salutes palm down.
The Polish Armed Forces use a two-finger salute.
(I think New York City drivers render a one-finger salute:D)
The British custom is to use both the index and middle fingers when offering the sort of salute using only the middle finger almost everywhere else. When done properly, the gesture includes a grand, sweeping upward motion of the arm. The “pluck yew” explanation is an obvious, if imaginative, fabrication. Care must be taken when using the V for Victory salute (AKA the Spice Girls “Girl Power” salute) to face the palm forward, lest there be a misunderstanding.
Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers was one of several players on the Oakland A’s squads of the Seventies who grew a mustache after owner Charlie Finley offered a cash bonus to players who wore them (Finley wanted a nostalgic Gay Nineties look for his players).
Fingers grew an old-fashioned waxed mustache that became his trademark.