In The Godfather, Michael’s Sicilian bride, Apollonia, gave guests sugared almonds at their wedding to symbolize marriage being a union of bitter and sweet. (It would have been more appropriate if she’d served something that required a brulee torch.)
The Sicilian town of Marsala is home to the world’s only remaining Phoenician ship.
In the United States, a Sicilian pizza is typically a square pie with dough over an inch thick. It is derived from the Sfinciuni and was introduced in the States by the first Italian (Sicilian) immigrants. Thick-crust and deep-dish pizza is often mistakenly called Sicilian pizza in the US.
The most famous classic blunder is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia,’ but only slightly less well known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.’"
Death Row inmates in Texas are banned from smoking.
EDIT: And in Oregon, Washington and California I see now.
In 1995, California was the first state to enact a statewide smoking ban.
Ban roll-on deodorant was long a brand owned by Bristol-Myers. Today, it’s owed by the Kao Corporation, a Japanese conglomerate.
Ray-Ban sunglasses were created in 1936 to protect the eyes of US Army Air Corps pilots. General Douglas MacArthur was frequently photographed wearing Ray-Ban Aviators and this helped to popularize the brand. MacArthur was wearing them when he returned to the Philippines on 20 October 1944 at Leyte - shown in his iconic “I have returned” images. They are even memorialized in the monument there about this event.
On the TV crime series CSI: Miami, detective Horatio Caine, played by David Caruso, very prominently whips his Austrian-made Silhouette Titan Minimal Art Model 8568 sunglasses on or off every time he says something the scriptwriters intend to be profound. When Caruso left NYPD: Blue, it was so widely thought to have been a dumb career move that even South Park made a joke of it, with Kyle asking Ike to jump from a window by saying “Do your impersonation of David Caruso’s career!”
The sewing machine was invented in 1818 by Josef Madersperger, an Austrian.
The first functional sewing machine was built by French tailor Barthelemy Thimmonier. His workshop was later burned down by a group of rioting tailors.
Elias Howe patented the first American sewing machine. The key innovation of his machine was a needle with the hole in the point, rather than the end. He got the idea from a dream of being captured by cannibals carrying spears with holes in the points.
Anita Bryant had signed to do a “wholesome entertainment family show,” sponsored by Singer Sewing Machines, when she came out (snicker) swinging against a vote supporting openly gay teachers in the Florida School system. The vote vetoed the idea, but Singer cancelled her show based on her “controversy.”
Anita blamed the queers.
Canada does not have the “case or controversy” requirement for the Supreme Court, unlike US federal courts. As a result, the SCC can give advisory opinions, which have played a key role in Canadian constitutional law.
Beverley McLachlin is the current Chief Justice of Canada, and the first woman to hold that position.
One a Hero was a short-lived but clever TV superhero spoof, where Captain Justice finds himself in the real world, where things don’t work the same way they do in his comics.
Captain Kangaroo (1955-92) was the first TV network children’s show in the US.
Captain Kangaroo’s real name was Bob Keeshan.
Keyboardist Daryl Dragon is best known as The Captain, the nonsinging member of the duo The Captain and Tennille with his wife, Toni Tennille. He is the son of conductor/composer Carmen Dragon, and the godson of Danny Thomas. His nickname was given to him by Mike Love of The Beach Boys.
May Jong has three honours tiles: Red Dragon, White Dragon and Green Dragon.
The piercings including multiple ear, eyebrow and nipple piercings that Rooney Mara sports as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) are real, not cosmetic simulations. Mara got the piercings in a series of sessions in Brooklyn and Sweden. The ear, nose, eyebrow and lip piercings were removed after shooting completed, but she kept the right nipple piercing for possible sequels. “It’s not something I want to ever get repierced,” she said. “So I’m going to keep it in.”