The emperor penguin is the largest of the penguin species and can weigh up to 90 pounds when mature and not fasting to incubate eggs. The fairy penguin is the smallest and weighs only two pounds.
Wallace Stevens, one of America’s greatest poets, had a day job at the Hartford insurance comapny, eventually rising to Vice President and refusing to quit the job after won the Pulitzer Prize and was offered a Harvard professorship. His best known poem these days is “The Emperor of Ice Cream.”
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream originated in 1984 at the Ben & Jerry’s Burlington Scoop Shop. When it was finally introduced in pints across the coutry, it took three months for it to become the best seller of B&J’s flavors, and it was named one of the best food products of the 1980’s.
The capital was burned that night, after the shameful American defeat at the Battle of Bladensburg.
In play:
Stephen King prominently featured Wallace Stevens’s poem “The Emperor of Ice Cream” in his vampire horror novel 'Salem’s Lot.
Dom Pedro was the first Emperor of Brazil, reigning from 1822-31. He became known as Dom Pedro I after being succeeded by his son, also named Pedro, who ruled from 1831 to '89. After Dom Pedro II was deposed in a coup, Brazil ceased to be a monarchy.
Dom Pedro II appears as a character in the children’s book The Liberation of Clementine Tipton, by Jane Flory.
Pianist/bandleader Billy Tipton was found upon his death to have been a woman, even though he convinced multiple girlfriends of his masculinity.
Four of the eight 2013 Tony Awards for acting went to African Americans: Patina Miller for Best Actress in a musical; Cicely Tyson for Best Actress in a Play; Courtney B. Vance for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play; and Billy Porter for Best Actor in a Musical.
At 88 years old, Cicely Tyson is the oldest winner ever of a Tony.
The fictional town of Cicely, Alaska was the setting for the '90’s TV series Northern Exposure. Rob Morrow played the expat New Yorker, Dr. Joel Fleischmann, and Janine Turner was Maggie, the bush pilot with a love/hate relationship with him.
Jets kicker Jim Turner kicked the shortest field goal in Super Bowl history (later tied), of only nine yards. Since then, the goalposts have been moved to the back of the end zone instead of at the goal line, so the record cannot be broken.
The best Grey Cup game in history, in 1989 at the Toronto SkyDome, featured the heavily favoured Hamilton Ti-Cats against the underdog Saskatchewan Roughriders, who had stunned the CFL by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos in the Western Final. (The Esks had led the CFL with a 16-2 regular season, compared to the Riders’ mediocre 9-9 record.)
In the last minutes of the game, Saskatchewan was leading, but the Ti-Cats tied the game 40-40 with a touchdown, leaving the Riders less than a minute of regulation time.
In 44 seconds of game time, Saskatchewan QB Kent Austin marched the Riders down the field with three successive completions for 48 yards. With the ball on the Ti-Cats 26 yard line, and 9 seconds left on the clock, “Robokicker” Dave Ridgeway and Glen Suitor came on field.
The Ti-Cats called a time-out, just to put Ridgeway on edge. Suitor, seeking to distract Ridgeway, pointed out a pretty girl in the stands and started talking about her, wondering what she was doing after the game.
Time was whistled in, centre Bob Poley snapped the ball, Suits pinned it, and Ridgeway nailed the field goal, giving the Riders their second Grey Cup ever.
Alexander Hamilton served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and was begrudgingly appointed a general of the U.S. Army by President John Adams, at the insistence of former President George Washington, during the Quasi-War with France.
No former Canadian general has ever become Prime Minister of Canada.
General Mills introduced Wheaties as the first ready-to-eat cereal in 1924. It was created in 1922, as a result of an accidental spill of a wheat bran mixture onto a hot stove by a Minnesota clinician working for the Washburn Crosby Co, which later became General Mills.
Camp Arthur Currie, the boot camp attended by Johnny Rico in “Starship Troopers,” is named for General Sir Arthur Currie, the Commander of the Canadian Corps in World War I.
Arthur Curry is Aquaman’s secret identity.
Aquaman, who was also the King of Atlantis and could talk with fish, was nevertheless nicknamed “The Useless One” as a member of the Justice League of America. Other members originally included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter.
Aquaman also used the identity of C. King in one JLA adventure of the 60s.
Aquaman’s wife, Mera, was from a different underwater nation. In some versions of the story, she was an assassin sent to kill him, but fell in love with him and married him instead. When her home nation found out, they were not pleased. Oh, and in some versions, Aquaman’s name is King Orin.