Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, aka Grand Moff Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing, was the most major character in Star Wars not to receive an action figure during the run of the original trilogy, though an action figure was released much later in the style of the vintage “first generation” Star Wars figures.
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The term “action figure” was first coined by Hasbro in 1964, to market their G.I. Joe figure to boys who wouldn’t play with dolls. A similar toy named Johnny Hero was introduced by Rosko Industries for Sears in 1965, but was known as a “Boy’s Doll” since the term action figure had not gained widespread usage at that point.
Sears has taken a pounding in the stock market recently, its CEO was forced out earlier this year, and it’s begun a new, multimillion-dollar ad campaign to lure back shoppers.
Pemmican was a staple of the Métis fur traders. It was made by pounding buffalo meat with grease and local berries and allowing it to dry in the sun. It provided a high-protein, non-spoiling food source. Though not as nutritious as lembas, it was crucial to the travelling fur traders. A major confrontation between the Hudson Bay Company and the North-West Company was triggered by the Pemmican Proclamation by the HBC Governor of Red River, which attempted to restrict the pemmican supply to the HBC traders. The Governor was killed in the resulting battle.
The John Wayne film Red River was filmed in 1946 but held for release for two years, in part due to legal problems with Howard Hughes who claimed it was similar to his The Outlaw.
Louis Riel established a provisional government for Red River in 1869, and led the negotiations for the entry of the region into Canada as the fifth province, Manitoba. However, because of the execution of Thomas Scott, an Ontarian who had opposed the provisional government, Riel had to flee from Manitoba. Today he is considered a Father of Confederation, albeit later convicted of treason against Canada for the North-West Rebellion, for which he was hanged.
The 1931 Red River Bridge War was a bloodless confrontation between Texas and Oklahoma over the construction of a non-toll bridge next to an existing toll one, included gun-brandishing Oklahoma Governor “Alfalfa Bill” Murray imposing martial law at both ends, including the Texas side.
Bonus points for the Tolkien reference.
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Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, announced this week that he will not run for another term in his current office, but left open the possibility that he will run for the Presidency again, despite his less-than-stellar outing in 2012.
Texas is the only state to have the flags of six different nations fly over it. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States.
The competing terms “federation” and “federal” versus “confederation” and “confederate” were freely tossed around during the movement to unite the British North American provinces, which happened at the same time as the US Civil War. The term “Confederation” ultimately gained popular acceptance, with the politicians who put the deal together being known as the “Fathers of Confederation.” The term is not actually found in the Constitution, and most political theorists describe Canada as a decentralised federation rather than a confederal state.
Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, the presidents of the United and Confederate States during the Civil War, were both born in Kentucky.
In 1888, “Honest Dick” Tate, the Kentucky state treasurer, embezzled $247,000 and fled the state.
The popular English dessert Spotted Dick is a pudding made from suet. It usually contains raisins or currants, and is often served over custard.
Dick Martin of Rowan and Martin fame, lost use of one of his lungs from tuberculosis as a teenager and used bottled oxygen the rest of his life.
Dick Martin first married Dolly Read, an English model who had appeared in Playboy, when Laugh In was on the air; the marriage ended after 4 years. Three years later they remarried and remained together until his death in 2008. During the 1970s they hosted a party at their home that included a showing of the film Deep Throat; it was attended by several celebrities including Sammy Davis, Jr., and Lucille Ball.
Dora Saint wrote her novels of village life in England under the pseudonym “Miss Read.”
David Cameron is the first British Prime Minister born in England in recent years; both of his predecessors, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were born in Scotland.
Alan Ruck, who plays Ferris’s friend Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), made his Broadway debut in 1985 alongside Matthew Broderick who, of course, was Ferris Bueller.
As a teenager in the Seventies, long before becoming a filmmaker, Cameron Crowe toured with numerous rock bands as a reporter for Rolling Stone. Many of his real experiences appeared in fictionalized form in his movie Almost Famous- including a transaction in which he saw members of King Crimson and Humble Pie swapping groupies for money and/or beer.