The protagonist of C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, Elwin Ransom, is a philologist. This helps him begin to understand and learn the languages of the planet of Malacandra (Mars) in the first book, Out of the Silent Planet.
Peter Kreeft’s book Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, & Aldous Huxley was inspired by the coincidence of the three men dying on the same day: November 22, 1963.
The Stephen King novel 11/22/63 is about a Maine teacher who travels back to 1958 and makes plans to try to prevent President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas five years later, as well as doing other good works along the way.
Martin Luther condemned the Epistle of James as “the Epistle of straw”, because its emphasis on salvation by good works conflicted with Luther’s theology of salvation by faith alone.
An epistle (Greek, for “letter”) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. In the New Testament there are 13 epistles of St. Paul (Παῦλος):
Romans
First Corinthians
Second Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
First Thessalonians
Second Thessalonians
First Timothy
Second Timothy
Titus
Philemon
“Timothy Leary’s dead” are the opening lyrics to the Moody Blues’s “Legend of the Mind.” At the time the song was written, Leary was very much alive. The song fulfilled its prediction on May 31, 1996.
Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Joe Namath, Brooke Shields, Phil Keoghan, and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels all share May 31 as their birthday.
Jean Stapleton (Edith from “All in the Family”) died on May 31, 2013
Four years ago, archaeologists uncovered what they believe are the bones of Edith, granddaughter of Alfred the Great, wife of Emperor Otto I, in a sarcophagus in a German cathedral.
Emperor Otto I was born in the Westphalia (or Westfalia) region of Germany which is between the Rhine and Weser Rivers. There is an Eastphalia region, although that term is used much less frequently. Eastphalia is roughly equal to Saxony-Anhalt and on towards historic Braunschweig or Brunswick.
The Volkswagen Westfalia Camper, noted for its pop top, was originally a modification of the Type 2, aka the Minibus, by the custom body shop Westfalia-Werke. Over the years it was based on the Kombi, Vanagon, and Transporter versions of the Minibus, and had numerous options including side tents.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was established that the transporter could be used to beam personnel between ships traveling at warp speeds if their velocities and courses were exactly matched.
The Volkswagen Transporter is now in its 5th generation, the T5. The first 3 generations retroactively named T1-T3 were originally named Type 2, to position them separately from the Type 1 Beetle. Some of these were called the Kombi, short for the German Kombinationskraftwagen, for combination motor vehicle. The Kombi had side windows and removable rear seats, and was both a passenger and a cargo vehicle combined. The T3 was called the Vanagon in the USA and is the last of the rear-engine Transporters.
Clutch Cargo was a children’s cartoon of the 50s that used the “Synchro-Vox” technique, where actors lips were shown moving as the character spoke. The technique was as bizarre as it sounds, but it did keep down animating costs. It was only used on one other cartoon, Space Angel, before being dropped.
More on Clutch Cargo and those weird lips: "Clutch Cargo" cartoon series - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board
In play:
William Shatner, Chris Pine, Patrick Stewart and Leonard Nimoy are among those who have uttered those immortal words, “Space, the final frontier…”
The Nissan Navara is the D22 and D40 generations of Nissan pickup trucks sold in Asia; in North, Central and South America and the Philippines it is sold as the Nissan Frontier. The line began in 1998, replacing the D21 Nissan Hardbody truck. As of 2002, the D22 series pickup is no longer sold in Japan; the D22’s primary market being North America. It is now built at the Nissan factory in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Playwright Tennessee Williams’s first published work was “The Vengeance of Nitocris,” in the August 1928 issue of Weird Tales. Williams was 16 at the time.
Vanessa Williams was the first African-American to be voted Miss America in 1983; however, she was stripped of her crown when Penthouse magazine published nude photographs of her.
In Canada, it is a criminal offence to be nude in a public place. However, a prosecution for the offence can only be instituted with the consent of the provincial Attorney General.
A few years ago, there were several examples of mass public nudity in Brattleboro, Vermont when local slackers noticed that there was no applicable ordinance on the town’s books. The board of aldermen later remedied the oversight. The Attorney General of Vermont played no role in the controversy.