Meryl Streep

 

Over the past four decades Meryl Streep has amassed 21 Oscar nominations, more than any performer in Academy Awards history. She won three of those races, making her a member of the exclusive three-timers club. However, there’s a unique downside to Meryl’s Oscar reign. Streep also has 18 Oscar failures on her hands, and holds the record as the biggest acting loser of all time. Streep’s losses straddle 39 years, including 15 as Best Actress and 3 as Best Supporting Actress. Her first loss for “The Deer Hunter” (1978) happened four decades ago, setting the stage for a remarkable Oscar trajectory full of ups and many, many downs.

The White House

 

5 Surprising Facts About The White House

On April 25, 1947, President Harry S. Truman opened the first White House bowling alley — because even presidents need to have a little fun! Here are 5 surprising facts you didn't know about the White House...

The White House Has its Own Movie Theater Although the White House doesn't look that large from the outside, it has six stories and contains about 55,000 square feet. Some houses may have home theaters, but they are no match for the White House movie theater, with armchairs that were installed by President Eisenhower. Originally a cloakroom, the White House theater seats about 40 people and is occasionally used by a president to rehearse speeches. Unlike a normal home theater, the first family can obtain movies straight from Hollywood before films are released to the public.

President Bill Clinton Added a Jogging Track The jogging track installed during Bill Clinton’s presidency was probably a good idea since he reportedly disrupted the traffic in the area when he was out getting his exercise. The track was funded privately at a cost of about $30,000, and both Clinton and President George W. Bush used the 4-foot-wide jogging path. Clinton also converted a third-floor room into a place to work out, although considering the White House has 132 rooms, it might be exercise enough just finding out where you are at any given time.

There Are Secret Tunnels Leading From the White House It’s important to keep the president and his staff safe and to make it convenient to reach other buildings, so the White House has a tunnel system that does just that. Accessible through an unmarked storage closet, the tunnel system leads to a bomb shelter beneath the East Wing. During Truman’s presidency, it connected the East and West Wings. There are also tunnels leading to Blair House, the Executive Office Building and the Treasury Building, and possibly others that have never been confirmed.

A Pool or Billiards Table Is a Popular Perk Among Presidents The first president to have a billiards table in the White House was John Quincy Adams in 1825, although it was a used one that had been refurbished. Abraham Lincoln described himself as a “billiards addict,” and Teddy Roosevelt had a Brunswick table. President George H.W. Bush had a game room on the third floor of the White House, and while it might move to a different room from time to time, many presidents enjoy their leisure time playing a game with friends.

There Is Almost a Mini Mall in the Basement It can be difficult for the president to go out for something as mundane as getting a tooth filled, so a dentist’s office is located in the White House’s basement underneath the North Portico. A chocolate shop, florist, bowling alley and shops for those who take care of the White House are also there. The basement also houses an old broadcast room used by President Eisenhower.

Glossophobia

 

Glossophobia is the technical term given to a severe fear of public speaking. The term comes from the Greek words “glossa” and “phobos.” “Glossa” means “tongue or language,” and “phobos” is the personification of fear in Greek mythology. Glossophobia is a very common phobia and one that is believed to affect up to 75% of the population. Some individuals may feel a slight nervousness at the very thought of public speaking, while others experience full-on panic and fear. The fear is not necessarily limited to bigger stage experiences, but may happen even in front of mere few people.

Married...With Childen

 

Married... with Children is a sitcom that aired for 11 seasons. The show follows the dysfunctional family of Al Bundy, a once glorious high school football player turned hard-luck women's shoe salesman; his wife, Peggy; their attractive, dumb, and popular daughter, Kelly; and their smart, and unpopular son, Bud. Its theme song is "Love and Marriage" performed by Frank Sinatra from the 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Originally broadcast from April 5, 1987 to June 9, 1997, it is the longest-lasting live-action sitcom on Fox and the first to be broadcast in the network's primetime programming slot.

Lucille Ball

5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Lucille Ball

On April 26, 1989, Lucille Ball died at age 77 from a ruptured aorta following open-heart surgery. Lucille Ball was an actress, comedian, and producer who is best known today for one of the most-loved TV shows of all time, the classic sitcom I Love Lucy. Here are 5 astonishing things you didn’t know about the woman nicknamed "The First Lady of Television"...

She Wasn’t a Natural Redhead Lucille Ball was born in 1911, so she was 40 when I Love Lucy premiered on television in 1951. Lucille Ball’s natural hair color was brown, but she dyed it red in 1943 for her role in  Du Barry Was a Lady. After the film, she kept her hair the brilliant red color fans associated with her until 1989. Her hairstylist, Irma Kusely, reported in an interview that Ball did not use hair dye to get the desired color, but instead used henna, which the stylist kept in her garage in a locked safe.

Her Father’s Death Caused Her to Become Fearful of Birds Ball’s father died at the young age of age 28 after he contracted typhoid fever in 1915, which would have been stressful enough for a young child. According to a book written about her in 2003, she only had vague memories of the day her father died. However, she did recall that a bird flew into the house and became trapped, and this gave her such a severe phobia about birds that she would not stay in any hotel room with pictures of birds or birds on the wallpaper.

When Getting Married, Both Lucy and Desi Lied About Their Ages Ball was born in 1911, and her husband, Desi Arnaz, was born in 1917, so they had an age difference of six years. They were married in 1940 when it was socially unacceptable for a younger man to marry an older woman. To get around this, both listed their birthdates as 1914, so they could marry without criticism.

Ball Almost Drowned While Filming One Episode of I Love Lucy One episode of  I Love Lucy  that is popular with viewers is entitled "Lucy’s Italian Movie”. It depicts Lucille Ball stomping grapes in a large vat. However, the scene didn’t go as planned, and Lucy was almost drowned by an Italian woman that was a real grape stomper. The fight in the vat between the women was planned, but the Italian woman spoke little English and may not have understood, so when they began fighting, she held Ball’s head under water and almost drowned her.

A Gun Changed Her Life at Age 16 Ball’s grandfather purchased a gun for Freddy, her brother, in 1927. He was teaching him how to use it when the gun went off accidentally, injuring Warner Erickson, a neighbor, who was eight. Unfortunately, the bullet severed the child’s spinal cord, paralyzing him. It isn’t surprising that the family sued, and Ball states that they lost their home, furnishings and everything else they had.

 

Baskins-Robbins

 

Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by brothers-in-law Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins from merging their respective ice cream parlors. Baskin-Robins claims to be the world's largest chain of ice cream shops, with 7,500 locations around the world. The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors started as separate ventures of Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, who owned Burton's Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream respectively. When the companies merged, they named their new venture Baskin-Robins. The company is known for its "31 flavors" slogan, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month.

Twins

 

Twins is a 1988 film about unlikely twins played by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito who were separated at birth. The core of the film is the contrast between DeVito's streetwise persona and Schwarzenegger's character, who is highly intelligent yet socially inexperienced. The film was a commercial success grossing $216 million worldwide. Instead of taking their usual salaries for the film, Schwarzenegger and DeVito both agreed with the studio to take 20% of the film's box office returns; this resulted in them receiving the biggest paychecks of their movie careers.

Creation of the Universe

5 Facts About The Creation Of The Universe

On this day in 4977 B.C., the universe was created, according to German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, considered a founder of modern science.  Check out these 5 surprising facts about the creation of the universe....

Kepler Was Wrong This colorful view of the universe was captured by the Hubble telescope. Seventeenth-century astronomer Johannes Kepler should have stuck with his theories about the motion of the planets, because it turns out that he was wrong about the age of the universe to the tune of billions of years. Astronomers now estimate the age of the universe at around 13.7 billion years, give or take a few million. The age was calculated by measuring the density of energy and matter in the universe, which determined how fast it expanded billions of years back into the past.

The Universe Is Flat The Milky Way is only a small part of the universe and is 100,000 to 150,000 light-years across. Flat Earth Society members may be a bit more cheered after finding out Earth isn’t flat but the universe is. According to the Theory of General Relativity by Einstein, the universe can only be closed, open or flat. Measurements taken in the 2001 NASA exploratory mission, called the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), confirms that the universe is indeed flat.

What You See in the Night Sky Is From Long Ago Wishing upon a star might be a little retroactive, since the twinkling lights we see in the nighttime sky have taken so much time to get to us on Earth that they are really old. What viewers and astronomers see in the night sky is how stars looked in the distant past. For example, Orion’s star Betelgeuse is 640 light years' away, so the light that reaches us would have left Betelgeuse around the year 1370, during the period of the Hundred Years’ War.

The Universe Has No Center It can be difficult to locate the center of something when it keeps moving, and that’s the problem with finding the center of the universe. The galaxies inside the universe are moving away from each other, which is expanding the size of the universe, and they are apparently moving faster and faster as time passes. Some scientists believe it is dark energy that is driving the universe’s expansion, but only time — and a lot of it —will tell.

There Might Be More Than One Universe One controversial hypothesis has been that there are many universes. However, a new study suggests that our universe may have collided with some of them. This supposedly would have left telltale evidence in the light that spread out from the Big Bang by leaving a circular pattern. A study by Stephen Hawking and physicist Thomas Hertog that was modified a few days before Hawking died, suggests that there may be many other universes similar to ours out there in space.

 

Muhammed Ali

 

The Greatest Muhammed Ali Trivia Questions

On this day in 1967, boxing champion  Muhammad Ali  refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army and is immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. See if you can answer the following trivia questions about the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time...

Who Was Muhammad Ali Originally Named After? Ali was only 22 when he won the heavyweight title away from Floyd Patterson. Ali, whose name was originally Cassius Clay like his father, was named after a white abolitionist who lived during the 19th century and freed 40 the slaves he had inherited. Clay endangered his life by supporting the abolitionist cause. Despite being shot, stabbed and beaten, he survived to age 92.

How Many Times Did Ali Win the Heavyweight Title? Ali won the heavyweight championship three times as well as a gold medal in the Olympics in 1960. During his career, he won 56 boxing matches — 37 were knockouts, and it is estimated that he absorbed hits 200,000 times during this period. His career lasted for 21 years, and he retired from the ring after losing his last fight to Trevor Berbick.

Why Was Ali’s Boxing License Suspended? After Ali converted to Islam, he refused to be inducted into military service as during the Vietnam War in 1967. Ali was arrested, his boxing license was suspended and his title stripped. His license was returned by a New York State Supreme Court decision in 1970, and one year later, his conviction was overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court.

What Surprising Person Challenged Ali to a Boxing Match? Basketball star Wilt Chamberlain challenged Ali to a boxing match, which would have been interesting because the basketball great had a reach that was formidable, was 7’1” compared to Ali’s 6’3” and outweighed the champ by about 40 pounds. Ali began whispering the word “timber” at every opportunity during the conference and in answer to reporter’s questions. Chamberlain was shaken and left to talk to his lawyers, and they announced that there would be no boxing match between the two men.

Which of Ali’s Boxing Matches Was Held at 4:00 A.M.? The “Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali, 32, and George Foreman, 25, was sponsored by Mobutu Sese Seko, the president of Zaire, in 1974. The match was held in Kinshasa. It was scheduled for before dawn in Africa so that audiences in America could watch the fight during prime time television. In this match, Ali won by a knockout in the eighth round, regaining the heavyweight title he had been stripped of seven years earlier.

Where Did Ali Negotiate an American Prisoner Release? Ali traveled to Iraq in 1990 to meet with Saddam Hussein and try to negotiate for the release of 15 American hostages. In his negotiation, Ali promised to return to America with an account of Iraq that was honest. All 15 hostages were released and returned to the United States with the prizefighter.

As ostriches are the largest birds in the world they also have the largest eyes of any bird in the world. Measuring at 5 centimeters in diameter from front to back, the ostrich eye is five times bigger than the human eye and any other land animal. The ostrich's eyes are about the size of billiard balls. They take up so much room in the skull that the ostrich's brain is actually smaller than either one of its eyeballs. This may be why the ostrich, despite its tremendous running speed, is not very good at eluding predators: It tends to run in circles.

President Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant on this day in 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. When Grant was 17, his father arranged for him to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point. A clerical error had listed him as Ulysses S. Grant. Not wanting to be rejected by the school, he changed his name on the spot. Ulysses S. Grant served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. During the American Civil War Grant led the Union Army as its commanding general to victory over the Confederacy with the supervision of President Abraham Lincoln.

Watergate

 

5 Things You Didn't Know About Watergate

On April 29, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced the release of the Watergate tapes, which included the “smoking gun” that led to Nixon’s resignation.  Here are five things you didn't know about Watergate...

Most summaries of the Watergate scandal focus on the June 1972 break-in that saw burglars nabbed due to poor planning and a guard with good eyes. However, that wasn't the first time operatives from the Committee to Re-elect the President (a.k.a. "CREEP") made their way into the Democratic National Committee headquarters. That was in May 1972, when burglars managed to get into the Watergate complex and offices unnoticed. The burglars stole documents and wiretapped phones but were unable to get more information when it turned out that the wiretaps weren't working. That led to the second burglary attempt.

Failed One of the co-conspirators charged in the Watergate break-in was a lawyer named G. Gordon Liddy. He was providing legal counsel to the re-election committee, and when the second Watergate burglary was thwarted, he was in the process of trying to plan another break-in at George S. McGovern's headquarters. McGovern went on to become the Democratic nominee in the 1972 elections, only to lose to Nixon, whose reputation was not yet completely sullied by Watergate, as far as the public was concerned.

The Tapes Contained "the Smoking Gun" When you hear people talk about "smoking guns," especially when comparing Watergate with current political scandals, they're referring back to one piece of conversation on one tape that was released in August 1974. (Tthe tapes and corresponding transcripts were released in batches, often due to multiple court orders that they be released; Nixon was determined to keep as many under wraps as he could). The tape in question contained a recording of Nixon telling the FBI to stop investigating the Watergate break-in shortly after it occurred. This was considered proof that Nixon wanted to cover up the scandal and was the final piece of evidence that led to his resignation.

Nixon Wanted to Show He Had Nothing to Hide -- by Editing the Transcripts Nixon stalled the release of the tapes and transcripts as much as possible, and when he finally did start releasing them, he edited what he could as well. Initially, he released some tapes, 19 in March of 1974, but in April a subpoena for more tapes appeared. Nixon released only the transcripts to these tapes at first, and the transcripts were edited by Nixon for what he claimed were discussions that were not relevant to Watergate. While he asked if the House Judiciary Committee would want to listen to the tapes and compare them to the transcripts, the editing did nothing to help his case. Eventually, he was forced to turn over the actual tapes, one of which held that all-important order to the FBI.

A Note With a Phone Number Was All It Took to Cast Suspicion on Nixon When the Watergate burglars were originally caught, there was not a  real indication that they were connected to Nixon until detectives investigating the case found that the burglars had the re-election committee's phone number -- and more than one copy of it. While that alone didn't definitively link Nixon himself to the crime, it was enough to move the investigation in that direction.

A badminton birdie, also known as a shuttlecock is the fastest recorded object in all of sports. The shuttlecock, made with a cork base and sixteen carefully selected goose feathers, is aerodynamic and very light — weighing only about five grams. Its aerodynamic behavior has even influenced the design of the spacecraft SpaceShipOne. According to Guinness World Records, the fastest recorded hit during competition belongs to Denmark’s Mads Pieler Kolding, who managed to smash a 426 kph (264.70 mph) shot, during a Badminton Premier League match in 2017. Source: Guinness

"Eye of the Tiger" is a song composed by rock band Survivor. It was the theme song for the film Rocky III, which was released a day before the single. The song was written by Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik, and was recorded at the request of Rocky III star, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, after Queen denied him permission to use "Another One Bites the Dust", the song Stallone intended as the Rocky III theme. The song was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the only Oscar nomination for Rocky III. It lost to "Up Where We Belong" from An Officer and a Gentleman.

1939 World's Fair

 

5 Things You Didn't Know About The 1939 World's Fair

On April 30, 1939, the  New York  World’s Fair opened in  New York City. The opening ceremony, which featured a speech by President  Franklin D. Roosevelt, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New York. Here are five things you didn't know about the 1939 World's Fair...

The Idea for the Fair Stemmed From the Great Depression Photo credit: By Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID gsc.5a02965. The idea to hold a monumental exposition in New York didn't form out of nothing. In 1935, while the Great Depression was still taking its prolonged toll on the economy and society, business leaders decided a large exposition or world's fair would help revitalize the area, both in terms of finances (due to increased labor and payment) and morale. The planners determined that creating a positive showcase for technology and the future could help the area survive the continued economic troubles.

63 Nations Participated In The Fair Spanning 1,200 acres at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, the fairground was marked by two imposing structures–the “Perisphere” and the “Trylon”–and exhibited such new technology as FM radio, robotics, fluorescent lighting, and a crude fax machine. Sixty-three nations participated in the fair, which enjoyed large crowds before the outbreak of  World War II  interrupted many of its scheduled events.  It turned out to be the  best-attended event  of the first half of the 20th century,

The Fair Had the Original Futurama Yep. The popular TV show  Futurama  took its name from the Futurama exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair. This Futurama was a vision of what the world would look like 21 years later, in 1960. It was also called the World of Tomorrow (which was referenced at the beginning of the animated  Futurama, too) and contained a conveyor belt that carried observers around a model town, showing off technology. A color TV was demonstrated there, as was a robot that could smoke. (No, really, one of the advertised characteristics of this robot was that it could smoke.) There were predictions of technology like "rocketguns," meant to provide fast trans-Atlantic travel, and a decidedly suburban cast to the whole exhibit.

The Perisphere Contained the Longest Escalator in the World To enter the Perisphere and get a look at the exhibit inside visitors had to first enter the Trylon and take a ride up a custom made escalator. The escalator into the Perisphere was the longest electric escalator in the world at that time. Once visitors were done inside, they descended via The Helicline. The Helicline was a 950-foot-long, 18-foot-wide curved ramp with a mirrored underside, that led visitors back down to ground level. Since it was one of the highest open-air areas at the fair, the Helicline was a popular spot to take in views of the fairgrounds.

The Fair Gave Many European Culinary Stars a Way out of the Battle Zone A large portion of the fair was dedicated to food, both to innovations from existing American companies such as the Nabisco icebox cake and a fried version of the Taylor Pork Roll -- Wonder Bread had an entire pavilion and its own wheat field -- and to international displays meant simply for entertainment and gastronomical interest. An unexpected perk for chefs working at the World's Fair was that many of them were able to stay in the United States even as World War II was chewing up Europe. French chefs, in particular, benefited as the French pavilion's restaurant provided the basis for what would become established French restaurants in the U.S.

Thomas Edison was one of history's most influential inventors, but his ingenuity didn't end there. Edison taught his second wife, Mina Miller, Morse code so the two could secretly communicate with each other, even while the family watched. It went beyond that purpose when he actually proposed to Mina in Morse code. When the time came, Edison asked, -- --- ..- .-.. -.. -.-- --- ..- -- .- .-. .-. -.-- -- . ("Will you marry me?") to which she replied -.-- . .. "Yes." The two were married on February 24, 1886. Edison even nicknamed his two eldest children "Dot" and "Dash," a reference to the dots and dashes used in Morse code.

The Empire State Building

 

5 Fascinating Facts About The Empire State Building

On May 1, 1931, the Empire State Building was officially opened when President Herbert Hoover turned the lights on with a push of a button from Washington, D.C. Here are 5 little-known facts about one of the United States’ most iconic skyscrapers...

The Empire State Building Went Up in 13 Months At 102 stories tall, the Empire State Building was meant to rival two other prominent skyscrapers being built at the time: the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street. While its height was certainly awe-inspiring, perhaps even more amazing was the fact that John Jakob Raskob's crew built the entire building in just over a year. At their peak, construction crews were completing 4.5 stories a week. The project completed way ahead of schedule and under-budget.

During World War II, the Building Was Hit by a Bomber The Empire State Building observation deck is on the 86th floor. On a sunny day, visitors can see five different states from there: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut. On a foggy day in July 1945, a Mitchell B-25 bomber was traveling to New York City from Massachusetts. The accounts differ, but it is believed the plane was denied landing permission at the airport and advised to turn away from the city because of the weather. The pilot, William Franklin Smith, Jr., ended up crashing into the skyscraper, and the ac

The Mast at the Top of the Empire State Building Was Originally a Docking Station for Airships. When the building was constructed in the early 1930s, transatlantic airships were gaining steam and appeared to be the future of intercontinental travel. As a result, the building's designers included a 200-foot mast at the top of the building intended as a docking station for arriving airships. Passengers would deboard via a ramp, go through customs, and be on the streets of Manhattan in seven minutes or less. But high winds (and the eventual distaste for airship travel) made the concept a complete flop. Aside from a couple of publicity stunts, the tower was never used for docking purposes.

One Woman Fell 75 Stories From Inside the Building and Survived When the bomber crashed into the building in 1945, pieces of the plane’s engine went into several of the 73 elevator shafts, severing the cables in two of the cars. Unfortunately, Betty Lou Oliver, one of the elevator operators, age 19, was inside one of them on the 75th floor when it happened, and the elevator fell all the way to the sub-basement. Fortunately, over 1,000 feet of the severed cable had landed at the elevator shaft bottom in advance, which cushioned the landing, and although she was seriously injured, Oliver survived.

Three People Have Parachuted Off the Building's Observation Deck. If you've ever been to the top of the Empire State Building, you know there is security and fencing up everywhere. And for good reason: In 1986, two daredevils successfully hid parachutes from security and launched themselves from the top of the building. Both survived and were arrested. Fourteen years later, another man followed suit and jumped from the observation deck. He managed to evade capture and later successfully jumped from the Chrysler Building, too. He was finally caught while attempting a jump from the World Trade Center.

Answer: The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building stands 1,454 feet tall, including its antenna. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of New York. As of 2019, the building is the 5th-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 28th-tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years until the completion of the 110-story North Tower of the original World Trade Center was completed.

On this day in 1993, top women’s tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed by a deranged German man during a match in Hamburg, Germany. The assailant, a fan of German tennis star Steffi Graf, apparently hoped that by injuring Seles his idol Steffi Graf would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking. Seles became a victim of the on-court attack when 38-year-old Gunter Parche leaned over a fence and stabbed her between the shoulder blades with a 9-inch long knife. Parche was quickly apprehended and Seles was taken to the hospital. She didn’t play again professionally for another two years.

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)

 

The Golden Raspberry Awards, shortened to the Razzies is an award ceremony in recognition of the worst in film. The 20^th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 25, 2000 at the Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica, California and included four special awards: Worst Picture of the Decade, Worst New Star of the Decade, Worst Actor of the Century, and Worst Actress of the Century. At the ceremony, Sylvester Stallone was awarded the Razzie for Worst Actor of the Century beating out fellow nominees Kevin Costner, William Shatner, Pauly Shore, and Prince.

Grease

 

“I got chills, they’re multiplying!” is the opening line of the song “You’re the One That I Want”, which was written for the 1978 film version of the musical Grease. The song was performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 15 million copies. “You’re the One That I Want” was one of the two singles that John Farrar wrote specifically for Newton-John’s appearance in the film that had not been in the original stage musical, the other being “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

Dr. Samuel Mudd

 

Dr. Samuel Mudd was a physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. After fatally shooting Lincoln on April 14, 1865, Booth escaped to Mudd’s home for surgery on his fractured leg. A military commission found Dr. Mudd guilty of aiding and conspiring in the murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, escaping the death penalty by a single vote. Mudd was pardoned from prison in 1869. His conviction has never been overturned. Samuel Mudd is often given as the origin of the phrase “Your name is mud.”

Sir Isaac Newton

 

Sir Isaac Newton was a physicist and mathematician who developed the principles of modern physics, including the three laws of motion, and is credited as one of the great minds of the 17^th century Scientific Revolution. Sir Isaac Newton introduced the three laws of motion in 1687 in his book entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which has been called the most influential book on physics. Newton’s three laws of motion describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to those forces.

O'Hare International Airport

 

O’Hare International Airport is named after Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare, a World War II flying ace for the United States Navy. O’Hare won the Medal of Honor for engaging a group of Japanese torpedo bombers in a dogfight during an attempted attack on the aircraft carrier Lexington. O’Hare and his wingmen gunned down five Japanese bombers to ward off the potentially catastrophic attack. O September 19, 1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport was renamed O’Hare International Airport to honor O’Hare’s bravery. The airport displays an aircraft replicating the one flown by Butch O’Hare during his Medal of Honor flight.

Shrine Auditorium

 

On April 12, 1988, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the actress and singer Cher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Moonstruck. Directed by Norman Jewison, the film featured Cher as a widow who falls in love with her fiance’s brother (played by Nicholas Cage). Cher remains an icon of pop culture and is one of the best-selling music artists in history. She is also the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

 

On April 12, 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the longest running president in American history passed away. “I have a terrific headache.” Those were Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s final words. He died a few hours later of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 63 years old. FDR had presided over the Great Depression and most of World War II, and the stress had taken its toll o his health. Within hours of Roosevelt’s passing, Vice President Harry S. Truman was summoned to the White House where he took the oath of office.

Taj Mahal

 

The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in Agra, India. It as commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to their 14^th child. It also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan, the builder. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 42-acre complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenelated wall. The Taj Mahal remains one of the world’s most celebrated structures and a stunning symbol of India’s rich history.

Maserati

 

Car manufacturers have looked far and wide in the animal kingdom for the right beast to represent their vehicles. However, the Maserati brothers took inspiration for their company’s trident logo from the statue of Neptune in the central square of Bologna, Italy, where Maserati was originally headquartered. The trident was sketched by Mario Maserati, an artist, who also happened to be the only Maserati brother never actively involved in the design or engineering of cars. The Maserati logo was first introduced in 1926 when the Maserati brothers produced their first Tipo 26 model.

Archibald Gracie Mansion

 

Archibald Gracie Mansion (commonly called Gracie Mansion) has been the official residence of the Mayor of the City of New York since 1942. Built in 1799, it is located in Carl Schurz Park, in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. Archibald Gracie was a prosperous New York merchant who built what is now known as Gracie Mansion, and used it as a country home until 1823. In 1801, Gracie hosted a meeting there of New York Federalists, called by Alexander Hamilton, to raise $10,000 for starting the New York Evening Post newspaper, which eventually became the New York Post.

Constitution of the United States

 

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution consists of a preamble, seven original articles, twenty-seven amendments, and a paragraph certifying its enactment by the constitutional convention. The preamble to the U.S. Constitution begins by saying “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Aroldis Chapman

 

Aroldis Chapman holds the record for the fastest recorded pitch in the history of Major League Baseball at a speed of 105.1 mph. he has also thrown a pitch that reached 106 mph in a different game, but this speed has been disputed, so the current record sits at 105.1 mph. According to the Guinness World Records, Chapman made the pitch in September 2010 when he was pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in a game against the San Diego Padres. Chapman has been nicknamed the Cuban Flame thrower and the Cuban Missile. Source: GuinnessWorldRecords

War of 1812: Captain James Lawrence

 

During the War of 1812, Captain James Lawrence commanded American frigate USS Chesapeake in a single-ship action against the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Shannon. Although slightly smaller, the British ship disabled USS Chesapeake with gunfire within the first few minutes. As Captain James Lawrence lay dying on the deck of the Chesapeake, his famous last words were “Don’t give up the ship!” defeated and captured, Captain Lawrence died in agony three days later and was buried with full honors by his captors in Halifax.

Common Wisdom

 

Common wisdom perceived a sub-four-minute mile to be an insurmountable barrier until Sir Roger Bannister set a world record time of 3 min 59.4 sec in 1954. While Bannister is famous for shattering the 4-minute barrier, many forget that he held the title for less than seven weeks. Since then, a new world record has been set 18 times. Morocco’s Hicham EL Guerrouj currently holds the world record for the mile at a time of 3:43.13 which was set on July 7, 1999. The current women’s record is 4:12.56 set by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia.

Shangri-La

 

Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman originally called the Maryland presidential retreat, which opened in 1938, “Shangri-La” after the fictional Himalayan paradise. Dwight Eisenhower, however, wanted a less formal moniker so he renamed it in 1953 in honor of his 5-year-old grandson, David. “Shangri-La was just a little fancy for a Kansas farm boy,” he wrote in a 1953 letter to friend Edward “Swede” Hazlett. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was brought by Eisenhower to the retreat, thought it sounded like a place where “stray dogs were sent to die,” but all subsequent chief executives have kept the name.

Sidney Poitier

 

Hollywood icon Sidney Poitier was the first African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, receiving the honor in 1964 for his performance in ‘Lilies of the Field’. He continued to break ground by starring in three successful 1967 films, all of which dealt with issues involving race and race relations: To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, making him the top box-office star of that year. The acclaimed actor was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States; highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Gout

 

Gout is a common type of arthritis that can affect anyone. It’s characterized by sudden severe attacks of pain, swelling, redness and tenderness in the joints, often the joint at the base of the big toe. An attack of gout can occur suddenly, often waking you up in the middle of the night with the sensation that your big toe is on fire. Gout was historically known as “the disease of kings” or “rich man’s disease”. Gout is due to persistently elevated levels of uric acid in the blood. This occurs from a combination of diet, other health problems, and genetic factors.

Fashion Designer Mary Quant

 

Fashion designer Mary Quant caused a modern revolution by inventing the first mini-skirt. In the 1950s she began experimenting with shorter skirts for her own London boutique ‘Bazaar’, while in 1965 her break-through came. On September 1, 1965, at a new fashion event in New York City billed a “Youthquake,” Quant debuted the miniskirt. The mini-skirt as able to spread beyond a simple street fashion into a major international trend and as one of the defining fashions of the decade. Quant named the miniskirt after her favorite make of car, the Mini.

Taco Liberty Bell

 

The Taco Liberty Bell was an April Fool’s Day joke played by the fast food restaurant chain Taco Bell. In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page ad in seven major U.S. newspapers announcing that it had purchased the Liberty Bell to help reduce the country’s debt and had renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell”. Thousands of people protested before it was revealed the sale was a hoax. When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

Yes, you read that correctly, there is a shark that can walk on land. The epaulette shark can “walk” between coral heads at low tide, along the seafloor, and even on land when needed. For that reason, it is often called the “walking shark.” Even though they can swim just fine, these sharks are often seen walking along the seafloor or across the reef. The epaulette shark’s ability to walk on its pectoral fins, and survive for extended periods with little or no oxygen allow these incredible sharks to actually walk on land.

New York Yankees

 

With 27 World Series championships, the New York Yankees have won more titles than any other franchise in the four major North American sports leagues. Forty-four Yankees players and eleven Yankee managers have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford. According to Forbes, the Yankees are the second highest valued sports franchise in the United States and the fifth in the world, with an estimated value of approximately $4 billion.

State Flag of Oregon

 

The state flag of Oregon is one of the most unique in the United States of America. It is currently the only flag that is two-sided, which means that both sides of the flag have different patterns. The state flag’s current design was adopted on February 26, 1925. The front, or obverse side of the flag, features the official state seal in gold, which is surrounded by 33 stars, symbolizing Oregon as the 33^rd state to join the Union. The back, or reverse side of the flag, features Oregon’s state animal, the beaver, fully stretched on a log.

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. In 1991, the Lorraine Motel was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. Rooms 306 and 308 – rooms King often stayed in – were preserved, as was the motel’s exterior.

Yankee Doodle

 

“Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.” These are the first few lines of the classic American ditty “Yankee Doodle,” a tune that almost every American child has sung at some point in their lives. It is often sung patriotically in the United States and is the state anthem of Connecticut. The British troops sang the song to make fun of their stereotype of the American soldier as a Yankee simpleton who thought that he was stylish if he simply stuck a feather in his cap. Eventually, “Yankee Doodle” had turned from being an insult to being a song of national pride.

Spanish Fly

 

The Spanish Fly is not a fly, it’s actually a beetle. Oh, and you might die excruciatingly if you eat it. Found throughout Europe and Central Asia, Spanish flies are small, usually reaching no longer than 20mm. The Spanish fly has been thought of as an aphrodisiac for hundreds of years, but it’s actually an irritant that can cause blistering. Spanish flies are extremely toxic due to a substance they secrete known as cantharidin. When the human skin is exposed to cantharidin it causes blisters. When taken orally, this substance can be lethal. It is also used to attract mates, with females more likely to procreate with males when it is dispersed.

Facebook Usage

 

68% of all U.S. adults use Facebook, according to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center earlier this year. That’s unchanged from April 2016, the last time the Center asked this question, but up from 54% of adults in August 2012. Among U.S. adults who use Facebook, around three-quarters visit the site at least once a day, according to the survey. Facebook is used by around half of America’s teens, but it no longer dominates the teen social media landscape as it once did. Other popular platforms in descending order were Instagram (35%), Pinterest (29%), Snapchat (27%), LinkedIn (25%), Twitter (24%) and WhatsApp (22%).

UGG Brand

 

The UGG brand is best known for its distinctive sheepskin boots and originated in Australia. The unisex sheepskin and fleece footware called UGG boots, or simply Uggs, gained popularity in the 1960s when competitive surfers in Australia began wearing them. one of those surfers, Shane Stedman, quietly trademarked “ugh-boot” and, later, “ugh,” and then sold the rights to fellow surfer Brian Smith, who began selling the boots in Southern California. UGG boots have been a style staple since they first appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show in her second edition of “Oprah’s Favorite Things” in 2003, in which she purchased over 350 shoes for her staff and audience.

Three's Company

 

Three’s Company is an American sitcom that aired for eight seasons. It is based on the British sitcom Man About the House. The story revolves around three single roommates: Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt), Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers), and Jack Tripper (John Ritter), who all platonically live together in a Santa Monica, California apartment complex. The show also spawned similar spin-offs that Man About the House had: The Ropers and Three’s a Crowd, based upon George and Mildred and Robin’s Nest, respectively.

John Glenn

 

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth after the Friendship 7 capsule was launched on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. Here are 5 things you probably didn’t know about this American hero….

Glenn was an Old Hand at Flying Before He Entered the Space Program

Glenn became a U.S. Marine pilot after finishing his flight training in 1943, and he flew 59 combat missions during World War II. In 1953, he flew another 90 missions while he was stationed in Korea. Among the many decorations and medals he was awarded, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross six times.

He’s the Person Who Named the Friendship 7 Space Capsule

The capsules used in the Mercury space program were often nicknamed by the astronauts. Glenn consulted with his children for ideas for the capsule he would be riding in, and “Friendship” was the name he decided on. The number “7” was chosen because that was the number of members in the Mercury space program.

The Mission Was Delayed Repeatedly

The planned December 1961 mission launch was moved to January 13^th because of problems with the Atlas rocket, but bad weather caused it to be postponed again as television crews waited for the launch. It was once again delayed January 30^th due to a fuel leak and then more bad weather. Glenn finally made it into space in the early morning of February 20, 1962.

The Flight Didn’t Exactly Go Flawlessly

While the launch itself went fine, on the ground, information was received that a sensor was warning that the landing bag and heat shield on Friendship 7 were insecure. While normally the retrorocket would been discarded, the team decided to leave it in place to add a layer of protection to the heat shield. After Glenn splashed into the Atlantic Ocean following the flight, it was determined that the sensor had been the problem, not the landing bag or heat shield, and Glen had never been in danger from their malfunction.

Glenn Returned to Space 36 Years Later

Glenn stayed with NASA until 1964, but never made it back into space, and following his retirement, he served in the U.S. Senate for four terms beginning in 1974. In 1998, he as once again chosen as a crew member aboard the space shuttle Discovery after 35 years away from the space program. At age 77, he suited up for a nine-day mission to study how space travel affected the elderly and returned home to his second ticker-tape parade.

In 1792, The Bank of New York, founded by Alexander Hamilton, became the first stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The original company whose shares traded as he Bank of New York in 1792 is now the Bank of New York Mellon and is still fully operational in Manhattan. This bank traces its roots back to Alexander Hamilton, who wrote the bank’s constitution. The bank provided the U.S. government its first loan in 1789. The loan was orchestrated by Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and it paid the salaries of United States Congress members and President George Washington. Source: NYSE.com

Rosa Parks

 

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus, which spurred on the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott that helped launch nationwide efforts to end segregation of public facilities. The city of Montgomery had no choice but to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses. Over the next half-century, Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end entrenched racial segregation. On this day in 2005, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks died in her apartment in Detroit, Michigan.