News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Kerry Wendell Thornley was a hippie who is best known for founding a rather nihilistic religion called Discordianism. He also served in the Marines and was an author whose first book was called The Idle Warriors. The protagonist was a fellow who served with him in his radar unit and later defected to the Soviet Union.
The fellow’s real-life name was Lee Harvey Oswald. The book was completed in February 1962, which was 21 months before Oswald became really famous.
There has been more than one London Bridge. The famous one was completed in 1209 and closed in 1832. It was the only bridge over the Thames for most of that time and had houses on it. The bridge that replaced it was closed in 1968 and moved to America where it spans a canal in Lake Havasu City, Az. The newest London Bridge opened in 1971.
Many European public restrooms in Europe have blue lighting. Why? Blue veins can’t be seen in blue lighting. This discourages druggies from using them to shoot up.
Wyatt Earp was not the marshal when the gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred. He was just a deputy. The marshal was his brother Virgil.
Executing a murderer is homicide. Really. Homicide means any killing of a human by another. Some homicide is justifiable. Murder never is. One might even be executed for it.
The Paisley pattern so beloved by hippies is of Iranian origin and is based on a fig.
Yes Anthony, Charles Addams, the creator of the creepy and spooky Addams Family, has a Philly connection. He studied architecture at Penn. The school’s Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall is named for him.
The world’s largest second-hand book market can be found at Hay-on-Wye, a small village at the border of England and Wales.
Scrabble was originally called Criss-Crosswords.
The bloodiest battle in U.S. history occurred in neither the Civil War nor World War II. It was the Battle of Meuse-Argonne in 1918 which ended World War I and saw the loss of 26,277 American lives with another 95,786 wounded. The second worst battle was the Battle of the Bulge in World War II which saw 19,276 deaths. There were 7,863 deaths at Gettysburg, the worst Civil War battle.
Remember all veterans today.