AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING CXLVIII

1. Mexico's Independence Day (from Spain) is September 16th (1821) - not May 5th, 1862. May 5th - or Cinco de Mayo - is a celebration of the Mexican victory at the Battle of  Puebla over the French Army, which had invaded Mexico seeking to expand its influence and taking advantage of the distraction caused by the American Civil War.  Cinco de Mayo is widely celebrated in the United States.

2. Abner Doubleday did not invent baseball, and never claimed he had. The long-time theory that Doubleday invented the game in 1839 in his hometown of Cooperstown, NY at the age of 20 has been thoroughly debunked by baseball historians. The reason the National Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown is because of the efforts of a local philanthropist, Stephen C. Clark, who wanted to celebrate baseball and boost the economy of the small village. The real "father of baseball" according to historians of the sport is Alexander Cartwright, who published the earliest known rules for the NYC "base ball" club called the Knickerbockers in 1845. 

3. Move over Disneyland and Disney World - the National Amusement Park Historical Association's annual members' survey (Nov. 2024) shows that Dollywood was top in the "amusement park experience"category - followed by 2nd place Disney Parks. Disneyland still has a higher attendance due to its larger scale and wider recognition. Dollywood is named after Dolly Parton, who grew up in the area and invested in the park. It is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - 35 miles SE of Knoxville.

4. The highest and lowest points in the contiguous United States are within 107 miles of each other. Mt. Whitney (14,505 ft. in the Eastern Sierra Nevada near Lone Pine, California) and Badwater Basin, Death Valley (282 feet below sea level).

5. After leaving office, former Presidents are not allowed to:

    a. drive on public streets (the Secret Service drives them),

    b. receive un-inspected mail 

    c. buy their own electronics

 

6. All automobile tail lights are a specified shade of red, with a certain color wave length and intensity mandated by the federal government.

 

7. Excessive and/or unnecessary government regulations and bureaucracy causing delays - RED TAPE - comes from the literal red tape used to bind important documents in the 16th century and earlier. The red tape was used to separate the most important documents and to [ironically] indicate that they required immediate attention.

 

8. The five pillars of Islam:

    Faith

    Prayer

    Fasting

    Almsgiving

    Pilgimmage to Mecca (Hadjj) 

9. Window Rock, Arizona is the capital of the Navajo Nation.

 

10. Beatrice Straight won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for five minutes two seconds of screen time in Network - 1976 - delivering a four-minute monologue about her husband having an affair with a much younger woman. Dame Judi Dench won the same award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love - 1998 - with eight minutes of screen time.