Portal:United States/Did you know/archive/2010/August

August 2010

... that the long-nosed god maskettes (pictured) found throughout the American Midwest are believed to have been used in the ritual adoption of visiting tribal leaders?
... that Latavious Williams rejected a US$100,000 contract offer from a Chinese team but opted to play minor league basketball in the United States for only US$19,000?
... that energy executive William G. Higgs is both a Distinguished Eagle Scout and a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Military Academy?
... that publisher Moses Annenberg bought Ranch A in 1927 with US$27,000 cash that he had in his pocket?

... that Glacier Bay (pictured) in Alaska, US, known in the 18th century as the Grand Pacific Glacier, was a single glacier that has now retreated by 65 miles to the head of the bay at Tarr Inlet?
... that Thomas C. Molesworth designed furniture for the houses of the Rockefeller family and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower?
... that the office building that houses the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum was built by Freemasons and once held an auditorium said to be the second largest in the American West?
... that imprisoned former congressman Randy Cunningham spends his days at the U.S. Penitentiary at Tucson, Arizona, teaching fellow inmates to get their GED?
... that Chief Engraver of the United States Mint Frank Gasparro called the Susan B. Anthony dollar his "top achievement", though the coin was largely rejected by the American public?

... that the US$1 million restoration of Old St. Andrew's Church (pictured), which many considered beyond repair, was the first major project in the 67 years of the Jacksonville Historical Society?
... that Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union was founded using only US$107 in 1950 and has since grown to over 500 million dollars in assets?

... that James B. Longacre's design for the Shield nickel (pictured) symbolizes the strength of the US federal government through the unity of the states?
... that the United States Supreme Court ruled that an Indian could not be tried for killing another Indian in Ex parte Crow Dog, resulting in the passage of the Major Crimes Act?
... that Christopher Nugent was the third United States Marine to receive the Medal of Honor?
... that American soul blues singer Kip Anderson used "A Knife and a Fork" as a warning concerning his girlfriend's food consumption?
... that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers originally proposed a large reservoir by damming the Anacostia River at Massachusetts Avenue SE, but built the much smaller Kingman Lake in 1920 instead?
... that prior to 1964, some cutters of the U.S. Coast Guard such as USCGC Point Marone and USCGC Point Young were commissioned without a name because they were too short?
... that Amelia Gade Corson's successful swim across the English Channel was paid for by L. Walter Lissberger, who covered the US$3,000 cost and then collected US$100,000 from Lloyd's of London at 20–1 odds?
... that the post office in Middleport, New York, is one of only three in the state using the same Colonial Revival-modernist design?
... that Fritz Teufel was known as one of the "Spaßguerilla" (fun guerilla) who carried out the 1967 "Pudding Assassination" of U.S. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey during a state visit to West Berlin?
... that troops of both the 28th Infantry Division and 75th Infantry Division were stationed at Seabank Hotel in Porthcawl, Wales, during World War II?
... that Captan Jack Wyly was a Democratic Party power broker in Lake Providence, Louisiana, which was labeled by Time magazine in 1997 as the poorest city in the United States?
... that The Buckminster Fuller Challenge awards US$100,000 every year for solutions to solve pressing complex global problems?
... that according to (RED), providing health-restoring antiretroviral drugs to HIV positive people in Africa, as described in the documentary The Lazarus Effect, costs US$0.40 per person per day?
... that The American Israelite, published in Cincinnati since 1854, helped advance American Reform Judaism and is the oldest English-language Jewish newspaper still circulated in the United States?
... that in 2009 the Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre produced one of the first regional theatre productions of The Wedding Singer in the United States?
... that Ann Meyers signed with the New Jersey Gems in 1979, with her US$50,000 salary matching what she had been paid by the Indiana Pacers in her bid to become the first woman to play in the NBA?
... that filmmaker David Lynch raised US$1 billion to help the Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation build 3,000 Maharishi Peace Palaces?

... that Tower Optical coin-operated binoculars (pictured) can hold up to 2,000 US quarters and have kept their same distinctive look since first manufactured in 1932?
... that Louis Fred Pfeifer received the United States military's highest decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor, while serving under a false name?
... that the Border Governors Conference, an annual meeting of the governors of the states that form the Mexico – United States border, was moved from Arizona to New Mexico this year?
... that Bob Dylan paid US$2,500 per week to percussionist Bobbye Hall to get her to tour with him in 1978, in compensation for missed session musician work?
... that insurance litigator Eugene Anderson was admitted to Harvard Law School with the help of an attorney he met while hitchhiking across the United States?
... that in 1982 the United States Supreme Court determined that a Native American Indian tribe may impose taxes on non-Indians, in Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe?
... that the voyages of the Otter crossing the Pacific Ocean from Australia and becoming the first vessel of the United States to enter a Californian port in 1796 were chronicled by French traveler Pierre François Péron?
... that the U.S. Supreme Court delayed taking up the case of Virginia v. West Virginia for three years because it was deadlocked over whether it had jurisdiction over the issue?
... that the 1910 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Maryland v. West Virginia established the current boundary between the states of Maryland and West Virginia based on a stone set in a river in 1746?
... that the 1899 U.S. Supreme Court case Morris v. United States decided who owned the water rights associated with land possessed by the heirs of the late Chief Justice John Marshall?
... that after a fire destroyed US$500,000 worth of master recordings, singer Al Goodman of Ray, Goodman & Brown said "I just stood there and watched 30 or 40 years of my life go by"?
... that Franklin W. Smith helped establish the YMCA in Boston, the first chapter of the organization in the United States?
... that Kettler Capitals Iceplex, the practice arena of the Washington Capitals, is the highest ice rink off street-level in the United States?
... that the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act extinguished all aboriginal title in Alaska?
... that Japanese minelayer Sarushima was attacked three times by the United States Navy during World War II before being removed from the Navy List on September 10, 1944?
... that the largest ever dam raise in the United States is occurring at the San Vicente Dam in California, which will increase its height by 117 feet (36 m) and more than double its reservoir size?
... that the beating of a child in a Boston public school sparked the Eliot School rebellion and motivated the creation of a nationwide system of parochial schools?

... that the maize weevil (pictured) is a serious pest of maize in the United States, and also infests standing crops and cereals in all tropical areas of the world?
... that the Women's Professional Basketball League, which played its first game in 1978 in Milwaukee in front of 7,800 fans, collapsed after three seasons and an estimated US$14 million in total losses?
... that American newspaper editor James McMaster changed his name to make it sound Irish?
... that authorities believe convicted fraudster Edward Porta escaped from the U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia, apparently by walking out of its minimum security area?
... that Wyandot chief Roundhead had his own brother executed for siding with the United States prior to the War of 1812?

{*mp}}... that the Louisiana historian Garnie W. McGinty's Louisiana Redeemed: The Overthrow of Carpetbag Rule, 1876–1880 is an enduring study of Reconstruction in McGinty's native state?

... that Father Charles Beirne, S.J., advised the United States on Latin American affairs while serving as vice president of Universidad Centroamericana in El Salvador?

{*mp}}... that the historian Jimmy G. Shoalmire specialized in Reconstruction in Red River Parish, Louisiana, ruled from 1868 to 1876 by carpetbagger State Senator Marshall Twitchell?

... that Cas Myslinski worked in a foundry before attending high school, and turned down a scholarship offer from Columbia University in order to attend West Point?
... that the Union Obrera Democratica Filipina held a mass anti-imperialist rally on May 1, 1903, the first May Day rally in the Philippines, in spite of being denied permits by the United States' Taft administration?
... that the town of Marche, Arkansas, was founded by a Polish count who wanted to restore the agricultural environment familiar to most Poles before their arrival in America?
... that, while Ryan Murdough is attempting to run for the New Hampshire House of Representatives as a Republican, the chairman of the state Republican Party refused to support him?
... that the Deer Rock, a heritage monument of the Tlingits in Haines Borough, Alaska, US, was witness to a peaceful settlement of conflicts between Chilkoot and Chilkat clans?
... that the two tracts of Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico preserve archeological sites associated with Native Americans and a late 19th-century ranch?
... that the "Mad Raft Race" is an event held on the Chilkoot River as part of Fourth of July festivities observed in Haines, Alaska?
... that in 1950, L.A. Daily News publisher Manchester Boddy ran in both Senate primaries, with the paper first to call Democrat Helen Douglas "the pink lady" and Republican Richard Nixon "Tricky Dick"?