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

October 2010

... that Ben Cooper, Inc., the "Halston of Halloween", said it sold a scary 4 million Halloween costumes in the United States in 1990?
... that the Ipswich Witchcraft Trial has been called the "Second Salem Witch Trial", and was the last witch trial held in the United States?
... that the United States federal case Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. held that recommending trademarks for keyword advertising was commercial use?
... that the Oregon Maneuver involved over 100,000 United States Army troops?
... that American Piedmont blues singer Irene Scruggs worked alongside Clarence Williams, Joe "King" Oliver, Lonnie Johnson, and Little Brother Montgomery, but today remains largely forgotten?
... that the Federalists of New England did not support the War of 1812, so Captain Oliver Filley of Connecticut, who built the Oliver Filley House, commanded 40 militiamen under state control?
... that Viacom sued YouTube, seeking damages of US$1 billion?
... that Democratic Party leaders convinced Frank Herbert to run as a write-in against white supremacist John Kucek, saying "the first thing we had to do was convince people not to vote for the Nazi"?
... that Louis F. Bantle saw U.S. Tobacco's income rise tenfold to US$1 billion led by sales of smokeless tobacco, telling managers, "We must sell the use of tobacco in the mouth and appeal to young people"?
... that the Malta Test Station was the site of the first large test stand for static rocket engine tests in the United States?
... that in State of Alabama v. State of Georgia in 1860, the U.S. Supreme Court defined what a river bed was?
... that American electric blues harmonicist Johnny Dyer, on his Rolling Fork Revisited album, did reworkings of songs by another Rolling Fork native, Muddy Waters?
... that American historian R.J.Q. Adams details the conflicting views of Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill in his work British Politics and Foreign Policy in the Age of Appeasement, 1935–1939?
... that the United States Supreme Court ruled in Poole v. Fleeger that the states of Kentucky and Tennessee had properly entered into an agreement establishing a mutual border between the two states?

{*mp}}... that in Virginia v. West Virginia in 1911, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the state of West Virginia to pay one-third of the state of Virginia's pre-Civil War debt?

... that the 1945 Japan–Washington flight made by three American air generals in three Boeing B-29 Superfortresses was the first nonstop flight from Japan to the United States?
... that the American electric blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, Rusty Zinn, also recently worked with Sly Dunbar and Boris Gardiner?

... that live coverage of Jökulsárlón (pictured) in Iceland on the American TV program Good Morning America in 2006 was viewed by an estimated 4 million people?
... that American Detroit and electric blues guitarist Willie D. Warren was once described as "one of the Midwest's true blues treasures"?
... that Oneida I, by allowing aboriginal title claimants into federal court, "overturned one hundred forty-three years of American law"?
... that American historian Terry H. Anderson co-authored with Charles R. Bond, Jr. the first published diary of the exploits of a pilot assigned to General Claire Chennault's World War II Flying Tigers?

... that Grafton (pictured) and West Virginia National Cemeteries are the only two national cemeteries in West Virginia, and both are located in the small city of Grafton?
... that Herman G. Felhoelter was the first US Army chaplain to win a valor award in the Korean War for his actions at the Chaplain-Medic massacre?

... that a U.S. appeals court declared the federal government was obliged to bring a lawsuit against the state of Maine, claiming 60% of the state's land on behalf of the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot?
... that the American boogie-woogie pianist and singer, Mose Vinson, recorded two versions of "Forty-Four", one retitled "Worry You Off My Mind", and the other as "My Love Has Gone"?
... that approximately 8% of commuters in Portland, Oregon, bike to work, the highest proportion of any major United States city?
... that in State of Missouri v. State of Iowa in 1849, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a border dispute between two states that had caused the "Honey War" of 1839?
... that Ed Beisser won three consecutive AAU basketball national championships from 1946 to 1948 and was selected as an alternate for the United States men's national basketball team?
... that Louis Henkin slept on the couch of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter on Friday nights so he could attend the justices' weekly Saturday conference without violating the Jewish Sabbath?
... that Robert Tishman co-founded Tishman Speyer in 1978 with his son-in-law Jerry Speyer, a firm that is one of the largest owners and builders of office buildings in the United States?
... that Robert L. Rutherford was the vice commander of the United States Air Force's Military Airlift Command and commander of both the Air Mobility Command and United States Transportation Command?
... that the 1974 Oneida I decision, holding that U.S. federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction to hear aboriginal title disputes, "spawned a vast number of Indian land claims"?
... that Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo paid US$1 million to build and furnish the four-story Rhinelander Mansion at Madison Avenue and 72nd Street in Manhattan, but never lived in it?
... that William Rule published the first comprehensive history of the American city of Knoxville?
... that Rich Iott, a first-time candidate in the 2010 House of Representatives elections in Ohio, came to media prominence due to his past participation in a World War II reenactment group?
... that Chris Deschene is the first Native American to run for Secretary of State in Arizona?
... that Mexican singer Luis Miguel received a Grammy Award and a Platinum certification for his album Segundo Romance in the United States?
... that after recovering from polio as a 12-year old, Leo Byrd went on to win a gold medal with the United States men's basketball team at the 1959 Pan American Games?
... that Texas Republican politician Jack Cox lost important races to two better-known candidates, John Connally and George Herbert Walker Bush?
... that The CW Television Network plans to develop an adaption of the hit German sitcom Danni Lowinski, marking the first time a German TV series is adapted for American audiences?
... that the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center was created in July 2008 to protect American consumers from potentially harmful trade goods?
... that despite using clean coal, Prairie State Energy Campus, due to go online in August 2011, may become the largest source of carbon dioxide built in the United States in a quarter-century?
... that with his appointment to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1979, Stephen Lachs was the first openly gay judge appointed in the United States?
... that Kremlin adviser Georgy Arbatov acknowledged that the Soviet Union had lost the Cold War, but insisted that the United States had suffered too by losing "The Enemy"?
... that in 1958, Texas Republican U.S. Senate nominee Roy Whittenburg proposed the direct election of United States Supreme Court justices?
... that Wheatland, the former home of the 15th US President, James Buchanan, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966?
... that Rear Admiral Nora W. Tyson became the first woman to command a United States Navy aircraft carrier task group when she was chosen to command Carrier Strike Group Two?
... that Washington, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare is expected to become the largest bicycle sharing system in the U.S. when fully deployed, offering 1,100 bicycles and 110 stations?
... that St Mary's Church in Wilton, Wiltshire, was restored by Robert Bingham, the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, whose ancestor Robert de Bingham was consecrated there in 1229?
... that the 18th-century "Frenchman's Garden" in Maisland, New Jersey, was responsible for the spread of the non-native Lombardy poplar throughout the United States?
... that Ysrael Seinuk came to the United States with little more than "my slide rule and my diploma from the University of Havana" and became known as "Mr. New York"?
... that in 2005 the Pearl River, New York, post office was officially renamed in memory of a local Marine whose remains were returned from Vietnam that year?
... that Don Doll, the only player in NFL history to register 10 or more interceptions in 3 separate seasons, changed his surname to "Doll" after being discharged from the Marines?
... that Gus Bevona resigned from local SEIU 32BJ in 1999, in the face of criticism for annual pay of US$531,529 in 1997, more than 17 times the salary of the janitors and building workers he represented?
... that the geography of New York includes the Adirondack Park, the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States?
... that Samuel Bowman was selected to be a bishop in the Episcopal Church three times, but did not take office until his third selection in 1858?
... that attorney Jack Kershaw sculpted a monument to Confederate Army general and KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1998, arguing that "somebody needs to say a good word for slavery"?
... that though the Spanish naval gunboat Ligera fired 10 shots and the American naval gunboat Foote fired 70 in the Action of 25 April 1898, Foote was heavily damaged but Ligera was hit only once?
... that U.S. Army officer Dan Tyler Moore, an aide to and sparring partner of Theodore Roosevelt, struck the President in the eye, causing him to lose sight in that eye?
... that George Munroe is a retired American professional basketball player, Navy veteran, Rhodes scholar, lawyer, and former CEO of Phelps Dodge Corporation?
... that President Obama called the Paycheck Fairness Act "a common-sense bill" that would help end persistent male–female income disparity in which American women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn?
... that there is a border dispute between Canada and the United States over a part of the Beaufort Sea?
... that Mecklenburg's Garden in Cincinnati used a ship model to inform patrons whether alcohol could be sold safely during Prohibition in the United States?

... that Portland, Maine's Eastern Promenade (pictured) is home to a narrow gauge railroad museum, the mast of the WWII-era USS Portland heavy cruiser, and a mass grave of US prisoners of war from the War of 1812?
... that an early use of pascalization in the United States was the treatment of guacamole, extending its shelf life tenfold?
... that the seventh season of The West Wing featured a live television episode that was broadcast twice for the East and West Coasts of the United States?