Fact Of The Day

[BoyScoutKevin]

Continuing . . .

10. Both were international isolationists.
11. Both informed people of "the truth," but not "the total truth," but "their truth."

12. Ford was a brilliant manipulator.
13. Trump may or may not be a manipulator, but "brilliant" is questionable.

14. Both achieved wealth if not greatness.
15, Both were embraced by the evangelical movements of their day.

16. Ford hired the best and brightest, because they made him look good.
17. Trump fired the best and brightest, because they made him look bad.

18. Both promoted themselves as something they were not.
19. Both had the curtain pulled back on "em and exposed as "an emperor without clothes."

20. Both wanted to be idolized by all.

The facts on Ford are from a weekly column in the local daily, which the columnist admits he took from Robert Lay's "Ford, the Man, and the Machine." The facts on Trump are, of course, taken from the daily news. And thank-you for the warm welcome. Now that things are opening up here, you'll see me more often. Just be aware that I am restricted to a hour a day, so it'll be awhile before I can peruse 5 months of unread posts, which I will read.

Next time: Stan and Walt. Separated at birth?

[RCMerchant]

^ Andrew  came out of hibernation and put a kiboosh on s**t like this.  That's why he stopped the politics thread.

[chainsaw midget]

Let's stick to fun facts. 

In 1993, San Francisco had an official vote over whether a police officer was allowed to patrol while carrying a ventriloquist's dummy.

A British Lieutenant Colonel called "Mad Jack" was only British soldier in WWII known to have killed an enemy soldier with a longbow. He insisted on going into battle armed with both a medieval bow and a claymore sword.  I couldn't find any info as to whether he'd killed anyone with his sword or not.

There was once a family in Kentucky that had blue skin.  This was due to inbredding and a rare medical condition that was passed along.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Stan and Walt. Separated at birth?

Stan Lee
Walt Disney

1. Both were product of an urban enviroment.
a. Walt. (Chicago, Illinois)
b. Stan. (New York, New York)

2. Both were from impoverished backgrounds.
3. Both married only once.

4. Both sets of parents had only one child--a girl--born to them, that lived to adulthood.
c. Walt's 2nd daughter was adopted.
d. Stan's 2nd daugher died when only a few days old.

5. Both were patriotic.
e. Stan served in the Army during WWII.
f. Walt, too young to serve in the Army, served in the Ambulance Corp at the end of WWI.

6. Both toiled many years in rhw "vineyard," ere they became famous.
7. Both grew a moustache as they grew older.

8. Both were geniuses in their own way.
9. Both have at least one * on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

To be continued . . .

[BoyScoutKevin]

Comtinuing . . .

10. Both relied on collaborators.
11. Both had collaborators that relied on them.

12, Both had tempestuous relationships with their collaborators.
13, But, it was Both who tied almost everything together.

14. Both had their haters.
15. Both were surrounded by various controversies.

16. Both began in a business that began as a family business and morphed into a business juggernaut and a mercchandising bonanza.
17. Both businesses suffered from money woes.

18. Both were involved in almost every aspect of their business.
19. Both, at times, felt hemmed in by forces they could not control.

To be continued . . .

[chainsaw midget]

In 1903 a man named Will West was sent to Leavenworth prison.  When he got there, he saw that they already had his picture in a prison uniform despite him never having taken one.  A guard even recognized him and asked what he did this time.

It turned out there were TWO nearly indenticle looking men serving time in the same prison, one named Will West and the other William West.  Because of this, prison authorities realized they needed a better system for identifying prisons other than by name and a picture.  This is why they began to fingerprint prisoners. 

[BoyScoutKevin]

Continuing . . .

20. Both saw the power of mass media.
g. Stan. Radio
h. Walt. TV

21.Both made many appearances on film.
i. Walt. TV
j. Stan. Films

22. Both became the face and voice of their respective media.
k. Stan. Comic books
l. Walt. Animation then TV.

23. Both were workaholics.
24. Both were still working up to the day that they died.

Of course, there were differences, which we'll get to next time.

To be continued . . .

[Alex]

The matter and energy that we know of and deal with make up only 4.9% of the universe. What we call dark matter is believed to take up around another 28%. The rest is currently referred to as dark energy. We can see some of the effects of this, for example galaxy's spinning faster than they should be able to without centrifugal forces sending them flying off elsewhere, but actually understanding and figuring these things out may change our understanding of physics.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Differences

a. Walt was not only a product of an urban enviroment, but, also of a rural enviroment Marceline (Missouri.)
b. Stan not
Which can be seen in many of the Disney theme parks, or, some idealized representation of it on Main Street.

c. Walt was a product of the Turn of the Century.
d. Stan born some 2 decades later, was a product of the Jazz Age.

e. Stan was the oldest boy in the family.
f. Walt was the youngest boy in the family.

g. Stan was Jewish.
h. Walt was a WASP.

i. Walt was a conservative Republican.
j. Stan was probably not a Republican and probably less conservative.

k. Walt sometimes ignored the uglier things in the world.
l. Stan less frequently ignored the uglier things in the world.
Yet, both became famous for what they did or did not ignore.

m. Stan's wife preceded him in death.
n. Walt left a widow behind.

o. Stan (1922-2018) outlived most of his friends and foes.
p. Walt ((1901-1967) not.

To be continued . . .
Mext time: Conclusion

[ER]

More tourist money is said to be spent visiting sites associated with the life events of Tom Sawyer, Anne of Green Gables, and Scarlett O'Hara, than any other fictional characters in North America, though some claim that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote a fictional version of herself in the Little House books, and if so, then she would top that category, hands-down.

In England the fictional figure raking in the most tourist money is Sherlock Holmes, with the Loch Ness monster heading the roll to the north in Scotland.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Conclusion

The Stan Era and the Walt Era ended tthe day that both died, but the Marvel Age and the Disney Age lives on; for, thanks to their innovations, theirs is the world of genera culture in which we live.
They will be missed.

Next time: victims of the virus

[chainsaw midget]

In the movie Son of Frankenstein, the script wasn't prepared when they started filming.  Most of it was written moments before the actors had to film their scenes. 

Bela Lugosi's character Ygor wasn't even in the original screenplay!

[RCMerchant]

^ A good thing, too! Because the monster mostly lies on his back through most of the film!

[ER]

Insomnia sucks a fat toe.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Victims of the Virus, or, a Rollcall of the Dead
Certainly, some of these have already been mentioned, so let this act as a reminder of what a wide swath the pandemic has cut.

Trini Lopez. actor-singer
Mark Blum. actor
Anne Glenn. advocate for people who stutter and the widow of John Glenn.

To be continued . . .