Pretty soon we’re going to be voting on the Presidential election. How much do you know about our Presidents?
Three presidents died on the Fourth of July: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe.
Samuel Seymour was five years old when he was at Ford’s Theater the night Abraham Lincoln was shot. He was the last survivor of that event, dying in 1956.
Not only was President Richard Nixon the first American president to visit both China and the Soviet Union, he was also the first to visit all 50 states while in office.
The Library of Congress was started in 1815 when President James Madison bought almost 6,500 books from former President Thomas Jefferson’s library.
And here’s an interesting fact about the ruling family in England. The British royal family changed its name from Saxe – Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917, during World War I, because its original name sounded too German. The English royals are still today known as the House of Windsor.
Though the Hope Diamond is more famous, the Cullinan is the largest diamond ever found. Unearthed in South Africa in 1905, this 3,100 carat monster was cut into several stones that are still part of the British Crown Jewels.
It is crazy, but not even acid can dissolve a diamond.
Many people have opinions on how to be happy, or content. One bit of advice towards that end that I recently read, “If you can’t manage $1,000, you can’t manage $10,000. If you’re not happy on your own, you won’t be happy in a relationship. If you don’t feel good now, you won’t feel good when you have everything you’re working toward. Money doesn’t make you good with money. Love doesn’t make you love yourself. Success doesn’t make you happier unless you are already happy. You are your own foundation. If that’s not solid, nothing else can stand on it.” Makes sense.
I have a grandson that is going to Texas A&M as part of the Corp and the Aggies have a facebook page for the parents. Recently a mother posted on the site, “My son is in the band and has picked AFROTC. Where can we find what he needs for a physical?”
The answer to her question was posted, “Please ask your son to find it. He registered to join and everything he needed was provided on the registration website. Tell him COL Hawes said he was an adult now and this should not fall on his mother to fix him up.”
I’m guessing not many questions followed. Makes sense.
Famous Okie: Dr. Hall Duncan taught cartooning and advertising design for 17 years at the University of Central Oklahoma. During that time, he collaborated with Don Heath, an African American cartoonist, on an interracial comic strip called Winner Williams, published in the Oklahoma City Times. The cartoon strip was dedicated to teaching children from all ethnic backgrounds to respect and relate to each other in a healthy way. As a result, Duncan and Heath were awarded the National Education Association’s Whitney M. Young Human Relations Award for their work. In 2000, the comic strips were consolidated into a book, The Gospel According to Winner, Larry, and Friends.
Duncan retired in 1986 and began his Humor and Communication Publishing Company in 1998. He has written and illustrated eight children’s books, and trained illustrators in Africa and the United States. He has created four published cartoon features: Les Aventures de Jano and Mopela, (in Central Africa) and Clip-a-Tip for Parents and Winner Williams (in the United States). Duncan’s work has taken him to 28 countries, primarily in Africa.
He resides with his wife in Edmond.
More about Oklahoma cartoonists can be seen at the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley, that includes the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame. See more at www.ToyAndActionFigureMuseum.com.
See you on the bricks!