Alan Alexander Milne, also known as A. A. Milne, was a British author, best known for his books about the teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, and for various children’s poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.
Alan Alexander Milne (January 18, 1882 – January 31, 1956)
Posted in Because I Can, Literary, The Little Screen (Television)
Arthur Gardner Rankin, Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. A part of Rankin/Bass Productions with his partner Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation features such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and the 1977 cartoon animation of The Hobbit. He is credited on over 1,000 television programs.
Posted in Because I Can, The Little Screen (Television)
On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. All seven astronauts on board were lost.
Challenger launches on its final mission, STS-51.
The crew of STS-51. Front row, from left to right: Smith, Scobee, and McNair. Back row, from left to right: Onizuka, McAuliffe, Jarvis, and Resnik.
STS-51 mission patch.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, Patriotic, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Ray Stevens (born Harold Ray Ragsdale) is an American country music and pop singer-songwriter known for his novelty songs. His two most-popular songs are “Everything Is Beautiful” and “The Streak”.
Harold Ray Ragsdale (January 24, 1939 – )
Posted in Because I Can, Humor, Music
The Smithsonian Channel just uploaded this very silly but pretty cool animation of an hypothetical battle between a mighty dragon and an AH-64 Apache helicopter. Who do you think it will win, the mythical fire-breathing creature or one of the most lethal machines created by men?
Posted in Because I Can, Critters, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Alfred Hawthorn Hill, better known as Benny Hill, was a prolific English comic, actor & singer, best known for his television program, The Benny Hill Show. Since its debut in 1955 his television show has been sold to over 140 countries worldwide, with viewership in the billions.
Alfred Hawthorn Hill (January 21, 1924 – April 20, 1992)
Posted in Because I Can, Humor, The Little Screen (Television)
The three Ford performance cars that dropped in Detroit yesterday — the Ford GT, the Mustang GT350R, and the 2017 Raptor — all had one thing in common: a very lovely shade of blue paint. Want it on your Fiesta ST? You can’t have it. Sorry.
Road & Track states that this color, known as Liquid Blue and the designated color of the Ford Performance lineup, is not a production paint color.
Ford explained to that “Liquid Blue” is a show-car color only, and that it’s actually multiple layers of paint on the display cars. Now, Ford also said that in the past, special show colors have made the transition to the production-car palette, but right now Liquid Blue isn’t in the running.
Posted in Because I Can, Planes Trains and Automobiles
The ultimate off-road runner is back, with the all-new 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor. A twin-turbo Ecoboost V6 engine. A 10-speed transmission. And it’s six inches wider than the standard model.
Ford’s not saying how much power the new Raptor has, but only that the turbo V6 will have “more” than the last generation’s 411-horsepower, 434-lb.-ft. 6.2-liter V8. But the story of the Raptor was never really about the power, as lots of things have power. It was about sheer mind-boggling off-road speed capability.
To help out with that, it’s got a new steel frame underneath the aluminum body tech it shares with all new Ford F-150s, helping it save more than 500 pounds of heavy metal. It’s got even beefier FOX Racing shocks, presumably to help it stop cracking under the most extreme pressures. And it’s got more suspension travel, too.
Posted in Because I Can, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Here’s what we know so far: that wonderful flat plane crank V8 with at least 500 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque; Ford’s first ever magnetic ride suspension; 130 pounds lighter than the GT350; and no air conditioning or a rear seat.
Posted in Because I Can, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of the macabre, Poe was one of the early American practitioners of the short story and a progenitor of detective fiction and crime fiction. He is also credited with contributing to narrative forms of the emergent science fiction genre.
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)
Posted in Because I Can, Literary
See my little drawing in the subject? Now, imagine that was all that was left of your full size Chevy Silverado:
Read the whole story at OregonLive.com (no really, go read it!)
Posted in Because I Can, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Curly Howard (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952)
Jerome Lester “Jerry” Horwitz, better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian, part of the “3 Stooges.”
Posted in Because I Can, Humor, The Little Screen (Television)
