James J. Braddock Cinderella Man Flashcards
(40 cards)
Shore eagle
Erne
Catch-22” pilot played by Bob Balaban :
ORR
The bomber pilot in Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” is named Orr. He has no other name, just “Orr”.
“Catch-22” is a novel by Joseph Heller set during WWII. The title refers to absurd bureaucratic constraints that soldiers had to suffer. Heller’s “Catch 22” was invoked by an army psychiatrist to explain that any pilot requesting to be evaluated for insanity, to avoid flying dangerous missions, had to be sane as only a sane man would try to get out of such missions. The term “catch-22” has entered the language and describes a paradoxical situation from which one can’t escape due to contradictory rules; one loses, no matter what choice one makes.
Actor and director Bob Balaban is also a producer, and as producer he was an Oscar nominee for the 2001 film “Gosford Park”. Balaban also appeared in “Gosford Park”, portraying Hollywood producer Morris Weissman.
Animal nutritionist who founded a pet food company in 1946 :
IAMS
Iams dog food was introduced by animal nutritionist Paul Iams. He felt that household pets were suffering somewhat by being fed a diet of table scraps, so he developed dry dog food that he felt was more nutritious and suitable for pet dogs. He founded the Iams company, now part of Procter & Gamble, in 1946.
became Governor of Connecticut in 2019. Back in 2006, he defeated incumbent US Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary for the senate seat. Lieberman didn’t give up though, and ran in the election as an independent. Despite defeating Lieberman in the primary, he lost to him in the election.
Ned Lamont
is a reference book describing medicinal compounds and their use. The term “” often applies to such a book published by a government agency or pharmaceutical society.
pharmacopoeia
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is published annually by the nonprofit United States Pharmacopeial Convention, and sets quality standards for drugs made available for both human and animal consumption. Prescribed drugs must meet those standards, and be marked with the designation “USP”.
We use this today to describe something courteous or refined. Back in the 1500s, the term was used in the same way that we now use another term because Those townsfolk thought they were more sophisticated than the country folk, and so the usage evolved.
urbane
Urban
The great composer John Williams has won five Academy Awards for his work on film scores, for:
Fiddler on the Roof”
“Jaws”
“Star Wars”
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”
“Schindler’s List”
Lake Geneva straddles the border between these 2 countries
France and Switzerland. The lake has a lot of “official” names!
English: Lake Geneva
French: Lac Léman or Lac de Genève
German: Genfersee or Genfer See
Italian: Lago Lemano or Lago di Ginevra
Picasso sculpture subject :
SHE-GOAT
“She-Goat” is a 1950 sculpture by Pablo Picasso that can be viewed in the Sculpture Garden of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Picasso sculpture subject :
SHE-GOAT
“She-Goat” is a 1950 sculpture by Pablo Picasso that can be viewed in the Sculpture Garden of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Picasso sculpture subject :
SHE-GOAT
“She-Goat” is a 1950 sculpture by Pablo Picasso that can be viewed in the Sculpture Garden of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
cotton candy, in Australia :
Fairy FLOSS
What we call “cotton candy” here in the US has some interesting names in the rest of the world. Back in Ireland it is candyfloss, in France it is “barbe à papa” (Dad’s beard), and in Australia it is called fairy floss. “Fairy floss” is actually the original name for cotton candy, a name first used when the confection was introduced at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.
School songs :
ALMA MATERS
The term “alma mater” is used to describe a school from which one has graduated. It can also describe a school’s song or hymn.
is also known as the ethic of reciprocity, and is a basis for the concept of human rights.
The Golden Rule
A version of the rule used in the Christian tradition is attributed to Jesus:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
A derivative phrase often heard today is “Love thy neighbor (as thyself)”.
American actor is best known for co-creating and co-starring in the sitcom “Catastrophe”, along with Irish actress and writer Sharon Horgan. He appears regularly on British TV, partly because he moved to England in 2014.
Rob Delaney
was known as the Tawantinsuyu, which translates as “land of the four quarters”. It was a federal organization with a central government that sat above four “suyu” or “quarters”, four administrative regions.
The Inca Empire
There is a story that just before Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, he received a letter from a 12-year-old girl who criticized Lincoln’s appearance and his pockmarked, gaunt face.
The little girl, Grace Bedell from New York, promised to get her brothers to vote for Lincoln if he would just grow a beard. However, Lincoln waited until after the election to grow his famous whiskers, a distinctive look that would forever be associated with his presidency.
“The Pianist” Oscar winner :
BRODY
Adrien Brody won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the Roman Polanski masterpiece “The Pianist”. Brody won the award in 2003 at the age of 29, making him the youngest person ever to receive the Best Actor Oscar.
“The Pianist” is a memoir of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish musician of Jewish heritage and a survivor of the Holocaust. The memoir was not written by Szpilman himself, but by author Jerzy Waldorff who interviewed him and became his friend. The memoir was first published in 1946 in Poland under the title “Death of a City”, but lay unnoticed for decades. It was republished in English in 1998 under the title “The Pianist”, and became widely read. Roman Polanski then directed a 2002 screen version using “The Pianist” as a title. Sadly, Szpilman died during the making of the film and never saw the great success the movie achieved, including three Academy Awards.
blood pressure monitor is known more formally as a
sphygmomanometer. It comprises an inflatable cuff and a manometer to measure the pressure in the cuff. The cuff is first inflated to the extent that the brachial artery in the upper arm becomes occluded (halting the blood flow). Two measurements are taken as the pressure is gradually reduced. The first is the pressure at which blood just starts to flow again. The second is the pressure at which blood starts to flow freely, unimpeded by the cuff.
Pre-euro Spanish coins :
PESETAS
The peseta is a former currency of Spain and was also the de facto currency of Spain’s neighbor, the Principality of Andorra. The peseta was replaced by the euro in 2002.
Impressionist painter born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania :
CASSATT
Mary Cassatt was an American painter from Pennsylvania who moved to France at the young age of 22 years, in 1866. By which time she was already studying to become a professional artist. Cassatt became friends with Edgar Degas, who invited her to exhibit with the group called “the Impressionists”, who were garnering a great deal of attention at the time. Cassatt’s reputation as a great artist is perhaps built on an extensive series of paintings of mothers with a child.
are attracted to the smell of rotting food, and vinegar. Simple homemade traps that use vinegar are often constructed to attract and kill them.
Gnats
played a significant role in the history of television as a pioneer in the industry. It developed and introduced the first electronic television system in 1939 at the New York World’s Fair.
RCA, or the Radio Corporation of America,
RCA also created the NTSC (National Television System Committee) broadcast standard, which was adopted in the United States in 1953 and is still used today for analog television broadcasting. Additionally, RCA produced the first color television sets in 1954.
Iowa college town :
AMES
The Iowa city of Ames was founded as a stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad in 1864. It was named for US Congressman Oakes Ames from the state of Massachusetts in honor of the role that Ames played in the building of the transcontinental railroad.
