About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 6: Taking a Risk and Sports

It's not just gamblers taking risks in Vegas.  The Strip has been a global capital of extreme sports ever since December 1967, when a little-known stunt artist named Evel Knieval tried to jump the fountains of the newly opened Caesars Palace, coming up short and crashing to the tune of several broken bones and a 29-day coma.

The city is also recognized as the undisputed home of boxing since the iconic slugfest between George Foreman and Ron Lyle at Caesars Palace in 1976.

In more recent thrills, last November the eyes of millions were fixed on the city for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix Formula 1's first ever after-dark race in Sin City turned the area into a high velocity street circuit with the Strip naturally taking center stage as the blistering home stretch.

Ever seductive, the Strip continues to temp visitors with its unusual indulgences:  Win a fortune on black, fall in love by the fountains of the Bellagio, get married by Elvis-- or snag a quickie divorce.

Tastes may change, but its the thrill of the ephemeral that makes Vegas Vegas.

--DaCoot

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 5: Bigger and Grander

In the 1990s, Vegas developers began thinking even bigger, and the arrival of the great pyramid of the Luxur Hotel and Casino in 1993 began an ostentatious decade of international icons arriving in reduced size along the Strip as new casinos sought to become the next big thing.

Where else can you find the Eiffel Tower, Venetian canals and New York skyscrapers all within walking distance?

Yet perhaps nothing catches the eye quite like the show-stopping, cutting-edge tech of the Sphere, the largest spherical structure on the planet, which opened as a concert venue in Vegas last year.  Such grandeur, often with a touch of gaudiness, defines the Strip. 

--DaCoot

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 4: About That Residency

Toward the end of World War II, piano sensation Liberace pioneered the concept of a residency, where venues dedicate their stages exclusively to individual superstars, often for years at a time.

In their own subsequent residencies at the Copa Room at the Sands, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack helped establish the swanky, after-dark revelry for which Vegas has been become notorious.

Starting in the late 1960s, Elvis Presley was a Vegas fixture.  And, of course, Wayne Newton.

With round-the-clock musicians, magicians, comedians, blue men and white Bengal tigers, the Strip became the premier global destination not just for indecorous gambling, but also for family-friendly entertainment.

(In case you're wondering who the members of the Rat Pack were:  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.)

--DaCoot

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 3: The Coming of the Las Vegas Strip

The characteristically American mix of grit, graft and speculation turned a dusty desert road into the entertainment capital of the world, a 4.2-mile stretch that would eventually become known as the Las Vegas Strip.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Strip attracted shady characters right from the start.  In 1939, a cop named Guy McAfee arrived in Vegas after fleeing Los Angeles under accusations of corruption.  He quickly put down roots, buying and developing the Pair O' Dice Club and several others.  Inspired by his Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, he also bestowed the name upon Vegas' main drag.

Soon after, in 1941, California businessman Thomas Hull founded the area's first luxury resort, El Rancho Vegas, with blossoming gardens and a capacious swimming pool.  

The new adult playground caught the attention of the New York mob, who saw opportunities in both legal gambling and in less-legal money skimming.  In 1945, the infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel bullied his way into the development of the luxury Flamingo resort, creating a template for the super-casinos to come.  Until then, Vegas casinos typically sported Wild West themes, but Siegel ushered in an era of unbridled opulence.

--Cooter

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 2: Gambling and Quickie Divorces

Continued from June 13.

At the turn of the 20th century, the oasis town became a rest area for wagons and a stop on the new railroad connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

This railroad was completed in 1905, and in 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a U.S. city.  Though gambling was prohibited at first, clandestine casinos opened for business.  Then, in 1931, everything changes when Nevada became the first state to legalize gambling, as well as the first to offer quickie divorces.

From then on, the Silver State was synonymous with American excess.

Around the same time, construction began on the Hoover Dam, which would supply water and power to the valley.  This monumental project brought in an influx of construction workers to the city of Las Vegas, and local entrepreneurs wasted no time in opening casinos to relieve these men of their spare cash.

--DaCoot

The 15 Most Legendary Sandwiches in the United States-- Part 2:

8.  French Dip, Los Angeles, California  (Sure liked the ones at Hackney's in Lake Zurich, Illinois.)

9.  Pulled Pork BBQ, the Carolinas    (Few things better than Carolina 'Cue.)

10.  Monte Crisco  (Sure miss those Bennigan's montes.)

11.  Sloppy Joe

12.  Muffuletta, New Orleans, Louisiana  (More tastes than you can measure.  A real garbage sandwich.)

13.  Gyro

14.  Philly Cheesesteak, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

15.  Peanut Butter & Jelly  (I sure had a few of these growing up.)

Still Hongry.  --DaCoot

The 15 Most Legendary Sandwiches in the United States-- Part 1: Italian Beef

From April 2024 My Pure Plants US by Nandor Barta.

1.  Po' Boy, New Orleans, Louisiana  (especially a shrimp po' boy.  But any old po' boy will do.)

2.  Cuban Sandwich, Miami, Florida

3.  Reuben Sandwich

4.  Lobster Roll, New England  (The first time I saw a lobster roll sandwich Liz and I were in Maine on vacation.  A McDonald's had it listed.  I didn't get it though, as I figured if that McDonald's had it then the ones back home would have it.  Plus, we were enjoying the lobster pounds too much in Maine.  Sadly, when I got home, I found out a McDonald's lobster roll was just a regional thing.  But, I have since had one.  Boy did I miss out in Maine.)

5.  Italian Beef, Chicago, Illinois

6,  BLT

7.  Grilled Cheese  (Well, only if you have a nice hot bowl of tomato soup to dip it in.)

Mighty Hongry.  --Cooter

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 5: 13 Stripes and Stars for New States

The rules for the design of the national flag were finalized after the War of 1812.

The design needed to be updated again again with the addition of five new states.  

On April 4, 1818, Congress passed the third Flag Act.  Instead of increasing the number of stripes from 15 to 20, the act reduced the number of stripes permanently to 13, honoring the original states.

Congress provided, however, that new stars would be added as new states joined the union.

With Hawaii's admission in 1959, the U.S. flag was modified one last time on July 4, 1960.  The 50th star.

Aren't you glad there aren't 50 stripes?  That would be a mighty strange looking flag.

--DaCoot

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag (in Honor of Flag Day)-- Part 4: Star-Spangled Banner Flag Had 15 Stripes

The flag immortalized by "The Star-Spangles Banner" had 15 stripes-- not 13!

In 1791, Vermont was admitted to the Union and Kentucky joined in 1792.  Congress passed the second Flag Act on January 13, 1794, authorizing a new national flag with 15 stars and stripes.

During the War of 1812, Mary Pickersgill, her daughter, two nieces and an indentured black girl made a giant flag for Baltimore's Fort McHenry.

On September 14, 1814, after withstanding a heavy British bombardment, the fort raised the giant flag.  This triumph inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem which has since become known as our National Anthem.

--Cooter

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 3: One of the First U.S. Flags Had the Union Jack of Britain in It

Raised during the American Revolution, the first American flag featured, strangely enough, the Union Jack of Great Britain.

The Continental Colors consisted of 13 horizontal stripes of red and white, to which a canton (the square in the upper left corner in case you're wondering) depicting the British flag.

During the Siege of Boston, General George Washington raised this flag on January 1, 1776.

Its design is a reminder that the Revolution's original goal was not independence from Britain but the restoration of the colonists' liberties under British law.

On June 14, 1777, almost a year after the Declaration of Independence, Congress replaced the British flag with 13 white stars on a blue field, representing the United States as "a new constellation" in the heavens, alongside older nations and empires.

--DaCoot

Five Things You Might Not Know About the U.S. Flag-- Part 2: Vertical Stripes? Really?

The first time red and white stripes were used to represent America, there were nine of them-- and they were vertical.

On exhibit at the Old State House in Boston, this particular flag was created and flown at the Liberty Tree by the Sons of Liberty, an organization formed to oppose British taxation in the 1760s.

The nine vertical stripes may have symbolized the nine colonies which sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York in 1765.

The flag is currently undergoing authentication efforts by historians.

--Cooter

Today Is Flag Day: Is Your Flag Up? Five Things You Might Not Know

From the June 13, 2024 Marquette Today "Star-spangled trivia: five things you (probably) don't know about Flag Day."

The American flag continues to be the steadfast symbol of freedom-- and it's something we celebrate every June 14.  Flag Day is an annual is an annual commemoration of Old Glory's creation in 1777, although the layout looked a lot different then. 

Here are five interesting Flag Day facts:

1.  Flag Day originated in Waubeka, Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee.  On June 14, 1885, the anniversary of the flag's creation, a 19-year-old teacher named Bernard Cigrand led his pupils in a history lesson called "Flag Birthday."

The following year he began a campaign for a national holiday observing the flag's birthday.

Believing that reverence for the American flag would promote attachment to the American republic, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day starting in 1916.

The Wisconsin origin of Flag Day is memorialized at the National Americanism Center in Waubeca and celebrated with an annual Flag Day parade in neighboring Fredonia.

Is Your Flag Up?  --Cooter

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 1: 'The Meadows'

From the March 2024, Smithsonian Magazine ""American Icon."

In 1829, a group of explorers led by Spanish merchant Antonio Armijo moved west toward Alta California through the arid Mojave Desert-- the ancestral lands of the Southern Paiute people.  

A young scout named Rafael Rivera discovered a particularly verdant area full of grassland irrigated by a natural spring: this lushness inspired the place's name: "The Meadows," or "Las Vegas." 

Though a couple dozen Mormon missionaries arrived here in 1855-- largely failing to convert the Paiute population-- the oasis remained something of a secret until four years later, when prospectors came to the valley.  They found gold and silver, and the ensuing rush sparked a population boom, with miners arriving in droves to dig by day before chancing new fortunes away in the saloons and bordellos at night.

--DaCoot

Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society Meeting May 18, 2024

We love visitors, but last month we almost had one we didn't want.  A raccoon made a concerted effort to enter Grant Hall Museum but was thwarted.

********************

Fox Lake and the Chain O' Lakes Area really had two seasons of business 100 years ago.

The first was summer to fall with the resorts and boating.

The second one went through the winter and involved ice cutting and ice houses for storage.

Both relied upon Fox Lake's close proximity to Chicago and ease of transport via railroads.

*********************

Between resorts and ice houses it is estimated that there were over 100 just within village limits.  In addition there were 300 within the Chain O' Lakes area.

--Cooter

The Cicadas Are A-Coming-- Part 2: The Females Do the Clicking

These two broods coming/came to Illinois have spent 13 or 17 years underground.

It is the females who click.  (I have now noticed that some of the cicadas I catch make the clicking sound and some don't.  Now I know which ones I'm dealing with.)

While underground munching on roots, they aerate the soil which is beneficial.

They start climbing/burrowing to the top when soil temperatures reach 64 degrees.  This is why they emerge sooner to the southern areas.  (We sure had lots of hype about them coming from the news stations.)

The last time the two broods have come at the same time was 1803.

For best cicada viewing and hearing go to Lake Forest and Highland Park in Lake County, Illinois.

Cicadas are one of the loudest living insects.

Lake County estimated to have 23 billion of the little critters.

Don't refer to them as locusts.  That makes them mad.

They had a Cicada Fest at Ryerson Woods on June 8.

--Cooter

The Cicadas Are A-Coming-- Part 1: May Meeting of the Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society

The May 18, 2024, Fox Lake/Grant Township Historical Society meeting featured a very timely talk by the Lake County Forest on "The Past, Present & Future of Cicadas."

We had been waiting and waiting for them to arrive, and guess what...  "They're Here!!"  But not everywhere.  The last week, I discovered lots of cicadas around two of my trees in the front yard.  The last time around for them, 17 years ago, I had none, but the house had been built in 1992 and my site was farmland, so not likely to get them.

In Illinois, there are two different types of cicadas: the 17-year and the 13-year.  We have the 17-year ones in Lake and McHenry counties.  13-year ones are mostly in the central and southern part of the state.  (There are also yearly cicadas, but not so numerous as the two broods out now.)

Across the world, there are 3,100 species of cicadas with 190 in North America.

Cicadas are easily the loudest of insects, able to emit 100 decibels of sound, about the level of a lawn mower.

--DaCoot

Trip to Normandy-- Part 5: Fewer WW II Veterans Still Alive

The 80th anniversary will likely be one of the last big D-Day celebrations to include so many living World War II veterans.  Only about 100,000 of the more than 16 million Americans who served during the  conflict are still living.

It is truly remarkable that inside the 89-bed nursing home in tiny Durand, Illinois, there are thee in one hallway.

The military has an expression:  "We stand on the shoulders of giants."

Kohnke, Vinje and Walstrom are living embodiment: patriotic, wise, humble.  And they retain that dark sense of humor unique to those of us who have experienced the hell of war.

On this warm spring morning, Frank Khonke blurts out something on his mind:  "What if I up and die over there?"

One of his friends deadpans:  "Well, then they'll either send you home in a vase or bury you over there.  Basically the same options you had in 1944 -- and at least you'll go out doing something more fun than napping in a nursing home bed."  

There it is: the old belly laugh.

"You're right," Kohnke smiles.  "I'm going back to France."

--Cooter