Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

It’s the darkest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Let's brighten it up with a spectacular fireworks display that'll knock your socks off!!




Dec 21, 1861: Medal of Honor: Senate bill number 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Honor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on December 21, 1862.

The first U.S. Navy sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor on April 3, 1863. 41 sailors received the award, with 17 awards for action during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 24, 1862). By the end of the Civil War, 1,523 of the medals were awarded. Many people today may not know it was proposed only for the lower ranks of personnel until 1915.


The medal is a five-pointed star tipped with trefoils (point down). In the center of each arm is a crown of oak and laurel, representing strength and achievement. A circle of 34 stars surrounds the center of the star (and forms the base to each arm). The stars represent the number of States in the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War. In the center of the medal is the standing figure of Minerva, the Goddess of civic strength and wisdom, warding off Discord (“the foul spirit of secession and rebellion”) who is represented in a crouching attitude, holding serpents in his hands which with are striking at Minerva with forked tongues. In her right hand she holds a shield taken from the Great Seal of the United States, and in her left she holds a fasces, which represents the lawful authority of the state. The medal is suspended from the ribbon by an anchor which is connected by two rings that pass through the upper arms of the medal. The reverse of the Navy Medal of Honor is plain for engraving the recipient’s name.

No doubt the medal designer was influenced by ancient Roman mythology.

The Navy was the first branch to have a MoH, however it was six Army soldiers who were the first to receive the MoH on March 25, 1863, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in his office of the War Department. Private Jacob Parrott, a U.S. Army volunteer from Ohio, became the first actual Medal of Honor recipient, awarded for his volunteering for and participation in a raid on a Confederate train in Big Shanty, Georgia, on April 12, 1862, during the American Civil War.

Bernard John Dowling Irwin (1830-1917), assistant army surgeon was the first (chronologically by action) Medal of Honor recipient during the Apache Wars. His actions on February 13, 1861, are the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded.

Sidenote: Irwin had an interest in natural history and while at Fort Buchanan, Arizona, in 1858–1860 he collected reptile specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. In 1857 Irwin donated a meteorite to the Smithsonian Institution that came to be known as the Irwin-Ainsa (Tucson) meteorite.

The Army Medal of Honor was approved on July 12, 1862 and Secretary of War Edward Stanton wanted the medals to be of the same design. The only difference was that the Navy Medal of Honor was suspended from its ribbon by an anchor and the Army Medal of Honor was suspended by an eagle.
A Matter of Honor — History of the Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor Established:
Naval Service + Marines: December 21, 1861
Army: July 12, 1862
Air Force: August 10, 1956
Coast Guard: July 25, 1963
Space Force: January 1, 2021


Hotel Christmas Dinner Menu, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1900, features "Braised Opossum":


Ninurta is salivating over this menu. LOL! The Central Hotel was one of the longest operating hotels in Charlotte (1849-1930s.) Originally known as the Mansion House, the name was changed in the 1870s. The owners of the hotel boasted of its large, elegant ballroom. It was reportedly the largest hotel between Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA.


Alright ladies...one...two...Tree! <click>
Producer Jack Entratter's Copa Girls from the Sands Hotel Las Vegas with some Christmas cheer in 2 festive pics back in the 50s.


The Copa Girls were the iconic, glamorous showgirls of the Sands Hotel's Copa Room in 1950s Las Vegas, known for elaborate costumes (like giant feathers) and dazzling performances alongside stars like Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra. They were central to the Sands' entertainment, featured in photos, TV, and even "Miss Cue" atomic tests.

Apparently Jack "Mr. Entertainment" Entratter was a real gentleman showman as he didn’t gamble, drink, smoke, or ever let his girls go onstage nude. As a former night club bouncer he discovered or brought to fame Frankie Lane, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Johnnie Ray and established his Sands Hotel—"A Place in the Sun"—as one of the hottest entertainment spots in the country.

According to journalist John Gunther writing of Las Vegas in his Inside USA, “Jack Entratter is responsible for the transformation of Las Vegas from a little desert village to a town boiling over with glamour.” Entratter was a nightclub guy—starting as a reservation clerk at the French Casino in Miami. In 1936 he followed the seasonal migration back to New York to become a floorman (a.k.a. bouncer) at the French Casino there. In 1938 while still in his early twenties Sherman Billingsley made him a host at the Stork Club, New York’s most illustrious and exclusive restaurant. In 1940 he moved to the Copacabana Club, one of Manhattan’s new hotspots, as a “floorman,” eventually becoming show producer and co-owner. He excelled at finding and booking new talent such as Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, Peter Lind Hayes, Johnnie Ray, and Frankie Laine. And he had a sharp eye for women. As show producer Entratter established a chorus line, the Copa Girls, which he personally selected.

“Entratter shocked the rest of the producers in the ‘entertainment capitol of the world’ when he opened his first show at the Sands with 15 of the most beautiful girls in the West, wearing costumes that cost a total of $12,000—which was more than the headliner, Danny Thomas, was getting in salary! Since then, the rest of the Las Vegas show producers have been on a merry-go-round trying to outdo each other with huge production numbers, involving 20 and 30 people in $20,000 production numbers which only run about six minutes.”

Entratter had a formula for his girls: 5’4” in height; 116 lbs. Bust 32-34, waist 24, hips 34. Face—small features, the American girl look, oval rather than round face. Hair—usually black. Unlike Donn Arden, Entratter was not terribly interested in dancing. His trade magazine ads for Copa Girls read simply, “all you need be is beautiful.” A 1953 Pageant Magazine story recounted Entratter auditioning girls. He flew into Los Angeles one recent afternoon, arranged with agents to model a dozen girls and blithely said: “I’ll take the first, third and ninth girls.” “But Mr. Entratter,” the bookers protested, “the ones you picked can’t dance so good.” Jack laughed. “I don’t care if they never dance. They’re beautiful and I want beauty.” Donn Arden’s auditions, on the other hand, became legendary for terrorizing young hopefuls, demanding not only a tall, long-legged balletic beauty (minimum height of 5’8”) but also expert dance technique. Jack Entratter would never have been heard yelling from his seat, “Get off my stage, you fat cow!” as Arden was known to do.

Jack Entratter and the Copa Girls

If interested, a whole lotta History Of The Copa Room At The Sands - “Entertainment Capital of the World.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMdbhxODhjY


There are dolls of the main characters from the classic Christmas film, White Christmas (1954). This is an example of Betty Haynes who was played by Rosemary Clooney.


In 1968 she was standing in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with Roosevelt Grier when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the hotel kitchen after she had participated in his campaign rally. She is George Clooney's aunt.


Professor Bally's Water Fuel?





Electronics Australia |  Yull Brown & the oxy-hydrogen economy @ Archive.org.


December 21, 1986: The Gold Coast opened its doors, (not Australia) the first casino built from the ground up by Las Vegas casino mogul Michael Gaughan, who already operated the Barbary Coast on the Las Vegas strip. Upon opening its doors, the Gold Coast was the first casino to have a movie theater in Las Vegas and was specifically catering to the growing "locals" market of the Las Vegas suburbs.


Targeting locals (Not tourists) with a more relaxed, value-focused vibe, unlike the Strip's mega-resorts, so its 1986 promos likely focused on local loyalty, cheap food, and no-frills slot/table play, often featuring giveaways, entertainment, and a 700 seat bingo room! The Gold Coast was featured in the film Mars Attacks!

Prior to 9/11 the resort theme was a dark country western gambling hall atmosphere. It's now owned by Boyd Gaming Corporation who completely renovated the theme in 2002. On September 23, 2025, the company was struck by a cyberattack, in which the hackers succeeded in removing employee records, therein resulting in the filing of five lawsuits within a week, one of which seeks a class-action.  Possibly a revenge attack for Boyd Gaming terminating 25% of its workforce blamed on Covid hellscape.


More fun...Gold Coast Australia Promo 1987




The merger of corporation and state: Home Depot aims "bone penetrating" noise machines at laborers. I live for the headlines, LOL!


Home Depot Deploys Havana-Style Sonic Weapon Against Day Laborers

God forbid, they have to use ear plugs/muffs. Apparently, none of these laborers have ever used chainsaws or leaf blowers or heavy duty vacuum cleaners or jack hammers. Something that Home Depot sells in large quantities. As kid growing up around a fleet of earth shattering B-52 bombers I'm pretty much immune to all kinds of "bone penetrating" noise.


I imagine the PETA people are going ape shit bonkers over this...


US military to stop shooting live animals to train medics for the battlefield


It's time for a... Christmas movie.