Can You Guess?

c. Human

Believe it or not, a bald eagle’s tongue is a lot like a human’s tongue. Their tongue is pinkish, quite narrow, and flexible. Although their tongue is shorter than ours, it helps them to lift, pull, and swallow food just like we do. It fits nicely in their beaks, and is also short enough that they can’t easily bite it.

b. A pine tree

Although the Gadsden Flag was the one to endure, one alternative flag depicted the image of a pine tree with the slogan “An Appeal to Heaven” floating above it.

Mount Rushmore is named after Charles E. Rushmore, a lawyer from New York City. In his years as a young attorney, Rushmore traveled to South Dakota to survey recently discovered tin mines. During this time in South Dakota, Rushmore befriended a group of prospectors and asked them what the hills were called. They told him the hill he pointed out had no given name, but they would now call it Rushmore Peak.

a. The Wave

According to Red Sox fan lore, The Wave started in a tightly packed section behind home plate. Whenever someone in that section had to stand up to get a beer or use the bathroom, everyone else in that section had to stand up, too. The fans in the next row, frustrated that they could no longer see the game, had to stand up as well. This created a domino effect of entire sections standing up. And thus, The Wave was born. Or so they say.

c. 35 days

It takes approximately 35 days for an eaglet to hatch from an egg. During that incubation period, one of the parents will turn the egg every 2 to 4 hours. This prevents the yolk from rising to the surface and allowing its delicate blood vessels to stick to the inside of the shell, which could kill the chick.

c. 4000

4000 light bulbs were timed to blink so that the words “HOLLY,” “WOOD,” and “LAND” each lit up consecutively before the entire word lit up. Talk about flashy.

b. 600

Our poor copper Lady endures 600 lightning strikes a year. And in high winds, the torch can sway by about 5 inches side-to-side.

The peace sign was first used for another peaceful purpose in the 1950s, when it was developed as the logo of the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

The Bridge was smothered by an octopus in It Came from Beneath the Sea. In this 1955 classic, a giant, radioactive octopus rises from the Philippine Trench and wreaks havoc on the whole North American Pacific Coast. Batten the hatches!

c. Blame it on the Depression

The stock market crash of 1929 put an end to real estate development. Since lots in Hollywoodland were no longer being purchased, developers no longer needed a flashing sign to advertise the enclave. The sign’s caretaker, Albert Kothe, stripped the copper wiring from the sign and sold it for scrap.

c. John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Yoko and Lennon’s Bed-Ins were major events. While reporters snapped photos, the couple led chants and sang “Give Peace a Chance” from under the covers.

This is a rare view of the top of the Statue of Liberty’s hair, taken from the torch by an unknown photographer in the 1930s. The torch has been closed since 1916’s Black Tom explosion, so no one has seen Liberty’s hair for over a century!

a. A poet

Strauss was also an accomplished poet. Here is a bit from his poem “The Mighty Task is Done,” written upon completion of the building of the Bridge in May, 1937.

c. Django Unchained

Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained tells the story of Django, a slave out for revenge. Audiences loved Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Django as he tries to help a German bounty hunter capture two wanted brothers. To this day, the film tops the list of highest-earning Westerns with $449 million in satisfied moviegoers.

c. Return it to the National Eagle Repository.

All eagles molt after the breeding season in late spring or early summer. If you find their feathers, send them to the National Eagle Repository, located in the Rocky Mountains and run by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Repository stores eagle feathers–protected under U.S. law–to give to Native Americans who have a permit for their use in traditional or important ceremonies.

a. An ostrich

In 2005, a female ostrich smashed through the rear window of a van that was heading for a vegetable farm and wreaked havoc on the Golden Gate Bridge, stopping commuter traffic in both directions and sending dozens of tourists racing for their cameras.

c. A metal replica of the statue

In 1885, this statuette was produced in the tens of thousands as part of a fundraising effort. It was sold to finance the construction of the full-sized Statue’s pedestal.

b. The Boston Americans

The Boston Americans became the Boston Red Sox when a uniform change made red the official team color. Naturally, the players wore red socks, and the decision to change the team’s name was an obvious one.

b. An amusement park in New Jersey

Mechanical bucking riding devices were first introduced in the 1930s at Bertrand Island Amusement Park in New Jersey. The first ride was a bucking bronco named Ride Em’ Cowboy. These wild rides later became popular staples in country western bars all over the country. Mechanical bulls received mainstream attention with the movie Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Debra Winger.

b. Muhammad Ali

Boxing great Muhammad Ali got a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2002. Unlike the other awards, however, Ali’s star isn’t on the footpath. His is installed on the wall of the Dolby Theatre. Reportedly, Ali didn’t want his name stepped on by “people who have no respect for me.”

d. All are real places

While Bollywood and Nollywood refer to the star-studded film production hotspots of India and Nigeria, respectively, Dollywood shines its spotlight on one star only: Dolly Parton!

b. David Copperfield

In this 1983 trick, Copperfield raised a giant sheet in front of the statue. When he dropped it… Lady Liberty was gone! Don’t worry–she was just hidden behind one of the towers that held the sheet up. Copperfield moved the platform the audience was on to block their perspective, blasting loud music to distract everyone.

b. Warren Beatty

For a brief stint, Warren Beatty worked as a sandhog on the third tube of the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC.

a. A Muppet

Sam the Eagle is a Muppet who works behind the scenes of The Muppet Show and is the show’s self-appointed censor and advocate for cultural and educational acts. He is regularly appalled by the baloney that passes for entertainment these days (but he’d gladly eat some baloney, should you have any.)

Augustus Lukeman toiled for 3 years as Stone Mountain’s second sculptor, managing to carve Robert E. Lee’s head and part of his torso before the coffers ran dry and the Great Depression stalled the project. So, after 5 years of physical labor by 2 different sculptors, Stone Mountain was still incomplete, the eyes of Robert E. Lee staring blankly north for 3 decades.

a. America’s forgotten cowboy poet

South Dakota’s first poet laureate, Badger Clark, lived much of his life alone in a cabin in Custer State Park (for only $10 a year in rent!) He wore whipcord breeches and polished riding boots, a Windsor tie and an officer’s jacket. When he wasn’t writing poetry, Clark loved feeding the resident deer flapjacks from his window in the mornings. His most famous poem, which you can still find printed on vintage postcards, is called “A Cowboy’s Prayer.”

Gutzon Borglum received the commission to carve Stone Mountain in 1915. After working for nearly 2 years, Borglum’s relationship with his bosses at The Stone Mountain Monumental Association soured, and his work was blasted off the mountain. Borglum would go on to carve Mount Rushmore.

Nat Love was a former slave who became one of the most prominent Black men in the West. Love grew up in Tennessee, where he learned how to read and discovered that he had a knack with horses. He traveled to Dodge City, Kansas, when he was a teenager and found cowboy work on cattle drives. He became a crack shot out on the trail and earned his original nickname: “Red River Dick.” He later found himself in Deadwood, South Dakota, where he won a rodeo competition which earned him the new nickname: “Deadwood Dick.”

In 1958, the Georgia General Assembly acquired Stone Mountain and the land around it and moved forward on a new Stone Mountain monument plan. Nine world-famous sculptors offered their plans and the committee settled on Walker Kirkland Hancock, a Massachusetts teacher and sculptor. Hancock and his chief carving artist, Roy Faulkner, worked on the monument from 1964 up to its finishing touches in 1972.

When the 1907 uniform change made red the official team color, the owner decided that “Socks” didn’t look good spelled out on the jersey. He shortened it to Sox, which fit neatly (and evenly) below Red.

b. The wall was built to keep cheapskates from watching games for free

According to legend, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey was walking down Landsdowne Street when he realized that all the restaurants and bars had clear views of Fenway Park. There was no way Yawkey was going to let anyone watch his games for free, so he ordered the construction of a wall tall enough to thwart anyone from catching a sneak peek of the games.