Rose Parade Floats (Page Seven)

Did You Know? - Argophyllum nullumense the Silver Leaf is a shrub or small tree found in eastern Australia.

The generic name comes from the Greek, meaning "bright leaf", referring to the silvery white under-side of the leaves. The original specimen was collected from Mount Nullum, near Murwillumbah.

Did You Know? - Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and often extended to refer to the clock and the clock tower.

The tower is officially known as the Elizabeth Tower, renamed as such to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II (prior to being renamed in 2012 it was known as simply "Clock Tower").

The tower holds the largest four-faced chiming clock in the world and is the third-tallest free-standing clock tower.[3] The tower was completed in 1858 and had its 150th anniversary on 31 May 2009, during which celebratory events took place.

The tower has become one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and is often in the establishing shot of films set in London.

Did You Know? - The official parade route starts from the formation area, then travels north on Orange Grove Boulevard. Then it makes the famous 110 degree turn east onto Colorado Boulevard. Then it travels north again onto Sierra Madre Boulevard.

Did You Know? - A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftermost mast) rigged fore-and-aft.

Did You Know? - A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier refers to a monument in dedication to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all soldiers killed in any war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-profile national monuments. Throughout history, many soldiers have died in wars with their remains being unidentified. Following World War I, a movement arose to commemorate these soldiers with a single tomb, containing the body of one such unidentified soldier.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery stands atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the plaza of the new Memorial Amphitheater.

The white marble sarcophagus has a flat-faced form and is relieved at the corners and along the sides by neo-classic pilasters, or columns, set into the surface. Sculpted into the east panel which faces Washington, D.C., are three Greek figures representing Peace, Victory, and Valor. The six wreaths, three sculpted on each side, represent the six major campaigns of World War I.

Inscribed on the back of the Tomb are the words: Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God

Did You Know? - Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or just Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, a city in California, United States that arose from one of the most prosperous areas of the state, and had a latter day revitalization after a period of decay.

Old Pasadena began as the center of an enlightened "Athens of the West" that gave rise to Caltech, JPL, as well as Beckman Instruments, Aerojet and numerous other industrial giants.

It was the home to Andy Warhol's west coast debut, the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art (one of the earliest and best modern art museums in the country, now the Norton Simon Museum), and before that a center of suffragist and pacifist movements, and other liberal causes.

By the late 1940s, the area was blighted by flop houses, seedy bars and pawn shops. It later became a hippie mecca with head shops, adult bookstores and massage parlors. By the late 1980s, urban renewal was in full swing with the trendy set.

The area also housed, schooled and provided stomping grounds for numerous famous and infamous free thinkers, poets, artists and rapscallions such as General George Patton, Alexander Calder, Upton Sinclair, L. Ron Hubbard, Jack Parsons, Albert Einstein, Bobby Fischer and David Lee Roth.

Did You Know? - The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization.

The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (68 mi) to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.

Recent research, by a team of international scientists in 2006, revealed that the Santorini event was much larger than the original estimate of 39 km3 (9.4 cu mi) of Dense-Rock Equivalent (DRE), or total volume of material erupted from the volcano, that was published in 1991.

With an estimated DRE in excess of 60 km3 (14 cu mi), the volume of ejecta was approximately 100 km3 (24 cu mi). If so, the eruption's Volcanic Explosivity Index was 7. The volcano ejected up to four times as much as the well-recorded eruption by Krakatoa in 1883.

A volcanic winter from an eruption in the late 17th century BCE has been claimed by some researchers to correlate with entries in Chinese records documenting the collapse of the Xia dynasty in China. According to the Bamboo Annals, the collapse of the dynasty and the rise of the Shang dynasty, approximately dated to 1618 BCE, were accompanied by "yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals".

Did You Know? - Smelts are an important winter catch in the saltwater mouths of rivers in New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Fishermen would go to customary locations over the ice using horses and sleighs. Smelt taken out of the cold saltwater were preferred to those taken in warm water.

The smelt did not command a high price on the market, but provided a useful supplemental income in times when wants (needs) were much less.

The smelts were "flash frozen" simply by leaving them on the ice and then sold to fish buyers who came down the rivers. They were also a winter meal. They were gutted, heads and tails removed, rinsed in cold water then dipped in flour mixed with salt and pepper and fried in butter.

Did You Know? - Cioppino was developed in the late 1800s primarily by Italian fishermen who settled in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, many from the port city of Genoa.

Originally it was made on the boats while out at sea and later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco.

The name comes from ciuppin, a word in the Ligurian dialect spoken in Genoa meaning "to chop" or "chopped," which describes the process of making the stew by chopping up various leftovers of the day's catch.

Ciuppin is also the name of a classic soup from the region, similar in flavor to cioppino but with less tomato and using Mediterranean seafood cooked to the point that it falls apart.