First Nation to Abolish Slavery?

Vermont, by its founding constitution in 1777.   See link, cf.  link.

Wait a minute, nation?   Yes.  Apparently Vermont counted as an independent nation until it was folded into the United States in 1791.   

Return to Underbelly.

How Many Battleships in Acfive Service?

The answer is "none."  The last two--the Iowa and the Wisconsin--were striken from the Naval Register in 2006.  Link.  Their demise ended a long trajectory of development which perhaps began with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, the first which actively involved aircraft carriers.  Return to the question.

And FWIW I just saw a tweet saying that the world's fifth largest navy belongs to Disneyland.

Wilder's Endings

Both films end with two men in an intimate moment as one confesses his affection for this other.  You don't get that in Sunset Boulevard.

Who Is It?--Dimitrios

The story of Dimitrios Makropoulos, eponymous protagonist, or at least focal center of Eric Ambler's Coffin for Dimitrios, outside the US The Mask of Dimitrios. It's the first great modern espionage novel. My 60-cent Dell Publishing edition bears an imprint date of 1964, but with an original copyright of 1939.  The speaker is the narrator, Cornelius Leyden--Peter Lorre in the movie--who spends the book trying to untangle the life of the mysterious (and absent) title character.  I know Ambler had precursors but I'd say his work, and particularly this his best book pretty much define the genre.   But then, I didn't know until tonight that he also wrote the novel behind Topkapi, which used to be a favorite movie of mine, although I guess I haven't seen it for 40 years.

Translation

Free rendering from the Cincinnati dialect phrase, "a-coppin' his joint."

Tbe Rough Beast

It's Here

Bridge over the Seine behind Notre Dame Cathedral. Lovelocks. Return to Underbelly.