The Conestoga wagon is a specific design of heavy covered wagon that was used extensively during the late eighteenth century, and the nineteenth century, in the eastern United States and Canada. It was large enough to transport loads up to 6 tons (5.4 metric tons), and was drawn by horses, mules, or oxen. It was designed to help keep its contents from moving about when in motion and to aid it in crossing rivers and streams, though it sometimes leaked unless caulked.
Most covered wagons used in the westward expansion of the United States were not Conestoga wagons but rather ordinary farm wagons fitted with canvas covers, as true Conestoga wagons were too heavy for the prairies.
The first known, specific mention of "Conestoga wagon" was by James Logan on December 31, 1717 in his accounting log after purchasing it from James Hendricks. It was named after the Conestoga River or Conestoga Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and is thought to have been introduced by German settlers.
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Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Pennsylvania.
mj wrote:
Pretty sure it was
Outside of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
Dave said:
Pennsylvania. Named for the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, which in turn was the English name for the Susquehannock people, who were mostly massacred by English colonists in the 18th century (for alleged wrongs committed by natives against whites, as was the custom). The wagons became popular for their durability and for their canvas covers that protected the contents (usually grain) from the elements. Another important feature was the curved floor which prevented the load from shifting on rough ground, which could cause a wagon to topple over. There is a popular misconception that Conestoga freight wagons made up the famous wagon trains that crossed the western migration the 19th century, but the Conestoga was far too heavy for that trip. The wagons that crossed the plains were lighter Prairie Schooners.
Alan J answered:
Pennsylvania.
Cal in Vermont replied:
Pennsylvania.
Randall responded:
Pennsylvania
Mac Mac said:
Pennsylvania
Deborah wrote:
Funny how sheltering in home provides so many opportunities for taking on projects you've been postponing for some time, and yet you still run out of time to get everything done.
Yesterday we had about 8 of us gathered with much space between us and enjoyed a fun bike ride on a beautiful spring day, practicing social distancing. In other words, no drafting. That was different, and necessary.
Pay attention, stay home, and quit buying all the toilet paper, and we'll be fine. No need to panic.
All that blathering and I never did answer the question. Doh! Conestoga wagons were built in near the Conestoga River in Lancaster County, PA.
zorch responded:
Conestoga wagons were first built in Pennsylvania.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Conestoga wagon is heavy freight-carrying vehicle of distinctive type that originated in the Conestoga region of Pennsylvania . boy,, do I miss sports
Billy in Cypress U$A wrote:
My guess was Pennsylvania and a search confirmed it.
P.S. I have noticed tRump's evasion of questions about who/what/when concerning producition of emergency supplies for the COVID019 emergency. It made me wonder if he is negotiating those contracts and recipients like he did "perfect calls" to Ukraine's President??? I certainly do not want to accuse him falsely (as he does constantly), but his history and attacks on reporters might indicate much deeper problems.
Daniel in The City said:
Pennsylvania
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~~~~~
• When he was young, Clemens Kraus was asked to be a guest conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which the composer Johannes Brahms himself used to conduct. At the rehearsal of a Brahms symphony, the orchestra was perfect. The first three movements were over, and Mr. Kraus had thought of nothing to say to improve the orchestra's performance. He kept thinking, "I've got to say something," but he could think of nothing to say. Finally, he asked the first horn to stress a certain note. When the rehearsal was over, Mr. Kraus congratulated himself in his dressing room, but then a knock sounded on his door. It was the first horn, who said, "Maestro, you know that place you asked me to accent? When we used to do it for Dr. Brahms, he always made a point of telling us to play that bit as smoothly as possible."
• World-famous conductors have advantages the rest of us don't have. Arturo Toscanini was working on Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 2 and wasn't quite sure if the articulation of the strings was clear enough for the audience to hear. Fortunately, a world-famous composer was watching the rehearsal. Toscanini called out into the darkness of the rehearsal hall, "Rachmaninoff, can you hear?" The reply came back, "I can hear." On another occasion, Toscanini had a conversation with composer Claude Debussy in which he pointed out to the composer that many things were not clear in the composition La Mer. Debussy replied that it was OK for Toscanini to make changes.
• Conductor Arturo Toscanini could be hard on the members of his orchestra - unless they gave him what he wanted. At a rehearsal, the Maestro was not pleased with a certain musician's performance, so he asked the musician the year he was born, the month he was born, and the day of the week he was born. On hearing the answer to his final question, Toscanini said sarcastically, "That was a black day for music!" The orchestra then played the piece from the beginning, and this time the musician did not offend. Toscanini beamed at the musician, and told him, "So you are not stupid. You can play well. Now I am happy. You are happy. Beethoven is happy."
• Hans von Bülow once had some trouble with his kettle-drummer. At a rehearsal, he stopped and told the kettle-drummer, "Forte," then started the piece again. The kettle-drummer played louder, but again von Bülow stopped and told the kettle-drummer, "Forte," then started the piece again. The kettle-drummer again played louder, but for the third time Bülow stopped and told the kettle-drummer, "Forte." This time the drummer replied that he couldn't play any louder. Bülow replied, "I didn't ask you to play louder. You play fortissimo - the score only calls for forte."
• In the early days of radio, during a live radio broadcast, the lights in the studio went out, and the NBC Musical Director, Frank Black, had to quickly think what to do. He immediately announced that the orchestra would play "The Stars and Stripes Forever," knowing that this was a piece of music which any orchestra should be able to play without looking at printed music. To fill the time left in the broadcast, the orchestra played the music over and over and over. At the end of the scheduled broadcast, the announcer told the radio audience, "Frank Black and the orchestra have played "The Stars and Stripes … Forever."
• Although the horn is a brass instrument, it cannot sound as strong as the trombone. When Fritz Reiner was rehearsing the Philadelphia Orchestra, he kept demanding more and more volume from the horns. Finally, first horn Anton Horner went over to Maestro Reiner, grabbed his thumb, squeezed it until it turned purple, and then said, "This is what is happening to us - circulation is cut off, and lips become numb."
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'The Neighborhood', followed by a RERUN'Bob Hearts Abishola', then a RERUN'All Rise', followed by a RERUN'Bull'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 1/15/20) are Andrew Yang and Abby McEnany.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 3/23/15) are Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'Manifest'.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 2/26/20) are David Beckham, Guy Fieri, and Doja Cat.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 7/23/19) are Beto O'Rourke, Retta, and Hunter Schafer.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 11/11/19) is Adam Devine.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'American Idol', followed by a FRESH'The Good Doctor'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 3/10/20) are Emily Blunt, Jake Johnson, and Christina Aguilera.
The CW offers a FRESH'Supernatural', followed by a FRESH'Roswell, New Mexico'.
Faux has a FRESH'9-1-1', followed by a FRESH'Prodigal Son'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: SVU', followed by another old 'L&O: SVU'.
A&E has 'Mobsters', 'Gotti: Godfather & Son', and another 'Gotti: Godfather & Son'.
AMC offers the movie 'Top Gun', followed by a FRESH'Better Call Saul', then a FRESH'Dispatches From Elsewhere'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - If Wishes Were Horses
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Forsaken
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Dramatis Personae
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Duet
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - In the Hands of the Prophets
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Homecoming
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Circle
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Siege
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Invasive Procedures
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Cardassians
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Melora
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Rules of Acquisition
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Necessary Evil
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Second Sight
[8:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Way of the Warrior
[9:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Way of the Warrior
[10:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Call to Arms
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Favor the Bold
[12:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Sacrifice of Angels
[1:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Way of the Warrior
[2:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Way of the Warrior
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Call to Arms
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Favor the Bold
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - The Sacrifice of Angels (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', another 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', another 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens: Live'.
FX has the movie 'Transformers: Age Of Extinction', followed by a FRESH'Breeders', and 'Better Things'.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', and another 'American Pickers'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Three Stooges - Uncivil Warriors
[6:45A] Sinister
[9:15A] Grindhouse Presents: Planet Terror
[11:30A] Total Recall
[2:00P] That '70s Show
[2:30P] That '70s Show
[3:00P] That '70s Show
[3:30P] That '70s Show
[4:00P] That '70s Show
[4:30P] That '70s Show
[5:00P] That '70s Show
[5:30P] That '70s Show
[6:00P] Two and a Half Men
[6:30P] Two and a Half Men
[7:00P] Two and a Half Men
[7:30P] Two and a Half Men
[8:00P] Two and a Half Men
[8:30P] Two and a Half Men
[9:00P] Two and a Half Men
[9:30P] Two and a Half Men
[10:00P] Two and a Half Men
[10:30P] Two and a Half Men
[11:00P] Two and a Half Men
[11:30P] Two and a Half Men
[12:00A] Two and a Half Men
[12:30A] Two and a Half Men
[1:00A] That '70s Show
[1:30A] That '70s Show
[2:00A] That '70s Show
[2:30A] That '70s Show
[3:00A] That '70s Show
[3:30A] That '70s Show
[4:00A] That '70s Show
[4:30A] That '70s Show
[5:00A] That '70s Show
[5:30A] That '70s Show (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[6:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[7:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[7:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[8:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[8:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[9:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[9:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[10:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[10:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[11:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[11:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[12:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[12:30pm] Hogan's Heroes
[1:00pm] Hogan's Heroes
[1:30pm] Rambo: First Blood Part II
[3:30pm] Rambo III
[6:00pm] The Outsiders
[8:00pm] Road House
[10:30pm] Anaconda
[12:30am] Sniper
[2:45am] The Professional
[5:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[5:45am] The Andy Griffith Show (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban', followed by the movie 'Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire', then the movie 'Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 12/4/19) is Kristin Chenoweth.
Three episodes in, the digital The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah is making the leap to linear television. Starting on Monday, March 23, The Daily Social Distancing Show, produced and distributed remotely, with Noah and the The Daily Show team working from their homes, will air weeknights in The Daily Show's 11 PM time slot on Comedy Central, part of ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Brands Group.
Following the production shutdown of all late-night shows at the end of last week amid an escalating COVID-19 pandemic, they started to return one by one with online videos featuring the hosts doing monologues and remote celebrity interviews from their homes. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon's videos have migrated to TV, opening that night's rerun of CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, respectively.
The Daily Social Distancing Show's digital editions have varied in length between 12-18 min (with no commercials), so expanding the episodes to fill a 20something minute slot (with no commercials) won't be a stretch. The show also tested monologues, celebrity interviews and pieces with correspondents over the last three nights. Moving forward, Noah will also continue the donation drive supporting the charities No Kid Hungry and City Harvest.
This was inevitable given last night's news that Disney was suspending global box office reporting for the time being: Comscore, the B.O. reporting agency and data cross-ways for exhibitors and distributors, is no longer issuing a North American Top 10, Global chart or commentary in the weekends ahead while theaters are shut down.
Essentially, if one major studio, especially the one with the No. 1 film doesn't report, you can't assemble the chart, not to mention the grosses are drastically low, i.e. Onward last night grossed $33,2K, -46% ending its domestic total before its in-home release at $61.55M.
There were still 233 theaters that played across U.S./Canada last night, but we'll see who braves it through the weekend. Hopefully the retro Drive-Ins who've been putting up the best numbers of the few that have been open.
Comscore Senior Media analyst Paul Dergarabedian was trying to remember the last time the box office was nearly closed down, and it was the Monday following the 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake on Jan. 17, 1994. He was then one year into his career working at box office analytics firm Exhibitor Relations Co., and was unable to get into the company's Robertson Blvd. offices in Beverly Hills (housed in the Pacific Theatres building).
Sports networks grappling with widespread cancellations and postponements of not just games but entire seasons used this past week to frenetically prep schedules leaning heavily on new or expanded studio talk shows, rebroadcasts of earlier matchups and library content, if they're lucky enough to have to have it. Networks and leagues said they're deep in discussions about rights to air older games and about developing new programming for this coronavirus moment, but just how they'll be filing airtime is extremely fluid.
Take the Tennis Channel, which Thursday announced a live studio show daily from 12-3 PM (with 8 PM and 11 PM repeats) starting Monday, and rebroadcasts of 2019 matches and tournaments in the slots where the 2020 ones should be. Tennis was a harbinger when the 2020 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA, was among the first sporting events to shutter this month. That was March 8, and those in the know knew it was fifth most important tennis event in the world.
"Indian Wells was the first big-time sports event in the U.S. to be canceled, and people everywhere took notice," Tennis Channel spokesman Eric Abner said.
Its new plan - built around that extended three-hour edition of Tennis Channel Live, "will serve as a central tennis news and conversation platform with updates from the sport's leaders, social media interaction with players and fans, and other topical information during this unprecedented shutdown," the network said. The show will have two hosts at its Los Angeles studio and two at home and will explore five themes over five weeks: Greatest of All Time, History, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and U.S. tennis.
As the coronavirus infects more people around the world, conservationists are warning of the risk to another vulnerable species: Africa's endangered mountain gorilla.
Congo's Virunga National Park, home to about a third of the world's mountain gorillas, is barring visitors until June 1, citing "advice from scientific experts indicating that primates, including mountain gorillas, are likely susceptible to complications arising from the COVID-19 virus."
Neighboring Rwanda also is temporarily shutting down tourism and research activities in three national parks that are home to primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees.
Mountain gorillas are prone to some respiratory illnesses that afflict humans. A common cold can kill a gorilla, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, one reason why tourists tracking gorillas are not normally permitted to get too close.
Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.
The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China's disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help.
"It was heartbreaking to watch," said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. "If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster."
The decision to eliminate Quick's job came as the CDC has scaled back the number of U.S. staffers in China over the last two years, the sources told Reuters.
FEMA Director Peter Gaynor, appearing on network news broadcasts Sunday morning, was unable to answer questions about when resupplies of desperately needed protective masks would be available to health care workers.
"Can you tell us this morning when those masks will be distributed and how many?" asked ABC News' Martha Raddatz.
"They have been distributed," said Gaynor. "They've been distributed these past couple weeks. They're shipping today. They'll ship tomorrow. ... They have been shipping, we are trying to focus those shipments on the most critical hotspots in the country. Places like New York City, Washington State, California."
"But will the health care systems there be overwhelmed before masks get there?" asked Raddatz. "I know you've been shipping some masks, but these 600 million ordered are very important and critical at this point. Will they get them in time before the health system is overwhelmed?"
Gaynor repeated his answer without giving specifics. When he was asked about the amount remaining in the national strategic stockpile, he also didn't give specific numbers, saying there were still supplies but that they were prepared to go to zero in the stockpile to meet demand. Raddatz pushed him on why that hasn't happened yet.
President Donald Trump (R-Racist)'s insistence on speaking of a "Chinese virus" has a dark historical precedent for some Asian Americans, who say his word choice is fueling an at times violent backlash.
Speaking daily on the global coronavirus pandemic, Trump has incessantly called COVID-19 the "Chinese virus," with one photo even showing his notes in which he had crossed out clinical terms preferred by health professionals.
Asian American advocates say that such language plays into centuries-old stereotypes of the community as perpetually foreign and unclean -- and signals, incorrectly, that individuals of one ethnicity are responsible for spreading illness.
While US incidents appear to be fewer than in Europe, New York police said that a man last month chased and beat an Asian woman wearing a protective mask on the subway, calling her "diseased."
Every planet in our Solar System, including our own, is enclosed in a bubble of solar wind, emanating from our Sun at supersonic speeds.
The particles making up this wind create an invisible magnetic field, which protects us from the rest of interstellar space. For decades now, astronomers have been analysing this system of radiation and magnetism known as a heliosphere, mapping its boundaries in an effort to figure out what it looks like.
A collaborative new model from experts at several different universities now suggests it's a weird amalgamation of pretty much all our theories.
For many years, scientists thought the heliosphere looked more like a comet or a wind sock, with a round nose at one end and a trailing tail at the other.
This is how it is usually depicted in textbooks and articles, but in recent years, there are two other shapes that seem more likely.
Diamond-encrusted rock samples discovered on a Canadian island come from an ancient continent that was probably 10 per cent larger than has always been thought, geologists say.
The fragments of the North Atlantic Craton - a vast land mass which stretched from Europe to North America - were found on Baffin Island.
Scientists stumbled on them as they sifted the area for diamond samples.
The fragments, bearing a mineral signature matching other portions of the North Atlantic Craton, are thought to be some 150 million years old.
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