Happy Birthday, Georgia!

Today is the anniversary of Georgia ratifying the US Constitution, becoming one of the original 13 Colonies that became The United States of America.
Date of Admittance: January 2, 1788
Parentage: The state was named after King George II of England by its founder, James Oglethorpe. 

Place in the Family 
Number 4
Georgia followed New Jersey (12-18-1787)
and preceded Connecticut (1-9-1788)

Motto

"Wisdom, Justice, Moderation"

Wow, this is a great one, who doesn't want to live in a world of ....wait, what?

 

Nick-Name

"Empire State of the South"

Do I sense some rivalry with New York, "The Empire State"?

On the License Plate

Until recently it featured the phrase "Georgia on my mind." 

Now it features just a Georgia peach and the outline of the state. 

State Flag

A blue field with the state seal in the upper left corner and two red and white stripes. 

Believe it or not, this is the eighth state flag that Georgia has had! 

This one was only changed in 2003.

First City You Probably Think of 

When You Think "Georgia" 

Atlanta

Actual State Capital:Atlanta

State Size (Area) is 24th of 50
Population is closer to 10th of 50

(per 2000 Census figures)

Georgia Sports:
NFL (Atlanta Falcons)


MLB (Atlanta Braves)


NBA



Anybody From Georgia
Ever Grow Up To Be President?
Yes!
 Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter 
was elected 39th President in 1976. 
He has since been one of our 

more active Former Presidents. 

Musical Georgians

Johnny Mercer

song-writer, "Hooray for Hollywood," 

"Moon River," "That Old Black Magic" 

Little Richard

"Good Golly Miss Molly"


Ray Charles

"Hit The Road, Jack"

Brenda Lee

"I'm Sorry"

Otis Redding

"Sitting On the Dock Of The Bay"


Jerry Reed

"East Bound and Down"

The B-52s

"Love Shack"

REM

"Losing My Religion"

Alan Jackson

"Five O'Clock Somewhere"

Amy Grant

"Baby Baby"

Trisha Yearwood

"How Do I Live?"

Jason Aldean 

"Don't You Want To Stay?"

Luke Bryan

"All My Friends Say"

Cee Lo Green
"F(orget) You"




Zac Brown Band

"Colder Weather"

Historically Famous Georgians

 John "Doc" Holliday

participant at OK Corral shoot-out

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

national conscience during Civil Rights Movement

Clarence Thomas

Supreme Court Justice

Literary Georgians

Margaret Mitchell

novelist

Carson McCullers

novelist

Alice Walker

novelist

Louise Simonson

writer, editor

Celebrities From Georgia

Ty Cobb

Hall of Fame Baseball Player 

Oliver Hardy

comedian, actor

Joanne Woodward 

Academy Award-winning actress

Pernell Roberts

actor, "Bonanza," "Trapper John MD"

Ossie Davis

actor, activist

DeForest Kelley

actor, "Star Trek"

Walt Frazier

Hall of Fame Basketball Player

Holly Hunter

Academy Award-winning actress

Kim Basinger

Academy Award-winning actress

Julia Roberts 

Academy Award-winning actress

 

Spike Lee

director, "Malcolm X," "Do the Right Thing"  

 

Steven Soderbergh

Academy Award-winning director

 

Laurence Fishburne

actor, "The Matrix"

Jeff Foxworthy 

comedian, actor

Ed Helms 

actor, "The Office," "The Hangover"

Josh Holloway

actor, "LOST"

Paula Deen

TV Cooking Personality

Ryan Seacrest

"American Idol"  

 

Ty Pennington

"Extreme Home Makeover"

Fictional Georgians

Scarlett O'Hara

Gone With The Wind

POGO

lives in the Okefenokee Swamp

Deliverance

"Squeal like a pig!"

"Driving Miss Daisy"

Academy Award & Pulitzer Prize winning story

The Dukes Of Hazzard

from Hazzard County 

A Song For You.... 
"Georgia On My Mind" 
sung by Ray Charles
written by Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell  
(there are plenty of Georgia songs to choose from, 
but this 1960 hit by Georgia-native Ray
Charles became the State Song in 1979)

Happy Birthday, Bill Mumy!

When I was a kid, he was "Billy Mumy," the boy on Lost in Space. He was the kid that I wanted to be! Besides, he had two sisters, one fair and one dark; so did I! He was a genius....well, I wanted to think that *I* was, haha. His best friend was a robot. He got to play with cool mechanical things. He got to meet aliens. He was brave, true, and loyal. He was Will Robinson.  

In fact, he was an actor named Bill Mumy. He grew up, even though he stayed 12 for years and years and years and in fact still is 12 somewhere in the world and on my DVD shelf.   

Billy Mumy actually had quite a career *before* he appeared on Lost in Space. Many people remember him from two or three memorable appearances on The Twilight Zone, but he also appeared on such shows as Perry Mason, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Ben Casey, and Ozzie & Harriet. 

I can still remember catching him on a something a few years after Lost in Space had ended. I accidentally saw him on some NBC TV show called Sunshine, then watched it every week until it was cancelled jsut to see how he had grown up. He looked like a hippie, but it was still cool to see him. I always kept my eyes open for appearances of my favorites from shows like Batman, Gilligan's Island, Star Trek, or Lost in Space in anything else during the 70s.

While I lived in Japan in the 90s I heard that Bill Mumy was appearing in a TV show I had never seen or even heard of before called Babylon Five. I have since seen a few episodes, but never one with him in it! He looks cool in it, though.  

I also vividly remember watching an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where he appears as a Starfleet officer. That was extremely cool to see, and he was really good in it. 

A few years ago I read that he had appeared in a Disney movie about a raccoon called Rascal. This story is hugely popular in Japan, so my wife and I watched it together. It was cute, and it was fun to see "Billy" when he would have been about 14.  

Did you also know he was part of the group Barnes & Barnes who sings, "Fish Heads"? If you don't know this song you might not want to watch the video, because it's a pretty bad song worm: it gets in your head and then won't get out! You have been warned!  

  

Happy Birthday, Bill Mumy!