General Trivia thread (the more obscure the better)

[garrow]

As president, Ulysses Grant sought to annex a sovereign country to the US with the eventual aim of making it a state. What is the country?

Dominican Republic

 

[micropolitan guy]

I think Mr. Creosote was also correct that Juneau, AK, does not have Interstate highway access. In fact, there is no Interstate highway in Alaska (unlike Hawaii). So that would make five state capitals without an Interstate.

Which four US mainland state capital cities are not serviced by the interstate highway system?

I don't consider Alaska part of the mainland, which to me means the lower 48. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Dominican Republic

That is correct.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Dominican Republic

Did you read Chernow's recent biography of Grant? It covers the annexation attempt in detail.

 

[garrow]

Did you read Chernow's recent biography of Grant? It covers the annexation attempt in detail.

Indeed. Also, Ronald C. White's "American Ulysses."

 

[mpcincal]

<<Which four US mainland state capital cities are not serviced by the interstate highway system?

I don't consider Alaska part of the mainland, which to me means the lower 48. Sorry for any confusion.>>

Yeah, I counting Juneau also until I went back and read the question again.

Annapolis was the one I was referring to that I thought a piece of it might have overlapped with the 97, but another check tells me its a few miles short.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

What was the most notable act of the country's first secretary of defense?

 

[MisterCreosote]

What was the most notable act of the country's first secretary of defense?

Opposing the creation of Israel?

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Opposing the creation of Israel?

He and George Marshall were of a similar opinion there. But I was thinking of something more dramatic.

 

[Mngwa]

Nuclear bomb?

 

[MisterCreosote]

Suicide?

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Suicide?

Yep, he fell (or jumped) from a 16th-story window while under psychiatric observation at Bethesda naval hospital.

Oops, I forgot to name the secretary: James V. Forrestal. He actually took the leap after resigning from the Cabinet.