Superman, one of the all-time greatest good-guy superheroes actually began life as a big, bad bald guy bent on world domination.  Comic creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first drew him as a villain in a January 1933 story called "The Reign of the Super-Man," which appeared in an issue of their comic fanzine Science Fiction.  See pictures at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/comics/dc_comics/news/?a=49553

For a long time, the exact location of Metropolis in the United States was not established.  In the Golden Age era, Superman was first based out of Cleveland, Ohio and worked for a Cleveland newspaper.  In subsequent appearances, this locale was retroactively established as Metropolis.  During the Silver Age era, Metropolis was depicted as a coastal city on the Eastern seaboard, though sometimes it was shown to be further inland.  On January 21, 1972, DC Comics declared Metropolis, Illinois as the "Hometown of Superman".  The Illinois State Legislature passed Resolution 572 declaring Metropolis as the Hometown of Superman on June 9th, but this was cited as an honorarium and was not intended to reflect Metropolis' location within DC continuity.  In the Atlas of the DC Universe, writer Paul Kupperberg chose the state of Delaware, but this book was part of Mayfair Games' role playing games, and not necessarily in continuity.  In Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Metropolis was listed as in New York, but the exact location has not been established.  In the WB/CW television series Smallville, Metropolis is located in or near the state of Kansas, within driving distance of Smallville.  This was likely established so that characters from the show could travel back and forth between the two cities in a timely manner and with little difficulty.  Superman co-creator Joe Shuster modeled the look of Metropolis after his home town of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Metropolis  See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(comics)

In December 1801, the "Schedule of the Whole Number of Persons in the Territory North West of the Ohio" was transmitted to Congress accompanying a presidential message.  The schedule shows that the population of the territory northwest of the Ohio River had expanded to 45,000 inhabitants.  Although this number was less than the population requirement of the Northwest Ordinance, statehood supporters argued the population would soon reach 60,000.  The House referred the census schedule to a select committee, "with instructions to report whether any, and what, measures ought, at this time, to be taken for enabling the People of the said territory to form a State Government for themselves, to be admitted into the Union upon the same terms with the original States."   The House Committee reported a bill enabling Ohio to form a constitution and state government and on April 9, 1802 the bill passed the House.  After some changes in conference committee, the bill passed the Senate and was signed into law on April 30, 1802.  In November 1802, the people in the eastern division of the Northwest Territory met to form a constitution and state government.  The Ohio constitution was adopted on November 29, 1802, and it, along with a letter from Agent Thomas Worthington and the Address of the Convention, was sent to Congress as qualification for statehood.  On February 19, 1803, Congress passed an act stating that the citizens of Ohio had adopted a constitution in accordance with the 1802 enabling act and the said state had become one of the United States of America. Although legally Ohio became the 17th state with the February 19, 1803 act of Congress, Ohio statehood is celebrated on March 1.  The date of March 1, 1803 was when the Ohio legislature met for the first time.  This was retroactively made the statehood date by a 1953 Resolution of the United States Congress.  http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/ohio-statehood/

bar none:  with no exceptions. (Follows an assertion.) This is the best of all, bar none.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bar+none

Bar Nunn is a town in Wyoming and the name is also used for Barr-Nunn Transportation and Bar-Nunn Hunting.

                             

Before Hollywood, the film industry was centered in New Jersey and New York.  Thomas Edison invented many early film technologies, and then closely guarded them from his labs in Menlo Park, New Jersey.  In New York City, film companies such as American Mutoscope, Biograph, and Vitagraph helped the nascent film industry capture the public’s interest.  Some of the buildings and studios utilized by these companies can still be found in New York City.   Before the George Washington Bridge  connected it to New York City, northern New Jersey remained very rural.  This environment provided exactly what the film industry was missing in New York City.  In particular, Fort Lee was valued since it was easily accessible from the 125th Street ferry, it possessed the Palisades (cliffs), numerous estates, and an Anytown, USA Main Street.  Edison helped put Fort Lee on the map with his  1907 film, Rescued from an Eagle’s Nest, which was shot on location on the Fort Lee Palisades and featured D.W. Griffith in his first starring role as an actor.  From 1907 through the mid-1920s, Fort Lee was where the studios and stars could be found.  Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish,  D.W. Griffith, the Marx Brothers, Theda Bara, and  Oscar Micheaux were all involved with movies filmed in Fort Lee.  The Marx Brothers’ first film, Humor Risk, was shot in Fort Lee and Fox and Universal Studios were founded in Fort Lee.  http://untappedcities.com/2012/03/07/before-hollywood-there-was-fort-lee-a-look-at-the-early-film-industry/

OSCAR NOMINEE FACTS:  MOST NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS  updated through 86th awards, March 2014  MOST NOMINATIONS:  62 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 59 Walt Disney, 49 John Williams, 43 Alfred Newman, 42 Warner Bros.  See much more at http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Gen-NomsFacts.pdf

The 1962 film The Days of Wine and Roses, based on J.P Miller’s “Playhouse 90” drama, received an Oscar for the song and four other Academy Award nominations:  Best Actor (Jack Lemmon), Best Actress (Lee Remick), Best Black-and-White Art Direction, Best Black-and-White Costumes.  It deals effectively and realistically with the problems of alcoholism and the difficulties faced in recovery.  Its title is derived from a 19th century poem by Ernest Dowson:

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:  Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for awhile, then closes Within a dream

http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-1/daysofwineandroses.htm

The Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini collaboration Days of Wine and Roses was featured among other Mercer songs in the 1997 movie Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil.  There are over 450 recordings of this tune.  Piano Stylings of the Great Standards, Vol. III.

The Weather Channel announced on March 21 that Toledo’s winter of 2013-14 has been the worst of any major city in the United States this year.  Toledo was “the winter misery champ” because of its record-breaking snowfall and significant cold throughout the season, the weather-focused channel pronounced in placing the city atop a list of the 10 U.S. cities with the nastiest weather during the season just ended.  David Patch  See the list of ten worst weather cities at http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2014/03/22/Toledo-No-1-on-list-of-worst-winter-cities.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1126  March 24, 2014  On this date in 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg concertos, BWV 1046-1051.  In 1934, the U.S. Congress passed the Tydings–McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.  In 1972, the United Kingdom imposed direct rule over Northern Ireland.