Bøger af Jerome Pohlen

Square Donuts. The World's Largest Stump. Oscar the Monster Turtle. Johnny Appleseed's grave. The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. While other travel guides tell you about yet another cozy bed-and-breakfast and bike trails through Brown County, Oddball Indiana offers wacky travel destinations and little-known historical tidbits. Why is Nancy Barnett's grave in the middle of a country road? Where can you go to communicate with your dead Aunt Clara? Who invented Alka-Seltzer? How did David Letterman get fired from his first broadcasting gig? This is the guide to the real Indiana, birthplace of corn flakes, Dan Quayle, and Wonder Bread, for those who want to laugh, not lounge, on their vacation.

In 1961 President Kennedy issued a challenge to land a person on the moon and return safely to Earth before the end of the 1960s, a bold proclamation at the time, given that only one US astronaut had been to space, for just 15 minutes. The race to the moon was part of the larger Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, a race where the Russians appeared far ahead of the Americans. Apollo was a complicated, dangerous and expensive adventure involving 400,000 people across the nation. Before it was over, NASA had made 11 Apollo flights, six of which landed on the moon, and eight astronauts had lost their lives. But it was also fun, and the crews never missed a chance to enjoy the trip or pull off a prank 240,000 miles from home. The Apollo Missions for Kids tells the story from the perspective of those who lived it-the astronauts and their families, the controllers and engineers, the technicians and politicians who made the impossible possible.

Part of the popular For Kids series, this book puts the historic struggle for LGBT equality into perspective Given today's news, it would be easy to get the impression that the campaign for LGBT equality is a recent development, but it is only the final act in a struggle that started more than a century ago. This timely resource helps put recent events into context for kids ages nine and up. After a brief history up to 1900, each chapter discusses an era in the struggle for LGBT civil rights from the 1920s to today. The history is told through personal stories and firsthand accounts of the movement's key events like the 1950s "e;Lavender Scare,"e; the Stonewall Inn uprising, and the AIDS crisis. Readers will learn about civil rights mavericks, like Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, founder of the first gay rights organization; Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who turned the Daughters of Bilitis from a lesbian social club into a powerhouse for LGBT freedom; and Harvey Milk, the first out candidate to win a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Also chronicled are the historic contributions of famous LGBT individuals, and 21 activities enliven the history. Kids can write a free verse poem like Walt Whitman, learn the Madison line dance, design an AIDS quilt panel, and write a song parody to learn about the spirited ways in which the LGBT community has pushed for positive social change.

There's more to Michigan than beautiful forests, shuttered factories, and miles and miles of stunning shoreline. Armed with this offbeat travel guide, you'll soon discover the strange underbelly of the Great Lakes State. Michigan has monuments to fluoridation, snurfing, the designer of the Jefferson nickel, and the once-famous Mr. Chicken, as well as festivals honoring tulips, Christmas pickles, and a 38-acre fungus. It's where you'll find the World's Largest Lugnut, the Nun Doll Museum, Joe's Gizzard City, the Teenie-Weenie Pickle Barrel Cottage, Howdy Doody, and Thomas Edison's last breath. The state also has its share of weird history-it's where Harry Houdini perished on Halloween night in 1926, where skater Tanya Harding's posse whacked Nancy Kerrigan, and where the Kellogg brothers invented popular breakfast cereals and less-popular yogurt enemas. Along with humorous histories and witty observations, Oddball Michigan provides addresses, websites, hours, fees, and driving directions for each of its 450 entries.

Updated and even stranger, this new edition boasts more than 400 unique destinations for tourists looking for attractions off the beaten path. Bizarre locations and landmarks include Chainsaw Gordy's Garden of Saws, Smokey Bear's head, the World's Largest Soup Kettle, the Toilet Bowl Parade, and the world's only upside-down White House. This book offers fascinating and little-known historical tidbits and answers burning questions such as Where was Liberace born? What is a hodag, and where do you catch one? Who invented the hamburger? and Will a Polka Hall of Fame ever be built? This is the real guide to Wisconsin, birthplace of the snowmobile, the typewriter, and the ice cream sundae. The address, phone number, hours, cost, directions, and website of each oddity accompany its description.

Best known for his general theory of relativity and the famous equation linking mass and energy, E = mc, Albert Einstein had a lasting impact on the world of science, the extent of which is illuminated--along with his fascinating life and unique personality--in this lively history. In addition to learning all about Einstein's important contributions to science, from proving the existence and size of atoms and launching the field of quantum mechanics to creating models of the universe that led to the discovery of black holes and the big bang theory, young physicists will participate in activities and thought experiments to bring his theories and ideas to life. Such activities include using dominoes to model a nuclear chain reaction, replicating the expanding universe in a microwave oven, creating blue skies and red sunsets in a soda bottle, and calculating the speed of light using a melted chocolate bar. Suggestions for further study, a time line, and sidebars on the work of other physicists of the day make this an incredibly accessible resource for inquisitive children.

In this updated edition, it's plain to see that the state of Illinois has only gotten weirder. Where there was once just a single Popeye statue in downstate Chester, today the town has monuments to Olive Oyl, Swee' Pea, Bluto, the Sea Hag, and more. The creepy Piasa Bird petroglyph on the bluff in Alton now has a roadside pullout with picnic tables, and the two-story outhouse in Gays has a new contemplative garden. With almost twice as many destinations as its predecessor, this edition boasts detailed information on each site--address, phone number, website, hours, entry fees, and driving directions--as well as maps, photos, and a wealth of regional history in the descriptions. Some new sites include Henry's Rabbit Ranch, the World's First Jungle Gym, Ahlgrim Acres (a miniature golf course at a funeral home), the Leather Archives and Museum, General Santa Ana's two wooden legs, the World's Largest Sock Monkey, the Friendship Shoe Fence, a truck stop with a marionette show, and a coin-operated fire-breathing dragon. There is more between Chicago and St. Louis than cornfields and plenty of fascinating places in the Windy City that aren't on Michigan Avenue, and here is a chance to see these underappreciated sites throughout the state.

This zany travel guide presents a more peculiar state than the Iowa Tourism Office might like out-of-towners to imagine. Leaving out the traditional scenic trips to the Mississippi River bluffs and the Amana Colonies, this guide will take the adventurous traveler to the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, the home of the "Lonely Goat Herder" marionettes from "The Sound of Music," and the world's largest Cheeto. To enhance the experience of this unusual side of Iowa, the guide includes facts about numerous events in Iowa's history, such as Ozzy Osbourne's infamous bat-biting incident and Jesse James's first moving-train robbery. Iowa is depicted as the birthplace of the Roto-Rooter, the Delicious apple, the electronic computer, the reinforced concrete bridge, and the Eskimo pie. The accompanying photographs and maps will direct travelers to other fun vacation spots and attractions, including the butter sculptures at the Iowa State Fair, the annual National Skillet Throw, the Hobo Convention and Museum, the Ice Cream Capital of the World, and the National Balloon Museum.

This entertaining guide directs travelers to the off-the-wall and offbeat destinations in Florida, home of gator wrestlers, school bus demolition derbies, Hemingway wannabes, the Fountain of Youth, the Nudist Hall of Fame, and a utopian community based on the premise that the earth is not round, but concave. Additional oddball attractions include a graveyard for roosters, the world¿s largest strawberry, the world¿s smallest police station, and museums dedicated to seashells, hamburgers, oranges, teddy bears, sponges, air conditioning, and one very old petrified cat. Documenting local oddities and forgotten history, this travel guide covers Florida in six regions with maps and detailed directions for each site as well as phone numbers, hours, websites, and various photographs.

This off-the-wall travel guide presents an Ohio odder than imagined. It wastes no time describing Cedar Point or suggesting scenic bike rides through the Hocking Hills; instead, this entertaining travel companion directs out-of-state adventurers and Buckeye state residents to the home of the world's largest cockroach, an Amish SUV, Egg Shell Land, a two-headed calf, and the Accounting Hall of Fame. Ohio is depicted as the birthplace of bar codes, Airstream trailers, televangelism, Paul Lynde, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the banana split. Odd stories abound, and tales of Ohio as the only state where Jerry Springer has been elected the mayor of a major city, where a brick outhouse is on the National Register of Historic Places, and where Buster the Dog voted for president accompany the site-seeing suggestions. Plenty of photos and maps ensure that this guide is as practical as it is wacky when seeking out wonders such as the Great Pumpkin Watertower, Goodyear's World of Rubber, and Bogart and Bacall's wedding site, then relaxing with a brew at the World's Longest Bar.