What Is Awesome

Barack Obama was installed today as 44th President of the United States. But do you know of other “44ths”? Probably not, so here you go.

• Wells Fargo Plaza in Houston and Kingdom Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are the 44th tallest buildings in the world. Guess which is which.

• The 44th Congressional District covers an area from Orange County to Riverside County in California.
• The French Connection won Best Picture at the 44th Academy Awards.
• Haydin’s Symphony No. 44 was completed in 1772. Haydin requested the symphony to be played at his funeral.
• U2 won Record of the Year, The eponymous soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? won Album of the Year, and Alicia Keys won Song of the Year (“Fallin’”) at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002.
• The 44th Parallel North runs through France, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
• The 44th US Congress began March 4th, 1875 and ran through March 3rd, 1877.
• New Hampshire is the 44th Largest State in land area.
  
• Chile has the 44th Largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• The 44th Season of the NFL began in 1963. The Chicago Bears would go on to defeat the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game that year.
• The liberal party won the 44th Nova Scotia general election with 51% of the vote
• The 44th Parallel South runs through New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina.
• In 1990, The Grapes of Wrath won Best Play at the 44th Tony Awards.
  
• The 44th World Science Fiction Convention held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1986 honored Ender’s Game for Best Novel and Back to the Future for Best Dramatic Presentation.
• The Polish 44th Infantry Division was among the first units of the Polish Army to defend the country from the Germans in World War II.
• Wyoming entered the union as the 44th State on July 10, 1890.
• The 44th Century will last from January 1st, 4001 to December 31st, 5000. The Mayan Calendar will end on October 14th, 4772.
• Skyang Kangri is the 44th tallest mountain (at 24,754 ft.) located on the Chinese-Pakistani border. It was first ascended by Japanese mountain climbers Yoshioki Fujioji and Hideki Nagata in 1976.
• In 2005, King County, Washington was the 44th out of 50 highest-income counties by personal per capita income in the US ($48,216).
• The 44th Super Bowl (XLIV) will be held at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida on February 7, 2010 and will be broadcast on CBS.
• You Nazty Spy! was the 44th short by The Three Stooges. It was the first Hollywood production to satirize Nazi Germany.
  
  The plot, courtesy of Wikipedia, is as follows:

  In the fictional country of Moronica, three munitions manufacturers—Messrs. Ixnay (Richard Fiske), Ohnay (Dick Curtis) and Amscray (Don Beddoe)—decide their country is in need of a change. They decide to implement a dictatorship, oust the king, and go about finding someone stupid enough to be a figurehead leader. Ixnay volunteers the three wallpaper hangers simultaneously working in his dining room-the Stooges.

  Ixnay presents Moe Hailstone, Curly Gallstone, and Larry Pebble with the offer to run Moronica. Moe is instituted as the leader (the Adolf Hitler role), with Curly as Field Marshal Gallstone, and Larry as Minister of Propaganda Pebble (an amalgam of Joseph Goebbels and Joachim von Ribbentrop). After his takeover, Hailstone proceeds to give a speech to the masses, cueing Larry to display signs reading “APPLAUSE”, “CHEERS” and even “HISS”. Moe “bonks” Larry after Larry accidentally raises the cue card for “HISS” at the wrong time during one of Hailstone’s speechs.

  However, the daughter (Lorna Gray) of the overthrown king pays Hailstone a visit, going by the name Mattie Herring (a spoof of World War I spy Mata Hari). The Stooges suspect she is a spy, and attempt to execute her. She escapes, and gathers a huge mob to storm Hailstone’s palace. The trio quickly abdicate, and flee into a lion’s den. A Lion is seen exiting wearing Hailstone’s hat.

• The 44th episode of Star Trek aired September 11th, 1996.
• Italy beat Belgium in the 44th Fed Cup, the most important competition in national women’s tennis, in 2006.
• Aishwarya Rai of India was named the 44th Miss World in Sun City, South Africa.
  
• Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls was voted MVP at the 44th NBA All-Star game in 1994. The East All-Stars won, 127-118.
  
• Pirates of the High Seas was the 44th serial released by Columbia Pictures.
  
  Adventurer Jeff Drake sails to a Pacific island in aid of Kelly Walsh, an old friend whose freight line is being sabotaged by a ghost ship (such as the classic Flying Dutchman). Drake and Walsh’s investigation concerns the search for Walter Castell, an escaped convict who stole 5 million dollars in diamonds at the close of World War II. Several other people, including Walsh’s sister, all want to go to the island. Drake and his friends encounter multiple dangers when they are attacked by a gang also looking for the stolen diamonds. (Source: Wikipedia)
  
• The 44th episode of Desperate Housewives is entitled “I Know Things Now.”
• Ignacio Chavez was the 44th president of Nicaragua. His term lasted from January 1st to March 1st, 1891.
• The 44th mayor of New Orleans was Walter C. Flower whose term ran from April 27th, 1896 to May 7th, 1900.
• Joseph Rakowski served as 44th mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. He is best known for addressing the issue of garbage trucks full of trash being stolen and driven from New York City  to Jersey City where they would be abandoned.
• 1946 marked the 44th season for the New York Yankees. The team finished with a 67-67 record.
• Asador Etxebarri was voted 44th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine in 2008. It is located in Basque County in Biscay.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt served as 44th Governor of New York State.
• Charlie Chaplin received the 44th Academy Honorary Award for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century” in 1971.
  
• A 2006 study ranked Alabama as the state with the 44th highest gross state product of $160 billion or $29,697 per capita.
• The US Census Bureau estimated that Oakland, California was the 44th largest city in the United States with 397,067 people.
• The University of California – Santa Barbara has been rated 44th among national universities by US News and World Report
• Israel is estimated to have the 44th largest economy in the world.
• The 44th Giro d’Italia, a long distance cycling race, was held in 1961 and was won by Arnaldo Pambianco with a time of 111 hours, 25 minutes, 28 seconds.
• Sonny Bono was a member of the US House of Representatives from California’s 44th District from January 1995 to 1998. He was succeeded by his wife, Mary Bono Mack.
• The UK version of the 44th Now That’s What I Call Music! series was released in 1999 and is the biggest-selling Now album in history with 2.3 million copies sold. Take a look at the track listing and you’ll see why.
  
• The 44th animated film by Walt Disney Feature Animation was Brother Bear, released in 2003.
• A 2006 CNN/Money poll listed Lee’s Summit, Missouri as 44th on the list of 100 Best Cities to Live in the US.
• Canadian Charles Andrew MacGillivary was one of the most well known members of the 44th Infantry during World War II. Upon hearing of the attack on Pearl Harbor, MacGillivary volunteered for the US Army in 1942. In January of 1945, he single-handedly knocked out four German machine gun nests and killed 36 German soldiers. He also would lose his right hand in the process (no pun intended earlier). He would receive the Presidential Medal of Honor for his efforts later that year. The letter from President Truman is below:
  
• The first use of a sky lobby in a building was the 44th floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. A sky lobby was also located on the 44th floor of the World Trade Center in New York.

Know other 44ths? Sound off in a comment!

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