Author: Paul

The municipal flagpole in the small desert community of Calipatria, California was, at the time of build, the tallest flagpole in the world. The base of the flagpole sits 184 feet (56 M) below sea level, and the ball at the top sits at exactly sea level.

By Perdelsky (talk) – Link

By Perdelsky (talk) – Link

The “Good Neigborliness” on the plaque is a reference to one Harry Momita. Harry was the town pharmacist in 1957. He and his wife Helen had lived in the Japanese internment camps during World War II, but Harry was a dedicated patriot, proud of his inherited home.

On a trip to visit their son in Los Angeles, the Momitas were in a horrible car crash. Helen was killed instantly, and Harry was critically wounded. The community drew together — they kept the pharmacy open with the help of a pharmacist from the next town over, they collected donations towards paying for Helen’s funeral and Harry’s medical care. When Harry was released and returned home, he was so touched by the graciousness of the town, that he decided he would work to create something that would make the town stand out.

The town’s elevation had long involved jokes about creating a building or something that would top out at sea level, but Harry took this idea seriously. He began to collect donations to build the flagpole, he got an architect and engineer to donate their time, he got a steel pipe company to agree to do the job for cost. Harry’s story and his quest started to make national and international news.

In May of 1958, the television program “This Is Your Life” featured him (the previous week’s guest was Kirk Douglas). They spotlighted this immigrant with a tragic past, still staunchly patriotic. They talked about his and Helen’s time in the detention camps. They also talked about his desire to build this monument to “Good Neighborliness”. Through the program, he won a car and several other prizes, including $1000 in cash — the last bit of cash he needed to start construction.

Those who found it — all before the hint:

• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Garfield
• Eloy Cano
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• Paul Voestermans
• Martin de Bock
• Jean Noyau

Congratulations to the series winners, with perfect scores, hhgygy, Garfield, Lighthouse, and Jean Noyau.

By Wendy Kirkwood, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

The Highland Clearances were a very controversial set of policies carried out in Scotland in the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. Landlords, trying to increase income, pushed out traditional open-space farmers and sustenance hunters to make way for large-scale sheep farms (which paid much higher rent). The farmers and hunters who were pushed out of these lands were expected to find employment in other industries, including fishing.

To this end, on the Isle of Arran, this row of cottages was built to house those who were cleared from the countryside who were expected to turn to fishing in the Firth of Clyde. The builders put a different type of window in the upstairs in each cottage, with the idea that the family of one of the fishermen could signal them by lighting a candle in that window and the fisherman who lived there would know to come in.

Of course, it didn’t really work that way — for one thing, the folks who were cleared from the land weren’t too keen to just jump into fishing. The cottages sat empty for a long time.

Currently, they are used as vacation lodging (think AirBNB or VRBO).

Those who saw the light included:

• Phil Ower
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Walter_V_R
• hhgygy
• Jean Noyau

None after the hint.