Rogers Hornsby (1896–1963) was an American baseball infielder,
manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball
(MLB). Hornsby was named the National League (NL)'s Most Valuable
Player (MVP) twice, and was a member of the 1926 World Series
champions. In 1915, he began his major league career with the St.
Louis Cardinals and remained with the team for 12 seasons, winning his
first MVP and his only World Series. He then played for the New York
Giants and Boston Braves before being traded to the Chicago Cubs. He
played with the Cubs for four years and won his second MVP before the
team released him in 1932. Hornsby re-signed with the Cardinals in
1933, but was released partway through the season and was picked up by
the St. Louis Browns. He remained there until his final season in
1937. From 1925 to 1937, Hornsby was intermittently a player-manager.
He later managed the Browns in 1952 and the Cincinnati Reds from 1952
to 1953. Sportswriters consider Hornsby to be one of the best hitters
of all time. His career batting average of .358 is second to Ty Cobb
in MLB history. He also won two Triple Crowns, and is the only player
to hit 40 home runs and bat .400 in the same year (1922). He was
elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942.
Read the rest of this article:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Hornsby>
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1522:
Italian War of 1521–1526: The combined forces of Spain and the Papal
States defeated a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca.
1810:
Ludwig van Beethoven (pictured) composed his "Bagatelle No. 25 in A
minor", better known as "Für Elise", one of his most popular
compositions.
1904:
Chris Watson became the first Australian Prime Minister from the
Australian Labour Party, and the first Labour Party prime minister in
the world.
1911:
Following the resignation of William P. Frye, a compromise was reached
in the United States Senate to rotate the office of the President pro
tempore of the United States Senate.
1967:
The Expo 67 world's fair opened in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with over
50 million visitors and 62 nations participating.
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
floordrobe (n)
(humorous) Clothing strewn on the floor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floordrobe>
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The same energy of character which renders a man a daring villain
would have rendered him useful to society, had that society been well
organized.
-- Mary Wollstonecraft
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft>
Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552 Â 1616) was an English writer. He is principally
remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of
North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages
Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations,
Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1589Â1600).
Educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, between 1583 and
1588 Hakluyt was chaplain and secretary to Sir Edward Stafford, English
ambassador at the French court. An ordained priest, Hakluyt held important
positions at Bristol Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and was personal
chaplain to Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, principal Secretary of
State to Elizabeth I and James I. He was the chief promoter of a petition to
James I for letters patent to colonize Virginia, which were granted to the
London Company and Plymouth Company (referred to collectively as the
Virginia Company) in 1606.
Read the rest of this article:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hakluyt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1958:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue, one of the first major railway
electrification systems in the United States, made its final Washington,
D.C., to New York City run.
1981:
Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco
performed the world's first human open fetal surgery.
1982:
In one of the deadliest spree killings in modern history, former South
Korean police officer Woo Bum-kon killed a total of 57 people in one night,
including himself.
1986:
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, suffered a
steam explosion (damage pictured), resulting in a fire, a nuclear meltdown,
and the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people around Europe.
2007:
Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a
Soviet Red Army World War II memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, erupted into mass
protests and riots.
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
paratransit (n)
An auxiliary transit <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transit>  service
without fixed routes or schedules, usually serving the disabled on-demand.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paratransit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind
realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are
written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist
cannot dispense with.
-- Max Planck
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck>
Broad-sweeping wage reforms were instituted in the Soviet Union during
the Khrushchev era, from 1956 through 1962. These were intended to move
Soviet industrial workers away from the mindset of overfulfilling
quotas that had characterised the Soviet economy during the preceding
Stalinist period, and toward a more efficient financial incentive.
Throughout the Stalinist period, most Soviet workers had been paid for
their work based on a piece-rate system. Thus their individual wages
were directly tied to the amount of work they achieved. This policy was
intended to encourage workers to toil and therefore increase production
as much as possible. The piece-rate system led to an enormous level of
bureaucracy and contributed to huge inefficiencies in Soviet industry.
Additionally, factory managers frequently manipulated the personal
production quotas given to workers to prevent workers' wages from
falling too low. The wage reforms sought to remove these wage practices
and offer an efficient financial incentive to Soviet workers by
standardising their wages and reducing their dependence on overtime or
bonus payments.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_reform_in_the_Soviet_Union%2C_1956%E2%80%…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
The first-ever appointments to the Order of the Garter, an order of
chivalry founded by King Edward III of England and still bestowed on
recipients in the Commonwealth realms, were announced.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter>
1951:
American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage by the
Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Oatis>
1967:
Soyuz 1 , the first mission of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, launched
from Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1>
1979:
Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injuries after being knocked
unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall,
London, against a British National Front election meeting in the town
hall.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_Peach>
1985:
The Coca-Cola Company introduced "New Coke" to replace its flagship
soft drink Coca-Cola, which generated so much negative response that
the company put the original formula back on the market less than three
months later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
handsy (adj):
1. (informal) Prone to touching other people with one's hands,
especially inappropriately.
2. (golf) Moving the hands and wrists excessively when making a stroke
or swing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handsy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
33px
The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to
earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the
poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and
a name.
--William Shakespeare
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare>
The 2009 Orange Bowl game was the 75th edition of the annual college
football bowl game known as the Orange Bowl. It pitted the 2008
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion Virginia Tech Hokies against
the Big East Conference champion Cincinnati Bearcats on January 1, 2009
at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Cincinnati scored first,
converting the game's opening possession into a touchdown and a 7–0
lead in the first quarter. Virginia Tech responded in the second
quarter, tying the game at seven before taking a 10–7 lead with a field
goal as time expired in the first half. In the third quarter, the two
teams battled defensively, with only the Hokies able to score any
points as Tech extended its lead to 13–7. During the final quarter,
Virginia Tech scored its second touchdown of the game, giving the
Hokies a 20–7 lead that lasted until time expired. In recognition of
his performance during the game, Virginia Tech running back Darren
Evans was named the game's most valuable player. Three months after the
game, players from each team entered the National Football League (NFL)
via the 2009 NFL Draft. Cincinnati had six players selected in the
draft, while Virginia Tech had one.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Orange_Bowl>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
900:
A debt was pardoned by the Datu of Tondo on the island of Luzon, as
inscribed on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known
written document found in the Philippines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription>
1918:
Manfred von Richthofen , known as "The Red Baron", was shot down and
killed near Vaux-sur-Somme in France, after a career as the most
successful fighter pilot of World War I with 80 confirmed air combat
victories.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen>
1934:
The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo purportedly showing
the Loch Ness Monster (later revealed to be a hoax) was published in
the Daily Mail.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster>
1962:
The Century 21 Exposition, the first world's fair in the United States
since World War II, opened in Seattle, Washington.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition>
1992:
Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced the
discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSRÂ 1257+12, the first
definitive detection of extrasolar planets.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/extrasolar_planet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overawe (v):
(transitive) To restrain, subdue, or control by awe; to cow
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overawe>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
14px 44px 14px
Therapy isn't curing somebody of something; it is a means of helping
a person explore himself, his life, his consciousness. My purpose as a
therapist is to find out what it means to be human. Every human being
must have a point at which he stands against the culture, where he
says, "This is me and the world be damned!" Leaders have always been
the ones to stand against the society — Socrates, Christ, Freud, all
the way down the line.
--Rollo May
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rollo_May>
The St Cuthbert Gospel is a 7th-century pocket gospel book, written in
Latin, placed in the tomb of Saint Cuthbert at Lindisfarne, probably a
few years after he died in 687. Its finely decorated leather binding is
the earliest known Western book-binding to survive, and the whole book
is in outstanding condition for its age. It was probably made as a gift
from Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, where it was written, intended to be
placed in St Cuthbert's coffin when his remains were placed behind the
altar at Lindisfarne in 698. It presumably remained in the coffin
through its long travels after 875, forced by Viking invasions, ending
at Durham Cathedral. There the book was found inside the coffin and
removed in 1104, and kept with other relics, and important visitors
were able to wear the book in a leather bag around their necks until
the English Reformation. It has been on long-term loan to the British
Library, who today announced the purchase of the book for £9m ($14.3m)
from the British Jesuits. The library describe it as "the earliest
surviving intact European book and one of the world's most significant
books".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert_Gospel>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1080:
On the death of his brother Harald III, Canute IV, who would later be
the first Dane to be canonized, became King of Denmark.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canute_IV_of_Denmark>
1907:
Construction started on the first ship in the Minas Geraes class ,
making Brazil the third country in the world to build a dreadnought
battleship and sparking a South American naval arms race.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minas_Geraes_class_battleship>
1951:
The Peak District was designated the first national park in the British
Isles.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_District>
1969:
Sirhan Sirhan was convicted for the assassination of United States
Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan>
1982:
A new patriated Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms, a bill of rights intended to protect certain
political and civil rights of people in Canada, was signed into law by
Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1982>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kasha (n):
A porridge made from boiled buckwheat groats, or sometimes from other
cereal groats
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kasha>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
144px
Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
Take the moral law and make a
nave of it
And from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus,
The conscience is
converted into palms,
Like windy citherns hankering for hymns.
We agree in principle.
That's clear. But take
The opposing law and make a peristyle,
And from the peristyle
project a masque
Beyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness,
Unpurged by epitaph,
indulged at last,
Is equally
--Wallace Stevens
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens>
Lycoperdon echinatum, commonly known as the spiny puffball or the
spring puffball, is a type of puffball mushroom in the genus
Lycoperdon. The saprobic species has been found in Africa, Europe,
Central America and North America, where it grows on soil in deciduous
woods, glades, and pastures. Molecular analysis indicates that
Lycoperdon echinatum is closely related to the puffball genus Handkea.
Initially white in color, the puffballs turn a dark brown as they
mature, at the same time changing from nearly round to somewhat
flattened. The fruit bodies are edible when young, when the interior is
white and firm and before it has turned into a powdery brown mass of
spores. Young specimens of L. echinatum resemble another edible spiny
puffball, Lycoperdon pulcherrimum, but this latter species does not
turn brown as it ages. Laboratory tests have shown that extracts of the
fruit bodies can inhibit the growth of several bacteria that are
pathogenic to humans.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoperdon_echinatum>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Citizens of Toledo, Castile, who were opposed to the rule of the
foreign-born Charles V, rose up in revolt when the royal government
attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Comuneros>
1853:
The first passenger line of what would become Indian Railways, the
state-owned railway company of India, opened between Bombay and Thane.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways>
1919:
Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army launched the Vilna offensive to
capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_offensive>
2001:
India and Bangladesh began a five-day conflict over their disputed
border, which ended in a stalemate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian%E2%80%93Bangladeshi_border_conflict>
2007:
In one of the deadliest shooting incidents in United States history, a
gunman killed 32 people and wounded over 20 more before committing
suicide at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in
Blacksburg, Virginia .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
heir apparent (n):
(usually monarchy) Someone who will definitely inherit, assuming he
survives the one from whom he is inheriting
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heir_apparent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
111px
It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be.
--Anatole France
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France>
The sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912, with the loss of over
1,500 lives, was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in
history. Four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York,
Titanic – at the time the world's largest ship – struck an iceberg in
the North Atlantic off Newfoundland. Five of her watertight
compartments were holed, causing the ship to flood deck by deck. She
carried too few lifeboats for her 2,223 passengers and crew, and many
seats were left empty due to a poorly managed evacuation. Titanic's
officers loaded the lifeboats "women and children first", leaving most
of the men aboard the ship. Two hours and forty minutes after the
collision, Titanic sank with over a thousand people still aboard.
Almost all those who jumped or fell into the freezing water soon died
of hypothermia or drowned. The RMS Carpathia rescued the survivors from
the lifeboats a few hours later. Public outrage at the loss of life led
to tougher maritime safety regulations. Titanic's wreck was not found
until 1985. The disaster has inspired a wealth of popular culture
including many films, most notably James Cameron's Titanic in 1997.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Titanic>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over increased
taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in greater
enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1802:
English poet William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy came upon a
"long belt" of daffodils, inspiring him to pen his most famous work, "I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth>
1927:
Torrential rains caused the Mississippi River to break out of its levee
system in 145 places, causing the worst flooding in the history of the
United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mississippi_Flood_of_1927>
1952:
The B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered, strategic
bomber operated by the United States Air Force for most of the
aircraft's history, made its first flight.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress>
1989:
The death of former Chinese General Secretary Hu Yaobang triggered a
series of events that led to the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Yaobang>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eschatology (n):
1. (countable) System of doctrines concerning final matters, such as
death.
2. (uncountable) The study of the end times — the end of the world,
notably in Christian theology the second coming of Christ, the
Apocalypse or the Last Judgment
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eschatology>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
8px
44px
I am a being of Heaven and Earth,
of thunder and lightning,
of rain and wind,
of the galaxies,
of the suns and the stars
and the void through which they travel.
The essence of nature,
eternal, divine that all men seek to know to
hear,
known as the great illusion time,
and the all-prevailing
atmosphere.
And now you know my background.
--Eden Ahbez
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eden_Ahbez>