• Previous days comments

July 15, 2010

Arianna Huffington

Is Arianna Huffington a liberal or a conservative? Her eponymous website, The Huffington Post (aka HuffPo) — a compendium of news and blogs — is a popular liberal destination on the Internet and a counterpoint to conservative sites like the Drudge Report. CNET, with a nod to the amount of apolitical content found on the site, rates its liberalness as 3.5 out of 5. Ms. Huffington herself is the "independent progressive" voice of the weekly radio talk show Left Right and Center (the other three are right, center and left); on HuffPo she inveighs against "those in the media who insist on looking at every issue using the exhausted left vs. right framing." Back in the early and mid-90s, we found Huffington espousing conservative positions when she campaigned for her then-husband as he ran for Senate in California. She herself briefly ran as an independent in the 2003 gubernatorial election (losing to Arnold Schwarzenegger) and is now associated with the Democratic Party. Happy 60th to Arianna Huffington, country music lover and biographer of Picasso and Maria Callas.

Quote: "Failure is not the opposite of success; it's part of success." — Arianna Huffington

See previous spotlights: Bastille Day, Ernö Rubik, Manhattanhenge

July 14, 2010

Celebrating
Bastille Day

What's the connection between tennis and the French Revolution? On this date in 1789, citizens of Paris rioted; they took over the Bastille prison, released the seven prisoners inside, and destroyed the fortress. Bastille Day (known in France as La Fête Nationale) has been celebrated on the event's anniversary ever since, with feasting, parades and fireworks. It was the second of two pivotal events that started the French Revolution. The first one had taken place three weeks earlier, on June 20, 1789, when all but one of the 577 members of France's Third Estate of the Estates-General — locked out of their meeting hall by Louis XVI's soldiers — convened on a nearby tennis court. There they signed a declaration renaming their body the National Assembly and vowing to continue to meet until a constitution was written. This declaration became known as the Tennis Court Oath.

Quote: "The French revolution taught us the rights of man." — Thomas Sankara

See previous spotlights: Ernö Rubik, Manhattanhenge, To Kill a Mockingbird

July 13, 2010

The Iconic Rubik's Cube

What is the Rubik's 'Masterpiece Cube'? In 1995, to mark the 15th birthday of the introduction of the Rubik's Cube to America's toy stores, Diamond Cutters International created a "Masterpiece Cube." It is a fully-working, 185-carat cube made of solid gold and encrusted with colored jewels. Guinness World Records appraised the cube at over $1 million, naming it the world's most expensive toy. Ernö Rubik, the inventor of the Rubik's Cube, was born in a hospital air raid shelter in Budapest, Hungary, on this date in 1944. From the Rubik's Cube, Rubik went on to invent the Rubik's Snake, the Rubik's Triamid and the Rubik's Magic Folding Puzzle.

Quote: "Our whole life is solving puzzles." — Ernö Rubik

See previous spotlights: Manhattanhenge, To Kill a Mockingbird, Baseball's Sad Lexicon

July 12, 2010

Manhattanhenge

What is Manhattanhenge? Manhattanhenge is the phenomenon of the setting sun aligning with the east-west streets of Manhattan's main street grid. It occurs on two days, equidistant before and after the summer solstice. This year, like most years, it occurred on May 30, and is happening again today. The half-sun should be on the grid at 8:24 p.m. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term Manhattanhenge as a takeoff on Stonehenge, a site in southern England where the sun aligns with the stones on the dates of the solstices. Early birds, take note: the corresponding sunrise phenomenon happens around the winter solstice, usually December 5 and January 8.

Quote: "(Manhattanhenge is)...a rare and beautiful sight. These two days happen to correspond with Memorial Day and Baseball's All Star break. Future anthropologists might conclude that, via the Sun, the people who called themselves Americans worshiped War and Baseball." — Neil deGrasse Tyson

See previous spotlights: To Kill a Mockingbird, Baseball's Sad Lexicon, Russell-Einstein Manifesto

July 11, 2010

Who was Atticus Finch? Atticus Finch was a fictional character; he was the hero of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Finch was a model of a lawyer and a father, who took upon himself to defend a black man unjustly accused of raping a white woman in the deep South of the 1930s. Lee said she based the character on her father, a white attorney who once defended two black men on trial for murder. The novel, published fifty years ago today, won a Pulitzer Prize, and librarians voted it the best novel of the 20th century. Gregory Peck played the film version of Atticus Finch, winning an Oscar for the role. In 2003, the American Film Institute voted Atticus Finch the greatest cinema hero of all time in its special feature, AFI's 100 years. Lee never wrote another novel. In 2007, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Quote: "If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." — Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

See previous spotlights: Baseball's Sad Lexicon, Russell-Einstein Manifesto, Jean de La Fontaine

July 10, 2010

Tinker, Evers, Chance
Chicago Cubs, 1906

Who were Tinker, Evers and Chance? Most of us have heard of the sorrow in Mudville on the day that "mighty Casey" struck out. Tinker, Evers and Chance were the heroes in another famous poem about baseball. Chicago Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers and first baseman Frank Chance worked together like a well-oiled machine, becoming masters of the double play. The trio first played together on September 13, 1902, and two days later they executed their first double play. With their infield prowess, they repeatedly stole the pennant from the Giants. On this date in 1910, the New York Evening Mail published "Baseball's Sad Lexicon," aka "Tinker to Evers to Chance," a short poem written by Franklin Pierce Adams.

Quote: "Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: 'Tinker to Evers to Chance.'" — Franklin Pierce Adams

See previous spotlights: Russell-Einstein Manifesto, Jean de La Fontaine, Ringo Starr

July 09, 2010

Atomic Bomb Test

What is the Russell-Einstein Manifesto? Even some of the scientists responsible for the work enabling the US to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 felt regrets about the event and their part in it. The result was the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, issued on this date in 1955, which called on the world governments to avoid the use of nuclear weapons and to use peaceful means to settle future disputes. Composed mostly by Bertrand Russell and Joseph Rotblat, the document was signed by other eminent scientists, including Albert Einstein and Max Born.

Quote: "The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country." — J. Robert Oppenheimer

See previous spotlights: Jean de La Fontaine, Ringo Starr, rabies

July 08, 2010

Jean de La Fontaine

Was there a real Aesop who wrote fables? It's never been proven. Greek historian Herodotus wrote of a slave named Aesop who lived in sixth century BCE and told moralistic tales. The first to collect and publish Aesop's fables was Jean de La Fontaine, a French poet who was born on this date in 1621. La Fontaine studied medicine and theology and eventually qualified as a lawyer, but never worked in any of those fields. He worked for a while with his father as a superintendent of forests, and began to write. His fables, moral stories of the human condition told through animal characters, were extremely popular and were widely translated and imitated. He based many of his own stories on those of the earlier fabulist, Aesop.

Quote: "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." — Jean de La Fontaine

See previous spotlights: Ringo Starr, rabies, Wimbledon

July 05, 2010

Tennis

Do games get called because of rain at Wimbledon? For more than a century, rain at Wimbledon would delay a match. Last year, a retractable roof was installed over Wimbledon's central court, allowing play to continue in most kinds of weather. This year's Wimbledon competition drew to a close yesterday, with Rafael Nadal winning his second men's singles championship. The day before, Serena Williams had taken her fourth singles title; Serena or her sister Venus won the championship 9 out of the last 11 years. Last year, Roger Federer won a record 15th major singles title on this date, beating Andy Roddick in a five-set match. Federer was knocked out early this year, not making it to the final rounds. On this date in 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles title and in 1991, 16-year-old Martina Hingis became the youngest Wimbledon singles champion in history.

Quote: "I'm number one in the tournament, but number one doesn't always win." — Rafael Nadal

See previous spotlights: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, dog days, Amelia Earhart

July 04, 2010

Composing the
Declaration of Independence

What were John Adams' dying words? It is said that John Adams' final words were "Thomas Jefferson survives." In fact, Jefferson had died just a few hours before Adams on this date in 1826. Exactly fifty years earlier, the Declaration of Independence was adopted; it was the handiwork of both men, along with Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. In a very close race in 1796, Adams beat Jefferson by three electoral votes to become the second president of the United States. Four years later, the tables turned, with Jefferson narrowly winning the seat from Adams. The bitterness between the two began to dissipate in 1812, when they began a correspondence that continued until their deaths. Jefferson died at the age of 83; Adams was 90.

Quote: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." — Thomas Jefferson

See previous spotlights: dog days, Amelia Earhart, O Canada

July 03, 2010

Canis Major

What are the 'dog days'? The "dog days" are usually the hottest days of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. They start on or around July 3 and last into late August. It's a time when it can be too hot to be fully productive and when progress seems to stagnate. The name came from the ancient Romans, who referred to the Dog Star's rising and setting with the sun as dies caniculares, or "dog days." The Dog Star, or Sirius, is the brightest star in the night sky. It's part of the constellation Canis Major.

Quote: "Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations." — Alan Watts

See previous spotlights: Amelia Earhart, O Canada, Michael Phelps

July 02, 2010

Earhart and Noonan

Who is currently the youngest person to have circumnavigated the globe in a boat? Michael Perham was 17 years and 164 days old when he became the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Just a few months earlier, Zac Sunderland had completed his solo round-the-world voyage, about 4 1/2 months shy of his 18th birthday. Last month, Sunderland's sister, Abby, attempted to beat Perham's record, setting out alone in her boat at the age of 16. Abby's trip was aborted when her mast snapped off in a storm, and she had to be rescued at sea. Legendary aviator Amelia Earhart summed up the thrill and difficulty of traveling solo: "In soloing — as in other activities — it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it." The first woman to fly solo across both the Atlantic Ocean (1932) and the Pacific Ocean (1935), Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on this date in 1937 as they attempted to fly around the world along the equator.

Quote: "Adventure is worthwhile in itself." — Amelia Earhart

See previous spotlights: O Canada, Michael Phelps, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Get service on MC --XL

USA

USA

off

off

Dow 9,686.41 -46.12 NASDAQ 2,091.79 -9.57 S&P 1,022.54 -4.83

off

Dow 9,686.41 -46.12 NASDAQ 2,091.79 -9.57 S&P 1,022.54 -4.83

No entries

Stock market down DOW 9,732.46 -41.56 NASDAQ 2,101.36 -7.88 S&P 1,027.36 -3.35

Some folks born on this day.....

Archives: Prior information posted to this page:

(these pages will not load as they are cloaked)

1. March 2010
2. Dec 2008---Nov 2007
3. April_2007_Oct_2007
4. March - June 2007; ---
5. March 2007;
6. <Page 1 Jan-Feb 2006; --
7. <Page 2 Mar-July 2006;--
8. Page 3 Aug Sept 2006;--
9. Page 4 May 9, 2005; --
10. Page 5 May 2005 - Jan 2006;