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Issue #412 - 3 February 2017
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| Contents | — – o o O o o – — |
^ WORD OF THE WEEK
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Friday 3 February - Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias became the first known European to land beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 1488. Composer Felix Mendelssohn born, 1809. The London Protocol of 1830 established the independence and sovereignty of Greece, following the Greek War of Independence, 1830. Writer Gertrude Stein born, 1874. The Benelux Economic Union, the forerunner of the European Economic Community was founded, 1958. Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & J.P. Richardson Jr aka The Big Bopper died in a plane crash, 1959. Actor Warwick Davis born, 1970. Setsubun in Japan. Saturday 4 February - An earthquake killed or injured tens of thousands on the Ionian coast of Sicily, 1169. Poet Hans Aßmann born, 1646. The U.S. Electoral College unanimously elected George Washington as the first President of the United States, 1789. Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, died, 1894. Civil rights activist Rosa Parks born, 1913. Nobel laureate physicist Hendrik Lorentz died, 1928. Singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia born, 1975. Artist Patrick Nagel died, 1984. Facebook was founded, 2004. World Cancer Day. Sunday 5 February - Swiss historian Aegidius Tschudi born, 1505. Cartographer & astronomer Nicolaas Kruik died, 1754. Spain captured Minorca from the British, 1782. Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and creator of the modern police, born, 1788. The 214.1lb (97.14kg) "Welcome Stranger" alluvial gold nugget was discovered in Australia, 1869. Historian & philosopher Thomas Carlyle died, 1881. The still-unrecovered Tybee hydrogen bomb was lost off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, by the U.S. Air Force, 1958. Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh born, 1962. Writer Brian Jacques died, 2011. Monday 6 February - James II of England and VII of Scotland acceded to the throne, 1685. Mathematician Nicolaus II Bernoulli born, 1695. Gardener & architect Capability Brown died, 1783. Sir Thomas Raffles founded Singapore, 1819. Actor/manager Henry Irving born, 1838. Artist Gustav Klimt died, 1918. Elizabeth II acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, 1952. Journalist Quentin Letts born, 1963. Engineer & astronaut Janice Voss died, 2012. Waitangi Day in New Zealand. Tuesday 7 February - The Bonfire the Vanities saw art, books and cosmetics burned in Florence, Italy, 1497. Writer Charles Dickens born, 1812. Writer Ann Radcliffe died, 1823. Émile Zola went on trial for libel, for publishing J'accuse, exposing the Dreyfus affair, 1898. Swimmer & actor Buster Crabbe born, 1908. Film director Walter Lang died, 1972. Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart made the first untethered spacewalk, using the Manned Maneuvering Unit, 1984. Actress Tina Majorino born, 1985. Magician & politician Doug Henning died, 2000. Wednesday 8 February - The Russian city of Vladimir was burned by the Mongols, 1238. Mary, Queen of Scots was executed, having being convicted of treason for her alleged involvement with the Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I, 1587. Physicist Daniel Bernoulli born, 1700. Russian emperor Peter the Great died, 1725. The Russo-Japanese War started with a Japanese torpedo attack on Port Arthur, China, 1904. Chester Carlson, inventor of xerography, born, 1906. Architect and designer of the British red telephone box, Giles Gilbert Scott died, 1960. Actor Gary Coleman born, 1968. A 320m (1,050') deep dust cloud enveloped Melbourne, Australia, 1983. Thursday 9 February - Zeno was crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 474. Writer & activist Thomas Paine born, 1737. The U.S. Weather Bureau was established, 1870. Writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky died, 1881. Actor Ronald Colman born, 1891. Artist Alexandre Benois died, 1960. The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the U.S., to a record audience of 763 million, 1964. Actor Tom Hiddleston born, 1981. Pilot and founder of Laker Airways Freddie Laker died, 2006.
This week, H.L. Mencken, from The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920:As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.
A mixed bag of quotations. Answers next issue or from the regular address.Last issue's quotations were from films starring Bill Murray:
- People on 'ludes should not drive!
- - Allie, either she's gone by Saturday or I go to the police, okay?
- That was pretty impressive.
- I can be butch when I have to. I get it from my mother.- I'd kiss you, but I'm not sure it'd come out right.
- Well, cut my legs off and call me Shorty!
- You know, for kids.
- Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
-- Groundhog Day [1993]- - Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?
- Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.
-- Ghostbusters [1984]- Once again, my life has been saved by the miracle of lasagna.
-- Garfield [2004]- In the immortal words of Jean Paul Sartre, 'Au revoir, gopher'.
-- Caddyshack [1980]- They made soup out of my research turtles.
-- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [2004]
Strange stories from around the world, some of which might be true...
CHIPS. Two weeks ago we reported on Libratus, the AI software taking on four of the best poker players in the world. The Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)-developed system has played its 20-day series of Texas Hold'em games, and defeated the humans, taking $1,766,250 (£1.4m) in (thankfully for its opponents) virtual chips. The players split a $200,000 £158,000) prize between them, based on their rankings over the course of the tournament. CMU professor of computer science Tuomas Sandholm explained that random factors in its play strategy coupled with a meta-algorithm that analysed where the humans had seen through and played the AI's weakness to win hands, then adapt its playing strategy were key to the overall win; Libratus learned to bluff successfully, a factor that could see application in business and military situations.
SPIKES SPIKED. A building in Manchester city centre made the news last month after spikes were installed in a covered area near the doors to deter homeless people sleeping in what would be a spot with reasonable protection from the elements. Estate agent and mother of two Jennie Platt was incensed at the news, so she and her boys "piled down to Primark" on the Sunday after the report with a couple of friends and bought lots of cushions and sandwiches. They covered the spikes with the cushions and left the sandwiches with a board reading "Take a seat and have a bite". Pall Mall Medical, which rents part of the building near the spikes told reporters that it had "zero involvement" with their installation. Platt said that she knew the cushions would get wet and probably be removed, but the spikes' installation "is not the Mancunian thing, it's not how we treat people." GVA, the building's managers said that the spikes were removed within 48 hours.
COFFEE. Nourthumbria University has been fined £400,000 ($503,000) plus costs after almost killing two students with a caffeine overdose. The students were taking part in a study on the effects of caffeine but the researcher administering the doses missed a decimal point in the calculations and the subjects were given 30g (1.06oz) of powdered caffeine instead of 3g (0.1oz) diluted in orange juice and water. A regular cup of coffee has around 0.1g (0.003oz). The students suffered dizziness, blurred vision, vomiting, increased heart rate and shaking within minutes, and had to be hospitalised and put on dialysis in intensive care. They each lost 10kg (1st 8oz) in weight. They both recovered but one of them continued suffering short term memory problems. Luckily both students were very fit and healthy before the experiment; the lethal dosage for caffeine is believed to be about 18g (0.6oz).
CHEERS! Gin, made notorious in Hogarth's 1751 print Gin Lane, is enjoying something of a resurgence of late, but is under threat from the phytophthora austrocedrai fungus which is blighting juniper bushes, particularly in Scotland, one of the key growing areas. The UK National Tree Seed Project run by the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew is riding to the rescue, and has now stored seeds from all varieties of juniper grown in the UK at -20C (-4F) in giant freezers at the Millenium Seed Bank in Wakehurst, Surrey. The project, begun in 2013, has banked 5.8 millions seeds so far from 6,500 trees and plants of different species, but prioritised under-threat juniper, which is the first species to be completed in the Bank. The project will not protect juniper from the fungus, but should mean that new plants can be grown for up to 100 years.
SNICKER... The Great Scottish Run, one of the premier marathon events in the UK, was run by 32,000 competitors last October, with winner Callum Hawkins setting a record time and many runners setting personal bests. Remeasurement of the course, though, has come up 149.7m (163.7 yards) short, meaning that Hawkins' record and all personal best times are invalidated. Race director Andy Mitchelmore apologised to competitors and explained that this was "an isolated incident" in the race's 30-year history, caused by human error with one section's route not followed properly, and another section measured on unclosed, rather than closed roads.
IN BRIEF: PETA calls for Games Workshop to stop depicting fur on its painted Warhammer figurines. Doomsday Clock moved forwards 30 seconds, now just 150 seconds to midnight in wake of Donald Trump's nuclear weapons and environmental stance, and global warming. Canoe, thought to have fallen off car roof, left across fast lane, brings part of M1 motorway to a standstill for 30 minutes. Migrant worker in China set off to cycle home 2000km (1243 miles) for Chinese New Year, realised after a month and 500km (310 miles) that he was going the wrong way; traffic police who stopped him on a motorway clubbed together to buy a train ticket to get him home. Scottish SPCA & University of Glasgow researchers find that dogs prefer reggae and soft rock to other pop music genres. Traces of ancient supercontinent Gondwanaland discovered in seas around Mauritius. Fossil of 540-million-year-old oldest known ancestor of humans (and backboned animals in general) discovered in China. Newlyweds whose car was disabled after minor crash on the way to wedding reception given lift by police, much to friends and family's amusement. 'Trump draws' - photoshopping of children's drawings onto executive orders held up by US president goes viral on net. German police called by woman who reported 'drilling' sound in her house and thought someone was breaking in discover switched-on vibrator in her bathtub. Someone in Cheltenham is throwing vegetables at joggers. Theoretical astrophysicists studying cosmic microwave background believe they might have found evidence for universe being a hologram. Los Angeles bakery produces croissant containing sushi roll. 70-year-old bank robber sits and waits for police inside bank after being given money, telling them he'd rather go to jail than live with his wife.
Ashes of 2014-fire-gutted Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh library being used in new artworks by leading artists to raise money for campus appeal. Ben Affleck pulls out of directing next standalone Batman film. Bryan Cranston to make UK stage debut in adaptation of 1976 film Network. Sebastian Barry becomes first novelist to win Costa Book of the Year award twice, this time for Days Without End. Daniel Radcliffe returning to London stage for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; admits he is yet to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Dermot O'Leary, Emma Willis to host Brits after Michael Buble withdrew for family reasons. Peter Capaldi to retire from Doctor Who after Christmas special, along with producer Steven Moffat; incoming producer Chris Chibnall facing calls from actors, politicians, to make next Doctor female. Facebook loses $500m (£395m) case over Oculus' use of rival's software in its VR headsets. Glenda Jackson wins Critics' Circle Theatre Award for best Shakespearian performance, as King Lear; considering further return to stage. Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda rumoured to be joining London cast to resume title role from original production. Madness unveil heritage plaque at Dublin Castle venue in Camden, London, where they got their break in the 1970s. Mary Berry wins Best Judge prize at National Television Awards; hints that she might reunite with Mel & Sue in the future, and says she will be watching The Great British Bake Off when it airs on Channel 4 later this year, but is too clumsy to ever do Strictly Come Dancing. Netflix reviving Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. P.J. Harvey to headline 2017 Green Man festival in Powys, August. Sir Elton John to write songs for stage musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. Brian Matthews retires from radio due to health issues. 80s/90s satire show Spitting Image puppets of Neil & Glenys Kinnock to be auctioned. Nina Dobrev returning to The Vampire Diaries for series finale. Baileys withdrawing from sponsoring the Women's Prize for Fiction award after this year.
SAG awards: Best actor: Denzel Washington (Fences); Best actress: Emma Stone (La La Land); Best supporting actor: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight); Best supporting actress: Viola Davis (Fences); Best actor (TV movie or miniseries): Bryan Cranston (All the Way); Best actress (TV movie or miniseries): Sarah Paulson (The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story); Best actor (TV drama): John Lithgow (The Crown); Best actress (TV drama): Claire Foy (The Crown); Best cast (TV drama): Stranger Things; Best actor (TV comedy series): William H Macy (Shameless); Best actress (TV comedy series): Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep); Best cast (TV comedy): Orange is the New Black; Best ensemble: Hidden Figures.
Champion racehorse Many Clouds (Cotswold Chase, Cheltenham Gold Cup, 2015 Grand National, 10), bassist John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia, 67), keyboardist Geoff Nicholls (Black Sabbath, 68), author Buchi Emecheta (Second-Class Citizen, 72), actor Frank Pellegrino (Goodfellas, The Sopranos, 72), actor Sir John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant Man, Harry Potter, 77), former BBC chairman Sir Christopher Bland (78), former MP & science columnist (New Scientist) Sir Tam Dalyell (84), actress Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima mon amour, 89), radio broadcaster Desmond Carrington (The Music Goes Round, 90), founder of Bandai Namco (Pac-Man) Masaya Nakamura (91), actress Barbara Hale (Airport, Perry Mason, 94).
If you've ever wondered about life's little mysteries - such as why fingernails scraping on a blackboard irritates some people, why the sun has sunspots, why bananas are berries and strawberries are not, and countless other questions, you might find the answers on this week's site. It's Life's Little Mysteries - Answers to Things We All Wonder About.- http://www.livescience.com/topics/lifes-little-mysteries
^ DUMBLEDORE BEAR'S LOTTERY PREDICTOR!
Dumbledore Bear, our in-house psychic predicts that the following numbers will be lucky:2, 25, 29, 31, 32, 39[UK National Lottery, number range 1-59]
You can get your very own prediction at http://www.simonlamont.co.uk/tfir/dumbledore.htm.
It was recital night at Little Jennifer's school, and the parents had all gathered to see their little darlings perform. Little Jennifer's class were going to play their musical instruments in a performance of a simplified version of a Mozart minuet, led by Little Jennifer on recorder. Much to her parents' surprise it went off perfectly. The headmistress strode onto the stage after the children had finished, and told the audience how proud they should be. Then she turned to Little Jennifer. "That was very well done, Little Jennifer. Did you know that Mozart is one of the most famous classical composers?"
"Yes, Miss has told us all about him."
"And are you happy to be playing such beautiful music with your classmates?"
Little Jennifer smiled sweetly, and in the audience her mother gripped her husband's hand. Little Jennifer looked at the headmistress, "Well, it's alright, but I would much rather have played music from my generation, not yours."
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