December 28: Give us the nice bright colors

On December 28, 1895 the Lumiere Brothers held the first public movie screening in the basement of a café in Paris. It was the birth of the cinema. Their father ran a photography shop in Lyon. The story goes that their father saw Edison’s Kinestoscope in Paris (where you had to look into a peephole to see the picture) and suggested to his sons that they could improve this by moving the “image out of the box.” They did, and in 1895, the first movie show was held.

The first showing was of 10 movies, each about 40 seconds in length. You can see all of them at the Lumiere Institute’s web site: http://www.institut-lumiere.org/english/frames_lum.html The first was Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory; look at the guy with the handkerchief about 33 seconds in: what is he doing?. The second is really funny, named the “The Vaulting.” These films are in black and white.

 

The Lumiere brothers also invented the Autochrome, a new process for creating color photographs. This was a huge improvement over previous methods, and was the primary method used between 1907 and the 1930’s. The Albert Kahn Museum in Paris has a collection of 72,000 Autochrome photographs, the largest in the world.

The history of the invention and some pictures can be seen at http://www.institut-lumiere.org/english/frames_lum.html

 

Anyway, the café where the first movie screening took place was called the Salon Indien du Grand Café, located at 14 Boulevard Des Capucines in Paris.

On this same date, December 28, 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen published a paper on a new form of radiation (x-rays). It turns out he conducted experiments at the very same café.

 

Today, the site of the café is occupied by the Hotel Scribe, a 5* Sofitel property. One of its restaurants is called Le Lumiere:

http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-0663-hotel-scribe-paris-managed-by-sofitel/index.shtml#./restaurant.shtml and you can see a picture of the Lumiere brothers over the fireplace.

 

Sort of related tidbits:

-- at 35 Boulevard des Capucines, in 1874, was the first impressionist exhibition, including work by Renoir, Manet, Pissarro, Degas, and Monet.

--- Monet painted two pictures called Boulevard Des Capucines; one is in Moscow, the other in Kansas City.

---Capucine is also the name of an actress; you will recognize her from The Pick Panther and What’s New Pussycat:

Capucine_The_Pink_Panther.jpg

December 23: Dirty Rotten ...Row?

Today is the birthday of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham (1621).  He was Lord Chancellor and a member of Parliament. He became Baron Finch in 1673 and Earl of Nottingham in May 1681.

He built a house in (the village of) Kensington called the Nottingham House  It was acquired by King William III in 1689 because he wanted a residence near London but far away enough away from the smoke that covered London; the king was an asthmatic.  The king's official residence was St. James Palace in London.  Interestingly, it remains the official residence of the king/queen today even though no monarch has lived there for over 200 years.  In 1941, representatives of several countries met at the palace to sign the Declaration of St. James's Palace, which then became the charter of the United Nations.

Anyway, the house Finch built became Kensington Palace.  Christopher Wren made many enhancements to the house; he is responsible, among other things, for the architecture of St. Paul's Cathedral in London.  

A road was built from St. James Palace to Kensington Palace, and was called the "Route de Roi" or the road of kings.  Over time, the name evolved to "Rotten Row." I don't know how the name changed, but one hypothesis is that it comes from the Gaelic phrase Rat-an-righ, which translates as "Road Of The Kings" 

The road runs just south of Hyde Park, and still exists.  You can see a picture of it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rotten_Row_-_Hyde_Park.jpg  The Household Cavalry exercises its horses on Rotten Row.

December 22: Oh what a night, late December...

Not what you are thinking, it was late December back in 1808, in Vienna. It was the date of a great concert, featuring the debut of Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies, his 4th piano concerto, and the Choral Fantasy. Beethoven conducted and played the piano. 

 The debut was held at the Theater An Der Wien in Vienna, one of the nicest concert halls I have been to. My wife and I went there after we were first married, and saw a performance of the Merry Widow, by Franz Lehar. That operetta also had its debut at this theater, in 1905. In fact, they are performing it again next week.

The Theater An Der Wien has an interesting history, besides hosting the debut performance of great compositions. It was built by Emanuel Schikaneder, who wrote the libretto to the Magic Flute (Mozart), and sang the role of Papageno in the premiere. The theater has a statue of him in that role over one of its doors; he died in poverty in 1812.

In November of this year, a concert was held at the theater featuring one of Mozart’s favorite pianos; this piano returned to Vienna after 200 years. It had been donated to a museum in Salzburg soon after his death, and is now on display at Mozart’s house/museum. You can see a picture of it at http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1192179!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/mozart26n-2-web.jpg

December 21: Wynne'ng words

On December 21, 1913, the first crossword puzzle was published. It was created by Arthur Wynne, a journalist born in Liverpool, who emigrated to the USA in 1891. He first worked for the Pittsburgh Press, and also was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. He later moved to New York, and the first puzzle was published in the New York World’s “fun” section. It was called a word-cross. The story goes that a typesetting error reversed the words and dropped the hyphen a few weeks later, and the crossword puzzle was born.

The first collection of crossword puzzles was published as a book in 1924. It was the first publication of two young men called Simon and Schuster. Simon’s aunt wanted to buy a book of crosswords for her daughter; Simon decided to publish one. They paid the newspaper $25 for each puzzle. The book was a spectacular success; they sold more than 300,000 books in the first year. Each book came with a pencil attached to it. Today, the company is owned by CBS and is one of the largest book publishers in the world.

September 20: Not quite around the world

On this day in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de
Barrameda in Spain to circumnavigate the globe. This has an
interesting background. In the late 1400's, it was known that the
Americas were a separate continent, and not part of Asia. The problem
for Spain was how to get to the Spice Islands ( the Moluccas, in
Indonesia today). They could not go round the Africa: a treaty signed
in 1494 gave the Portugese the sole right to this eastern route. So
they needed a western route.

Magellan proposed finding this route to Charles I of Spain, and the
project was approved because if successful, they would have a route
without having to go to war with the Portugese.

Five ships sailed on September 20, 1519. Ships from Portugal followed
them, but he got past them. When the arrived in South America, they
could not land in Brazil, it was Portugese territory. They landed
instead in Argentina (near Rio), there was a mutiny but Magellan
prevailed. Then they started to sail south, looking for a way around.
They found what we now call the Magellan Straits, sailed into the
Pacific (which was named by Magellan: Mar Pacifico because it was
peaceful), and they were the first cross the Pacific.

Magellan did not make it back: he was killed in the Battle of Mactan
in the Phillipines in 1521. Two of the ships continued the journey,
made it to the Spice Islands. They continued westward, around Africa,
almost died, and one ship, captained by Juan Sebastián Elcano, finally
returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Elcano and his surviving crew were
the first to circumnavigate the globe.

December 11: If Not For Max

The physicist Max Born was born on December 11, 1882. He was one of the pioneering developers of quantum mechanics. He won the Nobel prize in 1954. Some of his most productive years were at the University of Gottingen, in Germany. He had to leave Germany in 1933, and went to the UK, first to Cambridge and then to Edinburgh, but returned after retiring in 1953. He is buried in Gottingen. His tombstone has on it his fundamental equation or matrix mechanics, you can see a picture here: http://www.origin-life.gr.jp/3004/3004229/126.jpg

The singer/actress Olivia Newton-John is his granddaughter. Max’s daughter, Irene, married Brinley Newton-John, who worked for British intelligence during WWII, and then moved to Australia in the 1950’s to teach at the University of Melbourne’s Ormond College.

Her first solo album was titled “If Not For You,” released in 1971. The title song was written by Bob Dylan and previously recorded by George Harrison, and was her first international hit. You can watch/hear it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwTYhnQgJjA. There is also a version by Dylan/Harrison at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tctzUNMp5po

December 10: More Music Died

December 10 marks the anniversary of the death of Otis Redding in 1967. He was 26. The plane he was traveling in crashed outside Madison, Wisconsin, in bad weather. He died three days after recording the song “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.” The song was released in January 1968, and was his only number 1 single on the Billboard 100. It was actually the first posthumous number one song in history. Interestingly, he intended to replace the whistling at the end of the song with a new verse, but never did. I wonder what he had in mind. You can hear it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzrXc68gNjQ

You can also hear his version of “Satisfaction,” the song by the Rolling Stones at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmSDExVBR94

The story goes that Otis did not know some words to the song and made them up. His version includes horns playing the main riff, which I understand was originally intended by Keith Richards.

There have been 7 posthumous #1 hits, including songs by Janis Joplin, Jim Croce, and John Lennon.

Other musicians who died in plane crashes in the rock and roll era include Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Valens, all on the same plane in 1959; and Jim Croce in 1973. The first event, of course, was known as the day the music died, as immortalized in Don McLeans ballad.

December 8: Unspeakable Tragedy

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon died. On the Monday Night football game that day (Patriots vs. Dolphins), Howard Cosell announced it, calling it an “unspeakable tragedy.”

 

The Beatles had their origin in the Quarrymen, who were a skiffle/rock group Lennon formed in 1956. The name comes from the Quarry Banks School, which the members attended; Paul McCartney joined the band in 1957 and George Harrison in 1958. In 1997, there was a concert by the surviving members of the original Quarrymen, 40 years after their first performance in 1957, the performance at which John and Paul first met. Perhaps their first recording was Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day."The band is still around, you can find them at http://www.originalquarrymen.co.uk/index.html, and in fact, they are giving a concert tonight in Bristol. Ringo Starr never played for the Quarrymen, he joined the Beatles in 1962.

Skiffle is a mix of blues, folk, and jazz that uses improvised instruments, such as washboards and jugs. It became very popular in the UK in the 1950's, and one big skiffle star was Lonnie Donegan; his recording of "Rock Island Line," originally by Leadbelly, sold over a million copies.

If you want to hear some of the original Quarrymen recordings and the songs that influenced them, read on.

You can see/hear the Quarrymen’s first two recordings and more:

---In Spite of All The Danger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuuOAA9ekbg

---That'll Be The Day at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4_LMMKq8Hw

---“I’ll Follow the Sun” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjfKX4yyX0k

Leadbelly had a great version of the song “House of the Rising Sun,” later a huge hit for The Animals. You can hear it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5tOpyipNJs

His original version of Rock Island Line is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCiJ4QQG9WQ while the Donegal version is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXQgG98VSOs I love this version, by George Harrison and Paul Simon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iotkCBxnzc from 1976.

December 7: Play it again, Tony

December 7, 1963 featured the first instant replay on TV, in the 4th quarter of the Army-Navy game played at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia. It was invented by Tony Verna, a CBS sports director, who was 29 at the time. He figured out how to use a standard videotape recorder provide an instant replay. He wrote about it in a book, "Instant Replay: The Day That Changed Sports Forever." It completely changed the football viewing experience; you could see replays in the dead time between snaps. By having multiple cameras, you could be shown different angles and different parts of the field in the replay.

The first replay was of Army QB Rollie Stichweh running for a 1 yard TD. It was replayed at the original speed, and the announcer had to warn viewers that Army had not scored again, that this was a replay. It was the only replay shown in the game.

Roger Staubach was the Navy QB, and Navy won 21-15; Staubach also won the Heisman trophy that year. At the time of Stichweh's touchdown, Navy was ahead 21-7, with halfback Pat Donnely having scored 3 TD's. Stichweh followed the TD with a run in for 2-point conversion, and recovered the onside kick. Army then made it all the way to the 2 yard line when time ran out.

December 6: Strong Bitter Beer

December 6 is the birthday of the French chemist Gay Lussac, who invented a way to measure the alcohol content of, among other things, beer, wine, and spirits.  What we call ABV (alcohol by volume) is also called "degrees Gay Lussac" after him, so in France, for example, you may see "6.8% GL" on a bottle.  It is the official measure of alcohol content in Europe. 

Another measure is "proof," which is twice ABV in the US.  In the UK, proof is different; 100 proof is about 57% ABV, while in the US, 100 proof is 50% ABV. 

The term "proof" has its origins in proving that there was the stated amount of alcohol in rum, which was used as a means of payment to sailors.  They found that if you mixed gunpowder with rum and set it on fire, it would not burn if it had less than 57.15% of alcohol, and this number became 100% proof that the rum was not watered down.

For beer, besides alcohol content, there is also a measure of bitterness, IBU for international bittering unit.  It measures the amount of a certain acid in the beer.  For benchmarking, a pale lager style beer may have 10 IBU, a pilsner 25 IBU, an IPA about 50 IBU.  Among the highest is barleywine, which may go up to 80 or 90 IBU.

By the way, Gay Lussac also discovered boron. You have probably used borax, a compound of boron, found in cleaning agents.  Borax has been around for thousands of years, boron was isolated by Gay Lussac and his colleagues in 1808.  He also coined the terms "burette" and "pipette" that you  used in high school chemistry.

December 5: My name is Harley

December 5 marks the birthday of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford.  He was almost the first Prime Minister of England, but not quite; the title is held by Walpole.  Harley was a "Chief Minister."

Anyway, an important part of London was developed by his son, Edward Harley.  Edward inherited Wimpole Hall though his wife.  He developed Harley Street, the center of medical specialists in London.

Wimpole Street, named after Wimpole Hall, was also developed by Harley junior.  It has an interesting history.  Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) was an opthalmologist and had his office on Wimpole Street.  In the early days of the Beatles, Paul McCartney lived at the home of  the parents of his girlfriend, Jane Asher, on Wimpole St. and apparently Paul and John Lennon wrote the lyrics to "I wanna to hold your hand" at this house, and McCartney also wrote the words to "Yesterday," easily one of the best songs written in my lifetime. 

A curious tidbit is that there was a toy store on Wimpole Street, called the Abbatt toy store.  It was designed by an architect called Erno Goldfinger.  The Bond character in the film of that name was named after Erno, who knew Ian Fleming.  Apparently, Goldfinger thought about suing Fleming on the use of the name, but relented after Fleming threatened to rename the character Goldprick (and Fleming paid the lawyers fees).
 

November 30: Water Rights

November 30 is the anniversary of the Treat of Paris, signed in 1783. The treaty formally ended the American Revolutionary War. In the treaty, Great Britain recognized the United States as a sovereign nation and established its borders. You can see the document here

 

Article 8 of the treaty is interesting : it says “The navigation of the river Mississippi, from its source to the ocean, shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States."

 

Yes, you read that right: it gave perpetual access to the British subjects to the Mississippi river. At that time, the river was the western border of the US.

So you may ask: does that right still exist? After a lot of Google searching, I could find anything formally ending this right, but I doubt the right still exists.

This may be explained by the Treaty of Ghent (1814) that ended the War of 1812 between the US and Britain. Some argue that this treaty, by not re-affirming the provisions of the 1783 treaty, ended the right to navigation.

 

There are two interesting historical documents supporting this, from people who were there.

The first is a book about Henry Clay (one of the US negotiators in 1814). This book chapter seems to confirm that leaving out any mention of the navigation rights terminated those rights.

The second is John Quincy Adam’s Duplicate Letters. He was also one of the negotiators, and felt that the British had implicitly given up the right because the British position was that new treaty abrogated the old one, and since this right was omitted from the new treaty, it was gone.

November 28: Emperor's Clothes?

November 28 is the anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto. It made its debut in Leipzig, at the Gewandhaus, in 1811, and its Vienna debut took place in 1812.

Gewand means "garment" and the Gewandhaus was the guildhall of the Leipzig cloth merchants. The original building also housed the town's arsenal (good thing they didn't play Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture!) . A new concert hall, with the same name, was built in the 1780's, but was destroyed during the war. The third Gewandhaus was built in the 1970's. Besides the Beethoven concerto, the Gewandhasu also held the debut performances of Schubert's Symphony in C Major and Mendelssohn's violin concerto. Mozart's only appearance in Leipzig was at the Gewandhaus

Anyway, back to Beethoven. He had started going deaf in 1796 (age 26), and in 1811, at age 41, he tried and failed to play the concerto. He never performed in public again. By 1814, he was almost totally deaf. What is stunning is that he continued to write music, including the 9th symphony (1824, three years before his death). The story goes that after he finished conducting it at its premier, he had to be turned around to "see" the audience applauding.

The 5th piano concerto is known as the "Emperor" (referring to Napoleon).  Beethoven dedicated it to Archduke Rudolph. It was named the Emperor concerto by a fellow composer and music publisher Johann Cramer. It could be that the name was given because its debut in Vienna was as part of an event celebrating Napoleon's birthday. Beethoven had previously admired Napoleon and originally named his 3rd symphony after him. But after he found out that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor, he changed the name of the 3rd symphony. Beethoven had to hide in his brother's cellar during the bombardment of Vienna by Napoleon's forces in 1809. This may have delayed the completion of the 5th piano concerto.

There are, of course many, recordings of this concerto. One that I really like is by the great Italian pianist Arturo Beneditti Michelangeli. You can see and hear it at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bNHQ1BOacg (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OKBZsLZ7aI (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCSVoMzF4OE (part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TahrEIVu4nQ (part 4)

An old black and white single-file version, is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7lcNGAMpGs about 37 minutes long.

November 25: Different streaks for different leagues

November 25 is the birthday of Joe DiMaggio (born 1914). He still holds the record for his hitting streak of 56 games in 1941. You all know about his major leage career and marriage to Marylin Monroe.

 

But you probably don't know that prior to the Yankees, he had a 61 game hitting streak when playing for the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The Pacific Coast League is one of 3 Triple-A minor leagues today. It has produced famous players, including Paul Waner, also a Hall of Famer (1952).

Waner played for the Pirates, together with his brother Lloyd. DiMaggio's brothers (Dom and Vince) also played in the majors. Turns out the Waners hold the record for most hits by brothers (5611 combined) while the DiMaggio brothers are third (4853). In between are the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty, and Jesus, 5094 combined).

Felipe did not play for the PCL. Originally signed by the Giants, he started with the Minneapolis Millers, which was part of the American Association. The American Association was disbanded in 1962 (though revived between 1969 and 1997), and several teams joined the PCL, though not the Minneapolis Millers. Several other famous players played for the Millers, including Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Carl Yaztrzemski.

The PCL suffered a setback in 1958, when the Giants moved to San Francisco and the Dodgers started playing in LA, since its most successful teams, inlcuding the Seals, were displaced. The Seals moved to Phoenix, and became the minor leage affiliate of the Giants, and interestingly, Alou played for Phoenix after Minneapolis and before entering the major leagues The PCL suffered a further blow when regular season baseball games started being broadcast in 1958; ironically, the first regular season game that was broadcast was a Dodgers-Giants game played at Seals Stadium.

November 24: Darwin, Beetlemani​a, Harriett and Harry

Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" was published on
November 24, 1859. Darwin was born in 1809, and was sent to medical
school in Scotland, which he found boring. But he did learn the art
of taxidermy. After 2 years or so, his father sent him to Cambridge
university so he could get a degree and then become a priest.
Apparently Darwin wasn't very interested in studies until his cousin
introduced him to beetle collecting and to the botany professor John
Henslow. Darwin got interested in etymology, even publishing some
findings on beetles. It appears he was crazy after beetles; one story
is that he broke up with his girlfriend at the time because he was
spending too much time collecting beetles. Anyway, one thing led to
another, he finished his degree, and some time after he graduated,
Professor Henslow recommended Darwin to be the naturalist on the HMS
Beagle. Darwin's father thought this was a waste of time and money,
but ultimately agreed to let him go.

The HMS Beagle was a warship, named after the dog breed. Apparently,
in the British Navy, it was not uncommon to name ships after animals.
At least 9 ships have been named the HMS Beagle, the latest in 1967.
It was the first ship to sail under the (new) London Bridge. Anyway,
the Beagle became a survey ship, and went on three voyages. Darwin
was on the second. The Beagle sailed to South America, across the
Magellan Straits, up the west coast of south America, the Galapagos,
then to Australian, and then south of Africa and back up to England.

From the Galapagos, the Beagle picked up a giant tortoise called
Harriet. Harriet died in 2009 at an estimated age of 175, in
Australia It was thought for many years that Harriet was a male,
called Harry. This was only corrected in the 1960's, when she was
over 100 years old. It is theorized that Darwin took the tortoise on
board the ship, but there seems to be some controversy about this. One
possibility is that he gave the tortoise to the ships captain, who
took it with him when he eventually moved to Australia. That captain,
John Wickam, also named the city Darwin in Australia after Charles.
But this was 20 years before the Origin of Species was published.

August 6: Hellenic Tennis Tales

Helen Jacobs was born on August 6, 1908 in Arizona. She was a world #1

tennis player and won 10 grand slam titles (5 singles, 4 doubles, 1 mixed).

Her main rival was another Helen, Helen Wills Moody, and Jacobs only beat

Moody once (when Moody had to retire due to injury). During the second

world war, Helen Jacobs was a Commander in Naval Intelligence.

 

The other Helen was born in 1905. Helen Moody won 31 grand slam titles, 19

singles. She had a streak of 158 matches in which she did not lose a set.

She was also an accomplished painter and writer. Her tennis career ended

when she was bitten on the hand by a dog, but that’s another story.

August 16: Heads or Tails

August 16 is he birthday of Jacob Bernoulli. He was a Dutch-Swiss mathematician. He discovered the mathematical constant e=2.7182818..., which is almost as famous as pi; it is used to calculate compound interest, and shows you how bankers can squeeze an extra penny out of you!

Besides that, he also discovered the law of large numbers (that says, for example, that if you toss a coin many times, the proportion of heads will approach 1/2).

He also discovered what is called the Bernoulli Principle; this lets you calculate the lift generated by the wings of an airplane, and helps calculate the speed needed for takeoff; this is part of a larger set of discoveries described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift_(force)

A crater on the northwest corner of the moon is named after him.

August 17: The Last Theorem

Continuing with the mathematics theme, today is the birthday of Pierre
Fermat, whose name is attached to one of the most famous theorems in
mathematics, called Fermat's Last Theorem. In 1637, Fermat "stated"
the theorem in the margin of Arithmetica, an ancient Greek text
(writted by Diophantus in the 3rd C AD). He also said that he had a
really cool proof, but the proof would not fit in the margin of the
book. In the next 30 years of his life, he never wrote about it
again. But it became a huge mathematical challenge over the next 358
years, and lots of brain power was spent trying to prove it. It was
finally proven in 1995, but that is an interesting tale as well.
Andrew Wiles, a British mathematician, presented a "proof" in 1993.
The proof had an error. The proof was corrected by Wiles in 1994 and
accepted in 1995.

Interesting tidbit continued: There is no Nobel Prize for mathematics.
Instead, there is the Fields Medal, sometimes described as the "Nobel
Prize in Mathematics." But it can only be given to mathematicians who
are 40 years old or younger. In 1993, Wiles was 40. But in 1994, he
was over the age of eligibility, so he could not get the award for
solving one of the greatest mathematical puzzles in history. The body
that awards the Field medal, the International Mathematical Union,
instead gave him a silver plaque.

The remarkable titbit: Wiles apparently discovered the puzzle of Fermat's Last
Theorem when he was 10 years old, when he found a book about the
theorem. He decided that he would be the one to prove it, and became
a mathematics professor.

Popular tidbits: Wiles is mentioned in an episode of Star Trek; he is
mentioned in the "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" books, where the girl
tries to prove the theorem; the lyrics to a Tom Lehrer song state:
"Wiles "confirms what Fermat / Jotted down in that margin / Which
could've used some enlargin'"

Sept 7: Pro Football Hall of Fame

The Pro-Football Hall of Fame opened on Sept 7, 1963, in Canton Ohio. When I lived nearby, I always wanted to visit, but in 24 years, never managed to drive the 94 miles, figuring I could go at anytime. It's now 905 miles away, so ...

Anyway, 17 players were inducted in the first year. Canton was chosen because it was where the NFL started (in 1920, as the American Professional Football Association, with 11 teams). Bet you didn't know that. It was soon renamed the NFL.

The football hall of fame, unlike those for baseball, basketball, and hockey, does not let officials get inducted (I've been to the basketball and baseball hall's of fame, really loved Cooperstown).

Every inductee played in the NFL except one: Billy Shaw of the Bills, who played only in the AFL (prior to the merger).

Only one player is in both the Pro-Football Hall of Fame and the CFL hall of fame: Warren Moon. The only other person in both is a coach, Bud Grant. Bud Grant is the only coach to have teams in the Superbowl and the Grey Cup (the CFL Superbowl) final. His teams won 4 Grey Cups. His teams appeared in 4 Superbowls.

Warren Moon never won a Superbowl either. He won 5 consecutive Grey Cups.

September 10: Around the Globe

On this day in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de
Barrameda in Spain to circumnavigate the globe. This has an
interesting background. In the late 1400's, it was known that the
Americas were a separate continent, and not part of Asia. The problem
for Spain was how to get to the Spice Islands ( the Moluccas, in
Indonesia today). They could not go round the Africa: a treaty signed
in 1494 gave the Portugese the sole right to this eastern route. So
they needed a western route.

Magellan proposed finding this route to Charles I of Spain, and the
project was approved because if successful, they would have found a route
without having to go to war with the Portugese.

Five ships sailed on September 20, 1519. Ships from Portugal followed
them, but he got past them. When the arrived in South America, they
could not land in Brazil, it was Portugese territory. They landed
instead in Argentina (near Rio), there was a mutiny but Magellan
prevailed. Then they started to sail south, looking for a way around.
They found what we now call the Magellan Straits, sailed into the
Pacific (which was named by Magellan: Mar Pacifico because it was
peaceful), and they were the first cross the Pacific.

Magellan did not make it back: he was killed in the Battle of Mactan
in the Phillipines in 1521. Two of the ships continued the journey,
made it to the Spice Islands. They continued westward, around Africa,
almost died, and one ship, captained by Juan Sebastián Elcano, finally
returned to Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Elcano and his surviving crew were the first to circumnavigate the globe.

October 1: Rule 5 Draft

October 1, 1919 is the birthday of Bob Boyd, a baseball player. In
1957, he had his best year: only 8 players had an RBI greater than 300
that year, and he finished fourth with .318, playing for the Orioles.
He was the first Oriole to have a batting average over 300 in the 20th
century. He had a .991 fielding average as a first baseman (36 errors
in 4159 chances).

An interesting point about his career was that he was a drafted by the
Orioles under the "rule 5 draft." This draft takes place in December;
the draft is meant to ensure that teams cannot stockpile strong
prospects

The most famous Rule 5 draftee is Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente of
the Pirates. Others include Bobby Bonilla, Manny Trillo, Willie
Hernandez and Johan Santana.

You can find this year's Rule 5 draftees at
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/09/update-on-this-years-rule-5-draft-picks.html

October 12: Important Date in Beer History

The first Oktoberfest was held on October 12, 1810. It was held to celebrate a
royal wedding. Since then, the date has been moved up so it starts in late
September and runs through the first weekend in October.

Only beer brewed within the city limits can be served, and must
conform to the German
Purity Laws (Reinheitsgebot). The first such law, in 1516, restricted
beer to contain only water,
barley, and hops. Yeast was later added to the list, but only after
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
improved the microscope enough to see it around 1674. Eventually, Louis Pasteur
discovered and explained the role of yeast in fermentation; there are
two types: the good type
caused by yeast, and the bad type caused by bacteria,

So how was beer brewed prior to the addition of yeast? It turns out
there is a lot of yeast flying around in the air
around you, and as the beer was left in open containers, air-borne
yeast started the fermentation process.
They would save some of the foam from current beer to start the next
batch. This is also related to
fermentation of bread, e.g. sourdough, but that's another story.

Anyway, back to Oktoberfest:
in 2011, almost 7 million people attended, each person drank a liter
of beer on average,
and a liter of beer cost about $12. The average price of a liter of
beer in Germany about $6.50
so people pay almost twice as much at Oktoberfest. There is
controversy about the high prices,
some want to limit the prices that can be charged, see e.g.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/09/23/price-gouging-on-beer-at-the-oktoberfest/

If you want to know what the price of beer is in cities and countries
around the world, you can
go to pintprice.com (its in pints, not liters, so multiply by 1.78 to
get the price of a liter).

October 17: Sad Day in Beer History

On October 17, 1814, the largest beer barrel in the world at the time
ruptured at the Meux brewery, and about half a million liters of beer
(porter) poured out. The force of the beer made other barrels
collapse, and overall, over 300,000 gallons of beer poured into the
streets. The beer flood claimed 9 lives; eight dies from the force of
the beer, the ninth from alcohol poisoning a few days later. He was
drinking the beer as it flowed. He was not the only one; rescue
efforts were blocked by thousands of people who rushed out to drink
the free beer.

The brewery was sued, but the rupture of the barrel was ruled an Act
of God, removing any liability; they had pre-paid the duty on the
beer, but an act of parliament refunded the tax. The brewery lasted
until 1922.

The Boston Molasses Tragedy was similar. It happened in January 1919
in the north end of Boston, when a tank containing over 2 million
gallons of molasses collapsed. A wave of molasses, about 10 feet
high, rushed out at 35mph. 21 people died and 150 were injured. They
were sued in (one of the first) class action suits, and this was found
not to be an Act of God but an act of negligence. They were found
guilty, and had to pay a fine of $600,000.

Oct 22: Opera, Ballet, Ave Maria, and Hitchcock

Some of you know that my wife and I are opera fans, and today's tidbit
is interesting to me personally. On October 22, 1883, the Met Opera
House in New York opened. The first production was Faust, by Charles
Gounod, a French composer. Faust is a Grand Opera, meaning that
everything, including normal conversation between the actors, is sung.
It has 5 acts, including a ballet scene, and is expensive to produce,
and the ballet scene is frequently not performed because of this. It
is the eighth most frequently performed opera at the Met, with 747
performances through the 2011-2012 season. It has been translated into
25 languages.

Anyway, Gounod is known for Faust and also for Romeo and Juliet, an
opera based on the Shakespeare work, which we saw last year at the
Verona Opera Festival; the opera's are performed outdoors, in a Roman
Coliseum, starting around 9pm, and go on until 1am or so. The
Colisuem was built around 2AD. Its in pretty good shape; hope my
house lasts that long!

One of Gounod's most famous work is Ave Maria, one of the most beatiful songs ever. You can hear it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0o9ku8yw4U
An extraordinarily good version of the Schumann version is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQVz6vuNq7s

Another interesting fact: Gounod wrote a piece called "Funeral March
of a Marionette." It was the theme for the old TV series "Alfred
Hitchcock Presents."

October 26: Erie Canal

The Erie Canal opened on October 26, 1825. The canal runs between the
Hudson River to Lake Erie. It is 363 miles long. After it was
opened, the cost of transporting goods between the midwest and the
eastern seaboard fell by 90%. For example, freight charges dropped
from $100 to $10 a ton for grain shipment. The canal opened up the
midwest to commerce, and also established New York as the main US
port. When first proposed, it was ridiculed, including by then
President Jefferson. But the New York legislature was convinced to
put up $7m byGoverner Clinton (yes, Clinton, DeWitt Clinton). It was
derided as "Clinton's Folly" and "Clinton's Ditch" but amazingly, was
constructed for $7m! It was 363 miles long when intitially
constructed. Newly invented "cement" was used to patch leaks.

There was so much grain that storing it between shipment became a
problem. And grain dust was explosive. "In 1843 Joseph Dart of
Buffalo solved the problem of handling the grain with the invention of
his steam-powered elevator. Dart's bucket elevator raised grain from
lake boats to built storage bins where it remained until being lowered
for transshipment." Buffalo became the world's largest grain port.

The transportation of grain is related to an interesting previous
story: prior to the building of the canal, grain grown in the midwest
was difficult/costly to transport to the major markets in the east.
So many farmers started distilling their grain into whiskey. In fact,
whiskey even became a medium of exchange. Alexander Hamilton, the
first Secretary of the Treasury, decided to tax whiskey. After the
revolutionary wars, the Federal Govt took ove rthe debt of the states,
and Hamilton was figuring out ways to pay down the debt. This led to
the whiskey rebellion (basically a repeat of taxation without
representation). Pittsburgh became the focal point of the rebellion.
The whiskey rebellion was put down. It was the first use of the
Militia Law of 1792

Anyway, the canal also led to an increase in the whiskey trade: "In
1825, roughly 562,000 bushels of wheat, plus 221,000 barrels of flour,
435,000 gallons of whiskey, and 32 million board feet of lumber helped
make up the 185,000 tons of eastbound canal cargo." Over 100 bars
were built along Canal Street in Buffalo for the boatsmen. According
to one description, "Canal Street was a rough place. Hidden under its
streets and back alleys were whiskey dens where young seamen, freshly
landed off the Lakes, were lured, fed drugged drinks, robbed of their
wads and sometimes murdered. Their bodies reputedly were slipped into
the canal with stones around their necks as though they had committed
suicide."

Incidentally, New York State collected over $121 million in tolls from
the Erie Canal by 1882. So pretty good for a $7m investment.

November 5: Beardsley Ruml

Bet you never heard of him, but he has had an enormous impact on your life.
Today is the birthday of Beardsley Ruml. He was a statistician (and devised
aptitude tests for the army), was a Dean at the University of Chicago,
became Chairman of Macy's, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, and an advisor to FDR.

He is the guy who devised the tax-withholding system. So the taxes that get
withheld from your paycheck, or estimated taxes you pay, are due to him.
The withholding system was adopted by Congress in 1943.

Some history: prior to 1942, only about 7% paid income taxes. The war
required more revenue. In 1942, the Revenue Act was passed, that lowered
income thresholds for paying taxes and also raised tax rates, adding may
more people to the tax rolls.

This led to another problem: people were not used to paying taxes, and at
the end of the year, many did not have any money to pay. Ruml suggested
that they pay in installments. This was adopted in 1943. But there was
still a problem with collecting the 1942 taxes. The solution, also proposed
by Ruml, was to forget those, just start the tax collection process in 1943.

So anyway, today is the birthday of Beardsley Ruml, the father of the "pay
as you go" tax system we have in place today.

November 8: Who's Bucky Harris?

November 8 is the birthday of Bucky Harris. Born in 1896, he was a baseball
player/manager. In 1924, at age 27, he led the Senators to a World Series
championship in his rookie year (managing and playing second base). He also
managed the 1947 Yankees team that won the World Series.

But here is the tidbit: he is mentioned in some versions of Abbot and
Costello's "Who's on First" routine:

Abbott: "Well Costello, I'm going to New York with you. You know Bucky
Harris, the Yank's manager, gave me a job as coach for as long as you're on
the team."
Costello: "Look Abbott, if you're the coach, you must know all the players.
"
.....

November 12: Circumnavigating the globe II

November 12 is the birthday of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, a French
explorer. At age 25 he published a book on integral calculus. Sadly, he didn't pursue a math career, but instead rose to become an admiral in the French navy.

You can probably guess that the Bouganvillea plant is named after him.
And that's where it gets interesting, specially if you recollect the
tidbit about Magellan and circumnavigating the globe. So read on.

Monsieur Bougainville was an important figure in the Seven Years War
(in Canada) and in establishing a French colony in the Falkland
Islands.

In 1766, he decided to circumnavigate the globe. He was given
permission by Louis the 15th (one before the Louis who got beheaded in
the French revolution). On board was a botanist, Philibert Commerçon.
The botanist had a "valet" but it turned out the valet was a woman,
Jeanne Baré, and likely the botanists mistress.

Anyway, in South America, Commerçon named a plant he found the
Bouganvillea. The expedition ended up circumnavigating the globe.
And Jeanne Baré became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe!

Commerçon named many plants after Jeanne, but all of them except one
were previously named and so his work did not count. One does
survive, the Solanum baretiae, a member of the nightshade family.

November 17: Beware the fine print!

Today's post starts with the Treaty of the Pyrenees, ending a war
between France and Spain, signed on November 17, 1659.
The treaty gave France the area north of
the Pyrenees, including Rousillon (more below). The way it was
written, France received all "villages" north of the mountains. But a
place called Llivia was not considered a village, it was considered a
town/city. So it remained (and remains) part of Spain. It is a small
place, population about 1600, a little east of Andorra, completely
surrounded by France.

Llivia, as it turns out, is famous for the Esteve Pharmacy, which is
one of the oldest functioning medieval pharmacies. The pharmacy is
famous for its collection of decorated Albarello jars (ceramic pots
used to store medicines). It was opened in the 1400's.

Anyway, Rousillon is in the southermost part of eastern France, just
north of the border with Spain, part of the region known as
Languedoc-Roussillon. Turns out this region is the largest wine
producing area in the world, about 700,000 acres planted, about a
third of France's total wine production. It produces more wine than
the entire US production (as of 2002). One third of the wine imported
into Britain is apparently from Languedoc-Roussillon.

The area has its own unique grape: the Lledoner Pelut, related to the
Grenache. A bottle of Domaine La Colombette Lledoner Pelut sells for
about $20. I could not find one near where I live, though local stores carry
Languedoc-Roussillon wines, as well as wines from Corbieres, which is
in the same area.

There are about 150 major varieties of grapes used in wine production,
though there are more than 5000 varieties of grapes. It takes between
600 and 800 grapes to produce a bottle of wine. An acre of of vines
produces about 800 gallons of wine.

An enormous amount of wine is produced every year; statistics are at
http://www.wineinstitute.org/files/2010_World_Wine_Production_by_Country.pdf

If I am reading it correctly, 26 billion liters were produced in 2010.
The standard bottle is 3/4 liter. You can do the math. Wow.