On This Day
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
The 1896 Summer Olympics (Greek: Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, romanized: Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad (Greek: Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, romanized: Agónes tis 1is Olympiádas) and commonly known as Athens 1896 (Greek: Αθήνα 1896), was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.[2]
Fourteen nations (according to the IOC, though the number is subject to interpretation) and 241 athletes (all males; this number is also disputed) took part in the games.[3][2] Participants were all European, or living in Europe, with the exception of the United States team. Over 65% of the competing athletes were Greek. Winners were given a silver medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, and awarded bronze medals to third placed athletes. Ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals, 11, while host nation Greece won the most medals overall, 47. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spyridon Louis. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four events.
Athens had been unanimously chosen to stage the inaugural modern Games during a congress organised by Coubertin in Paris on 23 June 1894, during which the IOC was also created, because Greece was the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games. The main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place; other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas.
The 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. The Panathenaic Stadium overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event.[4] After the Games, Coubertin and the IOC were petitioned by several prominent figures, including Greece’s King George and some of the American competitors in Athens, to hold all the following Games in Athens. However, the 1900 Summer Olympics were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics, 108 years later.
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Born On This Day
1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
Walter Edward Dandy (April 6, 1886 – April 19, 1946) was an American neurosurgeon and scientist. He is considered one of the founding fathers of neurosurgery, along with Victor Horsley (1857–1916) and Harvey Cushing (1869–1939). Dandy is credited with numerous neurosurgical discoveries and innovations, including the description of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, surgical treatment of hydrocephalus, the invention of air ventriculography and pneumoencephalography, the description of brain endoscopy, the establishment of the first intensive care unit (Fox 1984, p. 82), and the first clipping of an intracranial aneurysm, which marked the birth of cerebrovascular neurosurgery.
During his 40-year medical career, Dandy published five books and more than 160 peer-reviewed articles while conducting a full-time, ground-breaking neurosurgical practice in which he performed during his peak years about 1000 operations per year (Sherman et al. 2006). He was recognized at the time as a remarkably fast and particularly dexterous surgeon. Dandy was associated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Hospital his entire medical career. The importance of his numerous contributions to neurosurgery in particular and to medicine in general has increased as the field of neurosurgery has evolved.
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FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
This is an actual letter received in Anchorage Alaska. I removed the addressee and sender’s names for security.
Announcement: Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy was deactivated on September 30, 2021. For more information please visit the Prison Closures website.
ILSR’s Community Broadband Initiative: Recently in Community Networks… Week of 4/1 and more ->
By Celina Anton, Beyond Bylines, Blogs We Love: 4 Wine Blogs to Say “Cheers” to This Spring
By MessyNessy, 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXCVII): Japan’s Tiny Police Boxes; The Heyday of Escolta Street, the oldest street in Manila; Westsylvania, the US state that nearly was; Life of the World’s Loneliest Man, aka the “Man of the Hole”; The Mechanical Turk that Set Edgar Allan Poe on the Path to Mystery Writing; Burlesque dancer Zorita, feeds her pet snake Elmer in New York, 1952; Candle Salad; The Museum of Endangered Sounds; Jim Morrison Accurately Predicts The Future Of Music in 1969 and more ->
By Chris Ciolli, Afar: 10 Types of European Breads With Fascinating Stories Sure, you know Germany has pretzels and France has baguettes, but do you know how these carby delights came to be?
Ideas
By Natalina: Fiber Optic Dress
By Microbe: Dragonfly Art Sculpture – Without Buying Anything
By Joe F.: BUSY BOX – a SENSORY DEVELOPMENT TOY
By Birdz of a Feather: How to Paint a Butterfly With the Pull Chain Technique!
Recipes
By Elizabeth Bennet: Traditional Santa Lucia Saffron Buns
By Ronna Farley: Savory French Onion Soup With Fresh French Bread
Just the Recipe: Paste the URL to any recipe, click submit, and it’ll return literally JUST the recipe- no ads, no life story of the writer, no nothing EXCEPT the recipe.
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Nutella Stuffed Cookies November 22, 2024Nutella Stuffed Cookies. Yes, they are as naughty and indulgent as they look. But so much easier to make than you think! No electric beater, just a wooden spoon. That moment when the melty Nutella floods in your mouth…. send help! Nutella Stuffed Cookies This is no ordinary cookie. This is a cookie that is... […]Nagi
- New Orleans Chicken Wings November 19, 2024Why settle for plain chicken wings when you can have bold, spicy, New Orleans sass?! Tossed in Creole seasoning and garlic butter then baked until golden, the smell alone will make you drool. Easy enough for dinner, excellent for parties. Get in my belly! New Orleans Chicken Wings Today’s recipe is inspired by New Orleans... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for November 28 November 28, 2024Picture of the day Gjipe Beach, Albania. Today is Albania's Independence Day.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for November 27 November 27, 2024Picture of the day Eruption of Strokkur (Icelandic for "churn"), a fountain geyser located in the Haukadalur geothermal area, southwest of Iceland.
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Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
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