Tag: FYI

On This Day

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev[a] (15 April 1894 – 11 September 1971)[1][2] was a Soviet statesman who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress of the early Soviet space program, and for several relatively liberal reforms in areas of domestic policy. Khrushchev’s party colleagues removed him from power in 1964, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Premier.

Khrushchev was born in 1894 in the village of Kalinovka, which is close to the present-day border between Russia and Ukraine. He was employed as a metal worker during his youth, and he was a political commissar during the Russian Civil War. With the help of Lazar Kaganovich, he worked his way up the Soviet hierarchy. He supported Joseph Stalin’s purges, and approved thousands of arrests. In 1938, Stalin sent him to govern the Ukrainian SSR, and he continued the purges there. During what was known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War (Eastern Front of World War II), Khrushchev was again a commissar, serving as an intermediary between Stalin and his generals. Khrushchev was present at the bloody defense of Stalingrad, a fact he took great pride in throughout his life. After the war, he returned to Ukraine before being recalled to Moscow as one of Stalin’s close advisers.

On 5 March 1953, the death of Stalin triggered a power struggle in which Khrushchev emerged victorious after consolidating his First Secretary with that of the Council of Ministers. On 25 February 1956, at the 20th Party Congress, he delivered the “Secret Speech”, which denounced Stalin’s purges and ushered in a less repressive era in the Soviet Union. His domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, especially in agriculture. Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for national defense, Khrushchev ordered major cuts in conventional forces. Despite the cuts, Khrushchev’s rule saw the most tense years of the Cold War, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Khrushchev’s popularity was eroded by flaws in his policies. This emboldened his potential opponents, who quietly rose in strength and deposed the Premier in October 1964. However, he did not suffer the deadly fate of previous Soviet power struggles, and was pensioned off with an apartment in Moscow and a dacha in the countryside. His lengthy memoirs were smuggled to the West and published in part in 1970. Khrushchev died in 1971 of a heart attack.

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1857 – Anna Winlock, American astronomer and academic (d. 1904)[1]
Anna Winlock (1857–1904) was an American astronomer and human computer, one of the first members of female computer group known as “the Harvard Computers.” She made the most complete catalog of stars near the north and south poles of her era. She is also remembered for her calculations and studies of asteroids. In particular, she did calculations on 433 Eros and 475 Ocllo.

Early years
Winlock was born September 15, 1857, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to astronomer Joseph Winlock and Isabella Lane.[1] Winlock attended the Cambridge Schools as a child and began to develop an interest in both mathematics and the Greek language. Upon her graduation she received a letter from her principal expressing his appreciation for her Greek and of her character. Her father influenced her interest in astronomy. When she was twelve, she attended a solar eclipse expedition with her father in his home state of Kentucky. In June 1875, Joseph died shortly after Winlock had graduated from primary school. Winlock quickly followed in her father’s footsteps becoming one of the first female paid staff members of the Harvard College Observatory.[2]

Harvard College Observatory
After the death of her father, it fell upon her to find financial support for her mother and four siblings, and soon she approached the Harvard College Observatory seeking a job in calculations. Specifically, she was capable of reducing volumes of unreduced observations, a decades worth of numbers in a useless state, that previously her father had left unfinished. The interim director of the observatory complained that he could not process the data, as “the condition of the funds is an objection to hiring anyone.” [3] Winlock presented herself to the observatory and offered to reduce the observations. Having been previously introduced to the principles of mathematical astronomy by her father she seemed like a capable asset to the observatory and could be paid less than half the prevailing rate for calculating at the time. Harvard was able to offer her twenty-five cents an hour to do the computations. Winlock found the conditions acceptable and took the position.[3]

In less than a year, she was joined at the observatory by three other women who also served as computers; they became known as Pickering’s Harem, gaining notoriety for leaving an uncomfortable example on the government computing agencies because of the women’s low wages and arduous work, even though it was of high quality.[4] Winlock found it important the work to be done in astronomy, especially for women. By her own development as a scientist and her lasting contributions to the stellar program of the observatory, she served as an example that women were equally capable as men of doing astronomical work.[5]

Major contributions
Through her thirty-year career at the Harvard College Observatory, Winlock contributed to the many projects the observatory faced. Her most significant work involved the continuous and arduous work of reducing and computing meridian circle observations. Five years earlier under the direction of her father, the observatory collaborated with multiple foreign observatories in a project for preparing a comprehensive star catalog. The project was divided into sections or zones by circles parallel to the celestial equator. Winlock began to work on the section called the “Cambridge Zone” shortly after being hired on by the observatory. Working over twenty years on the project, the work done by her team on the Cambridge Zone contributed significantly to the Astronomische Gesellschaft Katalog, which contains information on more than one-hundred thousand stars and is used worldwide by many observatories and their researchers.[1][2] Besides her work on the Cambridge Zone, she also contributed to many independent projects. She supervised in the creation of the Observatory Annals (a collection of tables that provide the positions of variable stars in clusters) into 38 volumes.[2]

Death
Winlock’s death was unexpected. On December 17, 1904 she visited the Harvard College Observatory for what would be the last time, and she continued working through the holiday season. The last entry in her notebook of reductions was on New Years Day 1904. Three days later she died suddenly at the age of 47 in Boston, Massachusetts. A funeral service was held at St. John’s Chapel in Cambridge.[1][6]
 
 

FYI

Vector’s World: Vacations shouldn’t interrupt nap schedules; Water Jet cutting and more ->
 
 
 
 
Science: Studying human health at 5100 meters, and playing hide and seek with rats and more ->
 
 
 
 
Today’s email was written by Holly Ojalvo and Zoey “Gnarwhal” Ojalvo of Gotham Girls Junior Derby, edited by Annaliese Griffin, and produced by Luiz Romero. Quartz: Roller derby
 
 
 
 
David Sherry: CC – Meet Jason Zook (This week’s podcast)

Continuing my series of introductions to interesting people I’m meeting from around the web…

This week, I recorded a conversation with Jason Zook.

Jason has one of the most unique career paths I’ve ever seen. He literally sold his last name (twice!) and has constantly done something unexpected in the creator space while still managing to make a solid income from it.

What I love and appreciate about Jason is how open is he is about sharing his ups and downs. His new book just hit the Amazon shelves and it’s called Own Your Weird.

If you want to work with Jason, you can get in touch or learn more through his co-owned site, Wandering Aimfully.

I had a blast talking with Jason about pairing weirdness and business in this week’s conversation…

Listen on the Web

xx David
 
 
 
 
The Awesomer: How Matches Are Made; Monster Etiquette; Homebrew Railgun Tank and more ->
 
 
 
 
Barn Finds: The Ice Bug Cometh! Custom VW Snow Beetle and more ->
 
 
 
 
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: On Children: Poignant Parenting Advice from Kahlil Gibran and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Colleen M. Chesebro, Conversations With Colleen: Meet Author, Jan Sikes, @
 
 
 
 
By David Fear, Rolling Stone: ‘Country Music’ Review: Ken Burns’ Epic, Essential Look at an American Artform A 16-hour, eight-episode look at the evolution of a music that went from “hillbilly” to honkytonk to hit parade covers a massive amount of ground
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By lainealison: Emergency Door Curtain Organizer
 
 

Recipes

By Meghan Splawn, Kitchn: 5 Easy Recipes Starring Garlic Butter: Salmon, Steak Bites, Potatoes, and More
 
 
By Not_Tasha: Blackberry Lime Rhubarb Crumble
 
 
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Chocolate Banana Muffins

On This Day

1682 – Bishop Gore School, one of the oldest schools in Wales, is founded.
The Bishop Gore School (Welsh: Ysgol Esgob Gore) is a secondary school in Swansea in Wales, founded on 14 September 1682 by Hugh Gore (1613–1691), Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated in Sketty, close to Singleton Park and Swansea University. In December 2013 the school was ranked in the second highest of five bands by the Welsh Government, based on performance in exams, value added performance, disadvantaged pupils’ performance, and attendance.

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1816 – Mary Hall Barrett Adams, American book editor and letter writer (d. 1860)[3]
Mary Hall Barrett Adams (September 14, 1816 – December 8, 1860) was a 19th-century American book editor and letter writer.

Early years
Mary Hall Barrett was born in Malden, Massachusetts, on September 14, 1816, the daughter of William and Mary Barrett. Her mother worked among the poor of Malden. Her father, owner of the Malden Dye-House,[1] believed in the principles of Christian Universalism. Her parents exemplified those principles at home and abroad. Rev. Dr. Sylvanus Cobb said: “When we commenced our pastoral charge at Malden, Mary Barrett was a girl of 12. Though her father was wealthy, and her associates were of the first class socially, she was ever modest and affable in her manners towards all. There was a combination of intellectuality and benevolence in her expression, and her highest concern was to enrich and adorn the mind. She entered heartily and efficiently into the work of the Sunday-school. Young as she was, she became a teacher and member of the Bible class. She joined the church at 16, and was ever one of the most earnest and faithful workers, and her enlightened and ever-glowing spirit of devotion added to the spiritual interest of the communion.”[2]

When quite young, her sister, father, brother and mother all died of consumption, and needed great care before their deaths, which Adams took upon herself to provide. Friends saw that Adams was overdoing herself and becoming frail, but her comforting was so well received by the invalids that they did not notice Adams’ wasting frame.[2]

She was never a rollicking school-girl.[2] In addition to the instruction obtained in her home town, she attended schools in Medford and Charlestown.[3]

Read more ->

FYI

Jezebel: The Cheap Old Houses Instagram Account Is the Only Good Instagram Account and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo: Men Hired to Test Iowa Courthouse Security Arrested After They Did the Job Too Well and more->
 
 
 
 
Jalopnik: That Time Oprah Gave 276 People ‘Free’ Cars That Actually Cost Them $6,000 In Taxes and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Tampa Bay’s Water Is Home to More Than 4 Billion Bits of Microplastic, Study Finds; Scientists Debut Powerful Magnet for Future Particle Collider and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Michael J. Mooney, Texas Monthly: The Hero of the Sutherland Springs Shooting Is Still Reckoning With What Happened That Day A year in the life of Stephen Willeford, who disrupted the mass murder in his small town’s First Baptist Church and became known as the ultimate good guy with a gun.
 
 
 
 
By Leah Fessler, Quartz: Powerful Women Told Me Getting a Dog Is the Key to Success. They Were Right. At age 24, buying a dog was irresponsible, and the best decision I’ve ever made.
 
 
 
 
The Passive Voice: Why Angry Librarians Are Going to War With Publishers Over E-Books; Level the Playing Field for Books in Translation and more ->
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By rabbitcreek: Alaska Bear Troller
 
 
By gocivici: SweetDreams – a Dream Themed Aircraft for Flugtag
 
 
By jeremyhoffpauir: How to Make Ocean Resin Wave Art
 
 
By BakkerJo: Welded Horseshoe Names and Words
 
 
New Life On A Homestead, Aaron Cummins: How to Make an Electric Fence Step by Step

Recipes

By In The Kitchen With Matt: Yummy Crispy Fried Chicken
 
 
My Recipe Treasures: Hamburger Hobo Dinners
 
 
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Mini Cheesecakes
 
 
My Recipe Treasures: Butterfinger Delight

On This Day

1743 – Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.
The Treaty of Worms was a political alliance formed between Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia, signed on 13 September 1743. The Treaty of Worms was presented to the Commons on 9 January 1744, and was considered in the entire house on 1 February 1744.[1] It was largely an ambitious piece of foreign policy on the part of the British government which sought to split the Emperor Charles VII from French influence, whilst simultaneously resolving the differences between the Emperor, Queen Maria Theresa of Hungary and King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. Under the terms of the treaty, Maria Theresa agreed to transfer to the King of Sardinia the city and part of the duchy of Piacenza, the Vigevanesco, part of the duchy of Pavia, the county of Anghiera, and claims to the marquisate of Finale. She also engaged to maintain 30,000 men in Italy, to be commanded by Savoy-Sardinia. Great Britain agreed to pay the sum of £300,000 for the ceding of Finale, and to furnish an annual subsidy of £200,000, on the condition that Savoy-Sardinia should employ 45,000 men. In addition to this fiscal arrangement, Britain agreed to send a fleet into the Mediterranean. Under a separate, secret convention, agreed contemporaneously with the Treaty, but which was neither formally ratified nor publicly acknowledged, it was stipulated that Britain would pay Maria Theresa an annual subsidy of £300,000, for as long “as the necessity of her affairs should require.” The terms of the Treaty of Worms relative to the ceding of the marquisate of Finale to Savoy-Sardinia were particularly unjust to the Genoese, since the territory had been guaranteed to them by the fourth article of the Quadruple Alliance of 2 August 1718 between Britain, France, Austria, and the Netherlands.

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1818 – Lucy Goode Brooks, Former American slave and a founder of Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans (d. 1900)[5]
Lucy Goode Brooks (September 13, 1818 – October 7, 1900) was an American slave who was instrumental in the founding of the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans in Richmond, Virginia.

Early life and education
Goode was born on September 13, 1818[1] in Virginia to the slave Judith Goode and a white man. She met another slave, Albert Royal Brooks, and taught him to read and write so that they could write passes to see each other. When her master died in 1838, she became the property of a man named Sublett. That same year, she joined the First Baptist Church of Richmond. Shortly after Goode became Sublett’s property, he allowed her to marry Brooks on 2 February 1839 and allowed them to live together. Albert’s owner allowed him to operate a livery stable, for which he collected rent, but also permitted Albert to keep his additional earnings and use them to buy his freedom. In 1841 when the Baptist church divided, she was one of the group that joined in forming the First African Baptist Church.[2]

Career
When Sublett died in 1858, his heirs threatened to sell Lucy and her children to different masters. She was able to negotiate with merchants who purchased her children and allowed them to live with her as long as they showed up for work daily. The sole exception was a daughter who was sold to owners in Tennessee.[3] The knowledge that they could be separated made the Brookses work hard to try to buy the freedom of Lucy and the children. Her new master, Daniel Von Groning, who also owned her three youngest boys, allowed Albert to pay for their freedom in installments. It took four years, but on October 21, 1862, their deed of manumission was signed. The older three boys were not freed until the Civil War was ended.[2]

The loss of her daughter and a previous son—who had been sold away as an infant—motivated Brooks to try to help children who were separated from their parents, after the war had ended.[3] The Freedmen’s Bureau initially offered temporary rations and care for abandoned children, but by the fall of 1865 increasingly tried to shift the burden to local relief efforts and benevolent societies.[4] Brooks, who was a leader of the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Work, convinced the other ladies to help organize an orphanage.[2] She then gained the support of several churches, including the local Quaker congregation to help found the Friends’ Asylum for Colored Orphans.[3] The plan was approved and building’s location was authorized by the city council in 1867, with the orphanage opening two years later.[5] The organization is still operational and functions as the Friends Association for Children,[6] though its current focus is to provide childcare and family support services to low- and moderate-income families.[7]

Brooks died on October 7, 1900 in Richmond, Virginia,[8] and she was buried in the Mechanic’s Cemetery of Richmond.[1] She was honored in 2008 by a Virginia Historical Marker being erected at the corner of Charity and Saint Paul Streets.[9] A book about her life was published in 1989.[10]

FYI

By Shirley Halpiren: Eddie Money, ‘Two Tickets to Paradise’ Singer, Dies at 70
 
 
Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who had success in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of Top 40 songs and platinum albums. Money is well known for songs like “Baby Hold On”, “Two Tickets to Paradise”, “Think I’m in Love”, “Shakin'”, “Take Me Home Tonight”, “I Wanna Go Back”, “Walk on Water”, and “The Love in Your Eyes”.

Read more ->
 
 
 
 
By David Peisner, The New York Times: Daniel Johnston’s Essential Songs: Listen to 12 Tracks The singer and songwriter, who was acclaimed as one of America’s most gifted outsider voices, died at 58.
 
 
Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter and visual artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes.[1][2] Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home,[4] and his music was frequently cited for its “pure” and “childlike” qualities.[5]

Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions[4] and was diagnosed with schizophrenia[6][7] and bipolar disorder.[8][1] He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald’s in Austin, Texas.[9] His cult status was propelled when Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from Johnston’s 1983 album Hi, How Are You.[4] In 2005, Johnston was the subject of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston.

Read more->
 
 
 
 
By Ryan Prior, CNN: Man believed to be oldest living American World War II veteran celebrates his 110th birthday
 
 
 
 
By Nelson Oliveira, New York Daily News: University of Tennessee offers full scholarship to fourth-grader bullied for homemade shirt
 
 
 
 
By Mark Alan Lovewell, The Vineyard Gazette: Four Decades of an Unfolding Story
 
 
 
 
By Christopher Brito, CBS News: This Italian region is offering $27,000 for you to move in there
 
 
 
 
By Jenny Gathright, KPCW: Mary Lou Williams, Missionary Of Jazz
 
 
 
 
By Kim Garrison, Beyond Bylines: 5 Common Sites and Apps to Give Your Photo Sessions a Boost
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: New compendium of Wendell Berry essays highlights Kentucky writer’s ‘complexity and consistency’; Telepsychiatry helps rural areas access mental health care, but lack of broadband can limit reach of telehealth in general; Waffle House poet laureate travels to rural Georgia high schools to promote the arts and higher education and more ->
 
 
 
 
Messynessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCLXVIII): A 4,500 years old Egyptian dress; This Photographer Captures the Last Living Tribes of India; Salesmen of the Future; A 1967 BBC documentary asks whether London really was ‘swinging’ during the 1960s and more ->

 
 
 
 
Open Culture: Bob Moog Demonstrates His Revolutionary Moog Model D Synthesizer; Watch Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Taking Batting Practice in Strikingly Restored Footage (1931); How Eric Clapton Created the Classic Song “Layla” and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Passive Voice: ‘Do Dice Play God?’ Review: The Ins and Outs of Odds; Review Brigades; Should You Be Thinking About AI-Proofing Your Career? More ->

Recipes

On This Day

1655 – Warsaw falls without resistance to a small force under the command of Charles X Gustav of Sweden during The Deluge, making it the first time the city is captured by a foreign army.
The term Deluge (Polish: pоtор szwedzki, Lithuanian: švedų tvanas) denotes a series of mid-17th-century campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, thus comprising the Polish theatres of the Russo-Polish and Second Northern Wars.[5] In a stricter sense, the term refers to the Swedish invasion and occupation of the Commonwealth as a theatre of the Second Northern War (1655–1660) only; In Poland and Lithuania this period is called the Swedish Deluge (Polish: potop szwedzki, Swedish: Svenska syndafloden), or less commonly the Russo–Swedish Deluge (Polish: Potop szwedzko-rosyjski)[6] due to the Russian invasion in 1654.[7] The term deluge (or potop in Polish) was popularized by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his novel The Deluge (1886).

During the wars the Commonwealth lost approximately one third of its population as well as its status as a great power due to invasions by Sweden and Russia.[8] According to Professor Andrzej Rottermund, manager of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the destruction of Poland in the deluge was more extensive than the destruction of the country in World War II. Rottermund claims that Swedish invaders robbed the Commonwealth of its most important riches, and most of the stolen items never returned to Poland.[9] Warsaw, the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was completely destroyed by the Swedes, and out of a pre-war population of 20,000, only 2,000 remained in the city after the war.[10] According to the 2012 Polish estimates, financial losses of Poland are estimated at 4 billion złotys. Swedish and Russian invaders completely destroyed 188 cities and towns, 81 castles, and 136 churches in Poland.[11][failed verification]

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1749 – Yolande de Polastron, French educator (d. 1793)
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (8 September 1749 – 9 December 1793) was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France. She was considered one of the great beauties of pre-Revolutionary society, but her extravagance and exclusivity earned her many enemies.[1][2]

Read more ->

FYI

Vector’s World: White Triplex; Nice ‘fro; Air car and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Max Finkel, Jalopnik: John Margolies’s Roadside Photos Are Automotive Americana At Its Best
The Library of Congress digitized these photos in 2016 after Margolies passed at 76. I’ve collected a few of my favorites here, but the entire collection is available for view on the Library of Congress’s Flickr account here.
 
 
 
 
David Sherry: Taking Control and Letting Go
In a moment, you can take control.

In any situation, you can take the reigns, and impart on it an action that changes the situation at hand.

Without this action, events would play out on their own, but instead, you exerted influence. And that influence ripples across time and interconnected events.

Done as a reaction, taking control is about trying to pour concrete on shifting sands.

Done proactively and with poise, taking control is about reducing unknown variables, and preparing the ground for an outcome to take shape.

Taking control is like a trust fall with time and space.

Reactively taking control is like trying to superglue a shattered vase back together.

On the other hand, in that same moment, you can give up control.

You can “Let go” as they say.

Taking a healthy posture, letting go is about allowing energy to continue forward in motion without disruption.

If a domino has started a chain of other falling dominos then why interrupt the chain?

Reactively letting go is like setting sail in the ocean without a direction and hoping to arrive on the right island.

You will get somewhere, but is it where you would have liked to arrive?

Stranger still, you can take control while letting go, and let go while taking control.

The trust fall was your decision, and in your control to lean in or not.

But the outcome took letting go.

It’s this third space that seems to be the optimal path for seizing the moment.

To be a healthy leader of yourself and others is about managing this dynamic between control and letting go of it.

It’s about recognizing the areas in which control and power are reactive.

Balancing the two is how you manage the moment.

By being in control while letting go.
 
 
 
 
Aviation information!
Kathryn’s Report
 
 
 
 
By Juli Fraga, NPR: How A Prenatal ‘Bootcamp’ For New Dads Helps The Whole Family
 
 
 
 
FROM DEBRA + LARRY: Sleeping Under the Stars (a very special post)
 
 
 
 
By Marshall McGurk, The Havok Journal: Know Your Flag and National Anthem Etiquette
 
 
 
 
Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: I Like You: An Almost Unbearably Lovely Vintage Illustrated Ode to Friendship
 
 
 
 
By Jeremy Raff, The Atlantic: A Narcotics Officer Ends His War on Drugs Kevin Simmers locked up hundreds of drug users—including his own daughter—while the opioid epidemic raged. Now he wants 24-hour treatment on demand.

Simmers sprung into action, and over the next year he helped Brooke into a half-dozen rehabs, but none seemed to work. Eventually, out of options and fearing a fatal overdose, Simmers used his police connections to jail his own daughter. But the disaster that followed made him reconsider not just his decision to lock up Brooke, but also his role as a willing combatant in the decades-long War on Drugs.

“I now think the whole drug war is total bullshit,” he said.
 
 
 
 

Ideas

Instructables: Teacher Spotlight: Brooklyntonia
 
 

Recipes

By janpreet.kaur, Instructables: Instant Red Chilli Pepper Pickle
 
 
By DianaHM, Instructables: Pickled Hot Peppers and Spicy Four Seasons Pizza
 
 
My Recipe Treasures: Raspberry Croissant Breakfast Bake
 
 
My Recipe Treasures: Lion House Layered Salad

On This Day

1695 – Henry Every perpetrates one of the most profitable pirate raids in history with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatens to end all English trading in India.
The Ganj-i-Sawai (Persian/Hindustani: گنج سواہی, Ganj-i-Sawai, in English “Exceeding Treasure”, often anglicized as Gunsway) was an armed Ghanjah dhow (trading ship) belonging to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb which, along with her escort Fateh Muhammed, was captured on 7 September 1695 by the English pirate Henry Every en route from present day Mocha, Yemen to Surat, India.

Capture by pirates
In August 1695, Henry Every, captaining the 46-gun, 5th rate frigate Fancy, reached the Mandab Strait, where he teamed up with five other pirate ships, including Thomas Tew’s 8-gun, 46-man sloop-of-war Amity, Richard Want in the Dolphin, Joseph Faro in Portsmouth Adventure, Thomas Wake in Susannah, and William Maze in the Pearl. Although a Mughal convoy of 25 ships bound for India had eluded the pirate fleet during the night, the following day they encountered the Ganj-i-Sawai and her escort Fateh Muhammed, both stragglers passing the straits en route to Surat.

Every and his men attacked the Fateh Muhammed, which had earlier repulsed an attack by Amity, killing Captain Tew. Perhaps intimidated by Fancy’s 46 guns or weakened by their earlier battle with Tew, Fateh Muhammed’s crew put up little resistance, and Every’s pirates sacked the ship and came away with £60,000 worth of treasure.

Every now sailed in pursuit of the Ganj-i-Sawai, overtaking her about eight days out of Surat. The Ganj-i-Sawai was a fearsome opponent, mounting 40 to 60 guns and a musket-armed guard of four to five hundred[1] as well as six hundred other passengers. But the opening volley evened the odds, as one of the Indian ship’s cannons exploded, killing some of its gunners and causing great confusion and demoralization among the crew, while Every’s broadside shot his enemy’s mainmast by the board. The larger Fancy drew alongside, and a number of her 113-man crew clambered aboard, overpowering the crew, passengers and slaves of the Ganj-i-Sawai.

The victorious pirates then subjected their captives to several days of horror, raping and murdering prisoners at will, and using torture to force them to reveal the location of the ships’ treasure.[2] The pirates raped women on the ship, and some of the women committed suicide by jumping into the sea.[3][4] The other survivors were left aboard their ships, which the pirates set free.

The loot from the Ganj-i-Sawai totalled between £325,000 and £600,000, including 500,000 gold and silver pieces. Several crews went home empty-handed: Tew was dead, Want and Wake’s ships were too slow and never made it to the battle, Faro made it to the Ganj-i-Sawai but never engaged, and Maze was present but Every took back their share of the loot after the Pearl’s crew tried to trade clipped coins to the Fancy’s men.[2] Every and the surviving pirate captains set sail for Réunion, where they shared out £1,000 [2] and some gemstones to every pirate in the crew.

In popular culture
The Ganj-i-Sawai Heist and its loot feature prominently in the 2016 video game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

Born On This Day

1885 – Elinor Wylie, American author and poet (d. 1928)
Elinor Morton Wylie (September 7, 1885 – December 16, 1928) was an American poet and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. “She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous poetry.”[1]

Read more ->

FYI

By Derrick Goold St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Chris Duncan dies at 38; sparked 2006 Cardinals to title, became a hit on local sports radio

Christopher Edwin Duncan (May 5, 1981 – September 6, 2019) was an American professional baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2005 through 2009.

He was the youngest son of Dave Duncan, a former catcher and retired pitching coach for the Cardinals. His older brother, Shelley, was also a first baseman and outfielder in MLB. After his playing career, he worked as a mid-day radio program on the St. Louis ESPN Radio Affiliate, WXOS.

Read more ->
 
 
 
 

Jimmy Ray Johnson (February 4, 1943 – September 5, 2019) was an American session guitarist and record producer.[1]

Johnson was a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who was attached to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for a period in the 1960s. In 1969, with the backing of Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler, Johnson became a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, along with drummer Roger Hawkins, bassist David Hood, and keyboardist Barry Beckett.[2] The studio was originally located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield and later moved to 1000 Alabama Avenue, also in Sheffield. Johnson performed with Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. He also engineered three tracks on the Rolling Stones’ album Sticky Fingers. He died from kidney failure in 2019 at the age of 76.[3]

Read more ->
 
 
 
 

 
 
Henri Belolo (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃ʁi bəlɔlo]; 27 November 1936[1] – 3 August 2019)[2] was a French music producer and songwriter active during the disco era.

Born in Morocco, he started his career as a club DJ and A&R man. In the 1970s, with his friend, composer Jacques Morali, he worked in the United States, creating The Ritchie Family[3] as well as their most successful group, Village People.[4]

Read more ->
 
 
 
 
By Zack Zwiezen, Kokatu: EA Received A Guinness World Record For Most Downvoted Comment In Reddit History
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Why xkcd Creator Randall Munroe Wrote the World’s Most Extreme ‘How To’ Book; A Woman in Her 70s May Be the Oldest New Mom Ever After Giving Birth to Twins and more ->
 
 
 
 

 
 
By Jordan Seward For Mailonline: Daredevil riders speed through the barrios of Medellin, Colombia with huge jumps and narrow tracks in world’s longest-ever downhill bike race – on the streets once terrorised by Pablo Escobar
 
 
 
 
Gastro Obscura: America’s Earliest Lesbian Bar; Long-Simmering Soup; Haus Hiltl and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Ciaran Tierney Contributor, Irish Central: British murder of pregnant Irish mother highlighted in new radio documentary
 
 
 
 
Wired: 14 Great Weekend Deals on Tech (and a Waffle Maker) We Like Whet your appetite for all the new tech this autumn, with our favorite sales on gaming laptops, loudspeakers, and more.
 
 
 
 
A Passive Voice: When The ‘Whisper Network’ Goes Public: The ‘S****y Media Men’ List, 2 Years On; I Spent the Night at a Library in Wales, and You Can Too; Almost Everything About Goodreads Is Broken and more ->
 
 
 
 

Recipes

A Taste of Alaska: Bacon Jam – Keto Remakes of Old Favorites
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Mexican Shredded Beef
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Egg Salad Stuffed Bacon Cones and the Wrong Birthday Call
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Coffee Ice Cream
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Frosting Transfer Cookies
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Mushroom Cookies
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Embracing Fall and the Decorated Cookie Challenge with Maple Shortbread

On This Day

1522 – The Victoria returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition and the first known ship to circumnavigate the world.
Victoria (or Nao Victoria) was a carrack and the first ship to successfully circumnavigate the world. Victoria was part of a Spanish expedition commanded by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, and after his death during the voyage, by Juan Sebastián Elcano. The expedition began on August 10, 1519 with five ships. However, Victoria was the only ship to complete the voyage, returning on September 6, 1522.[2] Magellan was killed in the Philippines.

The ship was built at a shipyard in Ondarroa, with the Basques being reputed shipbuilders at the time, and along with the four other ships, she was given to Magellan by King Charles I of Spain (The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). Victoria was named after the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria de Triana, where Magellan took an oath of allegiance to Charles V.[2] Victoria was an 85-ton ship with a crew of 42.

The four other ships were Trinidad (110 tons, crew 55), San Antonio (120 tons, crew 60), Concepcion (90 tons, crew 45), and Santiago (75 tons, crew 32). Trinidad, Magellan’s flagship, Concepcion, and Santiago were wrecked or scuttled; San Antonio deserted the expedition during the navigation of the Straits of Magellan and returned to Europe on her own.

Victoria was a carrack or nao, as were all the others except Santiago, which was a caravel.[3]

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1620 – Isabella Leonarda, Italian composer and educator (d. 1704)
sabella Leonarda (6 September 1620 – 25 February 1704) was an Italian composer from Novara, Italy.[2] At the age of 16, she entered the Collegio di Sant’Orsola, an Ursuline convent, where she stayed for the remainder of her life. Leonarda is most renowned for the numerous compositions that she created during her time at the convent, making her one of the most productive woman composers of her time.

Read more ->

FYI

 
 
By Billy Dukes, Taste of Country: Police: Kylie Rae Harris Caused Crash That Killed Her and 16-Year-Old Girl
 
 
 
 
By Richard Winton, Matt Hamilton, Leila Miller, Mark Puente, Los Angeles Times: California dive boat owner asks judge to limit payouts to victims’ families
The owners of the California diving boat that burned during a Labor Day weekend charter near Santa Barbara, killing 34 people aboard, have turned to a 19th century maritime law to argue they should not have to pay any money to the families of victims.
 
 
 
 
By Dan Koeppel, Outside Online: The Legend of Baltimore Jack
 
 
 
 
By Vince Beiser, Popular Science: Some 83,000 Members of the U.S. Military Are Missing. This Group Tries to Bring Them Home. How elite military and scientific teams bring home fallen U.S. soldiers.
 
 
 
 

Attempted murder?
By Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN: American Airlines mechanic accused of attempted sabotage of flight with 150 on board
 
 
 
 
By Deidre Walsh, NPR: GOP Retirements Spike, Diminishing Hope Of Retaking House Majority In 2020
 
 
 
 
By Marah Yankey, News at IU Bloomington: Global media postdoctoral scholar uses public scholarship to improve media literacy
 
 
 
 
By Sophie Lewis, CBS News: New species of dinosaur discovered in Japan
 
 
 
 
Fast Company Compass Newsletter: Chipotle can’t get customers to stop stealing the Tabasco, so it’s embracing it; ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Willam Belli launches new makeup line Coverboy; Amazon is testing a ‘new’ badge to help shoppers identify new products and more ->
 
 
 
 
Today’s email was written by Stacy Conradt, edited by Annaliese Griffin, and produced by Luiz Romero. Quartz: Instant ramen
 
 
 
 
By Ashley Feinberg, Slate: New York Times Columnists vs. the Haters A brief history of overreaction.
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: Researcher says relocating towns away from disaster-prone areas may be better than rebuilding after storms; Executives at dairy-promotion nonprofit get huge salaries from farmers’ milk checks even as dairy farms go bankrupt and more ->
 
 
 
 
Drea’s News – Do you smell Pumpkin Spice Latte? Why have a regular grilled cheese when you can have a Croque Monsieur! More ->
 
 
 
 
Open Culture: Medieval Monks Complained About Constant Distractions: Learn How They Worked to Overcome Them; Orson Welles Trashes Famous Directors: Alfred Hitchcock (“Egotism and Laziness”), Woody Allen (“His Arrogance Is Unlimited”) & More; Bob Odenkirk & Errol Morris Create Comedic Shorts to Help You Take Action Against Global Warming: Watch Them Online and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Patrick Hipes, Deadline: Toronto Opening-Night Film ‘Once Were Brothers’ Acquired By Magnolia Pictures
 
 
 
 

Recipes

By Nick Fouriezos, Ozy: Watergate Salad: We Have Nixon to Thank for This Creamy Green Creation

On This Day

1791 – Olympe de Gouges writes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.
The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (French: Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne), also known as the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, was written on 5 September in 1791 by French activist, feminist, and playwright Olympe de Gouges in response to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. By publishing this document, de Gouges hoped to expose the failures of the French Revolution in the recognition of sexual equality, but failed to create any lasting impact on the direction of the Revolution. As a result of her writings (including The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen), de Gouges was accused, tried and convicted of treason, resulting in her immediate execution, along with the Girondists in the Reign of Terror (one of only three women beheaded during the Reign of Terror – and the only executed for her political writings). The Declaration of the Rights of Woman is significant because it brought attention to a set of feminist concerns that collectively reflected and influenced the aims of many French Revolution activists.

Read more ->

Born On This Day

1500 – Maria of Jever, ruler of the Lordship of Jever (d. 1575)
Maria of Jever, known in Jeverland as Fräulein Maria (5 September 1500 in Jever – 20 February 1575, Jever) was the last ruler of the Lordship of Jever from the Wiemken family.

Life
Maria of Jever was a third child of the East Frisian chieftain Edo Wiemken the Younger. Her mother, Heilwig, was Edo’s second wife and was the sister of Count John V of Oldenburg. Heilwig died when Maria was one year old. Her father died about 10 years later. After her father’s death, a council of five village elders took up the regency and guardianship of his children. Her brother Christopher was given a suitable education to become the next Lord of Jeverland. Maria and her two sisters were raised to marry economically and politically favorable prospects.

However, Lord Christopher suddenly died at the age of 18. This drastically changed the situation. Since there was no male heir, Maria inherited the Jeverland. Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, demonstrated his military strength at the common border. With the approval of the regents, he concluded a marriage contract, which made him protector of Jeverland. Maria seemed destined to marry one of Edzard’s sons. However, the future counts Enno and John could not wait until the marriage and occupied Jever Castle in 1527, exposing Maria to severe humiliation. The East Frisian Landdrost Boing of Oldersum came to Maria’s rescue and drove the invaders out of Jeverland. He and Maria were probably in love. However, he died during a siege of Wittmund and Maria never married.

In the subsequent years, Maria managed to defend her father’s inheritance and gradually got a grip on the business of government. Some sources state that this was due to her strong will and growing desire for independence. Her unusual decisions also played a rôle. For example, she requested assistance from the regional opponent Emperor Charles V. As Count of Holland and Duke of Brabant, he took possession of the Jeverland and then gave it back to Maria as a fief. Thus Maria ended the imperial immediacy Jeverland had enjoyed since 1417.

Nevertheless Maria has done much for her territory. In 1536, she gave Jever city rights. She expanded Jever Castle, she enlarged her territory by creating new polders and locks and she stimulated the administration of justice. Commerce flourished during her reign. In 1556, Maria converted the choir of the city church, which had been damaged several times, into a grave chapel. Between 1561 and 1564, a Renaissance grave monument for her father was erected in the chapel. This monument still exists.

When she died in 1575, her death was initially kept secret, for fear that the Counts of East Frisia might grab power. Her room was sealed and food was placed outside her door. A servant is said to have secretly eaten the food, so no suspicion would arise, until Maria’s rightful heir, Count John VII of Oldenburg, had arrived.

FYI

Jezebel: The National Anthems of Lana Del Rey; Planned Parenthood’s Birth Control and UTI App Is Coming to All 50 States This Year and more ->
 
 
 
 
Jalopnik: Understanding Anthoine Hubert’s Fatal Accident; We’re Talking Garbage Trucks, Rally, And AMG On /DRIVE Returning Sept. 8 and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Scientists Discover New Beaked Whale Species Off Japanese Coast; Large Underwater Observatory Disappears Without a Trace, Baffling Scientists and more ->
 
 
 
 
Sacha Black: The Rebel Author Podcast
 
 
 
 
By Danielle Meadows, Omaha News: Maid of honor wears T.rex costume in Omaha wedding
 
 
 
 
By Oscar Duran, Beyond Bylines: 5 Young Latin American Influencers You Should Know
 
 
 
 
By Emily Dixon: Scientists have identified the genes linked to left-handedness
 
 
 
 
By Chris Ciaccia, Fox News: Tyrannosaurus rex had a built-in ‘air con’ in its head, study says
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: $108 hoodie illustrates modern realities of ‘Made in America’; How feral pigs threaten wildlife, habitats, and crops; Horse trainer won top walking-horse prize despite imminent suspension for soring, a ‘sad state of affairs,’ activist says; Rural job growth continued to lag urban areas in the past year; view county-level data to see how your area compared and more ->
 
 
 
 
Open Culture: Meet Fanny, the First Female Rock Band to Top the Charts: “They Were Just Colossal and Wonderful, and Nobody’s Ever Mentioned Them”; Yale Presents an Archive of 170,000 Photographs Documenting the Great Depression and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Justin Housman, Adventure Journal: Worlds Toughest Horse Race Won By 70 Year Old Idaho Man Named Bob

 
 
 
 
By John Baldoni, Smart Brief. What music teaches leaders about reflection
Recently I came across “The Mastery of Music: Ten Pathways to True Artistry” by Barry Green, a concert bassist. Green focuses on what it takes to make good music, beginning with a musician’s inner self. As an author, Green is both observer and teacher. And, having been part of prominent orchestras as well as a talented interviewer, he looks at music from multiple dimensions: craft, profession and gift.
 
 
 
 

By Allison Kaplan, Twin Cities Business: TCB Q&A: Caribou Coffee President and CEO John Butcher The hometown chain’s new leader brews up a fresh recipe to stand out in a crowded field.
Every support staffer at Caribou Coffee, including President and CEO John Butcher, has at one time or another taken an in-store shift to experience what customers see. “I want the team focused on making people’s day better — being a day brightener, a force of good,” he says.
 
 
 
 
By Warren Bobrow, Forbes: Five Deeply Intellectual Questions With Andrew Davison, CEO Of GCH Inc.
I’m the CEO of GCH Inc., a cannabis IP company focused on developing a portfolio of cannabis brands and co-founded with the legendary musician Willie Nelson. Our first brand to market was Willie’s Reserve, a line of licensed THC cannabis products.
 
 
 
 

Recipes

By smcotthaus: Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce
 
 
By SparkyGiraffe: Jalapeño Crispy Fish Tacos

On This Day

1607 – The Flight of the Earls takes place in Ireland.
The Flight of the Earls (Irish: Imeacht na nIarlaí) took place on 4 September 1607, when Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and about ninety followers left Ulster in Ireland for mainland Europe.

Name
The event was first named as a “flight” in a book by the Reverend CP Meehan that was published in 1868.[1]

Historians disagree to what extent the earls wanted to start a war with Spanish help to re-establish their positions, or whether they accepted exile as the best way of coping with their recent loss of status since the Treaty of Mellifont in 1603. Meehan argued that the earls’ tenants wanted a new war: “Withal, the people of Ulster were full of hope that O’Neill would return with forces to evict the evictors, but the farther they advanced into this agreeable perspective, the more rapidly did its charms disappear.”[2]

Read more ->
 
 

Born On This Day

1905 – Mary Renault, English-South African author (d. 1983)
Mary Renault (/ˈrɛnoʊlt/;[2] 4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), born Eileen Mary Challans,[1] was an English and South African writer best known for her historical novels set in ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato, and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander.

Read more ->

FYI

By Emily Dixon, CNN: Fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh has died, age 74
 
 
Peter Lindbergh (born Peter Brodbeck,[1] 23 November 1944 – 3 September 2019) was a German fashion photographer and film director.
Early life
Lindbergh was born on 23 November 1944 in Lissa (Leszno), Reichsgau Wartheland, German occupied Poland. He spent his childhood in Duisburg.[2]

As a teenager, he worked as window dresser for the Karstadt and Horten department stores in Duisburg. Coming from a part of Germany close to the Dutch border, North Rhine-Westphalia, he spent summer holidays with his family in the Netherlands on the coast near Noordwijk. The vast beaches and the industrial settings of his hometown Duisburg, influenced his work strongly over the years. In the early 1960s, he moved to Lucerne and months later to Berlin where he enrolled in the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts. He hitchhiked to Arles in the footsteps of his idol, Vincent van Gogh. Lindbergh recalled these years: “I preferred actively seeking out van Gogh’s inspirations, my idol, rather than painting the mandatory portraits and landscapes taught in art schools”. After several months in Arles, he continued through to Spain and Morocco, a journey which took him two years.[3]

Returning to Germany, he studied abstract art at the College of Art in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia) with Günther C. Kirchberger. Influenced by Joseph Kosuth and the conceptual art movement, he was invited in 1969, before graduating, to present his work at the avant-garde Galerie Denise René. These works were exhibited in the Objets ludiques exhibition at the Tinguely Museum in Basel in 2014. After moving to Düsseldorf in 1971, he turned his attention to photography and worked for two years assisting German photographer Hans Lux, before opening his own studio in 1973. Becoming well known in his native country, he joined the Stern magazine family along with photographers Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Hans Feurer.[4][5]

Read more ->
 
 
 
 
By Bradley Brownell, Jalopnik: The 2020 GMC Sierra HD Is A Monstrous High-Tech Workhorse
 
 
 
 
Deadspin: Please Understand That I Would Kill, And Surely Die, For This Carnivorous Howling Mouse; TV Helicopter Unwittingly Exposes Rooftop Weed Operation During Bike Race; What Gymnastics Did To Jessica Howard and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Incredible Fossils Link Ancient Creature to Earliest ‘Footprints’ on Earth and more ->
 
 
 
 

Open Culture: The History of Europe from 400 BC to the Present, Animated in 12 Minutes; The Wisdom of Ram Dass Is Now Online: Stream 150 of His Enlightened Spiritual Talks as Free Podcasts and more ->
 
 
 
 

By Stephanie Mehta, Fast Company: NatGeo’s ‘Activate’ wants to inspire global activism—and reinvent P&G marketing—with Pharrell, Common A new National Geographic series, highlighting the work of Global Citizen and underwritten by the consumer packaged goods giant, may be a new model for marketing.
 
 
 
 

By Alfred Miller, Pro Publica: How Kentucky Gambled for Hundreds of Millions of Dollars From a Broadband Program It Didn’t Qualify for Former Gov. Steve Beshear’s administration was warned multiple times that its rural broadband bet wouldn’t get certain federal funds. Meet the officials and conflicted consultants who didn’t listen and doomed the plan.

 
 
 
 
Today’s email was written by Quincey Tickner, edited by Whet Moser, and produced by Luiz Romero. Quartz Obsession: Vacuum cleaners: The machine that’s meant to suck
 
 
 
 
Carol at Make a Living Writing: How to Self-Publish a Book When Writing is Just Your Crazy Dream
 
 
 
 

By Beth McKenna, The Motley Fool: 10 Reasons to Buy Amazon Stock — and Consider Never Selling The e-commerce giant has plenty of ways to continue growing and keep its stock price moving upward.
 
 
 
 

By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in September & October 2019
 
 
 
 
By Seth Doane, CBS News: Pope Francis says it’s an “honor” to be criticized by Catholic conservatives in the U.S.
 
 
 
 

By Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR: The Other Twitterverse: Squirrels Eavesdrop On Birds, Researchers Say
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: State judges rule that gerrymandered N.C. state legislature district maps must be redrawn before 2020 elections; Walmart, Sam’s Club and Kroger announce changes meant to curb gun violence, get mixed reactions; Hemp farmers dealing with increased theft; Cherokee Nation names first delegate to U.S. House and more ->
 
 
 
 

Recipes

The Kitchn: 5 Ways to Make Healthier Mac and Cheese (That Still Tastes Good); We Tried 7 Ways to Hard Boil Eggs and Found a Clear Winner; I Tried the Murder Cookies Reddit Is Obsessed With (Yes, They’re to Die For) and more ->

On This Day

1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”.
“Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” is a Petrarchan sonnet by William Wordsworth describing London and the River Thames, viewed from Westminster Bridge in the early morning. It was first published in the collection Poems, in Two Volumes in 1807.

History
“ […] we left London on Saturday morning at ​1⁄2 past 5 or 6, the 31st July (I have forgot which) we mounted the Dover Coach at Charing Cross. It was a beautiful morning. The City, St pauls, with the River & a multitude of little Boats, made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung by their cloud of smoke & they were spread out endlessly, yet the sun shone so brightly with such a pure light that there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand Spectacles ”
— Dorothy Wordsworth, The Grasmere Journal, 31 July 1802,[1]

The sonnet was originally dated 1803, but this was corrected in later editions and the date of composition given precisely as 31 July 1802, when Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy were travelling to Calais to visit Annette Vallon and his daughter Caroline by Annette, prior to his forthcoming marriage to Mary Hutchinson.

The sonnet has always been popular, escaping the generally excoriating reviews from critics such as Francis Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review when Poems in Two Volumes was first published. The reason undoubtedly lies in its great simplicity and beauty of language, turning on Dorothy’s observation that this man-made spectacle is nevertheless one to be compared to nature’s grandest natural spectacles. Cleanth Brooks analysed the sonnet in these terms in The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry.[2]

Stephen Gill remarks that at the end of his life Wordsworth, engaged in editing his works, contemplated a revision even of “so perfect a poem” as this sonnet in response to an objection from a lady that London could not both be “bare” and “clothed” (an example of the use of paradox in literature).[3]

That the sonnet so closely follows Dorothy’s journal entry comes as no surprise because Dorothy wrote her Grasmere Journal to “give Wm pleasure by it” and it was freely available to Wordsworth, who said of Dorothy that “She gave me eyes, she gave me ears” in his poem “The Sparrow’s Nest”.[4][5][6]

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

William Wordsworth: Poems, in Two Volumes: Sonnet 14

Born On This Day

1803 – Prudence Crandall, American educator (d. 1890)
Prudence Crandall (September 3, 1803 – January 28, 1890)[1] was an American schoolteacher and activist who pushed for women’s suffrage and the rights of African Americans in the United States.[2] Originally from Rhode Island, Crandall was raised as a Quaker in Canterbury, Connecticut,[3] and she became known for establishing an academy for the education of African-American girls and women.

In 1831, Crandall opened a private school for young white girls.[4] However, when she admitted Sarah Harris, a 20-year-old African-American female student in 1832,[3][5] she had what is considered to be the first integrated classroom in the United States.[6] Parents of the white children began to withdraw them.[3] Rather than ask the African-American student to leave, she decided that if white girls could not attend with the blacks, she would educate blacks. She was arrested and spent a night in jail. Soon the violence of the townspeople forced her to close the school and leave.[3] The Connecticut legislature, with pressure from Mark Twain, a resident of Hartford, passed a resolution honoring Crandall and providing her with a pension. Twain offered to buy her former Canterbury home for her retirement, but she declined.[7] She died a few years later, in 1890.[6]

Read more ->

FYI

Vector’s World: Creative ladder work; You don’t argue with this chef and more ->
 
 
 
 

Jalopnik: Help This YouTuber Discover A Completely Forgotten NASCAR Track From The 1950s; These Incredibly Slow Cars Have Better Power-To-Weight Ratios Than My Jeep J10; Why The 2004 To 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited ‘LJ’ Is The Holy Grail Of Jeeps; Who remembers the awesome early ‘80s CBS show Windbreaker and Fern? More ->
 
 
 
 
gizmodo: 21 Sneakily Useful Subreddits That You Might Not Have Heard About and more ->
 
 
Gizmodo Science: Different Dog Breeds Have Different Brains, Scientists Find and more ->
 
 
 
 
By T. J. McKay: The September issue of InD’tale magazine
 
 
 
 
Colossal: Delicate Flowers Blossom From Inky Black Backgrounds in Esther Garcia’s Stylized Botanical Tattoos; Wooden Detailing and Hanging Plants Provide a Modern Update for an Industrial Building From the 1950s and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Passive Voice: Reader, I Googled It and more ->
 
 
 
 
Gastro Obscura: 14 Unique and Extraordinary Breads and more ->
 
 
Gastro Obscura: Shaved Ice Dynasty and more ->
 
 
Atlas Obscura: Here’s what RV camping looked like 100 years ago; Tracking the Tick Boom and more ->
 
 
Atlas Obscura: Medieval Tax Evasion; ‘Ghost Mansion’; The Little Tunnel and more ->
 
 
 
 
By Denise Hicks – Research Director, Orlando Business Journal: This woman’s side gig involves playing with dogs. Here’s what it’s like.
 
 
 
 
By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: Blog Profiles: SEO Blogs, Part 2
 
 
 
 

By Associated Press, Fox News: Former Navy SEAL, 52, who was wounded in Bergdahl mission, heads to Yale as a freshman
 
 
 
 
Open Culture: Meditation for Beginners: Buddhist Monks & Teachers Explain the Basics; The Greatest Cut in Film History: Watch the “Match Cut” Immortalized by Lawrence of Arabia; 3,700+ MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Getting Started in September: Enroll Today and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Rural Blog: Unpaid coal miners’ protest gets more attention, could give their cause leverage in Blackjewel bankruptcy case; Paper in rural Maine succeeds with local and regional content, twice-monthly frequency and national audience and more ->
 
 
 
 
FROM DEBRA + LARRY: The Nature of Hurricanes (they actually benefit the planet)
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By RayP24: Low-Tech Moving Eyes Portrait (Rembrandt)
 
 
By rue_mohr: The Fabrication Assistant
 
 

Recipes

Sandra’s Alaska Recipes: SANDRA’S KIELBASA CABBAGE SWEET POTATO SOUP over STEAMED RICE
 
 
By seamster: Author Spotlight: in the Kitchen With Matt
 
 
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Honey Joys
 
 
By McFatty_McFatty: Homemade Spicy Bibimbap
 
 
By FOODS by Lyds: Coconut Crème Brûlée