Tag: FYI

On This Day

1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.[1]
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire in North America and the United States of America, on lines “exceedingly generous” to the latter.[2] Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war.

This treaty and the separate peace treaties between Great Britain and the nations that supported the American cause—France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic—are known collectively as the Peace of Paris.[3][4] Only Article 1 of the treaty, which acknowledges the United States’ existence as free, sovereign, and independent states, remains in force.[5]

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Born On This Day

1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
Mary Jackson (née Winston,[1] April 9, 1921 – February 11, 2005) was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career. She started as a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951. She took advanced engineering classes and, in 1958, became NASA’s first African-American female engineer.

After 34 years at NASA, Jackson had earned the most senior engineering title available. She realized she could not earn further promotions without becoming a supervisor. She accepted a demotion to become a manager of both the Federal Women’s Program, in the NASA Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, and of the Affirmative Action Program. In this role, she worked to influence the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, engineering, and mathematics careers.

Jackson’s story features in the 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race. She is one of the three protagonists in Hidden Figures, the film adaptation released the same year.

In 2019, Jackson posthumously was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.[2]

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FYI

 
Ok, Screw the virus. Baseball, here it is, lotsa stories (thank you GQ). Hit the links for more than you know and I know you know a lot about baseball. Yes, I remember three teams in New York (well one of them in Brooklyn). two teams in Boston and two in Philadelphia.

My first ever major league game was to see The Philadelphia Athletics, it was rained out. Shibe Park. Both the Phillies and the Athletics played their home games in this park.

Oh, don’t forget the free streaming from PBS, Ken Burns Baseball documentary. I still have a VHS copy, anyone got a player?

I noticed as I was assembling the send to list that I have a load of dead guys in my contacts, I must be gettin old or something. But at least I use the Bcc so as not to clutter up your emails! If you get it twice, let me know. If you don’t get it, let me know as well. And if you are not here, please raise your hand.

George Shedlock
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By MadeByBarb: DIY Fibre Leaf Bowls
 
 

Recipes

On This Day

1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
The Government of Ireland Bill 1886,[1] commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1870s.

The Bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was very much the work of Gladstone, who excluded both the Irish MPs and his own ministers from participation in the drafting. Following the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 it was to be introduced alongside a new Land Purchase Bill to reform tenant rights, but the latter was abandoned.[2]

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Born On This Day

1900 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979) [6]
Marie Beuzeville Byles (8 April 1900 – 21 November 1979) was a committed conservationist, pacifist, the first practising female solicitor in New South Wales (NSW), mountaineer, explorer and avid bushwalker, feminist, journalist, and an original member of the Buddhist Society in New South Wales. She was also a travel and non-fiction writer.[1][2]

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FYI

Vector’s World: Grand scale clean up; Nice curl- no riders; Short bed hauler and more ->
 
 
 
 

Barn Stormers: Kinner powered Snowplane

 
 
 
 

The Rural Blog: John Prine, a songwriter for the ages and our times, dies and more ->
 
 
 
 

49 Writers Blog: Writing the Distance: Mareth Griffith
 
 
 
 

Kathryn’s Report: Piper PA-18A Super Cub, N2791P: Accident occurred April 07, 2020 on Powell Glacier, Alaska; accident occurred October 13, 2016 in Palmer, Alaska; accident occurred December 21, 2015 in Girdwood, Alaska and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Seattle Times Evening Brief: Tuesday Evening Brief: Donors including Bezos, Ballmer and Allen families, give $20 million for coronavirus testing, research at UW and more ->
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By AndrewW1977: How to 3D Print a Surfboard

 
 
By neslo63: All My Hearts, Combination Puzzle Box
 
 
By Courtney, The Kitchen Garten: How to Grow Blueberries in Containers

Recipes

A Taste of Alaska: No Netflix and Rhubarb Coffee Cake
 
 
Taste of Home: Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight
 
 
Taste of Home: 12-Hour Salad
 
 
By Grace Mannon, Taste of Home; 34 Recipes That Got Us Through the Great Depression

Cooking Journey: Heart Shaped Chocolate Dessert With Mirror Glaze

On This Day

1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
Lake Biwa Canal (琵琶湖疏水 or 琵琶湖疎水, Biwako Sosui) is a waterway in Japan constructed during the Meiji Period to transport water, freight, and passengers from Lake Biwa to the nearby City of Kyoto. The canal supplied Japan’s first public hydroelectric power generator, which served from 1895 to provide electricity for Kyoto’s trams.[1]

In 1996 the canal was designated a Historic Site.[2] As of 2008, the waterway is not used so much to generate electricity, but rather for water supply, fire-fighting and irrigation purposes.[citation needed]

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Born On This Day

1870 – Gustav Landauer, Jewish-German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
Gustav Landauer (7 April 1870 – 2 May 1919) was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of social anarchism and an avowed pacifist. In 1919, during the German Revolution, he was briefly Commissioner of Enlightenment and Public Instruction of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic.[1] He was killed when this Republic was overthrown.

Landauer is also known for his study of metaphysics and religion, and his translations of William Shakespeare’s works into German.

Life and career
Landauer was the second child of Jewish parents Rosa (Neuberger) and Herman Landauer.[2]

Landauer supported anarchism already in the 1890s. In those years, he was especially enthusiastic about the individualistic approach of Max Stirner and Friedrich Nietzsche, but also “cautioned against an apotheosis of the unrestrained individual, potentially leading to the neglect of solidarity”.[3] Landauer believed that social change could not be achieved solely through control of the state or economic apparatus, but required a revolution in interpersonal relations. [4] True socialism could result only in conjunction with this spiritual work, writing “the community we long for and need, we will find only if we sever ourselves from individuated existence; thus we will at last find, in the innermost core or our hidden being, the most ancient and most universal community: the human race and the cosmos.”[5]

One of Landauer’s grandchildren, with wife and author Hedwig Lachmann, was Mike Nichols, the American television, stage and film director, writer, and producer.[6]

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FYI

 
 
 
 
NASA Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Apollo 13, ‘A Successful Failure’
 
 
 
 

By Zach Seemayer, ET: Lady Gaga Apologizes to Jimmy Fallon After Awkward ‘Tonight Show’ Interview Moment
 
 
 
 
By messynessy, 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDXCVII): An online museum of plastic lost at sea; The Food Artistry of this Baker; How this Woman bought a Chateau when she was only 29 Year Old; Caravan House boat, 1954; This North Pole Radio Station is Excellent and more ->
 
 
 
 

ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative: Recently in Community Networks… Week of 4/7
 
 
 
 

Recipes

By Lisa Kaminski, Taste of Home: 40 Homemade Easter Treats Better Than What the Bunny Brings

On This Day

1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
The Declaration of Arbroath (Scots: Declaration o Aiberbrothock; Latin: Declaratio Arbroathis; Scottish Gaelic: Tiomnadh Bhruis) is the name usually given to a letter, dated 6 April 1320 at Arbroath, written by Scottish barons and addressed to Pope John XXII.[1] It constituted King Robert I’s response to his excommunication for disobeying the pope’s demand in 1317 for a truce in the First War of Scottish Independence.[2] The letter asserted the antiquity of the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, denouncing English attempts to subjugate it.[1][2]

Generally believed to have been written in Arbroath Abbey by Bernard of Kilwinning (or of Linton), then Chancellor of Scotland and Abbot of Arbroath,[3] and sealed by fifty-one magnates and nobles, the letter is the sole survivor of three created at the time. The others were a letter from the King of Scots, Robert I, and a letter from four Scottish bishops which all made similar points. The Declaration was intended to assert Scotland’s status as an independent, sovereign state and defend Scotland’s right to use military action when unjustly attacked.

Submitted in Latin, the Declaration was little known until the late 17th century and is unmentioned by any of Scotland’s major 16th century historians.[1][4] In the 1680s the Latin text was printed for the first time and translated into English in the wake of the Glorious Revolution, after which time it was sometimes described as a declaration of independence.[1]

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Born On This Day

1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
Celestina Cordero (April 6, 1787 – January 18, 1862), was an educator who in 1820 founded the first school for girls in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Early years
Cordero (birth name: Celestina Cordero y Molina [note 1]) was second of three children born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Lucas Cordero and Rita Molina. Her older sister was named Gregoria and her younger brother was Rafael Cordero. Cordero’s father, a former slave, was a “Freeman.” In 1789, the Spanish Crown issued the “Royal Decree of Graces of 1789,” also known as El Código Negro (The Black Code). In accordance with El Código Negro a slave could buy their freedom and thus a former slave would become known as “freeman” or “freewoman.”[1][2]

Cordero’s family moved to the town of San German. Her father was an experienced artisan who also worked in the tobacco fields. During his free time he taught his children and those in the neighborhood his artisan skills, while Cordero’s mother taught her children the importance of obtaining an education.

Cordero’s parents taught her and her siblings how to read and write. Inspired by her mother’s teachings, Cordero developed the love of teaching others. It was in San German where Cordero and her brother began their careers as educators.[2][3]

Educator
During the Spanish colonization of the island, Puerto Rico, which depended on an agricultural economy, had an illiteracy rate of over 80% at the beginning of the 19th century. Most women were home educated. The first library in Puerto Rico was established in 1642 in the Convent of San Francisco, and access to its books was limited to those who belonged to the religious order.[4] The only women who had access to the libraries and who could afford books, were the wives and daughters of Spanish government officials or wealthy landowners. Those who were poor had to resort to oral story-telling in what are traditionally known in Puerto Rico as Coplas and Decimas.[2][4]

Cordero and her brother moved back to San Juan. Despite the fact that she was subject to racial discrimination because she was a black free woman, she continued to pursue her goal of teaching others regardless of their race and or social standing. In 1820, Cordero founded the first school for girls in San Juan, the first of its kind in Puerto Rico. Cordero also presented herself as a public speaker in favor of women’s public education. After several years of struggle, the Spanish government officially gave her the title of teacher and accredited her school as an official educational institution.[2][3]

Legacy
Cordero never married and died penniless in her home in San Juan on January 18, 1862. Puerto Rico recognized her brother Rafael as “The Father of Public Education” in Puerto Rico. However, her contributions to the educational system of the island are seldom mentioned.[2][3] On December 9, 2013, Pope Francis advanced the sainthood of her brother when he declared that he lived the Christian virtues in a heroic way and is venerable.[5]

In 2012, the library of the Dr.José Celso Barbosa Jr. High School dedicated its “Women Day” to Celestina Cordero.[6][7]
 
 

FYI

By Marisa Abeyta, Beyond Bylines: Blog Profiles: Dog Fostering Blogs
 
 
 
 

By Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo Entertainment Video: Shania Twain adorably duets with her horse on the Academy of Country Music Awards’ at-home TV special
 
 
 
 

49 Writer’s Blog: Writing the Distance: Mar Ka
 
 
 
 

The Rural Blog: Bill Withers, a son of W.Va. who understood everyday lives and stuck to his songwriting muse, dies; his songs live on and more ->
 
 
 
 

Omniglot: Idioms and sayings in various languages
 
 
 
 
By Irin Carmen, The Cut: My Cousin Jack Survived the Unimaginable. Here’s His Advice for Right Now.
 
 
 
 

Hank Shaw, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: Stretching in Place
 
 
 
 
Today’s email was an updated version of one that originally ran on June 18, 2018. It was written by Stacy Conradt, re-edited by Annaliese Griffin, and produced by Luiz Romero and Tori Smith. Quartz Daily Obsession: Sneezes: Salud, dinero, amor

Recipes

CutterLight: Crispy, Crunchy, Homemade Rice Crackers
 
 
Taste of Home: Secrets to Freezing Every Type of Food
 
 
Taste of Home: Copy Cat Recipes
 
 
Betty Crocker Kitchens: 10 Budget-Friendly Bisquick Dinners
 
 
By Kelli Foster, The Kitchn: 10 Impossibly-Easy 3-Ingredient Dinners
 
 
Chocolate Covered Katie: Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

On This Day

1566 – Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces.
The Compromise[1] of Nobles (Dutch: Eedverbond der Edelen; French: Compromis des Nobles) was a covenant of members of the lesser nobility in the Habsburg Netherlands who came together to submit a petition to the Regent Margaret of Parma on 5 April 1566, with the objective of obtaining a moderation of the placards against heresy in the Netherlands. This petition played a crucial role in the events leading up to the Dutch Revolt and the Eighty Years’ War.

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Born On This Day

1656 – Nikita Demidov, Russian industrialist (d. 1725)
Nikita Demidov (full name Nikita Demidovich Antufiev; 5 April 1656 – 28 November 1725) was a Russian industrialist who founded the Demidov industrial dynasty.

Peter I of Russia charged the enterprising blacksmith Nikita with casting cannon for his many military expeditions and he was ennobled with name Demidov for having strongly supported the tsar’s activities. In 1699 he set up Nevyansk’s first iron foundry and in 1725 discovered mines at Kolivan (Kolyban), whose exploitation enriched him. A museum is devoted to him in Tula.
Life

The founder of the Demidov family, he was born at Tula, the son of Demid Antufiev (1624–1664), a free blacksmith from Tula. Nikita began as a blacksmith himself and was put in charge of producing muskets and halberds (of which he was the main supplier) for the Russian Army by Tsar Peter the Great. Conceded many privileges, Nikitia built one of Russia’s first metallurgical factories at Tula between 1694 and 1696. This produced the first Russian iron to rival English- and Swedish-produced iron for quality.

In 1699, Nikita built a new factory at Yekaterinburg. He then opened Siberia’s first iron mine at Kolyban. In 1702 the Tsar granted him permission to change his name to Demidov and put a new foundry in the Urals under his command – it became Russia’s first true armaments factory. Between 1716 and 1725 Nikita built four new metallurgical factories in the Urals. During Russia’s Great Northern War against Sweden (1700–1721), the Demidov factories became the main supplier to the Russian army, supplying cannons, pistols, swords and other munitions, producing them twice as fast and twice as cheaply as the competition and thus making a decisive contribution to the Russian victory. On 21 September he was ennobled by Tsar Peter the Great in reward for his services.

He died in his home town of Tula.

Nikita Demidov had three definitely-attested children (and a possible fourth):

Akinfiy Nikitich Demidov (1678–1745)
Grigory Nikitich Demidov (died 1728)
Nikita Nikitich Demidov (died 1758)

FYI

By Chris Finch, WVUE: History-making Saints kicker Tom Dempsey dies from coronavirus crisis
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Legendary New Orleans Saints place kicker Tom Dempsey died Saturday night after a battle with COVID-19. He was 73.

It is unknown what the cause of death was – coronavirus has not been ruled out. However, the Saints Hall of Fame kicker recently tested positive.
 
 
 
 

Barn Finds
 
 
 
 

By Elaine Neil Orr, Women Writer’s Women’s Books: Living and Writing and Faith: Dispatch from Self-Isolation, Day 30
 
 
 
 

Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: Stillness as a form of action; Virginia Woolf on finding beauty in uncertainty; lessons on survival, sanity, and connection from the 1964 earthquake
 
 
 
 

By Amanda Cerney, Matzav Review: 6 are the books of John Green, the author of “The children of the Stars, which you have to read it
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By Sunyecz22 : Recipe of the Day Toaster
 
 
BrainTwitch: Parabolic Curve Art Embroidery
 
 

Recipes

Coleen’s Recipes: LIPTON ONION SOUP MIX CLONE
 
 
CutterLight: Add a Little Zip to Your Morning – Ginger Crumbled Rhubarb Muffins
 
 
CutterLight: Sugar-free, Sweet and Satisfying Banana Custard
 
 
Taste of Home: Russian Potato Salad
 
 
Peggy Woodward, Taste of Home: 28 Recipes to Make With a Bag of Tortilla Chips
 
 
By Emily Racette Parulski, Taste of Home: 24 Warm and Cozy Slow Cooker Pasta Recipes

On This Day

1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord, OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949.[3][4] NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO’s Headquarters are located in Evere, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30. The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.[5] An additional 20 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the global total.[6] Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defense spending of at least 2% of GDP by 2024.[7][8]

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Born On This Day

1869 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (d. 1958)
Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter (April 4, 1869 – January 8, 1958) was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day. She was the designer of many landmark buildings and spaces for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad, notably in Grand Canyon National Park. Her work had enormous influence as she helped to create a style, blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture with Native American motifs and Rustic elements, that became popular throughout the Southwest. Colter was a perfectionist, who spent a lifetime advocating and defending her aesthetic vision in a largely male-dominated field. [1]

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FYI

BBC News: Dr William Frankland, allergy scientist pioneer, dies aged 108
 
 
 
 

By Mark Spoonauer, Tom’s Guide: Forget Zoom: Skype unveils free ‘Meet Now’ video calls
 
 
 
 

By Sophie Lewis, CBS News: Pink is donating $1 million to fight pandemic after revealing she tested positive for coronavirus
 
 
 
 

By Peter Rugg, Inverse: An Oral History of the Indoor Rainforest Iowa Almost Built It’s not a jungle out there. But it almost was — and that made all the difference.
 
 
 
 

Open Culture: Join Choir! Choir! Choir! for a Community Singalong in Isolation
 
 
 
 
Posts from Ventipop Music Library :: Discover Best New Songs And Albums for 04/04/2020
 
 
 
 

Jess Montgomery: Be Gentle With Yourselves, Muffins, Giveaway, And More
 
 
 
 
Freebooksy: Your eBook Freebies | 4/4
 
 
Pxel of Ink: April 04, 2020
 
 
Book Gorilla: Today’s Deals April 04, 2020
 
 

Recipes

Betty Crocker Kitchens: Ground Beef Dinners That Are Just Plain Good
 
 
By Carolie Stanko, Taste of Home: 60 Gorgeous Easter Cake Recipes

On This Day

1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars.
The Italian War of 1551–1559, sometimes known as the Habsburg–Valois War and the Last Italian War, began when Henry II of France, who had succeeded Francis I to the throne, declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. Historians have emphasized the importance of gunpowder technology, new styles of fortification to resist cannon fire, and the increased professionalization of the soldiers.[1]

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Born On This Day

1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840)
Anne Lister (3 April 1791 – 22 September 1840) was an English landowner and diarist from Halifax, West Yorkshire. Throughout her life, she kept diaries that chronicled the details of her daily life, including her lesbian relationships, her financial concerns, her industrial activities, and her work improving Shibden Hall.[1] Her diaries contain 7,720 pages and more than 5 million[2] words and about a sixth of them – those concerning the intimate details of her romantic and sexual relationships – were written in code.[1] The code, derived from a combination of algebra and Ancient Greek, was deciphered in the 1930s.[3][4] Lister is often called “the first modern lesbian” for her clear self-knowledge and openly lesbian lifestyle.[5] Called “Fred” by her lover and “Gentleman Jack” by Halifax residents, she suffered harassment for her sexuality, but recognised her similarity to the Ladies of Llangollen, whom she visited.[6]

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FYI

Vector’s World: Hiding in the Mangos
 
 
 
 
Today’s email was written and produced by Tori Smith, and edited by Annaliese Griffin. Quartz Obsession: Dies Irae: Something wicked this way comes
 
 
 
 
The Passive Voice: Murder for Profit, Mystery Story Techniques Part 1
 
 
 
 

The Rural Blog: Death in Mud Lick digs into the opioid crisis in rural West Virginia, underlines the value of local journalists; Rural churches in Georgia, Kentucky and Washington state are reeling after gatherings spread the coronavirus and more ->
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Recipes

By Elizabeth Licata, The Kitchn: 4-Ingredient Garlic Dill Sauce Goes with Just About Everything
 
 
Edible Alaska, Julia O’Malley: Beau’s Secret Sauce
 
 
A Taste of Alaska: Chicken Parmigiana
 
 
Taste of Home: Quick Dinners

On This Day

1900 – The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

The Foraker Act, Pub.L. 56–191, 31 Stat. 77, enacted April 12, 1900, officially known as the Organic Act of 1900, is a United States federal law that established civilian (albeit limited popular) government on the island of Puerto Rico, which had recently become a possession of the United States as a result of the Spanish–American War. Section VII of the Foraker Act also established Puerto Rican citizenship.[1] President William McKinley signed the act on April 12, 1900[2] and it became known as the Foraker Act after its sponsor, Ohio Senator Joseph B. Foraker. Its main author has been identified as Secretary of War Elihu Root.[3]

The new government had a governor and an 11-member executive council appointed by the President of the United States, a House of Representatives with 35 elected members, a judicial system with a Supreme Court and a United States District Court, and a non-voting Resident Commissioner in Congress.[4][5]

The Executive council was all appointed: five individuals were selected from Puerto Rico residents while the rest were from those in top cabinet positions, including attorney general and chief of police (also appointed by the President). The Insular Supreme Court was also appointed. In addition, all federal laws of the United States were to be in effect on the island. The first civil governor of the island under the Foraker Act was Charles H. Allen, inaugurated on May 1, 1900 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This law was superseded in 1917 by the Jones–Shafroth Act.

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Born On This Day

1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 1647 – 13 January 1717[1]) was a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family. Merian was one of the first European naturalists to observe insects directly.

Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the still life painter Georg Flegel. Merian published her first book of natural illustrations in 1675. She had started to collect insects as an adolescent and at age thirteen she raised silk worms. In 1679 Merian published the first volume of a two-volume series on caterpillars, the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates engraved and etched by Merian. Merian documented evidence on the process of metamorphosis and the plant hosts of 186 European insect species. Along with the illustrations Merian included a descriptions of their life cycles.

In 1699 Merian travelled to Dutch Surinam to study and record the tropical insects. In 1705 she published Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium. Few colour images of the New World were printed before 1700 and thus Merian’s Metamorphosis has been credited with influencing a range of naturalist illustrators. Because of her careful observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, she is considered by David Attenborough[2] to be among the most significant contributors to the field of entomology. She was a leading entomologist of her time and she discovered many new facts about insect life through her studies.[3]

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FYI

By Cassie Carpenter for DailyMail.com: ‘Terribly sad’: Tom Hanks, Rachel Bloom and more celebs react to That Thing You Do song writer Adam Schlesinger’s COVID-19 death
 
 
 
 
By Nelson Oliveira, New York Daily News: Pakistani court overturns murder convictions in beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl
 
 
 
 
By Melissa Davey, The Guardian: Earliest known skull of Homo erectus unearthed by Australian-led team
 
 
By Steph Panecasio, CNET: Flies having sex preserved in fossil dating back millions of years The fossil of the long-legged flies with their proverbial pants around their ankles is now one of Australia’s oldest on record.
 
 
 
 
By Samuel Axon, ARS Technica: In a surprising change, Amazon now sells movies in its Prime Video iOS app Previously, you could watch on iPhones but had to buy the videos elsewhere.
 
 
 
 
By Nancy Bilyeau, The Crime report: Tech Experts in 35 Countries Launch War Against COVID-19 Cybercriminals
 
 
 
 
Today’s email was written by Eleanor Cummins, edited by Whet Moser, and produced by Tori Smith. Quartz Daily Obsession: Auctions: How the other half bids
 
 
Today’s email was written by Chase Purdy (@chasepurdy), edited by Whet Moser, and produced by Tori Smith. Quartz Daily Obsession: Cascading failure: The art of collapse
 
 
 
 
By Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire: The Best Books for Distancing Yourself From Reality Right Now If you’re looking for an escape from your Coronavirus quarantine pick up one of these and transport yourself to rural Maine or to Mars.
 
 
 
 
Gastro Obscura: A beginner’s guide to ancient alchemy; 7 Unusual Dishes From Pantry Staples; ‘Shoebox Lunches’ and more ->
 
 
 
 
Book Trib: Gracefully Aging Gal Pals from Terry McMillan, Human Drama of Men in the Trenches and more
 
 
 
 
Paranormal Romantics: Coping In These Unusual Times by Diane Burton
 
 
Paranormal Romantics: Laughter is the Best Medicine
 
 
 
 
By H. G. Watson, Nieman Labs: No paywall in the chicken coop: A fast-food chain is paying to take down 16 Canadian newspapers’ paywalls this month
 
 
 
 
High Country News: How does a rural doctor prepare in a COVID-19 hotspot?; What role should medical students play during COVID-19? and more ->
 
 
 
 
The Atlantic: The perfect pandemic playlist
 
 
 
 

Ideas

By Seamster: Kid-Friendly Craft: Sheep in a Bottle
 
 

Recipes

By Catherine O’Donnell, The Kitchn: Caramelized Onion Dip
 
 
Hank Shaw, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook: Black Mood, Red Sauce
 
 
Betty Crocker Kitchens: Tonight’s Chicken, Tomorrow’s Casserole
 
 
Chocolate Covered Katie: Healthy Easter Candy Recipes

On This Day

1545 – Potosí, Bolivia, is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.
Cerro Rico (Spanish for “rich mountain”), Cerro Potosí[1] (“Potosí mountain”) or Sumaq Urqu[2] (Quechua sumaq “beautiful, good, pleasant”, urqu “mountain”,[3] “beautiful (good or pleasant) mountain”) is a mountain in the Andes near the Bolivian city of Potosí. Cerro Rico, which is popularly conceived of as being “made of” silver ore, was famous for providing vast quantities of silver for Spain during the period of the New World Spanish Empire. It is estimated that eighty-five percent of the silver produced in the central Andes during this time came from Cerro Rico.[4] As a result of mining operations in the mountain, the city of Potosí became one of the largest cities in the New World.[5]

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Born On This Day

1898 – William James Sidis, Ukrainian-Russian Jewish American mathematician, anthropologist, and historian (d. 1944)
William James Sidis (/ˈsaɪdɪs/; April 1, 1898 – July 17, 1944) was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic skills. He is notable for his 1920 book The Animate and the Inanimate, in which he postulates the existence of dark matter, entropy, and the origin of life in the context of thermodynamics. Sidis was raised in a particular manner by his father, psychologist Boris Sidis, who wished his son to be gifted. Sidis first became famous for his precocity and later for his eccentricity and withdrawal from public life. Eventually, he avoided mathematics altogether, writing on other subjects under a number of pseudonyms. He entered Harvard at age 11 and, as an adult, was claimed to have an extremely high IQ, and to be conversant in about 25 languages and dialects. Some of these claims have not been verified, but many of his contemporaries, including Norbert Wiener, Daniel Frost Comstock and William James, supported the assertion that he was extremely intelligent.

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FYI

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On This Day

1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.[2]
The Second Crusade (1147–1150) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.

The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the crusaders’ progress particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in an ill-advised attack on Damascus. The crusade in the east was a failure for the crusaders and a great victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.

The only significant Christian success of the Second Crusade came to a combined force of 13,000 Flemish, Frisian, Norman, English, Scottish, and German crusaders in 1147. Travelling from England, by ship, to the Holy Land, the army stopped and helped the smaller (7,000) Portuguese army in the capture of Lisbon, expelling its Moorish occupants.

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Born On This Day

1823 – Mary Boykin Chesnut, American author (d. 1886)
Mary Boykin Chesnut (née Miller) (March 31, 1823 – November 22, 1886) was an American author noted for a book published as her Civil War diary, a “vivid picture of a society in the throes of its life-and-death struggle.”[1] She described the war from within her upper-class circles of Southern planter society, but encompassed all classes in her book. She was married to a lawyer who served as a United States senator and Confederate officer. Chesnut worked toward a final form of her book in 1881–1884, based on her extensive diary written during the war years. It was published in 1905, 19 years after her death. New versions were published after her papers were discovered, in 1949 by the novelist Ben Ames Williams, and in 1981 by the historian C. Vann Woodward. His annotated edition of the diary, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War (1981), won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1982. Literary critics have praised Chesnut’s diary—the influential writer Edmund Wilson termed it “a work of art” and a “masterpiece” of the genre[2]—and the most important work by a Confederate author.

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FYI

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Recipes

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