Public Posts

Memorial Day honors all service members who lost their lives while in service to the United States, during peace and war. It is a time to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

            Immortality

   Do not stand 
        By my grave, and weep.
   I am not there,
       I do not sleep—
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.
    Do not stand
        By my grave, and cry—
     I am not there,
          I did not die.

Poem by Clare Harner, The Gypsy, December 1934 (page 16). The poem is often attributed to anonymous or incorrect sources. Read more about Memorial day:  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs   -   National Museum of American History

Kara Kondo (1916 -2005) American, of Japanese ancestry (Nisei), born in Wapato, Yakima valley, Washington where she spent her childhood. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, at 27 years of age she was removed to the North Portland Assembly Center, Oregon, and then to the Heart Mountain concentration camp, Wyoming. Kondo was on the staff of the camp newspaper, the Heart Mountain Sentinel. Left camp for Chicago, Illinois, and lived in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Missouri before returning to Yakima, Washington. Became involved in political organization postwar, such as the League of Women Voters. Testified before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians during the redress movement, and became actively involved in groups addressing environmental issues.  Kara Kondo Interview - "The Day of Mass Removal" 

Experience the legendary origins and turning points of April: witness the traditional date for the founding of Rome, Halley’s Comet passing closest to Earth, and the fierce Battle of Legnica during the Mongol invasion of Europe. This month also marks defining milestones such as the agreement to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France, Beethoven’s bold “Eroica” Symphony debuting in Vienna, American engineer William R. Johnson patenting the bicycle, and the groundbreaking of the Suez Canal.

Explore moments of tragedy and transformation as well: President Lincoln’s assassination, the start of the Battle of Okinawa, Bill Haley and His Comets recording “Rock Around the Clock,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s stirring Mountaintop Speech, and Hank Aaron’s historic breaking of Babe Ruth’s home run record. See what happened in April, listed by year, and uncover the stories that changed nations and shaped the modern world.

Explore major historical events from April or any day on Kudos 365.

Although fighting continued in many parts of the Western Front, a rare heart-warming display of humanity in the history of human conflict takes place in some sections. By Christmas of that year there were millions of soldiers dug in trenches packed together and living in freezing conditions. On Christmas Eve German troops began unwrapping gifts from home and singing Christmas carols and soon the British and French troops joined in. Christmas greetings and well wishes were exchanged, and offers of a temporary ceasefire were communicated between the trenches. On Christmas morning, The troops began to greet one another, messages and gifts were exchanged and spontaneous games of football(soccer) were rumored to have happened. More

"In pursuit of knowledge, the evolution of humanity ranks with the origins of life and the universe. And yet, except when an exciting find hits the headlines, paleoanthropology and its related fields have gained far less scientific support and funding – particularly for scientists and institutions based in the African countries where so many landmark discoveries have occurred". More at The Conversation ➜ 

Julius Caesar is believed to have said “Alea iacta est", expressing his irreversible commitment, as he led his army across the Rubicon River in Northern Italy, defying the Roman Senate’s authority and initiating a civil war. More

Leonardo Pisano Bigollo, also known as Leonardo of Pisa, or simply Fibonacci, (“Filius Bonacci - the son of ”Bonacci") was not the first to think of the sequence and pattern of counting made up of numbers that sum the previous two numbers before them — 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 — and so on. But he was the first to bring it to the European world and bring awareness to its importance in the furthering of science.  The sequence is now used in computing, stock trading, architecture and design. In 1202, Fibonacci published “Liber Abaci” (The Book of Calculation) introducing Europe not only to his now-famous sequence but also to the Hindu-Arabic base 10, numeral system, which by the 15th century replaced the Roman numeral system, revolutionized math, and is in use today in most of the world although some countries still rely on their traditional numeral system for specific purposes.

The sequence itself first appeared in Indian Mathematics, known as Virahanka numbers, and was connected with Sanskrit prosody. The number sequence is also tied to the golden ratio and the golden triangle, both of which appear again and again in nature, as does the sequence itself. It is in the most fundamental of things, from the petals of the yellow chamomile to the complex and seemingly random branching of a tree’s limbs. These are just a few. The Fibonacci sequence is everywhere. Video

November 23 is the date chosen by some to celebrate as Fibonacci day, because when the date is written in the mm/dd format (11/23), the digits forms a Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3. Fibonacci was a very important mathematician and that date may remind us to take the opportunity to marvel at the way math pervades everything around us. The Fibonacci sequence can be used to calculate the proportions of countless things on Earth and beyond, such as animals, plants, weather patterns, and even galaxies. Pause to observe your surroundings and you’ll start to notice the familiar spiral all around you. Leonardo Bonacci was born to an Italian merchant and customs official working in in North Africa, modern-day Algeria, It was there when living with his father, that Fibonacci learned Hindu-Arabic numerals. It is believed that Fibonacci died sometime between 1240 and 1250 in Pisa, Italy. More

Note: Fibonacci' Liber abaci book, contains the respectful quote: "If by chance I have omitted anything more or less proper or necessary, I beg forgiveness, since there is no one who is without fault and circumspect in all matters".

"On 29 October 1969, two scientists established a connection between computers some 350 miles away and started typing a message. Halfway through, it crashed. They sat down with the BBC 55 years later"......"I was on the phone with Bill when we tried this. I told him I typed the letter L. He told me he had received the letter L and echoed it back. I told him that it printed. Then I typed the letter O. Again, it worked fine. I typed the letter G. Bill told me his system had crashed, and he would call me back"..... Read more at The BBC ➜

Pablo Picasso's masterpiece, Guernica was painted in 1937 when he was commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the Paris International Exposition. The inspiration for this piece came in the most unexpected and tragic way. On April 26, 1937, the town of Guernica, in Vizcaya, was bombed for about two hours during the Spanish Civil War by warplanes of the Nazi Germany Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, in support of the Nationalistic Spanish rebels led by Francisco Franco. The horrific carpet bombing attack was the first of its kind in history and reportedly an opportunity to test out new weapons and tactics.
Picasso completed the work quickly on June 4 1937, a grey, black and white painting, on a canvas 11 ft 5 in tall and 25 ft 6 in across, which portrays the suffering brought by violence and chaos. Prominently featured in the composition are a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, a dead baby, a dismembered soldier, and flames.captured the horror and desolation caused by the war.

In 1939, after being displayed in parts of Europe before WWII broke out, the painting was sent to New York on a tour for the benefit of the Spanish Refugee Committee. When World War II broke out later that year, Picasso requested that Guernica, as well as a number of other of his works, be held at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on extended loan. Most of his works were returned to Europe after the war, however Picasso  asked that Guernica stay at the MoMA until the “reestablishment of public liberties” in Spain. The death of Picasso in 1973 and objections by Picasso's heirs who questioned Spain’s democratic credentials delayed Guernica's return to Spain until September 10, 1981 after being in the custody of New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for more than four decades.

Once landed in Madrid, the work was initially installed in the Casón del Buen Retiro, which was specially adapted to exhibit it under special security conditions, with armored glass protection. This location had a special significance since it was part of the Prado Museum of which Picasso was director. Later, in July 1992, the work made a final trip to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed his intention, if elected to a second term, to use the U.S. armed forces to suppress domestic protests. The New York Times reports that Trump’s allies are marshaling legal arguments to justify using National Guard or active-duty military troops for crowd control." More at The Conversation ➜

Discover the medieval clash at Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce led Scotland to independence, and the decisive Battle of Bosworth Field, which closed the Wars of the Roses. August delivers pivotal moments, from the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France to Eunice Newton Foote’s groundbreaking recognition of the greenhouse effect, and even the long-awaited completion of Cologne Cathedral after more than six centuries of construction.

Explore modern milestones as well: the Klondike gold discovery that ignited a rush to Canada’s Yukon, the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and the first satellite image of Earth. See what happened in August, listed by year, and uncover the stories that reshaped nations and the world.