W. A. Cummings was born
in Ware, Mass., on Oct. 18,
1848, one of 11 brothers and sisters.
His family called him Arthur.
They moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., when he was two. As a boy he often played early versions
of baseball, then called ‘town ball’ or ‘The Massachusetts game.’ In 1863, when he was 14, he went to a beach
in Brooklyn with some friends. They
entertained themselves by throwing clamshells into the ocean. The boys managed to make the balls curve
before they hit the water. Cummings
later wrote, “All of a sudden, it came to me that it would be a good joke on
the boys if I could make a baseball curve the same way.” Back in boarding school, he played a lot of
baseball, experimenting obsessively with making a baseball curve. When he graduated, he started to play for
amateur teams: the Brooklyn Excelsiors, the Brooklyn
Stars, the New York Mutuals, the Lord Baltimores, the Philadelphia Pearls and
the Hartford Dark Blues. In 1876 the Hartford Dark Blues became
part of the new National League. Candy Cummings pitched the team to two
victories over the Cincinnati Red Stockings in the first doubleheader ever
played in major league baseball. In 1877
he jumped to the Lynn Live Oaks in the new International Association, then
jumped again in June to the Red Stockings.
He was so good people started calling him ‘Candy’--a Civil War expression
that meant the best of anything. By
1874, other pitchers were throwing the curve, and others started to take credit
for inventing it. A New Haven teenager
named Fred Goldsmith challenged
Candy Cummings’ claim to the invention, saying he’d shown it to the Yale baseball
team in 1866. Cummings retired from
baseball at 29, and ran a paint and wallpaper shop in Athol, Mass. Cummings
also invented a railway coupling device,
for which he received a small royalty. In
retirement he waged a publicity campaign to make sure he got credit for
inventing the curveball. The controversy
raged for years, until it was finally decided Candy Cummings was the first man
to throw it successfully at the top level of competition. On June 12, 1939, Candy Cummings was inducted
into the Baseball Hall of Fame as
one of its 25 charter members. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/candy-cummings-invented-curveball/
January 17, 2020 Baltimore’s Edgar Allan Poe house is set to
become Maryland’s
first official literary landmark. | The Washington Post Andrew
R.M. Smith explains how LBJ’s War On Poverty changed a young George Foreman’s life. | Lit Hub History https://lithub.com/
If you've
ever mistyped an email address, you have surely been paid a visit by
the Mailer-Daemon (in the form of a reply email). Simply put, a daemon is a computer program
that automatically performs a task. This seems unimpressive, but there
was a time when computers relied on human beings to input commands or
information in order to work. A daemon
takes simple errands off an operating system's plate, freeing it up to handle
more taxing things. Daemons are your
friends, and they don't come from hell.
A daemon operates out of sight from the users' eyes, and it is this
quality that inspired its name. Members
of MIT's Project MAC are credited with coming up with the term during their
early research on artificial intelligence and computing processes (the group
was created in 1963). According to
Project MAC's Fernando J.Corbato,
the term for this new type of computing was inspired by Maxwell's daemon of
physics and thermodynamics. "Maxwell's daemon was an imaginary agent
which helped sort molecules of different speeds and worked tirelessly in the
background," he told the Austin Chronicle. "We fancifully began to use the
word daemon to
describe background processes which worked tirelessly to perform system
chores." The daemon spelling
comes from the Greek use of the word, and it refers to a general spirit and not
necessarily an evil being. Nick
Greene https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63647/who-mailer-daemon For a more in-depth look at Maxwell's demon,
see https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/thermodynamics/laws-of-thermodynamics/v/maxwell-s-demon
January 15, 2020 The Atlantic will be publishing more fiction from here on
out—starting with a new short story by Lauren Groff. | The
Atlantic There’s an Alexander Pushkin-themed theme park in the
works, based on the imaginary land of “Lukomorye.” Set to open in St. Petersburg in 2023, Lukomorye
will feature a funfair market, swan lake, fairy tale forest, and more. |
CLAD Sibylle Berg, the Zurich-based author of more than 15
novels, has won this year’s Swiss Grand Prix Literature. | Swiss
Info https://lithub.com/
The Academy of American
Poets lists fourteen selections from its collection for Valentine’s Day 2020 at
https://poets.org/poetsorg-recommends-these-14-love-poems-valentines-day
A Mile and a Half of
Lines: The Art of James Thurber is on
view through March 15, 2020 at the Columbus Museum of Art. Celebrating the 125th anniversary of James
Thurber’s birth, A Mile and a Half of Lines showcases the drawings of
Columbus’s native son and one of America’s best-known twentieth century
writers. Thurber’s depictions changed
the nature of cartooning. His process of
drawing his illustrations spontaneously with child-like abandon was an
innovation to his field. For him, the
drawing often came first before the caption.
A Mile and a Half of Lines includes Thurber’s work for The New
Yorker, his illustrations for his own and others’ books, ad campaigns, and
children’s illustrations. Sections of
the exhibition include topical drawings depicting: Signs of the Times (Prohibition, the Great
Depression, and the Lost Generation); The Bestiary in Me (the animal kingdom);
and Columbustown (including OSU football).
Find location, hours and link to information on James Thurber at http://www.thurberhouse.org/year-of-thurber-events/the-art-of-james-thurber
Fava
beans are one of the oldest domesticated food legumes. References to favas occur in both the Talmud
and the Mishna, indicating they have been part of the Middle Eastern diet since
at least since the 4th century. If
you’re looking at making a fresh fava bean recipe outside of spring, your best
bet is to use frozen fava beans or use fresh/frozen lima beans as a
substitute. Most forms of fava beans
need to be peeled before eating, unless they have already been prepped (which
is sometimes the case with canned and cold packed beans). Tori Avey
Find extensive instructions with pictures at https://toriavey.com/how-to/fava-beans-how-to-cook-soak-peel-freeze/
President
Trump is planning on “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again”
with an executive order that would make a classical style the default for
federal buildings in Washington and other parts of the country, The New York
Times reported February 5, 2020. The draft order would encourage Greek and
Roman architectural designs instead of modern architecture. The order is expected to go in front of Trump
next month, a person familiar with the development told the Times. The National
Civic Art Society pushed for the order, arguing that contemporary design in
buildings is “dehumanizing,” according to the Times. The group developed the order about a year
ago and met with White House officials such as Joe Grogan, the head of the
Domestic Policy Council, according to people involved in the planning. The new guidelines would apply to any
federal government buildings contracted through the General Services
Administration (GSA) and cost more than $50 million. The proposed changes would not affect
Smithsonian-funded museums. The order
would implement a “re-beautification” committee to discuss designs, but the
White House would ultimately decide which style is approved. Proposed modern designs would have to reach a
higher bar to obtain approval, the newspaper reported. The American Institute of Architects has
encouraged members to speak out against the order and sign a petition
condemning the “top-down approach” of regulating design. “By restricting design decisions through this
executive order, it would put Washington bureaucrats in charge of design
decisions affecting communities they may never visit,” the petition reads. News of the draft executive order was
first published by the Architectural Record. Justine Coleman
Burt Lancaster and Kirk
Douglas sing “It’s Great Not to Be Nominated” at the 1958 Academy Awards
ceremony. (The song was written for them
by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.)
Neither man had been nominated for a best-actor Oscar that year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta-0orf0j7g 4:55
The winners at the 92nd
Academy Awards, which were held February 9, 2020 at the Dolby Theatre
include: Best picture: “Parasite”, Best actor: Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”, and Best
actress: Renée Zellweger, “Judy”. https://apnews.com/ff5ce0896b71f1d8683a0d2fc2b2c4d7 Tom Hanks took the stage at the 92nd Oscars and
said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open
Monday, December 14, 2020. Major
construction has been completed on the Academy Museum’s building, designed by
Renzo Piano and located in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile district at Wilshire
Boulevard and Fairfax Ave.
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 2222
February 10, 2020
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