Monday, March 11, 2024

Several U.S. presidential families produced multiple generations of members who devoted at least part of their working lives to public service.

The Adams familyJohn Adams, second U.S. president (1797–1801); his son, John Quincy Adams, sixth U.S. president (1825–29).

The Harrison family:  Benjamin Harrison V, governor of Virginia (1781–84) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence; his son, William Henry Harrison, ninth U.S. president (1841).; William's son, John Scott Harrison, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio (1853–57); John Scott's son, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. president (1889–1893) (the only grandson of a president to become president). 

The Lincoln family:  Abraham Lincoln, postmaster of New Salem, Illinois (1833), Illinois state House of Representatives (1834–42), U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois (1847–49), 16th U.S. president (1861–65); his cousin-in-law, John Todd Stuart, U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois (1839–43, 1863–65), Illinois state Senate (1848–52). 

The Taft family:  Alphonso Taft, U.S. secretary of War (1876) and U.S. attorney general (1876–77); his sons, Charles Phelps Taft, U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio (1895–97), and William Howard Taft, 27th U.S. president (1909–13) and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice (1921–30). 

The Roosevelt family: 26th U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09) and 32nd U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), fifth cousins by blood (their great-great-great-grandfathers were brothers) and uncle-in-law and nephew-in-law by marriage.

The Kennedy family:  Patrick Joseph Kennedy, Massachusetts state legislator (1884–95); his son, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., chair of the U.S. Maritime Commission (1934–35) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (1937–38), and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain (1938–40. Joseph and Rose Kennedy's children included John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president (1961–63), U.S. House of Representatives (1947–53) and U.S. Senate (1953–61) from Massachusetts–). 

The Bush family:  Prescott Bush, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (1952–63); his son, George H. W. Bush, 41st U.S. president (1989–93), U.S. vice president (1981–89), director of Central Intelligence Agency (1976–77), U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (1971–73), U.S. House of Representatives from Texas (1967–71); George H.W.'s sons, George W. Bush, 43rd U.S. president (2001–09) and governor of Texas (1995–2000. 

The Biden familyJoe Biden, 46th U.S. president (2021–), 47th U.S. vice president (2009–17), U.S. senator from Delaware (1973–2009); his son, Beau Biden, state attorney general of Delaware (2007–15).  President Biden's great-grandfather, Edward Francis Blewitt, served as a Pennsylvania state senator (1907–10).  Two other presidents were related by blood:  James Madison and Zachary Taylor were second cousins.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_family   

The Magdalena River (SpanishRío Magdalena, less commonly Rio Grande de la Magdalena) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about 1,528 kilometres (949 mi) through the western half of the country.  It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene.  It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as far as Honda, at the downstream base of its rapids.  It flows through the Magdalena River Valley.  Its drainage basin covers a surface of 273,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi), which is 24% of the country's area and where 66% of its population lives.  Much of the film Love in the Time of Cholera takes place in the historic, walled city of Cartagena in Colombia. Some screenshots showed the Magdalena River and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.  The General in His Labyrinth, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a fictionalized account of the final voyage of Simón Bolívar down the Magdalena River, where he revisits many cities and villages along the river.  In Magdalena: River of Dreams (Knopf, 2020), Canadian writer, anthropologist, and explorer Wade Davis travels the length of the river by boat, on foot, by car, and on horseback combining descriptions of nature with episodes from Colombian history.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_River    

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi).  Pi Day is observed on March 14 (the 3rd month) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of π.  It was founded in 1988 by Larry Shaw, an employee of the San Francisco science museum, the Exploratorium.  Celebrations often involve eating pie or holding pi recitation competitions.  In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.  UNESCO's 40th General Conference designated Pi Day as the International Day of Mathematics in November 2019.  Other dates when people celebrate pi include July 22 (22/7 in the day/month format, an approximation of π) and June 28 (6.28, an approximation of 2π or tau).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day   

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., US Supreme Court Justice (8 Mar 1841-1935)   

Sweden became NATO’s newest member on Thursday (7 March 2024), upon depositing its instrument of accession to the North Atlantic Treaty with the Government of the United States in Washington DC. With Sweden’s accession, NATO now counts 32 countries among its members.  Sweden’s flag will be raised alongside those of the other 31 Allies in a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday (11 March 2024), and simultaneously at NATO commands across Europe and North America.  https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm    

The 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 delivered an award telecast with Ryan Gosling’s contributions closed with the handing the coveted best-picture prize to “Oppenheimer,” one of seven statuettes amassed by director Christopher Nolan’s historical epic.  https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/entertainment/review-oscars-hits-misses-performances/index.html   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2789  March 11, 2024

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