Wikipedia Article-of-the-Day

[DoomYoshi]

The "Francis" used in the movies was not named "Molly". She was named "Judy". I thought, perhaps, you would like a true version in regards to Francis (Judy) who belonged to my step-grandfather Archie Dean who, at the time, owned and operated the High Sierra Pack Train in Independence, California. As a young man in his teens Archie worked as a carpenter in one of the Hollywood movie studios and met people of the movie industry who were familiar with his father who had taken many of them on pack trips into the High Sierras from the town of Independence, California in the Owens Valley. After his father's passing, Archie took over the pack train operation. Archie Dean was contacted by Universal Pictures Studio when they wanted a mule for a picture they were making about a talking mule. Archie sold them a male mule named "Billie". The mule did not work out so they brought "Billie" back to Archie and wanted to use his pet mule "Judy" for the movie. Archie was reluctant to let his pet go, but finally told them he would "not ever sell her to them", but would loan her to them as long as they brought her back for the packing season in the Spring. The studio came back to Independence to get "Judy" in the Fall and promised to return her in the Spring. They never returned Judy the mule as promised and Archie, eventually, had to hire an attorney to try and get his pet mule, "Judy", returned. At the time, my mother, Mary "Tansy" Fitz-Patrick Smith and, my grandmother, Mary "Mateet" Fitz-Patrick Dean were very familiar with these events as they transpired. "Tansy" and "Mateet" worked at the pack station and were aware of the dealings with Universal Studios and knew all the people and animals involved with the pack station. In the end, the studio refused to return "Judy", Archie's pet mule, and he never saw or heard of her again except, as they say, "In The Movies".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_the_Talking_Mule

This is just excellent, it's like somebody wrote a letter entitled "Dear Mr. Pedia" and it got added to the page. Never change, internet.

[DoomYoshi]

In A.D. 1759, Francis Maseres, an English mathematician, wrote that negative numbers "darken the very whole doctrines of the equations and make dark of the things which are in their nature excessively obvious and simple". He came to the conclusion that negative numbers were nonsensical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_number

This guy is a true legend for writing that. At the time, negative numbers were really controversial and a lot of people wouldn't use them. As a reward for being so clever, the king made him attorney general of Quebec (http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?BioId=37123). Of course, he hated French Canadians because he was a Hugenot.

Maseres came to Canada June 1766. James McGill might have come earlier, but check out his biography:

When and in what circumstances James McGill emigrated is not known. In 1766 he was in Montreal en route to the pays d’en haut as “the deputy” of the Quebec merchant William Grant (1744–1805).

They were in Montreal at the same time!!!

William Grant got into some hot water with the Flaming Frenchmen (as the Montreal Canadiens were then and are still known as) for printing the words of Maseres. Imagine that, the attorney general having actual documents in circulation.

Basically, they all knew each other, so we can thank Maseres for Conquer Club, and therefore the moral of the story is that Conquer Club was founded on the principle of hating negative numbers and you should too.

Next week on "off the deep end": that time that an American President wrote a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem because he thought that Euclid didn't do a good enough job. (Spoiler Alert: He gets assassinated for it, but doesn't found McGill university).

[warmonger1981]

47th problem of Euclid.

[DoomYoshi]

Learning Russian:

The perfective is also sometimes described as referring to a "completed" action, but it would be more accurate to say that it refers to an action or situation that is seen as a complete whole, e.g., the Russian perfective future я убью тебя "I shall kill you" refers to an event that has not yet been completed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfective_aspect

In other languages we start with verbs I am, You are, She is, etc. In Russian they start with I kill, you kill, she kills, etc.

[Dukasaur]

Learning Russian:

The perfective is also sometimes described as referring to a "completed" action, but it would be more accurate to say that it refers to an action or situation that is seen as a complete whole, e.g., the Russian perfective future я убью тебя "I shall kill you" refers to an event that has not yet been completed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfective_aspect

In other languages we start with verbs I am, You are, She is, etc. In Russian they start with I kill, you kill, she kills, etc.

[saxitoxin]

Bert Cumby (January 7, 1912 – September 8, 1981) was a United States military intelligence officer who studied an alleged brainwashing program employed by Chinese forces, purportedly under the direction of Soviet military advisers, against prisoners of war during the Korean War. In 1956 he testified to a United States Senate committee of an international communist conspiracy he alleged was underway, the objective of which was the admission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Cumby

... they would take a map of the world and post it on the board. On that map they would plot every military base that we have throughout the world. They would say, "these military bases spell aggression, and the United States is an aggressor nation. If you don't believe it, look here. You have bases in Japan, in England, and so forth. Here is a map of the Soviet Union. We don't have any bases." Again in the absence of information about Russia and her expansion, these average soldiers were inclined to believe.

[mrswdk]

The internet is a communist conspiracy D:

[saxitoxin]

Hideaway is a term used to refer to one of a number of "secret" offices used by members of the United States Senate, and a few senior members of the United States House of Representatives. The history of hideaways dates to the earliest occupancy of the United States Capitol in 1800, however, they proliferated in the early 20th century.

Hideaways have historically also been used by members of the Senate to engage in private sexual liaisons with their mistresses. Bill Moyers recounts one instance of an unnamed senator "stashing" his mistress in a hideaway so well-hidden that it took him several hours to locate her again. During his tenure in the Senate, Lyndon Johnson amassed no fewer than five hideaways where he would receive women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideaway_(U.S._Senate)

[riskllama]

sounds handy.

[mookiemcgee]

Hideaway is a term used to refer to one of a number of "secret" offices used by members of the United States Senate, and a few senior members of the United States House of Representatives. The history of hideaways dates to the earliest occupancy of the United States Capitol in 1800, however, they proliferated in the early 20th century.

Hideaways have historically also been used by members of the Senate to engage in private sexual liaisons with their mistresses. Bill Moyers recounts one instance of an unnamed senator "stashing" his mistress in a hideaway so well-hidden that it took him several hours to locate her again. During his tenure in the Senate, Lyndon Johnson amassed no fewer than five hideaways where he would receive women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideaway_(U.S._Senate)

'He would recieve women" ... Wait Lyndon Johnson took it up with ass from a woman with a strap-on?

[saxitoxin]

Hideaway is a term used to refer to one of a number of "secret" offices used by members of the United States Senate, and a few senior members of the United States House of Representatives. The history of hideaways dates to the earliest occupancy of the United States Capitol in 1800, however, they proliferated in the early 20th century.

Hideaways have historically also been used by members of the Senate to engage in private sexual liaisons with their mistresses. Bill Moyers recounts one instance of an unnamed senator "stashing" his mistress in a hideaway so well-hidden that it took him several hours to locate her again. During his tenure in the Senate, Lyndon Johnson amassed no fewer than five hideaways where he would receive women.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideaway_(U.S._Senate)

'He would recieve women" ... Wait Lyndon Johnson took it up with ass from a woman with a strap-on?

Probably. He was a Democrat.

[riskllama]

lotsa gay republicans out there, saxi...

[2dimes]

Johnson was famous for whiping it out in the Oval Office.

[saxitoxin]

"Buy a Shotgun" is a phrase spoken by then Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden during a video question and answer session hosted by Parents Magazine in 2013. During the session, Biden questioned the utility of a semi-automatic rifle as a home defense weapon, suggesting a shotgun was more appropriate. He went on to explain that he owned two shotguns and had advised the Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, to use one of them to "fire two blasts" should she feel threatened by someone or something. The advice later became the subject of interest in social media and popular culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_a_Shotgun

[mookiemcgee]

"Buy a Shotgun" is a phrase spoken by then Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden during a video question and answer session hosted by Parents Magazine in 2013. During the session, Biden questioned the utility of a semi-automatic rifle as a home defense weapon, suggesting a shotgun was more appropriate. He went on to explain that he owned two shotguns and had advised the Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, to use one of them to "fire two blasts" should she feel threatened by someone or something. The advice later became the subject of interest in social media and popular culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_a_Shotgun

See, he is a moderate!

[saxitoxin]

"Mr. Touchdown, U.S.A." is a sports anthem and jazz march by American songwriter Ruth Roberts. First recorded by Hugo Winterhalter in 1950, it became one of the most frequently heard songs on American radio during that year's college football season. It was later covered by a number of other artists, including Percy Faith and The Crew-Cuts. Lyrically associated with gridiron football, it is a staple in the repertoire of some college and high school marching bands and is particularly associated with the University of Nebraska.

The song's lyrics are typical of those of American university fight songs, and communicate what Frank Hoffmann has described as "an adolescent manner of praising the power of the football team". They tell of the athletic exploits of an eponymous, fictional character known by the moniker "Mr. Touchdown" who will unfailingly run touchdowns if given a pigskin. In the bridge, the lyrics recall Mr. Touchdown's triumphs over specific college football teams, such as describing "the day he murdered Minnesota", how he "took Wisconsin's white and red and made it black and blue instead", and declaring that "what he did to Arkansas should happen to your mother-in-law".

Hugo Winterhalter's 1950 recording of the song was released as a single in September 1950, with the album's B side a performance of the patriotic, anti-communist song "The Red We Want is the Red We've Got". In the November 25, 1950 issue of Billboard, "Mr. Touchdown, U.S.A" was listed among the ten most played songs on American radio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Touchdown,_U.S.A.

[Dukasaur]

Erfurt Latrine Disaster

The Erfurt latrine event (German: Erfurter Latrinensturz) was an occurrence in Erfurt, Duchy of Thuringia, that caused the deaths of at least 60 people in 1184. A number of nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire were meeting in a room at the Church of St. Peter, when their combined weight caused the floor to collapse into the latrine beneath the cellar and led to dozens of nobles drowning in liquid excrement.[1][2][3]

[saxitoxin]

The U.S. supports Israel because an unlicensed Jewish-British podiatrist helped fix Abraham Lincoln's foot problems.

Later, when Lincoln wanted to bring an end to the Civil War, he sent his podiatrist to conduct high-level negotiations with the Confederate Cabinet that fell apart because the podiatrist had no background in diplomacy.

In 1863, Lincoln was approached by Henry Wentworth Monk with a proposal for United States support in the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. Lincoln signaled he was receptive to the idea since Isachar Zacharie was Jewish and had "so many times put me upon my feet". According to historian Charles Segal, Lincoln's support for U.S. backing of a Jewish homeland as a means to recognize his podiatrist is one of only three opinions about Jews attributed to Lincoln.

...

The following year, Lincoln dispatched his podiatrist to Richmond, Virginia to open peace talks with the Confederate government; Zacharie met with Confederate foreign minister Judah P. Benjamin. Zacharie's proposed peace offer reportedly involved the invasion and conquest of Mexico which would be made into an American puppet state with Jefferson Davis as its ruler in exchange for Confederate capitulation. Nothing came of the discussions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isachar_Zacharie

Are some giants of history just garden variety morons who stumbled into the role of heroes?