When I created Finding Out! I envisioned it as kinda’ my Trivia Crack.Spin the wheel, or surf the Internet and explore things that fall into the main categories of Trivial Pursuit, the arts, science, sports, history, entertainment, and geography all things that I love, Finding Out about!
As I started browsing through Wikipedia this morning I came across a contraption invented by Italian military engineer Agostino Ramelli the bookwheel!! It was the perfect invention for all of those like us, who back in 1588 loved to read more than one book at a time! It’s just a tad bulkier than your Kindle!!
On February 8th, I posted about the election of Richard Johnson as the ninth Vice President of th US, which occurred on that day in 1837. It is the only time that a Vice President was elected by the US House of Representatives under the provisions of the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution. On the next day February 9th, twelve years earlier in 1825, John Quincy Adams was elected President in a similar manner. At the end of the voting for President in 1824, no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes, so the Us House of Representatives voted to decide the election.
One of my favorite all-time songs is Buffy Saint-Marie’s “The Universal Soldier”. I love both Donovan and Buffy’s version and well anyone else who sings this song. The song speaks the truth about religion and war. Here are the opening verses of the song. He’s five foot-two, and he’s six feet-four, He fights with missiles and with spears. He’s all of thirty-one, and he’s only seventeen, Been a soldier for a thousand years. He’a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain, A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew. And he knows he shouldn’t kill, And he knows he always will, Kill you for me my friend and me for you. Now the reason that the “Universal Soldier” popped into my head today was that I was surfing around Wikipedia this morning and I went to the religion portal where I found an article about Jainism. As I started to read, I was fascinated by the tenets of this ancient religion. I knew I had to Find out more about Jainism. Mahavira (599 BCE–527 BCE[1]), also known as Vardhamana is widely regarded as the founder of Jainism, Actually, Mahavira was the twenty-fourth and last tirthankara of Jainism. A tirthankara is a person who has conquered samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, and can provide a bridge for Jains to follow them from samsara to moksha (liberation). So Mahavira should be regarded as more of a reformer of Jainism. The first of the 24 Tīrthaṅkaras was R̥ṣabha or Ādinātha (Original Lord”), also known as the “Lord of Kesariya”)., About Jainism, from Wikipedia……
On February 9, 1895 William G. Morgan a YMCA physical education director in Holyoke, Massachusetts unveiled his new game called Mintonette. Mintonette was designed by Morgan as an indoor game, that combined a little of tennis, you hit a ball over a net and a little of handball – no racquets you just used you hands. The game was invented about four years after basketball was introduced in the area by James Naismith in Springfield Mass.Morgan had met Naismith while Morgan was studying at Springfield College, Massachusetts in 1892. Both Naismith and Morgan pursued careers in Physical Education at the YMCA. Morgan designed Mintonette to be less rough than basketball, to be suitable for older members of the YMCA, but so that it still required some athletic effort.
So this morning as I was checking the events that occurred on February 8th, I saw that date in 1837, Richard Johnson became the 9th Vice President of the United States, What caught my attention was the Richard Johnson is the only Vice-President ever elected by the U.S.Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, which says in part…..
So we all know about the great Jackie Robinson breaking color barrier in major league baseball. But do you know the name of the golfer who paved the way for Tiger Woods! I didn’t when I saw his name among the recent deaths today at Wikipedia his name is Charlie Sifford. Charlie was the first African-American to play on the PGA Tour.
