QE2

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (photo by Jim Champion)

September 20, 1967: The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 or QE2 is launched. By the mid-1960s air travel was the preferred method of trans-Atlantic motion. Prices were cheaper and flights were quick. Two luxury ships, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were both expensive to operate and were not keeping up with the times. Both pre-war ships were showing their age. Cunard line gambled with $80 million on a new liner to replace these aging behemoths.

The new design needed to be smaller and cheaper to operate but still maintain the same speeds as before. Staff numbers needed to be decreased and the ship needed to draw less draft. The original design of the ship was altered and she was built as a cruise ship, plying the Atlantic during the peak summer trade season. QE2 was built by the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in Clydebank, Scotland. Her keel was laid down on July 5, 1965 in the same plot used to build the other Queen ships. She was launched on this day by Queen Elizabeth II using the same gold scissors used by her mother and grandmother to launch the previous royal-named ships.

QE2 served as the flag ship for Cunard Line from 1969 until 2004 when RMS Queen Mary 2 took over. During her nearly 40 years of service, she crossed the Atlantic as a cruise ship sailing from her port of registry at Southampton, England. Although she ran every year of her service, it was not year round. There was no identical sister ship or running mate included in the line. She was retired from service in 2008 and was purchased by Istithmar where she was to become a floating hotel at Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. Instead, she remains moored at Port Rashid and her fate is uncertain.

QE2 is 963 feet in length and measures 105 feet at the bean. The ship is 171 feet in height with a draft of 32 feet. Her gross tonnage is 70,327 GT and she displaces 48,923 when loaded. She is powered by 9 MAN B&W 9-cylinder diesel electric generators with two GEC Propulsion motors operating two propellers. Her maximum recorded speed was 39 mph but her normal speed was 23 mph. Her capacity for passengers was 1,777 or 1,892 with all berths filled. Her crew consisted of 1,040 hard working souls to keep this floating palace plying the Atlantic Ocean.

“A bigger business is like a cruise ship: There are lots of amenities and you can go a lot further, but it’s harder to turn quickly.” – Tony Hsieh

“A ship is always referred to as “she” because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder.” – Chester W. Nimitz

“Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.” – Samuel Johnson

“It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage.” – George William Curtis

Also on this day:
Cannes Film Festival – In 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival is held.
Girl’s Night – In 1973, Billy Jean King won the “War of the Sexes” against Bobby Riggs.

Sportsman of the Year

Greg Louganis (photo by Alan Light)

September 19, 1988: While qualifying for the Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Greg Louganis strikes his head on the edge of the diving board. This was during the ninth of the eleven preliminary dives from the three-meter (9.8 feet) springboard. He was attempting a reverse 2.5 pike when he cracked his head on the board. He needed stitches in the wound but returned 35 minutes later to dive. After the preliminary round was completed, Louganis went to the hospital to receive further treatment.

Louganis began diving at 10 years of age. By the age of 16, he had won his first Olympic medal, a silver for the 10 meter (33 feet) platform dive. In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, he became the first man in 54 years to win both the platform and springboard gold medals. Even with his injury, he again won two gold medals, the first to win back-to-back double gold medals for these events.

He has 6 World Championships and 47 National Championship titles. He holds 6 gold medals from the Pan Am Games. He was voted the most outstanding amateur athlete in 1988 and received the Sullivan Award. His own website states that he is clearly the “world’s greatest diver and a fine athlete.”

In 1995, Louganis published his autobiography – Breaking the Surface. In that book he admitted that he was HIV positive at the time of his injury in Seoul. Dr. Puffer, who treated his head wound, did not wear gloves while placing sutures. Greg did not tell the doctor of his disease due to “confusion, shock, and panic.” Dr. Puffer has been tested and remains HIV negative. Louganis’s book was turned into a TV film. He continues to write, act, and has a list of speaking engagements. His latest book is about his other love – dogs. His newest book is For the Life of Your Dog co-authored with Betty Sicora Siino. He has been coaching divers for SoCal Divers Club since November 2010.

“I didn’t realize I was that close to the board. When I hit it, it was kind of a shock. But I think my pride was hurt more than anything else.” – Greg Louganis

“Everything was all so mixed up at that point: the HIV, the shock and embarrassment of hitting my head and an awful feeling that it was all over.” – Greg Louganis

“You better believe there will be times in your life when you’ll be feeling like a stumbling fool. So take it from me: you’ll learn more from your accident than anything that you could ever learn in school.” – Billy Joel

“A man ever supports great and inevitable misfortunes with more calmness and resignation than trifling accidents.” – unknown

Also on this day:
Lord Haw-Haw – In 1945, William Joyce is sentenced to death for high treason against the British Government.
Buy a Vowel? – In 1983, Wheel of Fortune began evening broadcasts.

All the News That’s Fit to Print

Adolph Ochs stamp

September 18, 1851: First edition of The New-York Daily Times hits the streets. Today, we know the paper as The New York Times. The paper was founded by journalist/politician Henry Jarvis Raymond and banker George Jones. The paper sold for one penny per copy. The first paper addressed the position of the paper. Since Raymond was a Whig and would later become the second chairman of the Republican party, they declared their paper would be of a Conservative outlook where that would be for the public good and they would be Radical in everything which seemed to need reform.

The name changed in 1857. Originally published daily Monday through Saturday, they added a Sunday edition on April 21, 1861. News of the Civil War was so great, most of the dailies of the time opted to begin a seven day a week schedule. Not one to eschew controversy, the paper printed 20 editorials concerning the Mortara Affair, a religious imbroglio concerning the Pope and a Jewish boy. During the 1870s, their reputation grew when they took on Boss Tweed. In the 1880s, the paper went from supporting Republican Presidential candidates to supporting the Democrat Grover Cleveland.

In 1897, the slogan, “All The News That’s Fit To Print” began to appear as a stab at Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst who were famous for their yellow journalism. All changes were the ideas of Adolph Ochs who had been publishing the Chattanooga Times before taking over “the Gray Lady” and achieving international scope. Ochs led in innovation and in 1904, the Times was the first to receive an on-the-spot wireless transmission from a naval battle from the press boat Haimun. He began the first air delivery in 1910 taking his paper to Philadelphia. The first trans-Atlantic delivery took place in 1919 when London began getting The New York Times.

Today, the paper is organized into nine sections: News, Opinions, Business, Arts, Science, Sports, Style, Home, and Features. They finally switched from an eight-column to a six-column format and they were one of the last papers to adopt color photography. They have an online presence which is free to the casual user, but if one wishes to read more than 20 articles per month, there is a fee. There are also apps for mobile devices and you can read the Times on either your iPhone or Android device.

“We shall be Conservative, in all cases where we think Conservatism essential to the public good;—and we shall be Radical in everything which may seem to us to require radical treatment and radical reform. We do not believe that everything in Society is either exactly right or exactly wrong;—what is good we desire to preserve and improve;—what is evil, to exterminate, or reform.” – from the first edition of The New-York Daily Times

“There are few things in this world which it is worth while to get angry about; and they are just the things anger will not improve.” – Henry Jarvis Raymond

“Advertising in the final analysis should be news. If it is not news it is worthless.” – Adolph S. Ochs

“A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not.” – Henry Fielding

Also on this day:
Capitol Building – In 1793, George Washington lays the cornerstone for the Capitol Building.
High Class – In 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany and partner opened a new store.

No Fear of Flying

The crashed Wright Flyer

September 17, 1908: Orville Wright crashes the Wright Flyer and his passenger, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, is killed. Selfridge was the first person to die in a crash of a powered airplane. He was a First Lieutenant in the Aeronautical Division, US Signal Corps of the US Army stationed at Fort Meyers,Virginia.

Selfridge was born in San Francisco, California in 1882 and graduated from West Point in 1903. He ranked 31^st in a class of 96 – Douglas MacArthur was first in the class. He was one of three pilots trained to fly the Army’s newly purchased dirigible. He took his first plane flight on December 6, 1907 on Alexander Graham Bell’s tetrahedral kite made of 3,393 winged cells. They flew for seven minutes covering 168 feet and Selfridge was the first recorded flight passenger. He also designed Red Wing for Aerial Experiment Association (Bell’s flight company) – their first powered craft.

The Army was considering buying a plane from the Wright Brothers. To demonstrate the craft, Orville went up with his passenger, Lt. Selfridge. They circled the fort 4.5 times without problem. Then the right propeller broke. This caused a loss of thrust which set up a vibration which in turn caused the split propeller to cut a guy wire which braced the rudder. The plane was cruising at 150 feet altitude when it began to nose dive. Orville controlled the glide about half way down before losing control. The plane crashed nose first into the ground.

Both the pilot and passenger were struck against the remaining wires on impact. Selfridge also struck his head against a wooden upright and suffered a skull fracture. He underwent neurosurgery but died without ever regaining consciousness. He was 26. Orville Wright suffered several serious injuries as well including fractured ribs, injured hip and broken femur. He spent seven weeks in the hospital recuperating. The Army bought its first military plane in 1909.

“When once you have tasted flight you will always walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward: for there you have been and there you will always be.” – Henry Van Dyke

“You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.” – Paul Theroux

“I wouldn’t mind dying in a plane crash. It’d be a good way to go. I don’t want to die in my sleep, or of old age, or OD…I want to feel what it’s like. I want to taste it, hear it, smell it. Death is only going to happen to you once; I don’t want to miss it.” – Jim Morrison

“If Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would have changed the history of music, and of aviation.” – Tom Stoppard

Also on this day:
His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I – In 1859, Joshua Abraham Norton proclaims himself Emperor of the US.
One Dam Thing – in 1930, construction began on Boulder Dam.

Sublime Tenor

Enrico Caruso

September 16, 1920: Enrico Caruso last enters a recording studio. Caruso was born in Naples, Italy on February 25, 1873. He was the third of seven children but only three survived infancy. His father was a mechanic and thought his son should follow in the family trade. Errico, as he was called as a boy, was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer at age 11. His mother also insisted on more formal education and she encouraged him in his musical ambition. She died in 1888 and her son began earning extra money for the family by singing at cafes and soirees. By age 18, he was singing at a resort and his professional musical life was only interrupted by his mandatory 45 day compulsory military service.

Caruso made his professional stage debut at the age of 22 when he appeared at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples on March 15, 1895. He appeared in the opera L’Amico Francesco. While the opera is now forgotten, Caruso was able to garner more jobs from this stepping stone. Although working, he was still poor and had only one shirt. His first publicity photo shows him wearing a sheet as a toga since that one shirt was being laundered. Finally, in 1898 he received his first major operatic role in Fedora staged in Milan.

The tenor’s career spanned 25 years. During that time, he appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera 863 times where he was the leading tenor for 18 seasons. Even though the recording industry was still quite young at the time of his premature death, there remain 260 recordings produced for the Victor Talking Machine Company (RCA Victor today). He also appeared in newsreels and even two movies. His operatic performances were held in a number of esteemed venues, including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

During his last recording session, he recorded several disks over three days. His health began to wane during the end of 1920 and on December 3, a piece of scenery toppled and hit his back, over a kidney. He also developed bronchitis around this time and on December 11 suffered a throat hemorrhage, making it necessary to cancel a performance. It is now surmised that he developed a renal abscess after the December 3 accident. He underwent seven surgical procedure to drain the infective material. Before antibiotics, this condition was far more dangerous. He died of supposed peritonitis on August 2, 1921 at the age of 48.

“It was he who impressed, time and again, the necessity of singing as nature intended, and – I remember – he constantly warned, don’t let the public know that you work. So I went slowly. I never forced the voice.”

“A big chest, a big mouth, 90 percent memory, 10 percent intelligence, lots of hard work, and something in the heart.”

“In this household, I do the singing.”

“Jewish cantors employ a peculiar art and method of singing in their delivery. They are unexcelled in the art of covering the voice, picking up a new key, in the treatment of the ritual chant, and overcoming vocal difficulties that lie in the words rather than in the music.” – all from Enrico Caruso

Also on this day:
It’s Not Over ‘Til the Fat Lady Sings – In 1966, The Metropolitan Opera House opens.
Hero – In 1976, Shavarsh Karapetyan saves twenty from a submerged bus.

Railroads

Opening day of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

September 15, 1830: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) opens. This line was the first inter-city passenger service with all trains running on a timetable. The trains were hauled for the majority of the distance by steam locomotives. As the name implies, the 4 foot 8.5 inch gauge track ran between Liverpool and Manchester. The goal was to transport raw materials and finished goods between the Port at Liverpool and the mills located in and around Manchester.

Much of the textile raw materials were shipped to the Port of Liverpool and east Lancashire. These has to be transported to the mills located near the Pennines, a low mountain range separating East and West England. Because of the geography, water and then steam power was readily available to power the mills which could then produce the finished cloth, which then had to be transported out for sale. There were already some waterways in use to transport the goods between the port and the mills. There was support for a railway at both cities, but landowners between them were less enthusiastic.

Joseph Sanders of Liverpool and John Kennedy of Manchester both wanted a line to help with shipping product. William James, a land surveyor and speculator, advocated for a national network of rail lines. He had seen the wisdom of this system with the development of colliery lines in northern England. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company was founded on May 24, 1823 with Henry Booth as secretary and treasurer. Many of the merchants in both cities were involved. A bill presented to Parliament in 1825 was rejected, but passed the next year. The company was funded by 308 shareholders holding 4,233 shares with the Marquess of Stafford holding 1,000 of them.

The 35 mile line was a feat of engineering skill. The 2,250 yard Wapping Tunnel was beneath Liverpool near the docks. It was the first tunnel bored under a city. The tracks then cut through 2 miles and up 70 feet through Olive Mount. There was a nine arch viaduct spanning the Sankey Brook valley. There was also the 4.75 miles crossing of Chat Moss. Unable to drain the bog, wooden structures were sunk into the bog to make a sturdy foundation. Even today, the tracks float on these hurdles constructed so long ago. There were 64 bridges and viaducts needed to span the miles. In 1845, the L&MR was absorbed into the Grand Junction Railway and the next year into the London and North Western Railway. It is still in use today.

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.” – Freeman Dyson

“Architecture begins where engineering ends.” – Walter Gropius

“Nothing was more up-to-date when it was built, or is more obsolete today, than the railroad station.” – Ada Louise Huxtable

“While no one railroad can completely duplicate another line, two or more may compete at particular points.” – John Moody

Also on this day:
I Feel the Need for Speed – In 1881, Ettore Bugatti is born.
What is That? – In 1916, tanks were first used in battle.

Luna 2

Luna 2

September 14, 1959: Luna 2 becomes the first manmade object to make the journey from Earth to Moon. It was an E-1A series craft and was the second attempt by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to land a probe on the moon. It was spherical in shape with many antennae and instruments attached. Luna 2 weighed 860.2 pounds and launched at 6:39 AM on September 12. The craft crashed into the surface of the moon at 3:02 AM EST.

The Space Race was initially won by the Soviets who launched the first successful orbital flight, Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. The United States responded with an attempted launch on December 6 which failed. The next year saw two successful launches by the US and then seven failures – 4 by the US and 3 by the USSR. Finally, on January 2, 1959, the USSR was able to put Luna 1 up with the supposed hope of landing on the moon. However, that portion of the mission failed and the satellite continued past the moon two days later, missing contact by 3,725 miles.

Luna 2 impacted at Mare Serenitatis. Instrumentation aboard the craft included scintillation and Geiger counters, a magnetometer, and a micrometeorite detector. The ship studied the Van Allen Radiation Belts on the way out and learned before impact that the moon had no such belts and lacked a strong magnetic field that would be necessary to hold them in place.

Today there are tons of manmade objects on the moon – almost 85 tons. There are more than 70 artifacts left by the USSR, the US, Japan, and the European Space Agency. The last entity to aim for the moon has been the US with LCROSS Centaur in October 2009. They hoped to find evidence of water on the moon, but were disappointed after the intended crash did not produce the expected results. Of course, not everything has stayed up there on the moon. Six Apollo missions landed modules on the moon with 12 American astronauts who walked the alien surface and then managed to get back home to Mother Earth.

“This is the first convention of the space age – where a candidate can promise the moon and mean it.” – unknown

“Aiming for the moon and missing it is better than aiming for the ditch and hitting it.” – unknown

“Is there ever any danger of a space- walking astronaut being hit by super fast-moving space junk?” – Miles O’Brien

“We went back to Apollo (moon walks), where (ground control) was providing blow-by-blow advice to astronauts who would narrate all of their activities. The point is, when you’re on Mars you can’t be having this conversation with folks back in Houston because of the time delay.” – Bill Clancey

Also on this day:
Fort McHenry – In 1814, a poem written by a young lawyer is published.
The Earls Leave – In 1607, the Irish aristocracy is forced to flee.

Traffic Fatality

Henry Bliss in 1873

September 13, 1899: The first victim of a traffic fatality in the US falls. Henry H. Bliss was leaving a streetcar at West 7^th Street and Central Park West in New York City. He was struck by an electric powered taxicab (Automobile No. 43). He was crushed by the impact and suffered head and chest injuries. He died the next morning from this trauma. The driver of the taxi, Arthur Smith, was arrested and charged with manslaughter. He was acquitted on the grounds that this accident was unintentional. An interesting tidbit: the passenger in the taxi was Dr. David Edson, son of a former mayor of New York City.

On hundred years after his death, a plaque was dedicated on the site to commemorate the event of this first accident. The inscription reads in part that Mr. Bliss was the first traffic fatality in the Western Hemisphere. However, the hemisphere technically includes area west of Greenwich making this assertion false. Mary Ward was killed by a steam powered car in Ireland in 1869 and Bridget Driscoll was a pedestrian killed by a car on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in Sydenham in 1896. That place is also west of the Prime Meridian, making it the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Bliss was the first fatality in the Americas.

Road traffic safety is a way to measure how safe users are on a particular road or in a particular area. Since the main indication of our safety is the likelihood of collisions, this is measured to arrive at a figure indicating how safe drivers, passengers, and pedestrians are. There are outside issues that can help to increase safety such as construction of roadways and traffic engineering practices – stop signs or traffic signals, for example. Other ways to protect oneself on the road is to drive cautiously and defensively. And the safety of the vehicle itself is also a determining factor.

Crashes are one of the world’s largest public health issues. Victims are usually quite healthy prior to an accident which can then be devastating. In 2004, it was reported by WHO that 1.2 million people are killed in traffic accidents around the world each year. Another 50 million are injured. It is the leading cause of death for children aged 10-19. The math behind calculating how safe or dangerous an area is based on billion passenger kilometers (in the US, crashes per million vehicle miles are used). As more cars travel longer distances, the issue has become a worldwide phenomenon.

“Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic.” – Dan Rather 

“Communities and neighborhoods are affected. Idling trains, traffic backups, grade crossing accidents and other safety issues all affect the quality of life in our neighborhoods.” – Bill Lipinski

“I have some road rage inside of me. Traffic, especially in L.A., is a pet peeve of mine.” – Katie Holmes

“I stop and look at traffic accidents. I won’t hang around, but when I hear something is terrible, as bad as it is, I’ve gotta look at it.” – Norman Lear

Also on this day:
It’s Hot, Hot, Hot – In 1922, the highest temperature in the shade is recorded.
Jumpman – In 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released by Nintendo.

Bonanza

The Cartwright family: Adam, Little Joe, Ben, Hoss

September 12, 1959: The first western series to be filmed in color, Bonanza, premiers. The series was based on thrice widowed Ben Cartwright and his three sons (each from a different wife) who ran a 1000 square miles ranch, The Ponderosa. Lorne Greene portrayed the wise father to Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker), and Little Joe (Michael Landon). Bonanza was cancelled midway through the 14^th season after filming 440 episodes.

This was not the first color program offered, but it is the first series offered in “living color.” Color televisions with a 600-line resolution system had been available since the 1940s, although early color TV was not always the color one would expect. The first standards in the US were formalized in 1950. The first broadcast was delayed by lawsuits for proprietary technology and was not aired until 1951. The program could not be seen on black and white sets and had a very limited viewing audience – only 30 sets were available in the New York area.

Later that year, there were some daytime shows broadcast in color but with only 100 of the 200 color sets actually sold, there was a highly limited viewership and color television production ceased for a time. In 1954, the first coast-to-coast broadcast in color was the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Years Day. NBC was affiliated with RCA – the maker of the color sets. CBS and ABC naturally shunned the technology that would help their competitor. ABC finally began prime time color broadcasting in 1962 with two color cartoons – The Flintstones and The Jetsons. In 1964 only 3.1% of sets sold were color. It was not until 1972 that more than half of the nation’s households owned color TVs.

Cuba was the second country in the world to offer color broadcasting. Europe joined in with a different standard and began regular color broadcasting on July 1, 1967 in West Germany. Other European countries soon followed.Japanwas the first Asian nation offering color fare beginning in 1960 with other Asian countries not joining in until the 1970s and finally with India offering color shows in 1982. Africa and South America also began broadcasts in color in the 1970s.

“I wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called ‘brightness,’ but that doesn’t work.” – Unknown

“Every time you think television has hit its lowest ebb, a new type program comes along to make you wonder where you thought the ebb was.” – Art Buchwald

“The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little.” – Ray Bradbury

“If it weren’t for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn’t get any exercise at all. ” – Joey Adams

Also on this day:
Lascaux – In 1940, the caves filled with prehistoric art are discovered at Lascaux.
How Do I Love Thee – In 1846, Elizabeth Barrett eloped with Robert Browning.

World Religions

Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions

September 11, 1893: The opening of the Parliament of the World’s Religions takes place in what is now the Fullerton Hall museum. This was an attempt to create a global discussion of all faiths. The event was hosted as part of Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition – an early world’s fair. Part of the exposition was the hosting of many scheduled congresses or talks. Since many citizens from around the globe were in one spot, it was advantageous to use this time and place to create an open atmosphere to exchange ideas and solutions.

The World’s Parliament of Religions was just one such group that used the space to advantage. They opened on this day and held talks and meetings until September 27. This was the first formal gathering of leaders of both Eastern and Western religions. Although the event was advertised as including all the world’s religions, it was noted that many indigenous religious leaders were absent – from Native Americans to Sikhs and other smaller tribe religions. The crowd did draw from some other interesting religious philosophies including Spiritualism and Christian Science.

Anagarika Dharmapala was invited as a representative of Southern Buddhism, Theravada today. Mary Baker Eddy was there for Christian Science. Henry Jessup brought the Bahia Faith to light. But perhaps the most eloquent of the “strange” or “foreign” religions was Swami Vivekananda speaking about his native Indian religion. His speech brought interest in Hinduism to the American public. His Vedanta beliefs were seen as important additions to the religious frameworks. His opening greeting was met with such vigor, the 7,000 member audience gave him a three-minute standing ovation.

One hundred years later, the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religion once again convened in Chicago this time at the Palmer House hotel. There were over 8,000 attendees from around the world. Their focus was no longer just the introduction of new ideas, but instead they wanted to see how traditional religions could work together to address some of the critical issues facing our modern world. The keynote address was given by the Dalai Lama at the closing day’s assembly.

“Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer

Eskimo: If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?
Priest: No, not if you did not know.
Eskimo: Then why did you tell me? – Annie Dillard

“God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.” – Paul Valery

“Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known.” – Blaise Pascal

Also on this day:
There She Is, Miss America – In 1954, the Miss America pageant is televised for the first time.
Milwaukee Mile – In 1903, the first race was held at the Wisconsin speedway.