“Officials at a prison in Thailand arranged a soccer game between inmates and elephants. The two teams played to a 5-5 tie, then the elephants were returned to their regular stamping grounds — the greens at Shinnecock Hills.”
Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle
“[A]nother NBA draft that should have been televised by Nickelodeon.”
Greg at the Sports Law Blog
NewMexiKen’s father reports on the seasonal change in Tucson:
Those of you familiar with the desert know that after two or three months of no rain we expect thunderheads to build up every afternoon south east of us. These are the rain clouds from the Gulf of Mexico, pushing up into the Sierra Madres in Mexico. Day by day they creep closer to us.
Yesterday while reading I was surprised by a loud clap of thunder. Glancing out the window it was true….. Rain………
I raced to the kitchen to gather my rain gauges and ruler; ran out the door and proceeded to record the event.
Taking numerous measurements, I concluded the drops averaged two inches apart and the rain had lasted four minutes…..a 2/4 rain.
From Editor & Publisher:
While the country as a whole appears split, along political lines, over the controversial Michael Moore documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” movie reviewers at U.S. daily newspapers are not.
An E&P survey of 63 daily papers that ran reviews, in “red” and “blue” states alike, finds that 56 gave the film a positive nod, with only seven abstaining, an almost 90% favorable rating.
The headline for this entry is from the review of Mary Pols in the Contra Costa Times.
at the end of World War I was signed on this date in 1919, five years to the day after the assassination that sparked the war.
The United States Senate never ratified the Treaty, as much for political as diplomatic reasons.
was assassinated in Sarajevo on this date in 1914, igniting what we know as World War I.
Franz Ferdinand was the nephew of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. After the Emperor’s son had committed suicide and Ferdinand’s own father had died, Ferdinand was first in succession to the Emperor. He was considered likely to be a reformer, which upset Balkan nationalists.
In all, there were seven assassins along the route of the Archduke’s car, all Bosnian Serbs. The third of the seven, Nedelko Cabrinovic,
threw a bomb, but failed to see the car in time to aim well: he missed the heir’s car and hit the next one, injuring several people. Cabrinovic swallowed poison and jumped into a canal, but he was saved from suicide and arrested. He died of tuberculosis in prison in 1916.
The seventh was Gavrilo Princip.
Princip heard Cabrinovic’s bomb go off and assumed that the Archduke was dead. By the time he heard what had really happened, the cars had driven by. By bad luck, a little later the returning procession missed a turn and stopped to back up at a corner just as Princip happened to walk by. Princip fired two shots: one killed the archduke, the other his wife. Princip was arrested before he could swallow his poison capsule or shoot himself. Princip too was a minor under Austrian law, so he could not be executed. Instead he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and died of tuberculosis in 1916.
It was the Archduke and Sophie’s fourteenth wedding anniversary. The Archduke’s last words were, “Sophie dear, Sophie dear, don’t die! Stay alive for our children.”
In the aftermath of the assassination, diplomatic efforts failed, perhaps because both Austria and Serbia feared loss of national prestige. Austria declared war on Serbia. Germany sided with Austria; Russia supported Serbia as required by treaty. France was obligated to support Russia in any war with Germany or Austria-Hungary. Britain was obligated to support France in an any war with Germany.
Source for quotes and some background: The Balkan Causes of World War One
“Nader is a sixty-something year-old man raised in a household that trained him to revile the decadent pleasures that most of us enjoy.
The most famous story is that Ralph’s mother refused to serve him a frosted cake for his birthday, believing it unhealthy. After years of begging, Mrs. Nader agreed to bake the children such a delight. She constructed a beautiful cake, let the children see it, then removed all the frosting before allowing them to eat it. Parents take note: this is how to raise a bitter, twisted child.
Correspondent and Public Citizen alum Andrew Cohen writing at Altercation
“In fact, the most heartbreaking thing about F 9/11 is that we are now engaged in the national argument over a film that we should have had about going to war.”
Charles Pierce reviewing the film for Altercation
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