Coffee Break 2/4-2/10
February 7, 2018
Riddles
I babble, but I have no voice. I run, but I have no legs. I rise, but I have no wings. What am I?
As soon as you say my name, I am broken.
(Answers are at the bottom of the article.)
This Week in History
Feb. 4, 2004 — Facebook launches from Mark Zuckerburg’s Harvard dorm room.
Facebook was originally just for Harvard students but quickly expanded to other Ivy League colleges. By September 2006, anybody with an email address could join the website for free. As of late 2017, Facebook has 2.13 billion monthly active users.
Feb. 5, 1958 –Tybee bomb is lost off the coast of Georgia, never to be recovered.
During a military training exercise, a B-47 Stratojet Bomber and a F-86 Sabre collided, causing a seven thousand pound Mark-15 nuclear warhead to be dropped into the waters off of Tybee Island, Georgia. The nuclear capsule, which causes the detonation, had been removed before the flight so thankfully the 3.8 megaton payload did not explode. In the event it did, however, there would have been a fireball 1.2 miles wide and people within 12 miles would have been afflicted with third degree burns.
Feb. 6, 1895 — Babe Ruth is born.
Babe Ruth, born George Herman Ruth Jr, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. As a child, Ruth was very troubled and was sent to a Catholic Orphanage/Reformatory School. It was here that he was introduced to baseball by a monk named Matthias. He was noticed by Jack Dunn, a spotter for the Baltimore Orioles. At the age of 19, Ruth became a member of the Boston Red Sox while playing with the Orioles. In 1919, his time would end with the Red Sox, and he would play with the New York Yankees. Playing until 1935, he solidified his place among baseball’s greats. He passed away on Aug. 16, 1948 from cancer.
February 7 — National Fettuccine Day
National Fettuccine day is celebrated on this day. The creator of fettuccine made the dish for his pregnant wife who had lost her appetite. Since 1908, the creamy pasta has been pleasing eaters.
February 8, 1952 — Queen Elizabeth II assumes the throne as Queen of England.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest serving monarch in the history of England, beating out Victoria by two years and one hundred forty-seven days. Elizabeth ascended to the throne at age twenty-six. During her reign, she has changed multiple policies to fit with modern day view on society. Many of the British Empire’s former colonies and commonwealths became independent as these changes went through. Today, she still attends events of charities and on holidays at the age of ninety-one.
Feb. 9, 1895 — William G. Morgan creates volleyball.
Just four years after the invention of basketball at a young men’s Christian association, William G. Morgan created a sport called “mintonette” to be a mixture of basketball, baseball, tennis, and handball. Over time, the game eventually turned into volleyball after the introduction of the spike move and formal rules. Today, over 800 million play the sport worldwide.
Feb. 10, 1996 — Deep Blue defeats a chess champion due to a programming error.
In an intense chess game between a master, Garry Kasparov, and an IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue, a move was made that implied a deep strategy. Kasparov placed a piece so that he could bait the computer into going on the defensive. What happened however, shocked everyone that was watching. The computer made a move that created an “open file”, meaning a large section of the board could now be accessed by it because it took a piece that Kasparov did not expect. The pure psychological terror of having that large of a hole in his defenses caused Kasparov to eventually concede and forfeit the match becoming the first chess master to lose to a supercomputer. After the match, analysis of the computer’s move logs showed that it made several mistakes, giving it a human advantage that allowed it to win.
Answers: Water/Stream, Silence