JOSEPH H. PILATES, THE GERMAN FITNESS DEVELOPER

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Joseph Pilates, the German physical trainer.

Joseph Hubertus Pilates (9 December 1883-9 October 1967) was a German physical trainer, writer, and inventor. 

He is credited with inventing and promoting the Pilates method of physical fitness. He patented a total of 26 apparatuses in his lifetime.

Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born on 9 December 1883 in Mönchengladbach, Germany. His Greek-born father, Heinrich Friedrich Pilates (Πιλάτης), was a metal worker and enthusiastic gymnast, and his German-born mother was a housewife.

Pilates was a sickly child. He suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever, and he dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength. He was introduced by his father to gymnastics and body-building, and to martial arts like jiu-jitsu and boxing.

By the age of 14, he was fit enough to pose for anatomical charts. Pilates came to believe that the modern lifestyle, bad posture, and inefficient breathing lay at the roots of poor health. He ultimately devised a series of exercises and training techniques, and engineered all the equipment, specifications, and tuning required to teach his methods.

Pilates was originally a gymnast and bodybuilder, but when he moved to England in 1912, he earned a living as a professional boxer, a circus-performer, and a self-defense trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard.

During World War I, the British authorities interned Pilates, along with other German citizens, in Lancaster Castle, where he taught wrestling and self-defense, boasting that his students would emerge stronger than they were before their internment.

Pilates studied yoga and the movements of animals and trained his fellow inmates in fitness and exercises. He later said that the intuitive movements of cats, in particular, inspired many aspects of his fitness regimen. It was there that he began refining and teaching his minimal-equipment system of mat exercises that later became Contrology. He was then transferred to another internment camp at Knockaloe on the Isle of Man.

During that involuntary break, he began to intensively develop his concept of an integrated, comprehensive system of physical exercise, which he himself called Contrology. Contrology related to encouraging the use of the mind to control muscles, and focusing attention on core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles. Some of the early use of Pilates's exercise methods included rehabilitation of seriously injured veterans.

After World War I, Pilates returned to Germany and collaborated with important experts in dance and physical exercise such as Rudolf Laban. In Hamburg, he trained police officers.

Around 1925, Pilates immigrated to the United States. On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s.

Joseph and Clara Pilates soon established a devoted following in the local dance and performing-arts community of New York. Well-known dancers such as George Balanchine, who arrived in the United States in 1933, and Martha Graham, who had come to New York in 1923, became devotees and regularly sent their students to the Pilates for training and rehabilitation. His exercise regimen built flexibility, strength and stamina. Soon after it became known that ballerinas were attending the Pilates gym on 8th Avenue, society women followed.

Joseph Pilates wrote several books, including Return to Life through Contrology and Your Health, and he was also a prolific inventor, with over 26 patents cited.

Pilates continued to advocate for and teach his method well into his old age, even once he was physically incapable of performing the exercises himself.

Pilates died in New York City in 1967 of advanced emphysema at the age of 83.

More information: Flavours Holidays

Breathing is the first act of life and the last.
Our very life depends on it.

Joseph Pilates

SARS-CoV-2, FIRST CHINESE CONFIRMED CASE OF COVID19

Today, The Grandma has been remembering the beginning of Coronavirus, whose first known case was identified in Wuhan, China on a day like today in 2019.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. 

The disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 are variable but often include fever, fatigue, cough, breathing difficulties, loss of smell, and loss of taste. Symptoms may begin one to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. At least a third of people who are infected do not develop noticeable symptoms.

Of those who develop symptoms noticeable enough to be classified as patients, most (81%) develop mild to moderate symptoms (up to mild pneumonia), while 14% develop severe symptoms (dyspnea, hypoxia, or more than 50% lung involvement on imaging), and 5% develop critical symptoms (respiratory failure, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction).

Older people are at a higher risk of developing severe symptoms. Some complications result in death. Some people continue to experience a range of effects (long COVID) for months or years after infection, and damage to organs has been observed. Multi-year studies are underway to further investigate the long-term effects of the disease.

COVID‑19 transmission occurs when infectious particles are breathed in or come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. The risk is highest when people are in close proximity, but small airborne particles containing the virus can remain suspended in the air and travel over longer distances, particularly indoors. Transmission can also occur when people touch their eyes, nose or mouth after touching surfaces or objects that have been contaminated by the virus. People remain contagious for up to 20 days and can spread the virus even if they do not develop symptoms.

Testing methods for COVID-19 to detect the virus's nucleic acid include real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‑PCR), transcription-mediated amplification, and reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT‑LAMP) from a nasopharyngeal swab.

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and distributed in various countries, many of which have initiated mass vaccination campaigns. Other preventive measures include physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, use of face masks or coverings in public, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. While drugs have been developed to inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is still symptomatic, managing the disease through supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Most scientists believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus entered into human populations through natural zoonosis, similar to the SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV outbreaks, and consistent with other pandemics in human history. Social and environmental factors including climate change, natural ecosystem destruction and wildlife trade increased the likelihood of such zoonotic spillover.

More information: WHO

It’s a scary time.
We don’t want to add fuel to the fire.
Good information won’t cure us,
but it will help to calm us.

Ruth Parker

LARRY BIRD, THE LEGENDARY HICK FROM FRENCH LISK

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Larry Bird, the American former professional basketball player, who was born on a day like today in 1956.

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed the Hick from French Lick and Larry Legend, Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. 

He is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

Growing up in French Lick, Indiana, Bird was a local basketball star. Highly recruited, he initially signed to play college basketball for coach Bob Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers. However, Bird dropped out after one month and returned to French Lick and attended a local college. The next year, he attended Indiana State University, ultimately playing three years for the Sycamores.

Selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft after his second year at Indiana State, Bird elected to stay in college and returned for the 1978-79 season. He then led his team to an undefeated regular season. The season finished with a national championship game match-up of Indiana State against Michigan State and featured a highly anticipated match-up of Bird against Michigan State great Magic Johnson, thus beginning a career-long rivalry that the two shared for over a decade. Michigan State won, ending the Sycamores' undefeated streak.

Bird entered the NBA for the 1979-80 season, where he made an immediate impact, starting at power forward and leading the Celtics to a 32-win improvement over the previous season before being eliminated from the playoffs in the conference finals. Bird played for the Celtics during his entire professional career (13 seasons), leading them to five NBA finals appearances and three NBA championships. Bird played most of his career with forward Kevin McHale and center Robert Parish, considered by some to be the greatest front court in NBA history.

Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star, won two NBA Finals MVP awards and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times (1984-1986), making him the only forward in league history to do so. 

Bird was also a member of the gold medal-winning 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, known as the Dream Team. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice as a player -first in 1998 as an individual, and again in 2010 as a member of the Dream Team. Bird was voted onto the NBA's 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list in 1996, and subsequently the 75th Anniversary Team list in 2021.

A versatile player at both forward positions, Bird could play both inside and outside, being one of the first players in the league to take advantage of the newly adopted three-point line. He was rated the greatest NBA small forward of all time by Fox Sports in 2016.

After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997-98 season and later led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals.

In 2003, Bird was named president of basketball operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012. He was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as president of basketball operations in 2013, and remained in that role until 2017. Bird continued with the Pacers as an advisor until July 2022, then after nearly a year's break returned to the organization in the role of consultant.

More information: NBA

Bird was born December 7, 1956, in West Baden Springs, Indiana, to Georgia Marie (née Kerns; 1930–1996) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird (1926-1975), a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. His parents were of Irish, Scottish and Native American descent. Bird has four brothers and a sister.

On August 18, 1992, Bird announced his retirement from the NBA. Following Bird's departure, the Celtics promptly retired his jersey number 33.

Bird has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time. He was selected to 12 NBA All-Star teams. Bird won three NBA championships (in 1981, 1984, and 1986) with the Celtics and won two NBA Finals MVP Awards. He won three consecutive regular season MVP awards; as of 2020, the only other players to accomplish this feat are Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.

Bird was also a four-time regular season MVP runner-up in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1988. He is also remembered as one of the foremost clutch performers in the history of the NBA; Bird was known for his excellent play in high-stakes, high-pressure situations.

In October 2021, as part of the NBA's 75th Anniversary, Bird was honoured as one of the 75 greatest players of all time, by being named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary All-Time Team. To commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary, The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Bird as the seventh greatest player in NBA history.

Bird scored 24.3 points per game in his career on a .496 field goal percentage, an .886 free throw percentage, and a .376 percentage on three-point shots. Bird had an average of 10.0 rebounds per game for his career and 6.3 assists.  

Bird was the first player in NBA history to shoot 50% or better on field goals, 40% on three-pointers, and 90% on free-throws in a single NBA season while achieving the league minimum for makes in each category. He accomplished this feat twice. Bird won NBA three-point-shooting contests in three consecutive years. He sometimes practiced shooting three-point shots with his eyes closed.

Bird is also remembered as an excellent passer and defender. While he was relatively slow, Bird displayed a knack for anticipating the moves of his opponent, making Bird a strong team defender. He had 1,556 career steals. In recognition of his defensive abilities, Bird was named to three All-Defensive Second Teams.

More information: NBA

Leadership is diving for a loose ball,
getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved.
It's being able to take it as well as dish it out.
That's the only way you're going to
get respect from the players.

Larry Bird

LONDON, THE FIRST CITY TO HOST LICENSED TAXICABS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about taxicabs, that were licensed in London on a day like today in 1897.

A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride.  

A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice. This differs from public transport where the pick-up and drop-off locations are decided by the service provider, not by the customers, although demand responsive transport and share taxis provide a hybrid bus/taxi mode.

There are four distinct forms of taxicab, which can be identified by slightly differing terms in different countries:

-Hackney carriages, also known as public hire, hailed or street taxis, licensed for hailing throughout communities

-Private hire vehicles, also known as minicabs or private hire taxis, licensed for pre-booking only

-Taxibuses, also come in many variations throughout the developing countries as jitneys or jeepney, operating on pre-set routes typified by multiple stops and multiple independent passengers

-Limousines, specialized vehicle licensed for operation by pre-booking

Although types of vehicles and methods of regulation, hiring, dispatching, and negotiating payment differ significantly from country to country, many common characteristics exist. Disputes over whether ridesharing companies should be regulated as taxicabs resulted in some jurisdictions creating new regulations for these services.

The word taxicab is a compound word formed as a contraction of taximeter and cabriolet. 

Taximeter is an adaptation of the German word Taxameter, which is itself a variant of the earlier German word Taxanom. Taxe is a German word meaning tax, charge, or scale of charges. The Medieval Latin word taxa also means tax or charge. Taxi may ultimately be attributed to Ancient Greek τάξις from τάσσω meaning to place in a certain order, as in commanding an orderly battle line, or in ordaining the payment of taxes, to the extent that ταξίδι (taxidi), meaning journey in Modern Greek, initially denoted an orderly military march or campaign. Meter is from the Greek μέτρον (metron) meaning measure.

A cabriolet is a type of horse-drawn carriage; the word comes from French cabrioler (to leap, caper), from Italian capriolare (to somersault), from Latin capreolus (roebuck, wild goat). In most European languages that word has taken on the meaning of a convertible car.

The taxicabs of Paris were equipped with the first meters beginning on 9 March 1898. They were originally called taxamètres, then renamed taximètres on 17 October 1904.

Harry Nathaniel Allen of The New York Taxicab Company, who imported the first 600 gas-powered New York City taxicabs from France in 1907, borrowed the word taxicab from London, where the word was in use by early 1907.

A popular but erroneous account holds that the vehicles were named after Franz von Taxis from the house of Thurn and Taxis, a 16th-century postmaster for Philip of Burgundy, and his nephew Johann Baptiste von Taxis, General Postmaster for the Holy Roman Empire. Both instituted fast and reliable postal services (conveying letters, with some post routes transporting people) across Europe. Their surname derives from their 13th-century ancestor Omodeo Tasso.

Horse-drawn for-hire hackney carriage services began operating in both Paris and London in the early 17th century.  

The first documented public hackney coach service for hire was in London in 1605.

In 1625 carriages were made available for hire from innkeepers in London and the first taxi rank appeared on the Strand outside the Maypole Inn in 1636.

In 1635 the Hackney Carriage Act was passed by Parliament to legalise horse-drawn carriages for hire. Coaches were hired out by innkeepers to merchants and visitors. A further Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent was approved by Parliament in 1654 and the first hackney-carriage licences were issued in 1662.

A similar service was started by Nicolas Sauvage in Paris in 1637. His vehicles were known as fiacres, as the main vehicle depot apparently was opposite a shrine to Saint Fiacre. The term fiacre is still used in French to describe a horse-drawn vehicle for hire, while the German term Fiaker is used, especially in Austria, to refer to the same thing.

The modern taximeter was invented and perfected by a trio of German inventors; Wilhelm Friedrich Nedler, Ferdinand Dencker and Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn. The Daimler Victoria -the world's first motorized-powered taximeter-cab- was built by Gottlieb Daimler in 1897 and began operating in Stuttgart in June 1897.

Gasoline-powered taxicabs began operating in Paris in 1899, in London in 1903, and in New York in 1907. The New York taxicabs were initially imported from France by Harry N. Allen, owner of the Allen-Kingston Motor Car Company. Their manufacturing took place at Bristol Engineering in Bristol, Connecticut where the first domestically produced Taxicabs were built in 1908, designed by Fred E. Moskovics who had worked at Daimler in the late 1890s.

Albert F. Rockwell was the owner of Bristol and his wife suggested he paint his taxicabs yellow to maximise his vehicles' visibility. Moskovics was one of the organizers of the first Yellow Taxicab Company in New York.

Electric battery-powered taxis became available at the end of the 19th century. 

In London, Walter Bersey designed a fleet of such cabs and introduced them to the streets of London on 19 August 1897. They were soon nicknamed Hummingbirds due to the idiosyncratic humming noise they made.

In the same year in New York City, the Samuel's Electric Carriage and Wagon Company began running 12 electric hansom cabs. The company ran until 1898 with up to 62 cabs operating until it was reformed by its financiers to form the Electric Vehicle Company.

Taxicabs proliferated around the world in the early 20th century. The first major innovation after the invention of the taximeter occurred in the late 1940s, when two-way radios first appeared in taxicabs. Radios enabled taxicabs and dispatch offices to communicate and serve customers more efficiently than previous methods, such as using callboxes. The next major innovation occurred in the 1980s when computer assisted dispatching was first introduced.

More information: Science Museum

Where I grew up in South East London
you became a cab driver 

or worked in a flower market.

Rob Beckett

1766, JAMES CHRISTIE HOLDS HIS FIRST SALE IN LONDON

Today, The Grandma has been reading about James Christie, the auctioneer who holds his first sale on a day like today in 1766.

James Christie (1730-1803) was a Scottish auctioneer who founded the auction house Christie's.

Born 1730 in Perth, Scotland, Christie went on to found Christie's auctioneers on 5 December 1766. Situated at Pall Mall in London, England, Christie's Great Rooms dealt with some of the most important sales of the late-eighteenth century.

His first sale took place on 5 December 1766, at rooms in Pall Mall, formerly occupied by the print warehouse of Richard Dalton. On these premises the exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts were held until 1779. Christie afterwards moved next door to Thomas Gainsborough, who lived in the western wing of Schomberg House.

He was of tall and dignified appearance, remarkable for eloquence and professional enthusiasm, and was intimate with David Garrick, Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, and other men of note.

He died at his house in Pall Mall on 8 November 1803, aged 73, and was buried in the burial ground of St James's Church, Piccadilly, which was located some way from the church, beside Hampstead Road, Camden, London. His remains were excavated as part of the High Speed 2 project prior to reburial.

Christie married twice. From his first marriage he had four sons, of whom the eldest, James Christie the Younger (1773-1831), succeeded him; the second, Charles, captain in the 5th regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, was killed (1812) in Persia during a Russian attack; the third, Albany, died in 1821; and Edward, the fourth son, died a midshipman at Port Royal, Jamaica, 1821.

More information: History Today

Auctions create greater price discovery and liquidity,
resulting in a very meaningful final auction price.
If you were building a securities exchange today,
an auction would be a core feature.

Tyler Winklevoss

2021, MOUNT SEMERU ERUPTS ON THE ISLAND OF JAVA

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Mount Semeru, the Javanese volcano that erupted on a day like today in 2021.

The Semeru, in Javanese ꦱꦼꦩꦺꦫꦸ, or Mount Semeru, in Javanese ꦒꦸꦤꦸꦁ​ꦱꦼꦩꦺꦫꦸ, is an active volcano located in East Java, Indonesia. It is located in a subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian plate subducts under the Eurasia plate. It is the highest mountain on the island of Java. The name Semeru is derived from Meru, the central world mountain in Hinduism, or Sumeru, the abode of gods. This stratovolcano is Mahameru, meaning The Great Mountain in Sanskrit. It is one of the more popular hiking destinations in Indonesia.

Semeru rises steeply above the coastal plains of eastern Java. Maars containing crater lakes have formed along a line through the volcano's summit. It was formed south of the overlapping Ajek-ajek and Jambagan calderas. The eruptive products are andesitic. Semeru lies at the south end of the Tengger Volcanic Complex.

Semeru's eruptive history is extensive. Since 1818, at least 55 eruptions have been recorded, 11 of which resulted in fatalities, consisting of lava and pyroclastic flows. All historical eruptions have had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 2 or 3.

Semeru has been in a state of near-constant eruption from 1967 to the present. The volcano's most recent eruption occurred in 2024.

Semeru is regularly climbed by tourists, usually starting from the village of Ranu Pane to the north, but though non-technical, it can be dangerous. Soe Hok Gie, an Indonesian political activist of the 1960s, died in 1969 from inhaling poisonous gases while hiking on Mount Semeru.

An eruption of Mount Semeru, a volcano in East Java province of the Indonesian island of Java, began on 4 December 2021. The eruption began after heavy precipitation caused the collapse of the lava dome at the summit. Pyroclastic flows and lahars damaged at least 5,205 homes and several public buildings. At least 69 people died, 104 more were injured, while more than five remain missing.

Semeru is one of more than 100 active volcanoes in Indonesia. At 3,676 meters in elevation, it is the highest volcano on the island. The volcano is part of a chain of volcanic mountains stretching from northern Sumatra to the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Volcanism in Indonesia is mainly associated with the offshore subduction of the Australian Plate beneath the Sunda Plate.

The oldest record of an eruption was from 1818. Since then, major eruptions have occurred in 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955-1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1977, and 1978-1989. A minor eruption occurred in January 2021 with no casualties reported.

The 4 December eruption was the latest in a series of explosive eruptions on the volcano since 2014. Recent eruptions on the volcano have been accompanied by pyroclastic flows, eruption columns, and debris avalanches.

The eruption was thought to have begun when a lava dome at the summit crater collapsed due to intense precipitation. A volcanologist at the Bandung Institute of Technology said the eruption debris flow was an accumulation of material from past eruptions. Heavy rainfall eroded volcanic material on the summit, destabilizing the lava dome. The collapsed dome triggered a series of pyroclastic flows that traveled down the slopes of the volcano.

According to a report from the geological department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the plume height may have been as great as 45 km, although there are claims the height was only 11 km. Investigations are ongoing to determine the plume height. Between 5 and 9 December, eight pyroclastic flows traveled 3 km or more from the peak. The flows traveled in a southeast direction.

More information: Smithsonian Institution

One volcano puts out more toxic gases 
-one volcano- than man makes in a whole year.
And when you look at this 'climate change,'
and when you look at the regular climate change
that we all have in the world,
we have warm and we have cooling spells.

John Raese

HIMALIA, THE JOVIAN MOON IS DISCOVERED IN 1904

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Himalia, the satellite of Jupiter that was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine on a day like today in 1904.

Himalia, also known as Jupiter VI, is the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter. With a diameter of at least 140 km, it is the sixth largest Jovian satellite, after the four Galilean moons and Amalthea.

It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory on 3 December 1904 and is named after the nymph Himalia, who bore three sons of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Jupiter. It is one of the largest planetary moons in the Solar System not imaged in detail, and the third largest not imaged in detail within the orbit of Neptune.

Himalia was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory on 3 December 1904 in photographs taken with the 36-inch Crossley reflecting telescope which he had recently rebuilt.

Himalia is Jupiter's most easily observed small satellite; though Amalthea is brighter, its proximity to the planet's brilliant disk makes it a far more difficult object to view.

Himalia is named after the nymph Himalia, who bore three sons of Zeus, the Greek equivalent of Jupiter. The moon did not receive its present name until 1975; before then, it was simply known as Jupiter VI or Jupiter Satellite VI, although calls for a full name appeared shortly after its and Elara's discovery.

The moon was sometimes called Hestia, after the Greek goddess, from 1955 to 1975.

At a distance of about 11,400,000 km from Jupiter, Himalia takes about 250 Earth days to complete one orbit around Jupiter.  

It is the largest member of the Himalia group, which are a group of small moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance from 11,400,000 km  to 13,000,000 km, with inclined orbits at an angle of 27.5 degrees to Jupiter's equator. Their orbits are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.

In November 2000, the Cassini spacecraft, en route to Saturn, made a number of images of Himalia, including photos from a distance of 4.4 million km. Himalia covers only a few pixels, but seems to be an elongated object with axes 150±20 and 120±20 km, close to the Earth-based estimations.

In February and March 2007, the New Horizons spacecraft en route to Pluto made a series of images of Himalia, culminating in photos from a distance of 8 million km. Again, Himalia appears only a few pixels across.

More information: NASA

When we first sent missions to Jupiter,
no one expected to find moons
that would have active volcanoes.
And I could go down a long list of
how often I've been surprised
by the richness of nature.

Alan Stern

MONICA SELES, PLAYING FOR YUGOSLAVIA AND THE USA

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Monica Seles, the Yugoslavian tennis player who was born on a day like today in 1973.

Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a former world No. 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. She won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States.

In 1990, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion at the age of 16. She went on to win eight major singles titles before turning 20 and was the year-end No. 1 in 1991 and 1992. However, on April 30, 1993, while playing a match, she was the victim of an on-court attack when an obsessed fan of Seles' rival Steffi Graf stabbed Seles in the back with a 23 cm knife as she was sitting down between games. Seles did not return to tennis for over two years after the stabbing.

Though she enjoyed success after returning in 1995, including another major championship at the 1996 Australian Open, she was unable to consistently produce her best tennis. She played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open but did not officially retire until February 2008.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Seles was named one of the 30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future by Time. Several players and historians have stated that Seles had the potential to become the most accomplished female player of all time had she not been stabbed. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.

Seles was born in Yugoslavia to an ethnic Hungarian family. Her parents are Ester and Karolj (Eszter and Károly in Hungarian) and she has an older brother, Zoltan (Zoltán in Hungarian). She began playing tennis at age five, coached by her father, a professional cartoonist employed for decades at the Dnevnik and Magyar Szó newspapers, who drew pictures for her to make her tennis more fun. He is responsible for developing her two-handed style for both the forehand and backhand. Later, her coach was Jelena Genčić.

In 1985, at the age of 11, she won the Junior Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, catching the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri.

In early 1986, Seles and her brother Zoltan moved from Yugoslavia to the United States, and Seles enrolled at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years and continued to practice until March 1990. Nine months after their arrival at the academy, Seles' mother and father joined her and Zoltan in Florida.

Seles played her first professional tournament as an amateur in 1988 at age 14.

In the spring of 2003, Seles sustained a foot injury. She was forced to withdraw during the second set of a match against Nadia Petrova at the Italian Open. Then, a couple of weeks later and still injured, she lost in straight sets to the same player in the first round of the 2003 French Open. It was the only time she ever lost a first-round match at a Grand Slam. She never again played an official tour match.

In February 2005, Seles played two exhibition matches in New Zealand against Navratilova. Despite losing both matches, she played competitively and announced that she could return to the game early in 2006; however, she did not do so. She played three exhibition matches against Navratilova in 2007. On April 5, she defeated Navratilova in Houston, Texas on clay.

On September 14, Seles defeated Navratilova on an indoor court in New Orleans On September 16, she beat her on clay in Bucharest.

Seles was a baseline player who was known for her power-based, highly aggressive playing style. Her unconventional double-handed forehand and backhand were both hit flat, with relentless speed, power, and depth. As a result of her two-handed groundstrokes, she could create sharp angles around the court, and hit winners at will.

She was an aggressive return player, and would stand within the baseline to return serves. Further strengths included her fitness, speed, and court coverage, allowing her to be an excellent retriever, and hit winners from any position on the court.

Prior to her stabbing, Seles' greatest strengths were her powerful groundstrokes and mental toughness, with her being described as one of the toughest players to beat on the WTA tour.

Seles was also known for accompanying her shots with loud grunting, and was frequently criticized for doing so. Due to her aggressive power game, she is considered one of the inspirations for modern WTA players such as Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka.

More information: Instagram-Monica Seles

Tennis has to become everything to you
if you're going to make it to the top.
You have to live it.

Monica Seles

ACT OF UNION, ICELAND BECOMES A SOVEREIGN STATE

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Iceland, that became a sovereign state on a day like today in 1918.

The Kingdom of Iceland, in Icelandic Konungsríkið Ísland, in Danish Kongeriget Island, was a sovereign and independent country under a constitutional and hereditary monarchy that was established by the Act of Union with Denmark signed on 1 December 1918. It lasted until 17 June 1944 when a national referendum established the republic of Iceland in its place.

Under a personal union, due to the Act of Union, the monarch was simultaneously monarch of Denmark. The Parliament of Iceland asked that Denmark represent Iceland internationally, and day-to-day matters were delegated to a Danish plenipotentiary for Icelandic affairs based in Reykjavík, and -after the German invasion of Denmark in 1940- a regent was appointed.

Because of the Kalmar Union, Iceland had been under the control of the Crown of Denmark since 1380, although formally it had been a Norwegian possession until 1814.

In 1874, one thousand years after the first acknowledged settlement, Denmark granted Iceland home rule. The constitution, written the same year, was revised in 1903 and the extent of Iceland's home rule increased in 1904.

On 1 December 1918, the Act of Union, an agreement with Denmark, recognized Iceland as a fully sovereign state, an independent country in personal union with Denmark through a common monarch. 

The Kingdom of Iceland established its own flag and coat of arms and asked that Denmark represent its foreign affairs and defence interests on its behalf while retaining full control over its foreign affairs and defence. 

Iceland opened its first embassy in 1920. The Act would be reviewed in 1940 and could be revoked three years later if agreement to continue it could not be reached.

The Danish-Icelandic Act of Union, an agreement signed by Iceland and Denmark on 1 December 1918, recognized Iceland as a fully independent and sovereign state, known as the Kingdom of Iceland, which was freely associated to Denmark in a personal union with the Danish king. 

Iceland established its own flag, declared its neutrality and asked Denmark to represent on its behalf foreign affairs and defence interests, while maintaining full control of them. Iceland opened its first embassy in 1920.

The Act would be up for revision in 1940 and could be revoked three years later if agreement was not reached.

While a few prominent Icelanders, such as Benedikt Sveinsson [is], wanted to also sever the personal union with the Danish king, the Icelanders did not seriously pursue it. It was understood that the Danish king would not use the veto powers afforded to him by the Act of Union, and the Icelanders considered it unnecessary to sever all ties with Denmark, having gained their independence and full control of all state affairs.

Historian Gunnar Karlsson argues that Denmark was willing to grant Iceland sovereignty in 1918 for two reasons. First, the self-determination of peoples had grown in importance with the end of World War I. Second, Iceland had shown that it was capable of governing its own affairs (starting with Home Rule in 1904) and relations with other states, during World War I when Iceland was cut off from Denmark.

On 17 June 1944, during the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany, while the armed forces of the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada were still in Iceland, a referendum was held on severing ties with the monarchy and the country voted overwhelmingly to become a republic.

More information: Library of Congress

 Genetic studies in Iceland have found that many of the women
who were the founding stock of Iceland came from England
and what is now France. 

Some were probably captured and carried off
in Viking raids only 40 generations ago.

Keith Henson