January 10 – League of Nations Day

Posted on January 10, 2014

Today we commemorate something that didn't work!

On this date in 1920, the League of Nations came into being. It represented the hopes of 42 ratifying nations for international cooperation and world peace.

In 1920 the world was still reeling from the catastrophic death toll of World War I, with more than 16 million dead and many more millions wounded. More than one leader and influential person was calling for a permanent organization that would maintain peace.

That included Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, who outlined his idea of such an organization during his 14-point peace plan. Although many of his ideas did not become adopted by the other nations hammering out the treaty that formally ended WWI, the League of Nations was approved. Wilson was able to present the peace treaty and the Covenant of the League of Nations to the US Senate.

Even though the organization was mostly the “baby” of the US President, the US Senate refused to ratify it! Wilson had suffered from a stroke and was unable to flex his political muscle to reach a compromise with the Senate. Still, the League of Nations was established, without the US.

Why did the Senate refuse to ratify the covenant, you ask?

Good question. Apparently many senators thought that the organization took too much authority away from the US, which was beginning to be seen as a world power.

The sign near the bridge reads "The League of
Nations was designed by the President of the USA."

Uncle Sam is snoozing, resting his head on the keystone
from the bridge, which is labeled "USA."

Guess what happens to a bridge that has no keystone?

And apparently the senators were wrong! Because we can now see that the League had very little power or authority at all. Japan attacked China, even though both of the nations were in the League of Nations. The League condemned the attack, so Japan simply withdrew from the organization. And there was nothing that the League could do! Germany started rearming itself—and the League could do nothing. Italy invaded Ethiopia—again, even though both nations were a part of the peace-keeping organization—and again, the League could do nothing!

By the time World War II started, the League of Nations was basically defunct.

Eventually 63 nations were a part of the League of Nations—but the US wasn't one of them!

So, WWII happened, and more than 60 million—some sources say more than 72 million—people died. And voices once again called out for an organization that could work to promote cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution between nations. The United Nations was born—and this time the US joined!

To learn more about the League of Nations, check out this Brain Pop video. 

Also on this date:

National Vodoun Day in Benin

Astronomer Simon Marius's birthday 

Astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson's birthday

Anniversary of first subway

Anniversary of first aerial photo in U.S.

Anniversary of a successful Amelia Earhart flight

Plan ahead!

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

And here are my boards for:

• February holidays 
• February birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in February

April 9, 2013 - Jenkins's Ear Day

There is a war that lasted three years (1739-1741) that is known as the “War of Jenkins's Ear.”

Never heard of it? You may have heard of the countries involved: England and Spain.

How did a war get such a weird name?

Well, first of all, you must understand that England and Spain fought quite a few wars. They fought over religious differences, piracy and dominance of the oceans, and competition for new lands. They fought because of shifting alliances with other nations and plotting between various kings and queens.

Basically, any old excuse would do!

In this case, they fought because a master mariner named Robert Jenkins walked into England's Parliament and complained that he had been attacked by Spanish pirates. Exhibit 1 was his own disfigured head, and Exhibit 2 was the ear that had been been cut off—and that he had pickled!

Strangely enough, his complaint came SEVEN YEARS after the attack, which was on this date in 1731!

Why the delay before reporting the atrocity? Nobody is sure. Why had Jenkins been carrying around his pickled ear all these years? Again, no one knows. Nevertheless, England declared war on Spain and fought for years—supposedly over an ear!

Learn more about this war at How Stuff Works. 

Did you know...?

Two other famous loss-of-ear incidents include the time that boxer Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a bout, and the time that Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his own ear (or, some historians theorize, his friend Paul Gauguin, another famous painter, cut off the ear in a fight).

Trust me, nobody is going to attack your ear—these incidents RARELY happen. But people accidentally hurt their ears or hearing all the time! You can take care of your ears by following these tips:

• Don't put things into your ear canal. Even poking around with cotton swabs can harm your ears. If you think you have too much earwax, dirt, or anything else in your ear, ask for appropriate help—a parent, a doctor, a nurse.

• Don't listen to loud music—especially with earphones/earbuds.

• Dry your ears with a towel, and shake out water, after swimming. If you get swimmer's ear—an itchy or painful infection—seek medical attention.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Wear a hat, or put sunscreen on the top of your ears, when you are outdoors in bright sunlight. Wear a hat or ear muffs when you are outdoors in very cold weather.

• Wear earplugs or noise-canceling headphones if you have to be somewhere very noisy.

• When flying, yawn frequently as the plane takes off or lands. Or chew gum during ascent and descent.

Learn how our ears work at the Children'sUniversity of Manchester website.

Did you know that your inner ear helps you keep your balance? Learn more at this BBC website.

Gary G. Matthews has an illustrated page that allows us to see what happens inside our ears as we hear different sounds. (Click "Play with sound.")

If you like to learn through cute-but-a-bit-corny videos, check out Study Jams's offering on ears. 

Also, Plan Ahead:

Next Tuesday is One Day Without Shoes. Take a peek at this motivating video to see what the day is all about.  

Also on this date:

Mickael Agricola Day in Finland

(A.K.A.) Finnish Language Day

Independence Day in Georgia

February 15, 2012 - Remember the Maine Day

“Remember the Maine!” was the angry cry that rallied Americans to a war in 1898.  

The Maine was a battleship that had exploded while at anchor in Havana Harbor, Cuba, on this date in 1898. Tragically, around 260 members of the crew died as the ship quickly sank. Although there wasn't good evidence to establish responsibility for the explosion, many people at the time jumped to the conclusion that Spain was at fault, and the war cry went up from upset crowds...Sure enough, two months later the U.S. formally declared war on Spain.

What did happen to the Maine? Some authors think that the ship exploded when an undetected fire in one of her coal bunkers reached the gunpowder in the magazine (a magazine is a room in which gunpowder and other explosives are kept in a fort or a ship), but a recent investigation by National Geographic Magazine (this time, magazine means what you think it means!) used computer-modeling to show that this theory doesn't match the evidence from the sunken ship. Another theory is that the Maine was deliberately sunk by American forces to drive the U.S. into a war with Spain. We call that a conspiracy theory! Apparently the most likely theory is that the ship was the victim of a naval mine. Today, nobody seems to think that a bomb or torpedo hit the ship, although newspaper headlines suggested those things at the time.

I suppose this day has been declared Remember the Maine Day to commemorate the sailors who died. But we can also take the day to consider the fact that being angry about a bad event, and wanting to blame someone for it, are not necessarily good reasons to get into a war or take revenge in an even more tragic event. In 1898, a few newspaper owners were guilty of deliberately whipping up war hysteria in the public; these days, radio talk-show hosts and television pundits often seem guilty of trying to ratchet up fear and hysteria in the public. Perhaps the Spanish-American War would have been fought over some other precipitating event...or perhaps calmer heads could have won the day, and war could have been avoided. Will we today allow ourselves to be manipulated by the blame-game, speculation, and rallying cries, or will we try to look at evidence and strive for peaceful solutions to problems?

By the way, if you happen to live in NYC, you could check out the monument to the sailors who died in the USS Maine explosion, at the southwest entrance of Central Park. No matter what the cause of the Maine explosion, no matter what the aftermath, these sailors deserve the tribute of being remembered today.

Also on this date:

Women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony's birthday 

National Flag of Canada Day 

October 11, 2011 Happy Birthday, Lewis F. Richardson

(and me!)

Have you ever wondered what “higher mathematics” is used for?

Well, Lewis Richardson (born on this day in 1881) used math to forecast weather—and even to study the causes and prevention of war! Richardson also did pioneering work on fractals as he studied the measurement of coastlines and borders. In addition to being a mathematician, Richardson was a physicist, psychologist, and pacifist.

What, what, and what?

• Pioneer: One who settles land that is far from already established towns and cities. OR one who works in a newly-established area of science, technology, etc.
• Physicist: One who studies the matter, energy, and forces of the universe.
• Psychologist: One who studies human behavior and mental processes.
• Pacifist: One who believes that disputes between nations and peoples can and should be settled without war or violence.

What's up with the weather?

Weather is really hard to accurately predict because there are so many factors that affect it, because the atmosphere is chaotic, and because it takes massive computing power to solve the equations that describe the atmosphere.

Richardson suggested using differential equations to forecast weather—and he was right, that's what we use today—but there were no computers or electronic calculators back then. An attempt he made to predict the weather through equations was really off, because he didn't use what we now call smoothing techniques. However, when a modern analyst applied these techniques to Richardson's work, he found out that Richardson's equations were essentially correct. This is considered a remarkable achievement, since he solved the equations by hand while working for an ambulance service.

Of course, Richardson's technique couldn't work while “computers” and “calculators” still mean a bunch of people sitting around solving equations. By the time human computers solved the equations, the forecast was already long out of date. Even the first computers used in weather forecasting took 24 hours to produce a 24-hour forecast.

Nowadays, we have a lot more data to help make our weather predictions—including satellite data and worldwide instruments—and of course we have huge computers to work on all that data. Still, we can only forecast about 10 to 16 days in the future, and our predictions get less accurate near the end of those forecast periods.

War and Borders and Fractals

In his research about war between neighboring countries, Richardson looked for data about length of borders and coastlines, in an effort to find out if there was a correlation between length of borders and frequency of war. However, he found out that different sources gave very different figures for the length of any particular border. He began to research how people made these measurements, and he found out that the smaller the ruler used to measure a coastline or border, the larger the resulting length. To see why, look at these pictures of measurements of the coastline of the British isle:

This Richardson Effect is now considered one part of the birth of the mathematics of fractals.

For more on coastlines and fractals, go here, here, or here.