Nature is a British interdisciplinary scientific journal, first published on November 4, 1869. It was ranked the world’s most-cited scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports, and is widely regarded as one of the few remaining academic journals that publishes original research across a wide range of scientific fields. It claims an online readership of about three million unique readers per month, with a weekly circulation of around 53,000, but studies have concluded that on average a single copy is shared by as many as eight people.
On May 26, 1328, William of Ockham, an English friar who developed the principle called “Occam’s razor,” left Avignon in secrecy due to a threat from Pope John XXII. His principle, called a “law of parsimony,” holds that among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one involving the fewest assumptions is preferable.
The origins of what has come to be known as Occam’s razor are traceable to the works of earlier philosophers such as John Duns Scotus (1265–1308), Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253), Maimonides (Moses ben-Maimon, 1138–1204), and even Aristotle (384–322 BC). Aristotle writes in his Posterior Analytics, “We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [other things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses.” Ptolemy (c. AD 90 – c. AD 168) stated, “We consider it a good principle to explain the phenomena by the simplest hypothesis possible.”
Ockham, the birthplace of said William, is a small town in Surrey, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name “Bocheham.”
The birthplace of baseball star and broadcaster Ralph Kiner no long exists, in a three dimensional sense. Santa Rita, New Mexico, still has latitude and longitude, but in the third dimension, the exact location is floating hundreds of feet in the air, above an open pit copper mine.
The chorus to John Prine’s song “Paradise”, set in Kentucky, is
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away.
Settlements created by Europeans earlier than 1621 in Canada and the US were St. John’s, Harbour Grace, Port Royal, St. Augustine, Santa Fe, Jamestown, Tadoussac. Quebec City, and Plymouth.
Old Quebec is the only walled city north of Mexico. Highly recommended as a tourist destination, summer or winter.
On July 3, 1620, French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City. In the same year—November 9—the Mayflower, captained by Christopher Jones, landed at or near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Bill Bryson, in his book Made in America, wrote: “The one thing the Pilgrims certainly did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock.”
Champ or Champy is the name given to a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain. While there have been over 300 reported sightings of Champ, scientific evidence is still lacking.
Champlain, as Commander of New France in 1609, named the lake for himself.
Champlain’s marriage to twelve-year-old Hélène Boullé was initially quite troubled, as Hélène rebelled when she was told to join him in August 1613. Their relationship, while it apparently lacked any physical connection, recovered and was apparently good for many years. Hélène lived in Quebec for several years, but returned to Paris and eventually decided to enter a convent. The couple had no children, although Champlain did adopt three Montagnais girls named Faith, Hope, and Charity in the winter of 1627–28.
In the early years of WWII, the air defence of the island of Malta was entrusted to a squadron of Gloster Gladiator biplanes, the last biplanes used by the RAF. Three of the squadron were nicknamed Faith, Hope and Charity, leading to the myth that only three obsolete biplanes defended Malta from the Luftwaffe. In fact the squadron contained more than three planes, and the Gladiator acquitted itself well against more modern monoplanes.
Only Faith survived the war. It is on display in a museum on Malta.
The Apostle Paul’s 1st letter to the Christian church in Corinth is a New Testament epistle known as First Corinthians (1 Corinthians). Paul wrote two epistles to Corinth that are included in the N.T., 1 and 2 Corinthians. These are called First and Second Corinthians. It is not usually (if not never, ever) called ‘Two Corinthians’, as mentioned by Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in March earlier this year.
In 1st Corinthians chapter 13, Paul writes that Faith, Hope and Charity abide, these three. And the greatest of these is charity. Some bible translations now say Faith, Hope and Love abide, these three. And the greatest of these is love.
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the tennis term “love” (zero) might be rooted in the colloquial phrase “for love,” meaning “without stakes being wagered.” This theory reflects the sport’s long history of etiquette and sportsmanship. Others theorize that love arose from the French word for “egg,” l’oeuf, because a zero on a scoreboard resembles an egg. This is a clever claim, but it remains unsubstantiated.
There is a pineapple on top of the Wimbledon tennis trophy. Apparently it represents the tradition of English sailors putting pineapples on their gateposts when they returned from a long voyage.
Pineapple seed formation needs pollination, but the presence of seeds harms the quality of the fruit. In Hawaii, where pineapple is cultivated on an agricultural scale, importation of hummingbirds is prohibited for this reason. Certain bat-pollinated wild pineapples open their flowers only at night, to avoid diurnal seed pollination.
Pineapples are traditionally symbols of hospitality. Five of them appear on the coat of arms of Jamaica; four appear on the Queen’s personal flag as head of state of that country.
Judy Mazel used the pineapple as a symbol of her Beverly Hills diet, which was based on fruit, and she claimed it worked based on fruit enzymes, and not because the 1,200 calorie daily diet was “not exactly low calorie” She died of peripheral vascular disease at the age of 63.
The city of Beverly Hills, California was originally a Spanish ranch where lima beans were grown.