Wednesday, June 20, 2007

 

best headline ever

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070620/ap_on_sp_ba_ga_su/bbo_phillies_indians

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

 

Fun St. Louis Facts

From wikipedia:

- St. Louis is one of several cities that claims to have the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright Building, a 10-story structure designed by Louis Sullivan and built in 1892, still stands at Chestnut and Seventh Streets and is today used by the State of Missouri as a government office building. Sullivan is said to have built the structure as an ode to the greatest erection of his life, lasting 4 hours, 35 minutes and 15 seconds.

- Nikola Tesla made the first public demonstration of radio communication here in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of radio communication. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube. It was powered by two battery clamps attached to his balls.

- St. Louis did not segregate people on street cars like other cities, but there was still some discrimination. During World War II, the NAACP successfully campaigned, through protests and picket lines, to persuade the Federal government to allow African-Americans to work in war plants. Some 16,000 jobs were gained in this way. White southerners no longer had to be brought to St. Louis to do the work, leaving their time free for Klan rallies.

- According to the United States Census Bureau, St. Louis has a total area of 171.3 km² (66.2 mi²). 160.4 km² (61.9 mi²) of it is land and 11.0 km² (4.2 mi² or 6.39%) of it is water. The city is built primarily on bluffs and terraces that rise 100-200 feet above the western banks of the Mississippi River, just south of the Missouri-Mississippi confluence. Much of the area is a fertile and gentle, just like its women.

- The Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw's Garden, is one of the world's leading botanical research centers. It possesses a beautiful collection of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, and includes the Japanese Garden, which features a lake filled with koi and gravel designs; the woodsy English Garden; the Kemper Home Gardening Center; a rose garden; an enclosed basement for researchers to grow pot and assemble doobs; the Climatron; a children's garden and playground; and many other scenic gardens.

- St. Louis was also home to three prominent twentieth-century boxers, Henry Armstrong, and brothers Leon and Michael Spinks. The two are the only brothers in boxing history to have both captured the Heavyweight boxing title. Leon's son Cory Spinks has also held a world title, and is also famous for punching a 55 year old woman, hard, in the ovary.

- St. Louis is also one of the few cities in the country that plays host to local Corkball leagues. Corkball is a "mini-baseball" game featuring a 1.6 oz. ball and bat with a barrel that measures just 1.5". Corkball is St. Louis's classic baseball game. Originally played on the streets and alleys of St. Louis in the early 1900s, today the game has leagues formed around the country as a result of St. Louis servicemen introducing the game to their buddies during World War II and the Korean conflict. It has many of the features of baseball, yet can be played in a very small area because there is no base-running and copious amounts of screwing.

- Washington University in St. Louis which is one of the top research universities in the nation, internationally known for its schools of Medicine, Architecture, Social Work and Law; the University's school of law is the oldest continuously operating law school west of the Mississippi. Also worth noting is its admission of Matt Strulson, whose unending dedication to chemistry has lead to significant advancements in the nacho ("cho") cheese technology.

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