Daily Almanac for Thursday, November 11, 2022

On this date in 1885, the founding grant for Stanford University was signed, Palo Alto, California

Stanford University campus in 2008 aerial photograph. By Gunther Hagleitner – DSC_0609, CC BY 2.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies 8,180 acres (3,310 hectares), among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is ranked among the top universities in the world.

Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Leland Stanford was a U.S. senator and former governor of California who made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students on October 1, 1891, as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford University struggled financially after the death of Leland Stanford in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War IIprovost Frederick Terman supported faculty and graduates’ entrepreneurialism to build self-sufficient local industry in what would later be known as Silicon Valley.

The university is organized around seven schools on the same campus: three schools consisting of 40 academic departments at the undergraduate level as well as four professional schools that focus on graduate programs in law, medicine, education, and business. The university also houses the public policy think tank, the Hoover Institution. Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two private institutions in the Division I FBS Pac-12 Conference. As of May 26, 2022, Stanford has won 131 NCAA team championships, more than any other university, and was awarded the NACDA Directors’ Cup for 25 consecutive years, beginning in 1994–1995. In addition, by 2021, Stanford students and alumni had won at least 296 Olympic medals including 150 gold and 79 silver medals.

As of April 2021, 85 Nobel laureates, 29 Turing Award laureates, and eight Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Stanford as students, alumni, faculty, or staff. In addition, Stanford is particularly noted for its entrepreneurship and is one of the most successful universities in attracting funding for start-ups. Stanford alumni have founded numerous companies, which combined produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue and have created 5.4 million jobs as of 2011, roughly equivalent to the seventh largest economy in the world (as of 2020). Stanford is the alma mater of U.S. President Herbert Hoover, 74 living billionaires, and 17 astronauts. In academia, its alumni include the current presidents of Yale and MIT and the provosts of Harvard and Princeton. It is also one of the leading producers of Fulbright ScholarsMarshall ScholarsRhodes Scholars, and members of the United States Congress.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Remembrance Day (Canada)

Remembrance Day in Canada is a day to honor the Canadian men and women who have died in service to their country. Poppies are often worn in remembrance.

The date, November 11, marks the anniversary of the end of World War I in 1918. Traditionally on Remembrance Day, two minutes of silence are observed at 11:00 a.m., the same time when World War I hostilities ended (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month), according to an armistice agreement signed by Germany and the Allies.

Veteran’s Day (United States)

Originally Armistice Day, commemorating the signing of the agreement that ended World War I at 11:00 A.M., November 11, 1918, this federal holiday was changed to Veterans Day in 1954. At that time, it became a day to honor all the men and women who have served in the armed forces of the United States. Each year, special ceremonies are held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Consider spending some time on-line learning more about our nation’s veterans. The Great War Society has developed a Web site devoted to World War I educational materials. The World War II Memorial celebrates the victory of “the greatest generation” with a design that uses moving water to harmonize with its natural surroundings. Visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial online; this moving memorial, dedicated in 1995, is the latest addition to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. See a registry of all the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington. Learn more about the military men and women who are on duty today.

Second Summer

Second Summer (also known as “Indian summer”) is a period of warm weather following a cold spell or a hard frost. It can occur between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and November 20, although the Almanac adheres to the proverb, “If All Saints’ brings out winter, St. Martin’s brings out Indian summer.” As for the origin of the name, some say it comes from the Narragansett people, who believed that the condition was caused by a warm wind sent from the court of their southwestern god, Cautantowwit. Learn more about Second Summer.

Question of the Day

How big a turkey should I buy if I’m intending to feed ten people?

You should count on about one pound per person, precooked. This may turn out to be more than necessary, but better safe than without leftovers.

Advice of the Day

Caraway seeds keep pigeons from straying.

Home Hint of the Day

Treat really stubborn stains in marble with fresh hydrogen peroxide and a couple of drops of ammonia. (Peroxide loses strength as it ages — check the expiration date on the label.) Pour the mixture on the stain and let sit for several minutes. Then wash, rinse, and wipe dry.

Word of the Day

Skyscraper

A skysail of a triangular form. A name for the one of the fancy sails alleged to have been sometimes set above the skysail. Hence, anything usually large, high, or excessive.

Puzzle of the Day

If all the letters of the alphabet were asked out to dinner, why could they not all go together?

Because six always go after tea (T).

Born

  • Abigail Adams (U.S. First Lady) – 1744
  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky (author) – 1821
  • Maude Adams (actress) – 1872
  • George S. Patton, Jr. (army general) – 1885
  • Pat O’Brien (actor) – 1899
  • Howard Fast (author) – 1914
  • Kurt Vonnegut (author) – 1922
  • Jonathan Winters (actor) – 1925
  • Carlos Fuentes (author) – 1928
  • Fuzzy Zoeller (golfer) – 1951
  • Stanley Tucci (actor) – 1960
  • Demi Moore (actress) – 1962
  • Calista Flockhart (actress) – 1964
  • Leslie Mann (actress) – 1972
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (actor) – 1974
  • Christa B. Allen (actress) – 1991

Died

  • Nat Turner (A deeply religious enslaved man who in August 1831 led a violent rebellion of enslaved people in Southampton County, Virginia ) – 1831
  • Søren Kierkegaard (philosopher) – 1855
  • Mary Kay Bergman (voice actress) – 1999
  • Yasser Arafat (Palestinian leader who sought a homeland for his people) – 2004
  • Delbert Mann (director) – 2007
  • Douglas Rain (Canadian actor) – 2018

Events

  • The founding grant for Stanford University was signed, Palo Alto, California– 1885
  • Washington admitted to the Union as the 42nd state– 1889
  • Tomb of the Unknown Soldier dedicated, Arlington, Virginia– 1921
  • The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated, Washington, D.C.– 1993
  • George Bowering became the first Parliamentary Poet Laureate in Canada– 2002
  • Transit of Mercury.– 2019

Weather

  • Oklahoma City reached a record high temperature of 83 degrees F, before plunging 66 degrees to a record low of 17 degrees F that evening– 1911
  • The Armistice Day Storm killed more than 100 people and dumped 17 inches of snow on Iowa and nearly 29 inches on Duluth, Minnesota– 1940

COURTESY www.almanac.com