news/notes 2009.03.25

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Aretha Franklin
American singer Aretha Franklin, born this day in 1942 and crowned the “Queen of Soul,” defined the golden age of 1960s soul music with hits such as "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)," "Respect," and "Think."

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1306: Robert the Bruce crowned king of Scotland
Robert the Bruce, crowned Scottish king at Scone this day in 1306, freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).

[Sports] from [The Japan Times]
WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Japan rules baseball world again
Beats S. Korea in 10-inning thriller to retain WBC crown
By JASON COSKREY
Staff writer

LOS ANGELES — Ichiro Suzuki was having the worst World Baseball Classic imaginable leading up to the WBC final.

He changed all that with one swing.

Ichiro broke a 10th-inning tie with a two-run single and Yu Darvish closed out the game as Japan won its second consecutive World Baseball Classic title with a 5-3 win over South Korea in front of a tournament-record crowd of 54,846 in Los Angeles on Monday night.

"We were tied at 3-3 and faced the 10th inning," Japan manager Tatsunori Hara said. "At the end, Ichiro hit the ball into center and we were able to score two runs. I believe that hit is something that I will never forget. It's an image imprinted in my mind."

Seiichi Uchikawa led off the top of the 10th with a single and Akinori Iwamura hit a two-out single later in the inning to set the stage for Ichiro against reliever Lim Chang Yong.

With first base open, after Iwamura advanced to second on defensive indifference, Lim challenged the MLB star rather than issuing a walk.

Down to his last strike, Ichiro fouled off several pitches before lining a single into center to put Japan ahead 5-3.

Ichiro finished 4-for-6 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs and said afterward he was not surprised Lim didn't walk him.

"There was no surprise," Ichiro said. "No. 2 (in the lineup) there is (Hiroyuki) Nakajima, and he is a batter you wanted to avoid. So there was a possibility for the bases to be loaded and I knew they would fight against that. So I wasn't at all surprised."

Yu Darvish, who blew the save in the ninth, closed out the game in the 10th to earn the win.

Pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who went 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 14 2/3 innings in the WBC, was named the tournament's MVP.

"I'm really thankful about the MVP," Matsuzaka said. "I didn't think that it was going to be me at all. I felt I was lucky and I felt that I couldn't be compared to (Hisashi) Iwakuma-san, who pitched today. So I felt that Iwakuma would get the MVP."

Iwakuma had another big performance on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out six with 97 pitches over 7 2/3 innings. He did not factor into the decision.

Iwakuma finished the WBC 1-1 with a 1.35 ERA allowing three runs on 12 hits with 15 strikeouts in 20 innings.

Iwakuma was relieved by Toshiya Sugiuchi, who entered the game in the eighth with the tying run on first and two outs. Sugiuchi retired Lee Yong Kyu to preserve the lead.

Darvish took over to start the ninth and struck out Lee Jin Young before walking the next two batters. He struck out Choo Shin Soo for the second out, but Lee Bum Ho tied the game with a single to left.

Starter Bong Jung Keun had another good night against Japan, but it wasn't enough to pick up the win against Iwakuma.

The South Korean hurler lasted four-plus innings, giving up a run, unearned, on six hits and striking out one.

Michihiro Ogasawara singled to right field to drive in the game's first run with one out in the top of the third. The next batter, Uchikawa, also singled to right, loading the bases for designated hitter Kenta Kurihara.

Bong got the Hiroshima Carp star to ground into a 5-6-2 double play to hold Japan to a one-run lead.

Nakajima and Aoki led off the fifth with a walk and single, respectively, to put runners on first and third, chasing Bong from the game.

Reliever Jong Hyun Wook responded by striking out Kenji Johjima for the first out of the inning. Jong then struck out Ogasawara and catcher Park Kyung Oan gunned down Aoki trying to steal second to end the threat.

Choo Shin Soo led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot off Iwakuma to tie the score at 1-1.

The score remained tied until Nakajima's RBI single in the seventh. Japan added an insurance run in the eighth on Iwamura's run-scoring sacrifice fly.

Lee Dae Ho hit a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2 in the eighth and Lee Bum Ho tied the score with his RBI single in the ninth.

news/notes 2009.03.24

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Harry Houdini
American magician Harry Houdini, born this day in 1874, earned an international reputation for his daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs and from locked containers such as coffins and prison cells.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1989: Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill
On this day in 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling some 11 million gallons (41 million litres) of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska and creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

news/notes 2009.03.23

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Kurosawa Akira
Born this day in 1910, Japanese director Kurosawa Akira won worldwide acclaim with subtle, brilliantly composed films, such as Rashomon (1950), that combined Japanese historic themes with a Western sense of action and drama.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1806: Lewis and Clark's return trip begun
Having completed the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark this day in 1806 began their return to St. Louis, Missouri, where their journey had begun in May 1804.

news/notes 2009.03.22

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Andrew Lloyd Webber
English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose works such as Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Phantom of the Opera helped revitalize British and American musical theatre in the late 20th century, was born this day in 1948.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1622: Murder at Jamestown
Opechancanough, brother of Chief Powhatan and his successor as the leader of the Powhatan Indian empire, led an attack on the Jamestown Colony this day in 1622, killing at least 347 colonists and initiating the Powhatan War.

news/notes 2009.03.21

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Hans Hofmann
German painter Hans Hofmann, born this day in 1880, was an influential art teacher and a pioneer in the use of improvisatory techniques whose work paved the way for American painters to develop Abstract Expressionism.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1963: Closing of Alcatraz prison
The U.S. federal prison on San Francisco Bay's Alcatraz Island, which had held some of the most dangerous civilian prisoners—including Al Capone and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”—was closed this day in 1963.



[Health] from [Reuters]
China clears Johnson & Johnson baby products after probe
Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:57am EDT

BEIJING, March 21 (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities said on Saturday that they had found no evidence of cancer-causing chemicals in baby products made by U.S. company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The State Food and Drug Administration had investigated 33 products, including baby shampoo, made by Johnson & Johnson after a U.S. consumer group charged that they contained carcinogens.

The SFDA, in a statement on its website, said it would continue to monitor the situation and carry out timely tests.

Johnson & Johnson has disputed the allegations by the U.S.-based Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, saying that trace levels of the compounds in question result from processes that make the products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies consider these trace level safe, the company said in a statement this week.

According to media reports, a Shanghai-based regional supermarket chain, Nonggongshang Supermarket Group, ordered its 3,500 outlets to remove baby bath products made by Johnson & Johnson from their shelves.

Other big outlets in China, including the U.S. supermarket Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and its French rival Carrefour (CARR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), still carry the products. (Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Jan Dahinten)

[Words] from [英辞郎]
carcinogen
a substance that can cause cancer
【名】発癌（性）物質
・The number of known carcinogens is constantly on the rise.
発癌性物質の発見数は、常に増加している。
【変化】《複》carcinogens、【分節】car・cin・o・gen

news/notes 2009.03.20

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton, whose Principia (1687) was one of the most important single works in the history of modern science and who was the culminating figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century, died this day in 1727.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1995: AUM subway attack
Top leaders of AUM Shinrikyo (Japanese: “AUM Supreme Truth”), a Japanese Buddhist sect founded in 1987 by Asahara Shoko, released nerve gas into a Tokyo subway this day in 1995, killing 12 people and injuring thousands.

news/notes 2009.03.19

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Willem de Kooning
Dutch American artist Willem de Kooning, a major exponent of Abstract Expressionism and Action painting whose series Woman I–VI caused a stir with its violent images and impulsive technique, died this day in 1997.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1982: Conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom
On this day in 1982, Argentine forces mobilized after a dispute between Argentine workers and British scientists on British-controlled South Georgia island, leading to Argentina's invasion of the Falklands two weeks later.

news/notes 2009.03.18

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
John Updike
American writer John Updike, whose novels, short stories, and poems are known for their realistic but subtle depiction of “American, Protestant, small-town, middle-class” life, was born this day in 1932.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
2000: Election of Chen Shui-bian
On this day in 2000, Chen Shui-bian, a leader of the proindependence movement that sought statehood for the Republic of China (Taiwan), was elected president of Taiwan, breaking the Nationalist Party's 55-year rule.

news/notes 2009.03.17

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Mia Hamm
Two-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Mia Hamm, born this day in 1972, was the first global star in women's football (soccer), retiring with 158 goals in international play—the most by any player, male or female.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1992: Vote to end apartheid
On this day in 1992, nearly 69 percent of white South African voters backed F.W. de Klerk's reforms—which included the repeal of racially discriminatory laws—and effectively endorsed the dismantling of apartheid.

news/notes 2009.03.16

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
James Madison
Born this day in 1751, James Madison, the fourth U.S. president and an architect of the U.S. Constitution and its ratification, collaborated in the publication of the Federalist papers and sponsored the Bill of Rights.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1968: My Lai Massacre
On this day in 1968, during the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers dispatched on a search-and-destroy mission killed as many as 500 unarmed villagers in the hamlet of My Lai, considered a stronghold of the Viet Cong.

news/notes 2009.03.15

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Albert Einstein
German American physicist Albert Einstein, born this day in 1879, had one of the most creative intellects in human history, developed groundbreaking theories of relativity, and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
2004: Reelection of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin, the intelligence officer and politician who became president of Russia in 1999 upon the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term as president this day in 2004.

news/notes 2009.03.14

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Albert Einstein
German American physicist Albert Einstein, born this day in 1879, had one of the most creative intellects in human history, developed groundbreaking theories of relativity, and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
2004: Reelection of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin, the intelligence officer and politician who became president of Russia in 1999 upon the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term as president this day in 2004.

news/notes 2009.03.12

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
André Le Nôtre
André Le Nôtre, one of the greatest French landscape architects, whose masterpiece is the gardens of Versailles and whose genius was in demand throughout the capitals of Europe, was born in Paris this day in 1613.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1947: Truman Doctrine pronounced
On this day in 1947, U.S. President Harry S. Truman articulated what became known as the Truman Doctrine when he asked Congress to appropriate aid for Greece and Turkey, both of which were facing communist threats.

news/notes 2009.03.11

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson, born this day in 1916 and a cabinet minister by age 31, led the Labour Party to victory in four of five general elections and was prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 t

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
2004: Terrorist bombings in Madrid
On this day in 2004, Madrid suffered a series of terrorist attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, exploded on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 others.

news/notes 2009.03.10

[Born This Day] from [Britannica]
Kim Campbell
Progressive Conservative Kim Campbell, who became Canada's first woman prime minister and its first leader from the West Coast when she succeeded Brian Mulroney in 1993, was born this day in 1947 in British Columbia.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]
1933: Opening of the Nazis' first concentration camp
On this day in 1933, soon after Adolf Hitler became chancellor, the first concentration camp in Germany opened at Dachau, where at least 32,000 people would die from disease, malnutrition, physical oppression, and execution.