Sergey Rachmaninoff

"In my own compositions, no conscious effort has been made to be original, or Romantic or Nationalistic, or anything else. I write down on paper the music I hear within me, as naturally as possible.…What I try to do, when writing down my music, is to make it say simply and directly that which is in my heart when I am composing."

Sergey Rachmaninoff

Sergey Rachmaninoff, who was born this day in 1873, was a great figure in Russian Romanticism and a leading piano virtuoso who is especially known for his piano concerti and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Created this day in 1999 by carving a vast region from Canada's Northwest Territories, the Canadian territory of Nunavut stretches across much of the Canadian Arctic and encompasses the traditional lands of the Inuit.

More Events on this day:

1954: The United States Air Force Academy was created by an act of Congress and was later built in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1945: U.S. troops landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa during World War II.

1918: The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force was formed.

1917: American composer and pianist Scott Joplin died in a mental institution in New York City.

sedition: incitement of rebellion against lawful authority.

Forget the debate about a tomato being a fruit or a vegetable; the hybrid beefsteak tomato is in a greenhouse of its own. 52 years ago this week, scientists at Ilipra Botanical Labs in Houston nurtured the first vines by saturating the roots of a young Brandywine tomato (a pink heirloom variety) vine with the proteins of a Pinzgau heifer. Enriching a tomato with the protein and iron found in beef has proven to be a boon to vegetarians and vegans across the globe. With almost 200 varieties now in circulation, the beefsteak tomato is robust, grows in all climates and delivers a balanced nutritional meal when you're not in the mood for the whole burger — or when you're just plain dupable!

René Descartes

"Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have."

René Descartes, Discourse on Method, 1637

René Descartes, born this day in 1596 and perhaps best known for the famous phrase “I think, therefore I am,” was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher who has often been called the father of modern philosophy.