ON THIS DAY IN 1924, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, "WASHINGTON, NOV. 22 -- Confirmation of the view that the spiral nebulae which appears in the heavens as whirling clouds are in reality distant stellar systems, or 'island universes,' has been obtained by Dr. Edwin Hubble of the Carnegie Institution's Mount Wilson Observatory through investigations carried out with the observatory's powerful telescopes. The number of spiral nebulae, the observatory officials have reported to the institution, is very great, amounting to hundreds of thousands, and their apparent sizes range from small objects, almost starlike in character, to the great nebulae in Andromeda, which extends across an angle some three degrees in the heavens, about six times the diameter of the full moon. 'The investigations of Dr. Hubble were made photographically with the 60-inch and 100-inch reflectors of the Mount Wilson Observatory,' the report said, 'the extreme faintness of the stars under examination making necessary the use of these great telescopes. The revolving power of these instruments breaks up the outer portions of the nebulae into swarms of stars, which may be studied individually and compared with those in our own system.'"
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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, "The New York region's natural economic foundation is sufficiently strong to support a substantial future growth in its present large population, C. Earl Morrow, acting executive director of the Regional Planning Association, told a meeting of the New York Chapter, Society for the Advancement of Management, at the Waldorf Astoria. Mr. Morrow warned, however, against a complacent attitude on the part of the New York business interests, pointing out that there is strong competition between different regions of the nation. The higher level of wages in New York compared with those of the South, the possible completion of the proposed St. Lawrence Seaway, the recent Interstate Commerce decision raising some freight rates and lowering others, uneconomic practices which raise local production costs, and such local conditions as traffic congestion and blighted areas, were cited by the speaker as factors that may tend to whittle down New York's economic supremacy. 'New York, no more than any other region,' declared Mr. Morrow, 'can rely for its future progress upon any automatic operation of its great supporting economic resources. Its business leaders must remove man made obstacles and formulate active programs to encourage expansion of existing activities and initiation of new ones.'"
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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, "With one bid for settlement of the costly longshoremen's strike having been turned down by union officials, representatives of shipping interests today went into a huddle to formulate a new order in an effort to end the stoppage, now 14 days old. The meeting was held in the offices of the New York Shipping Association, 80 Broad St., Manhattan, and the shipping men were led by John V. Lyon, chairman of the association's negotiating committee. It was believed that the committee would ask the association members for an extension of bargaining powers, previously reported to be exhausted, and that new concessions might be made. At any rate, the results of the parley were scheduled to be submitted to a meeting of the 125-man committee of the striking International Longshoremen's Association at 3 p.m. today in the Hotel Edison. Meanwhile, it appeared certain that the giant liner Queen Elizabeth would not sail from Southampton, regardless of when the port-crippling East Coast dock strike ends. The engine crew of the 83,000-ton ship today rejected a proposal that the ship sail for New York tomorrow, and it was believed that other crew members would fall into line. The proposal was advanced by the Cunard White Star Line, owners of the vessel, anxious to get the 1,400 passengers under way in the expectation that the stoppage would be over before the ship arrived in New York."
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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, "The Dodgers know all about Roberto Clemente, pulled by Pittsburgh as the player plum in this year's baseball draft. They found him, they signed him and they lost him -- for $4,000, about eight thousand less than he received as a bonus player last Winter. That, of course, is why they lost him. You can sign a player 'in excess of $4,000,' but after a season, he must go through unrestricted draft unless promoted to the major league roster. 'We didn't have any room for him,' explained Dodger veep Fresco Thompson. 'We left him at Montreal on a gamble, figuring he might be drafted.' Only 20, Clemente doesn't appear ready to play regularly, even for the Pirates. But he's rated a pretty good player 'potentially' despite a .257 average as Montreal's fifth outfielder. What excited the Pirates -- and a lot of other clubs were ready to grab him if the Pirates hadn't -- is his current .380 average in Puerto Rico. With the Caribbean Winter Leagues the latest talent-scout territory for vacationing baseball men, Clemente was on display for all to see. Just as Dodger scout Al Campanis saw him a year ago. A right-handed hitting Negro, Clemente drew this comment from Branch Rickey Jr.: 'He can run and throw and we think he can hit.'"
WHAT'S UP, DOC?: "Doctor Who" premiered on British TV on this day in 1963. Traveling through time and space, the Doctor and his companions found themselves in mortal combat with creatures such as the Daleks. The series aired until 1989 and attracted a huge cult following when it debuted in the U.S. in 1975. A new version of the series began in 2005.
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BY THE NUMBERS: Today is Fibonacci Day, which celebrates the Fibonacci sequence in mathematics: a string of numbers where each number is the sum of the preceding pair of numbers. In the American shorthand of expressing dates, Nov. 23 is 11/23, and 1+1=2; 2+1=3. Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1240) described the sequence in his 1202 treatise "Liber abaci."
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Special thanks to "Chase's Calendar of Events" and Brooklyn Public Library.
"If things get too much for you and you feel the whole world's against you, go stand on your head. If you can think of anything crazier to do, do it."