The First Time News Was Fit to Print: Disneyland, Search Engines & Texlahoma
Welcome to another edition of The First Time News Was Fit To Print, the semi-regular feature where we travel into the archives of The New York Times and find the first time the paper covered various subjects. If you have a suggestion for a future installment, leave a comment.
Disneyland
Land of Fantasia Is Rising on Coast A cost estimate of $9,000,000 for the building of Disneyland was made today with the announcement that a 160-acre site had been selected for the ambitious amusement center and living museum of Americana conceived by Walt Disney. * * *Disneyland, which will resemble a giant motion-picture set, is described by Mr. Disney as a "combination of a world's fair, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts and a show place of beauty and magic. Once you walk through its portals you leave today behind and enter a world of yesterday, tomorrow and Fantasy." * * * "Disneyland," he added, "will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and hard facts that created America. And it will be uniquely equipped to dramatize these dreams and facts and send them forth as a sort of courage and inspiration to all the world."
Continue reading for the first mentions of Bobby Bowden, search engines and something called "Texlahoma."
Texlahoma
Texlahoma Urged as 49th State Texlahoma, a forty-ninth State in the Union, comprised of counties in Western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, with a combined population exceeding a million, would be created if a proposal being placed before citizens of both States were approved. * * * The most curious aspect of the incident, however, arises from the manner in which it is reviving that fallacious notion, always widely held, that under terms of its annexation ninety years ago Texas has peculiar rights to divide itself into new States. This idea arose from a misinterpretation of the clause in the joint resolution of Congress annexing Texas by which the Missouri compromise line was carried to the west boundary of Texas. At that time Texas claimed territory far north, and provision was merely being made that States subsequently carved from Teas should be slave below the compromise line and free above.
Bobby Bowden
Carlen Is Hired by Texas Tech; Bowden Replaces Him at West Virginia Robert C. (Bobby) Bowden moved up to head coach at West Virginia today succeeding Jim Carlen. Bowden, 40 years old, had been the offensive coach for the Mountaineers since February, 1966. * * * He started his coaching career at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., where he was assistant football coach and head track coach. He left Samford in 1955 to become head football and baseball coach at South Georgia Junior College.
Search Engine
The Executive Computer: A Fast Way to Discover Patterns in Vast Amounts of DataIn the financial markets particularly, all the data needed for research are generally publicly available, but few traders have the luxury of enough time to spend researching data, poring over charts and reading reams of analysis. And often they are not willing to commit the time or money needed to have a researcher check out a convoluted hunch -- especially if the hunch requires going back through 70 years of stock market data and economic indicators. Mr. Li of Duich Investment said he was impressed with how quickly the Market Information Machine (MIM), created by Logical Information Machines Inc. of Austin, Tex., can sift through years of data and display the results as graphs. His system is loaded with about 1,500 megabytes of market data -- about 1.5 billion characters. "It retrieves data almost instantaneously," Mr. Li said. And, of course, "as traders, we really, really like speed," he said. Duich Investment leases the MIM software, which includes the data base search engine and the historic market data, and runs it on a Unix work station. The software costs the company about $2,500 a month, depending on options.
Gerrymandering
Ohio Politics The Whig journals in Ohio say that the election which comes off in that State in a few days will be one of the most important in its results ever had in that action...[Those elected] will also have the dividing of the State into Congressional Districts—and past experience justifies the fear that if the Opposition get the power in their hands they will Gerrymander the State unscrupulously for their own benefit.
Here are a few topics covered in previous editions...
Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
Santa to Lead a Parade: Will Be Accompanied by Toyland Notables Santa Claus, accompanied by several bands and a circus contingent made up of professionals and employees of R.H. Macy & Co., will parade six miles through the city Thanksgiving morning. * * * Santa, with his retinue of clowns, and prominent personages in toyland, such as Mother Goose, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffet and the Three Men in the Tub, then will be escorted to the ground floor [of Macy's], where he will be crowned. Thereupon he will unveil Macy's Christmas spectacle, "Fairyfolk Frolics in Wondertown."
Paternity Leave
Paternity Leave Urged Mother should not be the only one coddled a bit after baby's birth, according to RN, the nurses' magazine, UPI reports. It suggested that the father "merits a two-week paternity leave from his work so he can be with his wife during childbirth and help later with the housework."
George Clooney
Popular Films Are Feeding The Series Maw This season's spinoffs...are likely to have a certain familiarity about them, especially after the producers and the networks get through tinkering with the movie premises. In ABC's Baby Talk, for example, the father substitute, a cab driver played in the film by John Travolta, becomes a handyman, played by George Clooney. This gives him a reason to hang around the house "“ and pursue a romance "“ with the single mother, played by Kirstie Alley in the movie and Connie Sellecca in the series. Ms. Sellecca's character also gets a time-honored foil, another single mom who lives next door.
Tommy John Surgery
Surgery for Tudor John Tudor, the Los Angeles Dodger left-hander who suffered a torn ligament in his pitching elbow after only one and a third innings in the World Series, underwent reconstructive elbow surgery Thursday. Dr. Frank Jobe, the team physician, said the surgery should enable Tudor to return by the middle of next season. Tudor underwent "Tommy John surgery," which Jobe developed for the former Dodger and current Yankee pitcher in 1974 in which damaged ligament was replaced with a tendon from his left forearm. Jobe also removed frayed cartilage by arthroscope from Tudor's left shoulder and removed two screws from the 34-year-old's right knee, which was broken 16 months ago when Barry Lyons of the Mets crashed into him in the St. Louis Cardinal dugout while chasing a foul pop.
See Also... "¢ Greatest Hits of 2007 (Walkman, Email, Jerry Seinfeld and more) "¢ Greatest Hits of 2008 (Princess Diana, Personal Computer, John McCain and more) "¢ See all the previous installments of The First Time News Was Fit To Print "¢ November 3, 2007: Appearance on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday
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