Shakuntala Devi, an Indian mathematical wizard known as “the human computer” for her ability to make incredibly swift calculations, died on Sunday in Bangalore, India. She was 83.
Obit of the Day: Ray Manzarek, Founding Member of The Doors
Ray Manzarek, one of the original members of The Doors, has died at the age of 74. He is considered one of the greatest keyboard players in rock and roll history.
A native of Chicago, Manzarek met Jim Morrison while attending film school at UCLA in 1965. Manzarek and Morrison would recruit drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger from another local band. But it was Morrison’s voice and Manzarek’s skill on the keys that would create the band’s signature sound.
They signed their first contract with Elektra Records in 1966 and released their self-titled album in 1967 which featured their first number one hit, “Light My Fire.”
The group would release seven top ten albums with Morrison as lead vocalist until his untimely death in 1971 at the age of 27. The remaining members of the group tried to stay together and recorded two more albums Other Voices (1971) and Full Circle (1972) with Manzarek on vocals. Sales were poor with neither album breaking the top 25 in the United States.
Manzarek would take a few years off before getting back into music forming Nite City in 1977 with Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison. They would produce two albums.
Since 2001 Manzarek and Krieger have toured as Manzarek-Krieger, Ray and Bobby, The Doors of the 21st Century, and The Riders of the Storm playing Doors hits. They have not recorded any albums. (John Densmore turned his attention to dance and has not performed with his former bandmates.)
Ray Manzarek, who also served as producer on the seminal punk album Los Angeles by X, died on May 20, 2013.
Sources: AllMusic.com, www.rayandrobby.com, and Wikipedia
(“People Are Strange” - an OOTD favorite because of The Lost Boys - and Strange Days are copyright of Elektra Entertainment, 2006.)
Shakuntala Devi, ‘Human Computer’ Who Bested the Machines, Dies at 83
By HARESH PANDYA
Published: April 23, 2013
Problems solved by Ms. Devi during a demonstration in New York in 1976, as they appeared in The New York Times. (Two of the answers to the third question, however, are wrong. Jan. 14, 1935, was Monday, not Tuesday; and Dec. 14, 1935, was Saturday, not Sunday.)
The cause was respiratory and cardiac problems, said D. C. Shivadev, a trustee of the Shakuntala Devi Educational Foundation Public Trust.
Ms. Devi demonstrated her mathematical gifts around the world, at colleges, in theaters and on radio and television. In 1977, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, she extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds, beating a Univac computer, which took 62 seconds.
In 1980, she correctly multiplied two 13-digit numbers in only 28 seconds at the Imperial College in London. The feat, which earned her a place in the 1982 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, was even more remarkable because it included the time to recite the 26-digit solution.
(The numbers, selected at random by a computer, were 7,686,369,774,870 and 2,465,099,745,779. The answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730.)
RIP, Possum.
NYT: George Jones, Admired and Copied Country Singer, Dies at 81
(via shortformblog)
Source: braiker
Obit of the Day: Canada’s First Stewardess
When Julie Garner (later Julie Garner Grant) was hired by Trans-Canada Airlines in 1938 as their first stewardess her role was distinctly different from today’s flight attendants. Besides making sure that her passengers had a drink and a pillow she was responsible for radio communications, monitoring weather patterns, and creating the menu for cross-country flights.
Paid $125 a month, Mrs. Grant also designed the airline’s first stewardess uniform (which she is wearing, above). She was told she could not make it navy blue because pilots wore navy and they did not want to cause confusion. Two years later, she re-designed the uniforms - they became navy blue.
Mrs. Grant, who would occasionally have to wear an oxygen mask in the unpressurized aircraft, died on March 4, 2013 at the age of 103.
Sources: Toronto Globe & Mail and Air Canada (which is what Trans Canada Airlines became)
(Image of Lucile Garner Grant standing with the first president of Trans Canada Airlines, circa 1938, is courtesy of Air Canada)
Other Canadian “firsts”:
Daurene Lewis - Canada’s first Black mayor
Maj. Walter Peters - Canada’s first Black jet pilot
and another former flight attendant, Australian Elaine Swain
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Mike
