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Trotting race at Fleetwood Park Racetrack
Trotting race at Fleetwood Park Racetrack

Fleetwood Park was a 19th-century American harness racing track in the Bronx, New York City. The races were a popular form of entertainment, drawing crowds as large as 10,000. The one-mile (1.6 km) course described an unusual shape, with four turns in one direction and one in the other. For the last five years of operation, Fleetwood was part of trotting's Grand Circuit, one travel guide calling it "the most famous trotting track in the country". The track operated under several managements between 1870 and 1898, most notably the New York Driving Club, consisting of many wealthy New York businessmen, including members of the Vanderbilt and Rockefeller families as well as former US president Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Bonner, owner of the New York Ledger. Economic pressures forced the track to close in 1898, and within two years the property was being subdivided into residential building lots. The meandering route of modern 167th Street runs along a portion of the old racecourse. (Full article...)

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Hyperbolic spirals in a spiral staircase
Hyperbolic spirals in a spiral staircase
  • ... that the spirals in photographs of spiral staircases (example pictured) are hyperbolic?
  • ... that Forest Van Hook was so large that he always bought two tickets when attending sports events?
  • ... that a My Little Pony fan band wrote a song about a horror game, creating what has been considered to be a sub-genre of music?
  • ... that by popular demand, philosopher Anton Charles Pegis continued to teach graduate classes for three years after becoming an emeritus professor?
  • ... that the reggae singer Tony Tribe used to have blouses thrown at him while performing?
  • ... that Akram Nadwi addressed the lack of Islamic women scholars highlighted in a Time article by composing al-Wafa bi Asma al-Nisa, a 43-volume work with more than 10,000 entries?
  • ... that despite being only 40 feet (12 m) tall, Roar-o-Saurus was described by CNN as one of the "most insane" new roller coasters of 2014?
  • ... that composer and conductor William Carter began a career as a professional organist at the age of nine?

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Frederik X in 2018
Frederik X

On this day

January 14: Ratification Day in the United States (1784)

Philip V of Spain
Philip V of Spain
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Obverse and reverse of a 1849 Type 1 Liberty-head gold dollar

The gold dollar is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. It had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint chief engraver James B. Longacre. The Type 1 issue had the smallest diameter of any United States coin ever minted. A gold dollar had been proposed several times in the 1830s and 1840s, but was not initially adopted. Congress was finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion from the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, and the gold dollar found a ready place in commerce. Silver again circulated after Congress required in 1853 that new coins of that metal be made lighter, and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal coins vanished from circulation amid the economic disruption of the American Civil War. Gold did not circulate again in most of the nation until 1879, and even then, the gold dollar did not regain its place in commerce. In its final years, struck in small numbers, it was hoarded by speculators and mounted in jewelry. These three gold dollars, depicting personifications of Liberty wearing a coronet and as an Indian princess, are part of the National Numismatic Collection at the National Museum of American History.

Coin design credit: United States Mint

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Type 1: Liberty wearing a coronet
Obverse and reverse of a 1854 Type 2 Indian-head gold dollar
Type 2: Liberty as an Indian princess
Obverse and reverse of a 1856 Type 3 Indian-head gold dollar
Type 3: Liberty as an Indian princess with larger head

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