Google Doodle celebrates John Venn's 180th birthday
A Google Doodle today honours the 180th birthday of the English inventor of the Venn diagram, despite also being the centenary of the outbreak of World War One
9:43AM BST 04 Aug 2014
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A Google Doodle today honours the 180th birthday of the inventor of the Venn diagram, despite today being the centenary of the outbreak of World War One.
The Venn diagram uses intersecting circles to visually show logical relations between two sets of items, and is widely used in set theory, probability and computer science.
Google’s Doodle creates the two intersecting circles from the Os in the company’s logo and then allows the viewer to create their own Venn diagram by selecting different categories. For instance, “musical” and “has wings” will show a guitar, aircraft and bird – with only the last item being in the intersecting area.
The diagram was invented in the 1880s by English logician and philosopher John Venn, although he always referred to his own invention as Eulerian Circles. Venn was born in Yorkshire in 1834, became an Anglican priest, and also read a degree in mathematics at Caius College Cambridge. He would later return to the university to lecture in moral science.
Google’s Mike Dutton, who led the design of the Doodle, said: “I sat down with two of the doodle engineers, Corrie Scalisi (the engineer of this doodle) and Mark Ivey. We spent a Friday afternoon on a patio with the sole mission of figuring this out. They threw around all kinds of ideas while I doodled them on a giant sketchpad. There were plenty of silly ideas, and some really great ones. Ultimately, that’s what went into making the final doodle. Sound logic and silliness.”
The Venn Doodle will be displayed worldwide during August 4, turning on in specific countries as that timezone passes midnight.
Earlier this year Google apologised after publishing a Google Doodle honouring a Japanese Go player on the 70th anniversay of D-Day. The Doodle for June 6 originally featured a stylised image of Honinbo Shusaku, a professional player of the traditional Chinese game Go, and was displayed on Google.co.uk.
The picture was later taken down and replaced with a Remembering D-Day link, free from pictures, to the search engine's Cultural Institute. A spokesperson for Google said at the time that the Honinbo Shusaku Doodle had been a global one, and had been put up "in error".
Google was not available for comment at the time of writing.
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Taking a Bullet, Gaining a Cause: James S. Brady Dies at 73
Reactions on Twitter to James S. Brady’s Death
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28644495
Shot Reagan spokesman James Brady dies at 73
A news crew captured the moment Brady, Reagan and two law enforcement officers were shot
James Brady, the former White House press secretary shot in the head in a 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life, has died at 73.
His family said Brady, who was left wheelchair-bound in the shooting, died after an undisclosed illness.
Brady, who served in three Republican administrations, became an advocate for stricter gun control.
He lobbied for a law signed in 1993 that bore his name and required background checks for handgun sales.
In 2000, Democratic President Bill Clinton renamed the White House press briefing room in his honour.
Brady was the most seriously wounded in the attempt on Reagan's life
President Barack Obama described Brady as a "legend" at the White House and praised his warmth and professionalism and "the strength he brought to bear in recovering from the shooting that nearly killed him".
"Since 1993, the law that bears Jim's name has kept guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals," he said. "An untold number of people are alive today who otherwise wouldn't be, thanks to Jim."
Brady, a lifelong Republican, served in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as a Senate aide before joining Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.
On 30 March 1981, John Hinckley Jr opened fire on the president's party outside a Washington hotel, striking four people, including Brady and Reagan.
Brady was the most seriously wounded. Mr Reagan was shot in one lung. Two law enforcement officers suffered lesser wounds.
Photos and video of the incident show a wounded Brady sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents rushed Reagan into his vehicle and others wrestled Hinckley to the ground.
Brady's wife Sara, and then later Brady, began advocating for stricter gun control laws
James Brady visited the press briefing room that bears his name in 2011
The former press secretary suffered brain damage, partial paralysis, short-term memory impairment and slurred speech.
Hinckley was tried and found not guilty due to insanity. Since the trial he has been committed to a Washington DC psychiatric hospital, but has been allowed to spend limited time at his mother's home.
The so-called Brady Bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993, years after the former press secretary began lobbying for stricter gun control rules.
"Every once in a while you need to wake up and smell the propane," Brady said at the bill signing. "I needed to be hit in the head before I started hitting the bricks."