From 1947 through 1956, each BBWAA voter had their own rules for decide who was a rookie. In 1957, the BBWAA first defined the term as someone with fewer than 75 at bats or 45 innings pitched in any Major League season before the current season. This guideline was later changed to 90 at bats, 45 innings pitched, or 45 days on a Major League roster before September 1 of the last year. The current rule is 130 at bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club (except for time in military service or on the disabled list) before September 1 was first used in 1971. Since 1980, each voter names three rookies: a first-place choice is given five points, a second-place choice three points, and a third-place choice one point. The award goes to the player who receives the most total points. Edinson Volquez received three second-place votes in 2008 even though he was not a rookie under the award's definition.
Some baseball writers have criticized the voting in recent years because several players who played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) have won the award. These winners include Hideo Nomo in 1995, Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000, and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. The current definition of rookie for the award is based only on Major League playing. Some writers feel that past NPB players are not true rookies because of their past professional playing. This issue came up in 2003 when Hideki Matsui lost the AL award to Ángel Berroa in a close vote. Jim Souhan of the "Minneapolis Star Tribune" said he did not think Matsui was a rookie in 2003 because "it would be an insult to the Japanese league to pretend that experience didn't count." "The Japan Times" had a story in 2007 on calling Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, and Hideki Okajima as rookies, saying "[t]hese guys aren't rookies." Past winners such as Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, and Sam Jethroe had professional experience in the Negro Leagues.
Testament (band)
Testament is an American thrash metal band from Berkeley, California, formed in 1983. They are often credited as one of the most popular bands of the 1980s thrash metal scene. In the years since its inception, Testament has had numerous lineup changes, and guitarist Eric Peterson has been the only constant member, although the band currently features three original members.
Demonic (album)
Demonic is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Testament. It was released in 1997. The lyrics deal with occult themes more like their 1980s efforts instead of the political topics covered on more recent releases.
Musically, Testament takes a slower, almost death metal oriented approach with grinding guitar riffs and Chuck Billy's vocal work consisting primarily of death growls.
This album also marked the first time, as Testament, that the band used the old Legacy pentagram graphic.
Bonus Track: Rapid Fire
Rainbow (band)
Rainbow (also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow or Blackmore's Rainbow) were an English hard rock band, controlled by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. It was originally established with former Elf members, though over the years Rainbow went through many line-up changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up. In addition to lead singers Ronnie James Dio, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner and Doogie White, the project consisted of numerous backing musicians. The band started out combining mystical lyric themes with neo-classical metal, but went in a more streamlined commercial style following Dio's departure from the group.
Rainbow was ranked #90 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
New Taiwan dollar
The New Taiwan dollar () (currency code TWD and common abbreviation NT$), or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of Taiwan. It was used since 1949, when it replaced the Old Taiwan dollar. It was first printed by the Bank of Taiwan, it has been printed by the Central Bank of the Republic of China since 2000.
Crown of thorns
The crown of thorns (also known as Christ plant, or Christ thorn, called Corona de Cristo in Latin America) is a woody, succulent species of Euphorbia native to Madagascar. The species name commemorates Baron Milius, once governor of Réunion, who introduced the species to France in 1821. It is suspected that the species was introduced to the Middle East in ancient times, and legend associates it with the crown of thorns worn by Jesus.
Joseph Romm
Joseph J. Romm (born June 27, 1960) is an American physicist, writer and environmentalist. He has an interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. He is also interested in energy security through energy efficiency and green energy technologies.
Romm's 2006 book was "".
In December 2008, Romm was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In March 2009, "Rolling Stone" magazine named Romm as one of "100 People Who Are Changing America". In September 2009, "Time" magazine named him one of its "Heroes of the Environment".
A Child of Our Time
A Child of Our Time is an oratorio by Michael Tippett. It was composed between 1939 and 1941.
Tippett composed this oratorio at the beginning of World War II. He had already lived through World War I and he was very upset about all the evil in this world. He wanted to write a musical work about it. He did it by taking the story of the beginning of World War II as a basis of the oratorio, but he also made the work speak in general about the evil of this world.
In 1938 a 17 year old Jewish boy Hershel Grynspan, who lived in Paris, desperately wanted to attack the Nazis because of the cruel way his parents in Germany had been treated. He therefore murdered a Nazi diplomat in France. The Nazi’s in Germany were so furious that they attacked and murdered lots of Jews in Germany. This terrible attack became known as the "Kristallnacht". This series of events can be found in the words of Tippett’s oratorio. Tippett wrote the words himself.
The title comes from Ödön von Horváth’s novel, "Ein Kind unserer Zeit" (A Child of Our Time), written in 1938 and published in English in 1939. Tippett began composing it on 5 September 1939, two days after Britain declared war against Germany.
In 1958 Tippett arranged the five negro spirituals so that they could be sung by unaccompanied chorus. They are often performed like that, separately from the oratorio.
Tippett uses a similar structure to the Passions of Bach. This meant that he used a narrator (like the evangelist in Bach’s Passions) who tells the story. Instead of Bach’s Lutheran chorales he adds five negro spirituals which add an emotional comment to the events. The music of these spirituals blend very cleverly into the style of Tippett’s music. The whole oratorio, which lasts a little over one hour, has three parts. This idea is based on the three parts of Handel's "Messiah". Tippett calls the three parts: 1) Prophecy; 2) Narrative; 3) Meditation.
Part one opens with a picture of the world in darkness. The alto solo shows what the person’s soul is feeling. The bass (narrator) tells of the purges in Russia, the lynching in the USA, the terrible poverty in Britain. The chorus tell of their despair.
The chorus describes an atmosphere of icy stillness. They talk of “The Scape-Goat, The Child of Our Time” (a “scape-goat” is someone who gets the blame for something they have not done). There is a chorus of the Persecutors and the Persecuted. The choir are split into two like the crowd scenes in Bach’s Passions. In the “Chorus of the Self-Righteous” we hear about the attitude of countries who refuse to accept more than just a few of the persecuted Jews (this includes Britain). The boy tries to save his mother. We are told of the murder of the Nazi diplomat. There is a chorus of terror. We see the boy in prison and the grieving of the mother.