Space Probe Crashes Into Mercury

After four years in orbit around Mercury, the NASA spacecraft Messenger ended its mission by crashing into the planet, after its fuel ran out.  Because of Mercury's proximity to the sun, solar gravity affected Messenger's orbit, requiring it to burn fuel in order to stay in orbit.  According to NASA, Messenger crashed at a speed of over 8,000 miles per hour and produced a crater 52 feet in diameter.  During its mission, Messenger sent back more than 255,000 pictures to Earth, and found evidence of ice in Mercury's polar regions.

Read more at WUIS and CNN.

A Satirical Salute To Hillary And Jeb

Conservative commentator and musician Scott Ott has produced a parody of Green Day's Good Riddance, poking fun at two presidential candidates who have all-too-familiar surnames.  This is called Presidents For Life.

Ott is a contributor to PJ Media and PJTV, and has his own satirical website, ScrappleFace.

Riots Break Out In Baltimore

Today, after the funeral of Freddie Gray, who died while in police custody, rioting and looting broke out in Baltimore.  Police vehicles and a pharmacy were burned.  Fifteen police officers were reportedly injured.  Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has ordered a curfew.  Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.  Tonight's baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox has been postponed.

Read more at The Baltimore Sun, Yahoo News, The Washington Times, MSN News and WND.

Have A Cigar, Hillary

I didn't catch this little item earlier today, which comes via Conservativebyte.  Someone out there came up with a way to protest Hillary Clinton's recently renewed candidacy for president.  From Elect Leaders:

Hillary Clinton is reportedly furious and abashed as thousands of cigars were recently delivered to her office in protest of her announcement that she would run for President in 2016. Thanks to Send Clinton Cigars (http://sendclintoncigars.com), a service that allows you to anonymously purchase cigars and have them directly mailed to Clinton, thousands of Americans are blatantly reminding her of her first stay in the White House.

Read the full story, and if you wish to participate, copy and paste the url in the above quote.  Or you can click the url directly at the Elect Leaders article.

Monday Links

Some follow-up on the Nepal earthquake, and other stories in the news:

From AOL, people in Nepal have been dealing with aftershocks, power outages and shortages of food and water.  Over 3700 people are now reported to have died.

From the New York Post, two natives of New York City survived the avalanche on Mount Everest.

From ABC News, a "global effort" to help victims of the earthquake gets underway, but is hampered by conditions at the Kathmandu airport.

From WGN TV, Chicagoans of Nepalese origin raise money for the relief effort.

From The Washington Times, President Obama supports a 20% cut to military retirement.  (via Truth And Action)

From the Washington Examiner, under a new agreement with the United States, the Japanese military will be allowed to defend countries other than itself.

From Legal Insurrection, how the Clintons apparently believe that they are above the law.

From Epoch Times, South Caroline prosecutor recommends jail time for two former policemen who wrongly shocked a woman with a taser.

From Fraud Of The Day, three people are sentenced for running a fraudulent tax refund check cashing scheme.  (via Watchdog(dot)org)

From The Telegraph, prosecutors recommend the death sentence for Colorado cinema shooter James Holmes.

From Reuters, the EU anti-trust case against Google is reportedly based on 19 complaints.

From the Express, a British candidate for a seat in Parliament runs a website that helps immigrants, who have not yet become U.K. citizens, to claim tax credits.

From BBC News, the president of Sudan easily wins re-election.

From Yahoo Politics, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg "has already made up her mind on gay marriage".

From Fox News, the Pontiac Trans Am used by Burt Reynolds in Smokey And The Bandit sells for $172,000 at auction.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Burger King boasts their biggest sales jump in almost a decade, due in part to their spicy Whopper.

And going back to the Washington Times, 12-year-old cancer survivor Rose McGrath has been reinstated by the Catholic school from which she had been expelled.

Powerful Earthquake Strikes Nepal

An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck central Nepal today, about 50 miles west of the capitol city of Kathmandu, causing extensive damage and killing an estimated 970 people in Nepal, India, Tibet and Bangla Desh.  Aftershocks as high as 6.6 have been reported.  At least 539 people in the Kathmandu valley were killed.  Ten people were killed by an avalanche that struck the base camp at Mount Everest.  This quake is the largest recorded in Nepal since the 8.0 magnitude quake of 1934.

Read more at the Hindustan Times, The Times Of India, The Telegraph, The New York Times, BBC News, Z News and  BDNews24.

UPDATE:  The links are now indicating a death toll varying from 1000 to 1500.

Statue Of Liberty Evacuated

The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island have been evacuated following a phoned bomb threat and reports of a suspicious package in a locker.  National Park Police have responded with canine units, while the NYPD has sent an ordnance disposal unit.

Read more at Newsweek, Yahoo News, CBS New York, CNN and MyFoxNY.

Italy Goes After Terrorists

Italian police have targeted 18 Islamic terrorists for their involvement in a failed plot to attack the Vatican in 2010 and a bombing at a market in Pakistan in 2009, carrying out raids in mainland Italy and Sardinia.  They have not indicated how many have been arrested, nor how many have left Italy.

Read more at Fox News, The Guardian, ABC News, CNN and the Express.

Virginia Tech To Lose Radio Announcer

Bill Roth, who has been Virginia Tech's radio football and men's basketball play-by-play announcer for 27 years, will soon leave my alma mater to assume the same duties at UCLA.  He will replace Chris Roberts, who retired from his position at UCLA in March.  Roth was born in Mount Lebanon, PA, and graduated from Syracuse University.  On his football broadcasts, he was joined by color commentator Mike Burnop, a former Hokie tight end.

Read more at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Hokiesports(dot)com, the Daily Press and Virginia Tech's student newspaper, the Collegiate Times.  The first three links were found at TechSideline.

Morsi And Co-Defendants Get 20 Years

Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, for his role in the deaths of anti-government protesters during his time in office.  Twelve other defendants, mostly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were also sentenced to 20 years.

Read more at Fox News, BBC News, FT(dot)com and the International Business Times.

Monday Links

Some things in the news, as the work week begins:

From Watchdog.org, while union leaders criticize others for being rich, many of them aren't doing too badly, either.  (via Fox News)

From the New York Post, a 13-year-old boy in Spain goes on a murderous rampage in a school - with a crossbow.

From National Review, the IRS has promised an atheist group that it will monitor churches.

From Al-Monitor, people evacuated from Idlib, Syria mourn their city.

From Church Militant, a vice president of Catholic Relief Services has been practicing a lifestyle contrary to the church's teachings.

From TV by the Numbers, the show The Big Bang Theory showed the largest gain in ratings among adults aged 18-49.

From the Los Angeles Times, six Somali men have been arrested in Minneapolis or after driving from there to San Diego on charges of "conspiracy to aid and support a terrorist organization", which is alleged to be ISIS.

From Arutz Sheva, a guide put out by ISIS teaches how to trick and kill Westerners, and praises the Tsarnaev brothers.

From Reuters, equity markets have posted gains, responding to news that China is trying to stimulate its economy.

From Anadolu Agency, Turkish President Reccip Erdogan is expected to help open a Turkish mosque in Maryland, possibly with help of American President Barack Obama.  (via The Right Scoop)

From Watts Up With That?, a message from Lord Christopher Monckton of Benchley to the American Physical Society.

From Conservative Review, how the New York Times can't deal with Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on the subject of immigration.

From Fox News, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Caroline Rotich of Kenya win the men's and women's races, respectively, of the Boston Marathon.

From CNN, a poll they took in conjunction with ORC shows Hillary Clinton leading among Democrats and no candidate clearly in the lead among Republicans.  (via Hot Air, whose headline indicates that Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has improved his numbers)

From UPI, a man in Baltimore dies while in police custody after his neck was broken.

And from CNET, the impressive nebula known as Thor's Helmet.

Mecca Becomes "Las Vegas"

Via Women's Power Book:

People in Mecca have given their city a new knickname, which is not meant as a compliment.  They have started to refer to the place as "Las Vegas", after the American city full of skyscraper hotels and conspicuous materialism.  From The Independent:

Over the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.

Once a dusty desert town struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of pilgrims arriving for the annual Hajj, the city now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels.

To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.

Note that last paragraph.  When you buy gasoline, this is where some of your hard-earned dollars end up.  I would think that the encroachment of big business on Islam's holiest site would be frowned upon, not just by the people but also by Saudi Arabia's theocratic government, but as it turns out, I would be wrong.  Also from The Independent:

The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of Mecca's millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone.

The destruction has been aided by Wahabism, the austere interpretation of Islam that has served as the kingdom's official religion ever since the al-Sauds rose to power across the Arabian Peninsula in the 19th century.

The destruction being referred to here has been done to make room for these new buildings, some of which ominously overlook the mosque that contains the Kaaba, as seen in the picture in the Women's Power Book article, linked above.  Instead of being opposed, the transformation of Mecca appears to have the full blessing of their theocracy.  Read the full story at The Independent.

Oklahoma To Have Asphyxiation As Backup Execution Method

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R) has signed legislation that makes nitrogen-induced hypoxia the main backup method of execution, if the state's primary method, lethal injection, cannot be used.  Under this method, a variety of inert gas asphyxiation, a condemned prisoner is made to breath nitrogen gas, which contains little or no oxygen, causing the prisoner to lose consciousness.  While supporters of the law claim that this method is quick and painless, it has never been used to execute anyone.  The state's other backup execution methods, the electric chair and firing squad, remain available.

Read more at The Washington Post, CNN, The Guardian, UPI and the Tulsa World.

Music Break

Since I didn't put up a music post last month, I'd better do one this month.  These are mostly obscure songs, but one is very well known, and I'd even say obvious.

In the tradition of "ladies first", the opening song is by the all-female group Fanny, consisting of June Millington (guitar), Jean Millington (bass), Nickey Barclay (keyboards) and Alice de Buhr (drums).  All contributed vocals to some extent.  On this live version of Blind Alley, recorded for the German TV show Beat Club, Barclay sings lead and moves (literally) between the piano and the organ.  The Millington sisters were born in the Philippines, but with their family immigrated to California.

Hillary Clinton Appears To Use Handicapped Parking Space

Tweeted to my attention by Gulf Dogs:

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa for a meeting with some local Democratic Party leaders.  As noticed by Bizpac Review, when she walked back to her "Scooby" van, it was parked in a handicapped space, as shown in a video put out by KETV.  If you watch the video, at about the 28 second mark, you'll see the "reserved parking" sign.  You'll have to be patient, because there is an ad before the actual video of Hillary's brief appearance.

Follow Up: Man Lands Copter At Capitol

More has come out on the landing of a small helicopter, called a gyrocopter, near the Capitol this afternoon, which I added as an update to my links post earlier today.  From the New York Post:

A Florida mailman delivered a bizarre message to DC lawmakers by landing his tiny gyrocopter on the West Lawn of the US Capitol, prompting a temporary lockdown, according to reports.

The looney aviator – who was promptly arrested by Capitol Police – was not immediately identified by authorities. But the Tampa Bay Times said it was Dough Hughes, 61, a Ruskin native who had been planning a protest flight that would violate the highly protected airspace.

The Post also includes the following video, made by a witness and shown by the Associated Press.

Read the full story.

Links For Tax Day

Yes, folks, that day has come.  So if you already haven't done so, get those forms in the mail, or send them off electronically, or get whatever method you use done.  Besides taxes, here's what else is going on:

From MyFoxChicago, vacationing in Europe is getting cheaper for Americans, due to the Euro's drop in value.

From The Washington Free Beacon, a video of David Ignatius saying that the White House left Secretary of State Kerry like a "breached whale" after the deal with Iran, and China has agreed to help Iran build five nuclear power plants.

From Wise Conservatism, Americans aren't thinking any more.

From France24, Americans in Yemen are fleeing on ships to Djibouti.

From The Washington Times, the GOP presidential candidates are "all losers", says the man with one eye.

From UPI, a candlelight vigil is held to commemorate the death of President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago.

From Fox News, the caretakers of Lincoln's tomb face budget cuts and criticism from National Geographic.

From CNN, former football player Aaron Hernandez has been found guilty of first degree murder.
UPDATE:  The story now indicates that he has been sentenced to life without parole.

From CNET, the European anti-trust regulator has accused Google of abusing search-engine dominance.

From American Thinker, the Louisiana executive director of the ACLU thinks that the proposed "Marriage and Conscience Act" could allow men to beat their wives.  (There is indeed a religion that under some circumstances, permits wive-beating.)

From Zero Hedge, Bank of America's revenue drops.

From Reuters, the price of crude oil increases due to Middle East tension and an expected drop in U.S. production, but the increase is checked by an IEA report suggesting that supplies may tighten later than previously expected.

From The Guardian, four people were arrested at Manchester (U.K.) airport for allegedly attempting to enter Syria.

From The Big Story at AP, according to Israeli researchers, attacks against Jews increased 38% in 2014.  (via Truth Revolt)

Also from The Big Story, the wife of former L.A. Clippers owned Don Sterling has won a lawsuit against his old girlfriend.  (via Uproxx)

And from GayPatriot, a little tax day humor.

UPDATE:  Here's one more.  From WJLA, a small helicopter lands on the west side of the Capitol.

Obama Asks Congress To Remove Cuba From Terror List

President Obama has asked Congress to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, on which Cuba was placed in 1982.  The list also currently includes Iran, Sudan and Syria.  In a message to Congress, the president stated that Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six months.

Read more at CNN, Yahoo News, The New York Times, BBC News and Russia Today.

Hillary Clinton In The News

Now that Hillary Clinton is officially running for her husband's old office, she's going to be in the news even more than she's already been in the news.  Here are a few recent items:

From former Ambassador John Bolton's Super Pac, "Hillary's Top Five Foreign Policy Failures".

In a video from Fox News, Cal Thomas gives us his take on Hillary's attempt to reinvent herself.

From The Washington Free Beacon, a video record of Hillary's untrustworthy statements.

From NewsBusters, an Iowa man appearing in shown in a Hillary Clinton campaign video is not merely a Democratic voter, but a politician who ran for office.

And from Yahoo News, Hillary attacks CEO pay.  (Hmmm, how much does she make per speech these days?)

Marco Rubio Announces His Candidacy

I guess that one toss of a hat into the ring deserves another.  Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has reportedly told his supporters that he plans to run for president, and is expected to make a formal announcement this evening.  Rubio was elected Senator in 2010.

Read more at CNN, The New York Times, the Tampa Bay Times, USA Today and CBS News.

Hillary Clinton Announces Her Candidacy

As expected, former First Lady, Senator (D-NY) and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that she is running for president.  She ran for her party's nomination in 2008, but lost to then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), but later served in his cabinet.  She has recently faced some controversy for using a private email server for her work at the State Department.

Read more at CNN, The Guardian, the Epoch Times, the New York Post and The New York Times.

Man Commits Suicide Near Capitol

This afternoon, not longer after 1:00 p.m., a man committed suicide by shooting himself on the west front of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in front of dozens of people.  As a result, the Capitol went into lockdown.  The man had no weapons other than his gun, but carried a sign with a message about "social justice" and the "1%".

Read more at CNN, USA Today, The Washington Post and NBC Washington.

Friday Links

A few things going on, as the next weekend approaches:

From WUIS, tornadoes strike in Illinois and other midwestern states.

From IlHouseGOP Caucus Blog, ways to help the victims of the tornado that struck in Fairdale, Illinois.

From Fraud Of The Day, a speech therapist fraudulently bills insurance companies for over $3.7 million.  (via Watchdog(dot)org)

From the New York Post, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently toyed with the idea of running for mayor of London, but who is not qualified because he doesn't live in the UK, gets a nice consolation prize - knighthood.  Should we now address him as "Your Honor" or "Sir Michael"?

From the Chicago Tribune, the federal government is asked to forgive the student loans for thousand of people who enrolled at Corinthian Colleges.  (No, this is not about Greece's financial problems.)

From The Washington Times, the PAC of former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) slams former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for her emails.

From The Blaze, President Obama (D-US) talks by phone with President Raul Castro (Com-Cuba).

From The Daily Signal, what the media gets wrong about Cuba.

From the Daily Mail, ISIS executes 10 doctors who refused to treat their wounded members.

In Frontpage Mag, Daniel Greenfield explains why the left wants Iran to have nuclear weapons.

In National Review, Jonah Goldberg discusses the possible death penalty for convicted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and for South Carolina policeman Michael Slager, who was videoed as he shot Walter Scott after a traffic stop, and has been charged with murder.

From Fox News, college basketball player Lauren Hill dies of brain cancer, at age 19.

From EarthSky, photos of Venus and the Pleiades.

And from Page Six, magician Penn Gillette makes 105 pounds disappear.

The Georgia Guidestones

As previously mentioned, after visiting Judaculla Rock in western North Carolina and spending the night in the area, I resumed traveling in a southerly direction.  I found my way into Georgia and then to the small city of Hartwell, and continued down state highway 77 toward Elberton.  Just off the road, about halfway between the two cities, are the Georgia Guidestones.

According to Wiki, the land on which the Georgia Guidestones were constructed was purchased in October of 1979.  The monument was unveiled the following March.  The structure is made of six pieces of granite, including a central pillar, four slabs surrounding the pillar, and a capstone contacting the tops of the other five stones.  Each of the four slabs is inscribed with a set of ten guidelines in a different language on its two major faces, thus containing eight languages in all.  The four edges of the capstone also each include an inscription in one of four ancient languages.

A few feet to the west of the monument is a large granite slab with its face set level to the ground, which Wiki calls an "explanatory tablet".  The tablet contains information about the stones and identifies the languages used in their inscriptions.  It also mentions a time capsule, but does not indicate when it was buried nor when it is to be opened.

From the east side of the monument, the guidelines in Swahili and Spanish appear on the upright slabs.  The inscription on this edge of the capstone, I believe, is in ancient Greek.  The "explanatory tablet" is seen in the background, through the openings between the stones.

This view from the west side shows the guidelines in Chinese and Arabic, and a capstone inscription in ancient Egyptian.

The guidelines in English are shown in this next photo.  The hole in the central pillar points toward the celestial north pole.

A close-up of the notch in the central pillar.

Here's an oblique view of the "explanatory tablet".

This part of the tablet identifies the eight languages used to inscribe the guidelines, and their locations on the four vertical slabs.  Besides the Greek and Egyptian mentioned above, Sanskrit and Sumerian are used on the capstone.

To learn more about the Georgia Guidestones, go here, here and here.

Jeb Bush Called Himself "Hispanic"

Here's a strange little item that came to light while I was visiting my family last weekend.  Former Florida governor and current GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush identified himself as "Hispanic" on a voter registration form in 2009.  While it's true that he married a woman originally from Mexico and speaks Spanish fluently, this does not make him Hispanic.  Like Americans in general, I speak English, but this does not make me English in the ethnic sense.  In reality, John E. Bush (or Juan E. Arbusto, if you like) is a gringo from a long line of gringos, just like his presidential father and brother, both named George.

Read more at The New York Times, BBC News, MSNBC and Politico.

Judaculla Rock

After visiting my family in Virginia over the Easter weekend, I did some extra traveling before returning to Maryland.  One place I wanted to visit was Judaculla Rock, an outcropping of soapstone inscribed with numerous petroglyphs, located in western North Carolina near Cullowhee.  The site is still sacred to the Cherokee.  Their folklore describes Judaculla as a "slant-eyed giant" with seven fingers on each hand, who could jump from one mountain to another.  As one story goes, when he steadied himself while landing on this rock, his seven-fingered hand carved one of the petroglyphs.

To find out more, go to JudacullaRock(dot)com, North Carolina Ghost Stories And Legends, Appalachian History, Atlas Obscura and North Carolina History Project.

The site is located near the end of a short country road.  This roadside sign stands at the start of a gravel walkway which leads down toward the rock.

The walkway leads to a wooden platform, from which the main face of the rock may be viewed.

Here's one view of the rock.

Here's another view, from a different angle.

Behind the viewing platform, the walkway continued downhill, but led to a metal gate with a "no trespassing" sign.  I retreated uphill to the road and drove away.  After finding a place to park myself for the night, I started planning my course to another place I wanted to see, which is even further south.  This other destination, of course, will be the subject of a post in the near future.

Dzhokar Tsarnaev Convicted

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger of two ethnic Chechen brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon two years ago, has been found guilty of all 30 counts against him, including 17 that could carry a death penalty.  He has been found responsible for the deaths of three people at the race itself, and for the death of a police officer whom he and his brother Tamerlan encountered three days later.  Tsarnaev's trial now moves into the penalty phase.

Read more at CNN, ABC News, Yahoo News, Boston(dot)com and The Boston Globe.

The Muppets Plan Return

Pretty soon, it may once again be time to play the music and light the lights.  Disney's Muppet Studio and ABC are reportedly working on a revival of The Muppet Show, which originally ran from 1976 to 1981.  The new series is being planned under the working title of Muppets 2015.  Bill Prady, who helped to create the show Big Bang Theory, and Bob Kushnell, the executive producer of Anger Management, will be the new show's co-writers.

In order to get things started, read more at The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Post, TV Line and CNET.  Here's an opening sequence from the original series:

Terrorists Attack College In Kenya

At around 5:30 a.m. local time, terrorists from the group Al-Shabab attacked the campus of Garissa University College in eastern Kenya.  At least 147 students are reported to have been killed, with 79 others injured.  Four of the attackers were killed, and one arrested.  Several of the attackers reportedly wore vests that exploded when they were shot.

Read more at the Daily Nation, Russia Today, BBC News, the Daily Mail and The New York Times.

Cynthia Lennon 1939-2015

Cynthia Lennon, who was married to John Lennon from 1962 to 1968, has died of cancer at her home in Mallorca, Spain.  She is survived by their son Julian, who is her only child.

Cynthia Powell was born in Blackpool on September 10, 1939 and grew up in Hoylake.  She met John Lennon in 1957 when they were both attending the Liverpool College of Art.  They married after discovering that she was pregnant.  While John was making music and traveling the world as one of the Beatles, Cynthia usually stayed behind in England raising Julian.  One notable exception was that she traveled to India in 1968 with the Beatles and their other respective partners.

Cynthia divorced John Lennon after discovering his affair with Yoko Ono.  She was married three more times, first to Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, then to British engineer John Twist, and finally to nightclub owner Noel Charles, who died in 2013.

Read more at BBC News, TMZ, Billboard, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

If Cubs Win World Series, Someone Wins A Delorean

The title of this post's source starts with "You won't believe", and since today is April 1, I wouldn't blame anyone for taking those words literally.  According to WQAD, a museum in Illinois will give away a famous movie prop if a prediction made in that particular movie becomes true.

It hasn’t happened since 1980, but if this is the year for the Cubs to win the World Series one lucky museum visitor will win their own time machine! In the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, traveled to the year 2015. Seen flashing on a billboard: “Cubs Win the World Series.”

This year the Volo Auto Museum in Lake County, Illinois decided to put their 1981 Delorean time machine on the line. If the Cubs win, their Delorean movie prop will go to one lucky winner. Brian Grams, director of the museum tells WLS-TV “We’ll take entries through the end of the baseball season – either until the Cubs are out or until they win.” The Delorean has been on display at the museum since the 1990s.

The first line appears to contain a misprint.  The Cubs did not win the World Series in 1980; the Phillies did.  The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908.  I have a feeling that the typo might be corrected at some point.  To learn more, read the full story.