Del Mar Racetrack Adventure 2010

Did you know? - The word jaywalk is a compound word derived from the word jay, an inexperienced person, and walk. No historical evidence supports an alternative folk etymology by which the word is traced to the letter "J" (characterizing the route a jaywalker might follow).

In towns in the American Midwest in the early 20th century, "jay" was a synonym for "rube", a pejorative term for a rural resident, assumed by many urbanites to be stupid, slightly unintelligent, or perhaps simply naïve. Such a person did not know to keep out of the way of other pedestrians and speeding automobiles. It may also have been coined from the existing American word Jayhawker, being a term for American guerillas in Missouri in the 19th century.

Originally, the legal rule was that "all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way."  In time, however, streets became the province of motorized traffic, both practically and legally. Automobile interests in the USA took up the cause of labeling and scorning jaywalkers in the 1910s and early 1920s; a counter-campaign to name (and disapprove of) "jay drivers" failed.

It has been suggested[by whom?] that the modern term 'joy-driving' or 'joy-riding' comes from the same route, and in some countries Jaywalkers are known as 'joy-walkers'[citation needed].

Did you know? - A paddock is a small enclosure or field of grassland, especially for horses.  More specifically, the enclosed area at a race track where horses are paraded and mounted before a race, and unsaddled after a race

Did you know? - The inventor of the electric starting gate for horse racing is generally credited to be Clay Puett, who was a rider and starter at various tracks in the West. Puett's device replaced other starting methods used previously such as starting barriers, which were simple ropes or occasionally wooden barriers behind which the horses stood, or even simpler methods such as standing behind a chalk line to await a starter's flag. These previous methods often did little to produce a fair start, with extra judges employed to catch horses who got a jump on the rest of the field.

Many of Puett's actual gates are still in use today at tracks around the world, and all gates are based on his original design. A starting gate is equipped with a number of stalls aligned in a row, usually numbering 12 or 14 for everyday use at tracks.

Smaller gates may be used at training facilities for schooling horses, or as an auxiliary gate in addition to the main gate for large-field races such as the Kentucky Derby. Horses normally enter from the rear of the stall, with doors locked behind the horse once it is in place; the front doors of the stall are normally closed as the horse is loaded in, though the starting-gate crew may open it to entice a horse who balks at entry. Alternately, a horse may be backed into the stall from the front entry, again done in the case of a skittish horse.

Did you know? - In July 1862, during the Civil War, President Lincoln and Congress created the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an income tax to pay war expenses (see Revenue Act of 1862). The position of Commissioner exists today as the head of the Internal Revenue Service.

The Revenue Act of 1862 was passed as an emergency and temporary war-time tax. It copied a relatively new British system of income taxation, instead of trade and property taxation. The first income tax was passed in 1861:enue Act of 1862 was passed as an emergency and temporary war-time tax. It copied a relatively new British system of income taxation, instead of trade and property taxation. The first income tax was passed in 1861:

• The initial rate was 3% on income over $800, which exempted most wage-earners.
• In 1862 the rate was 3% on income between $600 and $10,000, and 5% on income over $10,000.
• In 1864 the rate was 5% on income between $600 and $5,000; 7.5% on income $5,000–$10,000; and 10% on income $10,000 and above.

By the end of the war, 10% of Union households had paid some form of income tax, and the Union raised 21% of its war revenue through income taxes.