The Seagram Building is a 38-story skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue,
located between 52nd and 53rd Streets in the neighborhood of Midtown
Manhattan in New York City. It was the headquarters of the Seagram
Company, a Canadian distiller, until 2001. It was designed by Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Robert Allan
Jacobs in the International Style, and completed in 1958. Measuring 515
feet (157 m) tall, it has a glass curtain wall exterior with vertical
mullions of bronze and horizontal spandrels made of Muntz metal. A pink
granite plaza with two fountains faces Park Avenue; its construction
helped influence a zoning ordinance that allowed developers to construct
additional floor area in exchange for including plazas outside their
buildings. Since 2000, Aby Rosen's RFR Holding has owned the Seagram
Building. Elements of it were designated official city landmarks in
1989; the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 2006.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagram_Building>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1822:
The deadliest fire in Norwegian history (depicted) occurred at
a church in Grue, killing at least 113 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grue_Church_fire>
1897:
The Church of England returned the original manuscript of
William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, an account of the Pilgrims
and the early years of the Plymouth Colony, to the state of
Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Plymouth_Plantation>
1940:
Second World War: The Allies began a mass evacuation of
British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army during the
Battle of Dunkirk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation>
2002:
Barges being towed destroyed part of a bridge near Webbers
Falls, Oklahoma, causing vehicles to fall into the Robert S. Kerr
Reservoir on the Arkansas River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-40_bridge_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
facticity:
1. (uncountable) The quality or state of being a fact.
2. (uncountable, specifically, philosophy) In existentialism, the state
of being in the world without any knowable reason for such existence, or
of being in a particular state of affairs which one has no control over.
3. (countable) A fact that is not changeable or that is assumed to be
true without further evaluation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/facticity>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Most Americans support commonsense laws — commonsense gun laws.
I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I
learned of this while I was on the aircraft. And what struck me on that
17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings
rarely happen anywhere else in the world. Why? They have mental health
problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have
people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen
with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why? Why are
we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this
happen? Where in God's name is our backbone — to have the courage to
deal with it and stand up to the lobbies? It's time to turn this pain
into action. For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we
have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It's
time to act. It's time — for those who obstruct or delay or block the
commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.
We can do so much more. We have to do more.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>