Hammond's rice rat (Mindomys hammondi), also known as Hammond's
oryzomys, is a species of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family
Cricetidae. Formerly considered to be related with Nectomys,
Sigmodontomys, Megalomys, or Oryzomys, it is now placed in its own
genus, Mindomys, but its relationships remain obscure; some evidence
supports a placement near Oecomys or as a basal member of Oryzomyini.
Mindomys hammondi is known only from Ecuador, where it occurs in montane
forest; a record from the Amazon basin lowlands is dubious. Reportedly,
it lives on the ground and is associated with water; others suggest it
lives in trees. A large, long-tailed, and long-whiskered rat, its fur is
buff above and abruptly lighter below. The front part of the skull
(rostrum) is heavily built. The species is named after the collector who
first found it, Gilbert Hammond. He supplied natural history specimens
to Oldfield Thomas and others.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond%27s_rice_rat>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia as the first
de facto central bank of the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_America>
1931:
Australian aviator Guy Menzies flew from Sydney to New
Zealand's West Coast, making the first solo trans-Tasman flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Menzies>
1989:
Representatives of Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a
letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an
alternative to communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet
Bloc.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khomeini%27s_letter_to_Mikhail_Gorbachev>
2012:
A hot-air balloon flight from Carterton, New Zealand, collided
with a power line while landing, causing it to crash and killing all
eleven people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Carterton_hot_air_balloon_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
to say nothing of:
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually
related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without
considering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_say_nothing_of>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
My fellow Americans, in life, there’s truth and, tragically,
there are lies — lies conceived and spread for profit and power. We
must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. And here
is the truth: The former president of the United States of America has
created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done
so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own
interests as more important than his country’s interests and
America’s interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him
than our democracy or our Constitution. He can’t accept he lost, even
though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own Attorney
General, his own Vice President, governors and state officials in every
battleground state have all said: He lost. That’s what 81 million of
you did as you voted for a new way forward. He has done what no
president in American history — the history of this country — has
ever, ever done: He refused to accept the results of an election and the
will of the American people.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
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