Masako Katsura (1913–1995) was a carom billiards player most active in
the 1950s who trailblazed a path for women in the sport by competing
and placing among the best in the male-dominated world of professional
billiards. First learning the game from her brother-in-law and then
under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama, Katsura
finished second in Japan's national three-cushion billiards
championship three times. In exhibition she was noted for running
10,000 points at the game of straight rail. After marrying a U.S. army
officer in 1950, Katsura emigrated with him to the United States in
1951, where she was invited to play in the 1952 U.S.-sponsored World
Three-Cushion Championship, ultimately taking seventh place at that
competition. Katsura was the first woman ever to be included in any
world billiards tournament. Her fame cemented, Katsura went on an
exhibition tour of the United States with 8-time world champion Welker
Cochran, and later with 51-time world champion, Willie Hoppe. In 1953
and 1954 she again competed for the world three-cushion crown, taking
fifth and fourth places respectively.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masako_Katsura>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American telescope-maker and astronomer Alvan Graham Clark first
observed the faint white dwarf companion of Sirius , the brightest star
in the night sky.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius>
1917:
World War I: Germany announced its U-boats would resume unrestricted
submarine warfare, less than two years after suspending its attacks
when the United States protested the sinking of the ocean liner RMS
Lusitania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-boat_Campaign_%28World_War_I%29>
1943:
World War II: American and Australian forces stopped a Japanese advance
during the New Guinea campaign, killing around 1,200 troops during the
Battle of Wau.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wau>
1946:
In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a new constitution
established the six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia>
1971:
The Winter Soldier Investigation, a three-day media event sponsored by
the anti-war organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize
war crimes and other atrocities by American forces and their allies
during the Vietnam War, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_Investigation>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caltrop (n):
A small, metal object with spikes arranged so that, when thrown onto
the ground, one always faces up as a threat to [[passer-by
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caltrop>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Anybody can they say they are being "spiritual" — and they are, because
everybody has some type and level of concern. Let us therefore see
their actual conception, in thought and action, and see how many
perspectives it is in fact concerned with, and how many perspectives it
actually takes into account, and how many perspectives it attempts to
integrate, and thus let us see how deep and how wide runs that
bodhisattva vow to refuse rest until all perspectives whatsoever are
liberated into their own primordial nature.
--Ken Wilber
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber>
Trump International Hotel and Tower is a skyscraper condo-hotel in
downtown Chicago. The building, named after real estate developer
Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore,
Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 92-story structure,
which reached a height of 1,389 feet (423 m) including its spire, its
roof topping out at 1,170 feet (360 m). The building received publicity
when the winner of the first season of The Apprentice television show,
Bill Rancic, chose to manage the tower's construction. It is the
tenth-tallest building in the world and second-tallest building in the
United States after Chicago's Willis Tower. Trump Tower surpassed
Chicago's John Hancock Center as the building with the world's highest
residence above ground-level and held this title until the completion
of the Burj Khalifa. The building includes, from the ground up, retail
space, a parking garage, a hotel, and condominiums. The 339-room hotel
opened for business with limited accommodations and services on January
30, 2008. April 28, 2009, was the full accommodation and service grand
opening. A restaurant on the 16th floor, named Sixteen, opened in early
2008 to favorable reviews. The building topped out in late 2008 and
construction was completed in 2009.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_%28Chicago…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Two years after his death, Oliver Cromwell's remains were exhumed for a
posthumous execution and his head was placed on a spike above
Westminster Hall in London, where it remained until 1685.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell%27s_head>
1847:
The town of Yerba Buena in Mexican California was renamed San
Francisco.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco>
1900:
The day before he was sworn in as Governor of Kentucky, William Goebel
was shot by an unknown assailant and mortally wounded. He remains the
only state governor in the United States to be assassinated while in
office.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goebel>
1948:
Nathuram Godse fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi, the political and spiritual
leader of India and the Indian independence movement, at Birla House in
Delhi.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi>
1972:
On Bloody Sunday, members of the British Parachute Regiment shot at
twenty-six civil rights protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing
at least thirteen people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_%281972%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
indign (adj):
(archaic) [[unworthy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indign>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Is there not glory enough in living the days given to us? You should
know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the
things we love, and beauty, too.
--Lloyd Alexander
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander>
Temple Israel is a Reform Jewish congregation in Memphis, Tennessee. It
is the only Reform synagogue in Memphis, the oldest and largest Jewish
congregation in Tennessee, and one of the largest Reform congregations
in the United States. It was founded in 1853 by mostly German Jews as
Congregation B'nai Israel. Led initially by cantors, in 1858 it hired
its first rabbi, Jacob Peres, and leased its first building, which it
renovated and eventually purchased. The synagogue was one of the
founding members of the Union for Reform Judaism. It experienced
difficulty during the Great Depression—membership dropped, the
congregational school was closed, and staff had their salaries
reduced—but conditions had improved by the late 1930s. In 1943 the
synagogue changed its name to Temple Israel, and by the late 1940s
membership had almost doubled from its low point in the 1930s. Rabbi
Jimmy Wax became known for his activism during the Civil Rights era. In
1976 the congregation constructed its current building, closer to where
most members lived. Wax retired in 1978, and was succeeded by Harry
Danziger, who brought traditional practices back to the congregation.
He retired in 2000, and was succeeded by Micah Greenstein. As of 2010,
Temple Israel has almost 1,600 member families. Greenstein is the
senior rabbi, and the cantor is John Kaplan.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Israel_%28Memphis%2C_Tennessee%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1856:
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issued a Warrant under the Royal
sign-manual that established the Victoria Cross, originally to
recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the
Crimean War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross>
1863:
Indian Wars in North America: The United States Army led by Patrick
Edward Connor massacred Chief Bear Hunter and forces of the Shoshone at
the Bear River Massacre in present day Franklin County, Idaho.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_River_Massacre>
1891:
Liliʻuokalani was proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant
of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliuokalani>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval
engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese
Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rennell_Island>
2006:
India's Irfan Pathan became the first bowler to take a Test cricket
hat-trick in the opening over of a match.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irfan_Pathan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spuria (npl):
[[spurious
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spuria>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws and valves to permit us
to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external
signs.
--Anton Chekhov
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov>
The Temple at Thatch is an unpublished novel by the British author
Evelyn Waugh, his first adult attempt at full-length fiction. He began
writing it in 1924 at the end of his final year as an undergraduate at
Hertford College, Oxford, and continued to work on it intermittently in
the following 12 months. After his friend Harold Acton commented
unfavourably on the novel in June 1925, Waugh burned the manuscript. In
a fit of despondency from this and other personal disappointments, he
then made a half-hearted suicide bid before returning to his senses. In
the absence of a manuscript or printed text, the only information as to
the novel's subject comes from Waugh's diary entries and later
reminiscences. The story was evidently semi-autobiographical, based
around Waugh's Oxford experiences. The protagonist was an undergraduate
and the work's main themes were madness and black magic. Some of the
novel's ideas were incorporated into Waugh's first commercially
published work of fiction, the 1925 short story "The Balance", which
includes several references to a country house called "Thatch" and,
like the novel, is partly structured as a film script. Acton's severe
judgement did not deter Waugh from his intention to be a writer, but it
affected his belief that he could succeed as a novelist. For a time he
turned his attention away from fiction, but with the gradual recovery
of his self-confidence he was able to complete his first novel, Decline
and Fall, which was published with great success in 1928.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temple_at_Thatch>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1547:
Nine-year-old Edward VI became the first Protestant ruler of England,
during whose reign Protestantism was established for the first time in
the country with reforms that included the abolition of clerical
celibacy and the mass.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England>
1887:
The largest-ever snowflakes, measuring 15 in (38 cm) and 8 in (20 cm)
thick, were observed in Fort Keough, Montana, US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records%23Snow>
1896:
Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, England, was the first person ever
convicted of exceeding the speed limit. He was travelling 8 miles per
hour (13 km/h) when the limit was 2 mph (3.2 km/h), and he was fined
one shilling.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/speed_limit>
1933:
Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet entitled "Now or Never" in
which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in northeast India
that he termed "Pakstan".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choudhary_Rahmat_Ali>
1964:
An unarmed USAF T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission was shot down
over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19, killing all three
aboard.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-39_Aircraft_Incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
putsch (n):
A coup; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putsch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat... between the law of
love and the law of hate.
--José Martí
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD>
The Temple of Eshmun is an ancient place of worship dedicated to
Eshmun, the Phoenician god of healing. Located near the Awali river,
2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of Sidon in southwestern Lebanon, the
site was occupied from the 7th century BCE to the 8th century CE.
Originally constructed by Sidonian king Eshmunazar II in the Achaemenid
era (<abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> 529–333 BCE) to celebrate the city's
recovered wealth and stature, the temple complex was greatly expanded
by Bodashtart, Yatan-milk and later monarchs. The sanctuary consists of
an esplanade and a grand court limited by a huge limestone terrace wall
that supports a monumental podium which was once topped by Eshmun's
Graeco-Persian style marble temple. The Eshmun Temple declined and fell
into oblivion as paganism was overrun by Christianity and its large
limestone blocks were used to build later structures. The temple site
was rediscovered in 1900 by local treasure hunters who stirred the
curiosity of international scholars. Maurice Dunand, a French
archaeologist, thoroughly excavated the site from 1963 until the
beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. After the end of the
hostilities and the retreat of Israel from South Lebanon, the site was
rehabilitated and inscribed to the World Heritage Site tentative list.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Eshmun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
661:
With the assassination of Ali, the fourth Sunni Rashidun Caliph and
first Shia Imam, the Rashidun Caliphate, the first Arab caliphate
founded after Muhammad's death in 632, effectively ended.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali>
1343:
Pope Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power
of the pope and the use of indulgences.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_VI>
1909:
The Young Liberals of Norway, the youth league of the Norwegian
political party Venstre was founded, today advocating a more liberal
version of the mother party's social liberalist ideology.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Liberals_of_Norway>
1967:
The Apollo 1 spacecraft was destroyed by fire at the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida, U.S., killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White
and Roger Chaffee.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1>
1996:
Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposed Mahamane Ousmane, the first
democratically elected president of Niger, in a military coup d'état.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Bar%C3%A9_Ma%C3%AFnassara>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dubitation (n):
1. The process of doubting or the state of being in doubt; hesitation,
uncertainty.
2. A pang or expression of doubt
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dubitation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Twas brillig and the slithy toves,
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the
mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son,
the jaws that bite and claws that
scratch
Beware the jubjub bird
and shun the frumious bandersnatch."
--Lewis Carroll
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll>
Hurricane Kyle was the fourth longest-lived Atlantic tropical or
subtropical cyclone on record. The eleventh named storm and third
hurricane of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season, Kyle developed as a
subtropical cyclone on September 20 to the east-southeast of Bermuda.
Looping westward, it transitioned into a tropical cyclone and became a
hurricane on September 25. For the next two weeks, Kyle tracked
generally westward, oscillating in strength several times because of
fluctuations in environmental conditions. On October 11, the cyclone
turned northeastward and made landfalls near Charleston, South
Carolina, and Long Beach, North Carolina, at tropical storm status.
After lasting as a cyclone for 22 days, Kyle dissipated on October 12
as it was absorbed by an approaching cold front. The hurricane brought
light precipitation to Bermuda, but no significant damage was reported
there. Moderate rainfall accompanied its two landfalls in the United
States, causing localized flash flooding and road closures. Floodwaters
forced the evacuation of a nursing home and several mobile homes in
South Carolina. Kyle spawned at least four tornadoes, the costliest of
which struck Georgetown, South Carolina; it damaged 106 buildings and
destroyed seven others, causing eight injuries. Overall damage totaled
about $5 million (2002 USD, $6 million 2008 USD), and no direct deaths
were reported. However, the remnants of Kyle contributed to one
indirect death in the British Isles.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Kyle_%282002%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Spanish navigator, explorer, and conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón
reached the north coast of what today is Brazil.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Y%C3%A1%C3%B1ez_Pinz%C3%B3n>
1788:
Captain Arthur Phillip and the British First Fleet landed at Sydney
Cove on the shore of Port Jackson in present-day Sydney, establishing
the first permanent European settlement in Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Phillip>
1808:
Governor of New South Wales William Bligh was deposed by the New South
Wales Corps in the only successful armed takeover of government in
Australia's recorded history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion>
1905:
The Cullinan Diamond, the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found
at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g), was discovered at the Premier Mine in
Cullinan, Gauteng, South Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinan_Diamond>
1950:
Indian independence movement: India officially became a republic under
a new constitution, with Rajendra Prasad as its first president.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Prasad>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ding-dong ditch (v):
(US, Canadian) To perform a children's prank in which a doorbell of a
house is [[ring
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ding-dong_ditch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you don't have enemies, you don't have character.
--Paul Newman
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Newman>
Little Thetford is a small village 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Ely in
Cambridgeshire, England, about 76 miles (122 km) by road from London.
The village is built on a boulder clay island surrounded by flat
fenland countryside, typical of settlements in this part of the East of
England. In 1007, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman named Ælfwaru, granted her
lands in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, including the "land at Thetford
and the fisheries around those marshes", to the abbots of Ely Abbey;
the village was still listed as a fishery in the Domesday Book,
79 years later. Little Thetford resisted the Parliamentary Inclosure
Acts of William IV for seven years, which may have led to the strong
Baptist following amongst the poor of the village. About half of Little
Thetford was eventually enclosed under the Parliamentary Inclosure
Thetford Act of Victoria. The Cambridge station to Ely station section
of the Fen Line passes through the east of the village. The rail
journey from Little Thetford to London, via Ely, takes about
75 minutes. Occupying an area of 2 square miles (5 km2), and with a
population of 693, Little Thetford is the smallest civil parish in the
ward of Stretham; notable buildings in the village date from the 14th
century.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Thetford>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1533:
Anne Boleyn, already pregnant with future queen Elizabeth, secretly
married Henry VIII of England, the second of his six marriages.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn>
1755:
Russian Empress Elizabeth issued a decree ordering the establishment of
what is now Moscow State University, today the largest university in
Russia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_State_University>
1890:
Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, American
journalist Nellie Bly completed a circumnavigation of the globe in a
then-record 72 days.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly>
1971:
Idi Amin Dada seized power in a military coup d'état from President
Milton Obote, beginning eight years of military rule in Uganda.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin>
2006:
Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza was arrested in conjunction
with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Barraza>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
quacksalver (n):
One falsely claiming to possess medical or other skills, especially one
who dispenses potions, ointments, etc. supposedly having curative
powers
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quacksalver>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free
us,
An' foolish notion.
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us
An' ev'n
Devotion.
--Robert Burns
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Burns>
Lions is the sixth studio album by American rock band The Black Crowes.
It was released in 2001 as their first album on V2 Records following
their departure from Columbia Records, and is their only studio album
to feature guitarist Audley Freed. Lions was recorded in New York City
in January and February of that year, and was produced by Don Was. Bass
guitar duties were shared by Rich Robinson and Was, as Greg Rzab had
left the band and was not replaced until the tour that followed the
release of the album. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at its
peak position of 20, selling more than 53,000 copies in its first week.
Lions received mixed reviews; although the overall sound of the album
generally garnered praise, a frequent complaint was the lack of
"memorable" songs. The critics who rated Lions lowest considered it a
poor imitation of the band's influences, such as Led Zeppelin. The band
supported Lions with two North American tours (one with Oasis
co-headlining), and a short tour of Europe and Japan in between.
Soundboard recordings of several concerts were available for download
to those who owned the album. Following the tour, the band went on
hiatus until 2005.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_%28album%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
41:
Roman Emperor Caligula was murdered by Cassius Chaerea and the
disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Caligula's uncle Claudius was proclaimed
emperor in his place.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox arrived in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, with cannons recently captured from Fort Ticonderoga,
the use of which would later help break the Siege of Boston.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Knox>
1968:
Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation Coburg
against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting
around Long Binh and Bien Hoa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Coburg>
1984:
The first Apple Macintosh, today known as the Macintosh 128K , went on
sale, becoming the first commercially successful personal computer to
feature a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a command
line interface.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh>
2009:
Klaus, the most damaging storm since Lothar and Martin in December
1999, made landfall near Bordeaux, France.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_%28storm%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
manumit (v):
To release from slavery, to free
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manumit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision.
--Edith Wharton
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton>
Lightning Bar (1951–1960) was an American Quarter Horse which raced and
later became a breeding stallion. He was bred by his lifelong owner Art
Pollard of Sonoita, Arizona, and was the offspring of Three Bars, a
Thoroughbred, and a Quarter Horse mare from Louisiana, a stronghold of
the breeding of sprint horses. He raced ten times, with four victories
and four other top three finishes, but his racing career was cut short
by illness after only one year. After racing, he became a show horse
for two years. As a breeding stallion he sired seven crops, or years,
of foals, among which Doc Bar was the best known. Lightning Bar died of
a viral infection in 1960, at the age of nine. He was inducted into the
American Quarter Horse Association's Hall of Fame in 2008.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Bar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1570:
James Hamilton shot and killed James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , in
the first recorded assassination using a firearm.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart%2C_1st_Earl_of_Moray>
1789:
Bishop John Carroll purchased a plot of land that would be the home of
the future Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic University in the
United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University>
1793:
The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia partitioned the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for the second time.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Partition_of_Poland>
1899:
Pursuant to the adoption of the Malolos Constitution and the
establishment of the First Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo was
sworn in as the first President of the Philippines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Aguinaldo>
1968:
USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that it had
violated their territorial waters while spying.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_%28AGER-2%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nincompoop (n):
A silly or foolish person
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nincompoop>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love has always been the most important business in my life, I should
say the only one.
--Stendhal
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stendhal>
John Lerew (1912–1996) was an officer and pilot in the Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF) during World War II, and later a senior manager in the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). As commander of
No. 24 Squadron, he became famous in Air Force history for his
irreverent response to orders by RAAF Headquarters during the 1942
Battle of Rabaul. After being directed to assist in repelling the
invading Japanese fleet with his one serviceable bomber, and to keep
his bombed airfield open, Lerew signalled headquarters with the ancient
Latin phrase used by gladiators honouring their Emperor: "Morituri vos
salutamus" ("We who are about to die salute you"). He also defied an
order to abandon his staff in Rabaul. In February 1942, Lerew led a
raid on enemy shipping in New Guinea; he was shot down but evaded
capture, returning to safety nine days after being reported missing.
Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he later commanded the RAAF's
first flying safety directorate. After leaving the Air Force in 1946 as
a Group Captain, he joined the newly formed ICAO in Canada. He was
responsible for administrative and technical reforms, and rose to Chief
of Flight Branch. Retiring in 1972, he travelled extensively before
settling in Vancouver.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lerew>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
The Bechuanaland Protectorate (modern Botswana, then a protectorate of
the United Kingdom) formally annexed the Tati Concessions Land, a
portion of Matabeleland that had been conceded to the British South
Africa Company.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechuanaland_Protectorate>
1948:
The Flag of Quebec, featuring a white cross and four fleurs-de-lis on a
blue field, was adopted and flown for the first time over the Quebec
Parliament Building in Quebec City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Quebec>
1968:
Cold War: A B-52 bomber carrying four nuclear weapons crashed onto sea
ice near Thule Air Base, Greenland, causing widespread radioactive
contamination.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash>
1976:
The Concorde supersonic transports began scheduled commercial flights
to London, Paris, Bahrain, and Rio de Janeiro.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde>
1997:
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 395–28 to reprimand Newt
Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the
House to be so disciplined.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
phobosophy (n):
The fear of abstract knowledge or philosophical thinking;
anti-philosophy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phobosophy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
That which is above comprehension we cannot perceive to be
contradictory, nor on the other hand can we perceive its rationality or
consistency.
--Ethan Allen
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ethan_Allen>