In California's 12th congressional district election, 1946, the
candidates were five-term incumbent Democrat Jerry Voorhis, Republican
challenger Richard Nixon, and former congressman and Prohibition Party
candidate John Hoeppel. Nixon was elected with 56% of the vote,
starting him on the road that would lead, almost a quarter century
later, to the presidency. For the 1946 election, Republicans sought a
candidate who could unite the party and run a strong race against
Voorhis in the Republican-leaning district. After failing to secure the
candidacy of General George Patton, they settled on Lieutenant
Commander Richard Nixon, who had lived in the district prior to his
World War II service. Various explanations have been put forward for
Nixon's victory, from national political trends to red-baiting on the
part of the challenger. Some historians contend that Nixon received
large amounts of funding from wealthy backers determined to defeat
Voorhis, while others dismiss such allegations.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_12th_congressional_district_ele…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom,
was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's horse at
the Epsom Derby.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1942:
The Battle of Midway, a major battle in the Pacific Theatre of World
War II, began with a massive Imperial Japanese strike on Midway Atoll.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway>
1975:
Governor of California Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural
Labor Relations Act, the first law in the United States guaranteeing
collective bargaining rights to farmworkers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Agricultural_Labor_Relations_Act>
1989:
Following the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Assembly of
Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be the Supreme Leader of Iran.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei>
1996:
The maiden flight of the Ariane 5 expendable launch system failed, with
the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a
malfunction in the control software, one of the most expensive computer
bugs in history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5_Flight_501>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anabasis (n):
A military march up-country
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anabasis>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge is meaningful only if it is reflected in action. The human
race has found out the hard way that we are what we do, not just what
we think. This is true for kids and adults — for schoolrooms and
nations.
--Robert Fulghum
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was an English composer. Among his best-known
compositions are orchestral works such as the Enigma Variations, the
Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two
symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of
Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the
King's Musick in 1924. Although his works are regarded as
quintessentially English, most of his musical influences were not from
England but from continental Europe. A self-taught Catholic composer
from a poor background, he nevertheless married the daughter of a
senior British army officer. He struggled to achieve success until his
forties, when his Enigma Variations proved immediately popular. His
following work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900) remains a core repertory
work in Britain and elsewhere. One of the first composers to take the
gramophone seriously, he conducted a series of recordings of his works
between 1914 and 1925. Elgar's music came, in his later years, to be
seen as appealing chiefly to British audiences. More recently, some of
his works have been taken up again internationally, but the music
remains more played in Britain than elsewhere.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Elgar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured Diamond Rock , an
uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to
Fort-de-France, from the British.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diamond_Rock>
1910:
Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, became the first man
to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rolls>
1919:
First Red Scare: Anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani set off eight
bombs in eight cities across the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings>
1983:
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three
passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a flashover
occurred as the plane's doors opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797>
1999:
Bhutan ended its status as the only country in the world to prohibit
television when the state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service came on the
air.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan_Broadcasting_Service>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
supervacaneous (adj):
Added beyond what is necessary; superfluous, redundant
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supervacaneous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed
fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a
full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In
blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little
cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh
around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night
air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.
--Thomas Hardy
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy>
The Johnstown Inclined Plane is an 896.5-foot (273.3 m) funicular
railway in Johnstown, Cambria County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
The funicular is capable of carrying passengers and automobiles up or
down a slope with a grade of 70.9 percent. The incline and its two
stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the
confluence of the Stonycreek and the Little Conemaugh Rivers, to the
borough of Westmont on Yoder Hill. The travel time from one station to
the other is 90 seconds. After a catastrophic flood in 1889, the
Inclined Plane was constructed in 1891 to serve as an escape route for
future floods, a task which it has fulfilled twice; once in 1936 and
again in 1977. It was operated by Cambria Iron Company and its
successor Bethlehem Steel until 1935, when it was sold to the borough
of Westmont. The incline was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1973 and was designated an Historic Mechanical
Engineering Landmark in 1994. It had major renovations in 1962 and from
1983 to 1984.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Inclined_Plane>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1670:
Charles II and Louis XIV signed a secret treaty, wherein England would
aid France in its against the Dutch Republic in return for French
assistance in England's attempt to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_treaty_of_Dover>
1916:
Louis Brandeis became the first Jew to be appointed to the United
States Supreme Court.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis>
1942:
World War II: The crews of three Japanese Ko-hyoteki class submarines
scuttled and committed suicide after entering Sydney Harbour and
launching a failed attack.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Sydney_Harbour>
1980:
CNN, the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, was
launched.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN>
2001:
Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal killed King Birendra and several members
of the Shah royal family in a shooting spree at the Narayanhity Royal
Palace in Kathmandu.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_royal_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
obtrude (v):
To project into or on to something in an intrusive or unwelcome way; to
be forcibly imposed
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obtrude>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is a legend about a bird that sings just once in its life, more
sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the
moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree and does not
rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches,
it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. Dying, it rises
above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One
superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to
listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at
the cost of the great pain. … Or so says the legend.
--Colleen McCullough
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colleen_McCullough>