William Warelwast (died 1137) was a medieval Norman cleric and Bishop of
Exeter in England. Warelwast was a native of Normandy, but little is
known about his background before 1087, when he appears as a royal clerk
for King William II of England. Most of his royal service to William
was as a diplomatic envoy, as he was heavily involved in the king's
dispute with Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was the
beginning of the Investiture Controversy in England. He went several
times to Rome as an emissary to the papacy on business related to
Anselm, one of whose supporters, the medieval chronicler Eadmer, alleged
that Warelwast bribed the pope and the papal officials to secure
favourable outcomes for King William. Possibly present at King William's
death in a hunting accident, Warelwast served as a diplomat to the
king's successor, Henry I. After the resolution of the Investiture
Controversy Warelwast was rewarded with the bishopric of Exeter in
Devon, but he continued to serve Henry as a diplomat and royal judge. He
began the construction of a new cathedral at Exeter, and he probably
divided the diocese into archdeaconries. Warelwast went blind after
1120, and following his death in 1137 was succeeded by his nephew,
Robert Warelwast.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warelwast>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1330:
The Battle of Posada between Basarab I of Wallachia and
Charles I Robert of Hungary began near the present-day border of
Oltenia and Severin, Romania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Posada>
1888:
Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in London, widely believed to be
the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer
Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly>
1914:
First World War: In the Cocos Islands, the Australian light
cruiser HMAS Sydney sank SMS Emden, the last active Central Powers
warship in the Indian or Pacific Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cocos>
1967:
French comic book heroes Valérian and Laureline first appeared
in the pages of Pilote magazine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val%C3%A9rian_and_Laureline>
2005:
The European Space Agency launched the Venus Express mission
(artist's impression pictured), the first long-term observation of the
Venusian atmosphere.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Express>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
whence:
>From where; from which place or source.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding.
Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary
home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant,
even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows
much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most
astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place
within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind
us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that
knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends
powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like
a mote of dust in the morning sky.
--Carl Sagan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan>
Abuwtiyuw is one of the earliest domestic animals whose name is known. A
lightly built Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound, with erect
ears and a curly tail, he is believed to have been a royal guard dog of
the 6th Dynasty (2345–2181 BC). He received an elaborate ceremonial
burial in the Giza Necropolis at the behest of an unknown pharaoh. An
inscribed stone listing the gifts donated by the pharaoh for Abuwtiyuw's
funeral was discovered by Egyptologist George A. Reisner in October
1935. It was apparently part of the spoil material incorporated into the
structure of a 6th-Dynasty mastaba (pharaonic-era tomb) in Cemetery
G 2100 in Giza West Field, close to the western side of the Great
Pyramid of Giza. The inscription on the white limestone tablet, which
measures 54.2×28.2×23.2 cm (21.3×11.1×9.1 in), is composed of ten
vertical rows of hieroglyphs, separated by vertical lines. The stone was
probably originally installed in the demolished funerary chapel of
Abuwtiyuw's owner.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuwtiyuw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1602:
The Bodleian Library (pictured), one of Europe's oldest
libraries, opened on the grounds of the University of Oxford in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodleian_Library>
1892:
Despite racial divisions, black and white union members united
in a general strike in New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892_New_Orleans_general_strike>
1912:
First Balkan War: The Greek Army accepted the surrender of the
Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki, one day before the Bulgarian Army
arrived to do the same.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki>
1940:
The Italian invasion of Greece failed as outnumbered Greek
units repulsed the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elaia%E2%80%93Kalamas>
1987:
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a
Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing at
least eleven people and injuring sixty-three others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nubcake:
(Internet slang, pejorative or humorous) A noob; a newb; a newbie.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nubcake>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If any such lover be in earth which is continually kept from falling, I
know it not: for it was not shewed me. But this was shewed: that in
falling and in rising we are ever preciously kept in one Love.
--Julian of Norwich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich>
Banksia ilicifolia is a tree in the family Proteaceae. Endemic to
southwest Western Australia, it belongs to Banksia subg. Isostylis, a
subgenus of three closely related Banksia species with inflorescences
that are dome-shaped heads rather than characteristic Banksia flower
spikes. It is generally a tree up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a
columnar or irregular habit. Both the scientific and common names arise
from the similarity of its foliage to that of the English holly Ilex
aquifolium; the glossy green leaves generally have very prickly serrated
margins, although some plants lack toothed leaves. The inflorescences
are initially yellow but become red-tinged with maturity; this acts as a
signal to alert birds that the flowers have opened and nectar is
available. Robert Brown described Banksia ilicifolia in 1810. Although
the tree is variable in growth form, with low coastal shrubby forms on
the south coast near Albany, there are no recognised varieties as such.
Distributed broadly, the species is restricted to sandy soils. Unlike
its close relatives which are killed by fire and repopulate from seed,
Banksia ilicifolia regenerates after bushfire by regrowing from
epicormic buds under its bark.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_ilicifolia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of the British Colony of
Virginia, signed a proclamation promising freedom for slaves of Patriots
if they joined the British Armed Forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore%27s_Proclamation>
1861:
American Civil War: Future U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant
engaged in his first combat leadership role in the Battle of Belmont in
Mississippi County, Missouri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belmont>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the
Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik
Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution>
1987:
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali deposed and replaced Habib Bourguiba as
President of Tunisia, declaring him medically unfit for the duties of
the office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali>
2007:
A Finnish high school student shot and killed eight people at
Jokela High School in Tuusula before committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokela_school_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
megaron:
(architecture, historical) The rectangular great hall in a Mycenaean
building, usually supported with pillars.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megaron>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don’t know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But
I know that I cannot know that meaning and that it is impossible for me
just now to know it. What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me?
I can understand only in human terms. What I touch, what resists me —
that I understand. And these two certainties — my appetite for the
absolute and for unity and the impossibility of reducing this world to a
rational and reasonable principle — I also know that I cannot
reconcile them. What other truth can I admit without lying, without
bringing in a hope I lack and which means nothing within the limits of
my conditions?
--Albert Camus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus>
Carlson's patrol was an operation by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion of
the U.S. Marine Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Evans
Carlson. It took place from 6 November to 4 December 1942 during the
Guadalcanal Campaign, which aimed to deny the Imperial Japanese Army use
of the Solomon Islands as bases for threatening the supply routes
between the U.S. and Australia, and to assist the offensives against
Japan. In the operation, the 2nd Raiders attacked forces under the
command of Toshinari Shōji, which were escaping from an attempted
encirclement in the Koli Point area on Guadalcanal and attempting to
rejoin other Japanese army units on the opposite side of the U.S. Lunga
perimeter. In a series of small unit engagements over 29 days, the 2nd
Raiders (who had been trained to operate as a guerrilla force) killed
almost 500 Japanese soldiers while suffering only 16 killed. The
raiders also captured a Japanese artillery cannon (pictured) that was
delivering harassing gunfire on Henderson Field, the Allied airfield at
Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Seventeen raiders were wounded, and many
others developed malaria, dysentery, or other illnesses; one lieutenant
said that the living conditions were worse than the combat.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson%27s_patrol>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first
Catholic bishop in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carroll_(bishop)>
1939:
As part of their plan to eradicate the Polish intellectual
elite, the Gestapo arrested 184 professors, students and employees of
Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderaktion_Krakau>
1963:
Nguyen Ngoc Tho was appointed to head the South Vietnamese
government by the military junta of General Duong Van Minh, five days
after the latter deposed and assassinated President Ngo Dinh Diem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Ngoc_Tho>
1995:
Madagascar's Rova of Antananarivo, which served as the royal
palace from the 17th to 19th centuries, was destroyed by fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rova_of_Antananarivo>
2004:
A man attempting to commit suicide parked his car on the
railway tracks in Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, England, causing a derailment
that killed seven people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufton_Nervet_rail_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
presidentialness:
The quality of being presidential; suitability for the presidency.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presidentialness>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I write to reach eternity.
--James Jones
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Jones>
Thomas Percy (c. 1560–1605) was a member of the group of provincial
English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Little
is known of his life before 1596 when a distant relation, Henry Percy,
9th Earl of Northumberland, appointed him constable of Alnwick Castle.
Percy acted as the earl's intermediary in a series of confidential
communications with King James VI of Scotland. After James acceded to
the English throne in 1603, Percy became disenchanted with him,
supposing that the new king had reneged on promises of toleration for
English Catholics. He met Robert Catesby in 1603, and the following year
joined his conspiracy to kill James and his ministers by blowing up the
House of Lords with gunpowder. Percy provided the group with funding and
secured the leases to certain properties in London, including the
undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords, into which the gunpowder
was placed. When the plot was exposed on 5 November 1605, Percy fled to
the Midlands. He and Catesby were killed on 8 November, during a siege
of Holbeche House in Staffordshire, by the Sheriff of Worcester and his
men.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Percy_(Gunpowder_Plot)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1138:
Ly Anh Tong was enthroned as emperor of Đại Việt at the
age of two, starting a 37-year reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ly_Anh_Tong>
1925:
Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century and
one of the inspirations for James Bond, was executed by the Soviet
secret police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly>
1967:
A train derailed near Hither Green maintenance depot in London,
killing 49 people and injuring 78 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hither_Green_rail_crash>
1983:
Five workers on the Byford Dolphin semi-submersible oil rig
were killed in an explosive decompression while drilling in the Frigg
gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin>
1995:
André Dallaire was thwarted in his attempt to assassinate
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien when Chrétien's wife locked the
door.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Dallaire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
photobomb:
To unexpectedly appear in a photograph, especially so as to ruin the
picture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/photobomb>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the
improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and
the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints.
--Will Durant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Durant>
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) was one of the foremost French composers of
his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century
composers. His music has been described as linking the end of
Romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th
century. He trained as an organist and choirmaster in Paris, where his
teachers included Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. In
later life, when he was organist of the Église de la Madeleine and
director of the Paris Conservatoire, he retreated to the countryside in
his summer holidays to concentrate on composing. By his last years,
Fauré was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his
day. Outside France, his music took decades to become widely accepted,
except in Britain, where he had many admirers during his lifetime. His
best-known works include Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano, and the
songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and
most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré
composed many of his greatest works in his later years, in a
harmonically and melodically much more complex style.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry
division in an attack on a Union Army supply base at Johnsonville,
Tennessee, capturing 150 prisoners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Johnsonville>
1890:
London's City and South London Railway, the first deep-level
underground railway in the world, opened, running a distance of 5.1 km
(3.2 mi) between the City of London and Stockwell.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_and_South_London_Railway>
1912:
Construction on USS Nevada, the first "super-dreadnought" of
the United States Navy, began as the keel was laid down.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nevada_(BB-36)>
1921:
The remains of an unknown soldier were buried with an eternal
flame at the Altare della Patria in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altare_della_Patria>
1995:
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal
Amir while at a peace rally at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
termitarium:
A termite colony.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/termitarium>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The battle for the airwaves cannot be limited to only those who have the
bank accounts to pay for the battle and win it. Democracy is in danger.
Seats in Congress, seats in the state legislature, that big seat in the
White House itself, can be purchased by those who have the greatest
campaign resources, who have the largest bank accounts or own riches.
That, I submit to you, is no democracy. It is an oligarchy of the
already powerful.
--Walter Cronkite
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite>
The Kingdom of Mysore (1399–1947) was a kingdom of southern India,
traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of
the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar
family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Around 1565, the kingdom became independent. The 17th century saw a
steady expansion of its territory and, under Narasaraja Wodeyar I
(pictured) and Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar, the kingdom annexed large
expanses of what is now southern Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu to
become a powerful state in the southern Deccan. It reached the height of
its military power and dominion in the latter half of the 18th century
under the de facto ruler Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. During this
time, it came into conflict with the Marathas, the British and the Nizam
of Hyderabad which culminated in the four Anglo-Mysore wars. The British
restored a subsidiary alliance, and a diminished Mysore was now
transformed into a Princely state until Indian independence in 1947. The
Mysore kings were not only accomplished exponents of the fine arts and
men of letters, they were enthusiastic patrons as well and their
legacies continue to influence music and art even today.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Mysore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
French invasion of Russia: As Napoleon's Grande Armée began
its retreat, its rear guard was defeated at the Battle of Vyazma
(monument pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vyazma>
1942:
World War II: U.S. Marines and U.S. Army forces began an
attempt to encircle and destroy a regiment of Imperial Japanese Army
troops.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koli_Point_action>
1957:
The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, carrying
Laika the Russian space dog as the first living creature from Earth to
enter orbit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika>
1967:
Vietnam War: A series of major engagements that were some of
the hardest-fought and bloodiest battles of the war began at Đắk Tô
in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dak_To>
1996:
Abdullah Çatlı, a drug trafficker, a contract killer, and a
leader of the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, was killed
in a car crash near Susurluk, Balıkesir Province, Turkey, sparking the
Susurluk scandal which exposed the depth of the state's complicity in
organized crime.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%87atl%C4%B1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caritative:
Charitable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caritative>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once the masterpiece has emerged, the lesser works surrounding it fall
into place; and it then gives the impression of having been led up to
and foreseeable, though actually it is inconceivable — or, rather, it
can only be conceived of once it is there for us to see it.
--André Malraux
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Malraux>
The Singapore strategy was a strategy of the British Empire between 1919
and 1941. It was a series of war plans that evolved over a twenty-year
period to deter or defeat aggression by the Empire of Japan by basing a
fleet of the Royal Navy in the Far East. Ideally, this fleet would be
able to intercept and defeat a Japanese force heading south towards
India or Australia. To be effective, it required a well-equipped base,
and Singapore was chosen as the most suitable location in 1919. Work
continued on a naval base and its defences over the next two decades.
The Singapore strategy was the cornerstone of British Imperial defence
policy in the Far East during the 1920s and 1930s. A combination of
financial, political and practical difficulties ensured that it could
not be implemented. The strategy ultimately led to the despatch of Force
Z to Singapore and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse by
Japanese air attack on 10 December 1941. The subsequent ignominious fall
of Singapore was described by Winston Churchill as "the worst disaster
and largest capitulation in British history".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_strategy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
Organized cheerleading was born at the University of Minnesota
when student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd attending an American
college football game to cheer on their team.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading>
1932:
The Australian military began a "war against emus", a
flightless native bird blamed for widespread damage to crops in Western
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War>
1964:
King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed by his half-brother
Faisal over concerns of the former's profligacy and his inability to
deal with the socialism of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia>
1995:
Former South African Minister of Defence Magnus Malan and 10
other former senior military officers were arrested and charged with 13
murders in the KwaMakhutha massacre of 1987.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Malan>
2004:
Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission was
critical of the treatment of women in Islam, was assassinated by
Mohammed Bouyeri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bone-eating snot flower worm:
(biology) A worm-like creature, Osedax mucofloris, that feeds on the
carcasses of minke whales in the North Sea.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bone-eating_snot_flower_worm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is
a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and
something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune.
--Lois McMaster Bujold
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold>