Ficus obliqua, commonly known as the small-leaved fig, is a tree native
to eastern Australia, New Guinea, eastern Indonesia to Sulawesi and
islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is a banyan of the genus
Ficus, which contains around 750 species worldwide in warm climates,
including the edible fig. Beginning life as a seedling, which grows on
other plants (epiphyte) or on rocks (lithophyte), F. obliqua can grow
to 60 m (200 ft) high and nearly as wide with a pale grey buttressed
trunk, and glossy green leaves. The small round yellow fruit ripen and
turn red at any time of year, although they peak in autumn and winter
(April to July). Known as a syconium, the fruit is an inverted
inflorescence with the flowers aligning an internal cavity. F. obliqua
is pollinated by two species of fig wasp—Pleistodontes greenwoodi and
P. xanthocephalus. Many species of bird, including pigeons, parrots and
various passerines, eat the fruit. It is used as a shade tree in parks
and public spaces, and is well-suited for use as an indoor plant or in
bonsai. All parts of the tree have been used in traditional medicine in
Fiji.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_obliqua>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1142:
The Treaty of Shaoxing, ending the Jurchen campaigns against
the Song Dynasty, was formally ratified when a Jin envoy visited the
Southern Song court.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurchen_campaigns_against_the_Song_Dynasty>
1531:
Swiss Reformation leader Huldrych Zwingli was killed in battle
when Catholic cantons attacked in response to a food blockade being
applied by his alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldrych_Zwingli>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: The British Royal Navy defeated
American ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, but
gave American forces enough time to prepare their defenses for the
Saratoga campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valcour_Island>
1968:
Apollo 7 (lift-off pictured), the first manned mission of
NASA's Apollo program, and the first three-man American space mission,
launched from Complex 34 in present-day Cape Canaveral, Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7>
1987:
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began
Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers to
enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pawan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
microcosm:
1. A smaller system which is representative of or analogous to a larger
one.
2. A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an
experimental model.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/microcosm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One of the blessings of age is to learn not to part on a note of
sharpness, to treasure the moments spent with those we love, and to make
them whenever possible good to remember, for time is short.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>
Kellie Loder (born 1988) is an independent singer-songwriter from
Newfoundland who plays drums, guitar and piano. Having written her first
song at age 16 about a cousin who died in a traffic accident, Loder was
studying nursing at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University of
Newfoundland when she released her first album, The Way, in August 2009.
Later that year, she won a talent-search contest hosted by YC
Newfoundland, a Christian youth conference. As part of the award, Loder
was given time with music industry and production professionals who
helped her with Imperfections & Directions, her second album, which was
released at the 2010 YC Newfoundland. Loder's nursing studies hampered
her ability to showcase Imperfections & Directions by touring. Loder was
nominated as Female Artist of the Year at the 2010 MusicNL awards, and
then as Gospel Artist of the Year in 2011. Imperfections & Directions
was nominated as Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year at the
2012 Juno Awards. Loder has asserted that she chose to begin her career
in Contemporary Christian music because it gives purpose to her music.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellie_Loder>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
680:
Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, was killed in the Battle
of Karbala by the forces of Yazid I, whom Hussein had refused to
recognise as caliph.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala>
1846:
English astronomer William Lassell discovered Triton, the
largest moon of the planet Neptune.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_(moon)>
1933:
In the first proven act of air sabotage in the history of
commercial aviation, a United Airlines Boeing 247 exploded in mid-air
near Chesterton, Indiana, US, killing all seven people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_United_Airlines_Boeing_247_mid-air_explo…>
1943:
World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the
Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured over 50 civilians and
civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on
Singapore Harbour during Operation Jaywick.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Tenth_Incident>
1973:
United States Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being
charged with tax evasion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beefcake:
1. (informal) Imagery of one or more muscular, well-built men.
2. (informal) A muscular, well-built, desirable man.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beefcake>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A man who has to be punctually at a certain place at five o'clock
has the whole afternoon from one to five ruined for him already.
--Lin Yutang
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lin_Yutang>
The Diary of a Nobody is an English comic novel written by the brothers
George and Weedon Grossmith. Originally serialised in Punch magazine, it
first appeared in book form in 1892. It records daily events in the
lives of a London clerk, Charles Pooter, his family and numerous friends
and acquaintances; most of its humour derives from Pooter's unconscious
and unwarranted sense of his own importance, and the frequency with
which this delusion is punctured by gaffes and minor social
humiliations. The daily routines and modest ambitions described in the
Diary were recognised by contemporary readers, and provided later
generations with glimpses of the past that it became fashionable to
imitate. Before their collaboration the brothers had pursued successful
stage careers, George as the principal comedian in the Gilbert and
Sullivan operas for 12 years; Weedon had earlier trained as an artist
and illustrator. Although the Diary's initial reception was muted, it
grew in popularity and helped to establish a 20th-century genre of
humorous popular fiction based on lower or lower-middle class
aspirations. It has been the subject of several stage and screen
adaptations.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Nobody>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1708:
Great Northern War: Russia defeated Sweden at the Battle of
Lesnaya on the Russian–Polish border in present-day Belarus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lesnaya>
1888:
The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the
world's tallest building, officially opened to the general public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument>
1913:
The ocean liner SS Volturno caught fire in the middle of a
gale in the North Atlantic, burned, and sank, resulting in about 130
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Volturno_(1906)>
1963:
A landslide displaced large amounts of water from the Vajont
Dam in northern Italy, causing waves and floods that quickly swept away
several villages and killed almost 2,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam>
1983:
South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survived an assassination
attempt in Rangoon, Burma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoon_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
understudy:
1. To study or know a role, so as to be able to replace its normal
performer if required.
2. To act as an understudy (to, for someone).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/understudy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We announce the birth of a conceptual country, NUTOPIA.
Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your
awareness of NUTOPIA. NUTOPIA has no land, no boundaries, no passports,
only people. NUTOPIA has no laws other than cosmic. All people of
NUTOPIA are ambassadors of the country. As two ambassadors of NUTOPIA,
we ask for diplomatic immunity and recognition in the United Nations of
our country and our people.
--Yoko Ono
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono>
Ex parte Crow Dog is an 1883 decision by the Supreme Court of the
United States that followed the death of one member of a Native American
tribe at the hands of another on reservation land. Crow Dog (pictured)
was a member of the Brulé band of the Lakota Sioux. On August 5, 1881,
he shot and killed Spotted Tail, a Lakota chief; there are different
accounts of the background to the killing. The tribal council dealt with
the incident according to Sioux tradition, and Crow Dog paid restitution
to the dead man's family. However, the U.S. authorities then prosecuted
Crow Dog for murder in a federal court. He was found guilty and
sentenced to hang. The Supreme Court held that unless authorized by
Congress, federal courts had no jurisdiction to try cases where the
offense had already been tried by the tribal council, and so Crow Dog
was released. The case led to the Major Crimes Act in 1885, which placed
15 major crimes under federal jurisdiction if committed by an Indian
against another Indian on a reservation or tribal land. This case was
the beginning of the plenary power legal doctrine that has been used in
Indian case law to limit tribal sovereignty.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_parte_Crow_Dog>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1076:
Demetrius Zvonimir, the last native king who exerted any real
power over the entire Croatian state, was crowned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_Zvonimir_of_Croatia>
1871:
Four large fires broke out in the United States, including the
Great Chicago Fire and the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin, the latter being
the deadliest fire in U.S. history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire>
1918:
World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during
the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American
Sergeant Alvin C. York led the seven remaining men on an attack against
a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York>
1967:
Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader Che Guevara was
captured near La Higuera, Bolivia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara>
2001:
At Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, Scandinavian Airlines Flight
SK686 collided on take-off with a Cessna Citation II business jet,
killing 118 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linate_Airport_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
choreography:
1. The art of creating, arranging and recording the dance movements of a
ballet, etc.
2. The representation of these movements by a series of symbols.
3. The notation used to construct this record.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/choreography>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To know a thing well, know it limits. Only when pushed beyond its
tolerances will true nature be seen. Do not depend only on theory if
your life is at stake.
--Chapterhouse : Dune
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune.23hapterhouse:_Dune_.281985.29>
Stanley Bruce (1883–1967) was the eighth Prime Minister of Australia,
serving from 1923 to 1929. He was a barrister and businessman before
being wounded in the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I. Elected to
parliament in 1918 as a member of the Nationalist Party, he served as
treasurer in the government of Billy Hughes before replacing him as
prime minister in 1923. Bruce overhauled federal government
administration and oversaw its transfer to the new capital, Canberra.
His "men, money and markets" scheme was an ambitious attempt to rapidly
expand Australia's population and economic potential through massive
government investment and closer ties with Great Britain and the rest of
the British Empire. But his heavy-handed response to industrial unrest
and attempts to overhaul labour laws led to a landslide defeat in 1929.
After politics, Bruce became involved with the League of Nations until
the outbreak of World War II. After the war, he was a leading advocate
of development aid, a founder of the Food and Agriculture Organization,
the first chancellor of the Australian National University and the first
Australian to sit in the House of Lords (as Viscount Bruce of
Melbourne).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Bruce>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
War of the League of Cambrai: A Venetian army under Bartolomeo
d'Alviano was decisively defeated by the Spanish army commanded by
Ramón de Cardona and Fernando d'Avalos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_La_Motta_(1513)>
1763:
Following Great Britain's acquisition of New France after the
end of the Seven Years' War, King George III issued a Royal
Proclamation closing most of this land to the residents of the Thirteen
Colonies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Proclamation_of_1763>
1933:
Five French airline companies merged to form Air France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France>
1976:
Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Communist
Party of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Guofeng>
1993:
The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood came to an end
after 103 days, as the Mississippi River at St. Louis finally dropped
below flood stage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
croggy:
A ride on the handlebars or crossbar of a bicycle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croggy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Letheri are masters at corrupting words, their meanings. They
call war peace, they call tyranny liberty. On which side of the shadow
you stand decides a word's meaning. Words are the weapons used by those
who see others with contempt. A contempt which only deepens when they
see how those others are deceived and made into fools because they
choose to believe. Because in their naivety they thought the meaning of
a word was fixed, immune to abuse.
--Steven Erikson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson>
Tropical Storm Marco was the smallest tropical cyclone on record. The
thirteenth named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, Marco
developed out of a broad area of low pressure over the northwestern
Caribbean during late September 2008. Influenced by a tropical wave on
October 4, a small low-level circulation center developed over Belize.
After crossing the southern end of the Yucatán Peninsula, the low was
declared Tropical Depression Thirteen early on October 6. The
depression quickly intensified into a tropical storm (pictured) and was
given the name Marco later that day. Marco reached its peak intensity
with winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km/h) early on October 7. Around
this time, tropical storm force winds extended 11.5 miles (18.5 km)
from the center of the storm, making Marco the smallest tropical cyclone
on record. Around 1200 UTC, Marco made landfall near Misantla,
Veracruz. The storm rapidly weakened after landfall, dissipating later
that day. Because of its small size, Marco caused minimal damage.
However, the storm's heavy rains led to floods up to 10 feet (3.0 m)
deep that covered highways and damaged homes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Marco_(2008)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
404:
Aelia Eudoxia, empress consort of Byzantine emperor Arcadius,
died from complications of childbirth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelia_Eudoxia>
1683:
German immigrants to the Pennsylvania Colony founded
Germantown, the first permanent German settlement in North America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American>
1908:
Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, causing a crisis that permanently damaged their relations
with Russia and the Kingdom of Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_crisis>
1973:
Egypt, under the leadership of President Anwar Sadat, launched
Operation Badr in co-ordination with Syria, crossing the Suez Canal and
attacking the fortified Israeli Bar Lev Line, starting the Yom Kippur
War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War>
1998:
University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was attacked and
fatally wounded for being gay near Laramie, Wyoming, US, dying six days
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
wizened:
Withered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wizened>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need
just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.
--Le Corbusier
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier>
Anodyne is the fourth and final studio album by American alternative
country band Uncle Tupelo, released on October 5, 1993. The recording
of the album was preceded by the departure of the original drummer Mike
Heidorn and the addition of three new band members: bassist John
Stirratt, drummer Ken Coomer, and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston.
The band signed with Sire Records shortly before recording the album;
Anodyne was Uncle Tupelo's only major label release until 89/93: An
Anthology in 2002. Recorded in Austin, Texas, Anodyne featured a split
in songwriting credits between singers Jay Farrar (pictured in 2007) and
Jeff Tweedy, plus a cover version of the Doug Sahm song "Give Back the
Key to My Heart", with Sahm on vocals. The lyrical themes were
influenced by country music and—more than their preceding
releases—touched on interpersonal relationships. After two promotional
tours for the album, which sold over 150,000 copies, tensions between
Farrar and Tweedy culminated in the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. Well-
received upon its initial release, Anodyne was re-mastered and re-
released in 2003 by Rhino Entertainment including five bonus tracks.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodyne_(album)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
French Revolution: Upset about the high price and scarcity of
bread, thousands of Parisian women and their various allies marched on
the royal palace at Versailles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles>
1910:
The Portuguese Republican Party organised a coup d'etat,
deposed the constitutional monarchy and implanted a republican regime in
Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_October_1910_revolution>
1963:
The U.S. suspended the Commercial Import Program, its main
economic support for South Vietnam, in response to oppression of
Buddhism by President Ngo Dinh Diem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Import_Program>
1973:
Seven nations signed the European Patent Convention, providing
an autonomous legal system according to which European patents are
granted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Patent_Convention>
2011:
Two Chinese cargo ships were attacked on a stretch of the
Mekong River in the Golden Triangle area of Southeast Asia, and their
crew murdered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
amber:
1. Translucent fossilized tree resin, generally yellow or orange but
sometimes blue, often used as jewelry.
2. (in British English) The middle light in a set of three traffic lights,
between the red and the green lights.
3. (in biology, biochemistry and genetics) The RNA codon UAG, which stops
the third stage of protein production, translation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amber>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man has received from nature the right to give orders to
others. Freedom is a gift from heaven, and every individual of the same
species has the right to enjoy it as soon as he is in enjoyment of his
reason.
--Denis Diderot
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Denis_Diderot>
Terry-Thomas (1911–90) was an English comedian and character actor,
known to a world-wide audience through his portrayals of upper class
cads, toffs and bounders. His dress sense and style were striking, as
was the gap of a third of an inch between his two front teeth. He worked
his way through uncredited film parts in the 1930s before wartime
service with Entertainments National Service Association and Stars in
Battledress led to a post-war career on stage and then into How Do You
View? (1949), the first comedy series on British television. He appeared
in British films such as Private's Progress (1956), Blue Murder at St
Trinian's (1957), and Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959). During the
early 1960s he worked extensively in Hollywood, providing a coarser
version of his screen persona in films such as Bachelor Flat (1962),
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and How to Murder Your Wife
(1965). After being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1971, he spent
much of his fortune on medical treatments. He lived in poverty towards
the end of his life, existing on charitable hand-outs, before a
1989 charity gala in his honour brought him financial comfort for the
remaining months before his death.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry-Thomas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1824:
Mexico enacted its first constitution, defining the nation as a
federal republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1824_Constitution_of_Mexico>
1957:
Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to
orbit the Earth, was launched by an R-7 rocket from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1>
1963:
Flora (radar image pictured), one of the wettest and deadliest
hurricanes in history, made landfall in Cuba, after having previously
struck Tobago and Hispaniola.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Flora>
1993:
Russian Constitutional Crisis: Tanks bombarded the White House
in Moscow while demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rallied
outside.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis>
2003:
A suicide bomber killed 21 people and injured more than 50
others inside the Maxim restaurant in Haifa, Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
catloaf:
The loaflike form of a domestic cat sitting with paws tucked underneath
the body.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/catloaf>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
General education is the best preventive of the evils now most
dreaded. In the civilized countries of the world, the question is how to
distribute most generally and equally the property of the world. As a
rule, where education is most general the distribution of property is
most general.... As knowledge spreads, wealth spreads. To diffuse
knowledge is to diffuse wealth. To give all an equal chance to acquire
knowledge is the best and surest way to give all an equal chance to
acquire property.
--Rutherford B. Hayes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes>
USS Lexington (CV-2) was an early aircraft carrier built for the
United States Navy during the 1920s. Originally designed as a
battlecruiser, she was converted into an aircraft carrier during
construction to comply with the terms of the 1922 Washington Naval
Treaty. Lexington was at sea when the Pacific War began in 1941,
ferrying fighter aircraft to Midway Island. She was sent to the Coral
Sea in February 1942 to block any Japanese advances into the area.
Together with the carrier Yorktown, she successfully attacked Japanese
shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March. Lexington
rendezvoused with Yorktown in the Coral Sea in early May. A few days
later the Japanese began Operation MO, the invasion of Port Moresby,
Papua New Guinea, and the two American carriers attempted to stop the
invasion. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown succeeded in badly
damaging the carrier Shōkaku, but Japanese aircraft crippled Lexington.
Vapors from leaking aviation gasoline tanks sparked a series of
explosions and fires that could not be controlled, and the carrier had
to be scuttled by an American destroyer during the evening of 8 May to
prevent her capture.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-2)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
World War I: Following his armed forces' defeat to the Allied
Powers, Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I abdicated in favor of his son
Boris III (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_III_of_Bulgaria>
1935:
Italian forces under General Emilio De Bono invaded Abyssinia
during the opening stages of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Bono%27s_invasion_of_Abyssinia>
1963:
Oswaldo López Arellano replaced Honduran President Ramón
Villeda Morales in a violent coup and initiated two decades of military
rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
1993:
American armed forces attempted to capture officials of
Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's organization at the Battle of
Mogadishu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993)>
2003:
Roy Horn of the American entertainment duo of Siegfried & Roy
was mauled by a tiger during a performance at The Mirage hotel and
casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_%26_Roy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unitive:
Causing or characterized by unity or union.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unitive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so
I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty
itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building
to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us.
You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of
enforcement we have true reason to fear. Governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor
received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you
know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders.
--John Perry Barlow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow>
Pride & Prejudice is a 2005 British romance film directed by Joe
Wright, based on Jane Austen's novel of the same name. The film depicts
five sisters from an English family of landed gentry as they deal with
issues of marriage, morality and misconceptions. Keira Knightley
(pictured) stars as Elizabeth Bennet, while Matthew Macfadyen plays her
romantic interest Mr. Darcy. The film avoided depicting a "perfectly
clean Regency world", presenting instead a "muddy hem version" of the
time. It was marketed to a younger, mainstream audience; promotional
items noted that it came from the producers of 2001 romantic comedy
Bridget Jones's Diary before acknowledging its provenance as an Austen
novel. Pride & Prejudice earned a worldwide gross of approximately
$121 million, which was considered a commercial success. It earned a
rating of 82 percent from review aggregator Metacritic, labelling it
universally acclaimed. The film earned four nominations at the
78th Academy Awards, including one for Knightley as Best Actress. Pride
& Prejudice has failed to match the cultural impact of the British
1995 television series, though Knightley has become associated with her
character among younger viewers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_%26_Prejudice_(2005_film)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1263:
Scottish–Norwegian War: The armies of Norway and Scotland
fought at the Battle of Largs, an inconclusive engagement near the
present-day town of Largs in North Ayrshire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Largs>
1835:
Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales,
Texas, encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle
of Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales>
1925:
Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (bust pictured) successfully
transmitted the first television picture with a greyscale image.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Logie_Baird>
1941:
World War II: Nazi German forces began Operation Typhoon, an
all-out offensive against Moscow, starting the three-month long Battle
of Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Moscow>
1996:
A maintenance worker's failure to remove tape covering the
static ports of the aircraft caused Aeroperú Flight 603 to crash into
the ocean near Lima, Peru, due to instrument failure.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroper%C3%BA_Flight_603>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
splurge:
1. To gush, to flow or move in a rush.
2. To spend (usually money) lavishly or extravagantly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/splurge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is
momentary.
--Mahatma Gandhi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi>