Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–88) was a French composer and pianist.
Alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt,
he was among the leading virtuoso pianists in Paris. His career was
marked by his occasional long withdrawals for personal reasons from
public performance, and from 1848 he began to adopt a reclusive life
style, while continuing with his compositions, virtually all of which
are for the keyboard. During this period he published his collections of
large-scale studies in all the major keys (Op. 35) and all the minor
keys (Op. 39). The latter includes his Symphony for Solo Piano and
Concerto for Solo Piano, considered among his masterpieces, of great
musical and technical complexity. Alkan's attachment to his Jewish
origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He was the first
composer to incorporate Jewish melodies in art music. Fluent in Hebrew
and Greek, he devoted much time to a complete new translation of the
Bible into French. After his death (which according to a persistent myth
was caused by a falling bookcase), his music was neglected, but since
the late 1960s many pianists have recorded it and brought it back into
the repertoire.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1853:
Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman
fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, precipitating the Crimean War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War>
1872:
The first-ever international football match took place at
Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Scotland_vs_England_football_match>
1939:
The Winter War broke out as the Soviet Red Army invaded Finland
(Finnish troops pictured) and quickly advanced to the Mannerheim Line,
an action judged as illegal by the League of Nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War>
1993:
U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence
Prevention Act into law, requiring purchasers of handguns to pass a
background check.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_Handgun_Violence_Prevention_Act>
1999:
Protests by anti-globalization activists against the World
Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle forced the
cancellation of its opening ceremonies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
exterminate:
1. To kill all of a population, usually deliberate and especially applied
to pests.
2. (figuratively) To bring a definite end to; to finish completely.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exterminate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet
perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where
sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.
--Jonathan Swift
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift>
Artur Phleps (1881–1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German
officer who held the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer und General der
Waffen-SS (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He
was an Austro-Hungarian Army officer before and during World War I,
specialising in mountain warfare and logistics. During the interwar
period, he joined the Romanian Army and became an adviser to King Carol.
After he spoke out against the government, he was sidelined and forcibly
retired from the army. In 1941 he left Romania and joined the Waffen-SS.
He saw action on the Eastern Front before raising two Waffen-SS mountain
divisions and one corps in occupied Yugoslavia. Units under his command
committed many crimes against the civilian population of the Independent
State of Croatia. This was the subject of international controversy when
Kurt Waldheim's service as Phleps' translator became public in the mid-
1980s, during his successful bid for the Austrian presidency. In
addition to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Phleps was awarded the
German Cross in Gold, and after he was killed in September 1944, he was
awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Phleps>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1549:
After the death of Pope Paul III, a papal conclave with an
unprecedented number of cardinal electors convened to determine his
successor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave,_1549%E2%80%9350>
1777:
El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the first civil settlement
in the Spanish colony of Alta California, was founded as a farming
community.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose,_California>
1890:
The Diet of Japan (pictured in session), a bicameral
legislature modelled after both the German Reichstag and the British
Westminster system, first met after the Meiji Constitution went into
effect.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Diet>
1963:
Five minutes after takeoff from Montreal, Trans-Canada Air
Lines Flight 831 crashed, killing all 118 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines_Flight_831>
2007:
Philippine soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes, on trial
for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, staged a mutiny and temporarily seized a
conference room in The Peninsula Manila hotel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Peninsula_rebellion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
capacious:
Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capacious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety. It
shows itself in acts rather than in words, and has more influence than
homilies or protestations.
--Louisa May Alcott
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott>
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) was a Danish physicist who created the Bohr
model, the first widely accepted model of atomic structure. A central
figure of 20th-century physics, he received the Nobel prize in 1922. In
three articles published in 1913, the third in November, he applied old
quantum theory to restrict the revolving electrons to stable orbits,
creating the Bohr model of the atom. A dozen years later, faced with the
opposing particle and wave interpretations of atomic phenomena in the
new quantum mechanics, he proposed the complementarity principle of
using both interpretations to fully explain the results. He founded the
Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, now known as the Niels
Bohr Institute, and predicted the existence of a new element, which was
named hafnium after the Latin name for Copenhagen. Later, the element
bohrium was named after him. During the 1930s, he helped refugees from
Nazism. In September 1943, after receiving word of his impending arrest
by the Germans, he fled to Sweden. Flown next to Britain, he joined the
British Tube Alloys nuclear weapons project, and later the Manhattan
Project. After the war, Bohr was involved with the establishment of
CERN.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
936:
Shi Jingtang was enthroned as the first emperor of the Later Jin
Dynasty by Emperor Taizong of Liao, following a revolt against Emperor
Fei of Later Tang.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Jingtang>
1443:
Rebelling against the Ottoman Empire, Skanderbeg and his forces
liberated Kruja in Middle Albania and raised the Albanian flag.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanderbeg>
1925:
The country music radio program Grand Ole Opry was first
broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ole_Opry>
1971:
Prime Minister of Jordan Wasfi al-Tal was assassinated by the
Black September unit of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Cairo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasfi_al-Tal>
1990:
After being elected as leader of the British Conservative Party
one day earlier, John Major officially succeeded Margaret Thatcher as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Major>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tractator:
1. (historical) In medieval commerce, the person who handles or transports
merchandise on behalf of an investor.
2. A person who writes tracts.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tractator>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be
so simple we couldn't.
--David Zindell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Zindell>
Adiantum viridimontanum, commonly known as Green Mountain maidenhair
fern, is a rare fern found only in outcrops of serpentine rock in New
England and Canada. It is named after the site of its discovery in the
Green Mountains in Vermont; it has since been located in Quebec and in
one site on serpentine in coastal Maine. Until 1991, it was grouped with
the western maidenhair fern A. aleuticum, which itself was classified
as a variety of the northern maidenhair fern A. pedatum. It was then
established that A. viridimontanum was a hybrid species and that the
other two ferns were distinct species, although it is difficult to
distinguish between the three species in the field. Due to the limited
distribution of A. viridimontanum and its similarity to other species,
little is known of its ecology. It thrives on sunny, disturbed areas
where ultramafic rock is covered with thin soil, such as road cuts,
talus slopes, and asbestos mines. Individual plants seem long-lived, and
new individuals only infrequently reach maturity. It is one of four
species endemic to serpentine in eastern North America and is considered
globally threatened due to its habitat restrictions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiantum_viridimontanum>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1703:
The Great Storm of 1703, one of the severest storms to strike
southern Great Britain, destroyed the first Eddystone Lighthouse in
Plymouth, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse>
1815:
As specified by the Congress of Vienna, the Constitution of the
Kingdom of Poland was signed for the newly recreated Polish state that
was under Russian control.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Kingdom_of_Poland>
1940:
The Iron Guard killed over 60 political detainees at a
penitentiary near Bucharest and followed up with several high-profile
assassinations, including that of former Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae
Iorga (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Iorga>
1978:
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been in conflict with
Turkey over the formation of an autonomous Kurdish state, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party>
2005:
French oral and maxillofacial surgeon Bernard Devauchelle
performed the world's first partial face transplant on a living human,
replacing Isabelle Dinoire's face, which had been mutilated by her dog.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_transplant>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ace:
(UK, slang) Excellent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ace>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing.
Awareness is without choice, without demand, without anxiety; in that
state of mind, there is perception. To know oneself is to study oneself
in action with another person. Awareness has no frontier; it is giving
of your whole being, without exclusion.
--Bruce Lee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee>
The 13th Airborne Division was a U.S. Army airborne formation in World
War II. Although it was active between August 1943 and February 1946,
it never saw combat. The division's training was disrupted by providing
reinforcements for the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and by a lack
of transport aircraft for training exercises, as divisions in combat had
priority for their use. The division was combat-ready by January 1945
and was transferred to France, but arrived too late to participate in
Operation Market Garden, the third major airborne operation conducted by
the Allies. The division was selected for Operation Varsity, supporting
21st Army Group crossing the River Rhine, but there were insufficient
transport aircraft to carry it into combat. Several other operations
were planned for the division, but these were cancelled because of the
rapid advance of Allied ground forces. After the end of the conflict in
Europe, it was shipped home before the planned invasion of Japan, but
the conflict in the Far East ended before it was required. After
deactivation of the division, combat personnel transferred to the
82nd Airborne Division.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Airborne_Division_(United_States)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the longest and highest aqueduct in
Great Britain, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontcysyllte_Aqueduct>
1922:
Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to
enter the tomb (burial chamber pictured) of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over
3,000 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV62>
1950:
Korean War: With the battles of Chosin Reservoir and the
Ch'ongch'on River, China launched a massive counterattack against United
Nations forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ch%27ongch%27on_River>
1983:
Six robbers broke into the Brink's-MAT warehouse at London
Heathrow Airport and stole three tonnes (6,612 lb) of gold bullion,
much of which has never been recovered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brink%27s-MAT_robbery>
2008:
A coordinated group of shooting and bombing attacks across
Mumbai began, ultimately killing a total of 173 people and wounding more
than 300 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unearthly:
1. Not of the earth; non-terrestrial.
2. Preternatural or supernatural.
3. Strange, enigmatic, or mysterious.
4. Ideal beyond the mundane.
5. Ridiculous, ludicrous, or outrageous.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unearthly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an
author because I want to ask questions. If I had answers, I'd be a
politician.
--Eugène Ionesco
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ionesco>
The history of the National Hockey League from 1942 to 1967 covers the
period from the demise of the Brooklyn Americans, which reduced the NHL
to six teams, to the league doubling in size with six new expansion
teams. Maurice Richard (pictured) became the first player to score
50 goals in a season in 1944–45. In 1955, he was suspended for
assaulting a linesman, leading to the Richard Riot. Gordie Howe made his
debut in 1946, retiring 32 years later as the NHL's all-time leader in
goals and points. Willie O'Ree broke the NHL's colour barrier in 1958.
The Stanley Cup became the official championship in 1947; during this
period, the Toronto Maple Leafs won the cup nine times and the Montreal
Canadiens ten times, including five consecutive titles. Changes occurred
on and off the ice. The NHL introduced the centre-ice red line in 1943,
allowing players to pass out of their defensive zone for the first time.
In 1959, Jacques Plante became the first goaltender to regularly use a
mask for protection. The first amateur draft was held in 1963 as part of
efforts to balance talent distribution within the league, and the
National Hockey League Players' Association was formed in 1967.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Hockey_League_(1942%E…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1795:
Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland, was
forced to abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth by Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski>
1917:
World War I: German troops invaded Portuguese East Africa in an
attempt to escape superior British forces to the north and resupply from
captured Portuguese materiel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ngomano>
1940:
The de Havilland Mosquito (examples pictured) and the Martin
B-26 Marauder, two of the most successful military aircraft in World
War II, both had their first flights.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_B-26_Marauder>
1947:
McCarthyism: Executives from movie studios agreed to blacklist
ten screenwriters and directors who were jailed for contempt of Congress
for refusing to give testimony to the House Un-American Activities
Committee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist>
1970:
Failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of
the Emperor of Japan, author Yukio Mishima committed the ritual suicide
seppuku at the Japan Self-Defense Forces headquarters in Tokyo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukio_Mishima>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rani:
1. The wife of a rajah.
2. A Hindu princess or female ruler in India.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rani>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All human history is the struggle between systems that attempt to
shackle the human personality in the name of some intangible good on the
one hand and systems that enable and expand the scope of human
personality in the pursuit of extremely tangible aims. The American
system is the most successful in the world because it harmonizes best
with the aims and longings of human personality while allowing the best
protection to other personalities.
--Ben Stein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Stein>
The goblin shark is a rare, poorly known species of deep-sea shark.
Sometimes called a "living fossil", it is the only extant representative
of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old.
This species looks unlike any other shark, with a long flattened snout,
highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth, and pink
coloration. Its snout is covered with ampullae of Lorenzini that enable
it to sense minute electric fields produced by nearby prey, which it can
snatch up by rapidly extending its jaws. It is usually three to four
meters long (10–13 ft) when mature. Goblin sharks inhabit upper
continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts around the world at
depths greater than 100 m (330 ft). Various anatomical features, such
as its flabby body and small fins, suggest that it is sluggish in
nature. This species hunts for teleost fishes, cephalopods, and
crustaceans both near the sea floor and in the middle of the water
column. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has
assessed it as Least Concern, citing its wide distribution and low
incidence of accidental capture by deepwater fisheries.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_shark>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1542:
Anglo-Scottish Wars: England captured about 1,200 Scottish
prisoners with its victory in the Battle of Solway Moss.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Solway_Moss>
1859:
On the Origin of Species by British naturalist Charles Darwin
was first published, and sold out its initial print run on the first
day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species>
1863:
American Civil War: As part of the Chattanooga Campaign in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces captured Lookout Mountain, helping
them to begin breaking the Confederate siege of the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lookout_Mountain>
1950:
The "Storm of the Century", a large extratropical cyclone,
struck the east coast of the United States before moving northeast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Appalachian_Storm_of_November_1950>
1974:
A group of paleoanthropologists discovered a 3.2-million-year-
old skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis in the Afar Depression in
Ethiopia, nicknaming it "Lucy".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scriptorium:
A room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of
manuscripts and records, especially such a room in a monastery.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scriptorium>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Schisms do not originate in a love of truth, which is a source
of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an inordinate desire for
supremacy. From all these considerations it is clearer than the sun at
noonday, that the true schismatics are those who condemn other men's
writings, and seditiously stir up the quarrelsome masses against their
authors, rather than those authors themselves, who generally write only
for the learned, and appeal solely to reason. In fact, the real
disturbers of the peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail
the liberty of judgment which they are unable to tyrannize over.
--Baruch Spinoza
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza>
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the 2007–08 series and
the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television
series Doctor Who, which marks its 50th anniversary on 23 November
2013. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T
Davies. It is the first of a two-part crossover story with spin-offs The
Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood, concluding with "Journey's End",
the finale of the fourth series, which brings closure to several
prominent story arcs created under Davies. In the episode, contemporary
Earth and 26 other planets are stolen by the Daleks. As the Doctor
(David Tennant, pictured) and his companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate)
try to find Earth, his previous companions Jack Harkness (John
Barrowman), Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth
Sladen), and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) convene to contact him and mount
a defence against the Daleks. The episode was received positively by the
audience and professional reviewers. It received one of the highest
Audience Appreciation Index ratings for a television programme, and when
first shown was the second most-watched programme of the week.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stolen_Earth>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1733:
African slaves from Akwamu in the Danish West Indies revolted
against their owners, one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in
the Americas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1733_slave_insurrection_on_St._John>
1867:
The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England, for
killing a police officer while helping two Irish nationalists escape
from police custody.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Martyrs>
1924:
Edwin Hubble published evidence in a newspaper that the
Andromeda Nebula, previously believed to be part of the Milky Way, is
actually another galaxy, one of many in the universe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble>
1992:
IBM introduced the Simon (pictured), a handheld, touchscreen
mobile phone and PDA that is considered the first smartphone.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon>
2011:
Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, the Yemeni
president Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to transfer power to Vice President
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_Rabbuh_Mansur_Hadi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
donna:
A lady, especially a noblewoman; the title given to a lady in Italy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/donna>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I've been running all my lives. Through time and space, every
second of every minute of every day for over 900 years. I fought for
peace in a universe at war. Now the time has come to face the choices
I've made in the name of the Doctor. Our future depends upon one single
moment of one impossible day — the day I've been running from all my
life: The Day of the Doctor.
--Doctor Who
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doctor_Who>
Benjamin Britten (1913–76) was an English composer, conductor and
pianist, and a central figure in 20th-century British classical music.
His wide compositional range includes opera, orchestral, choral, solo
vocal, chamber, instrumental and film music. He showed talent from an
early age, and first came to public attention with the choral work A Boy
Was Born in 1934. His best-known works include the operas Peter Grimes
(1945) and Billy Budd (1951), the War Requiem (1962) and the orchestral
showpiece The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1945). Recurring
themes in his operas are the struggle of an outsider against a hostile
society, and the corruption of innocence. He wrote copiously for
children and amateur performers, including the opera Noye's Fludde, a
Missa Brevis, and the song collection Friday Afternoons. Britten often
composed with particular performers in mind, most importantly his
personal and professional partner, the tenor Peter Pears, with whom he
co-founded the annual Aldeburgh Festival in 1948; the pair were
responsible for the creation of its Snape Maltings concert hall in 1967.
In 1976 Britten became the first composer to be awarded a life peerage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Britten>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
498:
Following the death of Anastasius II, both Symmachus and
Laurentius were elected pope, causing a schism that would last until
506.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_Laurentius>
1635:
Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launched a three-month
pacification campaign against Taiwanese aborigines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_pacification_campaign_on_Formosa>
1963:
Hours after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas,
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One as the 36th
President of the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy>
1988:
The first B-2 stealth bomber of the United States Air Force was
first displayed in public at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit>
2005:
Angela Merkel assumed office as the first female Chancellor of
Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
zygon:
1. (anatomy) In the cerebrum, the short crossbar or stem that connects the
two pairs of branches of an H-shaped fissure.
2. (music) An affinity or connection in a piece of music between tones,
chords, or phrases, such that one part appears to repeat, to imitate, or
to derive from the other, especially when perceived as an organising
force in the music.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zygon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It should be clear by now that a nation can be no stronger abroad
than she is at home. Only an America which practices what it preaches
about equal rights and social justice will be respected by those whose
choice affects our future. Only an America which has fully educated its
citizens is fully capable of tackling the complex problems and
perceiving the hidden dangers of the world in which we live. And only an
America which is growing and prospering economically can sustain the
worldwide defenses of freedom, while demonstrating to all concerned the
opportunities of our system and society.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>
Uru: Ages Beyond Myst is an adventure video game developed by Cyan
Worlds and published by Ubisoft. Released in November 2003, the title
is the fourth game in the Myst canon. Departing from previous games of
the franchise, Uru takes place in the modern era and allows players to
customize their onscreen avatars. Players use their avatars to explore
the abandoned city of an ancient race known as the D'ni, uncover story
clues and solve puzzles. Uru took five years and $12 million to
complete. It was initially conceived as a multiplayer game, but the
multiplayer component was delayed and eventually canceled, although an
online version (Myst Online: Uru Live) was available in 2007 and 2008.
Uru was not as well received as previous Myst titles. Critics admired
the visuals and new features of the game but criticized the lack of
multiplayer in the retail version and clunky controls. Uru sold poorly,
while the first three games had sold millions of copies each. The game
was a critical and commercial disappointment for Cyan, causing the
company financial troubles; nevertheless, it has attracted a cult
following.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uru:_Ages_Beyond_Myst>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1386:
Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur captured and sacked the Georgian
capital of Tbilisi, forcing King Bagrat V to convert to Islam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur%27s_invasions_of_Georgia>
1918:
Polish troops and civilians began a three-day pogrom against
Jews and Ukrainian Christians in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lw%C3%B3w_pogrom_(1918)>
1962:
The Sino-Indian War ended after the Chinese People's Liberation
Army declared a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew to the prewar Line of
Actual Control, returning all the territory they had captured during the
conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War>
1996:
A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store in Río
Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, killed 33 people and wounded 69 others
when the building collapsed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Vidal_explosion>
2006:
Lebanese politician Pierre Amine Gemayel (pictured), a vocal
critic of Syria's military presence in and political domination of
Lebanon, was assassinated in Jdeideh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Amine_Gemayel>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
yana:
(Buddhism) Any of the three modes or methods of Buddhist spiritual
practice; Mahayana, Hinayana and Vajrayana.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yana>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wherever we are, God's in that moment, God's speaking to us, and
if we've just got our ears open and our antennas up, there's no lack of
inspiration. He's not silent. We just have to be listening.
--Steven Curtis Chapman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Curtis_Chapman>