Tripura is the third-smallest state in India, bordered by the states of
Assam and Mizoram and by Bangladesh. The Kokborok-speaking Tripuri
people (children pictured) are the major group among 19 tribes and many
subtribes; Bengali people form the ethno-linguistic majority. Before
becoming part of the newly independent India in 1949, the area was ruled
for several centuries by the Tripuri dynasty. Ethnic strife between the
indigenous people and Bengalis has been eased by the establishment of an
autonomous tribal administrative agency and other strategies. Five
mountain ranges run north to south; Agartala, the capital, is located on
a plain to the west. Forests cover more than half of the area, in which
bamboo and cane tracts are common. Tripura, which has a tropical savanna
climate, has the highest number of primate species found in any Indian
state. Economic progress is hindered by its geographical isolation –
only one major highway connects it with the rest of India. Most
residents are involved in agriculture and allied activities. Mainstream
Indian cultural elements, especially from Bengali culture, coexist with
traditional practices of the ethnic groups.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripura>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1403:
King Henry III of Castile sent an embassy to the court of Timur
(Tamerlane) to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and
Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurid_relations_with_Europe>
1863:
The Seventh-day Adventist Church, a Protestant denomination
distinguished by its emphasis on the imminent second coming (Advent) of
Jesus, was founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Adventist_Church>
1894:
The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Greater Manchester in North
West England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the largest
navigation canal in the world at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal>
1979:
Riots erupted in San Francisco (rioters pictured) after former
Supervisor Dan White was only sentenced for voluntary manslaughter for
the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor
Harvey Milk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Night_riots>
1991:
Former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by
a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Rajiv_Gandhi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cloudburst:
A sudden heavy rainstorm.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cloudburst>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, "Let Newton
be!" and all was light.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>
Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (1653–1708)
was the husband of Queen Anne of Great Britain. His marriage to Anne was
arranged in the early 1680s with a view to developing an Anglo-Danish
alliance to contain Dutch maritime power. This made him unpopular with
his Dutch brother-in-law William of Orange, who was married to Mary,
Anne's sister. William and Mary became joint monarchs of Britain in 1689
after the "Glorious Revolution" deposed James II and VII, the father of
Anne and Mary. William excluded George from active military service, and
neither Anne (who was heiress presumptive) nor George wielded any great
influence until after the deaths of William and Mary, when Anne became
queen. He had an easy-going manner and little interest in politics; his
appointment as Lord High Admiral in 1702 was largely honorary. Anne's
seventeen pregnancies by George resulted in twelve miscarriages or
stillbirths, four infant deaths, and a chronically sick son William, who
died at the age of eleven. Despite the history of their children, George
and Anne's marriage was a strong one. He died aged 55 from a recurring
and chronic lung disease, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George_of_Denmark>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
325:
The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the
Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea>
685:
The Picts defeated the Northumbrians near Dunnichen, severely
weakening the latter's power in northern Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dun_Nechtain>
1875:
Representatives from seventeen countries signed the Metre
Convention which set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating
international metrology and for coordinating the development of the
metric system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre_Convention>
1927:
By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the
sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to
become Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud>
1983:
A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier
published their discovery of HIV, although they did not know yet if it
caused AIDS.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Montagnier>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
much of a muchness:
(idiomatic) Of two or more things, having little difference of any
significance between them.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/much_of_a_muchness>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the
feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing
can dismay nor turn aside.
--Honoré de Balzac
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac>
Joppenbergh Mountain is a nearly 500-foot (150 m) mountain in Rosendale
Village, in Ulster County, New York. The mountain is composed of a
carbonate bedrock overlain by glacially deposited material. It was named
after Rosendale's founder, Jacob Rutsen, and mined throughout the late
19th century for dolostone that was used in the manufacture of natural
cement. Extensive mining caused a large cave-in on December 19, 1899,
that destroyed equipment and collapsed shafts within Joppenbergh. During
the late 1930s, Joppenbergh became the site of several ski jumping
competitions, which continued until the early 1940s. Skiing began again
in the 1960s, when a new slope was built on the mountain, and the
revived competitions continued until 1971. In March 2011, the Open
Space Institute offered to purchase Joppenbergh and sell it to the town.
The Rosendale town board initially agreed to the deal the following
month, with payment planned to come from a surplus fund. That June,
however, the board found that the surplus fund had already been
exhausted and could not cover the entire cost of the purchase.
Ultimately, the OSI completed its purchase of Joppenbergh in October
2011, without town money.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joppenbergh_Mountain>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1542:
The Prome Kingdom, in present-day central Burma, was conquered
by the Taungoo Dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prome_Kingdom>
1743:
French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a
mercury thermometer with the centigrade scale where zero represents the
freezing point of water and 100 its boiling point.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison west of
Montreal surrendered to British troops in the Battle of The Cedars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_The_Cedars>
1911:
Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, was
established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the
Interior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks_Canada>
1997:
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, which encompasses the most
ecologically diverse region in Mexico, was established as a result of
grassroots efforts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Gorda>
2010:
In Bangkok, the Thai military concluded a week-long crackdown
on widespread protests by forcing the surrender of opposition leaders.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Thai_military_crackdown>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
front runner:
(idiomatic) The most likely winners in a contest, election, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/front_runner>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human
race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.
--Johann Gottlieb Fichte
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Fichte>
Juwan Howard (born 1973) is an American professional basketball player
who plays for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association
(NBA). He signed for the Heat (his eighth NBA team) in 2010, reaching
the playoffs for the sixth time and making his first career NBA Finals
appearance. Howard won his first NBA championship with Miami the
following year. A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward,
he began his NBA career as the fifth overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft
by the Washington Bullets. Before he was drafted, he starred as an All-
American on the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. At Michigan
he was part of the Fab Five recruiting class of 1991 that twice reached
the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's
Division I Basketball Championship. During his rookie year with the
Bullets, he became the first player to graduate on time with his class
after leaving college early to play in the NBA. After one season as an
All-Rookie player and a second as an All-Star and an All-NBA performer,
he became the first NBA player to sign a $100 million contract. He has
developed a reputation as a humanitarian for his civic commitment.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juwan_Howard>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of
the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of
Vicksburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg>
1869:
One day after surrendering at the Battle of Hakodate, Enomoto
Takeaki turned over Goryōkaku to Japanese forces, signaling the
collapse of the Republic of Ezo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ezo>
1927:
Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off a
series of explosives in Bath Township, Michigan's elementary school,
which had a final death toll of 45 and is the deadliest mass murder in a
school in United States history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster>
1944:
World War II: Polish forces under Lieutenant General
Władysław Anders captured Monte Cassino, Italy, after a four-month
battle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino>
1955:
Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000
Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French
Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of
the First Indochina War, ended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Passage_to_Freedom>
1980:
The stratovolcano Mount St. Helens erupted (pictured), killing
57 people in southern Washington State, reducing hundreds of square
miles to wasteland, and causing over US$1 billion in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
upend:
1. (transitive) To end up; to set on end.
2. To tip or turn over.
3. To destroy, invalidate, overthrow, or defeat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/upend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never
accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into
something that he can understand.
--Bertrand Russell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell>
The Flame Robin is a small passerine bird native to Australia. It is a
moderately common resident of the coolest parts of south-eastern
Australia, including Tasmania. First described by the French naturalists
Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1830, it is often
simply but inaccurately called the Robin Redbreast. Like many brightly
coloured robins of the Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring
12–14 cm (5–6 in) long, the Flame Robin has dark brown eyes and a
small thin black bill. The male has a brilliant orange-red chest and
throat, and a white patch on the forehead above the bill. Its upper
parts are iron-grey with white bars, and its tail black with white tips.
The female is a nondescript grey-brown. Its song has been described as
the most musical of its genus, and it employs song and plumage displays
to mark out and defend its territory. It mostly breeds in and around the
Great Dividing Range, the Tasmanian highlands and islands in Bass
Strait. With the coming of cooler autumn weather, most birds disperse to
lower and warmer areas. Classified by BirdLife International as Near
Threatened, the species has suffered a marked decline in the past
25 years.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_Robin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
English nobleman Edward Stafford, whose father had been
beheaded for rebelling against King Richard III, was himself executed
for treason against King Henry VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stafford,_3rd_Duke_of_Buckingham>
1792:
Twenty-four stock brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement to
establish the New York Stock Exchange.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange>
1863:
Rosalía de Castro published Cantares gallegos, a collection of
her poetry, the first book in the Galician language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosal%C3%ADa_de_Castro>
1954:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown v.
Board of Education, outlawing racial segregation in public schools
because "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education>
1980:
On the eve of the Peruvian general election, the Maoist
guerrilla group Shining Path attacked a polling location in the town of
Chuschi, Ayacucho, starting the internal conflict in Peru.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_conflict_in_Peru>
2009:
Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected the first female President of
Lithuania, receiving 68.18 percent of the vote.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalia_Grybauskait%C4%97>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
morpheme:
(linguistics) The smallest linguistic unit within a word that can carry
a meaning, such as "un-", "break", and "-able" in the word
"unbreakable".
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morpheme>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Music is like a mirror in front of you. You're exposing
everything, but surely that's better than suppressing. ... You have to
dig deep and that can be hard for anybody, no matter what profession. I
feel that I need to actually push myself to the limit to feel happy with
the end result.
--Enya
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enya>
Final Fantasy XI is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG), developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy
series. Designed and produced by Hiromichi Tanaka, it was released in
Japan on May 16, 2002 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and for Microsoft
Windows-based personal computers in November of that year. The game was
the first cross-platform MMORPG and the Xbox 360's first MMORPG. The
story is set in the fantasy world of Vana'diel, where player-created
avatars can both compete and cooperate in a variety of objectives to
develop an assortment of jobs, skills, and earn in-game item rewards.
Players can also undertake an array of quests and progress through the
in-game hierarchy and thus through the major plot of the game. Since its
debut in 2002, five expansion packs have also been released along with
six add-on scenarios. In 2006, between 200,000 and 300,000 active
players logged in per day, and the game was the dominant MMORPG in
Japan. Final Fantasy XI has a user base of around 500,000 subscribers,
and the total number of active characters exceeds 2 million. It is the
most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1811:
Peninsular War: An allied force of British, Spanish, and
Portuguese troops clashed with the French at the Battle of Albuera south
of Badajoz, Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Albuera>
1866:
The United States Congress authorized the minting of the
country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_nickel>
1943:
Royal Air Force Dambusters embarked on a raid to deploy
bouncing bombs on German dams in Operation Chastise during the Second
World War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise>
1960:
American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working
laser at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser>
1966:
Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution
officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeois elements
and to continue revolutionary class struggle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution>
1975:
Based on the results of a referendum held about one month
earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India,
becoming its 22nd state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hue and cry:
1. (historical) The public pursuit of a felon; accompanied by shouts to
warn others to give chase.
2. (by extension) A loud and persistent public clamour; especially one of
protest or making some demand.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hue_and_cry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Religion is a great force — the only real motive force in the
world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get at a
man through his own religion and not through yours. Instead of facing
that fact, you persist in trying to convert all men to your own little
sect, so that you can use it against them afterwards. You are all
missionaries and proselytizers trying to uproot the native religion from
your neighbor's flowerbeds and plant your own in its place. You would
rather let a child perish in ignorance than have it taught by a rival
sectary.
--George Bernard Shaw
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw>
Banksia aquilonia, commonly known as the northern banksia, is a tree in
the family Proteaceae native to north Queensland on Australia's
northeastern coastline. With an average height of 8 m (26 ft), it has
narrow glossy green leaves up to 20 cm (7.9 in) long and 6 to 10 cm
(2.4 to 3.9 in) high pale yellow flower spikes, known as inflorescences,
appearing in autumn. As the spikes age, their flowers fall off and they
develop up to 50 follicles, each of which contains 2 seeds. Alex
George described the plant in his 1981 monograph of the genus Banksia
as a variety of Banksia integrifolia, but later reclassified it as a
separate species. The species is found in wet sclerophyll forest and
rainforest margins on sandy soils. Banksia aquilonia regenerates after
bushfire by regrowing from epicormic buds under its bark, although
regeneration from root suckers has also been recorded. It adapts readily
to cultivation in humid or temperate climates, but is rarely cultivated.
A fast-growing plant, it can grow in acidic soils from pH 3.5 to 6.5.
Its inflorescences are energy-rich sources of food, and nectar is a food
item of many animals and birds, including the endangered mahogany
glider.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_aquilonia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1891:
Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Rerum Novarum, that
addressed the condition of the working classes and is considered to be
the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_Novarum>
1905:
Las Vegas (welcome sign pictured) was established as railroad
town, after 110 acres (0.45 km2) owned by the San Pedro, Los Angeles
and Salt Lake Railroad was auctioned off.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas>
1948:
The Australian cricket team, on tour in England set a first-
class world record that still stands by scoring 721 runs in a day
against Essex.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_England_in_1948>
1953:
Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub
Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the
scouts are raced.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinewood_derby>
1966:
Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky ordered an attack on the forces
of General Ton That Dinh and ousted him from the position.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ton_That_Dinh>
2010:
Upon her return to Sydney three days before her 17th birthday,
Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail non-stop and
unassisted around the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Watson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plangent:
Having a loud, mournful sound.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plangent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think the world is like a great mirror, and reflects our lives
just as we ourselves look upon it. Those who turn sad faces toward the
world find only sadness reflected. But a smile is reflected in the same
way, and cheers and brightens our hearts.
--L. Frank Baum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum>
"Gender Bender" is the fourteenth episode of the television series The
X-Files. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David
Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to
the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, they investigate a
series of murders following sexual encounters, and soon discover that a
member of a religious sect living in Massachusetts may be
responsible—and may not be human. Premiering on the Fox network on
January 21, 1994, it was directed by Rob Bowman and featured guest
appearances by Brent Hinkley and Nicholas Lea. The episode was inspired
by producer Glen Morgan's desire for "an episode with more of a sexy
edge"; however, the writers found it difficult to write a story that
showed sex as scary. This difficulty led to the introduction of an
Amish-like community as well. "Gender Bender" had mixed critical
responses, facing criticism for its abrupt deus ex machina ending.
Academic analysis of the episode has placed it within a science-fiction
tradition that attributes a powerful, supernatural element to physical
contact with aliens. It has also been seen as reflecting anxieties about
emerging gender roles in the 1990s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Bender_(The_X-Files)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
English physician Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a
vaccine for protection against smallpox.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner>
1804:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition led by explorers Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark left Camp Dubois near present-day Hartford,
Illinois, and began the first American overland expedition to the
Pacific coast and back.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition>
1868:
Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the
Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Utsunomiya_Castle>
1925:
Mrs Dalloway, one the best-known novels of English modernist
author Virginia Woolf, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway>
1943:
Second World War: The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was
attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland,
killing 268 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur>
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sumptuous:
Magnificent, splendid, extremely good.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sumptuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The great wheel of Fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes
us all in turn, some soon, some late.
--H. Rider Haggard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard>
The State Trunkline Highway System in Michigan consists of all the state
highways, including those designated as Interstate, United States, or
State Trunkline highways. Maintained by the Michigan Department of
Transportation, the system comprises 9,716 miles (15,636 km) of
trunklines in all 83 counties of the state. Its components range in
scale from 10-lane urban freeways to two-lane rural undivided highways
to a non-motorized highway on Mackinac Island, where cars are forbidden.
The longest highway is nearly 400 miles (640 km) long, while the
shortest is about three-quarters of a mile (about 1.2 km). A
constitutional prohibition on state involvement in roads was removed in
the early 20th century and on May 13, 1913, the State Reward Trunk Line
Highways Act was passed, creating the system. Highway numbers were first
posted on signs in 1919, making Michigan the second state to do so.
Michigan's first freeways were built during the 1940s. Construction on
Michigan's Interstates started in the late 1950s and continued until
1992. Few additional freeways have been built since 1992, and in the
early years of the 21st century, projects are underway to bypass cities
with new highways.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_Trunkline_Highway_System>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
Princess Isabel of the Empire of Brazil signed the Lei Áurea
into law, formally abolishing slavery in Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Brazil>
1909:
The first Giro d'Italia long distance road bicycle racing stage
race began in Italy, with Italian professional road racing cyclist Luigi
Ganna becoming the eventual winner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_d%27Italia>
1917:
Ten-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Francisco and
Jacinta Marto reportedly began experiencing a Marian apparition near
Fátima, Portugal, now known as Our Lady of Fátima.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima>
1958:
Australian Ben Carlin became the only person to circumnavigate
the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000
kilometres (50,000 mi) by land and sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carlin>
1992:
Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in a public lecture in
Changchun, Jilin province, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi>
2005:
Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops
fired into a crowd of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, killing
anywhere from 187, the official count of the government, to a reported
5,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andijan_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mama bear:
(slang) A woman, especially a mother, who is extremely protective of a
child or children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mama_bear>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Things pass, but the essence remains. You sit, therefore, in the
midst of a dream. Essence dreams it a dream of form. Forms pass, but the
essence remains, dreaming new dreams. Man names these dreams and thinks
to have captured the essence, not knowing that he invokes the unreal.
These stones, these walls, these bodies you see seated about you are
poppies and water and the sun. They are the dreams of the Nameless. in
--Lord of Light
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light>
Lady Grange (1679–1745) was the wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange, a
Scottish lawyer with Jacobite sympathies. After 25 years of marriage
and nine children, the Granges separated acrimoniously. When Lady Grange
produced letters that she claimed were evidence of his treasonable
plottings against the Hanoverian government in London, her husband had
her kidnapped from her home in Edinburgh on the night of 22 January
1732. She was incarcerated in various remote locations on the western
seaboard of Scotland, including the Monach Isles, Skye and the distant
islands of St Kilda. Lady Grange's father was convicted of murder when
she was about 10 years old and she is known to have had a violent
temper; initially her absence seems to have caused little comment. No
action was ever taken on her behalf by any of her children, the eldest
of whom would have been in their early twenties when she was abducted.
News of her plight eventually reached Edinburgh however, and an
unsuccessful rescue attempt was undertaken by her lawyer, Thomas Hope of
Rankeillor. She died in captivity, after being effectively imprisoned
for 13 years. Her life has been remembered in poetry, prose and a play.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Chiesley,_Lady_Grange>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1551:
The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in
the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_San_Marcos>
1846:
Led by George Donner, the American pioneer group known as the
Donner Party, which would become known for resorting to cannibalism when
they became trapped in the Sierra Nevadas, left Independence, Missouri,
for California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party>
1941:
German engineer Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 (replica
pictured), the world's first working programmable, fully automatic
computer, to an audience of scientists in Berlin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)>
1955:
The Allied occupation of Austria came to an end, with the
nation regaining its independence ten years after the end of World
War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied-occupied_Austria>
1975:
The Cambodian navy seized the American container ship SS
Mayaguez in recognized international waters, but claimed as territorial
waters by Cambodia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaguez_incident>
2008:
An earthquake measuring about 8.0 Ms struck the Sichuan
province of China, killing at least 69,000 people, injuring at least
374,000, and leaving at least 4.8 million others homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
deskfast:
Breakfast eaten at work, particularly while sitting at a desk.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deskfast>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance
is the hastiest kind of oblivion.
--Philip Wylie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Wylie>