Hedley Verity (1905–43) was a professional cricketer who played for
Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. He was named as one of the
Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1932 and is regarded by critics as one
of the most effective slow left-arm bowlers to have played cricket. In
1932, he took all 10 wickets in an innings against Nottinghamshire
while conceding just 10 runs. These bowling figures remain, as of 2013,
a record in first-class cricket for the fewest runs conceded while
taking all 10 wickets. Verity was never lower than fifth in the
national bowling averages and took over 150 wickets in every year
except his first, assisting Yorkshire to the County Championship seven
times in his ten seasons with the club. He played regularly for England
and achieved the best performance of his career when he took 15 wickets
against Australia in a Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground in 1934. The
outbreak of the Second World War ended his career and he joined the
Green Howards in 1939, achieving the rank of captain. During the Allied
invasion of Sicily in 1943, Verity was severely wounded and captured by
the Germans. Taken to Italy, he died in Caserta from his injuries and
was buried there.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedley_Verity>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1703:
English writer Daniel Defoe was placed in a pillory for
seditious libel after publishing a pamphlet politically satirising the
High Church Tories.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe>
1917:
First World War: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres
in West Flanders, Belgium, with the Allied Powers aiming to force German
troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele>
1941:
The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann
Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to handle "the final
solution of the Jewish question".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution>
1975:
The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members
of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were
killed in County Down, Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Showband_killings>
1991:
Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven
Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of
their campaign against Lithuanian border posts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_OMON_assaults_on_Lithuanian_border_pos…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
coppice:
A grove of small growth; a thicket of brushwood; a wood cut at certain
times for fuel or other purposes, typically managed to promote growth
and ensure a reliable supply of timber.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coppice>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor
what he can do for his country. He will ask rather "What can I and my
compatriots do through government" to help us discharge our individual
responsibilities, to achieve our several goals and purposes, and above
all, to protect our freedom? And he will accompany this question with
another: How can we keep the government we create from becoming a
Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to
protect? Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us, and
history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration
of power. Government is necessary to preserve our freedom, it is an
instrument through which we can exercise our freedom; yet by
concentrating power in political hands, it is also a threat to freedom.
Even though the men who wield this power initially be of good will and
even though they be not corrupted by the power they exercise, the power
will both attract and form men of a different stamp.
--Milton Friedman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman>
Postman's Park is a 0.67-acre (2,700 m2) park in the City of London,
adjacent to the site of the former head office of the General Post
Office and a short distance north of St Paul's Cathedral. Opened in 1880
on the site of the former churchyard and burial ground of St Botolph's
Aldersgate church, it expanded over the next 20 years to incorporate
some adjacent burial grounds and nearby land previously occupied by
housing. A shortage of space for burials in London meant that corpses
were often laid above existing graves and covered over with soil instead
of being buried, and thus Postman's Park, as an interment site for over
800 years, is significantly elevated above the streets which surround
it. Since 1900 it has been the location of the Memorial to Heroic Self
Sacrifice, a monument erected by George Frederic Watts to ordinary
people who died saving the lives of others, and who might otherwise have
been forgotten. In 1972, key elements of the park, including the
Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice, were grade II listed to preserve
their character. Following the 2004 film Closer, Postman's Park
experienced a resurgence of interest, as key scenes were filmed in the
park.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postman%27s_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
762:
Al-Mansur, the Caliph of Islam, founded the city of Baghdad to
be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Baghdad>
1865:
Off the coast of Crescent City, California, US, the steamship
Brother Jonathan (pictured), carrying a large shipment of gold coins
that would not be retrieved until 1996, struck an uncharted rock and
sank, killing 225 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_(steamer)>
1916:
German agents caused a major explosion when they sabotaged
American ammunition supplies to prevent the materiel from being used by
the Allies of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion>
1930:
Uruguay defeated Argentina, 4–2, in front of their home crowd
at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo to win the first Football World Cup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_FIFA_World_Cup>
2012:
The largest power outage in history occurred across 22 Indian
states, affecting over 620 million people, or about 9% of the world's
population.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_India_blackouts>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chiropterologist:
Someone who studies bats (the flying mammal).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiropterologist>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Vain are the thousand creeds That move men's hearts: unutterably
vain; Worthless as withered weeds, Or idle froth amid the boundless
main, To waken doubt in one Holding so fast by Thine infinity; So surely
anchored on The stedfast rock of immortality.
--Emily Brontë
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB>
The Barber coinage consisted of a dime, quarter, and half dollar
designed by United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E.
Barber. They were minted between 1892 and 1916, though no half dollars
were struck in the final year of the series. By the late 1880s, there
were increasing calls for the replacement of the Seated Liberty design,
used since the 1830s on most denominations of silver coins. In 1891,
Mint Director Edward O. Leech instructed Barber to prepare new designs
for the dime, quarter, and half dollar, after a public competition
failed to produce suitable entries. Barber's designs were approved by
President Benjamin Harrison that November. Striking of the new coins
began the following January. Public and artistic opinion of the new
pieces was, and remains, mixed. In 1915, Mint officials began plans to
replace them when the design's minimum term expired the following year.
Before the end of 1916, the Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and
Walking Liberty half dollar had begun production. Most dates in the
Barber coin series are not difficult to obtain, but the 1894 dime struck
at the San Francisco Mint (1894-S), with a mintage of 24, is a great
rarity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_coinage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1148:
The Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive crusader defeat,
leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Damascus_(1148)>
1858:
Japan reluctantly signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, an
unequal treaty giving the United States various commercial and
diplomatic privileges.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_(United_States%E…>
1899:
The first Hague Convention, among the first formal statements
of the laws of war and war crimes in international law, was signed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conventions_of_1899_and_1907>
1958:
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National
Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing a new federal non-
military space agency known as NASA (logo pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA>
1987:
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President
J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in an ultimately
unsuccessful attempt to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Sri_Lanka_Accord>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shipwrecky:
1. Characteristic of a shipwreck.
2. (figuratively) Weak, feeble; shaky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shipwrecky>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A task becomes a duty from the moment you suspect it to be an
essential part of that integrity which alone entitles a man to assume
responsibility.
--Dag Hammarskjöld
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskj%C3%B6ld>
Harold Davidson (1875–1937), rector of the Norfolk parish of Stiffkey
(church pictured), was a Church of England priest who was convicted in
1932 on charges of immorality and defrocked by the Church. Ordained in
1903, he worked among London's poor and homeless. Styling himself the
"Prostitutes' Padre", his declared mission was to rescue young girls he
considered in danger of falling into prostitution. In this role he
approached and befriended hundreds of women, and although there was
little evidence of improper behaviour, he was often found in
compromising situations and his neglect of his parish and family caused
difficulties. A formal complaint led to church disciplinary proceedings,
in which his defence was damaged beyond repair by a photograph of him
with a near-naked teenage girl. Davidson then pursued a career as a
showman to raise funds for his reinstatement campaign, performing
novelty acts such as exhibiting himself in a barrel on the Blackpool
seafront. He died after being attacked by a lion in whose cage he was
appearing. Later commentators have accepted that however inappropriate
his behaviour, his motives were genuine and he did not deserve the
humiliations he endured.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Davidson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1540:
King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas
Cromwell executed for treason and heresy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cromwell>
1794:
French Revolution: Maximilien de Robespierre and Louis Antoine
de Saint-Just (pictured left and right respectively), architects of the
Reign of Terror, were executed after having been arrested the previous
day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Antoine_de_Saint-Just>
1932:
U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the eviction of the
"Bonus Army"—a group of veterans who were occupying government
property to demand immediate payment for money owed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army>
1995:
Two followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh were convicted for the
attempted assassination of the United States Attorney for the District
of Oregon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Rajneeshee_assassination_plot>
2005:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its
armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland to create a
United Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doula:
A support person, usually female, who may not have medical or midwifery
training, who provides emotional assistance to a mother or pregnant
couple before, during or after childbirth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doula>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One man can make a difference and every man should try.
--Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis>
The War of the Bavarian Succession (July 1778 – May 1779) was fought
between the Habsburg Monarchy and a Saxon–Prussian alliance to prevent
the Habsburg acquisition of the Duchy of Bavaria. There were only a few
minor skirmishes, but several thousand soldiers died from disease and
starvation. It began after Maximilian Joseph (pictured) died, leaving no
children. Charles IV Theodore, his heir, also had no children to
succeed him; Charles II August, had a claim as Charles Theodore's heir
presumptive. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II wanted Bavaria, to expand his
family's influence. For Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph's claim
threatened the Hohenzollern ascendancy in German politics, but he saw no
point in pursuing hostilities. Frederick Augustus I of Saxony wanted to
preserve the territorial integrity of the Duchy for his brother-in-law,
Charles August, and had no interest in seeing the Habsburgs acquire
additional territory on his borders. France became involved to maintain
the balance of power. Finally, Catherine II of Russia's threat to
intervene on the side of Prussia with 50,000 Russian troops forced
Joseph to reconsider his position, leading to the Treaty of Teschen in
May 1779.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Bavarian_Succession>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1054:
Siward, Earl of Northumbria, led an invasion of Scotland and
defeated Macbeth, King of Scotland, in a battle north of the Firth of
Forth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siward,_Earl_of_Northumbria>
1694:
A Royal Charter was granted to the Bank of England as the
English Government's banker.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England>
1789:
The U.S. State Department, then known as the Department of
Foreign Affairs, became the first federal agency created under the U.S.
Constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State>
1916:
British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed at Bruges, Belgium,
after a court-martial found him to be a franc-tireur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fryatt>
1953:
An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War,
officially making the Division of Korea indefinite by creating an
approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide demilitarized zone across the Korean
Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
portend:
1. (transitive) To serve as a warning or omen.
2. (transitive) To signify; to denote.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/portend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The thing about dancers is they're a certain breed. You don't do
it to become rich and famous, you don't do it to have a really long
career or to be the star, you do it because you can't imagine your life
not doing it.
--Cat Deeley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat_Deeley>
F-Zero GX is a futuristic racing video game for the Nintendo GameCube
console. The first video game collaboration between Nintendo and Sega,
it was released in Japan, North America and Europe in 2003. F-Zero AX
(pictured), the arcade counterpart of GX, uses hardware conceived from a
business alliance between Nintendo, Namco and Sega. F-Zero GX runs on an
enhanced version of the engine used in Super Monkey Ball. The game
continues the difficult, high-speed racing style of the F-Zero series,
retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64
game. A heavy emphasis is placed on track memorization and reflexes,
which aids in completing the game. GX introduces a "story mode" element,
where the player assumes the role of F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon through
nine chapters while completing various missions. The game received
critical acclaim as one of the best racers of its time and the greatest
racer on the GameCube platform. Overall, the game was well received by
critics for its visuals, intense action, high sense of speed and track
design. Complaints centered on its sharp increase in difficulty that may
alienate players.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Zero_GX>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
306:
Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops
after the death of Constantius Chlorus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great>
1893:
The Corinth Canal was formally opened, connecting the Gulf of
Corinth with the Saronic Gulf through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in
the Aegean Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal>
1943:
The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence
against Benito Mussolini (pictured), who was arrested the same day by
King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_Luglio>
1978:
Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed by
police at Cerro Maravilla in Villalba.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Maravilla_murders>
1993:
Israeli forces launched a week-long attack against Lebanon to
make it difficult for Hezbollah to use southern Lebanon as a base for
striking Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Accountability>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eviscerate:
1. (transitive) To disembowel, to remove the viscera.
2. (transitive) To destroy or make ineffectual or meaningless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eviscerate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain
relatively harmless. One would rather see the world run by men who set
their hearts on toys but are accessible to pity, than by men animated by
lofty ideals whose dedication makes them ruthless. In the chemistry of
man's soul, almost all noble attributes — courage, honor, hope, faith,
duty, loyalty, etc. — can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion
alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil
proceeding within us.
--Eric Hoffer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer>
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Five argued about music in Russia in
the 19th century. The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful, were
composers Mily Balakirev, Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest
Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who wanted to produce a
specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated
older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training.
Tchaikovsky wanted to write professional compositions of a quality that
would stand up to Western scrutiny and thus transcend national barriers,
yet remain distinctively Russian in melody, rhythm and other
compositional characteristics. The Five also believed in using the
melodic, harmonic, tonal and rhythmic properties of Russian folk song,
along with exotic melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements from music
originating in the middle- and far-eastern parts of the Russian Empire
(a practice that would become known as musical orientalism), as
compositional devices in their own works. Tchaikovsky remained friendly
but never intimate with most of The Five, ambivalent about their music.
He took pains to ensure his musical independence from them as well as
from the conservative faction at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky_and_The_Five>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1411:
Forces of Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, and Alexander
Stewart, Earl of Mar, fought at the Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie,
Scotland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harlaw>
1783:
The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and the Russian Empire signed the
Treaty of Georgievsk, establishing Georgia as a protectorate of Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Georgievsk>
1943:
Second World War: RAF Bomber Command began Operation Gomorrah,
the strategic bombing of Hamburg, Germany, eventually killing at least
50,000 and leaving over a million others homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War_II>
1963:
Bluenose II, a replica of a major Canadian symbol, was launched
in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluenose_II>
1991:
The government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and his finance minister
Manmohan Singh introduced reforms that began the ongoing economic
liberalisation in India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_liberalisation_in_India>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sagacity:
The quality of being sage, wise, or able to make good decisions; wisdom.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sagacity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to
another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out
roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The
greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind
themselves.
--Amelia Earhart
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart>
Paul Kagame (born 1957) has been President of Rwanda since 2000. Born to
a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda, he grew up in Uganda after the
Rwandan Revolution ended centuries of Tutsi political dominance. He
joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which invaded Rwanda in 1990,
taking control after the death of Fred Rwigyema. By 1993, the RPF
controlled significant territory in Rwanda and a ceasefire was
negotiated. The assassination of Rwandan President Habyarimana in 1994
was the starting point of the Rwandan Genocide, in which Hutu extremists
killed an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu.
Kagame resumed the civil war, and ended the genocide with a military
victory. During his vice presidency, Kagame controlled the national army
and maintained law and order. Many RPF soldiers carried out retribution
killings; it is disputed whether Kagame organised these or was merely
powerless to stop them. As president, Kagame has prioritised national
development, and the country is developing strongly on key indicators
including health care and education. He is popular in Rwanda and with
some foreign observers; however, human rights groups accuse him of
political repression.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kagame>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
William Austin Burt was awarded a patent for the typographer,
the first practical typewriting machine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typographer_(typewriter)>
1940:
US Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issued a declaration
that the US would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the
Baltic states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welles_Declaration>
1970:
Qaboos overthrew his father Said bin Taimur to become Sultan of
Oman.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qaboos_bin_Said_al_Said>
1983:
Air Canada Flight 143 made an emergency landing in Gimli,
Manitoba, Canada, without loss of life after the crew was forced to
glide the aircraft when it completely ran out of fuel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider>
2001:
Megawati Sukarnoputri became the first female president of
Indonesia after the People's Consultative Assembly removed Abdurrahman
Wahid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawati_Sukarnoputri>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
levity:
1. Lightness of manner or speech, frivolity.
2. The state or quality of being light, buoyancy.
3. (countable) A lighthearted or frivolous act.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The dilemma of the critic has always been that if he knows enough
to speak with authority, he knows too much to speak with detachment.
--Raymond Chandler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler>
Albertus Soegijapranata (1896–1963) was a Javanese cleric who became
the first native Indonesian bishop upon being created as Archbishop of
Semarang in 1940. Born to a Muslim family in Surakarta, Dutch East
Indies, in 1910 he converted to Catholicism and was ordained in 1931.
First serving as a pastor in Yogyakarta, Soegijapranata was consecrated
as the vicar apostolic of the newly established Apostolic Vicariate of
Semarang in 1940, moving to the city to take the position. During the
Japanese occupation, Soegijapranata resisted attempts to seize Church
property, including his vicariate's cathedral, and protected the area's
Catholics. During the ensuing national revolution (1945–49) he
promoted a nationalist cause, moving his seat to Yogyakarta to support
the new government and working to promote international recognition of
Indonesia's independence. During the post-revolution years he wrote
extensively against communism and worked towards a self-determined
Indonesian Roman Catholic hierarchy. He was made an archbishop in 1961,
dying two years later in the Netherlands. Soegijapranata is now
considered a National Hero of Indonesia and in 2011 a biopic on him was
released.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Soegijapranata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1209:
The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade took
place as a crusader army captured Béziers in southern France and
slaughtered the inhabitants.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers>
1894:
Despite finishing in first place in the world's first auto
race, Jules-Albert de Dion did not win, as his steam-powered car was
against the rules.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules-Albert_de_Dion>
1933:
Wiley Post became the first pilot to fly solo around the world,
landing after a seven-day, nineteen-hour flight at Floyd Bennett Field
in Brooklyn, New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post>
1993:
During the Great Flood of 1993 (flooding pictured), levees near
Kaskaskia, Illinois, US, ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate
by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1993>
2002:
Following a trial that captivated Brazil, a court in São Paulo
sentenced Suzane von Richthofen to 39½ years in prison for the murders
of her parents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzane_von_Richthofen>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
roundelay:
(music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular
intervals.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundelay>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He was talking about the things that make a country a country,
and a man a man. And he began with the simple things that everybody's
known and felt — the freshness of a fine morning when you're young,
and the taste of food when you're hungry, and the new day that's every
day when you're a child. He took them up and he turned them in his
hands. They were good things for any man. But without freedom, they
sickened.
--Stephen Vincent Benét
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Vincent_Ben%C3%A9t>
The Battle of Taejon (14–21 July 1950) was an early battle between
United States and North Korean forces during the Korean War. U.S. Army
forces, attempting to defend the headquarters of the 24th Infantry
Division, were overwhelmed by numerically superior forces of the Korean
People's Army (KPA) at the major city and transportation hub of Taejon.
The Americans were already exhausted after two weeks of attempting to
stem the KPA's advance. The entire 24th Division gathered to make a
final stand around Taejon, holding a line along the Kum River to the
east of the city. The American forces, outnumbered, ill-equipped and
untrained, were pushed back from the river bank after several days,
before fighting an intense urban battle to defend the city. After a
fierce three-day struggle, they withdrew. Although they could not hold
the city, the 24th Infantry Division achieved a strategic victory by
delaying the North Koreans, providing time for other American divisions
to establish a defensive perimeter around Pusan further south. The KPA
captured Major General William F. Dean, the commander of the
24th Infantry Division, and the highest-ranking American prisoner
during the Korean War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taejon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
365:
A large earthquake that occurred near Crete and its subsequent
tsunami caused widespread destruction throughout the eastern
Mediterranean region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/365_Crete_earthquake>
1645:
Qing Dynasty regent Dorgon issued an edict ordering all Han
Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair
into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queue_(hairstyle)>
1865:
In one of the few recorded instances of a "quick draw" gun duel
in the American Old West, Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt
over a poker debt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok_%E2%80%93_Davis_Tutt_shootout>
1973:
Mossad agents mistakenly assassinated a Moroccan waiter in
Lillehammer, Norway, whom they believed had been involved in the 1972
Munich Olympics massacre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillehammer_affair>
1977:
Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day
war with Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan%E2%80%93Egyptian_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mither:
1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make an unnecessary fuss, moan,
bother.
2. (transitive) To pester or irritate someone. Usually directed at
children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mither>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember
that.
--Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone>