Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting, is a
flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to Australia. It
grows as a woody or herbaceous perennial or annual shrub up to a metre
(3 ft) tall with green or grey leafy foliage. Golden yellow or white
flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive
feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals. The species is
widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country, from
rainforest margins to deserts and subalpine areas. The golden
everlasting serves as food for various larvae of lepidopterans
(butterflies and moths), and adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees,
small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads. The golden
everlasting has proven very adaptable to cultivation. It was propagated
and developed in Germany in the 1850s, and annual cultivars in a host of
colour forms from white to bronze to purple flowers became available.
Many of these are still sold in mixed seed packs. In Australia, many
cultivars are perennial shrubs, which have become popular garden plants.
Sturdier, long-stemmed forms are used commercially in the cut flower
industry.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerochrysum_bracteatum>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
630:
Muslims led by Muhammad conquered Mecca from the Quraysh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_Mecca>
1789:
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (The Old Well
pictured), one of the oldest public universities in the United States
and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, received its
charter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill>
1905:
In support of the December Uprising in Moscow, the Council of
Workers' Deputies of Kiev stage a mass uprising, establishing the
Shuliavka Republic in the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuliavka_Republic>
1962:
Convicted murderers Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the
last two persons to be executed in Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Canada>
2006:
The first action in the Mexican Drug War took place as
President Felipe Calderón ordered Mexican military and Federal Police
units into the state of Michoacán.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Drug_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stigmatize:
(transitive) To characterize as disgraceful or ignominious; to mark with
a stigma or stigmata.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stigmatize>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of course God is endlessly multi-dimensional so every religion
that exists on earth represents some face, some side of God. One must
not have any negative attitude to any religion but nonetheless the depth
of understanding God and the depth of applying God's commandments is
different in different religions.
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn>
Slow lorises are a group of several species of strepsirrhine primates.
Found in South and Southeast Asia, they range from Bangladesh and
Northeast India in the west to the Philippines in the east, and from the
Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the
south. Although many previous classifications recognized one all-
inclusive species, there are now at least eight that are considered
valid (including the Sunda slow loris, pictured). Slow lorises have a
round head, narrow snout, large eyes, and a variety of distinctive
coloration patterns. Their arms and legs are nearly equal in length, and
their long trunk allows them to twist and extend to nearby branches. The
hands and feet of slow lorises have a pincer-like grip, enabling them to
grasp branches for long periods. Slow lorises have a toxic bite, a trait
rare among mammals. They are omnivores, eating small animals, fruit,
tree gum, and other vegetation. Many of the slow loris species are
listed as either "Vulnerable" or "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List.
Their habitat is rapidly disappearing, but the greatest causes of their
decline are the exotic pet trade and traditional medicine.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_loris>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1684:
Edmond Halley presented the paper De motu corporum in gyrum,
containing Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of
gravity, to the Royal Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_motu_corporum_in_gyrum>
1861:
Forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực, an anti-colonial guerrilla
leader in southern Vietnam, sank the French lorcha L'Esperance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Trung_Tr%E1%BB%B1c>
1896:
Alfred Jarry's play Ubu Roi made its only performance in Paris
at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, infamously causing a riotous response in
the audience.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubu_Roi>
1936:
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, still desiring to marry
American socialite Wallis Simpson against widespread opposition,
abdicated the throne, the only British monarch to have voluntarily done
so since the Anglo-Saxon period.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_abdication_crisis>
1989:
At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia,
journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the
Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending
Communist rule four months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsakhiagiin_Elbegdorj>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
canary in a coal mine:
(idiomatic) Something whose sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it a
useful early indicator of such conditions; something which warns of the
coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or
welfare.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/canary_in_a_coal_mine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A genuine work of art must mean many things; the
truer its art, the more things it will mean. If my drawing, on the other
hand, is so far from being a work of art that it needs THIS IS A HORSE
written under it, what can it matter that neither you nor your child
should know what it means? It is there not so much to convey a meaning
as to wake a meaning. If it do not even wake an interest, throw it
aside. A meaning may be there, but it is not for you. If, again, you do
not know a horse when you see it, the name written under it will not
serve you much.
--George MacDonald
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_MacDonald>
Endometrial cancer is cancer that arises from the endometrium (the
lining of the uterus or womb). The first sign is most often vaginal
bleeding not associated with a woman's period. Other symptoms include
pain with urination or sexual intercourse, or pelvic pain. Endometrial
cancer occurs most commonly after menopause, and is associated with high
blood pressure and diabetes. Approximately 40% of cases are related to
obesity, and 2–5% of cases have a genetic link. The most frequent type
of endometrial cancer, more than 80% of cases, is endometrioid carcinoma
(example pictured). Endometrial cancer is commonly diagnosed by
endometrial biopsy or by taking samples during a procedure known as
dilation and curettage; a pap smear is not typically sufficient. In
2012, endometrial cancers occurred in 320,000 women and caused
76,000 deaths, making it the third most common cause of death from
female cancers, behind ovarian and cervical cancer. If the disease is
caught at an early stage, the outcome is favorable, and the overall
five-year survival rate in the United States is greater than 80%.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometrial_cancer>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
P. B. S. Pinchback took office as Governor of Louisiana, the
first African American governor of a U.S. state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._B._S._Pinchback>
1917:
First World War: Hussein al-Husayni, the Ottoman mayor of
Jerusalem, surrendered the city to the British.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jerusalem_(1917)>
1931:
The approval of the Spanish Constitution by the Constituent
Cortes paved the way to the establishment of the Second Spanish
Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Constitution_of_1931>
1958:
The John Birch Society, named after John Birch, an American
missionary who was killed in China by communists, was founded to fight
the perceived threat of communism in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society>
1979:
A World Health Organization commission of scientists certified
the global eradication of smallpox, making it the only human infectious
disease to date to have been completely eradicated from nature.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pass muster:
1. (idiomatic) To meet or exceed a particular standard.
2. (idiomatic) To adequately pass a formal or informal inspection.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pass_muster>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The history of human thought recalls the swinging of a pendulum
which takes centuries to swing. After a long period of slumber comes a
moment of awakening. Then thought frees herself from the chains with
which those interested — rulers, lawyers, clerics — have carefully
enwound her. She shatters the chains. She subjects to severe criticism
all that has been taught her, and lays bare the emptiness of the
religious political, legal, and social prejudices amid which she has
vegetated. She starts research in new paths, enriches our knowledge with
new discoveries, creates new sciences.
--Peter Kropotkin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin>
SMS Scharnhorst was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy and
the lead ship of her class. Named after the Prussian reformer General
Gerhard von Scharnhorst, the ship entered service on 24 October 1907.
After brief service with the High Seas Fleet in Germany in 1908, she was
assigned to the German East Asia Squadron based in Tsingtao, China in
1909, becoming the squadron flagship. Over the next five years, she went
on several tours of Asian ports and was present in Japan for the
coronation of the Taishō Emperor in 1912. After the outbreak of World
War I, Scharnhorst and her sister ship SMS Gneisenau, accompanied by
three light cruisers and several colliers, sailed across the Pacific
Ocean—in the process evading the various Allied naval forces sent to
intercept them—before arriving off the southern coast of South
America. On 1 November 1914, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia
Squadron encountered and overpowered a British squadron at the Battle of
Coronel. The stinging defeat prompted the British Admiralty to dispatch
two battlecruisers to hunt down and destroy Scharnhorst 's
flotilla, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falkland Islands
on 8 December 1914.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Scharnhorst>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1432:
The first battle of the Lithuanian Civil War between the forces
of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis was fought near the modern
town of Ashmyany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Civil_War_(1431%E2%80%9335)>
1854:
In his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX
proclaimed the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, which
holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception>
1941:
Second World War: Led by Takashi Sakai, the Imperial Japanese
Army invaded Hong Kong and quickly achieved air superiority by bombing
Kai Tak Airport.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hong_Kong>
1980:
Former Beatle John Lennon (pictured with Yoko Ono) was shot and
killed in the entrance of the Dakota apartments in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_John_Lennon>
1998:
The Australian Cricket Board's cover-up of Shane Warne and Mark
Waugh's involvement with bookmakers was revealed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_bookmaker_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
menorah:
(Judaism) A candelabrum with nine branches used in Jewish worship on
Hanukkah.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/menorah>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No one saves us but ourselves, No one can and no one may. We
ourselves must walk the path Buddhas merely teach the way. By ourselves
is evil done, By ourselves we pain endure, By ourselves we cease from
wrong, By ourselves become we pure. as translated by
--Paul Carus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Carus>
Ford Island is an islet in the center of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, in the U.S.
state of Hawaii. Its original area of 334 acres (135 ha) was increased
during the 1930s to 441 acres (178 ha) with fill dirt after the U.S.
Navy dredged Pearl Harbor to make it safe for battleships. The island
was the site of an ancient Hawaiian fertility ritual, which was stopped
by Christian missionaries during the 1830s. It was given by
Kamehameha I to Spanish deserter Francisco de Paula Marín, and was
later owned by Seth Porter Ford. In 1916 the U.S. Army bought part of it
for use by an aviation division, and by 1939 it was taken over by the
U.S. Navy, for whom it was a strategic center of operations in the
Pacific Ocean. Ford Island was at the center of the attacks on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941, and was designated a National Historic
Landmark in 1964. By the late 1990s hundreds of millions of dollars had
been invested in real-estate development and infrastructure. Ford Island
is home to the USS Arizona memorial, the USS Missouri museum, the
Pacific Warfighting Center, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The
island has been featured in films such as Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl
Harbor.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Island>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
43 BC:
Cicero, widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and
prose stylists, was killed after having been proscribed as an enemy of
the state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero>
1815:
Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad
near Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg for supporting Napoleon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney>
1972:
The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the photograph "The
Blue Marble" (pictured), the first clear image of an illuminated face of
Earth, on their way to the Moon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble>
1999:
The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit
against the peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster, alleging the
service facilitated widespread copyright infringement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster>
2007:
A crane barge that had broken free from a tugboat crashed into
an oil tanker near Daesan, South Korea, causing the country's worst-ever
oil spill.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_South_Korea_oil_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blunderbuss:
An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a
distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle,
therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, stones, shot, etc.
at short range: Timothy was excited to find a toy blunderbuss waiting
under the Christmas tree.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blunderbuss>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As soon as one identifies, challenges and overcomes
illegitimate power, he or she is an anarchist. Most people are
anarchists. What they call themselves doesn’t matter to me. … This
world is full of suffering, distress, violence and catastrophes.
Students must decide: does something concern you or not? I say: look
around, analyze the problems, ask yourself what you can do and set out
on the work!
--Noam Chomsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky>
The 2008 ACC Championship Game was a college football game between the
Virginia Tech Hokies and the Boston College Eagles to determine the
winners of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football championship.
Virginia Tech (representing the Coastal Division) defeated Boston
College (representing the Atlantic Division) by 30 to 12. The game was
held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on December 6, 2008,
and was also the final regular-season contest of the 2008 college
football season in the ACC. Neither team clinched a spot in the game
until the final week before the championship, and both had to rely on
conference tie-breaking rules to earn a spot. Virginia Tech took the
lead in the first quarter with a five-yard touchdown run by Tech
quarterback Tyrod Taylor (pictured in the quarterback position on the
right). Tech extended its lead in the second quarter, but Boston College
managed to narrow Tech's lead by halftime. In the second half, Virginia
Tech scored over twice as many points as the Eagles. Taylor was named
the game's most valuable player. The game was a rematch of the previous
year's contest, which Virginia Tech also won.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_ACC_Championship_Game>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1060:
Béla I the Champion (bust pictured) was crowned king of
Hungary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_I_of_Hungary>
1865:
Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Con…>
1907:
At least 362 miners were killed when an explosion destroyed a
mine in Monongah, West Virginia, leading to the establishment of the
United States Bureau of Mines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongah_Mining_disaster>
1956:
At the Melbourne Olympics, 14-year-old swimmer Sandra Morgan
became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Morgan>
1989:
Claiming that he was "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc
Lépine killed fourteen women before committing suicide at École
Polytechnique in Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nicholine:
Created by, in the style of, or pertaining to (any of several people
named) Nicholas.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nicholine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there is one thing which a comparative study of
religions places in the clearest light, it is the inevitable decay to
which every religion is exposed. It may seem almost like a truism, that
no religion can continue to be what it was during the lifetime of its
founder and its first apostles.
--Max Müller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller>
"Irreplaceable" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé
(pictured) for her second studio album, B'Day (2006). The lyrics, about
the breakdown of a relationship with an unfaithful man, have a message
about empowerment. "Irreplaceable" was originally a country record; it
was re-arranged as a mid-tempo ballad with pop and R&B; influences by
modifying the vocal arrangements and instrumentation. It was the third
single from the album in the United States and the second single
elsewhere. It was well received by contemporary music critics, who cited
its distinctive production compared with most songs featured on the
album, and complimented its hook, "To the left, to the left". The song
won Best R&B;/Soul Single at the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards and was
nominated for the Record of the Year award at the 50th Grammy Awards.
Beyoncé's fourth number-one in the US, the single remained at the top
of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for ten consecutive weeks and was the
best-selling US single of 2007. The single's award-winning music video
was directed by Anthony Mandler and served as the debut performance of
Beyoncé's all-female band, Suga Mama.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreplaceable>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1484:
Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes
affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit
authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summis_desiderantes_affectibus>
1876:
Fire engulfed the Brooklyn Theater (damage pictured) in
Brooklyn, New York, killing at least 278 people, mostly due to smoke
inhalation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Theater_Fire>
1916:
British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith resigned due to his lack
of vigour over the conduct of the Great War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Asquith>
1939:
The remains of Pedro II of Brazil, who was ousted and exiled
in a republican coup, were buried after being repatriated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1974:
The Birmingham Americans won the only World Bowl in World
Football League history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Americans>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
archeress:
A female archer, a woman who shoots an arrow from a bow: Elizabeth
deigned to show her skill as an archeress, to the detriment of the
dappled deer in the wide park beyond (John Berwick Harwood).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/archeress>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my
opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually it implies some risk
— especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to
keep it going, pioneering an adventurous spirit to blaze new ways,
often, in our land of opportunity.
--Walt Disney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney>
Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von
Stroheim and based on Frank Norris's novel McTeague. The film depicts
three protagonists who succumb to their darker nature over a mutual
desire for a lottery prize of $5,000 in gold (screenshot pictured). Von
Stroheim shot more than 85 hours of footage, using sophisticated
techniques such as deep-focus cinematography and montage editing, and
obsessed over accuracy during production. Greed was one of the few films
of its time to be shot entirely on location. Two months were spent
shooting in Death Valley for the final sequence and many of the cast and
crew became ill. Originally almost eight hours long, Greed was edited
against von Stroheim's wishes to about two-and-a-half hours by Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer studio heads Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer. The cut
footage is lost, and still sought after by film archivists and
historians. Numerous false claims of the original version's discovery
have been made over the years. In 1999, a reconstructed four-hour
version was released using surviving stills from the lost footage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed_(film)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of widows immolating themselves,
was prohibited in part of British India after years of campaigning by
Ram Mohan Roy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)>
1893:
First Matabele War: A patrol of British South Africa Company
soldiers was ambushed and annihilated by more than 3,000 Matabele
warriors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangani_Patrol>
1909:
The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club
in the world, was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey
Association.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Montreal_Canadiens>
1954:
The global hamburger fast food chain Burger King, known for its
signature item the Whopper (pictured), was founded in Miami, Florida,
US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King>
1971:
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist
paramilitary group, exploded a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk%27s_Bar_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
intersperse:
1. To mix two things irregularly, placing things of one kind among things
of other; specifically:
2. To scatter or insert (something) into or among (other things), as Nature
interspersed dandelions among the petunias, or
3. To diversify (something) by placing or inserting other things among
(it), as Nature interspersed the petunias with dandelions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intersperse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that
which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which
we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be
of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.
--Samuel Butler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler>
The tammar wallaby is a small macropod native to South and Western
Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since
European colonisation, the tammar is common within its reduced range and
is listed as of Least Concern by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature. It has been introduced to New Zealand and
reintroduced to some areas of Australia where it had been previously
eradicated. Skull differences distinguish tammars from Western
Australia, Kangaroo Island and mainland South Australia, making them
distinct populations groups or possibly different subspecies. Around the
size of a rabbit, the tammar is among the smallest of the wallabies. Its
coat is largely grey. It has colour vision, can drink seawater, and can
hop efficiently using tendons that act like springs. A nocturnal
species, it spends nighttime in grassland habitat and daytime in shrub.
It is very gregarious and has a seasonal, promiscuous mating pattern. A
female tammar can nurse a joey in her pouch while keeping an embryo in
her uterus. The tammar is a model species for research on marsupials,
and on mammals in general. It is one of many organisms whose genome has
been sequenced.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammar_wallaby>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
War of the Second Coalition: French forces under General Jean
Moreau defeated the Austrians and Bavarians under Archduke John in
Hohenlinden, near Munich, forcing the Austrians to sign an armistice.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hohenlinden>
1834:
The German Customs Union instituted the first regular census in
Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_in_Germany>
1904:
Himalia, the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter, was
discovered by astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory
in San Jose, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalia_(moon)>
1984:
Methyl isocyanate and other toxic chemicals were accidentally
released from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal,
India, causing the world's worst industrial disaster.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster>
1992:
During extreme weather conditions, the oil tanker Aegean Sea
ran aground off the coast of Galicia, Spain, spilling 67,000 tonnes of
light crude oil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Sea_oil_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fleeting:
Passing quickly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fleeting>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The mind of man is capable of anything — because everything is
in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all?
Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage — who can tell? — but
truth — truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and
shudder — the man knows, and can look on without a wink.
--Heart of Darkness
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness>
Sir John Barbirolli, CH (1899–1970) was a British conductor and
cellist. He helped save the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester from
dissolution in 1943 and was its music director for the rest of his life.
He was also Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New
York Philharmonic (1936–43), chief conductor of the Houston Symphony
(1961–67), and a guest conductor of many other orchestras. Born in
London of Italian and French parentage, Barbirolli grew up in a family
of professional musicians. After starting out as a cellist, he was given
the chance to conduct, from 1926 with the British National Opera
Company, and then with Covent Garden's touring company. Although he had
less opportunity to work in the opera house after 1943, he conducted
productions of works by Verdi, Wagner, Gluck, and Puccini at Covent
Garden in the 1950s with such success that he was invited to become its
permanent musical director, an invitation he declined. Both in the
concert hall and on record, Barbirolli was particularly associated with
the music of English composers such as Elgar, Delius and Vaughan
Williams. His interpretations of composers such as Mahler, Sibelius, and
Schubert are also still admired.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barbirolli>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1804:
The coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of France was held at
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_Napoleon_I>
1848:
Franz Joseph became Emperor of Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Joseph_I_of_Austria>
1899:
Philippine–American War: A 60-man Filipino rear guard was
defeated in the Battle of Tirad Pass, but delayed the American advance
long enough to ensure Emilio Aguinaldo's escape.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tirad_Pass>
1956:
Cuban Revolution: The yacht Granma, carrying Fidel Castro, Che
Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement, reached the
shores of Cuba.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granma_(yacht)>
2001:
Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations,
Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bowk:
1. (Geordie) To belch, to burp.
2. (UK) To vomit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bowk>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wear this Saint Christopher medal sometimes because — I'm
Jewish — but my boyfriend is Catholic. It was cute, the way he gave it
to me. He said if it doesn't burn through my skin, it will protect me.
Who cares? Different religions. The only time it's an issue, I suppose,
would be like if you're having a baby and you've got to figure out how
you want to raise it. Which still wouldn't be an issue for us, because
we'd be … honest, and just say, you know, like, "Mommy is one of the
chosen people … and daddy believes that Jesus is magic!"
--Sarah Silverman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Silverman>