Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi (1911–1943) was a surgeon in the Imperial
Japanese Army during World War II. A devout Seventh-day Adventist,
Tatsuguchi studied medicine and was licensed as a physician in the
United States. He returned to Japan to practice medicine at the Tokyo
Adventist Sanitarium. In 1941, he was conscripted as an acting medical
officer, and was later sent to Attu Island, Alaska, which had been
occupied by Japanese forces in October 1942. The U.S. Army landed on the
island in May 1943, and throughout the resulting battle, Tatsuguchi kept
a diary recording the events of the battle and his struggle to care for
the wounded in his field hospital. He was killed on the battle's final
day. His diary was recovered and translated, and copies were widely
disseminated in the US after the battle. The American public was
intrigued by a Christian, American-trained doctor serving with Japanese
forces and by his apparent participation in assisting with the deaths of
wounded Japanese soldiers. Excerpts from the diary have been widely
quoted in Western historical accounts of the battle, especially his
final entry in which he recorded a farewell message to his family.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nobuo_Tatsuguchi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
627:
Muslim–Quraish Wars: A confederation of tribes began an
ultimately unsuccessful siege of Yathrib (now Medina) against Muhammad
and his army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench>
1854:
U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction
pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa,
forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa>
1910:
Six English towns amalgamated to form a single county borough
called Stoke-on-Trent, the first union of its type.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Stoke-on-Trent>
1931:
TWA Flight 599 crashed in Chase County, Kansas, US, and killed
eight people, including football coach Knute Rockne, stimulating
advances in aircraft design and development.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_599>
1964:
Brazilian Armed Forces led an overthrow of Brazilian President
João Goulart and established a military government that would last for
21 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
wry:
1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic.
3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the
dialectic between the two. A constant coming and going: wisdom lies in
the momentary.
--Octavio Paz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavio_Paz>
Wormshill is a small village and civil parish within the Borough of
Maidstone, Kent, England. It lies on an exposed high point of the North
Downs, 11 miles (18 km) north of Maidstone and within the Kent Downs
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Archaeological and toponymic
evidence of Wormshill's existence predates its appearance in the
Domesday survey of 1086. Its name derived from the Anglo-Saxon god
Wōden and means "Woden's Hill". The village contains a number of
heritage-listed buildings, which include a Norman church (St Giles,
Wormshill, pictured), a public house and one of the oldest surviving
post office buildings in the United Kingdom. The Bredgar and Wormshill
Light Railway runs between two small stations in nearby woodland. The
fields and woodland surrounding Wormshill have changed little in the
past 500 years, and the village itself remains rural with a low
population density compared to the national average. Because of
restrictions on development, building in the village has been scant
since the 1960s and 1970s. The population of 200 is a mixture of
agricultural workers employed by local farms and professionals who
commute to nearby towns.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormshill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1282:
Sicilians began to rebel against the rule of the Angevin King
Charles I of Naples, starting the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Vespers>
1867:
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the
purchase of Alaska for US$7.2 million from Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase>
1899:
A committee of the German Society of Chemistry invited other
national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to form the
International Committee on Atomic Weights.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Isotopic_Abundances_and_Atomic_…>
1964:
Jeopardy!, the popular American game show created by Merv
Griffin, made its debut on the NBC television network.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!>
2009:
Twelve gunmen attacked the Manawan Police Training School in
Lahore, Pakistan, and held it for several hours before security forces
could retake it.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Lahore_police_academy_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eat crow:
(chiefly US, idiomatic) To recognize that one has been shown to be
mistaken or outdone, especially by admitting that one has made a
humiliating error.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eat_crow>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 It is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand
guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.
--Maimonides
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maimonides>
SS Pennsylvanian was a cargo ship built in 1913 for the American-
Hawaiian Steamship Company. She was employed in inter-coastal service
via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Panama Canal after it opened.
Pennsylvanian was one of the first two steamships to travel eastbound
through the canal when it opened in August 1914. During World War I she
was requisitioned by the U.S. Navy and commissioned as USS Pennsylvanian
(ID-3511) in September 1918, but renamed two months later to USS
Scranton (pictured). She carried cargo and animals to France, and
returned American troops after the Armistice in 1918. After her Navy
service ended in 1919, her original name of Pennsylvanian was restored
and she resumed relatively uneventful cargo service for her original
owners over the next twenty years. Early in World War II, the ship was
requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration, and shipped cargo on
New York – Caribbean routes and transatlantic routes. In mid-July
1944, Pennsylvanian was scuttled as part of the breakwater for one of
the Mulberry artificial harbors built to support the Normandy Invasion.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Pennsylvanian>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Yorkist troops defeated Lancastrian forces at the Battle of
Towton in Yorkshire, England, the largest battle in the Wars of the
Roses up until that time with approximately 20,000 casualties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton>
1882:
The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal
service organization, was founded by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven,
Connecticut, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus>
1969:
The New People's Army (flag pictured), the armed wing of the
Communist Party of the Philippines, was formed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_People%27s_Army>
1974:
A group of farmers in Shaanxi province, China, discovered a
vast collection of terracotta statues depicting the armies of the first
Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang, now known as the Terracotta Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army>
1981:
Dick Beardsley and Inge Simonsen jointly won the first running
of the London Marathon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Marathon>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
otorhinolaryngology:
(medicine) The study of diseases of the ear, nose and throat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/otorhinolaryngology>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Sunlight's a thing that needs a window Before it enter a dark
room. Windows don't happen.
--R. S. Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas>
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional minor characters on the ABC
drama television series Lost, played by American actress Kiele Sanchez
and Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (pictured). The show chronicles the
lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island
somewhere in the south Pacific. Before boarding the plane, Paulo is a
con artist working with his girlfriend Nikki. He murders a wealthy
television executive, stealing the man's bag of diamonds with Nikki. The
producers of the show were often asked what the rest of the plane-crash
survivors were doing because the show only focuses on approximately
fifteen of the survivors, and the characters of Nikki and Paulo were
created in response. The couple is introduced early in the third season.
Reaction to the characters was generally negative because of their
abrupt introduction. Lost's show runner Damon Lindelof even acknowledged
that the couple are "universally despised" by fans. As a result of this,
the couple was killed off later in the same season. Both Nikki and Paulo
are buried alive, with the diamonds, when they are thought to be dead
after being paralyzed by venomous spiders.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki_and_Paulo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1802:
German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers discovered
2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Pallas>
1910:
Near Martigues, France, French aviator Henri Fabre's Fabre
Hydravion became the first seaplane to take off from water under its own
power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabre_Hydravion>
1920:
An outbreak of 37 tornadoes across the Midwestern and Southern
United States left more than 380 people dead.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Palm_Sunday_tornado_outbreak>
1930:
Turkey changed the name of its largest city Constantinople to
Istanbul.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Istanbul>
1979:
A partial core meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear
Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resulted in the
release of an estimated 43,000 curies (1.59 PBq) of radioactive krypton
to the environment.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lacrimae rerum:
The “tears of things”; the inherent tragedy of existence.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lacrimae_rerum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you can approach the world's complexities, both its glories
and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging
that however deeply you have seen, you have only scratched the surface,
you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore
imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size,
not all that important in the greater scheme of things.
--Daniel Dennett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett>
Spiderland is the second and final studio album by American rock band
Slint (lead singer Brian McMahan pictured). It was released on March 27,
1991, through Touch and Go Records. Featuring dramatically alternating
dynamics and vocals ranging from spoken word to shouting, the album
contains narrative lyrics that emphasize alienation. Spiderland was
Slint's first release on Touch and Go, and the group's last record. The
title originated from McMahan's younger brother, who thought that the
record sounded "spidery". Although Spiderland was not widely recognized
on its initial release, it eventually sold more than 50,000 copies and
became a landmark album in underground music after Slint broke up. Its
popularity increased in part after the appearance of the track "Good
Morning, Captain" on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Kids. The album has
been highly influential on the styles of many bands in the post-rock and
math rock genres, including Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and
has been named a favorite of several indie rock musicians. In 2007,
Slint reunited for a tour consisting of performances of Spiderland in
its entirety.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderland>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1329:
Pope John XXII issued a papal bull that some of the works of
German theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart were heretical.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart>
1782:
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, a leading
British Whig Party statesman, began his second non-consecutive term as
Prime Minister of Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Watson-Wentworth,_2nd_Marquess_of_Roc…>
1850:
San Diego, the first European settlement in what is now
California, was incorporated as a city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego>
1981:
The Solidarity movement in Poland staged a warning strike, the
biggest strike in the history of the Eastern Bloc, in which at least 12
million Poles walked off their jobs for four hours.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_warning_strike_in_Poland>
1993:
Jiang Zemin succeeded Yang Shangkun to become President of the
People's Republic of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Zemin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fan death:
The urban legend originating in South Korea that if an electric fan is
left running overnight in a closed room it can cause the death of those
inside.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fan_death>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They may veil their eyes, but they cannot hide The sun’s
meridian glow; The heel of a priest may tread thee down, And a tyrant
work thee woe: But never a truth has been destroyed; They may curse it,
and call it crime; Pervert and betray, or slander and slay Its teachers
for a time. But the sunshine aye shall light the sky, As round and round
we run; And the truth shall ever come uppermost, And justice shall be
done.
--Charles Mackay
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay>
Panellus stipticus is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae, and
the type species of the genus Panellus. A common and widely distributed
species, it is found in Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America,
growing in groups or dense overlapping clusters on the logs, stumps, and
trunks of deciduous trees. During the development of the fruit bodies,
the mushrooms start out as tiny white knobs, which develop into fan- or
kidney-shaped caps up to 3 cm (1.2 in) broad. The caps are orange-
yellow to brownish, and attached to the decaying wood by short stubby
stalks. The fungus was first described by French mycologist Jean
Bulliard in 1783 and was given its current scientific name in 1879. It
is one of several dozen bioluminescent species of fungi. Strains from
eastern North America are typically bioluminescent, but those from
elsewhere are not. The luminescence is localized to the edges of the
gills and the junction of the gills with the stem and cap. The
luminescent glow of this and other fungi inspired the term foxfire,
coined by early settlers in eastern and southern North America. Modern
research has probed the fungus's ability to detoxify various
environmental pollutants.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panellus_stipticus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1169:
Saladin (depicted on coin) was inaugurated as Emir of Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin>
1830:
The Book of Mormon, the defining sacred text of the Latter Day
Saint movement, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon>
1917:
First World War: Attempting to advance into Palestine, British
were defeated by Ottoman troops at the First Battle of Gaza.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Gaza>
1939:
Spanish Civil War: Nationalists began their final offensive of
the war, at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_offensive_of_the_Spanish_Civil_War>
1974:
A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand,
India, used their bodies to surround trees in order to prevent loggers
from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
immolate:
1. To kill as a sacrifice.
2. To destroy, especially by fire.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immolate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early
leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So
Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.
--Robert Frost
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost>
The Australian cricketer Neil Harvey toured England in 1948 as a member
of "The Invincibles" – so-called as they were undefeated in their
34 tour matches, an unprecedented feat. Aged 19, Harvey (pictured in
1953) was the youngest player of the touring party. An attacking left-
handed middle-order batsman who was the youngest Australian to score a
Test century, he struggled early in the tour. After being omitted from
the first-choice team in the first half of the tour, Harvey's
performances improved with his increasing familiarity with local
conditions and he was called into the team for the Fourth Test at
Headingley. Harvey scored 112 in a first innings counter-attack to keep
Australia in contention, and hit the winning runs in the second innings.
He retained his place for the Fifth Test, ending the series with 133
runs at a batting average of 66.50. Overall, Harvey was sixth on the
tour team's run-scoring aggregates and seventh in the batting averages.
Harvey was an acrobatic fielder, regarded as the best in the Australian
team, and took several acclaimed catches throughout the tour. He took 17
catches for the tour and claimed a solitary wicket with his occasional
off spin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harvey_with_the_Australian_cricket_team_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
708:
Pope Constantine was selected as one of the last popes of the
Byzantine Papacy; he would be the last pope to visit Constantinople
until Pope Paul VI in 1967.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Constantine>
1410:
The Yongle Emperor launched the first of his military campaigns
against the Mongols, resulting in the fall of the Mongol khan
Bunyashiri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor%27s_campaigns_against_the_Mong…>
1911:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed
more than 140 sweatshop workers, many of whom could not escape because
the doors to the stairwells and exits had been locked.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire>
1931:
The Scottsboro Boys were arrested and charged with rape,
leading to a legal case that eventually established legal principles in
the United States that criminal defendants are entitled to effective
assistance of counsel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys>
1949:
The Soviet Union began mass deportations of over 90,000 people
from the Baltic states to Siberia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Priboi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
in a pig's eye:
(idiomatic) Very unlikely; probably never.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/in_a_pig%27s_eye>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All social phenomena are the result of a series of various
causes, in most cases so inwardly related that it is quite impossible
clearly to separate one from the other. We are always dealing with the
interplay of various causes which, as a rule, can be clearly recognised
but cannot be calculated according to scientific methods.
--Rudolf Rocker
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rudolf_Rocker>
The Kennedy half dollar is a fifty cent coin issued by the U.S. Mint.
Intended as a memorial to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, it
was authorized by Congress just over a month after his death. Use of
existing works by Mint sculptors Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro
allowed dies to be prepared quickly, and striking of the new coins began
in January 1964. The coins vanished from circulation upon their release
in March 1964 due to collectors, hoarders, and those interested in a
memento of the late president. Although the Mint greatly increased
production, they still failed to circulate. Starting with 1965-dated
pieces, the percentage of fine silver was reduced from 90% to 40%
(silver clad), but even this change failed to restore the coin to
circulation. In 1971, silver was eliminated entirely. A special design
for the reverse of the half dollar was issued for the United States
Bicentennial and was struck in 1975 and 1976. Even though ample supplies
of half dollars are now available, their circulation is extremely
limited. Since 2002, Kennedy half dollars have only been struck to
satisfy the demand from collectors, and are available at a premium
through the Mint.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1603:
King James VI of Scotland acceded to the thrones of England
and Ireland, becoming James I of England and unifying the crowns of the
kingdoms for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I>
1869:
The last of Māori leader Titokowaru's forces surrendered to
the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titokowaru%27s_War>
1944:
World War II: German occupation troops killed 335 people in
Rome as a reprisal for a partisan attack conducted on the previous day
against the SS Police Regiment Bozen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeatine_massacre>
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled more than 10 million
US gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing one of the
most devastating man-made environmental disasters at sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill>
2008:
The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party, led by Jigme Thinley,
won 45 out of 47 seats in the National Assembly of Bhutan in the
country's first-ever general election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_National_Assembly_election,_2008>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
siesta:
An afternoon nap, especially the one taken after lunch in some cultures.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/siesta>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is
not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was
an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have
regarded it as vitally necessary.
--Wilhelm Reich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich>
King's Highway 416 is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of
Ontario that connects the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 417) in Ottawa
with Highway 401 between Brockville and Cornwall. The 76.4-kilometre-
long (47.5 mi) freeway is part of an important trade corridor between
New York and Eastern Ontario. It passes through a largely rural area,
except near its northern terminus where it enters the suburbs of Ottawa
(approach to Ottawa pictured). It had two distinct construction phases.
Highway 416 "North" was a 21-kilometre (13 mi) freeway starting from
an interchange at Highway 417 and bypassing the original route of
Highway 16 into Ottawa along a new right-of-way. Highway 416 "South"
was the twinning of 57 kilometres (35 mi) of Highway 16 New—a two-
lane expressway bypassing the original highway that was constructed
throughout the 1970s and finished in 1983—and the construction of a
new interchange with Highway 401. Sections of both opened throughout
the late 1990s. Highway 416 was commemorated as the Veterans Memorial
Highway on the 54th anniversary of D-Day in 1998. The final link was
officially opened by a World War I veteran and local officials on
September 23, 1999.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_416>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1400:
The Trần Dynasty of Vietnam was deposed after 175 years of
rule by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BA%A7n_Dynasty>
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
suffered his only defeat during the war in the First Battle of Kernstown
in Frederick County, Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Kernstown>
1905:
About 1,500 Cretans, led by Eleftherios Venizelos (pictured),
met at the village of Theriso to call for the island's unification with
Greece, beginning the Theriso revolt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theriso_revolt>
1978:
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was dispatched to
confirm Israeli withdrawal after its invasion nine days earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Interim_Force_in_Lebanon>
1989:
Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim
which was later discredited.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
escapade:
A daring or adventurous act; an undertaking which goes against
convention.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escapade>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be
faithful to others.
--Erich Fromm
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm>
Alloxylon flammeum, commonly known as the Queensland tree waratah or red
silky oak, is a medium-sized tree of the family Proteaceae found in the
Queensland tropical rain forests. It has shiny green elliptical leaves
up to 18 cm (7.2 in) long, and prominent orange-red inflorescences
that appear from August to October, followed by rectangular woody seed
pods that ripen in February and March. Juvenile plants have large (up to
25 cm (10 in) long) deeply lobed pinnate leaves. Previously known as
Oreocallis wickhamii, the initial specimen turned out to be a different
species to the one cultivated and hence a new scientific name was
required. Described formally in 1991, A. flammeum was designated the
type species of the genus Alloxylon. Alloxylon flammeum is a canopy or
emergent tree of the Mabi rainforest community of north Queensland. It
is readily adaptable to cultivation, and prefers a site with good
drainage. The tree's terminal tubular flowers indicate that the species
is pollinated by birds. It is listed nationally as vulnerable under the
Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
as most of its habitat has been cleared for agriculture and logging.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloxylon_flammeum>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
238:
Because of his father's advanced age, Gordian II was proclaimed
joint Roman emperor with Gordian I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I>
1508:
Ferdinand II of Aragon appointed Amerigo Vespucci to the post
of Chief Navigator of Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci>
1765:
The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, requiring
that many printed materials in the Thirteen Colonies in British America
carry a tax stamp.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765>
1984:
In what would be the longest and costliest criminal trial in
United States history, teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan
Beach, California, were falsely charged with satanic ritual abuse of
schoolchildren.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial>
1995:
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov of the Soyuz programme
returned from the Mir space station after 437 days in space, setting a
record for the longest spaceflight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeri_Polyakov>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
perfusion:
(medicine) The introduction of a drug or nutrients through the
bloodstream in order to reach an internal organ or tissues.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perfusion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the
tragic moment.
--Marcel Marceau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau>