The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after
a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in London. The
gunmen, members of an Iranian Arab group campaigning for Arab national
sovereignty in Khūzestān Province, took 26 hostages and demanded the
release of Arab prisoners from jails in Khūzestān. Police negotiators
gradually secured the release of five hostages in exchange for minor
concessions. On the sixth day the gunmen, frustrated at the lack of
progress, killed a hostage and threw his body out of the embassy. The
British government ordered the Special Air Service (SAS), a special
forces regiment, to rescue the hostages. During the 17-minute raid, the
SAS rescued all but one of the remaining hostages, and killed five of
the gunmen. The hostage-takers and their cause were largely forgotten
afterwards, but the operation brought the SAS to public attention. It
was overwhelmed by the number of applications it received from people
inspired by the operation and experienced greater demand for its
expertise from foreign governments. The building suffered major damage
from fire (aftermath pictured) and did not reopen as the embassy until
1993.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1006:
SN 1006 (remnant pictured), the brightest supernova in recorded
history, first appeared in the constellation Lupus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006>
1636:
Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recaptured a
strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Schenkenschans>
1982:
Sixteen monks and a nun belonging to Ananda Marga in Calcutta,
India, were dragged out of taxis by persons unknown in three different
locations, beaten to death and then set on fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijon_Setu_massacre>
1993:
Monica Seles, the number-one ranked women's tennis player at
the time, was stabbed in the back during a match by a man obsessed with
her rival Steffi Graf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Seles>
2004:
The New Yorker magazine posted an article and supporting
pictures online, postdated May 10, detailing accounts of torture and
abuse by American personnel of prisoners held at the Abu Ghraib prison
in Baghdad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
capacious:
Having a lot of space inside; roomy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capacious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are problems to whose solution I would attach an infinitely
greater importance than to those of mathematics, for example touching
ethics, or our relation to God, or concerning our destiny and our
future; but their solution lies wholly beyond us and completely outside
the province of science.
--Carl Friedrich Gauss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss>
HMS Endeavour was the Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant
James Cook on his first voyage of discovery to Australia and New Zealand
from 1769 to 1771. She was launched in 1764 as the collier Earl of
Pembroke, and purchased by the Navy in 1768 for a scientific mission to
the Pacific Ocean and to explore for the surmised Terra Australis
Incognita. Her voyage took her to Tahiti for the 1769 transit of Venus,
then south into the largely uncharted South Pacific. In September 1769
she reached New Zealand, the first European vessel to visit in 127
years. Seven months later Endeavour became the first ship to reach the
east coast of Australia, making landfall in Botany Bay on 29 April 1770.
Her return voyage marred by shipwreck and the deaths of one third of her
crew, Endeavour reached the port of Dover in July 1771 after nearly
three years at sea. In 1776 she returned to naval service for the
American Revolutionary War but was scuttled in a blockade of
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The wreck has not been precisely
located, but relics including cannons and an anchor are displayed in
maritime museums worldwide. The Space Shuttle Endeavour was named in her
honour in 1989.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the
first of several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so
many ships that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade
England for over a year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singeing_the_King_of_Spain%27s_Beard>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces under David Farragut captured
New Orleans, securing access into the Mississippi River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_New_Orleans>
1944:
Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake parachuted into the
Auvergne, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive
and the local maquis group
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake>
1997:
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention went into effect,
outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons in
those countries that ratified the arms control agreement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention>
2011:
A worldwide television audience of 300 million people watched
the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton
at Westminster Abbey in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Prince_William_and_Catherine_Middl…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anapest:
1. (US, prosody) A metrical foot consisting of three syllables, two short
and one long (e.g the word "velveteen").
2. (US, prosody) A fragment, phrase or line of poetry or verse using this
meter; e.g. “Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the
Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did NOT!” (Dr. Seuss, How
the Grinch Stole Christmas.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anapest>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do
so. He studies it because he takes pleasure in it, and he takes pleasure
in it because it is beautiful. If nature were not beautiful it would not
be worth knowing, and life would not be worth living. I am not speaking,
of course, of the beauty which strikes the senses, of the beauty of
qualities and appearances. I am far from despising this, but it has
nothing to do with science. What I mean is that more intimate beauty
which comes from the harmonious order of its parts, and which a pure
intelligence can grasp.
--Henri Poincaré
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9>
U.S. Route 40 Alternate (Alt US 40) is the U.S. Highway designation for
a former segment of U.S. Route 40 (US 40) through Garrett and Allegany
counties in Maryland. The highway begins at US 40 near exit 14 on
Interstate 68 and runs 31.80 miles (51.18 km) eastward to Cumberland,
where it ends at exit 44 on Interstate 68. The highway is known as Old
National Pike because it follows the original alignment of the National
Road. As the route of the historic National Road, there are many
historic sites along Alt US 40, including the Casselman Bridge in
Grantsville and the last remaining National Road toll gate house in
Maryland, located in LaVale. When the National Freeway was built in
western Maryland paralleling the old National Road, the part of the
bypassed road between Keyser's Ridge and Cumberland became Alt US 40,
and other bypassed sections east of Cumberland became Maryland Route 144
and U.S. Route 40 Scenic. Although Alt US 40 is now less important
because of the construction of Interstate 68, it remains an important
route for local traffic and serves as the Main Streets of Grantsville
and Frostburg.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_40_Alternate_(Keysers_Ridge%E2%80%…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1253:
Nichiren (pictured), a Japanese monk, expounded Nam Myoho Renge
Kyo for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in
effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Buddhism>
1611:
The University of Santo Tomas in Manila, one of the oldest
existing universities in Asia and one of the world's largest Catholic
universities in terms of enrollment, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Santo_Tomas>
1923:
London's Wembley Stadium, then known as Empire Stadium, was
opened to the public for the first time and held the 1923 FA Cup Final
between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United football clubs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_FA_Cup_Final>
1944:
World War II: During Exercise Tiger, a large-scale rehearsal
for the invasion of Normandy, German S-boats attacked an Allied convoy,
killing 946 American servicemen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger>
1994:
Former CIA counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames
pleaded guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later
Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doggedly:
In a way that is stubbornly persistent: Abby marked the International
Day of the Dog with her beloved Jack Russell terrier, despite how he was
doggedly gnawing through her extensive collection of shoes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doggedly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ninety per cent of most magic merely consists of knowing one
extra fact.
--Terry Pratchett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett>
The Trocaz Pigeon is a pigeon endemic to the island of Madeira. It is a
mainly grey bird with a pinkish breast; its silvery neck patch and lack
of white wing markings distinguish it from its close relative and
probable ancestor, the Common Wood Pigeon. It is about 40–45 cm
(16–18 in) long with a 68–74 cm (27–29 in) wingspan. Its call
is a characteristic six-note cooing, weaker and lower-pitched than that
of the Wood Pigeon. Despite its bulky, long-tailed appearance, it has a
fast, direct flight. A scarce resident breeder in laurisilva forests, it
lays one white egg in a flimsy twig nest. It was formally described in
1829 by Karl Heineken, a German medical doctor and ornithologist, who
recognised it as different from the now-extinct local form of the Common
Wood Pigeon. Its numbers fell sharply after human colonisation of the
Madeira archipelago, and it vanished altogether from Porto Santo Island.
The major cause of its population decline was habitat loss from forest
clearance, but hunting and nest predation by introduced rats were also
contributory factors. Protection of forests and a ban on hunting have
enabled numbers to increase, and the species is no longer considered
endangered.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trocaz_Pigeon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
629:
Shahrbaraz usurped the throne of the Sasanian Empire from
Ardashir III, but was himself deposed only forty days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahrbaraz>
1521:
Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapu-Lapu (statue pictured)
killed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and more than forty
Spanish soldiers at the Battle of Mactan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan>
1865:
An explosion destroyed the steamboat SS Sultana on the
Mississippi River, killing an estimated 1,800 of the 2,400 passengers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Sultana>
1961:
Milton Margai took office as the first Prime Minister of Sierra
Leone upon the nation's independence from the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Margai>
2005:
The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world,
made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vates:
A poet or bard who is divinely inspired.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vates>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The current opinion that science and poetry are opposed is a
delusion. ... Think you that a drop of water, which to the vulgar eye is
but a drop of water, loses any thing in the eye of the physicist who
knows that its elements are held together by a force which, if suddenly
liberated, would produce a flash of lightning? Think you that what is
carelessly looked upon by the uninitiated as a mere snow-flake does not
suggest higher associations to one who has seen through a microscope the
wondrously varied and elegant forms of snow-crystals? Think you that the
rounded rock marked with parallel scratches calls up as much poetry in
an ignorant mind as in the mind of a geologist, who knows that over this
rock a glacier slid a million years ago? … The truth is, that those
who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the
poetry by which they are surrounded.
--Herbert Spencer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer>
Original Stories from Real Life is the only complete work of children's
literature by the 18th-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. It
begins with a frame story that sketches out the education of two young
girls by their maternal teacher Mrs. Mason, followed by a series of
didactic tales. The book was first published by Joseph Johnson in 1788;
a second, illustrated edition, with engravings (pictured) by William
Blake, was released in 1791 and remained in print for around a quarter
of a century. Wollstonecraft employed the then burgeoning genre of
children's literature to promote the education of women and an emerging
middle-class ideology. She argued that women would be able to become
rational adults if they were educated properly as children, which was
not a widely held belief in the 18th century, and contended that the
nascent middle-class ethos was superior to the court culture represented
by fairy tales and to the values of chance and luck found in chapbook
stories for the poor. Wollstonecraft, in developing her own pedagogy,
also responded to the works of the two most important educational
theorists of the 18th century: John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Stories_from_Real_Life>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth,
the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern
Virginia, ending a twelve-day manhunt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1937:
Spanish Civil War: The Bombing of Guernica by the Condor Legion
of the German Luftwaffe resulted in a devastating firestorm that caused
widespread destruction and civilian deaths and inspired one of Pablo
Picasso's most famous paintings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(painting)>
1964:
Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania (flag pictured)
with Julius Nyerere as its first president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania>
1989:
A tornado struck the Manikganj District of Bangladesh, killing
an estimated 1,300 people, the deadliest tornado in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatpur%E2%80%93Saturia_tornado>
1994:
Just prior to landing at Nagoya International Airport, the co-
pilot of China Airlines Flight 140 inadvertently pushed the wrong
button, causing the plane to crash and killing 264 of the 271 people on
board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
inside baseball:
1. (US, sports) Technical matters concerning baseball not apparent to
spectators.
2. (US) Matters of interest only to insiders.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inside_baseball>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Philosophical problems can be compared to locks on safes, which
can be opened by dialing a certain word or number, so that no force can
open the door until just this word has been hit upon, and once it is hit
upon any child can open it.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>
Startling Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine,
published by Standard Magazines from 1939 to 1955. Its first editor was
Mort Weisinger, who also edited Thrilling Wonder Stories, Standard's
other science fiction title. Startling ran a lead novel in every issue;
the first was The Black Flame by Stanley G. Weinbaum. The magazine
focused on younger readers, and, when Weisinger was replaced by Oscar J.
Friend in 1941, the magazine became even more juvenile in focus. Sam
Merwin, Jr., Friend's successor, was able to improve the quality of the
fiction substantially, publishing Arthur C. Clarke's Against the Fall of
Night and other well-received stories. Earle K. Bergey painted almost
every cover between 1942 and 1952, equipping his heroines with brass
bras and implausible costumes; the public image of science fiction in
his day was partly created by his work. In later years, competition
affected the magazine's ability to acquire quality material. In
mid-1952, Standard attempted to change Startling's image by adopting a
more sober title typeface and reducing the covers' sensationalism, but
the pulp magazine market was collapsing and publication ceased in 1955.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startling_Stories>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
French composer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle wrote "La
Marseillaise", now the national anthem of France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise>
1864:
American Civil War: Confederate troops overwhelmed a small
Union detachment, leading to Union abandonment of their position in
Camden, Arkansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marks%27_Mills>
1915:
First World War: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed
at Anzac Cove while British and French troops landed at Cape Helles to
begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign>
1960:
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton (SSRN-586) completed the
first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandblast>
1986:
Mswati III was crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father
Sobhuza II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mswati_III>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
paint the town red:
To party or celebrate in a rowdy, wild manner, especially in a public
place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/paint_the_town_red>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his
accomplices.
--Edward R. Murrow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow>
Wilfrid (c. 633 – c. 709) was an English bishop. The abbot of a
monastery at Ripon, he advocated the Roman method for calculating the
date of Easter at the Synod of Whitby in 664 and was appointed Bishop of
Northumbria as a result. After Wilfrid quarrelled with Ecgfrith, the
Northumbrian king, Theodore of Tarsus (the Archbishop of Canterbury)
implemented some reforms in the diocese despite Wilfrid's opposition.
Pope Agatho ruled in Wilfrid's favour, but Ecgfrith imprisoned Wilfrid
before exiling him. Aldfrith, Ecgfirth's successor, allowed Wilfrid to
return, but later expelled him. Wilfrid again appealed to Rome, and
eventually regained possession of his Northumbrian monasteries. After
Wilfrid's death, he was venerated as a saint. His followers commissioned
a Life of Wilfrid (page from an 11th-century copy pictured), and the
medieval historian Bede also wrote extensively about him. Wilfrid lived
ostentatiously and claimed to be the first Englishman to introduce the
Rule of Saint Benedict into English monasteries. Some modern historians
see him as a champion of Roman customs against those of the British and
Irish churches, others as an advocate for monasticism.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1479 BC:
Thutmose III became the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth
Dynasty of Egypt, although during the first 22 years of the reign he was
co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III>
1547:
Schmalkaldic War: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, led Imperial
troops to a decisive victory in the Battle of Mühlberg over the
Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C3%BChlberg>
1914:
The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar in the development of
quantum mechanics, was presented to the German Physical Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franck%E2%80%93Hertz_experiment>
1922:
The first portion of the Imperial Wireless Chain, a strategic
international wireless telegraphy communications network created to link
the countries of the British Empire, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Wireless_Chain>
1990:
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the Space
Shuttle Discovery in mission STS-31.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
levant:
To abscond or run away, especially to avoid paying money or debts.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I cannot approve of monarchs who want to rule over the conscience
of the people, and take away their freedom of choice and religion.
--William the Silent
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_the_Silent>
The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was
a German mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS during World War
II. Raised in the Independent State of Croatia, it was given the title
Handschar after a fighting knife carried by Turkish policemen when the
region was part of the Ottoman Empire. From March to December 1944, it
fought a counter-insurgency campaign against communist-led Yugoslav
Partisan resistance forces. The first non-Germanic Waffen-SS division,
it was composed of Bosnian Muslims with some Catholic Croat soldiers and
mostly German and ethnic German officers and non-commissioned officers.
It swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler and the Croatian leader Ante
Pavelić. It established a designated "security zone" in north-eastern
Bosnia but fought outside the zone on several occasions. It gained a
reputation for brutality and savagery during combat operations and
atrocities against Serb and Jewish civilians. After late 1944, non-
German members began to desert in large numbers, particularly once they
had retreated inside the Reich frontier. Others surrendered to British
forces. Thirty-eight officers were extradited to Yugoslavia, and ten
were executed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Hands…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1014:
Irish forces led by Brian Boru clashed with the Vikings in the
Battle of Clontarf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Clontarf>
1661:
Charles II, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland was crowned
at Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1954:
Batting against Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hank
Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record-setting 755
home runs in Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron>
1968:
Students protesting the Vietnam War at Columbia University in
New York City took over administration buildings and shut down the
university.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968>
1979:
Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injuries when he was
knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in
Southall, London, against a National Front election meeting in the town
hall.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Blair_Peach>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bardolator:
(usually pejorative) One who loves or worships the works of William
Shakespeare.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bardolator>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Know thus far forth: By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune
— Now my dear lady — hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by
my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star,
whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever
after droop.
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
The two-cent piece was produced by the U.S. Mint for circulation from
1864 to 1872 and for collectors in 1873. It was designed by James B.
Longacre. The economic turmoil of the American Civil War caused
government-issued coins, even the non-silver Indian Head cent, to vanish
from circulation, hoarded by the public. One means of filling this gap
was private token issues, often made of bronze. The cent at that time
was struck of a copper-nickel alloy. The piece was difficult for the
Philadelphia Mint to strike, and Mint officials, as well as the annual
Assay Commission, recommended the coin's replacement. Despite opposition
from those wishing to keep the metal nickel in the coinage, Congress
passed the Coinage Act of 1864, authorizing bronze cents and two-cent
pieces. Although initially popular in the absence of other federal
coinage, the two-cent piece's place in circulation was later usurped by
the three-cent piece and the nickel. There were decreasing mintages each
year, and it was abolished by the Mint Act of 1873. Large quantities
were redeemed by the government and melted. Nevertheless, two-cent
pieces remain inexpensive by the standards of 19th-century American
coinage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-cent_piece>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew landed
in present day Brazil and claimed the land for Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1889:
Over 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the available
two million acres (8,000 km2) in the Unassigned Lands, the present-day
U.S. state of Oklahoma, entirely founding the brand-new Oklahoma City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Run_of_1889>
1911:
Tsinghua University ("The Old Gate" pictured), one of the
leading universities in mainland China, was founded, funded by an
unexpected surplus in indemnities paid by the Qing Dynasty to the United
States as a result of the Boxer Rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_University>
1969:
British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won the Sunday Times
Golden Globe Race to complete the first solo non-stop circumnavigation
of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race>
2004:
Flammable cargo exploded at Yongcheon Station in Ryongchon,
North Korea, killing 160 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryongchon_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crosswordese:
The jargon of crossword puzzle answers, classically consisting of rare,
archaic, or dialectal words.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosswordese>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Enlightenment is man’s leaving his self-caused immaturity.
Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the
guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused
by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use
one's intelligence without being guided by another. Sapere Aude! Have
the courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the motto of the
enlightenment.
--Immanuel Kant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant>
Hurricane Kiko was one of the strongest tropical cyclones to ever make
landfall on the eastern coast of the Baja California Peninsula. The
eleventh named storm of the 1989 Pacific hurricane season, Kiko formed
out of a large mesoscale convective system on August 25. Slowly
tracking northwestward, the storm rapidly intensified into a hurricane
early the next day. Strengthening continued until early August 27, when
Kiko reached its peak intensity with winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). The
storm turned west at this time, and at around 0600 UTC, the storm made
landfall near Punta Arena on the southern tip of Baja California. The
hurricane rapidly weakened into a tropical storm later that day and
further into a tropical depression by August 28, shortly after entering
the Pacific Ocean. The depression persisted for another day while
tracking southward, before being absorbed by nearby Tropical Storm
Lorena. Though Kiko made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, its impact
was relatively minor. Press reports indicated that 20 homes were
destroyed and numerous highways were flooded by torrential rains.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Kiko_(1989)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
753 BC:
Romulus and Remus founded Rome, according to the calculations
by Roman scholar Varro Reatinus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus>
1836:
Texan forces led by Sam Houston defeated General Antonio López
de Santa Anna and his Mexican troops in the Battle of San Jacinto near
La Porte, the decisive battle in the Texas Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto>
1914:
Mexican Revolution: The United States detained a German steamer
carrying materiel for the Mexican federal government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypiranga_incident>
1975:
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned as President of South Vietnam,
and was replaced by Trần Văn Hương, as communist forces closed in
on victory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_Thi%E1%BB%87u>
1992:
Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced
the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12, the
first definitive detection of exoplanets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overawe:
(transitive) To restrain, subdue, or control by awe; to cow.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overawe>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Is not the real experience of each individual very limited?
And, if a writer dwells upon that solely or principally, is he not in
danger of repeating himself, and also of becoming an egotist? Then, too,
imagination is a strong, restless faculty, which claims to be heard and
exercised: are we to be quite deaf to her cry, and insensate to her
struggles? When she shows us bright pictures, are we never to look at
them, and try to reproduce them? And when she is eloquent, and speaks
rapidly and urgently in our ear, are we not to write to her dictation?
--Charlotte Brontë
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB>