California State Route 57 (SR 57), also known as the Orange Freeway for
most of its length, is a north–south state highway in the Greater Los
Angeles Area. It connects the interchange of Interstate 5 (I-5) and SR
22 near downtown Orange, locally known as the Orange Crush, to the
Glendora Curve interchange with I-210 and SR 210 in Glendora. The
highway provides a route across several spurs of the Peninsular Ranges,
linking the Los Angeles Basin with the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel
Valley. An oiled-dirt predecessor to this road ran through Brea Canyon
by the late 1910s; it was paved in concrete in 1923 and added to the
state highway system in 1931. The freeway, including the Brea Canyon
Freeway segment, was built in stages during the 1950s, becoming SR 57
in the 1964 state highway renumbering. The final portion of the present-
day Orange Freeway was not completed until the mid 1970s. The last piece
of SR 57 to be added was formerly part of I-210, after SR 210 was
extended to San Bernardino in 1998. An unconstructed extension of SR 57
from Santa Ana south to Huntington Beach has been studied as a proposed
toll road above the Santa Ana River.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_57>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
868:
A copy of the Diamond Sutra was printed in China, making it the
world's oldest dated printed book.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Sutra>
1812:
In the lobby of the British House of Commons, Spencer Perceval
became the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Perceval>
1880:
A land dispute between the Southern Pacific Railroad and
settlers in Hanford, California, turned deadly when a gun battle broke
out, leaving seven dead.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mussel_Slough_Tragedy>
1985:
During an association football match between Bradford City and
Lincoln City in Bradford, England, a flash fire consumed one side of the
Valley Parade stadium, killing 56 attendees.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_City_stadium_fire>
1998:
India began conducting the Pokhran-II nuclear weapons test, its
first since the Smiling Buddha test 24 years earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
atheophobia:
Fear or hatred of atheism or atheists.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atheophobia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is easy to kill someone with a slash of a sword. It is
hard to be impossible for others to cut down.
--Yagyū Munenori
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yagy%C5%AB_Munenori>
The 1980 Zimbabwe women's national field hockey team won the gold medal
at that year's Summer Olympics in Moscow in the Soviet Union. The 16
teammates, all from Zimbabwe's white minority, were assembled less than
a month before the Olympics, after an American-led boycott reduced the
number of teams competing. It was the first time the women's field
hockey event had been held at the Olympics. After beating Poland and the
Soviet Union and drawing with Czechoslovakia and India, the Zimbabweans
secured the gold on the final day with a 4–1 victory over Austria.
Their victory was considered a huge upset, particularly considering the
short time the team had to prepare. Won at a time of great transition in
Zimbabwe—as Rhodesia, the country had been barred from the previous
three Olympics—the gold medal was the nation's first Olympic medal of
any colour. The players were dubbed the "Golden Girls" by the Zimbabwean
press and were briefly national celebrities. Zimbabwe did not win
another Olympic medal until 2004.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe_women%27s_national_field_hockey_team…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1503:
Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to
visit the Cayman Islands, naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous
sea turtles there.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands>
1837:
Banks in New York City suspended specie payments, triggering a
seven-year recession in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1837>
1857:
The Sepoy Mutiny against the company rule by the British East
India Company began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857>
1940:
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and
formally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain>
1994:
American serial killer John Wayne Gacy was executed by lethal
injection for the murders of twelve teenage boys and young men in a
series of killings committed between 1972 and 1978.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cymotrichous:
(anthropology) Having wavy hair.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cymotrichous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
--Abraham Lincoln
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>
Reg Saunders (1920–1990) was the first Aboriginal Australian to be
commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He came from a
military family, his forebears having served in the Boer War and the
First World War. Enlisting as a soldier in 1940, he saw action during
the Second World War in North Africa, Greece and Crete, before being
commissioned as a lieutenant and serving as a platoon commander in New
Guinea in 1944 and 1945. His younger brother Harry also joined the Army,
and was killed in 1942. After the war, Saunders was demobilised and
returned to civilian life. He later served as a company commander with
the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, during the Korean War,
where he fought at the Battle of Kapyong. Saunders left the Army in 1954
and worked in the logging and metal industries, before joining the
Office (later the Department) of Aboriginal Affairs as a liaison officer
in 1969. In 1971, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British
Empire for his community service. He died in 1990, aged 69.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Saunders>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1671:
Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the
English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood>
1873:
Panic of 1873: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, following two
years of overexpansion in the German and Austro-Hungarian economies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873>
1915:
British forces launched the Battle of Aubers Ridge, an
offensive on the Western Front which was part of the larger French
Second Battle of Artois.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aubers_Ridge>
1961:
In a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, FCC
chairman Newton N. Minow described commercial television programming as
"a vast wasteland".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_and_the_Public_Interest>
2005:
Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his
predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required
after the nominee's death.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
green gown:
(now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from
rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity,
especially a woman's loss of virginity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us — by
obligations, not by rights.
--José Ortega y Gasset
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ortega_y_Gasset>
Gary Cooper (1901–1961) was an American film actor known for his
natural, authentic, and understated acting style. He was a movie star
from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of
Classical Hollywood. Cooper began his career as a film extra and stunt
rider and soon established himself as a Western hero in films such as
The Virginian (1929). He played the lead in adventure films and dramas
such as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
(1935), and extended his range of performances to include roles in most
major film genres. He portrayed champions of the common man in films
such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant
York (1941), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), and For Whom the Bell
Tolls (1943). In his later years, he delivered award-winning
performances in High Noon (1952) and Friendly Persuasion (1956). Cooper
received three Academy Awards and appeared on the Motion Picture Herald
exhibitors poll of top ten film personalities every year from 1936 to
1958. His screen persona embodied the American folk hero.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Cooper>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist Antoine
Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme générale, was
tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier>
1886:
In Atlanta, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his
carbonated beverage Coca-Cola as a patent medicine, claiming that it
cured a number of diseases.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola>
1927:
French aviators Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli aboard
L'Oiseau Blanc biplane, attempting to make the first non-stop
transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, disappeared after takeoff.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Oiseau_Blanc>
1945:
In the presence of Allied commanders the representatives of
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht signed the German Instrument of Surrender,
ending World War II in Europe (Wilhelm Keitel pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Instrument_of_Surrender>
1963:
In Huế, South Vietnam, soldiers of the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam opened fire into a crowd of Buddhist protestors against a
government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesākha, killing
nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%E1%BA%BF_Ph%E1%BA%ADt_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3n_sho…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
adversity:
1. (uncountable) The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or
calamity.
2. (countable) An event that is adverse; calamity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adversity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Liberty not only means that the individual has both the
opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear
the consequences of his actions. … Liberty and responsibility are
inseparable.
--Friedrich Hayek
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek>
The Sinking of the Lusitania is a silent animated short film by American
cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay that depicts the 1915 disaster in
which a German submarine killed 1,198 people, including 128 Americans.
McCay's employer, William Randolph Hearst, who was opposed to sending US
troops to fight in World War I, downplayed the tragedy in his
newspapers. In 1916 McCay grew tired of drawing anti-war cartoons for
Hearst and started working on this propaganda film. He and his
assistants spent twenty-two months in their off hours working on the
production, using the new cel technology that was more efficient than
the rice paper he had used previously. Released in 1918, The Sinking of
the Lusitania is the earliest animated documentary and serious, dramatic
work of animation to survive. It had little commercial success compared
to McCay's earlier films, Little Nemo (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur
(1914), and his later animation went largely unnoticed. The artist spent
the rest of his life making editorial drawings.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sinking_of_the_Lusitania>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
351:
Jews in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina rebelled against
the rule of Constantius Gallus, Caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_revolt_against_Constantius_Gallus>
1697:
Stockholm's royal castle, dating back to the 13th century, was
destroyed in a huge fire; the blueprint for the current royal palace was
presented only a couple of weeks later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Palace>
1763:
Pontiac of the Ottawa Native American tribe led an attempt to
seize Fort Detroit from the British, marking the start of Pontiac's War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac%27s_War>
1940:
A debate in the British House of Commons began, and culminated
in the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston
Churchill several days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway_Debate>
2010:
A team of researchers presented a complete draft sequence of
the Neanderthal genome, demonstrating that today's modern humans have
Neanderthal ancestors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaic_human_admixture_with_modern_humans>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sequela:
(pathology) A disease or condition which is caused by an earlier disease
or problem.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sequela>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We never can have a true view of man unless we have a love for
him. Civilisation must be judged and prized, not by the amount of power
it has developed, but by how much it has evolved and given expression
to, by its laws and institutions, the love of humanity.
--Rabindranath Tagore
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore>
The 2002 Pacific typhoon season, covering the Pacific north of the
equator and west of the International Date Line, was very active, with
many tropical cyclones affecting the Philippines, Japan, and China,
especially from July to October. Overall, there were 37 tropical
depressions declared officially or unofficially, of which 26 became
named storms, including 15 typhoons (hurricanes). The season began
early: Tapah developed on January 10 east of the Philippines. Two months
later, Typhoon Mitag became the first recorded super typhoon in March.
In June, Typhoon Chataan dropped heavy rainfall in the Federated States
of Micronesia, killing 48 people and becoming the deadliest natural
disaster in the state of Chuuk. Chataan later left heavy damage in Guam
before striking Japan. In August, Typhoon Rusa became the deadliest
typhoon in South Korea in 43 years, causing 238 deaths and $4.2 billion
in damage. Typhoon Higos (pictured) in October was the third-strongest
typhoon to strike Tokyo since World War II. Typhoon Pongsona, the last
of the season, became one of the costliest storms ($700 million) on
record in Guam; it dissipated on December 11.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Pacific_typhoon_season>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
English poet Christopher Smart was admitted into St Luke's
Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to
mental asylums.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Smart%27s_asylum_confinement>
1882:
U.S. President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion
Act into law, implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United
States that remained until the Magnuson Act was enacted in 1943.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act>
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed
during an attempt to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey,
killing 36 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg>
1991:
Time magazine published "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power",
an article highly critical of the Scientology organization, leading to
years of legal conflict that ended when the Church of Scientology's
petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United
States in the case was denied in 2001.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power>
2013:
Amanda Berry escaped from the Cleveland, Ohio, US, home of her
captor Ariel Castro after having been held there with two other women
for ten years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
softly softly:
(UK, idiomatic) In a very tactful, careful, or nondisruptive manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softly_softly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I see Christ as the incarnation of the piper who is calling
us. He dances that shape and pattern which is at the heart of our
reality. By Christ I mean not only Jesus; in other times and places,
other planets, there may be other Lords of the Dance. But Jesus is the
one I know of first and best. I sing of the dancing pattern in the life
and words of Jesus.
--Sydney Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter>
Kosta Pećanac (1879–1944) was a Serbian Chetnik commander during both
of the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II. Pećanac (pictured,
second from left) fought on the Serbian side in the Balkan Wars and
World War I, joining the Toplica uprising of 1917. After the war he was
an important leader of Chetnik veteran associations, known for his
strong hostility to the Yugoslav Communist Party, which made him popular
with conservatives. As president of the Chetnik Association, he
transformed the association during the 1930s into an aggressively
partisan Serb political organisation with over half a million members.
During World War II, Pećanac collaborated with the German military
administration and with their Serbian puppet government in the Territory
of the Military Commander in Serbia. In July 1942, rival Chetnik leader
Draža Mihailović arranged for the Yugoslav government-in-exile to
denounce Pećanac as a traitor, and his continuing collaboration with
the Germans ruined what remained of the reputation he had developed in
the Balkan Wars and World War I. By March 1943, the Germans saw
Pećanac's Chetniks as inefficient and unreliable, and disbanded them.
He was interned, then killed in May or June 1944 by agents of
Mihailović.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosta_Pe%C4%87anac>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
553:
The Second Council of Constantinople, considered by many
Christian churches to have been the fifth Christian Ecumenical Council,
began to discuss the topics of Nestorianism and Origenism, among others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Council_of_Constantinople>
1860:
Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, the volunteer
Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign to conquer
the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_of_the_Thousand>
1891:
New York City's Carnegie Hall (interior pictured), built by
philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert
conducted by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Hall>
1940:
World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers in Hegra
Fortress finally surrendered to a vastly superior Nazi force after a
25-day siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hegra_Fortress>
1991:
Rioting broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police
officer shot a Salvadorean man in the chest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Washington,_D.C._riot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Stakhanovite:
An extremely productive or hard-working worker, especially in the former
USSR, who may earn special rewards; a workaholic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Stakhanovite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Contrary to what the politicians and religious leaders would
like us to believe, the world won’t be made safer by creating barriers
between people. Cries of “They’re evil, let’s get ‘em” or
“The infidels must die” sound frightening, but they’re desperately
empty of argument and understanding. They’re the rallying cries of
prejudice, the call to arms of those who find it easier to hate than
admit they might be not be right about everything. Armageddon is not
around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to
believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the
future.
--Michael Palin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Palin>
Secret of Mana is a 1993 action role-playing game in the Mana series,
developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment
System. The sequel to the 1991 game Final Fantasy Adventure (Mystic
Quest in Europe), the game follows three heroes as they attempt to
prevent an empire from conquering the world from an ancient flying
warship. Unlike other role-playing games of the time, it features
pausable real-time battles. A cooperative multiplayer system allows a
second or third player to drop in and out of the game at any time.
Secret of Mana was directed and designed by Koichi Ishii, programmed
primarily by Nasir Gebelli (pictured), and produced by veteran Square
designer Hiromichi Tanaka. The game received considerable acclaim for
its brightly colored graphics, expansive plot, innovative menus, and
real-time battle system. Critics also praised the soundtrack by Hiroki
Kikuta and the customizable artificial intelligence settings for
computer-controlled allies. The original version was re-released for the
Wii's Virtual Console in 2008, an additional release for mobile phones
in Japan was produced in 2009, and an enhanced port of the game was
released for iOS in 2010 and Android in 2014.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_Mana>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1493:
Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter caetera,
establishing a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain
and Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera>
1886:
An unknown assailant threw a bomb into a crowd of police,
turning a peaceful labor rally in Chicago into the Haymarket massacre,
which resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and many
bystanders.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair>
1942:
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy engaged Allied naval
forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first fleet action in which
aircraft carriers engaged each other.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea>
1970:
The Ohio National Guard opened fire at Kent State University
students protesting the United States invasion of Cambodia, killing four
and injuring nine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings>
1990:
The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR declared the restoration
of independence of Latvia, stating that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
and the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 were illegal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Restoration_of_Independence_of_the_Rep…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
effrontery:
1. (uncountable) Insolent and shameless audacity.
2. (countable) An act of insolent and shameless audacity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effrontery>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Virtually all ideologues, of any variety, are fearful and
insecure, which is why they are drawn to ideologies that promise
prefabricated answers for all circumstances.
--Jane Jacobs
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs>
The Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus) is a primate species native
to western and central Java in Indonesia, most closely related to the
Sunda and Bengal slow lorises. The species has two forms distinguishable
by hair length and coloration, both with a prominent white diamond
pattern on the forehead. It weighs between 565 and 687 g (1.246 and
1.515 lb) and has a head-body length of about 293 mm (11.5 in). Like
all lorises it is arboreal, and moves slowly across vines and lianas
instead of jumping from tree to tree. It is usually found in primary and
secondary forests, and sometimes in bamboo and mangrove forests or
chocolate plantations. Its diet typically consists of fruit, tree gum,
lizards and eggs. It is usually seen alone or in pairs, and sleeps on
exposed branches, sometimes in groups. Its population is in sharp
decline through habitat loss and poaching, for the exotic pet trade and
sometimes for traditional medicine. Listed by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered, it is protected by
Indonesian law, but the wildlife protection laws are rarely enforced at
the local level.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javan_slow_loris>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1491:
Nkuwu Nzinga of the Kingdom of Kongo was baptised as João I
by Portuguese missionaries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_I_of_Kongo>
1855:
American adventurer William Walker and a group of mercenaries
sailed from San Francisco to conquer Nicaragua.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster)>
1915:
Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote "In
Flanders Fields", later considered one of the most notable poems written
during the First World War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields>
1945:
Second World War: German ocean liner Cap Arcona, left to float
defencelessly in the Bay of Lübeck with thousands of prisoners from
various concentration camps on board, was attacked and sunk by RAF
Typhoons.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona_(1927)>
1963:
Police in Birmingham, Alabama, used high-pressure water hoses
and dogs on civil rights protesters, bringing intense scrutiny on racial
segregation in the southern US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_campaign>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
treeness:
1. The essence of what it means to be a tree; the qualities that make a
tree what it is.
2. (genetics) The suitability of an evolutionary tree for representing the
structure of a population; the degree to which a population structure
can be accurately described as a tree of descent, with different
branches evolving independently after they split.
3. (graph theory) The condition of being a tree; acyclicity and
connectedness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/treeness>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few
things which lifts human life a little above the level of farce and
gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
--Steven Weinberg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg>
The Tower House in London's Holland Park district of Kensington and
Chelsea is a late Victorian townhouse, built between 1875 and 1881 by
the architect and designer William Burges as his personal residence.
Designed in the French Gothic Revival style, it was described by the
architectural historian J. Mordaunt Crook as "the most complete example
of a medieval secular interior produced by the Gothic Revival, and the
last". The exterior and the interior echo elements of Burges's earlier
work. The house was built of red brick, with a distinctive cylindrical
tower and conical roof, by the Ashby Brothers, with interior decoration
by members of Burges's long-standing team of craftsmen including Thomas
Nicholls and Henry Stacy Marks. The house retains most of its internal
structural decoration, but much of the furniture, fittings and contents
that Burges designed have been dispersed. Many items, including the
Great Bookcase, the Zodiac Settle, the Golden Bed and the Red Bed, are
now in institutions such as The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum and the
Victoria and Albert Museum. It was designated a Grade I listed building
in 1949.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_House>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
880:
The Nea Ekklesia church in Constantinople was consecrated, and
went on to set the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox
churches.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nea_Ekklesia>
1753:
Carl Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum, which, with his
earlier work Systema Naturae, is considered the beginning of modern
botanical nomenclature.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus>
1865:
Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina signed a treaty creating an
alliance against Paraguay in the War of the Triple Alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_the_Triple_Alliance>
1941:
Citizen Kane, a widely acclaimed film by actor and director
Orson Welles, premiered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane>
1985:
Labor groups in the Philippines established the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan, a political coalition and communist front, in order
to challenge the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagong_Alyansang_Makabayan>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tumpline:
A strap used to carry objects tied to its ends by placing the broadened
or cushioned middle of the strap over the head just behind the forehead.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tumpline>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is
to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what
I called "guessing what was at the other side of the hill."
--Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington>