The Battle of Labuan was fought between Allied and Japanese forces in
June 1945 during World War II on the island of Labuan, in preparation
for the Australian invasion of North Borneo. Following weeks of air
attacks and a short naval bombardment, the 24th Brigade landed on Labuan
on 10 June and quickly captured the island's harbour and main airfield.
The greatly outnumbered Japanese garrison was concentrated in a
fortified position, and offered little resistance to the landing. The
initial attempts to penetrate the Japanese position were not successful,
and the area was subjected to a heavy bombardment. A Japanese raiding
force attacked Allied positions on 21 June, but was defeated. Later that
day, Australian forces overwhelmed the Japanese position, and by mid-
July, Australian patrols had killed or captured the remaining Japanese
troops on the island. A total of 389 Japanese personnel were killed on
Labuan and 11 were captured; Australian casualties included 34 killed.
After securing the island, the Allies developed Labuan into a
significant base and provided assistance to thousands of civilians who
had been rendered homeless by the pre-invasion bombardment. Following
the war, a major Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery was
established on Labuan.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Labuan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the first Boat Race
(2002 race pictured) held on the Thames in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boat_Race>
1865:
Richard Wagner's revolutionary Tristan und Isolde received its
premiere in Munich.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_und_Isolde>
1925:
The United Church of Canada, the country's largest Protestant
church, held its inaugural service in Toronto's Mutual Street Arena.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Canada>
1957:
Led by John Diefenbaker, the Progressive Conservative Party won
a plurality of the seats in the Canadian House of Commons in the federal
election, bringing an end to 22 years of Liberal Party rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election,_1957>
2008:
War in Afghanistan: An airstrike by the United States resulted
in the deaths of eleven paramilitary troops of the Pakistan Army
Frontier Corps and eight Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal areas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gora_Prai_airstrike>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
white whale:
1. A cetacean, Delphinapterus leucas.
2. (figuratively) An obsession; monomania.
3. (trading cards) A printing plate, for a sports card, that is then issued
as a collectible itself.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/white_whale>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Writers are greatly respected. The intelligent public is
wonderfully patient with them, continues to read them, and endures
disappointment after disappointment, waiting to hear from art what it
does not hear from theology, philosophy, social theory, and what it
cannot hear from pure science. Out of the struggle at the center has
come an immense, painful longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller,
more coherent, more comprehensive account of what we human beings are,
who we are, and what this life is for.
--Saul Bellow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow>
Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) was a Danish musician, conductor and
violinist, widely recognized as his country's greatest composer. Brought
up by poor, musically talented parents, he attended the Royal
Conservatory in Copenhagen from 1884 through 1886, and premiered his Op
1, Suite for Strings at the age of 23. The following year, he began a
16-year stint as a second violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra under
the conductor Johan Svendsen, and later taught at the Royal Danish
Academy of Music from 1916 until his death. While his symphonies,
concertos and choral music are now internationally acclaimed, Nielsen's
career and personal life were marked by many difficulties, often
reflected in his music. The works he composed between 1897 and 1904 are
sometimes ascribed to his "psychological" period, resulting mainly from
a turbulent marriage with the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. Nielsen is
especially noted for his six symphonies, his Wind Quintet and his
concertos for violin, flute and clarinet. For many years, he appeared on
the Danish hundred-kroner banknote. The Carl Nielsen Museum in Odense
documents his life and that of his wife. Many performances of his works
are scheduled in 2015, the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
411 BC:
Wealthy Athenians overthrew the democratic government of
ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known as
"The Four Hundred".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_coup_of_411_BC>
1772:
In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American
patriots led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British schooner
Gaspee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspee_Affair>
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson
concluded his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in
the Battle of Port Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson%27s_Valley_Campaign>
1928:
Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed
their Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever
trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith>
1965:
The Viet Cong commenced combat with the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam in the Battle of Dong Xoai, one of the largest battles in the
Vietnam War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dong_Xoai>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caisson:
1. (military) A two-wheeled, horse-drawn military vehicle used to carry
ammunition.
2. (engineering) A watertight retaining structure used in the construction
of bridges.
3. (architecture) A sunken panel used as decoration for a ceiling or a
vault; a coffer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caisson>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be the poor silly ass And you'll always travel first class. Give
'em quips, give 'em fun, And they'll pay to say you're A–1. If you
become a farmer, you've the weather to buck. If become a gambler you'll
be struck with your luck. But jack you'll never lack if you can quack
like a duck. Be a clown, be a clown, be a clown.
--Cole Porter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter>
There are 24 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park along Kitchen
Creek as it flows in three steep, narrow valleys, or glens, in the U.S.
state of Pennsylvania. They range in height from 9 feet (2.7 m) to the
94-foot (29 m) Ganoga Falls (see video). The park is named for R. Bruce
Ricketts, a colonel in the American Civil War who owned over
80,000 acres (32,000 ha) in the area in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries and spared the old growth forests in the glens from
clearcutting. The park, which opened in 1944, is administered by the
state's Bureau of State Parks. Nearly all of the waterfalls are visible
from the Falls Trail built by Ricketts, which the state park rebuilt in
the 1940s and late 1990s. The trail has been called "the most
magnificent hike in the state" and one of "the top hikes in the East".
The waterfalls are on the section of Kitchen Creek that flows down the
Allegheny Front, a steep escarpment between the Allegheny Plateau to the
north and the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to the south. The waterfalls
are the result of increased flow in Kitchen Creek from glaciers
enlarging its drainage basin during the last Ice Age.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfalls_in_Ricketts_Glen_State_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
Iceland's Laki craters began an eight-month eruption,
triggering major famine and massive fluorine poisoning.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki>
1887:
German-American statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent
for his punch card tabulator.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card>
1949:
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian political novel by English
writer George Orwell about life under the fictional totalitarian
government of Oceania, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four>
1995:
Danish-Greenlandic programmer Rasmus Lerdorf released the first
version of the scripting language PHP, which is now used as the server-
side language on nearly 40% of all web sites.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP>
2009:
Two American journalists, having been arrested for illegal
entry into North Korea, were sentenced to 12 years hard labor before
being pardoned two months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_imprisonment_of_American_journalists_by_…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
oneironaut:
A person who explores dream worlds, usually associated with lucid
dreaming.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oneironaut>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Human beings betray their worst failings when they marvel to
find that a world ruler is neither foolishly indolent, presumptuous, nor
cruel.
--Marguerite Yourcenar
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marguerite_Yourcenar>
Flight Unlimited is a 1995 flight simulator video game developed and
published by Looking Glass Technologies. It allows the player to pilot
reproductions of five aircraft and to perform aerobatic stunts. A
virtual instructor teaches basic and advanced flight techniques, such as
Immelmann turns (diagram pictured) and Lomcevak tumbles. The first self-
published game released by Looking Glass, Flight Unlimited was intended
to establish the company as a major video game publisher and to compete
with the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. Project leader Seamus
Blackley, a particle physicist formerly of Fermilab, used real-time
computational fluid dynamics calculations to code a simulated atmosphere
for Flight Unlimited. Previous flight simulators had often used wind
tunnel data to determine a plane's motion, which precluded complex
maneuvers. The game was a commercial and critical success that spawned
three sequels: Flight Unlimited II (1997), Flight Unlimited III (1999)
and Jane's Attack Squadron (2002). Soon after Flight
Unlimited 's completion, Blackley was fired from Looking Glass;
he went on to design Jurassic Park: Trespasser for Dreamworks
Interactive, and later spearheaded development of the Xbox at Microsoft.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Unlimited>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1494:
Ferdinand II of Aragon and John II of Portugal signed the
Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the Americas and Africa between their
two countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tordesillas>
1788:
Citizens of Grenoble threw roof tiles onto royal soldiers, an
event sometimes credited as the beginning of the French Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tiles>
1892:
Homer Plessy, an "octoroon" from New Orleans, was arrested for
refusing to leave the "whites-only" car on a train.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Plessy>
1965:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut that a
Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives violated the
"right to marital privacy".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griswold_v._Connecticut>
1975:
The inaugural Cricket World Cup (trophy pictured), the premier
international championship of men's One Day International cricket, began
in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_World_Cup>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
trendite:
(slang) A person given to following trends.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trendite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As you get older, you find that often the wheat, disentangling
itself from the chaff, comes out to meet you.
--Gwendolyn Brooks
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks>
Tommy Amaker (born 1965) is the head coach of the Harvard Crimson men's
basketball team, playing in the American NCAA Division I. As point guard
for Duke under Mike Krzyzewski, he was an All-American player, earning
the first NABC Defensive Player of the Year award. He was a Duke
assistant coach for nine seasons (including for the 1990–91 and
1991–92 National Champion teams). He coached Seton Hall to postseason
tournaments in each of his four seasons there, and won the 2004 National
Invitation Tournament coaching the Michigan Wolverines. As Harvard men's
basketball coach, Amaker was the first coach to lead the Crimson to
victory over a ranked opponent. The 2010–11 team became the first
Harvard team to earn a share of the Ivy League championship, and the
2011–12 team became the first to appear in the Associated Press and
Coaches Polls. Amaker's 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 and 2014–15
teams repeated as Ivy League champions. The 2012–13 team gave Harvard
its first NCAA tournament victory, and the 2013–14 team posted a
record 27 wins.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Amaker>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1674:
Shivaji, who led a resistance to free the Maratha from the
Sultanate of Bijapur and the Mughal Empire, was crowned the first
Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji>
1882:
The Shewa kingdom made big strides towards gaining supremacy
over the Ethiopian Empire by defeating the Gojjam and gaining control of
territories south of the Gibe River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Embabo>
1894:
Colorado Governor Davis Hanson Waite ordered his state militia
to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners'
strike.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894>
1971:
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 collided with a U.S. Marine Corps
F-4B Phantom II near Duarte, California, killing all people on both
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_Airwest_Flight_706>
1985:
The remains of Josef Mengele, a Nazi physician notorious for
human experiments done on Auschwitz inmates, were discovered in Embu das
Artes, Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
enfranchise:
To grant the franchise to an entity, generally meaning to grant the
privilege of voting to a person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enfranchise>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
After having won a scepter, few are so generous as to disdain
the pleasures of ruling.
--Pierre Corneille
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Corneille>
Miniopterus griveaudi is a bat found in northern and western Madagascar
and on nearby islands, including Grande Comore and Anjouan. With a
forearm length of 35 to 38 mm (1.4 to 1.5 in), M. griveaudi is a
small Miniopterus. It is usually dark brown, but sometimes reddish, with
a virtually hairless tail membrane. The species occurs up to 480 m
(1570 ft) above sea level on Madagascar, often in karstic areas. In the
Comoros, it reaches 890 m (2920 ft) and roosts in lava tubes as well
as shallower caves. Data on reproduction is limited and suggests
individual and inter-island variation. Species of Miniopterus generally
feed on insects. Although it was first described in 1959 as a subspecies
of the mainland African M. minor and later placed with the Malagasy
M. manavi, it was given its own species name after morphological and
molecular studies from 2008 and 2009 indicated that M. manavi actually
represented five unrelated species.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniopterus_griveaudi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1305:
Raymond Bertrand de Got became Pope Clement V, succeeding Pope
Benedict XI who died one year earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_V>
1832:
The June Rebellion, an anti-monarchist uprising of students,
broke out in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Rebellion>
1883:
The Orient Express, a train line that became synonymous with
intrigue and luxury travel, began operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express>
1963:
The British Secretary of State for War John Profumo admitted he
lied to the House of Commons during enquiries about his involvement in a
sex scandal and resigned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_affair>
1989:
An anonymous demonstrator, later dubbed "Tank Man", single-
handedly stopped a column of Chinese tanks during the Tiananmen Square
protests before being dragged aside.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vulgarian:
A vulgar individual, especially one who emphasizes or is oblivious to
their vulgar qualities.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vulgarian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Pure democracy or sheer equalitarianism in religious matters is
not to be expected of our human nature. Some distinction between leaders
or founders and followers or disciples seems to be our destiny. But
there is a question of degree, or of qualification. To what extent, or
under what conditions, are some individuals, or perhaps is some unique
individual, worthy of trust in religious matters? It is in the answer to
this question that mistakes can be made.
--Charles Hartshorne
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Hartshorne>
Sōryū was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy
during the mid-1930s. The ship's aircraft were employed during the
Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s and supported the Japanese
invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940. During the first months of the
Pacific War, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of
Wake Island, the conquest of the Dutch East Indies, and the bombing of
Darwin, Australia. In the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Sōryū and
three other carriers of the First Air Fleet bombarded American forces on
Midway Atoll, and were attacked by aircraft from the island and the
carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Yorktown
crippled Sōryū and set her afire. Japanese destroyers rescued the
survivors, but she could not be salvaged and was ordered to be scuttled
to allow her attendant destroyers to be released for further operations.
She sank along with the bodies of 711 out of 1,103 officers and enlisted
men. The loss of Sōryū and three other carriers at Midway was a
crucial strategic defeat for Japan, leading to the Allies' ultimate
victory in the Pacific.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_S%C5%8Dry%C5%AB>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United
Kingdom, was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's
horse at the Epsom Derby.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1920:
The Kingdom of Hungary lost 72% of its territory and 64% of its
population with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon>
1961:
U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev unsuccessfully met in Vienna to discuss numerous issues in
the relationship between their countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_summit>
1975:
Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor
Relations Act, the first law in the United States guaranteeing
collective bargaining rights to farmworkers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Agricultural_Labor_Relations_Act>
1989:
Following the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be the Supreme Leader of
Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sexton:
A church official who looks after a church and its graveyard and may act
as a gravedigger and bell-ringer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sexton>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of
the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest
where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and
tend the grass wherever you may be.
--Robert Fulghum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
Psilocybe semilanceata is a fungus whose mushrooms, known as liberty
caps, are also called magic mushrooms for their psychedelic properties.
They are the most common of the psilocybin mushrooms, and among the most
potent. They have a distinctive conical or bell-shaped cap, up to
2.5 cm (1.0 in) wide, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top.
Yellow to brown in color and fading to a lighter color as they mature,
they feed off decaying grass roots in fields, grassy meadows, and
similar habitats, particularly in wet fields that are well-fertilized by
sheep and cattle manure. The mushroom is widely distributed in the cool
temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly
in Europe, and has been reported occasionally in India, South America,
and Australasia. The earliest reliable history of P. semilanceata
intoxication dates back to 1799 in London. In the 1960s the mushroom was
the first European species confirmed to contain psilocybin; it was later
found to contain the psychoactive compounds phenylethylamine and
baeocystin as well. The possession or sale of psilocybin mushrooms is
illegal in many countries.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybe_semilanceata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: Jack Jouett made a "midnight ride"
to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of coming British
cavalry who had been sent to capture them.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Jouett>
1839:
Qing government official Lin Zexu precipitated the First Opium
War by ordering the destruction of nearly 1.2 million kg (2.6 million
lbs) of opium in Humen, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu>
1940:
Franz Rademacher, a Nazi government official, proposed that
Madagascar should be made available for the resettlement of the Jews of
Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Plan>
1963:
Buddhist crisis: South Vietnamese Army soldiers attacked
protesting Buddhists in Huế, with liquid chemicals from tear gas
grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalised.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%E1%BA%BF_chemical_attacks>
1982:
An assassination attempt on Shlomo Argov, the Israeli
ambassador to the United Kingdom, failed; this was later used as
justification for the 1982 Lebanon War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Argov>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
guardian angel:
A spirit believed to protect and to guide a particular person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/guardian_angel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's nothing much I can tell you about this war. It's like
all wars, I suppose. The undertakers are winning it. Oh, the politicians
will talk a lot about the "glory" of it, and the old men'll talk about
the "need" of it — the soldiers, they just want to go home.
--Shenandoah
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shenandoah_(film)>
Tucana is a constellation of stars in the southern sky, named after the
toucan, a South American bird. It is one of twelve constellations
conceived in the late sixteenth century by Petrus Plancius from the
observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. It
first appeared on a 1598 celestial globe by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius
in Amsterdam and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria
of 1603. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille gave
its stars Bayer designations in 1756. Tucana is not a prominent
constellation as all of its stars are third magnitude or fainter; the
brightest is Alpha Tucanae with an apparent visual magnitude of 2.87.
Beta Tucanae is a star system with six member stars, while Kappa is a
quadruple system. Five star systems have been found to have exoplanets
to date. The constellation contains most of the Small Magellanic Cloud,
along with 47 Tucanae (pictured), one of the brightest globular clusters
in the sky. The constellations Tucana, Grus, Phoenix and Pavo are
collectively known as the "Southern Birds".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucana>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1098:
First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ended as Crusader
forces captured the city, but the Seljuk Turks would later start a
second siege of Antioch a few days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Antioch>
1848:
As part of the Pan-Slavism movement, the Prague Slavic Congress
began in Prague, the first of several times that voices from all Slav
populations of Europe were heard in one place.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Slavic_Congress,_1848>
1886:
Grover Cleveland became the only U.S. President to marry in the
White House when he wed Frances Folsom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Folsom_Cleveland_Preston>
1910:
Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, became the first man
to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rolls>
1995:
United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady was shot down by
a Bosnian Serb Army SA-6 surface-to-air missile while patrolling the
NATO no-fly zone over Bosnia in an F-16, but he was able to eject safely
and was then rescued six days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Grady>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
superannuate:
1. (transitive) To retire or put out of use due to age.
2. (intransitive) To become obsolete or antiquated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superannuate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To find beauty in ugliness is the province of the poet.
--Thomas Hardy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy>
Mind Meld is a 2001 American documentary film in which actors William
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (pictured) discuss the Star Trek science-
fiction franchise and its effects on their lives. They talk about
differences they had with Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek,
and about the strained relationships between Shatner and some of the
other cast members. It was in this film that Nimoy first publicly
revealed that he had struggled with alcoholism while he was acting in
the 1960s Star Trek television series. Mind Meld attracted some
notoriety because of an unintended sound in one scene that became a
popular subject of flatulence humor among Star Trek fans and on morning
zoo radio programs. Shatner denied being the source of this sound in
interviews. Scott Brown of Entertainment Weekly said that the only
people likely to watch the film were extreme Star Trek fans and people
interested in hearing Shatner's supposed flatulence, while Laurence
Lerman of Video Business praised the film for avoiding familiar
territory and for dealing with alcoholism, career difficulties, and
conflicts on the set of Star Trek.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Meld>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The Glorious First of June, the first and largest fleet action
of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First
French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars, was fought.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_First_of_June>
1879:
Louis Napoleon was killed in action during the Anglo-Zulu War,
sending shock waves throughout Europe, as he was the last serious hope
for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the French throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on,_Prince_Imperial>
1942:
Second World War: The crews of three Japanese Ko-hyoteki class
submarines scuttled and committed suicide after entering Sydney Harbour
and launching a failed attack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Sydney_Harbour>
1974:
An explosion at a chemical plant close to the village of
Flixborough, England, killed 28 people and seriously injured 36 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flixborough_disaster>
2009:
En route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, Air France Flight 447
crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
progeny:
1. (uncountable) Offspring or descendants.
2. (countable) Result of a creative effort.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/progeny>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I want to decide between survival and bliss And though I know
who I'm not I still don't know who I am But I know I won't keep on
playing the victim.
--Alanis Morissette
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alanis_Morissette>