SMS Königsberg ("His Majesty's Ship Königsberg") was the lead ship of
her class of light cruisers built by the German Imperial Navy. Named for
the capital of East Prussia, she was laid down and launched in 1905 and
completed the next year. The ship was armed with a main battery of ten
10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 24.1 knots
(44.6 km/h; 27.7 mph). Königsberg served with the High Seas Fleet's
reconnaissance force, and frequently escorted Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht
on visits to foreign countries. A planned two-year deployment to German
East Africa was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. The cruiser
attempted to raid British and French commercial traffic, but only
destroyed one merchant ship during her career. In September 1914, she
surprised and sank the British protected cruiser HMS Pegasus in the
Battle of Zanzibar, then retreated into the Rufiji River to repair her
engines. British cruisers located her and set up a blockade. On 11 July
1915, two monitors got close enough to cause severe damage, and her crew
scuttled the ship.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_K%C3%B6nigsberg_(1905)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1405:
Marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages, Admiral
Zheng He's expeditionary fleet set sail towards foreign regions on the
South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_voyages>
1804:
U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former U.S.
Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a duel in Weehawken, New
Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burr%E2%80%93Hamilton_duel>
1882:
Anglo-Egyptian War: British naval forces began their
bombardment of Alexandria against Urabi forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Alexandria>
1940:
French World War I hero Philippe Pétain became Chief of State
of Vichy France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_P%C3%A9tain>
1995:
Bosnian Genocide: Bosnian Serb forces began the Srebrenica
massacre in the region of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually
killing an estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gaggle:
1. A group of geese when they are on the ground or on the water.
2. Any group or gathering of related things; bunch.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaggle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before you can be an internationalist you have first to be a
naturalist and feel the ground under you making a whole circle. It is
easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws
are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members. A
club, moreover, or a nation, has a most attractive offer to make: it
offers the right to be exclusive. There are not many of us who are
physically constituted to resist this strange delight, this nourishing
privilege. It is at the bottom of all fraternities, societies, orders.
It is at the bottom of most trouble. The planet holds out no such
inducement, The planet is everybody's. All it offers is the grass, the
sky, the water, the ineluctable dream of peace and fruition.
--E. B. White
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White>
Chelsea Bridge spans the River Thames in west London, connecting Chelsea
on the north bank to Battersea. The first bridge on the site, Victoria
Bridge, was proposed in the 1840s as part of the Battersea Park
development of marshlands on the south bank. Work on the nearby Chelsea
Embankment delayed the opening of this suspension bridge until 1857.
Although well received architecturally, as a toll bridge it was
unpopular and faced competition from the newly built Albert Bridge. It
was acquired in 1877 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, which abolished
the tolls. Victoria Bridge, narrow and structurally unsound, was renamed
Chelsea Bridge to avoid embarrassment to the Royal Family if it
collapsed. After population growth and the introduction of the
automobile, the bridge was demolished, and replaced in 1937 by the
current structure, the first self-anchored suspension bridge in Britain.
During the early 1950s it became popular with motorcyclists, who staged
regular races across it. The bridge is floodlit from below at night,
when the towers and cables are illuminated by 936 feet (285 m) of
light-emitting diodes. In 2008 it achieved Grade II listed status.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Bridge>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1460:
War of the Roses: King Henry VI of England was captured by
Yorkists at the Battle of Northampton.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Northampton_(1460)>
1800:
Lord Wellesley, Governor-General of the British Raj, founded
Fort William College in Fort William, India, to promote Bengali, Hindi
and other vernaculars of the subcontinent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_College>
1925:
Indian mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba began his silence
until his death in 1969, only communicating by means of an alphabet
board or by unique hand gestures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meher_Baba>
1941:
The Holocaust: A group of non-Jewish ethnic Poles from around
the nearby area murdered hundreds of Jewish residents of Jedwabne in
occupied Poland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedwabne_pogrom>
1962:
Telstar, the world's first active, direct relay communications
satellite, was launched by NASA aboard a Delta rocket from Cape
Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
badinage:
Playful raillery; banter.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/badinage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye
of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may
have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of
the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in
Nature. In no way can we get such an overwhelming idea of the grandeur
of Nature than when we consider, that in accordance with the law of the
conservation of energy, throughout the Infinite, the forces are in a
perfect balance, and hence the energy of a single thought may determine
the motion of a universe.
--Nikola Tesla
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla>
The corn crake (Crex crex) is a bird in the rail family. It breeds in
Europe and Asia, and migrates to Africa for the northern hemisphere's
winter. It is a medium-sized crake with buff- or grey-streaked brownish-
black upperparts, chestnut markings on the wings, and blue-grey
underparts with rust-coloured and white bars on the flanks and
undertail. The male's call is a loud krek krek, from which the
scientific name is derived. The breeding habitat is grassland,
particularly hayfields; the female builds a nest of grass leaves in a
hollow in the ground and lays 6–14 cream-coloured eggs that hatch in
19 or 20 days. The bird is in steep decline across much of its former
breeding range because modern farming practices often destroy nests
before breeding is finished. It is omnivorous but mainly feeds on
invertebrates, the occasional small frog or mammal, and some seeds.
Natural threats include feral and introduced mammals, large birds, and
various parasites and diseases. Although numbers have declined steeply
in western Europe, the bird is classed as a species of least concern
because of its huge range and large populations in Russia, Kazakhstan
and western China.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_crake>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
869:
An earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck the area around
Sendai, Japan, leaving sand deposits up to 4 km (2.5 mi) inland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/869_Sanriku_earthquake>
1572:
Nineteen Catholic friars and clerics were hanged in Gorkum
during the 16th-century religious wars in the Low Countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Gorkum>
1790:
Russo-Swedish War: During the Second Battle of Svensksund in
the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captured one third of the Russian
fleet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svensksund>
1900:
Queen Victoria gave her Royal Assent to an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, ratifying the Constitution of
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Australia>
1922:
Johnny Weissmuller swam the 100-meter freestyle in 58.6
seconds, breaking a world swimming record and the "minute barrier."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Weissmuller>
1995:
Sri Lankan Civil War: After having advised civilians to take
shelter in places of worship, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a church in
Navaly, killing at least 125 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaly_church_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
penitent:
1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant;
contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on
amendment of life.
2. Doing penance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/penitent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Verily God is able to convert light into fire whenever
He pleaseth; surely He is potent over all things. And were He to declare
a person whom ye regard alien to the truth as being akin thereto, err
not by questioning His decision in your fancies, for He Who is the
Sovereign Truth createth things through the power of His behest. Verily
God transmuteth fire into light as He willeth, and indeed potent is He
over all things.
--The Báb
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B%C3%A1b>
Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of carbon-bearing
material by measuring its radiocarbon, the radioactive isotope carbon-14
(with six protons and eight neutrons). Invented by Willard Libby in the
late 1940s, the method soon became a standard tool for archaeologists.
Radiocarbon is constantly created in the atmosphere, when cosmic rays
create free neutrons that hit nitrogen. Plants take in carbon, including
radiocarbon, through photosynthesis, and after an animal or plant dies,
it stops exchanging carbon with its environment. Half of the radiocarbon
decays every 5,730 years; the oldest dates that can be reliably measured
by radiocarbon dating are around 50,000 years ago. Atmospheric
radiocarbon was reduced starting in the late 19th century by fossil
fuels, which contain little detectable radiocarbon, but nuclear weapons
testing reversed that trend, almost doubling it by 1963. Accelerator
mass spectrometry has become the method of choice for radiocarbon
dating; it can be used with samples as small as plant grains. Libby
received the Nobel Prize for his work in 1960.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1663:
King Charles II of England granted John Clarke the Rhode Island
Royal Charter, described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of
human liberty ever constructed."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_Royal_Charter>
1709:
Great Northern War: Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII of
Sweden in Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in
Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava>
1808:
Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter
intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the
Peninsular War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne_Statute>
1947:
After various news agencies reported the capture of a "flying
disc" by U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, the
military stated that what was actually recovered was debris from an
experimental high-altitude surveillance weather balloon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident>
2011:
Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched in STS-135, the final
mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-135>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maw:
1. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the
mouth and jaws of a ravenous creature.
2. Any great, insatiable or perilous opening.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maw>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Bring me your children hither. … Unto this twain, man-child
and womanchild, I give the passion of this element; This seed of
longing, substance of this love; This power, this purity, this
annihilation. Let their hands light the altar of the world. 'T is yours
forever. I have brought it home!
--William Vaughn Moody
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Vaughn_Moody>
Ringo Starr (born 1940) is an English drummer, singer, songwriter, and
actor best known as the drummer for the Beatles. As a child he was twice
afflicted by life-threatening illnesses requiring prolonged
hospitalisations. He cofounded his first band in 1957, the Eddie Clayton
Skiffle Group, and then achieved moderate success with Rory Storm and
the Hurricanes. He joined the Beatles in 1962, replacing Pete Best. He
sang lead vocals for "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Yellow
Submarine". Starr played key roles in the Beatles' films and appeared in
numerous others. After the band's break-up in 1970, he released "It
Don't Come Easy", "Photograph" and "Back Off Boogaloo", followed by the
1973 top ten album Ringo. He narrated the first two seasons of the
children's television series Thomas & Friends. Since 1989, he has
successfully toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-
Starr Band. In 2011 Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest
drummer of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
as a Beatle in 1988 and for his solo career in 2015.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringo_Starr>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was declared
innocent of heresy in a posthumous retrial.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrial_of_Joan_of_Arc>
1834:
In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists
began, fueled by rumors that they were encouraging miscegenation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abolitionist_riots_(1834)>
1915:
Sinhalese army officer Henry Pedris was wrongly executed by
British authorities for allegedly inciting race riots, hastening the Sri
Lankan independence movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Pedris>
1994:
Troops from the former North Yemen captured Aden, ending the
Yemeni civil war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemeni_Civil_War_(1994)>
2005:
Suicide bombers killed 52 people in a series of four explosions
on London's public transport system (emergency responders pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanguinary:
1. Attended with bloodshed.
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There was so much to grok, so little to grok from.
--Stranger in a Strange Land
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land>
Sinistar: Unleashed is a 1999 action space shooter video game for
Microsoft Windows. It was designed by Marc Michalik and Walter Wright
and developed at GameFX, a small studio composed of former members of
Looking Glass Studios. Originally titled Out of the Void, the project at
first had no relationship to Sinistar, which was released by Williams in
1982. After licensing the franchise from Midway Games, GameFX developed
the game as a sequel. The player's goal in both installments is to use
starships, weapons and power-ups to destroy the Sinistar, a large bio-
mechanical machine. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel has full three-
dimensional graphics and gameplay. Sinistar: Unleashed got a mixed
reception when released: some critics lauded its graphics and new
features, and several journalists felt that it stayed true to the feel
of the original game, but other critics faulted the boss characters and
repetitiveness of the gameplay.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinistar:_Unleashed>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1560:
Scotland and England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh to formally
conclude the Siege of Leith and replace the Scottish–French Auld
Alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Edinburgh>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: American troops at Fort Ticonderoga
in New York retreated from the advancing British forces, causing an
uproar in the American public since the fort was widely believed to be
virtually impregnable.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Ticonderoga_(1777)>
1940:
The Story Bridge in Brisbane, the longest cantilever bridge in
Australia, was opened by Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, Governor of Queensland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_Bridge>
1997:
The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of
unrest began in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_nationalist_riots_in_Northern_Ireland>
2006:
Nathu La, a mountain pass in the Himalayas connecting India and
China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after more
than 40 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathu_La>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Higgs boson:
(physics) A hypothetical elementary particle predicted by the Standard
Model; a boson with zero spin, it is thought to give mass to other
particles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Higgs_boson>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
With the ever-growing impact of science on our lives, religion
and spirituality have a greater role to play by reminding us of our
humanity. There is no contradiction between the two. Each gives us
valuable insights into the other. Both science and the teachings of the
Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things. This
understanding is crucial if we are to take positive and decisive action
on the pressing global concern with the environment. I believe all
religions pursue the same goals, that of cultivating human goodness and
bringing happiness to all human beings. Though the means might appear
different the ends are the same.
--Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso,_14th_Dalai_Lama>
Unas was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the
Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He succeeded Djedkare
Isesi, who might have been his father, and reigned for 15 to 30 years in
the mid 24th century BC. During this time Egypt maintained trade
relations with the Levantine coast and Nubia, and may have launched a
military campaign in southern Canaan. A period of declining royal power
and decentralization of administrative functions continued under him,
ultimately contributing to the collapse of the Old Kingdom some 200
years later. Unas built a pyramid in Saqqara, the smallest of the royal
pyramids completed during the Old Kingdom. The accompanying mortuary
complex with its high and valley temples linked by a 750 m (2,460 ft)
causeway was lavishly decorated with painted reliefs, whose quality and
variety surpass the usual royal iconography. His burial chambers were
the first with the Pyramid Texts carved and painted on the walls, meant
to help the king reach the afterlife by identifying him with Ra and
Osiris.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1687:
The Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac
Newton was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of
universal gravitation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathemat…>
1865:
Royal Assent was given to an Act of Parliament allowing the
Talyllyn Railway to carry passengers by steam haulage – the first
narrow gauge railway in Britain to do so from the start.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talyllyn_Railway>
1946:
Named after Bikini Atoll, the site of the nuclear weapons test
Operation Crossroads in the Marshall Islands, the modern bikini was
introduced at a fashion show in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini>
1980:
Swedish tennis player Björn Borg won his fifth Wimbledon final
and became the first male player to win the championships five times in
a row.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Borg>
2009:
A series of violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, the capital
city of Xinjiang in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gruntled:
(humorous) Satisfied.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruntled>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful
with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which
always become ugly with time.
--Jean Cocteau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau>
The United States Bicentennial coins are commemorative versions of the
Washington quarter, Kennedy half dollar and Eisenhower dollar
(pictured). They bear the double date 1776–1976, though some were
struck in 1975 as well as 1976. The US Mint had opposed issuing
commemorative coins since the 1950s, but beginning in 1971, members of
Congress introduced bills authorizing coins to honor the Bicentennial.
New legislation required the temporary redesign of the reverse of the
quarter, half dollar and dollar; a nationwide competition yielded
designs of a Colonial drummer for the quarter, Independence Hall for the
half dollar, and the Liberty Bell superimposed against the moon for the
dollar. The coins that circulated were in copper nickel, and so many
were struck that they remain common today. Congress also mandated that
45,000,000 part-silver pieces be available for collectors; the Mint sold
over half before withdrawing them from sale in 1986 and melting the
remainder.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bicentennial_coinage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1054:
Chinese astronomers recorded the sudden appearance of a "guest
star", which was in actuality the supernova that created the Crab
Nebula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula>
1862:
In a rowing boat on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow,
author Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that
would eventually form the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
1945:
The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of
its own crewmen, killing more than 300 and stranding the rest in shark-
infested waters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cruiser_Bahia>
1965:
The first Annual Reminder, a series of early pickets organized
by homophile organizations, one of the earliest LGBT demonstrations in
the United States, took place at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_Reminder>
2005:
The NASA space probe Deep Impact impacted the nucleus of the
comet Tempel 1, excavating debris from its interior so that its
composition could be studied.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(spacecraft)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
auteur:
A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a
specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or
preeminent ‘author’ of their works.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/auteur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"It was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice, "when one
wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by
mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole —
and yet — and yet — it's rather curious, you know, this sort of
life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read
fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I
am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that
there ought! And when I grow up, I'll write one."
--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
Pinnipeds, including true seals, walruses, and sea lions and fur seals,
are a widely distributed and diverse clade of semiaquatic marine
mammals. There are 33 living species, and more than 50 extinct species
have been described from fossils. They have streamlined bodies and four
limbs that have evolved into flippers. Males typically mate with more
than one female, and the females raise the pups, often born in the
spring and summer months. Pinnipeds generally prefer colder waters and
spend most of their time in the water, but come ashore to mate, give
birth, molt or escape from predators such as sharks and killer whales.
Humans have hunted seals since at least the Stone Age, and commercial
sealing had a devastating effect on some species from the introduction
of firearms through the 1960s. Populations have also been reduced or
displaced by accidental trapping and marine pollution. All pinniped
species are now afforded some protections under international law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1608:
French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City>
1767:
Midshipman Robert Pitcairn sighted Pitcairn Island,
subsequently named after him, during an expeditionary voyage led by
Philip Carteret.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands>
1844:
The last known pair of great auks, the only modern species in
the genus Pinguinus, were killed in Eldey, off the coast of Iceland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_auk>
1988:
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air
Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655>
2013:
Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a
coalition to remove the President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, from power
and suspended the Egyptian constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egyptian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Panglossian:
1. (pejorative) Naively or unreasonably optimistic.
2. (pejorative) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all
possible worlds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panglossian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This is what makes time travel possible: the flux capacitor!
--Back to the Future
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future>
Air raids on Japan by the Allies in World War II caused extensive
destruction and casualties; the most commonly cited estimates are
333,000 killed and 473,000 wounded. During the first years of the
Pacific War, these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April
1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands
starting in mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and
were greatly expanded in November. The raids initially attempted to
target industrial facilities, but from March 1945 onwards were generally
directed against urban areas. Aircraft flying from aircraft carriers and
the Ryukyu Islands also frequently struck targets in Japan during 1945
in preparation for an Allied invasion planned for October. In early
August, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck and mostly
destroyed by atomic bombs. Japan's military and civil defenses were not
capable of protecting the country, and the Allied forces generally
suffered few losses. The bombing campaign was one of the main factors in
the Japanese government's decision to surrender in mid-August 1945.
Nevertheless, there has been a long-running debate over the attacks on
Japanese cities, and the decision to use atomic weapons has been
particularly controversial.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
626:
During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces
to assassinate his rival brothers, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince
Li Yuanji, in a bloody palace coup for the imperial throne of the Tang
dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident>
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the
Medusa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1937:
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan
disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a
circumnavigational flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart>
1962:
The first Walmart store, now the largest retailer in the world,
opened in Rogers, Arkansas, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart>
1997:
The Thai baht rapidly lost half of its value, marking the
beginning of the Asian financial crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geodesy:
Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation
of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar
motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional,
time‐varying space.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak
of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable.
The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing
things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of
being born.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>