Balch Creek is a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) tributary of the Willamette River in
the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the crest of the Tualatin
Mountains, the creek flows generally east down a canyon and through
Forest Park, a large municipal park in Portland. It then enters a pipe
and remains underground until reaching the river. Danford Balch, after
whom the creek is named, settled a land claim along the creek in the
19th century, and was the first person legally hanged in Oregon. Basalt,
mostly covered by silt in the uplands and sediment in the lowlands,
underlies the Balch Creek watershed, which includes the Audubon Society
of Portland nature sanctuary. Mixed conifer forest with a well-developed
understory of shrubs and flowering plants is the natural vegetation.
Sixty-two species of mammals and more than 112 species of birds use
Forest Park. A small population of coastal cutthroat trout resides in
the stream, which in 2005 was the only major water body in Portland that
met state standards for bacteria, temperature, and dissolved oxygen.
Although nature reserves cover much of the upper and middle parts of the
watershed, industrial sites dominate the lower part.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balch_Creek>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
337:
After disposing of all relatives who possibly held a claim to
the throne, Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans jointly became
Roman emperors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constans>
1488:
Anne became Duchess of Brittany, a central figure in the
struggle for influence that led to the union of Brittany and France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Brittany>
1739:
The Stono Rebellion, at the time the largest slave rebellion in
the Thirteen Colonies of British America, erupted near Charleston, South
Carolina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stono_Rebellion>
1965:
Hurricane Betsy made its second landfall near New Orleans,
Louisiana, US, leaving 76 dead and becoming the first hurricane to cause
over $1 billion (unadjusted) in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Betsy>
1990:
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lankan Army massacred at least
184 Tamil refugees in the Batticaloa District.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Batticaloa_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
huwasi:
(Hittite mythology) A sacred stone treated as a deity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/huwasi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are many evils in this country. The only remedy for every
one of them is freedom for the nation.
--Kalki Krishnamurthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kalki_Krishnamurthy>
Madonna in the Church is a small oil panel painting by the Early
Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck. Probably created c. 1438–40, it
shows the Virgin Mary in a Gothic cathedral holding the Child Jesus. She
is presented as Queen of Heaven, wearing a jewel-studded crown and
cradling a playful child who grips the hem of her dress. Light pours
through the windows, illuminating the interior and culminating in two
pools near her feet. Tracery at the rear of the church nave contains
wooden carvings depicting episodes from her life. The work evidences the
new approach and techniques applied to 15th-century oil painting but is
still influenced by medieval, monumental Byzantine depictions of the
Madonna; she is unrealistically large compared to her surroundings. Most
art historians believe the panel began as the left wing of a since-
dismantled diptych; its opposite wing was most likely a votive portrait.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_in_the_Church>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
French Revolutionary Wars: The French defeated Austrian forces
in Bassano, Venetia, present-day Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bassano>
1831:
The Russian Empire brought the Polish November Uprising to an
end when its troops captured Warsaw after a two-day assault.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_(1831)>
1935:
US Senator Huey Long was fatally shot in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long>
1941:
World War II: German forces severed the last land connection to
Leningrad, beginning a 28-month siege that would result in the deaths of
over 1 million of the city's civilians from starvation, making it one of
the most lethal battles in world history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad>
1966:
Queen Elizabeth II opened the Severn Bridge, hailing it as the
dawn of a new economic era for South Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Bridge>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
freakish:
1. Resembling a freak.
2. Strange, unusual, abnormal or bizarre.
3. Capricious, unpredictable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/freakish>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You're sure There's a cure. And you have finally found it. You
think One drink Will shrink you 'til you're underground And living down.
But it's not going to stop. It's not going to stop. It's not going to
stop 'Til you wise up.
--Magnolia
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Magnolia_(film)>
Caesar Hull, DFC (1914–1940) and Paterson Hughes, DFC (1917–1940)
were Royal Air Force (RAF) flying aces of the Second World War. They
were killed in action in the Battle of Britain on the same day, 7
September 1940. Raised in Southern Rhodesia, South Africa and Swaziland,
Hull joined No. 43 Squadron in Sussex, England in 1935, and took part in
the fighting for Narvik during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940. Hull was
the RAF's first Gloster Gladiator ace and the most successful RAF pilot
of the Norwegian Campaign. He later saw action as a Hawker Hurricane
pilot during the Battle of Britain, in which he was killed while diving
to the aid of an RAF comrade. Hughes was born and raised in Australia
and took a commission with the RAF in 1937. Posted to No. 234 Squadron
following the outbreak of war, he flew Supermarine Spitfires and was
credited with seventeen victories during the Battle of Britain. His
tally made him the highest-scoring Australian of the battle, and among
the three highest-scoring Australians of the war. Hughes is generally
thought to have died after his Spitfire was struck by flying debris from
a German bomber that he had just shot down.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paterson_Clarence_Hughes>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1571:
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was arrested for his
involvement in a plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and replace her
with Mary, Queen of Scots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridolfi_plot>
1652:
Chinese peasants on Formosa (Taiwan) began a rebellion against
Dutch rule before being suppressed four days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Huaiyi_Rebellion>
1778:
American Revolutionary War: France invaded the island of
Dominica and captured the British fort there before the latter even knew
that France had entered the war as an ally of the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica>
1940:
Second World War: The German Luftwaffe changed their strategy
in the Battle of Britain and began bombing London and other British
cities and towns for over 50 consecutive nights.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz>
1999:
Three weeks after an earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, a
major earthquake struck Athens, causing Greece and Turkey to initiate
"earthquake diplomacy".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek%E2%80%93Turkish_earthquake_diplomacy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
interstice:
1. A small opening or space between objects, especially adjacent objects or
objects set closely together, as between cords in a rope or components
of a multiconductor electrical cable or between atoms in a crystal.
2. (figuratively) A fragment of space.
3. An interval of time required by the Roman Catholic Church between the
attainment of different degrees of an order.
4. By extension, a small interval of time free to be spent on activities
other than one's primary goal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interstice>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Still falls the Rain — Dark as the world of man, black as our
loss — Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails Upon the Cross.
--Edith Sitwell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell>
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), often called
simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who
fought for the United States in the American Revolutionary War. In 1775,
he became convinced that the American cause was noble. In the United
States, he was made a major general. He was wounded during the Battle of
Brandywine and served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In
1781, troops in Virginia under his command blocked British forces,
leading to the decisive Siege of Yorktown. Lafayette returned to France
and was elected a member of the Estates-General of 1789. After the
storming of the Bastille, he was made head of the National Guard, and
tried to steer a middle course through the French Revolution. In August
1792, the radical factions ordered his arrest. Fleeing through Belgium,
he was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in
prison. In 1824, President James Monroe invited Lafayette to the United
States, where he met a rapturous reception. During France's July
Revolution of 1830, he supported Louis-Philippe as king, but turned
against him when the monarch became autocratic.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: General Benedict Arnold led British
forces to victory in the Battle of Groton Heights.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Groton_Heights>
1930:
Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen was deposed in a
military coup by José Félix Uriburu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip%C3%B3lito_Yrigoyen>
1955:
A Turkish mob attacked ethnic Greeks in Istanbul, killing at
least 13 people and damaging more than 5,000 Greek-owned homes and
businesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_pogrom>
1995:
Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2131st
consecutive major league baseball game, breaking the 56-year old record
set by New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken,_Jr.>
2000:
The Millennium Summit, a meeting of world leaders to discuss
the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century, opened
in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Summit>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Attic:
1. Relating to Athenian culture or architecture.
2. Marked by the qualities that were characteristic of the Athenians;
classical; refined.
3. Relating to that dialect of Ancient Greek.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Attic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection
is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred
of the rights and the most indispensable of duties.
--Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette>
Tom Simpson (1937–1967) was one of Britain's most successful
professional cyclists. He began his career track cycling, specializing
in pursuit races. In this discipline he won a bronze medal at the 1956
Summer Olympics and a silver at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth
Games. In 1959 Simpson moved to France and turned professional in road
racing. In the 1962 Tour de France he became the first British rider to
wear the yellow jersey. In 1965 he became Britain's first world road
race champion. He won three Monument classic races: the 1961 Tour of
Flanders, the 1964 Milan–San Remo and the 1965 Giro di Lombardia. At
the 1967 Tour de France, he collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont
Ventoux. He was 29 years old. The post-mortem examination found that he
had mixed amphetamines and alcohol. He was known to have taken
performance-enhancing drugs during his career, when no doping controls
existed. Despite this, he is held in high esteem by many cyclists for
his character and will to win.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
917:
Liu Yan declared himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han
state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu (present-day
Guangzhou).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Yan_(emperor)>
1697:
War of the Grand Alliance: A French warship captured York
Factory, a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in present-day
Manitoba, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson%27s_Bay>
1914:
World War I: The First Battle of the Marne began with French
forces engaging the advancing German army at the Marne River near Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne>
1945:
Cold War: Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada
with over 100 documents on Soviet espionage activities and sleeper
agents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko>
1975:
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a devotee of Charles Manson,
attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynette_Fromme>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
thebacon:
Dihydrocodeinone enol acetate, a semisynthetic opioid that is similar to
hydrocodone and manufactured from thebaine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thebacon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before we can build a stable civilization worthy of humanity as a
whole, it is necessary that each historical civilization should become
conscious of its limitations and it's unworthiness to become the ideal
civilization of the world.
--Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan>
A hemmema was a type of warship built for the Swedish archipelago fleet
and the Russian Baltic Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
It was designed by Swedish naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman in
collaboration with Augustin Ehrensvärd, commander of the archipelago
fleet. The hemmema was a specialized vessel for use in the shallow
waters and narrow passages that surround the thousands of islands and
islets extending from the Swedish capital of Stockholm into the Gulf of
Finland. It replaced the galley as a coastal warship since it had better
crew accommodations, was more seaworthy and heavily outgunned even the
largest galleys. It could be propelled by either sails or oars but was
still smaller and more maneuverable than most sailing warships, which
made it suitable for operations in the confined waters. The 12 hemmemas
that were built served on both sides of the Russo-Swedish War of
1788–90 and the Finnish War of 1808–09.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemmema>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
476:
Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna, the capital of the
Western Roman Empire, and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoacer>
1781:
Los Angeles (downtown pictured) was founded as El Pueblo de
Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula by 44 Spanish
settlers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_de_Los_%C3%81ngeles>
1843:
Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies married Pedro II of Brazil
at a state ceremony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Cristina_of_the_Two_Sicilies>
1912:
The Albanian Revolt of 1912 came to an end when the Ottoman
government agreed to meet the rebels' demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Revolt_of_1912>
1998:
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in Menlo Park,
California, to promote the web search engine that they developed as
Stanford University students.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lineament:
1. Any distinctive shape or line, etc.
2. A distinctive feature that characterizes something, especially the parts
of the face of an individual.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lineament>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't
know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry
in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their
sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and
the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know — all
mystics — Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their
theology, no matter what their religion — are unanimous on one thing:
that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well.
Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to
see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a
nightmare.
--Anthony de Mello
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_de_Mello>
Hurricane Elena was an unpredictable and damaging tropical cyclone that
affected the United States Gulf Coast in late August and early September
1985. Threatening popular tourist destinations during Labor Day weekend,
Elena repeatedly defied forecasts, triggering an unprecedented series of
evacuations; many residents and tourists were forced to leave twice in a
matter of days. Elena's slow movement off western Florida resulted in
severe beach erosion and damage to coastal buildings, roads, and
seawalls. The hurricane devastated the Apalachicola Bay shellfish
industry, killing off vast oyster beds and leaving thousands of workers
unemployed. Farther west, Dauphin Island in Alabama endured wind gusts
as high as 130 mph (210 km/h) and a significant storm surge. In
Mississippi, over 13,000 homes were damaged and 200 were entirely
destroyed. Overall, nine people died as a result of the hurricane: three
in Florida, two in Louisiana, one in Arkansas, two in Texas from rip
currents, and one in a maritime accident. Damage totaled about $1.3
billion, and power outages from the storm affected 550,000 homes and
businesses.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Elena>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
590:
Gregory I became pope, the first one to come from a monastic
background.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I>
1651:
English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the
Battle of Worcester, the final battle of the Third English Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Worcester>
1901:
The National Flag of Australia, a Blue Ensign defaced with the
Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross, flew for the first time atop
the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Australia>
1925:
The USS Shenandoah, the U.S. Navy's first rigid airship, was
torn apart in a squall line over Ohio (wreckage pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shenandoah_(ZR-1)>
1941:
The Holocaust: SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch first used
the pesticide Zyklon B to execute Soviet POWs en masse at Auschwitz;
eventually it was used to kill about 1.2 million people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyklon_B>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spieler:
1. A person who speaks fluently and glibly.
2. Hence, a person who loudly solicits crowds of customers; a barker.
3. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) A swindler, a gambler.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spieler>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It cannot for a moment be doubted that an art work to be alive,
to awaken us to its life, to inspire us sooner or later with its
purpose, must indeed be animate with a soul, must have been breathed
upon by the spirit and must breathe in turn that spirit. It must stand
for the actual, vital first-hand experiences of the one who made it, and
must represent his deep-down impression not only of physical nature but
more especially and necessarily his understanding of the out-working of
that Great Spirit which makes nature so intelligible to us that it
ceases to be a phantasm and becomes a sweet, a superb, a convincing
Reality.
--Louis Sullivan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan>
JC's Girls is an Evangelical Christian women's organization in the
United States whose members preach the gospel to female workers in the
sex industry. The group does not focus upon conversion but rather on
communicating its message that Christians exist who are not judging
female sex workers and are willing to accept them. Now based at The Rock
Church in San Diego, the organization was founded in 2005 at Sandals
Church in Riverside, California by Heather Veitch (pictured), a stripper
for four years before becoming a Christian and leaving the sex industry
in 1999. Terry Barone, spokesman of the California Southern Baptist
Convention, said that JC's Girls members "are doing what Jesus
did ... He ministered to prostitutes and tax collectors." Criticism of
the organization has focused on the way that members dress and the fact
that they do not explicitly encourage women in the sex industry to quit.
Philip Sherwell of the Calgary Herald called the evangelism of JC's
Girls "America's most unusual Christian outreach operation".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JC%27s_Girls>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
47 BC:
Caesarion, possibly the son of Julius Caesar, became the last
king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, ruling jointly with his mother
Cleopatra.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarion>
1807:
The British Royal Navy began their bombardment of Copenhagen to
capture the Dano-Norwegian navy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_(1807)>
1885:
White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, US, attacked Chinese
immigrants, killing at least 28 Chinese miners and causing approximately
US$150,000 in property damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Springs_massacre>
1945:
On the deck of the United States Navy battleship Missouri in
Tokyo Bay, representatives from the Empire of Japan and several Allied
Powers signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, formally ending
World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Instrument_of_Surrender>
1990:
Transnistria unilaterally declared its independence from what
was then the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union, but it remains only a
partially recognised state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
concentre:
1. (intransitive, rare) To come together at a common centre.
2. (transitive, rare) To bring together at a common centre.
3. (transitive, rare) To condense, to concentrate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/concentre>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
More is given to us than to any people at any time before; and,
therefore, more is required of us. We have made, and still are making,
enormous advances on material lines. It is necessary that we
commensurately advance on moral lines. Civilization, as it progresses,
requires a higher conscience, a keener sense of justice, a warmer
brotherhood, a wider, loftier, truer public spirit. Falling these,
civilization must pass into destruction. It cannot be maintained on the
ethics of savagery.
--Henry George
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_George>
Acacia pycnantha, commonly known as the golden wattle, is a tree of the
family Fabaceae native to southeastern Australia. It grows to a height
of 8 m (25 ft) and has sickle-shaped phyllodes (flattened leaf stalks)
instead of true leaves. The profuse fragrant, golden flowers appear in
late winter and spring, followed by long seed pods. Plants are cross-
pollinated by several species of thornbill and honeyeater, which visit
nectaries on the phyllodes and brush against flowers, transferring
pollen between them. An understorey plant in eucalyptus forest, it is
native to southern New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory,
Victoria, and southeastern South Australia. Explorer Thomas Mitchell
collected the type specimen, from which George Bentham wrote the species
description in 1842. Its bark produces more tannin than any other wattle
species, resulting in its commercial cultivation for production of this
compound. It has been widely grown as an ornamental garden plant and for
cut flower production, but has become a weed in South Africa, Tanzania,
Italy, Portugal, Sardinia, India, Indonesia, and New Zealand, as well as
Western Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales. It was made the
official floral emblem of Australia in 1988, and has been featured on
the country's postal stamps.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_pycnantha>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1715:
Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King", died after a reign of 72
years, longer than any other French or other major European monarch at
the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France>
1878:
Hired by Alexander Graham Bell, Emma Nutt became the world's
first female telephone operator.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Nutt>
1902:
The first science fiction film, titled A Trip to the Moon and
based on From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne, was released in
France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon>
1939:
Nazi Germany invaded Poland at Wieluń and Westerplatte,
starting World War II in Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland>
1969:
A bloodless coup d'état led by Muammar Gaddafi overthrew
Idris I of Libya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muammar_Gaddafi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
owlful:
(literary) Full of owls.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/owlful>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Remember we're all in this alone.
--Lily Tomlin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lily_Tomlin>