Dishonored is a 2012 stealth action-adventure video game developed by
Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released
worldwide in October 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox
360. Set in the plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall, Dishonored
follows the story of Corvo Attano, who is framed for murder and forced
to become an assassin, seeking revenge on those who conspired against
him. Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, Michael Madsen, Lena
Headey, and Chloë Grace Moretz did some of the voice work. The game is
played from a first-person perspective and emphasizes player choice,
including the choice of stealth or combat to accomplish missions.
Dishonored received generally positive reviews, focusing on the
missions' individual narratives and the wide range of mission choices.
Criticism fell on the predictability of the overarching narrative and on
problems in controlling the player's character. The game won several
awards, including the 2012 Spike Video Game award for Best Action-
Adventure Game and the 2013 BAFTA Games award for Best Game.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishonored>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1055:
Theodora, the daughter of Constantine VIII and Helena, daughter
of Alypius, became Byzantine Empress.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(11th_century)>
1693:
An intensity XI earthquake, the most powerful in Italian
history, struck the island of Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake>
1787:
German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered two
Uranian moons, later named, by his son, Oberon and Titania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_(moon)>
1879:
British forces under Lord Chelmsford invaded Zululand without
authorisation from the British Government, beginning the Anglo-Zulu War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zulu_War>
1946:
Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania,
declared the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha>
1986:
The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at the time the
longest prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge in the world,
opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
adder:
1. (obsolete) A snake.
2. A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the
viper; a viper.
3. (chiefly Britain) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera. The
common European adder is the Vipera berus. The puff adders of Africa are
species of the genus Oecobius.
4. (US, Canada) Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling the
adder, such as the milk snake.
5. The sea-stickleback or adder-fish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adder>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men often oppose a thing, merely because they have had no agency
in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they
dislike. But if they have been consulted, and have happened to
disapprove, opposition then becomes, in their estimation, an
indispensable duty of self-love. They seem to think themselves bound in
honor, and by all the motives of personal infallibility, to defeat the
success of what has been resolved upon contrary to their sentiments.
--Alexander Hamilton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton>
Ursa Minor (Little Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky. It is
colloquially known as the Little Dipper because its seven brightest
stars appear to form the shape of a ladle (diagram pictured). It was one
of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy,
and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Polaris, its
brightest star, is currently less than one degree away from the north
celestial pole. Because this position stays nearly fixed as the Earth
rotates, the star has traditionally been important for navigation,
particularly by mariners. Polaris is a yellow-white supergiant and the
brightest Cepheid variable star in the night sky, ranging in apparent
magnitude from 1.97 to 2.00. Beta Ursae Minoris, also known as Kochab,
is an aging star that has swollen and cooled to become an orange giant
with an apparent magnitude of 2.08, only slightly fainter than Polaris.
The constellation also contains an isolated neutron star—Calvera—and
H1504+65, the hottest white dwarf yet discovered, with a surface
temperature of 200,000 degrees Kelvin. Planets have been detected
orbiting four of the constellation's stars, including Kochab.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
9:
The Western Han dynasty of China ended after the throne was
usurped by Wang Mang, who founded the Xin Dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty>
236:
Pope Fabian, who is said to have been chosen by the Holy Spirit
by having a dove land on his head, began his papacy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Fabian>
1645:
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and a fervent supporter
of King Charles I, was beheaded in the midst of the English Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Laud>
1901:
The first great gusher of the Texas Oil Boom was discovered in
the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont, Texas, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindletop>
1941:
Greco-Italian War: The Greek army captured the strategically
important Klisura Pass in Albania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Klisura_Pass>
1993:
The Braer Storm, the strongest extratropical cyclone ever
recorded in the North Atlantic, reached its peak intensity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braer_Storm_of_January_1993>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
constraint:
1. Something that constrains; a restriction.
2. (mathematics) A condition that a solution to an optimization problem
must satisfy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/constraint>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No obstacle has been so constant, or so difficult to overcome, as
uncertainty and confusion touching the nature of true liberty. If
hostile interests have wrought much injury, false ideas have wrought
still more; and its advance is recorded in the increase of knowledge, as
much as in the improvement of laws.
--John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton>
Falcon's Fury is a freestanding Sky Jump drop tower attraction at the
Busch Gardens Tampa amusement park in Tampa, Florida. Manufactured by
Intaride, a subsidiary of Intamin, the ride is North America's tallest
freestanding drop tower, at a maximum height of 335 feet (102 m). It is
also the first drop tower to use 90-degree tilting seats, facing riders
straight down through five seconds of free fall. They reach a speed of
60 miles per hour (100 km/h) before rotating back into a vertical
position and decelerating at about 3.5 Gs. The ride's name is meant to
suggest a falcon's ability to dive steeply at high speed to capture
prey. Due to the height of the attraction, approval from the Federal
Aviation Administration was required. Construction was delayed until
2013, and the opening date was also delayed by mechanical and technical
issues. Falcon's Fury opened to park employees in August before a soft
opening on August 16, 2014, and an official opening on September 2,
2014.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon%27s_Fury>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
475:
Basiliscus became Byzantine Emperor after Zeno was forced to
flee Constantinople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basiliscus>
1816:
Inventor Humphry Davy first tested his Davy lamp (examples
pictured), a safety lamp containing a candle for use in coal mines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_lamp>
1909:
Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the
British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole, the
furthest south anyone had ever reached at that time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthest_South>
1991:
Representatives from the United States and Iraq met at the
Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Peace_Conference_(1991)>
1996:
First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launched raids in the
city of Kizlyar, Republic of Dagestan, which turned into a massive
hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye_hostage_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
strife:
Conflict, sometimes violent, usually brief or limited in scope.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strife>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can't decide how you're going to die. Or when. What you can
decide is how you're going to live now.
--Joan Baez
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joan_Baez>
Bruce Kingsbury (1918–1942) was an Australian soldier of the Second
World War. After serving in the Middle East, he gained renown for his
actions during the Battle of Isurava, one of many battles of the Kokoda
Track campaign in New Guinea. His bravery was recognised with the
Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the
enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth
armed forces. Kingsbury was a member of the 2/14th Infantry Battalion.
During the Battle of Isurava, he was one of the few survivors of a
platoon that had been overrun by the Japanese. He immediately
volunteered to join a different platoon, which had been ordered to
counterattack. Rushing forward and firing his Bren gun from the hip, he
cleared a path through the enemy and inflicted several casualties.
Kingsbury was then seen to fall, shot by a Japanese sniper and killed
instantly. His actions, which delayed the Japanese long enough for the
Australians to fortify their positions, were instrumental in saving the
battalion headquarters. He was the first serviceman to receive the
Victoria Cross for actions in Australian territory.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Kingsbury>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1198:
Lotario de Conti was elected as Pope Innocent III; he later
worked to restore papal power in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III>
1815:
American forces led by General Andrew Jackson defeated the
British Army at the Battle of New Orleans, two weeks after the United
States and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Ghent to end the War
of 1812.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans>
1956:
Five Evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States
were killed by the Huaorani in the rainforest of Ecuador shortly after
making contact with them.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Auca>
1979:
The oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the offshore jetty of the
Whiddy Island Oil Terminal off Bantry Bay, Ireland, killing
approximately 50 people (memorial pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiddy_Island_Disaster>
1996:
An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashed into a crowded market
in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 237 on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Air_Africa_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
raze:
1. (transitive) To demolish; to level to the ground.
2. (transitive) To scrape as if with a razor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/raze>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Virtue alone is for real; all else is sham. Talent and greatness
depend on virtue, not on fortune. Only virtue is sufficient unto
herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead.
--Baltasar Gracián
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n>
Upper and Lower Table Rock are two prominent volcanic plateaus just
north of the Rogue River in Jackson County, Oregon, US. Created by a
medium-grained lava flow around seven million years ago and shaped by
erosion, they now stand about 800 feet (240 m) above the surrounding
Rogue Valley. They are jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy and the
Bureau of Land Management. The Takelma tribe of Native Americans
inhabited the Table Rocks for at least 15,000 years before being forced
into reservations during a mid-19th-century gold rush. A post office was
established nearby in 1872, an airstrip was built atop Lower Table Rock
in 1948, and an aviation beacon was constructed on Upper Table Rock in
the 1960s. These plateaus, which were not protected until the 1970s, are
home to over 70 species of animals and 340 species of plants, including
the dwarf woolly meadowfoam. They are popular hiking locations in the
Rogue Valley, with over 45,000 visitors annually.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_and_Lower_Table_Rock>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Francis, Duke of Guise, retook Calais, England's last
continental possession, for France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais>
1610:
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei made his first observation
of the four Galilean moons through his telescope: Ganymede, Callisto, Io
and Europa, although he was not able to distinguish the latter two until
the following day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(moon)>
1797:
The first official Italian tricolour was adopted by the
government of the Cispadane Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy>
1948:
Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell fatally crashed his
P-51 Mustang while in pursuit of a UFO near Fort Knox, Kentucky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantell_UFO_incident>
1979:
The Vietnam People's Army captured Phnom Penh, deposing Pol Pot
and the Khmer Rouge, which marked the end of large-scale fighting in the
Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War>
2010:
In Nag Hammadi, Egypt, Muslim gunmen opened fire on a crowd of
Coptic Christians leaving church after celebrating a Christmas Mass,
killing eight of them as well as one Muslim bystander.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spade:
1. To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting.
2. (videogaming) To collect and statistically analyze data, for the purpose
of determining the underlying random number generator structure or
numeric formula.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spade>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We now stand so aloof from nature that we think we are God. This
has always been a dangerous supposition.
--Gerald Durrell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell>
Freedom of Worship is the second of the Four Freedoms oil paintings
produced by the American artist Norman Rockwell. They represent the
freedoms outlined by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his State
of the Union Address on January 6, 1941, including the "freedom of every
person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world." Freedom
of Worship shows the profiles of eight people of different faiths in a
moment of prayer. Rockwell considered this painting and Freedom of
Speech more successful than the other two paintings in the series,
Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. Freedom of Worship appeared on
February 27, 1943, in The Saturday Evening Post alongside an essay on
religious freedom by philosopher Will Durant. All four images were
widely distributed on posters in support of the War Bond drive. Text
supporting the four freedoms was later incorporated into the Allies'
World War II policy statement, the Atlantic Charter, and the charter of
the United Nations.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Worship_(painting)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1066:
Harold Godwinson, widely regarded as the last Anglo-Saxon king
before the Norman conquest, was crowned King of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson>
1322:
Having defeated his half-brother Stephen Constantine in battle,
Stefan Dečanski (fresco pictured) was crowned King of Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_De%C4%8Danski>
1839:
The most damaging storm in 300 years swept across Ireland, with
100-knot winds damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in
Dublin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Big_Wind>
1912:
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presented his theory
of continental drift.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift>
1993:
Indian Border Security Force (BSF) units killed 55 Kashmiri
civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants
ambushed a BSF patrol.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopore_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
myrrhic:
Of, related to, or derived from myrrh.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/myrrhic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It must be obvious... that there is a contradiction in wanting to
be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and
fluidity.
--Alan Watts
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Watts>
Stella Gibbons (1902–1989) was an English author, journalist, and
poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, Cold Comfort
Farm (1932), which won the Prix Femina Étranger award. After an
indifferent school career Gibbons trained as a journalist, and worked as
a reporter and features writer. Her first book (1930) was a collection
of poems, and throughout her life she considered herself primarily a
poet rather than a novelist. After Cold Comfort Farm, a satire on the
genre of rural-themed novels popular in the late 1920s, most of
Gibbons's novels were based in the middle-class suburban world with
which she was familiar. Critics have compared her style to Jane
Austen's. Although she was active as a writer for half a century, none
of her later 22 novels or other literary works achieved the same popular
success, nor have they been accepted into the canon of English
literature, perhaps because of her detachment from the literary world
and her tendency to mock it. Much of her work was long out of print
before a modest revival in the 21st century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Gibbons>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
Louis XV of France survived an assassination attempt by Robert-
François Damiens, who later became the last person to be executed in
the country by drawing and quartering.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Damiens>
1919:
The German Workers' Party, the forerunner to the Nazi Party,
was founded by Anton Drexler.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Workers%27_Party>
1941:
Second World War: Australian and British troops defeated
Italian forces in Bardia, Libya, the first battle of the war in which an
Australian Army formation took part.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bardia>
1976:
The Troubles: In response to the killings of six Catholics the
night before, the South Armagh Republican Action Force killed ten
Protestants in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsmill_massacre>
1991:
The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu was evacuated
by helicopter airlift days after violence enveloped Mogadishu during the
Somali Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eastern_Exit>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Twelfth Night:
A Christian festival marking the coming of Epiphany and concluding the
Twelve Days of Christmas, traditionally falling on the evening of
January 5 (i.e., on the eve of Twelfth Day, January 6), but also
sometimes defined as falling on the evening of January 6 (i.e., on the
evening of Twelfth Day itself).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an
honest coward like everybody else. If it had been possible he would have
settled the matter otherwise, and without bloodshed. He doesn't boast of
his own death or of others'. But he does not repent. He suffers and
keeps his mouth shut; if anything, others then exploit him, making him a
myth, while he, the man worthy of esteem, was only a poor creature who
reacted with dignity and courage in an event bigger than he was.
--Umberto Eco
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Umberto_Eco>
James Hogun (died January 4, 1781) was one of five generals from North
Carolina to serve with the Continental Army in the American
Revolutionary War. Initially a major in the 7th North Carolina Regiment,
Hogun advanced quickly in rank to command the unit in the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown in 1777. After the Continental Congress
promoted him to brigadier general, he commanded North Carolina's line
brigade during the Siege of Charleston in the spring of 1780, which
ended in the surrender of all but one of his regiments of regular
infantry. He was the highest-ranking officer from North Carolina to be
captured and imprisoned after the surrender of Charleston. Despite being
offered the opportunity to leave internment under a parole that was
generally extended to other captured Continental officers, he remained
in a British prisoner-of-war camp, in part to hinder British efforts to
enlist captured Continental soldiers to serve in the British West
Indies. Hogan and the other officers in the camp at Haddrel's Point, a
peninsula in Charleston's harbor, were subjected to harsh treatment, and
he soon became ill and died in prison.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hogun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1698:
Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, the main residence of the
English monarchs dating from 1530, was destroyed by fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall>
1853:
After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the
American South, Solomon Northup regained his freedom; his memoir Twelve
Years a Slave later became a national bestseller.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Northup>
1951:
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul>
1970:
A magnitude 7.5 Msd earthquake struck Tonghai County, China,
killing at least 15,000 people and spurring the creation of the nation's
largest earthquake monitoring system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Tonghai_earthquake>
2010:
The Burj Khalifa skyscraper, the world's tallest structure,
officially opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
long pig:
Human flesh used by cannibals of the Pacific as meat.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/long_pig>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If your language lacks poetry and paradox, it’s unequal to the
task of accounting for actuality. Otherwise anything radically new is
literally unspeakable.
--Bob Black
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Black>
Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet! (released internationally as They Say I'm a
Monkey!) is a 2008 Indonesian film directed by Djenar Maesa Ayu.
Starring Titi Rajo Bintang, Henidar Amroe, and Ray Sahetapi, it tells
the life story of Adjeng, who was sexually abused as a child by her
mother's boyfriend. Filmed over 18 days after several years of
development, the film adapted two of Ayu's short stories from her debut
anthology of the same name. Owing to its low budget of Rp 620 million,
its cast and crew were mostly amateurs and students, although several
established actors appeared at reduced rates. Mereka Bilang, Saya
Monyet! has been described as "anti-Sjuman" because of the disparity
between Ayu's more personal directing style and the social realism of
her father, Sjumandjaja. Although commercially unsuccessful, the film
was well received by critics. It won five national-level awards and was
screened at several international film festivals. Two Indonesian
publications, Tempo and The Jakarta Post, selected it as among the best
films of 2008.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mereka_Bilang,_Saya_Monyet!>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1749:
The first issue of Berlingske, Denmark's oldest continually
operating newspaper, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlingske>
1848:
Joseph Jenkins Roberts began his term as the first President of
Liberia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jenkins_Roberts>
1911:
A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroyed the city of Almaty in Russian
Turkestan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_Kebin_earthquake>
1946:
Canadian-American jockey George Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit to a
famous victory over War Admiral in 1938, was fatally injured when he
fell from his horse during a race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Woolf>
1996:
The Motorola StarTAC, the first clamshell mobile phone, was
released and went on to become one of the first mobile phones to gain
widespread consumer adoption.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_StarTAC>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crafternoon:
1. An afternoon spent crafting.
2. An afternoon gathering dedicated to crafts, or other hobby activities.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crafternoon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark
places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands
love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
--The Fellowship of the Ring
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring>
The rufous-crowned sparrow (Aimophila ruficeps) is a smallish American
sparrow. Isolated populations of this perching bird can be found across
the Southwestern United States and much of the interior of Mexico.
Twelve subspecies are generally recognized (A. r. boucardi pictured),
though up to eighteen have been suggested. The bird has a brown back
with darker streaks and gray underparts. The crown is rufous, and the
face and supercilium are gray with a brown or rufous streak extending
from each eye and a thick black malar streak. The birds are ungraceful
fliers, preferring to hop along the ground. They feed primarily on seeds
in the winter and insects in the spring and summer. They are often
territorial, with males guarding their territory through song and
displays. The birds are monogamous and breed during spring, laying two
to five eggs in cup-shaped, well-hidden nests. Adult sparrows are preyed
upon by house cats and small raptors, while young may be taken by a
range of mammals and reptiles. Although classified as a species of least
concern, some subspecies are threatened by habitat destruction, and one
may be extinct.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous-crowned_sparrow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command
of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the
Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Assunpink_Creek>
1920:
Under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer, Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against
radical leftists and anarchists across 30 cities in 23 states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids>
1963:
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong won its first major victory in the
Battle of Ap Bac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ap_Bac>
1975:
Lalit Narayan Mishra, the Indian Minister of Railways, was
assassinated in a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalit_Narayan_Mishra>
2004:
The Stardust space probe flew by the comet Wild 2 and collected
particle samples from its coma, which were later returned to Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/81P/Wild>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
articulated skeleton:
(paleontology) A fossil skeleton found all in one piece with the bones
still arranged in the proper order.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/articulated_skeleton>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there
always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant
thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured
by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as
good as your knowledge."
--Isaac Asimov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov>