Stephen Owen Davies (died 25 February 1972) was a Welsh coal miner and
Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil
from 1934 to 1972. In 1918 he became miners' agent for the Dowlais
district of the South Wales Miners' Federation, and in 1924 was
appointed its chief organiser, legal adviser, and vice-president.
Elected to parliament in 1934, Davies consistently defied official
Labour policy to champion causes such as disarmament and Welsh
nationalism, with a persistence that brought him several suspensions and
ensured that he was never offered ministerial office. After a spoil heap
at a coal mine collapsed in the village of Aberfan on 21 October 1966
killing 116 schoolchildren and 28 adults, Davies controversially said
that he had long thought that it was unsafe. He had not reported his
suspicions for fear that an enquiry would cause the closures of local
pits. In 1970 he was deselected as parliamentary candidate by his local
party association on account of his age, but won the seat in the general
election as an Independent, a rare example in British politics of an
independent candidate defeating a major party's organisation.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._O._Davies>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1096:
The Seljuk forces of Kilij Arslan destroyed the army of the
People's Crusade as it marched toward Nicaea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Crusade>
1858:
French composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the
Underworld, featuring music most associated with the can-can (audio
featured) was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in
Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_in_the_Underworld>
1910:
HMS Niobe arrived in Halifax Harbour to become the first large
ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Niobe_(1897)>
1966:
A coal tip fell on the village of Aberfan, Wales, killing 144
people, mostly schoolchildren.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster>
1983:
At the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures,
the length of a metre was redefined as the distance light travels in
vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
parking ticket:
1. A legal summons issued for parking a motor vehicle in a place where such
parking is restricted, or beyond the time paid for.
2. A small ticket issued as proof of payment for the right to park a motor
vehicle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parking_ticket>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All knowledge is local, all truth is partial. … No truth can
make another truth untrue. All knowledge is part of the whole knowledge.
… Once you have seen the larger pattern, you cannot get back to seeing
the part as the whole.
--Ursula K. Le Guin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin>
No. 91 (Composite) Wing was a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) wing
active during the Korean War and its immediate aftermath. It was formed
on 20 October 1950 to administer No. 77 (Fighter) Squadron, No. 30
Communications Flight, No. 391 (Base) Squadron, and No. 491
(Maintenance) Squadron. The wing and its units were headquartered at
Iwakuni, Japan, except for No. 77 Squadron, which was based in Korea
and tasked by the US Fifth Air Force. No. 30 Flight was re-designated
No. 30 Communications Unit in November 1950, No. 30 Transport Unit a
year later, and No. 36 (Transport) Squadron in March 1953. Operating
mainly C-47 Dakotas, it undertook medical evacuation, cargo and troop
transport, and courier flights. No. 77 Squadron converted from P-51
Mustangs to Gloster Meteors (pictured) between April and July 1951, and
operated primarily in the ground attack role. It remained in Korea on
garrison duty following the July 1953 armistice, and returned to
Australia in November 1954; No. 491 Squadron disbanded the same month.
No. 36 Squadron returned to Australia in March 1955; the following
month, No. 391 Squadron and No. 91 Wing headquarters disbanded.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._91_Wing_RAAF>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1572:
Eighty Years' War: Soldiers of the Spanish Tercios waded across
the river Scheldt at its mouth, walking overnight in water to chest
height, to relieve the siege of Goes in the Spanish Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief_of_Goes>
1818:
The United Kingdom and the United States signed the Treaty of
1818, which settled the Canada–United States border on the 49th
parallel between the Rocky Mountains and Lake of the Woods.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_1818>
1941:
World War II: German soldiers began a massacre of thousands of
civilians in Kragujevac in Nazi-occupied Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kragujevac_massacre>
1986:
Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashed on approach to Kurumoch Airport in
Samara (then Kuibyshev in the Soviet Union), killing 70 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_6502>
2011:
Libyan Civil War: Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya,
was captured during the Battle of Sirte and killed less than an hour
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Muammar_Gaddafi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
creature comfort:
(idiomatic, often plural) Any small item or detail that makes a person
feel comfortable and at home.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creature_comfort>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Denounce ye not one another, ere the Day-Star of ancient eternity
shineth forth above the horizon of His sublimity. We have created you
from one tree and have caused you to be as the leaves and fruit of the
same tree, that haply ye may become a source of comfort to one another.
Regard ye not others save as ye regard your own selves, that no feeling
of aversion may prevail amongst you so as to shut you out from Him Whom
God shall make manifest on the Day of Resurrection. It behooveth you all
to be one indivisible people; thus should ye return unto Him Whom God
shall make manifest.
--The Báb
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B%C3%A1b>
Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, o sweet hour of death), BWV 161, is a
church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar for the 16th
Sunday after Trinity Sunday, and probably first performed in 1716. The
text, provided by the court poet Salomon Franck, was based on the
prescribed gospel reading about the young man from Nain, and reflected
on longing for death, seen as a transition to a life united with Jesus.
The cantata in six movements opens with alternating arias and
recitatives, leading to a chorus and a concluding chorale, a stanza of
the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" by Christoph Knoll. The chorale
tune appears in the first movement, played by the organ, providing a
unity to the composition. Bach scored the work for alto and tenor
soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque chamber ensemble of
recorders, strings and continuo. In one recitative, he creates the
images of sleep, of waking up, and of funeral bells. Although the
libretto was published in a collection in 1715, Bach probably did not
perform it until September 1716, due to a long period of public mourning
in the duchy for the brother of Duke Ernst August.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komm,_du_s%C3%BC%C3%9Fe_Todesstunde,_BWV_161>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1469:
Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella I of Castile (both
pictured), a marriage that paved the way to the unification of Aragon
and Castile into a single country, Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile>
1864:
American Civil War: Despite incurring nearly twice as many
casualties as the Confederates, the Union Army emerged victorious in the
Battle of Cedar Creek.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cedar_Creek>
1900:
German physicist Max Planck produced his law of black body
emission, a pioneer result of modern physics and quantum theory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law>
1943:
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was
first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin>
1986:
President of Mozambique Samora Machel and 43 others were killed
when his presidential aircraft crashed in the Lebombo Mountains just
inside the border of South Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Pullman:
1. (rail transport, US) A railroad passenger car; especially one of the
luxurious ones named after the eponymous Pullman Palace Car Company.
2. A train made up of Pullman coaches.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pullman>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be substantially great in thyself, and more than thou appearest
unto others.
--Thomas Browne
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Browne>
Freida Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress who has
appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in
Mumbai, she decided to become an actress at a young age. She was
educated at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, where she took part in amateur
plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a
television presenter. Pinto made her cinematic debut with the British
drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which she received several
nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, the MTV Movie Awards and
the Teen Choice Awards. Her biggest commercial success came with the
2011 science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The same year,
she portrayed the title character in Michael Winterbottom's Trishna. Her
performance in the biographical film Desert Dancer (2014) received
critical acclaim. Although the Indian media has credited Pinto with
breaking stereotypes of Indian women in foreign films, she has been a
lesser-known figure in Indian cinema. She is a vocal advocate for
underprivileged children and women.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_Pinto>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1009:
Under orders from Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church now within the walled
Old City of Jerusalem, was destroyed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre>
1356:
The most significant earthquake to have occurred in Central
Europe in recorded history destroyed Basel, Switzerland, and caused much
destruction in a vast region extending into France and Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1356_Basel_earthquake>
1775:
American Revolutionary War: In an act of retaliation against
ports that supported Patriot activities in the early stages of the war,
the Royal Navy destroyed what is now Portland, Maine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Falmouth>
1954:
The first commercial transistor radio, the Regency TR-1, was
introduced in Indianapolis, Indiana, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio>
2007:
A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Prime Minister
of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto in Karachi caused at least 139 deaths and 450
injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Karsaz_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chintzy:
1. Of or decorated with chintz.
2. (figuratively) Tastelessly showy; cheap, gaudy, or tacky.
3. (figuratively) Excessively reluctant to spend; miserly, stingy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chintzy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be
worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness.
--Pierre Trudeau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau>
Melford Stevenson (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987) was an English
High Court judge. He was Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of
submariners from the U-852 for the Peleus affair. In 1954 Stevenson
represented the UK Government during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal
against his conviction for his part in the Mau Mau Uprising. He
represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to
changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth
Ellis, the last woman to be executed in the UK, and in 1957 took part in
the unsuccessful prosecution of suspected serial killer John Bodkin
Adams. As a High Court judge he gave life sentences in 1969 to the Kray
twins for murder, and in 1971 gave Jake Prescott of the Angry Brigade
fifteen years for conspiracy to cause explosions. When another judge,
Sir Robin Dunn, described him as "the worst judge since the war", Lord
Roskill pointed out that Stevenson could be merciful to those he saw as
victims. He retired in 1979, and died in 1987.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melford_Stevenson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, was founded by order
of King Sigismund II Augustus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Poland>
1604:
German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed an exceptionally
bright star, now known as Kepler's Supernova (remnant nebula pictured),
which had suddenly appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler%27s_Supernova>
1943:
The Empire of Japan completed the Burma Railway to support its
forces in the Burma Campaign of World War II at the cost of
approximately 100,000 lives of forced labourers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Railway>
1989:
The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake struck California's San
Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring 3,757, and leaving at
least 8,000 homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake>
2001:
Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi became the first
Israeli minister to be assassinated in a terrorist attack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehavam_Ze%27evi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chiromancer:
One who practices chiromancy; a palm reader.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiromancer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Poetry, as nearly as I can understand it, is a statement in words
about a human experience, whether the experience be real or
hypothetical, major or minor; but it is a statement of a particular
kind. Words are symbols for concepts, and the philosopher or scientist
endeavors as far as may be to use them with reference to nothing save
their conceptual content. Most words, however, connote feelings and
perceptions, and the poet, like the writer of imaginative prose,
endeavors to use them with reference not only to their denotations but
to their connotations as well. Such writers endeavor to communicate not
only concepts, arranged, presumably, either in rational order or in an
order of apprehensible by the rational mind, but the feeling or emotion
which the rational content ought properly to arouse.
--Yvor Winters
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yvor_Winters>
Ipswich Town F.C. has a long history as an English association football
club based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Founded on 16 October 1878, they have
played at Portman Road, their home stadium, since 1884. They won their
first trophy in the 1886–87 season over Ipswich School in the Suffolk
Challenge Cup. The team played amateur football until 1936 when they
turned professional and were elected into the Southern League. On 30 May
1938 they were elected into Division Three of the Football League in
place of Gillingham F.C. They won the Football League Championship in
1961–62, one season after winning promotion from the Second Division.
A decade later, under the guidance of Bobby Robson (pictured), they
achieved success both in the FA Cup and in European competition, winning
the UEFA Cup in 1981. Both Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey moved on from
Ipswich to manage the England national football team, presiding over the
team's best results in the World Cup: fourth place in 1990 and world
champions in 1966.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ipswich_Town_F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
Marie Antoinette, queen consort of Louis XVI, was guillotined
at the Place de la Révolution in Paris at the height of the French
Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette>
1841:
The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in Kingston,
Ontario, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_University>
1916:
Margaret Sanger established the United States' first family
planning clinic in Brooklyn, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger>
1986:
Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner made his ascent of Lhotse,
making him the first person to climb all fourteen "eight-thousanders".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Messner>
1996:
At least 83 people were killed and more than 140 injured in a
stampede at Guatemala City's Estadio Mateo Flores during a 1998 FIFA
World Cup qualification match between Guatemala and Costa Rica.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_Doroteo_Guamuch_Flores>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
food desert:
Somewhere where food, especially healthy food, is difficult to obtain.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/food_desert>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the
surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their
peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new,
complex, and vital.
--The Picture of Dorian Gray
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray>
H-58 is a county-designated highway in the US state of Michigan that
runs east–west 69 miles (111 km) between the communities of Munising
and Deer Park in the Upper Peninsula. The western section is routed
through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a national park on Lake
Superior that was created on October 15, 1966, and through the adjacent
Lake Superior State Forest in Alger County. A roadway was present along
parts of today's H-58 by the late 1920s; initially, this gravel and
earth county road between Munising and Kingston Corners connected with
other roads to Grand Marais. In the 1930s, another segment was built to
connect to Deer Park and to fill in the gap between Kingston Corners and
Grand Marais. The H-58 designation was created after the county-
designated highway system itself was formed in 1970. Federal legislation
from the 1990s allowed the National Park Service to fund improvements to
H-58 as the main access road to the park. Paving projects were completed
between 2006 and 2010 along the entire length of H-58 in Alger County;
the segment in Luce County is still a gravel road.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-58_(Michigan_county_highway)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1529:
The Siege of Vienna ended as the Austrians repelled the
invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked
conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vienna>
1894:
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French
military, was wrongly arrested for treason.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair>
1932:
Air India (aircraft pictured), the flag carrier airline of
India, began operations under the name Tata Airlines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India>
1951:
Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes completed the first
synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be used in
one of the first two oral contraceptives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_E._Miramontes>
2006:
An offshore earthquake measuring 6.7 Mw occurred 10 km (6
miles) southwest of the Island of Hawaii.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Hawaii_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pip pip:
1. (Britain, colloquial) Goodbye; cheerio, toodeloo (toodle-oo), toodle pip
(mostly used by the upper classes).
2. (Britain, colloquial) A general greeting, mostly used by the upper
classes.
3. (Britain, colloquial) Used to create enthusiasm, mostly by the upper
classes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pip_pip>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This is my belief: that through difficulties and problems God
gives us the opportunity to grow. So when your hopes and dreams and
goals are dashed, search among the wreckage, you may find a golden
opportunity hidden in the ruins.
--A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A._P._J._Abdul_Kalam>
The Norman conquest of England was the invasion and occupation of
England by an army of Norman, Breton, and French soldiers, led by Duke
William II of Normandy, later styled as William the Conqueror. The
invasion culminated in the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.
William's claim to the English throne derived from his familial
relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor,
who died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold
Godwinson. After the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded northern
England in September, Harold defeated and killed him at the Battle of
Stamford Bridge. Within days, William landed in southern England. Harold
marched south to confront him, but left a significant portion of his
army in the north, and was defeated and killed by William's force at
Hastings. William faced rebellions for years, and was not secure on his
throne until after 1072. He confiscated the lands of the resisting
English elite, some of whom fled into exile. To control his new kingdom,
William gave lands to his followers and built castles commanding
military strongpoints.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: In the Battle of Bristoe Station, the Union
II Corps was able to surprise and repel the Confederate attack on the
Union rear guard, resulting in a Union victory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bristoe_Station>
1888:
French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene,
the earliest surviving motion picture, in Roundhay, Leeds, West
Yorkshire, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Le_Prince>
1913:
The worst mining accident in the United Kingdom's history took
place when an explosion took the lives of 439 people at the Universal
Colliery in Senghenydd, Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senghenydd_colliery_disaster>
1956:
B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste,
publicly converted to Buddhism, becoming the leader of the Dalit
Buddhist movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Buddhist_movement>
1973:
After student protests against the Thai military government
turned to violence, King Bhumibol Adulyadej announced that Prime
Minister Thanom Kittikachorn had resigned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Thai_popular_uprising>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sich:
(historical) An administrative and military centre for the Zaporozhian
and Danube Cossacks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sich>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up
of many things, but I would say character is really integrity. When you
delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your
responsibility, and he must understand this. You as a leader must take
complete responsibility for what the subordinate does. I once said, as a
sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking
responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your
subordinates credit for everything that goes well.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower>
The Earth-grazing meteoroid of 13 October 1990 entered the atmosphere
above Czechoslovakia and Poland and, after 9.8 seconds, returned to
space. Named EN131090, the 44-kilogram (97 lb) meteoroid was observed
travelling 409 kilometres (254 mi) at a speed of 42 km/s (26 mi/s) by
cameras of the European Fireball Network. Its apparent magnitude peaked
at −6.3, several times brighter than Venus's peak magnitude.
Observations of such events are quite rare; this was the second recorded
by scientific astronomical instruments (after the 1972 Great Daylight
Fireball) and the first recorded from two distant positions, which
enabled the calculation of several of its orbital characteristics. The
encounter with Earth significantly changed its orbit and, to a smaller
extent, some of its physical properties, including its mass and the
structure of its upper layer. If the meteoroid had reached the lower
atmosphere, it would have overheated and exploded high above the ground,
leaving at most a few small meteorites that posed no danger to the
Earth's surface.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-grazing_meteoroid_of_13_October_1990>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1710:
Queen Anne's War: The French surrender ending the Siege of Port
Royal gave the British permanent possession of Nova Scotia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Port_Royal_(1710)>
1812:
War of 1812: British troops and Mohawk warriors repelled an
American invasion from across the Niagara River at the Battle of
Queenston Heights near Queenston, Ontario.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Queenston_Heights>
1911:
Prince Arthur, a son of Queen Victoria, became the first
Governor General of Canada of royal descent, as well as the first Prince
of Great Britain and Ireland to hold that position.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Arthur,_Duke_of_Connaught_and_Strathea…>
1921:
The Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia signed the Treaty of Kars with the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey to establish the contemporary borders between Turkey and the
South Caucasus states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kars>
1958:
The first book featuring the English children's literature
character Paddington Bear (statue pictured), created by Michael Bond and
primarily illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddington_Bear>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overnourished:
1. Excessively nourished.
2. (often euphemistic) Overweight.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overnourished>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the
eggs.
--Margaret Thatcher
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher>
The gold dollar was a coin struck as a regular issue by the United
States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types
over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B.
Longacre. The Type 1 issue had the smallest diameter of any United
States coin ever minted. A gold dollar had been proposed several times
in the 1830s and 1840s, but was not initially adopted. Congress was
finally galvanized into action by the increased supply of bullion from
the California gold rush, and in 1849 authorized a gold dollar. In its
early years, silver coins were being hoarded or exported, and the gold
dollar found a ready place in commerce. Silver again circulated after
Congress required in 1853 that new coins of that metal be made lighter,
and the gold dollar became a rarity in commerce even before federal
coins vanished from circulation amid the economic disruption of the
American Civil War. Gold did not circulate again in most of the nation
until 1879, and even then, the gold dollar did not regain its place in
commerce. In its final years, struck in small numbers, it was hoarded by
speculators and mounted in jewelry.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1847:
Werner von Siemens, a German inventor, founded Siemens &
Halske, which later became Siemens, the largest engineering company in
Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens>
1871:
The Criminal Tribes Act entered into force in British India,
giving law enforcement sweeping powers to arrest, control, and monitor
the movements of the members of 160 specific ethnic or social
communities that were defined as "habitually criminal".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Tribes_Act>
1917:
First World War: New Zealand troops suffered 2,735 casualties,
including 845 deaths, in the First Battle of Passchendaele, making it
the nation's largest loss of life in one day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Passchendaele>
1960:
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reportedly pounded his shoe on
a desk during the Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly
in response to Filipino delegate Lorenzo Sumulong's assertion of Soviet
colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-banging_incident>
1992:
A 5.8 MB earthquake struck south of Cairo, Egypt, killing 545
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Cairo_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mantilla:
1. A lace veil of Spanish origin worn over a woman's hair and shoulders.
2. A woman's light cloak or cape made of silk, velvet, lace, or other
material.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mantilla>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh
month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and
do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger
that sojourneth among you: for on that day shall the priest make an
atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your
sins before the Lord. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye
shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. And the priest, whom
he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the
priest’s office in his father’s stead, shall make the atonement, and
shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: and he shall
make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement
for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall
make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the
congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to
make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a
year.
--Book of Leviticus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Book_of_Leviticus>