The 1987 Giro d'Italia was the 70th event in the series, one of
cycling's Grand Tour races. It began on 21 May with a 4 km (2.5 mi)
prologue in San Remo, and concluded on 13 June with a 32 km (19.9 mi)
individual time trial in Saint-Vincent. A total of 180 riders from 20
teams entered the 22-stage, 3,915 km (2,433 mi) race. Defending
champion Roberto Visentini of the Carrera Jeans–Vagabond team led the
first stage, and Dutchman Erik Breukink led the second. Irishman Stephen
Roche, Visentini's teammate, took the overall lead after his team won
the stage three team time trial. Visentini regained the lead for two
days, but Roche rode ahead of him in the fifteenth stage, against orders
from the team management, and held onto the lead for the win. Second
place was taken by British rider Robert Millar, and Breukink took third.
It was the second time in the history of the Giro that there were no
Italian riders on the winners' podium. Roche was the second rider ever
to win the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, and the World Championship
road race in the same year, a feat commonly called the Triple Crown of
Cycling.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Giro_d%27Italia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1403:
King Henry III of Castile sent an embassy to the court of Timur
(Tamerlane) to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and
Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurid_relations_with_Europe>
1674:
John III Sobieski, elected by the szlachta, became the monarch
of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_III_Sobieski>
1894:
The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Greater Manchester in North
West England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the largest
navigation canal in the world at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal>
1946:
Manhattan Project physicist Louis Slotin accidentally triggered
a fission reaction at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and gave
himself a lethal dose of hard radiation, making him the second victim of
a criticality accident in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin>
1991:
Former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by
a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Rajiv_Gandhi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scintillate:
1. (intransitive) To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating sparks; to
twinkle or glow.
2. (transitive) To throw off like sparks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scintillate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because
they understand everything too soon.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>
Sesame Workshop, originally the Children's Television Workshop, is the
American non-profit organization behind the production of Sesame Street,
now in its 47th consecutive season on the public broadcasting channel
PBS. In 1966 Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett began researching a
television show to help children, especially those from low-income
families, prepare for school. Sesame Street premiered in 1969. Conney
credited "educational advisers, researchers, and television producers
... as equal partners" in the show's success. The early 1980s were a
challenging period for the Workshop; the end of government funding,
difficulty in finding audiences for their other productions, and a
series of bad investments hurt the organization until 1985, when
licensing agreements had stabilized revenues. The organization expanded
into other areas, including books and music, international co-
productions, outreach programs to preschools, and interactive media and
new technologies. By 2005, income from international co-productions of
the show was $96 million, and by 2008, the Sesame Street Muppets
accounted for $15–17 million per year in licensing and merchandising
fees.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Workshop>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
325:
The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the
Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea>
1609:
Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's
sonnets (title page pictured), possibly without William Shakespeare's
consent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets>
1882:
The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire,
Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Alliance_(1882)>
1927:
By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the
sovereignty of King Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to
become Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud>
1996:
The US Supreme Court struck down laws in Colorado that would
have prevented any jurisdiction in the state from taking any
governmental action to protect homosexual citizens from discrimination
on the basis of their sexual orientation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romer_v._Evans>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sinuous:
1. Having curves in alternate directions; meandering.
2. Moving gracefully and in a supple manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sinuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or
many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found
persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a
time when from favourable circumstances it escapes persecution until it
has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress
it.
--John Stuart Mill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill>
The 2003 Pacific hurricane season produced tropical cyclones that mainly
affected Mexico. Hurricane Ignacio killed 2 people in Mexico and Marty
killed 12; together they were responsible for damage worth about
$1 billion. Two other Pacific hurricanes, one Pacific tropical storm
and three Atlantic storms also had a direct impact on Mexico. The only
other significant storm of the season was Hurricane Jimena, which passed
just to the south of the island of Hawaii, becoming the first storm in
several years to directly threaten the island. The season officially
started on May 15, 2003, in the eastern Pacific, and on June 1, 2003, in
the central Pacific, lasting until November 30, 2003. These dates
conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical
cyclones form in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. There were 16 named
storms, including 7 hurricanes; both totals are comparable with the
long-term averages. This was the first Pacific hurricane season since
1977 with no major hurricanes, that is, storms Category 3 or higher on
the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Pacific_hurricane_season>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1499:
Thirteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of
Henry VIII of England, was married by proxy to his brother, 12-year-old
Arthur, Prince of Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison west of
Montreal surrendered to British troops in the Battle of The Cedars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_The_Cedars>
1845:
Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition
departed from Greenhithe, England; the entire 129-man complement would
be lost.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition>
1911:
Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, was
established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the
Interior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks_Canada>
1991:
Despite a boycott by the local Serb population, voters in
Croatia passed a referendum supporting independence from the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_independence_referendum,_1991>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
squat:
1. Relatively short or low, and thick or broad.
2. Sitting on the hams or heels; sitting close to the ground; cowering;
crouching.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/squat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of course, relative citation frequencies are no measure of
relative importance. Who has not aspired to write a paper so fundamental
that very soon it is known to everyone and cited by no one?
--Abraham Pais
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Pais>
The SECR K class was a type of tank locomotive designed in 1914 by
Richard Maunsell for express passenger duties on the South Eastern and
Chatham Railway (SECR). The Southern Railway (SR) K1 class was a three-
cylinder variant of the K class, designed in 1925 to suit a narrower
loading gauge. They were among the first non-Great Western Railway (GWR)
types to use and improve upon the basic design principles of power and
standardisation established by George Jackson Churchward, the GWR's
chief mechanical engineer. The locomotives were based on the GWR
4300 class, improved by the Midland Railway's ideals of simplicity and
ease of maintenance. The K class was designed to be mechanically
similar to the SECR N class mixed-traffic locomotives. The class was
the earliest large-scale use of the 2-6-4 wheel arrangement in Britain.
Production began towards the end of the First World War, and the
prototype rolled out of Ashford Works three years after design work was
completed due to wartime production constraints. They continued in
service with British Railways until 1966. One K class rebuild (No.
31806) is preserved on the Swanage Railway in Dorset.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SECR_K_and_SR_K1_classes>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1388:
During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese
army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Toghus Temur, the Khan of
Northern Yuan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buyur_Lake>
1863:
American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of
the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of
Vicksburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg>
1936:
In a crime that shocked Japan, Sada Abe strangled her lover
Kichizo Ishida, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her
for several days until her arrest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sada_Abe>
1991:
The Somali National Movement declared the independence of
Somaliland, a de facto state that is internationally recognised as an
autonomous region of Somalia, following the collapse of central
government during the Somali Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somaliland>
2006:
The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King
Gyanendra of many of his powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_democracy_movement_in_Nepal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ogry:
(nonce word) Resembling, or pertaining to, an ogre.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ogry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as
not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that
no one will believe it.
--Bertrand Russell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell>
William Brill (17 May 1916 – 12 October 1964) was a senior officer
and bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in the
Riverina district of New South Wales, he was a farmer before joining the
RAAF in 1940. Posted to Britain to take part in the air war over Europe,
Brill first saw combat with No. 460 Squadron RAAF, flying Vickers
Wellingtons. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1942
for attacking a target after his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. In
1944 he became a flight commander in No. 463 Squadron RAAF, flying Avro
Lancasters. Brill's leadership and determination to complete his
missions despite damage to his aircraft—on one occasion inflicted by
another Lancaster's bombs—earned him the Distinguished Service Order.
Promoted to wing commander, he took over No. 467 Squadron RAAF and was
awarded a bar to his DFC for his skill in evading night fighters.
Returning to Australia after the war, he led No. 10 Squadron, commanded
air bases, and was twice RAAF Director of Personnel Services, gaining
promotion to group captain. He was serving at the Department of Air when
he died of a heart attack in 1964.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brill_(RAAF_officer)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1642:
The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded a permanent
mission known as Ville-Marie, which eventually grew into the city of
Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal>
1863:
Rosalía de Castro published Cantares gallegos, a collection of
her poetry, the first book in the Galician language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosal%C3%ADa_de_Castro>
1902:
The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared
mechanism, was discovered among artifacts retrieved from a shipwreck off
the Greek island of Antikythera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism>
1954:
The US Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown v. Board
of Education, outlawing racial segregation in public schools because
"separate educational facilities are inherently unequal".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education>
2009:
Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected the first female President of
Lithuania, receiving 68.18% of the vote.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalia_Grybauskait%C4%97>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cement:
1. (transitive) To affix with cement.
2. (transitive) To overlay or coat with cement.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To unite firmly or closely.
4. (figuratively) To make permanent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cement>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Who shall compose the Bible of human desire, the terrible and
simple Bible of that which drives us from life to life, the Bible of our
doings, our goings, our original fall? Who will dare to tell everything,
who will have the genius to see everything? I believe in a lofty form of
poetry, in the work in which beauty will be mingled with beliefs. The
more incapable of it I feel myself, the more I believe it to be
possible. The sad splendour with which certain memories of mine
overwhelm me, shows me that it is possible. Sometimes I myself have been
sublime, I myself have been a masterpiece. Sometimes my visions have
been mingled with a thrill of evidence so strong and so creative that
the whole room has quivered with it like a forest, and there have been
moments, in truth, when the silence cried out.
--Henri Barbusse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Barbusse>
Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album by American singer-
songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 16, 1966, by Columbia Records. The
album completes a rock trilogy, with Bringing It All Back Home and
Highway 61 Revisited. Unsatisfied with the initial recording sessions,
Dylan brought his keyboardist Al Kooper and guitarist Robbie Robertson
to the CBS studios in Nashville, Tennessee, where all but one of the
album's songs were recorded in February and March. Combining the
expertise of Nashville session musicians with a modernist literary
sensibility, the album's songs have been described as operating on a
grand scale musically, while featuring lyrics that the writer Michael
Gray called "a unique blend of the visionary and the colloquial". One of
the first rock double albums, it peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200
chart in the US, where it eventually went double-platinum, and reached
No. 3 in the UK. Blonde on Blonde spawned two top twenty singles in the
US: "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and "I Want You". "Just Like a Woman" and
"Visions of Johanna" made Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
list. The album has consistently ranked high in greatest-albums polls.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_on_Blonde>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1771:
The Battle of Alamance—the final battle of the War of the
Regulation, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over issues of
taxation and local control—was fought.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alamance>
1866:
The United States Congress authorized the minting of the
country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_nickel>
1916:
The United Kingdom and France signed the Sykes–Picot
Agreement, a secret agreement considered to have shaped the Middle East,
defining the borders of Iraq and Syria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement>
1966:
Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution
officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeois elements
and to continue revolutionary class struggle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution>
1975:
Based on the results of a referendum held about one month
earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India,
becoming its 22nd state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
waft:
1. (ergative) To (cause to) float easily or gently through the air.
2. (intransitive) To be moved, or to pass, on a buoyant medium; to float.
3. To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/waft>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I were in a wood, I could easily hear the Voice which came to
me. It seemed to me to come from lips I should reverence. I believe it
was sent me from God. When I heard it for the third time, I recognized
that it was the Voice of an Angel. This Voice has always guarded me
well, and I have always understood it; it instructed me to be good and
to go often to Church; it told me it was necessary for me to come into
France.
--Joan of Arc
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc>
Epacris impressa, also known as common heath, is a plant of the heath
family, Ericaceae, that is native to southeast Australia: the states of
Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales. French botanist
Jacques Labillardière collected the species in 1793 and described it in
1805. Four forms have been identified, but no subspecies are recognised.
Growing in heathland, shrubland or open forest, it is generally a small
shrub around 0.5 to 1 m (1 ft 8 in – 3 ft 3 in) tall, with small
stiff leaves. The red, pink or white tube-like flowers appear from late
autumn to early spring. Honeyeaters, particularly the eastern spinebill,
feed upon the nectar of the flowers. It regenerates after bushfire by
seed or by resprouting. A pink-flowered form is the floral emblem of the
state of Victoria. E. impressa is difficult to propagate reliably, which
has limited its use in horticulture and revegetation. It grows best in
well-drained but moist soil in a semishaded position. A highly regarded
garden plant, the common heath was first cultivated in England in 1825
with over seventy named cultivars, most of which have now vanished.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epacris_impressa>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
392:
Roman emperor Valentinian II was found hanged in his residence
in Vienne, Gaul.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_II>
1836:
English astronomer Francis Baily first observed "Baily's
beads", a phenomenon during a solar eclipse in which the rugged lunar
limb topography allows beads of sunlight to shine through (example
pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Baily>
1916:
Jesse Washington, a teenage African-American farmhand, was
lynched in Waco, Texas, US, in what became a well-known example of
racially motivated lynching.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Jesse_Washington>
1948:
The Australian cricket team, on tour in England set a first-
class world record that still stands by scoring 721 runs in a day
against Essex.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_England_in_1948>
1966:
Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on the
forces of General Tôn Thất Đính and ousted him from the position.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B4n_Th%E1%BA%A5t_%C4%90%C3%ADnh>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
speak volumes:
1. (idiomatic) To express more than one actually said.
2. Usually with about: to extend beyond the immediate topic under
discussion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/speak_volumes>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To destroy an offender cannot benefit society so much as to redeem
him.
--L. Frank Baum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum>
Eardwulf was king of Northumbria from 796 until at least 806.
Northumbria in the last years of the eighth century was the scene of
dynastic strife between several noble families, and in 790, Æthelred I
attempted to have Eardwulf assassinated. Æthelred himself was
assassinated in 796. The reign of his successor Osbald lasted only
twenty-seven days before he was deposed, and Eardwulf became king on 14
May 796. In 798 Eardwulf fought a battle at Billington Moor against a
nobleman named Wada, who had been one of those responsible for King
Æthelred's death; Wada was defeated and driven into exile. In 801
Eardwulf led an army against Coenwulf of Mercia, perhaps because of
Coenwulf's support for other claimants to the Northumbrian throne.
Eardwulf was deposed in 806. According to a Frankish source, he returned
to his kingdom in 808, but no record has survived of his death or the
end of his reign. He was possibly buried at the Mercian royal monastery
of Breedon on the Hill, which carries a dedication to Saint Mary and
Saint Hardulph, identified as Eardwulf by several historians.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eardwulf_of_Northumbria>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1509:
War of the League of Cambrai: French forces defeated the
Venetians at the Battle of Agnadello in present-day Northern Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agnadello>
1796:
English physician Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a
vaccine against smallpox.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner>
1868:
Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the
Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Utsunomiya_Castle>
1943:
Second World War: Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked
and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, killing
268 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur>
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
presage:
1. (transitive) To predict or foretell something.
2. (intransitive) To make a prediction.
3. (transitive) To have a presentiment of; to feel beforehand; to foreknow.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Remember... the Force will be with you, always.
--Star Wars
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(film)>
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Under head coach Ron Rivera, they compete in
the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National
Football Conference (NFC) South division. Founder Jerry Richardson and
his family have a controlling interest in the club. The team plays at
Bank of America Stadium, one of the few stadiums owned by an NFL team.
The Panthers were announced as the league's 29th franchise in 1993. The
team played well in their first two years, finishing 7–9 in 1995 (an
all-time best for an NFL expansion team's first season) and 12–4 the
following year, and winning the NFC West championship. In the 2003
season they reached Super Bowl XXXVIII, losing to the New England
Patriots. After recording a playoff appearance in 2005, they won NFC
South division championships in the 2008, 2013 and 2014 seasons. The
next season, they defeated the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona
Cardinals to advance to Super Bowl 50, where they lost to the Denver
Broncos.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Panthers>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1373:
English mystic Julian of Norwich recovered from a severe
illness, during which she experienced a series of intense visions of
Jesus Christ; later she described them in Revelations of Divine Love,
the first known English language book written by a woman.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich>
1848:
Maamme (audio featured), the national anthem of Finland written
by German composer Fredrik Pacius and Finnish poet Johan Ludvig
Runeberg, was performed for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maamme>
1909:
The first Giro d'Italia long distance road bicycle racing stage
race began in Italy, with Italian professional road racing cyclist Luigi
Ganna becoming the eventual winner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_d%27Italia>
1967:
Zakir Husain took office as the first elected Muslim President
of India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Husain_(politician)>
1992:
Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in a public lecture in
Changchun, Jilin province, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
competence porn:
Entertainment featuring competent characters carrying out difficult
tasks with great aptitude.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/competence_porn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Occasionally, there may come a dreamer who is aware that he is
dreaming. He may control something of the dream-stuff, bending it to his
will, or he may awaken into greater self-knowledge. If he chooses the
path of self-knowledge, his glory is great and he shall be for all ages
like unto a star. If he chooses instead the way of the Tantras,
combining Samsara and Nirvana, comprehending the world and continuing to
live in it, this one is mighty among dreamers.
--Lord of Light
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light>
British scientists were crucial to the success of the Manhattan Project,
which developed the first atomic bombs during World War II. After Rudolf
Peierls and Otto Frisch at the University of Birmingham calculated that
a small sphere of pure uranium-235 could explode with the power of
thousands of tons of dynamite, their memorandum led to Britain's own
atomic bomb project. This project shared research with the US, but was
eventually subsumed by the Manhattan Project under the 1943 Quebec
Agreement. A British mission led by the Australian physicist Mark
Oliphant assisted in the development of electromagnetic separation
processes for enriching uranium; Wallace Akers led a similar mission
assisting with gaseous diffusion. James Chadwick (pictured) was the head
of a distinguished team of British scientists working on bomb design at
the Los Alamos Laboratory that included Niels Bohr, Peierls, Frisch,
Geoffrey Taylor, and James Tuck, as well as Klaus Fuchs, who was later
revealed to be a Soviet atomic spy. American and British cooperation
ended with the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. In October 1952, Britain
became the third country to test an independently developed nuclear
weapon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_contribution_to_the_Manhattan_Project>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1588:
An apparently spontaneous public uprising arose in staunchly
Catholic Paris against the moderate policies of Henry III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Barricades>
1846:
Led by George Donner, the American pioneer group known as the
Donner Party, which became known for resorting to cannibalism when they
became trapped in the Sierra Nevadas, left Independence, Missouri, for
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party>
1926:
The Trades Union Congress, a federation of British trade
unions, announced that it would end its week-long general strike "in
defence of [coal] miners' wages and hours".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_United_Kingdom_general_strike>
1968:
The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support
Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the Vietnam War for the
Australian Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Coral%E2%80%93Balmoral>
2006:
A cartoon that allegedly compared Iranian Azeris to cockroaches
was published in an Iranian magazine, sparking riots throughout the
country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_newspaper_cockroach_cartoon_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kosher:
1. (Judaism) Fit for use or consumption, in accordance with Jewish law
(especially relating to food).
2. (figuratively, by extension) In accordance with standards or usual
practice.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kosher>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is Mysticism? Is it not the attempt to draw near to God, not
by rites or ceremonies, but by inward disposition? Is it not merely a
hard word for " The Kingdom of Heaven is within"? Heaven is neither a
place nor a time. There might be a Heaven not only here but now. It is
true that sometimes we must sacrifice not only health of body, but
health of mind (or, peace) in the interest of God; that is, we must
sacrifice Heaven. But "thou shalt be like God for thou shalt see Him as
He is": this may be here and now, as well as there and then.
--Florence Nightingale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale>