The Coinage Act of 1873 declared that US dollar coins struck from silver
bullion were no longer considered legal tender, thus placing the nation
firmly on the gold standard and ending bimetallism. In 1869, silver was
expensive, and not much of it was being presented at the Mint to be
struck into coins, but Deputy Comptroller of the Currency John Jay Knox
and others foresaw that cheaper ore from the Comstock Lode and elsewhere
would soon became available. To replace the outdated Mint Act of 1837,
Knox drafted a bill that took nearly three years to pass. It was rarely
mentioned during Congressional debates that the bill would end
bimetallism, though this was not concealed. The bill was finally signed
into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. When silver prices dropped in
1876, producers sought to have their bullion struck at the Mint, only to
learn that this was no longer possible. The resulting political
controversy lasted the remainder of the century, pitting those who
valued the deflationary gold standard against those who called the Act
the "Crime of '73", believing the free coinage of silver to be necessary
for economic prosperity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1873>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1838:
More than 25 Australian Aborigines were massacred near
Inverell, New South Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myall_Creek_massacre>
1871:
Nine days after Korean shore batteries attacked two American
warships, an American punitive expedition landed and captured several
forts on Ganghwa Island.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_expedition_to_Korea>
1918:
First World War: Italian torpedo boats sank the Austro-
Hungarian dreadnought SMS Szent István off the Dalmatian coast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Szent_Istv%C3%A1n>
1925:
The United Church of Canada, the country's largest Protestant
church, held its inaugural service in Toronto's Mutual Street Arena.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Canada>
1991:
Eleven-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard was kidnapped in South Lake
Tahoe, California; she remained a captive until 2009.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jaycee_Dugard>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
corpus:
1. (uncommon) A body.
2. (linguistics) A collection of writings, often on a specific topic, of a
specific genre, from a specific demographic or a particular author, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corpus>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who inflicts a vile and unjust harm by using the power and the
force with which he is invested, does not conquer; the true victory is
to have on one's side Right naked and entire.
--Luís de Camões
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es>
Sonam Kapoor (born 9 June 1985) is an Indian film star and one of the
highest-paid Bollywood actresses. The daughter of actor Anil Kapoor, she
studied theatre and arts at the United World College of South East Asia
in Singapore. She became an assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali
on the film Black (2005), and made her acting debut in the romantic
drama Saawariya (2007). She had her first commercial success three years
later in the romantic comedy I Hate Luv Storys (2010), followed by a
string of commercial failures. The financially successful Raanjhanaa
(2013) marked a turning point in her career, earning her several Best
Actress nominations. She played a princess in the melodrama Prem Ratan
Dhan Payo (2015)—one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films—and
garnered critical acclaim for portraying the titular role in the
biographical thriller Neerja (2016), one of the highest-grossing
Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist. She is outspoken in
support of breast cancer awareness, LGBT rights, and other causes. She
has been nominated for four Filmfare Awards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonam_Kapoor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
411 BC:
Wealthy Athenians overthrew the democratic government of
ancient Athens and replaced it with a short-lived oligarchy known as
"The Four Hundred".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_coup_of_411_BC>
1856:
Mormon pioneers began leaving Iowa City, Iowa, and headed west
for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled
handcarts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_handcart_pioneers>
1923:
Bulgarian armed forces overthrew the government of the
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union headed by Aleksandar Stamboliyski and
replaced it with one under Aleksandar Tsankov.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_of_1923>
1946:
After King Ananda Mahidol was assassinated, Bhumibol Adulyadej,
the world's longest-reigning current monarch, ascended to the throne of
Thailand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej>
1973:
Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths, achieving the
first American Triple Crown victory in a quarter-century, and lowering
the track and world record times for 1½ mile distance races to 2:24.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretariat_(horse)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eggcorn:
(linguistics) An idiosyncratic but semantically motivated substitution
of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound identical, or nearly
so, at least in the dialect the speaker uses.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eggcorn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They say that spring Means just one thing To little lovebirds.
We're not above birds, Let's misbehave.
--Cole Porter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter>
Paul McCartney (b. 1942) is an English singer-songwriter and composer.
Along with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he was a
member of the Beatles, a 1960s rock band that became the top-selling
band of all time, and one of the most critically acclaimed. His Beatles
song "Yesterday" has been covered by over 2,200 artists, more than any
other copyrighted song in history. After the band's break-up, he pursued
a solo career and formed Wings with Denny Laine and Linda McCartney, his
first wife. Wings' 1977 release "Mull of Kintyre" is one of the all-time
best-selling singles in the UK. A two-time inductee into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist) and
a 21-time Grammy Award winner, McCartney has written or co-written 32
number one Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has released an extensive
catalogue of songs as a solo artist and has composed classical and
electronic music. He has supported international charities promoting
animal rights, land mine removal, vegetarianism, poverty reduction, and
music education. He was knighted for his contributions to music in 1997.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
Iceland's Laki craters began an eight-month eruption,
triggering major famine and massive fluorine poisoning.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki>
1856:
Descendants of Tahitians and the HMS Bounty mutineers settled
on Norfolk Island, an abandoned British penal colony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Island>
1929:
Margaret Bondfield became the first female member of the
Cabinet of the United Kingdom when she was named Minister of Labour by
Ramsay MacDonald.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Bondfield>
1953:
Two tornadoes caused by the same storm killed more than 200
people in Flint, Michigan and Worcester, Massachusetts, two cities more
than 650 miles (1,050 km) apart.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint%E2%80%93Worcester_tornado_outbreak_sequ…>
2008:
A Japanese man drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians in the
Akihabara district of Tokyo, then proceeded to stab at least 12 people
before being apprehended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
newspeak:
A mode of talk by politicians and officials using ambiguous words to
deceive the listener.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/newspeak>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world isn't fair, but as long as it's tilting in my direction
I find that there's a natural cap to my righteous indignation.
--Scott Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Scott_Adams>
Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption is a 2000 role-playing video game
developed by Nihilistic Software. Released by Activision for Microsoft
Windows on June 7, 2000, and for Mac OS in 2001, the game is based on
White Wolf Publishing's role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade. It
follows the vampire Christof Romuald from the Dark Ages of 12th century
Prague and Vienna to modern-day London and New York City in search of
his humanity and his kidnapped love, the nun Anezka. The player controls
Christof and up to three allies in first- and third-person perspectives.
Nihilistic took 24 months to complete the game on a budget of US$1.8
million. The game received a mixed critical response; reviewers praised
its graphics and multiplayer functionality, but were polarized by the
quality of the story and combat. Its high-quality graphics and sound ran
poorly on some computer systems. It received the 1999 Game Critics
Awards for Best Role-Playing Game. Vampire: The Masquerade –
Bloodlines, set in the same fictional universe, was released in November
2004.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_Redemption>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1692:
An estimated 7.5 MW earthquake caused Port Royal, Jamaica, to
sink below sea level and killed approximately 5,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1692_Jamaica_earthquake>
1788:
Citizens of Grenoble threw roof tiles onto royal soldiers, an
event sometimes credited as the beginning of the French Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Tiles>
1899:
American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation entered a saloon in
Kiowa, Kansas, and proceeded to destroy all the alcoholic beverages with
rocks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation>
1948:
Rather than sign the Ninth-of-May Constitution making his
nation a Communist state, Edvard Beneš chose to resign as President of
Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Bene%C5%A1>
2006:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was
killed when the United States Air Force bombed his safehouse near
Baqubah.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
quagmire:
1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.
2. (figuratively) A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless
tangle; a predicament.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quagmire>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is brave to be involved To be not fearful to be unresolved.
--Gwendolyn Brooks
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks>
Omaha Beach was one of five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-
occupied France in the Normandy landings on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during
World War II. The untested 29th Infantry Division and nine companies of
U.S. Army Rangers assaulted the western half of the beach; the battle-
hardened 1st Infantry Division targeted the eastern half. The opposing
German 352nd Infantry Division troops, mostly teenagers with no
battalion-level training and some Eastern Front veterans, were largely
deployed in strongpoints along the coast. The initial assault waves of
tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces were tasked with reducing
the coastal defenses to allow larger ships to land. Little went as
planned: most landing craft missed their targets, and the defenses were
unexpectedly strong. Troops could not clear the heavily defended exits
off the beach, delaying later landings. Groups of survivors eventually
improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily
defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had
been won, and the original objective of a beachhead 5 miles deep was
achieved within days.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Beach>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: The Union Army's victory in the First
Battle of Memphis virtually eradicated the Confederate naval presence on
the Mississippi River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Memphis>
1882:
The Shewa kingdom made big strides towards gaining supremacy
over the Ethiopian Empire by defeating the Gojjam and gaining control of
territories south of the Gibe River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Embabo>
1912:
The largest eruption of the 20th century created the Novarupta
volcano in the Alaska Peninsula, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novarupta>
1982:
A war in Lebanon began when Israeli forces invaded southern
Lebanon to root out members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War>
2004:
During a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament,
President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that Tamil was to be made the
first legally recognised classical language of India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bisque:
1. A thick creamy soup made from fish, shellfish, meat or vegetables.
2. A pale pinkish brown colour.
3. (ceramics) A form of unglazed earthenware; biscuit. […]
4. (sports) An extra turn, free point or some other advantage allowed.
[…]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bisque>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is a fact that a man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair
than his own. Whether he realizes it or not, he illustrates the
pertinence of the adage: So long as we are, death is not; and when death
is present, we are not. In other words, between death and us there is no
rapport; it is something with which we have nothing to do — and only
incidentally the world and nature. And that is why all living creatures
can contemplate it with composure, with indifference, unconcern, with
egoistic irresponsibility.
--Thomas Mann
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann>
Baleen whales are a widely distributed and diverse parvorder of
carnivorous marine mammals. They include 15 species from the families
Balaenidae (including right whales), Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right
whale), Eschrichtiidae (the gray whale), and Balaenopteridae (the
rorquals, including the blue whale, the largest animal on earth).
Cetaceans were thought to have descended from the extinct mesonychids,
but molecular evidence supports their descent from even-toed ungulates.
Baleen whales split from toothed whales around 34 million years ago. The
meat, blubber, baleen, and oil of baleen whales have traditionally been
used by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Once relentlessly hunted
by commercial industries for these products, cetaceans are now protected
by international law, but Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to catch
whales for various purposes. Baleen whales also face threats from marine
pollution, ocean acidification, collisions with ships, and entanglement
in nets. Sonar can cause strandings and disrupt their communication.
They have rarely survived for long in captivity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baleen_whale>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
663:
The Daming Palace (reconstructed gate pictured) became the
government seat and royal residence of the Tang empire during Emperor
Gaozong's reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daming_Palace>
1257:
Kraków in Poland received city rights based on the Magdeburg
law.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w>
1899:
Antonio Luna was assassinated in the midst of the
Philippine–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Luna>
1941:
Second Sino-Japanese War: During one sortie in a five-year
bombing campaign on Chongqing, 4,000 people died of asphyxiation when
the tunnel they were hiding in became blocked.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Chongqing>
1976:
The Teton Dam in eastern Idaho, US, collapsed as its reservoir
was being filled for the first time, resulting in the deaths of eleven
people and 13,000 cattle, and causing up to $2 billion in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teton_Dam>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geocide:
The destruction of the earth, its ecosystems, or some part thereof, due
to human activity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geocide>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to
compete in the spirit of love. In a competition of love we would not be
running against one another, but with one another. We would be trying to
gain victory for all humanity. If I am a faster runner than you, you may
feel bad seeing me pass you in the race, but if you know that we are
both racing to make our world better, you will feel good knowing that we
are racing toward a common goal, a mutual reward. In a competition of
love we'll all share in the victory, no matter who comes first.
--Muhammad Ali
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali>
Circinus is a small, faint constellation in the southern sky, first
defined in 1756 by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name
is Latin for compass, a tool that draws circles. Its brightest star is
the slightly variable Alpha Circini, the brightest rapidly oscillating
Ap star in the night sky, with an apparent magnitude of 3.19. AX Circini
is a Cepheid variable visible with the unaided eye, and BX Circini is a
faint star thought to have been formed from two merged white dwarfs. The
sun-like star HD 134060 has two small planets, and another, HD 129445,
has a Jupiter-like planet. Supernova SN 185 appeared in Circinus in
185 AD and was recorded by Chinese observers. Two novae were observed
in the 20th century. The Milky Way runs through the constellation,
featuring prominent objects such as the open cluster NGC 5823 and the
planetary nebula NGC 5315 (pictured). The Circinus Galaxy, discovered in
1977, is the closest Seyfert galaxy to the Milky Way. The Alpha
Circinids meteor showers, discovered the same year, radiate from this
constellation.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circinus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound in the
Pacific Northwest for Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound>
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United
Kingdom, was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's
horse at the Epsom Derby.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1940:
Second World War: The remaining Allied forces protecting the
Dunkirk evacuation surrendered, giving the Germans a tactical victory in
the Battle of Dunkirk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkirk>
1989:
Following the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be the Supreme Leader of
Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei>
1996:
The maiden flight of the Ariane 5 failed, with the rocket self-
destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the
control software—one of the most expensive computer bugs in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_(spacecraft)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gastronomy:
1. The art of preparing and eating good food.
2. The study of the relationship between food and culture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gastronomy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference
between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you
have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a
problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life
is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the
breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.
--Robert Fulghum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
No. 77 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force squadron headquartered
at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales. It operates F/A-18 Hornet
multi-role fighters (pictured) and is controlled by No. 81 Wing. Formed
at Pearce, Western Australia, in 1942, the squadron flew P-40 Kittyhawks
in the South West Pacific during World War II. After the war, it re-
equipped with P-51 Mustangs and deployed to Japan with the British
Commonwealth Occupation Force. The squadron was about to return to
Australia when the Korean War broke out in 1950; it converted to Gloster
Meteor jets in 1951 and claimed five MiG-15s and over 5,000 buildings
and vehicles destroyed during the war for the loss of almost 60
aircraft. Re-equipped with CAC Sabres, the squadron briefly saw action
during the Malayan Emergency in 1959–60. It operated Mirage III
supersonic jets from 1969 to 1987, when it converted to Hornets. The
squadron supplied aircraft to Diego Garcia in 2001–02 to support the
war in Afghanistan, and deployed to the Middle East as part of the
military intervention against ISIL in 2015–16. No. 77 Squadron is due
to re-equip with F-35 Lightnings in 2021.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._77_Squadron_RAAF>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, a historic Catholic
mission church in present-day Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, and the
site of the first Christian confirmation in Alta California, was
established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Carlos_Borromeo_de_Carmelo>
1839:
Qing Chinese government official Lin Zexu ordered the
destruction of nearly 1.2 million kg (2.6 million lbs) of opium in
Humen, precipitating the First Opium War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu>
1937:
Nearly six months after Edward, Duke of Windsor, abdicated the
British throne, he married American socialite Wallis Simpson in a
private ceremony near Tours, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson>
1968:
American artist Andy Warhol and two others were shot and
wounded at his New York City studio "The Factory" by radical feminist
Valerie Solanas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol>
2012:
Dana Air Flight 992, a passenger flight from Abuja to Lagos,
Nigeria, suffered dual engine failure and crashed into a building,
resulting in the deaths of all 153 on board and ten more on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Air_Flight_992>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
grapple:
1. (transitive) To seize something and hold it firmly.
2. (transitive, figuratively) Normally used with with: to ponder and
intensely evaluate a problem.
3. (transitive) To fasten, as with a grapple; to fix; to join indissolubly.
4. (intransitive) To use a grapple.
5. (intransitive) To wrestle or tussle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grapple>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Americans have been selling this view around the world: that
progress comes from perfect protection of intellectual property.
Notwithstanding the fact that the most innovative and progressive space
we've seen — the Internet — has been the place where intellectual
property has been least respected. You know, facts don't get in the way
of this ideology.
--Lawrence Lessig
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig>
The red rail (Aphanapteryx bonasia), now extinct, was a flightless rail,
found only on Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. A little larger than a
chicken, it had reddish, hairlike plumage, dark legs, and a long, curved
beak. The wings were small; rail species often became flightless when
adapting to isolated islands, free of mammalian predators. It is
believed to have fed on invertebrates, and snail shells have been found
with damage matching an attack by its beak. Until subfossil remains were
described in 1869, scientists only knew the red rail from 17th-century
descriptions and illustrations, incorrectly thought to represent several
species. It has been suggested that all late 17th-century accounts of
the dodo actually referred to the red rail, after the former had become
extinct. The last mention of a red rail sighting is from 1693. The
species is thought to have been hunted to extinction around 1700 by
introduced species and also by humans, who took advantage of red rails'
attraction to red coloured cloth to lure them and beat them with sticks.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_rail>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured Diamond
Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-
de-France, from the British.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diamond_Rock>
1866:
Fenian raids: The Battle of Ridgeway, the first to be fought
only by Canadian troops and led exclusively by Canadian officers, took
place in Ontario.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ridgeway>
1967:
German university student Benno Ohnesorg was killed during a
protest in West Berlin against the visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah
of Iran, sparking the formation of the militant group 2 June Movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_June_Movement>
1999:
Bhutan ended its status as the only country in the world to
prohibit television when the state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service came
on the air.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan_Broadcasting_Service>
2010:
A lone gunman went on a shooting spree in Cumbria, England,
killing 12 people and injuring 11 others before committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbria_shootings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
couch:
1. To lie down; to recline (upon a couch or other place of repose).
2. (archaic) To lie down for concealment; to conceal, to hide; to be
concealed; to be included or involved darkly or secretly.
3. To bend the body, as in reverence, pain, labor, etc.; to stoop; to
crouch.
4. (transitive) To lay something upon a bed or other resting place.
5. (transitive) To arrange or dispose as if in a bed.
6. (transitive) To lay or deposit in a bed or layer; to bed.
7. (transitive) To lower (a spear or lance) to the position of attack.
8. (ophthalmology, transitive) In the treatment of a cataract in the eye,
to displace the opaque lens with a sharp object such as a needle. The
technique is regarded as largely obsolete.
9. (paper-making, transitive) To transfer (for example, sheets of partly
dried pulp) from the wire mould to a felt blanket for further drying.
10. (sewing, transitive) To attach a thread onto fabric with small stitches
in order to add texture.
11. To phrase in a particular style; to use specific wording for.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/couch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I remind young people everywhere I go, one of the worst things the
older generation did was to tell them for twenty-five years "Be
successful, be successful, be successful" as opposed to "Be great, be
great, be great". There's a qualititative difference.
--Cornel West
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornel_West>
Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American model
and actress. One of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, she
played stereotypically "dumb blonde" characters that were emblematic of
the era's attitudes towards sexuality. She began her career as a pin-up
model. After two short-lived film contracts, she was signed by 20th
Century-Fox in 1951. The next year, scandalous nude photographs of her
were featured in a popular calendar. She became one of the most bankable
Hollywood actors with starring roles in comedies such as Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and The Seven
Year Itch (1955). Disappointed in being typecast and underpaid, Monroe
formed her own production company in 1955 and successfully fought for a
better contract with Fox. She received critical acclaim for her
performances in Bus Stop (1956) and Some Like It Hot (1959), winning a
Golden Globe for Best Actress for the latter. Her last completed film
was the drama The Misfits (1961). Troubled by mental health and
addiction problems, Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose in 1962. She
continues to be considered a popular culture icon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1648:
Second English Civil War: Parliamentarian troops defeated
Royalist forces in the Battle of Maidstone.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maidstone>
1831:
British naval officer and explorer James Clark Ross
successfully led the first expedition to reach the North Magnetic Pole.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Magnetic_Pole>
1879:
Louis Napoleon was killed in action during the Anglo-Zulu War,
sending shock waves throughout Europe, as he was the last serious hope
for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the French throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napol%C3%A9on,_Prince_Imperial>
1916:
Louis Brandeis became the first Jew to be appointed to the
United States Supreme Court.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis>
1941:
World War II: After the first mainly airborne invasion in
military history, Crete surrendered to Nazi Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crete>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mansplain:
(informal) To explain (something) condescendingly (to a female
listener), especially to explain something the listener already knows,
presuming that she has an inferior understanding of it because she is a
woman.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mansplain>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Determination in a single instance is an expression of courage; if
it becomes characteristic, a mental habit. But here we are referring not
to physical courage but to courage to accept responsibility, courage in
the face of a moral danger. This has often been called courage d'esprit,
because it is created by the intellect. That, however, does not make it
an act of the intellect: it is an act of temperament. Intelligence alone
is not courage; we often see that the most intelligent people are
irresolute. Since in the rush of events a man is governed by feelings
rather than by thought, the intellect needs to arouse the quality of
courage, which then supports and sustains it in action. Looked at in
this way, the role of determination is to limit the agonies of doubt and
the perils of hesitation when the motives for action are inadequate.
--Carl von Clausewitz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz>