Mr. Dooley is a fictional bartender created by American journalist
Finley Peter Dunne, appearing in print between 1893 and 1915, and again
in 1924 and 1926. The bartender's humorous but pointed commentary on
American politics and international affairs first became popular during
the 1898 Spanish–American War. Dunne's essays are in the form of
conversations in an Irish dialect of English between Mr. Dooley, the
owner of a fictional tavern in the Bridgeport area of Chicago, and one
of the bar's patrons. From 1898 onwards, the essays, and the books
collecting them, gained national acclaim. Dunne became a friend of
President Theodore Roosevelt, although the friendship did not curtail
his satire. Beginning around 1905, Dunne had increasing trouble finding
time and inspiration for new pieces, and, except for a brief
resurrection in the mid-1920s, his columns ended in 1915. Even before
his death in 1936, his work was becoming obscure due in part to his use
of dialect and unusual spellings. The columns originated lasting sayings
such as "the Supreme Court follows the election returns".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dooley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
Mary Ann Nichols' body was found on the ground in front of a
gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, London, allegedly the first victim
of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper>
1897:
Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a
precursor to the movie projector.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope>
1939:
Nazi forces, posing as Poles, staged an attack against the
German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia,
Germany, creating an excuse to invade Poland the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident>
1978:
Musa al-Sadr, the Iranian-born Shia cleric and then religious
leader of Lebanon, disappeared in Libya while on an official visit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_al-Sadr>
1986:
Aeroméxico Flight 498 collided with a privately owned Piper
PA-28 Cherokee aircraft over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air
and 15 on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Cerritos_mid-air_collision>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
slough of despond:
1. A dreary bog or marsh.
2. (figuratively) A state of disheartening hopelessness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slough_of_despond>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don't expect you to understand anything I'm telling you. But I
know you will remember this — that nothing good ever ends. If it did,
there would be no people in the world — no life at all, anywhere. And
the world is full of people and full of wonderful life.
--William Saroyan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Saroyan>
The Siege of Sidney Street of January 1911 was a gunfight in the East
End of London. During an attempted jewellery robbery at Houndsditch by a
gang of immigrant Latvians, their leader George Gardstein was mortally
wounded. Two weeks later, the last two unapprehended suspects were
tracked down at 100 Sidney Street in Stepney. Local residents were
evacuated, and a gunfight broke out with the police. After a six-hour
siege, a fire consumed the building, and the bodies of the two suspects
were found within. One of the firemen, Superintendent Charles Pearson,
was killed when the building collapsed. The siege marked the first time
the police had requested army assistance in London to deal with an armed
stand-off. It was also the first siege in Britain to be filmed, by
Pathé News. Winston Churchill, the Home Secretary, who was present at
the siege, said that he gave no instructions to the police, but a
Metropolitan police history of the event contradicted this. One of those
arrested for the robbery had his conviction overturned on appeal; the
rest were acquitted. The events were fictionalised in novels and in the
films The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and The Siege of Sidney Street
(1960).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sidney_Street>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: A squadron of the navy of
the Batavian Republic surrendered to the Royal Navy without a fight near
Wieringen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlieter_Incident>
1813:
Creek War: A force of Creeks belonging to the Red Sticks
faction killed hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims in Alabama.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre>
1918:
Fanny Kaplan shot and wounded Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin,
one of the events leading to the Red Terror in the future Soviet Union,
a repression against Socialist Revolutionary Party members and other
political opponents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror>
1942:
Second World War: Erwin Rommel launched the last major Axis
offensive of the Western Desert Campaign, attacking the British Eighth
Army position near El Alamein, Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alam_el_Halfa>
1981:
President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad
Bahonar of Iran were assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's
Mujahedin of Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad-Javad_Bahonar>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
skite:
1. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand) To boast.
2. (Northern Ireland) To skim or slide along a surface.
3. (Scotland, slang) To slip, such as on ice.
4. (Scotland, slang) To drink a large amount of alcohol.
5. (archaic, vulgar) To defecate, to shit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their
enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in
equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and
greedy only when others are fearful.
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett>
In a nuclear weapons incident on 29–30 August 2007, United States Air
Force warheads were not protected by mandatory security precautions. Six
AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield
nuclear warhead, were mistakenly loaded onto an Air Force B-52H heavy
bomber at Minot Air Force Base and transported to Barksdale Air Force
Base. The nuclear warheads in the missiles were supposed to have been
removed before taking the missiles from their storage bunker. The
missiles with the nuclear warheads were not reported missing and
remained mounted to the aircraft at both Minot and Barksdale for 36
hours. After an investigation, four Air Force commanders were relieved
of their commands, and nuclear weapons operations at Minot were
suspended. In 2008, Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Chief
of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley were forced to
resign, in part over this incident. In response to recommendations by a
review committee, a new Air Force Global Strike Command assumed control
of all Air Force nuclear bombers, missiles, and personnel.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1831:
Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, leading
to the formation of his law of induction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s_law_of_induction>
1885:
Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first internal combustion
motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Reitwagen>
1916:
The United States Congress passed the Philippine Autonomy Act,
the first formal and official declaration of the US commitment to grant
independence to the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones_Law_(Philippines)>
1991:
Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian
Mafia after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libero_Grassi>
1996:
Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 crashed on approach to Svalbard
Airport, Norway, killing all 141 aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vnukovo_Airlines_Flight_2801>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mandylion:
(chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) often Mandylion: the Image of Edessa, a
holy relic consisting of a piece of cloth upon which an image of the
face of Jesus Christ had been miraculously imprinted without human
intervention (that is, an acheiropoieton); an artistic depiction of this
relic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mandylion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Beat me, hate me You can never break me Will me, thrill me You can
never kill me.
--Michael Jackson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson>
Óengus I was, from 732 until his death in 761, a Pictish king and one
of the most powerful rulers in Scotland. Pictland, representing one of
four political groups in north Britain in the early 8th century, ran
from the River Forth northwards, including Orkney, Shetland and the
Western Isles. Óengus became its chief king following a period of civil
war in the late 720s. During his reign the neighbouring kingdom of Dál
Riata was subjugated, and the kingdom of Strathclyde was attacked, with
less success. He was also involved in wars in Ireland and England. Some
sources say that Óengus was a joint ruler with Æthelbald of Mercia;
others dispute this, but still accept him as the dominant force in
northern Britain of his time. After his death, probably in his
seventies, kings from his family continued to dominate Pictland. In 839
a disastrous defeat at the hands of Vikings began a new period of
instability, which ended with the coming to power of Kenneth MacAlpin,
Kenneth I of Scotland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93engus_I>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1850:
German composer Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (2015
production pictured), containing the Bridal Chorus, was first performed
under the direction of Franz Liszt in Weimar, present-day Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohengrin_(opera)>
1859:
A massive solar storm began, causing a coronal mass ejection to
strike the Earth's magnetosphere that generated aurorae that were
visible in the middle latitudes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859>
1901:
Silliman University in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines,
became the first American private school to be founded in the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silliman_University>
1937:
Toyota Motors, now the world's largest automobile manufacturer,
was spun off from Toyota Industries as an independent company.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota>
1963:
Two young women were murdered in New York City; the
mistreatment of the suspect by the police and his forced confession led
New York to abolish its death penalty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_Girls_Murders>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rideau:
A fortification or barrier such as a small earthen mound or ridge, a
file of troops, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rideau>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from
the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle
on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our
creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again
we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul
force.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.>
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a first-person action-adventure game
developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii video
game console. It is the ninth game in the Metroid series, and the final
entry in the Metroid Prime trilogy—excluding two spin-off titles. It
was released in North America and Europe in 2007, and in Japan the
following year. The Wii Remote and Nunchuk devices are featured in a new
control scheme that took a year to develop, delaying the game's release.
The story of Corruption is set six months after the events of Metroid
Prime 2: Echoes, and follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she assists the
Galactic Federation in its fight against the Space Pirates. While
fending off a Space Pirate assault, Samus and her fellow bounty hunters
are attacked by her doppelgänger, Dark Samus, who incapacitates them
with a mutagenic material called Phazon. After losing contact with the
other hunters, the Federation sends Samus on a mission to determine what
happened to them. During the course of the game, Samus works to prevent
the Phazon from spreading from planet to planet while being slowly
corrupted by the Phazon herself.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Prime_3:_Corruption>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Edwin Drake successfully drilled for oil in Titusville,
Pennsylvania, resulting in the Pennsylvania oil rush, the first oil boom
in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_oil_rush>
1896:
The United Kingdom and Zanzibar went to war, with Zanzibar
surrendering less than an hour after the conflict broke out.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War>
1979:
In two separate attacks, IRA bombs killed 18 British soldiers
near Warrenpoint, and British admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others
in County Sligo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten,_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Bu…>
1991:
Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Moldova declared its
independence during the aftermath of the failure of the Soviet coup
d'état attempt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova>
2009:
The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies began three days
of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Kokang_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
on it like a car bonnet:
(humorous) Synonym of on it (actively working to solve a problem, etc.)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_it_like_a_car_bonnet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe,
untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a
middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by
instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.
--Theodore Dreiser
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Dreiser>
Prometheus is a 2012 American science fiction film directed by Ridley
Scott (pictured), written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and
starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan
Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. In the late 21st century, the crew
of Prometheus follows a star map seeking the origins of humanity; they
arrive on a distant world and discover a threat that could cause the
extinction of the human race. The film was initially conceived as a
prequel to the Alien franchise. In late 2010 Lindelof and Scott rewrote
a Spaihts script relying on the Alien universe, but exploring its own
mythology and ideas. Principal photography began in March 2011, with an
estimated $120–130 million budget. The film was released in 2012 in
Britain and North America, and grossed over $403 million worldwide.
Reviews praised the film's visual aesthetic design and the acting,
especially Fassbender's performance as the android David. The plot drew
a mixed response from critics, who faulted elements that remained
unresolved or were predictable. A sequel, Alien: Covenant, is scheduled
to be released in August 2017.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_(2012_film)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1748:
The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the
Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Ministerium>
1810:
Juan José Castelli ordered the execution of Santiago de
Liniers, during the Argentine War of Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Liniers,_1st_Count_of_Buenos_Aires>
1966:
The South African Defence Force launched an attack against
SWAPO guerrilla fighters at Omugulugwombashe, starting the Namibian War
of Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAPO>
1978:
Aboard the Soviet Soyuz 31 spacecraft, Sigmund Jähn became the
first German in space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_J%C3%A4hn>
2008:
More than a week after a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-
Georgian War, Russia unilaterally recognized the independence of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Abkhazia_and_Sou…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
yeasayer:
1. One whose attitude is positive, optimistic, confidently affirmative.
2. (pejorative) One who habitually agrees uncritically.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeasayer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once again the crust of civilization has worn thin, and beneath
can be heard the muttering of primeval fires. Once again many accepted
principles of government have been overthrown, and the world has become
a laboratory where immature and feverish minds experiment with unknown
forces. Once again problems cannot be comfortably limited, for science
has brought the nations into an uneasy bondage to each other.
--John Buchan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan>
Todd Manning is a fictional character from the American daytime drama
One Life to Live. Created by writer Michael Malone, the role was
originated in 1992 by actor Roger Howarth, recast with Trevor St. John
in 2003, and given back to Howarth in 2011. Todd became part of a
groundbreaking storyline in which Marty Saybrooke was gang raped. Todd's
popularity with the audience and critics, even after the rape, persuaded
the writers to retain the character. While keeping aspects of his
personality dark and violent, they had Todd exhibit a conscience and
compassion. They took steps to redeem him, borrowing from nineteenth-
century melodrama, Gothic traditions, and literature such as
Frankenstein, despite Howarth's objections to a redemption storyline for
a rapist. Todd has been the subject of many scholarly feminist studies.
He has remained a popular and controversial figure since his creation,
and is considered one of soap opera's breakout characters. The main
players in the rape storyline—Howarth, Susan Haskell (Marty), and
Hillary B. Smith (Todd's lawyer Nora Hanen)—won Emmys in 1994, as did
Malone and his writing team.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Manning>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1258:
George Mouzalon, regent of the Empire of Nicaea, was
assassinated as part of a conspiracy led by the nobles under future
emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mouzalon>
1537:
The Honourable Artillery Company, currently the oldest
surviving regiment in the British Army, was formed by Royal Charter from
King Henry VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honourable_Artillery_Company>
1920:
Polish forces under Józef Piłsudski successfully forced the
Russians to withdraw from Warsaw at the Battle of Warsaw, the decisive
battle of the Polish–Soviet War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_(1920)>
1942:
Second World War: Japanese forces attacked the Australian base
at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Milne_Bay>
2001:
American singer Aaliyah and various members of her record
company were killed when their overloaded aircraft crashed shortly after
takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaliyah>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unchecked:
1. Unrestrained, not held back.
2. Not examined for accuracy, efficiency, etc.
3. (chiefly computing) Of a check box: not checked (ticked or enabled).
4. (crossword puzzles) Of a square: part of only one entry (that is, across
or down, but not both).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unchecked>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In my experience of fights and fighting, it is invariably the
aggressor who keeps getting everything wrong.
--Martin Amis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis>
Voalavo is a genus of rodent in the subfamily Nesomyinae, found only in
Madagascar. Two species are known, both of which live in mountain forest
above 1250 m (4100 ft) altitude; V. gymnocaudus lives in northern
Madagascar and V. antsahabensis is restricted to a small area in the
central part of the island. The genus was discovered in 1994 and
formally described in 1998. Within Nesomyinae, it is most closely
related to the genus Eliurus, and DNA sequence data suggest that the
current definitions of these two genera need to be changed. Species of
Voalavo are small, gray, mouse-like rodents, among the smallest
nesomyines. They lack the distinctive tuft of long hairs on the tail
that is characteristic of Eliurus. The tail is long and females have six
mammae. In Voalavo, there are two glands on the chest (absent in
Eliurus) that produce a sweet-smelling musk in breeding males. In the
skull, the facial skeleton is long and the braincase is smooth. The
molars are somewhat high-crowned, though less so than in Eliurus, and
the third molars are reduced in size and complexity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voalavo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
79:
According to estimates based on the Codex Laurentianus Mediceus,
Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Italian towns of Pompeii,
Herculaneum, and Stabiae in rock and ash.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79>
1814:
War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting
fire to various US government buildings, including what is now the White
House (damage pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington>
1914:
World War I: The Battle of Cer ended as the first Allied
victory in the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cer>
1941:
Adolf Hitler ordered the official termination of the T4
euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings
continued in secret for the remainder of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4>
2006:
The International Astronomical Union redefined the term
"planet", reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf planet since it has not
"cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_definition_of_planet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hilum:
1. (botany) The eye of a bean or other seed; the mark or scar at the point
of attachment of an ovule or seed to its base or support.
2. (botany) The nucleus of a starch grain.
3. (anatomy) A depression or fissure through which ducts, nerves, or blood
vessels enter and leave a gland or organ; a porta.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hilum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is
based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty,
but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to
emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see
only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember
those times and places — and there are so many — where people have
behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least
the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different
direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to
wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite
succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should
live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous
victory.
--Howard Zinn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn>
Of the four operas written by the youthful composer George Frideric
Handel (pictured) between 1703 and 1706 when he lived and worked in
Hamburg, only the first, Almira, has survived complete. The music for
the others is lost apart from a few orchestral fragments. Handel learned
the rudiments of opera composition while employed as a violinist at the
Oper am Gänsemarkt, Hamburg's famous opera house, and was able to get
Almira and a second opera, Nero, performed there during the temporary
absence of the theatre's director, Reinhard Keiser. Almira was
successful, Nero less so. Handel's last two Hamburg operas, Florindo and
Daphne, were not produced at the Gänsemarkt before Handel left Hamburg.
No music that can be definitively traced to Nero has been identified,
although scholars have speculated that some of it may have been used in
later works, particularly Agrippina, which has a similar plot and
characters. Fragments of music from Florindo and Daphne have been
preserved, although without the vocal parts, and some of these elements
have been incorporated into an orchestral suite first recorded in 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel%27s_lost_Hamburg_operas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1514:
Ottoman forces defeated the Safavids at the Battle of
Chaldiran, gaining control of eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaldiran>
1896:
Andrés Bonifacio and his Katipunan comrades in modern-day
Quezon City rose up in revolt against Spanish rule, marking the
beginning of the Philippine Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_Pugad_Lawin>
1929:
Palestine riots: Arabs began attacking Jews in Hebron in the
British Mandate of Palestine, killing over sixty people in two days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Hebron_massacre>
1970:
The United Farm Workers, led by Cesar Chavez, began the Salad
Bowl strike, the largest farmworker strike in U.S. history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salad_Bowl_strike>
2006:
Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of 10 in
Vienna, escaped from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil after eight years in
captivity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natascha_Kampusch>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gasbag:
1. A bag or bladder to hold a reservoir of gas, as in a hot-air balloon.
2. (figuratively) A person who is overly garrulous or prone to making
empty, unsupportable statements; a windbag.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gasbag>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The strife of Love's the abysmal strife, And the word of Love is
the Word of Life. And they that go with the Word unsaid, Though they
seem of the living, are damned and dead.
--William Ernest Henley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ernest_Henley>
James Newland (22 August 1881 – 19 March 1949) was an Australian
officer in the First World War. He received the Victoria Cross for
successfully leading a company in several assaults on German positions
and repulsing counterattacks in April 1917. Newland joined the
Australian military in 1899 and saw active service during the Second
Boer War. After completing several years' service in the artillery, he
transferred to the militia in 1907. He became a police officer in
Tasmania before re-joining the permanent forces in 1910. He was in the
first wave of Australian Imperial Force soldiers to land at Gallipoli.
In the days following the landing, he was wounded and evacuated to
Egypt, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Transferring to
the Western Front in 1916, Newland was mentioned in despatches for his
leadership while commanding a company during an attack at Mouquet Farm.
He was wounded twice more during the war; medically discharged in March
1918, he returned to service with the permanent army. He retired as a
lieutenant colonel in 1941.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Newland>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1711:
Queen Anne's War: A British attempt to attack Quebec failed
when eight ships wrecked on the Saint Lawrence River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Expedition>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold used a ruse to
convince the British that a much larger force was arriving, causing them
to abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix (reconstructed fort pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Stanwix>
1864:
The Red Cross movement led by Henry Dunant officially began
when twelve European nations signed the First Geneva Convention,
establishing the International Committee of the Red Cross.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention>
1944:
World War II: Wehrmacht infantry carried out an assault
operation against the civilian residents of nine villages located in the
Amari Valley on the Greek island of Crete.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_of_Kedros>
1961:
Ida Siekmann jumped from a window in her tenement building
trying to flee to West Berlin, becoming the first person to die at the
Berlin Wall.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Siekmann>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
louche:
1. Of questionable taste or morality; decadent.
2. Not reputable or decent.
3. Unconventional and slightly disreputable in an attractive manner;
raffish, rakish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/louche>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into
imagination and will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with
forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has shouted itself
alive. We are one of the shouts.
--Ray Bradbury
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury>