The Beograd class consisted of three destroyers built for the Royal
Yugoslav Navy in the late 1930s, to a French design. Beograd was
constructed in France, and Zagreb and Ljubljana were built in the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia
in April 1941, Zagreb was scuttled to prevent its capture, and the other
two were seized by the Italians. The Royal Italian Navy operated the two
captured ships as convoy escorts between Italy, the Aegean Sea and North
Africa. One was lost in the Gulf of Tunis in April 1943; the other was
seized by the Germans in September 1943 after the Italian surrender, and
was operated by the German Navy. There are conflicting reports about the
fate of the last ship, but it was lost in the final weeks of the war. In
1967, a French film was made about the scuttling of Zagreb. In 1973, the
President of Yugoslavia and wartime Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito
awarded the Order of the People's Hero posthumously to the two officers
who scuttled Zagreb.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beograd-class_destroyer>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
284:
Diocletian (pictured on coin) became Roman emperor, eventually
establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Fort Lee marked the
invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and the subsequent
general retreat of the Continental Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_Historic_Park>
1917:
First World War: The Battle of Cambrai began with British
forces having initial success over Germany's Hindenburg Line.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cambrai_(1917)>
1952:
The Slánský trial, a show trial against Czech General
Secretary Rudolf Slánský and 13 other members of the Communist Party
of Czechoslovakia, was held.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C3%A1nsk%C3%BD_trial>
1990:
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific
serial killers with 56 convicted murders, was arrested in Novocherkassk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vigesimal:
1. Occurring in intervals of twenty.
2. To the base 20.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vigesimal>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning
superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe
ends at river shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle
of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin. It
is — It is your job, the task of young people in this world, to strip
the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of
man.
--Robert F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy>
Freak Out! (1966) is the debut studio album by the American rock band
the Mothers of Invention. One of rock music's first concept albums, it
is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of
American pop culture. It was also one of the earliest double albums in
rock music. It features Zappa on vocals and guitar, along with lead
vocalist and tambourine player Ray Collins, bass player and vocalist Roy
Estrada, drummer-vocalist Jimmy Carl Black and guitar player Elliot
Ingber, who later joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band under the name
Winged Eel Fingerling. The musical content of Freak Out! ranges from
rhythm and blues, doo-wop and standard blues-influenced rock to
orchestral arrangements and avant-garde sound collages. The album was a
success in Europe; in the United States, it was poorly received at
first, but gradually gained a cult following. In 1999, the album was
honored with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and in 2003, Rolling Stone
ranked it among the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freak_Out!>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The United States and Great Britain signed the Jay Treaty, the
basis for ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Treaty>
1863:
American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered
the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National
Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address>
1942:
World War II: Soviet troops launched Operation Uranus at the
Battle of Stalingrad, with the goal of encircling Axis forces, turning
the tide of the battle in the Soviet Union's favour.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus>
1969:
Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his one thousandth goal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9>
2010:
The first of four explosions occurred at the Pike River Mine in
the West Coast region of New Zealand in the nation's worst mining
disaster in nearly a century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_River_Mine_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ruff:
1. A circular frill or ruffle on a garment, especially a starched, fluted
frill at the neck in Elizabethan and Jacobean England (1560s–1620s).
2. Anything formed with plaits or flutings like a frill.
3. Senses relating to animals.
4. Philomachus pugnax (syn. Calidris pugnax), a gregarious, medium-sized
wading bird of Eurasia; specifically, a male of the species which
develops a distinctive ruff of feathers and ear tufts during mating
season (the female is called a reeve).
5. (ornithology) A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or
around the neck of a bird.
6. (zoology) A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or
around the neck of an animal.
7. (engineering) A collar on a shaft or other piece to prevent endwise
motion.
8. (obsolete) An exhibition of haughtiness or pride.
9. (obsolete) Tumultuous or wanton conduct or procedure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ruff>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Sections and races should be forgotten and partisanship should be
unknown. Let our people find a new meaning in the divine oracle which
declares that "a little child shall lead them", for our own little
children will soon control the destinies of the Republic.
--James A. Garfield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield>
Presque Isle State Park is a 3,112-acre (1,259 ha) Pennsylvania state
park on an arching, sandy peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, near the
city of Erie, Pennsylvania. The peninsula was formed from glacial
deposits more than 14,000 years ago, and is constantly being reshaped by
waves and wind. There are seven ecological zones within the park, each
with a different plant and animal community. The Erielhonan, a Native
American tribe who gave their name to Lake Erie, probably lived on
Presque Isle, which was named by the French in the 1720s. A French fort
was built nearby, followed by a British and then an American fort.
During the War of 1812 the peninsula sheltered the fleet of Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry. With the growing importance of shipping on Lake
Erie in the 19th century, several lighthouses were built on Presque
Isle. In 1876 the US Life-Saving Service opened a station, still in use
and operated by the US Coast Guard. Presque Isle became a state park in
1921, and a National Natural Landmark in 1967.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presque_Isle_State_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1809:
Napoleonic Wars: In the Bay of Bengal, a French frigate
squadron captured three East Indiamen mainly carrying recruits for the
Indian Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_18_November_1809>
1872:
American suffragette Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined
$100 for having voted in the U.S. presidential election in Rochester,
New York, two weeks prior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony>
1956:
In the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys,
prompting them to leave the room.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you>
1987:
In London, an underground fire killed 31 people at King's Cross
St. Pancras tube station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire>
2012:
Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria took office as the 118th Pope of
the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Tawadros_II_of_Alexandria>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
swingeing:
1. (chiefly Britain) Huge, immense.
2. Heavy, powerful, scathing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swingeing>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There were a lot of utopias in the nineteenth century, wonderful
societies that we might possibly construct. Those went pretty much out
of fashion after World War I. And almost immediately one of the utopias
that people were trying to construct, namely the Soviet Union, threw out
a writer called Zamyatin who wrote a seminal book called We, which
contains the seeds of Orwell and Huxley. Writers started doing dystopias
after we saw the effects of trying to build utopias that required,
unfortunately, the elimination of a lot of people before you could get
to the perfect point, which never arrived. … I don’t believe in a
perfect world. I don’t believe it’s achievable, and I believe the
people who try to achieve it usually end up turning it into something
like Cambodia or something very similar because purity tests set in. Are
you ideologically pure enough to be allowed to live? Well, it turns out
that very few people are, so you end up with a big powerful struggle and
a mass killing scene.
--Margaret Atwood
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood>
Ben Affleck (born 1972) is an American actor, director, screenwriter,
and producer. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden
Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He
starred as a child in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi
beginning in 1984. He later appeared in several Kevin Smith films,
including Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999). Affleck gained wider
recognition when he and childhood friend Matt Damon won the Golden Globe
and Academy Award for the screenplay of Good Will Hunting (1997). He
established himself as a leading man in studio films including
Armageddon (1998), Forces of Nature (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001) and
Changing Lanes (2002). After a career downturn, his directorial debut,
Gone Baby Gone (2007), was well received. For the political thriller
Argo (2012), which he directed, co-produced and starred in, he won two
major industry awards for best director, and the film won three for best
picture. Affleck is a co-founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative and the
production company Pearl Street Films. He has three children with
actress Jennifer Garner (married 2005–2017).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Affleck>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1839:
Giuseppe Verdi's first opera Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio,
was first performed at La Scala in Milan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberto_(opera)>
1871:
The United States' National Rifle Association was first
chartered in the state of New York by William Conant Church and George
Wood Wingate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association>
1894:
H. H. Holmes, one of the first modern serial killers, was
arrested in Boston after having killed at least nine people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes>
1905:
Influenced by the result of the Russo-Japanese War, the Empire
of Japan and the Korean Empire signed the Eulsa Treaty, effectively
depriving Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Korea_Treaty_of_1905>
1997:
Sixty-two people were killed by terrorists outside the Deir el-
Bahri in Luxor, one of Egypt's top tourist attractions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
baker's dozen:
1. (idiomatic) Thirteen; a group of thirteen.
2. (Cockney rhyming slang) A cousin.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baker%27s_dozen>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Note the difference between a right and a privilege. A right, in
the abstract, is a fact; it is not a thing to be given, established, or
conferred; it is. Of the exercise of a right power may deprive me; of
the right itself, never. Privilege, in the abstract, does not exist;
there is no such thing. Rights recognized, privilege is destroyed. But,
in the practical, the moment you admit a supreme authority, you have
denied rights. Practically the supremacy has all the rights, and no
matter what the human race possesses, it does so merely at the caprice
of that authority.
--Voltairine de Cleyre
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltairine_de_Cleyre>
The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a U.S. dollar coin that was minted from
1979 to 1981, when the series was suspended due to poor public
reception, and briefly minted again in 1999. It was proposed as a
replacement for the cumbersome Eisenhower dollar. A round planchet with
an eleven-sided inner border, acceptable to the vending machine industry
(a powerful lobby affecting coin legislation), was chosen for the
smaller dollar. Social reformer Susan B. Anthony was selected for the
obverse side; on the reverse, the design of the Eisenhower dollar was
retained. Both sides of the coin were designed by Frank Gasparro, the
Chief Engraver of the United States Mint. The Mint struck 500 million
coins, but these entered circulation slowly, in part because of
confusion caused by their similarity in size and appearance to the
quarter. A final run of these dollar coins was struck in 1999 to
compensate for the slow production of the Sacagawea dollar, authorized
in 1997. Susan B. Anthony dollars are still plentiful, including many in
uncirculated condition, so they hold little extra value for collectors.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1476:
With the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Báthory, Vlad
the Impaler became the ruler of Wallachia for the third time after
forcing Basarab Laiotă to flee to the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units captured
Fort Washington from the Patriots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Washington>
1967:
Aeroflot Flight 2230 crashed after takeoff from Koltsovo
Airport, Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), killing all 107 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_2230>
1992:
In Suffolk, England, a local man found the largest hoard of
Roman silver and gold in Britain (sample pictured), including the
largest collection of 4th/5th-century gold and silver coins ever
discovered within the former Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxne_Hoard>
1997:
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng was released for "medical
reasons" after spending 17½ of the previous 18 years in prison, and was
deported to the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Jingsheng>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vog:
Air pollution caused by substances (such as sulphur dioxide) emitted by
a volcano.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vog>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One persistent strand in utopian thinking, as we have often
mentioned, is the feeling that there is some set of principles obvious
enough to be accepted by all men of good will, precise enough to give
unambiguous guidance in particular situations, clear enough so that all
will realize its dictates, and complete enough to cover all problems
which actually arise. Since I do not assume that there are such
principles, I do not presume that the political realm will whither away.
The messiness of the details of a political apparatus and the details of
how it is to be controlled and limited do not fit easily into one's
hopes for a sleek, simple utopian scheme.
--Robert Nozick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick>
Bazy Tankersley (1921–2013) was an American breeder of Arabian horses
and a newspaper publisher. She was a daughter of Senator Joseph M.
McCormick and Congresswoman Ruth Hanna McCormick. Her father died when
she was a child, and she moved west when her mother remarried, where she
was given a part-Arabian horse. She began working as a reporter at 18,
and began her horse breeding operation, Al-Marah Arabians, in 1941. In
1949, she became the publisher of the conservative Washington Times-
Herald owned by her uncle, Robert R. McCormick, where she became a
friend of Senator Joseph McCarthy. When McCormick demanded she choose
between the newspaper and Garvin "Tank" Tankersley, who became her
second husband, she shifted to full-time horse breeding. By 1957 Al-
Marah was the largest Arabian horse farm in the United States. Over her
career she bred more than 2,800 registered Arabians. Though she was
involved with conservative Republican causes as a young woman, she was a
strong supporter of environmental causes in the 21st century and backed
Barack Obama for president in 2008. She was a patron of many charities.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazy_Tankersley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
655:
Penda of Mercia was defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria at the
Battle of the Winwaed in modern-day Yorkshire, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penda_of_Mercia>
1760:
The chapel of the new Castellania Palace in Valletta, Malta,
was consecrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellania_(Valletta)>
1889:
Brazilian Emperor Pedro II was overthrown in a coup led by
Deodoro da Fonseca, and Brazil was proclaimed a republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_and_fall_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1959:
Two men murdered a family in Holcomb, Kansas, U.S.; the events
became the subject of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, a
pioneering work of the true crime genre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood>
1968:
Vietnam War: American forces launched Operation Commando Hunt,
a large-scale bombing campaign to prevent the People's Army of Vietnam
from transporting personnel and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Commando_Hunt>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
jingoistic:
Overly patriotic or nationalistic, often with an element of favouring
war or an aggressive foreign policy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jingoistic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In wartime Shanghai I saw so many horrors … Civilised life is
based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate
willingly. The trouble is, we forget after a while that they are
illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.
--J. G. Ballard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard>
Ernest Joyce (c. 1875 – 1940) was a Royal Naval seaman and Antarctic
explorer who served under both Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton
in the early years of the 20th century. Joyce entered the navy as a boy
seaman in 1891; his Antarctic experiences began in 1901 when he joined
Scott's Discovery Expedition. In 1907 Shackleton recruited him to take
charge of dogs and sledges on the Nimrod Expedition, a role he performed
with distinction. Thus Shackleton employed him in a similar capacity in
1914, as a member of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's Ross Sea
party. Despite Joyce's acknowledged heroism during that expedition, it
ended his exploring career, although he made attempts to join other
expeditions. An abrasive and sometimes truculent character, his
effectiveness in the field was nonetheless widely acknowledged. He was
awarded a lifesaving Albert Medal and a Polar Medal with four bars, but
Joyce made no significant material gains from his exploits, living out
his post-Antarctic life in humble circumstances before dying suddenly in
1940.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Joyce>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a
ship, flying from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in the U.S.
state of Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely>
1941:
Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous
day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sank as she was being
towed to Gibraltar for repairs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ark_Royal_(91)>
1970:
Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall
University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West
Virginia, U.S., killing all 75 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Airways_Flight_932>
1995:
As a result of budget conflicts between President Bill Clinton
and the United States Congress led by Newt Gingrich, the federal
government was forced to shut down non-essential services.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdowns_of…>
2003:
Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L.
Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blowhard:
(Canada, US, derogatory) A person who talks too much or too loudly,
especially in a boastful or self-important manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blowhard>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Killing innocent people by surprise is not called "a thousand
points of light." But, as frightening as terrorism is, it's the weapon
of losers. The minute somebody sets off a suicide bomb, you can be sure
that person doesn't have "career prospects." And no matter how
horrendous a terrorist attack is, it's still conducted by losers.
--P. J. O'Rourke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke>
Myriostoma, the salt-shaker earthstar, is the largest fungus in the
earthstar family, with a fruit body up to 12 cm (4.7 in) across. It
has been found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. It
grows in humus-rich forests or in woodlands, especially on well-drained
and sandy soils. Myriostoma coliforme, the only species in the genus, is
somewhat rare, appearing on the Red Lists of 12 European countries. It
was one of 33 species proposed for protection in 2004 under the Bern
Convention by the European Council for Conservation of Fungi. The
inedible fruit body, initially shaped like a puffball, is encased in an
outer covering that splits open from the top to form rays. These pieces
curve down in a star shape to expose a papery spore case surrounding the
fertile spore-bearing tissue, the gleba. The fungus is unique among the
earthstars in having a spore sac that is supported by multiple stalks,
and is perforated by several small holes, suggestive of its common name.
The spores are dispersed when falling water hits the sac, forcing them
up through the holes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriostoma>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1002:
King Æthelred II ordered the massacre of all Danes in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Brice%27s_Day_massacre>
1642:
First English Civil War: The Royalist army engaged the much
larger Parliamentarian army at the Battle of Turnham Green near Turnham
Green, Middlesex.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Turnham_Green>
1927:
The Holland Tunnel, connecting Manhattan with Jersey City, New
Jersey, under the Hudson River, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_Tunnel>
1992:
The High Court of Australia ruled in Dietrich v The Queen that
although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in
most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment
or stay when an accused is unrepresented.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_v_The_Queen>
2007:
An explosion hit the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City,
the Philippines, killing Congressman Wahab Akbar and at least four
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batasang_Pambansa_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
go it alone:
1. (colloquial) To do something alone or independently, especially
something that is normally or better done in groups.
2. (card games) To play a hand without the assistance of one's partner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/go_it_alone>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice:
whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.
--William Shenstone
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Shenstone>
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction fantasy
film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Melissa
Mathison, it stars Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew
Barrymore, Peter Coyote and Pat Welsh. It tells the story of Elliott
(Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends a stranded extraterrestrial.
Elliott and his siblings help E.T. return home while attempting to hide
him from their mother and the government. Filmed on a budget of $10.5
million, it was shot in rough chronological order, to facilitate
convincing emotional performances from the young cast. E.T. was an
immediate blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-
grossing film of all time—a record it held for eleven years until
Jurassic Park, another Spielberg-directed film, surpassed it in 1993.
Considered one of the greatest films ever made, it was widely acclaimed
by critics as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the
greatest science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes survey. It
was re-released in 1985, and then again in 2002 to celebrate its 20th
anniversary, with altered shots and additional scenes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
William Heffelfinger was paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic
Association, becoming the first professional American football player on
record.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heffelfinger>
1912:
The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions were
discovered, roughly eight months after their deaths during the ill-fated
British Antarctic Expedition 1910.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott>
1942:
World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the decisive
engagement in a series of naval battles between Allied and Japanese
forces during the months-long Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon
Islands, began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal>
1970:
A cyclone made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan
(Bangladesh), becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history, with
up to 500,000 people killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Bhola_cyclone>
2014:
The European Space Agency's Philae lander (artist's impression
shown) became the first spacecraft to land on a comet when it touched
down on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/67P/Churyumov%E2%80%93Gerasimenko>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
foolhardy:
Marked by unthinking recklessness with disregard for danger; boldly
rash; hotheaded.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foolhardy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In the construction of a country, it is not the practical workers
but the idealists and planners that are difficult to find.
--Sun Yat-sen
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen>
Norwich War Memorial is a First World War memorial in Norwich in Eastern
England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was the last of his eight
cenotaphs (empty tombs) to be erected in England. In 1926 Norwich's
newly elected lord mayor established an appeal to raise memorial funds
for local hospitals and to construct a physical monument. He
commissioned Lutyens, who designed a cenotaph atop a low screen wall
with bronze gas-lit torches at either end, and a protruding Stone of
Remembrance. Lutyens also installed a roll of honour listing the city's
dead at Norwich Castle in 1931. A local disabled veteran unveiled the
memorial in October 1927. It was moved from its original location to
become the centrepiece of a memorial garden between the market and the
City Hall in 1938. The structure on which the garden is built was found
to be unstable in 2004; the memorial was closed off, and fell into
disrepair. Work was completed in 2011, and the memorial was restored and
rotated to face the city hall. It was rededicated on Armistice Day 2011
and is today a grade II* listed building.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_War_Memorial>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1215:
The Fourth Lateran Council convened, during which it was
declared that belief in the Roman Catholic doctrine of
transubstantiation was obligatory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Council_of_the_Lateran>
1500:
During the Italian War of 1499–1504, Louis XII of France and
Ferdinand II of Aragon signed a secret treaty to divide the Mezzogiorno
between themselves.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_War_of_1499%E2%80%931504>
1934:
The Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial to all Australians who
have served in war, opened in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Remembrance>
1940:
Second World War: The Royal Navy launched the first all-
aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history against the Italians in
the Battle of Taranto.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taranto>
1999:
The House of Lords Act was given royal assent, removing most
hereditary peers from the British House of Lords.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords_Act_1999>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bachelor's fare:
(dated) A simple meal that requires no cooking, such as bread and
cheese.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bachelor%27s_fare>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's life that matters, nothing but life — the process of
discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery
itself, at all. But what's the use of talking! I suspect that all I'm
saying now is so like the usual commonplaces that I shall certainly be
taken for a lower-form schoolboy sending in his essay on "sunrise", or
they'll say perhaps that I had something to say, but that I did not know
how to "explain" it. But I'll add, that there is something at the bottom
of every new human thought, every thought of genius, or even every
earnest thought that springs up in any brain, which can never be
communicated to others, even if one were to write volumes about it and
were explaining one's idea for thirty-five years; there's something left
which cannot be induced to emerge from your brain, and remains with you
forever; and with it you will die, without communicating to anyone
perhaps the most important of your ideas.
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky>