Banksia attenuata, the candlestick banksia, is a tree in the family
Proteaceae. Commonly reaching 10 m (33 ft), it can be a shrub of 0.4
to 2 m (1.3 to 6.6 ft) in dryer areas. It has long narrow serrated
leaves and bright yellow inflorescences, or flower spikes. It is found
across much of the southwest of Western Australia, from north of
Kalbarri National Park south to Cape Leeuwin and then east to Fitzgerald
River National Park. Robert Brown named the species in 1810. Within the
genus Banksia, the close relationships and exact position of B.
attenuata are unclear. The tree is pollinated by and provides food for a
wide array of vertebrate and invertebrate animals in summer months,
including the honeyeaters and the honey possum, a tiny marsupial. The
plant regenerates from bushfire by regrowing from its woody base or from
epicormic buds within its trunk. It can live for up to 300 years. It has
been widely used as a street tree and for amenities planting in urban
Western Australia, though its large size generally precludes use in
small gardens. A dwarf form is commercially available in nurseries.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_attenuata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1844:
A gun on USS Princeton exploded while the warship was on a
Potomac River cruise, killing six people and injuring twenty others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_disaster_of_1844>
1897:
Ranavalona III, the last sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of
Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranavalona_III>
1914:
In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Greeks living in southern
Albania proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Republic_of_Northern_Epirus>
1972:
Japanese police stormed a mountain lodge near Karuizawa, Nagano
Prefecture, to end a ten-day siege by members of the paramilitary group
United Red Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asama-Sans%C5%8D_incident>
1997:
GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, struck the
Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts
occur well beyond the Milky Way.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_970228>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
millstone:
1. A large round stone used for grinding grain.
2. (geology) A coarse-grained sandstone used for making such stones;
millstone grit.
3. (figuratively) Often in a millstone round one's neck (referring to
Matthew 18:6 in the Bible): a heavy responsibility that is difficult to
bear.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/millstone>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Great abuses in the world are begotten, or, to speak more boldly,
all the abuses of the world are begotten, by our being taught to be
afraid of professing our ignorance, and that we are bound to accept all
things we are not able to refute: we speak of all things by precepts and
decisions. The style at Rome was that even that which a witness deposed
to having seen with his own eyes, and what a judge determined with his
most certain knowledge, was couched in this form of speaking: “it
seems to me.” They make me hate things that are likely, when they
would impose them upon me as infallible.
--Michel de Montaigne
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne>
Henry Hoʻolulu Pitman (1845–1863) was one of more than one hundred
Native Hawaiians and Hawaiian-born combatants who fought in the American
Civil War while Hawaii was still an independent kingdom. His father was
a merchant from Massachusetts and his mother, Kinoʻoleoliliha, was a
Hawaiian noble. He returned to the United States with his father for his
education, but ran away from school without his family's knowledge and
enlisted in the Union Army as a private. Despite his mixed-race
ancestry, he avoided the racial segregation imposed on other Hawaiian
recruits of the time and was assigned to a white regiment. He fought in
the Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign and befriended Robert
G. Carter, a memoirist of the Civil War. On the march to Fredericksburg,
he was separated from his regiment and captured by Confederate guerrilla
forces. He was marched to Richmond and incarcerated in Libby Prison,
where he contracted a lung disease from the harsh conditions. He died on
February 27, 1863, after his release on parole in a prisoner exchange.
His legacy has sparked renewed interest in the role Hawaiians played in
the Civil War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ho%CA%BBolulu_Pitman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
907:
Abaoji, a Khitan chieftain, was enthroned as Emperor Taizu,
establishing the Liao dynasty in northern China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaoji>
1812:
Manuel Belgrano raised the Flag of Argentina, which he
designed, in the city of Rosario, during the Argentine War of
Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Belgrano>
1940:
American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered
carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the basis of the
radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological and geological samples.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14>
1982:
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, known for its performances of
Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas, gave its last performance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Oyly_Carte_Opera_Company>
2002:
A violent riot in Gujarat, India, where at least 1,000 people
(mostly Muslims) were killed, possibly having been triggered by a train
fire that killed 58 Hindu pilgrims.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godhra_train_burning>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anosmic:
1. (medicine) Having anosmia; lacking a sense of smell.
2. (zoology) Lacking olfactory organs; anosmatic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anosmic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical
paradox. We have definitions of good qualities and of bad; not changing
things, but generally considered good and bad throughout the ages and
throughout the species. Of the good, we think always of wisdom,
tolerance, kindliness, generosity, humility; and the qualities of
cruelty, greed, self-interest, graspingness, and rapacity are
universally considered undesirable. And yet in our structure of society,
the so-called and considered good qualities are invariable concomitants
of failure, while the bad ones are the cornerstones of success.
--John Steinbeck
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck>
York City Football Club has a long history as a professional association
football club based in York, England. Founded in 1908, they played
several seasons before and after the First World War in the Northern and
Midland leagues. They were elected to play in the Football League for
1929–30, in the Third Division North. They had their best FA Cup
season in 1954–55, when they reached the semi-final, but lost to the
First Division club Newcastle United in a replay. York played in the
Third Division North until 1958–59, when a league reorganisation
landed them in the Fourth Division. The same season, they finished third
and won their first promotion. Their only promotion into the Second
Division came in 1973–74. By mid-October 1974, they were in fifth
place—their highest league ranking—before finishing the season in
15th place. They faced two successive relegations in 1976 and 1977, and
a 22nd-place finish in the 1977–78 Fourth Division forced the club to
apply for re-election. (
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_York_City_F.C._(1908%E2%80%9380)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
747 BC:
According to Ptolemy, the reign of the Babylonian king
Nabonassar began and with it, a new era characterized by the systematic
maintenance of chronologically precise historical records.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonassar>
1233:
Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols captured Kaifeng, the capital of
the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_siege_of_Kaifeng>
1815:
Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba, an island off the coast
of Italy where he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau one year earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon>
1917:
The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues"
(audio featured), the first jazz single ever released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_Stable_Blues>
2013:
A hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people
in the deadliest ballooning disaster in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Luxor_hot_air_balloon_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dressing room:
1. A room used for dressing or changing clothes.
2. A small room adjoining a domestic bedroom where people may dress or
undress in privacy.
3. A room in a theatre or other performance venue in which performers may
change costumes and apply makeup.
4. A changing room at a recreational or sports venue.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dressing_room>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love is a burnin' thing And it makes a fiery ring Bound by wild
desire I fell into a ring of fire I fell into a burnin' ring of fire I
went down, down, down And the flames went higher And it burns, burns,
burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire
--June Carter Cash
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/June_Carter_Cash>
Theodore Komnenos Doukas (died c. 1253) ruled Epirus and Thessaly from
1215 to 1230, and most of Macedonia and western Thrace as Emperor of
Thessalonica from 1224 to 1230. He was also the power behind the rule of
his two sons John and Demetrios over Thessalonica in 1237–46. The
scion of a distinguished Byzantine aristocratic family, he was called to
Epirus by his bastard half-brother Michael I Komnenos Doukas, who had
founded an independent principality there after the Fourth Crusade. When
Michael died in 1215, Theodore assumed governance and allied with
Serbia, taking the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica in 1224. He declared
himself emperor, challenging the claims of the Nicaean emperor John III
Vatatzes on the Byzantine imperial throne. In 1230 he amassed an army to
besiege Constantinople, but diverted it to fight in Bulgaria, where he
was defeated, blinded, and imprisoned for seven years. In 1237 he
installed his older son John, and later Demetrios, as emperor in
Thessalonica, remaining the de facto regent of the state. He was taken
prisoner again in 1252 by Vatatzes and sent into exile in Nicaea, where
he died the next year.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Komnenos_Doukas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
628:
Khosrow II, the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, was
overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khosrow_II>
1843:
Captain Lord George Paulet of the British Royal Navy began a
five-month occupation of land in the Hawaiian islands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulet_Affair_(1843)>
1933:
USS Ranger, the first ship of the United States Navy designed
as an aircraft carrier, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ranger_(CV-4)>
1948:
Fearful of civil war and Soviet intervention in recent unrest,
Czechoslovakian president Edvard Beneš ceded control over the
government to the Communist Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Czechoslovak_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
2009:
Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutinied at its headquarters
in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, in addition to
eight mutineers killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Rifles_revolt>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shovelware:
1. (computing, slang, derogatory) A haphazard collection of software
assembled in terms of quantity rather than quality.
2. (media, slang) Traditional media content, such as printed news reports,
republished hastily on the Internet without considering the needs and
capabilities of that medium.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shovelware>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can be standing right in front of the truth and not
necessarily see it, and people only get it when they’re ready to get
it.
--George Harrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Harrison>
Westcott railway station served the village of Westcott,
Buckinghamshire, near Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's estate at
Waddesdon Manor. It was built by the Duke of Buckingham in 1871 as part
of a short horse-drawn tramway that met the Aylesbury and Buckingham
Railway at Quainton Road. The next year, it was converted for passenger
use, extended to Brill railway station, and renamed the Brill Tramway.
The poor quality locomotives running on the cheaply built and ungraded
line were very slow, initially limited to 5 miles per hour (8 km/h).
The line was taken over by the Metropolitan Railway in 1899, and
transferred to public ownership in 1933. Westcott station became part of
the London Underground, despite being over 40 miles (60 km) from
central London, until the closure of the line in 1935. The station
building and its associated house (pictured) are the only significant
buildings from the Brill Tramway to survive other than the former
junction station at Quainton Road.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westcott_railway_station>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1607:
Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, considered the
first fully developed opera, was first performed in Mantua, Duchy of
Mantua (now in Italy).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Orfeo>
1803:
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Marbury v. Madison, declared an act
of Congress unconstitutional for the first time, forming the basis of
judicial review.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison>
1875:
The steamship SS Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier
Reef at low tide and sank northwest of Holbourne Island, Queensland,
Australia, with over 98 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gothenburg>
1946:
Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that
became known as Peronism, was elected to his first term as President of
Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n>
1989:
United Airlines Flight 811 experienced an uncontrolled
decompression after leaving Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii,
killing nine passengers when their seats were sucked out of the plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
logrolling:
1. (US) The rolling of logs from one place to another; an occasion when
people meet to help each other roll logs.
2. (US, lumberjacking) The act of balancing on a log floating on a river to
guide it downstream, often involving rolling it using one's feet;
birling.
3. (US, sports) A sport in which two people balance on a log floating in a
body of water, each one aiming to cause the opponent to fall off by
rolling or kicking the log.
4. (US, politics, figuratively) A concerted effort to push forward mutually
advantageous legislative agendas by combining two items, either or both
of which might fail on its own, into a single bill that is more likely
to pass.
5. (US, figuratively) Mutual recommendation of friends' or colleagues'
services or products, such as book recommendations in literary reviews.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/logrolling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of
times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.
--Steve Jobs
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs>
King's Highway 402 is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of
Ontario and a vital trade link with the Midwestern United States,
connecting the Blue Water Bridge international crossing near Sarnia to
Highway 401 in London. The controlled access freeway is four-laned for
nearly its entire length, widening at the approach to the Blue Water
Bridge. It originally ended within the Sarnia city limits, merging into
Highway 7 near the present Highway 40 interchange. Although it was one
of the original 400-series highways, it was not completed until 1982;
construction extending it to London began in 1972 and was completed with
the final link between Highway 81 and Highway 2. The entire route
became a controlled-access highway with the removal of an intersection
at Front Street in Sarnia. Highway 402 offers access to Interstate 69
(I-69) and I-94 into Port Huron, Michigan, as well as Toronto via
Highway 401, and onwards to Montreal via A-20 in Quebec. The only town
along Highway 402 between Sarnia and London is Strathroy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_402>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1739:
The identity of English highwayman Dick Turpin was uncovered by
his former schoolteacher, who recognised his handwriting, leading to
Turpin's arrest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Turpin>
1847:
Mexican–American War: The United States Army used artillery
to repulse the much larger Mexican army at the Battle of Buena Vista
near Saltillo, Coahuila.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buena_Vista>
1947:
The International Organization for Standardization, responsible
for worldwide industrial and commercial standards, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization>
1987:
Light from SN 1987A, a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
reached the Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A>
2007:
A Virgin express train from London Euston to Glasgow Central
derailed near Grayrigg, Cumbria (accident scene pictured), killing one
person and injuring thirty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayrigg_derailment>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
easel:
An upright frame, typically on three legs, for displaying or supporting
something, such as an artist's canvas.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/easel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Believe in life! Always human beings will progress to greater,
broader, and fuller life.
--W. E. B. Du Bois
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois>
James Russell Lowell (February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an
American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He was the first
editor of The Atlantic Monthly and was one of the Fireside Poets, a
group of New England writers who wrote poetry suitable for families
entertaining at their firesides, with conventional forms and meters. His
first collection of poetry was published in 1841. He was involved in the
movement to abolish slavery, using poetry to express his anti-slavery
views. In 1848 he gained notoriety with the publication of A Fable for
Critics, a book-length poem satirizing contemporary critics and poets.
The same year, he published The Biglow Papers, in which he tried to
emulate the true Yankee accent in the dialogue of his characters. This
depiction of the dialect and his satires were an inspiration to writers
like Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken. Lowell went on to publish several
other poetry and essay collections, and in later years was ambassador to
the Kingdom of Spain and the Court of St James's.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Russell_Lowell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1371:
Robert II became King of Scots as the first monarch of the
House of Stuart.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_II_of_Scotland>
1876:
Swedish woman Karolina Olsson went to sleep and purportedly
fell into a state of hibernation for the next 32 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karolina_Olsson>
1921:
After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
drove the Chinese out of Mongolia, the Bogd Khan was reinstalled as
emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg>
1997:
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the
birth of Dolly, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from
an adult cell.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)>
2011:
A 6.5 ML earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, killing
185 people and causing around NZ$40 billion damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bedraggled:
1. Wet and limp; unkempt.
2. Decaying, decrepit or dilapidated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bedraggled>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If Men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a
matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences,
that can invite the consideration of Mankind; reason is of no use to us
— the freedom of Speech may be taken away — and, dumb & silent we
may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.
--George Washington
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington>
Djedkare Isesi was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the eighth ruler of the
Fifth Dynasty in the late 25th century to mid 24th century BCE, during
the Old Kingdom period. He likely enjoyed a long reign of over 40 years,
which heralded a new period in the history of the Old Kingdom. Breaking
with a tradition followed by his predecessors since the time of Userkaf,
Djedkare did not build a temple to the sun god Ra, possibly reflecting
the rise of Osiris in the Egyptian pantheon. More significantly,
Djedkare effected comprehensive reforms of the Egyptian state
administration, the first undertaken since the inception of the system
of ranking titles. He also reorganised the funerary cults of his
forebears buried in the necropolis of Abusir and reformed the
corresponding priesthood. Djedkare commissioned expeditions to Sinai to
procure copper and turquoise, to Nubia for its gold and diorite and to
the Land of Punt for its incense. One such expedition had what could be
the earliest recorded instance of oracular divination that aimed to
ensure an expedition's success.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djedkare_Isesi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1245:
Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, was granted
resignation by Pope Innocent IV after having confessed to torture and
forgery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_(bishop_of_Finland)>
1828:
The inaugural issue of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first
newspaper in a Native American language, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_Phoenix>
1921:
The Constituent Assembly of Georgia adopted the nation's first
constitution, shortly before being overthrown by the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituent_Assembly_of_Georgia>
1947:
Edwin H. Land demonstrated the use of the first instant camera
to the Optical Society of America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_H._Land>
1952:
Protesters in Dhaka, East Pakistan, walked into military
crossfire demanding the establishment of Bengali as an official
language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_Movement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
massaranduba:
A tropical hardwood tree, Manilkara bidentata.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/massaranduba>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All of us, can do so much more together than any one person can do
alone. And I hope that thought bolsters you as much as it does me.
--Ellen Page
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ellen_Page>
The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trains built for Amtrak in
the 1970s. They were purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with
faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTGs, were built
by the French firm ANF and entered service on multiple routes in the
Midwestern United States in 1973. The new trains increased ridership
wherever they were used, but the high cost of operating the trains led
to their withdrawal from the Midwest in 1981. The second batch, known as
RTLs (example pictured), were of a similar design but manufactured by
Rohr Industries, an American company. These entered service on the
Empire Corridor in the State of New York in 1976. The RTLs remained in
service there through the 1990s, supplemented by several rebuilt RTGs.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, New York and Amtrak partnered to
rebuild the RTLs for high-speed service; this project failed and Amtrak
withdrew them from service in 2003. After the settlement of legal
issues, the last RTLs were sold for scrap in 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turboliner>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1685:
French colonists, led by Robert de La Salle, landed at
Matagorda Bay in present-day Texas, which later allowed the United
States to claim the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonization_of_Texas>
1846:
Polish insurgents led an uprising in the Free City of Kraków
to incite a fight for national independence that was put down by the
Austrian Empire nine days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Uprising>
1943:
A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of
Michoacán and turned into the cinder cone volcano Parícutin, growing
424 m (1,391 ft) in eight years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C3%ADcutin>
1965:
NASA's Ranger 8 spacecraft successfully transmitted 7,137
photographs (sample pictured) of the Moon in the final 23 minutes of its
mission before crashing into Mare Tranquillitatis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8>
1988:
The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from
Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fictive kin:
(anthropology, ethnography) Someone who, though unrelated by birth or
marriage, has such a close emotional relationship with another that they
may be considered part of the family.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fictive_kin>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not the least among the arguments whose consideration should
dispose us to welcome among us the peoples of all countries,
nationalities and colors, is the fact that all races and varieties of
men are improvable. This is the grand distinguishing attribute of
humanity, and separates man from all other animals. If it could be shown
that any particular race of men are literally incapable of improvement,
we might hesitate to welcome them here. But no such men are any where to
be found, and if they were, it is not likely that they would ever
trouble us with their presence.
--Frederick Douglass
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass>
Brougham Castle, founded by Robert de Vieuxpont in the early 13th
century, is south-east of Penrith, Cumbria, England, on the site of
Brocavum, a Roman fort. The castle is scheduled as an Ancient Monument,
along with the fort, as "Brougham Roman fort and Brougham Castle". The
Vieuxponts were a powerful land-owning family in North West England and
also owned the castles of Appleby and Brough. When the castle was built,
Vieuxpont was one of a few lords loyal to the king in the region. In
1264 his grandson, also named Robert, was declared a traitor and his
property was confiscated by Henry III. Brougham Castle and the other
estates were eventually returned to the Vieuxpont family. The castle
ruins were mentioned at the start of William Wordsworth's poem The
Prelude, and were the subject of his Song at the Feast of Brougham
Castle upon the Restoration of Lord Clifford, the Shepherd, to the
Estates and Honours of his Ancestors. They also inspired a painting by
J. M. W. Turner. The castle was left to the Ministry of Works in the
1930s and is today maintained by its successor, English Heritage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brougham_Castle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina exploded in the most
violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina>
1811:
Peninsular War: An outnumbered French force under Édouard
Mortier routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish at the Battle of the
Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Gebora>
1942:
Second World War: In the largest attack mounted by a foreign
power against Australia, more than 240 Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin,
Northern Territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Darwin>
1942:
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over
112,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps (Manzanar War Relocation
Center pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans>
2011:
Items from the Belitung shipwreck, the biggest single
collection of Tang dynasty artefacts found in one location, were first
put on display in Singapore.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belitung_shipwreck>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Dolly Daydream:
A girl or woman given to daydreaming.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dolly_Daydream>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with
those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to
decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the
Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail
this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I
despise their judgment as rash.
--Nicolaus Copernicus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus>